With the end of the third month, the Lord of Imladris found himself being accompanied by quite an entourage for his weekly examination. For not only had Legolas burst possessively into the room and demanded to finally be allowed to stay during the process, but Arwen had insisted she wait outside and had dragged a sheepish-looking Aragorn along with her. Elladan and Elrohir were in command while a messenger bore a request to Lothlorien for the healer who had assisted in the other births, and Glorfindel had come charging in at the last moment and positioned himself at the door as if terrified that a horde of orcs would attempt to enter the room forcibly.
"Glorfindel, I am not in fear of assassination," Elrond reminded his friend, shedding his robe and fighting away the hands that insisted on trying to help him remove his under tunic as well. "Legolas and Elrohir, I have dressed myself for centuries in time and am quite capable of undressing now!"
The two backed away with dark mutters of tiring himself out but left him alone.
"For the Valar's sake, anyone would imagine I was as weak as a kitten," he exploded.
"You had another argument with Aurief," Legolas argued, "You know that such things always drain you of your strength."
As of on cue, both Elladan and Elrohir's faces darkened as they saw in their minds' eyes the face of the one recently labelled their other parent. A whole week of pleading and orc raids had been needed for them to even accept the fact. Arwen had been the first to break, her soft heart naturally finding pity within her for Glorfindel's recitation of the story of how the other male elf had been involved. She could not believe her mother had been so heartless as to put her father through such a situation. And twice! Simply to punish both him and her for what neither could help!
Elrond was still preaching forgiveness to the masses. It was true that Celebrian had acted with no thought of his feelings, but he couldn't very well blame her. The first time, Gil-Galad himself had almost had a heart-attack when his young herald had trembled before him and told him he carried a child by a lover from a tavern. And the High King had known another male who had the same ability; it should not have been such a shock.
"You seem fine, Ada," Elladan commented, "And there is nothing severely wrong..."
"Severely?" both Elrond and Legolas gasped. Elrond sat up imperiously to see what had troubled his Healer. His oldest son groaned in frustration, placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back down.
"I am checking, Ada! Don't wriggle around so!"
"But if there is something wrong, I would like to be told immediately!" The Elf Lord sat up again and was just as quickly shoved back down.
"And you will be told immediately... when I have finished examining you and know what in all Arda it is! Glorfindel, Legolas- hold him down if he so much as talks again."
"Elladan!"
"No, Ada; that was Elrohir."
"Fine- Elrohir!"
"I said nothing!"
Elrond sat up and found two pairs of hands slamming him down so hard the back of his head hit the soft of the couch with a 'whump' and proceeded to hold him there. "This is treachery," he blustered, "Oh, my head! Why is it always to my head?"
Legolas leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Be thankful you are so thick headed, mellon nin. It can not possibly break!" They weren't lovers any more, simply bound to each other by the child they had unknowingly created. Or at least, that was the only connection that they acknowledged. Erestor had done for Legolas what he had done for Aurief in the past- put him into an adjoining bedroom- but neither had left for each other's beds at night even when only a door separated them. They had not spoken of more yet. And Legolas felt he could live content with that... for now.
Elrond took the opportunity to glare up at him and struggle a little against the living bonds that still tied him down. He opened his mouth to say something but his attention was caught by a sound from the open window. Sighing, he softly caught Elrohir's attention and nodded to the closed curtains blowing softly with the breeze.
The youngest twin tightened his lips to a white line as if physically swallowing the need for an act of violence and pulled their intruder out from behind the thick cloth.
Neither Legolas nor Glorfindel had yet let go of Elrond's arms and torso and so under the gaze of five pairs of hostile eyes, Aurief grinned and straightened- "I see you still have a taste for submission," he teased.
Both fair elves let go in a hurry.
Aurief had readily discounted Glorfindel as being unworthy of his attention, selecting Legolas as the youngster was more receptive to his dry needling. "Try it with chains, gwanur. He likes those better."
