Daughter of Starlight

Chapter Eight: Mereth Nuin Giliath {Feast of Starlight}

"Laerornien!" The repeated shouts of my name from the company echoed in the dungeon as I was put into a cell in the upper levels. I was a fair distance away from my dwarvish friends, but not far enought that I couldn't hear their cries.

The guards opened the cell door for me, too reluctant to physically throw me in. I obediently strode inside, allowing them to lock the door behind me.

"What did he want with you, Lass?" I heard Gloin call.

"Did he offer you a deal to get us out?" Bofur asked.

"Laerornien, are you alright?" I recognized that particular exclamation as Kili's, but I had no care to verbally reply to any of the questions directed towards me. I just sat on the cot in the corner of the cell, my arms curled around my legs to hug them to my chest.

What did he want with me? He wanted to know why I dared come back.

Did he off me a deal to get us out? Any kind of deal was out of the question; if he's not letting me leave, then he's not letting any of us leave.

Am I alright? No, I'm not alright.

I sighed as I rested my cheek on my knees, gazing at the rough stone wall. It had been a mistake to come back. I should have run when I had the chance.

Immediately following that thought I chastised myself. There was no way I could have left the men I now called my friends to rot in here by themselves while I fled like a coward.

I closed my eyes for what could have been a moment, but it also could have been an hour or more. All I knew was that I was so tired that I couldn't resist dozing off for only a little while.

The next thing I knew, there was a soft, metallic tapping in my ear, keeping me from sleep.

"Laerornien," I heard a familiar whisper.

I opened my eyes and looked at the cell door. I felt my lips curl up in a smile when I saw who it was through the bars.

"Legolas," I said happily, getting up from my spot on the cot and standing before my brother with the bars between us.

Legolas looked relieved to see that I was fine, seeming to let out a breath he had been holding.

"You shouldn't be here," I told him worriedly, glancing in the direction of the throne room. "Thranduil forbade you to see me."

"Since when have either of us ever paid mind to what our father bade us to do?" Legolas asked me, a grin on his face.

I smiled back. "Nae saian luume, Tór." It has been too long, Brother.

Legolas's face fell suddenly, and I asked him, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, a look of disbelief on his face. "I would like to know why Father is treating you like this."

I sighed, leaning my back on the wall next to me.

"If you did you would probably agree that I belong here."

"I refuse to believe that you belong in the dungeons as if you are little more than a criminal," Legolas said immediately, loyal to a fault as usual.

I smiled grimly. "This is the least I deserve. He could have had me killed, and for all I know he still might."

Legolas looked shocked that I would suggest such a thing. "Laerornien, he would never hurt you."

"Are you really so sure about that?" I asked, cocking my head at him. "To him I am a thief, one who must be punished."

"A thief?" Legolas looked at me questioningly. "Laerornien, what could you steal that would put you here?"

I turned my face to the ceiling, resting my head on the wall behind me and closing my eyes. "You would not believe me if I told you."

"Considering the circumstances, I think I would."

I looked at him again, seeing the honesty in his blue eyes.

"I took the White Gems of Lasgalen from the treasury and gave them to Thrór," I said without hesitation.

Legolas looked like he didn't quite know how to respond. I could imagine his inner turmoil. Should he be angry with me? Should he be angry with Thranduil? Should he leave me and tell Thranduil he was right, that I'm a spineless thief and a traitor?

He didn't say anything at first, only turned away. I was afraid that he would walk away and never come back, but he eventually turned back to me.

"Do you know what tonight is?" He asked me. Of all the questions he could have asked me, especially ones regarding what I'd just said, he asks me what tonight is?

But I was relieved. His eyes said all I needed to know; he believed me, and he forgave me.

"I have lost track of the days as I've travelled with the company," I told him honestly. Then I heard beautiful, gentle music drifting down to the dungeons, the notes soft and shy as they reached my ears.

"It's Mereth Nuin Giliath," he said, and I remembered the significance of tonight.

I smiled wistfully at my brother's words, listening to the music. What I would give to dine once again at the Feast of Starlight. The thought of the mounds of elvish delicacies and goblets filled with wines of spiced, rustic flavors made my already empty stomach yearn for just one more taste. Memories of my friends and I together as we gathered under the stars flitted across my mind. Mereth en Giliath was my favorite night of the year. I never celebrated it by myself in all my years away from home, while I was wandering the kingdoms of Middle Earth or even when I lived in Rivendell. It wasn't the same when you were the only one celebrating a holiday that no one else even knew existed.

I allowed myself to hum along to a familiar melody, content to sit and listen as long as it played. Then I remembered Legolas was still there.

I looked through the bars at him, only to see his back facing me. He was looking down into the lower levels of the dungeon.

I stood up and looked in the same direction, seeing a familiar fiery-haired head sitting next to a cell with an equally familiar face at the bars. They seemed to be having a conversation, but it wasn't one I cared to pry into with my elvish hearing. Legolas, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem with it. So, his feelings for Tauriel hadn't changed.

"Legolas," I said, trying to regain his attention so he could leave Tauriel be. I knew how he felt, and I knew how she felt, as well. It wasn't meant to be.

Legolas reluctantly turned to me, and I reached an arm through the bars to take his hand.

"You'd better go," I told him. "If the guards see you they'll tell--"

"They realized the faults in their king's actions the moment they were commanded to seize you, Laerornien," he said. "They won't tell our father."

"They are bound to their king, Legolas," I said firmly. "Do not test the limits of their loyalty."

Legolas sighed and nodded, squeezing my hand before pulling away and leaving.

I let my hand drop against the cold bars of the cell, watching my brother go. After a moment or two, I withdrew from the bars and back to the corner of the cell, sitting on the cot again and readying myself for a long rest of the night.