Chapter 4 ~ The Grandest Of Them All

Chapter 4

The Grandest Of Them All...

I walked down the halls and took numerous turns, until I finally reached the Grand Hall. I opened the doors and walked in. The room was huge with a great stained glass domed ceiling. The pillars ran along the walls and along the back wall. There were large windows along the walls, which showed a lot of Rivendell, making it feel and look like you were eating outdoors. In fact I could see the windows were all open.

I immediately spotted Aragorn and Arwen sitting together at the far end of the room and table. Aragorn beckoned at me to come over. Arwen smiled and patted under her chin, her signal for me needing to straighten my back and to keep my chin up. Not only was Arwen a really good friend of mine, Elrond had recently enlisted her as my etiquette and history teacher, along with many other subjects. It was frustrating but I tried to keep my cool with her. 

Arwen was twelve years older than me. She was a lot like an older sister without the rivalry and bickering. When Gandalf went away and Elrond was busy with political affairs, she was in charge of me. She taught me a lot of useful skills. I knew her before I had come to Rivendell, for Elrond, her father was friends with my father. She was always there for me, for anything. 

~ Flashback ~

I burst into Arwen’s room with tears running down my face. I ran over to Arwen, who was sitting on her bed reading, and jumped onto her lap. I buried my face into her chest as she rocked me back and forth. At the time I was six and she was eighteen years old. I calmed down after a while and she got me to face her while sitting on her lap. She wiped the remaining tears off my face and said, “Alana why are you so sad? What happened? I thought you were playing with Aragorn.” I nodded. 

“I-I was p-playing with Aragorn and his f-friends and his f-friends were t-teasing me about being half elf. Th-they called m-me ugly. But h-he agreed with them and l-left.” I said in between sniffs, after finished the story I burst into tears again. She rocked me back and forth until I calmed down. 

“Don’t believe those boys, they don’t know what they’re talking about, honestly. Aragorn probably only agreed with those horrible boys so he could keep playing with them. Don’t listen to them. You, are beautiful. You, are smart. And you, are important.” She continued to tell me how nasty those boys were making me feel better. I fell asleep curled up, leaning on her chest, tired out from being so worked up. 

~ End of Flashback ~

I walked over to them with my head held high and my back straight. I sat down across from Arwen and diagonally across from Aragorn. 

“How are you Arwen?” I asked, knowing how Aragorn was. She looked at me and smiled prettily. 

“You have not practiced your Telerin for quite a while, have you? Perhaps you could ask me in Telerin and I shall answer.” She said. The only thing that bothered me was that she was constantly teaching me. I nodded not wanting to disagree with her. I was really bad at Telerin, and she knew it being my Language teacher as well.

 “Uh, erm… Hyarmenure ore ure Arwen? 

“I have been faring well, Ni 'lassui.” (Thank you) Arwen said bowing her head a little as a sign of respect. I copied her movement smiling. 

I watched as elves flooded in through the kitchen door, carrying steaming hot dishes for all of us. The elves placed the plates down in front of all of us, each person getting exactly what they wanted. I had a roast of some sort, mashed potatoes and peas. I started eating supper, making me feel full. 

We talked for a while, not mentioning the council. Whenever Arwen asked about his recent journey though he would pretend not to here her and change the topic quickly. I knew that the journey had something to do with the one ring and the hobbits, though I did not know specifics.

We were half way through eating dessert, which was a lovely slice of chocolate cake, when an elf messenger came walking quite briskly into the Grand Hall. Not many people took notice of him but as I was facing the door and had great peripheral vision I saw him. I watched him speed-walk towards Lord Elrond looking startled and panicky. He said something so low even I couldn’t from where I was it and ran off.

 Elrond stood abruptly and started walking towards. I was scared for I feared that they had found out it was I and Mirima who painted all the apples in the orchard gold. I gulped and quickly stuffed another bite of cake into my mouth, not wanting to waste any of the deliciousness. 

“Aragorn and Alana I need a word with you both.” He said. We nodded in unison. I wiped my hands on the napkin in my lap and stood up. Aragorn stood up as well. I waved goodbye to Arwen as we walked out of the Grand Hall. 

~ ~ ~ Hey guys, so I have a lot of chapters for you already written, I just have to type and edit them. :P 

I'll try to update soon, it just might not be super soon because my grandma was resubmitted into the hospital and is having emergency procedures. I will be there a lot so I will really try. Sorry.

Thanks for reading, though!!! This is dedicated to @chelsieisanerd and I suggest you check her story out. It inspired me. ~ ~ ~