Daughter Of Lórien || Book 1||

Ch 33 ~ The Dwarf's Departure

I awake to a sharp knock against wood. Blinking open my eyes, I immediately notice the thick, green blanket draped over me and the familiar armchair I lay curled up in. A quick scan of my surroundings tells me that sometime last night, someone must have brought me back to my rooms at the palace. Watery sunlight trickles in from the slightly parted curtains, as if someone had hastily shut them last night.

Another sharp knock snaps my attention to the main door of my rooms and the impatient caller waiting behind it. Rubbing sleep from my eyes and running a hand through my golden hair that had either been unbound by someone last night or had simply come loose as I slept, I stiffly get up, still dressed in my training leathers from last night and open the door.

A pale face with cold, grey eyes greets me.

"Lady Celebríel," Nëniel says, her voice clipped and authoritative.

I raise a brow. Clearly not here on a friendly visit then.

"I am glad to see that you have safely returned from your adventure in the forest yesterday." Her voice is devoid of the sentiment, her calculating eyes remaining emotionless. "Even if, according to an order issued by King Thranduil and meant to be enforced by the captain of his royal guard, it should have never happened."

I think back to two days past- has it really only been two days?- to my meeting with the king and the rules I had broken since, only to end up back where I started. And then back to earlier that day, to my outburst of anger and frustration, wrongfully directed at the very elf-captain now standing in front of me.

I mentally cringe. No wonder she was being so cold.

I raise my eyes up to hers. "Nëniel, I'm sor-"

Her steel eyes flash. "I am not her for an apology, my lady." The title is thrown from her lips like a blade. "As captain I have more important matters to discuss."

The blade hits its mark.

I blink. The shock leaves me vulnerable, and a dull ache spreads in my chest where her words had struck, sharp as knives. Her face is completely blank, eyes like cold rings of steel, and somehow, that is worse than finding them full of disdain.

She continues, either unaware of my shock or simply unbothered by it.

"I'm here on an order of business. The dwarf you brought with you cannot stay here."

I shake out of my daze. "What?"

"The king returns with his army in a few days time. The last thing he would want to see is another dwarf, this one at leisure in his kingdom."

I stare at her, her words spinning furiously in my mind, trying to process them. "But... you cant kick her out, she has just given birth. She'll need sometime to regain strength to travel, make sure her twins are healthy-"

"That is not the concern of a captain of the guard, Lady Celebríel. Nor is it any concern of a diplomatic visitor from Rivendell."

Her clipped response send a white-hot spark shooting through my bloodstream, my vision flickering red. The ridiculous laws of this realm have already stopped me from seeing my mother, from making sure she was alright. The least I could do was extend that same healer's experience to Dís.

"I am a diplomatic visitor who also happens to be a healer," I retort, a soft snarl beginning to creep into my voice. "I brought her here. I'm the healer that successfully delivered two lives last night and saved the third. So forgive me, captain, but I will not let you or the prejudiced orders of your king now condemn those lives to a possible death on the road."

Silence settles around us, strung taunt in the air between our faces as I hold her hard stare. My heart thunders beneath my chest, fueling the flames beneath my skin, but across from me, Nëniel seems to be made of pure ice. No emotion colors her face, no anger, no scorn shines in those steely eyes.