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Standing at the very end of the grand event, away from the crowded and noisy stalls, halls and stands are the paddocks which seem to stretch on for miles. Here the very finest of the Rohirrim breeders and racers can show off their magnificent steeds, stallions, fillies and colts to potential buyers and mentees.

Travellers can also leave their own animals here whilst they wander round the tourney.

Though tread carefully as some of the race horses are very highly strung and you wouldn't want to get into a fight by scaring one of the horses now would you?

coded by nahara46 of gs, adox and swa

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Glorfindel smiled brightly as he finished talking to a few young and enthusiastic Elves who had approached him as he reached the paddocks to express their admiration for his deeds. It was a pleasure to discuss topics that Glorfindel himself was passionate about though the warrior had to hold back a chuckle as they babbled nervously whenever Glorfindel asked them a question and the way they bobbed their heads excitedly whenever the Elf-lord spoke. It had felt like such a long time since Glorfindel had been in such awe of another being- in fact he thought the Elf that Glorfindel was in most awe of would have to be Ingwë. For one Elf to command so much respect and yet be one of the most gentle and peaceful Elves he had ever met was an astonishing accomplishment.

Though Glorfindel stopped the conversation short to go and find the two Elves he was supposed to be looking after: His friend Inwë and the charming young Lothórien guard Alassea. He hoped that they - Inwë notably- had not gotten themselves into any sort of trouble by accident, Rohan was vastly different from Rivendell after all.

"Inwë?" Glorfindel called out as he looked to find his friend. He hoped he had not lost her... that would be embarrassing indeed. But he was certain no harm would come to her, she was after all quite a sweet character and he could not imagine anyone wanting to pick a fight with her. He had also to tell her that the heirs of Thorin Oakenshield were present at the tourney. He had feared that it might have turned her off if she had known previously but it was probably best he tell her now before she found out herself and gave herself a heart-attack.

Thankfully he caught sight of her and signalled to her to meet him by one of the paddocks holding three young geldings. He supposed he should also tell her about the Elves of Mirkwood meeting with him now.

He had a feeling she might hit him for keeping all this from her. But at least he had gotten her here.

The journey through the Misty Mountains was an experience. Something Inwë had never in her life, not even before coming to Imladris, been through. She was cold and miserable and complained like a banshee; but forever grateful the Glorfindel pulled through it. She certainly couldn't've without him. Leaving the mountain had been a relief to her and she began to feel better and "forgave" her friend for taking her on the journey. She knew the journey to Erebor was being a great friend with offering to take her there, and thanked him for even taking her.

They had made a stop in the Golden Wood in the court of Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, and were soon informed that a tourney was being held in Rohan for all races of Arda to join. One of their most promising guards was to compete in it and Glorfindel was asked to take her there. Before they left, they stayed there a few days to rest, clean, and repack for the new journey; Inwë had gotten to know the Elleth Alassea, and she liked her very much. She was shy, but honest and a little more sociable than herself, but still someone she came to truly like, even say she was her friend. But she wasn't so sure at first when she met her and Alassea had a beast beside her. But she also got to know Alassea's closest friend and came to know that Huor was quite tame but fiercely protected of his mistress.

The journey from Lothlorien to Rohan was quite pleasant, and warm. Inwë loved the warmth and began to loosen up more. And on the way there, she told Alassea about her feelings and she seemed accepting of them. She even suggesting adding more braids to her long hair. It was quite different, but she really liked it.

Once arriving, a nervousness came over the older Elleth when she saw the large crowd of people. If it was a large group of Elves she knew she wouldn't've felt such a way. But there was more Men and Dwarves here for the tourney. But with the help of Glorfindel and Alassea she remained comfortable enough to get through to the stalls and stable their horses.

Glorfindel was soon called away and so she helped Alassea make their horses comfortable. Alassea then suggested taking hers over to the paddocks, for the stead seemed to restless still. She remained on the outside while Alassea led the horse inside and let it run around. 

Time went by and Inwë thought herself in the beauty of the horses freedom. Alassea regained her horse and brought it over to where she was leaning against the fence, with only moments after that she heard her name called. She turned and saw her friend had found them, and so left Alassea to see what Glorfindel wanted. "Hello mellon, have you grown tired of your adoring fans?" she teased once she reached a close distance that he could hear her. But once she was beside him, she noticed something in his eyes and stature. "Did something happen, Glorfindel?"

