Dawnstar and Friend

Eleanor’s POV
When we finally got back to Rivendell, Estel was running around and being a right little monster. He, of course, got on with our cats tremendously.
When we arrived, we were greeted enthusiastically by all there. Unlike when we were with the Dunedan, they could not come and see us or check that we were alright and so they were rather happier with our return.
Elrond nearly crushed my bones in his hug, as did Glorfindel; Ginny received the same treatment by Erestor.
The twins were not actually there, thank heavens, they were off Orc hunting. I don’t think my bones would survive their welcome back.
Gilraen was rather more restrained while Estel totally ignored us and tried to catch Nyx.
The next day there was, totally unsurprisingly, a ball.
After our year running around often not being able to bathe for days on end, the day long toilette was a welcome change and the sumptuous dresses a whole new level of delight.
Somehow, this time I didn’t object to the revealing nature of the gown the seamstresses of Rivendell seemed determined to put me in.
This time, the dress was pure satin-gossamer and it only hid my skin by default of multiple layers. All the layers were varying shades of aqua, the top layer being the bluest shade of turquoise possible and each descending further into green than the previous.
The top layer falls to about the same height as where my buttocks started to swell, the fabric folding outwards elegantly. The next layer fell just above that one, also folding outwards elegantly and so on. The layers at the back stopped at about mid-back height.
A similar, though smaller scale, thing happened at the neckline.
On each shoulder is an ornate gold broach and from that flow the layers of gossamer, like on the sleeves of a Roman dress.
The embroidery is in gold and silver and flows in elegantly round the hems, up the sleeves and under my bust.
The royal jewellery looks truly beautiful and I have some new earrings with both sapphires and turquoise jewels set in twists of gold and silver that fall gracefully to just above my shoulders.
The ball is like the previous ones I have been to in Rivendell: meal then trip to the Hall of Fire.
When we get to the hall, I finally get to see Ginny’s dress, she having been sat further down the table from me.
I gasp in amazement, the dress is most un-Ginny-like. She is obviously slightly uncomfortable, but I suspect her maid forced her into the lovely dress.
It is primarily in a pale pastel shade of blue/lilac colour and is, unusually for elfin gowns, laced together at the back. The fabric is pinned up at the shoulders with the same gold ribbons as are used to lace the dress up and the thin ribbons weave themselves down the sleeves, holding the two sides of silk dupion that make up the sleeves, flashing occasional bits of skin on the arms.
The neckline is technically a cowl neck, but there are three little ribbons, one on either side of her bust and one in the middle, tying up the folds – this enhances her chest enormously.
As if this wasn’t enough, there is a wide ornately embroidered and sequined sash round the chest, just under the bust that turns into a large, fluffy bow at the back and that bow trails down the train of the dress.
All the decorations on the dress are in gold with tastefully done sequins and amethysts.
Her jewellery is a delicate, but very decorative, vine patterned necklace embedded with amethysts and a matching set of earrings. The silver circlet Erestor gave her sets off the rest of the outfit beautifully, matching the very pale colour of the dress rather than the decoration.
My eyes then almost pop out of their sockets for, rising above the bow, is a thin wavy tattoo in jet black, it’s bordered by tiny dots, and stops between her shoulder blades. I wonder what Erestor made of that.
Despite this, however, one thing that the outfit leaves no doubt about is that she is female, very female.
That night she does not lack for dances, though much to my amusement, our dear lord chief-councillor is unbelievably protective of her; I think he has taken to the role of father a little too well.
Part way through the evening, I go out onto the balcony outside the Hall of Fire and watch the stars, a truly elfin thing to do. While I am there I sense the presence of two other elves nearing the main courtyard of the palace area.
I rush down there, curious to see who they are. They are the twins.
Thankfully they don’t see me as I get a mischievous idea.
They are obviously confused at their lack of welcome, even late at night their father is usually there to greet them, but of course he is at my party.
