Chapter 4: What goes around…..

It was market day in Formenos, The streets were packed with elves and carriages and booths where you could buy almost everything. Elrond and Celebrian wandered through the crowd and admired the many examples of excellent craftsmanship which were for sale. Elrond had taken Celebrian to the city just to have a day off and to relax. He was looking for some special herbs which were harvested in the hills north of Formenos and he wanted to get as much as possible for they were rare and hard to come by. He had already bought two huge bags and he was rather pleased as he walked next to his wife, it was good getting away from the hospital just for once. Celebrian had bought some rather nice fabric and she was eagerly explaining how she was to sew some new tunics for Elladan and Elrohir. The twins had arrived a month earlier and Elrond had sort of found a new peace of mind. Arwen was lost to them all, she had passed beyond this world and it had caused them great grief but at last she had made her own choice and had lived a good life. Elladan and Elrohir were getting familiarized with the blessed realm and had become rather popular too. No wonder, they were charming and eloquent and enjoyed telling others of their exploits in middle earth.

Elrond knew they had a tendency to exaggerate and not just a wee bit but that was alright, he was just so happy to finally have his family back. The market was huge, and it had gathered elves from all over Eldamar, he saw all sorts of shops there and Celebrian had taken aim for the section reserved for the jewelry smiths. She was thinking of buying something for her father who had arrived with the twins and Elrond had to grin a bit. Rumors said that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn had been seen for days after the arrival, he guessed that they had some catching up to do. The jewelry section of the market was placed on a round square and Celebrian automatically started acting like a toddler in a candy shop. Elrond thought of his purse, it would get a lot lighter before this was over. He had to think of a noldor noble he had known in the first age, the ellon had married an avarin elleth of all things and her name had meant something like "Running deer". After a few years of marriage the husband had confessed to Elrond that he had started to refer to his wife as "Running expenses"

Celebrian found a very nice brooch she was sure her father would just love and Elrond sighed and had to say goodbye to quite a few gold coins. The brooch was made with rubies and moonstones and he had to admit that his wife did have excellent taste, even if it was expensive. They stood there admiring the brooch when a racket was heard coming from one of the archways at the end of the marketplace. Elrond raised an eyebrow and Celebrian sort of giggled, he hadn't done that in a long time, he had gotten some of his good mood back when the twins arrived. They heard someone shouting and Elrond got worried that someone was hurt. He walked closer and saw that a very tall vanyar ellon was standing there wielding a walking cane, he was gesticulating against two noldorin Ellyn who obviously were a couple and it was rather obvious that he didn't like that even a bit. Elrond knew that many of the vanyar were regarding same gender couples as an abomination and that they always sought to prove their own piousness and righteousness by publicly shaming everyone they saw as sinful or flawed.

The couple looked rather pissed off and the vanyar ellon was screaming something about sin, shame and unnatural behavior. He was so angry he was frothing at the mouth and the words were almost impossible to understand since he was screaming more than speaking. There were a lot of other elves there and most were either shocked or amused by the scene, Elrond knew that Formenos was a noldorin city and the noldor had no problems with such relationships, the vanyar lord was obviously there as a guest. Behind him Elrond saw a rather shocked looking vanyar female, she was veiled and wore a very expensive dress but she did look rather demure and nervous. He sighed, this lord obviously were among the worst of the vanyar, the small conclave of elves so goddamn pious they probably couldn't even spend an entire day without at least one visit to the temples.

Two city guards came and dragged the vanyar lord away from the couple and he sort of went ballistic and started screaming insults so bad even Elrond got a bit nervous, was this one just plain insane? He stared at the ellon and wondered if he ought to interfere when he heard a voice from behind. " Lord Elrond? Lady Celebrian? What a pleasant surprise!"

