Chapter 5 Feast and conflict
Later that night, after Eliriel calmed down, she found Laerornel standing alone waiting near their shared room. Eliriel didn't talk much about what had happened hours ago and tried her best to seem like she was fine.
The three friends talked for a while but soon Tauriel left saying she had to get some reports. Then, Eliriel and Laerornel walked together, after saying goodbye to Tauriel and went to meet some other friends from the elven guard that had invited them to dinner.
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"Wow, this steak is delicious!" Laerornel exclaimed while cutting another piece from her plate and putting it in her mouth. Eliriel just nodded, enjoying her food as well.
"Really? My brother cooked it." The elleth named Magoreth said after swallowing her bite. She had long brown hair and hazel eyes just like her brother. They were twins."We are lucky it turned out decent, he almost burned down the whole kitchen trying to make it. I offered to help him many times, but see, he wanted to impress you." She teased him with a smirk.
"Sister!" Ganaer scolded her for embarrassing him while glaring at her and then moved his gaze to Eliriel and Laerornel who were trying to hold their laughter and sighed.
"Where is Ladir?" Eliriel asked considering he was supposed to dine with them." Could he not make it?"
"No, unfortunately. He was tasked with guarding near the dwarves in the cells." Ganaer spoke, disappointed that his friend was not there. "Can you believe it, these ugly creatures in our kingdom." He added, Eliriel could see disgust in his eyes.
Eliriel's eyebrows frowned. She didn't like how he was talking about them, but suppressed the urge to argue, not wanting to ruin the dinner. She instead just looked down at he plate, while Laerornel looked unfazed.
"I know right! They are so filthy and loud. The whole kingdom can hear their ugly voices." Magoreth spoke supporting the opinions of her brother. "They were probably here to steal from us."
"Yeah, they're just so different from us elves."
"Just because someone is different, doesn't mean you have to hate them." Eliriel finally spoke, not being able to take it anymore, but didn't raise her voice. Her intentions were not to start a fight. "Plus they are not here to steal. They got lost."
"How do you know that?" Ganaer asked her suspiciously. For him it seems like she's defending these dwarves.
"I-I just heard it, somewhere." She answered while lowering her gaze. She couldn't tell them the truth.
"Well you can't believe in rumors. Regardless of their reasons, they should have never been brought here." Magoreth argued.
Eliriel didn't like how this dinner turned out.
She wanted to try and change their opinions but they were just so stubborn. Maybe they're not so different from the dwarves after all. She also didn't appreciate how Laerornel just sat there listening instead of helping her. But she didn't want another argument for the night, and didn't say anything.
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The next few days were busy for Eliriel and went by rather quickly. She just drowned herself with things to do, as a distraction, she didn't want to think about her problems. Just guarding duties and healing the elves that were injured during the spider attacks.
"And, all done!" Eliriel smiled at her patient as she helped him stand up, after healing his wound. He got bitten by a spider at the side of his waist.
"Thank you Eliriel." The elf thanked her for her help with a grateful smile as he slowly walked outside of her healing room, his friends waiting for him outside.
Her eyes watched him carefully as he walked incase he needed assistance but he managed well on his own. The elf had bright red hair, which reminded her of Tauriel.
She has noticed that her friend has been talking to the young dwarf Kili a lot lately. She is glad that the two are finally connecting. Tauriel hasn't said anything about him to her or anyone to be exact but Eliriel supports their relationship if it ever happens and she is sure she will tell them when she is ready.
Perhaps she could go and talk to the dwarf himself, she thought as she finished cleaning her healing room after the patient and then walked towards the cells.
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After walking up several stairs she could finally see the cells in front of her. As she was walking towards Kili's cell, she saw another ellon putting down a small bowl filled with what seemed as leftover slices of bread in front of every cell door. When he was at Kili's door she reached him.
"What are you doing?" She spoke in elvish tongue.
The elf just stood up and answered her simply. "I'm feeding the prisoners." Eliriel could see the discomfort in his eyes, as if he hated what he was doing. But she wouldn't call what he was giving them, food.
"Is, that all they are given?" Her eyebrows slightly frowned. Only prisoners who committed crimes are treated like this. And the dwarves did nothing of that sort.
"It's more than they deserve." The elf replied without emotion before walking away, down the stairs.
Eliriel was left alone and couldn't help but gaze down in sadness and anger. This hatred between elves and dwarves is breaking her heart. She doesn't know how it all started but she would love to put a stop to it.
