Chapter 11: Brotherly Love
Tonus was going to leave to see his wife, but first he wanted to see Cield. Tonus knocked on the door.
"May I come in?" Tonus asked.
"Yes, but be quiet." Elrond's voice answered. Tonus entered and flinched when Cield sprang up, sweaty and panicking.
"Cield, Cield… Your at home, no fire, no danger." Elrond cooed, putting a hand on Cield to calm him.
"Ada… Where… Ada?"
"Don't worry Cield, ada is with Legolas, you are fine."
"Dressed? Am I?"
"No, you are just covered with blankets." Elrond said.
"Mithrandir?" Cield noticed the wizard in the corner of the room.
"Yes, it is I. And you are lucky to be here to see me, if your father had not found you when he did you would have burnt up completely!" Gandalf said, lighting his pipe.
"No!" Cield screamed.
"Cield what's wrong?" Elrond asked.
"Mithrandir stop! Please! Daro!"
"Cield, calm down! Nothing's wrong!"
"Saes Daro!"
"Cield seems to not like it when I lit my pipe… I believe it's the fire that's scaring him. Don't worry elfling, I will not light it in here." Gandalf put away his pipe and a few minutes later Cield had calmed down and noticed Tonus.
"Elrond… Mithrandir… Can you both please? Leave? I want to be alone with… Tonus."
Gandalf looked at Elrond, and Elrond at him.
"Yes, we will leave."
The two elder elves left quietly and stayed outside the door in case anything where to happen.
"Why did you want to be alone with me?"
"Because I wanted you to know that… When I asked you to leave before… It was not about you I just did not want you to see me… Stripped." Cield said quietly.
"Ai Cield, it's nothing I have not seen before, you are my little brother and I have bathed, changed and dressed you many times before." Tonus smiled, sitting on the edge of Cield's bed carefully, avoiding his brother's legs. Tonus turned and looked at Cield's ointment covered legs sadly.
"Don't look at them like that." Cield said, frowning.
"What do you mean? I'm just-
"I don't care what your doing, I don't want you to look at them like that!"
"But I just-
"Don't! Just don't look at me!" Cield yelled at his brother. Tonus, shocked, turned around to not be facing Cield.
"I-I'm sorry Tonus, just… Please… I don't want you to look at the burns… they are ugly and… And Elrond said… Said… I would… Have scars from them…" Cield shut his eyes and Tonus turned around, hearing Cield sniffle.
"Cield…"
"I-I'm f-fine. D-don't look at m-me."
"Cield, don't cry." Tonus cupped his hands around his brother's face and rid his brother's face of tears.
"I don't want to have legs covered in scars. I will never be married, who would love an elf with scarred legs like these!" Cield said, squeezing Tonus' wrist.
"That's not true Cield. There are elves that will love you for you, not how your legs look because of things that happen, like this. Cield, I will always be here for you and I am going to help you through this, alright?"
"Yes Tonus… T-thank you." Cield kissed his brother and called for Elrond and Mithrandir to enter again.
"Everything alright?" Elrond asked as he entered.
"Yes sir." Tonus said. Elrond walked over to his medical supplies and began to mix some form of livener for Cield.
"Now Cield, I want you to drink two glasses of this a day. It will give you energy and you will heal faster." Elrond said, carefully lifting Thranduil's son enough for him to swallow the tonic.
"Disgusting!" Cield whined.
"It's not your only medicine Cield. I also need your father to put some salve on the burns every day, and you will still need some pain relieving medicine and you will need a lot of help. I must leave in three days, so your father and Mithrandir will be doing this.
"Alright." Cield whispered.
"Dear?" Thranduil entered the room.
"What is Legolas doing?" Tonus asked.
"Ah, stirring the batter, cant get into too much trouble that way-
"ADA!" Legolas' high-pitched voice was heard. "Covered in batter!"
"Oh valar…" Thranduil sighed, looking down at Cield before leaving.
"Ada!"
"Yes?" Thranduil turned.
"Tell Legolas that I am sorry."
"Alright Cield. Try and get some rest."
"I'm not tired."
"Well… Do as Elrond instructs."
"Yes ada."
Cield watched as Thranduil took off to see the batter-covered elfling.
"Cield, I would just like to tell you now that I am having a show of my fireworks and I doubt you will be able to see it."
"But I… I really want to see that!" Cield stammered.
"Cield, you are no longer a young child. You are taller and heavier than your own father… It is not like we can carry you out with ease." Elrond said.
"But-
"Cield, we will not risk dropping you." Glorfindel commented.
"Well, if I had some help I could carry him outside." Tonus suddenly said.
"If you are certain, I can aid you but only if you are certain you can carry his weight."
"I want to help him."
"Be very careful then, if you are going to." Elrond said.
"I will, sir."
"Oh Cield, I heard and I had to come see you!" Cield's grandmother rushed in. She and her husband had decided to only leave after Mithrandir came and left.
"Hello Grandmother." Cield muttered as Alya, the mother of his mother squeezed him.
"Be gentle with him madam!" Glorfindel said as he saw the pained expression on Cield's face.
"I am sorry!" Alya kissed Cield's cheek. "Here Cield, I got this for you as soon as I heard you were hurt!" Alya said, handing Cield a parcel. Cield's right hand was bandaged tightly (it being very burnt from trying to rid his legs of the flames) and was having much difficulty with opening the package.
