Nenluin

Arrival

I woke up as a wheel of our carriage bumped slightly over a little stone. I stifled a yawn which earned a chuckle from the person sitting across from me. I looked up and met the amused face of my brother, Lord Elrond of Rivendell.

"I see you're awake from your slumber, sister. We shall be arriving soon in the Woodland realm," he said, still looking out of the carriage. His words made me roll my eyes slightly. "Why did I have to come again?" Elrond looked at me glaring, but he wasn't really mad with me. "Now don't be rude, Eluriel. King Thranduil is a good friend of mine and you both haven't met, though you're very similar. Besides that, you would have put Rivendell into a chaos, little sister." I glared at him playfully. "I'm only a thousand years younger than you, muindor."

The sound of hooves besides us, stopped our bickering. "Excuse me my lady, my lord," a guard bowed his head towards us from his horse. Elrond nodded for him to continue. "We've entered the Woodlandrealm and will be soon reaching the royal palace of his majesty King Thranduil. Also the Lady Erwyn wished for me to tell you both to behave yourself once you arrive." The guard seemed slightly uncomfortable telling us this but I smiled warmly at him. "Thank you for telling us Firavan, I'm sure my brother and I'll manage." I often use the names of the guards to not seem as stoic. Firavan smiled relieved and rode back to the rest.

"So, muindor ," I addressed Elrond again, "is there something I need to know about the King before I meet him?" My brother thought about it shortly. "You will be meeting his son, Legolas. He is a well trained archer as is the King. Since you are also a very good warrior I'm sure there will be the possibility of a match between you. Try not to annoy him as you do with me, he can be short tempered sometimes." I nodded and thought about this new won information a while until our wagon came to an abrupt halt. I glanced at my brother and gripped my bow, before exiting the carriage. Spiders and Orcs were not a rare sight in these woods. The guards were on high alert and when something moved in the trees I aimed my arrow above me. Then we were sorrounded by five elves. Four of them were male the other one an elleth with red hair, it resembled mine yet its dark colour showed that she was one of the Silvan elves. The blonde haired ellon stepped forward.

"I apologize for this commotion, we thought you were spiders or such, Lord Elrond." I looked behind me and saw my brother stepping out of the carriage.

"For warriors you do seem to have trouble at telling the difference between us and spiders," I mocked.

My brother glared at me and the ellon chuckled. "You must be Lady Eluriel. I am Legolas Greenleaf, son of King Thranduil. This is the captain of the guard, Tauriel," he motioned to the red haired elleth who nodded at me. Legolas turned back to my brother, " Allow us to escort you, my ada is already waiting for you." Elrond nodded and invited Legolas into our carriage. "If you'll excuse me my prince, I would like to walk and have a word with Tauriel," I said to him. He smiled at me and bowed, "Of course my lady".

Tauriel seemed surprised that I didn't want to drive in the carriage. "Won't this walk be uncomfortable for you, my Lady?" she inquired. "Please call me Eluriel or El. I'm not overly fond of travelling in carriages. If I weren't a noble born lady, I'm sure that I would be in the royal guard of Rivendell." Tauriel's eyes beamed at that. "I'm so happy to hear that. No offense my la-, El, but I thought you were going to be another snobbish elleth visiting court." I laughed at that and shook my head. "By the valar, no. I know exactly what you mean. I really look forward to get to know you better Tauriel, perhaps we could train together once in a while?" "I would love to, El. I must say you do remind me a lot of my King. You both have the same aura around you," she told me. Before I could answer, Legolas and Elrond got out of the carriage and we halted in front of a gate.

"Come, my friends. My father is expecting you," Legolas led us towards the bridge, where someone was waiting for us, rather impatient as it seemed. Elrond went first and I could hear only a few words, when Tauriel pushed me forwards slightly. "Allow me to introduce you to the Lady of Rivendell, Eluriel, ada," Legolas said and I bowed shortly. "It is a pleasure to meet you your highness," when my head moved up again I was met with ice blue eyes. It seemed like the King was staring into my soul, but his cold demeanour didn't intimidate me, I was used to it from my father. He had long silk hair flowing over his shoulders, such as Legolas's. He wore a silver robe with a platinum cloak. His crown was ornated with little orange berries, as to honour the upcoming Iavas, the fall and the end of Laer, the summer. While I was studying him, he seemed to do the same to me. I felt his gaze move shamelessly over my figure. I suddenly realized I was not wearing a long, flowy dress, but my tight warrior clothes. Eventually he moved his eyes back to my emerald ones. We continued to stare at eachother until he spoke up.

"The pleasure is all mine, hiril nin ." Someone snorted behind us and we turned around. Tauriel remained in her stoic face, because of her post, yet Legolas and my brother smirked at us. "Ion nin, don't be rude," Thranduil scolded him. Then he turned to me again, this time seemingly bored by my appearance, yet he stayed polite. "I will make sure your things will be carried to your room, my lady." "Thank you for the offer, but I rather carry my weapons besides me," I said coldly. "Very well, Legolas will help you, Lord Elrond and I have things to discuss," with a turn he and my brother disappeared out of our sight into the palace. "Come my lady, we'll help you settle in," Legolas smiled kindly at me. Tauriel narrowed her eyes at his gesture towards me and I couldn't help but to chuckle lightly at the obvious tension between the two young ellons.

When I got my two longswords, my daggers and my bow we walked through the palace. It was beautiful, with high glass cealings, letting the sunlight shine through them. Everything was connected through wooden bridges and there were beautiful carved columns. Legolas was walking ahead of us, so I used my chance to talk to Tauriel unnoticed by him. "So are you going to tell me the deal between you and the prince?" Tauriel nearly stumbled at my question and looked at me rigid. "What deal?" "Please Tauriel do not pretend with me." "Even if I liked him, the King would never allow his son to be involved with a lowborn Silvan elleth. Legolas seems also far more intrigued with you," she said that part bitterly. "Don't fret Tauriel, he could be my child, as I'm guessing you're both not over 2000 years old. Besides that he is not my type." Tauriel looked a bit relieved at that and I let the topic slide for now.

Legolas stopped in front of us and motioned to a door. "This is your room, the rest of your things will be brought here. We shall see eachother soon." he bowed his head and walked away. I smiled at Tauriel and opened the door.

Word count: 1337