The Wrong One
By Nefhiriel
A/N: It's back to the apology notes... That one line by Glamdil: "The man has vocabulary", well, it's supposed to read: "The man has a... colorful vocabulary." Glamdil REALLY is an intelligent elf, he doesn't have mental problems : ) Elrond's line was partially deleted as well. (glares at computer) For SOME reason, unknown to me, my computer is out to get me – it selectively erased part of the sentences! I hope there was nothing else missing, I just caught that mistake after I'd posted my story on the internet... (GROAN) Sorry about that, I apologize for my stupid computer : b (mutters) Seriously, WHY did it have to do that?! (bangs head against computer screen)
As for this chapter being late again... I'm sorry. Hey, at least this time I didn't leave you on a horrible cliffie, right? This week has been absolutely insane for me, and I just didn't have any time to get it ready to post. I assure you, I have no intention of making this a regular occurrence.
See first chapter for disclaimer. Reviewer responses at end.
Chapter 18: Easing the Pain
It was turning into a long night for Elrond. He'd slept fitfully for over an hour, but he found that in the battle of conflicting emotions, anxiety had conquered weariness. Now he wished that he had made the twins promise to wake him in two hours. Four hours was just too much time to wait to check on Estel.
He fought down the restlessness that was stirring inside him with no small amount of incredulous disapproval; he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so impatient. If he hadn't been so troubled he might have laughed at his own lack of restraint. What was it that he was always telling his sons? Trust Ilúlvatar with your loved ones and, if only occasionally, stop to take to care of your own health. You can't help others when you're on the verge of collapse. Besides, Ilúlvatar has run the universe ever since he created it, he'd always smiled when he came to this part, and I'm sure he can continue to run it for a little while longer without your help, my sons. It was all good and true. If only he listened to his own wisdom more often.
Trust Ilúlvatar...Trust Him...
When he had finally accepted it, he felt his eyes glaze over in a peaceful sleep without nightmares.
He woke up feeling refreshed. Obviously he'd needed the sleep more than he thought. The cool night air made him instantly alert and wide awake. In the light of the full moon he could see the erect form of Legolas as he passed his vigil by Aragorn's side. Close by, Elladan and Elrohir lay sleeping beside their brother. With sudden amusement, it hit Elrond how very much the three of them looked like guard dogs
Or like three young elves who had taken it upon themselves to be responsible to keep harm, in any form, from touching one human...
With the three of them and their almost possessive love for him it was amazing how many times Aragorn succeeded in eluding them and getting into trouble. Even when he was a child Elladan and Elrohir had never been able to keep their brother from the skinned knees and the various bruises he'd taken to collecting. As he grew older, the twins had their hands full keeping each other alive and watching out for him. At times the Adan had driven the two of them frantic—no, even now that Adan was driving all of them frantic with concern.
Elrond saw Legolas lean over and push a strand of hair away from Aragorn's brow. He smiled sadly. How in all of Arda had one human captured all their hearts? Eru, how had he ever earned such a treasure as Estel? He knew hadn't, but he thanked Ilúlvatar for giving his youngest to him despite his own shortcomings.
He leaned his head against the rough bark of the tree and gazed up at the moon. From the distance that it had already descended, he judged that it was finally time to go 'relieve' the three elves of their 'burden'.
With deft elven stealth, he walked the short distance to Estel and his guardians. The slight rustle of his clothes would have been imperceptible to all but elven ears, but was picked out by Legolas's keen and attentive hearing. The blond elf spun around so quickly that Elrond involuntarily took a step backwards.
"Elrond?"
Even in the misleading light of the moon Elrond was sure he could see Legolas's face turn a shade of red. Choosing to act oblivious to the young elf's embarrassment, Elrond didn't let on that he saw Legolas's hand as it stole awkwardly away from the handle of one of his white knives.
"How is Estel?" he skillfully manipulated the topic away from the fact the Legolas had almost slit his throat. "Has there been any change at all?"
"Um... no." Legolas recovered himself and lowered his voice so as not to wake up the whole camp, "No, there has been no change."
Elrond leaned over to check on Aragorn, who moved and groaned at his touch. Elrond was not done with surprises for the night. With a start and identical gasps, both the twins sat up. As if by magic, daggers appeared in their hands, pointed for Elrond's throat. Guard dogs indeed...he almost expected them to growl at him.
"Ada?"
"Ada!"
Their faces took on the aspect of two fish out of water—two very ridiculous looking fish. They looked down at the daggers in their hands and then at Elrond. Re-sheathing their weapons simultaneously, they inadvertently let their expressions became even more fishlike as they groped for words.
"W-we—" Elrohir opened his mouth but could hardly get anything said.
"Ada, we..." Elladan wasn't growing loquacious either.
Legolas listened to their well-expressed statements and began to laugh softly. This, of course, broke the ice. Elladan and Elrohir lost their "fish faces" and glared at the almost hysterical Prince.
"I see nothing funny about this." Elladan crossed his arms.
"I agree," Elrohir unconsciously copied his brother, folding his own arms across his chest. "Legolas, it's the middle of the night and—"
"And you two are the jumpiest elf lords I've ever seen!" Legolas's laughter was growing dangerously loud.
"If that is so," the twinkle in Elrond's eyes subdued Legolas's outburst. "than you would certainly be the jumpiest elf Prince I ever had the pleasure of almost being stabbed by."
"What?" Elladan just about choked, "Legolas nearly stabbed you?!"
Legolas scowled and quit laughing.
"Now," the twinkle died from Elrond's eyes. "let us see to Estel."
As if on cue, Aragorn's eyelids started to flutter.
"Estel!"
The first thing Aragorn heard upon awakening was the anxious voices of at least three elves calling his name. He wanted to answer, but his head swam and his throat felt too dry. The last thing he wanted to do was worry them, but he still felt so overwhelmingly tired and his eyelids were so heavy...
"No Estel, talk to us."
That was Elladan. He could have smiled if he wasn't in so much pain. Elladan was unhurt: everything was alright.
"Saes (please), Estel, let us know you're alright!"
It was Legolas's voice that eventually made him open his eyes and acknowledge them. Or at least try to acknowledge them. All that came out was a horse croak. Elrond was already filling a cup with water and holding it to his lips.
"Here, drink slowly."
Aragorn heard a soothing voice then felt someone lift his head.
"Ada?"
"Yes, ion-nín, I'm here."
"Is Elrohir alright?"
He was half-afraid that all of this was too good to be true. Elladan and Legolas were alright, Elrond was here, surely someone must have gotten hurt. He didn't want to push his luck, but if only Elrohir was alright as well...
"He's right here, beside you." Elrond reassured him, "Legolas has a slight arm wound, but other than that no one was hurt besides you."
"Hurt?" he smiled and tried to sit up. "Ada, I'm alright I'm just a little—" Aragorn gasped and allowed the hands behind him to catch him as the arrow wound made itself known.
"Estel," Elrond gently scolded, "lie still."
Valar! He'd forgotten what Elladan being alive entailed. He'd been shot? Funny how something so eminently important can just slip your mind...
"Rest, ion-nin.
Was it just his imagination, or was everyone telling him the same thing lately? Rest. Well, he would gladly do the same thing as he did the last time someone advised him to rest: comply.
Elrond looked around the circle, from worried face to worried face. None of them were going away any time soon. Legolas sat next to him, and, across from him, Elladan and Elrohir were practically leaning on each other in their need for support.
Elrohir watched Elladan hang his head and pass a slender hand over his face. He reached out and tenderly clasped Estel's hand.
"It's all my fault." he whispered as tears escaped from behind his tightly closed eyelids.
Elrohir put his hand comfortingly on Elladan's shoulder.
"Of course it's not your fault..."
"Yes it is."
"No, El, it's not."
"You don't know what you're talking about."
"You're not making any sense!"
"What have you two found to fight about in the middle of the night?" Legolas asked, Elrond and him both taking notice of their increasingly loud discussion.
"Please, Ada, talk to Elladan—he's not making any sense. He refuses to believe me when I tell him that Estel being shot was not his fault!"
Elrond made his voice as gentle as possible. He knew his son's amazing ability to come up with ways of blaming himself for anything. He'd developed it into a fine art and was swiftly passing on his skill to Elrohir, Estel, and even Legolas.
"Elladan, we have talked about this before. You can not blame yourself for everything. That kind of guilt would be too hard for any one person to bear."
"But this time it really is my fault!" Elladan looked up with tears streaming down his face.
"You say that every time, El." Legolas interjected.
"Well, it's true this time."
"Then you admit that it wasn't the other times?" Legolas cleverly trapped him with his own words.
"All I know, is that Estel could die, and it's all because of me."
"By Eru and all the Valar—can't you share just a little of the blame for once! Don't be so greedy, mellon-nín."
Elladan just looked at Estel and didn't reply.
"Don't be so stubborn, Elladan. You're not the only one who's ever done something wrong, or been in the wrong place at the wrong time."
It scared Legolas when Elladan didn't even attempt to come up with a retort and his tone was a little sharper than he meant it to be. He immediately regretted it.
"In the wrong place at the wrong time?" Legolas flinched at the amount of guilt he could see in his friend. "You don't know the half of it!" he lowered his voice as tears began to choke him, "That arrow wasn't meant for Estel, it was meant for me."
