Alas, For Captains No Hope.

Chapter 3

Alas, For Captains No Hope

Chapter 3

T.A. 2941

The next day the elleth and the elfling walked hand in hand towards the palace of their king. The elfling was happily bouncing besides her, while taking his surroundings in. On normal days, he would always move through the buses, out of the view. But today, he was in sight for everyone. He found it exciting but scary at the same time. All those eyes! They amazed him. They all had different colours and told a story. Some had a bitter past, others were full of life. But one thing they all had in common; No sign of age was shown in any of them. Their faces were ageless and so was the rest of the body. The elfling wondered in silence if he would turn out that way, too. He hoped it!

“Have you decided on a name yet, tithen pen?” The elleth asked him. He turned towards her and looked up, his eyes showing interest in the question. He pondered for a short while about the question. Had he chosen a name yet? No. He shook his head firmly. The elleth took the hint and continued to look towards the palace again.

Soon enough they reached the palace doors. Tall they were, reaching out to the second floor. They were also beautiful crafted, as the rest of the palace. Although it was located in a cave, it was a beautiful sight to behold. The little elfling looked his eyes out. What big! He thought to himself.

Several guards were located around the building. They wore all the same uniforms, but they had different symbols on them. They indicated the rank of the soldiers. One guard immediately noticed the two of them and made his way over. His symbol was different than the others. The elfling pointed that out to the elleth in a mere whisper. She smiled at him and answered his question. “He has a different symbol because he is of another rank. He is the palace guard's lieutenant. The others are normal guards.” She explained.

“That is correct, Faervel. I am currently the one in charge here, pen neth. The palace guard's commander is currently in a meeting with king Thranduil.” He told the elfling. He merely nodded in understanding and continued to suck on his thumb in silence. “He does not talk much, lieutenant.” The elleth informed him. “I understand that. Faervel, may I ask who he is? I have never seen him before and it is very unlike you bore an elfling in these times without anyone noticing it.” The lieutenant said with suspicion in his tone.

It was not the first time someone of the stronghold judged an elleth or ellon because of their origin from one of the settlements. The elleth became tense after he spoke out the words. She had heard from her neighbours about the palace guards' behaviour, but that it was this worse!

“He has not been named yet.” She announced to him. The elfling looked from her to the lieutenant and back. He was lost about the situation.

The lieutenant narrowed his eyes at the response. Slowly, he crouched to the elfling's level without permission. The elfling's response was to back away, still holding the hand of the elleth tightly. When he backed away, the lieutenant came even closer. The elleth named Faervel became nervous and eyed the other guards with scared eyes. Some of them began to move uncomfortable under her gaze, but didn't make an effort to help her out. They were told not to leave their post and were not about to go against their orders.

Then out of nowhere, the king and the palace guard's commander walked out of the palace. They both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the awkward situation playing out in front of them.

“I demand an explanation, lieutenant Baralinor. For what reason did you forsake your post near the entrance?” He confronted the lieutenant. “Commander! I had not seen you coming.” The lieutenant began. The commander immediately cut of him. “Before you will give us an explanation, I advise you to come nearer. In that way, screaming won't be necessary and the elfling won't look horrified.”