Chapter 28: Mood swings?

By Shawna Delahanty

After watching Thranduil roughly drag his son away, Elrond bent down to face Admir and Amarth.

"Is she alright?" he asked the older elf.

"I believe so, my Lord." Replied Amarth, not able to look the Lord of Imaldris in the eyes after what he had done earlier.

Elrond lightly touched a hand to the young crying peredhil's shoulder. "Admir, are you alright?"

Admir pushed her foster father's hand away and held tightly onto Amarth.

"Admir…"

"No! Leave me alone!" and with that being said, she shakily ran back to the Last Homely House.

Elrond turned back to Amarth. "I've never seen you hang around my daughter or any of the three Mirkwood princes, so why were you just now?"

Amarth shifted awkwardly. "My Lord, something terrible happened earlier today-"

"Yes, according to Lord Thranduil, Thelion and a few friends beat up on the elf that was just with you a minute ago."

Amarth looked as though he might burst out sobbing as Admir had done, but he refused to. Not infront of the Lord of Imaldris, what kind of reputation would that give him?

"Well, my Lord, I was…I was one of those elves…" he sighed.

Although most elves, such as Thranduil, would have picked Amarth up by the collar or shaken him violently, Elrond merely looked at Amarth's eyes and said, "You were mislead. Care to explain?"

On the way to her room, Admir bumped into Legolas, who had finally come out of his room. Legolas seemed to be in the same shaken condition as her, so she decided it couldn't hurt to talk to him. "Legolas? Can you tell me what…er…happened, earlier?" she asked carefully, not wanted to hurt her friend anymore than Rogir might already have. What did Thranduil mean by Rogir had gotten drunk earlier? She remembered Mornie's earlier comment about Amarth's voice changing, "You sound like the Mirkwood prince Thelion drugged earlier!" Had it been Rogir that Thelion had drugged? No, that wasn't possible, Rogir wasn't stupid enough to listen to someone that had just beat him up, was he?

The silvan elf tensed at her question. "I…I don't want to talk about it…" he murmured.

"Saesa, mellon-nin, I cannot help you, or anyone else unless you tell me why you are unhappy." Admir replied gently.

Legolas turned his bright blue eyes on her. Could he trust her? He looked into her eyes. They were jade, similar to his brother's, which were emerald. He had believed he could trust Rogir, and where did that land him? Right where he was now. But something was different about Admir's eyes. They weren't cold or distant like Rogir's, and at the moment they seemed to be full of sadness as well.

"Alright, Admir…" he replied hesitantly. "But you have to tell me what's wrong with you too."

The two elflings went into Legolas' room.

"I-I'm not sure what I did…" stammered Legolas. "I-I…I found Rogir in the alcove…and…and…well…"

Admir nodded to show that she understood it was hard for the prince to retell. How could anyone have done something to his or her brother? Sure, she and Estel fought a lot, but she had never threatened him. What could Rogir have done that had scared and threatened his little brother so much?

"Well…I…I went to make sure he was alright…and well, there was a…a…scent of mead on his breath, so…I knew he'd been drinking…and…I said I was going to tell Ada and he…" he swallowed a sob which was threatening to escape him. He knew crying wasn't going to help him, and he didn't want to look like an elfling.

Admir gave him a worried look. "Are you alright, Legolas? Should I go get Lord Thranduil?"

The silvan elf shook his head. "No, I'm alright. He…he attacked me." He said finally. "He-he tried to choke me…I…" it was too much for the princeling to remember. Tears fell silently.

Admir put an arm around his shoulder and pulled him close to her, as she often did to Estel. "I got Rogir mad somehow, and he tried to er…harm me too." She admitted.

Legolas gazed at her with confused eyes. "W-why? He'd n-never heard y-you." He stuttered between sobs.

Admir felt tears fall from her eyes as well. "He…he tried to choke me too…mellon-nin." She replied.

"And…and…and…" Legolas wasn't sure he wanted to tell her the rest. Should he tell her about Aradwyn? Did Aradwyn really think he wouldn't notice? Surely, if he could smell mead on Rogir breath, when Rogir was further away from him than Aradwyn, he could tell that Aradwyn had been drinking mead too. Is that why he had a headache? Legolas wasn't sure, but he decided he HAD to tell Admir.

"A-Admir? When Aradwyn came in here earlier…" he took a deep breath and swallowed hard. "There was also a scent of mead on his breath, as well, only stronger. I'm not sure why, but I couldn't ask him. I just felt I wasn't supposed to know…"

"Arwen! Have you seen Admir?" called Estel to his foster sister's closed door.

"Go away." She commanded angrily. Estel shrugged and peaked into Rogir's room. He had heard Thranduil yelling at him, but WHY was Thranduil yelling at him?

Despite the confused feelings of anger and hurt he was feeling, Rogir still heard the adan's footsteps. "Get away from my door!" he snapped, but he didn't hear Estel leave. He growled in annoyance. "Didn't you hear me, I said get away from my door!" Still, Estel made no movement. "Ugh! What the hell do you want from me?" he demanded

"Where is Admir? I'm SURE you know." He said in an I'm-so-smart tone.

"Rogir glared at the door, which he knew Estel was on the other side of. "I don't know!" he snapped.

"Don't lie, Rogir, just tell me where my sister is." Begged the adan.

"I DON'T KNOW!" he roared furiously. He felt extremely angry now, as angry as he had felt when he attacked Admir, and he felt the sickening feeling return again, only this time, it didn't seem to leave. Why? He then realized, a part of him was trying to fight the anger of wanting to hurt the adan, for Admir. He couldn't hurt Estel, even if Admir learned to forgive him for this, she'd never forgive anyone that hurt her little brother. Estel was getting impatient and was about to open the door when he heard the older elf violently get sick. Estel looked frightened and ran off to look for Thranduil as fast as he could.

For the second time there was a knock on Aradwyn's door. "What?" he groaned. Without waiting for an invite, Admir opened the door and stepped in, followed by Legolas.

Admir smirked and in a mocking tone asked, "So how's your hangover, Aradwyn?"

Uh-oh...Aradwyn's in trouble! I wonder wut he'll do to get out of this one. Yea, i switched POVs so many time it probably got confusing, but yea, i wasn't sure wut to do, and i didn't want to use Rogir the whole time, since he's supposed to b calming down, which i assume means leaving him alone, but Estel, who is a 6 year old ADAN doesn't understand the way the others do, so whoops! lol Well Legolas found the courage to tell someone wut happened. Oh and yes, Admir did hug Legolas, does that mean anything? No. She was comforting him, and at that moment she was thinking of Estel, and wut she did to help him. Does this mean she may be developing a closer friendship w/ the younger Mirkwood princeling? It would seem so, but we all know who she's really intrested in. lol

Namarie

Shawna D.