He turned around and saw that it was Maedhros and her son Rûsa. It had been quite a while since he last saw the young ellon and now Rûsa looked way better. He wasn't skinny anymore and looked very healthy. He stood obediently by his mother side and Elrond had to smile, he was a beautiful child and Celebrian sort of melted immediately. Elrond bowed his head. "Lady Maedhros, I am glad to see that you are well"

Maedhros smiled. "Yes, and Rûsa is doing so much better now, he is growing and thriving"

Elrond sort of petted the elfling on the head and Rûsa squirmed a bit, he didn't appreciate too much attention. Celebrian was very fond of elflings and started talking to Rûsa in a very sweet tone and Rûsa sort of blushed and looked down. He was after all an adult fêa in a child's body although not many knew of this. Elrond saw that the guards were about to sort of lead the enraged vanyar lord out of the market place and they walked by the small group. The lord saw Maedhros and stopped, spitting on the ground. "You should not dare to show your face in public you harlot, and absolutely not that ill-begotten offspring of yours. Get a husband and stay at home as a good elleth is supposed to"

Elrond felt that he was getting angry, and Maedhros sort of grew in height, she raised her chin and stared the vanyar straight in the eye. "What I do is none of your business, and my son is absolutely not ill-begotten. He is a blessing, which is more than I can say about certain other elves"

The vanyar sort of scoffed and Elrond could see that he was red in the face and almost trembling, some took their piousness a bit too far. The guards sort of pushed him a bit further and Maedhros sighed. "Lord Helcanar, he is a piece of work for sure. "

Elrond frowned. " I have never heard of him?"

Maedhros nodded. "No wonder, he is the most unpleasant ellon you can imagine. Rather rich and he has some influence but the king has banned him from the court and the temples does not allow him access. He is …..well, hard to describe"

Celebrian tilted her head. "That elleth in the yellow dress, is that his wife?"

Maedhros nodded. "Yes, a very poor creature for sure, she is probably just as pious as him but way more humble."

Elrond saw that the guards returned after having sort of deposited the enraged vanyar in a back alley. He wasn't allowed back into the market place for sure. Maedhros shrugged. "Don't think about that piece of orc-droppings. The weather is fine and the market is such a jolly place."

Celebrian nodded and they started walking again, Maedhros was heading for the area which sold cloth and Celebrian got eager and wanted to show her some very nice gowns she had seen and the two females started chatting eagerly. Elrond walked by Rûsa who was staring at everything with very curious eyes. He could see that the young one wanted to run off and explore but he obeyed his mother, he wasn't stupid and he knew that it was easy to get into trouble in such a huge place with lots of people. They walked by the countless booths when yet again a racket was heard, many shouting voices and the sound of running feet was heard and Elrond sort of ran forth and placed himself in front of the females, just out of instinct. He was shocked when he saw that cause of the noise. It was one of the vanyarin kids who had been placed with foster parents, one of the sons of that very despicable ellon who had used his wife as a broodmare. The young ellon was grinning, running in front of a group of very angry elves and the reason was obvious. He had a basket of eggs and rotten apples and he had sort of peppered several shops with both and now he kept tossing eggs and apples at the rolls of expensive cloth and the shoppers.

He was so swift nobody managed to grasp a hold of him and he laughed as he ran, completely indifferent to the damage he was causing, Elrond saw that a noldorin couple came running at the back of the group, it had to be the foster parents and they were in obvious shock and despair as they tried to make their foster son stop. The youngster ran around a column and collided with an elf and Elrond had to blink. It was that horrible vanyar lord and the impact sort of shoved him into the wall. The youngster let out a yell and threw a handful of eggs at the lord who suddenly had half rotten eggs all over his face and robes. The lord sort of roared with rage and suddenly the youngster got grasped rather brutally and he let out a terrified shriek. Elrond was afraid there would be an infanticide right there and then. The youngster managed to squirm his way out of the grip and Elrond suddenly saw that Rûsa was nowhere to be seen, had he gotten scared and tried to hide somewhere?

