3. Fortune and Folly
"What is it with you?" Rumil demanded, folding his arms over his chest with a dark scowl. "I thought you would have learned after the orphaned field mice you kept in the box under your bed when you were an elfling."
"What happened with the field mice?" Meril whispered to her husband with a wary frown. She held onto Orophin's arm as she peered at the still form sprawled on Haldir's bed. Only the raspy sound of his breathing told them that Aragorn still lived.
"They chewed out of the box and nested in Naneth's wardrobe drawer." Orophin replied in a low voice.
"The drawer where she kept her... underthings?" Meril's voice trailed off with a grimace as Rumil and Orophin cringed and nodded. "Oh I do not even want to think about that."
"That was nearly three thousand years ago." Haldir protested, setting a basin of warm water on the night stand beside his bed. He braced one knee against the mattress as he pulled the tattered remains of the ranger's cloak aside, revealing a jagged wound beneath the rip in his tunic.
"Apparently long enough for you to forget the consequences of hiding things in your room." Orophin replied in exasperation, slumping against the wall of his eldest brother's bedroom.
"He is badly wounded." Aduial shook her head, brushing past Orophin and Rumil with an armload of linens and moving to the bedside to help Haldir remove Aragorn's bloody blood soaked tunic.
"Have you forgotten about the frog?" Orophin demanded. "Or the sparrow with the broken wing?"
"Or the sick rabbit." Aduial added curiously, earning her a dark glare from the marchwarden. Her cheeks colored just a bit and she quickly returned to cutting away the tattered cloth.
"Here let me do that for you Aduial." Rumil offered with a bit of a starry eyed expression as he moved to stand beside the elleth.
"I can manage, Rumil, thank you." She answered crisply, never noticing his crestfallen expression.
"What is it with you and taking in half dead mortals?" Orophin sighed, shaking his head as his wife opened the cabinet beneath the wash stand and picked through the brightly colored bottles. "This is all going to turn out badly." Rumil seemed to have already forgotten Aduial's slight, his brow furrowing as if he had just realized something and he silently edged closer to the door
"Do you think we should be here?" Rumil hissed to Orophin under his breath.
"Why?" Orophin asked with a perplexed expression.
"You do not honestly believe he can hide this do you?" Rumil demanded in a low whisper. "What will happen when the Lady finds out he brought a mangled mortal into the city without her permission?"
"The same thing that happened when Nana found the mice in her..." Orophin's face turned a bit green.
"We have to get out of here." Rumil cringed, backing toward the door. I for one do not wish to be here when he is exiled. His hand had almost reached the latch when the door flew open on its hinges, banging against the wall.
Rumil and Orophin froze with horrified expressions as Haldir Aduial and Meril whirled around, leaping to their feet. Haldir's eyes grew wide and he glanced out of the corner of his eye at Aduial who slid closer to him, blocking Aragorn from view as she hid the bandages behind her back. Meril's jaw dropped open only a half second before she quickly stuffed the bottle of antiseptic back in the cupboard and folded her hands primly in front of her with the most innocent expression she could muster.
"Meril, my dear," Lady Galadriel stated from where she stood in the doorway in all her regal glory "I'll be needing the blue bottle with Lord Elrond's crest, I am sure you know the one." She brushed Haldir and Aduial aside, perching on the edge of the bed as Meril dove back into the cabinet, the bottles clinking as she sifted through them.
"Haldir," the Lady ordered. "Help me remove his clothing. Aduial, we will need more water."
"My Lady," Haldir began somewhat uneasily as Aduial scurried toward the kitchen and Meril retrieved the proper bottle. Galadriel shot him a rather annoyed look, her brilliant blue eyes narrowing to menacing slits. His jaw snapped shut and he quickly set to work on peeling Aragorn out of his clothes as Galadriel carefully measured the healing draught.
"We will take our leave then." Orophin said, earning a scowl from his wife as he pulled Rumil toward the bed chamber door.
"Orophin and Rumil?" Galadriel's voice was almost melodic and they looked at her with slightly frightened expressions. "I will be needing more bandages."
"We shall return shortly!" Rumil promised as he edged toward the door.
"Oh, my dears?" she continued sweetly "You know absolutely nothing about a wounded mortal being brought into the city."
"Us?" Orophin replied "We know nothing at all!"
"Aye, I can vouch for that." Meril sighed half under her breath as she watched them scurry away to do the lady's bidding.
