Lost
Chapter Eleven
The storm had been a short one, but he had taken a while before falling to sleep again. Now, Luinwen was feeling about his back and leg and his eyes were itchy and gritty with lost sleep.
Glorfindel didn't understand this. He was an Elf and could go an entire day without rest and not feel any worse for wear, yet he had gotten only a few hours sleep, usually plenty of rest, and all he felt like doing was to go right back to sleep.
Surely his body wasn't that injured that it needed all this rest!
He was suffering from nightmares, which didn't help. The one in which he relived his death over again. He had woken with a start this morning with the uncomfortable feeling of long hair on his head and had the most unbelievable urge to chop it all off.
He didn't think anyone would understand that if he did it, but as the beat of his heart slowed down, so too did thoughts of how long his hair was. It still didn't stop him from wondering if short hair would suit him though.
"Well, your leg has fully healed and so has your back. Can you try to move your feet for me just in case?" Luinwen asked, peering overly critically at his feet.
Why his feet he had no idea, but he tried anyway to no effect. Disappointment hit him hard. "If my back has healed, why can I still not move?" he asked, his voice a little harder than he meant it to be.
Luinwen covered his legs back up again, but only to his knees. Her hands reached towards his groin and he batted them away. "Answer my question!"
"It is not the break to your back that has caused this, it is damage done to the chord running through the bones that make up the spine. I cannot feel that now can I? Still, you are either going to recover or not and that depends on you and whether the chord was severed or merely bruised or swollen."
With a nod and a sigh, Glorfindel accepted that as the truth. Luinwen was a Healer. One that told the truth when it is asked for...and sometimes when it is not. A trait common in the profession she was in.
That hand reached out to him again and again he batted it away. He knew what she was trying to determine, but he could do that himself. And he did. Thankfully he was...dry.
"If you are interested, I don't need changing like an infant just yet," he told her rather tersely. He shifted in his bed and sighed. "A bath would be nice though." Truthfully, he would do anything if it meant getting out of the bed. Even if it meant being carried into the bathing rooms and just soaking in one of the warm pools there. That idea seemed so marvellous.
"A bath it is! I will get a servant to fetch a tub and some hot water for you to wash in."
The thought of being not only in the bed a moment longer was replaced with a need for fresh air and a change of scenery. He needed out of the room. Yet Luinwen dilligently went towards the door with all intents on calling a maid to fetch him a bath. The notion seemed ridiculous. "Luinwen, please, I need to get out of this room. Carry me to the bathing chambers and I will wash there."
The healer looked at him, cocking one of her eyebrows at him before smiling. It wasn't the most pleasant look and Glorfindel felt a sudden empathy for whichever Elf she had bonded with. "You do realise that people will see you, and what you are wearing?"
The thought slammed its way into his head and his expression must have shown this. "I need to be somewhere else for a few minutes..." he whispered quietly and though he said it to himself, Luinwen must have heard.
She left him then and the sudden feeling of being abandoned sprang into his mind and the panic of two days ago reared inside him again. He did not like being alone.
"Come back! I will bathe in here," he said, but his voice was barely above a whisper.
Before he could do anything too harsh to injure himself like trying to walk again, the Healer came back in, a smile on her face and with his Lady in tow.
"Good morning, Glorfindel. Did you enjoy your breakfast?" Celebrían asked calmly, before walking towards him. "Since Elrond has decided to spend today outside and in the gardens with the twins, I have decided to let you borrow the use of our private bath."
Glorfindel's eyes grew wide. He was to intrude upon his Lord and Ladies personal things? He couldn't do that and feel good about himself again...if he were to ever feel good again.
Before he could object, the sheets were taken off of him and he was lifted up into the arms of Luinwen. He couldn't help but blush at the odd feeling of a female being able to carry him about. He must have lost quite a bit of weight in his non-responsive phase, as he had done way too much eating since waking and seemed to weigh as much as one of the twins.
He was taken to the private rooms of his Lord and Lady and carried to the chamber where an already steaming bath was waiting for him. Just the sight made him that bit happier.
He was very uncomfortable as he was undressed, but as he was lowered into the water he couldn't help but let a small moan of pleasure escape his lips. The feeling of getting clean properly for the first time since waking, of gently lapping water that was nothing but luxurious against his skin, made his body relax.
His eyes closed and a slow smile made its way across his face as his muscles were given time to relax for what seemed the first time since his return from the Halls of Mandos. A pair of hands were felt in his hair, beginning to wash the long strands.
