THE FORGOTTEN

Covo Híril Lothril

Meet Lady Lothril

Author's note: The chapter in which – Lothril gets introduced to court and hears some very fascinating gossip. …Originally, I was hoping to entitle this chapter 'Introduction to Court' but wouldn't you know it, I couldn't find introduction or court (in a non landscaping meaning) in any dictionary. Then I thought, 'Meeting the Nobles' but then I got quite confused how to craft the word, because 'ara-' (noble) is a prefix so I supposed I would need to make it 'noble-elves', but then the only rules for creating compound words I found were for creating names, which I suppose still apply… but then my best guess was that it would be rendered 'Raedhil' and even though I'm fairly certain I followed the rules correctly, I'm weirdly nervous about creating a compound that creates a vowel blend because I get this funny feeling I'm missing a vowel mutation or something… and since I didn't want to delay posting this chapter for like six weeks just so I could get to the bottom of my Sindarin conundrumI went with something much more straightforward – Meet Lady Lothril.

After Legolas left her room, Lothril carefully shut the folder and put it back in her drawer then blew out the lamp and stared into the low burning fire for a while, her thoughts buzzing between going through those sketches with him and their future bedroom and a pesky nagging feeling that she now needed to clamp down a little harder on her thoughts so she wasn't accidentally bothering Legolas all day and night with shades her emotional state. Not that he would ever complain, not that she wouldn't share, but she reckoned it would have to be annoying to be sitting around minding ones own business and suddenly getting a nagging feeling the love of your life was upset or agitated only to find out she was just aroused by looking at some sketches. She was fairly certain if she worked on her mental exercises again she would be able to reign in the involuntary sharing. If not, she would have Elrond help her when he came in the spring and she would have to just be extra mindful until then. However, she was fairly certain that as he hadn't known she was having nightmares in Ithilien, she either couldn't or wouldn't share feelings in her sleep, so she decided to ponder over a few things while she slept.

If anyone back home had asked about how she would describe this aspect of elvish sleep, she would have told them it was like Spock running problems through the computer on Star Trek. You give the computer the problem, you set the parameters or what memory banks you want accessed, then tell it to compute and let it go. Only, with it being her head, she could sort of sit back and watch her own mind process things in a semi-detached manner. She usually opted to just let her mind go blank or do something far more akin to day dreaming while she slept, but she had used this aspect once or twice before and decided this might be the very thing to help her figure out what she couldn't when awake.

For roughly a month, or what felt like a month, something had been nagging at her… she knew, and was insanely frustrated by the fact she had allowed being home to set her so far backwards. She had been doing so well! She had been embracing, if slowly, more of an elven philosophy and outlook, she had been dealing with her abuse and was even getting to the point where talking about it, well… it hadn't been exactly easy, but it was at least doable without feeling like she needed to sob or hide afterwards. But then she went back. She wasn't ready. Not at all. It had all flooded back with a vengeance and everything – freaking everything she had worked so hard for seemed to fall apart like a gingerbread house being held together with soft frosting in a warm room. And what really sucked was that ever since she had returned, she felt like she was trying to rebuild everything on a surfboard in a swimming pool with whatever frosting was left on the gingerbread while someone kept doing cannonballs. But why?! Why?! WHY?! Why couldn't she find more frosting? Where was the nice, sturdy table she had been working on? And why did it feel like… no, that must be wrong! He's been the sweetest and most patient thing in two worlds but… why couldn't she touch him? Why did it feel like he was two inches out of reach?

It was probably all her fault. She was the one who had pulled away back there. Yes, he had suggested they set some boundaries, but he had insisted she set them and he swore faithfully he would not trespass without her explicit permission and that she was the only one who could change them. She was the one who set the rules so high… she probably should have said… she had no idea what she should have said. But should of, would of, could of's were useless. But now what? She knew full dang well what she had permission to do… well basically everything… but she also knew that was just a trifle more than what she was ready for, but not exactly more than what she wanted

Did she even know what she wanted? Yes! No… Ish?! She knew she wanted more – craved more! But she couldn't, didn't know what. And she didn't know how to ask for it. GRR! This was so frustrating! She wanted to move forward! She wanted more! But how did she explain what she wanted?

The last time she felt this stupid, stuck, and frustrated she was driving her grandma's truck with a broken gear indicator. She kept miscounting the clicks and trying to drive in neutral. However, she was becoming increasingly convinced instead of park, first, second, reverse, neutral, and drive she had park, four neutrals, and drive and somehow, she kept skipping over drive, and she had no idea where it was or which neutral she was in.

She wanted to freaking go! She wanted more! She wanted him! She was stuck in neutral and about to flood the engine! She was treading water and trying to rebuild what she had worked on before she left but she couldn't get her footing. She was trying to find her footing before she got too concerned about rebuilding, but was not getting very far. She felt like if she really stretched and let herself sink a little, her toe would just scrape bottom. Why did she feel so woefully stuck, ungrounded, floundering, and falling apart?

Her mind puzzled through these things for a while until she decided at last she had fairly well exhausted the usefulness of sleep thinking and needed to do a bit of conscious thinking. And thank goodness she had figured out what he felt was actually related to ósanwe! That meant if she got far enough away, she couldn't accidentally share her feelings with him. Whatever he may be dreaming about, she was certain he didn't need to be interrupted by her thoughts. She could tell him in the morning if she came up with anything worth sharing.

