Chapter 19: The last Homely house
Arwen contemplated her charge before she led her to the great arch of the dining room. It was a tradition for elleths to show up after their counterparts, and the hall was crowded from visitors from all lands. The Evenstar, ever graceful and stunningly beautiful, gave an unusual wink to the timid young lady following her. With the help of maidens they had adjusted a dress of clear blue color to the tiny body of her visitor. The lacing covered all the way down her back and blue embroideries adorned the skirt with intricate patterns, enlightening the fabric. Long transparent sleeves covered her arms to the middle of her hands, enhancing the long fingers she would flex once in a while as a reflex. The hem showed a slight cleavage, the deep V cut adjusting perfectly to her size while the drapery showed her slim waist. Arwen was really happy with the color and cut of the dress, but she could tell that the young lady was not accustomed to such luxury. Her stance was graceful enough, but her stiff posture showed she was on edge.
The young woman had refused that anybody touched her shining red hair, and she had arranged it in loose curls falling to her waist. The arrangement, she had said, showed her humanity and her human characters, the crazy curls deciding for themselves whichever way they would hang out. This was a way for Frances to stand out of the crowd and claim her belonging to the human community. Arwen had agreed nicely to this eccentricity, dying to work herself on the rusty hair that was so unusual for elvish people, but liking the idea nonetheless. The young woman had to promise that someday she would have her way over her hair, and the pair had set off to dinner.
Frances nearly lost her breath when she took in the length of the huge table. Several other ones were scattered among the hall but the main one was already crowded with elves, hobbits and dwarves. The race of men was clearly underrepresented, but she got no time to acknowledge everybody since Elrond had no intention to reveal who she was just yet. Entering into the room, the young lady her eyes down in shyness and went right to the seat she had been attributed, aside to Pippin and facing Frodo. As she sat, her eyes met Gandalf's ones who was sitting a few spaces away, and his friendly smile gave her a bit of confidence. After those years fighting evil forces, Frances had never been in position to be a part of a mundane reception, and being in a dress and making small talk to nobles and well educated people scared her much more than facing a crazy mind manipulator or anything else.
- "Wow, you are beautiful!", exclaimed Pippin while she took her seat.
- "Thanks", she smiled, relieved to be seated next to the international gaffer of the week.
- "I agree, elven clothes suit you well Frances", added Frodo, ever polite.
- "Yes yes yes" cried Bilbo while clapping in his hands, "I do not recall seeing fairer lady in my years of travels."
- "Ok guys", she interrupted while turning red like a tomato, "No more compliments now, I don't think I can handle it."
The five hobbits sunk rapidly in their beer, casting glances and wondering what they had done wrong while Bilbo munched on his lower lips absently. The old hobbit was probably thinking about another story to write down, and Frances felt stupid about telling all of them off because she couldn't take a compliment right.
- "I'm sorry little ones, don't get me wrong. It's nice of you to tell me what you think, but I hate the attention, I'm not used to have people complimenting me like that..."
The hobbit beside her seemed contrite.
- "Oh, people don't tell you that you're beautiful? What are they thinking?"
- "Pippin...", came Frodo's voice as a warning.
- "What? Ouch!" he said as Merry's elbow connected with his right ribs. "Oh, I did it again..."
- "Where I come from there are a lot of ladies that look so much better that I do, and I'm just usual, and I don't wear dresses"
- "Well what do you wear then?" asked Sam, ever curious.
- "The same kind of clothes that the ones I had when I met you"
- "But those are men's clothes made for travel, you surely do not wear this all the time do you?"
- "Yes I do, but enough of me, tell me more about the Shire"
As soon as she had launched the subject Frances knew the dinner would pass without any more questions. Soon the cousins were lost in an endless explanation about their home land, and Frodo let the subject go because he thought about asking his questions in private. Gandalf's eyes were laughing, and the young woman sent him a wink when their eyes connected. Getting Merry and Pippin to talk about genealogy was cunning.
The wizard was assessing the new addition to their group, and the least he could conclude is that she knew how to manipulate people, apart from being totally reckless. He could still not fathom how the eighteen-year-old piece of a woman had dared attacking the five ringwraith without any companions, but it seemed that she was crazier than she seemed. Frances was for the moment a big mystery to him, but she showed an odd duality. From the few weeks she had passed amongst the people of Imladris he had concluded that she could be as shy as a deer or rageous like a lion given the circumstances. He had also seen in her a very careful and reasonable mind. She was quite of the unusual kind, and he had no intention of letting her out of sight before he figured her out.
On the other side of the table another person was observing the young woman. The elves of Greenwood sat together, away from the dwarves that held conversation with the hobbits. However, the Prince's keen eyes had not missed the young woman's apparition, and her blushing at the blunt compliments she had been granted. Her skillful topic change had not escaped him either, and his eyes and ears were trying to assess the human with all his might. However, her character seemed to be sliding in his hands like a trout in the river, and after a while Legolas decided to give up and enjoy the company of his peers. There was just no easy way to assess human characters so easily, and the prince knew not enough of the second born to forge an opinion by himself. He would just ask his friend Estel and get some information from the inside. However, his eyes kept wandering to her during the evening meal, and he realised after some time that it was her hair that intrigued him so much. The rusty color shone like a jewel against the broad fires that lightened the house, and the tangled curls seemed to have a life on their own. In elven people, hair was of even color and more disciplined, but in her case it seemed alive. Its fire was dancing around her head and crowning it like a queen's diadem. This was indeed quite unusual, even for men, to bring such colors, and the elves were intrigued. Eventually conversation drifted away from the new human and went back to their home, and Legolas joined back his group with a sigh. How he missed home !
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