"This is not good," Galadriel frowned, her lips drawn in a thing line as her fingertips delicately probed a large gash that ran the length of Aragorn's side. He let out a pained moan, his head tossing feverishly and she laid a hand on his brow, soothing him.
"The blade that cut him was poisoned." Galadriel stated with an angry scowl "He is dying." Haldir looked almost ill, sinking into the chair beside the bed as Aduial appeared in the doorway, a bucket in one hand and a hot kettle in the other.
"If he is dying..." Meril's voice trembled as she looked at the mortal on Haldir's bed, delusional with fever and moaning in pain.
"If he is dying then he will take Lady Arwen with him." Haldir said softly.
"Shall I fetch a healer, my lady?" Meril offered, twisting her fingers nervously.
"We have to hide him!" Aduial stated fiercely. "We cannot let anyone know he is here!"
"But he is dying!" Meril was almost frantic. She had spent nearly her entire life in Imladris. She did not think she could bear the thought of Elrond losing his foster son.
"Meril, we can not risk her finding out!" Aduial insisted, her voice tinged with panic. "It would destroy her! We have to hide him and hope he can recover!"
"Haldir could not hide field mice under his bed!" Meril replied, waving a hand at her brother in law. "Mortals are much harder to miss, Aduial!"
"Well that might have been because I forgot to feed them for him that morning," Aduial admitted cringingly.
"You forgot?" Haldir looked almost wounded. "How could you forget? Do you have any idea how much trouble I got into?"
"Haldir, I believe all of Lorien knows how much trouble you got into." Lady Galadriel replied wirily, carefully threading her needle and preparing to stitch the wound. She paused only a moment gritting her teeth as the mortal moaned in pain. Haldir looked nearly as distressed and she frowned. "How many of your wardens know the identity of our trespasser."
"No one else." Haldir shook his head. "I sent them back to their posts. They did not even see me bring him from the borders." Galadriel took a deep breath, looking as if she already regretted what she was about to say.
"Under no circumstances is anyone else to know of Lord Aragorn's presence here." The lady stated, her brow creasing in worry.
"But, my lady," Meril began in alarm.
"Meril I can appreciate your loyalty to Lord Elrond." She interrupted sharply "We are not sacrificing Lord Aragorn. I will see that he has all the care I can give. But if he should not survive Lord Elrond could well lose two of his children. I cannot allow that to happen."
"Yes my lady." Meril replied, her jaw clenched.
"He will have to stay here." Galadriel said in a low voice. "I can not risk moving him and in any case he is better hidden here."
"I will care for him." Haldir affirmed, his face a bit white as he stared into the face of the dying mortal on his bed.
"I know you will," Galadriel whispered gently. "Ion nin, you have been like my own child. I know I can trust you in this. Estel must survive."
Pain covered him like a thick fog, clawing at him, twisting his insides. Faces hovered over him through the mist of consciousness. Sapphire eyes in a halo of golden hair.
"Estel, Lasto beth nin..."
Another face, a male, one he knew he should recognize but couldn't place in the fog of pain.
"Stay with us, Aragorn." he said "You're going to make it."
Make it...
"I would never have believed mortals could be so resilient." another face drifted into his consciousness, and then another.
"What madness brought him to this?" and then he was falling, spinning, tumbling into darkness and fevered dreams.
"War is madness, my lord!" the gray mantled figure stated with a gruff voice, his eyes flashing beneath his hood.
"Mithrandir what would you have me do?" The lord drew himself up to his full height, his noble brow furrowed in a scowl. He was broad shouldered and his brown hair swept down his shoulders. "Umbar burns our villages to the ground slaying the most defenseless of our people. Would you have me sit here in my ivory tower and cast them to the mercies of the Corsairs?"
"No, Ecthelion, my old friend," Mithrandir lowered his voice. "Nor would I have you spend your life needlessly. Gondor's armies cannot hope to take Umbar swiftly, you would leave Minas Tirith defenseless before the might of Mordor. It is all the invitation the enemy would need to strike."
"Thorongil and I will go!" The captain of Gondor stepped forward eagerly, a confident smirk curling his lips as if he wished for nothing more than to prove himself. Ecthelion gave him a fond smile laying a hand on the younger man's shoulder as he spoke. "Gondor's fleet could take Umbar's in a fight, we are matched to a ship! If we cannot take Umbar then we will make them think twice about attacking Gondor."