She blinked and sat up. The fire was now quite low, but there was enough flame left where she could use it to light a small little portable oil lamp. Shade in place, she went into her closet and pulled out a housecoat and then headed out of her room. She reckoned the drawing room was far enough away, and so made her way across the very dim hallway and through the door and up the scarcely lit staircase to the floor above which only had one light lit near each door, making it bright enough to see, but not enough to do something like read. She entered the drawing room and found it dark and cold, so she went first to the fireplace and threw on a couple logs and used a little 'wizardry' to light them, causing a bright cheery little fire to spring up almost instantly. Sometimes she really enjoyed her maia nature! It almost felt like cheating and she was okay with that.

The room being as big as it was, she decided she wouldn't mind a little more light to chase away the dark, so she lit one of the floor lamps on the other end of the couch and then blew out her oil lamp and set it down on the side table. She stole a couple extra throw pillows from the other couch and stacked them up so she could recline on the arm of the couch propped up and able to watch the fire.

As soon as she was settled in and relaxed, she let her mind begin tackling the problems – why was she floundering? Why couldn't she find her footing? And how on earth was she going to explain to Legolas what more she wanted when she couldn't figure out the words for herself?

She sat and thought and was growing thirsty and frustrated and was eyeing the bell cord and wondering if she pulled it if she would be summoning servants working a graveyard shift or waking up someone when she heard a voice by the door.

"Oh! I did not expect to see you here at this hour."

She sat up a little and replied, "That's alright, I didn't expect to see you either."

Thranduil came over and around the couch and asked, "May I?"

"Oh, yes, by all means," she said, quickly sitting up more upright and drawing her feet close. "So what brings you out at this hour?"

"I am frequently up at this hour, and having nothing better to do tonight, I was going to go for a swim and then back to bed. However, I saw the door open and lights on and decided I ought to investigate. What brings you here at this hour?"

"Thinking," she answered.

"Not that I care that you are here, but I do wonder what sort of thinking you are doing here that you could not have done just as comfortably in your own rooms," he replied.

"Oh, well, I would have stayed in my rooms, but I figured out earlier tonight that I have been accidentally and involuntarily sharing my feelings with Legolas through ósanwe. I did not want to risk waking him up accidentally, so I decided it best I move far enough away where I couldn't," she answered.

He nodded. "That is very considerate of you. Well, as nothing is amiss in here, I shall leave you to your thinking, if you like," he said and started to stand but then resumed his seat when she spoke.

"Actually, before you go, I have a question – if I pull the bell cord this time of night, am I going to summon a servant working a night shift or am I going to be waking up someone?" she asked.

"You would be summoning a servant who is awake and on duty. Why? What do you need?"

"A stiff drink," she answered with a frown.

"Aah, that kind of thinking. I have just the thing for that. Come with me," he said standing up.

She followed and he led her to the other side of the room and opened up a large cabinet to reveal it was actually a large liquor cabinet. He gave her an examining glance out of the corner of his eye and reached for a large pair of glasses and held them in one hand while he poured in a dark golden something with the other.

"Here you are – peach brandy," he said as he held the hand with the glasses out to her. "Have you ever had brandy before?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't say that I have."

"You need to hold the glass in your hand like this and gently swirl it around for a few minutes to warm it. Brandy is best enjoyed warmed to body temperature and swirling it like this makes sure it the temperature is even," he said.

She nodded and mimicked his actions as they returned to the couch. Now that she thought about it, she knew that you did this with brandy, but she hadn't been sure why. Made sense though…

For a minute or two they chatted idly about brandy and Thranduil explained what it is made of and that warming it helps release the flavors and aromas and such until he deemed it time to take a sip.

"Ooooh! That is nice!" Lothril said. "I was not sure if I was going to like this or not, but I do really like this."

He smiled. "Good! I am glad to hear it." He waited until she had another sip or two in her before he asked, "So is the brandy helping you out with whatever you thinking?"

"Oh… I don't know," she said with a frown. "I am starting to think not much will."

"Do you want to talk about it?" he offered, his tone very casual and neutral.

"I don't know. I'm feeling a little lost, to be honest. And like I'm barely treading water at the same time. I have no idea what I'm doing here or what I'm supposed to do or anything else. Back home, er, there, I mean Michigan-"

"I know what you mean, and it was your home until very recently. I will take no offense if you call it that," he said reassuringly.

"Thanks," she said with a small smile and took a sip. "Anyway, back home I knew the rules. I understood what to do, which was basically nothing, and then I came here and everything was so different, your whole outlook was different and expectations are different, which is fine. But, see back home there were two extreme ends of the spectrum and both of them apparently as un-elven as one could get and still be on the same topic. On the one extreme end there are those who think love making is all but recreation and means nothing, and on the other end there are people who think it should only be within marriage but that it's almost shameful even then and mostly just for procreation. I know elves do not really have religion, so this might be a little weird to you, but the religious circle I was raised in didn't act like it was shameful per say, but it was certainly a taboo topic. The only thing I ever heard about it was that it's a beautiful thing within marriage and that's about it. Opinions on what was permissible for the courting and betrothed varied from absolutely no touching or kissing until the day you got married to some kissing and touching beforehand but 'don't go too far'… without ever explaining what 'too far' even is. I'm not even sure they knew. It didn't matter though because no matter what you did, you'd get looks, comments behind your back, and tongue clucking," she rambled.

"That is absurd," Thranduil commented sounding torn between disgusted and dismissive.

