Dan and Ro's Cooking Lessons
Summary: A story in which the twins Elladan and Elrohir hurt their little brother without realizing it. Estel is left terrified of them and Elrond, Glorfindel and Erestor are up to the task to fix it without leaving permanent damage on the house of Eärendil. Can they win the future heir of Gondor's trust back? Fluff story about apologizing, forgiveness and family moments.
Disclaimer: The genius J.R.R Tolkien owns Middle-Earth and everyone in the story. The writer does not gain any profit; She only writes it for entertainment proposes.
Rating: K+ since Elladan used the word 'cursed' in sentence one.
"'Ro! How do you tie those cursed kitchen aprons?" Elladan asked his younger twin brother.
"Oh! Elladan just said one of the words on the list!" Little Estel pointed out to Glorfindel, who was assigned to keep an eye on the three terrors of his lord. He merely rolled his eyes in a very unlikely elven manner. Elrond, you own me a lot mellon nin. The legendary elven lord thought to himself with a rather satisfied smile.
Estel looked with a horrified expression to the balrog slayer. Slowly the child turned back to his older brothers. The two were still caught up with the kitchen aprons, who were transfixed around the twins.
"'Dan, 'Ro?" He asked with a trembling voice. The brothers paused their movements. Several moments later Elladan's head appeared from underneath the aprons. "Yes, muindor?" He asked while observing his foster brother from head to toes. "Is something amiss?" Estel nodded.
"'Dan, Glorfindel is being scary!" The boy blurted out. The elf in question raised raised an eyebrow by the statement. He? Scary? He would have a talk with Elrond about meanings of certain words. He certainly wasn't scary!
The boy looked uncertainly from the mighty balrog slayer to his older brother. After his heroic confession Elladan had became red while he should preach Glorfindel! Elrohir hadn't been in a much better state than his twin. Even though Estel couldn't see him, he had heard the unmistakable stifled giggle coming from underneath the aprons.
"'Ro?" He asked uncertainly. Elrohir took a deep breath and thought of their father if he ever found out, but couldn't help but laugh harder. His twin brother meanwhile tried to make the situation a bit less uncomfortable for the confused child, but failed miserable. Estel became with the second paler and after another period of waiting, he ran as fast his legs could out the room. "Ada!" The boy screamed while making his way over to the dinning room.
Between laughing, Elladan called out to his brother.
"'Ro?" The said elf stuck his head out from the aprons. "Yes?" He asked. "Adar will have our heads!" Elladan said with laughter in his voice. Elrohir nodded his head at that statement.
"We're in for some trouble, aren't we?" He didn't even need a conformation for that. He and his twin knew without doubt that Lord Elrond would be furious. After all, their little brother was on his way to him looking he saw a ghost. Which they had caused.
If they thought it had been anything serious, the brothers would've went already after him. Even though they grew fond of scaring their muindor, they loved him dearly. They knew that Estel would forgive them as every time. They couldn't wish for a better brother.
Glorfindel, who was still present, shook his head. The mischief in their eyes would only bring the Last Homely House more trouble than it could bear.
Elrond had been in a conversation with Mithrandir when his youngest son came flying towards him. "Ada!" The boy had screamed several times. Elrond had not waited a second with picking up the terrified child. He had clung on his robes for dear life. What happened? Thousands possibilities crossed the mind of the lord. Orcs who had found a way through the safe heaven of Imladris? Dying warriors who had passed the boy on their way to the healing ward? A training exercise went wrong? The serenity the lord had controlled some time ago was gone.
While the lord of Imladris tried to comfort the boy, Mithrandir had taken the task upon himself to check the boy for possible wounds. With hidden gladness that the boy was safe, he took a step back. As far as he could see, Estel hadn't been injured. This left the Istari to conclude it only had been a scare. With one glance to the alerted father the wizard shared his findings. Lord Elrond immediately understood and was relieved. Now the only problem left was to find what scared his tithen pen so much.
"Estel?" He tried. The boy refused to meet his father's worried gaze. This action only made the elven lord more curious and worried to what happened. He glanced once again to Mithrandir to find a possible suggestion in the face of his friend. He merely shook his head in response, with the unsaid words It is your son, you know him better than I do. Elrond nodded in response and continued to hover over Estel.
Some time later Elrond walked hand in hand with Estel towards the kitchen. After being kindly pointed out by one of the servants that they had last seen him with his brothers in the kitchen for cooking lessons, he decided after consultation with Gandalf that they should begin there. In the back of his mind, it had crossed his mind that his twin sons could've caused the whole disaster with their younger brother. But as the trusting, loving father he was he pushed the idea away. Why would he even suspect them? The two loved their brother with their whole heart! He shouldn't blame them for everything that goes wrong.
