Yes, I know it's been 8 months. No, I'm not apologizing. I told y'all I was only going to update this when I wanted a break from my other stories.
You may want to review the rest of the story, especially the last chapter.
The Wilds, TA 3015—Early Autumn
Alahn was awoken the next morning by the smell of cooking meat, which didn't seem right since Jay didn't know how to use a bow. His face crinkled in confusion as he rolled over to behold the fire, where a plump rabbit was roasting on a spit.
"Good morning, horse master," said a friendly voice off to the side, and Alahn remembered their rescuer from the night before.
"The same to you, elf," Alahn returned, yawning as he sat up.
Storm walked past him to deposit another morsel—a fat bird—next to the fire, patting Firefly and signing something to the black-haired elf on the horse's back as he passed. "I'm not surprised he loves horses," he remarked to Alahn afterward, leaning back against the lone tree they had stopped under. "Did you really take him and run?"
Alahn was confused until he realized the copper-haired elf meant their escape from Rivendell. "How did you know about that?"
Storm nodded toward Jay.
"Oh," Alahn said, and blinked. "As a matter of fact, the running was his idea."
Storm laughed. "Either way, I approve. Rivendell's much too peaceful, don't you think?"
Alahn couldn't argue.
. . . . . .
"So you're on your own, too?" Alahn asked the strange elf as they set off later that morning.
"Not at the moment, but believe me, I know what it's like." Storm gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Your... friends, are they nearby?"
Storm shrugged. "I don't think so, but who knows with them? I'm making a side trip to see how things are up here, you know. Looks pretty good compared to the rest of Middle-Earth."
"Of course it does. You can't get any farther from Mordor."
"Exactly." The elf hopped onto a rock to survey their surroundings, then grinned at Alahn. "Ready to learn a new language?"
"Jay's?"
"Unless you'd rather learn Silvan," Storm said dryly. "Actually, if you want to learn to speak just about anything, then I'm your elf, but I think it would help if you could talk to your travelling companion."
Alahn nodded, still amazed that he might soon be able to speak with Jay.
"Hmm, let's see..." The elf tapped his fingers against his lips. "This is hello or good morning," he said, doing something that vaguely resembled a wave.
Alahn tried to imitate the sign.
Storm did it again. "There you go," he said when Alahn did it properly the second time. "Now say it to him and see if he'll answer."
Alahn went over to Jay, who was reclining on Firefly's back like it was a bed, and whistled. Good morning, he signed when the elf looked at him.
Jay turned his head away.
"I thought that might happen," Storm observed behind Alahn. "He wouldn't talk to Elrond, either."
"What did I do wrong?" Alahn wondered.
"I think he just doesn't expect anyone but me to use it, but who knows? Maybe he'll come around eventually. Tell you what, I'll come with you for a few days and keep teaching you, and maybe he'll pay more attention if you actually say something useful. And don't look all hurt, because so far I think you're the only person he's actually chosen to be around consistently, me included."
Alahn tried to fix his expression, but he still felt rather betrayed.
. . . . . .
"Where were you born, may I ask?" Alahn inquired later when his brain was quite full after a morning of walking and signing. Jay still would not talk to him, but Storm had matter-of-factly pointed out that that might be because Alahn's signs were still not all that intelligible. After all, the human's hands had never needed to make such motions before.
"Greenwood," the elf answered. "Or, as some human apparently decided to call it, Mirkwood. Either way, it's that big forest on the other side of the Misty Mountains."
Alahn started to ask why he had left, but realized he did not want the strange elf to ask him that question, so instead he said, "You are very good with that bow of yours."
"You should've met my sister," Storm told him while signing something to Jay, who was on Firefly as usual. The little elf gave him a funny look and did not answer.
Alahn grinned. "Aha, now he won't talk to you, either!"
"No, it's my fault. I asked him if he missed Rivendell." Storm shrugged. "Should've phrased it differently, I guess, but I'm not sure if he thought it was a stupid question or what."
It made Alahn feel better that this stranger did not always understand Jay, either. "They did not treat him very well there."
The strange elf sighed as he bent down to check something on the ground. "They didn't know what to do with him. Poor Elrond just isn't used to being helpless."
"'Poor Elrond' could have tried harder," Alahn muttered.
Storm shook his head. "I think you're underestimating what he's done," he told the human. "He spent over a year in a human village once, learning from the parents of a human boy who had the same sort of thing going on. Which reminds me, have you ever met someone like Jay?"
Alahn had not, but he'd certainly heard of a few, and he told the elf so. "No one ever knew what to do with them, either, I suppose."