"Right?!" she said before taking a long sip of brandy and then continuing. "So imagine my shock when I come here and Elrond starts explaining elven philosophy on this stuff. It's so opposite it's ridiculous. Then imagine my further shock when both he and you tell me you don't care what we do as long as we don't get married before the wedding feast. But I went back. I just had to go back… I had barely come to grips with things here and then I go back to that absurdity and all those stupid rules got forced on me again and I fell back hard into that mindset and now that I'm back here… I am having the hardest time shaking it. I mean, I don't want to live in that ridiculous mindset, but at the same time, I don't know how to shake it. And of course, we decide to set boundaries while I'm up north back there and still pretty hard in that mindset. And now I'm stuck and I hate it," she said, sounding nearly bitter at the end before she took another drink of brandy. "I mean, growing up in a world where kissing is a questionable activity makes it kinda hard to know how to tell someone what you want. I have the hardest time putting this sort of thing into words! Not that I'm great about voicing my wants anyway, but it's especially hard when it comes to anything romantic. I don't want to live with those stupid ideas anymore."

"So?" Thranduil asked with a raised brow before taking a sip of brandy.

"So?" she repeated, confused at his question.

"I fail to see a problem here. You are not there anymore. It truly does not make any difference in the whole of Arda and Aman together what anyone back where you are from thinks about anything. You know those ideas are absurd, so forget them as promptly as possible. They have no room in your life here. And, believe it or not, what Elrond and I think also does not matter in the slightest. All we have done, essentially, is ask you to wait until after the wedding feast to marry. Everything else is up to you and Legolas," Thranduil answered before taking a drink.

She blinked. Well, it was true… Those ideas didn't matter here. Nothing from there mattered here unless she made it matter. Boy, could she be thick sometimes! "Alright, but how do I tell him? I have been trying for weeks to figure out how to say something and I just can't figure out the words.

Thranduil chuckled and shook his head, "If the Valar had not sent me dreams saying you were from another world, I would swear you are Elrond's flesh and blood, truly! Elrond and Celebrían would have been married centuries sooner if they had not insisted on talking their relationship to death. When I finally received the invitation to their wedding I nearly fainted from shock for it had been nearly three thousand years of them courting. I promise you do not need to be able to express everything you want in your relationship in words. In fact, you cannot."

"Then how do I tell him?!" she asked again, starting to get that frustrated with algebra feeling where she knew the answer was staring her in the face and for the life of her she couldn't see it.

"Grab him by the collar, pin him against the wall, and kiss him until there is a trail of clothes leading to one of your bedrooms," Thranduil answered in an extraordinarily laid back tone before taking another sip of brandy. For someone who just basically told his future daughter-by-marriage to aggressively take his son, he sure seemed casual about it.

"Are you serious? I mean, do you think that would work?"

The barest little smile teased the corner of his mouth. "Let me tell you a secret about my son – I know he can come across as all proper and that he is immensely disciplined, but it has been very apparent to me since the day we sparred that he loves it when you are aggressive and assertive. If you show him what you want like that, he will figure it out and respond accordingly. And love it. Just show him what you want."

She bit her lip as she thought for a moment and then took a sip of brandy. "It's almost a shame we have that dinner tomorrow," she muttered.

"I would offer to cancel it, but the court would be upset and that would never do," Thranduil commented.

"No, it wouldn't," she agreed and drained her glass.

"Would you like some more?" Thranduil asked, gesturing to her empty glass.

"Thanks, but I think I'm going to go back to bed," she answered. "What would you like me to do with my glass?"

"Just leave it on the table beside you," he answered.

"Goodnight, Thranduil. And thank you. I really needed to hear that."

"You are welcome. Goodnight, Lothril."

The introductory dinner was set to start a little bit earlier than usual; but not so early that Lothril didn't find herself wishing it was an introductory breakfast instead. Thranduil assured her that these official dinners and functions usually only lasted four hours, give or take, especially when there wasn't any dancing involved. As they were coming off enderi just a few days before, Thranduil made the executive decision to leave off dancing and instead allow time for talking and mingling. He also promised her he had made it perfectly clear that though this was official, she had absolutely nothing to do with policies and that political conversations were to be kept to an absolute minimum.

Lothril appreciated that immensely. Back home she had followed politics as sort of a hobby, but here was a completely different everything and her extent of political knowledge was her relationships with Aragorn, Éomer, Thranduil, Legolas, and Elrond. Oh, and Imrahil seemed very nice.

Per prior arrangement, around mid-morning Thranduil, Legolas, and Lothril all went to see Filegon for a final fitting and to finalize accessories. Usually Filegon let them accessorize at will, but as they were going for a uniform look, he wanted to make sure everything was just so.

"Good morning your majesties," Filegon said with a bow. "And good morning, milady."

They returned their good mornings, and Lothril said, "You seem in a particularly good mood today, Filegon."

"And so I am, milady! I am particularly pleased with how these three outfits turned out and I am quite excited to see how they look together," he answered. "Now, if the three of you will change, we shall see how this all looks, make any final adjustments, and then send them to your rooms."

Just then there was a loud crack of thunder and rain started to lash against the windows.

"I do hate it when the weather does not cooperate," Thranduil frowned. "Someone ring for Galion."

Filegon raised a disapproving brow at the weather and said, "And that is why I always design your party clothes to be suitable indoors or outdoors. "If it pleases the prince and the lady, I will have you both change first and we will play around a little with how you look together without your robes."

The agreed to it and Lothril found herself being attended by a couple of the seamstresses that work with Filegon. As soon as the green dress with the hidden panels of night sky was on, she asked them wait a moment, so she could see how the dress looked in the mirror. She really loved it. It wasn't overtly autumnal by itself, but she loved how the stars peeked out when she moved. They put on a gold belt of leaves and stars then she put on the silver and orange robe which closed with a beautiful silver star clasp. They then helped her don her star ring and the star for her brows.

It certainly was more ostentatious and colorful than anything she would have dared to wear back in Michigan, but the silver and orange with the green and the rain falling outside and the autumn colors… she liked it. She came out from behind the screen to see Legolas in orange trimmed in silver and green beneath.

"Filegon you have outdone yourself," Legolas said as he looked over his betrothed. "She looks like an autumn star come down to grace us."

Thranduil, who had been giving instructions to Galion who had shown up but moments before paused and glanced over at his soon-to-be-daughter and said, "Indeed she does. Well done Filegon."

"I thank your majesties, both," Filegon said with a bow. "Now if you will both please stand together – thank you." He circled them with a very critical and examining eye looking for even a stray loose thread and to his satisfaction, he found none and smiled. "Perfect!"

Thranduil finished telling Galion how he wanted things arranged indoors and came over to his son and Lothril and beheld them together. "Indeed they are. Not even the fussiest of them will be able to find fault."

"I sincerely hope not!" Filegon agreed with a sharp edge to his voice.

Legolas and Thranduil both knew what that tone to his voice meant. Thranduil looked at him with raised brows. "Oh? Do tell."

"That miserable Lady Gormes commissioned a dress for herself and for her daughter for tonight from me and every time she has been here she has been doing naught but make snide comments about wanting to look like a proper lady and wanting me to make something for her daughter that would make the prince jealous he did not go for her Nûrhel after all. You know how she is. And if Lady Gormes is prattling on like this, you know her petty friends are too. Thank goodness I charge too much for half of them!" Filegon complained.

Lothril listened quietly but this raised several questions in her mind, so she picked the safest of which to ask. "Wait, I thought you worked for the king?"

"I do, milady. The king pays my salary, but I am free to take as many or few commissions as I want from whoever can afford me," Filegon answered.

Lothril nodded slowly. "I see… so you are not exclusive."

"Very few in my employ are," Thranduil said.

This made some sense to her… Otherwise, how busy could he possibly keep only making clothes for three people with a dozen or so working under him. Also seemed like a good way of keeping up on gossip… which probably meant when he said he doesn't 'sew and tell', he meant about the royal family. He seemed to have no compunction whatsoever about blabbing about this Lady Gormes.

"So, is this Lady Gormes the back stabbing sort, or the kind that will just glare daggers at me outright?" Lothril asked.

"Daggers," the three of them said in unison.

"She will likely give you a very insincere smile in front of us and as soon as we are looking away glare," Legolas said.

"What of her daughter?" Lothril asked.

"Nothing to fear there," Filegon said. "The entire time her mother was going on and on about looking like a proper lady, she looked painfully uncomfortable. If anything, the poor thing will spend half the night apologizing to you for her mother."

"Oh dear," Lothril said with a shake of her head.

"I do feel sorry for Nûrhel," Legolas added. "She has been in love with the farrier for centuries now and her mother forbids the marriage."

"Does her father disapprove?" Lothril asked.

"Lord Himben? He probably does not even know," Thranduil answered. "You will see this evening – if a fact or figure is not attached to something, he cannot understand it."

"My lord, you know I hate to correct you, but I am afraid on this I must – if Lord Himben does not know, it is because Lady Gormes has seen to it. For as much as Lord Himben has a propensity for keeping his nose in a ledger, Lady Gormes has one for keeping things out of his sight. If poor Nûrhel ever gets the nerve to say something to her father in defiance of her mother, Himben may have his orderly world thrown into chaos," Filegon said.

"Oh that's just awful!" Lothril said with a frown. "Then again, I have seen a few married couples like that. If it did not end the marriage in ruins, it ended with one or the other dying and the remaining spouse either shocked or liberated. I suppose they don't have those outs."

"And there you have it, the one clear advantage of mortality – a terrible spouse dying and you being rid of them," Filegon said wryly.

Thranduil and Legolas stared at Filegon horrified for half a second until Lothril burst into laughter. "Well, you're not wrong! Sooner or later humans get rid of or escape from everyone who annoys us that way!"

It always struck Legolas weirdly when she slipped and spoke as a mortal again. The thought of her dying was a nightmare he would prefer to never revisit. However, as soon as Thranduil and Filegon saw she thought it as funny as they did, they started to chuckle too. Legolas smiled but he couldn't quite laugh.

"So, any other dagger glaring, backstabbing jealous types I should know about?" Lothril asked once the laugh subsided.

"There are a few, but none you need to worry about," Thranduil said.

Lothril raised a brow and her face turned sharp, set, and confident as she adjusted one of her rings. "Oh, I'm not worried."

"No, I do not believe you are," Thranduil replied, surprised at just how not worried she truly seemed to be. If anything, he almost pitied the petty nobles. Almost… This might be fun to let it play out.

Filegon only raised a brow. He may need to add a few sharp and decisive items to her wardrobe. His thoughts though turned back to the business at hand and he said, "Your majesty, I am afraid we need to see you in your outfit also to make sure everything matches."

Thranduil smiled a little indulgently. "Why yes, we do," he said and immediately headed behind a screen to change. A couple minutes later he was beside them in a dark silver with copper robe. He still looked sufficiently kingly, but for all the silky looking fabric, the colors were not as bright and Lothril was certainly the brightest and most attention grabbing of the three with Legolas looking very much like her compliment.

Filegon studied the three of them for a moment then said, "I am quite pleased, but what do you all think?"

"I think you did an excellent job as always," Thranduil said.

"Thank you, my king," Filegon said with a bow, looking ever so slightly proud. "King Thranduil, I am done with you, if you wish to change, but I do wish to see how the prince and the lady look without their robes."

