Part XXVII
Some weeks later
Arwen sighed as her silvery grey mare splashed across the Entwash. Nearly a month and a half had passed since she and her companions had set out from Imladris. They had had an uneventful journey to her grandparents' realm, and there they had stayed for seven days. They had departed from Lorien a little over two weeks previous, but already she missed the peace and golden beauty of the Woods.
The Elf maiden was torn from her ponderings by the sound of clear, Silvan singing. Alya, a scout who had joined the party at Lorien, and her husband, Emerion, had raised their voices in greeting to the trees that now rose to tower above them. The company had skirted Fangorn some days before and the Wood-elves, in particular, had looked with sorrow upon the many charred stumps and leafless branches that stood witness to the Orcs' destruction.
Listening in silence to the Wood-elves' song, Arwen gradually relapsed into thought. The dull brown of the well-trodden road melted into the deep green of the mountain pastures of her home. Unlike the sparse hedges through which her company now rode, the lofty trees of Imladris created groves and provided shade from the sun that sparkled upon the mountain peaks.
And the waterfalls! Arwen's lips turned up in a small smile as she inwardly looked upon the cascades that crashed from the ice-cold mountain rivers into the valley below.
Her mind's eye turned from Imladris' scenery to the young girl that ran tumbling through the tall grass of the meadow, a bruised crown of flowers sitting lop-sided atop her head.
Hundreds of years previous
Arwen stumbled through the waist-high grass, struggling to keep the fleeing lamb within sight. One hand grasped a bunch of weeds, presumably to lure the creature to come within feeding distance.
'Just... stop... running,' the girl gasped, narrowly avoiding tripping over a tussock. 'I... I am trying to bring you food, you silly thing.'
Clearly the lamb was not interested, as it continued its elusive path towards the group of ewes at the opposite end of the pasture.
Arwen ran a few more steps before her foot caught on a concealed root. Collapsing in a heap, she lay still for a moment, catching her breath before attempting to untangle her foot. Staggering back into a standing position, crushed weeds still tightly clenched in her fist, she prepared to continue the chase when a second voice captured her attention.
'You are alright, Arwen?'
Glancing in annoyance towards the four Elves perched on the distance fence, the girl nodded forcefully. 'I am just fine, Elrohir,' she answered before turning back to the pasture before her. The lamb was nowhere in sight. 'I am simply trying to feed the stupid creature.'
Elrohir laughed, jumping off the fence and striding towards her. 'Perhaps the stupid creature is not quite as stupid as it appears, little sister. I, for one, would run if a huge, terrifying spectre such as yourself were to come tearing towards me.'
Gifting her older brother with a scowl, Arwen continued glancing around in search of evidence of the lamb's presence. The quiet sound of Elrohir clearing his throat brought her gaze back to him. He was now standing some ten feet in front of her, arms folded and an eyebrow arched in amusement.
'Look behind you, sister.'
Arwen hesitated for a moment before obeying. There, a yard distant, stood the little animal, docile eyes fixed upon her.
'Ah.'
'Yes,' her brother replied, a grin now brightening his features. 'Ah.'
Deciding to ignore him for the time being, Arwen held out the rather bruised bouquet to the lamb. 'Are you hungry?'
A hand swooped in and plucked the weeds from the girl's before the lamb could take a step forward. 'Not for this, I'll warrant,' Elrohir replied, grimacing at the plants. 'Where did you find these, Arwen?'
Arwen scowled up at her brother. 'Beyond the fence. Under those trees by the creek. Now give them back.'
'And be the one to tell our parents that I allowed you to poison our animals with water hemlock? Please, little sister.'
Arwen's face scrunched up in confusion. 'Water hemlock?'
'It is a highly poisonous plant, both to animals and to people. The shepherds try to ensure that they destroy any patches they find, but they must have missed this one.' Plucking a handful of grass himself, he handed it to his sister. 'Give him this, instead. Then we can go inform Calanon and Durion of your find.'
Despite her rather melancholy mood, Arwen found herself grinning at the memory. Her tracking skills had improved at least slightly since that day int he meadows, but it had still taken some time for her brothers to cease their teasing. Even now, whenever the twins observed her gathering herbs or roots for their father's use, they pretended to check her baskets for toxic plants - water hemlock in particular.
'My lady Arwen?'
Managing to cover the start the unexpected interruption had given her rather impressively, Arwen turned to the speaker. 'Excuse my inattention, Beriadan. I think I was dreaming.'
Beriadan shrugged off the apology. 'We have reached the banks of the Snowbourn and Lord Glorfindel has called a halt for the night. Our scouts went ahead of us and have assured us that we shall have no unwanted visitors.'