The young vanyar had only one way to go, into the open yard and there was a sort of fountain there. It was very pretty with a statue of Ulmo in the middle and someone had left a bucket on the edge of it, probably to refill the water troth by the side of the street. Now the youngster had a straight course towards the fountain and Elrond cringed as the golden haired kid sort of slammed into the edge of the fountain since he was looking behind him to avoid the angry ellon. The youngster did a rather amazing somersault and landed in the fountain with a grand splash. Elrond saw that the rope of the bucket suddenly moved a bit and he did see a small face behind one of the booths, a face with red hair around it. And the rope went into that booth.

The vanyar lord came running, too angry to really see anything except the elfling who had peppered him with eggs and as Elrond watched the rope suddenly got taut and Helcanar stumbled in it and his own legs and fell forward, the bucket flipped over and landed elegantly on his head and soaked the elf thoroughly since it was full of water. Rûsa disappeared and suddenly he stood behind his mother again, looking like innocence incarnate. Elrond had to grin, it was perfectly executed and planned and he realized that Rûsa was very smart and could think fast too. The fosterparents of the youngster dragged him out of the fountain and pulled him off by his ears and Elrond could see that he was about to get the scolding of this age. Helcanar got rid of the bucket and was coughing and swearing and the guards came running and grasped onto him again. "Didn't we tell you to get lost?! If you return we will show you our dungeons, they are quite a sight at this time of the year, plenty of spiders and rats!"

Elrond bit his lower lip not to grin and Celebrian was giggling. Maedhros caressed her son's red locks and smiled. " Oh praise Eru that my son is so well behaved, he would never do something like that"

Elrond scoffed and had to pretend to cough to hide his amusement. Rûsa stood there looking like a tiny angel and Maedhros reached into her purse and pulled out a small bag of candy. "Here darling, you have deserved it"

Rûsa made huge eyes and did attack the candy with zeal and Elrond sort of shook his head and was happy that the little trick had solved the tense situation without more violence. Maedhros hadn't seen that Rûsa had grasped the long rope and pulled it, nor had she seen that he had ran off for a few minutes and Elrond wasn't to tell her. Rüsa did deserve the candy, this could have gotten ugly. There were a lot of elves there who were pissed off because of the damage to their goods and some would probably seek out the foster parents and demand that the damage was paid for in full. Elrond didn't exactly envy them, it was rather obvious that the lack of discipline had ruined that elfling and that the foster parents still had a long way to go before he got anything even resembling good manners.

He and Celebrian spent the rest of the evening with Maedhros and Rûsa and the young elf did behave very well indeed and even if the sugar of the sweets probably had its effect he managed to be the epitome of sweetness. Elrond was tired when they returned to the inn they stayed at and he and Celebrian had been invited to visit Maedhros and her family anytime they felt like it. Celebrian had accepted with glee and it was obvious that she and Maedhros had found a sort of connection, both had suffered by the hands of the enemy and had a lot in common.

They returned home after a few days and Elrond had quite a job storing and sorting out all the herbs and medicine he had bought, there was little work to do so he was happy he had something to do. The only things he had to fix were minor injuries which weren't even a challenge for him. He was a bit surprised when he came to the small hospital after his lunchbreak to find a carriage outside. Most elves would ride or walk, only those with power or riches would use a carriage. This had to be someone important and he took a deep breath and prepared himself. In his experience those were the sort of patients who caused him problems. His assistant met him by the door and Calorno made a grimace and looked as if he had tried to suck the last juice out of a very sour lemon or something. "Elrond, I am warning you. That is…the worst person I have met, in a very long time!"

Elrond frowned and whispered. "Worse that the ellon with the kids?"

Calorno just nodded. "Yes, another vanya, of the pious type"

Elrond sort of cringed, oh Eru, it couldn't be?

He walked by the assistant and entered the waiting room and found that yes, it was Helcanar and he stood by the window, looking rather haughty but Elrond did notice that the ellon was a bit pale and there was sweat on his brow. Elrond didn't like Helcanar even a bit but that didn't matter, if the ellon was ill somehow he had to do his duty and help him. Helcanar tried to look as if he was in control of the entire world but Elrond could see quite a lot of fear in his eyes and he realized that this was something serious. He bowed his head. "Lord Helcanar? What a surprise, what brings you here?"

He remembered that Maedhros had told them that Helcanar had two sons and a daughter and that the sons had left Valmar and joined the wild avarin tribes in the woods of Oromê and his daughter had married a teleri captain and lived somewhere along the coast, way north. He could understand them, with a father like that he too would have wanted to get as far away from him as possible, both physically and in lifestyle.

Helcanar sort of cringed a wee bit, it took the skilled eyes of a healer to see it and Elrond put on his most compassionate face. Luckily he was able to look like compassion incarnate even if he loathed the patient. "Elrond…I…"

Helcanar was a bit hoarse. "I can trust in your discretion yes?"

Elrond nodded. "Healer patient confidentiality yes, I will never speak of my patients and never reveal their problems to anyone"

He gestured towards a chair. "Please, be seated and tell me how I may be of service?"

Helcanar made a sort of groan. "I'd rather not, ah, they say you are the best healer there is"

Elrond sort of guessed that this was something rather delicate, he tilted his head. "Yes, the maiar are of course better"

Helcanar groaned again. "I can't go see them, I can't let anyone know…Oh Eru!"

He sort of bent over and made a grimace of pain and Elrond stared at the ellon with confusion and growing worry. "Lord Helcanar, I am a healer, I have seen everything, believe me. What is the matter?"

Helcanar sort of managed to smile but the smile was a very narrow one and sweat was flowing off him in a steady stream. " I…I spent the entire journey on my knees in the carriage. I…"

He gasped for air. " I have had…a mishap"

Elrond frowned. "A mishap, well, please follow me into the next room and tell me about it"

Helcanar nodded and followed Elrond into the room they used for examinations. Elrond had a suspicion now, the problems was clearly a very painful one and that he didn't want to sit was a tell tale sign. Could the haughty lord be suffering from hemorrhoids? He was probably so up-tight he shat bricks. The room was very clean and white and some found that reassuring, Helcanar got even more pale and he seemed to crumble in front of the healer, his haughty appearance disappeared and now he only looked pitiful and scared. "Swear you won't tell anyone?"

Elrond sighed. "I swear it by Eru, so, what is the matter?"

Helcanar almost sobbed, he bit his lower lip. " I…I have done…I have sinned …Oh Eru forgive me!"

Elrond cocked his head. "Sinned? I fear you have to give me the details here"

The vanyar elf threw Elrond a glance filled with so much shame Elrond realized that Helcanar was a very unhappy person indeed, carrying a mask the whole time and being mortally afraid of anyone seeing through his pious charade. Elrond did remember what someone had told him back in middle earth, those who are most hostile against what they see as sin are usually the ones most drawn to it and afraid of acknowledging such deviant thoughts in their own minds. Helcanar took a deep breath. " I have…something stuck…back there"

Elrond almost laughed, but he managed to hold it in. He remembered that his sons once had solved a problem like that when he was away. It too had been a very haughty and pious person and he too had waited for too long to get help. " Something, could you be a bit more precise?"

Helcanar sobbed again. "It is a…toy!"

Elrond couldn't believe it and yet he had to, he took a deep breath. "Have you gotten your wife to shove something up there and it has gotten stuck? That is serious"

The vanyar shuddered. "Not my wife"

Elrond raised an eyebrow in a manner which had made his sons run for cover when they were young. "A mistress?!"

Helcanar shook his head, he was pale as a sheet. "No….ah…an ellon…a page working at the palace."

Elrond was shocked, not only did this oh so holy ellon cheat on his wife but he did it with an ellon, and not only that. A page was a very young person not yet old enough to serve as a warrior or knight. So this pious vanya who openly attacked gay couples did enjoy the company of very young Ellyn? Oh this was so precious!