"Oh yes, that's right," Lothril said and unclasped the cloak and handed it to an attendant who was standing nearby, Legolas doing the same. She looked at the themselves in the mirror. Filegon certainly had them as a matched set. His long outer tunic was the same fabric as her dress and though there was a decided green leaf motif with the trim and embroidery of his clothes, she couldn't help but notice a few little stars strewn here and there at strategic points like the collar and the hem of his sleeves. She also noticed at last the green and gold trim she had bore a subtle designs of leaves and lothil. And that was when she noticed her belt was gold leaves and stars, his was gold leaves and lothil. Almost identical, but subtly different.

Didn't Estelneth tell her Filegon would put traces of her in his clothes and traces of him in hers?

"Well, for what my opinion is worth, I approve!" Lothril said with a smile.

"As do I and whole heartedly," Legolas agreed. His mind turned to their wedding clothes… he would talk it over with Lothril of course, but he found himself greatly wanting something like this for them. He almost had a mind to suggest they simply wear these outfits, but he wasn't sure how she would take to the idea. Especially after stumbling onto a couple episodes of a television show where they were going on about picking wedding gowns. He watched one or two episodes and then Donna returned home from dropping off the kids at school and he asked her about the show and the custom so she had explained things to him. From that moment onward he supposed Lothril would want a special dress for the occasion, and if she wanted white she could have it. They did not have a specific dress color for weddings celebrations, after all.

The quick string of thoughts was interrupted by his father coming back out in his original outfit for the day and saying, "Trial run for the wedding clothes?"

"Well, I have to start somewhere, do I not?" Filegon quipped with a half grin.

"Oh! Yes, I suppose I need to figure out how that works here too," Lothril said.

"We can talk about it soon," Legolas said to her.

"Alright, Legolas. When do you need to know or we need to discuss things by, Filegon?" she asked.

"Some time in spring," he answered.

She nodded. "Well, today though – are we set here, Filegon?"

"We are. You two will look immaculate," Filegon answered.

They changed out of their clothes and as they left Legolas asked Lothril, "Do you have any plans for between now and when we must ready?"

She shook her head. "No, you?"

"Only if you wish to come with me," Legolas answered.

"Alright – unless you need us for some reason, Thranduil," Lothril said, turning her attention to the king.

"Me? No, I do not. In fact, I will likely be preoccupied seeing everything moved indoors. You two go and enjoy yourselves, but do not lose track of time," he answered.

"We will not," Legolas said and took Lothril's hand and led her away.

It was not exactly how he had been planning their first rainy day in the Woodland Realm to go, but he was not about to waste it. He took her to the private sitting room that had large windows that looked out across the canopy of trees. From there the storm would be easy to watch and in comfort and afford them privacy without him having to take her to his room… though he did want to show her the view from the one window…

As soon as they were in the room and the door shut behind them, Lothril went over to the couch and sat quietly. As soon as he got vaguely near her she spoke.

"Okay, Legolas, I need to know. I need to know where I stand in this kingdom. I mean, I know I am your betrothed, I know I'm a lady, but I have no idea what that means politically. Like, I know your father said my orders to the servants carry the same weight as yours, but I'm about to meet a bunch of elves that have been ruling tribes for centuries or more. They have actual power and status and it means something. I don't know what my title means here… or anywhere, really," she said.

He settled beside her on the couch. "Here it means you are a guest dignitary and though you are more or less considered a member of this kingdom also by father's decree you are a member of the royal family, your position as a lady of Imladris holds along with any rights or duties that entails. So if anyone is left after Elrohir and Elladan sail, you could by rights be their ruler and legally inherit that entire valley either with Arwen or if she renounced all claims to her former title, you would technically inherit all of it. And by being married to me, it could also fall under my protection if you desire it," he answered.

She looked impressed. "Well, that would certainly be something except by the time the twins sail it will basically be deserted and I have no use for an empty house. So on a nuts and bolts everyday living front, what does it mean?"

"You will be owed a certain measure of respect regardless of anything you have done or will do because you are a daughter of Lord Elrond, who commands a great deal of respect. You will also be shown a measure of deference based solely on that. The fact you are my betrothed and father has granted you rights and privileges of the royal house is why Ada instructed you that you bow to none but him and politely nod to everyone else," he answered.

"I see. Why don't I bow to you?" she asked.

"It is a little bit of a loophole that Ada decided was appropriate to use. As you are my betrothed and therefore future hervess (wife), he has decided you need not bow to me because spouses are considered equals regardless of which spouse inherited a position or seat. It is a small stretch as we are only betrothed, but it will speak volumes to the court as to how very seriously we are taking your claim on my heart," he answered.

She nodded. "I can see that. Alright, I do feel a little better now. I think I understand where I stand."

"Good!" he smiled and gave her a kiss on the temple. "But there is one more point I wish to clarify so far as your position is concerned."

"Oh? What is that?" she asked.

"You are and shall always be my queen and empress and I your consort," he said, reverently taking her hand and kissing her fingers.

"Oh good grief," she said with a smile and an eye roll. "I knew it was mistake telling you I played that as a girl."

"And I am so very glad you did!" he replied before kissing her hand again. "It gives me a wonderful excuse to show my loyalty to my queen and worship at your feet." He began kissing up her wrist, pushing up her sleeves as he went until he reached the elbow where he couldn't really do it anymore and so skipped to her shoulder where he ever so gently pulled the dress over to expose the curve of it before working towards her neck, muttering her praises all the while.

"Oh, brother! Legolas, you are too much!" she protested, blushing furiously. The kisses were one thing, the thick layer of compliments about her being the queen of his heart and sovereign of his fëa and hröa were simultaneously immensely ego stroking, flattering, and embarrassing.

