Chapter 22: More questions than answers

Chaos reigned in the Royal Chambers. Thranduil was intermittently arguing with Conuiön and with the officers that came in to give reports of their progress. To the captain of his guard, Thranduil declared that he wanted to go look for Lindomiel himself. To the other officers, he expressed the opinion that they were not doing enough to find her. On top of the king’s fury, Conuiön had to contain Amglaur as well. The prince also wanted to go look for his daughter and did not recognize Conuiön’s right to prevent him. While demanding to search for his daughter, Amglaur tried to comfort his wife who was in tears, having finally seen the tapestry. Dieneryn was trying to calm them all and they were speaking to her in a manner to which she was most unaccustomed for her efforts.

She certainly understood their temper, however. The damage done to Lindomiel’s tapestry was disturbing. Dieneryn could not imagine who could have done it. As she tried to impose some rational thought on her angry, frustrated son and friends, in her mind the queen also tried to determine who would be motivated to do such a thing and who the target was. The most obvious answer was that Lindomiel was the target, especially since she could not be found. But that was not necessarily the case and focusing solely on the obvious could prevent them from seeing the truth. Since the tapestry was a gift for Thranduil, and many people knew that, he might be the target. Or the tapestry might have been chosen randomly, meaning the damage could be a threat against her, since it was her workshop.

Regardless of the target, Dieneryn could not imagine who could have done it. What elf would do something so destructive or hateful? But how could a man, much less someone from any other race, get into the workshop without being noticed by the city guards? The city was in absolute pandemonium with all the wedding guests present. The guards would not think anything of an elf that they did not recognize. But even with all the extra activity, surely a man and certainly a dwarf would be easily discernable. It was the end of summer and very hot. Any one wearing a cloak to hide their features would stand out. But, what man or dwarf would attack a tapestry? Would a man or dwarf not attack a more meaningful target? It had to have been an elf and one with a vendetta against someone in either the royal family of Greenwood or Lorien. Dieneryn could think of reasons why some elves might not love her husband’s House, but why they would express their frustration by destroying a tapestry, she could not imagine.

As Dieneryn puzzled over the meaning of the destroyed tapestry, she cringed slightly hearing Amglaur turn his frustration on Thranduil. She knew that was inevitable, but it would be a very bad turn of events. The queen had no doubt that Thranduil would not show any restraint in dealing with Amglaur at this moment.

“Is this what you meant when you said my daughter would be safe here, Thranduil?” Amglaur was shouting furiously.

Dieneryn saw her son’s eyes flash with anger. “We do not know that anything has happened to Lindomiel, Amglaur. Is that the consideration you show for your lady wife? Making baseless, inflammatory statements…”

“Did you see that tapestry, Thranduil?” Amglaur interrupted incredulously.

“Yes, I saw it. I also saw no evidence that anything or anyone but it was damaged in any way. Lindomiel is likely taking a walk in the forest.”

Even Thranduil did not believe that assertion. Since Lindomiel had said last night that she intended to finish the tapestry and take it off the loom, then she would have done that if it had not already been destroyed when she arrived in the workshop. He felt certain that Lindomiel discovered the tapestry in that condition last night. And the fact that no one had heard from her afterwards left Thranduil cold with fear. But he saw no point in being alarmist right in front of Limmiel.

“A walk in the forest?!” Amglaur roared. “Are you insane?! Whoever destroyed that tapestry has her, Thranduil. Someone who took a knife to that tapestry has my daughter.”

Thranduil could not hide the fear in his eyes at that suggestion. “I refuse to believe that, Amglaur. Lindomiel would not simply walk away with someone who did that and there was no indication that there was a fight in the workshop.”

"The fight might have taken place outside the workshop, Thranduil, before or after Lindomiel was in it. That is why I want to search the woods." Amglaur suddenly frowned bitterly. “Why do we not know what happened to her? Why do your guards not know where she is? Everyone in your family is guarded. There must be a reason for that in your mind. Why is my daughter not guarded?” he demanded.

That was another point that concerned Thranduil. He saw Conuiön glance at him uneasily. Thranduil looked away. “Lindomiel is guarded,” he admitted quietly. “Conuiön cannot find the guard that was on duty with her last night either. He never made his morning report. It was due an hour ago. The guards change at dawn.”

