Sequel 27
Ginny's POV
I think everyone was rather shocked by the way I announced that Adindel's feelings towards me were very much reciprocated; although I think my Adar is going to take the longest to get over it.
I think it mostly stems from the fact that, while we were in Middle Earth, I made no secret of the fact that I hated Adindel. There is also the issue of my not responding – well, not all that much – to Adindel's advances whilst we were on our mission; not forgetting, of course, that any responses I did make were generally behind Ada's back.
Moreover, as you are well aware by now, Ada is very, very protective of his family (bit of an understatement, I know, but bear with me) and I don't think he's really gotten over how Adindel first made his feelings known back in Josselin.
He swears blind that it's only because Adindel went against elfin courting customs and didn't even wait to see if I would respond in the same way.
Yeah, right.
At least Adindel and I are actually courting; we didn't skip several stages all at once – unlike Glorfindel.
He visited Ellie the other day to explain why he didn't come when we initially returned.
He was accompanied by a young and very beautiful elleth called Lúciel, whose waistline is slightly thicker than normal...
I did try to not burst out laughing as he related the story, especially as poor Lúciel looked as though she was dying of embarrassment. Her husband – yes, husband – although he looked slightly pink, also looked thoroughly pleased with himself.
Males!
Adindel really did laugh when I told him; I don't think he's really forgiven Glorfindel for being labelled – by me of all people – as the 'best piece of eye-candy' ever seen. But, there we go.
He (Adindel) comes round a couple of days later and finds me by the little patch of willows where I rejected Gil-galad.
It's kind of ironic really when you think about – Adindel asked me to bind with him.
He, with a twinkle in his eye, suggested that we should perhaps take 'the next step' seeing as Glorfindel was so eager in virtually bypassing the whole courtship stage. Adindel didn't actually get down on one knee – I think he might have been the tiniest bit scared that I would say 'no' seeing how early (relatively speaking) we are in our relationship – but he did clasp my hands and gaze loving (and longingly) into my eyes.
What do you think was my answer?
Did I even need to ask that question?
Of course, after we eventually resurfaced from the passionate embrace that had ensued after I said 'yes', Adindel had the... pleasure... of asking my Adar's permission to bind with me...
Exactly.
Naneth and I listen with baited breath at the raised voices emanating from Ada's office.
"It doesn't sound good," I say nervously.
"No, it doesn't," answers Naneth, a steely glint in her eye. "Right, I've had enough of this." She marches off to Ada's office and enters, without even bothering to knock. I could almost hear Ada gulp.
Not long after that, Adindel emerges with the biggest grin I've seen him wear.
Not everyone is as happy as my fiancé though, mostly, I think, because of the virtual blink-and-you'll-miss-it speed of our courtship. Do I even need to mention Glorfindel's name? Apparently I do.
Everyone is even more shocked when Gil-galad and Lottie announce their own engagement not long after we do.
Not that any of us really care.
However, we do care when that oh-so-charming King of the Valar orders that the betrothals are to be a year long. I hope Manwë is grateful that Lottie and I were holding on to our fiancés when he said that. I suspect not, though; I think he was just highly amused by our reactions.
Guess who in my family is most zealous in enforcing the rules about chaperones – it isn't Naneth and it most certainly isn't my sister. Ada's 'diplomatic cough' gets a lot of usage over the next few months, especially if hethinks things are getting just a tad too steamy between Adindel and I.
I'm eternally grateful to both Miriel and Ellie, though – they take it upon themselves to do as much chaperoning as they can and then 'mysteriously' forgetting the part that we should be in their sights at all times.
Don't you just love best friends at times?
One day Adindel announces that he wants to have a picnic, so we pack all the necessary essentials and wander off – with my friends in tow.
We decide that the woods near Ellie and Legolas' summerhouse would be the perfect place for a picnic.
