Cause and Effect

By Avalon Estel

Disclaimer: I don't own LotR, but I know that if Tolkien could read this, he'd come after me with a machete. And I wouldn't blame him.

Glorfindel sprinted down the hall, a bunch of scrolls clamped in his arms.

"Hee, hee!" he giggled. He was giggling because he was happy. He was sprinting because he was being chased by a very angry Erestor.

"Get back here with those right now!" Erestor roared, running after Glorfindel.

Glorfindel giggled again. Erestor was not prone to roaring, so he was sufficiently annoyed.

Or infuriated, depending on one's choice of words.

Glorfindel turned back to look at Erestor. The dark-haired Elf was running at full speed, waving his arms about madly, his robes billowing out in all directions.

It is common knowledge that when something happens, it causes other things to happen, resulting in a chain of events that all lead back to that first, single action. This is called cause and effect.

However, in this case, there were three causes.

Cause #1 – Glorfindel looked backwards while he was running forward.

Cause #2 – Elladan and Elrohir – who were, as fate would have it, looking for a place to hide from Lord Elrond – opened a door.

Cause #3 – The door that they opened was right in front of Glorfindel, who did not see it because he was looking backward.

Naturally, as Murphy's Law states, what can go wrong will go wrong.

The door hit Glorfindel in the face just as he looked forward again.

Effect – Glorfindel was knocked out by the door.

He immediately toppled backward, and all the scrolls he had been carrying flew in different directions. (Several of them went out the window, which made Erestor cry out in horror, something else he was not prone to doing, and run outside to retrieve them.) Elladan and Elrohir almost tripped over the now-unconscious Glorfindel.

"Is he dead?" whispered Elrohir.

Elladan knelt and listened for a heartbeat. "No, he's alive. He's just been knocked out."

"I wonder if he'll get amnesia, like Lindir did that time Erestor hit him," Elrohir mused.

"That would be interesting."

Elrohir sat down next to Glorfindel's motionless body. "Let's wait and see."

And so, they waited. Lord Elrond gave up looking for the Elflings, and Erestor had stormed back off to his study once he'd retrieved his scrolls. It was late afternoon when Glorfindel awoke, and the Elflings, who had gotten very bored in the meantime, pounced on him.

"You're awake!" Elladan exclaimed.

"Ooh…" Glorfindel moaned, rubbing his nose, which was in great pain. "I think I'm seeing double," he murmured.

"No, we're the twins," Elrohir explained. "Don't you remember us? Elrohir and Elladan?"

Elladan hit Elrohir's arm. "You know my name's supposed to come first!"

"It doesn't matter," Elrohir protested.

Elladan crossed his arms. "Yes, it does."

Elrohir rolled his eyes. Then he turned back to Glorfindel. "Don't you remember?" he asked again.

"No," Glorfindel said, shaking his head. He decided to not do that again. It hurt.

"Don't you remember where we are?"

"No."

"Do you remember who you are?"

"…No."

Elrohir was struck by an idea. "Do you know what gender you are?"

Glorfindel looked at him, confused. "No, to tell you the truth."

Elrohir stifled a laugh. "Come on, Glorfindella." He took Glorfindel's hand and pulled him to his feet. "Elladan, get that dress of Mother's."

"Which one?" asked Elladan with a mischievous grin.

"You know, that white one from Far Harad, with the beaded skirt and sleeves."

"Oh, yes!" Elladan hurried off.

"It'll look lovely on you, Glorfindella," Elrohir assured Glorfindel, who was looking a bit apprehensive about all this.

"Are you sure your mother won't mind?" he asked.

"Of course not! She'll be dying to see you in it!"

"I don't know…"

"I insist!" Elrohir began pushing Glorfindel down the hall.

"Very well. I suppose it can't hurt, if you really don't think she'll care…"

"Not at all!"

Cause #1 – Glorfindel was hit in the head, resulting in a rare case of amnesia.

Cause #2 – Elladan and Elrohir were malevolent beings who took pleasure in playing what they believed were harmless pranks.

Cause #3 – Celebrían did not, under any circumstances, want Glorfindel wearing any of her dresses, including the white one from Far Harad.

Effect – Glorfindel found himself running down the same hallway a bit later, in the opposite direction, but this time with an angry Elf-woman following him, rather than an angry Erestor.