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Speculation and Fear

Elladan watched the elfling sleep on his watch that night. The child had been incredibly wary of them. He had carefully examined every piece of food before eating it quickly, as though they would take it off him, watching them all the while for any sudden movements. Then he had fought off exhaustion for as long as he could, before he fell into dreams as quick as a candle being snuffed, unable to fight it any longer. Worst of all, he had not let them near them and recoiled at any advances. Elladan could see from his movements that he was hurt, but the elfling's cloak hid the extent of the injuries and the elfling wasn't letting on to anything that might be perceived as a weakness. Elladan could not remember he or Elrohir ever being so stubborn...

It was shocking how little the elfling trusted them, did he not know that they would never intentionally harm him?

Elladan sighed in frustration, tossing another branch into the the fire and watched it curl, shrivel, burn then crumble to ash. He placed his head in his hands, tugging at his hair in despair. He wanted nothing more than to go to the elfling and heal him, help him, avenge him, but the elfling wouldn't have let him, and it would only erase any amount of trust they had already established with the little one.

A hand fell heavily on his shoulder, and he jumped; he had not even sensed his twin's approach he was so wrapped up in his thoughts.

"You are lucky I am not an Orc." Elrohir said to him quietly, as he plonked down onto the log beside him.

Elladan snorted derisively, "I would have heard an Orc."

Elrohir raised an eyebrow, a trick that he had learned from their father that Elladan had yet to master, much to his annoyance.

"I feel your frustration and guilt." Elrohir said softly, prompting him to speak.

"How could I not feel guilty? We attacked an elfling El! An elfling! We drew innocent blood. And now he does not trust us and I cannot blame him. If I were an elfling and someone did that to me, I would not trust them either! Father is going to be so disappointed in us when he hears what we have done! Never before has an elf attacked an elfling."

Elrohir sat silently beside him, and Elladan could sense that his brother could not find the words to ease his mind.

Finally, Elrohir spoke. "What do you think 'Death Eaters' are?"

"What?" Elladan asked confusedly, taking his head out of his hands to glance at his brother.

"Death Eaters El!" Elrohir exclaimed impatiently, "I think they're the things that hurt him."

Elladan paused for a moment, recalling the elfling's moan of despair when they had him beneath their swords, 'Not Death Eaters, not now! Please not now!'

What were Death Eaters? "I don't know. Maybe he means Orcs? They eat all kinds of dead things. Perhaps he has made that name up."

Elrohir stroked his chin in a thoughtful gesture, glancing over at the sleeping elfling. "Do you think he was taken by Orcs?"

"I hope not." Elladan said shortly, his tone not inviting any further conversation. This topic was touching far too closely to his own mental wounds. The air was suddenly becoming very close and his chest felt like it was being wrapped in metal bands. He stood quickly and walked away into the forest to scan the area for clues of where the elfling may have come from and if there was anyone else around.

He was aware of Elrohir's eyes burning into his back as he cowardly retreated, but his brother did not follow. Elrohir knew that he needed some time alone.

O-o-O-o-O

Elrohir watched sadly as his brother pulled away from him. He knew that his brother needed to escape from the memories clouding his mind, but that didn't make it any easier to bear his absence.

He looked over at the child and wondered what horrors this young elf had already seen to cause such distrust and instinctive wariness. Elrohir thought about the elfling's parents with a pang, they would be worried sick about him. Why had all the elven realms not been warned to watch for him?

Elrohir stood and walked over to the child, peering into his face. He was a comely child, and looked decidedly innocent with his head lolled to the side his mouth slightly agape. The power of sleep had taken the expression of pain from his facial features that had been marring his face from the moment they saw him. Pain did not suit this elfling, Elrohir decided firmly.

The elfling's eyes were fascinating, even clouded with sleep, he had the greenest eyes Elrohir had ever seen. They were such a vivid emerald colour; they made the sun-dappled grass in Imladris appear dull and washed out in comparison.

The elfling began squirming as though he was aware of Elrohir's scrutiny and was uncomfortable with it. Elrohir was hit with a sudden wave of overwhelming compassion for this child and barely restrained from reaching out to soothe him.

The elfling gasped suddenly as he jarred a broken rib and froze completely, his eyes clearing all of a sudden.

O-o-O-o-O

Harry found he couldn't breathe. Something was stopping him from drawing breath. He snapped into consciousness realising something was stabbing into his chest.

Harry involuntarily coughed and spluttered in a panic to gasp for fresh air. His hands flew to his throat as his eyes snapped into focus.

"It's alright," a melodic voice told Harry. Harry blinked gazing about in the haziness of pain. Someone was threading their fingers through his hair, distracting him from the pain, but a moment later he forgot about it entirely as another something stabbed into his lungs. "You will be alright."

Harry took a shuddering breath, which felt like he was breathing in fire, and choked again. He rolled over away from the gentle fingers onto his side, spluttering. Tears were rolling in streams down his cheek and he panicked, trying desperately to draw breath. A cruel iron fist was curling around his chest and squeezing.

Strong hands gently pulled him into a sitting position and Harry felt his breathing ease slightly. "Relax." He heard a voice murmur, "Steady now. Breathe slowly and deeply, you are alright, just relax. Calm down."

