I do not own Middle Earth, Erestor, or Estel; neither did I create them. Tolkein did and I am so glad for that. :)

I did create Mellolaes.

This story is for entertainment purposes only. So, please read and enjoy. :)

Erestor stepped up into the doorway and froze. Mellolaes sat cross-legged upon Estel's bed. Estel himself lay in her lap. She held his upper body up in the crook of one arm. The fingers of her other hand ran along the manling's throat. It had been so sore of late. The boy winced every time he cleared it, swallowed, or spoke. Mellolaes' fingers glowed as she stroked.

Her head, though, was not bowed over her patient, but raised to gaze out one of the windows flanking the manling's bed. Estel's bright walls reflected enough moonlight back onto them that Erestor's elven eyes saw the scene clearly. He could hear it too.

Mellolaes' hum of a woodland elf tune mingled with Estel's breathing. Estel seemed deeply asleep now. His mouth was slightly open. His raw nose whistled with every breath. Even the ranger with the fever had struggled to breathe a few times while he was with them, but Estel never had, yet.

Erestor stepped inside. "You gaze longingly out the window Mellolaes. Do you wish for time outside before returning to your duties here?"

The elleth turned a blank face to stare at him in silence a long moment before replying with a gravity even he couldn't find fault with. "I will next go outside when Estel is well on his way to going with me."

Erestor nodded. Then he strode smoothly around the foot of the bed and to its side before her. Mellolaes' head turned in small increments to follow him with her steady, solemn gaze. His stare was also steady, but not sharp as usual. The healer felt his presence in the song like a heavy mist, dark, brooding, unclear. However, a string of puzzlement did reach forth from him to her.

He stopped. Mellolaes tilted her head and blinked at him. The ellon seemed to take this as an invitation to speak. "Why did you not tell me Estel's illness was my fault rather than your own?"

Mellolaes jerked back. Estel did not stir, but she was still glad the ellon had asked in Noldo not Sindar. She didn't want the meaning of the words drifting down either into the boy's fuzzy conscious nor his fuzzier subconscious. The full truth had bothered him so earlier.

The elleth's mind returned to the present. The ellon still stood before her, staring. Several more moments of silence passed between them. Then her reply just snapped out. "I did not believe you needed that."

The ellon's eyebrows rose. "'I' needed? What of you and your own needs?"

Mellolaes' mouth fell open and little. Then it closed and she shrugged. "What of them?"

"I accused you unjustly Merilvidhian. I am the one you answer to while Elrond is away. I could have made things most uncomfortable for you in my mistrust and desire to punish harm-causing negligence."

The elleth shrugged again. "You would not have."

Erestor's eyebrows rose. "Oh."

"You knew it was best I remain with Estel for now."

"Ah." He stared at her another moment going back over their conversation in his mind. His brows drew together as he realized what was missing from it. "Why. Did you. Not. Tell me?"

Mellolaes sighed and slumped. Her voice came out harder too. "Because I did not want to add another load of crushing guilt upon your spirit. That would have been ill for Estel, you, and me. We needed you."

"You were protective of my spirit?"

"Yes."

"For Estel and your own sakes only."

"No."

"For what purpose then?"

Mellolaes' eyes narrowed and brow furrowed slightly. Her cheeks flushed pink in the moonlight. "Because I am a Silvan elf. We heal and protect all living things that are not direct servants of darkness. That has been our duty for well over an age. It is in our blood and our souls."

Erestor merely raised an eyebrow back at her. "And why did you not heal and protect yourself?"

Mellolaes' face went blank again. She was silent and still for a moment. Then she closed her eyes, bowed her head and sighed. Her voice came out softer than before and wavered. "Someone else does that for me. Sometimes I protect myself. Particularly when I become angry. When I am filled with anger, I sometimes forget, but … I often do not need to shove back to remain standing. He holds me up."

The ellon stared at her several moments before shaking his head and stepping back from her. "You are unfathomable, Mellolaes."

With her gaze still cast down, the elleth chuckled a little. She still smiled as she replied without looking up. "Thank you."

Erestor sighed and pulled a chair toward the bed settling it across from her and Estel. Then he sat in it, leaned over, and laid his chin upon a softly clenched fist. His dark eyes fixed themselves upon the manling. "I will stay with both of you a while."

Mellolaes finally looked back up at him. Her smiled softened. "I think that is good."

What did you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes