Coauthored by us! Lol! The Two Crazy Peoples!
AN: As you all have probably figured out, this is a co-authored story. (I desperately hope you have all figured it out…:-) Credit goes to Alenor Peredhel, my excellentco-author, for the main story plot! We hope you enjoy the first chappy of The Plottings of Lord Elrond, what we are hoping will be a successful fic. Don't forget to drop us a review… and we do accept anonymous reviews… My goodness, I think I'm repeating myself too much. In that case, I would like to point out that neither Alenor, nor myself, own in any way the characters of LotR. And now, on with the fic!
Elrond, Elven Lord of Imladris, keeper of the great ring Vilya, and he who marched with Gil-Gilad and Elendil...Was currently hiding underneath his large, oaken desk. His companion, a rough, surly sort of fellow, looked on in amazement as Elrond jabbed his finger at various points on a large detailed map with obvious glee. "There! It would be a straight path through to Mirkwood if you tunneled there!"
A shake of the head followed these words. "No Lord Elrond, it'd be too dangerous to go through there. The rock is all wrong! One slight slip of the hammer or pick, and the whole of the Misty Mountains would come tumbling down on our heads! We cannot go straight through!" Elrond's companion shifted and winced as he felt his knees crack and his head bumped the underside of the desk. "Lord Elrond? Can we not conduct our business over a desk like normal folk?"
A thoughtful pause, then Elrond nodded and crawled out from under the richly polished desk. His companion followed, back creaking and feeling much relieved. The Lord of Imladris was beginning to worry him. In all his dealings with Lord Elrond, the elven-lord had been calm and regal. The visitor had never thought that one day he would be crouched under a desk with Elrond, talking in heated whispers. The visitor began to wonder about the elven-lord's sanity.
"Well why not bring down the Misty Mountains? Who needs them anyway? We can plant a giant forest where they used to be!" Elrond suggested, his eyebrows drawn down as if he were seriously considering the question.
"Lord…Lord Elrond!" the Dwarf stuttered, trying to edge to the doorway without being too obvious. "You cannot…."
"Mmmmm…Fine then! How about here? How about if… we travel north, and then begin tunneling through the mountains at an angle?'
The visitor rubbed his eyes and temples, feeling a rather large headache coming on. "I suppose so, although the tunnel would take almost twice as long to complete. If you are so determined to deliver the 'package' to Mirkwood on time, I believe it would be better if we instead went ten leagues to the south and then tunneled straight through. I believe it would cut the entire transition time by about two weeks."
Elrond smiled and nodded. "Then it shall be so! You must start work at once!"
The visitor slowly began to draw the map toward him, keeping a wary eye on the happy elven-lord. He was not sure if he liked this new version of Elrond. It gave him the crawling creeps.
The door burst open then, swinging on its hinges to slam into the wall behind it with a resounding bang. A handsome, dark-haired Elf with laughing grey eyes rushed into the room, followed by a thoroughly unrecognizable creature. As if giving up the chase, the unrecognizable one collapsed into one of the chairs. Both unfortunates did not even notice the visitor, full attention fixed on the no-longer-smiling elf-lord, who was glaring at a dinner-plate-sized splat of mud on his precious map. There was positively steam coming out of his ears.
"Ada, I have had it! That brother of mine has taken it too far! I honestly feel that—" The unrecognizable creature, now identified as on of the twin sons of Elrond broke off, finally having noticed the visitor. His eyes grew big "Ada, what is—"
"Elrohir, Elladan this is Frugar, son of Dugar Solidhammer. He is our guest, and I am sure he would like to be treated as such."
Elrohir rose and clasped hands with the dwarf, but before he could apologize, Elladan shoved him aside and tried to make amends of the abrupt entry, with a simple "If I had known you were here, I would never have barged in. However my brother is currently acting like a murdering maniac and this is the first place that I thought was safe."
Frugar stared at the mud-covered son of Elrond in some amazement, quite convinced that Elrond's family had gone insane. "Do not worry, milord, I have taken no offense." The dwarf then sat down and proceeded, with great amusement, to listen to Elrohir's latest complaint against Elladan's trouble making.
"—And then I tripped over a bit of rope and went into the mud! All the while, you understand, being chased by the bees! And he had the nerve to watch the whole thing from a tree, laughing his head off… You do realize Ada, that he took the precaution of inviting every elleth in Rivendell to watch?"
Elladan said nothing, but hopped on the desk and grinned rather proudly. "Thank you for the bee idea by the way. It could never have turned out as great if it hadn't been for you, dear brother."
Holding out a hand to stop Elrohir's abrupt rise, Elrond rubbed his temples. "Elrohir, I am rather busy at the moment. I will devise a punishment for your brother later, which will probably be cleaning every speck of dirt off of this precious map…." Elladan groaned. "… However, if you have taken any means to avenge yourself Elrohir, I promise you that you will be joining him. And now I must be getting back to Frugar, if I may?"
The elven-lord's son stood up with a muddy squelch, leaving behind a rather large stain on the chair. Elladan snickered as he hopped off the desk. "Yes, Ada," they replied simultaneously.
"Do you mind me asking why you need a dwarf, and what you might be planning?" Elrohir, attempted to redeem himself, and bowed hastily to the now-thoroughly-amused Frugar, producing another squelch. "I mean no offense to you or your kind master dwarf. I am simply curious…" The dwarf, for the second time in five minutes, found himself assuring a son of Lord Elrond that no offense had been taken. Both turned to Elrond then, Elrohir curious under all the mud, and Frugar, wondering just how this was all going to turn out. Rolling his eyes, deciding he had accomplished everything he could, Elladan left.
Elrond had gotten a dreamy, mischievous twinkle in his eyes, reminding Elrohir quite a lot of himself or his brother when thinking up something positively sneaky. He suddenly had the desire to run after Elladan and forgive his twin for the humiliation. The elven-lord smiled. "Tis nothing, Elrohir. You will find out in due time."
Elrohir nodded slightly relieved and left, bowing once more to the dwarf as he left. He intended to go and sit in a long bath, and then spend the rest of the day plotting against his brother after all he couldn't allow Elladan to have the upper hand for very long, it would ruin his reputation.
Frugar turned to Lord Elrond after the young elf had left. "If I may, Lord Elrond… Why not tell your sons of your plans?"
"I will," the elven lord quickly assured the dwarf. "All in good time. However, I am not yet ready to divulge any information as yet at this point in time. I would like this birthday surprise to go off with as few people knowing about it as possible." Elrond's eyes became distant once more. "All in all, this will be the most memorable birthday present Thranduil has ever gotten!"
End of Chapter 1