Once Upon a Time

My father

( I'm not sure how accurate the translations will be)
(Bold is animals. Slanted is Ecko's thoughts)

When we get inside the gates I gasp, wonder Clouding my vision instead of tears. Elrond lets out a breathy laugh and turns to go to the stables. When he gets to the stables he hops off then helps me off of his chestnut mare. A servant leads the horse away and Elrond takes my hand as he leads me towards the palace. " You live here?!" I all but shout. He just nods and smiles. I let out a breathy giggle as I continued to follow Elrond into the castle. Left and right people are bowing and I don't understand what is happening. Until a young elleth comes and bows saying, " my lord who is this you've brought along with you?" My eyes widen as I realize Elrond is the lord Elrond my mother used to speak about. I look up into his stormy gray eyes and he looks down into mine. He nods to the maid and whispers something to her that I can't comprehend. I begin to wander as my mind starts to think of all the possibilities that this could bring. Is he as nice as mother said he was? I can't help but think that something was off about me. Not anyone, just me. Elrond finishes his conversation with the maid and leads me into a room with a vast bed and a large variety of books. I see a desk pushed up against the wall with pieces of paper scattered about. By the bed there is a changing area and then there are more bookshelves. As I sit and marvel at the space around me I come to the conclusion that this must be his room. He leads me over to a door I hadn't noticed and he leads me into the room beyond the door. It's a bathroom and there is fresh water in the tub. It has to be warm because there is still some steam coming off of it. When I reach up to feel the water Elrond announces to me, " I am going to trust you know how to bathe yourself. I'm going to leave you for 1 hour then I will send in one of my hand maidens." I nod my head and as he is leaving I begin stripping off my clothes that are caked in blood and dirt. I made sure my hair was wet before running soap through it and scrubbing hard, attempting to rid my hair of its vial contents. Blood, dirt, and leaves come out as I scrub. The water I was sitting in turned an unsettling color. I called for Elrond, not sure what else to do. When he came in I explained my predicament. He laughed a quiet laugh and called a maid in. She came in and changed the water, smiling softly at me every once in a while while I stood there with a towel surrounding me. Once the water was changed and the maid had left I quickly abandoned the towel and got into the warm water once more. Once I had scrubbed all of the grime off of my pale skin I got out and hastily pat myself dry. When I was dry I saw a pile of clothes for me. Pants and a nicer top or a dress. I chose pants too because although I'm a female, I still don't like dresses. I left the bathroom and saw Elrond working on writing a note. I didn't see anything on said piece of paper because I didn't look. When Elrond saw my small head over the edge of the desk he peered over and smiled. He pointed to the bed and I scampered over to it and jumped up onto the high bed. He finishes his letter and walks up to the bed. When he walks up to the bed he sees that I'm looking at a book I found. "What are cin doing, neth er?"( what are you doing, young one?" I looked up, curious as to what he said. "What? I don't understand." He chuckled and gestured for me to follow him and I continued to get up, and follow him. He led me to the room right next to him and I found it was a room like his, just not as grand. "Hi na- cín room. A don't worrui, cin will learn edhelen soon farn." (This is your room. And don't worry, you will learn elvish soon enough.) I look into the room and gasp at the amazing sight. He tells me what he said, in English but I still don't understand what elvish is. I go into the room and hop onto the bed. Elrond follows me slowly, sizing me up. I hear a small voice by the window. I go up to it and there is a bird on my window seal. The bird speaks, "Hello young one. It seems you can understand me. I'll begin telling all of your new animal friends. We have a new queen of the animals!" I stumble back, in shock and amazement. Elrond watched the whole ordeal in amazement. He bows and leaves the room. Why did he bow to me? My question was soon answered by myself. Did he hear the bird call me the queen? Why did the bird call me its queen? Or the animal queen for that matter. I ignored the thought when my stomach rumbled. I left the room and looked around, curious as to what was going on. Maids were rushing around and when one of them stopped to dust off the desk by my room it urged on her dress, as she towered over me. She screamed and ran away, not finishing her chore and leaving the rag she was wiping the table down with. I grab the rag and finish the chore. Once I have finished I go down the hall and down the stairs that I saw down the hall. I slowly creep down the long staircase and when I reach the bottom I smell food so I follow my nose. Once I reach where the smell is coming from I stop in my tracks. The kitchen is packed with people and I try to turn around but I'm faced with a person. I fall and look up when I hear that all too familiar chuckle. I see Elrond holding a hand out to me and I hesitantly take his outstretched hand. "Suilad neth er. What are cin doing?" (Hello young one. What are you doing?) I make a whimpering noise and look down in shame. " It's alright. I'm not mad. But, what are you doing?" He answered his own question by saying, lYou're probably hungry." I nod and look back into his loving, fatherly eyes. He grabs my minuscule hand in his large hand and he leads me into the kitchen. As we walk into the kitchen all of the cooks and maids bow as he walks by. He nods back and we continue walking through the kitchen. He looks down at me and whispers into my ear, "do you like meat?" I nod my head slowly and he gestures for a maid to come by and help him. When he gets me a reasonable sized plate of an assortment of foods I look up and he just nods and leaves. I start to eat but instead of scarfing it down like some people would expect me to, I eat slowly and carefully. It didn't take me very long to finish the delicious food but I finished it quite quickly. When I was finished I hopped off the chair I was given at a low table and a maid came up to me, looking shocked for a moment then gave me a kind, sad smile. She took the plate and I walked back into the hall. When I get back into the hall I start wandering around through the castle. When I heard a loud voice I jumped and almost screamed but I held it in, so as to not alert anyone of my presence. When I peered out from the stone column I was hidden behind, I saw a tall, blonde elf looking into Elrond's with anger and his aura was dark, brooding, sad, and hatred. I don't know what happened but I went along with it and when I saw the stranger slap Elrond, something snapped in me. I quickly jumped out and despite my small size I tried to tackle the tall elf. It almost works. Almost. He loses his balance for a few moments and then regains his bearings. He glances down at me and chuckles while Elrond looks at him with a scared face. The tall blond picks me up and almost drops me in pure shock due to the wings. He can't see my horns so he might be confused as to why a child was trying to tackle him. Elrond looked confused too though so I really had no idea what was happening. Then the elf did drop me and I would have fallen but I began flapping my wings not very hard but hard enough to stay afloat then I decreased the amount I'm flapping and I slowly descended to the ground. When I reach the ground I look up with a glare but it isn't very intimidating when you're a 7 year old. "This is the child you speak of? What's wrong with her eyes?" The blond was questioning Elrond. I respond with, "I have a name. I don't tell people because they are usually mean. I know what I am. And last I checked nothing was wrong with my eyes." Elrond chuckles at my attitude towards the blond. I really need to learn his name. I point to the sassy blond and ask for his name by saying, "you tell me your name I'll tell you mine." He tells me his name saying it is Thranduil. I respond with a sharp nod of my small head. " Ecko." They both turn to me in shock it looks but I don't understand how my name can have such an impact on important people like them. Yes. I know who Thranduil is. "Why does my name have such an important meaning?" Elrond kneels down in front of me and begins to explain, "your father, he was well known to many of us but he was not a kind man. He almost ended the world. His name is Sauron." I had never heard the name before but the way everyone around, guards, maids, Thranduil, and even Elrond, tensed I knew he was not a good person. I nod my head and hug Elrond then go over the Thranduil and hug him as well though, I think I took him by surprise. Elrond chuckles as Thranduil cautiously put his hands around me, returning the hug.