From high above the pair of eyes gazed down menacingly on the dark haired elves. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike and maintain the upper hand with surprise. But no sooner had the spying figure believed he had won himself a victory, than did one of the twins look up with a face of anger and shock.
"Legolas!" Elladan shouted, nearly causing Legolas to tumble from his branch onto the ground. He regained his balance quickly and swung down beside the elder of the twins. It wasn't till he was close to the two of them that he noticed neither looked all to pleased with him. What had he done to them, he wondered. He hadn't left them alone with a screaming child. If anyone should have been angry at that moment it was him for their abandonment.
"Are you completely out of your senses?" Elrohir turned to Elladan and spoke as though Legolas were not there, or at the very least as though he were some baby incapable of understanding what they were saying. "Adar is going to kill us if he finds out what this dim wit has done."
"Who are you calling a dim wit?" Legolas exclaimed, but was utterly ignored.
"Could you try to forget about yourself for a moment Ro? Think about Estel, he is home alone!" Elladan replied, beginning to turn and head back to their home. Just praying that Estel would be okay. Of course he would be okay, he assured himself, if he was in his crib what trouble could a little one get into? Especially since not too much time had passed while he was completely unattended to. Well, if he cried loud enough, certainly someone would hear him. And what could he possibly need now, that he couldn't wait another five minutes for?
"Alone? I thought Lord Elrond and the girls were there!" Legolas defended, a bad feeling started the build inside him. If things could go wrong and he was involved, they most certainly would. Yet another thing that he would get punished for. There was not one doubt in his mind that his father would hear about this, if not from Sildulin then from Lord Elrond. Then he thought on Elladan's words. This certainly was no time to think of himself, his concern should be towards the welfare of the baby he just left alone. But then again, in hoping the baby was okay was really also a hope that he would not get into trouble. It was really a win all, loose all situation, depending.
"No, you twit!" Elrohir smacked him on the back of the head. "If you had listened during dinner, you would have discovered, they were off visiting an old friend of my adar's, or something like that, I can't say I was listening all that intently either."
"Now that we have all that squared away, let's pick up the pace. The sooner we get home, the sooner we can feel that wonderful sense of relief that everything is okay."
They all agreed and began to run back to where they had just left. Only Legolas couldn't help wonder if it would be relief he would feel or just the regular old pang of guilt and worry when he realized everything was actually all wrong.
"I really don't think she should be quite so large, do you?" Tulcahrve muttered, shaking his head as the image of his wife's pregnant belly popped into his head. He was proud of the fact they would soon be parents, but he couldn't help but think it odd that the baby was growing inside her. Was it natural for her stomach to be able to get so large? And how was that big bundle of joy supposed to get out he wondered. The idea of it was much too painful for him to dwell on it too long.
"I thought you already spoke to some of the elves in the Healing Wing about your worries already. And what did they tell you?" Tulcah couldn't stand the patronizing tone of his friend. Prince or not sometimes Kaimelar deserved a good pummeling to bring back down to a regular level. But then again, it was part of his friend's charm...if he had any, Tulcah thought to himself with a laugh.
He brought his attention back to the expecting face of Kaimelar, who patiently awaited Tulcah to recite what the elves had told him. He sighed, "They said that she was perfectly healthy and it was quite normal for her to be that large and that she would only continue to grow as the child developed." Tulcah put his hand on his own stomach. "But it must be uncomfortable. Sil assures me she's never felt happier than she does now with the little one inside her, but I think she's just lying." Kaimelar couldn't help but laugh at his friend's plight. Tulcah had never been an elf to worry like this. It was always him that would fret about everything and be teased about his behavior, his inability to get out a coherent statement while his nerves were riled. But here he was, calmly sitting on his horse, calmly thinking of words to aide his friend's troubles. It was a wonderful position to be in, one he would like to find himself in more often.
"Sil has never been one to lie. In face, of the three of us, ada has always praised her on being the good one. Besides, she really does seem happy about her predicament. I always see her rubbing her belly and talking to it, that must be a good sign. If she hated being pregnant, perhaps she would hit her stomach and scream at it, but she doesn't,"
"That's true. That is very true, I never even thought about it. Do you think it would be good for me to pat the belly and talk to it? Do you think the baby can hear that? I should go and talk to the healers again." Tulcah made a note about that in his head. As soon as he saw Sildulin, he was going to pat the belly. Best not take his chances. If the baby could hear elves talking to it, he needed to make sure that it knew it had a father. All it constantly heard was females, all day long, that child needed to have the masculine influence of its dad, girl or boy. Otherwise, when it was born, what would it think when it saw him. It would have no clue who in the Valar he was. He didn't want that. He was the father!
"I think a baby can hear everything. I mean, what's separating it really from noise? Sildulin's stomach? No way that could stop sound. Now if the baby were locked away in stone before it was born, then I would say it couldn't hear anything. " Kaimelar finished, proud with his logic.
"You certainly know a lot about this baby business. I lucky to have you hear to discuss things with." That was the truth, Tulcah felt a great burden lifted off his shoulders. Except now he had to decide what to tell the baby. He assumed that Sildulin would be able to hear everything he said. That was unfair, she had all the privacy with the baby while everything he was to say had to be censored due to his wife's eavesdropping. How unfair it was to be the male in such a circumstance. "You know Kai, you knowing so much about little babies and all, when are you and Hely going to have one of your own?"
Kaimelar felt his throat constrict. One of his own? He hadn't thought of that, they hadn't discussed that. No, they had discussed it, she had talked and he had tuned everything out. It was fine for his friend to become a father, but now was not quite the time for him to even consider such a rash action. There was not a doubt in his mind he would accidentally loose or maim or kill that child. Not a single doubt.