Elrond smiled, a very stiff smile. "That is no business of mine, but now I have to examine you, for how long had the toy been stuck?"

Helcanar closed his eyes. "Two days"

Elrond almost gaped. Two days? That was dangerous to say the least and he understood why the ellon looked so distressed. "Right, get your robes off and lay down on the bench over there, face down."

Helcanar cringed and removed his clothes rather slowly, Elrond had to blink a bit. The vanyar ellon had a lot of tattoos in places where they didn't show and he knew that the vanyar saw such things as distasteful and primitive. And he also had bruises which showed Elrond that he did enjoy it a bit rough, and being on the receiving end. " I understand that you are the bottom right? "

Helcanar nodded. " Yes, I am so sorry! I…I can't help it…"

Elrond sighed, "There is nothing wrong with that, but you are cheating on your spouse, haven't she discovered this?"

Helcanar shook his head. "We do not share a room anymore, we have gotten the children she wanted and now she won't accept me in her bed again. She is the perfect wife the way our society sees it, demure and humble and very chaste."

Elrond felt a need to roll his eyes. The belief that such activities were only to be indulged in to procreate had ruined many lives. "I see, so, let us see"

Helcanar was a rather lithe ellon with little muscle and he did look rather gaunt. But Elrond immediately saw that he was badly swollen and the thing was not to be seen. It had to be lodged on the inside and Elrond took a deep breath and braced himself. "You have to tell me what sort of toy we are talking about, is it stuck far in?"

It was actually too precious, the elf who had been a pain in the ass for everybody at the market was now experiencing karma in all its glory. Helcanar gasped as Elrond moved his legs to the side to see better. " It is…like an egg, I don't know how far in it is"

Elrond bit his lower lip, perfect. Nothing to grasp onto and probably stuck very deep too. He just knew that this was gonna be tricky to say the least. "How large is it?"

Helcanar sort of showed Elrond with a hand and the healer cringed, right! The idea of having something that huge shoved up your back side didn't appeal to him in the least, but he guessed it was all about what you were used to. Helcanar moaned. "I haven't been able to…do my business, and my stomach cramps a lot"

Elrond felt a need to smack the skinny bottom hard, to teach the ellon a lesson. " Listen, you have to tell me exactly what happened, and for the love of Eru, please reconsider your values?"

Helcanar just moaned and rolled his eyes. "But…if the other's hear about this…I will lose all respect!"

Elrond got a set of gloves and a canister of a very slick ointment they usually used when they helped delivering elflings. Helcanar saw the gloves and Elrond could see that he moved his lips, probably in prayer. "So, what happened?"

Helcanar closed his eyes, sort of hid his face against the bench. " It was…new! My…friend…and me, we hadn't tried one of those before and he just poured oil on it and …pushed it in"

Elrond frowned. "Without preparing you I recon? "

The vanyar elf nodded slowly. "It felt good at first, but after I…came, it wouldn't move at all"

Elrond cursed under his breath. "Your lover is rather young and inexperienced then?

Helcanar gasped. "Yes, I…I do love him, it isn't his fault. I don't want to lose him, he is the only one I have really loved ever"

Elrond suddenly felt sorry for Helcanar, he hadn't believed that it was possible but now he saw the mental anguish and the horrible stress of constantly having to hide your true self. Helcanar was probably terribly troubled by his own choice of life style and suffered a lot. The attacks and the flaring anger towards those the vanyar saw as deviant were just an attempt to prove that he was nothing like them, to hide his true self, and perhaps also an expression of envy. The healer poured some of the ointment onto his hand and laid the other one on the small of Helcanar's back. "Relax, this is going to be unpleasant but it has to be done."

