Chapter Nine:
"Mordor is your home?!" Ereinion's voice was not loud, but certainly shocked.
Meg hesitated, clearly not certain about his reaction, but nodded in confirmation. *Born there.*
The king's mind was reeling. "We did not know anyone lived in Mordor. We assumed it was a barren waste, that only creatures of the Dark Lord could survive there."
She sighed and stood, lifting her hand for emphasis, an airy barely audible sound coming from her lips. "Big castle, guards ... lots of fire."
Ereinion nodded. "I have seen the fortress of Barad-dur." His voice was still quiet, and now even sorrowful.
It was Meg's turn to look surprised. "People live there. It doesn't run by itself," she declared, then hesitated. "You lived?"
Ereinion nodded solemnly. "I was lucky. Many people did not survive the war. Elendil, Anarion, many elves, and many times many men."
She patted his hand. "Then you saw the armies. Papa says orcs are too dumb to grow food and livestock to feed themselves." Meg sat back down.
Ereinion nodded again. "Yes, I have seen them. I have killed many orcs. They may be too stupid to grow food and livestock, but they can fight and kill."
Meg nodded, her brown eyes looking distant. "Yes..." she agreed.
"Do you have any family yet alive?"
Meg shook her head sadly and took up her writing again. *Captured in the escape.*
"Escape?" That explained how a girl from Mordor ended up in the Misty Mountains.
She lowered her head and nodded. *Run straight, don't look back. I did, and they rode down and got them. Then I got lost and Havan found me.*
He was greatly distressed, and very sorrowful. Humans in Mordor, trying to escape to a better life... He couldn't know this and not want to help them.
Meg took his hand suddenly. "Mama said the war made things better, but some were too far inland, they couldn't make it to Gondor before darkness arose again."
Ereinion gently squeezed her hand. "You refer to the Alliance War. I fought in it. As far as who rules Mordor now, I can only assume Sauron's surviving generals."
Meg brought his hand against her cheek. "Papa knew things like that. They took his tongue out when he yelled that the fire was spreading." She sighed. Then the eyes brightened. "Go see Arrah?"
Ereinion nodded. "Ok. We'll go see Arrah." He stood and picked Meg up to carry her. "I will send people to investigate the situation of Mordor. We always thought that Mordor was a land of orcs and dark creatures. It never entered into our minds that humans could live there. If only we'd known....."
Meg hugged the elven king tightly. "We don't live there, we die there," she whispered.
"Then I will see what I can do about that," he promised. "I will look into rescuing the humans in Mordor."
Meg sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt..."
Ereinion hugged her. "I cannot make the promise that I will not get hurt, but I can promise that I will attempt diligently to not be so."
Meg looked doubtful but nodded. "All right." She paused, then whispered, "Elves are pretty." She let her fingers glide through his hair, touching his ears. "Orcs kill pretty things."
"I know," he whispered as they reached the door. "I know..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Arrah lay in the bed, his face pale though his green eyes were aware. He looked at Ereinion and Meg as they entered, and sighed. "I don't want to see anyone."
Ereinion nodded. "We won't be long. I just wanted to see if you were awake and doing well." He gestured to the shallow bowl with the cloth- wrapped spearhead in it. "He got it out."
"It feels like he ripped out half my guts," Arrah moaned lowly in discomfort. "How long was I out?"
"A little over three hours. You'll have a long recovery, but you'll heal completely in time. We also need to watch out for infection or poison reactivation, but that's not by any means unforeseen or untreatable."
Arrah grimaced as he sat up. "Thank you."
Ereinion sat Meg down in a chair and went to the herb cabinet. He selected a mix of painkilling herbs and set them in hot water to brew.
The tanned youth watched the elven king for a moment. "What is that ring that he wears?"
"It is called Vilya, and it is one of three Great Elven Rings forged in secret by my cousin Celebrimbor. It escaped taint from Sauron the Deceiver, but Celebrimbor and his people lost their lives protecting the knowledge of their existence." He spoke reverently of Celebrimbor, as few of the Noldor did, for the existence of the Three were not commonly known among the Eldar.
