Chapter six : Fences and thorns.

Elrond and Celebrian sat in the garden and enjoyed the warm breeze coming in from the sea. They were placed in the garden behind their home and with them was Celebrimbor and his dwarven wife Narvi, he was showing her Eldamar and they had decided to take a stop there and visit Elrond. The healer had some very peaceful days now, his apprentices could run the hospital on their own and his sons did also help out so he could afford taking a day off. There had been nothing to do for a while, well, the things which had to be done had been of no interest to him so he left it to the assistants and his sons.

Celebrimbor was pleasant company and Elrond was very eager to learn more of the medicine of the dwarves, he knew almost naught of their methods and was happy to hear that Narvi gladly would tell him all that she did know. She knew of a couple of very valuable books on the topic and she was sure he could borrow and copy them. That left Elrond in a very good mood indeed and now he and Celebrimbor was enjoying some good wine and discussing the vintage. The couple had arrived the day before and slept in the guestroom and Celebrian was thrilled to have visitors. She was eagerly showing Narvi some new pieces of fabric she had bought and the dwarrowdam was very impressed by both the color and the texture. They had enjoyed a good dinner and Elrond was looking forward to a peaceful evening with stories and relaxation.

Celebrian had just shown Narvi her garden and the two ladies were eagerly chatting away about roses and other flowers and Elrond was contemplating showing Celebrimbor his collection of very rare sculptures made from sea shells. The sea elves were experts at making them and some were rather amazing. He knew that Celebrimbor would appreciate the craftsmanship and technique needed to make these things and he was about to suggest a trip inside when one of the assistants came to the door, obviously embarrassed for interrupting. "My lord, there is a visitor here"

Elrond frowned. "A visitor? Not a patient?"

The assistant shook his head. "No, he is a healer too he says, from Valmar. He is travelling around gathering knowledge and wanted to drop by and see if he can learn something new from you?"

Elrond felt an odd mix of feelings, in his eyes the healers of this realm were hardly healers at all, they had never fixed anything more grievous than a hangnail and knew naught about trauma and the workings of the soul. Maybe this one was an honest exception but he doubted it, a lot. "Is he at the hospital now?"

The assistant nodded, his eyes were flickering from one side to the other and Elrond smelled foul play right away. "Alright, what is it this time?"

The assistant shook his head and made a grimace. "My lord, uh…he is…unpleasant to say the least. I have never seen anyone more arrogant ever!"

Elrond let out a sigh, he should have known it, the peace and tranquility could not have lasted. " If he is a vanya that is not uncommon no"

The assistant sort of cringed. "He isn't, vanya that is. I think he is noldo, or maybe of mixed heritage, hard to know really"

Elrond frowned and Celebrimbor got to his feet. "Do you need any help?"

Elrond took a deep breath of air and steadied himself mentally. "Yes please, the sight of a Fëanorian usually makes even the most arrogant think twice before they go all high and mighty on me. Some think that a mere peredhel shouldn't even been allowed to enter Aman. I will send for you should he be too much of a handful."

Celebrimbor made a grimace, he gestured towards his wife. "Well, some think I am insane or even perverted beyond words for having married a dwarf so you are in good company"

Elrond had to laugh and smiled. "Alright, I will go see this visitor, Celebrian, were are my best robes, the ones we used at that wedding?"

He had a set of very elaborate robes which were so grand they usually left even the ones worn by royalty look cheap. Some rich patient had gifted them to him and he usually never wore them except when he needed to impress someone. Celebrian grinned. "In the blue closet behind the stairs, be careful, there are mothballs in them"

Elrond scooted off to find them and he and the assistant took off, he hoped that this would be a swift chat and then he could return to the pleasant garden and the more welcome visitors.

At the same time some elflings were playing in the park placed in the middle of the small city. It was a very beautiful garden there and some open areas with all sorts of equipment for sports and play and even some tables for pick nick's. At this time of the day the park was almost empty, some Ellyn sat by a table playing chess and an elleth was playing with her toddler in one of the sandboxes. The elflings were at an age which resembled a human five year old to a ten year old and they were running around squealing and having fun the way children does. One of them ran around with a ball and the others tried to take it from him, and when someone managed to get the ball the roles changed. The elflings ran through bushes and over well organized lawns, they even ran through a pond and got soaking wet but they didn't care, this was so much fun and it was a glorious day with hot sun and warm breeze so nobody had any problems with wet clothes. They dried almost immediately anyhow.

The one having the ball now was one of the oldest of the elflings, a lanky kid with long flaxen hair and pale blue eyes, he was grinning like mad and tried to avoid the others by running over the tables and even on top of the stone wall surrounding the park. The wall was wide and very solid and it was no problem running on top of it, at least not for an elf. He quickly approached the gate and shouted to the others who tried to keep up. "You will never catch me, just watch this!"

He was going to jump the gap in the wall, it was perhaps three meters across and a very elaborate cast iron gate filled it. The gate was beautiful and made from thick round bars of iron painted black and it looked like a row of spears turned upward with lilies in between and under the row of lilies there were simple figures depicting some of the valar. It was old but very sturdy and still in perfect condition and the only thing wrong with it was that the hinge used when it swung open had rusted stuck so it hadn't been moved for an age or more. But it didn't matter, for there were plenty more gates and nobody needed to use it anyhow.

The elfling ran towards the gap at full speed and locked his eyes on the other side, he prepared to jump but he didn't notice that a small patch of old leaves lay on top of the rock and the leaves were all very slippery. His foot hit it just as he was about to kick off and the momentum sent him flying. An elf has superior balance to a human being, and is way more agile but even they have a limit. And he was young and inexperienced and so he didn't manage to turn himself right. He fell and the other elflings stopped and stared and then the first screams were heard.

The two Ellyn playing chess looked up in shock and got to their feet, ran over. The elleth had grasped her child and stared with huge eyes and a couple of the elflings had in fact passed out. The two Ellyn stopped and stared, eyes wide and faces pale. The one with the calmest mind took a deep breath and forced himself to think. " We need a healer, fast!"

Two of the elflings took off like horses out of a starting gate, they ran as if they were whipped and didn't need to be told the way for everybody knew where Elrond's hospital was.

Elrond was close to exploding, the valinorean healer was the greatest and most pompous idiot he had ever met and that did say quite a lot. The ellon had presented himself as Inwision of Valmar and he acted as if he was just below Manwë himself in wisdom and power. Elrond had seen a few unattractive elves before, it was extremely rare and most elves did look good even when their personalities were unpleasant but in this one those two traits did tango pretty well together. He was nasty and he did look well…unusual. Elrond didn't doubt that he was of mixed heritage, sometimes mixing two bloodlines can create a superior offspring but this was one example of that genetic effect working in reverse. He was short, had a very odd profile with a protruding lower jaw and a very large nose and his eyes were small and reminded Elrond of a stuffed weasel Glorfindel once had been given as a gift. It had been cross eyed too, and it had shared a ghastly similarity with this ellon. He had hair which looked like old straw the color of just about nothing and the hairband he was wearing only served to make it even more visible. And he was overweight! Elrond had never seen a fat elf before and felt an odd sort of fascination. Not that he was overly large, but even a small belly was uncommon among the fair people.

Inwision was constantly talking, his mouth was open the whole time and he never let Elrond speak at all. He had no respect for the healer's reputation and experience and he was questioning everything Elrond did or said. It was obvious that this was an ellon who believed himself to be a master at the healing arts but in reality a common housewife would know more, and have more practical sense too. Elrond couldn't believe how anyone could be so self-centered and blind, and even more so, ignorant.

The things this so called healer knew were both old fashioned, straight out wrong, and in some cases even dangerous and Elrond wondered if he could find a way to dismiss the guy fast without appearing like some old grouch. He did doubt that Inwision would benefit at all from this visit and the only thing he was getting was a throbbing headache and the need to plug his ears. Inwision kept talking about herbs, about ointments and other treatments and Elrond had in fact seen some of those medicines used before, by vets! Where in the name of Eru had this elf learned those recipes? Inwision bragged about all the elves he had helped over the years, of being an honorable member of the small but very exclusive healers guild of Tirion and he even suggested that he and some of his fellow healers should join Elrond for a trip to the avarin tribes. He bet the primitives had some interesting uses of mushrooms and medicinal herbs.

Elrond knew the avarin elves, they were far from primitive and their knowledge of herbs and other plants were second to none! He got a bit angry too now and found it hard to remain polite. It was obvious that Inwision regarded him as inferior for having some mortal blood and Elrond wondered how he would have acted if he suddenly were face to face with Tuor. Elrond did feel a strong suspicion of how that would have ended, Inwision on the floor with a broken nose and Tuor in a rage! Inwision was not impressed at all by the operating room, the apothecary or the waiting room. Elrond felt a bit hurt, everything was shiny and clean and white and he had only the very best tools there. He supposed that this so called healer would use old pliers and butchers knives if he at all did surgery. Most likely he told his patients to go back home and pray or take some nasty and absolutely worthless pills.

Elrond was about to make a very lame excuse when he heard the sound of running feet and he felt a surge of hope, maybe he would be rescued by a patient? Two elflings came running into the waiting room, eyes wide and faces pale and both were gasping for air. " My lord, you must come quick"

Elrond saw that this was something serious, they both looked as if they were in a state of shock. " What is wrong?"

The two heaved for air. " It is our friend, he has fallen from the wall, onto the gate."

Elrond frowned. "The gate, where?"

The two tried to talk simultaneously. "In the park, there is so much blood, oh please hurry!"

Inwision just grinned. "Oh probably just a scratch, kids make a fuss about even small things you know."

The oldest of the two elflings shook his head. " He is hurt bad my lords, he is…impaled"

Elrond felt a cold shiver run down his spine, impaled? Now that was serious indeed. He grasped his bag and shouted for one of his assistants to join him and Inwision sort of blinked and ran along. " I can help too, I am sure I can do so much better than someone from that barbaric realm"

Elrond just sent Inwision a glare. "Go ahead, just come along but Eru help you if you get in my way"

The two elflings ran like the wind and Elrond had to hold onto his robes and forget all about dignity. The park was not that far from the hospital but it still made him sweat before they got there and they heard screams from afar. It turned out to be an elleth who stood on her knees letting out some rather inhuman sounds. Two Ellyn held her and by their looks they were her husband and perhaps her brother. Elrond saw the gate and then he saw the kid who hung on it and his heart dropped, for a moment he felt dizzy, How in Eru's name was he supposed to do anything at all? The assistant gasped and his eyes were the size of tea cups and Inwision took one glance at the elfling and then he hit the ground, hard. He had passed out like a candle and Elrond was just glad he did. No interruptions and no constant quarrelling.

The boy was conscious, making some awful mewling sounds and Elrond got closer and tried to get an overview of the situation. It wasn't good at all! The cast iron spears were as efficient as real spears when something fell onto them and Elrond felt slightly nauseous. One of the spears appeared to have hit the elfling in his cheek and it had gone through and came out of his mouth. Blood was gushing down his neck but that wasn't the really horrible injury. The lilly shape underneath the top of the spear had entered the neck and from the angle Elrond could see that it was near or even in the neck artery. Trying to pull the elfling off would cause him to bleed out in seconds. But the shape of the spears and the lilies meant that there were backwards facing barbs and Elrond took a deep breath. They couldn't lift him off, they had to cut him loose, but how?

The mother was still wailing and the elfling looked as if he was about to pass out, he did reach the ground with his feet and that had saved him so far, but if he did pass out the iron would slide deeper, there was no time to waste. Elrond took a deep breath and knew that this was gonna be tough, very tough. He turned to the assistant. "Run to my home, Celebrimbor and Narvi is there, explain the situation and tell him we need to cut cast iron, at least two bars the thickness of my thumb. And it has to be done fast, but without much heat, clear?"

The assistant just nodded with his eyes wide open and ran off, his robes like sails behind him. Elrond stared at the small crowd which had assembled. "Someone, grasp the lad and hold him up, if he passes out he may perish."

The young ellon moved from the screaming elleth and grasped the lad, he was shivering and looked ashen grey but didn't flinch from all the blood and Elrond sent him an encouraging smile. "I am Elrond, you must be his uncle?"

The ellon nodded. " Yes, yes I am. My name is Maran, he is Heren."

Elrond stared at the top of the spear, it had probably knocked some teeth out as well, poor poor kid. "Well, you handle this well I must say."

Maran nodded. "I make a living as a butcher, so I am used to blood"

Elrond took a deep breath, that made sense. Maran would be useful. "Listen, I have called for help, we need to cut the two bars holding him to free him, if we pull him off he will bleed to death."

Maran blinked and swallowed. "I see, can you do anything about my sister? She is hysterical"

Elrond did see that yes, the elleth was very hysterical indeed, and almost going into shock. He waved his hand at another ellon present, maybe another relative. "Could you please look into my bag? There is a red jar in it, very small, and in it is some tiny blue pills. Give her two of them"

The ellon nodded and did what Elrond had said and the elleth did swallow the pills. Elrond held the lad's head steady and Maran held the body and now they could only wait, and hope. The lad had lost some blood already and Elrond feared that the loss of blood could prove fatal even now, an elfling doesn't have that much blood after all. A huge crowd had started to gather and the two Ellyn who had been playing chess tried to shoo them off, to no prevail. Elrond felt frustrated, this was the scene of a horrific accident, not some freak show and he was greatly relieved when a small troop of the kings soldiers showed up to disperse the crowd. There was a small amount of warriors stationed in every city and village just in case something happened and some smart head had obviously told them of the situation.

Elrond was starting to despair when they heard running feet and Celebrimbor, Narvi and two more of Elrond's assistants came into view. Celebrimbor carried a small bag with tools but Elrond did doubt that he had anything strong enough to cut through these tough iron bars fast enough. Narvi made some of the elves present just stare and gasp, they had probably never seen a dwarrowdam before and she ignored them completely. Celebrimbor got very pale when he saw the severity of the injuries, he felt the bars very gently and shook his head. "This is excellent iron, almost steel. I have brought the tools I have but I am not sure they are good enough."

Elrond clenched his teeth together. "We cannot use heat, and there can be little vibrations."

The smith nodded and bit his lower lip, Narvi too took a peak and she had a stern expression on her face. "It has to be sawed through, it is the only way!"

Celebrimbor blinked. "Sawed? We don't have a saw hard enough for that?"

Narvi smiled, a somewhat sad smile, she took off her necklace. "This is Mithril, it is way harder than iron and the chain is very thin and can be used as a saw"

Celebrimbor took a deep breath. "It will be ruined dear"

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter, it is just a chain, it can save this lad so go ahead"

Celebrimbor swiftly removed the chain from the necklace and attached a couple of handles to it, then he put the chain around the spear shaped bar just beneath the elflings chin. "Well, here goes, let's see if it is thin and strong enough"

He started pulling the chain back and forth and at first nothing happened, then the sound changed and Narvi let out a small shriek of joy. "It is working, keep going!"

There was little heat created from this, the Mithril did absorb the friction and Celebrimbor did speed up. He was pulling very fast, and it was hard work for he was already sweating. "Hold the bar when I cut through, so he doesn't move!"

Elrond reached out, held the bar and the smith gave one final tug and the chain cut through the last piece of the iron. Elrond found it odd that a chain, from a necklace, could cut through iron but Mithril had some odd properties and was so hard nothing really could destroy it. The iron itself sharpened the links and turned them into the teeth of a saw and Elrond did see that the spear now was free. He could not pull it out just yet and he waved his hand at the assistants. "I need a stretcher, and painkillers and lots of bandages."

They sprang into action and Elrond watched as Celebrimbor prepared the chain for the last bar holding the elfling. It was the crucial one, the potentially lethal one. Elrond did not know how deep into the neck it was nor the exact angle for it could have been bent by the impact and he was sweating. This had to be done so delicately, and he was glad Celebrimbor was there. He himself would never have had the nerve to do this. Narvi was watching with keen eyes and she held some bandages, ready to step in to stem any bleeding. Inwision did wake up, he was laying on the grass and looked cross eyed and he stared at them and frowned. "What are you doing? Just lift him off the gate damn it"

Narvi raised an eyebrow and shook her head, she stepped back a step and swung around as if to see who was talking and her shoe made firm contact with the ellon's head. Inwision was back to dream land and Elrond felt a sudden need to cheer. Narvi had never been afraid of doing what was needed, it was a family trait. Celebrimbor was half way through the second bar when the chain suddenly snapped, with a hard sudden sound and he swore and made a grimace. "Now what? "

Elrond swallowed, indeed now what. "Do you have any other cutting tools?"

Celebrimbor nodded. "Yes, but they will make the bar hot, and cause more vibrations"

Narvi stared at her bandages. «I have an idea, get water, buckets of it."

Some elves ran off to the pond and got back with some water and Narvi wrapped the bandages around the bar above the place where Celebrimbor had been sawing at it. Then she poured water onto the bandages and nodded at her husband. "Go ahead, keep cutting"

She kept dunking the bandages and Celebrimbor found a file and kept working, this was harder and went slower than with the mithril chain but it went forward. The elfling was unconscious and Elrond was trembling, they had to get him off the gate, fast! Narvi had ordered one of the assistants to keep an eye on Inwision and the ellon had simply decided to sit on the so called healer. Finally there was a snapping sound and the bar was cut through. Elrond held his breath, he and Maran lifted the elfling gently and he was free from the fence but not out of the woods by far. The lilly shaped bar was still in his neck and now Elrond did see just how far. It was deep! Oh Eru, it had to have cut the carotid artery, and possible some veins as well, and it could be massive nerve damage, maybe even damage to the spine. He felt ice cold, now this was a true challenge.

He had danced with death before and won, he wouldn't back down this time and that was a promise. They lifted the elfling onto the stretcher and Elrond was shocked to see how much blood the lad had lost already. This was very bad and he started to wonder if he really had a chance of saving this life. They ran towards the hospital and left Inwision where he lay, good riddance.

The moment they entered through the gates Elrond went into action, he got rid of the blood soaked robes and got into clean white ones, he ordered his assistants to remove the elflings clothing very gently and they got him onto a bench on the operating room. Elrond first removed the spear part, it was still protruding from his mouth and it was easy to just pull it out that way. But it had done some serious damage, not only to his cheek but also to the gums and the teeth on that side and Elrond just hoped that the bone wasn't marred. Elves will grow new teeth should they lose some and he was pretty sure that this elfling would get a nice set of new ones in a few weeks if there hadn't been any deeper damage. He sewed the wound in the cheek shut with nice stitches, this wouldn't even leave a scar in a few year's time. The bar in the neck was the thing he dreaded to start working on and yet he had to.

Now he needed his assistants and he gave short orders, the room was eerily silent except from the sound of instruments and his observations. "The tip is next to the neck bones, Eru, that is not good"

He palpated the area gently, the wound was not very open but it would be, they would have to cut the neck open, put a clasp on the artery and then they had a very short time in which to repair the damages. He took a deep breath, he had done similar things before, sometimes with a good result and sometimes with a sad ending. He went to work, opened the neck below the bar and found the artery, everybody knew that this was it. He put the clasp onto it, stopped the blood from flowing to the brain on that side and he sent a quick prayer to the valar before he yanked the bar out. It left the wound with a sickening wet sound and everybody cringed, blood gushed from the wound and he quickly clamped off the veins. Now it was a sewing job, one he had to be very quick at, and extremely accurate. He sewed the artery first, with the thinnest needle and thread he had, dense small stitches worthy of the best embroidery.

Then he started on the veins, of nerves were damaged he could do naught, they would have to heal on their own or not. Luckily the airways were open and unaffected and he had one assistant standing by in case the patient stopped breathing. Elrond worked fast, and under absolute concentration, sweat flowed from his brow but he didn't care, he was whispering healing chants as he went along, sewing and cleaning and joining together torn tissue.

He removed the clamps one by one, making sure there wasn't any veins leaking and when he finally was done he was shaking all over, and he felt like he had been running ten marathons in a row. The lad was still breathing, still alive and they got a needle into his arm and added some fluids to keep the blood pressure up. Now it was a waiting game and Elrond poured as much of his healing energy as he could into the lad. It was out of his hands, it depended on the elfling's will to live now. The family was gathered outside and Elrond removed the bloody clothes before he went outside to tell how it went. He was optimistic but also a realist. The injury had been grizzly, it could turn both ways now.

He heard a racket by the entrance and walked over, so tired he felt like dreaming and it was Celebrimbor and Narvi and they were arguing with that scumbag Inwision. The ellon stood there so angry he looked like a beetroot and his hair was sticking out in every direction. He did obviously not approve of the manner they had left him, and the fact that Elrond had done surgery without him. He was swearing and shouting and making threats and Narvi rolled her eyes and was preparing to roll up her sleeves. Celebrimbor beat her to it, he just sneered and if anyone had seen his grandfather when he had his fits they would have been startled by how alike his grandson and he was at this moment. "Have you any idea of who I am?"

Inwision just frothed at the mouth, he was shaking with anger. "No, and I don't fucking care!"

Celebrimbor smiled, a very nasty smile. "Oh? My grandfather was Curufinwë Feanaro Finwion, and my father Curufin, the kinslayer. I feel like stepping in my father's footsteps right now"

Inwision got a bit pale, he just blinked. "Curufin's son? Ah, Cele…Cele…"

Narvi nodded. " Celebrimbor yes, the forger of the great rings."

Inwision just spun around on his heels and took off and Elrond dared to step forth, he took a deep breath of relief. "Eru, I am so glad you two got rid of that piece of crap"

Celebrimbor smiled. "It was my pleasure, I have never fully accepted what my family did back then but sometimes their reputation comes in handy."

Narvi giggled and Elrond smiled. Celebrimbor bowed his head. "How is he?"

Elrond sighed. "Alive, and that is all I can tell for sure right now. He lost a lot of blood and I just pray he won't get any infections."

Celebrimbor nodded. "The bars were dirty, bird poop, mud, all sorts of stuff. We want to stay until we find out how this is going"

Elrond smiled. "That is very kind of you indeed, I cannot leave this place that much until he is well again and Celebrian will want some company."

Elrond went back inside and laid down for a rest while the assistants and his apprentices cleaned the operating room and kept an eye on the lad. Elrond was very nervous, he had done an excellent job closing up the wounds, there would be no leaking blood vessels anywhere but the danger of infection was great. They kept a keen eye on the elflings temperature the whole time and Elrond felt an odd calm when his assistant came to tell him that the lad had gotten a fever. They managed to get the elfling to swallow medicine made to reduce it and yet it kept rising. Elrond had little hope now, the elfling was too weak to fight an infection like that, had he been human he would have been dead already.

The family was in tears and Elrond was mentally preparing himself for the not very enviable task of telling the assembled elves that their little one had passed away. None of the medicine Elrond had worked, his healing powers were not enough to stop this. It was in the elflings blood and nobody could do much about it. It was then Narvi came to the hospital, carrying a small vial of glass and it contained some very pale white liquid, she just stood there and held it forth. "Inject him with this. I shouldn't let you do it for it is a secret of the dwarves but it will save him"

Elrond took the vial with a frown. He had heard rumors that the dwarves had some sort of medicine capable of fending off any infection imaginable but he had thought it was a mere rumor. She nodded sternly. "Go ahead, do it. But tell nobody"

Elrond did as she ordered, he did inject the elfling with the content of the vial and then they crossed their fingers. That night the fever broke and in the morning the infection was gone. The wound started to heal and Elrond was so relieved he could have cried. He had to claim that his own medicine finally had kicked in and the others believed it but he felt bad since Narvi got no credit for what she had done. That vial had to have been very valuable indeed and he could only hope that she one day would reveal its secrets.

Narvi and Celebrian kept each other busy for the next week, Elrond stayed at the hospital all the time and kept an eye on the patient and the elfling did heal rather well. He woke up and remembered naught and was a bit upset because his friends weren't present but Elrond did calm him down. His mother brought him books and Elladan dropped by and entertained the lad with stories from Imladris. Two weeks later Elrond received a letter from the healer's guild, a certain Inwision had filed a complaint but the leaders had refused to listen to him for, as they said, the ellon in question was of questionable character. But the letter also said that the guild wanted to join Elrond for an expedition into the woods of Oromë to the south, to study the customs of the avarin elves and he could expect four representatives to arrive soon.

Celebrimbor had to laugh when he heard of this, his aunt Maedhros and her son Rûsa was visiting the avarin tribes at the moment, she wanted her son to get used to the life of the forest elves and to get to know his real father and Elrond cringed when he thought of what the sight of some haughty and overbearing old dustbags would trigger of reactions within his aunt. He remembered her mood swings and her fury in battle and knew that if they managed to awaken her wrath somehow they were done for. Maybe this was a good thing, maybe a chance to see the healers guild humiliated? He had surely seen them do things he found absolutely useless more than once and many of their methods couldn't have changed from the days of the awakening. Or rather, they were the sort of healing methods better suited for Angband!

Celebrimbor did mention that his aunt had been very uptight when she left her home this time, and Elrond knew that this meant that her patience was thin, to say the least. He had seen her like that before and had to grin. Yes, if the healers caused problems he would let Maedhros deal with them. She ought to set them straight, in a most spectacular manner.

So he did plan the trip while Heren recovered and the wounds were first red nasty scars, then they got pale and the swelling disappeared and when a month was gone there were just some red marks in the skin and the young one was back on his feet again, He would need some time to recover completely and regain his full strength but otherwise from that he was fine. Elrond had never been that relieved before, it had been a very close call but now his reputation spread even wider than before. The family was beside themselves with gratitude and Elrond had to admit that no other healer there would have been able to do what he had done. Heren would live on and that was in itself the greatest gift possible. Celebrimbor and Narvi left to continue their journey and Elrond was relaxing in his study with a good glass of brandy and an interesting book when his assistant entered, with a wry grin on his face. Elrond was ready to leave for the woods in just two days and wanted some peace and quiet before he met the representatives from the guild and he frowned and stared at the assistant who was sniggering. " What? Spit it out"

The assistant chuckled. "Have you heard the latest news about our former guest Inwision?"

Elrond had to grin. "Un-wise-ion yes, what about him?"

The other ellon giggled. "He is in the halls of Lorien, healing after an accident. Everybody is talking about it back in Tirion"

Elrond tilted his head. "Yes? An accident?"

The ellon bit his lower lip, having a hard time staying serious. " Apparently someone came to him with some …intimate problems, and wanted a cure"

Elrond just raised an eyebrow and the assistant continued. "He decided to use a very old method of curing such maladies so he went to the woods to find a stag."

Elrond scoffed. It was believed that the fresh balls of a stag could cure impotence, it was just bullshit of course. "And?"

The ellon broke out into laughter. "Unfortunately the stag found him first, the dimwit forgot it was the rutting season and the stag thought he was a doe. Needless to say he got more than he bargained for."

Elrond threw his head back and laughed, the mental image made him cringe but it was well deserved. "Oh Un-wise-ion indeed. I do bet that the gardens would be a good place to recuperate after having been robbed of his…virtue…in such a less than considerate manner. Good riddance, maybe he did learn something"

His assistant shook his head. "Allow me to doubt that my lord, you cannot make hair grow on a rock and you cannot make a moron any wiser, that is a law of nature"

Elrond just shook his head and emptied his glass. "True words, I just hope the healers I am to escort will be safe from such a fate"

The assistant just bowed and chuckled and Elrond returned to his book. Two weeks in the woods, well, the woodelves would look after them, what could possibly go wrong?