With a good life and everything she needed, Aeolus lived a simple party life.
Everyday life was the same and she loathed it. She wished for adventure and romance, like the fantasy stories she read when no one was looking. It was a part of her she lo...
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"Will you not join me? This was your intent after all."
"Not with you being naked." I didn't need a fancy remark anymore, by revealing my true feelings about my body, I had no more reason to act bold and mysterious. I was a teenage girl again, embarrassed by being spoken to by naked men out of my league. His smile only grew and as much as I wanted to smack it off I wanted to hide my face from smiling too.
"I will keep a distance, I promise you." There was respect in his voice, and I knew I could trust what he said. "Unless you request otherwise." The small smile appeared again, but with kindness set to comfort me.
His joke set me aflutter but I was sure in his promise and after a moment walked to the edge of the pool to where the remnants of his clothes laid, I slipped off my thin slippers and set them in a neat pile next to his feeling the cool priks from the crisp grass as it crunched beneath my feet. I untied my cloak and also folded it next to my slippers. I felt strained, feeling each movement being watched by blue eyes, and after all my procrastination finally made myself turn to where he leaned along the edge of the pool, the picture of seducing grace.
I gingerly stuck my foot into the water, the frigid chill seeping up my leg to my torso goosebumps erupting along my skin. My foot didn't hit a bottom, realizing it was just a steep drop. I removed my foot and instead sat myself on the edge,dipping my feet into the refreshing water. I relished in the spiky grass on my palms and legs through my thin material, the bottom of the dress was in the water, the material now heavy and pulling downward. I focused on it, not looking toward the smirk that watched me. "What does Colfides mean?" I wanted to distract those eyes, staring at the water. The dress didn't float, it absorbed the water and settled, flowing with the current and swishing against my legs.
"Col-fin-des means golden-haired one."
I nodded, replaying the wordoor in my mind, I had assumed it would be something like that.
With one brief inhale for courage I slipped into the pool, the chill encasing my thighs, waist, belly, and I reached to pinch my nose but as the cold reached my chest it stopped. The dress slithered around me light and free, the heavy thickness of my shorts scratchy and separated from the rest. I turned my mind from the pale figure in the corner of my vision, closing my eyes and whisking myself to past days of summer. When the sky was open and the sun beat down harsh and unforgiving, I would go to the pools of my friends and spend hours bathing and getting tan. With drinks in hand and tiny bikinis I felt like I could rule the world. But when alone, I would go to solitary waters and dive, spin, sink, wade, and float to my pleasure, far from watchful eyes. There I could allow my love for the freedom of water flood over me, letting my joy bubble in laughter and smiles, pure joy and happiness shown only in brief most comforting times.
With those memories filling me, the comforting waves around me, I pinched my nose and in a swift movement pulled my legs from beneath me, and free fell to the bottom of the pool, the chill finally submerging all of me becoming part of my body and mind. I felt myself give in to the free flowing waters and let my arms float on my sides, releasing bubbles of air through my nose. I felt the pressure of the water, felt the chill enter my skin, no longer different from each other, finally feeling as one. I gently swung my legs, the water resisting the movement. My butt hit the bottom, and in the back of mind I didn't see anymore bubbles. But I felt myself straighten, and pushed a little, floating upwards.
Hands grasped my arms and I was pulled up. I burst through the waters, gasping in air. Was I out of breath? I didn't remember how long I was down there. "Aeolus, Aeolus!" Thranduil shook my shoulders and I gently placed my hands on his, stilling him.
"I'm fine." I felt laughter bubble up and I let it out, feeling the smile on my face, the skin stretched, not used to the feeling. But when I looked at him it was worry and surprise I saw. "What?" My smile didn't leave my lips, my happiness not diminished.
"I could not see you, you were under for so long, I feared you had drowned yourself." It was a curt short sentence, and I felt him holding back his emotions.
But I couldn't fight back the laugh that escaped, and I cut it short, to not insult him. "I simply was... enjoying myself." His brows came together in confusion, but his hands left my arms, their warmth once again taking mine. "I love water, I apologize if I frightened you." My laughter finally left me, and the numbness from the joy as well. I was panting, sucking in big gasps of air, I was out of breath I realized, maybe I had been under for too long. The thought brought me back and I wiped the clinging drops from my face, and wrung my hair. Feeling the soft breeze chill the water on my skin.
"You wanted an answer." His voice cut through the silence like a knife.
I didn't want to talk now, I wanted this to be a fun experience, but his voice was serious, playtime was over. "Yes." I waded the water, sliding my hands over the dress that was now slicked tight to my skin. I waited for him to speak, and watched him turn from me.
"Do you wish to visit the Lady, to speak to her of your curse?"
My curse? Then I remembered. I had first told him that I was finding a cure for my hair, the idea felt genius at the time, but I had not thought that I would have to deal with the consequences of the lie.
"You would not insult me if that is your purpose." There was understanding, but the emotion underneath was obvious. "Staying here you would not find your answer." He finally looked to me, eyeing my hair line. "I will not feign blindness. There is brown at your roots, I had hoped that meant..."
Change. He was hoping I was returning to normal, but I knew that he feared the change. He thought that when I would change enough that I would return home. "No..." I took a breath, wiping my face again, my breathing slower. The light was dimming, the sky growing darker, but torches I hadn't noticed lined the trees, offering a soft glow. Now was the moment"I lied."
He turned and his eyes were widened with surprise, but his mouth stayed closed, so I knew it was not too much of a surprise, he had the doubt of my lie. Now, I knew, he would think back, and not be sure if anything I had said to him was true.
No. I didn't want to lose his trust. "I lied to protect you from something you didn't understand." My voice sounded desperate.
When he spoke his voice was a whisper, filled with an emotion I couldn't decipher. "So you played on my pity?"
Hurt? Was he hurt? I paused. "No..."
"Then why do you wish to visit Lorian?" His voice was colder, I could see his muscles tight.
"To learn." I felt stuck in my mind. I wanted his kindness back, but he felt as if I had betrayed him, how could I possibly make up for that?
"About?"
"How I got here." No more lies, then.
I saw his fists clench, the knuckles turning white, and he didn't turn around, didn't speak. And my throat clenched shut, a burning with the threat of tears.
"Then go. Have your provisions ready, you leave in the morning."
