Title: Wrong
Author: Susana
Series: Desperate Hours
Disclaimer: All recognizable elements are Tolkien's
Summary: Elladan and Elrohir have something to tell their younger foster-brother the King.
A/N: Sometime after Year 6 of the Fourth Age
Quote:
"Everything in this book may be wrong." - Richard Bach
Title:
"This tome compiles the sum knowledge of the healing arts and sciences I possess, gathered over nearly 3,000 years of life. It is my gift to you, young healer. That you may have the answers I desired when I was your age. That being said, please remember that anything and everything in this book could someday be proven wrong. Perhaps by you...but do your testing carefully. Remember, every life matters."
Aragorn looked up from reading the dedication to Elladan's magnum opus, 'Healing Herbs of Gondor and Arnor, and their Uses,' confused. "You put that everything might be wrong, on the frontispage of your text?"
Elladan nodded proudly, "Of course I did. I didn't want anyone to become frustrated, or get in trouble for trying to learn, as I did once as a young healer."
Elrohir gave his twin a tolerant look, "You were an elfling, then, not a healer yet, or even an apprentice healer. I know that because I was an elfling, then, too. And Ada and Erestor only made you recopy half the library for it because you took your quill and corrected those ancient and valuable texts. Besides, out of the hundreds of "corrections" you made, only a handful were actually corrections. The other parts were right - they just reflected things you hadn't learned, yet."
Elladan's eyes gleamed with amusement in a way that suggested Elrohir was probably right, but that didn't discourage the younger twin at all, "Well, yes, perhaps." Elladan recognized quickly, before continuing, "However, "Healing Herbs," is a book meant to teach folk how to heal. That's an important thing, and I would never treat anything important without the knowledge that I might be wrong. Acting like you know everything can get you in a lot of trouble, and its really annoying to others, besides. Just think of our Daeredhryn, or Ada sometimes, or Glor in a mood."
"I am right here, Elladan." Captain the Lord Glorfindel pointed out with some asperity.
Elladan offered him a sunny smile. "So you are, Glor. Note I only said you, when you're in a mood. Most of the time you're much less stuffy than Ada or Erestor. Even though they're much younger."
Glorfindel rolled his eyes. "Sometimes I think your father didn't spank you enough, growing up, elfling, as impertinent as you still are." He teased Elladan good-humoredly, before commenting, "And I would like to think that having been reborn gives me a slight amount of insight, in respect to looking at the world with fresh eyes."
Elladan's face shone with interest, and Elrhoir looked intrigued as well. Aragorn suppressed a smile, realizing that the twins had engineered this entire conversational gambit, by coming into his office to show him Elladan's completed manuscript, all for the purpose of trying to get Glorfindel to talk about being reborn. Which he was never willing to do.
Glorfindel didn't wait for the twins to even ask, "No, Elrondionnath." He denied them sternly, "I have not changed my mind about not being able to tell you what being reborn is like, just because your father has sailed and my rule-minded inyo is not here. It is a rule; not something I made up to discourage their insatiable intellectual interest."
"Well," Elrohir remarked, equally good natured, "It was worth a try."
Aragorn frowned, amused but also annoyed. "Do the two of you ever get tired of using me as a prop to carry out your twisty plans?"
Elladan laughed, "Oh, no, muindor-laes. That's the lot of a youngest child- and you're a terrific sport about it."
"Much better than Arwen." Elrohir agreed, "I'm glad you married her, much as I hated the idea at first. You seem to have mellowed her."
With that, the twins went off to boggle someone else's mind, and Aragorn turned back to Glorfindel with a smile. "Where were we?"
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