Limmiel stood with her hand to her throat, eyes wide when she heard that admission. Amglaur paled as well. “Holy Valar, Thranduil, where is my daughter?”

Thranduil did not answer. He had no response.

Dieneryn stood and put her arms around Limmiel. “Panic will accomplish nothing…” she began.

Amglaur turned on her with a cold glare. “Being held prisoner in this talan is accomplishing nothing. I should be searching for my daughter…”

“You do not know these woods…” Conuiön repeated for the thousandth time.

“I do,” Thranduil interjected, also for the thousandth time.

“And we do not know who the target of this attack truly is. I will not risk your lives simply to have two more people searching. Protecting you while searching would be a distraction,” Conuiön said, raising his voice to be heard over Amglaur and Thranduil, who spoke at the same time.

“Knowing nothing about the woods, I still have eyes for searching. Since everyone here from the guards to the king is incapable of providing for security….”

Thranduil faced Amglaur wrathfully. “My guards will protect my betrothed wife. As will I…”

“If only you knew where she was…” Amglaur retorted sarcastically.

“Be silent, both of you!” Limmiel shouted, throwing off Dieneryn’s embrace and stepping forward to stand inches from her husband’s face. “You are both behaving like fools. Shouting serves no purpose. Figuring out who destroyed the tapestry will help us determine where to look for Lindomiel. Can we please do that?”

“Of course, meleth,” Amglaur responded in a soft voice, looking at his wife with alarm.

“You are absolutely correct, my lady,” Thranduil added, also with a quiet voice though notably without so much as a glance at Amglaur.

“Unfortunately,” Dieneryn said, speaking into the silence that followed, “I have been trying to imagine who could be responsible for such an act all morning and I simply cannot.”

“Nor can I,” Conuiön added bitterly.

Limmiel blinked. “It seems rather obvious to me,” she said looking perplexed.

Dieneryn’s brow furrowed. “Who do you think did it?”

“Marti, of course. She hates Lindomiel. She is obsessed with Thranduil and jealous of their betrothal. And she weaves in your workshop. Who else would shred Lindomiel’s tapestry that was a wedding present to the king?”

Dieneryn and Thranduil looked at one another briefly. Then the queen looked back at Limmiel. “I asked Marti not to return to my workshop shortly after Thranduil and Lindomiel were betrothed. I have not seen her since,” she said looking questioningly at Thranduil and Conuiön, who shook their heads indicating they had not seen her either. “I do not believe she lives in the capital any longer. If she even lives in the wood,” Dieneryn continued.

Thranduil in the meantime had directed his attention to Conuiön. They were looking at one another worriedly. “Do we know where Marti lived? Can we check her talan?” Thranduil asked his guard.

Conuiön snorted. “Someone who behaved around you as she did, my lord? Yes, I know where she lived. I knew her every movement. She has not been in the talan that she occupied since the winter. She left the city towards the end of Firith and has not returned to my knowledge.”

“That would have been around the time I dismissed her,” Dieneryn interjected.

“You would never have noticed her in these crowds if she had come back recently,” Thranduil suggested, eyeing Conuiön for his reaction.

The captain of the guard frowned. “Probably not,” he conceded quietly as he walked towards the door of the flet. “I will instruct the guards in the city to look for Marti as well.”

*~*~*

By mid morning, Thranduil and his mother along with Amglaur and his wife were finally reduced to waiting silently in Thranduil’s sitting room for news. They had exhausted their analysis of who could be to blame for the destruction of the tapestry and concluded that Marti was the most likely culprit despite the fact that she had not been seen for almost a year. With that decided and seeing that arguing with Conuiön to join the search would accomplish nothing, quarrelling amongst themselves was simply exhausting. So they waited. Tensely.

Thranduil’s mind ran through the facts that he knew—it had been well after midnight when he had left Lindomiel the night before and it was only shortly after dawn when Amglaur had begun to look for her. Lindomiel could not have been missing for more than four or five hours before the guards and patrols started their search. Thranduil hoped that if Marti had actually forced Lindomiel to go someplace with her, the guards could not be far behind.

