Again, my friends, sorry about the wait. But the good news is, I took yesterday evening to outline to rest of the story. So now it's all up to me finding time and effort to put the chapters in lovely little packages for you all. But never fear- it's a long way away from being finished. It is my prerogative to fully immerse you in the loveliness of Elladan.
Chapter 13- Mithlond: Trust
"You are doing well for your first time, Silaerín," Elladan said as he watched her adjust her feet and her torso to aim the bow. It was apparent to him that she had received some training using a bow, as she was able to sufficiently pull back the taught string and send the arrow flying toward the target in a manner that allowed her to hit the target, however inaccurate she was. Most Elves just starting out were barely able to pull back the bow string, much less hit the target at all. Except, he had to note, that even though she did have experience using a bow, the lessons had obviously ended quickly and she had not received any pointers in technique to help her with her aim.
He stood back and watched her as she sent an arrow flying. It had been a bad idea for him to pull her away to come practice this skill alone. It was not that he did not like to spend intimate time with Silaerín, but now that there was a vast new playing field for him to operate in, he found it extremely hard to concentrate on the normal things when she was around.
She placed the end of the bow at her feet and leaned against it, glancing at him with a soft smile, "I thought you were supposed to be giving me lessons, not staring at me?"
He chuckled lowly to himself and looked at the ground for a moment before walking over to her. She began to turn, following him as he stepped past her, but he quickly grabbed her waist to hold her in one place and situate himself behind her. He placed his mouth beside her ear and said in a quiet, furtive manner, "And I thought you had no experience with a bow whatsoever."
"So I lied," she replied quietly, trying unconvincingly to mask the affect he had on her by standing so closely and whispering into her ear.
Elladan brushed his lips against the junction where her smooth jaw met her ear lobe, and he again delighted in the shiver that started from the base of her spine, all the way up her back. It was just evident enough that he could feel it against his waist and his chest as it traveled up her body. And in return, he too felt an all too familiar stirring within the pit of his belly and lower, though it was a frequent stirring he had never fully acted upon. However, he had feeling that would not be the case much longer.
"You still have not gotten over that most unpleasant mannerism of lying," he said, brushing his lips against her ear again.
Silaerín giggled lightly, "It would seem to me, though, that such lying has garnered exactly what I wanted all along."
"And what was that, pen velui?" he questioned.
"I should think it would be obvious," Silaerín replied with a wicked smile, a hand reaching behind her and coming into contact with his ear tip. He thought for a moment to stop her, but as her soft fingers traced up the contour of his ear, and stayed at his ear tip with short caresses, there was no chance his body would allow him to stop her, no matter how much his rational mind wanted to stay her hands. He had not expected her to know that any caress of the tip of an Elf's ear would be so distracting, and he was, unfortunately, sidetracked enough to allow her to turn to face him. She wrapped her arms about his neck, laying the bow at her feet before doing so. "You should know that even though I am normally timid about many things, I do know how to control a male quite effectively. If there has been one thing I have learned from my ladies, it would be that. But I am glad it works the same with peredhil as it supposedly does with an edhel."
Elladan laughed, and pulled her against him so that there was no chance for anything to pass between them, not even air. And for once, he was not the least bit worried of what Silaerín may think about his more than obvious excitement after her display of affection by touching his ear. "There is little difference between me and an Elf, Silaerín. The only things that may be different are the quality of my hearing and my eyesight. Besides that, I am as ellon as they may come."
Silaerín's lips quirked into a sly smile, and her hands left their spot from around his neck and slowly traveled down his shoulders, and across his chest. Elladan squeezed his eyes shut, trying in vain to keep his bodily reactions in check. It was a worthless fight, though, with a female doing this to him... much less a female whom he cared for so deeply, but was not yet ready to tell her that. Perhaps that was another thing that was different about him and a true Elf. Perhaps it was the influence of the race of Men in his blood that had him giving into his urges so easily.
"There are a few other things that are different about you," she said quietly, meeting his eyes. "For one thing, you are certainly much larger than the average Elf. And I am also pleased that you are not so impossible to break of your reserve, and I do think that has to do with the blood of Men in you. I am tired of Elves who are so perfect that they cannot even admit defeat when they come to it, or Elves who do not show any emotion because they claim it to be against Elven nature to be ruled by one's feelings and heart."
Elladan looked down at her, surprise washing over him, "My lady, how did you know what I was thinking?"
Silaerín smiled, and stood on her toes for moment to reach his lips. She settled herself back on her feet and met his eyes, "I am surprised you have not figured that out yet. I was given a slight ability of prescience into the minds of others, though I know not why. It is often times of no use to me, but other times, like when I am with you or Elrohir, it is easy to pick up on what you are thinking. Grandfather says that it is because of the affinity I share with others that allows me to use it, but I do not know for what purpose I was given this ability beyond that of what Elves could share normally."
