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Chapter 3
The First Day - The Second Day
~.- Glorfindels' POV -.~
Glorfindel felt awareness slowly creeping towards him. When he opened his eyes, a beamed ceiling lit by firelight appeared in his vision. Where was he? He had no recollection of how he'd gotten to this place. The sudden crash of porcelain shattering on stone floor startled him, and he sat up, looking about wildly. Listening carefully, he could hear shouts coming from a room nearby.
"No! You can't make me!" shouted a hysterical voice, "I will escape! You can't stop me! NO! Get back! You can't make me!"
There was an earsplitting screech and the sound of more porcelain shattering, but this didn't worry him so much as the fact that he knew this voice. It was Erestor, but what could possibly make the normally calm and collected advisor lose control like that?
"I must get back to my study! I haven't written several important reports! This could mean the end of my career! Let me go!"
Ah, well, that explained it. Keeping Erestor from his work was like trying to… well, there really was no equivalent, but it was an extremely bad idea.
Assessing more of his surroundings, Glorfindel realized that he appeared to be in the healing ward. How odd. Had there been a battle recently? Had he been fighting a Nazgul or some other formidable creature and been injured in the process?
Glorfindel frowned; trying to remember what he had been doing last. Suddenly, the Balrog-slayer went pale and tensed. His fists clenched the bed sheets tightly, his knuckles going white, as a look of horror came across his face.
The last thing Glorfindel could remember was helping Maenor train some of the new warriors. Surely he hadn't been knocked unconscious by one of the young elflings? Glorfindel buried his head in his hands; the shame would be too much to bear if he had.
Nearby, there was the sound of glass shattering and a shout of, "Freeeddddooommm!" followed by a loud crunching noise as bushes were flattened by something rather large.
~.- Back in the Dining Hall-.~
When dinner concluded, much to Elrohir's displeasure, as it meant his demise at Lord Elrond's hand, the elves moved from their seats and began to converse in different areas around the hall. In the meantime, Lord Elrond made a gesture for Elrohir to follow him out of the Hall of Fire. Elladan, Legolas, and Lindir convened and came to a quick decision to follow at a distance; wanting to immediately know what Elrohir's fate would be. They had waited for what seemed like the longest time just around the corner from Elrond's study, where Elrohir had been taken to be sentenced, when an elf who worked in the healing ward swept past them and to the door of Elrond's study.
Knocking, the elf announced, "Lord Elrond, I bring news from the healing ward."
The door immediately opened and Elrond appeared, "Have Erestor's and Glorfindel's condition changed?"
"They have awoken my lord, but there has been some slight difficulties; they are both… rather disoriented."
Lord Elrond simply nodded before sweeping off with the elf towards the healing ward. Legolas, Elladan, and Lindir pressed themselves against the wall as the two elves passed them, but the elves paid them no attention.
As soon as the elves' footsteps faded away, the three elflings sprinted towards Elrond's study just as Elrohir came out of it and rushed towards them.
After a near collision, Elrohir let out a wail of dismay, "You won't believe what Ada wants me to do, Elladan!"
"What? What is it?" Elladan asked, looking alarmed at the distressed expression on his twin's face.
"When the visitors from Lothlorien arrive, I have to escort Haldir around! You know who I speak of don't you!? That little elfling we briefly met on our visit to see Daerada and Daernana?"
Elladan began to howl with laughter, much to Legolas's and Lindir's bemusement and Elrohir's annoyance.
"Of course I remember him!" Elladan gasped through his tears of laughter, "How could I forget? He was completely insane!"
"But I have to escort him around," growled Elrohir, "So that means that you will also be forced to spend time with him."
Elladan's laughter abruptly came to a stop, "Ah," he stated, eyes wide.
"Who is Haldir?" Legolas asked in confusion, and Lindir was thinking the same thing.
"You'll see," stated Elrohir rather glumly.
