3. Dosta en-restlas
She felt wrestles. She would not dare touch her dinner, nor prepare to sleep. Besides being in a completely different place for the first time in more than millennia, her brother had just been sentenced to execution the next day. She didn't know whether to get furious or to cry, but then she remembered Galadriel. Her mistress was wiser than anyone in the Woodland Realm, possibly Middle-Earth, and if she let her come to Mirkwood to be sure that nothing happened to Aldúnil, it was because she was capable to do so, alone.
After pacing for some time around her bed, she decided to take some actions. She grabbed the long silver robe that was hanging aside the bed and got out of the room, making her way into king Thranduil's chambers. Surprisingly enough, there were fewer guards than she imagined the elven king would have. Sinnié needed to get past them to talk to Thranduil and they would not just let her pass if she asked, she wanted the king off guard. She walked straight to them, and as she imagined one of the heroines of the books she used to love as child said:
"Guards! I'm in terrible need of your help, I believe the commander has escaped, and maybe lady Tauriel needs your aid", she said in a very appealing tone, with genuine worry. The guards looked at each other confused, "I have already sent my guards but they have not returned."
The guards hurried up towards the dungeon cells. As soon as they were far enough she entered the seven feet tall wooden doors of Thranduil's chambers. Then, with a chair, she secured the doors so they wouldn't be interrupted.
Slowly she walked into the three parts room. A dim eerie golden light illuminated everything. Since she was barefoot, and her night gown was made of a very light type of silk, it would seem she was floating, for no sound was made, and then, the elven king entered her sight.
Although she felt quite impressed with him at the throne room, now she had a different perspective. He was a tall elf compared to most of them. And although his muscle tone wasn't the most sculptural one, it reflected the lifetime of battles, wars and duels fought. Along his back, there was a set of scars that would seem made of fire, but as soon as the light of the lamps touched them, they disappeared. Now his hair fell over his shoulders without a crown to adorn it. His blue eyes shined with melancholy as he reached the bed to grab his night robe. Being the first time that Sinnié saw a man like that "excepting her own brother" she ran out of words for a moment, in which the king seemed to plunge into a deep train of thought to be interrupted when the she-elf cleared her throat.
"What is the meaning of this?" Thranduil exclaimed while putting on his robe.
"My king" Sinnié said in a deep voice, "I have come here to see if you are able to see some reason."
Thranduil grinned and approached her looking at her as if she had just committed and unbelievable act.
"I cannot help but notice the irony of you using that word, since the lack of it resides in entering into a Kings room or, even worst, double insubordination from the prisoner you are trying to eagerly defend. Which cannot help to bring me and ask myself, why?" His blue eyes looked right into Sinnié's soul and back, making her feel naked and invaded. When she was about to speak, the king's guards knocked the door.
"Is everything alright my lord? We cannot open the door!"
"Yes, you may stand down" answered Thranduil without taking his eyes of Sinnié.
"My king, you wish to gain the name of tyrant? You are already known by being a stubborn king"
"I could not care what is said about me in the outside world, my subjects and subordinates love and respect me, and for that I care that my orders are obeyed. Tauriel drew the last mercy I had in me at Erebor… now Aldúnil must face the fate I meant with her, I will not yield now… and I certainly would not change my mind in the future with this kind of manners."
"I must insist my lord that you reconsider… for you are not aware what this action may unfold." Sinnié's eyes glowed. He must change his mind, for she would not allow anyone harming her only brother.
"Your threats do not dissuade me" though cold as ice, something made him regret saying such words.
"If you kill Aldúnil, you would be aggravating the house of Finarfin of the Noldor, and the house of Olwë of the Teleri". Her words came out with an ominous echo in Thranduil's mind, her face now showed some anger.
"Are you telling me that you are Lady Galadriel's relative? ", he answered, mocking her words. Smirking. "And if so, what does Aldúnil has to do with all this speech?" Sinnié felt how rage was taking over her, no one, not even a king would take her as a liar.
"~ I'm Sinnié, daughter of Aegnor, son of Finarfin, son of Finwë, the first High King of the Noldor, second awakened of the Eldar! And Aldúnil is my twin brother~" Sinnié said to Thranduil directly into his mind, making his smirk fade slowly, as she said the words that only have been spoken once, to her aunt: Galadriel, sister to Aegnor.
"How…?" the words seemed shy when coming out of the king's mouth.
