Disclaimer: Do you think I own Lord of the Rings? If you are not a Lawyer and you answered yes to that question, keep on believing. If you are a lawyer and you believed that…don't inform Christopher Tolkien of how much you like/loathe his fanfic….
Orcs and Orcish Things
"Rúmil!"
Rúmil stopped, but not mostly of his own volition. He nearly tumbled forward as someone grabbed his tunic from behind and pulled him backwards as if he were about to collide with a Balrog. His tunic was released and he was spun around forcefully only to find a horrified and anxious elleth the cause of his discomfort.
"Lady?" Rúmil was all but certain he'd never met the elleth before in all his years, but she was rather pretty, albeit about an inch or so too short for his tastes. Auburn hair, fairly long, willowy, she had particularly long fingers, and a pair of the muddled grey-green eyes. She wasn't the Lady of Light, but she wasn't an orc. He'd never turned down such a fervent woman before; he had no intention of starting now!
"You must help me, quickly,' she whispered in a clipped tone and Rúmil grinned roguishly.
"Anything you require," Rúmil said as he bowed but she ignored him.
"Where is your brother's talan?" She took him by the shoulders as he bowed, stared him dead in the eyes, and shook him slightly as she nearly shouted her question—her whole form screamed urgency. Needless to say, Rúmil was hopelessly confused and somewhat astounded by her straightforwardness.
"Why—?"
"Where!" She shook him again and he furrowed his brow.
"Which one?" Rúmil was slightly vexed now, as it seemed he was not going to be having a particularly…satisfying day.
"He has more than one brother!?" She paled but shook off her astonishment. "Haldir! Haldir!"
"Haldir?" Rúmil instantly recoiled from her and stared down at her incredulously. "You wish to do what, precisely, in Haldir's talan?" Rúmil was mortified at the thought, but judging by the way her face went puzzled then sickened, she had not been thinking along even a line remotely near to his own.
"I need to warn him, fool of an ellon!" She glanced over her shoulder even as she reprimanded him, and he arched an eyebrow at her.
"Warn him? Of what, pray tell?"
"A relative, of sorts, come to unmask us!" she whispered cryptically in reply.
"Unmask you? Madam, just who are you?" Rúmil asked, his patience wearing thin and his confusion more than evident.
"Pariel of the Lord's Library," she responded hastily and Rúmil's mind worked to identify the name.
"Pariel?" Rúmil asked and frowned as he dug up old, obscure memories. He recalled there was an elleth who organized all of Lord Celeborn's and Lady Galadriel's scrolls, papers, affairs, and written belongings, but he'd never taken the time to meet her. In fact, he'd been informed that the elleth was positively a troll!
This part, he realized as he looked her over, was a great exaggeration…lest they be referring to her general reception of guests (or treatment of Marchwardens, for that matter).
"Yes, the troll!" Pariel shot him an annoyed look as he glanced over her, having surmised his indirect mental referencing of her.
"How do you know Haldir?" Rúmil, as an afterthought, regretted the amount of emphasis he had placed on the word 'you' as, considering it an insult, she had just barely kept herself from slapping him.
"You are of no aid and already they have entered the wood! Bah!" Pariel threw up her arms at him, her face still somewhat red with anger at his unhelpful nature and insulting queries, and stalked away swiftly to find another to aid her.
"Pariel?" Rúmil repeated and turned to head back towards Orophim's talan. This was most curious, most curious indeed. He felt a little regretful that he had not only insulted her but had also failed to give her any information whatsoever, but that could be rectified with Haldir later. That was, assuming Haldir had even the faintest recollection of who this girl was.
Rúmil had shuffled the concerning and confusing situation with the Lord and Lady's librarian into the back of his mind by the time he arrived at Orophim's talan. He threw open the door upon his arrival and sashayed into the main room dramatically. The two elves present, Orophim by the sink and Haldir at the table across the room from him, just stared at him unenthusiastically as he stopped in the center of the room and lifted his hands up.
"I am arrived!" Rúmil proclaimed and Orophim shot him a dirty look.
