Rumia calmed her beating heart as she stood at the entrance of the library. She wanted to go inside and tell Adlanna that she had seen the interaction between her and her brother but the twin's words kept replaying over in her mind causing her to hesitate with each breath. She did not know how she would speak to her, how she would look at her. She was nervous and was back to her shy self; quite the opposite of the way she was when she was talking to the twins earlier on the bridge.
She took a deep breath and opened the door. She did not see Adlanna immediately and sighed in relief thinking that she had decided to skip today. She took the time to look around the library and found Adlanna sitting in the window seal watching the trees sway with a book in her lap. She had a far off look in her eyes and Rumia hated that she interrupted her when she was so deep in thought.
"Excuse me." She said quietly but it was more than enough to get the young elf's attention. Adlanna turned and her eyes changed from distant to excited when she saw the human. A large smile spread across her face and Rumia felt her face flush. She kept forgetting how beautiful the elves were.
"I am happy to see you." Adlanna said with a thick accent but Rumia was surprised about how much progress she had made in such little time.
"You've gotten so much better!" Rumia exclaimed. "How did you do it?"
"My brother," Adlanna said looking down shyly. "He said that I should learn quick or I embarrass them."
Rumia felt her face darken and her smile fell. The room's energy seemed to have shifted as well. It felt awkward and neither one of them knew what to say to the other.
"How about we start the learning?" Adlanna suddenly chirped her chipper smile returning to her face.
"Yes, lets." Rumia said returning the infectious smile.
Xxx
An hour into the lesson Rumia was able to understand some simple sentences that Adlanna was saying to her, childish sentences, but sentences none the less. Rumia felt proud of her self but the urge to mention Calanon was becoming overwhelming the more and more she listened to Adlanna speak.
She kept having thoughts about what he was doing to her behind closed doors. She had never had a female friend before and she did not want her to get hurt. She had heard of abuse happening plenty of times before. Rage taken out on females and children that do not deserve it, it was truly a sickening thing.
"Are you listening?" Adlanna said with a coy smile as she watched Rumia's face change in into a sheepish state. "You have lot on your mind?"
"Yes actually." Rumia said not meeting her eyes. She sighed before she worked up the courage to tell her. "Adlanna, last night I saw you and your brother in the hallway."
She watched as Adlanna's eyes widen in horror before her. The elven maiden's hand went down to grab her own wrist where her brother grabbed her and she let her head fall in embarrassment. "You saw?"
"Yes. I am sorry. I should not have been listening but, I wanted to make sure you were okay." Rumia said looking apologetically at her. "Are you all right?"
"I am fine." Adlanna said with a nod of her head. "It is just that brother does not want me to be hurt."
"Hurt? But is he not the one who was hurting you?" Rumia questioned confused.
"No. I am..." Adlanna paused as she looked for the right words. "To be married into strict family."
The shock set into Rumia and she sat back feeling a little dumfounded.
"Brother did not want me to be punished by my husband's family if they do not like my actions." Adlanna continued.
"I see." Rumia started. "So you do not know how he or his family would react to you?"
"No I do." Adlanna started as she smiled. "We play as children."
"Yet you think that the he will hurt you?"
"Not him, the family."
"So the family is the one who will hurt you." Rumia said slowly as she pieced the puzzle together.
"Yes." Adlanna nodded. "Even as a child they scold me. They told me I do not behave like proper lady. I cannot help it though. It is way I am."
"How does your fiancé feel about the way you act?" Rumia questioned. "And why does he not say anything."
"It is not just me who will be hurt."
The statement made Rumia's heart drop. How could someone's family be that cruel? People were not made to be broken. She could not imagine a family beating someone because they did not act a certain way. Rumia's heart went out not only to Adlanna but to her fiancée as well. What kind of torture did he have to go through growing up? And once he was strong enough to withstand the beatings what kind of emotional abuse did he go through?
She even felt worse that she assumed that Calanon was the one hurting Adlanna when he was just worried for her safety. It was true that he was forceful but perhaps that was just his way of getting through his message.
"Please do not tell anyone, especially brother, what I have told you." Adlanna pleaded with her.
Rumia looked into her eyes and reluctantly she nodded.