Elrond blushed at the mention of yet another time Aurief had dragged him into a situation he had not wanted to be in. True, it had been an erotic success, but he had not liked the idea of giving any such complete control over him. Why, the 'Lorien elf could have slit his throat and there was nothing the Elf Lord could have done about it.
Elladan said nothing, but pressed down in the spot that had been bothering him before. There was a feel of too much life, and he had been wondering if it were possible for his father to be carrying twins again. But no... it was not the feel of a separate life altogether, just the feel of more life than one little body should have had.
He carefully poked and prodded around the area, trying to figure out if it should be cause for worry or concern. But nothing felt wrong as such; just unusual. He had assisted his father in women's births before- having done his training under his Ada's careful eye- but while he had never found this before, he could not but feel that it was nothing to fear.
"You are fine," Elladan finally decreed, "Elrohir, do you agree?" It was out of habit that they concurred with serious decisions. Elrohir had not the skill, but had far greater instinct for such things.
Elrohir poked and prodded, slightly less expertly as Elrond contemplated the soreness of his skin, and nodded. "The feeling of life is very high for a child just finishing its third month in the womb. But there's nothing wrong."
Elrond clapped a hand to his eyes. "Ai Elbereth, not twins again!"
Glorfindel paled at the thought of the future of Imladris with two more reckless souls growing up in its confines and the twins glared at their father in high dudgeon. Aurief looked to his sons and grinned. He would not have said it out loud except to taunt his past lover, but the dark-haired twins had rather obviously inherited his recklessness. He remembered his own childhood, spent growing up in Lothlorien with Celebrian and a few others their age. He had loved to play pranks on people, delighting in creating mayhem and chaos around him. He still did so, though now only with the use of his tongue and not so much with his hands.
No, he thought smiling to himself, no longer so much though still at times.
"No, Ada," Elrohir corrected, "Not twins..."
Legolas let out a sigh of relief.
"Just a very likely child."
Both parents groaned. Legolas looked down at the still reclining figure of the Lord of Imladris with a dark glare. "It's all your fault," he accused, "I was never a firebrand when I was an elfling."
Glorfindel hastily converted a snort into a cough as dark brows arched disbelievingly. "May I remind you that Imladris was the scene for some of your youthful pranks?" Elrond bit out, "The bedroom in the East Wing still has patches of crimson on its walls and floor from when you and my sons decided to re-paint it! And the old willow tree in the garden is still singed around the trunk because of your decision to light a campfire at midnight! Not to mention I'm certain Erestor has not yet forgiven you for the many pails of water that have tumbled over his head on your visits to this house."
Legolas had the grace to blush but he gave a disdainful sniff and insisted that he had only been influenced to such tricks because of Elladan and Elrohir. In truth, he protested, he had been a quiet child. Glorfindel had laughed outright as he remembered Thranduil's face during a state visit to Mirkwood when the Prince had set loose a large cage of rats in the feasting hall. The creatures had actually been tame and very harmless, but the chaos they had caused had been hilarious.
"Lord Elrond, is everything all right?" Aragorn finally asked, peeping around the door as the sounds of uproarious merriment floated out of the little room. "What are you doing here?"
Aurief gave the cold human an insolent bow of greeting. "I came to lend your young friend the comfort of my experience. I have been through this with Elrond before and know what the expectant father feels like."
The easy humour vanished at the mocking words and Elrond silent dressed again. The light feeling of a hand on the small of his back made him turn with a startled glance and it was a surprising relief to see Legolas' comforting smile. Aurief was beginning to get on everyone's nerves.
In truth, Legolas was privately of the opinion that the twins and Arwen- and even Elrond himself- would have eventually accepted the elf, if only he had at least attempted to fit in. But he didn't. He was not in the least really interested in his children or his former lover, but interested in creating trouble. It was common knowledge that Elrond had a high level of tolerance for unwanted guests, and was quite capable of forcing himself and his children to take unmitigated levels of insult in stride for the sake of peace. Aragorn had confirmed his thoughts, saying that there was enough of a likeable recklessness in the elf for him to be a humorous friend. But neither liked his brash self-smugness or the way he treated the nobility of Imladris.
