Little Vanadessë Stories

First Steps

It was a bright, sunny morning, with only a few clouds scattering the sky. Celebrían, Arwen, and Amariel were out in the garden, watching Vanadessë crawl around.

"Here, Dess!" Arwen called, patting the ground next to her. Vanadessë dropped the leaf that she was playing with, and crawled over to her.

Arwen smiled, placing a white flower in Vanadessë's hair. Vanadessë felt the petals, and then promptly grabbed a handful of grass, sprinkling it onto Arwen's head.

"Pwetty Awwen!" She smiled, looking quite pleased with herself.

A few inches away, Amariel laughed, stopping when Vanadessë went over and "decorated" her hair as well.

"Hey, why don't you go make Nana pretty?" Arwen asked, trying to hold in a laugh.

"Don't encourage-" Celebrían started, her sentence cut short as Vanadessë placed a flower behind her ear.

"How come Nana gets a flower?" Amariel asked, starting to brush the grass out of her hair.

Vanadessë smiled. "Nana gets fwower, like me."

"Oh, so we aren't as special?" Arwen teased.

"No" Vanadessë smirked back.

Arwen clasped a hand to her chest in mock offense, while Amariel collapsed with giggles.

Celebrían smiled at her daughters, standing up. "Shall we make our way back to Ada now?" She asked.

Amariel and Arwen both nodded, standing up as well. However, instead of going over to be picked up, Vanadessë made her way over to a nearby tree. Placing her hands on it, she carefully stood up, using the trunk for balance, as Elladan had taught her a few weeks ago.

"Dessa, we need to go" Arwen called. "You can stand up when we get back"

Carefully, Vanadessë lifted one hand off of the tree, than the other. She stood there for a moment, getting her balance. Celebrían and Amariel had stopped walking, and were now standing by Arwen.

Vanadessë lifted one foot up, quickly setting it down when she began to wobble. Slowly, she began to put one foot in front of the other, working her way over to the rest of her family.

"She's doing it!" Arwen cried out happily. "She's walking!"

Amariel clapped excitedly, and Vanadessë smiled. She suddenly began to fall, and Celebrían rushed over to catch her.

"I think we have something to show Ada and your brothers." She smiled.

*******

Elrond was in his study, immersed in his book. He didn't hear the door opening, nor see his wife set Vanadessë down.

Vanadessë reached out for the wall, using it for balance as she carefully walked into the room. "Ada!" She called, cautiously moving away from the wall.

Elrond was snapped out of his thoughts by his daughter's call, and he looked up to see Vanadessë wobbling towards him.

"Dess!" He exclaimed, a huge smile spread across his face. "When did you learn to do that?"

"Gawden today" she replied, crawling up onto Elrond's lap. Looking at his book, she asked, "Dwagon?"

"No, Vanadessë, this one isn't about dragons." Elrond said. "Would you like me to find you one that does?"

Vanadessë nodded enthusiasticly, her eyes lit up with excitement. Elrond stood up, allowing her to crawl on his back. He walked to one of the many bookshelves, taking out one of Vanadessë's favorite books.

"Am I gonna fwy wike a dwagon someday?" Vanadessë suddenly asked.

Elrond laughed. "Well, my little flower, knowing you, you just might find a way."

His "little flower" snuggled closer to him at these words, and he smiled. "You just might."