Immortally Abandoned
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Disclaimer: I seriously do not own anything. Immortal-grace still owns Aelinea, even though she keeps telling me that I can have all of it. Thanks Immortal-grace, for giving me the series.
I advise readers to read this series, called 'Immortally Abandoned', in order please.
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Elrond always knew that the cute baby girl, the one who had been abandoned on his doorstep years ago, would grow to be beautiful. Indeed she was beautiful; two silver-gray-green eyes lit up a flawless face that was surrounded by dark-chestnut hair, of which fell down her back and spilled across her shoulders. And everyone loved her, for she loved them; even the most hideous-looking, foulest-smelling being was loved by Elrond's foster daughter. And from her third year of life, she had loved to watch the stars, be around the horses, and walk with Elrond in the woods.
Elrond had found the girl abandoned on his doorstep in the middle of the night, wrapped in blankets and severely malnourished. She had been abandoned in the early hours of her birth, for when Elrond received her, it was evident that she was newly born. Elrond was already a father before this girl came into his life; he and his wife had been blessed with twin sons and a daughter, all of whom were older than their foster sister.
Lord Elrond's twin sons and his daughter had quickly adapted to the new family member. And as they got older, they grew close, as if they were actually related. The girl, whose name was Aelinea, had the brown hair of the Noldor; for this was a good coincidence because with that said, she'd be considered one of Lord Elrond's own, not looking much different from the Peredhils. But the facts remained: she was not one of Elrond's children and she was not his children's sister. She had a real family out there, but as time went on, she'd decided not to even look for them.
Aelinea had a knack for riding the horses and, unlike other Elves, she would ride with a saddle—arguing that she didn't want to hurt the horse and, also, that "riding bareback" hurt her behind anyways. Elrond had to teach his children how to ride a few times, but Aelinea learned the first time and developed a deep love for horses. Sometimes Elrond's foster daughter would sleep in the stables with the horses because they "gave off a sense of comfort, protection, love, and warmth" and eased her anxiety.
"Ada?"
Elrond's thoughts, though more like memories to him, were interrupted by the hesitant voice of Aelinea.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you Ada, but I was just going to tell you that we're leaving now." Aelinea, dressed in a simple green tunic with matching leggings and her sword hanging by her left hip, leaned against the doorframe and smiled at her "father".
"You're not interrupting me. I'm glad you come to inform me of these things. When will you be back?" Elrond leaned back in his chair.
Aelinea shook her head and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Within a week, Ada, I promise."
"Is it just you and the twins?"
Aelinea nodded. "Like our normal routine."
"Come, I'll help you saddle your horse." Elrond stood and gestured for Aelinea to walk ahead of him.
Father and daughter walked to the stables, down the aisle towards the end of the first stable, and stopped at one of the stalls. Inside the stall, a tall chestnut stallion eagerly stuck his head out to greet Aelinea and Elrond. "Shall we go for another ride?" she ran her hand down the horse's face before unlatching the stall door to let the horse out. While she put the saddle on, Elrond fixed the bridle over the horse's face. Aelinea mounted with ease and accepted the leather reins from her father.
Skillfully, the Elf backed the horse out of the stable to a clearing where her twin brothers were waiting for her. "We'll return soon Ada. Goodbye for now." She called behind her and then the three took off on horseback.
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The fire burned, casting bright illumination on the green grass that had been shaded in due to the twilight hour, which surrounded it; it added an artificial glow to the three Elven faces before it. The light reds blended with the yellows and oranges as the hot flames flickered.
The Elves were camped near a river this night. The slow glide of the water slithered by and sometimes splashed against the rocks, sending a cool, light mist on the Elves' faces and arms. The water looked almost silver when it glided past the siblings or hit the rocks. The moon and stars, high above Middle-Earth, gazed down at their rippling reflections in the same river.
Aelinea laughed at the younger twin, who had given her a smart-mouth comment…a smart-mouth comment that was amusing nonetheless. "That was mean." She answered, her laughter betraying her words and pathetically feigned hurt appearance.
