Disclaimer: I don't own any of JRR Tolkin's characters or his wonderful world.

Last Time:

"I tried to cut my ear off," Elemmire supplied quietly blinking his large eyes.

Elrond and Elrohir both gave him sharp looks which only made Elemmire cry. "I tried to cut my ear off!"

Chapter Eight You Are Special

Elrohir took Elemmire's shoulders and held him at arms length glaring at him appraisingly the whole time. Elemmire futilely refused to meet his ada's eyes. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't!

"Tell me little ion nin, why you did something so silly," Elrohir demanded angrily. Elemmire stuffed his little fists as far as they would go into his eye sockets and made no reply.

Elrohir swore again earning himself a reprimanding glare from Elrond. But he ignored this and rose quickly and stormed out of the room before he succumbed to the temptation of screaming his head off.

Elrond sighed and Elemmire unstuffed his fists from his eyes which were red and swollen from his tears. The little elfling watched his father's retreating back, blinked twice and burst into floods of tears once more.

Elrond sighed again. He had been abandoned standing in the middle of a room with a crying elfling. He knew the little being before him was a sensitive little creature and therefore he was at a loss of what he should actually do with him.

Looking left and right, knowing it was only a matter of moments before another healer came in to check what all the noise was about, Elrond lifted the child into his arms. Elemmire snuggled instinctively into his neck his sobs quickly subsiding to little chokes and whimpers.

Elrond's long elegant fingers sifted through Elemmire's long tresses. He grimaced at the sight of the elfling's blood all over his fingertips but hummed instead an old elvish lullaby. When he finally felt Elemmire's body relax Elrond spoke, "Why did you try and cut off your ears, tether pen?"

Elemmire blinked and started to hear the voice so close to his injured and throbbing ears.

"Tell Iauradar if you won't tell your ada, hm?"

Elemmire sniffled and blinked in confusion.

"Tell me, tether pen."

Elemmire wrinkled his little nose and wrapped his small arms furiously around Elrond's neck. "I can't be an elf if I don't have the ears!"

Elrond stopped the chuckle rising in his throat and glided over to a basin of water. With careful deliberate movements he soaked a cloth and sat in a comfortable chair with Elemmire perched on his knee. Slowly he worked the damp cloth through the inky blackness of the child's hair removing the clumps of blood.

"It is not the ears that make the elf, Elemmire," Elrond said finally speaking.

Elemmire glanced up with confused eyes and Elrond gently smudged of a spot of mud that rested on the child's nose.

"If you change your shirt or shoes or unbraid your hair do you stop being Elemmire?"

Elemmire creased his brow for a moment pondering Elrond's strange question. Then slowly shook his head in the negative.

"Then cutting of your lovely pointed ears will not stop you from being an elf."

"Then what must I do?" Elemmire whined in earnest.

Elrond laughed lightly and finished washing Elemmire's hair.

"You must be happy."

"Happy?"

"Mmm... Illúvatar in his great wisdom and song brought you into being."

"Whose Illtivatata? Is he really wiser than you?"

Elrond laughed and stroked the elflings head once more. "He is the one whose song the Ainur comprehend and through him all of Arda was created."

"He has a song? Does he like music?"

Elrond nestled the child close to him and a smile tugged on his lips. "Ai, he loves music, he is music. It is in your eyes that I can see his great song reflected."

"Really?" Elemmire looked incredulous. "But I don't know him."

"You will learn, tether pen. You will grow to see him in the beauty of Arda."

Elrond stood regally with the child still tucked close to his chest. "I still think you are wise Aura-ad-da-da."

Elrond smiled dryly, "I will remind you of that when you're a little older."

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"Elemmire where are we going?" Amdir ran after his twin brother as fast as he could with his short legs. Elemmire was at least three lengths in front laughing mockingly all the way, which in itself was a rare occurrence.

"To the smithy!" Elemmire laughed over his shoulder.

"Oh!" Amdir murmured wrinkling his nose in distaste. "Why there? It's dirty and smelly and dirty…"

"I want to see Aldros."

Mumbling and babbling to himself under his breath Amdir ran after his brother into the smithy.

Elemmire ignored his brother's complaints and wove in and out of the benches and working elves without hindrance. They were so small that their little heads could not be seen bobbing up and down under the benches.

"There he is!"

Elemmire rushed forward and grabbing Aldros' thick leather apron tugged relentlessly.

Surprised by the interruption Aldros nearly dropped his tools. He looked around madly before seeing the twins before him.

"Ah it's you two."

Elemmire nodded.

"The smithy isn't a place for you little one."

Elemmire nodded again. "But I will grow one day."

Aldros tried his best impression at looking stern. "What do you two want?"

"I wanna see your ears."

"My ears?"

"I need to check something."

"My ears?"

Elemmire rolled his eyes and tugged on the leather apron insistently. "I can't see from down here you are going to come down here."

Deciding it was best to humour Elrohir's sons Aldros crouched beside the children. Elemmire's little fingers brushed Aldros hair away and brushed the edges of the large smithy's ears.

"Yup pointed," Elemmire noted to himself standing on tip toe he then went to the other side which Aldros obligingly turned for him to see. "Definitely pointed. He's an elf and I like him."

Amdir murmured something under his breath.

"Ho, Aldros no elflings in the smithy!" An impatient blonde elf called out.

Aldros swooped down and picked the two youngsters in his arms. "They're leaving now, Elwë."

"I didn't know you had twins." A ginger blonde elf said looking up.

