The Sky that Nobody Sees

Crescendo

           

"Security has been expectably increased," Thranduil intoned as Inladris stood behind him and wound his smooth hair back into dark silver clips. "And all of the entrances and exits covered."

"Mmhm." She trimmed a split end as she found it.

"Arwen will be loaning you one of her smaller pistols. It should fit in your clutch."

Inladris raised an eyebrow at him in the mirror. He smiled pleasantly back. Then he saw the can in her hand.

"No hairspray, please."

She spritzed it on anyway. "It's got to last. This isn't a heavy one, it'll still feel natural." She beamed at his exasperation in the mirror, patted his shoulder and walked through his room to the sitting room. "Legolas!"

"No, Inladris."

"You sure? Your gorgeous hair...."

"Absolutely not. I'll take care of it, thank you."

Inladris grinned. "I'm going downstairs then."

She was the only one with hair not long enough to do much styling with, and Legolas was the only one who didn't want his hair styled, so she arranged everyone else's as she or they saw fit. It didn't take her long, but she liked to take her time.

It also gave her the opportunity to catch up with them each individually. As she combed gently through Arwen's hair, she asked, "So how about your lady?"

Arwen sighed, and rubbed behind her ear.

"What happened?"

"She's a bit....unyielding when it comes to her opinions. She said it's never appropriate to harm another person. I said that's impossible. She challenged me to manufacture a situation in which it would be. I said if someone had hurt or was hurting someone else, I had the right to hurt him to make him stop. She said there were always ways to restrain or talk down whoever was causing the problem, but responding to violence with violence only kept the wheel turning." Arwen patted her hands in her lap, lips compressed. "I could not convince her that sometimes the only way to save some people is to hurt others."

"She's not seeing the context. She's counting all lives as equal, despite what they've done or the damage they cause." She began braiding up from the nape of Arwen's neck. "You broke up with her, didn't you."

"Afraid so."

"Would you like some flowers? Thranduil brings me flowers when I have bad days."

"Oh I'd forgotten he did that. When did he bring them last, aside from the most recent opportunity?"

Inladris chuckled. "Opportunity. The last time he brought me flowers was when I had to take the cars for oil changes." She glowered at the back of Arwen's head, and muttered, "I hate oil changes."

"Why not get the driver to take them?"

"Because he drives for other people too and doesn't always have an entire day to set aside to take the cars in one after the other."

Arwen smiled secretively up at her from the mirror. "I just need to find me someone like your Thranduil, then."

"Okay to start, he's not my Thranduil. Following that, you would not do well with someone of his make. You require someone warmer."

"You're a pretty damn warm person, you know. It's odd that you and he would get along so well."

"Complementary traits I suppose."