Chapter 9

Galadhir was waiting for Legolas. He knew that the royal family had visitors from Imladris, that was not exactly a secret. So he had not been surprised when Legolas had not come yesterday, but with nothing in particular to do tonight, he had gone to the training ground on the off-chance that Legolas might turn up.

He had just decided that the prince was probably busy elsewhere when he heard quiet voices. One was Legolas', the other was deeper, the accent unmistakably Imladris. So he was not surprised when Legolas appeared together with a dark-haired young elf, clad in Rivendell colours. The pair was deep in conversation, which gave Galadhir a moment to look at Legolas' guest. It was at that moment that the instructor realised that the person with Legolas was not an elf but a man, or perhaps better a boy, by the looks of him. Now this was very unusual, and to find Legolas obviously getting on very well with him, was even more extraordinary.

The two youngsters were now standing in front of him. "Galadhir, may I introduce Estel to you? He is Lord Elrond's foster son."

"My pleasure, Estel."

"Thank you."

The young man gave the formal elven greeting and then looked up. The eyes immediately struck Galadhir, silvery-grey and expressive beyond what they should be in a mortal. Two thoughts struck the instructor at once. 'Where have I seen such eyes before? … He reminds me of someone…' Two faces came to his mind, the Imladris twins, yes, they had the same eyes, and that was extraordinary in itself. But somehow in his memory there was another face … Mentally Galadhir shook his head. It would come back to him.

The other thought was that the boy sounded as if Sindarin was his native language. Perhaps it was, Galadhir did not know when Estel had come to live in Imladris. Altogether, Elrond's foster son raised many questions in the instructor's mind.

Estel accepted the long appraisal without flinching. Again, that amazed Galadhir, most mortals would have looked away when regarded at length by an elf. Legolas broke the moment.

"I would like to show Estel what we do when we train. He will remain here for some time yet, perhaps he could train with us?" Legolas' face was impassive, but there was a plea in his voice that Galadhir did not miss.

He smiled at Legolas. "Of, course, if young Estel wishes to train with us, he is very welcome." He looked at Estel again, this time with a critical instructor's eye. "I daresay you are good with the sword."

Estel looked astonished. "How did you know?"

"You look strong but for a mortal you move very gracefully. This should make you good with the sword. Who has trained you in Imladris?"

"My foster brothers, and recently Glorfindel."

This astounded Galadhir. For Glorfindel to train the boy, he must be very good, or at least have considerable potential.

"How about the bow?"

"Archery? My limited eyesight restricts what I can do." There was slight bitterness in the young man's voice. Galadhir thought that it must be hard to grow up amongst elves being mortal. There were physical differences that no amount of training could overcome.

"Unarmed combat?"

" I have practiced that with my brothers. I am not too bad at it." Galadhir nodded.

"Let's try you against each other."

He started them with archery, beginning with easy, unmoving targets a short distance away. Both arrows struck perfectly in the centre. At medium range, which Galadhir recognised was probably quite far already for a human, again, very little difference. Galadhir was impressed. This boy had been trained well. Galadhir kept the distance but set two targets for a double-arrowed shoot.

Estel just shook his head. "I will not be able to do this. I have never mastered it." And he was right, one of the arrows reached its target, the other fell to the ground. Legolas' arrows stuck both targets dead centre.

Galadhir continued to test the boy, finding that within mortal limits he was a good archer, with accurate aim and fairly high speed. He would hold his own with the bow in most situations. Finally he let Legolas show his guest some of the more difficult shots he had been practicing.

The surprise in Estel's face amused Galadhir. "Legolas, I had heard you were a good archer, but I have never seen anyone shooting like this."

Legolas turned and smiled. "Thank you."

Galadhir noticed that Legolas was less guarded with Estel than with anyone else the instructor had ever seen the prince with before. They clearly had become friends in the brief time the young man had stayed here. Galadhir was glad; he knew that Legolas needed a friend. But he did wonder what Thranduil would say when he saw that his son had chosen a mortal for a friend.

He then asked the prince and Estel to try the sword. As he expected, Estel was very good with this weapon and would probably be better still once he was fully grown. He had a natural affinity with the weapon such as Galadhir had rarely seen, and his elven upbringing had provided him with a grace and speed unusual amongst mortals. Even at this young age most foes would have a hard time defeating him with a sword. To even the odds for Legolas, Galadhir unpacked his long-handled knives.

"Try these against the sword – but be careful that neither of you gets hurt. "

The instructor was surprised at the training fight that developed in front of him. In the brief time he had trained Legolas with the knives, the prince had acquired some skill with them, which he now used effectively against his sparring partner. The young man was hard pushed to deflect the gleaming blades, but blocked Legolas' swift attacks effectively. But he obviously began to tire after a while, and Galadhir thought that he would have to stop this exercise before Estel lost his concentration. The knives were too dangerous a weapon to be used for long by two relatively inexperienced people.

He had not yet finished that train of thought when Legolas moved forward with another fast movement. Estel evaded and deflected the prince's right knife with ease. But stepping back, his foot found a small unevenness in the ground. For a brief moment, he lost balance and in that instant, Legolas' left knife caught him off guard.

"Oh!" Estel felt a sharp pain on his collarbone. He quickly reached up and found that he hand came away bloody.

