-Chapter 34 Don't Question Authority-
-By Shawna D-
"Elrohir, go get Ada!" commanded Elladan.
Elrohir frowned. "Why me?" he asked as Elladan sighed and pointed to Legolas. However, before the younger twin could move, Admir and Elrond had rushed out of the house.
"Ada, that is Thelion…" she muttered stepping behind him. She thought about what all had happened to her just days ago when she had been attacked and captured just because she was a peredhil. Not to mention she knew that before Thelion and his friends had captured her they had beaten up Rogir. She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed Amarth standing nervously a little a bit away from Thelion and his friends.
"Marth!" she called over to him. The older elf relaxed after seeing the younger peredhil and ran over to her quickly. "Admir, are you alright?" he asked.
Admir nodded. "I am fine, but Rogir is not doing so well…" she then gave him a suspicious look. "Why are you here?"
Amarth grinned. "Guess I do not know how to stay safe." He said putting his right hand into his pocket. He pulled something out and handed it to Admir. "I believe you lost this?"
Admir gasped as she realized what it was. "My pendant!" she exclaimed happily. "Where did you find it?"
"Well…apparently it fell in my pocket when you cut the rope." He replied.
"Marth, watch my daughter for a moment," said Elrond stepping over to the older elves. Thelion tensed and turned to the two younger elves at his side.
"Now look what you have done, Thelion." growled Mornië.
"And Mornië and I haven't even done anything wrong!" grumbled Dûror.
"You could have helped me!" spat Thelion crossly.
Although the three elves expected the Lord of Imaldris to be angry and yell at them, he approached them in a calm manner. He knew that although they had hurt his daughter, as well as her best friend, they had shown them how important it was to always be on guard.
"Which one of you is Thelion?" he asked looking from one elf to the next. Mornië and Dûror pointed to the oldest elf.
Thelion frowned and turned his gaze to the ground unable to look him in the eye. He didn't feel bad about attacking the younger peredhil, the prince, or his traitor "friend", he only felt bad that he had been caught. "I am, Hîr-nín…" he muttered not taking his eyes off the ground.
"And who are you two?" he asked turning to the other two.
"Mornië, Hîr-nín." Replied the younger one. "Dûror, Hîr-nín." Replied the older one.
"Were you two involved in what happened the other day?" he asked. The two elves nodded slowly. Usually Thelion knew how to stay out of trouble and he taught them how to stay out of trouble, so then why had they followed him to the archery field?
"We sort of were…" replied Mornië.
"We do anything as bad as Thelion, if that's what you mean." Replied Dûror quickly.
Why was Dûror defending Mornië? Because Mornië was younger than he was? No, it was because Mornië and Dûror had been friends long before they met Thelion, in fact, since they were about Estel's age, and it had been Mornië that had wanted to join Thelion, but Dûror could not let him do that alone.
Flashback
"Mornië watch out!" called Dûror worriedly as the younger elf tripped over a root in the ground and landed hard on his left arm.
"Dûror, I think it is broken…" moaned the younger elf trying to push himself to his feet with his good arm, which proved to be futile and the older ended up carefully pulling his friend to his feet.
"Where are we?" groaned Mornië. "Are we lost?"
"I hope not." Replied Dûror, then realizing what he said replied quickly, "I mean—of course not, mellon-nin."
Another elf stepped out of the shadows. "You two in need of assistance? I know this area like the back of my hand." He said smirking.
"Please," said Dûror, "My friend's arm is broken. Can you take us to a healer?"
The other elf shook his head. "No, but I can probably bandage it myself." He replied. "But you have to show me your arm.
Mornië hesitantly help out his left arm to dark haired elf. The older elf bandaged Mornië's arm then turned to Dûror. "He should heal now."
The two younger elves nodded in thanks.
"Thelion i eneth nín." He said holding out a hand to the two elves,
"Mornië i eneth nín." Replied the younger one.
"Dûror i eneth nín." Replied the older one.