"I beg to differ, bereth nin (my queen)," he replied and half waited for her to pull away from him, but she didn't, so he continued his kisses and to his pleasure, she leaned into them.

"So is this what you have been threatening for rainy days here?" she asked as he started his descent down the other side of her neck.

"It is but a little bit. We do not have much time today," he answered. "Whatever you have been putting in your bath of late has been lovely, by the way. It compliments your natural scent nicely."

"Oh? And what is my natural scent, pray?"

"Pleasingly bitter and bright, like a wood after a rain," he answered before pulling her sleeve up to the elbow and descending her arm with kisses.

As soon as he reached her fingertips, she reached she held onto his hand and grabbed his other hand and pulled him closer. "How much time do we have?" Lothril asked.

"About three hours, actually a little less. We will be entering last, but we need to arrive first."

She nodded. "Then let's make the most of the time we have." She wasn't sure, but somehow following Thranduil's advice of pinning him up against the wall didn't seem particularly advisable when they had less than three hours before they had to get ready for a formal dinner. So, she decided she would simply be very agreeable and accommodating for now.

"Milady, we ought to begin getting you ready for the dinner now," Estelneth said about twenty minutes after Lothril returned to her room.

"Alright, thank you Estelneth," Lothril said and carefully put a ribbon in her book and left it on the little side table. She followed Estelneth into the closet where she saw her outfit waiting on a dress form. As Estelneth began changing her out of the decidedly more casual dress into the formal one. "You helped the queen get ready for things like this, right?"

"Nearly always," she answered.

"Do you like helping us get ready for this sort of thing?" Lothril asked.

"I do enjoy it. It is fun dressing up someone else without having to deal with any of it myself or having to worry about my hair and my dress all night as I eat and dance. Not that I do not enjoy dressing up for holidays or the odd celebration, but even in my fanciest dresses and ornaments, I am not half so adorned as you are about to be. I like arranging the jewels and ornaments and braids, but I am glad I am not responsible for them all night," Estelneth answered.

"I think I feel the same way," Lothril said. "I used to do things with plays and would help do costumes and makeup and for as fun as I thought being on stage and getting made up and dressed was, I liked dressing up and making up someone else more. And really, knowing I am wearing a small fortune in clothes and jewels decidedly makes me feel nervous."

"As there is no dancing tonight so little fear of something coming loose and falling off. And you will be surrounded by nobles and courtiers who will be trying to impress you and the king and so they will be on their best behavior. There is little to be nervous about. Filegon is the best tailor in the kingdom and without doubt he has made very sure you are the brightest gem in the court this evening. He considers it a personal challenge to make sure the royal family is always the most immaculately dressed. Even the richest lords and ladies in all their finery will pale compared to you," Estelneth said.

"That is certainly something. And of course, with you doing my hair and making sure everything is just so, I am at least sure that no details shall be overlooked," Lothril said.

Getting ready for such an important dinner took slightly more effort than usual and a second servant had to join them to help do her hair. Lothril watched as she slowly turned into a high class elven lady who bowed to none but the king. Now that she had some grasp of her position and some idea of what to expect and how everything was going to go, she didn't feel exactly comfortable with the whole thing, but she felt a good deal more confident.

Legolas met her in her antechamber which was now about seventy percent transformed, but enough that when she glided out of her bedchamber and met him, she looked very much like a proper lady coming out of her own residence and not a lowly elfmaid in a borrowed room. He gave her a kiss and then led her downstairs to the large banquet hall with the door covered in carvings, which was opened for them by a pair of guards.

Inside it was buzzing with servants doing hurried last minute preparations and laying things out, but Lothril hardly noticed them. The huge carved trees that upheld the corners of the roof were lit and with a variety of red and yellow colored lights to give the appearance of autumn leaves. The long table was gone, replaced by a U-shaped table, and when Lothril asked about it, Legolas informed her it was the same table, but it was designed to come apart and seamlessly fit together so they could configure things however they wanted. Apparently today, the desired shape was a U. Each section of the U had a bright red runner going down the middle of it and amidst the gleaming dishes were vases holding orange and yellow flowers with bright autumn leaves mixed in the bouquets. It was clear where the king sat, for the chair was the largest and smack in the middle of the middle table, but Lothril wasn't sure where she was going to sit.

"Where do I sit? On the king's left or right?" she asked.

Before Legolas could answer, Thranduil appeared from a side door and called to one of the servants to switch his chair with the one on his left so he was slightly off center.

"You shall be sitting dead center," Legolas said. "You saw how the king switched the chairs? The usual order would be the king in the middle, the queen on his right and I beside the queen, a guest of honor on his left. And these last five hundred years, I on his right and a guest of honor on his left. However, he has shifted left his chair one place to the left, so you shall be center, the king on your left and I in my customary place right of center, on your right."

"He is really going out of his way to make a statement," Lothril said, staring at the seats.

"Indeed, he is," Legolas replied.

Thranduil saw them, looking every inch a king, complete with crown of autumn leaves and kissed Lothril and his son. "Lady Lothril, you look astounding and even the most vain and petty members of the court will have to acknowledge it."

"Thank you, my king," she replied with a polite bow of the head.

He smiled. "The rest of the court will be arriving in a minute so you two must leave so you may enter when announced. Legolas will be entering with you, so you need not be nervous, Lothril."

"Who said I am nervous?" she said casually.

He took her hand and held it between his. "Very good bluff. If you can maintain it all night, you will have half of the court convinced you are Lord Elrond's daughter by blood." He let go of her hand, kissed her cheek, and told them to hurry up and leave by the side door.

