Lost and found

Eyes opened or closed, it mattered not: it was pitch black all around. So dark in fact that Ross could not even see her hands. It terrified her not be able to see a thing, to know what was around her, if she was alone or not, nor even if it was day or night outside. She had guessed she must be in a cave or in a house built in cold rock since she had been there for what felt like days but never saw the sun. At least it wouldn't rain down on her.

She had never liked darkness, and rested still with candles at night though her sister told her only toddlers should have a candle at night because their eyes could not accustom yet yo the lack of light. Ross' eyes never accustomed to that. When other elflings had begun to be able to see well at night, Ross had wondered if her parents had not made her wrong, failed to make her functional or if it was her punishment for having killed her mother by coming forth to the world a month too soon.

Both of her legs and at least one of her ribs were broken. But they had been for a while now so she had stopped crying about it, and made sure to move as little as possible in order to prevent the pain from becoming unbearable again, like when she had tried to force herself to stand: it had been foolish. Her wrists hurt as well but they were not broken, only painful from the fall, like her head and the rest of her body. She had no doubt she was covered in bruises. But the cold made most of it feel numb.

The first and second day in the hole, she had spent crying and thinking someone would come to rescue her. The third and fourth days she had spent sobbing and thinking someone would pass by, would hear her and would come to rescue her. The fifth day, today, she accepted that all that lead her to this hole was not only a nightmare but was real and she now doubted she would make it more than another day or two without food and water. Elves were extremely hard to famish when they were grown, an old Noldo named Maedhros had even survived without ratios of any kind all the while bleeding abundantly for months because he had been hung to a cliff by the wrist. But Ross was not grown. Far from it. She was only 18, almost still a baby, her father said. She wondered if she would see him again. Did he even know she was missing? After all, her and the others had been sent on a month long journey and it had only taken three days for everything to go wrong, and another seven days for things to get worse. And all that because she had drunk from the wrong glass of water when she was younger.


A sound echoed in the distance. It caught her full attention for it was the first she had heard that did not sound like a flowing river or a fish jumping out of water and falling back in it. This was the sound walking feet made, and it was coming closer. She could even tell there were two people walking. She would have screamed but her throat was too dry for that. Instead she crawled, wincing and tearing because of the pain, and moving her hands about in order to find a small rock to hit against the rocky ground. By the time she found one, the steps were only a faint sound from far away again, but she hit the rock again and again and again against the ground anyway.

"Wait..." Aiwë told his brother Cirincendë as he stopped walking. Cirincendë walked two steps further before stopping and and turning around to look at twin. "Do you hear this?"Aiwë added, "There is someone else here."

Cirincendë focused on the faint sound. It was repetitive, and become feebler. "It could be a scout."he started, "Not necessarily one of ours." He frowned.

"Still, we should have a look. "insisted Aiwë, heading back, towards the sound knowing that his brother would follow.

It so happened that the sound came down from a whole, deep, and dark. "Who is down there, disturbing the peace if this cave?" asked Cirincendë sounding threading. If it was an enemy, he wanted to let it know that it better run away. Besides, Aiwë and him were tired and sore from their journey, and he did not wish to have to confront anyone.

There was an answer, but the voice was too faint and throaty for either elf to understand what it had said. The only thing they were certain about was that the voice was an orc's and probably not a goblin's, although the possibility could not be excluded completely.

Aiwë looked at Cirincendë who nodded, and with that silent understanding, Aiwë climbed down the hole in order to identify the potential intruder. To his surprise what he saw was not a goblin nor an elven scout. It was an elfling, a little girl. She could not be older than 20. She was spread out on the ground, on her belly, a rock in her hand and her face against the cold hard ground as well. Her dress was so torn it was really only a rag. Her skin was paler than it should be, almost blue, probably from the cold, and sprinkled with violet and red bruises, and judging by the unnatural angles her legs had, they were broken in several places.

"Poor thing." he whispered to himself. "It is a child. Elven."he yelled out to his brother. "She is hurt. Lower down the rope, if you would, so we can lift her out of here."

And within seconds the end of a rope was lowered down.

"What is your name , child,?" He asked in an attempt to create trust with the girl in other not to further traumatize her by handling her and tying a rope around her waist without her consent.

She did not answer, but by the way her eyes were focused in his direction - though not exactly on him- Aiwë could tell she was not unconscious, yet. He did not insist. "You are hurt, but do not worry my brother and I will bring you to a healer who will fix your legs, if you will let us." he told her as he squatted in order to have a better look at her. The hair at the back of her head stuck to her neck and skull; it must have hit the ground pretty hard for it to bleed, and she must have been here for some days for the blood had dried.

He slowly turned her around so she would lay on her back. She whined and squirmed a little but did not do so much as try to fight him; she was too weak. He slid a hand under her shoulder and lifted her upper body a little, before presenting her with a skin half full with water. "Here, drink. It is honeyed water." The child grimaced when she smelled the sweet liquid as if not wanting to drink but still dried it in a matter of seconds.

"I cannot carry you on my back while I climb for these walls are too straight, so I am going to have to tie this rope around your waist." He told her as he presented the rope to her. She grabbed it, furrowed her brows a bit when she seemed to have grasped how she was going to be lifted out of the hole, and despite the obvious apprehension of pain she remained calm, and nodded.

Once they were up, Cirincendë lifted her up in his arms. "Sweet Eru..." he swore.

"I know, she is in bad shape. We should hurry, she has fainted from the pain." replied Aiwë.

"That is not were my concerns lies." said Cirincendë, as he came closer to his brother. "Look," he started again, "Her hair, her nose, her whole face...she resembles..." he did not finish his sentence.

Aiwë had not paid attention to the elfings's face, his brother was always the one paying attention to details. He brushed the raven dark hair away from her face and it hit him. "This cannot be a good omen...but she is only a child and she may look like him, but Feanor had no daughter. We cannot leave her to die here. The king and Captains of the Gates shall decide of her fate."

Cirincendë was dubious. "I am not certain she will be let inside Gondonlin, not even with the both of us as vouchers ." he insisted. There was no point bringing her all the way to the city only to let her die in front of the gates.

"We shall go around, and enter the city through the Gate of The House of the Golden Flower. They will be more clement, and if they won't let her in, they will at least treat her outside the city before sending her on her way."


A/N:

20years old in elven age = 7/8 years old for humans so Ross is really just a child right now.

So, I changed the story completely x) The other pot didn't have much future while this one has more potential! I won't be updating before I finish Sweet irony though :/ But I promise this one will be just as good, just with other characters set on a different background.

Also it's not obvious right away but yes this is OC/Glorfindel as a paring!