"No... and Elrond and the others had another problem in that, for all we know, Jaylan's the first elf to ever be like this. I've known a lot of elves, and a lot of them were crazy... there was one who cleaned kind of obsessively, for example; if you dropped a berry on the carpet and tried to step on it, he'd tackle you. He was a butler, though, so it worked."
"Sounds like my mother," Alahn mused.
"Can't argue with that," Storm agreed. "He was way too caring and just plain nice for his own good, too. Hmm... I know a blind elf, too, but that's because he got a little too close to a dragon. Apparently even elves can't heal from that."
Alahn stopped abruptly and turned to face the elf. "Blind? But if he is immortal..."
"He doesn't let it stop him. I can't believe he's still alive." Storm laughed and shrugged. "Honestly, I think he has an awful lot of fun just making us chase after him. Maybe he counts as crazy, too, I don't know."
"Jay is not crazy, though," Alahn protested, looking back at his friend, who was combing Firefly's mane and seemed to be paying no attention to them. "Just different." And he was not going to let this definitely-crazy elf convince him otherwise.
Storm held up a finger to stop him. "Ah, but you're taking 'crazy' as a bad thing." He grinned. "But sure, use whatever word you like." He glanced back as Jay's hand twitched, and apparently got something from the movement, because he muttered, "Rude," and stuck his tongue out at the little elf.
Jay's answering sign did seem like an insult.
The stripe-haired elf wandered off then, and Alahn eyed him as he zigzagged from rock to rock and hill to hill. He had that typical elvish grace, which both fascinated and frustrated the human (mainly because Storm did not seem to get tired as they traveled). The revelation that the elf was from Mirkwood did explain why he kept jumping off boulders several times his height, occasionally with a backflip or twist thrown in, probably to show off. He looked different from the Rivendell elves, as well, with a lighter build (or was that only the differences in clothing?) and what Alahn could only describe as a younger face—a slender jaw, large, expressive eyes, and a perpetual grin. Shorter hair, too, he noted. Even Jay's fell well below his shoulders, unlike this elf's. And then there were the three bluish streaks on his face.
Weird.
. . . . . .
"Wolf," said Storm.
Alahn made a sign.
"That's right. Climb."
Alahn made another sign.
Storm nodded. "Bring, or give."
Alahn mimicked handing something to himself.
"Not bad. You learn quickly."
"It would help if Jay would actually respond." Alahn made a face and rested his chin in his hands, watching the small elf whistle to the birds a few feet away—a skill he had picked up from Alahn, it seemed. The human wondered why his friend picked some things up so quickly and apparently couldn't be taught others.
"You could try saying something useful instead of 'Hi' or 'Look, I speak sign language now'," the strange elf suggested dryly. "As you've seen, he usually doesn't respond when I do that, either."
"Huh." Alahn had not thought of that. He whistled to get Jay to look at him; the little elf usually didn't respond to his name. Give water? he signed, pointing to his backpack.
Jay tilted his head, apparently considering him.
Please give water, Alahn repeated.
Jay pointed at the backpack, then at Alahn. Close, he signed.
Storm snorted. "Apparently you should be able to get your own water," he remarked to Alahn.
The human was thrilled. Jay had talked to him!
. . . . . .
"Already?"
"I do have a mission besides babysitting stray adventurers, you know. You'll be fine; you have enough words now for basic conversations. Maybe we'll meet again sometime, though I should warn you, I only come this way every few years."
Alahn was offended; he was beginning to think of their new acquaintance as a friend, but here he was talking about leaving after only a week.
"Sorry," Storm said unapologetically, picking up his bow and hopping to his feet. "Anyway, see you around, human." He signed goodbye to Jay, who kept his eyes on the other elf, but did not respond in kind.
"You're not leaving now?"
Storm chuckled. "I forgot you 'civilized' people always give advance warning. Yes, I'm leaving now, though I guess I could wait until morning if you absolutely won't make it through the night without me." The elves, human, and horse were gathered around a campfire, which Jay was watching in fascination and Firefly was rather wary of.
Alahn wrinkled his nose. "These elves," he remarked to Firefly, who twitched his ear in response.
"This human," Storm said to Jay. "I repeat, goodbye. Hey, if you see any of the rangers in this area, say I said hello... and if you see any other elves with lines painted on their faces, tell them I said to stop following me."
"Got it," said Alahn, wondering if these were the friends Storm had talked about.
Their visitor disappeared into the darkness as quickly as he'd come a week before.