A.N. – This story is an idea from my good reviewer Jasperislush! Thank you so much for the inspiration mellon nin! Hope you like what I did with your idea!
Mor-sereg Loth- the dark blood blossom
To say that Lord Elrond was annoyed had to be the understatement of the millennia. He sighed for the eightieth time in the hour as he tried to focus on his latest endeavors with different herbs that he was now documenting into a large mostly blank book. Legolas and Estel were engaged in another debate about something utterly pointless; one would thing that someone he, Lord Elrond a.k.a.-calm, cool, and a deep thinker, would raise a child who would not do something like this so regularly. That fact coupled with the fact that he was debating with the son of King Thranduil.
'And for some Valar-forsaken reason they have to have this debate in the same room as me!' he thought to himself with growing frustration as his son's voice rose again to bring emphasis to a certain point that the fair haired elf just shook his head vigorously to. He sighed again as he heard a pillow make contact with someone's face and then that sound repeated itself a few times… "Oh Valar! Why?!" The sudden silence startled him…he must have said that one out loud,
"Ada?" his son's tone was gentle and innocent, "What's wrong?"
"Hir nin? Is all well?" Legolas' soft voice inquired as well; and with that a brilliant plan came into his mind. He just had to execute it,
"No, everything is not alright." He glimpsed them out of the corner of his eye while pretending to search a tad frantically through the book, "Some of my information is not documented as accurately as I would have wished." He felt more than heard his youngest come up to his side and study the pages as he flipped through them.
"What do mean?" his look of confusion was priceless as this was a situation Elrond knew rarely occurred,
"I'm missing documentation on a very crucial herb; one its own it is an incredibly deadly toxin but when diluted with water and athelas it becomes a very effective medicine." He turned to them and studied each aspect of their expressions carefully: they were perfectly interested.
"Do you not have any in storage?" Legolas raised an eyebrow, a habit he had been picking up more and more lately,
"I highly doubt it; it is as rare as it is valuable and it only grows every three hundred years in a very remote area of the woods here in Imladris." The two suddenly looked like they had found a chest filled with mithril.
"What is the name Ada? We will find it for you!" his son's eyes were shining with excitement that was only rivaled by the elf standing next to him,
"It is very difficult to find…" Legolas waved a hand dismissively,
"If it is so important than we will not stop until we've found it!" a smile threatened to break across Elrond's lips at the anticipation of having peace and quiet for a few days,
"Mor-sereg loth (Dark-blood blossom) is its name." he reached for a rolled map and pointed to a random dense area of woods that he knew would at least take two days to reach by horse. "It is a small plant with seven leaves that are dark and oily, be careful not to let it make contact with bare skin or it will burn badly. Gather as much as you can and return here safely…safely ion nin."
"Of course Ada!" his son flashed him a winning smile before dashing out the door calling for Legolas to follow him quickly. Lord Elrond turned back to his book with a smile…a smug one that spoke of great victory.
XOXOXO
"Alright, I've marked the place on my map where Ada said this herb grows…it looks pretty far out there but I think we'll be able to do this fairly quickly." Estel spoke as he packed what he needed, the door that connected their two rooms was open and Legolas heard him easily.
"It's strange that we've never heard of such an herb before," he heard his friend's voice on the other side, "You have studied extensively in the art of healing mellon nin and your father was the one to teach you."
"Yes…"
"Why hadn't he mentioned this herb before?" Estel stopped dead,
"I'm not sure. Maybe he had forgotten about it since it is so rarely found?"
"Another thing that would seem unlike your father isn't it?"
"Yes it is…you know maybe he is just trying to-"he was cut off by his door literally falling off its hinges to show his twin brothers with stern glares on their faces, "and there goes my door…again." He emphasized as this wasn't the first time they had done that,
"You two are going to find the Mor-sereg loth?" Elrohir started,
"Yes," Estel spoke slowly; "Is there something you wanted to tell us about it?" they both nodded simultaneously,
"The legends say there is a fierce creature that guards the rare plant." Elladan began dramatically and Legolas, who had appeared in the connecting doorway, gave a small laugh,
"Why on earth would something wait three hundred years to guard this plant?" he studied his friend's broken door that lay at his feet as he spoke,
"Because of what the plant can do if the wrong hands get to it!" Elrohir stressed with gestures from his own hands, "The poison that this plant can make is a painful slow one that is incurable after two days of exposure!" Legolas and Estel shared a look,
"We're going anyway." They both turned back to their packs and before the twins walked away Estel called out,
"But this herb does truly exist does it not?"
"Of course brother! Ada wouldn't joke about something so serious!" and with that they disappeared down the hall.
"Well…at least we know this won't be a complete goose chase." Legolas chimed in from his room.
XOXOXO
When they had started out the weather had been perfectly fine: not a cloud in sight, sky a brilliant blue, and birds all about singing around them. The first drop came out of nowhere. Legolas flinched as it his cheek before he looked up to see the large dark clouds that had rolled in without either of them noticing,
"Estel,"
"Yes mellon?" he looked over to the prince before mimicking him and looking up,
"We should find shelter."
"It's only a few clouds, we should be alright for-"he was cut off by a large crack of lightning followed by thunder that seemed to shake the earth. They both sat in silence before looking back to each other, "So…you said something about finding shelter?" the prince laughed and urged his horse into a faster pace.