"They're not mine Amras."

"Well," said Amras smiling widely. "Introduce us."

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Half and hour later after Elemmire had checked the entirety of the smithy for pointed ears and after endless streams on genially grins and tickling he left the smithy with Amdir in toe.

Amdir getting over his grumpy state saw King Thandruil talking adamantly with another elf. Tugging on Elemmire's sleeve he gestured to the engrossed twin.

"Let's see if the Mirkwood people have pointy ears too!"

Elemmire nodded enthusiastically and galloped after his brother to find out what sort of ears the King possessed. The excited twins halted abruptly and Thandruil looked down upon them surprised by their presence.

"Could we perhaps see your ears?" Amdir asked sweetly opting for the more polite avenue for finding out while Elemmire was expertly looking cute and innocent beside

him.

"My ears?" Thandruil asked raising and elegant eyebrow and looking to his companion who looked quite shocked. "Now what would you want with the King of Mirkwood's ears?"

Elemmire tilted his head slightly with a smile. "Just to see. We won't steal them."

Thandruil carefully bent down to the twins level and placidly let them inspect his ears. The lightness of their touch brought ticklish shivers down his spine. Without much inspection Amdir turned to Elemmire. "They're pointed just like all the smithies' ears."

"Then," Elemmire dramatically said slowly, "I conclude that not all elves are bad as master said."

Thandruil laughed lightly and tapped the two youngsters who had seemingly forgotten him. Elrohir had crept up behind his engrossed sons and the king.

"King Thandruil I…" Elrohir looked to the twins who blinked innocently at him. "I'm sorry if they bothered you…"

"Peace, young Elrohir." Thandruil held up an elegant hand to stop Elrohir's apologies. "We were just having a delightful discussion about ears." He chuckled at the incredulous light in Elrohir's eyes.

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Warm, fed and told a bed time story from their new ada the twins lay in darkness. Amdir had fallen asleep early but Elemmire stayed awake listlessly turning from one side to another. Something niggled and gnawed at his mind; stealing away the peace of sleep. It was driving him insane.

Fidgeting with a piece of blanket Elemmire turned on his stomach and decided to count chicken's eggs like he always did when he couldn't sleep.

One… two… three… throw one at Amdir when no one is looking…poke out tongue defiantly at Amdir's furious look…duck and laugh… four… five…

Nope! Elemmire punched the pillow viciously it wasn't working tonight. He punched he pillow again for good measure and slipped from under the bed and padded noiselessly to the door.

Without glancing in Amdir direction he slipped through the door and into the hall. Imladris was sure quiet at night. Elemmire padded down the hall wishing suddenly that he had brought a blanket with him.

He continued without this sort of comfort however, and stopped by the door where he knew he might get some answers. Resisting the impulse to knock, Elemmire opened the door quietly and slipped through the small crack.

His gaze lingered on the black figured that was breathing in regular deep breaths. Sighing he stepped forward and clambered on top of the bed resting his hands on the figure's shoulders.

"Wake up," Elemmire whisperingly pleaded shaking the shoulder gently.

The breathing stopped in its rhythm hitching slightly and the figures eyes focused.

Strong arms grabbed him and Elemmire's instincts kicked into fighting mode. He lashed out kicking the prone figure in the ribs. He heard as satisfying yelp but the figure caught him firmly by the shoulders.

"Elemmire?"

"Please don't hurt me!" Elemmire squealed. The figured let him down gently and the hands withdrew.

"What are you doing in my room at this hour?"

"I couldn't sleep adar-gwador, Elladan."

"Then why didn't you got to your ada?"

"I need to ask you something."

"Hmm, well I'm waiting."

"You told me that my name means star…" Elemmire floundered.

"Yes," Elladan yawned impatiently.

"And you said you called me star because they are precious."

"Yes." Elladan had no concept of where this conversation was leading too.

"I- I don't… I don't think that I could make the stars specialer…"

"Eh?" Elladan groaned unintelligibly.

"You said you named me to remind me that stars are precious and special… but I… I don't know how.to.make.them.feel.special."

Elladan fell back into his coverlets and laughed heartily. The elfling had woken him up at this ungracious time in the night about making stars feel special. Two small hands clinging to his shoulders jolted him back to the reality that Elemmire was still there.

"I never said you had to make the stars feel special!"

Elemmire tilted his head to one side his eyes reflecting confusion.

"I'll tell you what I hold more special than stars Elemmire."

Elemmire blinked slowly.

"You, tithen-gil. The name I gave you was to remind you that you were very special."

Elladan froze as Elemmire blinked slowly again. "What about Amdir?" Elemmire asked clearly worried for his brother.

Elladan grinned. "Amdir too. There's nothing quite so special and a pair of elfling twins."

Elemmire's face brightened in comprehension. He then did something Elladan did not expect. He leaned over and planted a kiss on his embarrassed uncle's cheek and squirmed down to lay down beside him.

"Thankyou," A little voice whispered beside Elladan's ear as he once again surrendered to slumber.

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Iauradar – means ancient father and thankyou, thankyou Dae for helping me out!

Aura-ad-da-da – Elemmire's cute attempt to say Iauradar

Adar-gwador – my way of saying uncle (completely made this up) – literally father -brother

tithen-gil – little star (cute pet name don't you think?)

Please note the creation story of Illúvatar (or alternately Illtivatata) was written from my basic and very simple understanding of the creation story of Middle Earth. I apologise if this is totally of the mark!