Chapter Four Separate Skills; Paths Taken

Elrohir grumbled in his sleep as he felt his bed shift and dip from someone getting up onto it. He rolled over and slowly opened his eyes to see who the intruder was. There sat his brother looking sheepish and slightly wan looking. Frowning, he sat up and pushed his blankets down for his brother to slip underneath them. Elladan happily obliged.

"What is it?" Elrohir asked curiously.

"I do not like my dreams. They frighten me." Elladan lowered his head onto a pillow pulling the blankets up to his chin.

"What sort of dreams?" Elrohir asked lying down next to his brother and curling up onto his right side.

"I do not want to think about them. I do not want to be alone though." Elladan whispered. He turned his head to the side and stared into his brother's gray ones in a silent plea.

Elrohir smiled and nodded, giving permission for his brother to stay. "What did father say about your dreams?"

"Nothing. Only that I am too young to understand them, and that is why they appear to be frightening." Elladan shivered and rolled onto his left side facing his brother's now sleepy looking face. "Go back to sleep. I tried not to wake you."

Elrohir shook his head. "It is alright."

Elladan lay there staring up at the ceiling while his brother closed his eyes and fell back to sleep. His dreams came every night now and caused him a lot of sleeplessness. But he feared that the dreams would come true if he were to speak of them. He tossed himself over and glanced at the scenes on his brother's walls. He took in the great white whales situated in the paintings.

He saw pictures of dolphins and other beautiful beasts of the ocean. He liked his brother's room so much more then his own. The blue was cool and calm, while his reminded him of his dreams. Dark greens and gold's of his dreams lingered within the walls of his brightly colored forest themes. He turned over again onto his back and stared at the blue and white of the ceiling. There were gulls and thrushes, nightingales and other such birds. There was even a picture of a Kirinki (One of the many species of birds found in Númenor, and doubtless Aman, that were not known in Middle-earth. The kirinki were said to be smaller than wrens, with bright scarlet feathers, and voices so high that they could hardly be heard by Men.) Tiny scarlet birds found in Númenor.

Elladan had heard stories of those birds during a night in the Halls of Fire. He sighed loudly, but quietly enough so that he wouldn't wake his brother. His room held too many beasts and trees. He had been jealous since his father had shown them their brightly painted rooms. Their father had only followed with their favourite colours. He sat up and shoved the blankets down and crawled out of bed. Even his brother's blankets were blue and divine looking. They had been hand crafted by their mother, and hand stitched with beautiful elvish script, with incredible scenes and pictures. He wandered to his brother's small table located near the fireplace and sat down in the soft velvety blue cushioned seat. Everywhere he looked there was blue. He frowned thinking about why he liked green.

He smiled faintly remembering how much he had liked growing things, the glorious colors, and the simplicity of the color. He still loved the color, only now he felt so out of place in his own room, but thinking more on it, he knew why he felt out of place. He was slowly growing apart from his brother and he shivered fearfully. They were twins, and should not grow apart, but he was growing up without his twin, his other half. He glanced over his shoulder at his twin who lay beneath the covers, snuggled on his right side. Slowly, Elladan rose and walked back to the bed, crawled up onto the mattress and looked down at Elrohir. They looked the same still. Had the same gray eyes, he knew. Dark hair, fair features. But why did he fear so much? They were together, only across the halls. Elrohir now joined the lessons, so why was he still uneasy?

He reached out his hand and touched his brother's face. It was like his own. He touched the small pointed ear gently, as his other hand touched his own. Still the same. He shook his brother's shoulder. Elrohir moaned and rolled over mumbling something about ponies. Elladan chuckled. He touched his brother's nose and pinched the nostrils together. He waited.

"What are you doing?" His brother gasped out sitting up quickly.

"I was only trying to wake you." Elladan released his hold on his brother's nose. Sitting back and rubbed his arms. "Ro?"

Elrohir sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What?" He asked exasperated.

"Do you feel any different?"

His younger brother frowned looking at him strangely. "How do you mean different?"

Elladan crawled down from the bed and back over to the fireplace. "I d'unno."

Elrohir followed his brother and pulled up the other chair that sat against the wall by the window. As he dragged it across the floor, the scrapping of the legs could be heard even as far as Elrond's room. This had caused the elf lord to wake and sit up curiously in his bed listening to where the sounds emerged.

"What is wrong, Ella?" Elrohir asked.

"I feel alone, Ro." Elladan groaned. "Do you not feel it also?" Without the boys' knowledge, they slipped into their twin speech quietly.

Elrohir looked down at his hands and started playing with his fingers. He slowly nodded. "I feel like you will leave me behind."

Elladan gasped. "Never."

"I know, but that is how I feel. You have already grown so much more then I have."

