If you're still doing the writing meme, may I request Celebrian + J (making a speech/toast)? :D
send me character and letter prompts
Drums banged in the hall of fire as dancers leapt and bounded in perfect harmony. Lines of elves, the light of the flames across their faces, whipped around and dropped to their knees only to soar back onto their feet and they seemed to fly through the air. The crowd watched, enchanted, as the old souls who remembered the glittering halls of Menegroth and who had walked in the forests of Melian danced as they had in the Eldar days, passion burning brightly. The wind of their movements tore at their hair and their faces were full of life. Leading the quick dances were the bride’s father and his kinsman, Celeborn and Thranduil.
They alone of the great lords and ladies assembled were of close kin to Thingol, and the dances of that age were written into their very hearts. When any looked upon them during this display they saw not venerable lords, but men of the forest and men of ancient magic. The air was thick with it.
The drums increased in pace and volume until it was all that existed and the entire crowd gathered felt their hearts race and their breath catch in their throat at the beauty of the movements. Many of them had never seen bodies as wild and yet as controlled as that. It was a dance of chaos and order when every person moved as an individual and yet as one.
As the music reached its climax, the dancers, as if in one mind, all leapt into the air and landed on their knees and the last drum beat was struck. There was a deafening silence for a long moment, before the crowds burst into raucous applause. On the dais where the bride and groom sat attention was now turned as Celeborn stayed on his knees, raising his fist to his chest.
Celebrian turned to smile broadly at her husband, who squeezed her hand in return. She stood up and raised her glass to the dancers in front of her. “To the dancers of Doriath!” she declared, her voice ringing through the hall over her new subjects. “To my dear father the Lord Celeborn, and to my beloved cousin King Thranduil!”
King still sounded strange and with it came some sadness. On this happy occasion, most of that was overshadowed, however. The crowds echoed her toast and the dancers then dispersed.
Celebrian took her seat and turned to her new husband. “Did you like my surprise?” she asked him, smiling.
He took her hand and kissed it, eyes sparkling. “That I did,” he replied kindly. “I hope to keep some of the old ways alive here, and the legacy your family brings is invaluable.”
“Our family,” she reminded him, unable to stop beaming.
“Our,” he agreed with a laugh. “Although I think it not wise to name your parents mother and father.”
“I think my mother would find that quite amusing in private. My father, however... well you know how he hates change. Perhaps that’s why he was so eager to arrange the display, it’s a reminder of how things used to be. It’s the same dance he took part in at his own wedding, and Thranduil too.” There was a slight longing in her now for a place she had never known, for the halls of Thingol’s palace, for the people of Doriath, and Elrond felt it too. The home of their ancestors was long gone, but here a new home was waiting for new traditions and new stories.
“Perhaps they will be able to exhibit it at the weddings of our children too, one day,” Elrond said, smiling. He kissed her hand again.
Celebrian looked out over the hall to where her father and cousin were speaking happily, no doubt reminiscing. “Perhaps one day. But today is now, let us focus on that.” She squeezed his hand. “Dance with me, dance with me slowly.”
Elrond followed her lead onto the floor and swept her into his arms and kissed her in the light of a thousand flames, as if they were the only souls in the valley. He did not let go until the sun rose in the morning.
dance of the Doriathian Sindarian based on x
