Disclaimer: I own nothing recognisable
Less Wise and More Dangerous
Glínornmir mounted up, glancing back with a critical eye as he watched his trainees follow suit. Legolas adjusted his bow on his back, and counted, yet again, the arrows in his quiver. His saddle bags had been double- and triple-checked, and he should have been confident, as this was only a training mission.
A short distance away, Tathar fidgeted with his own sword, making it sit just right. He readjusted his hidden dagger, ensuring that it sat well-concealed on his shin, before checking the straps on his saddle-bag, which barely could close around the spare clothes his father, a seasoned warrior, had insisted he bring.
Aldanna flicked her blonde braids over her shoulder, to check her own long knives as they sat securely behind her back. Her own saddle bags were full to bursting with surprises, for her parents, a warrior-healer and the Queen's bodyguard, had insisted that she, as a young, impulsive adolescent wood-elf, would forget the basic necessities like a waterskin and spare bowstrings.
Brethildíl and her brother Brethilríl sat side by side, their mother tearfully bidding them farewell and good luck. Their father, the King's bodyguard, stood by Thranduil's side as ever, but his eyes strayed to his children as the King fussed over Legolas.
Glínornmir waited impatiently as his five charges prepared for the excursion. Finally, after what seemed forever, Thranduil stepped back to address the group at large.
"I am trusting you to this important mission, warriors," he began presenting the scenario for the trainees. "If you fail, elves could die. Your mission is to go to the eastern edges of the forest, where you will find a small settlement of Men at the end of the Old Forest Road. Go south for a day, and you will find an enemy camp. There are two prisoners there. Your mission is to ensure the information they know regarding our battle tactics does not reach the ears of the enemy commander, who will arrive in four days. Farewell."
Legolas nodded grimly, remembering to treat this exercise as he would a real mission. The enemy in question were actually more trainees, slightly younger than Legolas and his friends. The prisoners were in no real danger, but the other trainees were under orders to keep the prisoners until backup arrives – at which point the exercise would be over, unless Legolas and his friends could free the prisoners first.
A short, sharp whistle signalled the start of their march, and the six would-be-rescuers set out.
Glínornmir took the lead, and after an hour of riding down the Elf Path he sent Legolas forward as a scout.
Legolas enjoyed riding quickly down the road, and he greeted each tree he passed with a smile. Branches rose and bent out of his way, and every so often a cheeky young tree would whip a branch near Legolas, causing him to shout and laugh when they startled him.
After an hour, he stopped to wait for Glínornmir and the others, to report that he had seen nothing unusual upon the path. This pattern continued for much of the day, though Glínornmir insisted on letting each trainee take a turn scouting.
During the night Glínornmir set a watch, with each trainee taking a turn. Legolas' time was silent and still, with only the trees and his sleeping companions for company, and after two hours he woke Brethilríl to replace him. When Glínornmir roused him at dawn, Legolas felt wrecked, and his eyes begged for more sleep, for he was used to sleeping through each night.
That day, riding was uncomfortable, to say the least. Aldanna complained loudly and often of being tired and sore, for she had never spent so long sitting in a saddle at one time. Brethildíl groused that she needed her beauty sleep if the Ellyn wanted her to act civilised, when her brother grumbled that she was crowding him by walking he horse too close to his.
Tathar and Legolas were by no means innocent, contributing their fair share of foulness to the collective mood, but it was Glínornmir who snapped, turning to yell at the five trainees when Tathar mentioned that even if there was something to see while scouting he wouldn't have seen it.
"You are not pampered, prissy elflings anymore!" he snarled, glaring at each adolescent in turn. "You chose to be warriors, you choose every day to train with me! Don't give me that talk about being forced into it, for you know full well that Cûldol and Caranfínril would accept any of you to learn healing with her each morning instead. There is no-one stopping you from learning a trade, either! I am not one of your schoolteachers or tutors, who our law says must teach young Elves to think. I am teaching you to be warriors, and warriors do not get enough sleep. Warriors do not act like spoiled children! We are but a day and a half's ride from the Halls, feel free to return if you do not want to learn. But I tell you now: if you leave this mission, I will personally ensure that no-one ever teaches you how to wield another weapon. You will never join the army, and you will not be able to defend yourself when Darkness covers our land."