"My father met a human maiden; Andreth, and we were born months after he died… we lived our lives as humans, up until mother got sick. In her dying bed she told us who our father was. I went to Lothlorien with Galadriel to know more about father, while Aldúnil made his life worth living in a different way." Sinnié seemed to get smaller as she explained to Thranduil their story, but not less threatening. The elven king had to sit down on his bed for a moment. After Sinnié finished their story he remained in silence for a long time, then he left his bed to walk towards the she-elf.
"Even though you are Galadriel's protégé, and daughter of her brother, you are nothing but a pair of disgusting bastards. Aegnor did not recognize you, and so I will not recognize you as such… Leave, before I send the guards in". His eyes stared at hers for a second, and the harsh expression of disgust in his face changed into serenity. He made a hand movement indicating her to leave the room and turned his back on her.
"Do not do anything foolish, my king… " said this, Sinnié bowed to the king and left the room. Thranduil was astonished; this stranger who just arrived to his realm dared to challenge his authority, entered his room at nightfall and then walked as if nothing had happened. Even after she revealed her identity as Aldunil's twin sister he still wondered who she was. He started pacing around his chambers, and for some reason he could not let go if the image of Sinnié's eyes looking right at him. Silver-blue, as Galadriel's eyes… but something else was keeping the mind of the elven king in those eyes. Yet, he did not know what it was.
Sinnié arrived to her chambers running, to then jump right into her bed nervous. Without taking her robe or get inside the sheets. She felt embarrassed, though she didn't understand why. Her heart was pounding inside her chest and a sudden heat run all over her body as the image repeated itself over and over again. But that didn't mattered right now, her brother's life was hanging on the end of a thread and she had run out of ideas. Thranduil did not yield at the truth; it seemed it got even angrier by discovering this instead of backing off. She sent one of her handmaidens to fetch her bowl of cold water to wash her face, maybe that was all that she needed, but this feeling would not washed over with the water. Throughout the night she was impeded of sleep. Her mind wandered off between what to do and what would be prudent to do, maybe with her magic she could let her brother go, but that only would unleash a feud bigger than any of both realms could handle in this dark times, not to mention it was not the time to be doing foolish things.
Aldúnil was waiting on his cell. He would not fight the bars or try to escape in any way, for he not only truly believed that he had that coming, it was truth that he swore an oath when he became soldier and a greater one when he was knighted by Thranduil and appointed commander. He believed he would be punished, in the worst of all cases vanished, which would not be so bad for him since he could go back to wandering the world that he left untouched for hundreds of years since he arrived on the Woodland Realm or even go back to the Dúnedain. He like those men, they lived far longer than the average so he could be longer with them while appearing to be one of them. He remembered the times of adventure he had there, wandering as he pleased but helping a noble cause. The Battle of Fornost where the might of an alliance of men and elves defeated the Witch-King, casting him back to the hole from where he came. Times where he made a difference even if he was just one among many. He could not help but smile.
"How is it that only in your deathbed you smile?" the female voice came from outside.
Aldúnil looked and saw Tauriel standing there again, leaning against a wall and looking at him while she played with the rock with runes on her right hand.
"How is it that you are spying on me?"
"Spying? I came walking as in my own home; you just were not sharp enough to hear me."
"I was thinking". He defended himself.
"That is new". She said jokingly.
They both smiled and laughed softly. Then a shroud of silence fell upon them, making them uncomfortable.
They had known each other for more than four hundred years; she was a lieutenant by then. The King favored her for he took care of her since she was a child after her parents were killed by orcs. Unlike Legolas, who was someone centered on his own growth as a skillful warrior and only joined the soldiers on raids and battles, she cared about the world around her, and at that time her world was the army and serving the king with total loyalty in gratitude for what he gave her, a home. She was the one that help him rise, that care of her surrounds make her notice Aldúnil as a very good warrior and a much disciplined soldier, which in turn she told to Thranduil himself. This was not because she liked him, but because she genuinely respected him and knew he would be a positive force.
Aldúnil had always looked at her as a superior so he never stepped over the line nor even considered to. She was a respectable warrior and a loyal leader and subordinate. Even when he never outwardly said so, he had the outmost respect of the elven shieldmaiden. After the years of working together, either in training camps or, battles, raids or missions they bonded not as friends but as companions that respected each other's abilities and virtues. Why they never became friends avoided them. Their relationship was complicated to say the least, because set aside the respect they joked around a lot to relief the constant stress of the army, or even further, the stress of an upcoming battle, this without forgetting what where they at any moment. However, they knew each other well in some degree. He knew she was still feeling guilty, for her actions ended up with an executed kindred, one that only did what she would like to have done but maybe would have never dare to without the impulse of love. She had committed worst crimes against the king yet she was the one looking at him enclosed. Yet, she also knew that he would not blame her, no matter how strict was their relation, no matter that they were usually cold and rude to each other. He would not blame her, he respected her more than he would care to admit and he, in his high virtue of honor, believed that this punishment was something that he had coming. She also knew that the elf would take dead with a smile, but she would not know exactly why, she knew very little about his past and he was a very mysterious individual to say the least, she did not even know his age. Still, she was sure something or many things happened to him a while ago that marked him and that death was nothing but a mere chill compared to it, she was not surprised about him smiling, but she could not avoid being curious.
"Goheno nin", Tauriel said, finally breaking the silence.
"Ú-moe edaved, Tauriel", Aldúnil answered.
"You are a good soldier", the ginger elf said dimly.
Aldúnil smiled again as he knew that coming from her, it was the best compliment he would receive.
"I could say the same about you but… ", he said jokingly, making her laugh behind her held tears.
She cleaned her face and regained seriousness.
"I should do the right thing", she said, looking at the cell.
"Tauriel, do not even think about it, you did your duty and I did not", he stopped the elf when she was trying to leave to the lower stairs to get the keys.
Tauriel did not look at him; she just was there, arguing with herself about what she should do so Aldúnil had to be the voice of reason before she did something regrettable.
"Tauriel, do not throw your life away, I am no one special; do not waste what you have here for me. You can do more good as a Capitan of the Guard than as fugitive or a dead elf", she still would not move. "Besides… I do not regret this, I did what I saw well at the time and I would do it again. If you do this, I may waste your gift in the end."
"After so much time knowing you" she finally said, looking at him through her shoulder with a slight smile full of sadness. "This is the only moment that I have heard you speak so virtuously. I shall not do anything rash."
Aldúnil took a deep breath.
"Good", he laughed. "The world needs more people like you and less like me."
"I disagree", she said before leaving, climbing up the stairs to the citadel and away from the cell keys and pressing her fist around the rock of Kili.
Daylight broke in Sinnié's bedroom through the oculus in the roof and she had not slept in hours, so, carefully she ventured herself into the dungeons just to find her brother inside of the third cell to the right, sitting down looking at the sunrays come down into his cell.
"Muindor I tried…" she said sitting down next to the door of the cell. "I really did… and… I do not know how to save you", tears were coming out of Sinnié's eyes. Aldúnil jumped out of the trance the light had him and approached the door and reached out to his sister.
"Sinnié, do not blame yourself for what I did… I had a good life. Reckless, free, with some scratches and bumps, but a good life, and I don't want you thinking about what I won't be doing, because I dedicated to doing what I liked and thought right, what I felt passion for… Including women". He giggled by the end of that word. "Do not cry…"
"I feel so helpless! I know Galadriel sent me here for this but, I feel I made it even worse… I do not want to lose you, Aldúnil. You are my only brother. You're a part of me". She grabbed her brother's hand "I am so sorry."
"It will be alright Sinnié… If I meet father in the halls of Mandos, I will ask him to tell me his stories and mother's, and when you reach us at the end of the path, I will tell you all about it, just as I told you night time stories when we were kids."
"I will be seeing you…" her voice broke as she said these words.
"I will be seeing you" When Aldúnil finished the sentence, two pairs of guards came down the stairs for him.
They dragged him out of the cell and tied his hands together, then asked Sinnié to accompany them to the throne room for King Thranduil required them both.
"Gwaem" said one of the guards, sad and voice heavy since he knew Aldúnil well.
The King was not wearing a crown, but he was all dressed in silver, with a red robe with leaf patterns in red gold. He was standing right next to his throne, looking at the void. When they arrived, he walked down the steps of the throne stairs, yet without looking at any of the twins.
"These are dark times. In Erebor we were shown that our enemy endured, and, although I shall not tolerate insubordination at my ranks" he looked at the guards who were surrounding Aldúnil. "I am willing to change your sentence into a more suitable punishment for these times. I will not spill more elven blood and I cannot afford losing a great strategist and soldier like you Aldúnil, we will need you before this is over" Sinnié could not believe what she was hearing, Thranduil paid attention. Her legs tried to fail from exhaustion, but she would not allow them to. Her brother raised the look of amazement.
