Being queen was exhausting. Fun, but still exhausting. Even when she wasn't in court listening to people's problems, or in one of Maglor's lessons, it always felt like someone was watching her. Lucy sighed quietly, feeling more than a little ungrateful.
Slapping her cheeks, she focused on the present. She was in the forest near Cair Paravel, she'd slipped out of her shoes and the fancy dresses of court and was looking forward to dancing with some dryads. The gentle rustling of the leaves and the green of the canopy soothed the young girl as she ran through the forest.
The dryads were happy to see their youngest queen. They are always glad to while the days away in song and dance and Lucy was usually glad to join them. Hours passed in song and dance until the young queen lost track of time.
When Lucy was resting to give her legs a break, she heard a voice calling her name.
"Here I am!" She called back.
This call and response lasted a few minutes until Maglor burst into the clearing looking tired.
"Your majesty, you disappeared after lunch, I was most worried." He said tiredly.
Lucy smiled apologetically. "I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to spend some time having fun."
The tall elf's face relaxed somewhat. "I do not mean to say you cannot do so. I merely would appreciate it if I were informed when you do so."
Lucy nodded, feeling a little ashamed. "I will, sorry again. I didn't mean to worry you."
Maglor flicked hair out of his eyes. "There is nothing to forgive. Children will act as children should, I hold no grudge for them doing so."
Lucy giggled. "You talk so strangely."
"I am pleased to provide some measure of amusement to her majesty." The elf said indulgently. "Now, if your majesty shall deign to dismiss your jester, I have duties elsewhere."
Lucy giggled again, and was about to do just that when a voice interrupted her.
"Why don't you stay?" A light, breezy voice said.
Lucy turned her head to realise that all the dryads she had been dancing with are now staring at Maglor. It was almost eerie, given their usually flighty nature, to see so many so focused on something.
"I fear that my taste for song and dance diminished many centuries ago." The elf replied. "Please, continue without me."
"Awww, don't be like that." Another dryad wheedled. "Stay. Sing. Dance."
"I said no." A hint of steel began to creep into Maglor's voice.
The dryads pouted and whined, but the elf remained unmoved.
"If your majesty will give me permission?" He repeated to Lucy.
"You know you can just call me Lucy." She said. "Saying your majesty all the time sounds so impersonal."
"Perhaps, but I would not wish for any to believe that I seek to undermine your reign or act as your regent." The elf repeated his arguments. "As such, maximum courtesy is due at all times."
At this point, a dryad was tugging on his elbow despite his best efforts to dislodge her from his limb. Lucy giggled at the face her teacher was making.
"Alright." She said. "Just this once I'll let you leave."
"You have my eternal gratitude." The elf said, voice dry as the desert.
For a time the young queen put that exchange away from her thoughts. She had a busy schedule of lessons and ruling, interrupted by what fun she could squeeze into her day. It would been nigh on a month before she would recall the exchange.
Queen Lucy was walking away from one of her official duties, crown heavy on her head and the beautiful dress feeling suffocating after so long. She was eager to get back to her room and change into something lighter. On her path back, she caught sight of something she rarely saw, a dryad inside a building.
That is not to say that dryads never entered buildings, but they preferred not to, so it was still a sight worth commenting on. The young queen began to follow the dryad as she searched through the castle. Perhaps she should have called out to ask what the dryad was doing, but the young queen found it more entertaining to follow, like it was some kind of game.
Shortly after the game began, the dryad's eyes narrowed on her target and she surged forth to catch them. With speed that few would have believed possible she grabbed and immobilised Maglor and began her dreadful work.
"Come sing with us." She said.
"Námo's piercing gaze tree woman! What part of no and leave me alone is confusing you?" The bard cried.
"I don't want to leave you alone, I want you to come and dance and sing with us." The 'tree woman' pouted.
Lucy watched as this exchange repeated itself a few times. Maglor would insist that he wanted nothing to do with the dryad, and the dryad would reiterate her demand that the elf join her and her sisters in dance and song. The entire time, Maglor would be attempting to extract himself from her embrace as she attempted to keep him there.
Lucy worried at her lip as she watched. Something about the exchange was bothering her. Why was Maglor so against singing and dancing? He'd sung at the celebration after the Witch was defeated, so why was he still avoiding it. As her teacher extracted himself from the dryad, she resolved to speak to him about it.
It took some time to do so. Maglor was very busy, and when he was not, it was still difficult to get him alone. Lucy didn't want to confront him in the middle of a group of people, it might be something personal.
Eventually, she got her chance. Her siblings were busy with various duties around the castle, and she was left alone with Maglor for a lesson. As a result they had spent their time answering questions that Lucy had about minor matters, and generally cultivated a relaxed atmosphere that she saw as her opportunity.
"Why do you refuse to dance or sing with the dryads?" She asked suddenly.