But he still did not understand what had happened. There was no sign of struggle in the workshop. Surely Lindomiel would not go anywhere willingly with Marti, especially after seeing that tapestry. And even if Marti had tricked Lindomiel into going somewhere with her, what about the guard? How could Marti hope to overpower the guard and keep Lindomiel under control?  The only way that Thranduil could imagine that Marti could have forced Lindomiel and the guard to leave without resistance would be if she had a weapon trained on them. But surely his guard could handle one elleth with a weapon. At the very least, certainly such a sight would draw the attention of the city guards. Thranduil did not really want to think about such a scenario. Marti would not threaten Lindomiel’s life. She was an elf.  None of this made sense, but it terrified Thranduil. Sitting here idle with wild thoughts racing through his head of Lindomiel injured would drive him insane soon.

They had been sitting quietly lost in their own thoughts and fears for nearly an hour when a commotion was heard in the courtyard. Thranduil heard raised voices coming closer.  A shout of ‘where was she?’ brought the occupants of the flet to their feet. Several elves’ footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs to the door.

All eyes turned to the door as it opened to reveal Lindomiel flanked by a city guard and her missing guard, Pendurion. The four elves that had been waiting for their return visibly sagged in relief before rushing forward to embrace her.

“Lindomiel,” Thranduil whispered, reaching her first and enveloping her in his arms. After holding her for a moment, he stepped back and looked her over quickly, noting that Amglaur and Limmiel were doing the same. She was not injured. Limmiel pulled Lindomiel into her arms nearly the moment Thranduil released her.

When Limmiel finally loosened her grip on her daughter slightly, Thranduil took the opportunity to speak. “Lindomiel, what happened? Where have you been?”

She turned her face to him apologetically. “I have been looking for Marti,” she answered quietly.

Thranduil’s eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly in surprise. “What?”

“I am so sorry, Thranduil. I was so angry. It did not occur to me what you would think when you found that tapestry and then could not find me.” Her expression hardened. “But I want that little…” Lindomiel paused, searching for a word. When she finally found one, it made her father and Thranduil gasp. She did not even notice. Quickly working back into the healthy anger that had apparently driven her all night, Lindomiel turned to Conuiön. “You find her. Do you hear me?”

Conuiön blinked and looked at Thranduil briefly. “Yes, my lady. The guards are indeed looking for her.”

“They had better find her,” Lindomiel said coldly.

Thranduil only stared at this interchange. “Lindomiel, will you please tell us what happened? What do you mean you were looking for Marti? You have been looking for her all night?” Thranduil, Dieneryn, Amglaur and Limmiel were all still plainly very confused.

Lindomiel frowned, glancing at Dieneryn. “You did see the tapestry?” she asked, her confusion over their obvious lack of understanding warring with fury at the subject.

“Yes, my dear, we saw it. We were afraid that whoever did it, had done something to you also,” Dieneryn answered in a soft voice.

Lindomiel sighed and spoke apologetically. “So the guards told me. I went to the workshop last night to finish it and hopefully take it off the loom and I found it like that. So I went to find Marti. I looked in the talan where she used to live and when I did not find her there, I went to the talans of her friends to ask if they had seen her. I spoke to some of them for a good while. They were all shocked at what she did.” Her face contorted again with fury. “I swear I might…” her hands balled into fists as she struggled to express what she might do. “I might actually hit her when I get my hands on her. Indeed she will be lucky if all I do is hit her once,” she finally said.

Thranduil and Amglaur were staring at Lindomiel with horror at her words. Her brow furrowed and she snorted at them derisively.

“Oh, do not even think about criticizing me because I want to hit her. I am certain you both have actually done worse than hit someone at some point in your lives. Did you see that tapestry?! How could she do that?!”

Thranduil let out a short breath. “Lindomiel, I am not concerned that you want to hit whoever destroyed your tapestry. You actually sought out Marti because you think she did it?”

“Of course she did it, Thranduil,” Lindomiel began.

Thranduil shook his head and waved her silent. “Did it occur to you that if she did do that to the tapestry, she might do something similar to you? Do you have any idea how dangerous going after her was?”