He held her gaze, and stroked her cheek with his hand, "That is how you can tell us apart so easily."
"Only when I cannot see your eyes," she said. "There is a slightly different gleam in yours than is in Elrohir's. I can always tell it is you from your trivial mannerisms that others may not notice. And you cannot deny this, but there has always been a deeper bond between you and I from the very beginning, and that is why it is easier for me to discern difference between you two. "
"I could deny it, but I would be lying," he replied. He wanted to tell her he loved her, that he would always love her, no matter what separated them, but something kept him from doing that. Perhaps it was the knowledge that they may not see each other for an age or more, or that she could find some other ellon more worthy of her than he was, or that he father could do something unthinkable, like send her to Aman against her consent. But he knew what it was... he was not yet prepared to give away his heart so freely, the decision that would probably make his choice for him. He was not old enough to know that the choice to remain Elven was one that he wanted, even if he did love her now.
Silaerín glanced up at him and smiled slightly, "We are young yet, Elladan, and the state of the affairs of this world would prohibit any permanent thing from happening between us for awhile. There is no need to proclaim anything now."
"But I thought that was what you wanted," he replied.
"Nay, what I wanted was for you to know that it was acceptable for you to act on your feelings and urges if that was what you wanted," she said. "You will leave in less than a days time, to go back to Imladris to deal with the pressing matters of Arda. As much as I am sad to see your stay end so abruptly, it is what you must do."
"Ada said that we could stay behind if we wished," he said. "It is a council of the chief Eldar that my father and your grandfather seek, not a council with young ellon."
Silaerín smiled, "But your father may need you, nonetheless. You should go."
He sighed, thinking back to the meeting earlier in the morning he held with Círdan and his father and brother. The decision to go back to Imladris had not been made solely on the fact there were pressing matters that needed to be discussed there. The second part of the decision came on the cusp of the reaction in which Elladan's interest in Silaerín had sparked with Nenvír. Elladan decided, as well as the others, that it would be best to leave now to let the tension cool and the thought of a possible union between he and Silaerín set in Nenvír's mind before any more drastic measures were taken. But Elladan was willing to allow one whim of Silaerín's fancy; if she should ask him to stay, he would.
Luckily, she had not been able to intercede that thought. Or she had, but was doing a remarkable job of hiding her disappointment. However, he thought it better to operate on the assumption that she did not intercede it. Silaerín sighed, "Elladan?"
"Yes, pen velui?"
"You will write while we are still apart, correct?" she asked.
"Only if you promise to do the same," he laughed and leaned over to kiss her. Someone cleared their throat in the clearing, and she began to pull away quickly, but Elladan held her firmly in place. Even if it were her brother or father there, he did not care.
He glanced in the direction the sound had come from to find Elrohir standing there with Arwen, both of his siblings with equally foolish grins on their faces. Elrohir stepped forward, "Just because of these new feelings, does not mean you may monopolize all of Silaerín's time. She has other friends, you know."
Silaerín laughed and rested her head against Elladan's shoulder as she looked in their direction, "Whoever said I was friends with you, Elrohir? You and Elladan are always together, so I had to take the bad with the good."
Elrohir scoffed, "Fine then."
She giggled and pushed away from him then, and walked over to Elrohir, throwing her arms about his neck in an exaggerated embrace. "Oh please, Elrohir, you will always be a very good friend. And if Elladan does not work out, I will always have you."
Elladan found himself rolling his eyes at her remark, and walked over to join his siblings and Silaerín just as Elrohir leaned over and placed a kiss upon Silaerín's brow. Elladan found that he was not exactly jealous of Elrohir's kiss, but it was slightly weird seeing his identical twin do that. He brushed the thought away and sighed heavily, "We have the rest of the afternoon to do what we please."
"Perhaps an excursion about Mithlond would suit you all, since we have been restricted to the inside since the beginning of your visit?" Silaerín asked.
"That sounds lovely," Arwen said.
With that, Silaerín led them to the stables and each took their time preparing their horses. He mentioned that perhaps Silaerín would like to share his saddle, but she only smiled and ran a finger teasingly down his cheek, and said, "Now, would that be a very good idea considering the state you are already are in?"
He felt the blush creep to his cheeks and ears, and he hoped it was not too obvious to the others. "You are evil."
Silaerín only smiled and easily jumped atop her mare's back. As they started out on the trek about Mithlond, Arwen pulled Silaerín back so that the ellyth were riding side by side at a slow walk, and he and Elrohir were made to lead them, even though he had no idea where to go. It would have seemed to him that Arwen wanted to speak to Silaerín about something important by the way they whispered and made faces when either he or Elrohir would turn to look at them. Really, sometimes he hated being left out of conversations, especially when he knew that he was probably the topic of the conversation.