"I apologise," Legolas said when his teacher drew a breath. Glínornmir turned his piercing gaze solely on the young ellon. Legolas gulped. "I want to be a warrior. I want to fight the Dark. If that means I must learn to be pleasant company when I am tired and grumpy I will do my best."
Tathar jumped in while Glínornmir floundered for words, surprised that he had made his point so quickly. "I want to do my part. I want to rid this middle-earth of the filth which has tainted it since before I was born, before my parents were born. I will not take my temper out on you."
Aldanna, never to be outdone, added her two cents. "I promise I will not take my bad mood out on you or any other of my allies. I will lock it away in my mind, and let it fester, and when I am faced with my enemies I will unleash my fury and malcontent on the suckers."
"Language, Aldanna," Glínornmir muttered reflexively, before turning, resigned, to the two siblings, one eyebrow raised.
Brethilríl ducked his head. "I will try," he promised, which was all that the Training Master could ask for.
Brethildíl nudged her horse past Glínornmir's, looking down shyly. "You know I want to be a healer, Master Glínornmir," she murmured. "If I didn't want to be here I would be with the greatest healers in our Realm. I want to hold life and death in my hand. It is missions like these which ensure I hold more life than death in my hands, for you have already taught me to kill with a blade or bow. Now you're teaching me how to save lives outside the healing wing. I will not sabotage my own future to avoid a little lack of sleep. Shall I wait for you in an hour? The trees whisper of Men, so we must be nearing the edge of the forest."
"Damn," Aldanna murmured to Legolas, "I thought I was being all mature and impressive. When did the baby of our group grow up so much?"
"She's not the baby anymore," Legolas murmured back, "I don't think she has been since we went to Laketown all those years ago."
.
Glínornmir didn't have to scold the trainees after that, and they reached the little settlement of Men without any trouble. It was less populous than usual, and though they planned to stay only long enough for the Training Master to ensure the people were well and lacked for nothing. Legolas and Aldanna could tell that there were people missing. Adults were working in various trades around the main street of the village, including a butcher, a blacksmith, and a cobbler.
Tathar joined his beast friends, leaving his horse to graze while Glínornmir chatted with the matronarch of the village. "Something's wrong," he murmured, and Legolas nodded.
"Where are all the children?" Aldanna wondered aloud, for though the village was small, it was large enough that there should have been a dozen children somewhere.
"Psst!" they heard, and two blonde heads whipped around, while Tathar jumped back, cursing, for both Legolas and Aldanna had accidentally whipped his face with their braids.
Brethildíl stood by a window, pointing inside. "I found the children! I've never seen children so young be so quiet!"
Brethilríl joined the conspirators as they glanced in the window, five sets of bright eyes peering over the sill. Legolas thought the scene inside to be utterly surreal.
Twenty children of varying ages sat inside, with one adult standing at the front of the room. The children were silent, each one filling out a piece of parchment while the Elves stared, entranced.
No Elvish child would sit so still and so quietly at such a young age.
Indeed, Aldanna still struggled to sit still and quiet, and could only do so if she were perched in a tree, and even then she would need to be occupied by talking to the tree in question.
The adult walked up and down the rows of children, who scribbled on their pieces of parchment intently. Legolas suddenly realised that they were being examined.
Ducking down, and pulling his friends down by his sides, Legolas explained his theory. "You know how we have to do speeches about history, and write arithmetic, and conversations with our teachers in Quenya, Sindarin, Silvan, hand signals and bird calls?" 'Converstions' was perhaps a strong word, for the hand signals and bird calls – and facial signals, though the group had not yet learnt those – were only a means of short communication within the Silvan military. Legolas and Aldanna had once tried to have a conversation in hand signals, but they had found it difficult to get many meanings across other than information about battle plans and enemies.
"But nobody is talking," Tathar responded. "They all just sit quietly. What could they possibly need to be able to sit so still for? They are villagers! We don't even train like that for hunting or spying."
