Chapter 6

Thranduil felt the tension that had been plaguing him since he had received Elrond's missive relax under the gentle caring flow of Imladris's gentle magic. The sight of Imladris, even after centuries of visiting, caught his breath with its beauty; the tumbling waterfalls sparkling like diamonds and the light wide open airy spaces of Imladris seamlessly complementing each other and the nature around it. Turning to look down the bridged walkway, Thranduil saw Elladan and Elrohir greet their father, then make their way towards the private wing of Lord Elrond and his father.

Dismounting from his stag, Thranduil quickly walked over to Lainel and aided her down from the horse she was sharing with one of the guards. Together they turned and walked towards Elrond then bowed with respect to their host. Smiling, Elrond returned the bow and said: "King Thranduil, Queen Lainel, I welcome you back to Imladris. You are the last of those I summoned to arrive, so the gathering of the White Council and the Free people will be held tomorrow morning after we break our fast." Smiling warmly to Elrond, Thranduil wrapping a protective arm around his wife to ensure that she was still there, replied "I would like to thank you for sending your sons to my wife's aid. May I inquire if it was you or Lady Galadriel who I need to thank for their foresight?" The mischievous twinkle that appeared in Elrond's eye reminded Thranduil of the many times Elrond's twin sons had played a prank while visiting Greenwood. With a small smile, Elrond interrupted Thranduil's inner musing as he said, "It was neither Lady Galadriel nor myself who foresaw the near demise of your wife." Shock froze Thranduil for a moment before he forced himself to say, "There are no other elves in middle earth that possess the talent of foresight strong enough to see an event on the other side of middle earth unless one of you children has developed the skill late." With a truly mischievous smile, Elrond leaned forward and in a low voice said, "You'll find out tomorrow at the gathering."

Sighing, Thranduil resigned himself to waiting for his answers while pondering who could possibly be responsible for saving his beloved wife's life. Smiling kindly at Thranduil, Lainel whispered: "You should have Lord Elrond check out your shoulder." Nodding to his wife, Thranduil turned as Elrond said "My son mentioned that you had been injured recently. Would you accompany me to the halls of healing?" Turning, Thranduil followed Elrond towards the halls of healing when a shout rang out across the courtyard, followed by a blur of white-blond hair.

Skidding to a stop, Legolas smiled up to his father and immediately launched into a description of everything he had seen while learning under Lady Galadriel and questioning whether he had any idea what Lord Elrond had summoned them for. Smiling down at his son, Thranduil chuckled at his son's excessive energy and replied, "I do not know what Lord Elrond has summoned us here for but he wouldn't have unless it was of the utmost importance." Satisfied that his father didn't know anything, Legolas asked, "Did others come with you?" Before Thranduil had even finished a nod of confirmation, Legolas was off to search for his mother. Turning to Elrond, Thranduil said, "Who gave Legolas moon berries?" Flushing slightly in embarrassment, Elrond replied, "My daughter." Shaking their heads, Elrond and Thranduil continued down to the halls of healing.

After checking Thranduil's shoulder, Elrond made his way back to his private wing and popped into the nursery to check on the elflings, smiling at the site. Sirius and Severus were fast asleep in their cots while Hadrian sitting in his cot looking around the room, curiosity sparkling in his emerald eyes. Seeing Elrond, Hadrianse sent him a beaming grin and said, "Lots of excitement tomorrow." Then layed down and went to sleep. Surprised, Elrond wondered if someone had told Hadrian that it would be a big day tomorrow or if he had seen something. Shaking his head, Elrond decided to follow the elflings' examples and go to sleep.

Groaning, Elrond woke up to sunlight streaming in from the balcony and Hadrian, Sirius and Severus sitting on the bed. Reaching out, Elrond gently shook Celebrian awake and asked: "Did you bring them in here?" Yawning, Celebrian shook her head then replied "No. Glorfindel brought them in a couple of hours ago as they were going to cry, and Hadrian was asking for you." Satisfied, Elrond climbed out of bed noticing that he had a quarter of an hour until it was time to break his fast. Quickly dressing in a fancier robe; one of a deep royal blue that Gil Galad had always said complimented his skin, a slightly darker waistcoat, black leather trousers, and boots. While brushing his hair, Elrond watched as his wife quickly dressed the three elflings then left them to waddle around the room. Smiling, Elrond turned to his wife and asked, "Darling, do you want to be in the meeting or with the elflings until I send Glorfindel to bring them in?" Pausing for a moment, Celebrian replied: "I will attend the meeting and we will leave the elflings with Arwen and a couple of caretakers." With one final nod, Elrond quickly slipped out of their bedroom and made his way to the atrium to break his fast, before ensuring that everything was ready for the gathering.

