Your Hands Are Cold

Stranger Turned Friend

The next three days was the same as before: work, work and more work. I was startled by the sound of the knock on my door, because I hadn’t exited my chambers since the day King Thranduil gave me his requests. Faelwen greeted me with a cheery smile, and then asked me, “Would you like to eat supper with us, with the other palace guards? There was a surplus in the food supplies, and Prince Legolas invited a few of the palace staff for a feast,”

 “Is King Thranduil going to attend the feast, or Prince Legolas?”

 “No,” replied Faelwen. “King Thranduil will dine with his son, of course. As palace staff we are not to disturb the king and his son during their meals, and the feast is only given for palace staff only,”

 “Yes, sorry, I forgot. I’m afraid I can’t go, Faelwen. The king gave me a lot of work to do and I have such little time,”

 “Come on, Maeneth,” urged Faelwen. “You look like you need some time to enjoy yourself, and I know you haven’t met most of the palace staff yet, so I shall introduce you to them. And I know you haven’t ate much for the past few days, so the feast will do you good,”

 “I suppose so,” I said. “But what am I going to wear?”

 “It’s not a formal feast, and you can wear anything you want. Come on, let’s go now, we’re going to be late and Maerwen is going to gobble everything up before we do,” Faelwen took my hand and we walked quickly towards a small room beside the kitchens. I heard this is where the palace staff usually dines together at special occasions, but I’ve only passed the room a few times and never entered it.

 Once I entered the small dining room I heard the joyous laughter of the Sindarin elves, after drinking their glasses of wine, whilst a few of them ate their hearty meals. Two male elves were dancing by the fireplace to a tune played by a female elf with a wooden musical instrument. I’ve never encountered such a happy, and joyous situation before, except maybe during the town feasts that King Thranduil usually holds for special occasions.

 A few eyes turn to look at me, but I quickly turn to look at Faelwen, who was now dragging me to sit next to a male elf who remained silent, unlike most of the others. His hair was the deepest brown I had ever seen, almost black even. I took notice of his cold behavior, and I resisted the urge from trying to converse with him. I took a sip of the wine and dug into my meal. I took a small piece sfrom the chicken roast and a small bowl of the soup, along with some of the bread and I took a large portion of the salad laid out before me.

 I ate quicker than I thought, because I didn’t notice that my stomach had been rumbling and crying out for food or the past three days. I saw Maerwen and Faelwen who were sitting by and laughing and giggling at the two elves that were dancing. There were only a few females present, while the rest were stoic palace guards.

 It was an awkward situation that made me feel great discomfort, because as everyone were having a wonderful time; I sat here and didn’t say a word. Perhaps they didn’t want to have a conversation with me yet because I was a new member of staff, and they didn’t possess enough information yet about me. Well, there isn’t much to know about me anyway. The palace guard beside me kept drinking his wine and mumbling something to him, which was highly inaudible due to the chatter and laughter in the room.

 “Enjoyed your meal?” he asked me. He didn’t look at me when he asked the question.

 “Yes,” I said quietly, as I fumbled with the fabrics of my dress under the table.

 “Aren’t you the new girl that Prince Legolas brought in? People have been saying things about you, you know,”

 “What things?” I said, now curious.