Avadis - A legolas story (slow moving!)

Chapter 25 - Passing the time

A week had passed, and the people of Rohan had become somewhat more... accommodating, towards Avadis. It had become much easier to ignore the stares of others when she spent her time with her new friends. Some days she would sit with Gandalf in the great hall, watching the men of the council as they had deep discussions. Other days she would spend time with Gimli, who had decided it was his job to teach the hobbits to fight in dwarvish ways, given their small stature.

Some of the best days however were the ones she spent out riding with Legolas. She would use her strong eyesight to scour the plains for orcs, and the two would ride out and kill them, making sure no more scouts made it close to Rohan. He was a good fighter, and the two of them were very similar in their preference for bow over sword. But most importantly, he was an excellent horseman. She learnt alot from him, watching the way he lifted himself onto the saddle, or swung his body to shoot from behind the horse. As they rode back to the town, Avadis would repay him with stories of her people, for he was especially curious about them, most likely because he was one of the few who had seen others of her kind before before. He wanted to know about how they lived, what they ate, how they survived. She found the more she spoke, the more she remembered, distant memories became clearer and small details she had forgotten began to reappear. There was no doubt that the two would be good friends.

...

"It's beautiful here" Avadis sat in her room at her table overlooking the plains. When she squinted her eyes, she could see in the far distance the edges of her forest, the horses running freely over the rocky ground. The morning sun shone brightly in the sky and people busied themselves in the town below, karts rolled down cobbled roads and horses brayed and trotted.

"It is indeed" Eowyn agreed from opposite her, taking a final sip of her tea that they had been sharing over breakfast. For some unknown reason, all of Avadis' friends had decided that breakfast was the best time to visit her, much to her dislike, Avadis was not much of a morning person.

"And it is good that we have some peace now. There has been darkness for so long here." Eowyn continued with high spirits in her voice. Avadis nodded her head in agreement, "your people are strong. They have endured much uncertainty still with pride for their king and homeland. That is something to admire."

"You shall see such a display of their pride tonight at our celebration" Eowyn leant back in her chair and gazed out of the window, "when even the most troubled of men have enough beer to drown their sorrows and dance with joy."

"I'm looking forward to it" Avadis smiled before remembering she had not brought anything to wear to such occasions. Infact she had barely bought anything at all, her journey had begun so quickly she did not have the time to think of it. Perhaps I can fly back and collect something before tonight. There was her advantage of having such a quick means of travel. However it was almost as if Eowyn had read her thoughts, because she suddenly sat forwards "I don't suppose you have anything to wear?"

"I can travel back to my home and find something," Avadis replied, tucking her cutlery away on the table.

"No, no, that will not do. Take a dress of mine, I have many to spare. Come!" she leapt up much quicker than Avadis anticipated and grabbed her hand, dragging her from the table and down the corridor to her rooms.

"Eowyn please, I could never!" Avadis tried to say, but she was sternly hushed each time by Eowyn who had her head deep in her wardrobe, occasionally pulling out a dress, lifting it up and holding it next to Avadis before shaking her head and putting it back away.

"I want one which will match your hair" she said, her fingers running quickly through her dresses until they stopped at one. "Ah!" She pulled out a dark brown dress and held it up against Avadis. The dress had velvet red stitching and no sleeves, but it reached beautifully down to the ground. "You'll wear it with this underneath" Eowyn brought out a white slip shirt with billowed sleeves.