Chapter 8: Stitches
"He is… He is…"
"Tell me the truth Tonus, I'd expect a lie from Cield but at the moment I would not be surprised if you lied."
"I do not know who he is, I found him on the street, hurt." Tonus said, taking a cloth Elrond had offered him to wipe off the blood that Florien had coughed up onto his tunic.
"O, so he lives on the street? I see no reason in saving him, he is so young to live on the street perhaps I should just strangle him and make his passing quick, his life sounds worthless anyhow." Elrond noticed that Tonus was shaking.
"You h-have to help him! Y-you c-cannot let him d-die! Y-you always s-save p-poor elves and m-men, even if t-they have b-bad l-lives!"
"Then tell me the truth Tonus, and I will heal him."
"His name is Florien, he is the child of Yàviel, a commoner who lives nearby."
"And who is his father?" Elrond asked, seeing the tears on the prince's face and wiping them away.
"I am." Tonus whispered, shutting his eyes.
"So I thought." Elrond said, stripping the elfling and then getting some herbs.
"Please, do not tell Thranduil, please do not tell anyone sir," Tonus begged. "I have kept him a secret ever since he was born, I do not want anyone to know, not now, not yet."
"I will not tell anyone Tonus, though I would have thought you would tell people of such things. But how do you want me to explain to your father why there is blood on my sheets and an elfling dying on my bed?"
"If you heal him he wont be dying." Tonus shrugged.
"And that is something my sons would tell me. I suppose I can just say I 'found him' as you told me originally. But I wish that you would one day tell your father." Elrond began to pour liquid into a glass.
"Don't worry baby, you will be fine, I promise, you will not die, Elrond is a good healer and you will be all better soon." Tonus cooed, clutching Florien's hand as the elfling coughed up more blood onto his father's tunic.
"Open and drink this, little one, it will lessen the pain and will make you sleep." Elrond helped the child drink the liquid. Tonus saw how tired his son became.
"Sleep ion-nin, when you wake up I will be here and you will be so much better."
"Nighty night." Florien muttered. Before falling asleep he grabbed some of his father's hair.
"Is he awake?" Elrond asked, looking at how painful it was for Tonus to lean over the bed with his hair in Florien's fist.
"No, he fell asleep!" Tonus tried to loosen his hair, but did not wish to wake Florien.
"Here, let me fix that." Elrond picked up a knife.
"Don't cut his hand off!" Tonus gasped.
"What makes you think I would do a thing like that?" Elrond was shocked that Tonus would think he would do such a thing. Elrond used the knife to cut Tonus' hair.
"Ai, now look at my hair." Tonus muttered, not caring very much about his hair though, as his son lay wounded on the bed.
"Tonus clean yourself so that you have no blood on you. Do not come back, I will tell you when you may come back, I do not wish for you to watch me remove the glass, it will upset you to watch." Elrond advised. Tonus nodded and left, looking sadly at Florien.
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"Tonus, what happened to your hair?" Thranduil asked. Tonus was eating a snack and Thranduil was doing some paperwork at the dining table, so they had begun a conversation, even though Tonus was in no mood to talk.
"I… Got bored and was playing with my knife."
"Surely you have been trained better than to play with knives?" Thranduil smiled, but Tonus glared at him.
"Ada it was an accident." Tonus said angrily.
"I did not mean to upset you. You have a bad temper Tonus, you never have before but now you do and I do not like it one bit. I ask for you to discontinue behaving like you do, Tonus, and I wish you would be your old self, the nice Tonus who would sit down with me and tell me how good his day was, and how glad he is to have the delicious snack he is eating."
"My mother is dead ada, dead! And you want me to just go off frolicking like Legolas and the rest of you merry idiots? I cannot get over something like this so easily and you are not helping at all!" Tonus snapped.
"Tonus, let me change what I said: I ORDER you to be kind and stop having such a hot temper, and if you cannot find it in you to change there will be consequences and you will not like them Tonus." Thranduil ordered. Tonus stood up, leaving the remainder of his food behind. Tonus past by Thranduil as he was about to storm out of the dining halls when Thranduil pulled him back and held him closely.
"Tonus, please little my little imp again, just be yourself again, your friendly little self, I loved that Tonus, he was my son, this side of you I have never seen, you are not acting like my son." Thranduil whispered. Tonus sighed and sat himself on his father's lap as he always had as a child, though Thranduil had never allowed it in the dining halls.
"Tonus, you are too big for my lap." Thranduil said softly as Tonus cuddled up against him sadly, tears in his eyes.
"I want to be your little imp again, I am sorry of my behaviour. Nana would not approve of it, she would have wanted me to get over her passing quickly and not act like I am acting." Tonus whispered as his father held him.
"Tonus?"
"Yes adar?"
