The Silverleaf (LOTR Fanfiction)

In the Halls of Emyn Duir

                  Yávië (Harvest/Autumn) 3rd month, year 1101 TA

The tension still filled the room minutes after the elvenking had spoken. He stood with his back to Rîniel, erect and still.

"Is there anything else, Lady Rîniel?"

She released a breath she hasn't realized she had been holding. "No-yes! I am to inquire after the queen's health."

The king turned around again, almost looking bemused if not for the hardness of his features. "Are you? Or are you not inquiring just for yourself?"

She blushed. "Perhaps bit of both, aran nin."

"Ah. She is well." He clapped his hands and the guards re-opened the door on the other side. "The thing is, Lady Rîniel, is that now you are here, there is the question of where you will stay. I cannot throw you out, for that will be rude, and an insult to your heritage and station." His voice continued to drip sarcasm as he continued. "I cannot hold you in my dungeons, for they are entirely unsuitable to a lady of refutable character. And yet, in these times, it would be dangerous to house you in the guest halls." He frowned. "So the only option remaining is to find you a suite in the royal quarters."

She only stared at him, flabbergasted.

"Very well then. Since you do not ask for one or another of those options, I shall do what I see fit." He addressed the guards. "Take Lady Rîniel of Lorién to the rooms of my father."

She gasped a little. "My king, I am not worthy of that honor."

"No, you are not." He looked away. "But it is the only option. We do not just house anyone in the royal quarters. Consider it a debt to be paid, however you choose to pay it. This fortress has been here as long as time can tell. I only enlarged it. My father kept a large part of his garrisons here, and now it holds the entire center of Greenwood." He waved her away, almost as if he had suddenly lost interest in her and the forged letter. "Now go, Lady Rîniel. I have business to attend to that will not wait."

She turned to leave but the elvenking called out sternly to the guards, his voice slicing the air. "Do not harm her in any way. She is worthy of your respect and your deepest loyalties." He sighed wearily, as if he didn't want to say what came next. "Treat her almost as if she was one of ours. If any harm comes to her I will surely hear of it."

"Yes my king." The guards echoed back and the door swung shut behind them, leaving Rîniel with a tiny smile playing about her lips.

•-•

It seemed they walked deeper into the halls for hours upon hours, though it probably wasn't more than mere minutes. The guards were silent and stern, keeping their hands to the hilts of their swords at all times, their eyes moving around the walkways constantly. They seemed so strange compared to the maethyr she had come with, for those ellyn were silent when they wanted to be, but loud otherwise. These guards, in fact all the palace guards, acted as if silence came natural to them.

Their silence gave time for Rîniel's whirling thoughts to calm. It was strange to be walking through these halls with no one but the guards of the king. She wished that she had at least allowed her own contingent to follow her to the fortress, but she knew it was not possible.

She was quite alone.

Though she quailed a little at the thought of solitude in the king's halls until her stay was over, there was a chance that she would find her dear friend. And another ellon that wrote letters to her constantly.

Thinking of her stay, she immediately frowned. Now that she knew she had no purpose being here, how long must she abide here? Lothlorien and its sweet air and peaceful trees was appealing to her already merely because it was home. But how long would the elvenking see it fit to keep her here? Until the person who forged the letter was found, or beyond?