Like all of the soldiers in his regiment, Elaenar was summoned by Captain Thrandar to the war room once every few months to discuss his contract with the army. In all his many years of service, Thrandar was the only captain Elaenar had ever known who took the time to meet with all of his soldiers under him regularly, spent time with them individually, and inquired after them personally. It was more than just business, Thrandar would extend Elaenar the opportunity to continue his service in the army, but their meetings were about more than just his contract. His commander took a personal interest in his soldiers' welfare; he knew each enlistee underneath him intimately. Thrandar was, by far, the best commander that Elaenar had ever served under.
As per usual, they discussed his contract, the terms of his service, his military pay, etc. Predictably, Elaenar gave his signature for another stint of active service on the front. When all business was said and done, Elaenar asked his commander if that would be all, to which Thrandar replied:
"There's one more thing. Why have you been lying to your parents?"
"Excuse me?!" He replied.
"I received a letter from the minister of war, my commanding officer. It appears that a complaint, or rather a letter of grievance, was received by him from none other than your father."
Elaenar's face flushed red; he was mortified. It was just like his father to meddle in his adult son's affairs!
"Would you like to know what it was about?" Thrandar asked.
"Frankly, no. I wouldn't." He replied, but his commander ignored him.
"He was imploring my superior officer to remember the rights of enlisted soldiers and to remind him that is it against military law to impress soldiers into more than three consecutive tours of duty without a reprieve…do you care to explain?"
Elaenar's answer came out of his mouth like a growl. "I told my mother and father that our ranks are strained and that my service was needed on the front."
"Did you tell them that your commander has regularly entreated you to take your leave of absence, and that you declined it out of your own free will?"
"Frankly, I don't see why my correspondence with my father is anyone's business, and not a private family matter." Elaenar bristled.
"It ceases to be a private family matter when your fibbing causes me to receive a formal letter of reprimandation from my superior officer. He thinks I am unlawfully detaining my soldiers."
"I never implied that I was being unlawfully detained!" He countered defensively. "I only said that I was compelled, by necessity, to stay and serve.
"That still doesn't explain why your father is under the impression that you've served for three years on end without a hiatus, even though I approved your leave of absence eighteen months ago."
Elaenar rolled his eyes and admitted with reluctance:
"Because I lied and told him that I was still on active duty when I was actually visiting a cousin in Lothlorien." He grumbled.
Thrandar huffed a prolonged sigh and shook his head.
"Is this how you choose to honor your father and mother?"
"With all due respect, captain, you are not my father, although I wish you were, and this is between me and my meddling, paternalistic nostari*."
"Perhaps it is none of my business. I could force you to take your leave of absence. As your captain, I am allowed to do so at my discretion; but I can't make you go home to your father and mother who desire to see their son. I know you have a strained relationship with you atar*. I won't pry; but as someone who has known you for many years now, someone I hope you consider to be a friend, allow me to advise you that I imagine it pains your father dearly being unable to see his son for so long."
"…will that be all?" Elaenar asked flatly, eager for this meeting to be over and done with.
"No, unfortunately. There's something else: I've received complaints about a horrible racket coming from the hallway on the eastern wing."
Elaenar knew exactly what his commander was getting at.
"And?" He said resentfully.
"The prisoner has been screaming at all hours. It's disturbing the other soldiers."
"What exactly do you want me to do about it?"
"I want you to take matters into your own hands and exert your authority."
"What does that mean?"
"You're twice the size of a lowly orc minion, Elaenar. Make him obey you."
"You want me to beat him?" Elaenar challenged his commander with snark.
Captain Thrandar let out a low guttural sound like a growl, his patience being tested.
"If the prisoner does it again, withhold food from him."
"I already tried that." Elaenar grumbled.
Thrandar let out a frustrated sigh.
"What's wrong with him, why is he acting like this?"
"Maybe because he lost his damn mind after we locked him in an eight by twelve stone cell all day, every day."
Thrandar sighed again in frustration. He paused, giving a moment's thought before saying:
"Put him to work under close supervision. If he's going to subsist on us, then he can earn his keep just like everyone else here."
Elaenar silently agreed.
Snaga had been driving Elaenar crazy the past few weeks. The soldiers in his platoon were as irritated as hornets from the ungodly racket emanating two halls down from their barracks (if only they had the ears of men they wouldn't have even know that there was an orc prisoner locked up in their wing, but elves have superb hearing and two halls away might as well have been two doors down from the barracks). The worst point came when some of Elaenar's comrades came angrily pounding on his door in the middle of the night, demanding that he do something about the noise and make the orc prisoner shut up. Elaenar was frustrated and exacerbated by the prisoner, whose behavior was becoming increasingly belligerent. Physically, it wasn't anything that he couldn't handle; he was much too strong and tall for Snaga to be anything more than a nuisance. But his short and unstable temper couldn't withstand this any longer. Elaenar didn't aspire to be a cruel or abusive warden, but even he could admit that he had lost his temper the other day when he had grabbed Snaga by the throat. (Admittedly, if Elaenar were facing a life sentence in prison, he would probably go insane too).
As a prisoner of war, the orc's legal status was in limbo since they weren't technically under any obligation to keep him alive, but they didn't exactly have just cause for an execution either. The idea crossed his mind of getting the orc to overdose on opiates. But every time he played out the scenario in his mind, the thought of handling Snaga's dead body made him physically sick. He imagined himself digging Snaga's grave, wrapping his dead body in a sack cloth and carrying his corpse out of the courtyard to be buried. Eleanar simply couldn't do it. He knew that no one else would do it; certainly not Lúthian. It didn't feel right, and Elaenar was too embarrassed to ask such a distasteful favor from anyone.
Why was all of this his burden to deal with anyway? The unfairness of it all made him want to scream. But deep down, Elaenar knew that he had no one to blame but himself; this predicament he'd gotten himself into was no one's fault but his own. He could have slashed Snaga's throat immediately after he'd had no more use of the prisoner (just as Faenar had suggested he ought to have done), but Elaenar didn't have the heart to kill Snaga…or to let anyone else do it for him. There's no denying that Elaenar was a cold-hearted soldier, but even he had his limits. Elaenar held on to the belief that, eventually, they could transfer the orc to a crown* prison, or maybe (under safer circumstances) extradite the little thrall back into the custody of his own race. But for now, it seemed that Elaenar would have to tolerate this prisoner of war for a little while longer.