Alassea had been informed about the tourney once she had returned form her visit from Mirkwood, even though she knew about it as Legolas and two of his sisters were preparing to travel there themselves. And then another surprize came when Glorfindel took rest within her wood. And she got to know the friend traveling with him,  and liked her very much. Once they took rest and they all had everything packed, they were soon off on their journey to Rohan.

Alassea had one disappointing thing: she could not bring Huor with her. And it did depress her quite a bit, especially Huor himself, but they both knew that it was too many people and they would most likely try and kill him. But she tried, and did very well, at being happy and interative with her troupe. The horse she rode felt awkward to her now after being able to ride on Huor, but the stead was fare non the less.

She had heard about tourney's but had never been to one herself. So she was a little in awe of the grounds as her eyes looked around a little excitedly. She also wondered where Legolas and his sister's were, had they arrived before them? She did not go and search for them now, but remained with her group to stable their horses. She hung out with Inwë, for she was an interesting character in herself like Glorfindel. But her horse was restless and so they took her out to the paddocks to let her run around. It seemed to help the horse whom trotted back over to where she stood on the inside of the fence and Inwë leaning against it on the outside.

They then heard Glorfindel call Inwë, causing Alassea to look up. She nodded and waved but didn't join the two, and with the way he seemed, she knew he had something private to say to her new friend.

"Dare I say that listening to the praise of two young ellons is far more soothing for the ears than listening to one elleth travelling through the High Pass?" Glorfindel shot back at her with a cocked brow as she teased him. And he wished he could have said that his words were a gross exaggeration- but not even the wind at the high peaks had drowned out what had been an eternal protests from Inwë. It was the least to say that it had been a long journey over the Mountains- far longer than Glorfindel had imagined it to be.

But Inwë could not have looked more at ease as they reached Lothlórien, she had happily interacted with the Lórien Elves (or more accurately, one Elleth in particular) and had quickly left Glorfindel's side with the warrior's ears still ringing. Though it had been pleasant for the Elf-lord to meet with his cousin and Celeborn once again and once his he regained his ability to hear, he had readily joined in with the mirth and gaiety of the Galadhrim and had even treated the young guardsmen to a show of his sword-fighting abilities.

He also took the most of the quiet atmosphere to send a letter to Erestor in Rivendell, as he had promised. It was needless to say that he missed Erestor, as he did every time he travelled no matter how long or far his travels took him. He had told him of the near-painful journey over the Mountain and how he had passed the time and tried to distract Inwë from finding more things to complain about- it was not the most exciting letter Glorfindel had ever written, but then again if there was anyone in Arda who would happily listen to the small things that Glorfindel did and noticed each day instead of pressing Glorfindel to recite his encounters with fearsome beasts, it was his lover.

Though Glorfindel was drawn quickly from his thoughts of Erestor as Inwë asked him if there was anything the matter. "Not to me dear friend, though I have received news that the very Dwarf you seek, King Thorin's nephew, is partaking in the archery competition this afternoon." He lied smoothly, covering up the fact that he had known about this for quite some time now.

As he told her the news, he motioned to Alassea to come forth. Glorfindel had no clue whether Inwë had told the Lórien Elf of the reasons for her travel. Though now that he wished to speak of the day's events, he decided to include the Elleth for he did not want to be responsible for losing either of them. "I am to meet with Legolas of Mirkwood here, if you wish to stay with me. His father has extended to me and my companions an invitation to stay within his halls, if either of you wish to join me then you are more than welcome. Though you are more than welcome to explore the tourney if you so wish," He offered.

Like fire's first burst of heat, Inwë's ears and cheeks flushed hot when Glorfindel said that the blonde Dwarf her heart had fallen hard for was here at this very tourney, and participating on an event that afternoon! Her chest tightened and it felt like her throat was closing up on her, as it became a little harder to breathe. "Glorfindel, why did you not tell me sooner? When did you receive this news? Oh, I feel weak..." she said, her voice rushed as she attempted to gain enough air in her lungs and grabbed onto her friends arm.

