All dwarves were staring at the equipment of the escort that Arwen pointed out. They recognized that metal. It was mithril, not just for show used as powder on the surface but mithril made into armor that could withstand almost anything. And it was in the hands of the elves no less. How could they not be surprised ? Everyone knew that there were not many places to mine it, and most were under dwarves; historically, just some were in Numenor , but today? There was only Moria where you could find it. So how could they have so much mithril to equip all of these elves? It wasn't just a few kilos of mithril. It was at least a ton of it.
„Well, it isn't just them, you know?" said Arwen with a smile. „ The whole army my Master trained has their equipment made like this."
„Army? And how many does that army count for?" asked Thorin, trembling in his voice , thinking about that the elves could have something like that and use it against the dwarves if they wanted to.
„I don't know the exact numbers, but it should be more than ten thousand, as the city has almost two hundred thousand citizens, " said Arwen with a frown on her face while looking at the sky. She really didn't know because she didn't care about it. But even this number made the scalps of the dwarves rise. It could be good news if you had such an ally , but if they were an enemy? That was fatal. Thorin quickly glanced at Balin, and they nodded at each other. They knew they had to be on the good side of Luminarie if they wanted to survive, and maybe if it went well, she would lend them some weapons to reclaim their home.
After some time, when the sun was almost setting, they arrived at the gates of Rivendell, where Elrond was waiting with his wife and sons. Luminarie was absent, but Celebrian said, when they greeted Gandalf, that she went to arrange mounts for them and would be back in an hour or so. In the meantime, they were invited for dinner , which the dwarves wanted to refuse, but Thorin agreed and told them to remember what she said. When they thought about it , they looked between themselves and nodded their heads. At dinner, they didn't eat much, just a few fruits and drank some water to ease their throats. When Elrond saw that, he asked Gandalf what happened that they were so civilized . The Grey Wizard laughed and told the story of how Luminarie asked her men to hunt for them and requested that they behave at dinner, even if they didn't want to eat, because they just wanted to show hospitality to them. Elrond , hearing it, smiled.
„Yes, it is just like her. Do you know, Mithrandir, that she wanted to beat me up when I was proposing to Celebrian?"
„Really?"
„Yes, my wife was her first love, and even though she was rejected by her, she took it as her duty to protect her, and she was scaring any possible candidates for husband away . Like she was saying, 'They don't even have the guts to fight for her, so they don't deserve her.'"
„So you defeated her?"
„No, I was badly injured, and Celebrian took care of me when I was in bed, and she shouted at her, which made her look like a child who did something wrong , " said Elrond with a fond smile at the memory. „Of course, when the yelling ended and Celebrian went to fetch me dinner, she looked at me with death in her eyes and said...
„If you hurt her, I will torture you for so long that you will be wishing for death, and then I will torture you for the same amount of time before granting you death," said a woman's voice from behind with a magnetic tone that made Elrond go stiff.
„And she used that tone too," said Elrond while looking behind him slowly, where he saw Luminarie with a radiant smile, and her hand landed on his shoulder.
„We agreed about something that day, right, boy?" she said with that smile which made him swallow his saliva loudly. When Thorin saw this, he smiled. 'She really is different from them. Maybe she could be our friend.'
„Lumi, why would you say this to him?" asked Celebrian with a sharp voice.
„You know why, so don't get in the way now, Cel," said Luminarie, without light in her eyes.
„Lumiiii..." started Celebrian, but she was too late. Luminarie threw Elrond behind her
and jumped after him.
„COME HERE, YOU LITTLE PUNK! I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THAT, AND YOU PROMISED ME THAT! NOW GET YOUR RETRIBUTION!!!" she shouted and started to punch and kick him in the air while they were dropping from the balcony towards the training ground. „I think you forgot the thrashing I gave you that day! Take your weapon ; I think you need training to not get rusty!" she shouted when they landed there.
„Umm, Mom, shouldn't we stop them?" asked Elladan, looking at their father , who seemed a little out of his wits .
" Ehhh, we could, but that would just make her more angry, so it is better to let it go like that. Besides, your father didn't keep his promise, so it is his fault for that, but I will talk later with her about this , " Celebrian said and went towards the table to continue eating while her husband was getting trashed by Luminarie with a wooden sword while he had his, which was made by the best smiths. She evaded every move he used and struck every time he made a mistake. It looked more like a lesson than a beating , but Elrond didn't take it well. For two straight hours, Luminarie was hitting him while he tried to defend himself. When that circus ended, she stretched like a cat and went towards Arwen, where she hugged her and laid her head on her chest with a contented smile.
" Are you done disciplining my husband?" asked Celebrian while looking at her.
" Mhmmm."
" So what did I just hear about this threat you made to him that day?"
" I just said what I was thinking that day," said Luminarie. " But relax, from now on I will do this when he harms you and Arwen. You because you are my best friend , and her because she is my partner," she said while turning on Arwen's chest and laying down on her thighs . She looked Arwen in the eyes and said something that Arwen wanted to hear from the day she expressed her feelings.
"Because I love her."
" So what now?" asked Celebrian.
" Well, now I will go talk to the guests that your husband forgot , " said Luminarie and kissed Arwen on her cheek, which made the young elf radiant with happiness.
After that, she stood up and went towards the dwarves with a light smile on her face. She looked at Gandalf and made a gesture for him to come too. When they were all in one place, she looked around and stopped in her tracks while taking a big breath while looking at Gandalf, Thorin, and Bilbo's waists.
" Where did you find those?" she asked under her breath.
" We fought with trolls in the woods and found this in their caves. Why ?" asked Thorin with the words of Arwen in his head.
" May I?" she asked Gandalf.
" Of course," he said and gave it to her. When she took it in her hands, her eyes suddenly became like someone who met their lost friend.
" Glamdring, where have you been all those years? How did Turgon lose you?" she said into the air. When Gandalf heard it, he looked in shock at her.
" You know this blade?" he asked her.
" If I know it? Hah, Mithrandir, you are looking at someone who made it for Turgon. I made this and your sword, Orcrist, Thorin. That dagger you have, Mister Baggins, was also made by me for one of the children of the Lord that bought Orcrist. He wanted them to know how to use the blade , but we didn't name it. So it is in your hands and mind to choose a fitting name for it. Take care of them," she said and gave Glamdring to Gandalf with a smile. " Now that this is out of our way , why did you come here? I know that you dwarves are not fond of us, so you are here because it was important to come here enough to fight your instincts. Why, Thorin?" she asked even though she knew the answer.