Of Elves and Fey: Wonders Not Yet Beheld
Author: KimmyLynn
Disclaimer: The members of the fellowship do not belong to me, and I am using them without permission. Shalidar, the fey, and Katherine are mine. I am making no profit, please do not sue.
Rating: PG
Summary: Katherine shows the boys some of Shalidars wonders.
Spoilers: None
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The morning sun came streaming through the stained glass windows of Lady Katherine's rooms, sending rainbows of refracted light dancing across the floor. She groaned and pulled the covers up over her head as the door opened, and Rahne stuck her head in. "I brought your food m'lady."

"Is it morning already Rahne?"

"Yes m'lady."

"Are you certain Rahne?"

"Yes Lady Katherine.", Rahne answered, giggling. "You could see for yourself if you weren't hiding like a child."

Katherine pulled back the covers and looked at the young woman, her eyes dancing merrily.

"Remember who it is you are speaking to, dear Rahne.", Katherine teased, crawling out of bed.

Rahne was faery, like Katherine, born in Argyle. As full blood faery, she was allowed more freedom than many of the servants in the castle. And as Katherine's oldest and dearest friend, she was allowed unheard of lapses in her manners. She had been raised with Katherine, groomed practically from birth to be handmaiden to a queen. A servant she may have been in the eyes of the court; but Katherine didn't see her that way at all. Thus, she allowed the young woman to put her in her place on occasion.

Katherine sat down at the small dresing table, watching Rahne poor the tea. She noticed that there was only one cup this morning.

"You are not eating with me?"

"No m'lady. I ate early, so that I could attend to our guests. Or had you forgotten them?", she answered; handing Katherine her tea.

"Our guests?", Katherine asked, sipping the hot drink carefully. "Oh yes, our guests. I had forgotten them. You must take them food and drink Rahne. I am sure that they must be half starved. And clothing as well. They simply can not be allowed to continue wearing what they have."

"But Katherine, if they eat or drink..."

"Do not think me such a fool as that Rahne. At least not yet. They must first come to trust me, elsewise where would be the challenge?", she scolded; sipping her tea.

Rahne smiled at her, as always, in awe of Katherine's mischievious nature.



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The five young men were sleeping soundly when Rahne arrived. She sat the large tray of food down on the table, and motioned for the Page to leave the clothes on a nearby couch. He did as she asked, bowing to her before leaving the room. She scanned the room, wondering which door the handsome gypsy with the aquamarine eyes hid behind. She focused on him, calling up his image in her mind; reaching out to him. Smiling she walked softly to the door, opening it to peek inside. Merry lay in the center of the bed, one leg out from under the heavy covers. Her eyes traveled along the calf, up the muscled thigh, and across the exposed hip. She ran her tongue across her bottom lip, pleased by what she could see so far. Although the difference in their height could present problems, Rahne could also see very distinct advantages to his stature. But she had to be discreet, be careful. Katherine had said that their trust was to be gained; by any means necessary. But she didn't want to move to quickly, for who knew how mortals would react to such things.

"Sir?", she said softly, not wanting to startle him.

He didn't respond, didn't move. She moved into the room, leaving the door open behind her.

"Sir?", she said louder; still no response.

She moved to the bed, leaning down close to him and placing a hand on his arm.

"Sir?"

Merry jumped and grabbed her wrist, preconditioned from years spent with Pippin to expect the worst. He heard a small gasp, and a whimper of pain. He looked down at the wrist held tightly in his hand, and saw that it was much to delicate to belong to any of his friends. His eyes followed the arm up, and came to settle on the face of the young woman who had led them to the castle. She was biting her lower lip, and he could see tears welling up in her emerald eyes.

"I did not mean to frighten you sir, but you are..."

"I'm sorry, Rahne. It is Rahne?", he said releasing her wrist.

"Lady Katherine sent me to awaken you. I believe that perhaps I will leave it to you to awaken the others.", she said; rubbing her wrist.

"Yeah, maybe that would be best. I'm really sorry.", he said; crawling out of bed. Rahne watched him for a moment, watched the muscles move beneath his skin. He looked at her and smiled, then looked toward the door. Rahne blushed and moved to the door, casting one final look over her shoulder before closing it.

She busied herself with setting out the food, as Merry woke everyone up. Soon enough they had figured out their problems and gathered in the main room. Their eyes widened when they saw the assortment of food laid out for them.

"I do not know what all of this is.", she explained. "But Lady Katherine is very good at this sort of thing. She assures me that it is what you mortals would normally eat."

