MC Insanity Meets Middle-Earth

Logic is For Logic, and Illogic is For Tira

"Oh, hello, Ro!" Tira plopped down unexpectedly into the seat beside him and he gave a slight startle, as his thoughts had been elsewhere and he was not prepared for the girl to suddenly be so close to him.

He swallowed a little nervously and managed a smile. "Hello."

"Long time no see, right? Like, seriously. I do not get your father's problem." Tira stated bluntly.

Elrohir blinked at her for a moment, then said slowly, "Well, Ada worries about so many things. Who can really know?" He hedged the question, because he did not want to answer it in any way. Not at all. Not that one.

Tira eyed him dubiously and he wondered if she saw right through his ploy. "Right, Ro. Ada can go stuff a turkey. I'm not a worry."

"Stuff…a turkey?" He asked, frowning. Where did the girl get her notions? No, really? He was quite fascinated. She intrigued him and he genuinely wanted to know, but he didn't know how to ask.

"Yeah, you know. Stuffing a turkey. Not that hard to get, Ro. I've done it lots of times. Every self-respecting baker should know how to do so, after all."

"You are a baker?" Elrohir latched on to the question, for a chance to get to know the girl more.

"Yes, yes, indeed. Although baking and turkeys don't really have much in common, except they both use an oven. But, you know, it's okay. I'll forgive the oversight."

He sat back, frowning slightly. Oversight? Where had the oversight been on his part? He scrambled to re-evaluate his actions and words, trying to figure it out.

"But I don't want to talk about any of that stuff." Tira pulled a face. "For once, your daddy's not around being overbearing. Oooh!" Her face lit up. "Why don't we take advantage of that?"

His heart skipped a beat, torn between strange excitement and an apprehension he did not want to think about.

"Let's runaway to some private place to talk. They can tell stories. I can't hear any embarrassing ones about your brother, therefore I don't want to listen. I do not like being thwarted, after all." She frowned at JRH then shrugged. "Oh well."

Being alone with her…it was everything he wanted and everything he feared. And his fear was winning out over his desire to be near her, to be alone with her. "We'd better not. Ada…" he started, then faltered at the look she turned on him.

"Ada'll what? Ground us? I'd like to see him try!" Then she paused, frowning and tapping a finger against her chin in a way he found adorable. "Well, so he could ground you. But he can't ground me. I'm not his child."

This, he reasoned, was very true.

"But then again," Tira continued, without waiting for him to reply. "I don't want to get you in trouble, either. Sigh." She proceeded to do exactly that. "I suppose we can't. Pity. It's stuffy in here."

He was about to suggest she move away from the fire, but they were not near the fire, so…no, he wouldn't think about that. And he dare not ask her about that, so what popped out instead was, "You do not have a fever, do you?"

She looked at him like he was crazy. "No. So don't give me any tea. I am quite fine, thank you."

Elrohir reasoned that was a good thing, then. Still, he couldn't resist, "You know, it's not so bad. The tea."

Tira snorted. "Can't pull that over on me, Ro. I've had some of it. I know better."

"I don't know, your friend, Lin—"

"Her judgment is not to be trusted, Ro. Come on."

He grinned at her, and after a moment, the smile that had been threatening at her lips won. Elo, he loved her smile. It made him all warm inside; it tickled and tingled, and he loved the feeling.

They were quiet for a few moments, listening to the chatter from the others, the girls trying to drag stories out of his friends, and his friends being less than cooperative with her friends. It was rather amusing to watch, from the outside.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask her a question, she suddenly said, "Well, well. Would you look at that?" She glanced at her wrist, then looked up at him. "Where's your brother with my sister, eh?"

"Your sister?" He queried, confused. "I didn't know you had a sister." He thought back to his conversation with JLyH, but there had been no mention of a sister.

"Raina, Ro. Raina. I only keep teasing your brother all the time about her. How could you not notice?" He shrugged at her, but she just grinned. "They should've been back by now. I do hope your brother is being good."

"Really, now." He eyed her. "What do you think he'd do?"

"Well I'm sure I don't know, Ro." She answered falsely. "I just told him to keep his hands to himself, and he really should. I don't care that Raina is quite the pretty lady."

Feeling indignant for his brother, he shot her a scandalized look. "My brother would be nothing but chivalrous."

