Lord of the Rings: This World We Live In

Chapter 2

We had been traveling for a while now, more than half the day had gone by. Had we been with Haldir, we would have been much farther, but unlike dear Muindor, Alassëa and I loved to take out time and enjoy the scenery as we traveled. Not that Haldir was a strict and to the point type of person. He had his moments as well where he would want to go out riding, but that was when we were in the safety of our homeland where we knew the black riders would not be able to attack us.

When we are home, we would race to see who was much quicker. It would be Haldir and his two brothers, plus Alassëa and me. I never won any of the races. If it were just based upon speed, then I would have definitely won. However, Rumil had always put in a catch. It would be that we would have to snipe out certain objects and then our targets would be judged to see who had done better. Orophin would come in first, Haldir and Alassëa would always tie in second, and Rumil in third and lastly me. 

They had been training much longer than me, but at least my magic was better than theirs. Ever since I had met Gandalf the Grey, I was fascinated by his magic and wanted to learn. During his stay with us, he had taught me the basics, but the rest was for me to learn by myself.

I let out a sigh thinking about the Istar. I wonder what he was doing right now. Gandalf was always busy with a different quest, especially since the Dark riders had showed up again. It would be good to see him again.

“It’s good to know we are almost there,” Alassëa’s voice came from above me. I opened my eyes and nodded leaning up from against the tree. Alassëa and I had decided to take another break. We were cautious and made sure that it was in a secure area where we could hide easily. Even if the black riders were out, Alassëa and I were not going to change our style of traveling.

“We are almost there. Just a little more,” I said to myself, excited. It had been years since I had seen Arwen and the others. Every time I went, there was always something exciting that happened and because of that I would never want to return. But of course Haldir being the elf he was, would always find some way to make me return.

I then smirked, as I remembered something else, “At least I won’t have to worry about Muindor nagging at me about proper manners or something.”

Alassëa just shook her head, “Don’t say that Ariel. You know he says things for your own benefit.”

I looked up at her laughing. Alassëa looked at me confused, “Man te? (What is it?)” She asked me slightly irritated.

I just continued to laugh shaking my head. It reminded me of when I had first arrived to the Forest of Lórien and began training there. Haldir was the one who was training me. Things were so new and different from what I was used to. It was difficult for me to adapt and Haldir would always get frustrated with how it would take me longer to learn things.

Alassëa looked at me confused, “What is the matter with you?” she asked with a hand on her hip.

I just sighed as I stopped laughing. I wiped my face with part of my cloak.

Alassëa just looked at me, “Agoredh i dass? (Are you done yet?)”

One thing that should be known about Alassëa is that when serious, she speaks in the elvish tongue a lot. Normally we both communicated in the common tongue, however, there were many elves that did not speak it and we would always speak in the elvish tongue. However, Alassëa and I preferred to speak in the common tongue. Orophin and Rumil were not as fluent in the common tongue. Therefore I was always trying to teach it to them. They had gotten well, but still they would prefer to speak in the elvish tongue. Haldir on the other hand knew the language very well and normally we would both speak it among each other. It would always be Haldir and I speaking in the common tongue and then Rumil and Orophin would get suspicious of us and demand to know what we were saying. But that was when we were younger. Now we didn’t do that as much any more.