Chapter 14

Eruanna woke up feeling refreshed but still battered and bruised. The healers had kept her back numb ever since she got here, and she was thankful for it.

She yawned and stretched, suddenly froze, and then relaxed again. Legolas was beside her on his bed, eyes glazed in sleep and mouth slightly open. She giggled and smiled lightly. He was quite handsome, she admitted.

She reached out and touched his hair fondly. She liked him very much for his gentleness and kindness towards her. Her fingers slowly traced his cheek, and Legolas smiled slightly in his sleep.

Her own smile faltered. Would she ever see Glorfindel again? Would he come and find her? Did he care? She missed him so badly it physically hurt every time she thought about him. She let out a miserable sigh and crawled out of the bed in the large tunic, going over to the door.

She reached up on her tiptoes and managed to barely reach the doorknob enough to open it. She opened it silently and slipped out into the halls, closing the door behind her. She wanted some fresh air away from the constricting room.

It was early dawn, even the servants weren't up quite yet. She sighed inwardly and wandered, not really caring where she was going, stumbling and tripping through the halls awkwardly.

She finally randomly made it to a large door that she looked up at, mouth slightly open and eyes a little dazed. She reaches out a hand like she was in a dream and reached for the doorknob, opening the door. There was a familiar presence behind the door, and she wanted to see who it was.

The room was black and dark, and she blinked a little sleepily, trying to make out any shapes in the darkness. She suddenly saw a bed, and someone lying in it, breathing even. It reminded her again of Glorfindel, and she swallowed a lump that suddenly rose in her throat. The presence was comforting and she wanted to be nearer to it.

She climbed into the bed and looked at the face that lay there peacefully. It was King Thranduil, she realized belatedly. His platinum-blonde so much like her own seemed to shimmer on the pillow, and she looked at him blankly, mouth open.

She blinked again and lay down next to the Elvenking, feeling a tiny bit comforted by his presence. She clutched his sleep tunic, and as though by some kind of acquired habit or instinct, he rolled over and swept her into his arms, still asleep. She started slightly, but accepted the unconscious snuggle, eyelids drifting shut in sleep.

She may not have been completely comforted, but it would do for now. She could never be fully comforted again without Glorfindel.

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Glorfindel stirred from sleep, waking up with a grimace. A root was digging into his leg, his back was stiff and achy, his head was pounding, and his neck had a crick in it. He sighed and stood slowly, stretching and trying to get the kinks out of his body.

Asfaloth was awake too, prancing eagerly to be going. He smiled slightly and patted his steed's nose, leaping on smoothly and looking towards the rising sun. Then his lips thinned and his eyes hardened.

He was on a mission, and he would find her today. He wouldn't give up. He would go on. He was already tracking the orcs farther into Greenwood.

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Thranduil woke up from his sleep slowly, eyes un-glazing and slowly focusing in front of him. And he started, surprised.

Eruanna was in front of him, eyes closed and sleeping, eyebrows furrowed as though uncomforted. He blinked. She wasn't just in his bed, she was in his arms. She must have sneaked into his room somehow last night and climbed into his bed. How he hadn't woken up immediately he didn't know.

Was his feä already so attached to her that he unconsciously trusted her? When he had felt her presence, he must have taken her into his arms instinctively out of habit. When Legolas was young, he would always come to him in the night as a refuge from his nightmares.

Thranduil stared at the elfling blankly, for once in a long time absolutely baffled. What was it about this little one that made him think about his whole life again? What was it that she did to be so whole and innocent in spite of her obviously so difficult life?

He shook himself and sat up, still clutching her in his arms, staring down at her childish face, reluctant to let her go. There had been so few elflings recently, and he was finding that he was longing to care for a young one again.

Well, as he reasoned with himself, it's not as if she was going anywhere soon, so he would just indulge himself. No one would question him, and her parents- if she had any, which he had still to find out- certainly wouldn't mind if he doted on her a little. And if she didn't have any parents, then he would adopt her as his own. She had a bond with his son anyway, so it wouldn't hurt.

Eruanna suddenly stirred in his grip and her eyelids fluttered open sleepily, eyes hazy. She gave him an unexpected, drowsy smile, reaching up dazedly to touch his face. He smiled back, unable to help himself as her fingers brushed his cheek. She yawned and then woke up fully, stretching.

They both started as his door suddenly flew open, heads flying to see who it was. "Adar, I can't find- ah." Legolas slumped against the door in relief, then hastily closed it behind him and went over to the bed, reaching for Eruanna.

He gripped her tightly. "Eruanna! You gave me a scare when I woke up to find you gone." He scolded slightly, tugging her hair fondly. She cringed and gave him an apologetic look, looking down and playing with her hair sheepishly.

