My pulse quickens as I feel the beating... no...the pounding of my heart within my breast. What strange feelings have been awakened from within? Feelings that heretofore were unknown, save similarity of those for my parents, now welled up within me, exploding the fabric of my being entirely. Damn that accursed maiden within my mirror for not warning me of such a thing! She mocks me silently and with such a pleasant visage, yet she enters my soul and mind with ease, never speaking aloud yet conversing in volumes within me. "What path do you take, young Jenna?" she asks. My inner voice replies with an almost impudent response that the paths before me are unknown and I have not yet set my feet upon any certain path. She does not accept my answer as entire and complete, but rather a dodge of her question. She recounts to my mind the meeting, chance though it was, of my eyes with his as I sat in the Prancing Pony with a small tankard of water for refreshment as I sought a room in the Inn to rest overnight on my journey to Rivendell to answer an urgent summons from Lord Elrond concerning movements of certain Rangers. Soothing, almost hypnotic music caught my ear and I looked in the direction of those beautifully haunting notes and saw him. His lute seemed a part of his own body as such wonderful music poured forth from it and it lifted my spirit from my malaise. "Enough!" I say to the Maiden in the Mirror. "You see too much and then taunt me so." She smiles back from her realm and inwardly her voice replies to me of her approval in the chance meeting and the circumstance of my awakening of awareness of him, the cut of his tunic, the almost rakish angle of the hat upon his head and the thought that he be a rogue and likely a heartbreaker to any female that show him interest. Oh yes, maiden in the mirror, smile and taunt if you wish but oh by all the ancients and spirits he was gorgeous to behold! Rugged and thickly muscled he was, not of slender frame as most other elven men. His was a countenance of one that had seen many battles and had known many lovers, and a shiver coursed through me as I beheld him and as I felt my knees weaken I tried to regain hold of my senses, and you, maiden of mirror, where were you when I needed a sensible voice? Did the stirring of a maidens desire rouse her body and mind to lust for him? My hand shook as I tried to sip water from the container before me but I could not raise the tankard. I gazed again upon him, mesmerized, hypnotized both by his form and his music. No! I must fight this urge, this tugging within me that tries to push me towards him. I must heed my virtue and remember that I was raised a proper and virtuous elf maiden and such base and lewd thoughts and desires should not overcome my senses. I had to retreat, to seek the safety and security of my overnight room in the inn. I walked slowly and tried my best to remain steady upon my feet as I left the hall but total success in doing that may be debated. Ah, the quiet of the room and the warmth of the fire soothes me but there you are once again, peering at me, questioning, challenging , mocking and approving without words. I fold my dress neatly and place it in my bag. I need a warm bath to take away the aches and relax my body's tenseness. I heat a kettle of water on the fire for bathing and as it warms, I blush before the mirror. She stares back at me, both of us naked as a single candle flame flickers its dim light. Why am I seeking her approval? She says naught but pierces my eyes with her own. She knows! Her silence only betrays her outward countenance. I walk slowly away from her and draw my bath, slipping into the warm water and losing myself in the rapture of its soothing embrace and I soak for awhile, feeling a bit more confident and reinvigorated as I rise from the bath and retrieve my clean wrap from my bag to dry myself. The candle flickers its last dim gasp of light as I slide gingerly under the covers. Will he return? Will my dreaming bring him forth ? As I turn to embrace sleep, my last glance at the mirror reveals no answer to that question at all......
