Here you go, folks, the last chapter of The Domino Effect.
Farflung: Yes, in one way it would be very foolish for Men to enslave an Elf, even a young one, because the Elf would grow up to be very clever and powerful. But the Men are thinking, if we can keep this one chained up, he'll be a slave for an eternity: what a payoff for our initial investment! Yes, I think it is quite necessary to place limits on Gandalf's power, either physically or by his choice, because in the end it is for mortals to choose the sort of world they will live in. No struggle, no meaning. Elves with younglings on their hands, eh? He he! Coming up!
Dragonfly: Gandalf cheerfully saying "Oops!" may not have been after the style of Tolkien, but I couldn't resist. On second thought, though, the Gandalf of The Hobbit, probably would have said "Oops!"
Kel: You're right: Anomen would never have betrayed Gandalf.
Joee: Well, there's trouble coming up, but not the usual sort of trouble.
Legosgurl: Work? You have work? Are you suggesting that there is a Real World out there?
Beta Reader: Dragonfly
Chapter 5: The Final Domino
Glorfindel was horrified. He had never been in such a dreadful situation—no, not even when he had faced off against the balrog.
"What are we going to do, Taurmeldir? What are we going to do?"
Taurmeldir tried to comfort him.
"Be strong, Glorfindel. Do not give way to despair. Come what may, we must never forget that we are of the Eldar."
Glorfindel tried to steel himself.
"Very well," he said bravely. "I shall acquit myself nobly." He took a deep breath and tightly gripped his weapon of choice.
"Now, now," he said as sweetly as he could. "Look at the mommy birdie flying about. Oh, look! She thinks you are her nestling. Open your beak wide, like a baby bird. That's good!"
Quickly the balrog-slayer fed a spoonful of broth to the Dunlending toddler, whose eyes were as wide as his mouth.
"I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Glorfindel exclaimed in delight. Suddenly his delight changed to consternation.
"Taurmeldir, what is that awful smell?"
"You need to tend to the other end, Glorfindel."
"Blast! And I was just getting used to this end. But what shall I do for a clean nappy?"
"When we need bandages, we tear our cloaks into strips. I suppose we could do the same for nappies."
Glorfindel sighed and loosed his cloak.
"I don't see why Mithrandir can't take a turn," he grumbled as he ripped a strip from the garment's edge
"He is looking after Anomen, Glorfindel. After all, the lad is badly bruised about the face."
"Yes, but once his face was bathed, there really wasn't anything more Mithrandir could do about it. He could just as well have turned his hand to bathing a baby's bottom."
Taurmeldir shrugged.
"If you want to try to draft a wizard as a nursemaid, you go right ahead. I, however, value my ears and do not wish to see them set alight."
Glorfindel subsided and actually did a creditable job of cleaning and diapering the toddler, whose mother had succumbed to illness in spite of all that the Elves could do. Then he handed the child off to one of the older children to mind for a little while.
"Well," he said, "they are all fed and bathed. Let us resume our journey."
All about him Elves lifted liberated children onto horses and began to lead them forth from their latest bivouac. 'At least', Glorfindel thought with some satisfaction, 'we have been finding homes for them as we have journeyed north. Perhaps by the time we reach Imladris, we shall have found situations for all of them. And if we have not, it becomes Elrond's problem. No, even better: Elrond will hand them off to Erestor. Ha! I almost hope we have a few left. I should like see Erestor changing a nappy or two!'
As it happened, however, at each cottage they approached, they were greeted by folk eager to take in one or more of the foundlings, often because, sadly, they themselves had lost children in earlier raids. In some cases the older children were able to guide them to their natal parents, although more than once they came upon burned out cottages and were forced to abandon hope of reuniting the young ones with their families.
At the end of the slow journey north, only the Elves and their wizard remained when the party mounted to the crest of the mountain that overlooked the valley of Rivendell. "Well," announced Gandalf grandly, "now that I have seen you safely here, I shall once again set out for my original destination, which was of course the rendezvous with Radagast, followed by a journey to Isengard."
"Mithrandir," said Anomen hopefully, "remember you said that—"
"No."
"But, Mithrandir—"
"No."
"Anomen," Glorfindel said sternly, "you must give over any thought of accompanying Mithrandir on his journey. It is time for you to pay the piper."
"What piper? And why have I got to pay him?" Anomen asked innocently. Taurmeldir snorted, but a glare from Glorfindel caused him to immediately adopt a grave expression.
"Glorfindel means," Gandalf explained helpfully, "that it is time for you to face the music."
Anomen found this statement to be as mystifying as Glorfindel's.
