Breakfast the next morning was a quiet affair. Elrond had tried to start up several conversations with his twin sons—without much success, as their eyes kept drifting to the empty chair Estel usually occupied.
Though Estel was still technically confined to bed, Elrond had given him leave to attend meals with the rest of them starting this morning. The fact that he was not present was only serving to increase Elrond's nagging worry that all was not right with his youngest.
Finally, after Elladan had sighed loudly for the umpteenth time and Elrohir continued to distractedly pick at his food, Elrond had had enough. Setting down his own fork, he braced himself for what he was about to ask, knowing the torrent it would cause.
"Alright, you two. You have made your point. Now speak your minds."
Two identical heads snapped up at this comment, and almost immediately opened their mouths to speak.
"Oh Ada, it is Estel—"
"He has been acting so oddly, and we can tell he isn't telling us everything—"
"There's more to his injuries than he wants us to know and—"
"We're so worried and we need to—"
"Enough!" Elrond finally interrupted, holding up his hands, causing both of his sons to fall silent.
"I know you are worried about your brother—I am as well. However, whether or not he is telling the truth about the nature of his injuries is not your concern at the moment. Leave that to me. Now if you would both be so kind as to go retrieve Estel and find out why he has not attended the meal, perhaps all our minds would be slightly more at ease."
Elladan and Elrohir nodded, standing and quickly leaving the dining hall to trace the familiar path to the family quarters. Upon reaching the door, the twins glanced at each other, before Elrohir reached up and knocked loudly. Receiving no response, he frowned before knocking again, more forcefully this time. When there was still no reply forthcoming, the twins had apparently had enough and let themselves into the room.
"Estel! You had better have a very good reason for—" Elladan started heatedly, only to stop abruptly when he ran into Elrohir, who had stopped dead right in front of him. "Elrohir, what…?" he stepped around his twin, only to trail off when his eyes found the sight in front of him. He felt panic start to seep into his body as he took in the empty room, curtains billowing gently in the breeze that blew in from the open balcony doors.
Estel cursed under his breath as he tripped for what seemed like the millionth time as he made his way through the forest. He was starting to regret his rash actions. He'd been walking for nearly four hours with no particular direction in mind—besides simply away. His feet hurt, his head pounded, and he was hungry—too late he realized he'd neglected to pack any food in haste to leave.
He wasn't running away—not really, or at least that's what he kept telling himself. He'd only meant to go on a short walk, though admittedly deeper into the woods than he was really allowed to go. He felt a familiar twist of guilt as he thought of his family back in Imladris. They'd surely realized he was missing by now, and he knew they would probably be beside themselves with worry. But he shoved this thought to the back of his mind and instead focused on the real reason he had felt such a burning need to get away.
Recently, what with the taunting he'd been forced to endure from the increasingly bold elflings, he'd started to believe some of what they were telling him. Humans really were weak and pathetic—and didn't belong in Imladris, among the perfection and beauty of the elves.
Though he'd steadfastly refuted all such claims to their faces, telling them that his family loved him, a seed of doubt had been steadily growing in his mind, growing stronger with each subsequent insult. A wave of bitterness and despair swept over the boy, and for a moment Estel felt he might break down.
A branch snapping nearby brought Estel sharply back to the present, and he realied he'd been completely zoning out his surroundings. As he caught up with reality, Estel realized just how quiet the woods had become and stopped dead.
A low growl sounded behind him. Feeling his blood turn to ice, Estel slowly rotated around, dreading what he might see—and came face to face with a beast he'd only heard his brothers tell stories about— a very ugly, very hungry looking warg.
"I want every inch of the palace and surrounding grounds searched, immediately", came Elrond's terse command to Glorfindel as he swept down the empty corridor, rapid footsteps echoing through the hall, "and if nothing is found I want search parties readied to depart within the hour".
Elladan and Elrohir struggled to keep up with their father and Glorfindel, determined not to be left out of the search for their little brother. As soon as they'd entered Estel's empty room and realized what had happened, they had barreled into their father's study in a panic. Their father had looked about to rebuke them for interrupting his meeting with Glorfindel, until he noticed the fear etched onto their normally handsome, serene faces.
Which brought them to the present. Glorfindel, looking more serious than the twins could remember seeing him for a long time, nodded his head before heading quickly in the other direction to assemble the search party.
"As for you two", Elrond started, "pack your bags. You also need to be ready to depart within the hour, when the search parties leave."
Nodding, the twins turned to go.
"Oh, and Elrohir, would you grab my cloak and my sword on your way down?"
Both twins stopped dead, turning to gawk at their father.
"Wha…wait, you are coming with us on the search?" Elrohir spluttered.
"Ada! Who will be left in charge!" Elladan exclaimed nearly at the same moment.
The twins had rarely seen their father leave Imladris—there had rarely been need for it. However, they supposed with the current situation, they really shouldn't be too surprised.
"Let me worry about that. Now go! I want to leave as soon as possible. I shudder to think what may be happening to Estel out there on his own, and darkness fast approaches."
Snapping themselves out of their shock, the twins once again turned away and prepared themselves for departure, praying all the while that Estel was alright.
Here's chapter 3! I know, it's been forever since I updated. I don't even know how long. All I can say is that I've been super stressed with school lately. Those darn AP classes will be the death of me, I swear.
Thanks to all who reviewed last time, and please do so again! Hope you enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think. I promise I'll try to get better about updating(:
