Awareness slowly came back to Malorn. First, he was floating softly on clouds that cushioned him comfortably while the rays of the sun wrapped him in warmth. Then he realized the clouds were actually soft pillows and the sun rays were blankets that were drawn up to his chin and tucked securely around his body. Next came a dull aching throb in his back, leg, and side, not a debilitating pain but quite enough to be noticed. Finally, there came the voices, soft and soothing in his ear as he pulled himself fully into wakefulness. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked as the blurry shapes above him came into focus and he was met with an unfamiliar room lit with early morning sun and the smiling face of Lord Elrond looking down at him.

"Hello, Penneth", Elrond said, softly stroking Malorn's hair. "How are you feeling?"

"I think I am feeling better", Malorn murmured. "But, I…I am not exactly sure how I felt before."

"That is quite understandable. You had a very high fever and were probably not aware of much during the last days."

"Fever", Malorn echoed in confusion. "What happened, my lord. Why did I have a fever?"

"You do not remember", Elrond asked, frowning.

Malorn stopped and thought hard for a long moment. He suddenly gasped as the memories came flooding back. "We were attacked on the mountain. There was an orc archer and…and he was going to shoot you. I was running to try to push you out of the way in time, but…but then something shot me first."

His eyes widened as the memory of the first arrows returned. "My uncle's guards…they…they shot me! Why? I was only trying to help. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, Malorn", Elrond assured him. "The guards were the ones who did the wrong. They would not release you from your past, even though you had proved time and again you were sorry for your actions. They acted hastily on those feelings of distrust and you had to pay the price. They are now being punished for their actions by staying in my dungeons for the time being with no news of your condition and knowing they would be kinslayers if you would have died."

Malorn felt the anger bubbling up inside him at Elrond's words. He had done nothing but be kind and obedient to the guards but it still wasn't good enough for them. Then they tried to kill him when he was only trying to save Elrond's life. What more did they expect of him?!

"Malorn", Elrond said gently, seeing the angry look appearing on the young elf's face.

Malorn slowly turned and looked back at Elrond.

"It was hatred and grudges that drove your uncle's guards to do what they did", Elrond said, his voice still extremely kind. "Do you wish to follow in their footsteps and behave the same?"

Malorn released a breath and shook his head. "No, I do not, my lord."

"Then do not let your anger take hold of you", Elrond said. "The warriors were wrong and they will be punished accordingly. Do not allow your heart to be become heavy and clouded because of the actions of others, actions they will pay for."

Malorn smiled and nodded.

"Good, now I have something else I must say to you." Elrond picked up Malorn's hand and held it tightly in his, looking deep into the younger elf's eyes. "Malorn, thank you for your sacrifice. You saved my life from that orc at the cost of your own health. You did not have to do that but you did it anyway and I cannot properly express my gratitude for your selfless act of courage. I am only deeply saddened that you must endure the pain of it yourself in my stead."

Malorn blushed, suddenly finding the bedsheets very interesting. "I could not let that orc hurt you. Not when it was in my power to stop it. I…I meant what I said. You are like a second father to me, my lord. You took me in when you did not have to. You could have easily let Uncle Thranduil banish me and no one would have thought any less of you but you chose to give me a second chance and not even begrudgingly. You… You have loved me even though I am completely unworthy of such caring. I am in your debt, my lord, and I will be eternally grateful to you. A bit of pain is nothing to me if it meant I could save you from the same or worse."

Elrond smiled tenderly down at Malorn and pulled the young elf into a gentle hug. "I would not have done anything else but take you in, Penneth. Not when I felt such good in your heart. And you have done naught but prove my feeling correct. There is much good in you. You simply must be taught how to let shine forth. I am proud to have to opportunity to care for you." Elrond turned and picked up a bowl of soup that sat by the bedside. "Now, are you hungry?"

Malorn's stomach growled at the sight of the soup, and he nodded eagerly. The healer helped Malorn into a slightly more upright position to eat. He was still too weak to hold the bowl so Elrond fed him the soup, assuring him that his strength would return soon. Halfway through the soup, the twins and Glorfindel entered after having their own breakfast and their eyes lit up at seeing Malorn awake.

"Malorn", Elladan and Elrohir exclaimed. "You are awake! Thank heavens. We were worried about you."

Before Malorn could respond the twins pulled him into a tight embrace, being sure to stay mindful of his injuries.

"You saved our ada, Malorn", Elrohir said. "There are no words to express how grateful we are to you, but we are. Thank you so much, Malorn."

Malorn again blushed deeply. "I would not, nor could not, have stood by and watched anyone of you get injured while I could stop it. I am glad I had an opportunity to protect Lord Elrond as he protected me."

"Well we thank you nonetheless, Malorn", Elrohir said. "Ada is all we have left now and losing him would have broken our hearts beyond repair."

Malorn smiled, even more thankful that he had been able to spare Lord Elrond's life. Elrond then came up and laid his hand on Malorn's shoulder.

"Malorn, look around you", Elrond said, gesturing to the group surrounding them. "The ones you see here are the only ones who know of your past, besides Erestor whom you will meet later, and none of us hold anything against you. To everyone else in Imladris, you are merely Thranduil's nephew come to study and learn here. You are going to be able to start a new life, Malorn. And you will be able to learn about yourself without the judgement of others to keep your heart heavy."

Malorn felt like the breath was stolen from him as he allowed the realization of what that truly meant for him to sink in and then he turned bright eyes to Lord Elrond.

"Thank you, my lord", he murmured around the lump in his throat. "Thank you all. I will not let you down, I promise. I will work as hard as I can to learn everything you will teach me."

"I know you will, Malorn", Elrond said. "I know you will."