Arwen glanced around, realizing that most of the other Elves had already dismounted. Returning her attention to the Elf at her bridle, she accepted his proffered hand and dismounted. 'Thank you, my friend.'
Beriadan inclined his head and turned to lead her horse towards the water. Arwen watched him for a moment, then turned towards Elrond.
'You can stop staring at me like that,' she said accusingly, though a smile softened the words. 'I was just thinking about something.'
Elrond paused, easily seeing the attempt to distract him from his concern for what it was. Deciding to humour his daughter, he nodded his head. 'Of course you were. Just like your eldest brother was 'just thinking' as he sat on the roof, watching Mithrandir's firework display that midsummer's evening so many years ago. Lost in 'just thinking' as he was, the next firework frightened him so badly that he fell off the roof and broke both his leg and his arm.'
Arwen opened her mouth to respond, but a third voice broke in.
'I resent that. I was not frightened, I was just startled. And I would not have broken my arm if... well, if it had not gotten caught beneath me.'
A little earlier
Elrohir watched eagerly as the distant speck that was the company of Elves slowly came into view. Merely an hour before the brothers had crossed the Snowbourn and begun to set up camp when the surrounding trees began to whisper of travelers coming their way - Elven travelers.
The elder twin had been all for riding onwards and meeting them on the road. Elrohir, however, had thought it would be more amusing to lie in wait and surprise the newcomers upon their arrival. In the end, it had taken a wrestling match to settle the question, and Elrohir had come out on top.
Literally and figuratively, Elrohir snicked to himself. Though they were evenly matched for strength and height, Elladan came out the victor of their brotherly scuffles more often than not.
So there they waited. Elladan continued to send him looks every now and then, clearly displeased with the fact that he had not proven victorious this time.
We could be with our father and sister right now, you know, he mentally reminded his brother.
You were not so eager yesterday morning when we set out from the inn, Elrohir replied, lazily flicking a piece of bark into his brother's hair.
The previous morning
'Elladan.'
The resigned tone of the speaker, one dark haired, grey eyed Elf, was resigned. The object of the annoyed words lay curled up in bed a short distance away, fast asleep – or at least putting on a remarkably realistic facade.
'Elladan.'
Elrohir sighed, watching as his slumbering brother hid his head beneath the edge of his cloak. With a muttered phrase about irresponsible, lazy Elves, the younger twin rose to his feet from where he was sitting on the windowseat. Stepping around the pile of luggage he'd already gathered together in the middle of the room, he came to a halt beside his irritating sibling.
'If you do not get up this instant, I shall be forced to reveal to our revered grandmother that you again attempted to hide a battle wound. In comparison to Galadriel's reaction, Glorfindel's shall seem tame.'
Even as the threat left Elrohir's lips, Elladan's eyes flew open. 'I'm awake, brother.'
'As you have been for the past few moments, I wager,' Elrohir retorted. 'Get out of bed before I take it upon myself to roll you out.'
Grudgingly, and muttering several vile threats under his breath, Elladan sat up. As he did so, the dull ache he'd been conscious of since waking increased to a sharp throbbing, and he sent a half-hearted glare towards his twin. 'I'm up.'
It was now the twelfth of June. The twin sons of Elrond had traveled with Eomer and his men to Edoras, but two days earlier they had departed from the horse-lords' city. News of their father and sister's journey had reached them and both were eager to intercept the party as soon as may be. Having reached a small village the evening before, the two had decided to take lodgings for the night at the inn, instead of setting up camp on the plains.
I am clearly the more eager of the two of us, Elrohir thought drearily, taking in the sight of Elladan sitting completely motionless with a dead expression on his face. Deciding the break the silence instead of risking Elladan falling back asleep, Elrohir drew in breath to speak.
'You look as you always do when Adar pours a pint of poppy syrup into you.'
This, at last, drew a reaction. Grey eyes met grey eyes, and a conniving smile touched the lips of the elder.
'Then, so as not to break that delightful image for you, I'll just lie back down and sleep for another day and a half.'
'No, indeed,' Elrohir retorted instantly, leaning down and grabbing his brother's pack from the floor. 'On your feet, brother. It is not my fault you were irresponsible enough to imbibe an excessive amount of that foul beverage known to mortals as ale last night.'
Catching the pack as it was hurled at him, Elladan groaned as the incessant hammering behind his temples increased. He rose slowly to his feet, reluctantly taking the last two slices of buttered bread from the plate his twin held out to him.
'I told Mistress Esme that we wouldn't need more than this for breakfast,' he explained to his brother, gesturing towards the empty plate. 'I still have dried fruit and some of that dreadful cheese from the village market.'
