Chapter 2

Haldir walked along the banks of a fair sized stream that cut off from the River Nimrodel quite a ways back. About a mile down the current slowed and the stream deepened eventually turning into a fair sized pond. His father had often taken him and the family swimming on a warm summer's day, not that long ago, at least for an elf. But now that both of their parents had left for the undying lands, the brothers rarely came here anymore…

The ellon stiffened at a slight sound,

'What was that?' he thought, 'It sounded like crying, but why would anyone be this far from the city and at night.'

'It was coming from under a small ledge. Oh, by the Valar! It was a young elf child. She looked to only 5 or 6 in human years, so she was only about 10 years of age… and she was incredibly dirty.

Talking softly to lost child, Haldir tried not to scare her, for she had not yet seen him.

"Suilaind, little one."*

She started at the greeting, and was quite terrified for an instant before realizing that the elf before her meant no harm. The first words out of her mouth were;

"Do you know where my ada is?"

~*~

Eleniel's POV

Eleniel crawled out from the ledge and looked into the ellon's face as her told her that he would take her back to the city to find her father. Or tried to look at his face, even though he was kneeling down he was still much taller than her. He was almost as tall as Uncle Glorfindel, which is very tall, even for an elf.

She tiredly fidgeted as Haldir, he had told her his name, gently bandaged the cuts on her hands and knees. He even gave her some lembas bread when her tummy growled very loudly. After about 10 minutes of silence in the dark as the ellon carried her, Eleniel started to get bored… very bored, and had many questions about her rescuer. Haldir just kept walking, completely clueless about the bombardment about to hit him.

Eleniel took a deep breath…

~*~

Haldir's POV

Haldir couldn't believe how fast the child could talk; one would think that after being lost, for who knew how long, would be able to bounce back so quickly. His mind raced to keep up with Eleniel's pace. 'That was now 15, no, 16 questions and counting. It was getting quite late but that wasn't stopping her, she hadn't even paused long enough for him to answer.' Haldir had never really felt at ease with children, even when his brothers were very young, they were too unpredictable for his liking and this situation wasn't helping matters any.

'Well there was always the place his father often took him and his brothers to calm down, when they were younger and couldn't get it sleep. It wasn't much farther, but he would have to have her to quite down long enough to get there, it sounded so much easier when he thought of it.

"Eleniel"

She kept talking…

"Eleniel"

'Well at least she paused this time, or maybe she was taking a breath.'

"ELENIEL, I HAVE SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!"

Eleniel finally stopped her interrogation, looking nervous at his tone, this most likely wasn't the first time she had gone on such a tangent.

Haldir took a deep breath and started over. "There is something I want you to see, but you have to be quiet if we are going to see it."

Her eyes widened in understanding, as she whispered, "I'll be quiet."

~*~

Galadriel's POV

The Lady of Light had been looking into her mirror for some time, having found her young granddaughter some time ago. She had been unable to find the lost girl until late evening but was still unable to locate Eleniel. However when the young border guard, Haldir, found her, Galadriel decided to just watch and let everything play out knowing everything would be fine.

She was especially glad to have done so when Eleniel had started her usual shower of questions, the ellon didn't have a clue what to do, the look on his face was priceless. Even more amazing was how he was able to get her to stop and be quiet. Galadriel smiled as she when to sit with Celebrían, the boys had been put to bed for the night, and it would still be a little while till Haldir and Eleniel got back.

'The Valar certainly have a sense of humor,' Galadriel thought.

'No matter how this turns out, this event's effects on the future wouldn't be able to be changed. It could take a few hundred years, but she could bide her time. She would need that time to get use to the idea anyway, after all Eleniel is only 10.'

~*~

* Suilaind: hello or greetings

A short explanation of the ages of Eleniel and her brothers, for a better guide to their ages, I made an approximant to how old they would be, how old they would look like and went from there.

Here is a table to demonstrate:

(Numbers are years and the corresponding years are either above or below depending on how you look at it.)

Elves: 5, 10, 20, 35, 50

Men: 3, 5, 10, 15, 20

After 50 elves are usually finished maturing physically and this is when they are considered adults.

I hope this will help if there is any confusion, and I expect to have the next part up as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading, and if time allows please rate.