The two of them entered the kitchen, coming face to face with the two muscled brothers. Flour had covered the floor and both of his sons. What had happened here? Elrond took a look at his messy sons before stealing a quick glance at his foster son. It was easy to see that not one bit of flour had come upon the boy, which meant that the other two had caused the disaster.
"Elladan and Elrohir, care to explain what happened here?" The lord asked. Two heads shot up as fast as thunder. The twins were so busy debating with each other in their minds that they had missed the entrance of their father and brother. "Yes, ada?" The youngest of the two asked innocently. The two of them had been up to something, Elrond thought to himself.
"I asked if you could explain what happened here." He repeated dryly. He hadn't missed the look his sons had shared. "Oh, about that..." Elrohir trailed off. Elrond crooked his head in the meaning of 'if you dare to attempt to get away' to his sons. The two of them understood the message and began to move uncomfortable.
"I am still waiting, Elrohir and Elladan Elrondion." Father was definitely upset with them, the twins thought. Together they thought of possible excuses they could use, but none seemed appropriate for the situation they were in. Besides, they were distracted by the presence by their little brother. Estel stood awkward besides their father eating small bites of a dry biscuit while staring at the floor. Was he not glad to see them? Most of the time Estel would bounce up and down or watch the two with awe in his eyes. Had they been too hard on him? With every second passing the twins frowned more and became more concerned about their beloved brother. It became painfully aware that it was indeed them who had caused this.
"Estel?" Elrohir asked with open concern in his voice. "Is there anything you would like to tell me or 'Dan?" He crouched before the little boy. His heart broke in pieces when Estel refused to meet his gaze and stepped back, looking with an afraid look in his eyes to his father. Elrond, meanwhile, still tried to put everything together. All he had was one disaster in his kitchen, one scared child and two ashamed sons. How was he able to cope with this alone? Oh, Celebrían. How he missed her!
Before Elrond could fell in a state of grieve, Estel roll himself up and the twins cry out of guilt, one golden haired lord entered the kitchen. He took one glance at the situation before walking back and screaming loud enough for everyone to hear "They did it again!" towards an irritated advisor. The other elf only sighed before walking away.
"Erestor! Come back! Don't leave me alone! I apologize, mellon nin. But do not, I repeat, do not leave me alone! They are more terrifying than that balrog!" He screamed after the retreating figure. When the elf wouldn't budge, cries of despair were heard. Glorfindel definitely had a bad day.
Unlike any other day, Glorfindel and Erestor's way of communicating had helped the peredhel family. Each of the four members in the kitchen became aware of their surroundings once again. Elrond met the guilty faces of his oldest sons and Estel slowly glanced up. It had been enough for today. Time to say apologizes and forgive. After that, they could close this miserable day for all of them and retreat to the much more comfortable family room.
A few days later, three figures were happily cooking in the kitchen of Imladris. Two exactly dark haired elves and one small, bright edain child. In the hallway connected to the kitchen two other elves stood in the shadow watching them interact together. One of them being the wise Lord Elrond and the other his always faithfully minstrel Lindir. The two enjoyed the moment of peace and laughter in the Last Homely House, for neither of them knew what the future would bring. All what they cared about was what happened now, for this was one of the family moments to memorize. Although Lindir did not belong to the house of Eärendil, he was close to the family. Together with Glorfindel and Erestor the three of them would look out for the family. With one last shared smile, the minstrel left his lord to enjoy the moment.
Translations
Estel: Elvish for Hope.
Mellon nin: My friend
Muindor: Brother
Ada: Father
Mithrandir: Elvish name for Gandalf.
Imladris: Elvish name for Rivendell.
Istari: Elvish name for wizard.
Tithen pen: Little one.
Edain: Elvish for man.
Information
Warning: Not very extensive
Glorindel and the balrog: To keep it simple, in Gondolin Glorfindel fought a balrog. He killed the balrog but was grabbed by his golden hair and perished in the fall. He was re-embodied after only a short time. Since I do not wish to put all the information about Glorfindel, I keep it short. Glorfindel's mission was to aid Gil-galad and Elrond against Sauron. Gil-galad was killed by Sauron, which left Elrond. That's why the balrog was mentioned and as a bonus why Glorfindel was in the house of Elrond.
On behalf of talking in their minds of the twins: I've read many stories here on the website and always enjoyed the ones in which Elladan and Elrohir could communicate through the minds. They are after all twins, it seemed very fitting. That's the only reason why as far as I know.