"Thank you, my king" Aldunil's body felt lighter now.
Even when he was willing to take death with a smile he was afraid, and if given the choice, he would stay.
"Your punishment however will take place today. The Dosta en-restlas will suffice your measure of insubordination. Tauriel will perform it." then with a hand gesture he made the red-haired she-elf enter the throne room "Take him, and make sure that he feels every blade."
"Yes my lord" she mumbled with a face carved in stone.
She led the escort out of the throne room and into a small clearing of grass and a couple of trees in the barracks with the hard sun entering from the cracked ceiling above. Sinnié and her maidens followed closely but they would not let them speak to Aldúnil. Her sister was worried but at least she knew that his life would be spared but his punishment, she had never seen it, but by its name and the severity everyone was treating it with, it seemed quite terrible.
"You had anything to do with this?" he asked Tauriel when they arrived to the clearing.
"Clothes" she signaled to the other guards without an emotion.
She wanted to make everyone think she was being harsh and disciplinary; however her continuous heavy breathing was breaking her façade. At least for those close that knew her and had a good reading on people, and Aldúnil was like that.
Two guards come from both sides and pulled from his garments slightly, and then one of them said:
"Goheno nin, Cáno" asking for forgiveness from their commander before starting.
"Av-'osto" he answered to calm them down.
The guards tore off his clothes leaving him naked from the torso and legs but keeping him only with undergarments. Tauriel looked at him, he had the body of a warrior fit but scared; some cuts and even burns here and there but most prominently an irregular scar that traveled through his upper left pectoral to the middle and touching his upper abdominals. A reminder to him from a deeper scare that was not visible.
The she-elf ordered him to stand in the middle of the trees to what he compelled obediently. Then the guards started to tie long ropes to his hands. Tauriel took on the task of one had on leaned close to him.
"I talked to him about your value, it may have something to do with it, but by what I saw, he had already taken this decision before I spoke" she said.
When she was finished tying the rope to his wrist she finally backed off and gave another order. Now the guards passed the rope above the tree branches and then pulled, making his arms hurt as they stretched up and sideways, lifting him off the ground.
He tried to resist the pain but his face turned red. By then, his sister, watching from a distance, was already upset by that barbaric practice, and about to lose control over watching his brother suffer.
"
~Do not intervene ~" He said in her sisters mind.
"~but… ~" she tried to argue.
"~this needs to happen, for the sake of everyone. Thranduil is right in doing this; my insubordination cannot go unpunished in front of everyone. Do not make it harder for me and do not make it harder for Tauriel, please~" he pleaded while looking at her as his feet were also being tied.
Sinnié accepted but barely. She was very terrified of what was to come if that was just the beginning, and very mad about watching it unfold without nothing to do to stop it.
When his feet were tied they also pulled them and stretched his whole body. He felt as his thorax was being ripped apart and every bone union was burning but he remained silent.
Thranduil arrived to the site with a host of guards; he paid no attention to anything but the punishment.
One of the guards handed Tauriel a metal tray with at least thirty normal looking leaves on it, but the only normal about them was their appearance. They were special leaves of a very unique kind of tree. They sustained high temperatures for long times and were thicker, yet sharper than any other known leaf.
Tauriel left the tray on a burning crenel so the leaves would heat up. When she waited, she was facing Aldúnil. She had not dared to look at him up until that very moment. When their eyes encountered Aldúnil knew she was struggling a lot for that. She was not one to enjoy the pain of others, not even of her enemies, even less of someone she considered innocent and a good person, one that he held dear in one way or the other, even if just as partners. Thranduil gave that task to her on purpose; it was a lesson for her too.
The leaves where finally ready and she took a clamp from another guard and picked one of them to then look at the king.
"Alae! Dosta en-restlas" Thranduil nodded in all seriousness so that Tauriel would proceed.
Sinnié would have expected that the King would even enjoy watching that, so it came as a surprise that he was so serious and maybe with a little shadow of remorse and disgust.
Tauriel got close to Aldúnil; the clamp with the leaf in front, while her remaining hand was only seen by him, trembling and pressing her fist against her chest. She extended the clamp with the heated leaf until it was less than an inch from Aldúnil's bear chest. Then she hesitated and stopped for a fraction of a second and looked at the elf that was looking back at her.
