THE SCENT OF ROSES
Elrond looked up as the door opened silently to admit his daughter. In her hands was a vase with the last of the late blooming roses from her mother's garden. It was typical of Arwen that she would want one of the first things Frodo saw when he woke up to be flowers. She placed the vase on the table by his bed, laying a gentle hand upon the pale cheek, before smiling at Sam and leaving as silently as she had come. At her smile Sam's cheeks had turned as pink as the blossoms at his side.
In the morning the room would be filled with the perfume of roses. Celebrian had insisted that she would plant no rose, however beautiful to look at, unless it had a perfume. This particular bloom had a scent too sweet for Elrond's liking. His favourite flowered earlier in the summer.
00000
Inhaling the light scent of cloves from the pale apricot tinted rose in his fingers, Elrond looked up at the sound of booted feet crossing the lawn. Elladan and Elrohir, their hair windswept and clothes still coated with the dust of travel, strode towards him. Their father spread his arms wide to accept first one and then the other into his embrace.
"Welcome home. I will send for food and you can sit and eat with me while your baths are being prepared." He laid an arm about each matching shoulder and turned them towards the house. "There are cool drinks on the terrace. It is hot and thirsty weather for travelling."
"Oh yes." Elrohir sighed. "I could drink the Bruinen dry."
His twin laughed. "I think I would rather bathe in it first. But a cool drink would be welcome."
Once both brothers were lounging comfortably in the shade of the terrace, second glass of pear cordial in hand, Elrond broached the subject of their journey.
"What news of Mithrandir and the hobbit?"
Elladan looked at his older twin and, as always, it was Elrohir who spoke first.
"We met Gandalf at the borders of the Shire on the afternoon of the 27th of June. He was worried when we passed on the news of war and defeat in Gondor and the spreading of the Black Shadow."
Their father grimaced. "It does not bode well. I sense many roads drawing together." He settled in a chair, unconsciously twirling the rose between his finger and thumb.
"He asked us to tell you that he has seen the letters of flame and that Frodo will be leaving the Shire in the autumn," added Elladan. "I take it that "letters of flame" will mean something to you."
Elrond laid the rose carefully upon the table, feeling a great weight settle heavily upon his shoulders. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the blue sky, noting a few small clouds beginning to gather above the mountain peaks to the south.
"And so what we hoped for and feared has happened," he murmured.
Elrohir sighed. "Ada . . . it is us. You need not talk in riddles. You do not need to impress us with the "Lord of Imladris" face. We have delivered our messages and I think we deserve to be let in on what is going on. From the behaviour of both you and Mithrandir, not to mention the unannounced and sudden disappearance of our foster brother, I can only assume that something very important is afoot."
"Something that brings the Nine to this corner of Middle-earth, so far from their Master. Will you not please share the burden, Ada? We want to help" added Elladan.
Elrond looked from one to the other wishing, not for the first time, that he had insisted that all his children leave with their mother when she sailed West. But he had been too wrapped in his own grief at the time to consider such practicalities. And then the twins had taken up their personal vendetta with the orcs and the opportunity had passed.
He drew himself back from reverie to find himself held by two pairs of grey eyes. Strange that all his children had inherited their father's grey eyes and dark hair. But their love of life and lightness of spirit they had from Celebrian. Elrond would not have it otherwise, however . . . as his wife had so succinctly put it, "One sombre lore master is enough for any family."
"Adar?"
Taking a deep breath, Elrond laid his hands lightly upon the arms of his chair. "The One Ring has been found."
It seemed to the twins that for one moment the whole world paused. " 'The' Ring? Sauron's ring?" Elrohir asked in the resulting silence.
"Yes. It is in the keeping of Bilbo's nephew, Frodo Baggins." Somewhere a bird sang, oblivious to the words of the three elves seated at the other end of the garden.
"Bilbo's ring is the One Ring?" Elladan asked, needing to hear it confirmed because his mind seemed unable to grasp it.
His father could only sympathise with his disbelief. "Yes."
"Should he not be got out of the Shire, now? Frodo has no defence against the Nine. Surely the sooner it is safe the better. To wait until the autumn seems to court danger," Elrohir demanded.
"Frodo has Gandalf, and most people would consider that defence enough," Elrond censured mildly. "Our best defence at this time is secrecy. Frodo cannot just disappear. Two such events in the Shire would quickly reach the ears of our enemy. The Master of Bag End will need time to set his affairs in order and slip away quietly." When Elrohir opened his mouth to interject his father stared him down. "If Gandalf says it will take until the autumn, then that is the time it will take." The tone of the Lord of Imladris brooked no argument and Elrohir's mouth snapped shut.
"I take it they will be bringing it here?" Elladan asked, breaking the silent tension.
His father nodded. "Yes. We have work to do. The borders must be secured but it should be done quietly. From the outside, no one must suspect that there is any difference in our defences. We cannot stand against the might of Sauron so we must ensure that we do nothing to attract his attention."
His piercing gaze held both of them. "And you must say nothing of the Ring. Not even to our own people. Say only that we have had word that the Nine are returned to our land and that is why we take extra precautions."
"Then we had better get started," Elrohir announced, surging to his feet.
His father's eyes twinkled with amusement. "Well, I think you will have time for a bath and some food first."
TBC