He saw that the ellon tensed up and started to shiver all over and his pity did grow, this ellon was in fact a prisoner of a society which tried to squeeze everybody into the same little box of conformity and those who didn't fit were immediately seen as misfits. He inserted a finger rather gently and felt the swelling, this was odd. If Helcanar's lover had used oil on the toy it should have slipped back out again rather easily, they were made to do that. The entrance to his body was rather red and the skin looked irritated and Elrond got a suspicion which quickly got stronger. "Tell me, what sort of oil did your lover use?"

Helcanar turned his head and looked confused. "Ah, I am not sure? Does that matter?"

Elrond nodded. "It does, it matters a lot. You shouldn't happen to remember what it smelled like, its color? Anything?"

Helcanar sort of blushed. " Uh, we were in the basement, and he just found a jar and used it. It did smell a bit like…soap and pine-needles?"

Elrond cringed. "Were you in the rooms used for washing perhaps?"

Helcanar looked a bit confused. "Yes? How do you know?"

Elrond smiled, a stiff smile. "Because the stuff he used wasn't oil, it was a concoction normally used to remove grease from cloth. No wonder you are in pain, and no wonder the toy got stuck. It got bone dry once the moisture of the liquid got absorbed by your body. It only stays slick on hard surfaces."

Helcanar blinked, he looked as if he didn't really believe a word Elrond said and yet he did. He let his head fall down. "Oh no, what then?"

Elrond sighed and made a grimace. "There is only one way, and it will hurt. The alternative is surgery and that will be very dangerous so I prefer that we avoid that"

Helcanar sobbed again and he looked like someone who has been thoroughly beaten. "Then do it, please. I cannot bare it any longer, it hurts!"

Elrond nodded and got the syringe they used when they had to administer an enema. He filled it with some very slick lube and injected the whole syringe, it made Helcanar pant and gasp and tears were flowing down his cheeks. It had to be very painful indeed and Elrond did feel some reluctant admiration for the ellon, most others would have been screaming by now. He waited for a few moments before he went over to a cupboard and gathered an instrument they used if a child got stuck in its mother during birth. It was a sort of rounded forceps and they looked rather intimidating so Elrond made sure that Helcanar didn't see them. Normally he would have called for his assistant but he felt that he had to deal with this alone.

He managed to get the forceps into place and then he pushed them forwards until he felt something hard. The forceps were made to fit around the skull of a baby and they did fit rather snuggly around the toy too but he had to wiggle it around a bit to get a grasp and Helcanar was crying now, trembling and sobbing like a child. Elrond patted him on the shoulder. "Now, this is gonna be awkward but I need you to get up onto your knees, and when I tell you to push you have to do that with all you have got, understood?"

Helcanar whimpered but he did obey, at least he was very brave physically. He got up onto his knees with slow movements that didn't disturb the instrument and then Elrond gave him the signal to push. Helcanar did try, in fact he almost tried too hard and Elrond had to ask him to slow down a bit so the toy didn't cause any more damage. He pulled carefully and the thing did move, very slowly and very reluctantly and Helcanar held his hand in front of his mouth not to scream. He was really quite brave and Elrond knew that he could have been a so much happier and more friendly person if he had done some other choices in life.

Finally the toy sort of let go and Elrond pulled it out in one tug, Helcanar let out a keening sound and collapsed onto the bench and Elrond was shocked by the sheer size of the thing. It was wider than his fist. He had pulled objects out of the bottoms of others quite a few times but never anything that wide. Helcanar just laid there gasping for air and Elrond swiftly inserted some healing salve and an ointment which numbed pain, the vanyar elf just laid there, passive and weeping still, very silently. The healer got over to the closets and got a roll of soft absorbing cloth, he presented it to Helcanar who stared at it with red eyes and confusion. "What is that?"

Elrond sighed. "It is a diaper, you will be leaking for a day or two, so use it or risk soiling yourself"

Helcanar whimpered and Elrond helped him redress, he was still sweaty and shaking but he would get better. There had been no permanent damage at least. Helcanar sobbed. "You must think I am a terrible person"

Elrond shook his head. " I think you are a terribly lonely and unhappy person, if I were you I would reconsider my life and make some changes. If you continue this way you will end up being hated by everybody, even those you try to suck up to by being such a jack ass!"

