House of the Golden Flower

The next day, Ecthelion did not come, and I did not see him until the midmorning meal. After we had eaten, Turgon and Ecthelion took me outside, past the stables where there were more of the menacing horse-things for me to shy away from, to an area set apart for weapons practice and the like.

Ecthelion and Turgon spoke a moment, then Ecthelion darted off and returned with a spear. He handed it to me, and I looked at Turgon, confused. He pointed at a target roughly the size of a deer a little ways off. I understood, and hefting the spear I found that it was lighter than the ones I had made and were used to and would probably fly further. I stepped back until I was a bit out of rato mto make up for the lightness of the weapon, aimed, and threw.

The spear sailed through the target and embedded itself in the ground at an angle, target attached. It was the way I had developed to hunt, spearing the animal and rooting it to the ground until I could creep up and finish it off.

Turgon and Ecthelion seemed impressed and I accepted a second spear from Ecthelion and drove it all the way through a twenty-year pine. Turgon gave me an unreadable look and pulled on the spear, trying to wrest it free. I joined him and he stepped away. I laid one foot on the trunk beside the spear and gave it a good pull. It slid free and I handed it to Ecthelion, still friction hot and polished smooth. He grinned at me.

Turgon then drew his bow and proceeded to impress me with is archery skills. Ecthelion and Turgon then drew practice swords and sparred while I watched admiringly. Their undertakings to teach me bow and sword were laughable, but by the time we quit for evening meal I had stopped using the bow backwards.

Turgon and Ecthelion led me to a nearby hot spring; apparently its purpose was to serve as a bath for those who had used the practice arena. As we left two more elves took our place there and began sparring after a bow and nod to Turgon. The bath was simple, little more than a roofless enclosure around the small spring that steamed in the fading afternoon's coolness.

Following their example I stripped and got in, easing down into the hot water and coming to sit beside Ecthelion on an underwater shelf. I turned and noted Turgon watching with...anger? He broke eye contact and got in, scrubbing himself swiftly, taking no time to relax and sprawl as Ecthelion was doing beside me, his hair trailing in the water, swirling and eddying with mine.

Turgon was angry. With me? With Ecthelion? Ecthelion seemed unconcerned and was apparently ignoring us both, washing himself. It had to be me then. What had I done? I sank down to my chin in the water, washing myself with the sand at the bottom, as did they. Turgon fairly leapt form the tub and hid himself in a towel. Warily I followed suit only to have a towel thrown at me. Ecthelion, still lounging in the tub got a face full of towel for not catching quickly enough.

Turgon dressed quickly and stomped off, and Ecthelion and I were rushed to keep up with him. He slowed as we neared the doors and Ecthelion laced his boots and I finished fastening my shirt. Our clothes weren't too dirty from the work, and at least we were clean. It would be good enough to race up to our rooms and change. The last I saw of Turgon before he vanished at the top of the steps were his booted feet, somehow carrying his anger and stomping ever so slightly.

I didn't see him again until dinner, for when I went up to his room, he wasn't there, a truly puzzling thing. I dressed myself in whatever would feel decently enough, dried and brushed out my hair, then went down to the dining hall, only getting lost twice on the way and finding my way there without help.

Ecthelion looked as pleased as I when I sat in my usual seat and gave him a grin that announced my triumph. Turgon kept his eyes to himself all evening, as if he were afraid of me...or just angry with me. Again, I wondered what I had done wrong.

Idril's palm brushed into my left hand that was resting on my thigh and for a moment it felt almost like a reassuring caress. I looked at her sharply out of the corner of my eye, but the act was not repeated and I could discern nothing, not even concern.

I went to bed that night wondering how I could ever have thought of life here as somewhat simple, to be explained away by a single word. Turgon. He lay away from me that night on the very edge oe bee bed, with a pillow over his head and the blankets arranged like a wall between us. If I weren't so daunted by his sudden change of attitude I would have worried about him falling off the bed. As it was, I wouldn't have minded if he had, maybe it could knock some sort of sense into him.

I restrained my foot all night, fairly itching to kick him off just to hear him go thump on the floor and maybe start acting like the person I knew again.