A Celebration of Apples

[starrydome]

The sun has disappeared and the sky is slowly fading into starlit night. And as the darkness grows and the chill of the air deepens, the lamps and fires are lit within the House of Elrond and there is a coming and a going from the kitchens to the great hall. The tables are set, the food is prepared, and everywhere there is an abundance of apples. For the Master of this house was right earlier that day when he guessed that his people would want to bring in the apple crop with all befitting pomp and circumstance.

His guest has been shown a guest room fitted with a wash basin and a beautiful if dim view of the river and all the word that has been passed through the house is that Master Elrond has a guest who arrived mysteriously (out of the very air)and that she will be at the feast. Apart from this tiny morsel of information, nothing is know, despite all cunning and elegant attempts to wrangle additional intelligence from the Master of this house.

Or anyone else for that matter.

But soon the wait will be over. The eager curiosity swirls through the air, not unlike the steam from the food, mixing in with the chatter as the household begins to file into the great hall where both Elrond and the Sons of Elrond are already seated. A place has been set where guests are normally seated, next to the host, and at present one of the sons of Elrond stands - and goes to fetch the visitor, lest she be lost once she leaves her room.

Comments

[ikissdhimbck]

Having washed up and put her hair back in order, Kate stands at one grand fenestration looking out upon the river. There is undeniable color in her cheeks, both from joy and the crisp air that kissed her cheeks while on horseback. This world is beautiful. No, it's more than that — it's stunning. Magical.

She has managed to keep dirt off her fine dress, at least. For a Texas homegirl that's a harder feat than many might imagine. She'll be presentable at dinner, golden hair done up fine and eyes bright with happiness. She feels she could spend months exploring this Imladris without tiring.

But for now, the scent of rich foods is on the air, the sound of hustle and bustle hinting at an entertaining night. And with her a tourist, it's sure to be an entertaining night for the people of Imladris if nothing else.

[starrydome]

There is a soft knock at her door.

Outside, she will find one of the twin Sons of Elrond. He will not expect her to recognize him, but he was the one smiling at her earlier that day.

His dress is, although made from exquisite fabrics, simple in line and style, its colours austere grey and dark blue. It heightens the brightness of his gaze - and that in turn is mirrored by a small jewel tied to his brow.

Apart from this his hair hangs loose, longer even than his father's and just as dark.The family resemblance is very strong and yet there is something different about him compared to Elrond. For the Sons of Elrond are neither Men nor Elves, not untill they make their choice. They are beings wholly unique onto themselves.

[ikissdhimbck]

She does recognize him, though she cannot remember which name to with which to address him. No, neither is she certain he speaks her tongue.

"Suilanyel."

She wishes she had a more appropriate greeting to offer given the declining hour, but hopefully he can excuse her lack of knowledge. She curtsies deeply, and smiles brightly.

"Can you speak my language?"

[starrydome]

He smiles and bows his head in greeting before answering her, "Yes, I do speak your tongue, lady. My name is Elrohir, and my father bade me fetch you as the time for dining draws nigh and he would not have you lost in the vast hallways of Imladris."

His voice is pleasant and his words are picked carefully, not out of unsurety but rather from a desire to say exactly what is needed, no more and no less.

He offers her his arm.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Much obliged."

She's relieved, and bows her head one more time before taking his arm.

"I'm Miss Kate Barlow. S'a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

The halls of Imladris are vast indeed, and just as visually stunning as the rest of this place. She drinks it all in, with no small measure of appreciation.

[starrydome]

He lets her look in pleasant silence, pausing briefly before entering the great hall proper.

"father was very specific," he says in a low and confidential tone, "That we were not to question you overmuch. You are a guest here, you will stay briefly, and the fact that your dress and speech - hints at you being from further away than most of our guests, although not unnoticed will be not be made a topic of conversation. But I must say this to you - if you have any hand in having lifted my father's spirit these last few weeks - I thank you."

And with that he leads her into the hall, brightly lit and filled - or so it seems at first - by radiant and animated visions of beauty. Leaving her no time to answer.

At the far end of the room a dais is raised, and there Elrond sits with his other son and a few other elves.

Apples are stacked randomly on the tables, acting as decoration it seems, in between the large plates and dishes, containing bread, cheese, meat dishes, and lightly steamed vegetables.

Two musicians have settled in one corner, diverting the company by what appears to be a variation on the song the apple pickers were singing earlier.

[ikissdhimbck]

Her laughter — for, to Kate, there could be no other response to such serious, hushed instructions — fades like a birdsong on the wind the moment she is swept into the dining hall. She draws in a breath and holds it.

