A/N: Enjoy~ I just realized I mistaked Orophin for Oropher. Anyway, in this story the name Oropher = Orophin in the Tolkeins series.

Part 2: Of Blue and Light

Chapter 21: Quiet Days in Lothlorien

(Part II)

It had been a week since the two brothers had returned to the talan. It took them less than three minutes to make a mess of what Rae and Haldir had spent a whole day maintaining. Haldir was back at the borders, while Oropher and Rumil were back to socializing with their friends. They had dinner late tonight due to the terrible hangover all of them had from yesterday's wine, which was too sweet for Rae's taste. Rumil was by the river, scrubbing the plates and occasionally breaking a goblet or two. Oropher was in the kitchen, cleaning the floor and occasionally spraying water on his brother. Rae was summoning Lizard through their bond with a bowl of grapes.

"I prefer it when Rumil feeds me,"the Ikran said, digging into the bowl.

"One more word and I'll tell Oropher you were the one to knock him into the pond the other day and that you don't like it when he feeds you,"Rae said, giving her best dagger eyes.

"Speaking of feeding, has the family been feeding you well?"Lizard asked.

"Yeah, of course. Why ask?"Rae replied, confused.

Lizard scratched its chin, smearing grape juice on its nose. "You're, urgh, a bit shorter than I remembered, and, urghhh—"

"If you say fatter, I'm going to sue you,"Rae dared.

"No! You're not fat,"the Ikran said, circling her and observing her body. "Your tail is a bit shorter as well, and you're, urgh, less blue."

"Less blue?!"Rae asked incredulously.

"Yeah, like your skin is turning more, urgh, humanish or elvish. I don't know."

"That's bad. Wait, why am I believing what you said? I'm going to buy a mirror tomorrow."Rae groaned. The three brothers she lived with never saw the need to purchase a mirror for the talan, obviously. Elves always looked the same.

"Hey, I wonder what the hobbits are doing at this time. Have they departed yet?"Rae asked.

"Nope, there's still two and a half months to go."

Lizard yawned. "Well, it certainly feels like forever here in Lothlórien. I could sleep on that golden branch until—"

A horn blew in the distance.

Both froze.

Oropher and Rumil's heads snapped up, recognizing the sound. They rushed to Rae, urgency in their eyes.

"That's the urgent summons to the border,"Oropher said, grabbing his armor and weapons.

"There's a serious ambush. All warriors must go,"Rumil added, securing his bow and quiver. Rae watched as Oropher and Rumil mounted their steeds and rode swiftly towards the border, fully armed and ready for battle. She felt a knot of worry tighten in her chest.

Wait, why does this sound so familiar? Yes, she had done the same for the hobbits!

Rae quickly geared up, grabbing her weapons from her room and mounting Lizard. "Let's go, Lizard. We can't let the two morons go alone."

"Two morons plus a grump,"the Ikran chirped, launching into the sky and following the path the two brothers had taken.

A massive troop of probably the ugliest creatures Rae had ever seen swarmed the border of Lothlórien as the elves fought against them.

"Yuck, how long have these creatures been away from soap? I can smell their odor even up here,"Lizard complained, crinkling its nose.

Rae's eyes scanned the battlefield and immediately spotted three familiar golden heads fighting side by side—Oropher, Rumil, and Haldir. Drawing her bow, she took aim.

Amidst the chaos, Haldir's eyes caught Rae's. His expression turned to one of anger. "Rae, what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in the talan!"

In response, she shot the foul creature just behind the Marchwarden.

Soon, she found herself running out of arrows. Under normal circumstances, her father would have ordered her not to come down from the sky during a battle, and she would have seven packs of arrows—three under each wing of Lizard and one on her back. But, she only had one quiver with her.

Without hesitation, Rae leaped from Lizard's back, landing gracefully on the ground.

"About time you joined us, sis!"Oropher shouted, cutting down an orc with a grin.

"We could use all the help we can get, even from our blueberry-eating sis!"Rumil added, his bowstring singing as he fired arrow after arrow.