"I don't understand." Legolas said, as yet unconvinced that Elladan knew what he was talking about. "How could you know that?"
"I saw the arrow coming for me. I don't have a clue how Estel knew there was an arrow aimed at me, but he jumped in front of it. I was too caught up in my own pitiful little fight to be alert to my surroundings."
"El, don't be so hard on yourself."
"I heard him." Elladan ignored his brothers lenient words. "I heard him call my name and I turned around to see the arrow coming at me. It would have been too late. I would have been shot. But Estel," he smiled through his tears. "he's always trying to be the hero, isn't he?" not waiting for an answer he delved ahead with his self-accusation. "If I had been more careful to watch out for him, if I had been more attentive...Elbereth, it's my fault that he's wrapped up in this affair with Acharndil in the first place."
"Legolas is right, muindor-nin, share some of the blame. It's just as much my fault as yours; Acharndil wanted revenge on both of us."
"I still have not heard the full tale yet," Elrond was still mystified as to the reason for Acharndil's insane attack upon his sons. "Does anyone care to enlighten me?"
He was hoping that perhaps he could get Elladan's mind off his problems. He knew that sooner or later he would have to deal with Elladan's overactive conscience, he'd done it many times before. But right now he didn't feel that he had the strength needed to wisely guide his son, or that Elladan for that matter had enough strength to think sanely. Right now he decided to stick with the age-old saying, and tell himself that, yes, things would look better in the morning.
"It's a very long story, ada," Elrohir volunteered for the difficult and undesirable take of trying to explain Acharndil's twisted ideas. "but I'll try to tell you. You remember about thirty years ago, when all those wargs were attacking the villages?"
Elrond nodded.
"You, Elladan and a few others rode out to help."
"A few of the villagers joined us and we split up into two parties. The wargs found one of the parties before the party could find them. The wargs were killed, but in the first onslaught several humans and an elf were killed as well." Elrohir looked down at his hands and paused.
"And what does this have to do with Acharndil?" Elrond asked.
"One of the men was Acharndil's father." Elladan bluntly stated, "And soon after, his mother died. He says it was from heart-break." Elrond was beginning to understand. "He also had a younger brother who didn't survive for too long."
"And now that— " Legolas searched for a word, but couldn't find any one word that was strong enough to describe Acharndil. "—that insane, black-hearted, coward blames Elladan and Elrohir for his entire family's demise!"
Elrond shook his head. So that was Acharndil's story. What Elladan and Elrohir needed to understand was that they had done nothing wrong. They'd actually done everything right, it had just backfired on them.
None of them could think of anything to say, so they let the silence fall.
Elrond knew how useless it would be to tell them to get some sleep. And for once he was content—even grateful—for their stubbornness. He'd almost lost them. He'd had to live with the thought of loosing all of them many nights and he was ready to spend this night with all of his sons close by.
He breathed in deeply and then slowly exhaled, relaxing at last. Estel's condition still worried him, but he had committed him to Ilúlvatar and was filled with peace. He basked in the silver light of the moon and stars. Shining proudly against the dark velvet of the sky, Eärendil, Star of High Hope, smiled at him.
To Be Continued...
Wow, TWO non-cliffie chapters in a row! This must be some sort of world record : )
Reviewer responses:
pollingly: Yup, you're the VERY first! (cheers) LOL. Hehe, actually, I gasp every time I read the part where I had Legolas cut of Dagron's arm! It's just so shocking, I even surprise myself! LOL, You should have seen Imbecamiel's face the first time she read that part : ) The funny thing is, later on I forgot that I'd done it, and had the elves tie his hands behind his back : ) That would be a challenge... Yes, Estel most certainly is too selfless for his own good. And we wouldn't have him any other way - even if it does drive his family to distraction ; ) Oh yes, it would be just HORRIBLE knowing that someone had nearly gotten killed saving me! I'm so glad you liked Elrond! And I agree, I do think that Elrond's sons got their stubbornness from their father. Actually, that's something I'm going to be going into a lot in one of my next stories. LOL, glad you're enjoying the non-cliffie! Thanks so much for reviewing, gwathel-nin!
HarryEstel: Yeah, I feel so sorry for both of them. (reviewers point accusing fingers) Yes, yes, I know I was the one who DID it to them in the first place... I can still feel sorry for them, can't I? LOL. Thanks!
Lizzie Blakeney: I'll certainly try : ) Thank you!
jacquelinestel: Eating the ceiling?! I think I'll be joining Legolas on this one – Yuck! Though, now that I think about it, it may not be the strangest thing I've seen someone eat. After all, my sister likes to eat paper, Styrofoam, tin foil, rubber bands, plastic... Yes, she has rather... interesting eating habits ; ) Make Estel worse? Well, if you say so, mellon-nin... I may do just that ; ) Thanks so much for the review!