Elrohir's words will stick with her for the rest of the night, but she will keep them to herself. She reckons she and Master Elrond are the only two in the room who know of Milliways, which no doubt is the true source of Elrond's lifted spirits. Though, it has to be said, he is a good deal responsible for lifting hers.

Her eyes scan over the many guests of the hall. She chuckles quietly, a private joke, for she feels dwarfed next to such tall and beautiful creatures. She, a mortal woman, barely over five feet in height and adorned not in any fine jewelry or vestments by comparison. She catches Elrond's eye and smiles, wondering if he understands the joke.

[starrydome]

He smiles back at her, perhaps understanding at least part of what she thinks. For he has welcomed many mortals to his realm and home and few have been unimpressed of the fineries and the people in his hall.

And because guests have been commonplace in Imladris, there is less gawking as she and Elrohir passes along the tables, headed for the dais. Curious glances mix with called out greetings, some for her companion and quite a few for her, like petals in a parade, raining down on them as they pass along and are finally seated.

Elrohir pulls out the chair a little that she may more easily be seated and then he in turn sits down between herself and his brother. The seating arrangement is in fact rather informal, although it may not seem so for the untrained eye.

"Welcome to my hall," Elrond says, smiling at her. "I hope that it will live up to the pictures my words have painted. I will introduce you in a little while and if you still would be willing I will then pass on your promise of a song perhaps? It would be well accepted here."

On her other side, Elrond's sons are engaged in a hushed conversation.

[ikissdhimbck]

The color in her cheeks has grown and spread to her ears. In Green Lake she was something of a celebrity — the blonde, blue-eyed schoolteacher, with the soft voice and the blue ribbon-winning spiced peaches. But it's been several years since Green Lake, and in a place like Milliways she hardly turns as many heads. So, to be fixed with so much attention is a mite bit nerve-racking.

She smiles bashfully, and shakes her head.

"It more than lives up t'your words. I'm — I admit, I'm a lil' starstruck. I wasn't expectin' all this. A promise is a promise, but I'm a lil' out of practice."

[starrydome]

He practically beams at her words, the pride he takes in his home is so very obvious and perhaps even more so now, in the twilight. Of everything.

"Once we trust the melody, the words will come," he says, as if quoting a saying from memory. "I am afraid I will have to speak in Sindarin when I introduce you. We have other travelers staying here who do not speak Westron."

And with that he gives the musicians a small sign and the melody changes and becomes as like a fanfare as anything played upon flute and harp likely can.

The hall hushes. Expectantly.

And then he speaks. It is not a long speech and it clearly encompasses other topics, such as the bountiful apple crop. Then he indicates Kate, and says what Elrohir has already related, adding the promise of a song or a poem, which elicits a cheerful response from the seated guests.

He does not mention that his Sons are leaving in the morrow. Such things are not talked of; they merely are.

The speech ends with a toast and as Elrond lifts his cup, Elrohir fills Kate's glass, saying in a quiet voice, "We normally stay seated for this. As father is standing, we may toast."

Customs are not intuitive - and it can be uncomfortable not knowing what to do.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate has always been impressed by the melody of language. From Latin and Greek, to the small amount of Russian and French she learned from Esfir and Alice respectively. But the tongue Elrond is speaking in is especially beautiful, and she finds herself fixated on him, watching as if she can see the melody hanging in the air around his lips.

She lowers her gaze when he gestures to her, her smile small and composed. This all reminds her of when she was introduced to society as a teenager.

"Thank you," she murmurs, relieved for Elrohir's help. "Your father is so humble, it's somethin' else seein' him command this much attention."

[starrydome]

Be as it may, the the Sons of Elrond have not yet made their choice; their hearing is sharp as that of elves - and her comment about humility earns a soft snort from the other one, Elladan, even as Elrohir smiles and says, "One need not stand on ceremony and protocol when one is used to being a living legend -"
And then Elrond sits back down and the chatter return to its previous level.

He turns to her and says,"Once we have eaten, there will be time to sing and dance. We will stay here I think, tonight. The Great Hall of Fire is set aside for those who wish to go and think awhile in silence and when we are as few as the case is tonight, we might as well stay here."

[ikissdhimbck]

She blinks at the brothers, as innocent as a newborn babe, and absorbs this new bit of information.

"S'that so?"

There is the faintest glimmer of accusation in her smiling eyes when she turns to Elrond. Living legend? This he failed to mention when recounting his many titles.

"You're accustomed t'havin' more sup with you than this?"

[starrydome]

He nods, not noticing - or ignoring - what has transpired between her and his sons.

"Yes. At present less than a third of the rooms here are occupied. And of course, when Imladris was founded, we housed a great many more people than we had room for."