Blueberry-eating sis? Rae thought.

She slashed through the orc ranks, her blades cutting through armor and flesh with ease. Na'vi blades were crafted for piercing hard materials like skulls as thick as coconut shells. Her height only added to her advantage as she sent the orcs flying with every strike.

Lizard dashed from its hiding spot in the tree, flashing its earthly-yellow wings like new ice. "This is just like one of those UFO catcher machines in human children's stores!"Its strong claws grasped four creatures and tossed them into the air.

"This one has the awesome Ariana Grande hairstyle, gonna watch a makeup channel!"

"Oh, this one is a nice beach-blond like Barbie! Love ya Ken!"

"Roar! Dinosaur! Wow, this one is definitely George. When am I getting a Peppa?"

"Gûlpuz!" Cursed one of the creatures, its foul voice rasping.

"I damn hate it when someone talks behind my back!"Lizard yelled, picking it up again to crash it into another. "I know a curse word when I hear one, you dumb-ass!"

At one point, Rae noticed a warrior clad in the fanciest armor, the intricate patterns overwhelmed by a group of the creatures.

With inhuman speed, she was there, gleaning the last two of the pack.

"Hannon le,"the warrior breathed.

"Drive them back!"Haldir shouted. "Do not let them escape!"

Rae looked around at the aftermath. Quite a number of soldiers lay in pools of blood, while others could barely stand.

"Quick! Get the injured to the healing chambers!"the nicely-robed warrior ordered. "Burn the bodies!"

Thankfully, all three brothers only had minor cuts on their skin, no need to visit the healing chamber. Picking up their weapons, the three waved at Rae, weary looks on their faces. Rae started to head toward them when someone called behind her, "Lady Ra'evani, may I have a word with you?"

It was the nicely-robed warrior.

Rae motioned for the three to go without her. "Go dump your dirty clothes in that basket by the bathroom door for the hundredth time, and I'll catch up later!"

Rumil gave her a better-tell-us-everything-when-you-come-back look and turned away.

"Mae govannen,"the warrior greeted, his voice carrying a tone of respect. "I am Lord Celeborn. I wished to thank you personally for saving my life on the battlefield. Your bravery was truly commendable."

Rae bowed her head slightly, a gesture she learned from Haldir when he was absolutely shocked by her greetings in Na'vi. "It was an honor, Lord Celeborn. I only did what was necessary."

Celeborn paused, clearly pleased by her response. "Rae, I would like to extend an invitation to you. Would you consider joining the Lothlórien warrior force? Your talents would be a great asset to our defenses."

She took a deep breath. "Yes. That would be an honor."

It turns out, Haldir was actually her mentor in navigating her way as a Lothlórien warrior. He was just as patient as Nataya, introducing Rae to his fellow wardens and taking the time to request several packs of arrows that would fit the long Na'vi bow. Oropher and Rumil were great help as well. Most of the social parties they had brought her to were attended by friends from the army, so most elves did not react strongly when they first saw her.

"Any friend of Oropher and Rumil is a friend of ours,"a male elf grinned up at her.

"Oh really? I don't remember you befriending all my friends,"Rumil teased.

"I don't think you can remember all your friends, since you have so many,"Rae remarked, earning laughter among the group of warriors positioning themselves in the archery field.

"Only the pretty ones,"Oropher winked, flipping his golden hair.

Unlike the Na'vi warrior tribe she used to reside with, the Lothlórien soldiers were more soft-spoken, paying great attention to manners and the comfort of others. Merely a week into the life of the Lothlórien patrol team, Lizard had become a star among all. With Rae's guidance, these playful males began to approach the Ikran and even ride on its back. Even Haldir the grump went for a ride around the forest, which was much more convenient than riding a horse among the trees (though he insisted otherwise). The Marchwarden was not stern or grumpy; he was simply nervous to meet new people, a trait thankfully not passed to his two brothers.