"If you were any less of an orc, I would demand you shut the door!" Orophim walked from the sink and closed the door with the same lofty flourish Rúmil had used in opening it.
"Ah, but dear brother, if I am an orc, what would that make Haldir and you?" Rúmil asked sassily as he walked to the table and sat down in one of the plain, wooden chairs.
"Adopted," Haldir answered with a smirk and Rúmil rolled his eyes.
"How hysterical you have become!" Rúmil exclaimed and Haldir scoffed. "Oh, right." Rúmil sat up and gave up on his obvious overacting as the word 'hysterical' reminded him of his earlier predicament.
"'Oh, right,' what?" Haldir asked and arched an eyebrow.
"A hysterical elleth drew me aside today and claimed she knew you." Rúmil waved his hand about in the air as he spoke. "Something about relative unmasking, I believe." Haldir said nothing, but the way his brow furrowed and the skeptical look he shot at Rúmil spoke volumes.
"She claimed she knew Haldir?" Orophim asked as he finished cleaning his dishes and walked over to the table.
"Indeed she did." Rúmil nodded.
"Brave she is, indeed!" Orophim laughed and Haldir sneered at him playfully (at least, that was, if anything Haldir did could be considered playful).
"Tell me, Rúmil." Haldir shifted his skeptical gaze back onto his younger brother. "What was this hysterical elleth's name?"
"Pariel, I believe it was," Rúmil answered after a moment of thought.
"Pariel?" Haldir pondered for a moment and, abruptly, his expression went blank. "What, exactly, did she say to you?"
"Surely you're joking!" Rúmil laughed and, judging by Haldir's lack of a sneer, he was not. "You know this girl?" Haldir didn't move as he was apparently still awaiting an answer. "I do not recall, precisely, what she said—she was frantic and asked where your talan was."
"Frantic?" Haldir stiffened and a strange look crossed his face for a moment—something akin to unease and suspicion.
"Come to think of it," Rúmil said after a moment of pondering, "she did mention something about people entering the wood."
"People entering the wood?" Orophim asked and sat down in the third and final empty chair. "The twin sons of Elrond are coming sometime this week—Haldir?" Orophim was a bit taken aback as Haldir stood up and made for the door.
"Apologies, Orophim," Haldir said as he reached the door. "I have pressing matters to attend to."
As Haldir was leaving Orophim's talan and, vicariously, both of his thoroughly confused brothers, Pariel had only just arrived back at the Lord's Library. She paced outside, before the doors, and stopped every elf who passed by her and demanded directions of them. Most couldn't tell her the time of day, let alone the location of the Captain of the Galadhrim's talan. She had just finished formally shaking Istuion, one of the royal pages, when her queries were halted by the arrival of the Lady of Light.
"Pariel? Is something unwell?" Galadriel asked and Pariel promptly released Istuion. Pariel bowed forward, formally, as she had always done, and when she looked up, the Lady was smiling lightly at her.
"Milady, would you, perchance…" Pariel paused and carefully thought over her wording—it would be unwise to ask such a thing bluntly, as even though they were officially engaged in romantic activities, she did not know the ellon well enough.
"Know where you might find Haldir's talan?" Galadriel finished after a pause and Pariel flushed red—in her flurry she had forgotten the Lady's abilities.
"No! …Yes…um…I mean," Pariel stuttered, horrified that she'd almost shouted in reply to the Lady of Light. Galadriel, however, did not seem insulted. In fact, she seemed rather amused at Pariel's antics.
"When you have decided what, exactly, it is you wish to know," Galadriel said and set a hand on the anxious elleth's shoulder, "I will aid you."
"Thank you, Milady," Pariel said and bowed as Galadriel walked by—she couldn't be certain, but it had sounded like Galadriel had laughed at her!
Pariel turned as the Lady passed out of sight and continued her pacing. She was unaware of it, but in her moody pacing she had begun picking at her fingernails subconsciously. It had always been a nervous tick of hers to fidget so when under extreme duress, and this was once such incident. Where was Haldir! She had to warn him before they arrived—this was terrible! Terrible beyond comprehension.
