A Royal Gift

TITLE: A Royal Gift
AUTHOR: Arion
WARNING: None.
DISCLAIMER: All familiar characters belong to J. R. R. Tolkien. Tilara (silent tears)belongs to herself... well, I'm assuming anyway... though she might prefer to belong to an Elf or two... LOL! And all other mentioned people belong to themselves as well. :) I belong to whatever blonde moment (though I'm not blonde) I'm having. enjoy

Chapter 1

******
Her fingers searched for the light switch as she peered into the pitch
black of the room before her. Light finally flooded the room as she hit
it. She stared for a moment at theorfuorful streamers, puzzlement
painting her face. Hard to believe as it was, she didn't at first see the
huge green box sitting in the middle of her living room floor. It was
certainly taller than she was. She took a few hesitant steps closer to
it, as if expecting something to jump out of it. Wasn't that usually what
happened at a surprise party... something jumped out at you? But nothing
did. She shrugged and reached out for the tag dangling from the gold
ribbon ped oed on the corner of it. That's when it happened.

A chorus of yells rose up from every nook and cranny and corner in the
room. "Happy Birthday, Tilara!"

Tilara jumped back as she looked at the grinning faces surrounding her.
She recognized them right off once her shock passed. The crew from the
ELVES_R_US group! There were even Elves here! She spied a pair of Elves
off to the side who seemed to be gesturing at the box and discussing
something about it. Without introductions she knew who this pair must be
as she gazed at identical mischievous looks. They had to be the twin sons
of Elrond; Elladan and Elrohir. Looking around she also saw Arwen, who
was currently striding over to her brothers as they drew ever closer to
the box. She grabbed each by a pointy ear and pulled them off in another
direction. One wouldn't think she was the younger of the three.

The words, "You would think the party was thrown just so the two of you
could play pranks!" reached her ears as they disappeared into the
kitchen.

Tilara felt her own grin spread across her face as she jumped up and down
in joy, the long braid of her black hair swaying against her back and the
hem of her dress dancing at her feet. She found her eyes drawn back to
the box and tag. She reached out for it again, but a hand caught her
wrist and pulled her away from it.

"You can see what that is later. Right now you have to blow out the
candles on your cake!" Donna smiled at her. "Don't worry, it's not going
to sprout legs and go anywhere."

"Well... it might... but it wouldn't make it very far," chimed in Mary as
she waited at the kitchen table.

There was a sound behind Tilara as if someone had made a sarcastic snort
to Mary's comment. Tilara turned her head to look, but didn't see
anyone... there was nothing there... just the waiting box. She lost sight
of the box as she was yanked into the kitchen. Inside, Char was passing
drinks around while Red and Neume were carrying over a large cake to
place on the kitchen table. The cake was beautifully decorated with
mallorn leaves and ivy bordering the happy birthday wish written in
Elvish. Red's early birthday gift to Tilara was a song in Sindarin meant
to bestow good health, happiness, and peace upon the receiver for the
next year.

A round of "Happy Birthday!" was then sung bilingually. Humans sang in
English. s sas sang in Elvish, joined by a cheerful Elrond, less than
thrilled Erestor, slightly bewildered Figwit, and a smug Glorfindel who
all seemed to appear out of nowhere. Tilara found it rather difficult to
focus on what anyone was singing. While the human version was upbeat, the
Elvish version was a bit slower with longer words. She spent the majority
of the song looking between the two groups of singers and smiling as
prettily as she could so as not to upset anyone.

Arwen pulled at her sleeve when they finished. "If my father asks you how
you liked the Sindarin version, just tell him it was so beautiful you
couldn't possibly put into words to say how much. He won't notice that
you couldn't make out a word."

Tilara blushed slightly that one of the Elves had noticed anything, but
mumbled a thanks as Arwen moved away to pull her brothers back into the
kitchen, as they were trying to sneak out.

******

After each of the nineteen candles were blown out and everyone had eaten
some cake and ice cream, it was back out to the living room for games.
They had begun to play Twister, which Neume seemed to excel at, before
they realized there was simply not enough room to have a properly fun
game with the big present still in the room. And since Donna forbid that
it be moved, it was on to Spin the Bottle. Erestor opted out and no
amount of prodding from the Twins or Elrond could make him change his
mind. So, deciding to guard the gifts while everyone else played, he
pulled up a chair to sit beside the large present. Occasionally glancing
his way throughout the game, Tilara could've sworn she saw his lips
moving, as if he were talking to someone. He would notice her looks and
sit there stoically, as if nothing was out of the ordinary. She'd shrug
and go back to the game.

For the most part, everyone had fun, though Arwen was less than thrilled
on her first spin when she had to kiss Elladan. The feeling was quite
mutual. Red got to kiss Elrond on her first spin. Figwit got Neume. Donna
got Elrohir. Glorfindel got Mary. Elladan got Char. There were many more
turns, both good and bad, as they played the game for close to an hour.

After a couple of drinks of the obviously spiked punch that had been
passed around, and a few songs that made no sense whatsoever, it was
decided that Neume be banned from further drinking. Figwit was happy to
volunteer for this job and sat beside her when the party moved to start
on the gift opening. There were boxes of all shapes and sizes to be
opened, but none as mysterious and puzzling as the great big, green
box... required to be opened last. Neume's gift was a strikingly
beautiful blue and white gown of Imladris styling. Mary had given her a
wonderfully detailed reversible quilt. One side held the darkness of
Mirkwood, the dark woods filled with monstrous spiders and other lighter
creatures of the woods, such as foxes and deer. The other side was
decorated with large ravens at rest and in flight within a border of
grape vines.