He inhaled and exhaled in an attempt to calm himself down and then nodded slightly enough so that anyone farther than Tauriel would notice.
The ginger was about to say something. Her glittering eyes closed once letting a couple of tears make a trail through her cheeks as if that was the doubt she had in her. Her face turned to absolute resolution and then it was cold as stone again; she pushed the leaf through the elf's chest.
It was sharper than any sword. It made its way inside him, tearing skin a flesh and burning him while entering, making a chirring sound as the heat met the fresh blood and burned it until it was deep enough that all the vital liquid had the leaf unheated and wet in red, making it crack as a normal leaf form the interior to the exterior, separating into many small splinters that made even more damage.
The clamps sustained only a small piece of the leaf that Tauriel disposed of as soon as she made sure that one had done as most damage as possible. He face changing from remorse to severity, passing through anguish and disgust over and over again without revealing too much but enough that Aldúnil would realize this. He tried to ignore the pain, to maintain himself free of complaining and take the punishment without a single moan. Partly because he did not want to make a show out of it, but mostly because he wanted to appear serene to his sister and make the exercise easier for Tauriel who would break down and lose authority or sanity in front of everyone, for her heart was too gentle for an atrocity as that. Even more if it was used in someone screaming his lungs out as if it was the worst pain endured in life. While it was the worst physical and sharp pain he imagined, he knew of worst pains in life, which helped him to maintain his serenity in that moment.
A second leaf entered his body, breaking into small pieces at the end. He now tensed each one of his muscles to contain the pain inside himself. While Tauriel did her work with more doubt every passing second.
The guards, the king, Sinnié, her maidens and some other nobles and officers in the army looked. Nobody liked it, nobody was cheering, and some even made an effort to look away without being noticed. Even the King was serious but tense and nerved to the core, no matter how many orders he had defiled he knew all that he had done in the past for him and Mirkwood, many of the scars that were already there existed in the name of defending that realm and the people within it. But he twisted his hand so much that he could not stop there, he could not show mercy and have others thinking that his orders would be disobeyed with such ease.
The ninth leaf entered in the flesh of his right thigh. The punishment was conceived in such a way that the sensible parts would be affected; however, it was made in specific points that were non-lethal to the punished. A method used since the first Kinslaying, developed so that those elves who would commit the ultimate crime against their own would endure such pain, then it evolved into a punishment in which the number of leaves could vary from two to half a hundred, depending on the crime. Still it was rarely used and only in dire times. Thranduil himself had only seen it once.
Now Aldúnil was sweating after the twelfth leaf. He leaned back his head but when he felt the heat of the thirteenth stopping before entering his body he looked at Tauriel again.
"Come on, you are doing this as if a human grandmother was caressing me" he said, trying to make the she-elf upset.
It worked, either making her angry or just encouraging her with some sense of humor, he did not exactly knew, his ability to read her was wearing off as he needed more and more of his conscious self to remain calm.
Another leaf broke inside him; his neck was burning now of the tension he was putting on it not to scream, like lifting tons upon tons of weight. He needed a relief. At first he started moaning, by the seventeenth leaf Tauriel was introducing them in his biceps and the strength needed to maintain his bones from breaking apart made the sharp leaves go deeper and tear more flesh.
The moaning started turning into screams. Tauriel looked at him once again, sweating like a fountain, barely conscious and with some drops of blood already tearing down the first wounds. Her hands were shaking now, uncontrollably, as if she had forgotten they had a public. She was tearing apart mentally and he physically, exactly what they were trying to avoid from the beginning but by now they could not care less about the others around. He wanted her to stop and she knew this was wrong, but if they stopped they would mock Thranduil's authority again and it would cost both their lives. They knew this; they were trapped.
"Tauriel" he called with his remaining strength "Finish it fast. Do you understand me? We can do this."
"I cannot continue" she looked at the clamp.
"Yes, you can and you must" he encouraged "Look at me, look at me."
The she-elf was also tensing her muscles not to cry but she looked him in the eyes.
"Remember how much of an idiot I am" he smiled, "Thank you… for doing this."
This caught Tauriel off guard, for she knew what he meant and that he really meant it. He was grateful that she did not decline to do it, this was more personal with someone he trusted and admired, with a leader of his instead of someone with a black mask on their face and a habit of doing that. That gave him strength. She faked her best smile at him, which was horrible.
