This story is in honor of Mearas, who has recently graduated (from high school, I think—right, Mearas?).
I am visiting my parents in New Jersey and very briefly have Wi-Fi access (unexpected hotspot--one of the neighbors must have wireless and who knows when s/he will turn off the computer), and so I am just going to quickly upload this without benefit of a beta reading. My apologies for any errors.
Graduation
Elrohir, Elladan, and Anomen were never known for solemnity at the breakfast table, but today they were more than usually wriggly. In fact, they were so excited that even the almost-invariably graceful Anomen knocked over Glorfindel's goblet as he reached for a piece of bread.
"Hmmph," snorted the balrog-slayer as he mopped at the spilled wine. "Do you know, Elrond, I may have to reconsider my decision to advance these elflings to the next cohort. Perhaps they ought to mature a little more before they are granted that honor."
The three elflings looked appealingly at Elrond, but that elf-lord ignored them. He almost always deferred to Glorfindel in matters of weapons-training. They looked back hopefully at the weapon's master, but his face was grim. When breakfast came to an end, the elflings slunk forlornly away from the table into the garden. There they cast themselves down upon the grass.
"It's all your fault, Anomen," whined Elrohir. "If you hadn't knocked over Glorfindel's goblet, he wouldn't have said anything."
"You knocked over a basket of plums," retorted Anomen. "And they rolled into his lap. And Elladan dropped a piece of bread butter-side down, and Glorfindel put his arm down upon the spot and came away with his sleeve greased."
Elrohir reached out and tried to poke Anomen in his side, but the younger Elf rolled away from him and into Elladan, who promptly began to tickle him. Anomen tickled him back, and Elrohir, unable to resist, jumped into the mock skirmish. In the midst of the merriment, Glorfindel came into the garden. "Hmmph!" the balrog-slayer snorted at the sight of the elflings tumbling and howling upon the lawn. "Hmmph!" He marched away, and the elflings sobered instantly.
"Ai!" wailed Elladan. "Now we will never graduate to the next cohort! For the rest of our immortal lives, we will be peeling potatoes."
Little Arwen came into the garden just then.
"Ada says you are to mind me," she announced cheerfully.
"Mind you?" said Elrohir gloomily. "Oh, we mind you alright!"
"Good," prattled Arwen cheerfully, oblivious to their ill-humor. "I want to walk by the river, and I am not allowed to go by myself. There are so many lovely pebbles by the river! I have a c'llection.
The older elflings were well acquainted with Arwen's 'c'llection'. The little elleth took endless pleasure in sorting through the rocks worn smooth by the waters of the Bruinen.
"Grandnana says someday I am to have an elfstone," she would say as she sorted them by shape or color or texture or some unfathomable combination of all three qualities. 'Perhaps I shall find the elfstone in the waters hereabouts."
"What nonsense she babbles," Elrohir would mutter to the others. "An elfstone tossed up upon the banks of the Bruinen. Very likely—hah!"
Now the three older elflings trailed reluctantly after Arwen. When they reached the banks of the Bruinen, they settled themselves upon driftwood tossed up by the river and watched Arwen as she rambled up and down, gathering pebbles into piles, sorting and discarding, rearranging all the while. After awhile Elrohir sighed and walked to the water's edge. He searched about until he had a handful of flat stones, and then he commenced skipping them across the surface of the water. He was soon joined by Elladan and Anomen, and the three ellyn were laughing once again. Suddenly, though, Anomen paused.
"Something is wrong," he said.
The three stood stock still, listening.
"I don't hear anything," said Elrohir after a bit.
"No, but can't you feel something?" Anomen replied.
Elrohir and Elladan concentrated hard.
"Yes!" said Elladan. "The ground trembles slightly."
"I feel it, too!" exclaimed Elrohir.
"We must get away from the river," cried Anomen.
This was true. It was well-known that if the ground shook, one should retreat as far from water as possible."
"Arwen!" cried all three at once. They began to sprint upstream, to where Arwen sat upon a spit of land.