Thranduil chuckled. "So that's where you came from." He teased the elfling amusedly, smoothly getting out of bed. She smiled up at Legolas hesitantly, asking for forgiveness. He smiled back.

"I understand, Díllothel. Just next time tell me." He stressed. She nodded solemnly in promise, and he laughed softly.

"I would have given anything to see Adar's face when he woke up to find you in his bed." He whispered in her ear. Her lips quirked at him in reply.

"I heard that, ion nîn." Thranduil said calmly from his wardrobe. Legolas snickered as Eruanna rolled her eyes at him.

"What do you want to do today, Eruanna?" Legolas asked, lounging on the bed next to her, leaning against the pillows comfortably and ignoring the disapproving look he was getting from his father.

"She will be staying with me today, that's what." Thranduil replied for the little girl. "After you go get her proper clothes." He added, glancing at the elfling.

Legolas sighed. "As you wish, Adar. Come on, Eruanna. That usually means he wants it right away." He grouched, jacking himself up and holding out a hand to her. She blinked at it for a moment, and then slid off of the bed, grasping his hand in hers and looking up at him.

He led her away to get her the necessary clothes, talking the whole way. Only Thranduil saw the look the elfling gave him over her shoulder, and he smirked to himself. She was not very happy with his dictation of her day, but he did not care. He wanted her near, and therefore he would make sure she was.

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Glorfindel came into a clearing and stopped stock still, mouth opening slightly in shock. There was a pile of ashes on one spot, and a feeling of released power still lingered in the area.

Obviously there had been some kind of battle here. The pack he had been tracking had been already disposed of. The pile of ashes were obviously from a funeral pyre, if the splatters of black blood everywhere told the truth.

He strode over to a tree and placed his hand on the bark, opening his mind to the tree to speak to it. The tree stirred.

'Noldor elf. What does one do here?' It asked him, not unkindly.

'Can you tell me what happened here, my friend? I was tracking these orcs across a far distance, but I know not what has happened to them now.' He replied politely. It did not do well to anger them, as we already know.

The tree began to fill his mind with their memories of what happened to the pack, the images rushing across his mind. He suddenly gasped as he saw Eruanna among them. Then came the torturing, and he felt his stomach turn. When she was held over the fire and he saw her back, he staggered away from the tree and fell to his hands and knees, retching.

He stayed there for a moment, shaking. It was the first time he could ever remember becoming sick in such a way, and his throat burned and mouth was filled with the bitter taste of the acidic waste. Then he stood and stumbled back to the tree, placing his hand on its bark for both the renewed connection and support for his weak legs.

More memories filled his mind, and he saw the rest. His mouth opened as her light suddenly shone and blinded the clearing. And then she let out her desperate scream.

He suddenly let out a shout of pain and fell to his knees again, clutching his head in his hands. That voice! The same one that had cried out in his mind while he was still searching for her. He suddenly fell into a memory that was not his, revealed to him by the trees.

"Don't forget what I told you about your brother, dear one. Can you tell me all you remember?"

"Yes, Atta. He is really tall, and has beautiful, kind, bright blue eyes and golden hair that no one else has. He is big and strong and brave, and he will love me very much. He will probably call me 'sweetling' and also 'penneth.' He will also be very protective, right?"

"Yes, mîn yeldë. That is right. Now, show me how you can talk to this tree."

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Eruanna was dressed in a new dress and currently sitting in King Thranduil's lap, like something on display. She had been given a small silver dress with a green shawl to go with it, then taken to the throne room.

And now she was set in his lap while he lazily watched her play with a ring he had given her. She turned it over in her hands, studying it idly and wondering if she could do something creative with it. Legolas had gone out on a patrol after kissing her cheek gently and promising he would be back soon, to her satisfaction.

She may not be completely happy, but she loved Legolas very much, for he was the one to save her and care for her, and he was also the first elf she had met in this new adventure of hers. And her trust in him made her want to see him safe and well.

He was special to her. She likened him to a vision. Dreamy and hazy, but comforting, like a spirit in ones dreams. Beautiful and yet cold. Hard and yet warm. A voice like the music of a twanging bow, and eyes of silver-blue, cool and yet holding warmth. Hair like refined gold, spun into threads of silk. Slivers of sunlight woven into a silk tapestry. In fact, to her he was like a wolf. Lithe, deadly, beautiful, enchanting, mysterious, strong, gentle. Full of contradictions.

She was a little confused, though, about what she thought of the King whose lap she was sitting in. He was so confusing. Yesterday he had been cold and calculating, last night and this morning he had been warm and caring, and right now he was acting very possessive and jealous. She just didn't understand. But yet, she liked him in her own way for what he was.

And she was beginning to form an image in her mind of him. Impossibly tall, like a tower. Strong and stern. Head raised high and a voice like smooth, polished gems. Eyes of leafy green. Commanding and yet caring. Distant and yet vivid. Sharp and slim.

