Ettelëamë sighed as she walked into the practice room for the guardsmen. It was bigger than she expected,the walls layered in targets,and knives,
daggers,swords,bows and arrows. This was obviously the right room.

And then you had little Ette ,standing right in the middle of it , staring at everything,taking in everything. She stood there in her usual dress, hair cut fresh into a bob, dark blue cape around her neck and shoulders, her red neck clothe,and her dark orange training clothes,or as her caretaker liked to call them,playclothes. The elleth probably looked like the very embodiment of autumn. It be hard not to notice the unique little elleth , even in such a cluttered room.

She had gone to the guards room to see Thranduil, he wanted her to get more practice training,not only outside,or by herself, but in a place where she could work with and learn from others. And so she was convinced to come here.

She still couldn't get over how nice the king was. It was like a paradox to the way that the average public views him. But it was a good thing as well because Ette probably wouldn't take much joy in his presence if was as strict and uptight as he seemed , it occurred to her that what he showed his guests and neighbors was different,but it did not occur to her that perhaps he was so diversely sweet and happy,and easier to befriend in one meeting than most others was because she was a child. Of course she had seen him more than once after the spar, where it somehow became normal greeting for her to pounce upon his back,but only in informal situations of course. But still,she felt like he became closer than most others in a shorter amount of time,the only other people as close to Ettelëamë as she holded her king was , her dear best friend, Ellie and her slightly insane caretaker.

The more she thought about it the more excited she got,this could be fun. She subconsciously pet the hilt of her sword,which always hung from her hips. She loved that sword. So much. It was like a beautiful being that only wanted her,only loved her, that longed for a touch that only Ettelëamë could fill. It satisfied her in so many ways that the arrow could not.

As she stood there she remembered a little something she had placed upon her head, it was just a crown made from spider legs, she had made one when over Ellie's house and ended up making one for everyone, herself included,Ellie chogan,and the king. She was wearing the king's on her head right now,it was slightly bigger and more decorated than the others. She was planning on giving it to him when he came in,and if he already had a crown on she supposed she would just take it off and wear it herself,because she wanted him to wear the one that she made.

Whilst the training room had been built to hold an army, it remained one of the more quiet and peaceful rooms within the Elvenking's Halls, usually catering for about seven or eight Elves that would frequent the area outside of the hours in which the guard trained there. And despite its size, the hall itself was quite an inviting one. Certainly one that the Elvenking found much to his liking. The warmth of the golden rays of light that shone through the stained glass and the faint sound of trickling was almost enough to remind him of his first home in Doriath. Of course, this was far less grand in comparison. But it was a comforting place to be anyway.

Though it was not the design of the halls themselves that kept the training grounds so vacant but the simple fact that for an archer it was more engaging to practice outdoors and to learn to shoot in whatever conditions that they would be required to fight in. A swordsman was given the luxury of choosing where he might train as the winds and rain made little difference. And that left Thranduil and his fellow swordsmen (currently numbered at seven) with all the space and equipment might wish for to train and an entire afternoon without interruption.

Despite being small in number, it was far from quiet in the hall and despite numbered at only eight, the hall rang with metal striking metal and was accompanied by occasional playful or teasing comment. Thranduil himself had partnered with Tarthadir, the two of them exchanging blows so swift and fluid it was nigh impossible to know which of the pair held the upper hand for longer than a single moment. And in manner of fact, the two were almost matched in skill that it was rare that either of the two would have a decisive victory. Victories were usually down to luck.

But as the pair danced in circles, taking it in turn to receive and deal strikes, they too stopped their practice as they heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Thranduil himself gave an inward sigh, knowing that it would likely be some messenger alerting the Elvenking that something had come up that required his attention. After all, there were few other reasons that anyone ever interrupted their sparring sessions.

And it was this expectation that made the surprise of seeing Ettelëamë one that brought a smile to his face. "Ettelëamë! I was beginning to wonder when you would introduce yourself to the rest of Woodland swordsmen." He said in a soft tone.

"And so this must be Braigneth that Thranduil has told us all about." Tarthadir spoke from behind the Elvenking as he looked over the young Elf that Thranduil had spoken of.

"And what would that be that you have brought with you?" Dimethor asked as he nodded at the circulet that the Elf carried in with her. Thranduil, curious himself, cocked his head as he waited for the reply. Judging by the look of the thing, it was composed of remains of spiders... but what it was supposed to be, Thranduil could not know.

(Braigneth - The "nickname" Thranduil has given Ettelëamë meaning 'Wild girl')

Ettelëamë blinked as all stopped around her and she was being accessed by the other elves. She could practically feel them taking in her sight,the aura she was giving off. She looked at them all,her brown eyes wide and doe like. They all seemed to know about her,but she knew nothing about them. "Hello sire, I was of course going to show sooner or later. It would be awfully rude not to" Ettelëamë couldn't help but switch to being overly polite and formal in front of the others, it was like a certain quirk she had, plus she knew how much it annoyed her dear king. Hearing another call her braigneth,she playfully narrowed her eyes at Thranduil "Arahar,you-" She then caught herself and cleared her throat, retaking her modest nature "The king has told you about me?" She asked softly to tarthadir. "I'm slightly curious to what it is "

The crown she made was soon addressed by another and she internally sighed. Wouldn't this explanation be cute, dang it, first day and they would already see her as a child. She opened her mouth to speak "Well um,I," this was not going well. "I've gathered up the remains of the spiders and made little crowns out of them,I've made them for all of my friends, each one having specific shapes and designs set to fit the person " after a pause she continued "It's kind of like a symbol, a silent declaration that even darkness rises that we still own this land,we are still the strong elves we have always been, that we overcome our problems, not the other way around. To embrace and eventually cleanse Mirkwood " she couldn't help but smirk a little at her explanation, she almost dared them to still she her as a child from her words. She then held it out towards the king, hoping he would accept it.

