Note: School kicks your rear like nothing else LOL! Hey guys, I'm back. Thank you for all the love on my other stories. Here's a new multi part story for you guys. It involves my OC, Eruanna, whose age is equivalent to a fifteen year old human in this one. For thise of you who are new, she's kinda like Daenerys Targaryen (yes, she has dragons). Takes place prior to the Duology. Read more to find out! Disclaimer: I do not own Middle Earth or its characters, the property of Tolkien. I only own my OCs who may have the same names as yours (apologies in advance)

Trigger Warnings: Mentions of puberty and menstrual periods

Chapter I

Mourning

Eruanna Úlumiel arose with a sigh. Getting up was the last thing she wanted to do. Normally, the Princess was already out of bed, on her way to greet everyone. But during this time of year, there was nothing to really be excited about.

This time of year marked the anniversary of Lady Celebrian's capture, torment, and eventual journey West. Eruanna had heard much about her maternal grandmother who'd sailed long before she was born. She'd seen portraits of the departed Lady of Imladris all over Rivendell and her statue in the gardens, commemorating her even though she wasn't dead. She was just in a land far away from her bereaved family.

Eruanna had never met either of her grandmothers. Her paternal grandmother, Queen Itarille of the Woodland Realm had been slaughtered by orcs when Eruanna's father, Legolas, was just a child. Similar to her maternal grandfather, Lord Elrond, her paternal grandfather, King Thranduil, had a statue of his wife placed at the entrance to his realm.

Eruanna didn't know how her grandfathers managed to live without their spouses for so long but they just did. They lived for their children. They lived for her.

Only this time of year, Elrond would be an emotional wreck.

The Princess hissed as she felt a crippling stomach cramp. She felt something wet and sticky between her legs. Reaching in between her legs, she felt the liquid on her fingers. With mounting dread, she pulled her fingers out of the area and saw the blood. Cursing beneath her breath, she called, "Falathren!"

"Ah, hiril nin," her faithful maid entered the room with a gracious smile. Falathren had been Eruanna's maid ever since she came to live with her maternal family as a young girl. In her younger days, she'd been a maid for Celebrian. Her dark hair was pulled into a long, neat braid, and her green eyes twinkled. Just then, she saw the blood on Eruanna's hand. "It's that time of the month, hmm?"

Eruanna nodded. "Yes."

"I shall gather the needed supplies and have a bath fixed for you then," Falathren said with a curtsy. "Are you sure you do not want me to tell anyone? This isn't something a young girl should go through by herself."

"I'm not going through this by myself. I have you," came the response. Falathren smiled. She loved the Lady of Imladris like a daughter and the fondness the two had for each other had only grown since the day the two of them met.

"Still, your daeradar would want you to-," Falathren began.

"Don't worry about me, Falathren," Eruanna said. "I'll be fine. They don't need to know."

Falathren looked unconvinced but Eruanna gave her a pleading look. "Please don't tell them, Falathren," she pleaded. The maid sighed and bowed her head.

"Very well. I shall honor your wishes, my lady. Now head to the bathing chamber. I'll see you there."

Falathren knew why the Princess would not tell any of her family members during this time of year, the House of Elrond round grieved the loss and departure of Lady Celebrian. The princess allowed her family to grieve and during this time she preferred to deal with problems by herself. Thus hyper independence had developed ever since the princess began to understand the sad circumstances surrounding these time. Whatever the House of Elrond felt, so did the whole valley.

Falathren didn't like this habit of the princess and thought that her family ought to know. Eruanna's periods were far more painful than normal and many herbal medicines would be needed just to help her through the pain. Yet, she knew her loyalty towards the princess was more important than her personal feelings so she folded her hands and kept silent.

Eruanna Úlumiel shifted around uncomfortably as she stood under the sun. Her period had just come and she felt like she was bleeding to death and there would be no blood left in her body. She nocked an arrow in her bow and aimed at the target. Squinting her eyes to see the target, she let out a breath and released the arrow. Unfortunately for her, it didn't strike the target in the center.

"Try again," came Glorfindel's voice. Eruanna growled to herself. Normally, she loved him, but this time? She couldn't wait for him to shut up.

Eruanna nocked another arrow and readied her bow. This time it would hit! She felt it in her bones. Letting out a breath, she released the arrow. Yet, it didn't hit the target. Eruanna let out another growl of frustration. A pang of pain struck her in the stomach and she clenched her middle.