Tira shrugged. "All I'm saying is she's pretty, I get it. And they aren't back yet. And he treats her weird."

Elrohir decided it wise not to mention his suspicion about Elladan liking Raina. Not with Tira speaking this way against his brother. "Elladan would not…" he scrambled for the proper word and finally just settled on what she must be thinking, "touch a woman in any untoward fashion."

Before Tira could reply, the door flung open and an energetic warg with a penchant for disobedience came bounding in.

"Ari!" Tira jumped up. Putting her good hand on her hip, she grumbled, "Well, how do you like that? Let's my pet run off while he's all distracted."

Elrohir came to his feet, too. "Tira, he wouldn't—" he started, still trying to defend his brother's honour.

"Oh come on then, Ro. Let's just go see for ourselves, and then it'll be settled." Tira announced, but he could see a traitorous little smile playing about her mouth.

Had she not meant any of the insinuations against his brother's integrity? Had it been only banter, and nothing more? He didn't, after all, like her attacking his twin's character like that. He knew Elladan would never, never, touch a woman like that outside of marriage.

"Fine." He answered, still trying to figure out what kind of game she was on about. "Let's do that. But Elladan wouldn't—"

"Do anything outside of marriage, I know." Tira answered. "But she's too young for that, too. No matter how much he'd want to."

And that one made him choke back a laugh. "So, what, you think he likes her?" He laughed, but inwardly, he wanted a second opinion. He, after all, had had less of a chance to observe the interaction between the two, to observe how his brother interacted with the girl.

"No, I think he loves her, but that's neither here nor there."

He stared at her, trying to determine if she was serious or not. Elladan, in love? His brother had just met the girl. How could he love her already? Then again, Elladan had run away from the girl, and Elladan ran away from nothing but his feelings. Was it really that, though? He'd sensed some major shift, some disturbance, in his brother earlier, but he just…he couldn't see it happening, not that already.

Elladan hadn't healed yet, after all. He was love-shy. His brother had not said the words directly, but Elrohir knew Elladan would all but swear he'd never fall in love again.

Then again, hadn't he still yet to heal? Hadn't he only just met Tira, and he'd felt that spark, that feeling of something different, that feeling of something there? He had…even if he hadn't quite woken himself up to that fact yet.

In his heart, she was his, yes. But he had not wanted to admit that from the moment he saw her, he'd been indelibly attached, taken. He'd been in love.

And it wasn't logical…but then again, neither was she. It didn't make sense, but did love have to make sense? Wasn't love just…love? Could it be explained?

He couldn't focus on all that, because he found himself suddenly longing to hear her voice, so as they walked down the hall, he thought up questions to ask her about herself.

"Tira…" he began uncertainly.

She glanced at him. "Yes, Ro?"

"Where did you acquire your skill with herbs?" There, that seemed an appropriate question; personal, but not too personal.

Tira laughed, a light pretty laugh that made him want to laugh as well. "I didn't spend a lot of time at home…but I was always at my friends' house, and their mother is very into natural remedies. She taught me everything." After a pause, she added, "She is what we call a Naturopathic doctor. Has the training and everything."

"A…nature…"

"Opathic, Ro. Naturopathic. It is drug-free medicine, so no penicillin, vicodin, other things like that."

He stared at her, trying not to show his confusion. Ada was a healer, had taught him quite a bit…but what was penicillin and vicodin?

"You know what? Don't stress yourself over it, Ro." Her voice broke through his thoughts. "They're not drugs you would know. Indeed, they're quite different kinds of drugs than any you would know."

He nodded and, thinking he understood, he said, "And you do not use them." After all, she said her teacher did not use them, right?

"What? Ah, heck no!" Tira exclaimed. "I'm for complementary medicine; that is, blending the use of drugs and natural remedies. After all," she scowled at her bandaged arm, "There is nothing better for broken bones than a good dose of vicodin to make it all go away."

Ro's eyes widened. There was a pill that could make broken bones just go away?

Feeling hopelessly lost and in no small amount of disbelief, he managed to give her a nod as he tried to figure that one out. If nothing else, he figured he could assume from what she said that she was in pain, but before he could ask if she was, she continued, "Speaking of, I could totally use some vicodin now. Hmmm…I guess the closest you can come to that is willow bark? How unexciting."

