Disclaimer: Still almost all Tolkien's, still only a teeny tiny bit of mine.
Chapter Fifteen: What We Think We Hear
The hearing ear is always found close to the speaking tongue
- Ralph Waldo Emerson quotes
Elladan wandered out of the kitchens, chewing on a piece of sweet bread Laugoneth had shoved at him before he left. She was always convinced he had not had enough to eat and refused to let anyone leave her in hunger.
Today had been a good day, he thought, despite the slight ache in his arms from carrying all of Faeleth's things from the marketplace, (he was assured it would all be over the minute she left the so-called "nesting phase"). He briefly remembered his mother going through such a time with Arwen, he also briefly remembered that was the time his father spent many nights on the couch in his study.
Yes, besides the manual labor, there had been the delightful sight of his brother bested by Thalion, though, of course, Elladan would never take joy in seeing his brother injured, and of Glorfindel getting it through his great golden head that perhaps Morwen would not always be there waiting patiently for the Elda to make a move, and there was Rian who gave him an approving nod as he saw her carrying Faeleth's purchases and complimented him for being such a gracious elf.
Yes, indeed, it had been a good day.
Elladan made his way up the stairs, greeting the various staff members he met along the way. He started to make his way towards the family's private gardens when he heard a quiet, but heated, debate. He flattened himself against a wall in the corner and concentrated, dulling all his senses but his hearing, doing his best to make the words out.
"And now in your own realm you are too good for us, is that it?" An angered voice, in the accent of the Green Wood, said.
"Saeros, I, unlike you, do not view myself as better than another because of where I live. I am, however, loyal to Lord Elrond and I will not help you in whatever scheme you are planning. They were not lying when they said you are ruthless outside of your own realm." Rian's voice hissed.
"Rian," Saeros's arrogant drawl answered, "you will do well to remember you owe me. If it was not for my quick thinking, a war would have been declared on Imladris from that group of men you offended."
"I cannot believe you. You told me that was not my fault!"
"Oh, sweet, innocent Rian. You were so young then, your first trip out of Imladris on your own and your first true meeting where you were a representative of your realm. I knew you would do anything for the person who saved you from that disaster. And you did, did you not?"
There were sounds of a struggle and Saeros's laughter, "Now, now, Rian, you no better than to cause harm to a visiting dignitary. It would not reflect well on your already sad job performance if you were to violate the rules of hospitality."
"I despise you." Rian spat.
"I can assure you, orphan, the feeling is mutual." Saeros said in open disgust.
Elladan, fists clenching, made his move to confront Saeros when he was stopped by the voice of Tirnion, "Saeros! Get your hands off of her, what in the name of the Valar were you thinking?"
Elladan moved to view the group, staying hidden in case the element of surprise was needed. Rian was now standing behind Tirnion, who had obviously moved himself in between the two. Elladan gave him a nod in approval.
Saeros, his light hair unbound, laughed, "It is nothing of your concern, Tirnion. You can leave us."
"I would rather not. And when you attempt to harm our host, it is my concern." Tirnion's voice was dangerously low.
"She is not our host, Tirnion, she is nothing but a….."
"Silence!" Tirnion's voice was ice as he at once restrained both himself and Rian
Elladan, enraged, moved forward but was stopped by a hand gripping his shoulder. He turned to look at Glorfindel, who had a dangerous fire in his eyes.
"It would not do well to cause a diplomatic uproar at this moment, Elladan. Go get Morwen and send her down here to collect Rian. Then find your brother and go with him to Erestor's office, I will soon meet you there. I will handle this, though I assure you it is not in the way I wish."
Elladan, indignant, silently watched as Glorfindel strode over to the trio. Glorfindel silently waved Rian and Tirnion off to the side, telling them to go into the gardens and wait. As for Saeros, Elladan could not hear what he said, for it was spoken so softly. Saeros's expression showed enough for Elladan to guess that Glorfindel was livid and barely reigning in his temper. Glorfindel looked up, eyes locking with Elladan's, bidding him to leave. Having received his orders, now for the second time, Elladan left to do as he was told.
Elladan, more often than not, burst into Morwen's chambers, often finding her waiting for him as if she knew he was coming. Tonight was not one of those times. Morwen had not even registered the sound of her bedroom door crashing open. She was lost in thought, one hand clenching the necklace she often wore hidden under her clothing and the other loosely holding a brush, as if her thoughts had frozen her in time.
Despite his ire and sense of urgency, he approached her cautiously, as one would a wild animal.
He crouched down, lowing himself to her level, "Morwen?" he asked softly, and not getting an answer repeated her name again, gently touching the hand holding her brush. She visibly flinched, the brush falling from her hand,
"Elladan! I am sorry, I did not hear you come in." She looked around, as if suddenly realizing she had been lost in thought for some time, "How…how long have you been here?"