"Are you alright, little star?" Glorfindel asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Eruanna grunted, nocking another arrow. "I'm fine." She nocked and released another arrow and finally it hit the target right in the center. Glorfindel grinned and clapped but stopped when he noticed the Princess's normally cheerful demeanor was still sour.

"That's enough for today," Glorfindel concluded.

"Great," Eruanna said, stiffly. She turned around and began to head back. "We have a council meeting today, do we not?" she tossed the words over her shoulder. As the heir to three elven realms, council meetings had been packed into her schedule to help her understand the politics of elven culture.

"We do, Eruanna. But are you sure you're alright? You've been clutching your stomach a lot."

"Funny how you noticed it and yet no one else did," Eruanna responded. Glorfindel's brows furrowed at the Princess's apparent moodiness.

"Are you alright?" he asked again.

Eruanna looked at him. "I can assure you I'm fine. I'll see you at the council meeting."

Eruanna changed into her riding clothes. Walking out of her room, a servant noticed her and bowed. "You have a council meeting today, no?" he asked.

Eruanna gave him a small smile. "I do, yes. But I need a good ride now. I just need to get away from everything right now."

She walked past him and outside where five elemental dragons stood there, waiting. The dragons were rapidly getting bigger and some joked that they would soon be too big for the valley. Ceveniel, the largest one, was the first to acknowledge the Princess.

"Hello," she murmured, stroking Ceveniel's turquoise scales.

Upon seeing Ceveniel getting petted, the other dragons, Sûlion, Naurion, Faroniel and Helegiel, surrounded Eruanna, all of them demanding her affection. Eruanna chuckled softly and gave it to them, petting each of their scales. On the outside, the dragons were fierce and brutal, yet towards Eruanna, the elf who had practically raised them, they were nothing but teddy bears.

"I need a ride. What say we fly today, hmm?" Eruanna asked them. Ceveniel lowered her right wing, allowing Eruanna to mount her. Eruanna mounted the large dragon and once she was settled, Ceveniel shot up into the air.

Ever since she first rode her dragons, Eruanna had a habit of doing this not just when she was bored, but when she needed to get away from the stresses of being a Lady or Princess. Alone time in the air with her dragons allowed her to think. To be free and experience some form of happiness. In Imladris, there was no such happiness during this time. Eruanna couldn't stand it.

Eruanna let out a delightful squeal as Ceveniel banked right and Faroniel zipped past them. The golden dragon looked back at Ceveniel, as if challenging her to a race. Sûlion, the black beast, cut in between his sisters, flying straight up into the sky before descending back down and doing a full loop, before bumping into Naurion.

Naurion got annoyed with his brother and blew flames at Sûlion. Whilst his body was unfazed by this, Sûlion didn't appreciate his brother's anger. Both the dragons had fiery tempers and before anyone knew it, a fire spewing match ensued between the two.

"Both of you! Stop it before you burn something!" Eruanna called out, panicked. Valar forbid they burned something. Or someone.

Thankfully, the dragons obeyed her and stopped. Helegiel came in between her brothers and made a noise, as if she was making them declare truce.

"Thank you, Helegiel," Eruanna sighed with relief. Just then, she looked at the sun and panicked. She was late for the meeting.

"Ceveniel. Take me to the ground. I have a meeting I must attend," the lady spoke to her dragon with urgency.

Ceveniel let out a rumble of protest but did as she was bid, landing near the Homely House. Eruanna dismounted and gave her dragons one last smile before racing inside.

"You are late."

The voice of Lord Elrond contained a hint of irritation as he looked at his only grandchild.

Eruanna was still dressed in her riding clothes (she had no time to change) and her black hair was a bit of a mess. Eruanna felt all eyes on her. Her uncles, Elladan and Elrohir, looked slightly amused, a rare sight this time of year. Her mother, Hiriel, the eldest child of Lord Elrond, looked at her with concern.

"Goheno nin, hir nin," Eruanna responded with a bow of her head. She went and sat next to her mother. Hiriel stared at her daughter. It was unlike her to be late. Eruanna was normally very punctual. But the heiress of Imladris knew that nothing was normal this time of year. Her brothers were quiet and reserved. Her father was more easily angered. Her sister (who was living with their grandparents) was also more on the quiet side.