Elladan nodded, wincing as his head protested the movement. The bread, while no longer warm, was fresh, and he found that having something solid in his stomach was not nearly as unpleasant a sensation as he had suspected it would be. 'We should ask one of the boys to ready our horses.'
Elrohir waggled his eyebrows at his twin. 'Long done. Esme sent her eldest out to do so straightaway; the poor beasts have probably been waiting for some time now. If you would hurry up, we could be off within a quarter hour.'
Elladan swiftly swallowed the last bites of bread, deciding to take heed of Elrohir's words. Crossing the room to one of two chairs, he hastily donned the burgundy tunic he'd discarded the evening before, buckled his sword belt, and fastened his cloak about his shoulders. After grabbing his saddlebags in one hand and his pack in the other, he followed Elrohir out the door.
'It is not that I was not eager,' Elladan retorted aloud. 'I was sick.'
'That excuse garners you little sympathy from me, brother,' Elrohir replied with a light laugh. 'Now be quiet, lest you reveal our position to the scouts Glorfindel has surely sent out.'
'It is a little late for that, my lords Peredhil,' a woman's lilting voice called out softly. 'Emerion and I have been sitting here right comfortably for the past five minutes, wondering when you would take notice of us.'
Hiding their surprise admirably, the twins fixed their gazes on the tree from which the voice had come. They watched in consternation as Alya and Emerion stepped into view, casting back the Lorien cloaks that had concealed them from even the twins' eyes.
'Lord Glorfindel sent us to scout the area for danger,' Emerion continued for his wife, giving the twins a good-natured grin. 'It may help to soothe your bruised pride to know that your presences took us by surprise, too. Had we not first come upon your horses in yonder glade and then hear your bickering, we would never have been the wiser.'
The twins remained silent, though they settled identical glares on their Silvan friends.
'We will keep your secret; fear not,' Alya assured them. 'But we had best return to our company, lest they wonder what has become of us.'
Swallowing his pride for the moment, Elrohir ave the couple a kind smile, which to Alya looked more like a sarcastic leer. 'Our thanks, Alya.'
As Emerion prepared to begin their return journey through the trees, his wife called back one more warning. 'The Lady Galadriel has notoriously sharp ears. If you wish your little plan to succeed, I would advise you most respectfully to keep the bickering to the bare minimum.'
Elladan, still blushing at having been taken at unawares, growled promises of death and doom beneath his breath, although these fortunately did not reach the Silvans' ears. A pinecone smacked him on the top of his head, causing the object of his threatening words to switch instantly from Emerion and Alya to the grinning Elrohir.
'Lighten up, brother,' the younger twin chuckled. 'At least it wasn't Glorfindel.'
That brought them to the present time. The company of Arwen had come to a halt some fifty feet beneath the twins' hiding place, and several Elves were already leading the horses to the river bank.
Elladan glanced at Elrohir when he felt his twin's hand on his shoulder. Following his brother's gaze he smiled as he looked down on his younger sister, who was seated on her white palfrey almost directly beneath them.
'Something is wrong,' Elrohir breathed, knowing that they would likely be discovered with moments anyways. 'Why does she not dismount?'
Elladan frowned as he watched his motionless sister. Her eyes gazed sightlessly into the distance, riveted on something only she could see. A small smile touched her lips, but it disappeared even as Elladan watched. Just as he was preparing to climb out of the tree and shake her from whatever odd mood had taken her, Elladan saw one of the younger warriors step towards her.
The ensuing conversation seemed to bring Arwen back to the present, and she dismounted with the Elf's aid. Turning to her visibly concerned father, she gave him a quick smile and a hasty reassurance. Now assured of his sister's well-being, Elladan relaxed a little, his sharp ears easily following the words exchanged between his father and sister. An indignant frown touched his lips when he heard Elrond bring up an event from centuries earlier, one that his family still saw fit to remind him of at times - even when they are not aware that I am within hearing distance, Elladan groused to himself.
Unable to refrain from defending himself, Elladan waited for his father to stop speaking before opening his mouth. 'I resent that. I was not frightened, I was just taken by surprise. And I would not have broken my arm if... well, if it had not gotten caught beneath me.'
TBC...
A/N: Well, not quite a year later, I'm back. You have no idea how many times I've tried writing this chapter. I don't know if it's just that Arwen is insanely hard for me to write or that I wanted a break from this story (because I recently realized it's been seven years since I got the idea for this whole thing). Probably a bit of both. But I'm back and here's hoping I can finish this story before I leave for college!
Please leave a review if you so desire! :)