When he opened his eyes again, he noted that the Healer that had been with him all morning was at his feet massaging his legs. He frowned when he noticed that his left leg, the one Luinwen was working on, began to jump.
"Ow..." he moaned as the pain that had been hidden since last he felt it came back. Water splashed out of the tub and onto the floor, while he was being held still so he wouldn't slip and drown. When his leg had calmed down again, his pain did not relinquish its hold on him.
"Are you in much pain?" one of the females asked him, he could not tell which through the haze his mind seemed to be in.
"Valar, make it stop!" he shouted. He didn't even care if it was his Lady he was talking to. He was far too hurt to care if he got thrown out of Imladris for bad behaviour.
The mutterings of the two seemed to fade in and out and afterwards, he would not remember one word of it. All he knew was that a nasty tasting potion was shoved down his throat, he was made to swallow and after a few agonizingly long minutes, the pain lessened to something bearable.
"I hate this!" he screamed, hitting the water he was still in on both sides of his body, splashing the two women.
"You will hate it even more in a second. I am going to massage your other leg," and to prove that she would, Luinwen grabbed at the unresponsive limb and began to do as she said she would.
This leg behaved itself a little better, still spasming, but not causing the enormous amount of pain he had been in a few minutes before. Thankfully, the tea that had been forced down his throat seemed to work during the spasms.
When the leg had calmed down, and his temper had died a bit, he took a good look at the two women. A sheepish look came over his face as he saw the drenched dresses that would need cleaning. He truly had made a right mess.
"I am sorry. My anger is constant at the moment. I didn't mean to wet either of you...I just needed something to hit," he stated and automatically wished to take the words back. As if being naked in front of two females wasn't bad enough...now he had to go and embarrass himself further by letting his temper get out of control again.
"I do not mind," Celebrían stated, before going back to his hair. That brought back his nightmares.
"What do you think I would look like with short hair?" he asked of both women.
Celebrían rinsed out his hair and put her hands on his shoulders. "You are having bad dreams again."
"Hmmm, anything like the one I gave you the othe night?" asked Luinwen.
Glorfindel glared at her. "That was an hallucination. There is a difference." Shaking his head, he tilted it to the side where Celebrían was now sitting. "But yes, the nightmares are bothering me again."
Quiet descended upon the three, only punctured by the gentle lap of water against his body when he commenced to wash himself of the grime of so many days.
The weather was crisp, yet it felt good upon his face as he watched the two boys in front of him playing warrior with his eyes always upon them.
Elladan was keeping his broken wrist out of the way, so it wouldn't get injured further. He held in his off hand, his left, a stick. Elrohir, to make it more even was also using his off hand, his right, and held his left behind his back.
The two had not yet started their weapons training, only being very young, but they were both certain, at least at this period of time, that they were to be warriors.
As Elrohir's 'sword' beat at his brothers good arm harder than neces ary, Elrond decided it was time enough to stop the rigorous play and do something a little safer for the injured boy.
"Come you two, time to go inside and find something else to occupy ourselves with," he stated, getting up off the ground, dusting off his robe and holding out his hands.
"Will you tell us a story?" Elladan asked, grabbing at the offered hand nearest him.
"Will you make one up for us?" Elrohir asked, tugging slightly on the hand he was holding.
With a smile at each of them, he led them inside, thinking of a suitable story to tell them. He was thinking of telling them a tale with a dragon in it. The two had been reading some of the bigger books, or at least looking at the pictures, and they both seemed quite fascinated in the creatures.
Taking them to their room, which had turned from neat to a mess overnight, he picked up one of the toy animals on the floor. It happened to be a green dragon with only one wing. The other had been torn off when a fight had broken over it and it had not yet been sewn back on.
An idea popped into his head at the sight...a lesson! He could teach his children about how it can turn out all right for people who have lost an ability they have had all their life, even if they didn't gain it back. Teach them about what Glorfindel might be feeling and going through in his attempt to once again have a normal life...and his legs working.
"How about I tell you a story about a one-winged dragon, like Green here? Now this dragon is different, for starters, he is fully grown and his scales are a gold colour.
"This dragon, whose name was Carca, loved to fly and he rarely was on the ground, preferring the skies. But one day that all changed. He got into a fight with another dragon, this one a silver bigger than himself, and with a massive bite, the silver dragon managed to take off one wing.
"The two fighting dragons had not been that high in the sky, as the silver preferred the ground to the skies, so it was not a big fall for Carca. But the damage had been done and with no hope of ever being able to fly again, he crawled his way to the lair he slept in when he was tired.