Kili noticed her look and pulled her out of her thoughts.
"Did, something happen?" He asked her hesitantly, not knowing what the elf said to her since they spoke in their native tongue. Though, he thought they had an argument from the saddened expression on her face.
She almost gasped as she forgot he was watching. "Is this all they give you to eat?" She answered him with a question instead and quickly changed her expression before looking at him in the eye.
Even though it was fast, Kili noticed that change and simply nodded at her.
And even Fili(and some other members of the company), who was right next to Kili's cell, was now listening to their conversation closely, without her knowing, curious after her words.
"Well, that settles it." Eliriel said before turning around to leave. "Where are you going?" Kili asked her, confused about her strange behavior.
She only turned her head sideways to look at him with a small smile, her back facing his direction."I'm going to get you real food."
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Eliriel walked slowly towards the pantry door, sticking close to the walls. She thanked her elvish genes for making her able to walk as quiet as a mouse. She carefully looked in the room, to make sure nobody was there and then proceeded to enter. Her gaze immediately fell on a table at the center of the room. It had various foods on different plates, meat, salads, you name it. Probably because of the feast tonight, Mereth e-nGilith.
'This is perfect!'She thought as she looked around. Now, the question is, how does she carry all the food to the dwarves...
As she was looking around for something, she heard voices and footsteps coming closer and closer to the pantry. Without much thinking, she quickly hid behind some shelves in a corner.
"Let's just put these on the table and go. We have a lot more to carry." An elleth said as she walked in with another elf, carrying big plates filled with foods. She may have looked normal to humans, but Eliriel could tell she was young.
"Every time, they work us to the death." The other elf complained as he and the elleth placed the plates on the table.
But instead of leaving, the male elf looked down and picked up a apple that was on the ground.
'Oh no!' Eliriel thought and felt her heartbeat quicken as the elf looked around the shelves. She must have pushed it off as she was looking for a basket.
The ellon continued to look around suspiciously, turning his head." Someone must have been here."
"Yeah, it was probably more people from the kitchen, now let's go. We don't have time to waste."
The elleth practically dragged him out the door to continue with their jobs.
Eliriel waited until they were far away and walked out of her hiding spot. 'That was really close.' She thought relieved.
But it seems this worked to her advantage. As the two elves were talking, she too looked around and finally found a basket to carry the food.
So she grabbed it and started filling it with food from the table quickly in case they come back. She put in various things she thought the dwarves would like but made sure to add lots of meat. She doesn't think the elves will notice that some of the food is missing, since they will make much more for the feast. After that, she left as quietly as she came, hiding the basket behind her and made it back to the cells.
Going up the stairs, she stopped and put one plate out of the basket in front of every cell door, pushing away the small bowls the previous elf left. She didn't talk to the rest of the company while doing so, because they are not as outgoing as Kili and she knows they don't trust her.
Finally she put a plate in front of Kili's cell and then sat at the stairs next to his cell.
Kili looked down at the food she placed in front of him and then up at her. Eliriel sensed the hesitation in his eyes and spoke in a mirthfull tone. "Don't worry, it's not poisoned."
Kili chuckled and looked back at his plate. He didn't know her at all, but for some reason he felt like he could trust her. She went all this way just to get him and the company a better meal. He grabbed the plate to eat a bite, not expecting much from elvish food (aside from the meat) but soon realized that it was pretty tasty. Or maybe his hunger made him think that way. Either way he really enjoyed it and finished it in seconds, which made Eliriel happy.
Once he finished, Kili finally spoke. "Not bad for elvish food." He mused. Now it was Eliriel's turn to chuckle.
"You're right." Eliriel's attention was brought on Fili who was at the cell right next to them. He has never really spoken unless it was a whisper to the other dwarves, well until now. "So much better than what they gave us in Rivendell." He stated after swallowing his bite.
"You've been to Rivendell?" She asked, pretending she didn't know already.
There was a long silent pause, neither of them responding. She guessed that they didn't want to reveal their quest. Eliriel only looked down at their hesitation and didn't pry into it further.
"I've never been anywhere else but Mirkwood. Was it nice?" She asked before standing up to get a look of both of them. "In Rivendell?"
"Y-yeah, it was nice. Lots of green and trees. It even had waterfalls. But, it was nothing compared to dwarven kingdoms, like Erebor." Fili answered, smiling at the mention of his home.