I hide behind one of the pillars along the colonnade leading up from the courtyard and wait for them to pass, grateful that they do not notice me.
Carefully, I pick up a little stone and chuck it at another part of the colonnade, when they hear it hit the marble the look at it and while they are doing so, I move to another hiding place.
I do this again several times, thoroughly confusing the two elves who have by now forgotten about how strange it is that their father still has not come to greet them.
After playing this game for a little while, the twins give me a perfect opportunity, standing just in front of my present hiding place.
I poke them both in the side and as soon as they come down from the jump, I get the both of them in a head lock.
At this point they discover my ability to hang on like a monkey.
I eventually let them go and, when they find out it is me, they are as effusive in their greetings as I had suspected they would be. When I explain where everyone is we jointly get another wicked idea.
I wait in Elladan’s sitting room while the twins hurriedly change into formal wear, taking much much less time than I do to even put on day clothes.
When they are ready, I realise that they are wearing the same outfits, pearl grey doublets, white silk tunics, and black leggings, all with elegant embroidery.
We then go to the Hall of Fire and some trick of fate means that we are able to get there without being spotted and no-one is in the doorway.
Even more amazingly, the music and natural light also play along so when we step through the doorway, me with a twin either side, it is suitably dramatic.
First only a couple of elves notice us but, at the speed of sound, that is the speed of the not particularly quiet whispers, everyone is looking at us.
I curtsey and the twins bow flamboyantly before proceeding dramatically over to their father.
That was the most amazingly cool entrance I decide.
Elrond is totally speechless.
So is everyone else for that matter.
Elrohir fills in the silence by asking me to dance, at which point the band at least wakes up.
I don’t think the elves of Imladris get over it for the entire evening.
For some reason, I don’t ever seem to be able to go to a party without at least one surprise, not that I didn’t manufacture this one slightly.
I do have trouble working out whether Ginny minds me taking the attention off her and that dress of hers or not.
It is a bit of a no brainer with Erestor though, he is very glad his sel is no longer the attention of all the playboy males of Rivendell.
The next morning, Elrond and co are over their shock at the arrival of Elladan and Elrohir enough to ream all three of us out about our method of announcing the twins’ arrival.
Then we get to telling of our little adventure into the lands of the allies of Sauron.
This is quite amusing as we tell the story in twin-speak, but with three people instead of two.
Afterwards Ginny was shown off to the people who make elfin fabric with her purple dye while we went off to do other things.
That evening we were sitting round as a large family group, that is my family, Erestor, Glorfindel, Miriel, Gilraen and Estel, wondering where Ginny was while watching, amused, as her cat took its turn to be tormented by the little boy.
After a few minutes, the question about her whereabouts, not to mention the whereabouts of my cat, were answered when she came in holding Nyx, who had her sunglasses propped on her head and a dead mouse dangling from her mouth.
It took me a few seconds to get the joke.
I rolled my eyes before bowing to the cats and saying,
“Bella Donna.”
Ginny laughed and then decided to explain what was apparently so funny.
She pointed to the dead mouse.
“Deadly”
She pointed to the cat.
“Nyx, night”
She pointed to the sunglasses.
“And those are shades; deadly nightshade, or Bella Donna in Italian, which literally means beautiful lady, which also describes Nyx.”
Even if the joke had started off funny, the explanation removed any humour.
She then puts my cat down and my fluff ball comes over to me a give me the mouse.
“Yes, very nice dear, now go put it away.” I give her back the mouse and pat her on the head, removing the shades first. She goes and hides the mouse in the nearby flower bed before coming back to me.
At this point, I decide to show one of the tricks we managed to learn while we were running across enemy territory.
After a little concentration, I make stream of water fall out of thin air before disappearing again about a foot below. I then make a little liquid soap on my hands and wash them thoroughly.
Only Ginny and Miriel were not shocked out of their brains by this. We had discovered other useful talents on the journey, like Ginny was an empath. This meant that she could make people feel what she wanted them to feel. This skill is unbelievably useful in foreign and hostile lands particularly and had got us out of some sticky situations.