Ellie and Miriel soon leave us in a little glade – judging by the sounds of laughter that drift back to us on the wind, they evidently think that we'll be satisfying something else other than our appetites.
Well, I'll have you know that we do actually eat the food we've brought along and that Adindel has behaved like a true gentleman throughout our betrothal period... most of the time, anyway.
Anyway, once our hunger is satisfied, we walk back into the wood proper.
We wander slowly, hand-in-hand, wending our way through the trees with no particular direction. It is only when we come to the edge of the wood do we notice that the once cloudless sky has turned to a dull, slate-grey hue.
A chilly wind whips up around us and I instinctively lean in to Adindel's warm body. Yes, I know Elves aren't affected much by the elements, but I still say this reaction is leftover from when I was human; besides, it gives me an excuse to snuggle up to my fiancé, who doesn't seem to mind in the slightest.
Then the rain finally begins to fall; it's slow at first, but then it begins to pour down. Taking my hand, Adindel makes a dash for the summerhouse.
By the time we've reached it, our hair is soaked and our clothes are heavy with water.
We leave a little trail of water behind us as we make our way inside. We stand in the hall, dripping and listening to the storm outside.
"Well, what are we going to do now?" I say as I peel my shoes away from my feet. "We have no idea how long the storm will last."
"I can think of one or two things that might help pass the time," says Adindel in a sultry voice and he passes me a little cloth wrapped bundle that he has just fished out from the picnic basket.
I unwrap the cloth and find myself holding a book bound in deep-purple leather. Upon opening it, I see the first page shows only two words: 'Kama Sutra'. I raise my eyebrows.
Adindel then comes up behind me, wraps his arms about my chest, and proceeds to delicately kiss my neck and cheek.
I can't deny that a tingling wave of passion washes over me, making me gasp. This is, after all, what I've been wanting for the past few months, but I'm not going to let Adindel off so lightly.
"You planned all this, didn't you?" I try to not react as Adindel's lips gently make contact with the point of my ear.
"Well, I didn't plan the rain, but I can't deny that it's certainly an improvement on what I had in mind." Adindel's voice is barely a whisper, but he makes sure that his breath keeps caressing my ear.
"You thought I'd be this easy?"
I try to sound reproachful, but Adindel merely laughs and kisses my ear again, but this time with more force and meaning. I give up all pretence of resistance and turn around in Adindel's arms; I give an answering kiss to his ear before nibbling slightly on the lobe.
Adindel inhales sharply before moving my face so he can kiss me properly...
One thing leads to another and suffice to say that, come the next morning, Adindel and I are well and truly bound… many times over.
The next few days pass in a happy, but very hazy blur.
Well, when you're doing a lot of one thing and not very much else, the days do tend to merge.
We do do other things, such as bathing and whatnot, but more often than not, we end up doing things that are far more exciting, especially when Lottie's book is utilised. Yes, Lottie was the one who gave Adindel the Kama Sutra.
I would have loved to have seen everyone's reaction when our absence was noticed, especially Manwë's. Score one for us, I think.
In the end, I have no idea how long we actually stayed in that room – it was certainly longer than a week.
Eventually, however, we (somewhat reluctantly on Adindel's part, I think) agree that we should really think about emerging sometime soon – if only to give Legolas and Ellie access to their summerhouse again. Besides, we do have our own place now that's just crying out to be occupied...
A day or so after we've agreed this, a fresh change of clothes appears in the room.
"I don't suppose we can really back out of it now," I say, eyeing my dress with a somewhat amused expression.
So we dress and make our way downstairs.
Outside the summerhouse we're greeted... by everyone, all fourteen Valar included. Adindel and I stand there somewhat self-conscious, particularly when Thanduil comes up, clapping his brother jubilantly on the shoulder, and revealing just how long our binding was.
OK...
Adindel gets over his embarrassment quite quickly and, with an arm about my waist and a very pleased-with-himself look on his face, says that we do have a lot of time to make up seeing that, if he'd had his way, we would have been bound a very long time ago.