"Arwen! Come away from the river!" shouted Anomen. Arwen looked up and smiled. As she did, behind her a surge of water rounded a bend in the river. No doubt a beaver-dam upstream had broken, and now the pent-up water was descending upon the little elleth. As her brothers frantically raced toward her, the water reached her and washed her off the spit. Elrohir made as if to dive in after her, but Anomen seized him and held him back.
"No, Elrohir!"
"Let me go, Anomen! Let me go! I want to save Arwen!"
"So do I, but you won't be able to if you are washed away yourself!"
"Let us run for help!" exclaimed Elladan.
"No time!" Anomen replied. "We shall have to rescue her ourselves, but cleverly. Come!"
The three ran downstream, keeping their eyes upon the little head bobbing in the flood. Fortunately, Arwen had seized upon a log and clung to it with all her might. Also fortunately, the log at length snagged upon a large tree that had fallen and become wedged amongst rocks. But the tree was in the center of the channel. If it had been warm, Elladan's suggestion—that they should run for help—would have been a good one, but the water was quite cold, and even from the bank where they stood, the older elflings could see that the little elleth was shivering violently as she clung now to the tree. Moreover, she was quite unable to climb up the slick sides of the trunk to remove herself from the water.
Anomen looked about.
"Grapevine," he exclaimed. "We must use grapevine as a rope. Look upstream at those boulders. We could leap from rock to rock until we are in the center of the channel upstream from Arwen. Two of us could hold one end of a rope of grapevine whilst lowering the third toward Arwen. Once he has reached her, the two of them could be drawn to safety."
"It could work!" Elladan cried. "Quick. Let us find the sturdiest grapevines we can and knot them together."
The three ran into a nearby stand of trees and quickly seized upon the stoutest vines they could find. Swiftly they knotted them together. With the 'rope' coiled and slung over Elrohir's shoulder, they made their way boulder by boulder into the center of the channel. Elrohir began to tie the rope around his waist.
"No," Anomen objected. "I am the lightest. It would be easier for you and Elladan to draw Arwen and me upstream than it would be for Elladan and me to pull you and Arwen to safety."
"You are right," said Elrohir instantly. Where the safety of his sister was concerned, he was unselfish to the very depth of his being. He swiftly unwound the rope from his waist and knotted it around Anomen's before clapping the younger elfling on the back.
"Stay well, brother," he said soberly.
Anomen merely nodded and lowered himself into the water, gasping at its cold, so extreme that even a grown Elf would not have been immune to its effect. Elrohir and Elladan paid out the rope and Anomen aimed as best he could for the tree. Fetching up against one end, he inched his way toward the other end, where Arwen clung. When he reached her, he gripped her tightly around the waist with one arm and then signaled to Elladan and Elrohir with the other. Then he gripped her with that arm, too.
Upstream, Elladan and Elrohir began to pull in the rope.
"Harder," gasped Elladan. "The water is very powerful!"
Elrohir nodded slightly, grateful that he had taken Anomen's advice. Slowly the twins began to make headway against the strength of the current. Anomen and Arwen drew nearer and nearer. Suddenly Elrohir cried out.
"The rope is fraying! Pull harder!"
The two thought that they were already pulling with all their might, but from somewhere within they summoned up another measure of strength. Anomen and Arwen found themselves moving swiftly through the water, and before another few minutes, Elladan and Elrohir were reaching down and pulling them up onto the boulder. They only remained there a few minutes, however.
"She is dreadfully cold," exclaimed Elladan. "We must bring her swiftly to the Hall."
They made their way back across the boulders to the shore, repeatedly handing off Arwen one to the other. Once they reached the bank, Elrohir and Elladan stripped off their tunics and bundled her into them. Then Elrohir, as the largest of the three, took charge of carrying Arwen as they ran for the Hall.
Once at the Hall, they made straight for Elrond's chamber and barged through the door without waiting to be bidden. A surprised Elrond and Glorfindel leaped to their feet in alarm.
"What has happened?" exclaimed Elrond as he took Arwen into his arms.
"The water carried her away," explained Elrohir.