"I told you, I told you! What were you all thinking leaving me alone with a baby?" Legolas spoke as he paced nervously around the room. Never before had he felt such anxiety over anything. Just one missing child and apparently your whole world could fall apart. He could hardly decipher where such a feeling stemmed from. It wasn't as though he knew Estel, he only held him for a little bit. And it wasn't as though Lord Elrond and the rest had that much time with him, they couldn't be too attached, could they? If Estel was gone, couldn't they just go out and find another? But for all the rational thinking going on in his head, Legolas' gut was still tied in an abnormally large knot.
"What were you thinking leaving a baby alone?" Elladan burst out.
"What were we thinking of leaving a baby alone?" Elrohir corrected, not meaning to insult Legolas, but simply stating what was going on in his head. What they did was wrong, they should have known better than to leave. What experience had their young friend with a baby? None. Most of the times it still seemed he was a child.
Elladan looked at Elrohir and took a calming breath. "Okay, let's not blame anyone here. We need to work together to find Estel before something happens to him. Well, I suppose the fact that he isn't here is something happening to him. But let's see if we can't prevent something really bad." The more Elladan spoke, the worse Legolas felt. The idea that the little baby might already be, he didn't want to think about it. But he might be the cause of something really awful happening to Estel. The child was helpless, and he was supposed to be the one to look out for him and he didn't. He didn't do one simple thing.
They all froze as they heard approaching footsteps. This could not be good. All three looked to each other, hoping that the other had some type of plan to gain themselves more time.
"Jump out the window Las," Elladan directed, Legolas's face dropping as he had no idea what the twin was speaking about. "If you're not here we can just say Estel is with you, as though you took him out for a walk."
Legolas nodded, heading toward the window that he had left open, another pang of guilt struck him. Thankfully though, there was no sight of a fallen baby on the ground. That was a good sign, wasn't it? Before Legolas left the room, he turned back to the twins. "Wouldn't it be better just to tell Lord Elrond what happened? Then he could help us find him."
"No, if adar finds out he will go out of his mind with worry. We'll be able to find him and when we bring him back no one will know different because he'll be fine. That's all. Now go!" Elrohir answered for his brother. Something of what Legolas said sounded right, but he could only think of all the worry they caused their father now, and they weren't babies, they could take care of themselves. He wouldn't dare put his father through all that stress simply because they messed up. There wasn't a doubt in his mind they would find Estel and all would be fine. Well, there was a small doubt, but he was ignoring it. Legolas nodded, and jumped from the window, making it safely to the ground.
"Good evening," Lord Elrond spoke as he strode into the room, Sildulin and Arwen right behind.
"Where is little Estel?" Arwen asked. Enjoying the time she got to spend with her new baby brother. Should wouldn't have much with him, since she was to return to her grandmother shortly.
"With Las, thought he might enjoy some fresh air." Elladan replied as casually as possible. But his father was ever perceptive of all his children, and could tell something was amiss.
"What is it you two have planned?' Lord Elrond asked. Elrohir let out a breath. No suspicion about Estel yet, his father merely assumed they had planned some prank or the such for the rest.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all." Elrond looked from son to son. Trying to figure out what was really going on, but couldn't quite read their faces. He just smiled. The smile made the twins feel greatly uneasy.
"Well, tell my baby brother when he comes back in, that I would like to see." Sildulin said, her hand on her stomach. "I think I am going to lay down for a bit, the little on seems to be upset with all activities of late."
"I'll join you. I want to hear more about what Tulcah did when you told him." Arwen grabbed her friend's hand and the two left the room. Leaving the twins awkwardly with their father.
"So, did Estel behave?" Elrond asked.
"No." Elladan answered. He thought if he answered yes, his father would surely know something was up, for Estel never behaved.
"Too much spirit to be docile," Elrond replied, mostly too himself. It puzzled the boys as to why he looked so pleased when he said this. Whenever they misbehaved as children they were punished and they were certain their father could not have been all that pleased spending late nights with them as they screamed their heads off. Why did it seem Estel was getting this special treatment? Was it because he was a human? Was this a good thing for human babies to do?
"Well it seems we've been a good influence on him, doesn't it?" Elrohir joked. The two began to edge their way out of the room. But their father was too quick for them.
"Come sit down, talk with me for a bit. We can wait together for Legolas to return." Elrond said, that look of mischief once again in his eyes, making the brothers tense, but to keep a sense of normalcy they both sat, praying Legolas would know enough to search without them.
Another chapter finished. Thanks for the reviews and please keep them coming. Happy New Year
Grumpy: I almost thought it was teasing on the part of Estel that he stopped crying for Legolas when it was just the two of them, or maybe the beginning of some sense of friendship. Yeah, the window, probably not the best idea Legolas' has come up with.
Nessa Ar-Feiniel: I think the idea of teenage boys (even in the form of thousand year old elves) is always an interesting topic. It all stemmed from seeing my little brother holding one of our baby cousins. it was quite a sight.
Sielge: I don't suppose elrond will be all that pleased when he finds out what the boys have let happen to Estel. It will be interesting to see how Tulcah handles a baby, especially Sildulin viewing her husband with a small child, seeing as how soon their own will be present.
Daw the minstrel: I think it's hard being the youngest though, cause you are a wonderful target for a scapegoat, but I have no doubt in my mind that Legolas has gotten away with a great deal, though the baby incident may be the worse of what he's done thus far.
Astievia: I hope this is soon enough, sometimes I feel so awful cause I never seem to be able to find time in the day to do this and it's such a fun thing to do, especially when others enjoy it.