"And that is why it is unwise to send the ships of Gondor against the Corsairs." Mithrandir replied with a sour expression. "You are matched, and it is never wise to turn your rudder against a foe you are not certain you can defeat."
"He is right, Denethor," Ecthelion sighed, giving the youth's shoulder a warm squeeze. "I would not risk your life on such a venture, my son." Denethor's face fell as if he had been wounded and he gave Mithrandir a dark scowl.
"You cannot commit your armies in the south when Mordor awakens to your east." Mithrandir stated, shaking his head.
"We do not need to commit the army." A figure materialized from the shadows of the hall of the king, his long legs stretching, cat like, as he crossed the cold marble floors.
"If you have a solution none of us have considered then please speak, Thorongil." Ecthelion stated with an amused smirk as he caught the eager expression once more on the face of his son.
"We will take a small force into Umbar and destroy the ships in their moorings," Thorongil stated simply. "We will go in secret and break the swords of the enemy before they are even drawn." Mithrandir grunted rolling his eyes as he leaned heavily on his staff as Denethor blinked at him a bit blankly, apparently unsure if he should be eager for battle or incredulous with doubt.
"Even you are not so lucky." Mithrandir stated as Ecthelion chuckled.
"If you have a better plan then I would gladly hear it." the steward smirked in amusement. Mithrandir shook his head as he approached Thorongil, fixing him with his piercing eyes.
"Your adar would kill me if he knew," Mithrandir murmured so low that only Thorongil could hear, his eyes sparkling.
"So," Thorongil said, his expression unreadable as he folded his arms over his chest. "When shall we depart?"
"Stay with me, Aragorn" the voice seemed disembodied, pulling him back to the sea of pain he was drowning in. He let out a tortured moan his senses spinning as he struggled to latch his mind around where or who he was. He felt the tied pulling him down once more and he was lost to blackness.
"This might be the most foolish thing we have ever done." Orophin hissed as he clambered out the talan's window, balancing precariously on the branch of the Mallorn tree. He looked up, catching a tightly wrapped bundle as it was cast out of the window.
"Worse than the time we wooed six maidens of Mirkwood in the same day?" Rumil asked cheekily as he poked his head out of the window, throwing down a second bundle before climbing out after his brother.
"That was not nearly so foolish as the time we 'borrowed' the lady's boat to woo that maid you were so enamored of." Orophin snorted.
"Aye," Rumil nodded with a grin. "But what an adventure." Orophin rolled his eyes before turning and walking along the branch as if it were a bridge. Rumil had been intolerably cheerful since Lady Galadriel had decided not to exile all of them and seemed to look on the whole thing as another of their grand pranks. Orophin could not help but think that their problems had only just begun.
"You do not suppose that the healers shall notice that nearly half of their bandages and most of their salve is gone when they come to check their stores?" Orophin asked as he glared at the bundle he carried.
"How should they?" Rumil replied with a grin, balancing his own bundle on his head as he walked along the branch. "They have expended more than this on one border skirmish. We will simply have to time our exploits so as to be least noticeable."
"I am glad you are enjoying yourself." Orophin sighed.
"Do not fret like an elleth." Rumil prodded him as they reached the flets a few yards from the healing halls. "We are on a little used path while most of the city is at their evening meal. Who could possibly see us?" He was so amused he failed to notice the figure hidden in the shadows of the trees above them. Orophin only shook his head as they crept silently along in the direction of their brother's talan. They stayed off the main roads and the instead skirted the busier parts of the city, creeping quietly onto Haldir's terrace in the gathering twilight.
"What took you so long?" Haldir asked as he opened the terrace doors and stepped out into the shadows.
"It is more difficult to steal bandages than you might think." Orophin replied hotly, thrusting the bundle he held into his older brother's arms.
"Do not worry!" Rumil hastily added with a cheery grin. "there is no chance at all that anyone has seen us." his confident declaration was answered by a rustling of the tree branches just behind and above them and his jaw dropped a bit as Haldir's eyes narrowed dangerously. Orophin's panicked gaze swiveled from the mortal visible on the bed just beyond the doors to the canopy of trees behind them and back again.
"Not seen were you?" Haldir growled, shoving his brothers aside and storming toward the trees. "I am so glad our wood is in such responsible hands!" There was a frightened yelp and the sound of scrambling as their spy obviously attempted to escape and a moment later a thud as a cloaked figure tumbled from the trees onto the terrace.