"Ada is fine, Aragorn," Elladan called out, "the child is doing well."
"When will you start to show?" Aurief asked sweetly, "You used to grow very quickly if I remember rightly."
"He will show in his fifth month or thereabouts," Elrohir ground out, a hand span away from hitting his so-called father. His mother had never been the warmest of women, or even been there very much, but she had been a good mother as far as she was able. Even though he now saw that she had been unable to care for them, she had still given them the illusion of love, finding some acceptance within her for the children that were supposed to be hers and yet could never be. This man had never been any kind of parent and did not even try!
"Aurief," the voice was quiet but cut through everyone's tensions like a knife across an infected wound, "I believe we need to talk. As the entertainment for today is over and my health and the child's is guaranteed, perhaps you will leave us in privacy?"
Arwen and the twins nodded, followed closely by a not-quite-happy Aragorn and an openly reluctant Glorfindel. Legolas alone did not leave the room but sat coldly down in a chair and challenged Elrond with his eyes to make him leave. He had never looked more like a Prince than at this moment and the ruler in all but name of Imladris did not bother to argue with such determination. Sighing, he turned instead to the source of his recent worries.
"You have outstayed your welcome," he said baldly, "When will you leave?"
Aurief raised a dark eyebrow and laughed, a hand fondling a delicate porcelain statue on an intricately carved wooden table. "When I am bored, Elrond, but not before then. You know me well enough to know that!"
"I do know you," Elrond ceded, "And that is why I tell you now- you are not welcome! I do not like your insults and insinuations. My children do not like your insults and insinuations. My closest friends do not like your insults and insinuations. If you look for a pleasant holiday amongst us then you will be sadly mistaken. I advise you to leave."
"And what of Lady Galadriel's thinly-veiled order?"
There he had him. It was not that Elrond feared being discourteous to the Lady of the Golden Wood and her spouse; it was simply that she never did anything without a reason. And now that he was allowing himself to keep the child, his love for it grew with every passing day. He would not be able to bear it if something happened to her.
He wrapped an arm around his midsection, a curiously hard look on his face. "My daughter will not suffer harm," he swore, stifling the panic as best he could, "My daughter will not suffer at all if I can help it!"
Unerringly, like a hawk to its prey, Aurief pounced, a rich sound of gloating in his silvery voice. "Was that what you once said of Celebrian? We were in bed and I asked why your wife could not bear you children. We argued and you swore to protect her always. You could not do it, melethron; you could not be everywhere she needed help."
Elrond stumbled back at the force of such a verbal blow. His arm tightened as he thought of the world that he brought his children into, not just the one inside him but the two sons whose lives were touched by bloodshed and hate and the daughter who saw the darkness just as he himself did. He had failed to protect them as well and how would this time be any different?
"Elrond, melme, sit. Sit down; come on," Legolas urged him, forcing his limp body into his chair before turning with fury such as he had ever known blazing in his chest at the sight of the smirking Lorien elf. "Get. Out. If I seen you once more today, I will kill you."
Aurief shrugged, bowed reverently before the Elf Lord still gasping in the chair like a dying fish, and went silently from the room. Once outside he let his glee show. Oh, he had not meant to be quite so cruel but he had hated what had happened to his childhood's friend.
Celebrian and he had never been lovers even for a moment- he preferred males to any other and she-elves left him cold and unmoved- but he had felt her pain and rage the day he had last seen her before her departure. He had been rambling in his upset, finally blaming Elrond for the whole business because it had been to Imladris that she was travelling, to go once more to her husband and children. What had stunned him was the flash of emotion in hitherto expressionless eyes, the bitterness of her face and the absolute lack of ostentatious protestation of Elrond's innocence. So he had known the way she really felt for her husband, and it had fanned his own bitterness into a flame that still threatened to consume him.