There wasn't much else she could say. What was there to say? As far as she could tell, he only recently received the information. She wasn't sure what to call what she was having, but she knew the cause was that she was in such close proximity of her hearts captor. Maybe if she had known he was going to be here, she might not be having this reaction. "Glorfindel, I am not ready..."

((sorry! DX had a difficult time writing more than one paragraph))

Alassea raised a brow, why would he need to speak to her? But shrugged her shoulders, patted the horse and climbed over the fence to walk bare-footed to her friends to find out what Glorfindel wanted to say. But before she could reach the pair, she watched as Inwë react to something Glorfindel said, and ran over to them. She held onto Inwë's hip in her attempt to hold her up. "Glorfindel, what have you said to her? She seems to be having some sort of attack!" Alassea said. Wait, could something have happened that was close to her? Alassea thought, looking at the older Elf.

(And.....sorry, this seems just a filler. and I'm pretending that she didn't hear the part about Legolas )

Glorfindel stood a little awkwardly as Inwë turned an impressive shade of red at his announcement. He swore he had not meant for her to go into shock and almost suffer from a physical collapse when he had shared with her what he had known now for a while on the whereabouts of the Dwarven Prince.

He cringed as her voice trembled almost violently when she asked him the inevitable question of how long he had known about this... and that he was feeling rather ashamed about having to answer. He placed a steadying hand on her arm to offer support and to make sure she did not ruin her wonderful dress by falling in a pile of horse-droppings.

At this point, Alassea came to their side and rather unhelpfully began accusing Glorfindel of being the cause of Inwë’s distress. Which whilst it was partially true, but it did nothing to help him calm her down. If anything, Glorfindel feared it might have just spurred Inwë to become even angrier with the warrior. To be fair though, it was not entirely Glorfindel's fault- he had saved her from an even crueller fate of letting her just run into him with no warning whatsoever.

“Calm down my friend, I was only just told by these two ellon of the presence of the heirs of Durin. Though I admit that I have known that Legolas and his family were arriving since we had reached Lothlorien- I only wished to keep the information from you then so you would not grow too nervous about coming to the tourney.” Glorfindel lied to his friend, he had known about the Dwarves after some of the Lothlorien elves had given him some of their reasons as to why they did not wish to join him on his travels. He had known that they would be meeting with the son and daughters of Thranduil before they had even left Imladris.

He felt bad about lying to his friend, but he would be sure to make up for it at some stage during the tourney.

“Do not lose your courage Inwë, this is the reason you left Rivendell, is it not? To seek out Thorin’s nephew? It would not make any difference whether we were to meet him now or in a few months in Erebor. Just follow your heart and do what you think feels right.” Glorfindel offered what advice he could to soothe her nerves.

Inwë thanked Alassea as she listened to her friend, holding onto him as she slowly gained the strength back in her legs to hold herself up. "Well....if that is true, then you fault to nothing," she said, nodding and placed her palm on her forehead.

So soon? How could she possibly be ready to meet him here, when she was more prepared  to meet him in Erebor. But wait, would she have been ready by then anyhow? Traveling there and actually being there were two different things. Maybe she was not even ready for anything...

But how could she despair when her friend had done so much, to see her through to the end and find out whether she feelings could be reciprocated, and she just give up when things became difficult. And this should not be such a difficult thing, just going up and speaking to someone; but her heart was involved, and possibly her future, and so that made things even trickier.

She shut her eyes as Glorfindel began speaking again, but then chuckled a little. "My heart says one thing, but my mind says another, and my mind seems to be the stronger of the two at the moment," Inwë informed him, looking up from under her hand and gave him a weak smile.

Alassea watched her new friend slightly panic, but was seeming to regain herself again. A she watched, she could understand how the Elleth was feeling. She too she feeling for another, new feelings she was just exploring. Though the recipient was returning said feelings back, they were beginning a friendship. And sometimes relationships started out that way, and it was always a good thing to take ones time and get to know one another.

"I am guessing we are not going to meet him right this moment, mellon. So we may take our time, relax, and gather our thoughts so that if something happens we might salvage a friendship with our brethren Dwarves. And should your feeling be harmed, you have good friends to defend you and comfort you," she said, hoping her own words could encourage Inwë .

Though she did not know her long, she would not let a friend go through something alone, especially a female one whom could understand basic workings of what happens to one.

(argh >.< Not my greatest post, and maybe among my bad ones :/)