"Damn right.", Boromir said, grabbing a plate. He had never seen so much food before. There were pastries, the likes of which had never been seen. Eggs, bacon, suasage, hashbrowns. Milk and cofee and tea. They all sat down and dug in, forgetting their manners for the moment.

"Are you gonna eat anything?", Legolas asked between bites of egg.

"No sir, I do not think that it would be to my liking.", she said eyeing the food suspiciously.

"Where did this come from anyway?", Aragorn asked, remembering Katherine's warning from the day before.

"Very wise of you to ask. Lady Katherine had it brought in. Although, had it been from Shalidar, your concern would have come too late."

They eyed her warily, then resumed stuffing themselves.



**************************************************



Boromir held up the white shirt, looking at the long laces down the front.

"You can't actually expect us to wear this!"

"Lady Katherine said that you were to dress appropriately.", Rahne explained.

"I don't give a damn if Lord Elrond told me to wear it! I am not wearing it."

"But sir, Lady Katherine..."

"Lady Katherine! God I am sick of that name already. Just who does she think she is anyway?", Boromir said, throwing the shirt on the ground.

"I think myself Lady of Shalidar, gypsy. A fact that you would do well to remember.", her voice called from the door; causing them all to turn toward her.

She stood in a gown of pale blue brocade, the sleeves slashed through with cream. Her hair was pulled up on her head; spilling tiny ringlets around her face. As beautiful as she was, their was a deadly calm about her; one that spoke of great powers not yet beheld. "As you were told last night, I am inclined to forgive much within these rooms. But even I have my limits. Never doubt that I hold your life in my hands mortal; and it does not mean so awfully much to me."

"I...", Boromir began.

"You will dress accordingly."

They all watched her walk across the room and pick up the shirt. She held it out to Boromir, daring him to decline. He took the shirt from her, his eyes blazing with barely contained anger.

"We have much to do, and already much of the day is passed. Once you are ALL dressed, we will journey outside of the castle."

"Where are we going?", Merry asked; already dressed and ready to go. He would have put on tights and pumps if Rahne had asked. A linen shirt and some odd looking pants was nothing to get worked up over.

"We are journeying to a place where will not be disturbed."

She watched as the rest of the men, one by one, emerged from their rooms; dressed and ready to go.

"Before we leave, there are a few things that we must discuss.", Katherine said, sitting down on the couch next to Legolas.

They all sat down close by, giving her their full attention. After her display of anger earlier, they were all treading carefully.

"Firstly, once outside of the castle, you must not leave my side. Shalidar is a place quite unlike your world. There are dangers here unimagined for mortals such as you. And do not think that you can leave here. Although you are free to go at any time, if you wish. It is not so easy as one might think."

"So basically, you're saying 'Don't even think about it'.", Pippin said; winking at her. "I suppose that is what I was saying, gypsy. Thank you. Now, the next thing is the matter of names. I can not continue to call you 'gypsy'. I assume you have names?" "Of course. I'm Pippin", Pippin said; jumping in before the rest of them. "And this is Aragorn, and Boromir, and Merry, and Legolas."

"Very good, that will do nicely. Now that we have that settled, shall we go."



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Legolas looked around, taking in everything. Shalidar was truly beautiful, full of wonder. And he sensed that there were wonders still yet to be seen. The air seemed constantly tinged with exotic smells, the mingled scents of the multitude of wildflowers that grew everywhere. Although Katherine had warned them of the dangerous beasts that prowled the countryside, he had yet to see anything other than a few stray deer that had bounded across the path in front of him. Looking ahead of him, he saw that Pippin had managed to position himself next to Katherine, and was attempting to flirt with her. She smiled at him on occassion, sometimes laughing at something he said. Legolas stared at his back intently, wishing he would fall off his damn horse.

Katherine had insisted that they travel on horseback, telling them that they were going quiet a long way. Legolas didn't mind really, and he knew that Aragorn was loving it. Merry was too busy flirting with Rahne to even notice he was on a horse, and Boromir was still sulking about the clothes. Legolas didn't get that, the clothes weren't so bad really. And at least they were clean, and they smelled good. Boromir looked up at him and Legolas shot him a cheerful grin. Boromir just glared at him, and went back to looking at the ground. Legolas shrugged, his gaze traveling back to Katherine. He watched as she pulled her horse to a stop and dismounted; motioning for them all to do the same. He did as she asked, looking around for any sign that they were finally at their destination.