Seven pairs of eyes fell on Thranduil as Ettelëamë answered him in a tone more polite than he had ever heard her use. It was- actually- quite a pleasant surprise that she managed to compose herself so well in front of others. He might have asked what might have caused her to suddenly pay heed to her carer or indeed what method he had used so that she would listen to his teachings so eagerly all of a sudden. There was just the problem of proving to the others that this was indeed the Ettelëamë he had told them of who was a wild as the Eastern wind and as outspoken as one of the Naugrim.

In answer to her question, it was Tarthadir who answered her first."Well for a start little elleth, he did not mention that you had other means of greeting your King other than dangling from his back"

"Nor that you were so well-spoken" 

"I think Thranduil may have even forgotten to mention that you seem to be quite a shy elleth." The others started chipping in.

"Perhaps our King is feeling a little lonesome and has greatly exaggerated your friendship and it is only in his own mind that the two of you are friends." Tarthadir spoke with a soft chuckle as he nudged Thranduil in the ribs.

"Please, I am certain after the initial shock of being faced with the likes of all of you, Ettelëamë will warm up to all of you." Thranduil smiled back at Tarthadir.

But quickly attention was turned back to the crown that she held in her hand and a couple of the Elves expressed their distaste in using such- unique? materials to create a crown. Of course, Thranduil's own crown was created from the wood and leaves of the forest and it changed with the seasons, though he had never encouraged putting dismembered body parts on his head. It did look a little strange-- but he saw that Ettelëamë had put both thought and care into the making of the crown and so he would not push it aside.

"I thank you for your kind gift, unfortunately I may not wear it now for I need my circlet to keep my hair out of my eyes during practice but I shall treasure it." He smiled, accepting her gift- though he paused a moment as he thought upon her reasoning for creating the crown. "Though whilst I see that which you wish to show, it is not the spiders that I wish to rule in this realm."

"In fact there is good reason that one does not wear the corpses of their enemies upon their head, other than the smell. For corpses rot and wither with time and that is not what we will do as a people- we will endure whatever hardships are thrown at us." Another voice added kindly, sharing his own opinion on the matter.

"And it is not like us young elleth to stoop so low as to parade around bearing the dessicated bodies of our enemies as Sauron the cruel has done to our own." Tarthadir spoke too, the smile on his face meaning that he possibly approved of the young elleth.

"I think we have spoken enough, perhaps you would like to spar now?" Thranduil offered Ettelëamë, pushing aside the deep and philosophical topic of ruling aside. After all, Thranduil had much time to ponder on such matters later- whereas sparring was something he got to do much less frequently.

Ettelëamë chuckled a little at the answers of the others, they seemed a little surprised from her first impression. "Even the wildest of storms start off as a gentle drizzle " was all that she replied on the matter of herself, they could make of her words what they pleased. A smirk played on her lips as they joked with Thranduil "Well, I'm sure that if he did have imaginary friends that they would be far more grand than myself. You all are, in fact, a big amount of elves for such a small elleth,the most I've ever met at once. So try not to be disappointed by my shyness "

With that she turned to the topic of the crown,nodding along with the words and teachings from the others "I see what all of you are saying, perhaps I shall make another one, more suited for our lively king, and probably for my other friends too. Of course it will take longer though, this one can just be placed somewhere for safe keeping, you don't need to wear it" Her manner was kind and understanding, her eyes thoughtful. She could understand why one would not like spider legs. The last part of her little spur was more focused on Thranduil than the others. She would have quite the time finding something that the king didn't have, and something unique to everyone. Probably would even have to travel a little.


At hearing the offer to spar she tensed a little. Spar,in front of all these elves? Against the king? The thought shook her a little, everybody would be watching, judging. But if she knew the king like she believed she did and he wasn't on to try to be overbearing,she would be fine. And so she lightly nodded her head "Of course, it would be rather odd to partake in anything else while in a training room "

Thranduil looked to the elleth, a somewhat quizzical expression on his face. From the moment he had met her, he did not recall that she had ever spoken to him with equal politeness and distance to which she was now addressing his friends- and he began to wander whether he might have been making the elleth uncomfortable by introducing her to such a large group of elves. After all, nervousness seemed to be a compelling reason for which she might suddenly change her entire composure.

And she seemed to admit as much just a few moments later- though Thranduil could not ignore the playful smirk that played on her lips as she addressed them all. A small hint of her lively and spirited nature, seeming to signal that she wasn't too far out of her depths at all. That she knew exactly how she ought to play the crowd-

Thranduil sighed, he supposed he would just have to accept that he couldn't see into the minds of all. And notably these young elves who were ever so different to the Elves that Thranduil had been brought up around in his time.

"We should discuss hiring you as the realm's official fashion counselor," Tarthadir smiled as Ettelëamë spoke of her next project for the Elvenking.

"Indeed, carry on at this rate Ettelëamë and you will have my entire wardrobe planned out by the end of the month." Thranduil quipped light-heartedly. "But moving aside such matters, I believe the elleth is right- are we not all gathered here to train?" Thranduil asked to which there were several groans in response as the Elves went back to sparring with one another. Thranduil smiled as he was left with Ettelëamë.

"So, are the training grounds to your liking dearest Braigneth?" He asked as he picked up his sword.