For the first time since she came to Middle-earth, she felt that it was her home.

The Golden Wood was her home.

And home was where Oropher and Rumil called her their "blueberry sis".

Home was where Haldir took her to the archery range after tidying the talan, and the two of them taking shots after shots until there was no more light.

Home was where the ellons in their team patted her on the back and laughed at a joke Lizard made and Rae repeated to them.

"I got the mirror and ruler,"Haldir said, setting down two large packages.

"And where is my lemon tart?"Rumil demanded.

"And my strawberry pie?"Oropher added.

But Rae's attention was on the mirror.

"Hey, what's wrong?"Haldir noticed the sudden change in her expression.

Rae stared at her reflection in the mirror. Lizard was right; there was something off about her face that she couldn't name. Her skin was turning less blue.

Less blue?

"Haldir, can you measure my height?"she asked, pointing at the ruler, not trusting either of the two brothers to do the work in case they broke something.

"I'll get a chair,"Oropher volunteered, flinging one across the room.

Holding the ruler over her head, Haldir announced, "8'7''."

'What?'

'You're 8'7''. What's wrong?'The three stared back at her blankly.

Rae took a deep breath. "I have grown shorter."

"Grown shorter? How is that possible?"

"How tall were you before?"Haldir asked.

"10'1'',"Rae groaned, suddenly feeling very small.

"Hey, I think her skin is turning less blue!"Rúmil observed.

"Yeah, maybe soon our blueberry sis will be just like us! The perfect Lembas triangle!"Oropher added.

"I don't mind being the Lembas rectangle if Rae's skin turns just like us!"

"The Lembas rectangle? That sounds so lame! We should rule Haldir out."

Haldir, who had been extremely serious, commented thoughtfully, "Is the height reduction due to the spring in Lothlórien? Besides, Lórien people are not as tall as those in Mirkwood, and Rivendell elves are even shorter."

"It could be,"Oropher said. "But no matter what, you're still our sis."

Rúmil opened his arms dramatically. "That's so good, I'm gonna cry."

Rae pulled the three brothers into a hug and whispered, "Family."

Lizard had become, not the fierce Ikran, but Lizard the taxi or Lizard the bus. They were used to picking up all the warriors in their team on their way to patrol and dropping them off at their homes. It had been almost two and a half months since they first arrived in Lothlórien, and both thought they would never want to leave the golden wood.

This week had been quite uneventful—no orc bands, no intruders, patrol was almost just a walk around the borders. Haldir was having a meeting with the fellow team leaders. Oropher and Rumil were off in the gardens, fooling around with ellyth. Even Lizard was napping on his usual branch after a hearty meal of a large turkey the four had hunted.

With nothing else to do, Rae chose a tree by the riverside and sat down as the sun slid down the horizon. It had been two months since she last connected her neural queue to anything, so the tendrils responded immediately as they reached for the bark.

She closed her eyes.

A swirl of emotion began to seep into her consciousness—worry, determination. Rae couldn't identify the source, but the emotions were powerful and unfamiliar, definitely not hers.

Then her vision flickered, revealing a few hills planted within a lush plain. As if someone were turning their head, she looked back at eight figures walking toward her.

The fellowship, she gasped.

Gandalf was leading the group, his staff in hand. Aragorn and Gimli followed, constantly surveying the surroundings. Sam was walking by Frodo, the two hobbits looking out for each other, the former carrying a pan in his hands. Then Merry and Pippin, who seemed to complain about their empty stomachs as Gandalf gave them a glare. Boromir trailed behind, watching their backs. However, there was something unsettling about that man—something greedy and unfaithful.

She couldn't see Legolas.

Rae inwardly smacked herself for having such a thought. Why would she ever care for that arrogant, self-centered, deceitful, rude princeling elf scum?

She withdrew her neural queue, her mind still processing what she had experienced.

Then she heard a voice, which she immediately recognized as Lady Galadriel's: "Come, child. We have much to discuss. It is time you look into the Mirror."