"I think they are writing the answers," Legolas explained. "The children are all different ages, and they couldn't possibly be doing the same test as each other."
Five heads popped up over the sill again, but this time, Legolas' blue eyes met a pair of startled brown eyes, framed by curls of red hair and a freckled nose. Legolas gasped, and dropped down again, pulling Aldanna and Brethildíl down beside him. Tathar came down a moment later, and then Brethilríl hit the grass with a soft plop.
Aldanna carefully climbed up, and glanced over the sill, but her sharp green eyes widened in shock when she came nose-to-nose with a startled young woman, her wavy red hair flying right into Aldanna's eyes as she jumped back with a shout.
Aldanna squeaked in a very undignified manner, dropping to the grass beside her friends.
"I don't think we should be here," she commented, before the young woman leaned out the window, and asked something quite bluntly in a strong accent.
The Westron words were difficult to understand, but Legolas worked out that the woman had asked what they were doing. He stood up, a short distance from the window, and apologised in Westron. "I am sorry if we startled you, Madam. I am Legolas Greenleaf, a student of Master Glínornmir. We were simply attempting to understand how you were keeping so many young children so quiet and still for so long."
"I am Mistress Daisy," the young woman answered, "I am examining these children on their ability to read and write. Are you an Elf?"
Legolas grinned, and his friends got the courage to stand up. "Yes, we are," Aldanna answered, and a gasp came from inside the classroom.
"Would you like to come in for a while? My students might never have the chance to meet a real-life Elf again," Mistress Daisy asked, and Tathar turned away to check on Glínornmir.
"Master Glínornmir will propbably take a while," he concluded when he did not see the Training Master, "so we have time. We do not wish to interrupt your exam, though, Mistress Daisy."
"Oh, it's finished," the woman answered, pointing towards the front of the building. "The door is over there."
A moment later, Legolas and his friends found themselves inside the classroom, surrounded by a gaggle of highly enthusiastic children. Two boys hung back when the Elves entered, eyes glued to Aldanna and Brethildíl.
Mistress Daisy introduced her class to the Elves. Many of the girls were named after flowers, including Violet, Rose, Daffodil, Daisy herself, Marigold, Lily and Jasmine. Many of the boys were named after animals, including Raven, Cat, Bear and Wolf, though Legolas wondered if those were perhaps actually nicknames.
Legolas Greenleaf became Greenleaf in the children's eyes, and similarly the other Elves' name translations were easier to say than their true names. Aldanna became Treegift, while Tathar got called Willow, and Brethildíl and Brethilríl confused the younger children too much, becoming known as Díl and Ríl, to the siblings' horror.
It soon became an exercise in language, for the children all wanted to talk to the Elves, who got separated into little groups by the excited children, eager to hear stories.
Legolas asked if any of them had heard of Erebor, the Lonely Mountain. His audience were in the middle of the age range, and looked about the same age as Legolas had been on his misadventure to the Dwarven Realm. "Now," he began, hoping that he was telling the story accurately in the foreign tongue, "when I was around your age, my father had to go to a city of Men for some business. He decided that since my friends' parents were going along, and it promised to be a safe trip, that we children could come along. We were riding along, excited to see the world of Men, when all of a sudden something grabbed me around the chest!"
Meanwhile, Aldanna was telling her own story to a group of adolescents, two boys and a girl, who appeared only a little younger than Aldanna herself, though she knew that they were only about a decade and a half old, while she had lived for a significantly longer time, adolescence in Elves being a time which lasted until their 144th birthday. "We were playing hide and seek, long ago, in the basement of the King's Halls. There is a room, in the bottom level, where empty barrels are kept before being sent down the river. We were just the right size to fit inside them, and so Legolas, Tathar and I each climbed in one. Brethildíl placed the lids on top, so that we would be harder to find. We didn't know that on that particular day, the barrels were supposed to be going to Laketown!"