"Too bad you have to go to Lothlorien after our camping trip. You'll just have to miss my mean remarks." Elrohir replied, trying—yet failing—attempts to look completely uninterested.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Too bad for me then. It was your turn to go to Lothlorien this year, but you bailed and now I have to go in your place."
"True, but you have fun in Lorien."
"True, but you do also."
"Yes, but this year I would rather stay in Rivendell."
"Obviously," Aelinea threw another piece of wood into the now-dying fire, "but now you'll just have to miss out on what I get to do when I go."
"What are you doing?"
"They are letting me travel to get a new saddle," She shrugged, "by myself." With those words, she smiled a bit. Elrohir always felt overprotected somehow and he hated it when others got to do things by themselves…and Aelinea knew it.
"You don't need a new saddle!"
"Want to make a bet on that?"
Elrohir dropped that argument and casually asked: "Where are you going to get the saddle?"
"Bree,"
Elrohir snorted. "You can't go by yourself to Bree."
"I can and I am."
"You'll get lost—I'd be surprised if you made it to Bree."
"Get ready for a surprise."
"I won't count on it."
They bickered on playfully, each of them knowing that the other wasn't serious. But Elladan had tuned them out for a moment, listening to noises off in the distance. "Shh, listen." The elder twin hushed the other two. The other two quieted immediately. Elladan was normally in charge of things when Elrond wasn't around—mainly when he ventured with others on "adventures" of some sort. He would be the one who gave orders regarding anyone who was sick or injured, lost, or captured, and he was always looking out for the people traveling with him.
Aelinea and Elrohir looked at each other with a gaze that fully said they didn't understand the other Elf. They didn't hear a thing.
As if on cue to Elrohir and Aelinea's mental doubts, a barely audible boom was heard from a very far distance. If the Elves, with their high-level hearing, could barely heed the sounds, the rhythm had to be quite a distance away. "Did you hear that one?" Elladan asked, still searching the distance.
Elrohir and Aelinea nodded. "What do you think it is?" Elrohir asked his twin, scooting over a few feet to sit closer to his sister.
"I don't want to stick around to find out. Whatever it is, it is quite a distance away from us, which gives us plenty of time to get away from here." Elladan replied and began to stand up.
"Well, wait a minute El', couldn't it also be a storm that is approaching?" Aelinea half-suggested, half-asked.
"I doubt it. If it was a storm, it'd sound louder and it wouldn't have sounded like that." Elladan put emphasis on his last word as the boom was heard yet again.
Aelinea nodded in agreement. It definitely wasn't a storm. "It was louder that time. It's drawing closer."
They quickly and silently agreed to leave. The siblings packed up the camp, put out the fire, and were on their horses before you could say "go". They didn't care where exactly they went as long as they weren't heading towards the approaching noise. So they headed in whatever direction would take them farther away.
They wove through trees and jumped over fallen logs with trained expertise. The sounds only became louder, which surprised the Elves…yet scared them too. Whatever it was, it wanted them.
The children of Elrond were being hunted.
The noise became so loud now that the Elves individually decided that whatever followed them was moving much quicker than they expected. The horses were scared and decided that they didn't want to go anywhere else, so they stopped in the middle of a very wide clearing. When the riders got off, the horses left.
"Draw your blades." Elladan instructed, although that was the others' first instinct anyways and they didn't need to be told twice. "Now make a circle. We can guard each other easier if there are offenders."
The three Elves moved so that they were back-to-back in one small cluster. It was a good stratagem and it was truly the safest way to handle things.
The noise became deafening and naturally they tried to cover their ears to block out the sound. The sound was like having a thousand trumpets blowing directly into one ear and then having a thousand more blowing into your other ear. And then, suddenly, it stopped and left a ringing in the Elves' ears.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
Pop.
That was all they heard for a few moments after the loud noise had subsided, but they couldn't tell if it was just their minds or if it was actually something physical. And then the popping sound left and they were completely surrounded by silence. "Where is it coming from?"
"What is it?"
"There it is!"
