Disclaimer: Same as on the front.

:::exhales::: ok. Between posting this on this site and DTR I've gotten enough confidence to continue it.

Thanks to all the pod sisters who reviewed! :::huggles:::

Rettaw: :::sniffle, sniffle::: I seriously almost cried when I read your review. But don't think that I'm angry with you or anything. I did ask for constructive criticism, didn't I? Anyways, I found out the twin thing from a Tolkein website so assume it's true. I also assume that that since the elves are the most intelligent race in ME and since Elrond is one of the most intelligent elves, that he would be pretty smart and by the age of 2 or 3 his brain had developed enough to understand the word "miles". And I like the word "miles" instead of "leagues" anyway. : ) Doesn't the word "leagues" denote depth, not distance? Bout the barred crib, I suppose you're right. :::shrug::: No they're not alone on the beach and daddy is not forgotten. I'm getting to that, keep your shorts on. ; )

Ch-2

THE GLOWING SEASHELL (Sorry for really dumb random title names, they'll get better.)

The next few years of his life passed in much the same way: the boys woke early and ran gleefully around the house until Elwing managed to herd them into Earendil's study for lessons.

His father's study was small and crowded. A small oak desk sat in the corner with a tall wood chair behind it. Elwing had placed two smaller chairs in front of it for her young pupils. On the walls to the left and right of the desk were shelves that reached to the ceiling, stuffed to the gills with books. There was a little ladder Elrond was fond of climbing to get to the books at the top, and when he found a good one, he preferred to stay up there to read it, much to Elwing's dismay and horror. On this day he was doing just that: sitting on the ladder high above the room leafing through a rather detailed book about birds.

"Wow."

Elros's exclamation from below turned Elrond's gaze downward. His brother looked like a seagull from where he sat. "What?" asked Elrond.

Elros said nothing because he was still staring, as he had been for hours, at the wall opposite the desk. It was covered from roof to floor in maps of all shapes sizes and colors. Elros was quite fond of studying these and could stand, perfectly still for hours just looking at them in wide-eyed amazement.

"What?" Elrond repeated.

Elros tore his glance away from the collage and up at Elrond. "Can you find me any books on boats or sea travel up there?"

Elrond slowly closed his book on birds and placed in on the shelf. Turning around, he browsed the titles in front of him: Great Ents, The Trees of Greenwood, Tales of the Maiar. Elrond shook his head. Stretching a foot out, he pushed off the shelf below him, sending the ladder flying. He whizzed across the room and crashed against the wall on the end of the ladder's tracks. Elrond surveyed the new titles: Ship Life: A Sailor's Tale. Ah ha! Elrond removed the book from its shelf. "Here's one," he called to Elros.

Elros crossed the room and stood underneath his brother. "What does it look like? Does it have a lot of words in it?"

Elrond absently flipped through the book, leaning that it was mostly diagrams and drawings. "More pictures than words," said Elrond and tossed the book to the ground. It landed with a loud thunk.

Elros ran to it and joyfully picked it up. "Thanks," he called up.

"Don't mention it," Elrond replied and sent the ladder flying back to his previous spot and his bird book. Elros sat down in a corner and flipped through his brother's discovery. He didn't get far, however, because Elwing, who had heard the fall of the book, stuck her head into the room, a concerned look crossing her face. "Is everything all right in here?" she asked Elros.

He nodded in reply and continued to flip through his book.

"Where's your brother?" she continued.

Elros pointed up to Elrond, who instantly knew that he was about to be forced out of his quiet reading perch. "Elrond!" cried Elwing. "Get yourself down from there this minute. You know it's dangerous to sit up there!" She stormed across the room to the desk and sat down. "Besides, it's time for you to do your arithmetic. You haven't done any today."

Elrond gulped. He disliked arithmetic more than anything in the world. For some reason, the numbers got all mixed up in his head. "Please, mama, I did arithmetic yesterday," he pleaded.

"You need to do it every day so you get better at it," she replied. "Now get down here."

With a sigh, Elrond reluctantly placed his book back on the shelf and climbed down the ladder. He shuffled across the room and slumped in one of the small chairs. Elwing placed a made-up worksheet and a fresh quill before her son. "There you go," she said. "Take all the time you need."

He slowly picked up the quill and stared at the page. To anybody else it would have been simple addition, but to Elrond it was pure torture. For any numbers that added up to anything over 10, Elrond had to use his fingers for assistance. A half-an-hour had gone by and Elrond was only on problem 15 out of 30. Finally he heard Elros stir in the corner.