"Are you comfortable?"
"Yes adar."
"Well that's very good but you have to get up."
"Why Adar?"
"Because you are far to heavy." Thranduil smiled as Tonus stood up.
"Sorry adar."
"Ai, it is not your fault. Now run along little imp, I should be finishing these pages now…"
"Ada, there is something I have to tell you. It is a big secret, I have been keeping it for a long time and I want to tell you now." Tonus said, though he was so uneasy about telling his father about Florien. But now was the time.
"You can tell me anything, little imp." Thranduil smiled, remembering calling Tonus a little imp when he was an elfling.
"I want to tell you that-
"Oh, what do you want to tell him? You can tell me to, I wont tell a soul, I'm Elrohir anyways, and I'm the good twin who does not tell secrets!" One of the twins came running up to Tonus.
"No, I'm Elrohir! Shut up 'Dan!" The other twin ran up.
"Go on, say your little secret." Both twins said.
"I… um… Wanted to tell you that when you found me unclothed outside when I was a little elfling and I said someone stole the clothes right off me and you thought I had been assaulted by some evil man I had really taken off my clothes and hid it because I had gotten it covered in mud and I did not want you to find out!" Tonus said quickly, blushing and leaving in a hurry. Tonus really had not wanted to blur out a secret he had been keeping since he was just a little elfling but he could not leave saying nothing and he could not tell his father about Florien in front of the twins, especially not Elladan who had a big mouth and enjoyed 'sharing information' with other elves of Rivendell.
'I could not tell ada, with the twins there. No. I wont tell him, I do not care what Elrond 'thinks'. Elrond promised to not tell and he wont, nor will I.' Tonus thought as he rushed off.
"Did that really happen, sir?" Elladan asked, giggling quietly.
"Ai, it did, but I do not see why he chose now to tell me about it!"
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"Come on elfling, breathe… Good elfling…" Elrond muttered as Tonus stormed in.
"How is he?" Tonus asked.
"I told you not to come in!" Elrond sighed.
"I am sorry, but I must know how my child is faring!"
"I have just closed him up, he is having some trouble breathing but it seems that he is breathing fine now. It may take an hour for him to wake up." Elrond said.
"Can I come close to him?" Tonus asked quietly.
"Yes, but don't touch his torso, it is where the glass was and it will pain him, and could wake him up as the drink I gave him is wearing off." Elrond said as Tonus approached his son.
"Poor baby." Tonus whispered, closing his eyes as he ran his fingers through Florien's red hair.
"…Sore…" An elfling's voice was heard. Tonus looked down and smiled when he saw Florien's eyes opened.
"Florien! How are you?"
"I just said sore."
"Oh yes, I know! My baby!" Tonus kissed Florien's brow.
"Here Florien, take this medicine, it should numb the pain." Elrond said, helping Florien drink awful tasting syrup.
"Yucky…" Florien muttered.
"It will make you feel better, you wont be in as much pain." Tonus whispered. Florien nodded sadly.
"Yes ada."
"Oh my little Florien, I was so worried about you!" Tonus smiled, wiping a tear off Florien's face with his finger.
"Ada, can I have food?" Florien asked quietly, holding one of Tonus' large fingers. Tonus looked up at Elrond, and Elrond knew he wanted to know if Florien could eat. Elrond nodded his head.
"What do you want to eat, little one?"
"Sweet stuff."
"Of course, I should have guessed. I will be right back with a treat for you!" Tonus kissed his son on his cheek and ran off for a treat.
"Who are you?" Florien asked, trying to sit up. Elrond reached over and helped the elfling up into a sitting position.
"I am Lord Elrond of Rivendell, child."
"Is there elves with red hair in Rivendell."
"I believe so. Why do you ask this?"
"Because I've never seen elf with red hair except nana and me when I look at myself in water." Florien said quietly.
"It is uncommon for elves in Mirkwood to have red hair, as far as I know. But there are more with red hair, you and your nana are not the only ones. My sons have dark hair, like mine, but we are not the only elves with hair like this."
"I see lots of elves with dark hair." Florien commented quietly as his father entered the room with a tray of sweet foods.
"I've gotten you everything I know you love: Strawberries in chocolate, strawberries in cream, strawberries in cream and chocolate and strawberry pastries. The cook even gave me a biscuit, but it's not strawberry."
"He must love strawberries." Elrond muttered.
"Love strawberries." Florien giggled, sounding like a parrot. The elfling chomped down on a cream covered berry and the berry's juice squirted onto Tonus' face.
"Ada you look silly." Florien sniggered, standing andreaching up to wipe away the juice but letting out a cry of pain as he did so.
"What's wrong?" Elrond asked, standing up and pushing Tonus aside to tend to Florien.
"Hurting."