Elrond looked Malorn in the eyes, his expression turning serious. "Malorn, one of the arrows that hit you went in your back, very close to your spine. Now I know you have not moved much, but do you feel any unusual numbness or weakness in any of your limbs?"

Malorn slowly moved both his legs and arms and wiggled his fingers and toes. "I do not think so right now, my lord. All feels as it should."

"That is good", Elrond said, some of the worry lines easing on his face. "I can now say for sure that you will not suffer any paralysis, however we will not truly know about weakness until you can rise and do some therapy with me, and that will not be for another few days. Even if you do have weakness, however, I would think it would be minor and fleeting. As soon as your wounds heal, I believe you will be back to your normal self."

Malorn gave a smile of relief that was copied by everyone in the room.

"Now, how about you finish your soup and try to take a nap", Elrond said, picking the bowl back up. "The more rest you get, the quicker you shall heal."

Malorn nodded and began finishing the rest of his food. Suddenly he stopped mid bite and looked around the room, panicked.

"The clothes I had on, where are they", Malorn asked anxiously.

Elrond frowned. "They were badly torn and bloodied. We did not bother to bring them with us when we left the mountain."

Tears sprang up in Malorn's eyes immediately to the bewilderment of the gathered elves.

"Malorn, what is it", Elladan asked.

"My seed from the tree in Mirkwood", Malorn choked, the tears spilling down his face. "It was in my breast pocket!"

The expressions of the group turned sad as they remembered how much that seed had meant to Malorn. It had been a piece of his home.

"I am sorry, Penneth", Elrond said. "I would have brought it if I had remembered it was there."

"Nay, it was not your fault", Malorn sniffed sadly. "I should have put it in my pack, but I wished to feel its light near my heart. I promised the tree in Mirkwood I would take care of her child b…but I failed her. Her…Her child will die because of me."

Malorn turned and lay down with his back to the group, his shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. Behind him, Elladan and Elrohir exchanged a quick glance, nodding once to each other before hastily exiting the room.

Elrond rubbed the sobbing elf's back gently, not exactly knowing what to do to ease his sadness. Fortunately, he didn't have to decide for Malorn's exhaustion quickly won over him and he drifted off, a few tears still dripping from his closed eyes. Elrond sighed and turned around, but stopped in surprise when he saw only Glorfindel standing behind him.

"Where have my sons gone", Elrond asked.

"Where do you think, mellon nin", Glorfindel said with a chuckle. "They have certainly taken to that young elf. Almost as strongly as they took to Legolas when they met him."


Malorn jerked awake when the doors to his healing chambers burst open and two figures raced inside in the setting sun of evening. He pushed himself up slightly on shaky arms to see better and quickly recognized the figures were Elladan and Elrohir. They were both breathless and dirty from a seemingly swift ride but with huge smiles on their faces. Malorn opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but before he could get out a word, Elladan grabbed his hand and pressed something small into it. Malorn gaped in shock as he recognized the smooth shell of his seed and felt the presence of the baby tree inside, warm and comforting.

"H…H…How?"

"We went back and found it", Elrohir said. "Your clothes were where we left them and had not been trampled. The seed was there unharmed."

"Wh…Why would you do that f…for me", Malorn asked, tears filling his eyes and streaking his cheeks as he clutched the seed to his heart.

"You lost it protecting our ada", Elladan said, sitting on the bedside with Elrohir. "It was the least we could do to thank you."

"If I gave my life for you a thousand times over it would not make up for what I have already done to you", Malorn argued. "I tried to kill your father, brother, and friend. How can you forgive that so easily?"

"Malorn, you were grieving and fighting lies that had been pressed upon your mind for almost a decade", Elrohir said gently. "You did the only thing you knew to do, but the important thing was that you repented and sought to change. That is the Malorn we see now, not the one who did evil."

"It still seems wrong for you be so kind to me", Malorn murmured, more tears making their way down his face.

"It is not", Elladan sincerely assured him. "The side of you that was hate filled and dangerous died the day you let yourself be captured and chose to end the destructive path you were following. We see a whole new elf now, Malorn. Let yourself see it too and be free from what you were."

Malorn looked away in shame. "I cannot see past the guilt of what I have done. I know I am not who I was, b…but at one time I tried to kill people, Elladan. I feel like a heart that black could never change."

"It was not maliciousness and evil that drove you to do those things", Elladan said, tipping malorn's head to look at him. "It was a deep anguish that did and that hardly makes a person's heart black. Grief does strange things to people's minds, especially elves'. What matters is that you came to yourself, saw the light, and righted your wrongs. That what we all see now, Malorn, and that is what we want to teach you see as well. You are in no way evil, mellon nin."

Elrohir nodded his agreement and Malorn gave a touched smile as he hugged the seed closer to his heart. "Thank you, both. Someday, I know I shall be able to see what you do. And thank you for getting my seed back for me. It means so much."

"You are welcome", the twins said together, pulling him into a gentle hug.

"Well now that we are all back together, how about we let Malorn get some more rest."

The three looked up to see a smiling Elrond in the doorway. The twins nodded and bade Malorn goodnight. Malorn set the seed on the bedside table where he could hear and see it and then lay back down, smiling but with a slight wince as his wounds were aggravated.

"Do they pain you much", Elrond asked, unwrapping Malorn's side to look at it.

"Not overmuch, but a bit, yes."

Elrond nodded, pleased that the infection seemed to be healed and the wound was closing. He got a salve and gently rubbed it on each of Malorn's wounds noticing the pain lines easing on the young elf's face as the salve soothed his hurts.

"Thank you, my lord", Malorn murmured, his eyes drifting shut in the absence of pain.

Elrond smiled down at the young elf. "You are most welcome, Malorn. Sleep well."

Elvish Terms:

Ada – Dad

Penneth – Young one

Mellon Nin – My friend

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