After this little show of power, we of course had to explain this, we had kinda left it out when we had been telling the story.
***
A few weeks later, the weather turned and snow began to fall, much to the total joy of all those in the last homely house.
This also ensured that we would not be leaving again until Spring, in regards to Ginny’s health amongst over things.
It then occurred to us that we would be in Rivendell for Christmas for the first time...
Ginny’s POV
When we near Rivendell, Miriel suddenly pipes up that it’s only just occurred to her that she is now legally an adult. All the recent excitement had driven it clean from her mind. I’m quite surprised at this because, back in England, I must have driven everyone mad with my steady countdown to my 18th, but then, I wasn’t risking life and limb whilst running about strange lands.
We finally arrive back in Rivendell and are greeted with immense enthusiasm. Ada gives me a bone-crushing hug and, when he finally releases me, I call to Murrlin who has been delightedly chasing the fallen leaves.
Upon hearing my voice, she comes bounding over, with her ridiculously long tail held high. I gather her up in my arms and hold her out to Ada,
“Ada, I’d like to introduce you to my new baby, Murrlin.”
Ada takes Murrlin gingerly, clearly unsure about my use of terminology.
Murrlin soon starts to struggle; she wriggles free of Ada’s grasp and climbs over his shoulder and down his back. It’s only later that he notices the trail of muddy paw prints down his pale velvet robes.
The next day there was, totally unsurprisingly, a ball.
I greet Eama cheerfully when she opens the door to my balcony,
“Oh, Eama, I can’t wait to get into that bathing chamber and into those baths. I feel as though I haven’t had a proper wash in ages.”
Well, I haven’t.
You have no idea how wonderful it was to see my skin and hair glow again.
Upon re-entering my rooms, I gasp for, laid out on the bed, is the most spectacular gown I have ever seen. The lilac-blue silk shines elegantly and the gold ribbons glitter.
Err... hang on a minute...
“Eama, are you sure the dress is meant to be this low-cut?” Eama nods animatedly.
“But, I’ve never worn anything like this. I’d never order anything like this.”
Silence. I scrutinise Eama’s face,
“Eama,” I say slowly, “Who ordered this dress for me?”
Eama struggles a little before answering,
“Well, um, when the seamstresses began drawing up designs for your next ball gown, the Lords Elrond and Glorfindel may have given them a few pointers...” I gape at her; it’s my turn to struggle to speak.
Eama takes her chance,
“Come on, Ginny, you’ll be the centre of attention. You’ll wow all the ellons there. I promise you’ll look fantastic. Please...” I close my eyes and nod slowly.
“Brilliant! I promise you’ll thank me for this.” As Eama excitedly helps me into the gown.
When Eama moves round to my back to do up the laces, she gasps. Ahhh, she’s spotted it.
“No, don’t say anything, Eama, I want to surprise Ada.”
“You’ll certainly do that, Ginny.”
Once Eama has finally done up the clasp on my necklace, I look at myself in the mirror. I have to admit that I look amazing. I smile slightly as my eyes travel down my front; I think I know what the ellons will be looking at most tonight.
I go into my sitting room to find Ada waiting for me. He has his back to me, but when he hears the bedroom door close, he turns. Ada freezes when he sees me, the only movement comes from his eyes, which dart up and down me, taking in every detail.
Neither of us speaks, Ada, I think, from surprise... or shock, and I from nervousness.
Eventually I pluck up courage,
“Ada, you’re making me nervous, staring like that. What do you think?” Ada pauses, he seems to be weighing up his answer,
“It’s very... revealing and indeed... enhancing.”
“You don’t approve?” Another pause, during which, Ada and I look at each other. He eventually smiles,
“What am I saying? You look lovely Ginny; different, but lovely. I wouldn’t change a thing... Give me a twirl?”
I smile broadly and begin to turn.
“Ginny! What on the earth is that on your back?!”