"Not long," he assured her, "but I fear I must interrupt your thoughts. There has been a situation. I need you to go down to our gardens and find Rian, she should be with Tirnion."
Morwen stood up, hurrying over to her wardrobe for an outer robe, "Is she well? What has happened?"
Elladan picked up her brush from where it fell, standing up he brought it to her dresser. He lightly stroked his hands over the small boxes and trinkets covering its surface, glancing up into the looking glass he muttered one word, "Saeros."
Morwen's eyes sought his out in the glass, sighing she said, "I told her to be cautious around him. I just knew he would do something like this, he is a horrible elf."
"I fear she did not have much choice in the matter. From what I heard, it appeared he had cornered her and demanded to she listen to him." He paused, running his fingers over the collection of smooth wooden figurines Glorfindel had carved for Morwen. She had so many of them, whenever Glorfindel came back from a long patrol he would give Morwen a handful of the small figurines that he had whittled away in his free time. Elladan knew she kept them all, and while only her favorites were on display, all were carefully packed away in a box under her bed.
He smiled sadly, noting how some things never changed.
Sighing he asked her, "Morwen, has Rian told you much of her time in Greenwood the Great?"
Finding a pair of slippers Morwen stated, "I must confess, she has told me little, as is her right. Why do you ask?"
She came over to him, searching through her bin of ribbons to find the proper one. He took it from her hand, mindlessly taking solace in working the plait into her hair, "It was just something Saeros implied in their conversation."
"Elladan", Morwen tried to turn towards him, but was hindered as he still held onto the ends of her hair. Allowing himself a laugh, he tied the ribbon to the end of her hair, letting it go.
"Elladan," she started again, "you must ignore whatever Saeros said. While there might be an ounce of truth in whatever he said, it is only an ounce. He would have chosen his words carefully in order to inflict the most pain and humiliation on Rian. He has been trained to make the most memorable and pressing arguments, he knows well how to use his words." She pulled him into a brief embrace, "Whatever is worrying your mind, my dear Elladan, I would ask you to let it go. Speak with Rian to find out the truth, do not take Saeros's words as the true account."
"Thank you." he murmured, placing a chaste kiss to her brow.
She smiled up at him, pulling away and walking towards the door. "Now, let us go calm Rian down before she decides to castrate all the visiting males from Greenwood the Great."
Elladan smiled, "If only I could assist you…or her..alas, I must located my aimless twin and then go to Erestor's office. Do you know where he has gone?"
Elladan chose to ignore the grimace Morwen gave, "Elladan, Elrohir..he..well…he went out into the woods…."
"Oh, well then,"
"To help Thandrog…"
"Oh, that's still.."
"With that colony of feral cats."
"What? I have to…" Elladan gave a disgusted sigh, "have Edlothiadeth prepare the healing ointment for all my scratches?"
Morwen nodded, "Good luck."
"And also to you." He answered.
Glorfindel stood in Erestor's office looking at the night sky, tapping his foot on the floor.
"I do not understand where that boy is. I told him, explicitly, to find Morwen and send her to Rian and then to gather his twin and come here. What did he do? Decide to play charades with them to give his messages?"
"Now, Glorfindel, be fair. Elladan must have brought Morwen up to date and Elrohir is out in the woods with Thandrog, it will take some time for them to return. Sit down."
"It is much better for us all if I stand here. If I sit, I fear I will give into the urge to throw something."
"Well, if you truly feel the need I have this new scribe I would not mind seeing thrown out of the windrow." Erestor said, looking at the notes from the meeting in disgust, "I swear, a chicken taught this elf how to write."
"Erestor, please forgive me for caring so little. I feel we have a more pressing situation."
"Glorfindel, there is nothing we can do about Saeros except keep the guards on alert and our merry mischief makers far away from him. How did you manage to restrain yourself from inflicting violence against Saeros?"
"I remembered how Rian, despite her temperament, goes weak at the sight of blood and I did not wish to cause her anymore distress."
"Ah, always the protector of the realm you are. And, apparently, of your property."
"Of what do you speak, Erestor?"
"I merely comment on your actions today in the marketplace. I was told, in quite amusing detail, that if you were a cat your hair would have been on end, back arched, claws scratching and mouth hissing, all at the sight of a male daring to laugh with Morwen."
"I did no such thing, I assure you. And Morwen often laughs with other males."
"Not other unattached males, who are warriors, who are new in her life, who are noted for their looks, who have a very nice personality, who are not like brothers to her, who make her laugh."
"Erestor, I believe you might want Tirnion for your own. That was quite an impressive list."
