26. Gossamer nets
"Shall we address it 'Lady Arwen' or 'Dearest Undomiel'?" Orophin asked, frowning at the parchment on his writing desk as Rumil peered out through the crack in his bedroom door.
"My dearest Lady." Rumil replied wincing at the sound of breaking glass that came from the next room. Orophin cringed slightly as he heard Haldir spout some rather offensive descriptions of brothers, Imladris and elves in general.
"What Son of a Balrog has my tunic?" Haldir shouted, followed by the sound of a chair overturning.
"I have never seen him this hungover before." Rumil said uneasily. Orophin nodded in agreement.
"I found him on the lounge with three empty bottles when I came in last night." he sighed, toying with his quill. "Shall I expound on her beauty first or simply come to the point?"
"Perhaps an apology for behaving like an orc would be in order." Rumil suggested, frowning as Haldir let loose a string of curses.
"I did not know our brother could speak the dwarf tongue." Orophin said in surprise.
"I think we have just heard the sum total of his knowledge of it." Rumil replied. "What do you suppose happened last night to upset him so?"
"It is difficult to say." Orophin shrugged, "How do you spell 'incomparable'?" Rumil winced, easing the door shut and crossing the room to look over Orophin's shoulder.
"That is terrible!" he scowled.
"Perhaps you would prefer to write it yourself." Orophin said sarcastically.
"Aye, I would." Rumil nodded "but I cannot copy Haldir's script."
"Then you compose and I shall copy." Orophin replied handing him the quill. Rumil bit his lip in concentration as he wrote, pausing to scratch out and rewrite until he was satisfied with the end results. He handed the note to Orophin who read it through once before copying it. He held the bit of parchment out with a smirk and both brothers eyed it with satisfaction.
"Perfect." Rumil grinned "Sincere yet, undemanding."
"Rhach! Where in Mordor are my boots?" Haldir shouted from the sitting room.
"Did you take his seal?" Orophin asked as he folded the note, Rumil nodded, producing the ring from his pocket. Orophin pressed it in the wax and stood to his feet tucking the letter in his tunic.
"Shall we go and assist our dear brother?" Rumil asked as they heard the unmistakable sound of a bookcase overturning and Haldir spouting a particularly colorful curse involving Morgoth's hindquarters. Orophin gave a crooked smile as he nodded in agreement and they slipped out the door.
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"Sweet Elbereth, what happened in here?" Eirien asked as she stared, openmouthed on the threshold of Meril's bedchamber. Every spare inch of the room was covered in roses, in vases, wrapped in bouquets, tied to notes, covering the dresser and chairs and even littering the floor.
"Orophin sent them." Meril said dismally as she walked to the bed, moving several bouquets before curling up on the corner of the mattress and hugging the bed post dejectedly.
"Orophin sent all of these?" Eirien asked in wonder. She had never seen anything like it. Meril only nodded, her shoulders slumping in defeat. She had never been one to give up a fight and it seemed that losing did not suit her.
"Most seemed to have arrived last night during dinner." she sighed sullenly "but he sent three before breakfast to wish me good morning and four more after to say how he missed me when I did not come down."
"Aye, I was wondering about that." Eirien replied, trying to hold in a smile as she crossed the room, shoving several more bouquets off the bed to make a place to sit beside her friend.
"Meril dearest." she soothed, wrapping her arms comfortingly around the older elleth "Had you considered that perhaps he might be serious?"
"Eirien!" she moaned "Not you as well! I expect that sort of nonsense from Indelin but you are old enough to know better!"
"Well throw them away." Eirien said, changing the subject with a frustrated sigh. "You only encourage him by keeping them." Meril let out a groan, falling back on the bed. She frowned, sitting up just enough to move two more bouquets from behind her before flopping down again.
"I cannot, they are all roses!" She sighed "They remind me of... You know how I feel about roses! I cannot throw them out no matter who sent them!"
"Well you cannot hide in here forever." Eirien insisted.
"If you would distract him..."
"Absolutely not!" Eirien replied with a frown "Ask Indelin."
"After last night I do not think Indelin will ever speak to him again." Meril sighed.
"Why, what happened last night?" Eirien asked curiously.
"Oh, nothing." Meril replied quickly, twitching her ankle nervously.
"Well you will either have to stay in your room until they leave and give up your pursuit of the prince." Eirien stated causing Meril to groan in despair again. "Or gather your dignity and go out and face him."
"I would sooner face a balrog." Meril said miserably.
"Knowing Orophin," Eirien grinned "that would only encourage him."
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"I knew there would be orcs in the wilds," Aragorn said frowning into his tea cup "but I did not expect to find them so close to Imladris."
"Perhaps now you will understand why I would not allow you to cross the river as a child." Elrond replied as he settled back in his own chair, casting a smirk in Gilraen's direction. She tried to hold in a giggle as her son gave the elf lord a sheepish grin.