"I am sorry our medicines are not adequate for you." He finally said, not really sure what he'd gotten himself into or even really sure how to take what she had said. "But if you change your mind, you can have some."

Tira shrugged, eyeing him. She wondered if maybe she'd offended him. "Maybe in a little bit, Ro." She offered, because she hadn't meant to ruffle any feelings and she could really stand for some kind of pain-meds. Running into Raina earlier and bumping her arm into her friend hadn't agreed so very much with the injury.

Which reminded her of where they were going in the first place and why they had left the Hall of Fire and the stories behind. She grinned. "But first, let's go spy on your brother."

"I'm telling you, Tira, he won't—" he started to, once again, defend his twin.

"Do anything, I know. You and him both say so." Tira answered. "But I still—AHA!" she exclaimed in a quiet shout, as though to make sure only he heard it. "Well, Ro, how do you like them apples?"

She pointed and he followed her gaze.

There they were, his brother and that mysterious girl. Standing close, holding hands. He frowned, as he knew the way Tira had taken this; to be honest, though, he didn't know what to think of it. When he focused inward and concentrated on his twin, all he could make out was a swirling jumble of emotions; confusion, excitement, terror, distraction. And he suspected that if this was what he was getting from Elladan, then Elladan himself wasn't sure what to think, that his mind was in an addled mess.

Even as they stood there and he tried to formulate some kind of answer to Tira's insinuation, his jaw dropped when Elladan let go of the girl's hand only to shrug out of his jacket and throw it around the girl's shoulders. And was that just the cool air or was she blushing?

Of course, Tira knew that very likely nothing had or was happening between her friend and the elf, but she enjoyed teasing both Ro and Dan so much, she couldn't pass up the opportunity. "Didn't I tell him!" she grumbled loud enough for the younger twin to hear her.

Elrohir didn't bother to reply. He eyed the two with an uneasy reaction to the feeling sinking into his heart. There was something…well, something about seeing the two of them, and it very suddenly made him antsy. He had the sudden urge to run over there, grab his brother and shake him thoroughly, and demand that his twin tell him what in all of Arda he was thinking or thought he was doing!

After all, it was one thing to tease his brother…but any prospect of it being real terrified him.

When Tira made as if to run over and confront the two, he grabbed her good arm and checked her forward movement. "Wait." He said, wanting to see what they would do, wanting to know what his brother would do as long as Elladan thought they were alone…wanting to know what it was he sensed in his brother and what that something was that kept pressing at him.

"But Ro, I want to know what he thinks he is doing." Tira protested, putting a hand on her hip. In reality, all she wanted was to go over there and make it awkward for Elladan, because making the often unflappable older twin flustered was such good fun.

So do I, Elrohir thought, but did not otherwise reply. He worried his bottom lip and watched as Elladan took the girl's hand again. He couldn't place it -or didn't want to- but there was that something again that struck him about seeing them holding hands, even if it was an innocent one here.

Suddenly, he felt a change in Elladan, and he sucked in a sharp breath, quickly releasing Tira. "Go." He urged, but he worried it was too late, because even as Tira took her opportunity, Elladan's head came up and he turned to meet Elrohir's spying eyes.

Elrohir saw within the depths of his twin's eyes both elation and fear, but only for a split second before the look turned to one of irritation at the grinning Tira making a beeline for him and the girl. Elrohir briefly wondered if he'd done right by letting Tira go, and it only took that second of hesitation before he went after her, trying to make it seem like he was merely curious instead of trying to stop her.

As she got closer, Tira gauged what would be the best thing to say first, and her quick eyes caught the very slight presence of blood on her friend's hand. Her even quicker mind was flying through the many possible replies to this.

"Tsk tsk, Elladan, now didn't I tell you to take care of her? She's a fragile human, you know. Cha, letting her get hurt. No, no, don't deny it. I can see the evidence with my own two eyes."

"Tira," Raina said, her face red with embarrassment, "it was Ari, not Dan."

"Yes, well, didn't I tell you to be careful with him? He is a wild animal you know." Tira immediately changed tack. "Never can be too careful. As for you, you still should have taken better care of her. And you call yourself a healer. Whatever."

Elladan's eyes glittered with irritation and amusement as he silently measured the slight girl up. Taking a calming breath, he responded.

"I am a healer though Ada is infinitely better. It happened so fast, I could not stop the wretched creature from pulling that leash. Not to mention, I have not had the chance to do anything but look at the wound, let alone care for it. Anything else you wish to complain about?"