What he saw took his breath away. Less than a hundred yards away, he saw what appeared to be a herd of snow white horses. They were far from normal, he could tell that even at such a distance. Their white hides glistened in the sun, as if coated with thousands of tiny diamonds. Their manes and tails were long and flowing, like spun silver. They turned to look at them, and Legolas saw the sunlight glint off the silvery horns that rose from their heads. He looked at his friends, and saw that they too stood in awe; even Boromir. Lady Katherine smiled at them, and whistled softly. Legolas looked back to the herd, watching as one of the unicorns broke from the group and moved toward them. Lady Katherine walked out to meet the beast, who shied when he caught scent of her guests. She cooed softly to the stallion, rubbing his nose to calm him. When she moved forward he followed, stopping within a few feet of them. At that distance, Legolas could see that he was massive; much larger than normal horses. Heavy muscles rippled under his snow white skin, and he seemed ready to bolt at any moment. Katherine looked at the group for a moment, then took Boromir by the hand. He started to pull away, but she held tightly; pulling him with her. The stallion balked when they came near, but soon settled down. Taking his hand, she gently placed it on the nose of the beast. Boromir smiled, for probably the first time since they had arrived in Shalidar. The group watched as the man melted away, and the little boy inside him emerged. He looked at Katherine, a wide grin on his face.

"Perhaps this place isn't so bad.", he whispered.

"Mayhaps. But there are more wonders than this Boromir, this is only the beginning.", she whispered back; motioning for the others to gather around.

None of them wasted any time, anxious to actually touch the animal. He stood patiently, allowing them to run their hands over him. Katherine explained that unicorns were common in Shalidar, common in all faery kingdoms. Ever since the fall, when the two worlds had been forever parted, the faery realm had become a haven for such creatures. Such creatures only existed so long as people believed, and sadly the mortal realm had all but forgotten them. But there, in Shalidar they lived forever; sustained by the power of faery magic and faith.

"This is amazing.", Aragorn said; running his fingers through the stallion's silvery mane.

"Yes, it is. Even though I have seen them all my long life, it never fails to spark magic within me. But alas, we still have a journey ahead of us.", she said; giving the unicorn a gentle pat on the neck to send him on his way. They all followed her back to the horses, their minds filled with magic.

It seemed that they rode forever, passing through open meadows and forest glades. They all kept their eyes open for magical beasts, but none bothered to show themselves that day. Once, while traveling through a rather dim patch of forest, Legolas was almost sure that he had heard the far away howl of wolves. No one else seemed to notice, so he figured it had all been in his mind. But still, for long afterward he felt as if eyes followed him; and the hair on the nape of his neck stood on end. After what seemed like hours, they emerged from a wooded area into a large, open field. Below them, in a green valley, sat their destinantion. It was a large stone castle, its windows dark and deserted.

"Who lives there?", Pippin asked, from his place next to Katherine.

"No one. That is Castle Morgana.", she answered.

"Castle Morgana?"

"Yes. I was born there. It is mine. Someday, when I am married, I will live there."

"Why don't you live there now?", Pippin asked.

"Because I am Lady of Shalidar, and my presence is required at Castle Guinevere. But mayhaps someday...", she trailed off; leading them down into the valley to her home.

Despite being deserted, the castle was beautifully furnished; and tapestries adorned the walls. Katherine led them into the Great Hall, looking around. She had set Meaghan ahead to have a fire burning and candles lit; but the room was dark. No matter, she could manage on her own if she had too. The gypsies looked around the room, seemingly a little disturbed by the appraoching darkness.

"A storm is coming I fear. We may well be trapped here for the night."

"Mayhaps we should start a fire m'lady; it is a trifle cool.", Rahne said; moving to the large hearth.

"I was thinking just that myself Rahne. I will handle it, no need to go and get your hands dirty.", Katherine told her, motioning for her to move away from the hearth. Rahne smiled, moving to stand next to Merry. They watched as she closed her eyes, murmering to herself as she called her powers to her. They came to her like the wind; surounding her like a lover's embrace. She did not know or care whether it was truly magic, or something else all together. It was simply her gift, and she had always possessed it; it had always merely been. It had been hers to control ever since, as a child, she had first learned to spin small objects from firelight and shadow; from sunlight and moonbeams. Around her, the candles flamed to life; and a roaring fire burst forth in the hearth. She opened her eyes, smiling at her work.

"How the he...how did you do that?", Aragorn asked; stunned by the awesome display.

"Talent.", she said smiling wickedly. "I have shown you mine, now it is your turn gypsies."

~Fin



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