I neither created nor own Middle Earth, Imladris/Rivendell, Green Wood the Great, Erestor, Elrohir, Elladan, Elrond, or Estel/Aragorn. Tolkien created them, and I am most grateful to him for doing so. However, I did create Mellolaes and Tilpithen.

This story is for entertainment purposes only, so please read and be entertained.

"Won't you give me the recipe for the Silvans' famous glaze? Please Mellolaes. It would make our Silvan dishes so much more authentic for your people when they visit us. Please, please, please!"

Erestor froze outside the door from the hallway into the kitchen. A laugh rippled through its wood to him. "I'm sorry, Tilpithen, but no. Silvans are sworn to secrecy on the recipe for that glaze. Tell you what though. While I'm here, when you make the Silvan dishes for my kin, I'll make our glaze in secret and let you coat our creations with it."

The door slammed open. The elleth started. Mellolaes turned wide green eyes upon the ellon. Tilpithen darted down behind the table and stared over its surface with eyes wider than her companion's.

Erestor glanced down at the bowls before the elleth to see one filled with honey and the other with cherries. "We have never coated our cherries with anything. They are not like the fruits that grow in Green Wood the Great. Their trees came as saplings from far away, eastern lands. They are best eaten in their raw form by elves and cooked in pastries for dwarves."

Mellolaes tilted her head as she stared at him. "But … their long stems work so well for dipping. Where is the harm in taking advantage of that to try something new?"

Tilpithen squeaked. Erestor glanced at her before looking back to Mellolaes. "Our recipes work as they are."

Mellolaes crossed her arms over her chest. She took one swaying step toward him and bent at the waist to lean further forward. "'Sometimes,' things can be improved."

Tilpithen's eyes widened further. Her fingernails dug into the table's edge.

The furrows in Erestor's face deepened and darkened. His eyes flashed beneath bulging brows. "I think you will find that not so in Imladris, maiden."

Mellolaes straightened. Her eyes squinted as she took another step toward the Noldo. "I suppose that is why you sent for me in the first place."

Tilpithen's eyes widened further still before they, her brow, and the crest of her hair disappeared behind the table too.

Erestor's eyebrows rose. Then they lowered still farther as his teeth ground into each other. His voice went tight. "We sent for thee to care for Estel when we could not, and 'only' to care for him when we could not. Where 'is' your charge now, nurse?"

Mellolaes arms uncrossed so she could set her hands upon her hips. "Out with his brothers. I'm letting them play together a great deal today, without me. I grew bored and came in here to try cooking, which I often do when I am bored. I found Tilpithen here. She asked me to teach her how to better make Silvan dishes. So, I am."

Another squeak came from behind the table. Mellolaes glanced in its direction. Her eyebrows rose again. She looked back to the Noldo. Her hands becoming fists on her hips. "Why do you scare her so?"

Erestor looked to the table and elleth hiding behind it. "Tilpithen, go out and look for vegetables in the garden."

The elleth darted from the table and then disappeared through the door in a flash of hair and apron strings. A slam echoed behind her. The two combatants she'd left turned from the sight to glare at each other again.

Moments later, Tilpithen came a finger-length of space away from slamming into her Lord's twins. Their little brother clung to Elrohir's hand. Identical pairs of eyes widened at the near collision. Elladan stepped back and reached his arms out to fend the elleth from him. "Whoa now! What chases you Tilpithen?"

The cook clasped her hands. "I think Mellolaes might attack Erestor, or he her! She is Silvan! And he is a … a …" She glanced down at Estel. He stood open-mouthed and staring at her like she'd lost her mind.

Elladan and Elrohir's brows lowered. The younger twin spoke next. "How absurd. I'm sure no such thing shall happen today or any other, Tilpithen."

Estel's brows furrowed into a dark v on his forehead. He crossed his arms over his chest. He looked a strange mixture of the conversation's topics. "Yeah! That's ridiculous! Melly and Erstor would never do that!"

The three strode around the elleth and toward the kitchen's entryway. As they reached the doorstep, a shout blasted through the wood. "I am NOT causing chaos! I am simply adding things to this place, which should have been added to it centuries ago!"

The elven twins and manling froze. Thus, they heard clearly the much quieter and colder reply. "'You' are rose-bush growing wild in an otherwise well-kept lawn. No one will notice the perfection of all else if one thing bursts forth out of place. 'Especially' when its nature makes it unmissable. Yours must be the loudest nature I've come across among house-servants in Arda or Valinor."

"Oh, your arrogance screams in The Song like a cat with its tail stepped on!"

Both twins swallowed. Elrohir released his little brother's hand. "Estel … go with Tilpithen to find ada."

Estel stood with slumped shoulders and wide, moistened eyes. He turned stumbled dumbly toward the elleth biting the end of her thumbnail. She plucked him up and raced toward her lord's office.

The twins shuffled outside the door. Another shout blasted through its wood. "If I were REALLY making things so bad for everyone in this valley, someone would have spoken to me other than you!"

"Everyone else is treating you like an honored guest, but you are not a guest. You are a servant. You should, therefore, act like one."

"Making healing mixtures, cooking, and doing the job I was brought here to do isn't being one?!"

Elladan looked to his kin and gestured to the door. Want to be first in the advance this time, brother?

Elrohir turned a dark scowl upon his twin. Now, you exercise some caution!

Erestor's raised voice brought both their gazes and thoughts forward again. "It was not 'my' influence which brought you to this position in the first place, Merilvihdian."

Both brothers' frames stiffened. The forgot to interfere and instead held their breaths while waiting for the reply. A far quieter, chill-inducing tone emanated out to them. "So … you finally say it. You never wanted me here."

"I wanted Estel 'properly' cared for."

Both elved warriors grit their teeth and leaned away from the door. The elleth's voice coming through gritted teeth did not make them sorry they had. "And you find this is not so with me?"

"I find your work … troubling."

"Why?"

"You do not want me to answer that."

"I think I do."

"No. You do not."

"I do."

"You do not."

"Say it, Steward!"

Both elven brothers covered their ears. Neither dared move to draw them away again and listen for the steward's response. Several moments of silence passed before it came.

"I do not approve of a Silvan as reckless and unpredictable as you being the guardian let along care-giver of my lord's most fragile treasure, which lies as close to his heart as his own flesh and blood."

Mellolaes voice came forth a hiss hard for even elven ears to detect. "He 'is' his own blood and 'flesh'."

Even the twins could sense the horror coming through The Song from Erestor.

"How did you learn of this?"

"I am not a fool."

The twins didn't see the steward's expression at Mellolaes words, but they could guess. The next sound they heard was the clang of a metal dish hitting marble floor. Then they heard it spinning there.

Eladan grabbed its handle and thrust the door open. He stepped in with Erestor just a half-step behind and at his side. Both twins froze. Their jaws dropped open at the sight before them.

Mellolaes stood rigid as firewood arms straight at her sides and fists clenched. They must not have always been so, though. On the floor, a pace or so in front of Erestor's feet, was a mostly empty bowl. All over Erestor's face, and some of his hair, was honey with cherries sticking in it here and there.

The twins did not unfreeze, until Erestor took his dark stare off the Silvan to fasten it upon them. They then both stepped back and to the side to place the doorframe between them and him. Mellolaes took the opportunity. She turned and sped through the doorway faster than Tilpithen had, like an arrow released from the string.

Even lovely elves lose their tempers, sometimes. ;)

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God Bless

ScribeofHeroes