"Carried her away?" cried Elrond. "But you were supposed to be minding her!" Without a backward glance, he hastened from the room to carry Arwen to a bathing chamber, so that she might be placed in a tub of warm water. Glorfindel gave Anomen and the twins a hard look and then followed after to see if he could be of service.
"Ai!" Elladan moaned, "now we will in fact be lucky if we are allowed to peel potatoes for the rest of our lives. More likely we will be plucking chickens."
Anomen and Elrohir nodded in mournful agreement. Silently the three elflings retreated to the chamber they shared. They had no appetite for supper that night and straightaway climbed into bed.
The next morning they awoke with the sun, but they did not arise from their couches.
"There is no reason to leave our beds," said Elladan sadly. "We will never again be trusted with anything other than skivvy duty."
He pulled his blanket over his head. Just then a knocking was heard upon the door.
"That is probably a servant come to summon us to the kitchen," Elrohir sighed before calling 'Enter'. The door opened, and in stepped Elrond.
"Still abed?" he said in surprise. "You are going to be late."
"I suppose," said Anomen, "that the skivvies must arise even before dawn, else the Cook would never have breakfast ready on time."
"True," agreed Elrond, smiling now. "But I do not summon you on behalf of the Cook. No, it is Glorfindel who wishes your presence."
"Are we to fletch arrows?" asked Elrohir. "Or does he want us to polish shields."
"He has something quite different in mind," laughed Elrond. "You shall see."
Marveling at their father's good-humor, the elflings arose and pulled on their leggings and tunics. Then they headed for the archery field, where their father had told them Glorfindel awaited them. When they arrived, they saw that their father was there, too, as well as Erestor and Arwen and all the other members of the household.
"Are we to be chastised before all these folk?" worried Elladan.
They halted before Glorfindel, staring at him with frightened eyes. He turned to the assembled Elves.
"As you know," he intoned, "from time to time elflings advance from one cohort to the next. It was thus very nearly time for these elflings to move on to the next training level. In fact, I had in mind that they should so advance at the changing of the moon. However, I have reason to alter those plans."
Miserably, the elflings hung their heads.
"Yesterday," continued Glorfindel, "the daughter of Lord Elrond was swept away by the swift and icy waters of the Bruinen."
The elflings cringed.
"Arwen has now been able to give a thorough account of this event to Lord Elrond and myself," Glorfindel went on. "It is plain that, regrettable as it may have been, the accident was also unavoidable. It occurred through no lack of vigilance on the part of these elflings."
Surprised at the latter statement, the elflings lifted their heads and gazed at Glorfindel.
"Moreover," the balrog-slayer declaimed, "it is clear from Arwen's tale that these elflings behaved with both courage and great presence of mind in effecting a rescue. Had they not, we might today be assembled to mark Arwen's passing rather than to celebrate the merit of these young Elves."
Now the three elflings were gaping, not very elegant behavior but understandable under the circumstances.
"Therefore," concluded Glorfindel, "I have decided that, in recognition of their worthiness, they shall be admitted at once into the next cohort."
As the assembled Elves cheered, Glorfindel gestured for each elfling to step forward and one by one presented them with new, larger bows. Anomen's seemed a little large for him, but Glorfindel said softly to him, "Fear not, Anomen. You will grow into it." Anomen bowed gratefully and stepped back to stand beside Elladan and Elrohir.
When all three elflings had their bows, Glorfindel gestured to the onlookers, who now bowed before the young Elves. Then Elrond stepped forward.
"In honor of this event," he announced, "let us retire to the Dining Hall for a great feast.
The three elflings were so overjoyed that it is certainly to their credit that they did not skip back to the Hall. However, mindful of their new status, they were careful to walk with great grace and gravity, broken only occasionally by the exchange of surreptitious grins. And, Reader, throughout the entire feast, only one goblet was knocked over—and, amazingly, it was Glorfindel himself who was responsible. Although it must be said in Glorfindel's defense that his goblet was not in its usual place when his elbow connected with it. As Elladan earnestly encouraged the balrog-slayer to recount one adventure after another, Elrohir by degrees moved his cup until it stood perilously close to his person. And so, Reader, fear not: although our elflings have graduated, they will still make shift to enliven their world—and ours.