Estateillio

Interlude I

• The ringing of the alarm woke Rhawen from her dreams, the shouts rose her and with a sword in her hand she stormed out of her chamber into the hallway where others were already gathering.

• She cast out her mind to find her father and unsurprisingly he was already wide awake and shouting commands on the walls. "There's a fire in the West and an army", he answered curtly, "I fear we'll be under siege soon. Where's your brother?"

• Brutal honesty had always been the way of her father. Quickly she reached out to Candon and found him only just rising from his bed still sleepy.

• "Wake up, you oaf", she told him, while getting dressed and starting to put on the light armor that everyone capable of fighting was required to have in their chambers to avoid overcrowding the armouries in cases such as this.

• It was a matter of minutes until she stood on the wall. She was one of the youngest there and had she been born three centuries earlier she would not even have been allowed to fight, but the rules had changed and the last time she had been denied she had settled the situation with a fight that would have made her mother proud.

• "I would ask you not to be here if I knew I had any chance of convincing you", her father told Rhawen and her twin who had finally shown up as well,"But you have your mother's stubbornness and my words would only fall upon deaf ears. I will, however, ask you to be careful."

• "We will, Atar", she, as the elder of the siblings, answered and not far away, Caranthir, Lord of Thargelion, ordered for a small group of scouts to gather and investigate and the fortress bustled with activity.

• Three days later, the army of orcs and balrogs and giant fire-spitting lizards arrived at Lake Helevorn and the siege began and Thargelion fell.

• Everything burned.

[《◇》]

• "They have a dragon!", one of the scouts, a young elf named Geliren, exclaimed, before the group had fully halted their horses.

• "A dragon?", Hráven inquired, "How big? Where?" Short questions were enough when time was sparse. "Not big, perhaps the size of an ent when on the ground. It's with the army, two days of full gallop in the southeast, maybe nearer."

• "It needs to be taken care of quickly, else it will cause great death and destruction in our ranks", Élfaradis said, face setting into a deep frown.

• "Oroman, report to Erestor of anything else you found, Geliren, come with us", Hráven commanded and the three ellith stormed off towards the command tent in the middle of the camp.

• "They have a dragon" were the first words she spoke upon entering and everyone gathered there looked up with mixed reactions. Gil-Galad and Elrond were concerned, Durin steeled himself with grim determination, while Elendil and Oropher seemed almost afraid and Galadriel showed little emotion save a frown.

• "That will drastically change our plans", the High King of the Noldor spoke and bent over the map. It did not look good for them and their new foe only tipped the scale more.

• "I'd say that we need to kill it quickly, else it will cause much destruction", Hráven repeated what Élfaradis had said earlier. "How do you-", Oropher began, but was interrupted by the silver-eyed hunter: "I propose we select a group of people to deal with it. I can go and I know that some of my archers would accompany me if I asked them."

• "I will go as well then. Lady Galadriel, Lord Elrond, will you join us? Surely your magic will be of great help restraining the beast and keeping it from fleeing", Hráven added, though the use of the titles felt weird to her. Both consented to that part of the plan.

• "You will need protection from the orcs for your endeavour, Lady Estateillio, Lady Telphen", Durin spoke then and he used the names the dwarves commonly knew them by, "Many years ago my kin faced Glaurung and our armor protected us from his fire. I would send a platoon of my best men to aid and protect you."

• "We would be honoured, my Lord", Élfaradis said and inclined her head and then they adjusted their plans for the battle and the next day set out to meet the enemy.

• And, as agreed upon, they fought the dragon and killed it and Élfaradis fell and the world burned.

[《◇》]

• "You do not need to do this, you know that", Elrond inquired, "I know that their deaths have hid you hard, but it would be a folly to ride out alone and hunt the dragons."

• "I have to do this, Elrond, I cannot stand this inaction, Hráven has agreed with my plans, Ráven too and Estamíriel is still mourning and dying for a distraction. It will help us settle our minds."

• "Ráven I cannot say, but surely Hráven sees the danger in this unnecessary endeavour", Elrond tried to reason. "She sees the opportunity to kill possible threats that may or may not decide to travel south one day and kill many on their way", Halieth said, "Please, Elrond, you know that you can't change my mind."

• The Lord of Imladris sighed in defeat. "Just be careful, Halieth, and take care of yourself", he requested and the elleth nodded curtly in affirmation.

• Then she left and bid goodbye to Sívcelumë and Illúmdil carried her north where she fought many dragons and all of them fell, but none could quench the fire in her burning heart.

[《◇》]

• When Elrond told her of a company of 13 dwarves and a hobbit that had set out to kill Smaug and knew a way into Erebor, she jumped at the opportunity, though she had to promise Mithrandir to keep the dwarves safe.

[《◇》]

It's Saturday and I was bored, so here's the next chapter. It's an interlude and I plan to do those at the end of each movie (Desolation Of Smaug is over, now we're in The Battle Of The Five Armies). It's to give some background story on something that was important during the movie, so this one's about Estateillio's various encounters with dragons over the ages.
I hope you didn't get confused by all the different names I used for her.
Hope you enjoyed!
AT