The door had barely shut behind them when Lothril heard the large double doors open and the herald announce the first lord and lady. She looked around. She thought at first this was a hallway or a servant's passage, but it looked significantly more like a small lounge what with a couch and a couple of arm chairs and enough lights to accommodate reading or something like, and a shelf with some books on it.

"What is this?" she asked Legolas quietly.

"Technically it is part of the servant's passage that leads directly to the kitchen, but we decided a long time ago it would be convenient to have a little place we could use to escape the heat of the banquet hall or the ballroom, which is through that door there. It also leads out into the main hallway, so in a minute we shall go out that door into the main hall and then have our entrance announced," he answered.

"Nice! Why do I have a feeling there are a lot of little rooms like this in here?" Lothril asked.

"Because there are. This place is riddled with them. Many of them natural to the hill, so we worked them in as either natural closets, passageways, and little rooms like this," he said. He turned an ear towards the door that led to the banquet hall and listened to the names being called. "That is our signal."

He led her out into the main hallway which was now empty and the doors thudding shut behind the last courtier to enter. The guards saluted them again and opened the doors as the herald announced, "Ernil Legolas ad Aran Thranduil a Hírel Lothril, iell ad Hîr Elrond Imladris."

As soon as the doors had opened, everyone stood and as soon as they were announced, everyone (except the king) bowed as they entered looking quite pleased to be there. He led her to her seat as all eyes were clapped on her. She had a congenial smile firmly in place, she held her head high and put forth every inch of grace and confidence she possessed. In her head, what she was doing was something between flat out acting and channeling her battle confidence. After all, it was a bit of a confidence boost knowing she could take any one of them in a fight. She had no intention of fighting them of course, but she found the thought oddly empowering and emboldening and since one of the things Thranduil and Legolas kept telling her is that she needed to be confident, she ran with whatever got her there, no matter how ludicrous it might be.

They approached the king and Prince Legolas and Lothril both bowed to his father, who nodded in reply and motioned for the court to sit, which they did almost in unison.

Legolas looked at his father and said, "King Thranduil, with your leave I wish to address the court and present my betrothed."

"You have my permission to address the court, Prince Legolas," Thranduil replied.

Legolas and Lothril turned to face the members of the court and Legolas addressed them. "Members of the court, I wish to present to you Lady Lothril daughter of Lord Elrond of Imaladris as my betrothed since three days past Midsummer this year and I intend to wed her autumn of next year and make her princess of the Woodland Realm with the approval and blessing of both my father and king Thranduil and her father and lord Elrond."

As expected, this was met by everyone standing and bowing and then the king sitting which meant everyone else could sit and the feast began. Immediately soft music began to play and conversation broke out, including what seemed to be a murmur spreading through the court members about the fact Lady Lothril was sitting dead center and not the king. Obviously this was intentional, and the general reaction, so far as Lothril observed it, seemed to be mixed, and if she had to wager a guess, the lords and ladies that seemed approving and kept glancing at her with large smiles were ones that were friendlier with the king and prince (and she suspected personally, not just professionally).

Obviously she didn't know one lord or lady from the man in the moon, but she strongly suspected the sour looking elf woman who was looking everywhere but at her with the defeated looking daughter who was leaning away from her, and the lord beside her who looked like he was calculating the cost of this dinner just for something to do was Lady Gormes, Nûrhel, and Lord Himben respectively. How charming. A few seats down from them were a pair of ellith that looked familiar and she was almost certain were the ones that Legolas pointed out as Lord Gwilithon's wife and daughter. Though she couldn't tell which was which, it did mean that more likely than not, the ellon closest to Legolas that he was conversing with was probably the lord himself.

The blessing and curse of sitting dead center at the head table is that you could see everyone but only converse with the people immediately on your left and right. So for conversation partners she was, for the duration of the eating anyway, restricted to Thranduil and Legolas, which she didn't mind. She still sucked at polite small talk and this gave her plenty of opportunity to do a bit of eavesdropping and see what sorts of things the nobility of the Woodland Realm talked about at dinner. She heard talk of a large hunting party that was scheduled for a few days hence, some sort of party that sounded like a coming of age party for someone's daughter, talk of a handful of other upcoming social events including a tea, a luncheon for the wives of the lords, and something that sounded remarkably to Lothril like a ladies aid society sort of thing that seemed to be organizing a shipment to Dale consisting of some provisions, blankets, clothes, lumber, and other things that may help them prepare for the rapidly approaching winter.

Judging by the talk of what Lothril was now dubbing in her head the Ellith Aid Society, the war had broken out at the worst possible time for planting and when the EAS heard of it, they had sent a fairly large contingency of themselves to help their mortal farming friends plant and as the growing season went along, to help harvest. Apparently the last trip of the year was planned to help finish harvesting the winter crops and they were going to be bringing the supplies with them and distributing as they saw need. And now that she was paying attention, she realized the large hunting party was actually associated with the EAS and they were looking to donate whatever game they could in addition to fulfilling needs at home. She took note of the ladies that seemed to be members of the EAS and decided over the next couple of years, these were the ladies she needed to become chummy with. Even if she didn't get much of a chance to do much with them, she could at least learn a bit from their organization and maybe translate some of it to her efforts in Ithilien. She wasn't sure what would need to be done there, but she wanted to be useful however she could.

True to form, dinner was long, lavish, and delicious. Between courses it seemed the habit was for everyone to mingle a little, and lords and ladies would come up to extend their welcome to her and their congratulations to them both and the king. It was a little awkward the first couple of people, but Lothril soon decided she preferred this to any number of other scenarios of how these introductions could have gone. It was in the middle of these introductions that suddenly before her appeared Lord Himben looking appropriately respectful, Lady Gormes, dripping with insincerity, and their daughter Nûrhel who looked like she wanted to apologize for both of her parents.