Helcanar whimpered. " I am just so afraid, of…of failing, Everybody has expected so much of me and I…I have tried to live up to them but it haven't felt right"

Elrond put a hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently. "Then do what feels right, follow your heart and don't let those fools dictate you. It isn't what we elves were created for at all, just take a look at the avarin elves, they know how to live, embrace that and you will be so much happier"

Helcanar stared at the floor, still blushing and rather humble. " I will, thank you my lord, I am…very grateful"

Elrond smiled. "Just heed my advice and avoid scenes like that at the market and you will be fine. And remember, make sure to use real lube for the future"

Helcanar blushed like a beet and nodded and then he sort of waddled out of the door, eyes on the floor and his body language one of utter shame. Calorno entered when the vanyar had left, his eyes were huge. "What was wrong with him? Had he been crying?! What did you do to him?!"

Elrond shrugged. "Helped him getting rid of a small problem"

He discretely hid the bowl with the toy so his assistant couldn't see it, that thing would be burned first thing in the morning. Calorno looked shocked still. "Small problem?! Heck, if he had been a female I would have bet that she just had given birth to an elephant. I am no fool Elrond, I just never imagined that a vanyar would know how to have a good time in the bedroom, or even know that there are toys available"

Elrond just shrugged. "Well, maybe not so small, but don't tell anyone of this, I swore to keep it a secret and you are going to be a healer and have to learn how to keep your mouth shut"

Calorno sighed" Fine, alright, I won't tell anyone. But it would have been so wonderful to let people know that this uppity haughty valar worshiping jerk likes to get rammed in the ass"

Elrond sort of sighed. "Believe me, it wouldn't have done anything good, let it rest. Time will show if he has learned"

Two weeks later Elrond and Celebrian did go to visit Maedhros and Rûsa, the elfling had gotten a foal from Celebrimbor after a small mishap which involved the sun and a nap, and were beside himself with joy. He was all over the place eagerly telling Elrond everything the foal had done and how he was to be trained and how much he ate and everything until Maedhros had to tell him to shut it. Celebrian had brought a very nice piece of silk for Maedhros, she wanted something to make a new shawl out of and the ladies were discussing fashion and Elrond didn't really pay attention at all until Maedhros placed her tea cup on the table and grinned. " I bet you haven't heard the latest gossip from Valmar?"

Celebrian tilted her head. "No?"

Maedhros had a pleased expression on her face. "It concerns a certain Vanyar lord, Helcanar"

Elrond suddenly listened again, very intently. "The horrible ellon who caused that scene at the market?"

Maedhros nodded. "The one and same yes, a week ago he just packed his stuff, left his wife and his entire estate and went south towards the forests. They say a very pretty young ellon was travelling with him, seems like he had a few secrets, not so small ones in fact"

Elrond did feel an odd sensation of relief, so Helcanar had managed to gather his courage after all and done the right thing.

Maedhros continued. "The vanyar are in an uproar, he was so devoted to the worship and such a prime example of vanyarin virtue. Guess nobody saw that coming at all"

Celebrian just blinked. "What about his wife?"

Maedhros giggled. "Now, here is the best part, he had been cheating on her with that pretty page, but she had in fact been cheating on him as well, with more than a dozen different ellyn so none of them were as perfect as they tried to fool everybody into believing. I guess the vanyar have more skeletons hidden in their closets than anyone can imagine"

Elrond just nodded, he just felt relieved that at least one poor soul had managed to get out of the closet and into the light and he hoped that Helcanar would face a better life now, free from the chains of the strict unwritten rules he had been choked by his entire life. Sooner or later the vanyar too would have to see the light, he just prayed it would happen soon, before he got more visits like Helcanar. It had been the kind of job he would prefer never to do again.