Tinorial Peredhil: Hmm, I'm still debating in my mind which would be worse: orcs, or the twins? Orcs can be horrible, but...can you imagine the kind of things El & El would come up with to do to Dagron? (shudders) LOL. Elladan, play safe? Unlikely. (whistles) I don't think I'll answer your questions anymore concerning the welfare of aforementioned characters, I take the fifth! Hehe, I just love the way Estel can never quite get used to elves sleeping with their eyes open, and the elves can never get used to Estel sleeping with his eyes closed : ) Yup, definitely a record for Legolas, LETTING someone treat a wound WITHOUT resisting. (gasp) AMAZING! But, he was in shock, and not paying particular attention to anyone except Estel. (blushes in embarrassment) As I'm sure you've read in the A/N, those sentences were supposed to be a little different... But at least you seem to have gotten what it was SUPPOSED to say : ) Hey, how on earth am I supposed to please EVERYONE on here? Most people are blatantly begging me to put all the characters through "pain and endless torment", and then there are a few (like you) who are always telling me how evil I am because I put the characters through "pain and endless torment". (sighs exasperatedly) How am I going to please you ALL?! LOL. Yeah, go ahead, lead the mob! Aww, I must admit, I'm starting to feel just the teensiest sorry for that poor guard... LOL, well, thanks for the beautiful, long review mellon-nín!
Star-Stallion: Hehehe, I'm so glad you asked about signature. It's kind of a funny story... Me and my friend Polly (a.k.a pollingly) were discussing how nervous we get when we post our stories (I'm pitiful, esp. since this is my first real attempt at a multiple chapter story). We always sit around "haunting" the computer for days afterwards, waiting for feedback... I've gotten a little more secure with the help of my WONDERFUL reviewers, but I still manage to worry over every chapter : b The two of us continued to bemoan and sympathize about it, and pretty soon the SNWCG (Society for Nerve-Wracked Computer Ghosts) was born! As for the F.F.F.F.F... Well, I have really, REALLY painful flat feet (I hardly have any arch in my feet at all, so it KILLS my back). I found out that Leeanne (a.k.a Lady Leeanne, she's Polly's sister) also has flat feet (not quite as painful, but she could still commiserate) – and so, naturally, we formed the F.F.F.F.F (Fellowship for Flat Footed Females). LOL. (whistles as she looks at length of response) How's that for a long answer to a short question? Now you'll really think before you ask me another question : ) I'll end this before I scare you off ; ) Thank you!
Troubles8806: Yup, Elrond's here to help our ranger (finally!). No, I don't mind answering questions at all! Yes, Eru (a.k.a Ilúlvatar) is basically the allegorical God of LotR. The Valar are just under him, and then the Miar, who have various levels of power (Gandalf, Sauron, Saruman, ...etc even the Balrogs and Shelob ). Sorry for the little "history lesson" : b (I do tend to run on when people ask me questions...) I probably wouldn't know who Eru was either, unless I'd read the Silmarillion (twice actually, it's so hard to remember all the names...). I'm not an expert, but ask me, and I love to TRY and explain : ) Oh no! I've still got quite a number of chapters left. In all this story is 24 chapters long, plus an epilogue. I'm flattered that you're enjoying THAT much! Thank you for reviewing, my loyal author's note reader! LOL.
Drylith: Oh... (smiles sheepishly) and I just had to go and do it again this time, didn't I? Sorry... I'm doing my best to get the chapters out on time – but RL seems out to get me (just like my computer)! Glad you liked the chapter : ) Thank you for reviewing!
elitenschwein: Oh, and you say I am evil? You're happy that Elladan is feeling guilty – shame on you! LOL. I know what you mean about wanting the bad guys to get what's coming to them, and I think on the whole, Legolas agrees with you. But you'll just have to wait and see how things come out in the end. (eg) I'm so glad you liked all the interaction between the twins, Legolas, Aragorn and Elrond : ) (sighs in relief) Whew, I'm safe from the little Nazgûl horse, at least for the moment being... (gulp) Hehe, glad you liked my NON-cliffy : ) Thank you for reviewing!
Errhos: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thank you so much, muindor-nín!
Naesse: Yup, Estel's safe...for now ; ) Thank you so much, I'm glad you think that I'm a great writer, and that you're enjoying me story : )
Thank you all for reviewing, and please tell if my computer continues to misbehave...Ack! Hope it doesn't delete anything more : (
Next chapter will be out on Tuesday or Wednesday, and will be called "An Awakened Fear".
- Nefhiriel
Vice President and co-founder of the SNWCG, and member of the F.F.F.F.F