He laughed in his insides. It was funny to see the almighty Capitan Tauriel to have such a noble weakness.
"Now, listen" he called her attention again, "I cannot hold it any longer, probably I am going to brake and scream very soon, even worst in the last ones, but no matter what you hear or see, you have to keep going."
"I know."
"Promise me you will keep going, on your honor."
Tauriel took a second to think what to say and then adopted semblance of duty and principle.
"I promise" she agreed and pushed the next leaf through the right bicep.
At first, he moaned but the moan turned into a dire scream that resounded in the entire silent city.
Sinnié was feeling a mixture between anger and the need to flee that place and stop watching, but she fought against it, she wanted to be there, with her brother, even more when all of that was finished.
The twenty-fourth leaf tore apart trough the muscles of his calves. His screams started to be so violent that many of the people left the place, disgusted of the act held there.
The screams started to grow weaker in sound but greater in pain as his lungs and throat ripped to pieces. Then he started to shake around in the air as if to avoid the burn and cuts, but to no avail. The thirtieth leaf and on until the end of the punishment —thirty five leaves in total— were meant to mark a way on the most sensible parts of his back.
Tauriel did not doubt now, but she made no repairs in hiding her aguish. She was trying to do it quickly as he said, so it would end faster.
His bleeding wounds pained him more when he shook off in pain. His voice was mute now and in the thirty-second leaf, his vocal chords had enough, his started coughing blood due to the soft flesh inside his throat breaking apart.
Sinnié closed her eyes and Thranduil stepped forward, wanting to end it, but the punishment was about to finish. It was best for everyone now that Tauriel finished even if he wanted to stop it now too.
When the ginger elf inserted another leaf she heard some mumbling from Aldúnil. She got in front of him to hear.
"Stop, please, stop…"
She was paralyzed as she felt a bucket of cold water poured down on her back. However, she made a promise to an Aldúnil that was fully conscious that might happen.
She reached for another leaf and pushed it through the trapezius.
"STOP! DARO! PLEASE!" he said loudly, but his voice was gone, his throat was undone and now it was as if an old weak man was talking.
He coughed some more blood.
Tauriel reached for the last leaf and looked back at Thranduil with an accusing look, he looked at her too, in his eyes there was compassion but his face had to remain as carved in fine ivory.
When Aldúnil looked at the last leaf, his look was that of a terrified child. Tears started to roll down his face as he tried to say something, but he could not speak now.
Tauriel looked at the guards holding the ropes, they were crying too and she soon noticed tears had invaded her own face.
"I am so sorry, Aldúnil. I am sorry Commander" she whispered, "Just one more and it is over."
She pushed the last leaf through his other shoulder as fast as she could. Then she dropped the clamps and gave the order to untie him and pull him down. The guards cut the ropes and Tauriel caught him, when the weight was proving to be too much she tried to draw strength but she realized she had been tensing her entire body too and was exhausted. She was going to fall with Aldúnil until someone else helped her, a guard she presumed. When she looked she found the King staining his robes with blood without caring about it, just lending a hand so that the punished elf would not fall to the ground. When Tauriel and Thranduil looked at the elf he had already passed out.
Aldúnil opened his eyes to the light of twilight entering trough a crack in the west wall. When he tried to move, it felt like dozens of little needles perforating his skin. Then he remembered the Dosta en-restlas each part of it until his hands where untied and he lost consciousness. He remembered the pain and every sharp leaf, but what happened around him in the final cuts was a mystery since he only recalled pleading and crying. He felt a shiver and tried to erase the imagery from his mind. He looked around, he was in his usual quarters, which was good and gave him familiarity for a change. He looked at his chest, arms and legs and noticed that his wounds were almost closed.
On his side, Sinnié was sleeping on a chair. She was as beautiful as usual, but her hair had a couple of threads out of place. The only way to realize she had been there all night.
He could not help but smile looking at her and he reached to take his sister's hand.
At that very moment Tauriel entered the room worried, followed by another elf with a tray full of food. She looked at Aldúnil taking her sister's hand. The elf retired for he was not ready to reveal they were brothers; however Tauriel took it in another way. Her face turned hard.
Sinnié woke up and, after looking at the scene, held her own impulse of hugging his brother.
"Good morning, Aldúnil" the ginger elf said, "The healers said you would wake up today, so I brought you breakfast."
