Work Text:
Songs from a Bard in Rivendell
Fuck it, that sounds awful. Nope. Not a good song title at all. What was I thinking when I had the idea to do a pun on my name? Haven’t my parents done enough?
No, you say? Ha! How about this- my full name. Bard Merlyn Shakespeare Merton. Yep. They did that to me. Sigrid Ypona Antigone Merton and Tilda Andastre Beatrice Merton are my sisters. Okay, a yacht, a hotel resort chain, and a house on the lake aren’t stuck-up enough? Ugh.
Anyway, I’m writing a letter to them today. It’s beside this one on my desk. The lake is still today, though, so it’s ruining my concentration. I may go out on one of the smaller boats to write. Tilda is 10, Sigrid is 16, and I’m 18. I’ll be graduating this year. I’ve got no clue what I want to do, unlike the rest of the team. Tauriel- something in forestry or law enforcement, I’m pretty sure. Aragorn knows he wants to be in law enforcement, planning on joining up with the army rangers first. Faramir’s going to be a physicist and astronomer- he says ‘try’, but if you know that guy, you know he will.
Elladan wanted to go to the Olympics. I don’t think he’s going to do it now, though. Elrohir? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Halbarad’s wanting to be an architect, Haldir, Orophin, and Rumil plan on opening a chain of sorts. Rumil’s going to run what’s basically a hotel, Orophin’s going to handle all the cooking for it, and Haldir’s going to handle the business parts of it. They’re calling it the 3 Brother’s Inn. Halbarad’s already drawn up plans for them. Orophin already has his food handler’s license.
Legolas wants to go for the Olympics too. The junior program is from 8-20; he started on his 8th birthday, I think. So did Tauriel, come to think of it. But she’s more- I don’t know, like one of those survivalists you see on TV shows, the ones who are preparing for the apocalypse and look 150% ready to take it on. Archery’s a sport for him. It’s a lifestyle for her.
Kili I have no clue about, but that just brings me to my next point of contention. Tauriel and Kili? Fuck! What the hell have I been doing wrong? Asked her out a couple of times, figured she just wasn’t interested in guys after the 4th try. And then Kili comes around and asks her out once.
What. The. Fuck.
It’s ridiculous. Might be wondering- ‘Bard, you idiot, why did you invite him to the party, then?’
Pretty simple, really. The guy’s not so bad- I think I’d really like him if he wasn’t interested in Tau. Whom I’ve had dibs on since I got out of boarding school and into high school, I’ll have you know. So, yeah, I wanted to make friends. I also may have wanted to show him that he has no fucking chance in hell. Resorts, yachts, boats, hunting stores- and what does he have?
He doesn’t even have a car.
Okay. Let me get off the subject of Kili and/or Tauriel before I blow a gasket.
Legolas. He’s a safe topic. Okay, maybe not so much, because his dad just really pisses me the fuck off. If the apocalypse starts tomorrow, I’m grabbing a gun or a bow, and Thran-who-gives-a-fuck-about-you-duil won’t see the light of day again.
Maybe I should just take this off of my friends completely?
That’s not a bad idea.
Hell, I don’t know what I’ll talk about next. But I know what I’m going to put in the letter to Tilda and Sigrid. Yes, I’m fine. No, nothing’s troubling me lately, you? I’ll tell them my grades are still good (they’re A’s and B’s, so that’s honest), that my friends are all fine (smell something burning? Might be my pants), and that I miss them. That, at least, is true. Maybe I’ll tell them about my plans come graduation- I’ve talked to some schools, and found some good college programs half a country away from my parents, have a country closer to my sisters. Now, I just have to find out something to do.
It shouldn’t be too hard. You see, on my desk, beside my unwritten letters to my little sisters who I miss even though I don’t know them as well as any brother should, is a set of forms. They’re already filled out, I just need to mail them in to join up with the US Naval Academy. And then, of course, the Navy.
After that? Let’s be honest, I’m just buying myself a few years of nearly free education and training away from my parents at this point. But I talked to the recruitment officer, and he says that people like me are pretty common- people who don’t know what they want, that is, and that I’ll have a Bachelor of Science degree, and that I can then go on to do something else.
He says that usually, after a few years in the academy, everybody knows what they want.
Before I can stall myself further, I seal the letter and forms in the provided envelope and put it in the mailbox- the one by the pier, of course. Maybe, I think as a flash of bright red hair taunts me- it’s just a cardinal flitting by the window, but for a moment it seems like hair- maybe I’ll find someone else, too.