Lindomiel looked completely nonplussed by that. “Are you suggesting that she might try to injure me somehow?”

Thranduil’s jaw fell open at her incredulity. “Lindomiel, did you see the tapestry? Anyone who would do that…and you just said yourself that you would like to hit her. If you can get that angry, so can she. If she is jealous and hateful enough to do that to the tapestry, can you not see that she is dangerous to you?”

Lindomiel stared at him a moment. “It did not occur to me,” she admitted quietly.

Amglaur turned furious eyes to Pendurion. “It did not occur to you either?” he demanded.

Pendurion opened his mouth to speak, but Lindomiel forestalled him. “Do not blame Pendurion. I am sure that is one of the many things he tried to tell me this night. I was not listening very well.”

Thranduil and Amglaur continued looking at the guard. Their expressions demanded an elaboration, so he offered one. “I did try to stop her from looking for Marti. I did tell her that who ever shredded the tapestry was dangerous. But she would not be persuaded to simply let the guards look for the culprit.”

Thranduil’s temper showed now. “What do you mean you could not stop her?” he asked angrily. “Next time, pick her up and carry her back to her talan if you must to keep her safe.”

“Thranduil!” Lindomiel exclaimed with wide eyes.

“Absolutely right,” Amglaur agreed firmly at the same time. Lindomiel turned and stared at her father. He did not notice. “Why did you not at least tell one of the other guards what you were doing?”

Pendurion looked haggard. “I would have, but it was late and we passed no one. I did not want to loose track of the Lady while looking for someone and she simply refused to hold off her search until I could speak to another guard. I did not want to leave her alone under the circumstances.”

Amglaur just glared at that response. He could not deny that made sense.

Thranduil sighed. “I suppose you did the best you could under the circumstances Pendurion. And she is safe.” He looked at Conuiön. “I will discuss…safety and respect for the guards with Lindomiel.”

Conuiön snorted. “And who will discuss it with you?” he said softly.

Thranduil’s mouth formed a hard line. “I beg your pardon, Conuiön. What did you say?”

Conuiön laughed, unconcerned with Thranduil’s anger. He had seen it before. “I said, who will discuss respect for the guards with you, my lord? I could have been searching for the Lady if I was not required to keep you put.”

Thranduil scowled, preparing a retort, but Dieneryn’s laughter silenced him. He turned to look at his mother irritably. She simply shrugged. “He is correct, you know. You have never listened to Conuiön. That infuriated Oropher. Perhaps now you see why.”

Thranduil shook his head and waved his hand. “I am not going to waste time discussing this. Now that we know Lindomiel was not injured in this incident, we need to determine who is responsible. Otherwise, we will never know that we are safe.”

Lindomiel blinked and leaned forward slightly in disbelief. “Who is responsible? Thranduil, Marti is responsible…”

“Yes, we suspect that too. But do you know that? Can you prove it? I cannot punish people for things we suspect they are guilty of, Lindomiel,” he replied irritably. Now that he knew she was safe, the last few hours of tension were taking their toll.

Lindomiel sighed and tried adopt a more reasonable attitude to counter his angry one. “I do only suspect it,” she admitted. “However, if anyone has anything written by her, we can know for certain.” Lindomiel produced a small piece of parchment. “This was stuck into the weave on the loom. I cannot read all of it, but I think I gather the gist of it. ‘Ilfirin’ is ‘alfirin’ is it not? And ‘Áva’ is ‘avo.’ Am I right?” She handed the parchment to Thranduil.

He glanced at it and handed it to his mother. Dieneryn also only glanced at the writing. The parchment had one line written on it—‘Áva tinta ormë ilfirin óressë!’

“Does it say, ‘Do not kindle anger in an immortal heart’?” Lindomiel asked.

Thranduil nodded. “It does.”

Her eyes turned cold. “She said that to me, in Sindarin, the day Dieneryn asked her not to return to the workshop. And she wrote that note last night. I would bet my life on it.”

Thranduil blinked. “She threatened you?” he asked incredulously. He looked at Conuiön. “Did you know this?”

“I did not, my lord,” Conuiön replied shortly, looking at Lindomiel.

