Elerrina

Gaze Upon the Forbidden

It was still a few hours before sunset when the party descended into the valley of Imladris. And she knew she had never seen a sight she could even begin to compare.  Houses and balconies started to emerge from the forest, balancing over tall risks and cliffs, the columns too thin, too delicate, their facades covered in rows of tall pointed arches that intertwined in endless labyrinths. They stepped down steep slopes, revealing hidden paths and gardens that bridged over prancing streams. The rushing sound of the heavy waterfalls filled her ears, and her eyes turned immediately to look. She had never seen so much water concentrated in a single spot, falling mighty and loudly from high above in a free abyss, roaring and drumming harshly against strong black rocks at the bottom where it splashed in clouds of silver mist. She could almost feel the crushing weight of that water, the cool freshness of the mist.  Nothing Elerrina had ever seen or imagined did justice to the sight before her eyes, and she was suddenly very disappointed in the many illustrations she had seen in books as a child. This could not be put in pages, it could not be replicated with something so plain as pages and colors. Those could never translate the sounds, the smells, the gentle way in which the fresh breeze toyed with her loose strands of tangled hair. 

Her dazed eyes darted from left to right, trying to absorb every detail, every building, and every waterfall; trying to print every image, sound and smell into her memory. Even the air in the valley felt somehow different, powerful, as if there was something floating concealed in it that she could almost hear yet could not really reach. The wind was different, it sung softly, like a distant choir, in a language with no words. It was alive.

"Do you like it?" She heard Elrohir's voice ask her, but she did not turn to look. She could not take her eyes from the sight ahead. 

"It is quite a sight." She spoke, hearing the dark haired elf laugh lightly at her choice of words.

A little in front of them, Elladan was engaged in a conversation with Glorfindel in elvish language- she had opted for calling the musical language elvish, at least until she knew its proper name. For a moment she wished she could understand what they were saying because whatever the blond elf had said had caused Elladan to laugh hysterically.

The party made their slow descend into the valley, crossing multiple curling bridges over overflowing branches of the main deep river, the waters roaring loudly underneath them. All too son, she found them coming to a stop upon arriving at an ample courtyard, and her eyes turned up to examine the house right in front of it. No, this could barely be called a house judging by its size. Thousands of balconies stretched long from the facades in semicircular floating platforms, trees and bushed overflown from their delicate railings. The slanted roofs seemed to disappear and camouflage with the steep cliffs and slopes or rocks, gardens appearing an vanishing until she could not tell which where interior and which were exterior. 

The elven warriors started to jump off their horses, their fine cloaks flying in the wind. A group of elves that had formed at the front steps of the house was now approaching them, wearing long robes and tunes in the brightest shades of purples and blues, waiting to receive the homecoming patrol.

She felt Elrohir dismount in a graceful leap, extending one of his hands for her to take, gently helping her down onto the soft grass. Next to them, Elladan and Glorfindel both jump off their horses as gracefully as Elrohir had done.

A silver haired elf approached them quietly, adding something in elvish to the twins, inclining his head almost respectfully in greeting,  taking the reins of the three horses and leading them to the stables. Elerrina noticed that two other elves had appeared to lead the horses of the rest of the party away.

She wondered, confused, at the manner in which every approaching elf seemed to address the twins, noticing for the first time that heads were not inclined when the elves addressed the other members of the patrol. And yet, the elves from the patrol had also inclined their heads when they had encountered them in the forest. She wondered if the twins belonged to some noble or rich family in the valley, perhaps the sons of a well-known warrior. That had to be the case.