"I hope to see you around." Replied Thelion as he started off back into the shadows of the woods. When he was gone Mornië smiled. "I like him, he seems friendly."
Dûror frowned. "You are kidding, right?"
"No, I think we should ask him to be our friend," he replied.
End flashback
"Hîr-nín?" asked Leif knocking on the door to Thranduil's study. Immediately the King of Mirkwood recognized the guard's voice. "What is it, Leif?" he asked.
"I will talk to him myself if you let go of me." Growled Aradwyn and Thranduil opened the door to see his oldest son struggling with the guard.
"Ion-nín? What are you doing?" he demanded. Aradwyn immediately stopped struggling.
"I…Ada, something happened out side…!" he stammered.
Thranduil looked at him suspiciously. Being the oldest, Aradwyn was usually the most mature, it wasn't likely for him to dragged off the field by a guard unless he were hurt, which although apart from a bright red mark on one side of his face, he seemed to be fine. It was more likely for Rogir and Legolas to get pulled off the archery field back in Mirkwood because they were always starting fights.
"Leif, explain what you are doing with my son." Commanded Thranduil.
"Well, hir-nin," began the guard, "Prince Rogir got into a fight with another elf a bit older than him and…" Thranduil cut him off.
"What does this have to do with my eldest son?"
The guard continued, having adjusted long ago to the King's temper causing him to interrupt whenever he felt it necessary (which was quite often). "Prince Aradwyn tried to pull the elves apart and Prince Rogir hit him twice across the face."
"That explains the red marks on his face." Sighed Thranduil getting tired of his middle son's awful behavior. "But what about my other son?"
"Prince Aradwyn punched him back." Replied the guard. "Hurt Prince Rogir pretty badly."
The King of Mirkwood looked at his son in surprise, which quickly turned to rage. "You hit your brother?" he asked angrily. That was definitely not the type of thing that Aradwyn would do. He always watched out for his two younger brothers, ever since the death of their Mother.
"Ada, I did not…I was not…"
"Don't waste your breath unless you know what you're going to say." Snapped Thranduil. "Leif, who was the elf Rogir was fighting with?"
"I believe his name is Thelion. Lord Elrond is speaking with him now." He replied.
"Aradwyn, is this the same Thelion as before?"
The Crown Prince nodded. "Yes Ada, the same one."
Thranduil sighed. "Aradwyn we will discuss this more later. For now, both of you follow me to the archery field."
"Why did you hurt not only my daughter, but a Prince of Mirkwood as well?" demanded Elrond, still fighting to keep his voice calm.
Thelion shrugged. "I do not know, hír-nin, I was not thinking."
"You were not thinking? What kind of an excuse is that!" demanded Thranduil who was now standing behind the 3 elves causing them all to jump in surprise.
"You were not thinking, so you decided to antagonize my son and his friend? Do you realize how much pain you put them through?" he continued grabbing Thelion by the collar of his tunic. "Not only that, you got my son to drink, and my youngest is lucky to be alive!"
Thelion struggled angrily against the King's tight hold on him but said nothing. He knew that this was likely to happen if the half-blood and prince told their Adas. But how could he not have expected this? The half-blood was only 8 in adan years, still making her an elfling, and the prince he had been put through even more than his so-called "friend" was. And then there was Amarth. No, he did not deserve that name any longer; Marth. Marth was also a half-blood, and he had lied to him all along, when really he knew the younger peredhil the whole time. Marth had betrayed him, yet he (Thelion) still had not gotten his revenge on him.
"Are you listening to me!" snapped Thranduil and when the elf made no move to answer him he slapped him hard across the face.
Thelion winced and nodded. "Y-yes, Hîr-nín…" he replied slowly. Thranduil was definitely not the best at keeping his cool, thought Thelion. He was extremely violent; especially if it had anything to with his princeling sons.
"Then what did I say?" he asked coldly.
"That your youngest son is lucky to be alive." He mumbled.