"And there…"
"There and there too!"
They didn't know what they had seen. The natural shadows that came with the night had covered the figures with black, making it impossible for the Elves to see anything but the moving figure itself with no details as to what it was.
Finally, it became clear that there were four figures—bulky builds and tall enough to loom over the Elves. No weapons could be seen.
BOOM!
The crash rocked the earth as would an earthquake and would have sent the Elves to the ground if they had not clung to each other. The noise had deafened them, but they were more concerned when a thick, yellow fog filled the area around them, stinging their eyes and making them drop their guard. Elladan felt their protective circle start to slip as the three Elves began to separate. "Stay together!" Elladan said just as another "bomb" was dropped. Again, the earth shook and more fog came. This repeated four more times.
And then, miraculously, everything stopped. The earth didn't shake and there were no noises. The fog still lay in the air, but the twins had been able to cover their eyes with their hooded cloaks. Unfortunately, Aelinea had not been wearing a cloak because the sleeves were a bit too long and she wouldn't have been able to fight. Her eyes were left unprotected and stung bitterly as opposed to Elladan and Elrohir, whose eyes were protected. Feeling the threat retreating, Aelinea dropped to the ground, her sword falling to her right-hand side, and pressed her palms against her stingingeyes.
As the fog cleared, the twins saw their sister sitting on the ground with her hands over her eyes. They rushed over to her. "Aelinea?" Elrohir's face held concern.
Elladan pushed his brother out of the way and knelt in front of his sister, who opened her eyes and blinked fiercely. "The fog is still thick." Aelinea waved a hand in front of her face trying to either see the hand or clear the smoke. "Really thick."
Elladan looked at Elrohir quickly. "What can you see?"
Aelinea snorted. "Are you joking? I can't see a thing." She waited for a comeback, but received none. "What?"
"'Lina," Elladan fondly used his sister's very old nickname, "I can see you just fine."
Aelinea took a moment to comprehend the words that she was half-way expecting to hear. Elladan had taken the more detailed way to tell Aelinea that she was blind. Aelinea nodded, knowing the only thing she could do was to remain calm. She would solve nothing by getting terribly upset.
"We're only a day from Rivendell." Aelinea had grown up with the twins, her brothers, and had learned to tell them apart by voice, face, and personality. Though she was blind, Aelinea could easily tell that the voice belonged to Elrohir.
"Then let us waste no more time here." Aelinea answered, looking in the direction she thought the voice had come from.
"Let's, I've had enough adventure to last me a while." Elrohir replied.
"A while? What, a week?" Aelinea teased, her blindness keeping her from dodging a playful smack to the head.
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To get home, they had to first get out of the forest, which proved difficult because they had come in so fast and with no general idea as to where in the forest they would go. They had come in only to escape and had paid no mind as to how far they had gone in or which directions they had taken. Plus, this was a forest they didn't frequent. So their only option was to simply guess.
After nearly two hours of guessing and going in circles, the three siblings finally walked out of the forest. Their flawless faces were dirty with mud and their clothes had grass and mud stains. Elladan and Elrohir then had to lead Aelinea across the wide plains for what would be the longest part of their traveling and they took rest at the banks of the Bruinen.
Elladan dug in his pack for a bowl and he found a cup. Quickly, he filled the cup with water and walked to his sister, who was lying on her back and staring into nothingness. "'Lina, I'm going to flush your eyes with water."
Aelinea nodded. "It won't do anything." She said emotionlessly and tried to find where her brother was.
"It might flush extra chemicals from your eyes that would make your condition worse." Elladan said. "Now keep your eyes open, I'm going pour the water in." Tipping the cup gently so that a tiny bit of water dribbled out and landed in Aelinea's eye. She blinked a few times, but nothing changed. Elladan did the same to the other eye, but, again, nothing changed. "We cannot linger. The longer we wait, the more serious your blindness becomes."
Aelinea stood and with the help of her brothers, she was home half an hour later.
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"Vampires?" Elrond raised an eyebrow at his eldest son as the older twin explained what had happened.
