With a secret mission to marry an elf, Wynne must join Legolas' and Elvenking Thranduil's new quest as a horsekeeper. She begins an adventurous journey, encountering orcs and monsters, friendly uruk-hai, a lady dwarf and many Fellowship heroes - but...
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~ Wynne takes a bath and has a pleasant evening around the campfire. ~
4. Showing Skin
When she had removed her hose and tunic Wynne hesitated, fingers lingering on the hem of her linen chemise. Surely Mother didn't expect her to get stark naked in front of the elves? The chemise was bad enough, it had a low neckline and reached only a bit below the knees, showing a great deal of bare ankle. Quite scandalous.
She drew a few long breaths to calm herself before joining the elves by the river shore. She mustn't appear embarrassed. Mother had said elves didn't know much about human customs so if she pretended this was normal woman behavior they wouldn't have cause to question it.
Feeling extremely conscious, she advanced into the water and began washing her face. If it was red they would hopefully think this was because it was so cold.
"What on Arda are you doing?" Thranduil sounded more shocked than she had expected.
"Washing." She raised her head and met his bewildered stare.
All of them stared, she saw, and the three light-skinned ones had become noticeably flushed.
"But... you are almost nude!"
"I'm in my underclothes same as you. Surely you must have seen a female in her shift before? You're a father." Wynne had no idea where that boldness came from but instinctively knew it was the right approach.
Thranduil swallowed a few times, obviously at a loss what to say. Then he shrugged and continued cleaning himself.
While she bathed in the chilly water, Wynne subtly peered at the others through her lashes. They kept throwing glances at her, she noticed, and started to feel rather satisfied about the whole thing. This had not been as mortifying as she had anticipated and she found that she liked drawing a male's attention. As plain as she was, that had never happened before.
oOo
In the evening, they gathered around the campfire, sharing a nice dinner of a special kind of elvish bread called lembas. It tasted sweet and aromatic and Wynne needed only a very small piece to become completely satisfied.
They stayed up a while afterwards, resting and watching the stars come out. The elves took turns entertaining each other, beginning with Nodir and Bronedir. The brothers sang a duet, a slow, melancholy song about the many martyrs of the Ring War. Their vibrant voices were perfectly matched and intertwined in otherworldly harmonies.
The light of the fire reflected in their dark eyes and no words could describe the combination of their elven beauty and the exquisite, bewitching tones.
Wynne was enthralled, unable to tear her gaze from them, and when the song ended she was not the only one with tears in her eyes.
"I say, we need something more cheerful after this", decided Legolas, and contributed with a series of anecdotes of his many adventures together with a dwarf named Gimli. Most of the time, it seemed, the two of them had competed about something or other, such as who could kill more orcs, or who was the greatest drinker. In Legolas' version of the events he always won these competitions, but Wynne had pretty strong doubts about his truthfulness. There was an amused twinkle in his blue eyes and the hint of a smile on his lips that betrayed him.
