Chapter 1

*No one's POV*

After weeks of endless raining, the sun had deemed it time to let some rays peek through the clouds. On this particular day an odd family decided to go camping. While Maedhros was away looking for dinner, Maglor lit a fire for the evening. Elrond and Elros was currently exploring the area around the campsite when suddenly a little rabbit jumped up in front of Elrond. Elros who was captivated by the birds in the trees did not see his brother going after the rabbit in an attempt to befriend it. As Elrond walked deeper and deeper into the woods he soon lost the rabbit and that's when he looked around. He realised that he was completely alone and did not know where he was and after some time trying to remember where he had come from, he sat down on the forest floor and started crying silently.

As Elros soon realised that he did not hear his brother's voice anymore or feel his presence he looked around and did not find him. He thought that maybe Elrond had went back to Maglor so he did the same. When he came back to the campsite he found Maglor and Maedhros making dinner but no Elrond. "Ah Elros there you are, is Elrond behind you? The dinner is soon ready." Maglor exclaimed happily. Elros froze and stared at them. Elrond was not with them? But where could he be then? Maedhros saw the look in the child's face and realised that something was wrong. "Elros where is Elrond, is he not with you?" At this Maglor took a closer look at Elros and saw that the child looked nervous. "H-he was behind me a while ago but then I saw some birds and when I looked towards him, he was gone. I thought he was here with you at first…" He stopped then and felt tears threatening to fall. At this, Maedhros grabbed his sword and walked towards where Elros had come from. "Maglor take care of Elros and stay here, I will see if I can find him. He cannot have wandered too far away." With that he disappeared into the forest. But it seemed as he had. After an hour Maedhros returned, without Elrond. By now all three of them were worried about the lost boy. They decided to get some sleep and get up early for it was not a good idea to walk around in a dark forest. Worried they then went to sleep.

Elrond at the moment were still were he had stopped but he had now managed to fall into asleep. Suddenly a noise awoke him from his light slumber. He listened, it sounded like a harp. "A harp!" He said to himself. "Ada Maglor always plays on his harp maybe it is him." He quickly got up and followed the sound with renewed hope. After a while the harps tunes got louder and louder until he came into a clearing. It was a beautiful clearing. There was a beautiful lake that shimmered in the moonlight and he then saw the harper, but it was not Maglor that was sitting by the small lake and playing at his small harp. It was a maiden with pale blonde hair in a white dress. The harp she was playing on was enormous. It was taller than her as she sat there playing. The harp was in a shiny brown colour with green leaves carved out. One could easily see the forest theme in it. Elrond stood there and listened to the beautiful melody that flowed through the clearing. He did not realised that he had started crying until the softest voice he had ever heard called out to him. "Why do you cry onwe?" Then the harper stopped playing and put the harp away from her lap. It stood proud and tall, when she then raised herself from the stone she had been sitting on, she still could not reach over the harp and it made him wonder if uncle Maedhros could reach over it. Slowly she then made her way over to the small elfling. "Do not cry onwe, what is the matter?" She said as she stopped and kneeled before him. At first he did not know if he could trust her but then saw that she meant no harm and decided to trust her "I-I wandered off alone into the forest a-and then lost my way back to my family." He managed to say between hiccups. "Shh don't worry they will surely find you. My camp is not far away and if you want to you can stay with us for the night and then in the morning we will help you find your family." He nodded and took her hand that she had stretched out towards him. Then she hummed a soft tune and suddenly the enormous harp shrinked into a small one. With big eyes, Elrond looked at the maiden. "How did you do that?" He asked. She laughed. "It was just a simple little spell that makes me able to carry my harp with me wherever I want to. Now let's get to the camp shall we?" And with that they left the clearing. Soon they came to a large campsite with over a dozen large tents. In the middle of the campsite there was a big fire burning. Around the fire was a lot of men and women that were eating, laughing and singing. Then he soon realised that this was not humans but elves. With big eyes he followed the maiden and they made their way over to the elves. Soon all the beautiful singing ended and everyone looked over at them. One of the ellyn, he looked like he was the leader walked over to them. He was tall, almost as tall as uncle Maedhros and he had long golden blonde hair that turned a deeper shade of molten gold in the light from the fire. "Fwir what is this for a surprise you have brought us?" The ellon said. Elrond hid behind the maiden that seemed to be named Fwir, the ellon looked scary when he stared at him. Her name sounded elvish but it was not Sindarin so he did not know what it meant. "I was playing on my harp by the lake when this little one suddenly showed up amiltoron. He said that he had wondered away from his family and lost the way back." The ellon named Amiltoron as Elrond then thought, looked at Elrond smiled and kneeled down to his level. "Hello onwe, what were you doing with your family?" Elrond looked at him, he looked less scary now when they were on the same level. "We were out camping, and my name is not Onwe its Elrond!" The last words he said a bit louder. The ellon laughed and then said. "Well I see that you do not understand Quenya. It means child in Quenya which is an old language from Valinor." Elrond looked surprised. "Quenya, Valinor?" "Yes and…oh how stupid of me, we have not introduced ourselves. My name is Tulcaner and the lady that found you is Lindaliel my sister's daughter." Elrond looked at them confused at their new names. "So your names are not amiltoron and Fwir then…." At this everyone laughed at loud to Elrond's embarrassment. "No young Elrond, amiltoron means uncle and nesayelde means sister daughter in Quenya." "Oh…" Was all Elrond could say. "Do not feel embarrassed about that onwe, it's just rare for them to see a child." Lindaliel smiled at him. "Yes, ever since you grew up there has been no one to throw around in the air!" At this Lindaliel blushed a bit and then turned to her uncle. "Do you want me to tell everyone about the bath incident amiltoron or will you be quiet?" At this, Tulcaner instantly quietened and said no more. This made everyone else laugh even louder. Then, Lindaliel turned towards Elrond again. "Come and we will get something to eat, you look famished." Elrond was about to reply when suddenly his stomach answered for him. Lindaliel laughed softly and said: "Guess I was right huh." With that, they made they made their way over to the food and ate dinner before Lindaliel tucked him into a cot in her tent. When he finally was laying there he started to think about his family, his heart felt heavy with worry for them. Then Lindaliel started stroking his hair and sang a lullaby for him.

"Sleepsong"

Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go

May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet

May there always be angels to watch over you
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

May you bring love and may you bring happiness
Be loved in return to the end of your days
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay

Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay...

Soon he had fallen into slumber and images of magical maidens and harps filled his dreams. As she sat there and sang for him she suddenly started coughing. Quietly as to not wake the little one, she made her way over to a bag filled with herbs and bottles. One bottle was filled with a strange substance that she drank from and soon the coughing stopped. She felt a bit weak but as she lost her balance for a second, strong arms were there to catch her and help her into another cot. "Are you alright fwir?" The voice of her uncle asked. "Yes amiltoron I am alright now, just a bit tired." He looked at her concerned. "Just take it slowly, we are still far away from home and we don't want you to get worse so far away from safety." She smiled at him. "I promise that I will take it easy." Tulcaner then smiled at his niece, kissed her forehead and left the tent.