When morning came, Tamuril had barely rested, but she rose with the dawn regardless and moved to begin helping the others to put everything away. The wood elves gave her thankful smiles and she started to feel a little better for it. Useful. It was nothing big but she wondered if Thranduil was right.
Just as she had thought it, the King himself strode out of his large tent, dressed and ready for the ride ahead. She found herself watching him as he moved fluidly through the crowd of his entourage, everyone parting before him in a way that almost looked like a dance.
Tamuril found that she wanted to apologise for the way she spoke to him the previous night. He was a King and she did not share the familiarity with him that she had shared with Elrond. She had forgotten her place, she knew that, though she was surprised - and grateful - that he had not seen fit to reprimand her. Though for all she knew, it was coming.
Turning her gaze from him, she missed when he - a second later - turned his own towards her. He stood there, observing her for a long few moments, watching as she assisted his people until, satisfied, he turned away again and moved to mount his elk.
"He was just staring at you!" Nessa's voice practically screamed in Tamuril's ear, knocking her off kilter suddenly.
She winced, turning from where she had been helping pack away another tent, to bestow a frown upon her friend. "What are you talking about?"
"The King!" Nessa squealed again, drawing the attention of a nearby group of elves who were now mounting their own steeds.
Feeling her cheeks burning at the attention, Tamuril heaved a heavy sigh and pulled Nessa along by her arm, leading her over to where Willow stood waiting. "Nessa!" She hissed.
"What?" The other elleth stood there, blinking back at her with an innocent expression that Tamuril knew better than to fall for.
She levelled Nessa with a specific look and Nessa caved, her shoulders slumping. "But he was!"
Tamuril huffed, turning to untie the knot in the rope that had fixed Willow in place for the night of rest. "So?" She answered, greeting the horse with some light ruffling of its fur.
Nessa tilted her head. "I mean, if a King was staring at me, I would be taking a lot more interest in it." She muttered.
Tamuril turned to her with another frown. "He was probably staring at me because last night I... I snapped at him and he is trying to decide how best to punish me for it!" She threw her hands in the air.
Usually, she could deal with whatever Nessa threw her way, her impetuousness often dragging her away on tangents that were sometimes best kept in her own head. She could be a lot of fun and she was a great friend but sometimes Nessa did not watch her words and went wherever the wind decided to blow her.
"You did what?!" Nessa's eyes blew wide as she stared at the other girl in shock. "Tamuril! We have barely left Rivendell and you already...?" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Why would you do such a thing?"
"He was being irritating!" Tamuril snapped back, moving to mount the horse, eager to burn off all her newly rising frustrations on the journey. She knew that was hardly a reasonable excuse, or even the main reason, but still.
"He is a king, they are all irritating!" Nessa cried, tilting her head as she looked up at Tamuril from where she stood on the ground. She could tell the raven-haired half-elf wasn't being altogether truthful with her, though she had grown used to the walls Tamuril had put up. They had been built when Haldir fell and now seemed unbreakable. "Still..." Nessa mused, turning to look across the grass, her gaze falling upon Thranduil, his head held high as he spoke to some of his people from astride his elk.
Her voice had taken on the tone it did when she had started to get the beginnings of one of her little schemes and Tamuril's gaze shifted back down to her in alarm. "Nessa." She warned, not sure what thoughts had caught her friend's attention but whatever it was she already knew she wanted no part in it.
"What?" Nessa turned her attention from Thranduil, shrugging once more in her little faux-innocent way as she looked back at her friend. "Oh, come, Tamuril!" She smiled at her, reaching out to place a gentle hand on her knee.
Tamuril raised an eyebrow at her, though slight amusement had started to creep in. Nessa had always had this way about her that was sort of infectious. "Whatever meddlesome little thoughts just tip-toed into your head, banish them."
"I simply do not know what you mean." Nessa trilled, offering Tamuril a soft smile before turning to prance away towards her own horse.
Tamuril shook her head as she watched her retreat, feeling too tired to dwell upon whatever Nessa had decided to latch onto this time. Still, she would have to keep an eye on her. She didn't want to end up cast out of the Woodland Realm because her friend had decided to once more unleash her own personal brand of chaos.
Arwen's footsteps carried her down the hall. She had just come from choosing the dress she planned to wear to Gondor. It was beautiful and she was very happy, though she was full of nerves and she kept thinking back to the last time she saw Aragorn. She was excited to finally see him again, to begin the life she had waited for, and she wanted to be perfect for him.
Still, her thoughts continued to shift back to Tamuril. She missed her. It had been her wish that they all travel to Gondor together when this had all been over - Haldir included. Arwen missed him too. It had been a week now since Tamuril and Nessa had left Rivendell and still her father had not told her about his vision, the one that had upset Tamuril so much. She could wait, of course, but she just wished that he would stop beating himself up about this entire thing. She knew that he was doing it still, even if he did not speak of it.
Arwen also knew that neither her father or Tamuril had meant - or wanted - any of this. Not that either of them had believed her. It seemed that nobody was listening to a word she said and it was very frustrating!