"Aye," Aragorn replied "I think we can safely put that argument behind us."
"Leaving me free to argue with him over letting you cross the river now." Gilraen stated, giving them a rather perturbed look that caused both males to struggle to suppress their laughter. Elrond stood to his feet, crossing Gilraen's terrace to lean against the rail as he finished his tea. On the porch below he could see Legolas having breakfast with Arwen. He could only faintly hear her laughter and he smiled to himself.
She seemed so happy. It had been such a long time since he could remember her laughing and smiling like that. He swallowed the lump in his throat as she cast her arms around Legolas's neck in an affectionate squeeze.
"The orcs are numerous," Aragorn continued, his brow creasing in a frown. "but they are poorly organized. Their bands are small and roving, their defenses weak, it is as if they search for something." Elrond could not help the proud smile on his face at his foster son. The boy had grown to be quite an observant tactician. He really must remember to thank Glorfindel.
"They search for the heir of Numenor." Gilraen said stiffly, staring into her cup with an uneasy expression.
"They believe the line of Numenor broken." Elrond shook his head with a frown "You and I have seen to that, my lady. They search for The Ring"
Aragorn looked down at his hand with a frown, the sparkling eyes of the two serpents staring back at him. Before he could voice his question he looked up at the sound of his mothers voice, cold and hard as stone.
"I will thank you kindly, Lord of Imladris to keep your tales of glorious battle to yourself." she spat, her eyes glinting dangerously. Aragorn stared from her angry expression to the impassive one in the eyes of his foster father.
"Would you have me lie to him?" Elrond asked evenly.
"I would have you hold your tongue Elrond." she snapped angrily "You laid this guilt on his father and it is the reason I have lost my husband." The elf lord closed his eyes, pressing his lips in a thin line before meeting the gaze of his youngest child.
"Estel, tell me of the fate of the One Ring, which Isildur cut from the hand of the Dark Lord." he said, ignoring the hiss that escaped from the woman. Aragorn opened his mouth to answer and just as quickly snapped it shut again, frowning in concentration.
"I do not know, Ada." he said finally "I suppose I always assumed it was destroyed."
"Aye, it should have been." Elrond sighed heavily "I stood by Isildur at the foot of Mount Doom. Both our kings, our fathers, dead. Our peoples in ruin. Victory gained by only the tiniest thread. I begged him to destroy it, to cast it into the fire. Isildur kept The Ring."
He watched as an expression of horror and revulsion crossed the young face. Aragorn's prior education leading him to the same inescapable conclusion as so many before him.
"Ada," he asked, his voice deathly quiet "where is The Ring?"
"Lost," Elrond replied heavily "in the Anduin, at the bottom of the sea for all anyone knows."
"Sauron is not destroyed." Aragorn whispered, his face falling in despair "he will return."
"Aye," Elrond replied, his eyes drilling into the boy "And there is nothing you can do to stop it." How many times had he had this conversation? Elrond didn't know. Why was it always the same?
"We must try!" Aragorn insisted bolting to his feet, "Ada, I must do something!" Elrond felt more than saw Gilraen bury her face in her hands, terrified that her son would follow in the footsteps of his fathers, avenging a wrong for which he was not to blame.
Not this time.
"The blame in this is not yours." Elrond said softly, laying his cup on the table and taking Aragorn's face in his hands. "It is mine."
"Ada?"
"I should have stopped Isildur." Elrond whispered "He kept it for the elves as much as for himself. With the One Ring destroyed the power of all the rings would have been broken and all our peoples might have been lost. I could not lead without it any more than he could. Still I should have fought him, killed him if I had to, but I could not. I could not raise my hand against him because of what I saw when I looked into his eyes. It is the same thing I see in yours, ion nin. I see my brother, I see myself. This burden is not yours. Reclaim your birthright, make your people strong once more, do not destroy the hope of men for a mistake that was not your own."
Aragorn looked up into the Elf Lord's face, the face of the only father he had ever known. How could Elrond ask this of him? Was he a better man than Isildur or Arathorn that he was fit to rule? Knowing the frailty of such men could he trust his own heart? The One Ring endured because of a mistake made by his own kin. Men would be better off to have no king than to be ruled by such weakness.
"No." he whispered. He jerked free of Elrond's grasp, turning toward the door.
"Estel." Elrond called after him.
"No, Ada!"
"Estel!" but he had already disappeared. Elrond rubbed his forehead, his heart heavy, he turned to find Gilraen, her hand pressed over her mouth. They stared at each other in silence a moment before Gilraen finally spoke.
"You tried." she whispered, her voice breaking. Elrond heaved a bitter sigh, staring impassively at the door.
"Apparently, I did not try hard enough." he replied.
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Indelin cringed as she stared at the door before her, she'd had her fun and now it had come time to pay for it. She drew in a deep breath as she knocked hesitantly. A grunt of acknowledgment met her ears and she pushed open the door, peering inside.