The mood of the House of Elrond reflected on their people and everyone felt the tension.

As the meeting went on, Eruanna squirmed in her seat as not-so-pleasant images of blood filling her pad crossed her mind. She tried to get the images out of her head but it was of no use.

"...our border guards report…"

She felt like she was dying.

"...orcs haven't dared to…."

Another cramp hit her hard.

"Eruanna?"

The Dragon Princess looked up and felt all eyes of the council members on her. Her grandfather looked at her expectantly and she sat up straight, clearing her throat.

"Pardon me, hir nin? What was it that you said?"

"You didn't listen, did you?" he questioned her. When her head sank in shame, Elrond sighed and nodded to himself. "Of course you didn't, " he muttered quietly, under his breath. "Never mind. Hiriel, any thoughts?"

Eruanna felt someone had punched her in the gut. Her mother, Hiriel Elrondiel, gave her a strange look before answering Elrond. Other council members began to whisper amongst themselves. Elves had amazing hearing but Eruanna didn't need her ears to know who and what they were speaking about. How could the dutiful Princess and Lady lose her focus during a council session, let alone arrive late? Most of the members were male, so obviously they wouldn't know what it was like to have periods whilst most of your family ignored you.

Every month, especially on the anniversary marking the day Celebrian sailed West, the Homely House saw a shadow of grief and anger overcome the ruling family of Imladris. It put everyone in a dull mood, especially Elrond and his family. It was just like the death anniversary of Eruanna's other grandmother, Itarille, which was why she never visited her father, Legolas, and grandfather, Thranduil, in Mirkwood during that time.

During this time, Eruanna would just end up embarrassing herself or getting into an argument with a family member. As she got older and with her majority day fast approaching, the latter became more of a frequent occurrence. But what was worse was that during these days, her family members barely looked at her. And whenever they did, a fight seemed to be the result.

"This meeting has been concluded. Thank you all for attending."

As soon as Elrond's voice rang in her ears, Eruanna practically jumped out of her chair and left, again clutching her middle. She didn't need the company of other elves now.

"Eruanna!" Glorfindel caught up to her.

Eruanna sighed and looked at him.

"You're clutching your middle. Enough lying to me. Tell me: are you alright? Do we need to go to the healers?"

Eruanna was about to lie again but Glorfindel could see right through her. Making sure they were alone in the halls, Eruanna leaned into his ear and whispered: "I'm on my period."

Glorfindel looked at her. "How long?"

Eruanna winced. "Day one."

"And you've told no one? You're usually quite vocal about it," Glorfindel wasn't kidding. Eruanna's hormones were always out of whack during that time of the month and she would always let any elf she interacted with know. She'd inherited the infamous temper of her paternal grandfather and when she went on a rant, no one got out without suffering a few counts of emotional damage.

Eruanna narrowed her eyes. "Falathren knows. Don't tell anyone anything. I don't need them to be bothered."

"What? Eruanna, your family will want to know!"

"No!" Eruanna hissed through the pain. "No. Please, Glorfindel. Promise me. Don't tell anyone. I'll get through this. Just. Don't. Tell. Promise me."

"Why?"

"You know them. At this time of year, they're grieving. They don't need anything else on their shoulders. You've seen them. My uncles aren't playing their stupid pranks. My mother doesn't come to watch our training sessions. And daeradar walks around looking like he's going to cry any minute. Or explode. Or both. I do this to respect their grief."

Glorfindel's heart broke at the last statement. What happened to her maternal grandmother wasn't her fault and she didn't have to suffer for it. He pulled the elleth into a hug and she wept on his shoulder for a few minutes.

"You will never be a burden to us. You are our Everstar, Eruanna," the Balrog-Slayer spoke.

"Just keep this period a secret. Please? For me?"

Glorfindel looked at her desperate expression and conceded. "Fine. But if they find out: one, they didn't hear it from me and two, you must protect me when they figure out that I knew and kept it to myself."

"Deal", Eruanna nodded before running off.

Elvish

Goheno nin: Forgive me

Hir nin: My Lord

Hiril nin: My lady

Note: Thank for reading! Leave a like, follow, and reviews. They're much appreciated. Also, check out my short story, Of Oaths and Crowns!