"Our most sincere congratulations and wishes for your future happiness," Lord Himben said with a bow.

Well, he seemed polite and sincere, if a bit stiff and detached. Lothril got the impression his favorite part of council meetings was the annual budget review. He just seemed like the sort. Legolas thanked him and then Lady Gormes spoke.

"Indeed, we wish you as much happiness as possible," she said, mostly to Legolas, and something about the way she said implied she didn't think it could be very much. "We had so hoped things would work out between you and our Nûrhel, but oh well. As long as you happy with your decisions."

Lady Gormes only spared her the barest glances, just enough to acknowledge she existed, and Lothril couldn't help but smile. Clearly subtlety wasn't this elleth's strong suit.

"We are very happy," Lothril said, with all the congeniality, sincerity, and I-so-have-your-number-shrew-ness she possessed.

"I am sure you are," Lady Gormes replied, literally looking down her nose at Lothril before turning a forced smile to Legolas and taking her leave. "Come, Nûrhel."

As poor Nûrhel followed her mother she gave a quick bow and mouthed, "I am so sorry!" to both of them and Legolas returned a very understanding nod and Lothril a sympathetic smile.

After dessert, the soft music continued on and she and Legolas left the table to mingle a little. Apparently only lords and ladies could approach the king's table during a formal function like this, but if they were amongst the general throng, the other courtiers could also. Lothril met several members of her Ellith Aid Society and learned they informally called themselves "Gardeners Afield" which is a bit of a play on words in Sindarin, and that they really aren't anything formal at all but rather just a group of avid gardeners who can't get enough of it and like helping out gardeners and farmers both in their tribes and heading out towards Dale and Erebor. And apparently during harvest, a faction of them turned into avid canners and preservers and helped put up preserved, pickled, canned, salted, dried, smoked, and whatever else food stuffs. Apparently they had been at it for so long, that there were generations of farmers that called on them first if something happened and they needed help. They extended an invitation to join to Lothril, who had to confess she barely knew the difference between a hoe and a trowel, but they said they were always happy to teach her if she wanted to learn, and Lothril decided either the coming spring or the one after, she would take them up on the offer.

Whilst talking to the Gardeners Afield, Lothril couldn't help but notice Lady Gormes and a small swarm of ladies around her all talking in low voices, frequently looking her way, and then occasionally laughing. After talking to the GA, Legolas and Lothril wound up being surrounded by a small circle of court members who were chatting and congratulating them and as it was all small talk and chit-chat, Lothril turned her attention to the gossips.

"…well she looks nice, of course. That could hardly be helped. Filegon could make a dwarf look good, and I dare say the king has enough jewels to make her look the part, but she is only Lord Elrond's adopted daughter, and not his daughter by blood. Now Queen Arwen has good breeding and a very high lineage, but I have heard Lady Lothril's lineage is unknown. For all we know, her forebears are scullery maids and stable boys."

"I do not think that can be wholly true, Lady Gormes, for I heard at the exhibition match between herself and the king that the king made a comment of her being half elven and half maia. Or so my son said."

"Oh? Then why does no one seem to know any of her ancestry? I would think if that were true, someone would know something," Lady Gormes replied to the second speaker.

"But was she not the one that the Valar had the king fetch from that other place?" the second speaker asked.

"If that is true, then that makes it worse for she is a complete foreigner. But how would an elf and an maia even get to that other place? No, that does not make any sense. I am sure I have no idea what happened to that firiel who came here, but I saw her with my own two eyes and Lady Lothril looks nothing like her. I am sure I do not know what happened to the firiel, I can only assume Lord Elrond placed in her a human settlement somewhere or some such thing. Wherever this lady Lothril came from, I am sure I do not know. All I know is that she is not Lord Elrond's natural daughter, nor is she some half elven, half maia from another world. She is probably just some orphan he took pity upon and adopted and then she worked her charms to secure the prince. I would not be shocked in the slightest if he woke up tomorrow and realized he has been bewitched and calls the whole thing off," Lady Gormes said. Lothril had but barely heard it, because the gossip at least had sense enough to talk in a low voice, but she heard it nonetheless.

What a miserable old hag!

"Be careful, Lady Gormes," said a third speaker. "I have it on good authority that the king has spoken to Lord Elrond extensively about this union and they are both for it."

"Oh! Do you suppose this an arranged marriage for political gain?" Lady Gormes conjectured conspiratorially.

"If it is, then it means you best watch your words carefully," said the second speaker.

"Especially as it seems she is also intimate friends with the companions who traveled with the prince and destroyed the ring, which includes King Elessar, and that Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel attended their betrothal along with King Éomer of Rohan and Lord Glorfindel," added the third speaker.

"And that means she is very well connected regardless of whatever else she may be," said the second speaker.

"This is why I am glad we are friends," Lady Gormes said warmly. "You both hear all the latest gossip!"

Oh good grief. Had she even been there a month yet? Regardless, it seems there were some real yarns circulating about her along with a few grains of truth. If for a minute she thought it would do any genuine good, she would have gone over there and slapped that Gormes lady and straightened her out. However, she knew that would do nothing productive in the slightest and decided this was perhaps a matter best dealt with another way…

She and Legolas made their way around the room at least once and after that Thranduil came up and quietly informed her they were free to leave if they so wished, and oh did she wish! This dinner was long and tiring and boy did she have a few things to tell Legolas. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so insulting.