"Laurelin?" Haldir stated in bewilderment as the tiny elleth clambered to her feet, her cheeks glowing red in the moonlight.
"I slipped." She piped, dragging a hand through her rumpled hair.
"Pen neth, what are you doing here?" Haldir demanded, struggling to keep the annoyance from his voice and yet remain stern at the same time. The elfling before him rocked back and forth on her tiny feet, wearing the most guilty expression he could ever remember seeing on the face of one of the first born.
"I was... I..." She giggled nervously and Haldir struggled not to chuckle as he knelt before her on one knee, fixing her with his penetrating gaze.
"Were you spying?" he asked. Laurelin nodded rapidly, her cheeks flaming.
"Your brothers stole all the stores from the houses of healing!" She blurted out as if she were one of his lieutenants reporting orc movement. "I spotted them climbing out the west window and followed them here! They never saw me!" It was all Haldir could do to keep from laughing at the shocked expressions on his brothers' faces.
"Laurelin..." he began.
"Why do you have a dead mortal in your bed?" she asked peering over his shoulder curiously.
"He's not dead!" Rumil corrected, earning him a punch in the arm from Orophin.
"I've never seen a dead mortal before," she stated, a disapproving frown forming on her baby cheeks that very nearly matched her sister's "You're not supposed to be bringing dead things into the city are you?"
"You have never even seen a live mortal before," Haldir replied. "And he is not dead, he is only injured."
"Aren't you going to be in trouble with Lady Galadriel?" Laurelin demanded with a piercing scowl.
"No," Haldir replied a bit defensively.
"Then why were Rumil and Orophin stealing bandages?" she demanded, her tiny fists resting on her hips. "didn't you learn anything from the mice you hid under your bed?"
"I asked him the same thing." Orophin stated sourly.
"Now wait I..." Haldir's voice trailed off as he blinked rapidly a moment, trying to discover when the tables had turned and he had become the one being scolded. His brow furrowed at the elfling. "Pen neth, does your sister know where you are?" Laurelin's mouth opened to reply and quickly snapped shut as she realized she was once more in trouble.
"Ummm..." she dropped her gaze to inspect a scratch on her elbow as if she hadn't heard him.
"Aye, that is what I thought." Haldir rolled his eyes.
"What do you want with a mortal any way?" she asked, her curiosity once more captured by Aragorn "he's furry but I think I would rather have a bunny." Rumil doubled up with stifled laugher as Haldir slowly shook his head.
"He is a very special mortal. He is a friend of the Lady's," Haldir whispered conspiratorially to the elfling who stared at Aragorn with wide, impressed eyes. "He is in danger and no one can know where he is so I am keeping him hidden for her until he is well."
"I don't think he'll fit under your bed." Laurelin stated with a pensive frown.
"It is a very great secret." Haldir whispered as Orophin nearly lost his own battle with laughter. "No one must find out. Can I trust you to help us in our mission?" Laurelin snapped to attention almost instantly, laying her tiny fist over her heart.
"Aye, Marchwarden." She said, trying desperately not to grin. The corner's of Haldir's mouth twitched ever so slightly as he stood to his feet.
"I shall take her home." Orophin offered, moving to pick up the tiny elfling. "It is on my way."
"Not a word." Haldir reminded her, she shook her head rapidly as Orophin chuckled.
"Goodnight brother!" Rumil called as he opened the door for Orophin, the pair of them slipping through his living room and out his front door with Laurelin. Haldir sighed, he had not even managed to hide Aragorn an entire day and something told him that tiny spying elleths were the least of his worries.
Author's note: All my thanks to everyone who reviewed! I know I have not been very speedy on the updates. I have been sick a lot lately and it has cut into my writing time. Hopefully things will start to go a bit better now. Just in case anyone would like to hear it for the record... this is not an AU fic.
If you did not want to hear that then I suggest you cover your ears and hum... it will help you live in denial for a while longer.
Narwen - Haldir has a really cute elleth spying on him? Will that do for now? LOL
Brownie24 - Not a chance, I really like Aragorn... and even if I didn't I want Haldir to get a girl that truly appreciates him.
Daae - Thus far Legolas hasn't volunteered to appear in this story. He is still pretty ticked off about the way I wrecked his nerves in ATW and hasn't been speaking to me.
Alexathenle - Feel free to sulk as much as you think is necessary, it can't hurt.