Liruliniel sighed softly, "I feel awkward and uncomfortable." There was no point denying this fact. She did, she really, really, did. Something about her frank words had Elrond's lips tilting slightly upwards in an amused smile. Whereas Oropher just seemed to look at her with hardened eyes, was he expecting her to just stay silent? She thought he knew her better than that.
Elrond slipped a hand out from his long earthly coloured robe. He clearly had changed from arriving. Liruliniel knew a small handful of facts about the lord, one being he was as skilled a fighter as he was a healer, being such things. Considering the outside world and what could be happening, he of course arrived in armour. It would be foolish not to. But regardless, he gestured to the fireplace which burned steadily in the room. Oropher followed suit and it became frighteningly apparent to Liruliniel that this whole thing was now out of his hands. He invited Elrond here, and anything from this point was in his hands, not Oropher's.
Liruliniel wasn't sure how she felt about that; knowing her fate was now in a stranger's hands. She sat down, fidgeting on the edge of her seat as Elrond sat opposite to her. Oropher instead came and stood behind her chair, which had her looking upwards with confusion. He just rested a hand on the back of the plush chair and looked towards the fire. He looked thoughtful, distant and resigning. Liruliniel would go as far as defeated, it was a look she didn't quite like on his face.
"You are aware as to why I am here." Elrond started, earning her face turning to look at him. He sat back in the chair, seemingly being totally at ease within a place he clearly had never been before. Liruliniel frowned unsurely, the elves from Imladris seemed more relaxed. "A letter can only express so much, and I know it may seem a bit much to come all this way; but I would like to hear it from you. So, what have you seen, Liruliniel?" Elrond asked, no pressure in his voice at all as he just looked at her patiently.
So she relayed the dreams, all of the details she could remember from the several she had from over a number of years. The relaxed posture of Elrond slowly dissipated as he sat straight backed, even leaning his chin against his palm as his eyes stared at her unwaveringly. His reaction was much the same as Oropher's, there was no way to keep the hesitant worry and fear from both of their expressions. She got it, what she was saying could well and truly bring them all into conflict. But a conflict that they couldn't avoid.
"I know this evil of which you speak of, I have encountered it before." Elrond said at length after she had finished. He sighed defeatedly as he rubbed his forehead, he seemed hugely troubled. Liruliniel shifted in her seat, did he hope that she would come out with something else? That what Oropher scribed and wrote to him was a lie? Some falsity that she made up just for attention or something? "You are not the only one who has seen this coming too." Elrond continued on after a few moments of silence, Liruliniel glanced up at Oropher before looking back at Elrond, so far her king had remained stony faced and silent.
"You?"
Elrond smiled at her blatant confusion. "Yes," he replied, shifting forwards to sit on the edge of his seat too. He rubbed his hands together before simply resting them in his lap. "There is more going on beyond your palace walls than I think you know. There is unrest, not so much civil, but there is something causing a tension in the air."
"All encompassing and suffocating," Liruliniel said slowly and quietly, her eyes growing distant as Elrond looked at her expectedly. She blinked and looked at him, "I have met that already. It made me unwell." She explained, Elrond seemed to understand with a knowing look. His eyes darted behind her before settling back on her. Liruliniel didn't like it, it was like they were having a separate conversation. She did feel a bit out of the loop. "I am to come with you when you leave tomorrow, am I not?"
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Everlong
FanfictionFor as long as she could remember, Liruliniel had one goal, one hope, one thing she wanted to aspire to be and do: she wanted to be a royal guard, like her father. Only, to get to that, a few trials and problems lay in her path. War, battles so terr...