Which was what made his plan so much simpler! Elrond was a revered and much- protected Elf Lord and hero of the First Age, but when it came to subtly he had as much sense as the child growing inside him. The wide lips curved into a charming smile of glee; the plan could safely go ahead in a few more months.
"Glorfindel, I am not in fear of assassination," Elrond reminded his friend, shedding his robe and fighting away the hands that insisted on trying to help him remove his under tunic as well. "Legolas and Elrohir, I have dressed myself for centuries in time and am quite capable of undressing now!"
The two backed away with dark mutters of tiring himself out but left him alone.
"For the Valar's sake, anyone would imagine I was as weak as a kitten," he exploded.
"You had another argument with Aurief," Legolas argued, "You know that such things always drain you of your strength."
As of on cue, both Elladan and Elrohir's faces darkened as they saw in their minds' eyes the face of the one recently labelled their other parent. A whole week of pleading and orc raids had been needed for them to even accept the fact. Arwen had been the first to break, her soft heart naturally finding pity within her for Glorfindel's recitation of the story of how the other male elf had been involved. She could not believe her mother had been so heartless as to put her father through such a situation. And twice! Simply to punish both him and her for what neither could help!
Elrond was still preaching forgiveness to the masses. It was true that Celebrian had acted with no thought of his feelings, but he couldn't very well blame her. The first time, Gil-Galad himself had almost had a heart-attack when his young herald had trembled before him and told him he carried a child by a lover from a tavern. And the High King had known another male who had the same ability; it should not have been such a shock.
"You seem fine, Ada," Elladan commented, "And there is nothing severely wrong..."
"Severely?" both Elrond and Legolas gasped. Elrond sat up imperiously to see what had troubled his Healer. His oldest son groaned in frustration, placed a hand on his chest and pushed him back down.
"I am checking, Ada! Don't wriggle around so!"
"But if there is something wrong, I would like to be told immediately!" The Elf Lord sat up again and was just as quickly shoved back down.
"And you will be told immediately... when I have finished examining you and know what in all Arda it is! Glorfindel, Legolas- hold him down if he so much as talks again."
"Elladan!"
"No, Ada; that was Elrohir."
"Fine- Elrohir!"
"I said nothing!"
Elrond sat up and found two pairs of hands slamming him down so hard the back of his head hit the soft of the couch with a 'whump' and proceeded to hold him there. "This is treachery," he blustered, "Oh, my head! Why is it always to my head?"
Legolas leaned down and kissed his forehead. "Be thankful you are so thick headed, mellon nin. It can not possibly break!" They weren't lovers any more, simply bound to each other by the child they had unknowingly created. Or at least, that was the only connection that they acknowledged. Erestor had done for Legolas what he had done for Aurief in the past- put him into an adjoining bedroom- but neither had left for each other's beds at night even when only a door separated them. They had not spoken of more yet. And Legolas felt he could live content with that... for now.
Elrond took the opportunity to glare up at him and struggle a little against the living bonds that still tied him down. He opened his mouth to say something but his attention was caught by a sound from the open window. Sighing, he softly caught Elrohir's attention and nodded to the closed curtains blowing softly with the breeze.
The youngest twin tightened his lips to a white line as if physically swallowing the need for an act of violence and pulled their intruder out from behind the thick cloth.
Neither Legolas nor Glorfindel had yet let go of Elrond's arms and torso and so under the gaze of five pairs of hostile eyes, Aurief grinned and straightened- "I see you still have a taste for submission," he teased.
Both fair elves let go in a hurry.
Aurief had readily discounted Glorfindel as being unworthy of his attention, selecting Legolas as the youngster was more receptive to his dry needling. "Try it with chains, gwanur. He likes those better."
Elrond blushed at the mention of yet another time Aurief had dragged him into a situation he had not wanted to be in. True, it had been an erotic success, but he had not liked the idea of giving any such complete control over him. Why, the 'Lorien elf could have slit his throat and there was nothing the Elf Lord could have done about it.