The tray was left on the side of his bed and the one carrying it got out of the room.
"Tauriel" Sinnié greeted without a lot of emotion. Tauriel lowered her head once as an answer
"Tauriel…" the elf said dimly, his voice still failing a little thanks to the damage.
After what happened, his perspective about her changed. Not only he knew now she was a lot stronger that what he would have conceived but he believed living that as partners had made them transcend, since they now knew each other on a very deep and different level and her visiting him personally confirmed that theory.
"How are you feeling?" she asked with a smile.
"I am good, apparently your Dosta en-restlas is pretty bad" he joked and she smiled again.
"Or you had a very good healer" she answered.
"About that, how long was I out" he asked to both she-elves.
"Today is the fourth day" Sinnié answered.
"Four days?!" he was surprised.
"Apparently, you are a little weaker than expected" Tauriel joked now.
"Well, maybe you should go through this punishment too and we can compare" Aldúnil stated.
Tauriel laughed for herself.
"I will come back later if you do not mind, right now I have other duties, there have been raids nearby" she said and made her way out without saying goodbye to Sinnié.
"I do not like her" Sinnié said.
"Why?" Aldúnil made a gesture of mere confusion.
"Well, how about because she inserted thirty five sharp leaves inside of your body?"
"She had no choice. As a matter of fact, Sinnié, I am glad she did it" he confessed.
"Well, you have always had a weakness for red haired women; I guess she being a beautiful red haired elf is even more your weakness."
"It is not like that. She is my superior and a fellow soldier; we are brothers in arms, Sinnié."
"It doesn't matter… come here" she hugged her brother as hard as she could without hurting him, "I am so glad you are fine."
"Thank you for being here" he said.
"In all honesty, I took turns with Tauriel and even Thranduil came personally twice."
"Uhh, twice" Aldúnil mocked him.
"Well, he was suffering what you went through, and in the end he personally helped carrying you here, you know?" Sinnié said in the king's defense.
Aldúnil sighed and shrugged.
"He is not a bad king, he is just far more stubborn than a mule" he admitted, "At any rate, I should be out there with my men fighting."
"With Tauriel, you mean" Sinnié mocked his brother.
"I told you…"
"…it is not like that. I know" she said, "You cannot even move freely yet, you cannot be fighting, soon enough."
From the entrance, the blond elf maiden Fariel came in. She was carrying a bowl with water and a piece of cloth.
"It is time for your wound cleaning" Sinnié said stepping up, "She will clean you and remain here until Tauriel comes to check on you."
"I do not need a caretaker!" he yelled to his sister.
"Yes, you do" she finally said as she got out of the room.
"Milord" the maiden greeted with outmost class.
"I am no lord, Fariel. You can call me by my name" he answered with a smile.
The maiden took a sit on Aldúnil's side and prepared to wash his wounds.
"But you are a knight, are you not, sir?" she said with a tender and musical voice.
"Well, yes… but you still can call me Aldúnil" he stated and she smiled back at him.
She started to clean him, the warm water was medicated with some herbs that made him feel less pain, that, along with the touch of the maiden.
They talked of banalities while she cleaned him up. He was the one that talked the most since she seemed inexperienced in almost everything for what he figured that she was a young elf of maybe a couple hundred years.
She asked him to turn on his back to clean him to, now he could move more freely.
"Well, I am an uncommon elf" he said.
"I have noticed" she said as if longing for something, "What you endured was a lot for any race."
"I cried like a little child" Aldúnil said jokingly lying on his back again after the elf had finished cleaning him. She laughed too.
"With good reason…" she started touching the wounds of the elf with her bare hands and with no purpose of cleaning, "… sir."
When she realized what she was doing she left the bowl with water on the side in shame, when she was about to step up to go away Aldúnil grabbed her by the arm and looked deep into his eyes.
"You told me earlier that you longed for new experiences" he affirmed and the blond elf nodded shyly. "If you want my help, I am here."
He caressed her arm and let her go.
She walked out of the room frightened.
"Well, that went differently in my head. No doubt elves are harder than humans" he said to himself and walked out of bed to stretch as much as he could now that his body was not in pain.
He heard the door opening again and believed it was Tauriel coming back.
"It was about ti…" he saw Fariel standing there, shy. However she closed the door with lock behind her.
