Everlong

05

Through all the space in which the vast fortress offered, it still was too small to Liruliniel. She may have succeeded in getting on the path to her goal, but that still didn't quell her need to be outside and amongst the trees. It wasn't that being in grey halls and corridors was an alien thing for her and her kind. On the contrary, the fortress in which they now resided in was truly something; the architecture brilliant in its making and sculpting, anyone else would be taken aback by it.

Liruliniel was still bored by the lack of change, the same old, same old. She honestly didn't understand why she was like this, maybe it was something which was inherited from her mother? Unfortunately, Liruliniel had very little memories of the elven woman. She was only young when she passed, her father and brother never spoke of her really. Clearly the loss still cut them deep. How did they think she felt, not having any recollections of her at all? There was an empty void in Liruliniel, and she just presumed that the call to be outside and run about was a mechanism to fill it.

This need to be amongst the trees hadn't dissipated at all, even with the months which had slowly dragged by. Autumn had fully sunk in, and all the trees were going through the state of change. The oranges, browns and falling leaves were, if anything, alluring to her. Unfortunately, the call of being amongst the sprawling branches, had yet again slowly taken precedence over lessons. Only the academic sides of things, when it came to practical lessons she was there instantly. It was something which irked her father, but seemed to annoy Thranduil more. Yet, no one had stopped her in her training, so she continued to push and take liberties. She probably shouldn't, but she was curious to see how long this would last.

She wasn't ignorant, she was sure most who were close to her knew what she was doing. So of course, nearing the large doors out into the woodlands, she wasn't surprised to spy a familiar tall blonde. Thranduil just stood there, arms behind his back and his cool eyes staring straight at her. His gaze didn't waver, and he didn't blink. He for one kept trying to goad her into attending lessons with him, no avail. So his next option was force, literally.

There was a problem with this though, Liruliniel was fast. It was something which had grown to annoy Thranduil more than her avoidance of certain things. Training, if anything, even if it had only been a few months, had excelled her already natural speed. Liruliniel smiled and even before she was halfway down the corridor, she lowered her centre of gravity. Thranduil just tilted his head, a frown appearing on his face as he was aware to what she was intending to do. He just had to be quicker. Which was hard, because the younger elf really was fast.

Thranduil didn't think he was ultimately the best at fighting, and all things tactical, but her speed was something to be both envious and irritated over. She had managed to slip his grasp a few times when he had attempted to direct her to Caladhiel. It was annoying. So, when Liruliniel sped in his direction completely uncaring that he was going to try and stop her, Thranduil tried to catch her before she stepped foot outside.

How did that turn out? It didn't. Liruliniel ducked and rolled along the floor expertly and sprung up, to make it more insulting that he had missed again, she ran backwards with a grin. Thranduil just turned on his heels, eyes narrowing. She really was very annoying. He easily followed after her, his steps slow and measured. Her eyes widened and she turned and made her way to the nearest tree. This wouldn't be the first time this happened, Thranduil had lost count really. But he was determined to catch her this time. Liruliniel however had other ideas. He knew though that as soon as she got up into the trees, she was a completely different creature. She was so natural at climbing, running along the branches and leaping the distance from one branch to another, that in some ways, it was hard not to admire her footwork. But not when she had things that were needing to be done.