Part 30 of the Elfwine Chronicles. The Elfwine Chronicles are a series of one-shots built around the family group of Eomer, Lothiriel and Elfwine. The total number will depend on how many ideas I get for new vignettes.
A/N: Gee, can you tell I've missed Rohan? Two in two days! I AM rather disappointed in you lot, however. Not even one of you knew which story "Homage" was a follow-on to. Jazzcat was on the right track with her musings but she never reached a conclusion. I'll be nice and take pity on you, so I'll put the answer at the end of this story. shie1dmaidenofrohan – I always intended for Homage to be a serious piece, but Faramir using it to lighten the mood, and then his sort of "lighthearted" answer may have led you to believe they would all respond similarly.
Handful
(Oct, 10 IV)
Lothiriel was ill. Very ill. And so was Elfwine. Daelwyn had her hands full caring for Elfwine and the baby, so that left Theodwyn unattended. But I'm her father. I can do this. How hard can it be to get a two-year-old dressed and fed before handing her over to another servant to keep an eye on her during the day?
I was barely able to restrain her from jumping on our bed and waking Lothiriel, though I wasn't entirely sure my wife was actually asleep and not just wishing she were. Hastily I pulled Theodwyn into the dressing chamber, and had to keep one foot against the door while I dressed so she wouldn't sneak back into the other room. I looked rather "thrown together", but I'd have to deal with that later. For now, my goal was to get my daughter dressed without disturbing her mother.
I carried the squirming, fighting, protesting girl to her room and used my leg to shove a heavy chair in front of the door to keep her from leaving. Setting her down, I pulled out a dress and turned to put it on her.
At the sight of it, she screeched, "No, Papa! Don' want to wear dat!" She ran to a basket and retrieved a dress that was clearly intended for the laundry, and was now quite wrinkled as well.
"Theodwyn, that one is dirty and wrinkled. Wear this one today and you may wear that another day when it is clean."
She began to scream and cry, "No! Want to wear dis one! Want to wear dis one!"
My efforts to calm her had no effect, and finally in frustration, I gave in and said, "Fine, you can wear that one!"
I took a seat and pulled her near me. I wasn't sure of the proper order of things, but I thought I'd comb her hair while I had her standing in front of me and I was helping her into the dress. So, having pulled the dress over her head, I reached for the comb and started working it through her tangled blond locks. Her hair was very fine and, if I didn't know better, I'd swear she had spent the night tying it in knots!
Again she began to fight and scream. "Papa, NO! HURTS!" She screamed even louder and fought harder to get away from me. Thinking myself clever, I wrapped my long legs around her to capture her, and prevent her escape until I was finished.
I underestimated my daughter. She instantly dropped to the floor, crawled quickly under my legs and took off out the hall door that a servant inadvertently opened just then. She was barefoot, her hair was a tangled mess and her dress was not yet tied properly so it was flapping behind her like a cape as she ran.
I sat there in numb shock. She was only a two year old. Lothiriel and Daelwyn dealt with this every day AND took care of Elfwine and the baby. This should not be happening! And, furthermore, I was not amused by the grin the servant was trying to hide behind her hand.
I would not be bested by a child. Standing, I quickly strode down the hall after my daughter.
Not quickly enough, it turned out. It took a good ten minutes to find her. For such small legs, she moved very fast. But at length I discovered her crawling under the tables in the Golden Hall. We played keep-away for another five minutes until I finally caught hold of a foot and was able to drag her out, squealing all the way.
With a firm grip on her, I seated her at the table in the private dining chamber and pulled my chair close with a foot, so I was sitting right next to her, forcing her to stay put.
Surely the sight of food would settle her down and we would have a moment's peace. She always sat quietly and ate breakfast. Always except THIS morning. She didn't like the food, the milk tasted funny, the eggs weren't to her liking, the bread had to be toasted and then it was too brown!
By the time Gamling came to tell me Elfhelm had arrived to report, I was already exhausted.
Miren had come to help out and arrived just as Gamling was leaving. She immediately took charge of Theodwyn and, to my astonishment, moments later had her quietly eating her food while she tied the laces of the child's dress. Pulling a comb from her pocket, she set to work on the mess of hair, and after only a few whimpers of protest, Theodwyn sat obediently still under Miren's firm reprimand.
I rose in a daze and left the room, not noticing I had eaten no food myself. I told Gamling to let Elfhelm know I'd be there momentarily, and then headed to my bedchamber.
Lothiriel was on her side, but her eyes were open. She still looked quite miserable, but her purging seemed to have ceased. I sat down on the side of the bed and stroked her head. A smirk tweaked at the corners of her mouth as she took in my appearance and my expression, but she fought to suppress it. She knew what had happened – I could tell she did. And she was trying not to laugh at me. Suddenly I realized the humor in it, too, and gave her a wry grin.
Leaning down, I kissed her temple. "If you ever get sick again," I whispered, "I am leaving home for the duration!"
THE END
7-7-05
Answer to super-secret trivia question in Homage: Homage is a follow-on story to Alliances, and as Jazzcat rightly mused, they are sitting around a campfire after "battle".
End note: It is best that you read the Elfwine Chronicles in the order they were written. The more of them that I wrote, the more likely I was to make reference to one of the previous ones and something that happened there. If you want to read them in order, go to the top of this page and click on my name (Deandra). That will take you to my profile page. Scroll down and you will find all the stories I have written. The Elfwine Chronicles are in order from bottom to top since ffn shows them in the order they were posted. A few were posted out of number order, but you can read them in posting order or number order since those few won't be affected in the story content.