Lindomiel frowned. “It is not a threat, Thranduil. It is a saying…”

“It is a threat, Lindomiel! You thought that her gossip about us was a threat to me, yet when someone speaks this directly to you, you cannot see the threat? You should have told me what she said.”

Again Lindomiel sighed. “It seemed like nothing more than bitter words at the time. I misjudged her.”

Thranduil raised his eyebrows. “Well, I would say we were all guilty of that if she is truly responsible for destroying that tapestry.” He looked at Conuiön. “You said you know where she lived?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Is anything left there? When she left the city, did she take all her possessions with her?”

“I do not believe so. She only took her horse with a small pack if I remember the report correctly,” Conuiön replied.

“When I was at her talan last night, through the windows you could see some items—certainly some books and papers on her desk, I noticed. But I did not go in,” Lindomiel offered.

Thranduil looked at her a moment, thinking again how dangerous that could have been, and then turned back to Conuiön . “Search her talan. Look for anything that might indicate where she has gone. Find out where she has family. Get the names of anyone she knew and talk to them. See what information you can learn from them about her. We know next to nothing about this elleth and she is clearly a threat. I want more information about my enemy. Start by trying to find anything that might connect her to this note. The rest of the page of parchment, for example,” he said, indicating that the note in Dieneryn’s hands had been torn off a larger sheet of parchment. “And if you can find anything with writing on it in her talan, compare it to that note too.”

Conuiön nodded and reached for the parchment. “We will find her, my lord. She cannot be too far away. By your leave, I will go see to this myself.”

Thranduil nodded. “Go. You may go make your report and retire as well, Pendurion.” The two guards left and Thranduil turned back to Lindomiel, drawing a deep breath. “Thank the Valar that you are safe.” He drew her back into his arms and this time did not release her.

“I am so sorry that I worried you all so. I was so angry that it truly did not occur to me how this might look or that Marti might be a threat to me…”

“That, iell nin, is why Thranduil has assigned you a guard. You will obey him in the future. Is that clear?” Amglaur snapped, glaring at Lindomiel.

Thranduil was surprised when Lindomiel answered meekly. “Yes, adar. It is clear,” she said softly.

Amglaur frowned. After glaring at her a moment longer, he moved to the door of the flet. “I am going to get some breakfast. Maybe that will calm my nerves,” he said while walking out the door.

Limmiel kissed her daughter’s cheek. “Please do not do such a thing again, Lindomiel. The guards do have your safety in mind when they tell you not to do something. Please promise me you will listen in the future.”

“I will nana.”

Limmiel nodded, smiled weakly at Thranduil and Dieneryn and then moved to follow her husband. “I still have Amglaur to smooth over. I will talk with you more later.”

Lindomiel grimaced slightly as her mother left. “No doubt,” she muttered. Then she looked at Thranduil. “Please tell me I do not have to expect a lecture from you as well, Thranduil,” she said with an almost pleading voice.

Thranduil sighed and tightened his arms around her. “I would not presume to lecture you, Lindomiel. But like your naneth, I do want your promise that you will listen to your guards when they make judgments concerning your safety. You scared me to death, meleth.”

“I am sorry, Thranduil. I do promise, I will pay attention to the guards in the future. This simply angered me. More than anything else I can remember.”

He only shook his head. He did not doubt she would be furious to see all that work destroyed and especially at such a time. And he definitely saw that she had her father’s temper given her reaction. He could not find fault with that, knowing his own temper. “You must be tired. I will take you back to your talan so you can get some rest,” he finally said.

Lindomiel laughed shortly. “I am still too angry to rest. Have you eaten?” He shook his head. “Would you come have breakfast with me then?”

“Of course, meleth. Let me finish a few things here, and I will come join you and your parents in the Dining Hall.”

Lindomiel gave him a small smile. Kissing him lightly on the cheek, she left to follow her parents. Thranduil turned his eyes to his mother.

“Áva tinta ormë ilfirin óressë?” he quoted.

Dieneryn winced. “Please do not speak it. I am shocked you can read it. You had very little exposure to that language.”

“I would like to know how Marti can write it.”

“As Lindomiel said, it is a saying. She probably heard it somewhere and realized it would be all the more offensive in that tongue.”