"Please mother," Elros said, "let me just finish the problems for him so that we might be able to go outside sometime this age." Elrond's brow reddened and he clenched his teeth.

"Hush," Elwing replied. "Before I make you read to me." Elros instantly crouched back into his corner. Elros had a way with numbers and Elrond much rather preferred words. At last, after another half-an-hour, Elrond had fought his way through all thirty problems and answered enough correctly to please his mother.

"All right," she said, "let's get a little fresh air, shall we?"

Both boys cheered and raced to the back door. The twins had acquired quite an affection for the sea and the strange things it deposited in their background. They looked forward to this time of day and would sometimes race carelessly through lessons in a vain attempt to make it come sooner. All in all, Elwing's twins were an energetic pair and the hours of staring at the sea proved therapeutic for her nerves.

She unhitched the door and the children ran out, happy to amuse themselves among the waves. Elwing sat down in her usual sandy spot, but in a few minutes she stood and went to her sons. Immediately, both boys meet their mother on the shoreline.

"But mother," cried Elros, "surely it isn't time to go in yet? We just got out here."

Elwing smiled. "No, child, we are not going inside yet. I just wish to take a walk along the shoreline." She lifted her left foot, removed the sandal from it, then did likewise with the right one. "I'll be back in a little while. Don't go out of sight of each other." She turned and strolled down the beach, the wind billowing her hair behind her.

Elrond stared after her for a moment, then was distracted by the splashing of his brother in the wake beside him. Elros stood with his legs a foot apart and his arms akimbo, staring out into the wide ocean. "3 miles off the starboard bow," he cried, pointing to the right. "Hold 'er steady men!"

"What are you doing?" asked Elrond.

"Pretending I'm a mariner, like daddy." Elros replied.

"Daddy is a mariner?"

Elros turned abruptly and gave Elrond a cold stare. "Of course he is," Elros snapped matter-of-factly. "You don't even know what your own father does?"

"I've never seen him."

"Yes you have. You just don't remember."

"Well to me that's never seeing." Elrond said softly.

Elros shrugged and went back to his sailor's game, one that did not particularly interest Elrond. He decided to follow his mother's idea and take a walk. He set out in the opposite direction from her, the cool water washing over his feet.

His father. Elrond's thoughts traveled to him and the little he remembered. Now that he thought about it, he did remember a boat, a huge one. He remembered the gleaming white deck and the face of the man holding him- a stern, sharp face, one that had seen much. His father's long hair sailed in the breeze as Elrond looked up into a pair of sad eyes. Earendil laid a kiss on Elrond's head and handed him back to Elwing. After that Elrond could remember no more.

The beach was nice that day. The wind was blowing in such a way that there was no way to escape its playful breeze as it hit Elrond's face. He placed his foot on the ground only to discover something under his foot. Looking down at his water-covered toes, the sea peeled away revealing bare sand. Elrond lifted his foot and picked up the thing.

It was a perfect white seashell, without a crack in it at all. He lightly touched its smooth surface, then turned it over. What he found astounded him.

Instead of a white inside, the seashell had what seemed to be an iridescent lining. Elrond moved it slightly to the left and it shone red; slightly to the right and it shone blue. He moved it around in a circle and it displayed all colors in a rainbow spectrum. What beautiful fish had lived in this? He felt the inside and it was slippery.

Before long, Elrond's ears picked up the unmistakable sound of water splashing behind him. "Whatcha got there?" asked Elros.

"A shell."

"Let me see." Elros planted his chin on Elrond's shoulder. Elrond showed him how it could reflect different colors when it was looked at from different directions. "Wow," Elros breathed. "I want it!"

"Well I found it," said Elrond, turning to face his brother.

"But I want it."

"Well too bad, 'cause I."

Elrond was interrupted by Elros's fist meeting his nose. He fell over backwards into the water, still clutching the shell tightly. Elros pinned his brother to the sand and frantically reached for the shell. A wave crashed on the shore covering Elrond's face with salty brine, sweeping it into his mouth and nose. He coughed at the putrid taste and tried to push his brother off of him. Elros meanwhile had a tight grip on his brother's hand and was trying with all his might to pry Elrond's clenched fingers open. He had barely pulled open one finger when a pair of strong arms tore him off of Elrond's body.

"What is the meaning of this?" Elwing cried angrily, dropping Elros in the sand.

Elrond sat up. "I found a pretty seashell and Elros tried to take it from me."