"Really? And what is Erebor like?" Eliriel asked interested to know more from the dwarves themselves.
"Well, we've haven't seen it in person but,..." Kili and Fili then started talking about Erebor, describing what they were told about it to the elleth. They spoke with respect and awe about its halls and massive mines that go deep within the mountain, which made Eliriel smile as she was listening.
"What is your name?" Kili then asked her.
"Eliriel."
"Does it mean anything? I heard that elven names have a meaning."
Eliriel appreciated him for asking. 'It seems that he knows something about elven culture.' She thought. "Yes, that's true. Mine means healer." She said with a smile.
"That's nice. Do you actually heal?" He asked her intrigued, Fili also wanted to know. Eliriel nodded in response, but then heard footsteps coming their way. She immediately knew who it was.
"Tauriel!" She smiled at her friend who was just making her way up the stairs.
"I see you two are getting along." She smiled, walking closer to the cell.
"Yes, come sit." Eliriel motioned her friend to sit next to her. She was glad that her friend showed up.
The three (Tauriel, Eliriel, Kili) started talking about random things. They all shared information about their different cultures and little adventures they had in the past. That was until Kili grabbed a stone from his pocket and started playing with it.
"The stone in your hand, what is it?" Tauriel asked him curiously.
"It is a talisman." Kili said simply before continuing. "A powerful spell lies upon it, if any but a dwarf reads the runes on this stone...they will be forever cursed." He moved his hand forward for us to get a closer look. Tauriel was taken aback at the word "cursed" and thought it to be true.
But Eliriel knew he was just messing around.
"Or not. Depending on whether you believe in that kind of thing, it's just a token." He then added, making Tauriel realize that there was no curse.
"Who gave it to you?" Eliriel asked this time, still looking at the carved runes on the stone.
"My mother." He smiled slightly at the stone. "She gave it to me so that I remember my promise. That I would come back to her." He said while looking at the two elleths.
Kili said that his mother worried and thought he was reckless and denied it but as he threw the stone in the air he failed to catch it, resulting in the stone falling on the ground, out of the cell. He was lucky that Eliriel stood up, caught it under her shoe and gave it back to him. She had to contain her laughter because of his embarrassed face.
"Sounds like quite a party you're having up there." He stated and he was right. There were times where you could hear faint music coming from somewhere.
"It is Mereth e-nGilith, the feast of starlight." Eliriel answered him while gazing upwards. "All light is sacred to the Eldar, but us wood elves love it best."
"I always thought it is a cold light, remote and far away."
"It is memory, precious and pure." This time Tauriel stood up at his comment. "Like your promise." She smiled at him.
It was very interesting for Eliriel to see the different views on starlight. While the other elves were celebrating, the two elleths stayed by Kili's cell and listened to his stories. All this while the unknown presence of Legolas was hiding around the corner of a higher platform. He disliked how his friends were there and not at the feast. And he disliked even more that Eliriel was there. Hanging out with a dwarf instead of him. But in the end he didn't intervened, he just left and went back to the feast, disappointed.
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That very night, a figure wearing a black cloak was sneaking around the kingdom. They had a hood on so that nobody would see their face.
After a lot of running and hiding from nearby guards, they finally found a secret trapdoor hidden away from view. They opened it and climbed outside, their head turning left and right to make sure they are not followed.
They walked more into the distance, stopping at a higher platform near the border walls, a river could be seen from it.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from underneath it. And soon the figure on the platform was met with a couple of other creatures.
Filthy, distorted and brutal. Orcs.
"You finally found the entrance. Took you long enough." The figure spoke, looking down at the orcs. Their hood still on.
"Lul Gijak-Ishi!" One of the orcs snarled. The figure immediately recognized that it was an insult. But the leader of this pack stopped it shoving backwards harshly.
"So tell me little elf how many guards are going to be up there?" The leader asked her in a mocking tone, with a disgusting smirk.
The figure felt disgusted by his appearance but answered nonetheless. "I've kept an eye on them and there's only one or two guards up there. The plan will work."
"It better or else your blood will water the ground. Just like theirs." The orc leader growled. "You'd be dead if not for Master finding you useful."
The figure just chuckled darkly. "Your threats mean nothing to me orc. Just attack the target like I instructed, you've got your payment for it after all."
"Which one is it again?"
The figure paused for a moment. "The black haired she-elf. The one they call, Eliriel."
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AN: Ohhh mysterious figure in the night!! Wonder who it is...