"Now, Carca was very sad and he did not leave his lair for quite a few days even though he was hungry and thirsty. On the fourth day of being alone, another dragon, this one a small green one had accidentally climbed into Carca's cave and thought he would become lunch.
"The little dragon was very frightened at this, and tried to plead for his life. 'Please,' he said, 'I didn't mean to intrude upon you, but I have no home and was looking for one.'
"Carca, who didn't want any company or the thought of eating anything, turned himself over and exposed his huge golden back to the small green dragon.
"Green then saw the stub where a magnificent wing used to be and felt sorry for Carca. 'How did you lose your wing?' asked Green quietly.
"Angry, Carca turned around and growled, thinking to burn the small creature into ash with his fiery breath. 'I got into a fight! I will never fly again...' the last bit come out in a tone that was not usual in a dragon as big as he was. It held pleading, it held sadness, and he didn't like that.
"Green patted the shoulder on the side of the lost wing and smiled. 'Not all is lost. You are still alive, the damage is done but you will move past that. Even if it means you will never fly again.'
"After that, the large and small dragon were friends, as Carca could hear the truth in Green's voice. It took Carca a long time to learn that it was truth himself though, but it was made easier when he learnt that Green could not fly for very long or far, as his wings were too small for such a purpose. And the two close friends spent their time on the ground, and both were happy. Green now had a home, and Carca now knew that he didn't need to fly to be happy."
After the story was finished, the two boys looked up at him and blinked. Elrohir let his head fall to his shoulder, Elladan just frowned slightly.
"Why was Green in the story?" asked Elladan, aching out and taking the stuffed dragon to hold himself.
"Why was the silver dragon so mean to Carca?" Elrohir asked, glancing towards his b other and Green clutched in the other boys hands.
Elrond frowned slightly...he forgot about answering questions. It had been far too long since he had told a story to his children. "Green was in the story mainly because he was the inspiration to the whole story. Unlike Carca though, Green will get his wing back. Please, don't fight over him again. As to why the silver dragon was so mean? Because he was a bully and that is what bullies do, hurt other people. He was also bigger than Carca and there was nothing he could have done to stop the fight."
Elladan's frown turned into a smile. "Poor Carca. But he ended up happy again anyway didn't he? I liked the story, Ada." The child then yawned and rubbed at his eyes.
"Me too," stated a rather dozy Elrohir.
Smiling, Elrond got up off the floor and went ove to Elrohir's bed and tucked him in for a nap. He then went about settling Elladan in his own.
By the time he left the room, the two boys were soundly asleep.
As he exited the room, he heard a large commotion from out in the yard. Frowning, he went downstairs to see what was going on.
The oncoming mass of Men from one of the nearby villages truly surprised Erestor and, to his mounting unease, he had noticed that a few were injured. Some were even laid out on hastily made litters.
He needed to alert the healers! He didn't want to bother Elrond but...perhaps he should. Some of the Men looked very bad and he realised that he would end up calling for his Lord before long.
He was about to go and greet the large group when Elrond flashed by him, probably attracted by the noise and had come to investigate. A flash of anger tore through him, but he dismissed it. The day was only half done, but with both his Lord's and his own work to do, he was feeling more than a little stressed.
Elrond looked to him and nodded his head in the direction of the Healing Wing. With a nod back, he went to get the Healers ready, leaving Elrond to deal with the Men.
He made it there in record time for someone walking. He felt a little foolish for the flushed look that must have been on his face, but he was forgiven this by Luinwen when he told her to ready the Wing forquite a few patients.
"Well, will you be willing to help then? I would not be finished with only five of us here without Lord Elrond."
With a slight nod, he watched the other healers to see what he was supposed to do, before setting up some of the beds himself.
It wasn't long before the first of the Men came in, the worst injured being carried by family. When all were in, he was going to leave, but was stopped by the arrival of Elrond, looking like he was ready for a long day.
"Erestor, I know this is not the most wonderful thing I could ask you, but will you please ready a bed in with Glorfindel for me," Elrond asked, already bending down too look at the worst of the hurt, a Man nearing his middle years that looked toe in a terrible amount of pain.
Without asking why, Erestor nodded, turned about and headed for the room which Glorfindel was housed in.
Glorfindel looked up when he heard the door open, looking distracted by a pile of paper in front of him. A discarded quill was lying on a writing board on his lap, and an empty bottle of black ink lay discarded on the floor by his feet. Picking up the bottle, Erestor walked quickly into the room and put it on the bedside table, before wedging the doors into an opened position and wheeling one of the empty beds into the room.