"Haldir you orcish fool!" Pariel swore under her breath as she turned to continue back the other direction, but was halted in her tracks.
"Orcish fool?" Haldir asked an arched an eyebrow. Pariel was so shocked and taken aback by his sudden approach and so elated by his appearance that she forgot her own insult and neglected to explain it to him.
"Erestor is to arrive with the twins!" Pariel blurted out, unceremoniously, and Haldir blinked at her.
"This is what you wished to inform me of?" Haldir asked slowly, as if waiting for the news, which was dark enough to deserve his time.
"You're head is as thick as these doors," Pariel hissed and motioned towards the Library. Haldir scowled at her, unused to such a familiar and biting comment from such a distant and unemotional acquaintance. Pariel took a deep breath and regained her stoic composure. "Try to remember, back when we arranged our plans, what did I tell you?"
"You would forsake all relationships in order to keep my welfare as a bachelor intact and I would do thusly in return," Haldir replied flatly and Pariel motioned for him to continue. "This was a most simple arrangement, I do not understand what you wish me to add." Haldir stared at her and she shook her head.
"I told you, but you did not listen." Pariel sighed. "I had this same arrangement with Erestor of Imladris when I lived within the House of Elrond, I told you this."
"I recall." Haldir waved off the information, momentarily, but his mind recoiled as he considered the current situation. "What are we to do of this?" Haldir asked, unable to keep all urgency from his voice.
"I explained this to Erestor, but he took our arrangement," Pariel motioned between Haldir and herself to clarify the pronoun, "not half so well as I had anticipated. His last letter was, to say the least, vexed."
"You cannot break this agreement." Haldir jumped to conclusions quickly, but his exterior remained impenetrably flat. "I would be stormed by elleth after elleth wishing no more than to comfort me in my time of need!" Haldir finished the last bit in a low whisper.
"I was not thinking of it!" Pariel replied angrily. "I would not have told you if I planned to abandon you—wait…"she paused. That had not come out right. "Never mind that! The fact of the matter yet remains—I have no intention of breaking our agreement! Erestor, however, might have plans to disrupt the situation himself."
"What do you wish me do?" Haldir asked as he arched
an eyebrow—he sounded decidedly relieved that she had chosen to continue on as
his shield from the husband-hungry females of Lórien.
"It is highly likely
Erestor will seek to display our lacking relations and unmask us for the poor
actors we are, most probably in front of a very large, very gossip prone crowd."
Pariel flinched at the idea. "If you wish to keep this arrangement in tact, I
recommend you and I appear more affectionate of one another." Pariel frowned at
the idea and Haldir stared at her disinterestedly.
"Agreed."
The two shared a serious look and both bowed forward—they almost looked as if they were marching off to war. If there was one person who could unearth all truths and present them, bared, to the masses it was Erestor of Imladris. His eyes missed nothing. They would have to be stealthy, affectionate, silent when away, but more than anything, they would have to be perfect.
However, there was something they did not know when they decided upon this course of action. Erestor, Elrohir, and Elladan had already arrived within the borders of Caras Galadhon. Their plan, from the very beginning, was all for naught. Elrohir, with his sharp eyes and keen ears, had heard their conversation as he took leave of his Grandmother and went to return one of his Grandfather's books. Naturally, when dealing in such things as secret pacts of deception, Elrohir remained secret and only moved from his hidden location once the two had separated and, it was likely, traveled to opposite sides of Lórien to recuperate and gather strength, mental and physical, for their latest challenge.
"Most intriguing," Elrohir commented roguishly as he moved into the library to return the book. "Erestor and Elladan will be most interested in this!"
Author's Notes: Sorry I haven't continued Open Doors (to the few of you who read that) but this just struck my fancy. (I still need a beta for both, by the way.) There are too few fics with Erestor, there should be more, but for some reason there aren't. And, speaking of undervalued secondary characters who should be featured as main characters, has anyone else noticed how the majority of fanfiction even including Elladan and Elrohir only feature/reference them when Rúmil and Orophim are present? Sad, really.
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