On the way to her father's study, she caught sight of Lindir sitting on a bench overlooking the valley. He looked to be moping and Arwen turned to detour in his direction.
He looked up when he sensed her approaching. "Oh. My Lady. Are you alright? Do you need anything?"
Arwen shook her head. "Peace, Lindir. I only come to ask you what's wrong."
"Wrong?" He asked, feigning confusion but he knew Arwen was much smarter than that. The look she gave him was confirmation enough and he sighed. "I am missing my friends, that's all." He shrugged. "It is not the same without them."
"No, it isn't." Arwen agreed, looking at him closely for a moment. "Why did you never tell her?"
Lindir blinked, alarm flashing across his expression. "What?!" His voice was practically a squeak.
Arwen chuckled but the sound was kind and she placed a hand upon his arm. "Lindir."
He deflated a little and sighed, shaking his head. "I did not wish to lose her friendship." Having Nessa as a friend was better than having Nessa as nothing at all, at least to Lindir. Now he kept thinking about her laughing with Feren or meeting some other elf in the Greenwood who she would finally fall for and forgetting all about him. He had missed his chance.
Arwen smiled kindly, reaching out to place her hand on top of his. "Do not give up on it so easily, mellon. There is always hope." She told him, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek before she jumped back up. "Do you know if my father is in his study?"
Lindir, whose ears were burning, ducked his head bashfully and chuckled. "He was the last time I looked, yes."
"Thank you." Arwen chuckled at him and turned to wander off in the direction of her father's den.
When she pushed the door open, Elrond was sitting behind a large desk, focusing intently upon the papers in front of him. He didn't actually have a lot to do, he was just focusing on finishing an account of his final years in Rivendell to leave behind once he departed for the Undying Lands.
He glanced up when his daughter entered and offered her a smile. Arwen could still see the traces of strain upon his face and she knew that it was partly to do with Tamuril but she also knew that it was about herself. He was still grappling with the fact that she was not travelling across the sea with him, to reunite with her mother, to live on with her family. That she had chosen the mortal life of those who came before her and he would have to leave his only daughter behind, never to see her again.
"Is something wrong?" He asked her. "I have informed the stables of our departure and asked the kitchen to ready provisions for the journey to Gondor. We should set out soon to make it in time."
Arwen smiled graciously. "Thank you, ada. Everything is great, I just wanted to come see you."
Elrond gave his daughter a look, a small smile gracing his lips. "You do not need to check on me, darling. I am fine."
Arwen regarded him closely, shaking her head softly. "I didn't say that you weren't."
Elrond's brows knitted together as he frowned at her, though merely in jest. "Are you attempting to trick me, oh daughter of mine?"
"I would not dream of it."
"Arwen..." He began, setting his quill down on the desk in front of him and shuffling away the papers he had been writing on.
Arwen sighed as she looked back at him. "Ada, I know when something troubles you." She told him. "You play a convincing part but I know how you hold on to things."
"Please." Elrond held up his hand. "I do not want to think on it. There is too much else that needs my attention. I wish to enjoy the time we have left before we leave."
"You are not getting on a ship straight away. Me going to Gondor is not goodbye."
"I know... but, please, let me deal with this in my own way." He smiled, reaching out for her hand. "Let us look forward, not back."
Arwen was left dissatisfied but she merely smiled at him, nodding as she gave his hand a little squeeze.
Two more weeks had passed without incident and Tamuril was feeling a lot more settled in this journey than she had been when she first set out. Even Nessa had calmed down somewhat and Tamuril had actually started talking to the elves around her, finding that she did not altogether hate their company.
They were readying to settle again for the night, before the final leg of the journey, when there seemed to be some sort of commotion nearby. Tamuril looked up from where she was helping erect a little tent, glancing over.
Curiosity saw her moving closer to the little group that the slightly raised voices had come from. "What's going on?" She asked.
One of the elves turned towards her, looking like they were at a loss. "We have lost a tent!" She cried in dismay, throwing her hands up in the air.
"Oh." Tamuril frowned, wondering how it could have happened but she supposed things could get missed on the road, right? It didn't occur to her that it was the tent that she and Nessa had been assigned until she realised that everybody was staring at her. She blinked. "Oh." She said again.
"I am not sleeping on the grass!" Nessa complained from her side. "It's soaked from last nights rain."
"You can stay in my tent, my lady." Feren's voice sounded out from behind her. Tamuril turned to look at him with a soft frown but Nessa seemed to have already accepted his offer.
"Are you sure there will be room for me?" She asked him.
Feren chuckled before he nodded. "Trust me, there is ample space. Though..." He turned to look at Tamuril with an apologetic expression. "There is not quite enough space for two extra."
Tamuril held back a sigh and was in the process of opening her mouth to assure him that it was okay, while the other part of her mind was trying to figure out if any of the few other tents would have even a sliver of space or if she would be sleeping in a tree, but a voice came from behind her before she could get a word out.
"There is room in mine."
Tamuril's shoulders straightened of their own accord and she did her best not to let any sort of emotion show on her face as she turned, meeting Thranduil's intense stare with her own.