Arrah sighed heavily, the symbolism obviously lost on him. "You are a strange people."
Ereinion fetched a mug from a nearby cabinet and set it by the kettle in preparation for the herbs to finish infusing. "I suppose we are, compared to your kind. But humans are strange, compared to us. What precisely do you find strange?"
"For one, you are an elven king, but you attend me in bed. The other one is some sort of lord. You're both involved with a shady merchant but clearly share no part in it. It's ... it's all overwhelming, really."
Ereinion poured the hot tea into the mug and gave it to Arrah. "You'll learn the intricacies of the elves before long. We're really not that difficult to figure out."
Arrah accepted the tea. "You are very mysterious to most of the world. Your realms are hidden or simply not open to strangers. I do not understand why so many races stay apart from us..."
"Humans in general, or your people specifically?"
Arrah smiled. "My people are travelers, not of a people. I mean humans. The dwarves I hear of but have never seen, and the elves, they are in songs and tales, but I never thought I would see one, let alone their lords and king."
"I suppose we just keep to our own. I know Rivendell -- we call it Imladris -- was designed to be safely hidden in the mountains. It was established when the Dark Lord was a powerful threat, and we needed somewhere to hide while we prepared for war. Lindon is open, and we often see dwarves there, from their home in the Blue Mountains, but it's so far north and west, few humans visit. Lothlorien's borders are closed with few exceptions, but that's the Lady Galadriel's perrogative. And Greenwood? Greenwood only cares for its own interests."
Arrah laughed softly, then gasped in pain for doing so. "You speak of great places, of marvelous cities. I imagine the lords of Gondor and other great places might visit there. But there are smaller, less complicated people. We know little of the others."
Ereinion urged Arrah to drink the painkiller. "If you wish it, I can take you with me when I return to Lindon. Or, you can stay here in Rivendell and Elrond can tend you while you recover."
Arrah drank a little and considered his words. "I will make my decision if and when it comes." He smiled lightly. "You two are close, aren't you?"
"We're lovers and close friends," he answered without hesitation.
Meg listened a bit and ventured over to the place the elf retrieved the herbs from, peering into the pot of water.
"It shows," Arrah was saying. "My people do not believe in such things, but they seem to be wrong often." He sat up and peered around. "Is Lindon far from here? Does it look similar?"
"Lindon is the name of the kingdom west of the Blue Mountains and east of the Sundering Sea. It's divided roughly in half by the Bay of Lhun, into two parts: Forlindon in the north and Harlindon in the south. It's capital city is also called Lindon, and it is on the coast of the northern half of the kingdom. Lindon Hall is my home. To reach it is over a month's walk from here, but on horseback it's about twenty days."
Arrah sat forward. "You travel twenty days to get here and twenty days back?"
"Well, this trip I made it in 12 days, but I was riding like a madman. Imladris is a long way from Lindon."
"I suppose only elves could use so much of their life traveling to and from each other."
"On the contrary, these days I rarely leave Lindon. I have to run away to have a life."
Arrah frowned. "How long do you plan on doing this? I mean, how long do elves live anyway?"
"Elves don't die from old age. We can be killed bodily, by blade or fire and some poisons. We can die from grief or sorrow, or we can will ourselves to die. I myself am over 3500 years old. Elrond is about the same age, but there are those older than us. The Lady Galadriel is over 6000."
"Are you telling you can keep this up long after my bones have turned into dust? That you mean to?"
Ereinion shrugged. "It is our nature. To the Firstborn, Illuvatar granted the gift and curse of immortality. To those who came after, He granted the gift and curse of death."
Arrah shook his head. "I cannot imagine living so long." He sighed deeply and laid back down. "I'm sorry, I do not mean to pry."
Ereinion smiled softly. "Don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm not offended." He gently guided Meg back to him, away from the medicine cabinet. "I recall promising I wouldn't be here long. Would you like us to leave so you can rest?" Meg only peered at Arrah in silence.