"Here, I will hold it for you, then you can tear the paper wrapping." Tonus said, holding the parcel as Cield ripped the paper off it.
"I'm sorry it's not easy to open for you." Alya said. Alya expected a reply but Cield had said nothing since she had greeted him.
The contents of the parcel fell on Cield's lap. Cield felt the soft thing on his lap and realised it was a sweater, a pink sweater.
"Try it on!" Alya said pleadingly. Elrond and Glorfindel came forward to get Cield into the sweater. Half way trough Cield yelled out.
"Ai it hurts!"
"Get it off him." Elrond ordered. Glorfindel tried to slide the sweater off but the prince moaned a couple of times.
"Wait until he is better, until you put it on him." Elrond suggested. Alya nodded. Cield then noticed what else had fallen from the parcel, a small brown bear.
"Thank you grandmother." Cield said, patting the bear and putting it on his side.
"You are very welcome Cield, but I am sorry about the sweater." Alya said, kissing Cield on his temple before leaving.
Tonus looked at his little brother. He wanted to go see Yaviel and spend time with her, but Cield needed him. Tonus had been mistreated Cield when they where younger and he always felt guilty about the things he had done, and to leave his brother now when he was traumatized and damaged would not be helping his brother at all.
But Tonus also had to consider one thing: Yaviel was not as happy as she had thought she would be, and his marriage would be ruined if he did not spend time with her soon.
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"So, how did you get covered in batter?" Thranduil asked as he pulled off Legolas' batter coated leggings.
"Fell in."
"You fell in the bowl?"
"Well, the bowl fell on me."
"Are you hurt?"
"Head a little sore, that's where it fell." Legolas said. Thranduil brushed Legolas' hair away to find a small lump on his brow.
"If it only hurts a bit then it is not too much to worry over." Thranduil said, kissing the little lump on his head before placing him in a tub of water.
"A-ada it's c-cold."
"No it's not."
"Yes it IS."
"No it's not, I felt it before I put you in it."
"Yes it IS!"
"I would not put you in freezing water."
"IT IS!" Legolas splashed his father with most of the water in the tub. Landion, Alya's husband, was walking by and snorted.
"And Aldaril said you managed elflings perfectly." Landion muttered to himself.
"And I do!" Thranduil snapped, and then focused his attention back on his elfling. Landion stopped and decided to observe Thranduil.
"Legolas-
"I'm sorry ada, but see? It is cold!"
"Alright, it is cold. I will make it warmer." Thranduil got some warm water and added it to his elfling's bath.
"Thanks ada."
Thranduil smiled and took a cloth, wiping some batter off his son's nose and then scrubbing Legolas' little arms.
"Now next time no falling in the bowl or knocking the bowl onto your head, alright?"
"Yes ada."
"Your so soft Thranduil." Landion said.
"I am not." Thranduil glared at his father-in-law before scooping Legolas up with a towel and tickling him under his chin.
"Ada!" Legolas giggled.
"Well I am going to dress him, so unless you have chosen to follow me for the rest of the day, you can go continue doing whatever it is you do around here."
"I have chosen to follow you and check on your parenting skills, Thranduil." Landion said.
Thranduil was not pleased.
To be continued…Christmas is coming so there may be a small lack of updates on all stories. Sorry. But don't fear there will be more updates.
Mistopurr: I don't think Gandalf marries mortals. Or people who work at McDonald's. How sad for you, if you did want to marry him. I like Gandalf the grey more, since Gandalf the white is too sparkly clean. Cield is stupid. Shh don't let him know.
Aranna Undomiel: Cield on a leash? Evil but good!
Surf all day and do the hula: Now that's not nice to call Elrond ugly. But it's true, very true. I wanna push Elrond out the window first! Yay!
Lalaithofthebruinen: Gandalf says cool/strange/funny things because it makes him (feel) cool/strange/funny. You submitted two times this review by the way – that's great! Two reviews of one chapter… you are a good person! Santa will put you on his nice list for sure.
Haldir's Heart and Soul: Tell me something really, really evil and I will do something really evil to Cield.
Karone Evertree: Everyone, not just Tonus, but they will affect Tonus. I wont say 'It was a horrible day because Bob from down the lane broke his toe'… Since Tonus has never met Bob!
Rainbow Fish: I was tired when I wrote that. I remember typing that and thinking 'Something's wrong with this' but never corrected it. Thanks for pointing it out though.
Miss Telcontar: I'm very happy about that! Florien likes being adorable, he says 'Thank you Miss!'
Here comes the hockey puck: You love horses don't you. I want a horse… But I don't think it's legal to own one in the city, is it?
Laer4572: I do so need help; well for stories like Haldir's here since after 150 chapters your brain goes dry.
Aier of Mirkwood: I was having trouble writing the burning parts… I wanted to make you believe he was burning and no one would say something like 'Rubbing two sticks wont start a fire!' or 'Cield could have dragged himself away'… I see not much wrong with the parts with Tonus. I see only a few typos. The story Thranduil told Legolas explaining Cield's situation was suppose to seem rushed since Thranduil wanted to get Cield water and be by his side because he was scared for him. Cield is like that. Cield does not like Legolas very much, he just lost his mother and he has a really bad case of hormones/mood-swings.