She understood his griefs and pains, and he was always kind to her, if not cooly indulgent, if she wanted to be honest. Every elf that came into the throne room was rather surprised to see the formal, haughty Elvenking watching an elfling play in his lap. Of course, the surprise was quickly hidden in the wake of the freezing glance they got that labeled the elfling as his alone. And never mind the glare the elfling shot at the King when she saw it.

Because Eruanna did not approve of his assumption. She was no ones but one, and that was her brother. She was Glorfindel's, not King Thranduil's. But then, she wasn't about to say anything.

Doubt plagued her mind, and often she thought about it in the hours that passed by slowly. Would Glorfindel come and find her? Would he be able to? Did he want her back? She missed him so much, and wanted to be back with him more than anything.

"Eruanna, come." Thranduil called her to him from where she sat on a cushion on the dais, playing idly with wooden blocks. It had not missed him that she left the dolls alone. She toddled towards him and he picked her up, making her mouth opened in a tiny, unheard yelp of shock. Then she blushed and buried her face into his shoulder, clutching the ring he had given her in her hand.

His mouth quirked as he swept away, gracefully balancing her on his hip. No elves dared let their gaze for linger too long as their King walked though the halls. But some elves who knew the King well were hopeful at this startling change of events. Perhaps the little elfling could unthaw the cold heart of the King a little, and give him another reason to go on in life.

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Glorfindel froze, shock overcoming his mind as well as incredulous disbelief. And all of the puzzle pieces clicked in his mind.

"Son, while you were gone, your mother gave you a little-"

Sister. That was what he had been given. A sister who had been separated from his family in the fall of Gondolin, who was kidnapped by the orcs that had been in the attack and taken to Angband and tortured for more than seven millennia.

Tears suddenly welled in his eyes as he struggled to hold them back. If only he had known! If only he had seen! Did Eruanna know? Was that why she was so clingy to him? It explained so much! It explained why he formed a bond with her so quickly. It explained why he was so overly protective of her.

"Oh Adar, Naneth, I'm sorry." He moaned aloud, head burying into his hands. "If only I would have known. How much grief you must be going through in the halls of Mandos, knowing what has happened..." His voice trailed off.

He sighed, then stood, face setting. There was no time for this! He must find her, fast! "This I promise, by all that I hold dear, that when I find Eruanna, I will keep her safe with me, and she will never leave my sight again." He said firmly, turning back to Asfaloth.

"I thank you, Mellyn nîn." He told the trees gratefully, bowing his head, hand over his heart. The trees waved their branches in reply, pleased. This was their Díllothel's brother. She would be safe with him. She would be happy with him. They would protect their little leafling, and so would this Noldor elf.

Glorfindel suddenly turned again, hearing the sound of footsteps in the trees. Elven footsteps, quiet and soft, heard only by his elven hearing. A troop of wood elves suddenly surrounded him, bowing. He smiled, albeit strained, at the elf at the head of the group, standing in front of him.

"Mae Govannen, lord Glorfindel. What brings you to Greenwood?" Legolas asked him, smiling.

"I have been tracking a pack of orcs across the plains, which I have seen you have already taken care of." He replied wearily, hand slicking through matted hair.

"What made you track them so far from Imladris, my lord?" Legolas replied, confusion in his voice.

Glorfindel's lips thinned. "They took a small elfling. The trees tell me that you know her." He asked hopefully.

Legolas' eyes widened. "She comes from Imladris? Yes, I know Díllothel- Eruanna well." He corrected himself.

Glorfindel gave him a curious glance at the change. "Please, tell me she is well." He begged, face looking a bit panicked.

Legolas blinked, then grimaced. "Her body is healing, but her mind- no one can tell. She often stares at nothing, and her eyes fill with strong emotion that I cannot bear to watch." He whispered the last sentence as an after-thought, head lowering in concern.

Glorfindel felt a small spark of jealously, but carefully brushed it away. "You seem to have taken a liking to her." He said, a small, knowing smile on his face. Legolas looked a bit sheepish.

"For a reason I can't explain, when I picked her up, a bond suddenly formed with her. I don't know why but I feel very protective of her. Like she is a sister of mine." He shrugged. "The King also seemed to be very- interested in her." He added neutrally.

Glorfindel sighed inwardly. That made things quite a bit more complicated. "Please, take me to her." He pleaded quietly. Legolas nodded, then paused.

"Does she come from Imladris?" He asked, sounding almost afraid of knowing the answer.

He sighed. "No. But her story is a long one, and I will explain once we get there." He replied. Legolas nodded and they began to make their way back to the palace. Glorfindel desperately hoped that Eruanna wanted to see him. That she would forgive him for failing her. Now that he knew who she really was, he felt almost physically pained at not being around her and with her.