Unfortunately the excursion was not as he had planned, but he was happy to see that his sister obviously approved of Silaerín. It was important to him that not only did Círdan approve, but so did his family. And now that Silaerín had met all of them, he was pleased that they all enjoyed her. Now if he could only do the impossible and make Nenvír believe he was not the scourge upon Arda. Elladan had to laugh at himself, thinking of that. It would be a long time before Nenvír even saw Silaerín as anything more than a bane on his existence, so the chances of changing Nenvír's mind of him was slim.
As they came back into the stables and dismounted, Elrohir and Arwen left them alone to talk, and Elladan took the opportunity ask what she and Arwen had been talking about. Silaerín looked at him and smiled, "Wouldn't you like to know. Regrettably, I cannot tell you. If you were meant to know that we were speaking of, you would have been included in the conversation."
"Why is there need to be so secretive?" he asked.
"Because there is need," she smiled again, turning around toward the stable exit.
"What sort of need?" Elladan questioned as he followed after her.
"Does it matter that it is about ellyth worries, that do not concern you?" Silaerín asked, continuing on her path.
Elladan walked alongside her, "What could you and my sister be speaking of? She is young yet, she does not know yet about these things I suppose you were speaking of."
Silaerín laughed and paused for a moment to look up at him, "She is not that young, Elladan. And I think it would be good for you to understand that she will one day not be a little sister any more. One day she will find someone she loves, and you will have to deal with that. Hopefully you, Elrohir and your father will be better about it than my father and brother are with me."
"No male, be it Elf or Man, is touching my sister," Elladan replied.
"You are just like my brother... that is why he acts like he does," she said. "I know that my brother is different than you in many ways, but I must believe that Celin's spying on me is an innate sense to protect me from evil males like yourself. Even with my father, I must believe that, or I would have no reason to try to be happy here with them constantly breathing down my neck."
"I am not like your brother," he defended.
"Suppose you saw Arwen and an ellon acting in the same way were to each other, Elladan. What would you have done?" she questioned.
Elladan thought for a moment, and knew he would have done exactly what Celin did, plus trying to kill the evil doer who did touch his sister. Perhaps Silaerín was right, that even though her father and brother were extremely wrong in the way they dealt with matters, it was always a sense of love and protectiveness of Silaerín that they felt.
"See?" she questioned. "And that was what the conversation was about. She was asking me how I dealt with my father and brother."
He was silent, and then his eyes opened wide, "Is my sister..."
Silaerín laughed, "Nay, Elladan. There is no ellon that you will need to threaten. But I thought perhaps it would be good to give you this perspective now, so that when it does happen, you do not act like my brother."
Elladan sighed and took her hand in his as they began to walk again toward the dwelling. "I fear that I will be exactly like Celin now."
"You may, but I suppose that would be applauded," Silaerín said, "I appreciate my brother's protectiveness, though it is sometimes obnoxious. Just do not go so far as to decide it is your prerogative to regulate who she spends her time with and who she does not. Let her choose for herself. Respect her judgment and trust her choice."
"Have you spoken to Celin of this?" Elladan asked. "I think he would benefit from hearing this."
"Nay, I have not, and I am not sure he would listen to me," Silaerín replied. "But this only just became clear to me while speaking to Arwen that this is normal behavior from older brothers."
Elladan nodded, and said, "Now I am sorry you told me what you were discussing. Now I will be watching Arwen even more closely."
Silaerín laughed, "I told you that you did not want to hear what we were discussing. Perhaps next time you will trust me?"
"I think I should trust you all the time," he said. "You have never been wrong with the advice you give."
"That is because I only give advice when it deals with something that I live with," she said. "So often do people give advice they have no right giving to others, who know nothing of the facts. Like my father."
He laughed and they remained silent as they continued into the dwelling and down the halls to her chambers. They paused before the large doors and he leaned down to place a kiss on her lips. She smiled slightly as he pulled away, "I shall see you this evening, Elladan."
"And I you. Will you save me a dance?" he questioned.
"I should ask you the same thing," she said. "My ladies are quite smitten with you and Elrohir. They will be taking up much of your time this eve."
Elladan laughed, "Then I shall feed him to the wolves and steal you away from your duties as hostess."
"How selfless of you, to sacrifice your brother like that," Silaerín laughed. "I will tell Elrohir of your plans."
"Go right ahead, mell nín," Elladan replied and turned to walk away. "He needs to find someone now."
pen velui- lovely one
edhel- Sindarin for Elf.
Mell nin- my dear