"Well, while you're asking, yes. Why is it that you have not invented running water? Do you know how tiresome carrying buckets is? Also, is willow bark seriously the strongest pain medicine you can come up with? I say, next time the cook finds mouldy bread, do an experiment with it and create penicillin." Tira took a deep breath, only just beginning. "And really, must you always wear such dull colours? Ever hear of plant-based dyes? Dude, red is the new black. Or something."

"Tira? Is everything alright over here?" Elrohir tried to casually amble up, failing miserably at his attempt to make it all seem unimportant.

"Alright? Alright! No, everything is not alright!"

Ro was slightly taken aback at Tira's outburst. She was grinning away, but her tone indicated ire, and he was extremely confused by the conflicting two.

"What is penicillin?" Dan picked the one thing he didn't understand from her rant.

"All naturally made penicillin is mouldy bread, but not all mouldy bread is penicillin." Tira answered unhelpfully. She didn't particularly care if it was true or not, just that it was confusing.

Turning to Ro, she addressed his question, but did so in Sindarin. "My arm hurts, and I have no vicodin. It's cold, I'm cold, she's cold, and your brother is making a move on my sister! By the way you need to get some brighter colours in your wardrobe too."

Raina just kept looking between her friend and whichever twin she was talking to at the given moment. When Tira started babbling in Elvish, Raina became even more confused, picking up only a handful of words, like my, I, vicodin and sister.

"What are you talking about?" Elladan asked, exasperated.

"What are you talking about?" Tira replied with her own question.

"Can someone fill me in…in English?" Raina piped up.

"Oh, yes hun, sorry. I was just telling them my arm hurt and we were cold." Tira fibbed. No need to have Raina upset at her for goading Elladan.

"What is 'making a move'?" Elrohir asked.

"Shimmy shimmy cocoa puff, shimmy shimmy pow!" Tira answered in her frustrating way. "That is making a move."

The elves stared at her as she busted out into a hip-shaking rhythm.

"Cassandra." Raina sighed, knowing using her friend's proper name would make her settle down, or at least turn her attention away from the elves.

"Keliann." Tira retorted. "What? I was just making a move, sort of like Elladan was doing to you."

Raina narrowed her eyes at Tira's innocent smile.

"Keliann? That is a pretty name." Elladan mistakenly said before Tira was sufficiently out of range.

Drawing herself to her full five feet, Tira shook a finger at Elladan. "Oh no you don't dude, she's far too young to be getting such compliments like that from you."

"He likes my name, Cassie." Raina rolled her eyes. "It's not like he wants to marry me."

"What?" Elladan pulled his hand away from where he'd forgotten it still grasped Raina's, his fingers accidentally brushing against the broken nail.

"Ow!" Raina hissed and was about to suck on the offended digit when Tira grabbed it.

"Tsk, Elladan, how could you let this go untreated? What if her finger got infected. Bah, healer my foot!"

Poor Elrohir was very lost at this point, having been unable to keep up with the constant shift in topics. With a deep sigh he reached out and took Tira by the elbows, pulling her away from the other two.

"How about we go to the infirmary and take care of that nail. You can visit with JLyH and tell her all about the meeting while I deal with this." He offered.

Tira knowing very well this was his way of trying to take control, relented only because she was already imagining the things she could tell JLyH.

"Fine," Tira sighed as if this was putting her terribly out of her way. "I suppose someone needs to bring JLyH up to speed, and since you won't do it that leaves the most responsible of us to the task."

Elladan's eyebrows both shot up, but before he could speak, Tira had grabbed Elrohir's hand and was hauling him along behind her. With a shrug, Raina hid her smile and followed, leaving Elladan by himself.

Not wanting to be left behind, he quickly followed. "Did my ears deceive me, or did she actually say she was responsible?"

Raina, even though she was a bit put out by Tira's teasing, smiled at the elf. "Actually, yes, she can be responsible when she wants to be. You haven't seen the business-minded side of her yet."

"I am not sure I want to." He replied.

Elrohir, on the other hand, was more focused on the fact that Raina kept calling Tira Cassie. He knew it was her name in her language, but since everyone else called her Tira, he was curious.

"Why does she call you Cassie?" He asked, trying again to be casual.