"Funny, oh, great and jealous Elda."
"I am not jealous of Tirnion. I admire his spirit when he came to Rian's defense tonight. I assume Saeros is going to get a nice talking to, having seen Tirnion's face, yet he still managed to hold his composure."
"Ah, you admire his spirit as long as he is not within Morwen's presence."
"Erestor, please."
"Glorfindel, you must do some…..'" Erestor was interrupted as the doors came crashing open.
"We are here and we are alive, despite the cats best attempts!" Elladan announced as he dragged his brother into the room.
Erestor amusedly looked at the twins, noticing the bandages on their hands and faces, "I take it the cats are still feral."
"Very much so, but Thandrog was right to worry about them with the coming of winter. He built them a lovely shelter around a tree, thought, one of the younger, and dare I say smarter, ones did follow us home in Elrohir's pack." Elladan answered.
"And where is the cat now?" Glorfindel asked
"Morwen." Elladan and Elrohir answered as one.
Glorfindel and Erestor laughed, knowing all stray cats either found themselves in the possession of Morwen or Thandrog, and while he would never admit it, Lord Elrond.
"It is good she has a feline companion. I know she missed that hell demon Sigilion gave her after it passed." Erestor said softly.
"Target Practice really was not such a bad cat." Elrohir remarked, "Now, why have we been called here?"
"Has you brother not filled you in on the situation?" Erestor asked.
"Honestly, Erestor, between 'those hell cats' and 'that orc's ass Saeros' I was quite confused. Though, I did manage to get out that Saeros has insulted Rian and is, apparently, holding her accountable for actions from the past." Elrohir said.
"That would be correct, very good, Elrohir." Erestor stated, ignoring Elladan's silent 'Show off.' to his brother. "I am asking you both, again, to use caution and restraint around him. You saw tonight Elladan, how Saeros works, threatening Rian with a dismal future and twisting the truth to fit his arguments and logic. Rian did, in her first lone mission, make a statement which could have caused a brawl. It was made out of both elven arrogance and her own ignorance of the people she was speaking with, and while showing an unfortunate aspect of Rian's personality, it also showed a failing in my teaching. Thranduil himself sent me a letter after the event explaining the situation in great detail and subtly suggesting I educate her more about the human realms before I sent her out again. I can guess why Rian never spoke of it, for fear and pride are both powerful things, but I can also surmise how Saeros was able to manipulate a young elf into his future schemes. Elladan, do you know what Saeros was planning?"
"I confess, I do not. All I know is that Rian replied with something along the lines of how she is loyal to father."
Erestor considered these words for a moment. He rang a bell near his desk and waited as a page came in, "Cannith, please find Morwen, Lindir and Thalion and bring them here. Also, send someone to the guest chambers to locate Tirnion and Lady Merileth and the young Legolas and also send them here. That is all." The page nodded and hurried off.
"What are you up to, Erestor?" Elladan asked
"Why, my dear Twins," Glorfindel said, "have I taught you nothing? Erestor is setting up a spy network and we are about to have our own council."
Erestor nodded to his long-time friend.
Glorfindel smiled, "Oh, this will be fun."
There was a tenseness to this council, as if all attending could sense something had gone wrong last night.
Chief Councilor Erestor was in attendance, as was Lord Glorfindel, and one of the sons of Elrond. King Thranduil's daughter and youngest son were representing Greenwood the Great, Tirnion standing guard over them. All were guests normally too important to be bothered with the trivial matters of the meeting. What the councilors did not see were the elves Erestor had strategically placed in the rooms and gardens around the council platform as observers. Elrohir, much better at hiding in trees than his brother, was placed in one not far from the meeting.
Morwen and Rian were placed in the healing room closest to the council platform. While being hidden from sight, they could still listen and observe the private conversations that went on during the breaks, as the elves wandered over the balcony above the healing room. Of course, guests did not know the room was a storage facility which no one spent much time in, but just to look convincing Thalion was playing the part of a wounded solider being watched over by his caring foster-sisters.
Lindir was placed in the balcony over the council in plain sight, supposedly composing new music but occasionally supplying the crowd below with calming music.
What the councilors did not know was that Erestor, the supposedly calm and respectful Chief Councilor of Imladris, did not take kindly to plots and schemes created and perpetuated under his nose, particularly when they threatened the peace of his home.
As the final bell rang signaling the start of the meeting, and as Lindir finished his playing for the moment, Erestor bit back his own smile as Glorfindel took on a pose of great importance and Elladan composed himself, showing he was indeed, the son of Lord Elrond.
Oh yes, Erestor thought, this would be fun indeed……
A/N: Many thanks to the reviewers I could not send a reply to, I really appreciated hearing your thoughts.