"I wouldn't have thought that Ginny would have been so ready to spend quite such a long time in bed with you, brother mine, however much you wanted her to," answers Thanduil.
We'll see about that. I snuggle into Adindel's embrace and look at his brother,
"Ah, you know me, Thanduil, as Oscar Wilde said: 'I can resist everything except temptation' and your brother did make me some very tempting offers during our binding. What was a girl to do? I could hardly disappoint my husband, now could I?"
Adindel nods at his brother in a 'so there' kind of a way; Thanduil merely shrugs and goes over to join his heavily pregnant wife.
Males!
A few weeks later, I'm standing out on our balcony, looking up at the stars; I hear my husband come up behind me, he takes me in his arms.
Silence – I can sense that Adindel has something important that he wants to say, but I don't encourage him as this somehow feels like one of those times when the speaker shouldn't be interrupted.
"Ginny," he says slowly, as though he doesn't really want to speak at all, "Why didn't you visit me and my brother in Eryn Lasgalen before you sailed? When it became clear that Miriel would never visit again, my brother assumed it was because she had sailed after your death and had not wanted to visit him in her hour of grief, especially after the way we had treated you in the past."
I knew this would come up eventually; Adindel must have been going over and over it in his mind ever since we met in Josselin, but how can I give an answer to something I barely know the answer to myself?
"I... I was scared... confused. I had said my goodbyes and accepted my fate. If I'm totally honest, I had just been going through the motions of life, but all I wanted to do was die." My voice is faint; Adindel tightens his grip. "Now I had to make a choice between life and death. You lived among humans for thousands of years; you must have seen how much Man yearns for eternal life. If I had been given that choice when I was still young, I probably would have jumped at the chance, but I was tired... so tired.
When I made my choice, all I wanted was to get out of Middle Earth as quick as I could – I didn't want to falter and change my mind. I also knew what your reaction would be; I had known your true feelings for me since before I was married. I wasn't ready for something like that, something that I had only just recently lost."
"But I would have waited until you were ready; I wouldn't have pressured you into making any kind of decision like that." I turn around in Adindel's arms and begin stroking his cheek.
"Maybe not intentionally, meleth-nín, but your mere presence would have been enough. I wanted to live my life the way I wanted and the way I wanted included no ellon." Adindel holds my gaze for a moment before nodding in understanding; I suddenly feel as though a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
"Well, let's not dwell on the distant past any longer, not when we have the future to think about." As Adindel says this, he moves his hand so it's resting on my slightly swollen abdomen and the elfling that, even now, is making her presence felt.
Eleanor's POV
After Charlotte's, not to mention Ginny's, shocking way of telling us the new state of things, I decided it might be a idea to take Charlotte aside and tell her about elfin customs, mostly the one involving the notion that if she has slept with a person then she is married to them.
She goes both white and very wide-eyed before beginning to count off on her fingers. Suddenly her face changes to horror and she swears. I arch an eyebrow questioningly.
"Doug." Ah, the guy who took her virginity and she now hates, probably with good reason, but I never felt the urge to find out why.
I laugh out loud and cannot stop laughing; she is so shocked and horrified.
Mandos decides to make an entry at this point, wearing a grin I would normally associate with Manwë.
Yes, I am now pretty sure that all the Valar are at least a bit insane.
When I explain to him why Charlotte is looking like she's seen a ghost he collapses laughing as well before eventually explaining, much to Charlotte's relief, that anyone she slept with as a human doesn't count now she is an Elf so that is not a problem.
Charlotte is immensely relieved, and then looks like she wants to kill me when Mandos mentions that I already know this because of Ginny.
Uh Oh...
Shortly after that, Glorfindel comes to visit us, with an explanation as to why it took him so long.
This explanation has the rest of us creased up.