"Are you to be sleeping in here with me or something nonsensical as that?" Glorfindel asked, as he hastily picked up the parchment in front of him, shuffled it all together and stuffed it in a bedside drawer. It looked suspiciously like Glorfindel didn't want him to see what he had been writing.
"There is quite a few injured people out there...Elrond told me to bring a bed in here...I do not know why," he replied, as he fixed up the pillows and linens. The bed was wheeled, something he had never understood until just that minute. It was much easier to move that way.
"Erestor, are you done!" Elrond called out, his voice holding a bit of urgency in it.
"Aye," he called out, surprised when Elrond came in, one of the Men, he noticed it to be the injured one being looked at earlier, being carried until he was lying atop the bed.
The man moaned and cried out in pain as his back touched the bed. Quickly as he could while trying not to bend him at the back, Elrond got his help to flip the man onto his stomach.
On his back was the ugliest wound he had seen in...quite a while. Closing his eyes, Erestor took two steps back and held a hand to his mouth. The wound was not that infected, but it had been a long time since he had seen anything in such a state and it made his stomach twist uncomfortingly.
"Erestor? Are you alright?" came a voice behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he noticed Glorfindel looking up at him with knowing blue eyes.
"I feel a little ill..." he replied beginning to turn around when Elrond called for help.
"Erestor...perhaps you should sit down and...keep me company," said Glorfindel, a small smile now on his face. Erestor could see him looking over to the be opposite him and the wince that followed made Erestor glad he was looking somewhere else.
"My...Dînthoron looks positively green. His first big wound to help heal I suppose."
He hadn't meant to, but he looked. It wasn't so much the wound that seemed to bother the young Healer, other than the pain the patient must be feeling. It was the wound that made himself feel queasy.
"Erestor! Please...talking is good, getting sick is bad. Look at me," came the exasperated voice of Glorfindel. Erestor turned back to him and took deep breaths. He had never had the stomach for such things, which was why he decided Advisor was a good position to have.
"You look better today," Erestor said, grasping for something to say.
Glorfindel actually laughed slightly. "I actually got out of this room for a few hours today. It has...brightened my mood."
Erestor managed a little smile for his friend. "What did you do?" he askedraising his voice a bit when he heard ragged breathing punctuated by a loud cry of pain every few seconds. The noise scared him...it reminded him of...but he would not think of that!
"I had a bath, and had my legs massaged. I was then carried to the balcony in our Lady's personal chamber. I was nOt aware she had one until today, but it was private, I got fresh air and a chance to...cool my temper, and dry the dresses Luinwen and our Lady were wearing."
Erestor couldn't help but chuckle at that. "I have been busy. I am sorry for not visitijng you this morning."
Glorfindel smiled at him, and it was a true smile, like so many he had seen before, even if sadness was evident. "'Tis alright, Erestor. I was catching up on some...work. Until I am replaced I am still Captain of the warriors here and I do have occasional paperwork to do."
Erestor could feel the bitterness in those words, though an attempt to say them light-heartedly was made. Glorfindel was nothing but a warrior. To have that taken away from him...Erestor had not even thought of that until now, though Elrond must have, especially as the job hadn't yet been given to someone else.
The noise from behind him stopped after a while and Erestor chanced a look behind him. The Man had been bandaged up and had been tie to the bed. Elrond did not look happy.
His Lord turned towards Glorfindel and he shook his head. "Well, Glorfindel, you seem to have someone else in the same predicament as you...the Orc sliced straight through the bone and severed the chord there. While you may gain the use of your legs back, this man has no chance of such a fate."
Glorfindel's face was immediately devoid of emotion and he turned his back on him. Sighing, Erestor got up and made his way over to Elrond and Dînthoron. "I will go back to my work now, my Lord. I wish you good luck with the easing of these poor Men."
With that said, he went to his own office, closed the door and locked it behind him, before slowly walking over to his desk to finish his work. He spent most of the day glancing at Glorfindel's last patrol report, unable to get the thought of Glorfindel never writing another out of his head.
It was then that a strange idea hit him, and, in his rush for pen and paper, he knocked over a well of ink. Thankfully nothing was too damaged and was still readable, but he would not notice that until after he finished the drawing he had visions of.
A/N - I have decided to keep my A/N's just that. If you want a reply to your review, or would just like to chat, send me an email at silver wolf 101 hotmail . com. Just make sure you take out the spaces first. Any and all mistakes in this chapter are mine and mine alone. I will be fixing it up when I revise this story (which is going to happen).
Thank you for your reviews.
SilverWolf7