Legolas dropped his knives and rushed up. "Estel! Are you alright … I am so sorry … I did not mean to do that … I thought you would block me…" Legolas looked absolutely horrified at what he had done. The knife had cut through the thin fabric of Estel's tunic and straight into his left shoulder and collarbone.

Galadhir had approached with a few quick steps. "Estel, let me have a look."

The young man moved his now bloodied hands. He looked a bit stunned. Galadhir gently pulled the neck of Estel's tunic apart and looked at the wound. It was shallow and only a couple of inches long, but it bled profusely.

"This is not serious but we need to stop the bleeding. It is the sort of wound that would best be stitched, otherwise, young man, this will not heal evenly."

"I would like my father to do that." Estel had gone a shade paler than he had been.

He looked at the young prince. Legolas did not look at him. "Estel, I am so very sorry, I really did not mean for this to happen."

Estel cut him off. "Legolas, it was an accident. They happen." He used his right hand to gently bring up Legolas chin, and thus forced the young elf to look at him. Their eyes locked.

Galadhir was very surprised by that almost intimate exchange. Legolas did not move away but allowed himself to be touched. That was very unusual. But the instructor had no time to think about this moment.

"Legolas, just help me to get my tunic off. I need something to bind this with, even if it is only until we get to the Halls of Healing to find my father."

The young archer nodded and helped Estel to slip out of his tunic. Again, Galadhir was astonished that the prince did not shy away from the physical contact. Galadhir was also amazed to see that the young mortal's skin was free of the body hair so common in human males, but he did not dwell on that observation. He swiftly used Estel's tunic to temporarily bind the wound. Then they all walked together towards the Halls of Healing.

-o-o-o-

Elrond rubbed his eyes tiredly. It had been a long day. He had visited all surviving victims of the spider bites; currently ten warriors lay in the Halls of Healing. He had discussed with the Mirkwood healers what they had done, and fully agreed with their chosen course of action. They had opened the bite wounds as quickly as possible and tried to drain away as much of the poison as feasible. Then they had administered a combination of antidotes used against bites by other spiders, in the hope that there would be some effect. Elrond would have done exactly the same.

He then suggested to try the spider victims on a strong mix of healing herbs, trying to boost their natural healing abilities. Together with the other healers, he had created the required mixture, and given it to the injured elves. Now they had to wait for the results – it should become clear in the morning whether this treatment made a difference.

In the meantime, Elrond was working on developing an antidote for that particular poison. Many of the antidotes used by the Mirkwood healers had, in fact, also been developed by Elrond, before relationships between Imladris and Lasgalen had soured.

He had brought with him, carefully wrapped and protected in a wooden case, his enlarger. This instrument allowed him to learn from a drop of blood which poison was present and also to see the effect any new combination of herbs might have on the poison in the blood. But using the enlarger required a lot of concentration, and Elrond had spent hours bent over the instrument on this day. His head and eyes hurt, and so did his back. He had just decided that there was not much more that he could do on this day, and that he would return to his room and enjoy a relaxing bath, when there was a knock on the door of the room that had been given to him as a workroom.

"Enter"

To his surprise, Estel entered the room, together with Prince Legolas and a dark-haired elf whom Elrond recognised as Galadhir, one of Thranduil's more experienced warriors. Estel was holding his shoulder, where he was bleeding profusely.

"Estel! What happened?" Elrond's surprise rapidly turned to concern.

Galadhir stepped forward. "It is entirely my fault. I let these two youngsters practice against each other. I should not have allowed it. Estel lost his footing, and Legolas accidentally cut him with a dagger."

The young prince blushed bright red in embarrassment, but then he straightened and looked directly at Elrond. "No, it was not Galadhir's fault. It was my carelessness that caused this accident."

Elrond frowned at him. He really did not appreciate the situation. "We have come to help your father, and I find my son injured on our second day here. Is that the type of hospitality we find here?"

Estel winced at these harsh words, and Legolas looked as if Elrond had slapped him in the face. But then he said quietly: "I can do no more than apologise, to Estel and yourself. I hope that you will not hold this against my father."

Inwardly, Elrond was impressed by the composure of the young prince. He had been harsh with the youngster, out of tiredness and anger. The day had not been easy, and now he would have to deal with this injury as well.

The elf-lord nodded. "Father? … It really was an accident, I stepped back and did not concentrate, and I did not block as Legolas had expected."

"Estel, you should give Prince Legolas his proper title. Now let me look at this shoulder of yours."

Elrond's experienced hands quickly examined the injury. Not serious, but stitches were needed.

"This needs stitching. I will give you some sleeping herbs so that you will not feel the pain so much, and then close this wound for you. You will probably sleep until the morning."

Estel nodded. He much appreciated the offer of sleeping through the procedure; he had not looked forward to having the stitches done.

Elrond turned to Legolas. "I suggest you tell your father what happened, he will find out anyway. Estel will not be able to attend the evening meal, and I may well be late." He sighed. He really was very tired.

Despite his pain, Estel noticed Elrond's fatigue. "Father, are you sure you want to do this? You look very tired."

Elrond was touched by this concern. "I would not let anyone else do this. Come, let's get started with this."

-o-o-o-

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