Somehow, he and a girl he was considering courting, just at the beginning of romance stage – you know aware, but not quite there – got a little trapped together, where they had to stay together for over a week before they could escape.
Apparently their courting lasted no more than two days - on account of them mysteriously getting rather randy.
And basically by the time they could escape, they didn't really want to on accounts of finding something far more interesting to do.
I suspect the Valar in that one; methinks they got bored while the truly insane ones were gone.
He introduces us to Lúciel, who is a nice Vanyarian girl with the traditional gold-blond hair of her race and an incredible blush on her face, probably because she is so embarrassed by the way she ended up bound.
Both Charlotte and Ginny take this apparent set-up by the Valar to mean that there is no reason for them not to get engaged much faster than usual.
When various Elves announce how shocked they are about the hurried courtships, we cover it over by telling them that time passes much more quickly in Arda than in Valinor and that they had been courting before in Arda, making up the time.
Technically not entirely true and deliberately misleading, but what the hell.
Manwë, in a moment of pure mischief, decides to placate those Elves who think the courtships should have been longer by announcing that the betrothals should be a year long.
Adindel, who I am pretty certain really wants to get Ginny into bed, looks like he would like to commit deicide and Gil-galad does not look all that much better.
Fingon, Ada, Oropher, Thanduil, Ginny's family, Galadriel, and Celeborn all seem to find it immensely funny though.
Miriel and I take pity on the couples and decide to help them escape from the chaperones by taking on as much chaperone duty as possible then conveniently forgetting to actually do it.
Several months into the betrothals, Ginny and Adindel want to have a picnic in private so we lead them to a little wood near mine and Legolas' summerhouse, which is basically a small mansion, and leave them to it.
By mid-afternoon it starts to pour with rain and I assume the pair will have just gone into the summerhouse to shelter.
The next morning Erestor comes by, asking if we have seen Ginny, she having missed both supper and breakfast.
We tell him that we haven't, of course.
Once he is gone, I go find Miriel and ask if she has seen Ginny since we left her with Adindel.
She tells me she hasn't.
At which point we look at each other then immediately get our horses and ride off to my summerhouse.
Sure enough, in the entrance hall is a trail of water which we follow. It does not take long to reach the room in which it leads into, though we do not enter, largely because the occupants are rather noisy in what they are doing.
I forgot Ginny could be really noisy when ... erm... occupied.
Miriel and I look at each other, and silently place our hands to our mouths.
It looks like Adindel couldn't wait the full year and by the sounds of it, Ginny wasn't too upset to break the rules either.
Miriel and I then leave very quietly and go back to my house, where we find a now very worried Silva, not to mention a few other worried people.
I try to calm them down by asking them what could possibly happen to them in Valinor, but they are still worried.
Manwë, who has by now heard of the missing elleth, then drops into the room and, with immensely bad timing, Oropher also enters, asking if any of us have seen Adindel.
That question sends the room into absolute silence and slowly, the realisation dawns on people's faces.
Manwë then turns to me and Miriel,
"Weren't you supposed to be the ones chaperoning them when they were last seen?"
We try to keep impartial looks on our faces, but that gives it away in itself.
"Where are they?" We just look at each other.
"Well, we think they ran into my summerhouse after the rains started and well... um, I don't think you are really going to be able to enforce that year long betrothal period any longer."
Miriel suddenly acquires a hacking cough that seems to sound remarkably like 'too late!'
Manwë does not say anything.
He simply walks out, with everyone following him, and goes to our summerhouse. There is no doubt it is too late not long after we get through the door. They are being noisy again.
Charlotte then giggles mischievously and suddenly gets the attention of everyone who has followed.
"I wonder if they are making use of the book I gave Adindel." Everyone looks at her curiously.
"What book, pray tell?" Manwë's voice is like ice.
"Oh, the illustrated version of the Karma Sutra I made them, with several suggestions of my own as well." I stare at her then collapse in silent giggles.