“If she did this to that tapestry, I want her,” Thranduil said dangerously. "Short of that, I want to know more about her."

“So do I,” Dieneryn concurred.

*~*~*

Thranduil spent much of the day before his wedding investigating Marti. He and Conuiön, accompanied by Amglaur at his insistence, questioned at length the ellyth and ellyn that Lindomiel and Dieneryn could identify as Marti’s friends. They found very little. No one knew anything about who her family was or where they might live. None of them had seen her since the previous winter. The search of her flet also turned up very little, save the sheet of parchment the note had been torn from. Thranduil’s nerves were taut as a bowstring as he retired the night before his wedding day.

Early the next morning, he was admitted to the guest quarters that Lindomiel and her family occupied by one of the servants. He had little time to speak to her the day before and was anxious to see how she fared. Clearly he knew that she was upset about the tapestry. When he entered, Lindomiel was sitting on the balcony of the main room drinking tea. Her posture was still tense and angry. Upon seeing Thranduil, she fixed him with a stern look.

“Did your guards catch her?”

His expression betrayed his anger. “Not yet,” he answered briefly, not trusting himself to say more.

“I want her when they do. I will deal with this. My way,” Lindomiel replied curtly.

Thranduil raised his eyebrows, but wisely remained silent. He had no doubt that Lindomiel’s ‘way’ would be much worse than any punishment he would impose. He shook his head and turned to more important topics.

“How do you feel, meleth?” he asked softly.

Her eyes filled with grief at the tone of his voice. “Oh, Thranduil I am just so…I cannot even describe how I feel. I have never experienced such a thing…”

His own heart broke thinking about that. Indeed, Lindomiel had likely never experienced violence or hatred before. He drew her into his arms. “Try not to think on it, meleth. I know how important that beautiful tapestry was. To both of us, not just to you. To my naneth too. She is almost as heartbroken as you are. I know she was in her workshop all day and last night with the ladies that weave with her trying to find a way to salvage it…”

“Oh, I do not think that even with all her talent she could possibly do that.”

“I do not either,” he said gently. “But she was trying. And so was everyone else. Because they love you. Even with the tapestry destroyed, I could see how beautiful it was and how much love you put into it. Even with it destroyed, I still receive what it represented—your love. And that is what is most important to me.”

After a moment, Lindomiel relaxed somewhat in his embrace. “You are right. It is nothing. I will make another one and it will be even better because I thought of some things I could have done to improve it when it was too late to add them.” She took a deep breath and pulled away from Thranduil slightly. Cupping his face in her hands, she smiled at him, the same beautiful smile that claimed his heart. “I love you, Thranduil.”

His returned her smile and he pulled her against him again. “Not as much as I love you. You are truly perfect.”

She giggled at that and he laughed lightly as well, relieved to hear her laugh.

“It is our wedding day,” she said solemnly, but with a smile. “Would you like to begin it by taking a walk together?”

He looked at her with concern, tempted to ask her if she would like to postpone the wedding one day to give herself time to recover. Then he smiled at her and offered her his arm, accepting her suggestion. If she wanted such a thing, he knew her well enough to know she would state it for herself. Since she did not, he would be happy to enjoy the morning of his wedding day with his betrothed wife.

*~*~*

AN: For those who do not know the details--Marti's little note was written in Quenya, the language used in Valinor, but banned since the First Age amongst the Sindar. The elves in Greenwood spoke Silvan natively and learned Sindarin (not Quenya) from the Sindar that traveled East with Oropher. Their use of Quenya would be limited and unusual, I think. Since Lindomiel was born in the Third Age, I thought she might not know it well either. 

*~*~*

Firith--September 28 through November 20th modern reckoning

Elleth/ellyth--Female Elf(s)

Ion nin--My son

Iell nin--My daughter

Ellon/ellyn--Male Elf(s)

Adar/ada--Father/dad

Naneth/nana--Mother/mum

Meleth--Love

Áva tinta ormë ilfirin óressë!--Q. Do not kindle anger in an immortal heart.

Avo thano rûth vi gûr alfirin!--S. Do not kindle anger in an immortal heart.