Arrah nodded and rested his head fully upon the pillow. "Odd, indeed."
The king gently brushed a hand across Arrah's brow. "Rest well, Arrah. I'll stop by again this evening -- Elrond will probably have you moved back to your room by then -- but if you'd like to see me sooner, just have someone get me for you."
Arrah nodded and closed his eyes, finding sleep easily. Ereinion smiled, then picked up Meg again and left the room. Outside, Meg yawned. "I want to sleep too. Are you going to stay up?"
"For a while, yes," he answered. It was only early afternoon, but he understood the desire for a nap.
She looked up and down the hall, checking to make sure no one else was around. Then she gave him a light peck on the cheek and hopped down, running down the hall with a light laugh.
Ereinion remained there for a moment, stunned and touched, his hand absently drifting to the spot where she'd kissed him. He laughed softly, smiling like a boy who'd just received his first real kiss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In another part of the house, Elrond paused as he passed the entryway, where he was making progress toward checking on his patient. He recognized those who were charged with protecting the king, and who would doubtless be pretty upset for having to chase said king all the way across Eriador.
"I apologize for not meeting you on your arrival," Elrond politely greeted Araton, the captain of the King's Elite as well as Ereinion's personal attendant and long-time friend. "Your lord is with a patient and should reveal himself shortly."
"It is you, Lord Elrond, who is the healer here. Why is His Majesty tending a patient?" His tone was flat, businesslike as usual, but it held a tint of annoyance.
Elrond smiled softly. "He brought this particular patient to me and is visiting the young man." Araton nodded and requested that his company be allowed to rest and recover in the city until it was time for them to escort the king home. Of course, Elrond granted the request and escorted the guards to rooms they could use for the duration and offered them all the hospitalities despite knowing they were here to take his lover, essentially his heart, away. When he was done, he fled to his chambers and wept silent tears. Ereinion had promised him a couple of weeks; Elrond held onto that for strength.
"Mordor is your home?!" Ereinion's voice was not loud, but certainly shocked.
Meg hesitated, clearly not certain about his reaction, but nodded in confirmation. *Born there.*
The king's mind was reeling. "We did not know anyone lived in Mordor. We assumed it was a barren waste, that only creatures of the Dark Lord could survive there."
She sighed and stood, lifting her hand for emphasis, an airy barely audible sound coming from her lips. "Big castle, guards ... lots of fire."
Ereinion nodded. "I have seen the fortress of Barad-dur." His voice was still quiet, and now even sorrowful.
It was Meg's turn to look surprised. "People live there. It doesn't run by itself," she declared, then hesitated. "You lived?"
Ereinion nodded solemnly. "I was lucky. Many people did not survive the war. Elendil, Anarion, many elves, and many times many men."
She patted his hand. "Then you saw the armies. Papa says orcs are too dumb to grow food and livestock to feed themselves." Meg sat back down.
Ereinion nodded again. "Yes, I have seen them. I have killed many orcs. They may be too stupid to grow food and livestock, but they can fight and kill."
Meg nodded, her brown eyes looking distant. "Yes..." she agreed.
"Do you have any family yet alive?"
Meg shook her head sadly and took up her writing again. *Captured in the escape.*
"Escape?" That explained how a girl from Mordor ended up in the Misty Mountains.
She lowered her head and nodded. *Run straight, don't look back. I did, and they rode down and got them. Then I got lost and Havan found me.*
He was greatly distressed, and very sorrowful. Humans in Mordor, trying to escape to a better life... He couldn't know this and not want to help them.
Meg took his hand suddenly. "Mama said the war made things better, but some were too far inland, they couldn't make it to Gondor before darkness arose again."
Ereinion gently squeezed her hand. "You refer to the Alliance War. I fought in it. As far as who rules Mordor now, I can only assume Sauron's surviving generals."
Meg brought his hand against her cheek. "Papa knew things like that. They took his tongue out when he yelled that the fire was spreading." She sighed. Then the eyes brightened. "Go see Arrah?"