I look down over my shoulder; the long, thin tattoo that I got done in Umbar snakes its way down my back and under the elegant fabric of my dress.
“It’s my tattoo, well, one of them. Do you like it?”
Ada’s mouth is moving up and down, I haven’t seen such a look of shock on anyone’s face before.
“Like?... When?... You’ve got more?”
I then show him the underside of my wrists, both of which have a tiny tattoo inked on to the skin.
“This one represents the sun, day, and light; and this one represents the moon, night, and dark. The line down my back is the divide between them. I thought that was a rather cool concept. And do you know the best thing about them? Unlike the tattoos from my old home, they won’t fade! They’ll stay as bright as this forever!”
Ada’s mouth hangs open; he sits down heavily on the sofa. I suddenly feel guilty at my little trick and sit beside him, taking his hands.
“I’m sorry, Ada, but you can’t keep me wrapped in cotton wool forever. I’m an adult; I can make my own decisions.”
Ada looks slightly confused at my expression, but doesn’t pursue it. There’s a little pause before Ada smiles and says brightly,
“Well, we’d better get to the ball.”
He takes my hand and guides me from the room.
When we get to the banqueting hall, the first elves don’t really notice us. But, as we advance, I begin to notice more and more ellons staring at me; they whisper to their friends, who then stare in turn.
I’m rather uncomfortable; I’m not used to so much attention. Maybe the bust is a little bit too enhanced after all.
As we approach my seat, I notice Glorfindel catch site of me, he then nudges Elrond and whispers in his ear. Elrond turns, smiles, and nods approvingly.
Miriel enters with Maedhren soon after. Naturally, she’s in emerald-green.
Her dress is made of light silk-gossamer and velvet and is an off-the-shoulder cut. The neckline travels in a soft v-shape across her chest, stopping just above her bust. When she turns, I see that the back part of the neckline is a low, rounded shape that falls modestly, yet enticingly, to just below her shoulder blades.
The top half of the dress is made of velvet and is embroidered with a vine pattern all around the neckline, high waist, and sleeve ends in silver and pale gold. The gold serves to highlight her beautiful hair.
The skirt of the dress is plain silk-gossamer that elegantly flows out behind Miriel in a long train.
Miriel’s necklace is very simple: a silver filigree choker with a single tear-drop emerald dangling below her throat.
I don’t get to see Ellie’s dress as a young ellon comes over to me and begins chatting and flirting. Judging Miriel’s and my dresses though, it will be suitably voluptuous.
After the meal, I’m offered the hand of another ellon who whisks me off to the Hall of Fire and begins dancing almost as soon as the music starts.
Various ellons, and even some older elves, dance and talk with me throughout the evening. Every time I look up, I see Ada’s eyes following the current male very closely; it’s almost as if Ada’s daring the said male to try anything.
All in all though, I’m very glad when Ellie makes her grand appearance with the twins as it means I’m no longer the centre of attention and can slip over to where Elrond, Glorfindel, and Ada are sitting.
The next morning, we have a proper chance to tell the others all about our adventures. I think it was the fact that Miriel, Ellie, and I were talking virtually non-stop and often over one another that prevented Ada from sounding his disapproval at our choice of destination.
I also manage to go to the fabric-makers and order a whole load of purple cloth to be prepared. I’ve decided to redecorate my rooms. All the old hangings are to be taken down and replaced with lilac ones; I’m also ordering some new bedclothes and upholstery, which are all going to be in a dark, violet colour, and decorated with silver embroidery. The rest of the cloth will be used for dresses, etc.
As I wander back through the palace, I spot Ellie’s cat Nyx lying spread-eagled in a patch of sun. This gives me an idea.
I decide to make a pun/joke about the phrase ‘bella donna’. It seemed to work quite well, although my explanation at the end may have taken the edge off it a bit.
***
We enjoy the next few weeks; especially when snow begins to fall and we all start having massive snowball fights in and around Rivendell.
One day, I catch Ellie mindlessly humming the chorus to ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’...