Wounds
Eleniel: 14
Eleniel wiped the tears from her eyes as she walked down the long corridor, trying to lower the volume of her pained sniffles as she passed her father's study. She held her right arm close to her chest, glancing down at it every so often as she hurried along.
Her head snapped up as she heard voices coming from the opposite direction. Eyes wide and mind beginning to panic, she looked around for a place to hide, but it was too late.
"Eleniel!"
She turned, coming face to face with both Glorfindel and her father.
"Hello," she said, before sniffing and beginning to manoeuvre herself around the two, "I have to go."
"Whoa, there, my little whirlwind," Elrond said, moving quickly and gently grabbing his daughter. He turned her around and looked into her red eyes, the pain practically radiating off her.
"What is wrong?" he asked softly, bending down to her level
"Nothing is wrong."
Glorfindel frowned, crouching down next to his friend and staring at the hurt expression of the girl in front of them. "Clearly something is," he told her with a raise of his eyebrows.
Eleniel stayed silent, eyes dropping to her boots.
"Come into my study and we can talk about this." Elrond moved his hand to her shoulder to gently guide her into the room.
What he hadn't expected was for the elleth to cry out in pain, bringing the arm he had touched up to her chest again and clutching it protectively.
The two elf lords snapped their concerned gazes each other. Elrond pulled his daughter gently towards him and pushed aside her cloak. What he saw made his heart leap.
The cloak had been covering a huge blood-red stain on her tunic. Holding his daughter steady with one hand, Elrond pushed up the sleeve to her tunic.
"Valar, Eleniel, what happened?" Glorfindel asked in shock as he stared at the long, deep gash running down most of the length of the elleth's arm.
Eleniel looked at him. Tears fell silently down her cheeks. "I fell out of a tree."
"What were you doing in a tree?" Elrond asked, eyes fixed on the wound as he stood up and brought her into his study, the balrog-slayer following close behind.
"Hiding."
"Who from?"
"Beinion."
An actual growl escaped from the blond warrior's lips, and his fists clenched. "I swear to Eru I will kill that boy."
"Glorfindel," Elrond said with a glare, before going back to inspecting the wound. "What was he doing to you?"
"He s-saw me walking in the gar-gardens again, and started name-calling me… he chased me with a stick, so I h-hid in a tree…" she ruefully hiccupped.
Glorfindel's eyes narrowed. "I will speak to that elfling and his parents. I am sick of this bullying."
Elrond nodded, agreeing completely. "We will, yes, but let us get Eleniel cleaned up first." The elf's blood was boiling – he was getting tired of Beinion thinking he was better because he was one year older than Eleniel, and incessantly bullying her for no reason at all – but he needed to keep calm for his child's sake.
The Lord of Rivendell always kept a fair share of medical supplies in his study in case he needed it, but peering closer at the gash, he didn't think they'd be very useful.
Gazing into his daughter's tear-filled eyes, he sighed. "Eleniel, the wound is very deep, and it will need stitches."
Eleniel closed her eyes, tears escaping from under the lids.
Elrond pulled her gently into a hug. He knew how much Eleniel hated anything to do with needles and medicine, but it needed to be done. "I know you do not like them," he whispered into her hair, "but I promise you will feel much better afterwards. Glorfindel will be there with you, and we can fetch your brothers if you want. It will be over before you know it, alright?"
Surprisingly, he felt a small nod. He had expected a bit of protest, but he guessed that his daughter was just too emotional and tired to complain.
And as the three of them walked out of the study towards the healing room, and the elf lord saw how Glorfindel was clenching and unclenching his fists and breathing much more heavily than he had been, he suddenly felt fearful for the boy.