"As I said when I first met them, I am no longer one who finds much joy in singing and dancing." Maglor replied gently.
"But you sang at the victory party, and it seemed like you were having fun there." Lucy pointed out.
The elf fell silent for a short time, before replying, "That was quite different."
"How was it different?" Lucy asked.
"Your majesty…" Maglor protested.
"Sorry, I don't mean to browbeat you about it, or make you because I'm the queen." Lucy explained. "I just think you'd really like it, and it would make the dryads so happy, so I want to know why you're refusing to."
Once again, Maglor fell silent. This silence stretched on; the tall elf's expression impenetrable to the young girl. She did not know what he was thinking, though she though the light in his eyes seemed dimmer than usual. What that could mean, or if it was a trick of her eyes, was a mystery to her.
"They remind me too much of the past." Maglor admitted with a sigh. "Of days before all turned to war and bloodshed. I find that I no longer have it in me to dance beneath the trees as though I had not a care in the world."
Lucy paused, considering her teacher's words. It would not do for Maglor to get the impression she didn't care for his opinion.
"Have you tried it?" She asked carefully.
"When I was young." The elf replied briefly.
"That's not what I mean." Lucy said. "I mean, have you tried it even if you think it won't be fun? I worry about things, and I still enjoy it. Getting lost in the music and just dancing is fun, even if your worries come back later."
"Perhaps, but that is not my key objection." Maglor replied calmly.
Lucy chewed her lip. "How about you come with me?"
The elf raised one dark eyebrow. "How is that different from simply going myself?"
"You don't have to join in." Lucy hurried to clarify. "Just come along, sit nearby and watch. Then, if you feel like it you can join in or maybe just sing a bit. Just to see if there's anything you might like about it."
"You seem rather determined for me to join in this little celebration." Maglor observed.
"I just want people to be happy." Lucy said defiantly. "This way, the dryads stop bothering you, you might have fun and they'll be happy that you're joining in."
The corner of Maglor's mouth twitched upwards. "Well your majesty, you have once again exceeded my expectations. I humbly concede to your demands."
"Are you making fun of me?" Lucy glared suspiciously.
"I would not dare, your majesty." Maglor replied seriously.
"Good." Lucy said, suspicions assuaged. "Why do the dryads like you so much anyway?"
"I have not a clue." The elf sighed.
When the elf's schedule permitted, the young queen brought him to one of her sessions with the dryads. Sure enough, the moment he arrived they were all over him asking him to sing a tune, dance with them or, more usually, both.
"Leave him alone!" Lucy exclaimed in her 'queen voice[1]'. "You're not to bother him."
"Yes, your majesty." The dryads chorused sadly.
Lucy felt bad immediately, and quickly reassured them. "He's just here to watch, and maybe join in later."
The dryads, in their typical flighty way, immediately cheer up and strike up a jaunty tune. Lucy was soon swept up in the leaping and swinging and general merriment that seemed to flow from the dryads like air.
Sometime into their dancing Lucy noticed that one of the dryads was speaking to Maglor. Concerned, she extracted herself from the dance to make sure that her teacher wasn't being bothered. She moved nearby and eavesdropped on their exchange.
"It seems that I must once again thank you for your assistance, noble pine." Maglor said.
"You don't need to thank me, it was my fault you fell in the first place." The dryad replied, shaking her head. "Catching you was the least I could do."
"You have it regardless, I have no doubt that I would have been captured by the wargs, but for your intervention." Maglor inisisted.
"Well, we all had to help fight the Witch however we could." The dryad replied quietly.
"Speaking of which, I must ask how you knew that I was 'on your side' so to speak." Maglor asked. "I would have thought that I would appear more akin to the Witch, given her great height and the paleness of her skin."
"Oh I could never mistake you for one of the Witch's." The dryad said firmly. "You feel like summer."
The elf blinked a few times. "That is quite possibly the strangest compliment I have ever received."
As the dryad giggled, Lucy slipped back into the dance. It was perhaps not what she had hoped for, but it was progress none the less.
It would be several years later that a much older, and much time poorer, Lucy would be returning to the forest, only to be halted by the sound of singing. It was not the dryads' voices, it was too deep and they would never have sung something so bittersweet.
Creeping through the mists that had arisen unseasonably Lucy came across the dryads in a clearing, swaying slowly. It was unusually treelike for their humanoid forms, yet still with a grace and beauty that entranced the young woman.
In the centre of the clearing, a small harp in his lap, Maglor sat, strumming gently. His voice echoed ethereally through the clearing. Lucy grinned; and he'd thought she hadn't been listening to his lectures on long term planning.
"From dread Thrangodrim they flew
Fingon the Valiant and Maedhros the Tall."
[1] Maglor had another name for it when he taught it to her 'Manwë's thunder'. But that made no sense, queen voice worked much better.