"All right I will not say a word."
Xxx
Later Rumia found herself in the stables. The stable hand had allowed her, after much convincing, to help brush the horses. She had never touched a horse before and she found them to be some of the most wondrous beasts that she had ever encountered.
It was also a chance for her to let the news that she had found out about at Adlanna sink in. It gave her a chance to think about what she would say to the twins who would most certainly probe her for information at dinner.
"I was not expecting to see you here." A voice called from behind her.
Rumia turned around and felt her breath hitch when she looked at the tall elf with his Auburn hair. His brow was arched in slight surprise and he had his hands clasped behind his back as if he was holding something.
"OH!" She exclaimed. "It is nice to see you again, my lord."
Calanon let his face relax and he ignored her greeting as he walked over to the horse that was in the stall next to the one she was currently brushing.
"I did not think that they would allow you to be doing such a menial task." He said sarcastically.
"They, my lord?" Questioned Rumia with a raised eyebrow.
"Lord Elladan and Lord Elrohir." He said with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh." She said in realization. "They do not know that I am down here. But I am sure they will know soon enough, I had to beg the stable hand to let me down here in the first place." She said with a chuckle.
Now that she thought about it, her original plan was to help with the chores in any way that she could, in order to pay the debt that she felt that she owed for being allowed to stay in such a wondrous place. However, it seemed that the plan had gone awry. This had been the longest time, save for when they had patrol, that she had been away from the twins and it was the first time that she had done any sort of task.
"You know the never stop talking about you." Calanon's voice suddenly called. "I do not know why. If it were not for your heritage, I would say that you are no different from any other human that has ever stumbled into Imladris, on purpose or on accident."
"I am sorry if that has annoyed you in some way, my lord." Rumia said wanting to be polite but also wanting to leave. She figured if she flattered him he would not notice her sneak away. "I would not want to cause anyone to become frustrated with my presence any more than they already have. Shall I ask them to stop?"
"And entitled you are, aren't you?" Calanon hissed. "You are just going to ask the sons of Lord Elrond to stop and expect them to do as you say? You are either very foolish or very arrogant."
"I am neither, my lord." Rumia hissed back surprising both Calanon and herself. She had not expected to be arguing with him, especially after she found out that he was just protecting his sister, but it seemed that protector or not, he was still an arse.
The two glared at each other for a long while and did not notice when the twins entered the stable.
"Well brother it seems that she coaxes any beast out of its cave does she not?" Elrohirs' teasing voice cut through the air causing Rumia to break her gaze with Calanon.
"It seems she does brother. The tension is so thick I would dare say that my sword would get stuck." Elladan said in his teasing manor as well. "I'm afraid if we leave her anywhere to long even the butterflies will want to attack her."
"You may be right brother." Elrohir said as he watched Rumia walk over to him with a false scowl etched on her face.
"And now it seems we made her angry. Perhaps we shall make it up by inviting her to a late lunch with us."
At the invitation all anger that Rumia felt seemed to dissipate and the brothers did not need a verbal reply to not know that her answer was a yes.
"We hope that you do not mind that we take her away, seeing that you were both so deep in conversation." Elrohir said with a smirk as he looked at Calanon.
The Auburn haired elf seemed to hesitate for a moment and clenched his fist before he reclasped his hands behind his back and shook his head. "Not at all my lords. I was just leaving actually." With that Calanon made his way out of the stable area.
"Do you really have to make everyone angry?" Questioned Elladan with a raised eyebrow.
Rumia narrowed her gaze at him, "I swear it is not my fault. I was being as polite, as it is expected of me and then he became angry when he said the you both talk about me. I believe it was misplaced anger."
"Whatever you say." Elrohir said as he finished saddling two horses.
"Why are you doing that?" Rumia questioned. "I thought we were going to eat lunch."
"We are." Elladan said simply.
"Then why..?"
"We are having a picnic." Elrohir said.
Elrohir went to stand in front of a white horse and Elladan went to stand in front of a brown.
"Now who do you wish to ride with?" They questioned simultaneously.
Rumia looked them both over. They both looked extremely handsome as she thought they always did. She did not know which one to choose so she chose the easiest answer.
"Both."