Elladan said nothing, but pressed down in the spot that had been bothering him before. There was a feel of too much life, and he had been wondering if it were possible for his father to be carrying twins again. But no... it was not the feel of a separate life altogether, just the feel of more life than one little body should have had.
He carefully poked and prodded around the area, trying to figure out if it should be cause for worry or concern. But nothing felt wrong as such; just unusual. He had assisted his father in women's births before- having done his training under his Ada's careful eye- but while he had never found this before, he could not but feel that it was nothing to fear.
"You are fine," Elladan finally decreed, "Elrohir, do you agree?" It was out of habit that they concurred with serious decisions. Elrohir had not the skill, but had far greater instinct for such things.
Elrohir poked and prodded, slightly less expertly as Elrond contemplated the soreness of his skin, and nodded. "The feeling of life is very high for a child just finishing its third month in the womb. But there's nothing wrong."
Elrond clapped a hand to his eyes. "Ai Elbereth, not twins again!"
Glorfindel paled at the thought of the future of Imladris with two more reckless souls growing up in its confines and the twins glared at their father in high dudgeon. Aurief looked to his sons and grinned. He would not have said it out loud except to taunt his past lover, but the dark-haired twins had rather obviously inherited his recklessness. He remembered his own childhood, spent growing up in Lothlorien with Celebrian and a few others their age. He had loved to play pranks on people, delighting in creating mayhem and chaos around him. He still did so, though now only with the use of his tongue and not so much with his hands.
No, he thought smiling to himself, no longer so much though still at times.
"No, Ada," Elrohir corrected, "Not twins..."
Legolas let out a sigh of relief.
"Just a very likely child."
Both parents groaned. Legolas looked down at the still reclining figure of the Lord of Imladris with a dark glare. "It's all your fault," he accused, "I was never a firebrand when I was an elfling."
Glorfindel hastily converted a snort into a cough as dark brows arched disbelievingly. "May I remind you that Imladris was the scene for some of your youthful pranks?" Elrond bit out, "The bedroom in the East Wing still has patches of crimson on its walls and floor from when you and my sons decided to re-paint it! And the old willow tree in the garden is still singed around the trunk because of your decision to light a campfire at midnight! Not to mention I'm certain Erestor has not yet forgiven you for the many pails of water that have tumbled over his head on your visits to this house."
Legolas had the grace to blush but he gave a disdainful sniff and insisted that he had only been influenced to such tricks because of Elladan and Elrohir. In truth, he protested, he had been a quiet child. Glorfindel had laughed outright as he remembered Thranduil's face during a state visit to Mirkwood when the Prince had set loose a large cage of rats in the feasting hall. The creatures had actually been tame and very harmless, but the chaos they had caused had been hilarious.
"Lord Elrond, is everything all right?" Aragorn finally asked, peeping around the door as the sounds of uproarious merriment floated out of the little room. "What are you doing here?"
Aurief gave the cold human an insolent bow of greeting. "I came to lend your young friend the comfort of my experience. I have been through this with Elrond before and know what the expectant father feels like."
The easy humour vanished at the mocking words and Elrond silent dressed again. The light feeling of a hand on the small of his back made him turn with a startled glance and it was a surprising relief to see Legolas' comforting smile. Aurief was beginning to get on everyone's nerves.
In truth, Legolas was privately of the opinion that the twins and Arwen- and even Elrond himself- would have eventually accepted the elf, if only he had at least attempted to fit in. But he didn't. He was not in the least really interested in his children or his former lover, but interested in creating trouble. It was common knowledge that Elrond had a high level of tolerance for unwanted guests, and was quite capable of forcing himself and his children to take unmitigated levels of insult in stride for the sake of peace. Aragorn had confirmed his thoughts, saying that there was enough of a likeable recklessness in the elf for him to be a humorous friend. But neither liked his brash self-smugness or the way he treated the nobility of Imladris.
"Ada is fine, Aragorn," Elladan called out, "the child is doing well."