Thranduil turned to his oldest son, who was standing next to Elrond. "Aradwyn, you told me that you found him thrashing Rogir a few days ago in the woods after you tried to get him to come home." Aradwyn nodded. "Yes Ada. I found him being ganged up on by Thelion and 3 er…" he turned to Marth, who was shaking his head sadly and Aradwyn realized that he already knew what he had done. "those two other elves." He said finally.
"3 elves ganging up on a younger elf?" growled Thranduil. "You had better have a good reason…"
After talking to Amarth Admir slipped inside to the healing rooms, before her father or any of the guards had noticed "Rogir, are you awake?"
"I am now." He replied smirking sitting up to look at the peredhil.
Admir smiled brightly. "Marth found my pendant that you made me. I am so glad, I was so afraid that I had lost it."
Rogir raised his right eyebrow at her painfully. "Why? I thought you hated me?"
Admir looked hurt. "How can you even say that, Rogir? I could never hate you!"
"Admir, I…I tried to throttle you, and you still like me?"
The peredhil smiled. "Hin harw ne cuil hae hûn nin." She said.
"Rogir, what happened to your eye?" she asked worried going almost into his face to examine it.
"I do not wish to talk about that." Snapped Rogir covering his left eye. Even with his best friend Rogir was still short-tempered and easily annoyed. Luckily Admir was used to this.
"But Rogir, you seemed to be in pain…!"
"I am not in pain!" he snapped angrily. "I just cannot see out of it!"
The younger elf gasped in horror. "You cannot see out of it? We should get my Ada!"
He shook his head, which made him slightly dizzy. "No, do not bother."
Admir reached into her pocket and pulled a small stone out of her pocket. "I found this years ago. It just so happens the day I found it, was the day I met you. It has been my good luck charm, but…I want you to have it, gwedeir."
"I could not do that to you, Admir." He said softly. Admir rolled her eyes and pushed the stone into his hands. "Yes you can!" she replied. "And if you do not I might have to tickle you again!" she teased raising one hand as if she were serious.
"Alright, you win." laughed Rogir taking the stone from her and examining in it closely with his right eye. "This stone looks a lot like the one in that pendant."
Admir pulled out the pendant to prove it wasn't the same one. The one she had handed him was bright jade, like her eyes, and the one in the pendant was emerald like Rogir's, which to her seemed oddly coincidental but she said nothing of it.
Admir had accidentally left the door ajar and Legolas pushed it open. "Admir? Ada and Lord Elrond want to speak to you both, if R-Rogir feels up to it." He was still afraid of his older brother.
Admir nodded and turned to the dark haired elf. Rogir shrugged. In other words, Admir had learned, that meant he did not care whether they did or not. "Yes mellon-nin, we will speak with them."
The blonde Mirkwood princeling left the room and a few minutes later in came Elrond, leading Thelion's two friends; and Thranduil dragging Thelion by the ear. Behind them reluctantly stood Aradwyn.
"So what do you say to my son?" demanded Thranduil pinching Thelion's ear.
"A…aranna nin." He replied. "It was wrong of me to pick on you…it was wrong of me to give you wine as well…"
"Do you have any idea why he did this, ion-nín?" asked Thranduil.
Rogir nodded. "They thought I was spying on them…then…" he couldn't say the rest. Not only was it embarrassing, it infuriated him to think about it.
"What, ion-nín? We cannot fix this unless you tell us."
Rogir growled quietly. "He hit me for not telling him why…why I had been crying." He said the last word as though it hurt more than anything did.
"I'm sorry, hir-nín." Muttered Thelion.
"I did not ask for your pitiful apologizes." He snapped. "Did these two do anything to you?"
The prince shook his head. "No Ada, they observed everything."
Elrond turned to his foster daughter. "Is this true, iel-nín?
Admir too, nodded. Although she did remember Mornië twisting her arm behind her back and Dûror kicking her in the face. And Marth had punched her, but of course she wasn't going to get her friend in trouble. The other two elves obviously weren't in control of the situation, and therefore they didn't need to be yelled at.