Ereinion nodded. "Ok. We'll go see Arrah." He stood and picked Meg up to carry her. "I will send people to investigate the situation of Mordor. We always thought that Mordor was a land of orcs and dark creatures. It never entered into our minds that humans could live there. If only we'd known....."
Meg hugged the elven king tightly. "We don't live there, we die there," she whispered.
"Then I will see what I can do about that," he promised. "I will look into rescuing the humans in Mordor."
Meg sighed. "I don't want you to get hurt..."
Ereinion hugged her. "I cannot make the promise that I will not get hurt, but I can promise that I will attempt diligently to not be so."
Meg looked doubtful but nodded. "All right." She paused, then whispered, "Elves are pretty." She let her fingers glide through his hair, touching his ears. "Orcs kill pretty things."
"I know," he whispered as they reached the door. "I know..."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Arrah lay in the bed, his face pale though his green eyes were aware. He looked at Ereinion and Meg as they entered, and sighed. "I don't want to see anyone."
Ereinion nodded. "We won't be long. I just wanted to see if you were awake and doing well." He gestured to the shallow bowl with the cloth- wrapped spearhead in it. "He got it out."
"It feels like he ripped out half my guts," Arrah moaned lowly in discomfort. "How long was I out?"
"A little over three hours. You'll have a long recovery, but you'll heal completely in time. We also need to watch out for infection or poison reactivation, but that's not by any means unforeseen or untreatable."
Arrah grimaced as he sat up. "Thank you."
Ereinion sat Meg down in a chair and went to the herb cabinet. He selected a mix of painkilling herbs and set them in hot water to brew.
The tanned youth watched the elven king for a moment. "What is that ring that he wears?"
"It is called Vilya, and it is one of three Great Elven Rings forged in secret by my cousin Celebrimbor. It escaped taint from Sauron the Deceiver, but Celebrimbor and his people lost their lives protecting the knowledge of their existence." He spoke reverently of Celebrimbor, as few of the Noldor did, for the existence of the Three were not commonly known among the Eldar.
Arrah sighed heavily, the symbolism obviously lost on him. "You are a strange people."
Ereinion fetched a mug from a nearby cabinet and set it by the kettle in preparation for the herbs to finish infusing. "I suppose we are, compared to your kind. But humans are strange, compared to us. What precisely do you find strange?"
"For one, you are an elven king, but you attend me in bed. The other one is some sort of lord. You're both involved with a shady merchant but clearly share no part in it. It's ... it's all overwhelming, really."
Ereinion poured the hot tea into the mug and gave it to Arrah. "You'll learn the intricacies of the elves before long. We're really not that difficult to figure out."
Arrah accepted the tea. "You are very mysterious to most of the world. Your realms are hidden or simply not open to strangers. I do not understand why so many races stay apart from us..."
"Humans in general, or your people specifically?"
Arrah smiled. "My people are travelers, not of a people. I mean humans. The dwarves I hear of but have never seen, and the elves, they are in songs and tales, but I never thought I would see one, let alone their lords and king."
"I suppose we just keep to our own. I know Rivendell -- we call it Imladris -- was designed to be safely hidden in the mountains. It was established when the Dark Lord was a powerful threat, and we needed somewhere to hide while we prepared for war. Lindon is open, and we often see dwarves there, from their home in the Blue Mountains, but it's so far north and west, few humans visit. Lothlorien's borders are closed with few exceptions, but that's the Lady Galadriel's perrogative. And Greenwood? Greenwood only cares for its own interests."
Arrah laughed softly, then gasped in pain for doing so. "You speak of great places, of marvelous cities. I imagine the lords of Gondor and other great places might visit there. But there are smaller, less complicated people. We know little of the others."
Ereinion urged Arrah to drink the painkiller. "If you wish it, I can take you with me when I return to Lindon. Or, you can stay here in Rivendell and Elrond can tend you while you recover."