"No I have not. I only started my dreams path. Trust me, they are scary." Elladan shook his head.

"But father said they are pleasant dreams, not frightening ones." Elrohir protested.

"I know, but if I am not following the path of dreams, then what am I strolling down?" Elladan swallowed. "My dreams are always the same, Ro. I stand on a hill with flowers all around me. Then I am alone and afraid. No one is around, no one can hear me, and even home is nowhere to be seen. I start running and I hear things behind me. Nasty things, great ugly faces, and they are growling at me calling for me."

Elrohir listened with eyes wide. "What are they?" He whispered in the darkness, fearing his brother's words.

"I do not know. But they are smelly. They have large pointed ears. But they have yellow eyes, long teeth and-" He shivered. "I always wake up when I hear arrows flying by my head. I hear the hissing of arrows and the twang of the bows. I wake up still feeling my hair lifting when they speed past. I feel those arrows, Ro, even after I wake." Elladan gulped.

Elrohir shook his head. "I do not think I wish to grow up any more. I do not like your dream, Ella."

"You think I do? I wake every night covered in sweat, by breathing labored, my knees weak. My hands shake so much and my throat is sore from crying out. The first thing I think about when I wake up is you. I need to be by your side. You give me comfort." Elladan sighed loudly. "You ease the troubles in my head, and I feel that is fading."

Elrohir gasped softly. "I will not leave your side, Ella. Never. I will always be here for you to rest your head on, so long as you are there for when I need a shoulder." The twins stared at each other in the darkness silently. Without them knowing what they were doing, they were silently pledging undying loyalty to one another. "I will never be without you by my side." Elrohir added.
Elladan nodded in agreement. "I do not wish to travel alone on these paths, I wish you could come with me, I would feel safer if you were there."

The bedroom door opened revealing their father standing in his bed robes. "Why are you out of bed?" He whispered into the darkness.

Both boys glanced at each other, then down at their hands.

Elrond walked into the room and sat down on a wooden chair and motioned for his son's to come over. They all to happily obliged. "Now, what is wrong?" He whispered again, as they crawled onto his lap snuggling into his robes.

"That dream came to me again, and I told Ro." Elladan burrowed his face in the soft silk material.

Elrond shook his head. "What is it you fear, my son?"

"I fear being alone. Ro is not there; you are not there nor is ammë. There are monsters that run after me ada." Elladan whimpered.
"Monsters?" Elrond asked raising his eyebrow in question.

Elladan nodded shivering.

Elrohir looked up and peered into his father's eyes. "He says they are ugly and smelly. They have pointed ears father. Are they mean elves?"

Elrond frowned concerned. "Describe them to me Elladan."

Before Elladan could conjure up the courage to tell his father, someone cleared his throat at the twins' bedroom door. Elrond glanced up and saw his aide standing there quietly listening. "Come in Glorfindel." The golden haired elf walked into the room and knelt beside the family.

"Now can you think back to what they looked like, Elladan?" Elrond asked wrapping his arm around his son protectively.

The small elfling sat forward and clutched Elrohir's hand. "They have ugly faces, and are big. They look all torn up and oozing."

He shivered again. "They have yellow eyes and growl at me in my dream."

Elrond looked at Glorfindel curiously at the broken speech of his son. "Do you know what they growl at you?"

Elladan shook his head. "They do not like me much. They fire arrows at me."

"Perhaps if I were to get a picture of this monster, could you point it out to us?" Glorfindel asked helpfully.

"You mean there are such ugly things?" Elladan asked his eyes widening fearfully.

Elrond nodded slowly answering both questions in that small nod.A few minutes later, Glorfindel returned with a large brown bound book. The four of them sat on the floor of the bedroom flipping the old musty pages, until they came across the colorful painted pictures. For about an hour both boys were pointing to monsters and dragons asking what each were. However it all stopped when they came to Elladan's monsters. His face visibly paled and his breath hissed between his teeth. "That is it. That is it!" He cried.

Elrohir leaned forward and glared at the foul looking monster. True to his twin's words, they were ugly. "That is what has been chasing you in your dreams?" Elrohir asked still glaring at it, as though he could chase it away by just looking at it.

"What is it?" Both boys asked curiously.

"That my son is an orc." Elrond closed his eyes.

Many questions arose for the rest of the night and Glorfindel and Elrond had to endure patience, while answering them. The room started to grow brighter, and caused the elder elves to look up surprised. "What is this?" Elrohir asked, drawing Glorfindel and Elrond's attention back to the book. This time it was Glorfindel's turn to pale. The golden haired elf stood up and wandered over to the window looking out. His softly whispered words drifted in on the morning air reaching the elves still seated in a quiet hushed voice filled with hate and fear.

"A Balrog."