They had managed to find a cave that was large enough for both the horses and themselves and began to prepare their bed rolls. Estel started a fire and went to care for his horse while Legolas pulled out the map and noted how much distance they had covered for their first day.
"We managed to cover a bit of ground before this storm came, but it's not nearly the amount we had wanted." He sighed as he rolled the map and returned it to the pack,
"All is well mellon nin, we will cover plenty of ground when this storm stops."
"If it stops." The elf muttered,
"Well thank you for that Mr. Morbid-pointy-ears." That earned him a glare while he just chuckled before starting to prepare a meal. Legolas muttered something about making Estel's ears pointy with one of his knives while he sleeps, but the man just ignored him and placed a pan out in the rain to collect water.
XOXOXO
When Estel and Legolas awoke the next morning the sun was peeking through the trees with no clouds to block its rays. They packed everything and began another day of riding though this time they rode hard to make up for yesterday's lack of distance. On the way they spoke of multiple subjects and joked with each other as all friends do; they hardly noticed the passing of time until Legolas finally looked about them and smiled softly,
"The stars have finally come to join us mellon nin." Estel's gaze drifted upward to gaze at the soft orange toned sky where the faint marks of light were beginning to show.
"So it seems." He looked across to the elf he rode with, "Shall we find some place to sleep?"
XOXOXO
To say Elrond felt guilty was a lie. Sure he didn't like that he had to resort to such a tactic but the peace and quiet that followed the departure of the two youngest was unrivaled. He sipped his tea as he placed his quill down into its stand; the last of the pages he had been desperate to finish were finally done and now he could rest a while. That is until his door swung open and his two eldest sons entered with stern glares on their faces,
"Really Ada?" Elladan began, "You sent them out to look for an herb that doesn't exist?" this was practically unheard of behavior from their father,
"What if something bad happens to them Ada?" Elrohir took a gentler tone but his glare was the same as his brother's. The door opened again and Glorfindel entered with Erestor, obviously they both had heard about the situation and had come to speak with the others as well,
"It isn't the first time your father has resorted to this trick penneth." Erestor sighed as he sat in one of the chairs, the twins faces snapped over to the quiet elf as Glorfindel chuckled at the memory,
"Ah yes! Do you two remember when your father sent you out to "find Estel" when he had "received a message asking for help"?" the twins nodded their eyes narrowing even more, "The message had really said that Estel was practically here in Rivendell but you two were bickering so much that we couldn't take it anymore and had you go find your brother." He broke off into more laughter that their father and even Erestor joined in.
"You three are evil!" Elrohir yelped as he glared at each of them; Elladan fell into a chair with his eyes deep in thought before turning to his twin,
"How many times they have done this to us gwanor! Think back to all the times one of them has asked us to find something that didn't really exist!" they both sat down with their faces in their hands trying to block out the soft laughter of their elders.
"And they call us elflings! Look at the deception being used!" the laughter just restarted at that.
"Poor Estel and Legolas!"
"this is the first time I've used it on those two though." Elrond said while picking up his tea to drink, Erestor however smiled and shook his head slowly,
"I've sent those two around before…" he made a pensive face, "quite a few times actually." Glorfindel nodded along with his friend,
"I as well! I've sent them all the way to Bree once to look for something…except they actually did find it." He looked down laughing.
"What did you send them for?"
"A knife." More laughter,
"Like a weapon?" Glorfindel shook his head as he laughed,
"No, the kind you eat with!" Elladan and Elrohir couldn't take it anymore and left the room muttering something about how they would get their revenge.
XOXOXO
"Mellon nin, I don't see any shiny-leafed, dark green plants anywhere!" Legolas was looking to the right and Estel to the left,
"Me neither…in fact, all I'm finding are weeds." He picked another plant and studied it carefully before tossing it to the side. They were both wearing gloves just in case they did find the herb, since being burned by oil didn't sound like something they would particularly enjoy. "I think this was a trick…you know, like what Glorfindel and Erestor do to us sometimes."
"Yes but from your father?" Legolas' disbelief was clear.
"Yes, from him, though unlikely, is not impossible."
"…"
"Legolas?"
"This should not go unpunished, in fact I think that-"
"Legolas come see this!"
XOXOXO
The days had passed too quickly for Lord Elrond's taste and he could his eldest sons watching the windows fervently as they watched for their two accomplices. From the shouts they suddenly gave out the two had arrived; Elrond walked down the stairs after the other two had simply run down a few and jump off to the floor. They swung the door open and ran outside, excitedly greeting the two who swung off their horses.
"Ada!" Estel flashed him a smile that the elf returned immediately,
"I hope I did not waste your time hunting the herb for me ion nin?" Estel's smile got wider and he held up a large sack that seemed to be very full.
"Not at all Ada! We found so much of it that we filled two more sacks like this!" his mouth kept moving as he began to tell of their trip but Elrond wasn't listening,
'It actually exists?! I made up everything about it and it actually exists?!'
"Ada? Are you well, you look rather pale?"
"I am fine ion nin! I'm just shocked that you managed to find so much of it given its rarity."
"So am I, but now you can study it all you like and record all your findings in your book!" Elrond froze…the book he had just finished…wasn't really finished. He sighed deeply and continued up the stairs this was the Valar punishing him for sure.
A.N. – I hope this is good…it's definitely a lot longer than most of my work lately…XD please review!