WIP snippet

[roselightfairy]

To provide a break from my personal complaining. :) Excerpt from a WIP full of angst and sadness that I very much hope will not feel manufactured.

The receiving room of Ithilien is less a chamber than a bower: the center of a cluster of five thickly-grown trees, draped in curtains of vine woven so tightly that not even the eyes of an elf can penetrate within. It is meant to protect the privacy of the lord and his guests, though Legolas sees few enough of those on matters of state, and placed distant enough from the main settlement to reduce the risk of keen ears overhearing matters that should better be kept secret.

Legolas can only hope for the mercy of that discretion now. The knot in his stomach draws tighter and tighter with every step he takes, the curtain of vines looming ominous and unfamiliar to his eyes – as though a veil before some unknown cave, as though Legolas cannot name everything kept within even without benefit of sight. He does not know all of Ithilien yet, but he knows this wood, knows his own settlement, with every drop of blood in his body and every note of song in his soul. Nothing here is unfamiliar to him.

Nothing – except for what awaits him within.

In the days since his departure from Aglarond, how many times has he dreamed of this happening? – of Gimli arriving unexpectedly in Ithilien, here to beg his forgiveness, here to profess his love? And yet, how can he be sure Gimli is here to do either of those things? And even if he does . . . how can he trust it?

His eyes strain at the spaces between the woven vines, but he cannot see within.

He has delayed since Eleniel gave him the news that Gimli was here to see him – braiding his hair, dressing slowly in the lordly finery he so infrequently wears, making his way here in slow, meandering steps. Those steps slow still further now, the nearer he draws, lifting each leg from the ground like detaching a magnet from a core of iron. He tugs now at the embroidered wrap over his shoulders, sweating in his fine clothing – but he will present himself now as the lord he does not feel, will use this clothing as armor over his traitorous heart.

And perhaps he wishes Gimli to see that he is not broken, even if his heart is.