"Yes, Ada, Vampires. Four of them." Elladan responded from his seat at Aelinea's bedside.
"Four? Elladan, I doubted you would meet one, especially in those parts of Middle-Earth. They wouldn't have traveled in packs like that—highly rare, impossible."
"But there were four of them, Ada, no matter what the odds are." Aelinea replied, her eyes searching for the sound of Elrond's voice. Elrond had done everything he could do for his daughter, but her sight hadn't returned. He did have one more idea, but he didn't believe it could work—he had only treated humans with it.
"Of all the things you three meet, it has to be Vampires. I should've known." Elrond shook his head, a small grin slipping onto his face as he turned to create the last medicine he could think of that would hopefully help his daughter.
Aelinea laughed, despite her current state. "I doubt it's our fault, Ada. We hardly get ourselves into trouble." Before her father could respond, she added, "Outside the house that is."
"Well, you shouldn't make a habit of this." Elrond added the last herb to his medicine and dipped a cloth into it. He walked to Aelinea's bedside and placed the cloth over her eyes. "I'll leave this on for fifteen minutes. I do hope it works, it's made of all very strong herbs."
"You sound doubtful Ada." Aelinea adjusted the cloth for comfort and reached out for her father's hand, searching the thin air. Elrond took her hand. "Don't be doubtful of your healing abilities; you're the best healer on Middle-Earth and I trust you with my life." She let go of his hand.
"Thank you." Elrond replied. "I am going to find some more information on those Vampires you all met. Elladan, stay here with your sister. Elrohir, come help me."
"Yes ada." The twins replied at more or less the same moment.
With a last look at Aelinea, Elrond left the room with Elrohir trailing close behind.
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The fire cast it's reflection onto the Elves, warming their faces with its glow. Aelinea lay on the sofa, her arm under the pillow that reclined her head and her free hand rested on the pillow next to her face. A small, thin blanket was draped over her as she lay on her side. Her vision hadn't come back, but she knew her father wouldn't let her remain blind so she didn't panic. On the floor next to the couch lay the twins; Elladan lay on his stomach and had his head resting on a pillow, and Elrohir leaned against the couch near Aelinea's feet.
The siblings were listening to the older Elves tell stories of days when not even Elrond had been alive. The older Elves would act parts out, but, of course, Aelinea couldn't see them do this, so she simply listened and imagined. Just the drama in their voice was enough to thrill her and flash images in her head. She needn't see a thing. "Here Aelinea." Elrohir passed the bowl of fruit into his sister's hands. Aelinea felt the cold china glass and immediately knew it was the fruit.
"Thank you." She felt for an apple by feeling the shape of everything in the bowl until she found what she was looking for. She took the apple and handed the bowl to Elrohir, who passed it to Elladan after taking some grapes.
Aelinea looked over towards the fire. "It's dying."
Elrohir frowned. "What?"
"The fire is dying."
"How do you know?" Elladan looked over his shoulder. Aelinea was staring directly at the fire…not slightly away, but right at it.
"What do you mean? I'm looking right at it, and I can see that it is dying. I know…." Aelinea smiled and looked at Elrohir. "I can see!" She whispered fiercely.
Quickly, Aelinea pulled the covers off her and slipped off the sofa. "We must tell ada." She started walking away. "Come," and her brothers followed.
The siblings made their way to their father's study at the end of the hall. Aelinea knocked. "Ada?"
"Yes, Aelinea, come in." Elrond responded softly and looked up at her as she walked in. "Is something wrong?"
"No, ada, definitely not." She answered. "But it worked."
Elrond raised an eyebrow. "What worked?" He looked to the twins, who were grinning happily. "The potion? It worked?"
Aelinea nodded. "I can see you as clear as day, ada, it worked."
Elrond stood from his place behind the large, book-and-paper-cluttered desk and walked closer to Aelinea, taking her gently by the shoulders. He searched her eyes and found that she could look right back at him.
The End (for right now)
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Stay tuned for the next story in the "Immortally Abandoned" series.