“Oh, Lady Zhie, just a moment!” Eledu had vaguely heard the door open, faintly realized that someone had gone into his daughter’s room, and that they were now leaving, with Fauneth excitedly babbling about Finrod Felagund and singing songs and battling Sauron, and Zhie making attempts to keep her hushed until they were outside. Eledu detangled himself from the nest and sprang over to the door, glad he had left his trousers on when Gwyndir insisted the shirt come off for better snuggling. “Do you have a moment for me to have a word with you?”

“Of course. Shall we speak outside?” she suggested. Fauneth had already bounded out with Twitchy romping behind her, where they began an impromptu game of king of the hill.

Eledu shielded his eyes from the sunlight as they came out. “I, uhm... well, as you can see, she cut her hair. She wants to be a boy now, or something,” he tried to explain as Fauneth poked at one of the holes with a long stick.

Observing Eledu for a moment, Zhie crossed her arms and scrutinized him further. “You really do not get it, do you? Poor Gwyndir,” she mumbled as an afterthought.

“No, I get it. It’s fine. She can do what she wants. I mean, in terms of appearance. Better this than, I don’t know, liking what the women wear in beggar’s alley.”

Zhie motioned for them to sit down on the hammock, and Eledu followed. Zhie lowered her voice after they sat. “Are you mad at her?”

“Not really.”

“Are you mad at Gwyndir for encouraging her to do it?”

Eledu’s mouth twitched. “No...”

“You understand, it is not that she wants to grow a beard and a penis and start hanging out at the pubs,” said Zhie. Eledu smirked slightly. “Her role models, for the most part, are men. Her heroes are men. She sees me as a playmate and a tutor, not as someone she aspires to. So she sees the rest of you doing this ‘in cog neato’ thing, she wants to, too. And she loves playing out the roles of the Eldar. By far, Felagund is her favorite. Better Felagund than his sister,” she added wryly.

Eledu nodded, biting at his top lip.

“But something else is bothering you..”

“Elves are supposed to be..” He paused and waved his hands a bit. “Ethereal. Beyond beauty. They should be tall and lithe, graceful and poised, with shining long hair and radiant faces.”

“So you are upset because your daughter is not fitting those specifications? I have news for you, Eledu, she is nineteen. Few nineteen-year-olds are graceful, poised, or radiant. Trust me - I know,” she said, patting his shoulder.

“That’s not the problem. She’s wonderful - perfect. She’s perfect.” His voice had a hint of disdain to it.

“But...”

“Alright, I’m jealous. I admit, I’m jealous, I was jealous when I saw Bainith, and then Ellonur, and I even tried to hint to Gwyndir, and that never works, and then she came home and I was really furious about it.”

Zhie looked at Eledu’s frown, then turned her head to watch Fauneth giggling as she chased after a toad with Twitchy, then back to the somber look on Eledu’s face. “You wanted short hair as a little boy,” she guessed, and Eledu shrugged. “You had oppressive parents - or an oppressive nanny--”

“Both,” grumbled Eledu.

“Ah. Now we are getting somewhere.” Zhie shrugged. “Alright, so... just go do it. You are a grown man now, and it happens to be all the rage here in Falathlorn -- you have no need to ask permission.”

“That’s the problem,” he complained. “I sort of do. I traded parents who told me what I could do for a spouse who kind of does the same sometimes. See, I wore these robes once, and Gwyndir thought they were hideous and I wore yellow another time and he made a comment about ‘no yellow’ the other day and -- I don’t want to embarrass him. I feel like, if he doesn’t -- if he -- we have a lot of misunderstandings, and I hate arguments with him. He -- we sort of have different standards on things. Like, he can bring other partners into the relationship, but when someone was interested in me -- well, we thought she was -- he was pretty upset. And he can’t say no to Fauneth. Well, at least, I’ve not heard him say no -- this is proof of that. No ‘let’s wait and see if you really want to do this’ or ‘let’s talk to your father first’, no, he’s the one who wears the pants. My title is only honorary.”

Zhie listened, partly in a state of shock to hear the usually happy-go-lucky fellow speak so miserably. “You love him, though, right?”

“With all my heart! He is dearest to me -- well, and Fauneth -- I should not like to have to choose,” he said.

“And he loves you.”

“With certainty.”

“Then go do what you want with your hair.”

Eledu swallowed hard. “But..”

“Now, what?”

“Short hair on an Elf is likened to three things: prison, torture, or slavery.”