While Legolas and Aldanna told their tales to their disbelieving audiences, Tathar and the siblings had their own students to entertain. Tathar chuckled darkly when he heard Legolas mention the dragon, and groaned when Aldanna spoke about floating down the River Running – neither of those were pleasant memories for Tathar, for his best friend had nearly been eaten in one, and in the other he himself had very nearly drowned. Instead, he told the story of the little elleth, Legolas' sister Lothlomë, who had refused to come down from a tree. He changed the names, though, so it sounded like Aldanna and her father, rather than the princess and the King. "She climbed so high," he said, reaching up as far as he could, "that no grown Elf could have reached her. Her father is no small elf, indeed he is a great warrior, and the tree could not hold his weight with such thin branches. Crack! Suddenly, the Elvish warrior falls out of the tree, and the little girl still sits up in the top, but now she's laughing at her father!"
Brethilríl's audience included the teacher, Mistress Daisy, and the oldest children in the class. He told them all about the heroic actions of a great warrior from long ago, a classic story which he himself had grown up hearing about. "And so the Prince fought on, even though the King lay dead beside him. Glorious Flame was his name, and he went out in a blaze of glory, for he stood against the most terrible foe, defending his grandfather's body to the last. His father, the Crown Prince, fought by his side, but the tide of battle turned against them, and they were separated. Only one Elf survived to tell the tale of the Prince's last battle, for the Dagorlad, the Battle Plain before Mordor, was a place from which few returned. The Prince fought bravely, but at the last, when all hope had faded, his father the Crown Prince broke through the enemy lines, and fought alone against terrible odds to reach his beloved son. But alas! A moment before reinforcements arrived, a great troll cast a long spear, and it embedded itself in the Prince's chest! His father fell to his knees with a cry, for he felt his son's pain as if it were his own, and he, too, would have died if it weren't for his bodyguard, who had seen him safetly through many years of war, who led reinforcements to beat back the enemy and claim the ground they stood upon. That was the day our beloved Crown Prince was changed, for in one swift stroke he had lost his father the King, and his beloved son."
Brethildíl sat amongst a comfortable pile of five to seven year olds. A little freckled redheaded girl child sat in her lap, twisting her braids between her little fingers. A little boy with a shock of black hair sucked on his thumb, looking up at her with big brown eyes, and a delicate little six year old girl with white hair and pale blue eyes knelt excitedly, jumping up and down as Brethildíl spoke, occasionally cheering, "Yay Díl!" and insisting that Brethildíl's full name was Daffodil, just like hers.
Glínornmir and a Man suddenly appeared at the door of the schoolhouse, scowling, but Legolas could see that they were both trying not to laugh. Legolas continued to tell his tale, saying, "and then my father took his sword and threatened the dragon, and with a ping! he knocked a scale clean off the worm's chest!"
Glínornmir sat down with Brethilríl, noticing that the ellon's story had finished while the others were still telling tales. He wasn't really all that surprised, for ten years earlier, when he'd taken Rílglín and Tauriel and Lassiel through this town on a training mission, the three trainees had likewise discovered the little schoolhouse. He was glad to see that even under Mistress Daisy's supervision, Cûluial's involvement in the little school had not been lost, for the seneschal had indeed ensured that the local villages of Men had the means to educate their youth.
The Training Master told a tale of young Elves who had gone on their very first trip outside the forest, where they had been beset by orcs. Glínornmir told how the youths had driven the orcs back, trapping them between a cliff, a river, and the warriors, using their knowledge of orcs' hatred of deep water to their advantage. "Every single orc died, and every Elf survived," Glínornmir explained, "because they did not forget their lessons."
.
That night they rested in the village, before heading off on their mission the next morning.
Finally they arrived at ther destination, where two Elves were indeed being held captive, tied at the ankle and wrist.
Hîmdol and Bragolmel were advisors to King Thranduil, and Legolas did not dare to imagine what they'd been bribed with to cooperate in this training mission. It must have been substantial, for the advisors were putting on a wonderful act.
Four trainees, younger than Legolas and his friends, sat and chatted around a campfire. Gilloth and Melloth, the twins, chattered with Lothlomë and Lauruial happily, occasionally telling their captives to shut up and stop moaning. Galenmír dropped from a tree as Legolas observed, strode over to his captives, and gloated that reinforcements would come within two days, at which time the advisors would have to spill all their secrets, or risk the wrath of the High Commander, for Thaliondíl was on his way, and he could make even an orc talk.