"Mellon-nin, I am going to take these two home. Admir stay with Lord Thranduil." Said Elrond herding the two elves out of the room, leaving his foster daughter with Thranduil, Thelion, and Rogir.
"Rogir, is there anything else you want to tell me?" asked Thranduil, seemingly calmed down. "Ada, I did not mean to get out of bed when you told me not to, but I had to save Admir. Thelion had tied her to a tree! He…he called her a fowl name too." Replied Rogir scowling.
"What did you call her, Thelion?" demanded Thranduil. Obviously if Rogir had thought to say something to him when he knew he could have just ended the conversation that it must have been something bad.
"I do not remember." lied Thelion trying to pull his ear free from the King.
"Pitiful that you would lie to the King of Mirkwood." He knew he was lying but he wasn't going to waste time forcing an answer out of him. "Rogir, what did he call her?" he asked as gently as he was able at this point.
Rogir sighed. "Ada, I do not want to say it…"
"Tell him gwedeir, I do not mind." Said Admir speaking for the first time since her father had left. "I know you would never call me that."
"Ada, he called her a half-blood." He said finally. Unable to hold his father's gaze any long her closed his eyes (or eye).
"You did not!" snapped Thranduil pinching his ear harder this time causing Thelion to bite his lip to keep from crying out.
Admir and Rogir nodded. Just then Elrond returned to the room. "The other have been taken home and punished. Is everything alright?"
"This one called your daughter the other word for half-elf." Growled Thranduil. "Get him out of my sight immediately!" he let go of the dark haired elf pushing him towards the door so that he slammed into it.
Elrond nodded and took the elf's arm. "Come Admir, I believe Lord Thranduil shall want to speak to his sons." Admir smiled at her friend then turned and followed her foster father out of the room, smiling at the Crown Prince as she left the room. As soon as the Lord of Imaldris and his foster daughter had left the room, Aradwyn stepped in and stood beside his father. As soon as the Crown Prince entered the room, the younger Prince covered his injured left eye.
"Aradwyn, have you no idea what you have done to your brother?" sighed Thranduil.
"Rogir, I'm sorry…I did not mean to hit you, I would never purposely hit you…"
The younger prince cut him off. "But you did! You meant to and you…"
"Enough!" snapped Thranduil. "Rogir, show your brother your left eye."
The younger prince shook his head. "Ada, I can not…"
"Ai for the Valar's sake, Rogir!" said Thranduil pulling his son's hand of his eye, causing Rogir to bite his already split lip to keep from whimpering in pain.
Aradwyn moaned as though he were sick. "Oh Ada, what have I done?"
Rogir struggled and pulled his hand back out of his father's grasp. "I cannot see a thing out of it…" he stated as though trying to make his brother feel worse.
The Crown Prince groaned sadly and without another word fled from the healing room.
Once his brother was gone, Rogir turned to their father with a worried expression. "Ada, do you ever…wish I were someone else's son…?"
Thranduil looked at his middle son in amazement. "How can you even ask me that, ion-nín?"
"Ada…"
"If you do not already know the answer to that then I have you failed as a father…we leave for home tomorrow." He said and swept from the room.
Once his father had gone back to his study Rogir jumped out of bed and ran down to Admir's room nearly tripping because of his off vision, and threw her door open, leaving a mark on the wall where the knob hit.
"Gwethil! We are going home tomorrow!"
TRANSLATIONS
Hír-nin- My lord
i eneth nín- My name is
Hin harw ne cuil hae hûn nin- these wounds in life leave my heart
Gwedeir- brother (friend that is like a brother)
Gwethil- Sister (friend that is like a sister)
Note: Amarth is not his real name. When he became friends with Thelion they changed his name from "Marth" which means "fate" to "Amarth" which means "doom". His true name is just Marth.
Sry for the late update, and we have a few more chapters to put up too.
Shawna D.