"Mithrandir, I suppose you mean that the piper will play music, and then I must pay him. But how shall I? I haven't any coins, unless Lord Elrond should give me some. But then why doesn't Lord Elrond simply pay the piper himself?"
This was too much for Taurmeldir, who suddenly urged his horse into motion so that he might draw far enough ahead of the others in order to laugh in relative safety.
Mithrandir tried again.
"Anomen," he intoned, "it is time for you to stand before Lord Elrond, who must judge you and assign you a punishment commensurate with your misdeeds. Now off my horse and onto Glorfindel's."
With that, the wizard lifted the elfling up from before him and handed him over to Glorfindel. Then, ignoring Anomen's reproachful gaze, Gandalf pulled his horse about and cantered away. Behind him, Glorfindel took the precaution of getting a good grip on the neck of Anomen's tunic.
"Now then, youngling," the balrog-slayer proclaimed, "let us see what task Elrond shall assign so as to requite you for the trouble you have caused. No doubt he has given it much thought in your absence and shall therefore be more than usually creative."
As Anomen already knew Elrond to be highly creative in his punishments, the elfling of course found this prospect to be highly distasteful. He wriggled a little, just experimentally, to see if he might be able to slip from his tunic and thus elude Glorfindel. Ai! Glorfindel merely gathered the folds of cloth more securely in his fist. There was nothing for it but to stand before Elrond and hear his doom pronounced.
As they descended the mountain, they were spied from afar, and by the time they reached the Hall Elrond and many from his household stood awaiting them. Among the company were Elladan, who surreptitiously (and predictably) waved and smiled at Anomen, and Elrohir, who surreptitiously (and predictably) stuck out his tongue at his foster-brother. Anomen allowed himself to be pleased by the one gesture without being excessively troubled by the second.
Elrond calmly greeted all the members of the company and gravely inquired after their health and well-being. He was not the sort of parent who would rebuke younglings in front of a crowd of onlookers. No, he would speak with Anomen privately, after the elfling had bathed, changed, and dined. It thus occurred to Anomen that he might be able to slip away from the Hall sometime during the stages preparatory to his audience with Elrond. Suddenly, however, he heard the voice of Gandalf as clearly as if the Maia were standing at his shoulder.
"You will only delay the inevitable if you run off yet again—aye, and add punishment upon punishment, too. Square your shoulders and face your fate like an Elf!"
Anomen sighed.
'I wish you were standing by my side', he replied silently. Suddenly, however, he knew why his wizard had departed from the very brink of Rivendell: the Istar did not want Anomen to hope that the agéd wizard would mediate between elfling and elf-lord.
'Very well, then', the elfling thought. 'I shall make you proud of me. Just you watch!' He lifted his chin and marched bravely past Elrond into the Hall. (Of course, as Anomen passed by Elrohir, he was not so noble as to forgo jabbing an elbow into the older elfling's side, but, really, a youngling can only be expected to evince so much virtue at any one time.)
Later that evening Anomen, still resolute, went without delay to Elrond's chamber when the expected summons was delivered by Taurmeldir. There he found not only Elrond but also Glorfindel and Erestor.
"I have asked the Lords Erestor and Glorfindel to be here because you wronged the one by wreaking havoc in the library and you wronged the other by forcing him to yet again spend time and energy in search of you. It therefore seems to me that they, and not I, should determine your punishment. Do you agree?"
"Yes, Lord Elrond. It is only fair that the wronged parties be the ones to seek justice."
Elrond raised his eyebrows, but Anomen gazed at him steadfastly, without the slightest trace of the piteous expression that Elrond knew the elfling could summon at will. Elrond turned to Glorfindel.
"My friend, what deem you to be the appropriate penalty for Anomen's transgression?"
As Glorfindel gazed at Anomen, it suddenly seemed to him that he was instead looking upon the face of the wide-eyed Dunlending toddler.
"Elrond, you have often said to me that we can never be sure why events unfold as they do—that our actions, whatever our intentions, may be governed by a purpose to which we are not privy."
"I have said so, yes," agreed Elrond, puzzled as to what Glorfindel's ruminations had to do with the issue at hand.
"Anomen's flight from Imladris set in motion a chain of events that ended with the liberation of many children who would otherwise at this very moment be shuffling towards a dreadful fate at the hands of Haradrim masters. In the course of those events, Anomen was grievously injured yet proved brave and loyal to Mithrandir in the face of great abuse. For my part, I would remit all penalties, both because of the outcome and because of Anomen's stoutness of heart."
"You are not saying that Anomen has done no wrong?" queried Elrond.
