Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.
Chapter 20: Points of Authority
Gandalf rounded the last bend on the well-trod dirt path that led up to the front gates of Rivendell. The heavy torrential rains earlier that afternoon had slowed his journey back to the elven outpost considerably, all that withstanding; Gandalf was still surprised that his long time friend Elrond was not at the gate to greet him. Surely the guards posted along the main roads would have alerted the Lord of the house to his presence?
As he dismounted from his seat high atop the horse, he did catch a glimpse of Arwen exiting the house and coming toward him, practically at a run. The wizard had known this elleth for her entire life, and he could say with all conviction that he had never seen her look so flustered in all her years.
"Mithrandir! Thank the Valar you have returned, something's happened." Of course it had. Gandalf hadn't been real keen on leaving when he had been called away on business more than a month ago, but when the Head of the Order asks you to go somewhere, you go. With Leila and Anita still trying to adjust to their new lives here, Gandalf had been reluctant to leave the girls in the care of a family who knew very little of the life the twins had left behind. As it was, the sense of foreboding the wizard had when he had left Rivendell turned out to be quite right.
Handing the reigns to the stable hand that had greeted him at the gate, Gandalf took Arwen by the arm and led her back towards the family's large house. "Tell me everything."
"My brother is in a terrible fit. Anita and Prince Legolas have been discovered as lovers." The old wizard sighed at Arwen's words. He had been afraid of this happening. When he had first suggested to Elladan that Legolas be assigned as Anita's guide, he had the clarity of mind to realize this had been one possible ending. The hope had been that, as friends, Legolas could help Ani adjust to her life here and show her that Rivendell, while different from her beloved Tucson, was a wonderful place to live. Gandalf had assumed that Legolas' endless quest to win his father's approval, mixed with Anita's obvious distrust of…well everyone… would keep the two from falling into each other's arms. For once the wizard was wrong, in a most egregious way.
"Thank you my dear, I will straight way seek out Elladan and your father to assist however I can." They parted ways then, and Gandalf went in search of the patriarchal figures in the family. Not that he was hard to find since upon entering the house, the wizard could hear the elf's muffled yells which got louder the closer to Elrond's study he got.
The scene when he entered the study didn't surprise him at all. Elladan was pacing about the room like a caged wild animal, his arms flailing to punctate every yelled syllable, and there was a vein that Gandalf could see throbbing in the elf's right temple. Elrond sat at his desk, ever the picture of calm level headedness, one hand over his mouth…although whether in thoughtfulness or to stifle a laugh the wizard couldn't quite tell. A young page girl was darting out of the room and racing in the direction of the living quarters where the twins dwelt, no doubt to summon Ani to face her retribution.
"Mithrandir, welcome back." Elrond's voice interrupted Ellandan mid-rant to welcome the wizard.
"I see life has not been without excitement in my absence."
"I fail to see the amusement in this old friend." Elladan bit off the word friends as if it were laced with poison, continuing his restless pacing the length of the room. "You knew this would happen did you not?"
"If you are asking me did I conspire to tarnish the good name of this house with a scandal the answer is no. My only agenda was to help your daughter and Thranduil's son find a kindred soul in this world. And may I say that having this conversation with you is rife with irony?"
Before Elladan could respond to the old wizard there was a gentle knock at the door that drew the three men's attention. " You wanted to see me? Oh hey Gandalf." Anita let herself into the study, her hair still damp from her time in the rain, her bangs sticking to her forehead. Gandalf was shocked by the difference in the girl. It wasn't in her appearance, she still looked like the totally human girl he had met near three months ago in Tucson. No the difference was in her attitude. The girl held herself a little taller, there was a sparkle in her eyes, and a genuine smile lighting up her face. Anita looked happy.
The smile that brightened up her face when she entered the room faded when she was met with the hostile atmosphere in the study. Her brows furrowed and she raised both her open hands in a motion of surrender when she saw how her father was glaring at her.
"What?"
"Do not 'what' me young lady." Ani was obviously taken back by her father's anger. She had pissed him off before, really pushed his buttons, but she had never seen him lost control of his temper this way.
"What the hell did I do?"
"Do not stand there and act innocent. Did you really think your little tryst with Legolas would go unnoticed?"
"I have no idea what…"
"I SAW YOU TOGETHER!" Her eyes widened as her father's voice rose, her act of feigned innocence shattering like broken glass around her. The feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach was all the clue Ani needed to understand that her father had seen her and Legolas kissing in the rain earlier that day.
"So?" Everyone in the room saw the way her stance changed. Anita locked her jaw, planted her feet, and squared her shoulders…. Elladan was in for a fight. Gandalf settled into a couch near Elrond's large oaken desk, both prepared to be spectators while the two most stubborn souls they had ever known battled it out.
"Does your insolence, your selfish disdain for the laws of our people know no bounds?"
Ani fired back without a moment's hesitation, "Do you even have the ability to make decisions for yourself or do these rules control every minute of your whole life?"
"The rules are there for your protection."
"What the hell are you protecting me from?"
"Your own immaturity it would appear! You are a noble lady by birth and he is a prince who will soon be crowned king, did you really think these games, these intrigues were appropriate?"
Anita snorted in a most rude manner in response to her father's question. "Of course they weren't appropriate, but they're fun. What's the point in living forever if you don't do anything with it?"
The vein that throbbed along Elladan's temple was becoming more prominent as the argument continued. The old wizard was fast becoming concerned that it may burst and kill the poor elf just from sheer annoyance. To Elladan's credit, he was standing his ground marvelously considering that he had been so far removed from his daughters' lives up to this point; he had no experience in dealing with obstinate teenagers. For the sake of his friend, Gandalf felt it was incumbent that he step in and attempt to settle the argument before it got any worse.
"If I may," The wizard's voice interjected from his spot in the couch, turning two harsh glares from the dueling proponents on him instead, "Perhaps Anita was not fully aware of the ramifications that her actions would have. Perhaps she did not understand the consequences."
"Oh I knew." The girl's pride wouldn't allow her to accept the easy road out by playing stupid. In her own mind she had committed no sin, and wasn't going to let some social more tell her how she needed to live her life. Anita wasn't in the habit of living her life to make other people happy, and dammit if she was going to start now. " And I dare you to try and force me to conform to your stupid laws."
"Child you test the very limits of my patience. Do you think I will not punish you for your blatant disregard for our laws?" Elladan's irritated pacing had finally come to a halt, if only to glare at the young girl across the room from him. Only a few trivial pieces of furniture separated the two opponents as they continued to shout at each other.
"Go for it, you can't scare me. You don't have any power to control what I do with MY life."
"I am your father and you will obey me."
"Father?!" Ani's voice got shrill with indignation, and was followed by a humorless laugh. "How can you even call yourself that? Where I'm from, a father is more than the person who helped conceive a life. A father is there to protect his children, to provide for his children, and more than that to love his children. You weren't ever there for me! You weren't there for my mother, you weren't there for Leila either! Mom taught me how to ride a bike, mom paid the bills, mom was there to calm my nightmares. And when mom was building a business and a life to provide for us, Leila and I took care of each other. Leila was there to help me with my homework, and I was there to defend Lei against school bullies. Not you! Never you! How dare you call yourself a father, you were nothing more than a sperm donor!"
It was everything she had ever wanted to say to him. For years Anita had dreamed of the day when she could unleash such a monologue on this man, dreamed of how she could throw it all in his face. And now that the day had come, now that Ani had finally let all the hatred out of her, the void it left was instantly filled with regret for saying such awful things. They had done their job though, her words barbed with years of pent up malice, had struck Elladan straight in his heart. The elf turned away from his daughter's scrutinizing gaze as her words sunk in. The silence made a single moment feel like a lifetime as Elladan thought over the charges his child had just laid at his feet.
"I was not a father to you in your youth, you are right about that, but I will not allow another moment to lapse in my care for you. What I do, I do to protect you even from yourself. If you do not conform to our ways, even if you continue to stubbornly defy our laws, Legolas will adhere. He is bound to our laws, and as a future king he is responsible for upholding them. Whether by your compliance or his, you two will not see each other again."
Elladan could see the telltale rim of water forming along his daughter's eyes, even as she fought to control the tears. It hurt his heart to do this to her, no parent wants to be the cause of their child's pain, but he knew from experience just how damaging it could be to throw the rules to the wind. She would learn to respect their ways and their laws in time, and after such a time she would thank him for putting an end to her childish behavior here and now, Elladan was sure of it.
"Is it everyone's happiness, or just mine that bothers you so much?"
Pinching the bridge of his nose in utter frustration, Elladan shocked everyone in the room ,himself included by the audacious remark that left his mouth, " Your happiness has nothing to do with your current philandering with the Prince. My gods if only you were more like your sister you would know that."
Even as the words left his mouth Elladan knew what a terrible mistake he had made. Anita recoiled as if the words had physically struck her. A single tear escaped the corner of her eye and slid down her cheek, reflecting a glint of light as she spun away from the three sets of eyes watching her. He had gotten her. For all her wit, Ani had no reply for her father's sharp criticism. Her feet, by their own volition, carried her away from the room as fast as they could carry her. Speeding out of the room her feet created echoed footfalls that did very little to drown out the sound of her father's voice calling her name as she retreated.
"That went well." Elrond watched his granddaughter's form recede from the room at top speed, the sound of her sobs floating back to fill the room.
Elladan ran his fingers through his black hair, " Anita is like an untamable horse. Stubborn and free willed just like her mother was."
"You keep saying that," Elrond said from behind his desk, "but every day I see far more of your spirit in her than her mothers. As it were, I remember having a very similar conversation with you, in this very room, not twenty years ago. And if memory serves me correctly, you did not listen to my forbidding you to see Arlandria, and I assume that you forbidding Anita from seeing Legolas will be of little consequence either."
Elrond was right. Perhaps it was just written in his family's story to seek out forbidden love. Whether Ani understood or even forgave him for what he was trying to do, Elladan was going to circumvent his daughter's destructive behavior before it would do any more damage.
"Perhaps we should see what the young prince has to say in his defense then."
Points of Authority- Linkin Park