A/N Sorry for the long wait!
Chapter 11: Parents
Elladan looped an arm around his little brother's waist to help him walk. He saw Estel staggering but he figured it was because of his sprained ankle. After a few minutes of Estel's troubled walking, Elladan stopped. "It would be easier if I carried you. I will let you walk into the house under your own power, but we will move much faster if you allow me to pick you up."
Estel nodded. He was feeling weak and his head was hurting again. "Alright, Elladan." He allowed his brother to pick him up.
"Why were you late?" Elladan asked, holding Estel against him. "You did not injure your leg before you were walking to meet me."
Estel didn't want to tell his brother the truth about Salndir so he told him what he had said to Fernia and her family. "I was running through the forest and I fell. I hit my head and I think I might have hit it a little too hard because I passed out when I met up with Fernia."
"Why did you not come home right away? You left for Poln hours ago," Elladan pointed out, worry creeping into his voice. The fact that his brother had passed out when he was with Fernia was a lucky thing. He could have been alone in the forest and it could have taken hours for someone to find him.
"I was unconscious for a while. I left as soon as I woke," Estel replied, his voice getting nervous. He didn't want Elladan to ask him more questions but he knew he couldn't avoid them.
"A while?" Elladan repeated, incredulous. "Valar, Estel! How hard did you hit your head?"
"Hard enough," Estel replied. "I will show you when we get home."
Elladan nodded. "Well, alright. How did you trip? You are normally so surefooted."
"I was running quickly," Estel told him, getting slightly ornery from the questioning. "I want to go home, Elladan; stop worrying."
Elladan sighed and changed the subject. "I spoke to Elrohir. He is just worried about you for reasons I already discussed."
"He has been so strange," Estel commented. It was true - Elrohir had been acting oddly ever since Estel had started going to Poln. "Have I done something to upset him?"
"No," Elladan replied. He knew what was bothering Elrohir and it was nothing Estel could prevent. "You are growing up, that is all."
"Everyone gets older," Estel pointed out. He didn't see why this mattered to his family. Personally, he couldn't wait to get older so that he could go with his brothers on adventures.
"I know, Estel," Elladan said quietly. He wished, and not for the first time, that his little brother could know a little bit more of his heritage. Elrohir had a just reason for worrying, Elladan knew that, and he felt much the same.
Estel nodded his head against Elladan's chest and closed his eyes, needing the comfort of his brother as much as he needed the rest. "I need to sleep."
"No, you cannot go to sleep," Elladan warned. "You must stay awake until Ada can look at you. We will be home in a few minutes." He stopped and gently put Estel on the ground. "If you walk, you will be able to stay awake."
"Alright, but you have to help me, I do not know if I can walk the rest of the way by myself." Estel leaned against Elladan. He looked up at the sky and winced when he saw how dark it was. There was no moon, which accounted for some of the darkness, but Estel knew it was very late at night. "Ada is going to be very angry with me."
"No," Elladan said gently. "He will understand." He looked ahead and saw two elves walking towards them.
Elrond and Glorfindel were walking in the forest. Elrond had been worrying about his sons when they did not come home just after dark and he hoped that they were alright. He had asked Glorfindel to accompany him on a walk around the grounds so that they might find Elladan and Estel.
"Look," Glorfindel said, pointing towards an elf who he knew to be Elladan. "There they are."
"Elladan, is that Estel with you?" Elrond asked. He and Glorfindel walked over to Estel and Elladan.
"Yes," Elladan replied, walking with Estel towards their father and Glorfindel.
Elrond took in the sight of his youngest son limping badly and leaning on Elladan. The anger he had felt before was gone and replaced with worry. "What happened, Estel?"
"I fell," Estel responded weakly. His leg was hurting, while the pain in the rest of his body was making him feel as though he was about to collapse. He leaned even more heavily on Elladan and felt his brother shift so that he could pick him up once again.
"Do not pick him up," Glorfindel said quickly. He noticed something on Elladan's arm and he went over to look. "What has happened to your arm, Elladan?"
Elladan looked down at his arm and was surprised when he saw it was coated in blood. "I have done nothing to injure my arm," he told Glorfindel, a bewildered look on his face. It dawned on him that the blood was Estel's and put a hand behind his brother's head. "You did not tell me you hit your head," he scolded his brother.
Elrond went to where Elladan was and gently touched the back of Estel's head and winced when his fingers came away sticky with blood. "I think you might need stitches, Estel."
Estel only nodded. He was scolding himself for not mentioning his head wound to Elladan and for removing the bandage that Fernia's mother had wrapped around his head. He knew the woman had said that he could remove it, but he was wondering why he had listened because he knew better than to do that sort of thing.
"Let us go back," Glorfindel said. When he saw the other two elves jump, he smiled to himself, knowing they had forgotten he was there. "Talking about healing Estel will not make him better."
Elrond scowled at his friend and advisor. "I know that."
"I know," Glorfindel said with a smile on his face. "Come; Estel needs attention."
The others nodded and Estel made no protest when his older brother scooped him up and carried him to their house.
Legolas was sitting in a chair on the balcony outside of his room, trying to keep an anxious Elrohir calm. "I am sure everything is fine." He didn't know how many times he had said those words to his friend, only that they had no effect.
"You do not understand," Elrohir muttered. "Estel is always on time. Well, he used to be on time, before he met those children." Elrohir's face darkened at the thought of the human children.
Legolas noticed the look and an odd expression crossed his face. "So Estel was correct," he commented to himself. "I never thought I would see the day."
Elrohir turned to glare at his friend. "What are you talking about?" he demanded tartly. "What has Estel said to you?"
The side of Legolas' eyes crinkled in a hidden smile. "Only that you and Elladan have become parents."
"We have not!" Elrohir protested indignantly. "He is our brother and we treat him as such!"
"Of course," Legolas said lightly, as if Elrohir was a child that Legolas was trying to soothe. "I can see that you treat him as a brother by the way you mutter to yourself about how much trouble he will be in." That comment earned him another glare from the twin and he laughed.
"You have no siblings, you do not know what I am talking about," Elrohir snapped.
Legolas grinned. "That is one thing I am quite happy about when I look at you. If I had an older brother like you, I think I would throw myself out of a window."
"You sound like Estel," Elrohir replied, trying to smother a grin. He felt cheered up from Legolas' teasing and told him so.
"I do try," Legolas replied, smiling at his friend. "Now, let us go inside and listen to stories."
Elrohir chuckled. "Yes, let us do that. There is no point in worrying about Estel. He must be fine - Elladan is with him, after all."
Legolas nodded and followed Elrohir back into the house, laughing as he did so.