"No, he did wrong at the outset. He tried to reach an object that he knew had been forbidden him, and he ran off rather than take responsibility for his behavior. Although," Glorfindel added, looking thoughtfully at the elfling, "perhaps the latter was less an ethical failing on his part than a sign that Anomen still needs to learn that he may trust his guardians to deal fairly with him. Howsoever, he has paid for his mistakes. He has been singed by a wizard and clouted by a ruffian—which was the worst, I shall leave him to determine!"
This was quite a speech for the laconic Glorfindel, and Elrond was impressed. He nodded.
"Very well. I have said that it was up to you to set the penalty for the wrong done you, and if you are satisfied, I must consider the matter to be at an end—for your part, that is." He turned to Erestor.
"What say you, Lord Erestor? Anomen showed no stoutness of heart in the library, and surely insofar as that chamber is concerned he did not set in motion events that led to a desirable conclusion."
"True," conceded Erestor, "and I know that on the day of the disaster I swore that Anomen would have to restore each and every book to its proper place. However, the next day it occurred to me that he wouldn't know to put each volume back in the right spot, so, well, I have already put back all the books myself."
"Come! come!" cried Elrond. "You are not going to tell me that you, too, would remit all penalties?"
"No, I do not mean to suggest that," said Erestor. "The shelves having been knocked over, a great deal of dust was stirred up. Truly, I had not realized how dirty the shelves had become, especially the topmost ones, for that is where I keep the books that are consulted the least. Here is what I will demand of him: He shall take rags and wipe down each and every shelf in each and every bookcase. There now!"
"You are forgetting something," Glorfindel pointed out. "The topmost shelves are out of his reach. It was for that reason that he climbed up the front of a bookcase, knocking it over and thus bringing down all the other shelves. If you set him to dusting the top shelves, I am certain that the bookcases shall again fall like so many dominoes."
"I have not forgotten," said Erestor smugly. "I have had stepstools built so that even the smallest of elflings can easily reach the topmost shelves."
It occurred to Elrond that, a stool having been provided, there was now no way that Erestor could keep elflings from getting their hands on the books that he deemed salacious. Still, the Lord of Imladris was not about to complicate matters by pointing out that fact. As he glanced at Anomen, however, he realized that what had escaped Erestor's notice had not escaped his. The gleam in the elfling's eye was unmistakable, and Elrond knew for a certainty that the lad, whilst he dusted, would be carefully noting the locations of the most desirable volumes. Elrond forced his eyebrows down into a horizontal position and addressed Anomen.
"Well, ion-nîn, does this punishment seem—suitable?"
Modeling himself upon the elf-lord, Anomen kept his voice carefully neutral.
"I shall attend to this task with great diligence."
"I am sure you will," said Elrond dryly. He waved his dismissal, and Anomen bowed deeply and departed from the room with as much restraint as he could muster. Once past the door, however, he sprinted for the library and launched into his task with astounding vigor, given that his preferred approach to dirt was to stay as far away from it as possible. He would have kept 'dusting' well past bedtime had not Erestor shooed him from the chamber so that he could enjoy a respite from Anomen's frenzied assault upon the shelves.
To Erestor's bewilderment, the next morning not only Anomen but also Elladan and Elrohir appeared in the library and announced their intention of spending the day dusting. "We want to help our brother," Elrohir assured Erestor, a statement that would have been more believable had it been uttered by Elladan. Fortunately, after a time Glorfindel sought the elflings out and dragged them away to the practice fields for their archery lesson, else Erestor should not have enjoyed a moment's solitude. However, as soon as Glorfindel had finished putting them through their paces, they promptly returned to the library and recommenced dusting.
This state of affairs continued for several weeks. "I have always said that the young ones need to spend more time in the library," Erestor said one evening, "but perhaps it is true what Men say: 'be careful what you wish for'. They clean with such excruciating care that I do not believe they will ever be finished with the task. Elrond, they turn the pages of each and every book, carefully searching for damage caused by insects and moisture. Why, they are still working on the topmost shelves. It will take an age before they reach the lower shelves."
"Indeed?" replied Elrond, his voice neutral, his eyebrows under tight control. "Well, I suppose we should be grateful that they recognize the value of books."
"Yes, I suppose you are right," agreed Erestor. However, he would have been happier had he realized that the elflings' enthusiasm for cleaning was nearly at an end. In due course the elflings did complete their careful examination of the books on the top shelves, and from that point onward their interest in dusting declined. In fact, by the time they reached the bottommost shelves, they were giving the books only the most cursory of examinations. And finally the day came when they did not appear in the library, save at the times designated for their lessons. Said Gandalf when he heard of this, "I do believe, Elrond, that the uttermost domino has finally fallen."
"Yes," said Elrond, smiling, "I do believe it has."
FIN