Aldanna and Brethildíl climbed a tree on either side on the clearing, far enough away that they would not be noticed, and the trees did not tell the other Elves of their presence, for they had asked kindly, and explained that this was not what it seemed, but rather a competition-like training exercise.
Legolas and Tathar, meanwhile, got as close as they could to the camp, observing patterns in behaviour so that they could judge the best time for a rescue attempt.
Glínornmir stayed out of it, setting himself up a little camp which they could use as a base, and which would serve as the marker for whether their rescue was successful or not – for the exercise would only de declared over if they got the captives out of the enemy camp and into their own, unless Thaliondíl arrived with reinforcements first.
Brethilríl chose a spot a little away from the camp, from which he could pick off defenders, as part of a plan they had come up with on the road.
Legolas was silently amused when the 'enemies' noticed that Encalion had gone missing. He guessed that Encalion had been caught unawares, and was out of the exercise, having been 'killed' by Brethilríl.
Lauruial took her turn scouting, and she, also, did not return. After two hours, Legolas returned to base, finding Encalion and Lauruial in sour moods, while Brethilríl gloated and Glínornmir smirked.
Kalhîth, the warrior training the younger group of recruits, had likewise withdrawn from the action once the prisoners were tied up and the exercise begun. He sat beside Glínornmir, his hugely muscular form dwarfing the usually imposing Training Master as he chuckled at his sullen trainees.
Legolas, both Brethils, Aldanna and Tathar reconvened to discuss their plans, and decided that they would see how many they could pick off before actually attempting a rescue. By sunset, they had Lothlomë out of the game, but Galenmír, the youngest of the bunch, had caught on, and had snuck up on Brethilríl while he was ambushing Lothlomë.
So at nightfall, Legolas, Aldanna, Tathar and Brethildíl were pitted against Gilloth, Melloth, and Galenmir.
Brethildíl was tagged out when she was on duty observing, for Gilloth snuck up behind her while she was engrossed in listening to Melloth and Galenmír plotting a new plan of defense.
Legolas, Tathar and Aldanna all approached the camp at the same time that night, when all were asleep except for Melloth, on watch. Legolas snuck up behind his neice, and mimed stabbing her in the back, though he held no weapon at the time. She glared at him, before retiring, following Legolas' smug directions to the base camp where she could rest.
Now with nothing standing in the way, Legolas, Aldanna and Tathar entered the camp, Tathar going straight to the two remaining competitors and waking them with the whispered word, "dead," while Aldanna and Legolas freed the advisors, before leading the whole troop back to base. Tathar put out the fire before rejoining the other elves.
Glínornmir and Kalhîth weren't so impressed with the outcome as Legolas had hoped. "You achieved the goal of freeing the prisoners," Glínornmir explained, "but to save two advisors you lost two warriors. Who is more valuable to the war effort?"
Legolas had no answer, and neither did his friends. A short distance away, he could hear his sister and her agemates being berated for poor vigilance.
"You were trying to save the prisoners because you didn't want their knowledge of your army's tactics to reach the enemy. To save this information you lost two of your special forces warriors. Was this a successful mission?"
"No?" Aldanna guessed. "But we could not have known that we would lose two warriors. With the information available at the time, we made a decision to go ahead with the rescue."
"You killed all your enemies one by one, even when you were no longer outnumbered. Was this a sound military decision?" the Training Master asked, and Legolas gulped.
Oh, he realised. "We should have attacked them openly once we had equal numbers. We would not have risked our warriors being caught alone."
"Could," Glínornmir corrected. "You may have still lost warriors, but you would have been able to protect each other. Congratulations for the win. Legolas, Aldanna, Tathar, your reward is two laps of the training field on the first morning of training when we return to the Halls."
Legolas frowned, and Aldanna asked, "Two laps? Master, are you sure?"
"Everyone else," here he raised his voice so that the younger trainees could hear, "gets to run six laps as a punishment. In addition to your normal training!" he added.
"No!" someone protested, while others groaned. None of the ellyth confessed to having complained verbally, but Legolas was pretty sure his sister was the culprit.