Fourth Age Fluff
Aug. 19th, 2004 10:00 pmNorbury
When the Queen had gone to her rest, and all the attendants were free to do the same, Elanor climbed up the tower to the window where she could look back along the road that her sisters and brothers and mother and father had taken home a week ago. “It’s an honor,” she reminded herself, “And I gave my word.” But the silken gown and her place at the Queen’s side were no comfort against loneliness.
A scrape of leather against stone turned her head, and she would have fallen from the sill trying to curtsey had not the King caught her and set her upright again. “It is too late to be formal,” he said, “and I came only to thank you for staying. You are young to be parted from your family.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “And Frodo-lad’s not nearly as good at making the little ones behave as I am.” She took the seedy cake the Man offered from his pocket absently, frowning again at the road outside the window. “I hope they’re all right.”
“They are,” Elessar assured her, taking a seat on the other end of the windowsill.
She brightened. “Of course! You have the palantir. The one that Pippin… Uncle Peregrin, I mean, looked into!”
“Do you know of that?” the King asked, curiously.
“Of course I do. Sam-dad’s read me the Red Book three times through. It has the whole story. Or at least, all the parts that Frodo knew to put into it. And Bilbo’s story first, of course, about the dragon, which is very exciting, but I like the parts with Sam-dad in them best. And Frodo of the Ring.” Elanor tried to think of a polite way to ask what she was thinking, but couldn’t. “Did Frodo really act that silly when you first met him in Bree? And did Sam-dad really want to send you away? And did hobbits look as small to you as you look big to us? And have you a book too? That tells the story the way that Men saw it?”
And now the King laughed, but it was a kindly laughter. “No book, not yet. But eat your cake and I will tell you what I remember.”
And Elanor forgot about her loneliness and settled back to listen.
Timeline (fiction only, most recent version, includes AU) first previous next last
When the Queen had gone to her rest, and all the attendants were free to do the same, Elanor climbed up the tower to the window where she could look back along the road that her sisters and brothers and mother and father had taken home a week ago. “It’s an honor,” she reminded herself, “And I gave my word.” But the silken gown and her place at the Queen’s side were no comfort against loneliness.
A scrape of leather against stone turned her head, and she would have fallen from the sill trying to curtsey had not the King caught her and set her upright again. “It is too late to be formal,” he said, “and I came only to thank you for staying. You are young to be parted from your family.”
“Yes,” she sighed, “And Frodo-lad’s not nearly as good at making the little ones behave as I am.” She took the seedy cake the Man offered from his pocket absently, frowning again at the road outside the window. “I hope they’re all right.”
“They are,” Elessar assured her, taking a seat on the other end of the windowsill.
She brightened. “Of course! You have the palantir. The one that Pippin… Uncle Peregrin, I mean, looked into!”
“Do you know of that?” the King asked, curiously.
“Of course I do. Sam-dad’s read me the Red Book three times through. It has the whole story. Or at least, all the parts that Frodo knew to put into it. And Bilbo’s story first, of course, about the dragon, which is very exciting, but I like the parts with Sam-dad in them best. And Frodo of the Ring.” Elanor tried to think of a polite way to ask what she was thinking, but couldn’t. “Did Frodo really act that silly when you first met him in Bree? And did Sam-dad really want to send you away? And did hobbits look as small to you as you look big to us? And have you a book too? That tells the story the way that Men saw it?”
And now the King laughed, but it was a kindly laughter. “No book, not yet. But eat your cake and I will tell you what I remember.”
And Elanor forgot about her loneliness and settled back to listen.
Timeline (fiction only, most recent version, includes AU) first previous next last