"Where?" Elrond asked. "Point to where the pain is." Elrond said. Florien's small finger pointed to his chest.
"There." Florien whispered.
"That's where the glass was…" Elrond removed the elfling's tunic and began to remove the bandaging from Florien's chest. Tonus bit his lip as the wound began to show, bleeding.
"Ai! You moved too much Florien… You need to be stitched again. Tonus, hand me that mug." Elrond ordered, Tonus handing Elrond an empty mug.
"I used it all already? This will not be easy… Tonus, hold yourson down. I am out of the herbs to make any more of this tea so I cannot let your son sleep through this like the time before."
"You are stitching him while he is awake? That will hurt him! He's just an elfling!" Tonus cried.
"I have no other choice."
"What if I run to the black river and bring you back some enchanted water to put him to sleep?"
"The enchanted river is a hour away! I cannot wait that long, and Florien would be asleep for days. The water could do serious damage to an elfling his age. Tonus, hold him, he will be in pain and he cannot move else I may mess things up and hurt him." Elrond said. Florien held his father tightly and shut his eyes as he heard what Elrond said.
"Florien, don't worry, it will be over soon. Soon, I promise, you can eat those pastries and the chocolate strawberries, we will go home to nana and play with your blocks, I will get you a new toy and you will feel all better." Tonus whispered, trying to be strong for his little child.
"Are you ready elfling?"
"Y-yea…" Florien held Tonus tighter.
"Alright…" Elrond whispered, starting to stitch Florien back up.
To Elrond's amazement the child made no noise, he kept his eyes shut and tears rolled down his cheeks and into his crimson hair.
"It will be over soon ion-nin, very soon." Tonus whispered, looking at how many stitches where left to do. Florien seemed to be handling it well up until then, Tonus noticed his elfling was sweating, or crying, or both.
"Daro… Saes Daro!" Florien moaned, opening his eyes.
"Look Florien, just three more stitches, you will be done, and Elrond wont do this again."
"D-daro…" Florien sobbed, and he was very happy when Elrond did stop.
"Done." Elrond smiled.
"Good." Florien wiped away his tears and looked at his chest.
"Stitches." He whispered, Tonus biting his lip at the word.
"Want some strawberries? Or cook's biscuit?"
"No." Florien said, Tonus' eyes widening, knowing how fond his son was of the sweet strawberry desserts.
"Are you sure? They are yummy ion-nin."
"No."
"Alright, if you insist. Elrond, how long until I can bring Florien home? My dear Yáviel must be worried sick about Florien, she is his Naneth."
"I would not let Florien go for a while, he moved so slightly just now and the stitching came apart, I pray I did not do a poor job this time else we will have to do that again… Why don't you do find some herbs for me to lessen his pain?" Elrond suggested, Tonus jumping up and leaving.
"Ada comes back soon?"
"Of course ion-nin! I'll make you feel better, I promise."
"Hannon-le ada." Florien muttered, watching Tonus take off through the palace's halls.
"He'll be back soon. He would not leave you here, from what I can tell you are more important to him than anything."
"It will make me feel good?"
"Yes. Very good."
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"Florien, please, please be alright. You are all I have to remind me of Tonus, when I am all alone and Tonus cannot be with me." Yáviel whispered to herself, cleaning what was left of Florien's blood off the floor. Once that was done she walked down to the basement of her home to where Florien's bed was.
"Just live Florien. I have dreams for you ion-nin. You will be a wonderful elf, if you live." Yáviel held Florien's oldest teddy bear, the one he slept with every night, and cried quietly.
One of her son's tunics lay on the floor, dirty.
"You have to come back Florien, else who will bring this to me to wash?" Yáviel whispered. The tunic smelt like dirt and old trees, also known as the fragrance of Florien.
To be continued…Saes: Please
Daro: Stop
Hannon-Le: Thank-you
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Here comes the hockey puck: Thanksgiving is not 'fun' it's 'yummy'! I can't hurt Florien; he's just too sweet! Well I can hurt him but I wont kill him!
Aranna Undomiel: Well… he lied and told Elrond. Not that exciting, hm? We celebrate Thanksgiving in October in Canada.
LalaithoftheBruinen: I hope the cliffie did not kill you. If it did you wont give me another review.
Surf all day and do the hula: I lost my socks in my room, but I guess it's not the same as lizards since my lost socks wont crawl all over me during the night but lost lizards might… Oh, poor puppies!
Haldir's Heart and Soul: The Thranduils often fight, but that's only so that I can make a good story out of it.
Laer4572: I don't know if Thanksgiving changes every year… I wonder. When they start playing thanksgiving television shows on the Canadian channels, then you know.
Miraen: I'm glad you like it, it's very important to Tonus and me. Yes I know Tonus he lives in my basement and I feed him crackers and lollipops.