Arrah drank a little and considered his words. "I will make my decision if and when it comes." He smiled lightly. "You two are close, aren't you?"
"We're lovers and close friends," he answered without hesitation.
Meg listened a bit and ventured over to the place the elf retrieved the herbs from, peering into the pot of water.
"It shows," Arrah was saying. "My people do not believe in such things, but they seem to be wrong often." He sat up and peered around. "Is Lindon far from here? Does it look similar?"
"Lindon is the name of the kingdom west of the Blue Mountains and east of the Sundering Sea. It's divided roughly in half by the Bay of Lhun, into two parts: Forlindon in the north and Harlindon in the south. It's capital city is also called Lindon, and it is on the coast of the northern half of the kingdom. Lindon Hall is my home. To reach it is over a month's walk from here, but on horseback it's about twenty days."
Arrah sat forward. "You travel twenty days to get here and twenty days back?"
"Well, this trip I made it in 12 days, but I was riding like a madman. Imladris is a long way from Lindon."
"I suppose only elves could use so much of their life traveling to and from each other."
"On the contrary, these days I rarely leave Lindon. I have to run away to have a life."
Arrah frowned. "How long do you plan on doing this? I mean, how long do elves live anyway?"
"Elves don't die from old age. We can be killed bodily, by blade or fire and some poisons. We can die from grief or sorrow, or we can will ourselves to die. I myself am over 3500 years old. Elrond is about the same age, but there are those older than us. The Lady Galadriel is over 6000."
"Are you telling you can keep this up long after my bones have turned into dust? That you mean to?"
Ereinion shrugged. "It is our nature. To the Firstborn, Illuvatar granted the gift and curse of immortality. To those who came after, He granted the gift and curse of death."
Arrah shook his head. "I cannot imagine living so long." He sighed deeply and laid back down. "I'm sorry, I do not mean to pry."
Ereinion smiled softly. "Don't be afraid to ask questions. I'm not offended." He gently guided Meg back to him, away from the medicine cabinet. "I recall promising I wouldn't be here long. Would you like us to leave so you can rest?" Meg only peered at Arrah in silence.
Arrah nodded and rested his head fully upon the pillow. "Odd, indeed."
The king gently brushed a hand across Arrah's brow. "Rest well, Arrah. I'll stop by again this evening -- Elrond will probably have you moved back to your room by then -- but if you'd like to see me sooner, just have someone get me for you."
Arrah nodded and closed his eyes, finding sleep easily. Ereinion smiled, then picked up Meg again and left the room. Outside, Meg yawned. "I want to sleep too. Are you going to stay up?"
"For a while, yes," he answered. It was only early afternoon, but he understood the desire for a nap.
She looked up and down the hall, checking to make sure no one else was around. Then she gave him a light peck on the cheek and hopped down, running down the hall with a light laugh.
Ereinion remained there for a moment, stunned and touched, his hand absently drifting to the spot where she'd kissed him. He laughed softly, smiling like a boy who'd just received his first real kiss.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
In another part of the house, Elrond paused as he passed the entryway, where he was making progress toward checking on his patient. He recognized those who were charged with protecting the king, and who would doubtless be pretty upset for having to chase said king all the way across Eriador.
"I apologize for not meeting you on your arrival," Elrond politely greeted Araton, the captain of the King's Elite as well as Ereinion's personal attendant and long-time friend. "Your lord is with a patient and should reveal himself shortly."
"It is you, Lord Elrond, who is the healer here. Why is His Majesty tending a patient?" His tone was flat, businesslike as usual, but it held a tint of annoyance.
Elrond smiled softly. "He brought this particular patient to me and is visiting the young man." Araton nodded and requested that his company be allowed to rest and recover in the city until it was time for them to escort the king home. Of course, Elrond granted the request and escorted the guards to rooms they could use for the duration and offered them all the hospitalities despite knowing they were here to take his lover, essentially his heart, away. When he was done, he fled to his chambers and wept silent tears. Ereinion had promised him a couple of weeks; Elrond held onto that for strength.