Glorfindel sat down on Elrond's left and watched at the extremely large council chamber normally reserved for meetings of the White Council began filling with elves, dwarves, humans and a wizard. Soon, everyone was seated and whispering about what they had all been called here for. Gliding from his chair, Elrond caught Glorfindel and the room's attention. Thick anticipation hung in the air as Elrond turned to everyone in the room and said, "I would like to thank you all for coming on such short notice and start of this gathering with my suspicions that the dark lord Sauron is stirring and that I believe he is currently hiding in Dol Guldur." Immediately, the room burst into a frenzy of shouting and confusion.

Once everyone had calmed down, Glorfindel signaled for Elladan and Elrohir to enter the council chamber. Quickly, the twins' explained how they had been informed of a vision of Queen Lainel falling from a tower in Dol Guldur. It had prompted their father, Lord Elrond, to send them to prevent it from happening and they had arrived just in time to see Queen Lainel enter Dol Guldur. At this point, Glorfindel was surprised when Elrohir took a step back and Elladan continued saying "I pursued Queen Lainel up the tower while Elrohir made sure the way was clear below. I caught up with her as an orc was trying to sneak up on her. Thinking that it was an escapee from an orc pack that we had seen the remains of just outside Greenwood, I quickly beheaded it and went to take the Queen back to the horses when I heard orc boots climbing up and down the stairs. To escape, we had to climb down a rope from the balcony." Pausing for a moment, Elladan quickly adjusted his tunic before continuing to say, "As I was climbing over the balcony, I saw a figure of darkness surrounded by an iris of fire."

A young man in his 30s pulled out a piece of parchment and handed it to Elladan asking "Did it look like this?" Laying the drawing on the remains of a sundial from Gondolin, Elladan took a couple of steps back allowing everyone to see the depiction of the eye of Sauron. Looking at the man in the eye, Elladan replied: "It is almost identical." Turning, Elladan and Elrohir sat themselves down while the leaders of each nation volunteered their armies to help purge the dark lord from Dol Guldur. Glorfindel watched silently for hours as they debated and solidified a battle plan. By the time it was midday, everyone had agreed on what to do. The Dwarf King, Nain the Second, leaned forward and in a deep jolly voice said, "Well, it is a good thing that you had this vision and responded so quickly, Lord Elrond." Nodding with respect to King Nairn, Elrond replied, "It was not I who saw the vision, but we will come to that after we cover the second and original reason I summoned you all." Hushed words were whispered about what else needed to be discussed and who other than Lord Elrond or Lady Galadriel had the gift of foresight strong enough.

Clearing his throat, Elrond brought the attention of the council chamber back to him. Elrond began talking, saying "As everyone knows, we elves are immortal." Glorfindel suppressed a smile at the looks of confusion and 'really, we're going there' from the men and dwarfs, worry from the elves and amusement from Gandalf. Focusing back on Elrond, Glorfindel heard him continue saying "However there is a price to our mortality. It is extremely difficult for us to have children as it takes a long time to conceive an elfling and then, they are extremely susceptible to any illness until about 15 years of age; meaning that we separate them from all contact with other races until they are adults just to be safe." While Elrond paused waiting for the noise that had started to die down, Glorfindel listened to what they were saying.

The humans and dwarves expressed shock and sympathy for the elves, while the elves in the room just looked sad as they thought back to when the last elfling had been born. Leaning forward, King Nairn, in a soft voice almost as though he feared breaking the elves, asked, "When was the last elfling born?" Before Lord Elrond could speak, the Lady Galadriel, with a tear running down her cheek, replied, "The last elfling born to us was my granddaughter, Arwen, 2269 years ago." A stunned silence fell over the council room as the rest of the free races tried to get their heads around just how rare elflings truly were.

Continuing, Elrond said, "That is the reason that I originally called you all here today. When my wife was on her way to visit her mother, she found three elflings in the woods. The oldest two are 35 years old and the youngest 15." As Elrond announced this, the other elves immediately began shouting. They demanded to know who would abandon an elfling in the woods and why they had not been informed when the children had been born; for the birth of every elfling was a joyous time to be celebrated. Raising a hand, Elrond quieted the raging elves just in time to hear one of the dwarves exclaim, "I didn't know elves could get so angry."

Before any fighting could start again, Glorfindel motioned to Arwen to let the elflings in. Sirius and Severus rushed into the council chamber, making clip-clop noises as they clutched hobby horses causing everyone in the room to coo at them. Not far behind them, Harry toddled in clutching Arwen's hand, his big soulful emerald green eyes peering around the room. While everyone cooed over the elflings, Elrond continued saying "The last time it was unclear who a child belonged to, it was during the second kin slaying. It was established that a wizard would perform the inheritance test in the presence of six or more elven lords. As there are no longer that many elf lords, I called you all here to bear witness to this miracle."