Erestor had given her a book about the decorum of Elvish royalty,
servants, and commoners during all sorts of public dinners, celebrations
and the like. Elrond had promptly given him a slight kick with his foot
and muttered what sounded like, "I told you not to give her that. Are you
trying to see to it she doesn't have a *next* birthday?" Erestor had
politely ignored him. Apparently Elrond thought his gift would counteract
any effects Erestor's would and prompted Tilara to open his next. It
turned out to be a gift basket of relaxing herbs and oils. Arwen
presented her with a small circlet of silver etched with flowing lines of
Elven design, a bracelet of superb quality. While the remainder of the
gifts were ohhed ahd ahhed over, there were several looks sent around the
room when occasionally one would hear a bored humming that could never
seem to be placed. It would stop almost as soon as it had started, the
person would shrug and go back to their ohhing and ahhing.


Though she got many wonderful and much appreciated gifts, Tilara's mind
was constantly on the box looming in front of her, curious about what was
inside. Finally, it seemed it was time to open it. Wrapping paper lay
scattered on the floor at her feet and she kicked it out of her way to
clear a path to the box. It seemed everyone had gone suddenly quiet...
anticipating the unwrapping of this one gift as much as Tilara was. She
lifted the tag to read it.

It didn't say anything on it except, "From His Royal Highness". Her
breath caught. Could it be from Legolas? She hurriedly read on,
"Thranduil, King of Mirkwood". She frowned ever so slightly. It might not
have been from the one Elf she would love to get her hands on, but hey, a
gift from the King himself wasn't bad at all. She was actually surprised
that he knew it was her birthday and had bothered to send a gift. She
stepped back and looked at the size of it again. It was about six feet
tall and three feet wide. What could the King have sent her?

"Well, go on! Open it!" someone shouted behind her.

Musings forgotten, she stepped forward to begin unwrapping it. Underneath
the shimmering green paper was a wooden crate upon which was stamped,
"HANDLE WITH CARE", in bold red letters. Just as she was beginning to
wonder how she would pry the lid off, she noticed that the side of the
box she was facing was like a door. There were hinges on one side and a
tiny knob on the other, a handle. She grabbed it and yanked it open to
see what lay inside. Behind her, people were crowded together to peer
around her. All except Donna, who sat off to the side, a happy smile on
her face, which might have been due to having a twin on each side
whispering things in her ear.

Tilara stared for a moment at the tall, imposing statue of King Thranduil
that greeted her. He was resplendent in his robes of green velvet that,
though not as shiny, matched the wrapping paper perfectly, and the edges
were trimmed in gold. His hair shined like spun gold as it cascaded down
over his shoulders, a golden circlet sitting gracefully upon his head. It
looked so real, so very much like Thranduil that cou could easily have
believed it was the King himself standing in front of her. The piercing
gaze of the shining, storm grey eyes was settled on her.

Tilara stepped closer, staring at such life-like detail on the robes, the
crown and his eyes. She lifted a hand to touch the hair, hardly
containing her surprise when it actually felt like real hair. She
couldn't believe it! They had real hair on the statue. How cool was
that?!?

The tip of a pointy ear beckoned to her as it peeked out from under an
intricately woven braid. It was like a moth to a flame... she so loved
their pointed ears... and she stroked a finger along the tip. That was
when the statue shuddered a bit and blinked, its stare refocusing on her,
then drifted to her hand.

A long, slender hand caught hers as she stared in shock. "My dear, as
flattered as I am that you so love my ears, I do ask that you refrain
from touching them."

"Y-y-you're real?!?" Tilara stammered.

Thranduil looked a bit insulted and drew himself up to his full height.
"Well, of course, I'm real." He brushed past her to start checking the
refreshments, zeroing in on the drinks. He sniffed at the punch bowl.
"Haven't you people heard of wine?"

Mary jumped to her feet, sliding up next to him. "Oh, we have some in the
kitchen that we brought along for... later." She smiled at him as he
allowed her to hook her arm around his and lead him off to show him the
wine stock.

Tilara frowned a bit. Wait a minute. Was Thranduil her gift? Why was he
giving himself to her as a present? And if he was... why was he in the
kitchen with Mary?

As if on cue, Thranduil came back out, Mary absent from his arm. "I
nearly forgot my gift to you. No, alas, *I* am not the gift, but Donna
thought it would be a unique presentation." As he said her name he slid a
look over to her and gave her a wry smile.

His hand thelveelved into his robes, pulling out a silver chain link
necklace upon which rested a hand sized ornate key that had a sense of
ancient quality about it. She noticed he was careful not to touch his
hand to the key itself, holding it only by the chain.

He held out a hand to ward her off as she reached for it. "Now. This, as
you might guess, is no ordinary key, but a very precious and magical
one." He slid it over her neck, swatting her hands away when she would've
touched it, letting it rest upon the outside of her shirt. "Do not ever
let it touch your skin unless you wish to be at the mercy of my son."

She raised her eyes sharply to look at him, then not heedful of his
warnings, immediately grabbed the key to look at it. To the others, she
vanished in a flash of light, leaving her party companions with puzzled
looks and Thranduil with a smile on his face.

Donna stood up with a scowl, pulling herself out of the friendly sandwich
of Imladris twins. "Well, why did you go and tell her that for? The party
isn't even over and the guest of honor is no longer here. Didn't you know
she would've grabbed the key the second you said that?"

Thranduil turned to her with a very pleased look. "Of course, I did.
That's why I said it."

With a swirl of his robes, he headed back off to the kitchen while
Elladan and Elrohir each grabbed a hand and pulled Donna back down to her
seat.

******

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