[Imladris]

Lira smiled longingly as she remembered Arwnen Undomiel and her marriage to Elessar. She had been present at the wedding and had watched it afar off. The beauty of Arwen was beyond words or description: the mystery of the night, the fair light of the stars in her eyes. Lira was accutely aware of her own lack of beauty and, according to both elves and men, she was simply unattractive. She was tall and slim like a willow, but she had always been a little too thin and her face always seemed a little gaunt. Her hair was not a lusterful golden hue but pale with streaks of white in it, making her blue eyes look even more intense. Yet, what truly endeared her to the elves was her beautiful voice, it was celestial almost. Lira had been told from other elves that her voice was hauntingly beautiful when she sang, bewitching when she spoke. Such compliments had always made Lira uncomfortable and it annoyed her when men looked at her with fearful awe. She was an elf-maiden, and nothing more.

Lira was snapped out of her reverie by a Hobbit voice asking, "Ma'am, may I help you?"

"Yes," Lira replied, a slight elvish accent in her voice as she answered in the Common Tongue, "a stable for my mare and something to drink that is not beer or ale."

[ July 24, 2003: Message edited by: Imladris ]