GloriaComandini/QueEnFan_Corpus · Datasets at Hugging Face

CHAPTER 2 TITLE

Wedding Celebrations

CHAPTER 2 INITIAL NOTES

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CHAPTER 2

Lord Elladan let out a spirited laugh and a gentle, but familiar hand touched his back. Turning then to see his twin who smiled graciously but did not meet his brother's gaze, he narrowed his eyes and dropped his voice. “Well?”

“Well, what?” Elrohir said, still avoiding his brothers' scrutinising look and smiling at different people across the crowded party.

“Come on you sly fucker, where have you been, I know that face.”

“One does not kiss and tell.”

“Yes, you do.” Elladan chuckled and sipped his wine. “Later then.”

Elrohir inhaled sharply and hummed, turning to face a different section of the hall as Lord Artelwë passed through the crowds and gave a knowing, yet gracious smile and lost himself amongst the other guests.

Elrohir sat unbraiding his hair in the mirror when his brother walked in and dropped down on the bed. “Where’s Tia?” he said, watching his twin in the reflection.

“She’s taking a bath, but never mind that, come on, I haven’t forgotten about earlier,” Elladan grinned and spread himself out on his stomach.

When Elrohir had quickly returned to the party, he had sought out his twin and whispered in his ear ‘Do not try and find me’, before swanning off to collect bottles of wine.

“I was socialising,” Elrohir said innocently.

Elladan slung a pillow at his twin which hit Elrohir harmlessly on the back. “No you weren’t, come on! I bet you were getting dick.”

“I was not getting dick!” Elrohir snorted, laughing in protest.

“Then what were you doing? Or should I say who?”

“I happened to meet a very polite acquaintance...”

“Acquaintance,” Elladan repeated sarcastically.

“Acquaintance, yes. Lord Artelwë, some... distant relation to Findis -” he said dismissively. “- We had a chat and a drink.”

“And?” Elladan grinned.

“And... we may have shared a kiss.”

Elladan laughed at his not-so-innocent twin while Elrohir pulled a sarcastic face through the mirror. “So, this Lord Artelwë, you just happened to meet him at the party?” Elladan said. “What did he look like?”

“Yes, I wanted some fresh air, so I stepped outside. He approached me and introduced himself. He’s very tall, dressed well, nicely spoken -”

“Let me guess,” Elladan interjected. “Is he blond?”

Elrohir put down his brush and turned around on the stool to frown at his twin. “And what if he is.”

Elladan laughed again and rolled onto his back. “Hah! You and blonds!”

“Oh, fuck off back to your own room,” Elrohir said, picking up the pillow from the floor as he approached the bed, then playfully beat Elladan with it.

Joyful conversations full of fond memories and humour echoed about the great hall of the citadel while merry music played, people danced, and a great feast was laid out. It was yet another celebration that was being hosted, and somehow the guest list seemed to be even more extensive than before. Lord Elladan and Lady Tiatania had been wed in the city of Tirion, and the entirety of the royal and noble houses of the Eldar were in celebration.

Lord Elrohir had been mingling with people all night, expressing his elation in seeing his twin finally wed to the woman he had promised himself to, a woman with whom he had asked to take their relationship slow due to his own previous bad experiences, and her naivety. Yet when she had left the shores of Middle Earth he had admonished himself for not expressing his feelings fully. But now seeing them both reunited, overjoyed, and wed, filled Elrohir’s heart, and he happily moved about the party, conversing with friends new and old.

“Greetings, Lord Elrohir,” the silky voice said into his ear as Lord Artelwë stepped around him and into view.

“Telyalindo,” Elrohir said smoothly in return, a slight smirk on his lips.

Artelwë’s eyes narrowed slightly, and an amused snigger passed over him. “I wanted to offer my warmest thoughts and congratulations to the happy couple, though I see they are much in demand and preoccupied... if you could perhaps instead pass my sentiment onward?”

“You’re not the first person to ask me to pass their kind words to my brother and his wife, or was this more of an excuse to talk to me?” Elrohir said, smiling into his wine glass.

“Then I hope there haven’t been too many people vying for your attention today.”

“None worthwhile,” Elrohir smirked again, and allowed his gaze to fall down Artelwë’s figure and drag its way back up.

The blond regarded the other for a moment and sucked his teeth. “My Lord, how many glasses of wine have you drunk?”

“Two,” Elrohir said a little defensively, “Do you think I am some horrid drunkard?”

Artelwë sighed and winced a little, not intending to agitate the other Lord. “No, I simply didn’t wish to lead you into... situations, if you were not of clear mind."

“So you think I cannot flirt unless I’m drunk?” Elrohir said and raised his chin thoughtfully, “Hmm, excuse me,” Taking another sip of his wine he sauntered off to continue mingling about the party.

Artelwë stood alone by the void space that was previously occupied by Lord Elrohir, and watched as he swam through small groups of people, offering charming and polite conversation. “Fuck,” he mumbled under his breath.

Elrohir had been having a pleasant conversation with his mother when a servant delicately interjected and offered a letter addressed to the Lord, which at that moment seemed highly unusual, but he had taken it nonetheless and looked down at the golden ink that spelt out his name.

“Who is that from?” Celebrían asked, eyeing the slightly grey parchment.

Elrohir slipped a finger into the edge of the envelope and flipped it open, sliding out the carefully written note.