"Lord Erestor?" she asked in a small voice.
"My lady." he did not look up from the pile of papers before him as he acknowledged her. Well, at least he had not taken to calling her anything more derogatory.
"I was wondering if I might trouble you for a moment," she said uneasily "If you are busy I can come back..." her voice trailed off as the counselor motioned her forward with a wave of his hand, still absorbed in what he was reading. As she approached his desk he jabbed a finger at one of the chairs and she tumbled into it nervously, waiting for him to look up.
"Yes?" he prompted, after a moments pause, his eyes still fixed on the parchment in his hand.
"I wanted to apologize for my behavior last night." She said hurriedly "It was not Elladan's fault and it was incredibly rude of me to walk out and leave him to explain on his own."
"Was it?" Erestor asked, his voice emotionless "I hadn't noticed." Indelin stared at him her mouth hanging open slightly. She was coming to the rather frightful conclusion that Erestor did not have a mate because he had never carried on an actual conversation with another living being.
"Well, we were locked into the stables," she continued "quite by accident, and we had been there quite some time when you showed up."
"And you thought to pass the time with a tumble in the hay, as it were." he asked, his eyes never straying from his papers and his face expressionless as a mask.
"No!" Indelin replied, her cheeks growing hot. "We are friends! And Eirien... well I would never do that to her! I would not want you to be angry with him on my account, especially when... nothing happened."
"So Elladan tells me," he replied, finally setting the papers down on his desk and folding his hands as he faced her, "Still, it does not hurt to have a second point of view. And you can hardly blame me if I took advantage of an opportunity to pay him back for all his mercilessly pranking over the years, especially when you were so kind to provide me with it in the first place."
Indelin stared at him, her jaw hanging open as she watched the corner of his mouth curl ever so slightly. She clapped a hand over her mouth attempting to stifle her giggle as her face flushed scarlet. Erestor's expression remained unchanged but there was the faintest twinkle in his eye.
"You knew!" she squeaked in shock.
"My dear lady... of course I knew." he replied, his mouth twitching ever so slightly "I suspected the moment you began plucking hay from his hair. Granted I found his explanation a bit ludicrous but I was convinced by the fact that he rambled on for twenty minutes about damaging your honor."
"Why would that have convinced you?" Indelin asked in wonderment.
"Because, normally he would have blamed you." Erestor shrugged, as Indelin felt her jaw fall open again. "I suppose now I shall have to let him off... pity, I was rather enjoying it." Indelin's jaw worked silently as Erestor began to shuffle the papers on his desk. She could hardly believe what she was hearing and she was not certain whether to laugh outright or die of embarrassment.
"Perhaps I will go then, and allow you to continue working." she said finally, standing to her feet and scooting toward the door.
"I was curious about one thing." Erestor added, Indelin paused and she was sure she could see mischief in his expression "Why ever were you in the stables in the first place?"
"Well, I was, you see..." her voice trailed off as he began to nod.
"Aye, my lady" he said, looking at his papers once more, his smirk now apparent on his face. "That is what I thought."
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"I do not know." Elrohir said, shaking his head as he leaned over his brother's shoulder "It is not written in the style of an elleth."
"And when has that ever been her style?" Elladan asked with a frown. He considered the piece of parchment on his desk a moment before continuing to write.
"Good point." his twin conceded. "But should it not be more wistful?"
"Will that not make her sound desperate?" Elladan asked, reading through the letter.
"If a confession of unrequited love is not a desperate act then I have never known one." Elrohir insisted.
"Well we can not make her sound too desperate." Elladan sighed, "We have her honor to consider."
"I am still cleaning molasses out of my ears!" Elrohir snapped, rubbing his ear angrily "Her honor is the least of my concerns!"
"We have Estel to blame for that." his twin snorted, rubbing his own ear.
"And we have Arwen to blame for having to be in Estel's room in the first place!" Elrohir replied hotly.
"Aye." Elladan sighed frowning at the letter as he read through it once more "But we shall not have that problem long."
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rhach - curses/dammit
ion nin - my son
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Author's Note - I am back to my usual cheerful self, and it's a good thing too...
[announcers voice] what letters are written by the brothers Lorien and the Twins... tune in next week for another episode of One Immortal Life to Live'
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dragonfly - Ah yes, Haldir moving on... to the wine cellar...
Daughter-of-Faeries - dose that answer your question?
Cerridwen - Haldir isn't the sort to let his temper run away with him. He was waiting (well, hoping) for Aragorn to make a wrong move...
TSS - There will be No Dying!!! Never cross a doctor while on their turf... no matter how young the doctor might be.
grumpy - yeah, I'm going to be playing up the sticky for chapters to come... can't you tell?
Yavanna - Stay tuned... more Glorfindel to come...
PLL - feeling loads better, thanks!
Converted - Im meleth le (I love thee) Sindarin has no you'
Melkor - Really... you think so?