Harry obeyed the voice without a thought, too panicked to concentrate. Slowly his airways opened and the pain eased. His eyes began sliding shut, even as he berated himself for falling asleep when he was supposed to be on his guard.

"You'll be okay," a voice promised as once more Harry found himself slipping into sweet oblivion, wrenching himself out of the arms holding him.

O-o-O-o-O

Elrohir breathed a sigh of relief as the elfling returned to sleep. That had been scary - the helplessness he had felt. He wished his father was here, he would know what to do.

Elrohir glanced up sharply as he heard something crashing through the under-bush and saw Elladan charging towards the camp.

"What happened?" Elladan gasped.

"I don't know." Elrohir answered a touch of hysteria lacing into his voice as the reality set in. "He was squirming, and suddenly he couldn't breathe. I think he is well now though."

"Good, that is good." Elladan said in one breath, sinking down as his legs would no longer hold him weight, "I thought you were being attacked!"

O-o-O-o-O

Tendrils of pink were climbing above the forest, and a little hesitating light came down through the trees. Thankfully, dawn had come without any further incidents during the night.

Harry woke and, with a motion as slow as centuries, his eyes opened. He heard the sounds of bustling around him.

The twins were already awake and preparing breakfast.

"Good morning little one." One said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." Harry answered on reflex. Thinking about the question though, he wasn't fine, his skull felt like someone had taken a hammer and chisel to it, his lungs felt like they were on fire and his ribs ached something dreadful, not to mention the stinging of his back, and the stabbing pain in his left arm. It felt as if someone had made a botched attempt to murder him. Would that they had succeeded.

Harry rubbed his eyes drowsily and worked himself into a sitting position, wincing the whole way up. He ached in places he hadn't known existed. What had he been doing last night? It struck him as particularly unfair that he should be so sore without having done anything physical enough to merit the pain.

The twins handed him some food that he scrutinized with the same suspision as he had the night before – which was to say: a lot.

"We are going back to Rivendell," One of the twins began, "To all the other elves. Will you accompany us?"

Harry nodded, there was nothing else he could do. He didn't know his way around this place at all, and as he had established the previous night, his best chance of survival was to stay with these elves.

"Do you have any family who will be looking for you?" The other twin asked, Harry really needed to learn their names, it was annoying not knowing which one was speaking.

Shaking out of his musings, Harry shook his head negatively as he remembered the question. Well, Uncle Vernon might be looking for him so he could vent his frustration...

"What happened to them?" The other asked. Harry decided he was Elladan.

"They were killed." He answered shortly, his eyes fixed on a leaf lying on the ground.

"I'm sorry." Elrohir said. "Our mother has left these shores too."

Harry's eyebrows drew together, not comprehending what Elrohir had said.

"She sailed for Valinor," Elrohir clarified, though this did nothing to allleviate Harry's confusion.

"Won't you get to see her again?" He asked in complete bewilderment.

"Eventually." Elrohir answered, nodding. "Yes."

Harry couldn't see how that was similar to his situation, but he let it pass.

O-o-O-o-O

Elrohir watched amused as the elfling's fantastically green eyes widened slightly in trepidation as he saw his and Elladan's great warhorses.

They had trudged through the forest that day, he and Elladan could tell the elfling was hurting greatly but there was nothing they could do for him now as he would not allow them near him. Also, they only had basic supplies. Though, if Elrohir was honest with himself, he would realise that the only reason he didn't make a great effort to heal him was because he was afraid. Afraid of what he might see beneath the elfling's cloak. Afraid that he would be consumed by anger and do something rash.

As it was, they had slowed their pace and called regular breaks in a vain attempt to keep the elfling well rested. They talked to him constantly, trying to keep him conscious and aware, to get him to open up to them, and trust them, so when they did have the supplies they would be able to approach him. They needed to keep going, to Rivendell before the little one was overcome by a fever or worse.

"These are our steeds home." Elrohir announced. "Have you ever ridden a horse, little one?"

The elfling shot around like an arrow and stared Elrohir down for a moment. "I've ridden a donkey," He replied meekly.

Elrohir chuckled and patted the horse's neck. "Don't let Assassin hear you compare him to an ass."

"Or what?" Harry asked, eyeing the horse with dislike.

"He'll assassinate you." Elrohir tilted his head to the side. "Now come here so I can lift you up."

Harry eyed the giant horse and then Elrohir, wrinkling his nose in complete distrust.

"I won't let you fall," Elrohir said kindly, not moving until Harry let him. "Nor will Assassin."

Harry swallowed with difficulty and nodded incredibly reluctantly. The next moment Harry was heaved into the air and set onto Assassin's back. He sucked air violently into his lungs and held his breath painfully. Clamping his eyes shut, Harry waited for what seemed like the inevitable movement.

Harry's eyes remained closed even when he felt Elrohir settle himself lightly behind him, when a pair of arms snaked their way around his waist he tensed further.

"I won't let you fall." Elrohir's whispered reasuringly. "Relax and trust me…"

Harry chuckled nervously. "I am relaxed." But his knuckles were already chalk white from holding on for dear life. And they hadn't started moving yet!

Author's notes- hehe I like that, I'm now an author! Oooh!

Anyway, please please please review! I did try to write back personally to all the reviews, but I got distracted and forgot who I had written to and who I hadn't so thanks to y'all! I'll try again to respond this time )