"I wanted it!"

"I saw it first!"

"Give me the shell!" demanded Elwing, stretching out her palm. Elrond dropped the shell in her hand. She glanced at it for a moment, then threw her arm forward and tossed it into the sea. "There," she declared. "Now no one has it."

"Mom!" exclaimed Elros. "I can't believe you did that! Did you see how beautiful that thing was?"

Elwing's eyes narrowed as she stared at her son. "Nothing is worth fighting your brother for, do you understand me?"

Elros fell silent and nodded his head in shame.

"Now help him up."

Elros offered his hand and Elrond took it, hoisting himself into a standing position once more.

"I think it's time we went inside." Said Elwing, turning to walk up the beach. The boys followed her, not speaking or looking at each other. The saltwater taste still burned Elrond's throat.

Inside, Elrond changed to a dry pair of leggings and tunic. He pulled out his spoiled braids and brushed his long dark hair in front of the mirror. Elros's blow had actually missed Elrond's nose and hit his cheek, and he discovered a small black semicircle below his left eye. He still wondered what had made his brother hit him. Elrond did not want to be mad at Elros and resolved to make up with him as soon as possible.

Dinner that night was quiet, and as soon as Elros was finished, he hopped from the table, retrieved his sailor's book from the study and sat down in the corner to read it. Then did not seem to be a good time for apologies, as Elros's furrowed brow indicated that he was still angry about being chastised by mother. Instead, Elrond decided to find reading material of his own, and ventured into the study.

The room was dark, the moon shining dimly through the window. Elrond softly closed the door behind him. Perhaps it's a good idea to write down the names of the books that I like so that I can find them when I want to read them again later, he thought. He grabbed a piece of parchment from the desk, but there were no quills in sight. Now where did mother keep the quills? He went to the other side of the desk and pulled open the drawer in the middle.

Without warning, blinding light escaped from the open drawer. Elrond threw himself back on the chair and shielded his eyes. The whole room blazed brighter than day with a white light. Squinting, Elrond looked into the drawer.

The source of the light was a round white thing, the only thing in the drawer. It gleamed and sparkled brightly, like a diamond, only more brilliant. Elrond quickly shut the drawer, retuning the room to its previous dusk.

He sat still for a moment just staring at the drawer. What in the world was that? And why did mom keep it in a drawer by itself? Finally an answer clicked in Elrond's head. It's one of those glowing seashells! She has one! And hers is even better than the one I found!

He couldn't wait to inform Elros of his discovery, but he knew his brother was still mad at him. For an hour he prattled around the room looking at books but nor really getting into any of them. His mind kept wandering back to that drawer. He resisted the temptation to open it again, for he feared his mother might see the light and realize that he had found her shell. Finally, Elwing opened the door and told Elrond it was time for bed.

Elrond ran to his room and quickly changed into his nightclothes. He hopped into bed and awaited his mother's goodnight kiss. Elros was already lying silent in his bed across the room and Elrond sincerely hoped he wasn't asleep yet. The door creaked and Elwing entered the room, standing over Elrond's bed.

"Goodnight, my Peredhil," she said, reaching down and lightly kissing his brow. "Tomorrow we are going into town so I want you to get a good night's sleep. There are people I need to see about. strange occurrences."

"Ok." Elrond replied. "Goodnight, mother."

She smiled and left the room. When Elrond heard the door click shut, he sat bolt upright. "Elros!" he cried in a whisper. "Are you still awake?"

"Yes," came the cold reply.

"Guess what I found?"

"What."

"Momma has a seashell, just like the one I found today?"

Elros sat up in his bed. "Really?" He asked.

"Yeah," said Elrond. "Except this one shines by itself. I found it when I was looking in the desk drawer for a quill."

"I wanna see it!" Elros said.

"Of course. I'll show it to you tomorrow."

"Ok."

Elrond lay back down on his bed, snuggling up against his pillow.

"Hey Elrond." Said Elros.

"Yeah."

"I'm really sorry for hitting you earlier."

"It's ok." Elrond smiled. He opened his eyes to watch the sea out the big window in his room. The black waves bounced rhythmically under a pure white moon. Their soft bobbing eventually drifted Elrond off to sleep.

:::whew::: Is this story boring anyone? I hope not. I'll cut more to the chase in the next chapter (ie things start to really get rolling. aka: third kinslaying) But now, since it's 2:11 AM, I really need some sleep. Cheers.

~TPM~ :::huggles her little Elrond and Elros kiddies:::