Thanduil is the one who eventually explains what the Karma Sutra is for those who don't know.
Manwë is not amused. Well, not at first anyway.
By the end of the week, even he understands the humour value; by the end of the second week, he (along with everyone else) is thinking up ways to tease the pair; by the end of the third week, we are beginning to wonder when, or as Charlotte said if, they are planning to come out.
Towards the end of the fourth week, Yavanna announces that she feels they will be out by the end of the next two days, which results in a flurry of activity.
Miriel and I sneak into their room while they are resting (judging by how much they have obviously done in the last month or so, they need it) and leave a change of clothes there for them. It is not too hard as we have got practice leaving food for them over the last month.
Outside the summerhouse everyone sets up a party so we can surprise them when they come out.
When they do, they are very shocked; the last thing they expected was to come out to a wedding feast.
We then get another shock when Yavanna decides that the feast is a good time to announce that she can sense that Ginny is pregnant.
Then the next shock comes as everyone is congratulating Ginny.
Ulmö takes the opportunity of knowing we will not be missed to take me and Legolas aside.
We stare at him in total non-comprehensive shock as he finishes talking. Eventually, my husband gets his voice back,
"Did you just ask us permission to marry our daughter?" Yes, Ulmö wants to marry Valya.
Once we are over the total shock of the notion and having one of the Valar as our son in-law, we agree readily and we announce it the moment we are sure Valya is up for it as well.
Everyone, and I mean everyone, including the rest of the Valar, who just happen to be here for the party, gape at us, then at Ulmö, and then finally at Valya. To break the dead silence, Valya decides to show-off the engagement ring.
Well, it explains what she's been doing while we weren't looking.
Anyway, shortly after the party Manwë decided that there was no point holding to the long betrothal for Lottie and Gil-galad and they too are soon married.
Strangely enough, Manwë doesn't even try that trick with Ulmö and it is really not a long time until they too are irrevocably bound and, therefore, I can officially count a deity as part of my family.
Within the next year or two there is a sudden baby boom as all the newly married couples, Myrwen, Lanthi, and Galadriel all have children. Galadriel having a child is the one which surprises us the most, but Celeborn looks immensely proud of himself and she goes girlishly shy, which is even stranger than her being pregnant.
All the same, we fussed round her and everyone else who was pregnant, though the female Valar all fell apart particularly over Valya's pregnancy; can't think why.
Hell, I was unaware that the Valar could have children, but apparently they can.
Either way, the result was that the Valar were too busy to get into mischief.
For now...
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THE END!
My goodness, have we finally reached the end? Apparently so, though, of course, this is only the official end of the series. Both rumrum and i will be posting many short stories, mostly oneshots, set in this universe, mine will mostly begetting poor single elves left at the end of this hitched and you will have to go to rumrum's area to see what she is doing. For those of you who don't already know, rumrum is Ginny and i am Eleanor though we both have occasionally written other people's POV's. Charlotte also exists but isn't actually writing any of this.
On the subject of Oneshots that get people hitched, when i post this I will also post one called 'song in the woods' which is written for my reviewer with that screen name who is officially my best reviewer, having been going since somewhere fairly early in 'Dawnstar'. If anyone else wants an elf who happens to still be single, review this or one of the other stories in the 'dawnstar' universe nicely and ask for that elf and i will try to write one for you, either that or post it over to rumrum for her to write.
Now i have finished this i am also starting another unrelated series to be known as 'Ereinion' which is another adventure story with romance on the side. Unlike dawnstar and related fic's it is written entirely by me. I have already written the first fifteen chapters and am mostly through the story line, yes it is rather shorter. I hope this is enjoyed as people seem to have enjoyed 'dawnstar and friend' then 'she, sorry they, will be back'.
Thank you for bearing with me and reading through the only author's notes since goodness only knows when and also reading through my little advertising spiel, enjoy!
Gaia_Caecilia and Rumrum