New dishes are set on the table, in among the ones already there. All of them featuring apples in some way, savory or sweet.

[ikissdhimbck]

She nods carefully.

"Because of the declinin' hour?" she surmises, phrasing it as a question simply to be polite. "There are more folk leavin' Imladris than comin'?"

Her eyes fill with delight as the new dishes are presented, more sumptuous than the last. She has a healthy appetite for a woman her size when she's not out in Texas. She hasn't been to a spread like this in a long time, and she's eager to try the foods.

And hopeful the cutlery is as familiar to her as the ingredients.

[starrydome]

Unlike among certain tribes of Men, in Imladris the table is set with both knives and forks.

The light is provided by large candles and carefully placed - and highly polished - mirrors, increasing the light of each candle placed on the wall tenfold.

He nods. "Yes. It has been happening for a while, but it is very visible now. Perhaps because my own thoughts dwell on departure and leavetaking."

Elrohir tops up her glass and offers her a plate with paper thin slices of venison atop various vegetables.

[ikissdhimbck]

She had no idea how hungry she was until this very moment.

"D'you know who will take care of Imladris after y'leave?"

She forks a modest portion of meat and vegetables onto her plate, thanking Elrohir with a warm smile. She wonders if any of the other guests know that the brothers are leaving in the morning, and whether there is anything planned as a send-off.

[starrydome]

Elrond hesitates - but Elrohir answers instead. "My brother and I will stay here. A while. We hope that father will entrust Imladirs in our care."

Elrond's face is unreadable as he nods.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate looks from one, to the other, and back again.

Quietly, she lowers her gaze to her plate.

"Then I'm sure the place is in very good hands."

Though, bittersweet it may be.

[starrydome]

"It couldn't be in better or more capable hands," Elrond replies and his voice is as calm and sure as it ever is.

Elrohir bows his head and says, softly, "It would be a shame, should it just crumble with noone to bear witness." And his father agrees, just as softly.

Then he turns his full attention back to Kate.
"So, Imladris is not what you had imagined?"

It is not the smoothest attempt to steer a conversation elsewhere. He knows that.

[ikissdhimbck]

She chortles, masking her surprise by savoring a bite of one of the apple dishes.

"It's more than I could've ever imagined. Where I'm from everything's sparse an' flat; I'm not used t'places like this. There ain't no grand castles, jus' a lot of dirt an' clapboard houses. I've heard of places, of course — grand halls an' estates — but I don't think any of 'em could be half as beautiful as this."

Certainly, there can't possibly be stables to match what Imladris has. Kate could live and work the rest of her life in the ones here, and be contented.

"This world would be done a great injustice if it should ever crumble with no one t'bear witness," she remarks in Elrohir's direction. "I, for one, hope this won't be the last I see of it."

[starrydome]

"Then you must hurry away and back, lady," Elrohir remarks. "For the time of departure draws nigh and soon the birds will set up nests here. But perhaps that is not a difficult thing for you to achieve, a leavetaking and a rapid return."

He makes to sound as if it is merely a comment, but it is easy to discern the curiosity behind it - and suddenly Kate finds herself in the middle of some sort of silent exchange, between son and sire. Elladan looking from one to the other. No words are spoken, no harsh glances exchanged. But something surely passed between the two of them; with her in the middle.

"Of course, there are still a winter and a spring and perhaps a summer too," Elrohir continues, as if notthing is amiss. For all that this is our twilight, you should experience Imladris in spring, It is a beautiful season here."

[ikissdhimbck]

Even with her human ears, it's not easy to miss the curiosity in his voice. It pulls a crooked smirk out of her; she's amused, whether or not Elrond is.

"I'm afraid I depend on the fates when it comes t'journey-makin'. Some travels are easier than others, an', though I'd like nothin' more than t'see your spring, I do come from an awful long way off."

She hadn't missed the exchange between father and sons, either. Perhaps that's why her face, though turned sweetly toward her dinner plate, takes on a little mischievousness. Why not give them a tiny tidbit?

"I'll have t'discuss matters with your father, as I am at his mercy whether or not I can make the journey here at all."

[starrydome]

That gift is recognized it seems and for a brief moment she sees the full light of two amused half-elfs, eyes bright with suppressed laughter.

Elrohir sounds serious enough though when he answers, "Ah, but that is ever so here, lady. All here come and go at the mercy of the master of this house. The river itself will rise and stop them, should they try without a permit."

[ikissdhimbck]

She laughs outright, and it is a sweet, chittering sound, like the cackle of mocking birds.

"The river itself? Why do I get the feelin' that ain't an exaggeration?"