"Why does everyone call you Elrohir?" Tira responded. "It is your name, isn't it?"

"Well, yes." Elrohir said, confused.

"Thus, there is why she calls me Cassie."

He sighed. "That is not what I meant."

"Well, really. One should always say what they mean and mean what they say. If that's not the answer you were looking for then why did you ask it?"

"Do you do this to everyone?"

"No, only people who make it easy. Darn, did I give away a trade secret? Silly me." Tira laughed. "To answer your question, Raina calls me Cassie because that is my real name. I changed it to Tira while I was going to college…er, advanced schooling. The name Tira is an alias."

"Alias for what?"

"You wouldn't understand." Tira shook her head. "Now, come on. I have lots to go tell JLyH about and you need to tend to Raina's finger. Can't have her getting sick and all, no penicillin."

Elrohir sighed and followed the girl on her warpath towards the infirmary, though he knew the way like the back of his hand. He wished he had taken her up on her offer to go find some place for a one on one talk, but it was too late for that now. After what he had seen outside, he was ever more curious about her and about her friend. Elladan's hand on his back kept him going past JLyH's sick-room when Tira veered off, though he did give one quick, longing glance into the room to see Tira clasping her hands together theatrically.

JLyH looked startled as Tira came barrelling into the room, all drama and flash. "What's going on?" She asked.

"Oh, J, it's so terrible! Elladan practically confessed he wants to marry Raina. This is bad. Now, if Ro had said it, to me not her of course, that would be different. But really, I think he only said it cause he feels bad for hurting Raina. Practically ripped her hand off, I tell you! Blood everywhere."

"Ripped her hand off?" JLyH blinked a few times.

"Well, not her hand per se, but it did look painful. And it wasn't really Dan. It was Aragorn. I mean, the warg Aragorn, you know, the third, not the second. Wow, you know, it is so much less exciting when you make me say it that way."

"Aragorn...the warg...ripped Raina's hand off?" JLyH was still trying to catch up.

"Not really, just a fingernail. But Elladan did practically confess his desire to marry the girl. Well, maybe not in so many words. But I can tell these things. I am the awesome O Blue One, after all. Oh, yes, and Elrond wants you to know that we're all getting schedules to keep us out of trouble."

JLyH shook her head. That last dose of tea must have been strong. She'd have to ask Elrohir what he'd done to it.

"So, let me get this straight; Ari, the warg not the ranger, ripped one of Raina's fingernails. Elladan likes Raina? And we're getting schedules?"

"Well, when you put it that way it is so blah. Yes."

"I guess Elrohir was right." JLyH mused, not thinking of who she was talking to.

Tira picked up on the name immediately. Eyes glowing with possible ideas, she leaned close to the girl. "What was Elrohir right about?"

"Oh, he said..." JLyH paused as her eyes turned back to meet Tira's far too interested gaze. "Something," she finished lamely, deciding it might be best not to say what Ro had said.

"Did he? Ro says lots of things. But a something, eh? I want to hear this something. Those are special ones."

"No," JLyH quickly shook her head. "He...uh...it was nothing important." She tried to deflect her friend's interest.

"Oh, okay. Then you can tell me."

"Tira."

"J. L. Y. H." Tira shot back.

Amused, JLyH shook her head, a smile twitching at her lips. "Oh, fine. Must you really know?"

"Yes, I must."

"Oh just that Ro…likes you." JLyH opted to say instead.

Tira eyed her. "Yes, and?"

"And he really likes you."

The redhead sat back, scowling with disgust. "Yeah, I knew that."

"Oh, well. I guess I was useless then." JLyH answered facetiously.

"I'll get it out of you eventually, J. I will. I am the awesome O Blue One. Since Elrond's pronouncement was so humdrum and boring, and Ro talks about so much more awesome things than that…I would know, I just talked with him, and he is my elf…then what Ro said must have been about Dan and Raina. Come clean, JLyH. What was it?"

JLyH sighed. She should have known Tira would not be put off by that. "Maybe it's a secret." She said.

"I like secrets. Tell me."

"Hm." JLyH scrambled for something, anything to distract Tira. She didn't really know why she was refusing to tell the redhead what Ro had said, she just was.

"You do know I will find out eventually. I know everything. Well, except for what you're hiding, I obviously don't know that. But I will."

That's what JLyH was afraid of.