"When will you start to show?" Aurief asked sweetly, "You used to grow very quickly if I remember rightly."
"He will show in his fifth month or thereabouts," Elrohir ground out, a hand span away from hitting his so-called father. His mother had never been the warmest of women, or even been there very much, but she had been a good mother as far as she was able. Even though he now saw that she had been unable to care for them, she had still given them the illusion of love, finding some acceptance within her for the children that were supposed to be hers and yet could never be. This man had never been any kind of parent and did not even try!
"Aurief," the voice was quiet but cut through everyone's tensions like a knife across an infected wound, "I believe we need to talk. As the entertainment for today is over and my health and the child's is guaranteed, perhaps you will leave us in privacy?"
Arwen and the twins nodded, followed closely by a not-quite-happy Aragorn and an openly reluctant Glorfindel. Legolas alone did not leave the room but sat coldly down in a chair and challenged Elrond with his eyes to make him leave. He had never looked more like a Prince than at this moment and the ruler in all but name of Imladris did not bother to argue with such determination. Sighing, he turned instead to the source of his recent worries.
"You have outstayed your welcome," he said baldly, "When will you leave?"
Aurief raised a dark eyebrow and laughed, a hand fondling a delicate porcelain statue on an intricately carved wooden table. "When I am bored, Elrond, but not before then. You know me well enough to know that!"
"I do know you," Elrond ceded, "And that is why I tell you now- you are not welcome! I do not like your insults and insinuations. My children do not like your insults and insinuations. My closest friends do not like your insults and insinuations. If you look for a pleasant holiday amongst us then you will be sadly mistaken. I advise you to leave."
"And what of Lady Galadriel's thinly-veiled order?"
There he had him. It was not that Elrond feared being discourteous to the Lady of the Golden Wood and her spouse; it was simply that she never did anything without a reason. And now that he was allowing himself to keep the child, his love for it grew with every passing day. He would not be able to bear it if something happened to her.
He wrapped an arm around his midsection, a curiously hard look on his face. "My daughter will not suffer harm," he swore, stifling the panic as best he could, "My daughter will not suffer at all if I can help it!"
Unerringly, like a hawk to its prey, Aurief pounced, a rich sound of gloating in his silvery voice. "Was that what you once said of Celebrian? We were in bed and I asked why your wife could not bear you children. We argued and you swore to protect her always. You could not do it, melethron; you could not be everywhere she needed help."
Elrond stumbled back at the force of such a verbal blow. His arm tightened as he thought of the world that he brought his children into, not just the one inside him but the two sons whose lives were touched by bloodshed and hate and the daughter who saw the darkness just as he himself did. He had failed to protect them as well and how would this time be any different?
"Elrond, melme, sit. Sit down; come on," Legolas urged him, forcing his limp body into his chair before turning with fury such as he had ever known blazing in his chest at the sight of the smirking Lorien elf. "Get. Out. If I seen you once more today, I will kill you."
Aurief shrugged, bowed reverently before the Elf Lord still gasping in the chair like a dying fish, and went silently from the room. Once outside he let his glee show. Oh, he had not meant to be quite so cruel but he had hated what had happened to his childhood's friend.
Celebrian and he had never been lovers even for a moment- he preferred males to any other and she-elves left him cold and unmoved- but he had felt her pain and rage the day he had last seen her before her departure. He had been rambling in his upset, finally blaming Elrond for the whole business because it had been to Imladris that she was travelling, to go once more to her husband and children. What had stunned him was the flash of emotion in hitherto expressionless eyes, the bitterness of her face and the absolute lack of ostentatious protestation of Elrond's innocence. So he had known the way she really felt for her husband, and it had fanned his own bitterness into a flame that still threatened to consume him.
Which was what made his plan so much simpler! Elrond was a revered and much- protected Elf Lord and hero of the First Age, but when it came to subtly he had as much sense as the child growing inside him. The wide lips curved into a charming smile of glee; the plan could safely go ahead in a few more months.