Aldúnil seemed confused at first. Then the blonde maiden walked towards him and caressed his chest.
"I am new to this, but I do want these experiences" she said.
He caressed her cheek and then kissed her.
"I promise you, that you are safe" was his last words to her before starting.
He kissed her and guided her slowly. He stripped out of her garments until they were both completely naked in front of each other. She seemed nervous but willing, innocent but with a wolf inside her wanting to come out.
He lifted her and then put her with frailty on his bed to then start caressing slowly each part of her skin with passion and softness. Making her comfortable and ready. He kissed her skin, her breasts and her lips over and over again. He touched her most sensible spots making her moan of pleasure.
Bit by bit she left herself go until she was active part of the act. She asked him to do it so he kissed her legs open and started making love to her. Slowly at first so she would feel good with it until he laid down and let her sit in him so she would mark the rhythm himself.
He thanked for his life, for another opportunity to do that with such a fair maiden elf. That was some of the greatest pleasures in life, he could not understand how the elves were so reserved to it.
She started moving, pleasuring but. He used his hands too all the time, he wanted her to know how good and pleasurable those kind of experiences where.
Instinctively she grinded while on him, making both of them moan out of desire. While one of his hands also helped in her pleasure the other grabbed her by the waist, then she leaned in, grabbing his hands by the wrists and putting them on the sides, she kissed him and smirked and laughed out of pleasure.
Then he grabbed her again and took control. Putting her back on the bed, making her arch her back and end in ecstasy. They continued until they both climaxed together. Then they lay down on the bed and she fell asleep.
Later he was laying down over his chest resting after the recent events when suddenly her sister's voice echoed in his mind.
"~I forgot to mention, you owe me one Aldúnil. I talked king Thranduil out of executing you~."
"~So, it was you. Tauriel and I wondered ~"
"~I never thought it would turn out this way so you're in eternal debt with me ~" She told her brother, grabbing her pillow to fluff it up a bit and feeling good after how it all came out in the end. Then a wild thought from his brother invaded her mind, the thought Fariel lying naked on his side. "~you had to sleep with her as well? She was supposed to only take care of you~"
"~Sinnié I was about to DIE and suddenly the smirk face of Thranduil decides not to kill me, I wanted to celebrate! Are you not happy? Besides, I can say that she took very good care of me. ~" He answered cackling out loud. The blonde she-elf was curled up next to him, fast asleep. He stared at her for moments just before he heard the answer to his sister.
"~what is wrong with you? Of course I'm happy for you but Fariel… Why? ~" she said as she threw the pillow to the wall and laid down in her bed, looking straight into the oculus, which allowed her to see the stars.
"~Why not? Are you afraid she might like it too much and ends up being MY hand maiden?" said this he moved some hairs from the blond elf to clear out her face.
"~she's twenty eight! ~" Sinnié also yelled out loud, provoking an echo throughout the room. Naniel; Fariel's sister ran in worried for her mistress. She dismissed her with a hand gesture and started putting on her night gown.
"~Decades? Amazing I would have sworn that she was maybe less than three hundred years. ~"
"~ Years Aldúnil, twenty eight! Just twenty eight! You should be ashamed of yourself! She's just a girl! ~
" ~ By Fingoflin's sword!~" he opened his eyes widely feeling very guilty, but as soon as he looked at her fair face and curved naked body he felt great again although somehow disturbed, "~ What do they teach them these days? But if it's of some consolation she moved as if she was far older ~" then, it hit both of them, the image that Sinnié saw early in Thranduil's chambers, his naked chest, and the fire scar, "~Sinnié… What exactly did you do when you said you tried to help me…? ~" his voice sounded in between anger and worry.
"~I am not like you! How dare you think of me like that! ~" although her brother could not see her face, she blushed, hiding her face in her pillow, how did she allowed her thoughts send her brother such image? "~Good night Aldúnil! ~"
As if she had shut a door, Aldunil's mind was close to any communication with his sister for the night. Although they had just passed the danger and the horrid idea of losing one another, she knew that it wasn't the moment to talk about that, they had the rest of their lives for that, and due to this even, she would not leave his side so easily. She smiled relieved and covered herself with the bed covers, to slowly fall asleep, as her brother did the same thing. Aldúnil thanked a thousand times for having his sister in these times, but his thoughts were distracted by a blonde she-elf waking up and tempting him to repeat his recent act by kissing his neck and he could not deny that right to her.