She furrowed her brow, then slowly nodded. “Sure. You talk to Erestor. I knew I had heard that opinion before.” As she shook her head, she added, “In the First Age, you had three options: Cut it short, wear braids, or get dragged over a cliff by a balrog.”

Eledu shuddered at the name of the horrible creature. “Still, this is not the First Age.”

“Someone should tell young Felagund that,” said Zhie. She called Fauneth over and helped her climb onto the hammock with them. “Fauniebunny, should we show your daddy that neat game we played yesterday?”

“Oh! Yes!” Fauneth giggled and clapped. “Can I play again, too?”

“Of course. What is the first thing we do?”

“We close our eyes!” Fauneth squeezed her eyes shut, but put her hands over her eyes for good measure. A few seconds passed and she peeked, laughing at her father. “Daddy, you need to close them, too!”

Eledu nodded and shut his eyes. He could hear the water nearby from the waterfalls, and Fauneth’s soft giggles, and Zhie’s voice. “Now, imagine you are walking in the woods. It is a cool, bright day. You can hear dear in the forest, and birds chirping in the sky. What else do you hear?”

“Something cawing,” said Fauneth immediately. “Far away… like crebain. I think they’re flying away.”

“Good. And Eledu? What do you hear?”

Eledu tried to be more imaginative, but the sounds around him influenced his thoughts. “Just the water,” he answered. “Like a brooke or something.”

“Very nice. Start to walk toward the water, Eledu. Follow the sound.”

“Uh…” Eledu began to crawl out of the hammock, but Zhie placed her hand upon his shoulder. “Oh, in my thoughts, sorry.”

“Daddy, you’re silly!” giggled Fauneth.

“Shh.. it is fine, this is his first time playing,” said Zhie soothingly. “Now, Eledu, as you walk towards the water, what do you see?”

Eledu concentrated hard, and then, he sighed, and concentrated less. And that was when it started to work… the trunks of the trees sprang from the ground, the grass grew around his feet, and the birds fluttered down to land on a leafy branch. He was in Mirkwood again, but the Mirkwood of his childhood, when the land was greener and fresher, and the spiders did not haunt the woods so boldly. “The forest.. there are oaks, and orchard trees there, like the seeds were brought in by the birds.”

“Excellent. And Fauneth, where are you walking?”

“On the other side, of course!” She cupped her hands around something invisible. “I found an apple on the ground! I can share it with Daddy when I see him – there he is! Hi, daddy!” She lifted an arm and waved, her eyes still closed.

Eledu chuckled and lifted his arm as well, despite not seeing her do the same. “Hi, sweetpea,” he replied, waving his hand.

“Now, Eledu, when you come to the water, find a place without much current. Do you see it?”

“Mmmhm.” He nodded.

“Good. I want you to look down and tell me what you see.”

“Well, my reflection,” he replied. “With silly looking blonde hair and—“

“Sorry – tell me what you want to see,” rephrased Zhie.

Eledu paused, his imagination-self taking a few steps backwards. “Alright.” He looked back down behind closed eyes.

“If you do not want to share, it is alright.”

“No, no… it…” Eledu felt someone squeeze his hand, and he knew from the size it was Fauneth. “Well, I have an orange shirt on. I don’t think your mother likes it, Fauneth, but I don’t really care right now because we’re hunting apples and squirrels in the woods, so it’s going to get dirty anyhow.”

Fauneth giggled.

“And the wind is messing up my hair a bit, but it’ll be easy to fix because it’s shorter now – though, I think I’m too lazy to keep it trimmed so it’s a little longer in the back. Not blonde, not this masquerade of our identities, but not that black that gets me mistaken for a Noldo – no offense, Lady Zhie.”

“None taken,” she said.

“Brown, you know, brunet.” Eledu opened his eyes. “I want what I see in a mirror to reflect what I picture in my head. Ever since I saw a painting of the Telerin archers, the ones with their hair cropped short, but their clothing so bright and energizing, I fell in love with that idea. It was romantic, to me, the Telerin life. Fishing, sailing.. I wonder at times if I’ve any Telerin blood in my veins from an ancestor.”

“Nothing to worry about in admitting that. I have not had the need for a swan boat in many ages.” Reaching out to pat Eledu on the shoulder, she said to Fauneth, “I think your daddy needs to go on a fieldtrip with us today.”

Fauneth cheered, hopping off the hammock to say farewell to Twitchy for the day. “And if Gwyndir hates it, like you think he will,” said Zhie, “you can just blame me for it all.”

“I feel like there’s a kinslayer joke in there somewhere.”

“Vaguely implied, but yes,” she said with a wink.