~.-The Next Afternoon-.~
Elladan, Elrohir, Legolas, and Lindir stood out in the courtyard beside Lord Elrond, Lady Celebrian, and King Thranduil. Lindir looked vaguely uncomfortable with this position, but Elrohir had insisted that if he, Elladan, and Legolas had to suffer through meeting Haldir, then Lindir had to too. Slowly coming towards them were a group of mostly golden and silver haired elves mounted on horses.
When the group reached them, a sliver haired ellon gracefully dismounted and came forward to embrace Celebrian, "It is good to see you again, daughter."
"Indeed," agreed an elleth with long golden hair, "The trees of Lothlorien have missed your presence."
Lord Elrond stepped forward, "Greetings, Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel."
While the adults continued to exchange pleasantries, Elrohir let out a mournful sigh, "There he is."
The elflings followed his gaze to where a fair-haired elfling was sitting atop a horse, gazing up at the lightly clouded sky, and seeming completely oblivious to the stable hand who was asking to take the elfling's horse to the stables.
"Well, might as well get started," Elrohir strode towards the elfling.
When he reached him he greeted the elfling loudly, "Good day, Haldir."
Haldir continued to stare up at the clouds.
"Er, Haldir?" Elrohir tried to catch the elfling's attention.
Abruptly, Haldir answered, in a dreamy, vacant tone while still looking at the sky, "The clouds are beautiful."
Legolas stared at the elfling. What sort of elf, when surrounded by the splendor of Rivendell, commented on the beauty of the clouds?
Haldir continued on despite the looks he was getting from the twins, Lindir, Legolas, and the stable hand, "That one looks like the Lady Galadriel."
Despite themselves, the other elflings and the stable hand all looked up at the sky, only to catch themselves and glance around at each other self-consciously.
"Erm, that's nice, Haldir. Do you mind dismounting?" Elrohir asked, "This stable hand needs to take your horse and your bags will be taken to your room."
Haldir dismounted rather gracefully, considering that he still did not take his gaze off the sky. The stable hand gave Elrohir a look of thanks and quickly led the horse away; relieved to be leaving the strange elfling behind.
Two elves suddenly appeared out of the crowd in the courtyard and came to stand on either side of Haldir.
"Ah, I see you have met the young Lords of Rivendell, Haldir," commented one, upon seeing the company Haldir was keeping.
"Yes," agreed Haldir dreamily, "Ellden and Ellray."
Everyone simply stared at Haldir for a moment. Then Lindir slapped a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter and Legolas tried and failed to hide his amusement. The two elves standing beside Haldir cast Elladan and Elrohir apologetic glances before trying to correct Haldir, "No, brother, these are the Lords Elladan and Elrohir."
Haldir just gazed at them blankly and it was impossible to tell if their message had gotten through.
When Haldir did not answer, Elladan decided to break the silence, "It is good to see you again, Rumil and Orophin," he addressed the two elves, "My father has asked us to accompany Haldir during his stay in Rivendell."
Orophin looked surprised, but pleased, "It is appreciated. It is good to know that Haldir will not be alone while we go about our duties. Speaking of duties, I'm afraid that we must take our leave."
Orophin and Rumil disappeared back into the crowd leaving the four elflings with Haldir, who was gazing off dreamily into the distance.
"Do you think we can continue to search for the barrels with him around?" Legolas whispered to Elrohir, "Or will he tell someone?"
Elrohir shook his head, "I really doubt that Haldir will care about what we are up to, even if he does notice. We just have to keep him with us while we go about Rivendell or my father will sentence me to extra lessons on decorum with Erestor."
Personally, Legolas thought Elrohir could use some lessons on decorum, but he just nodded. The elflings moved away from the crowd of elves, and into the Last Homely House, so they could speak without the fear of being overheard.
"So, where are we going to search next?" Lindir asked.
"Does anybody remember seeing Greenwood barrels anywhere?" Elrohir questioned.
"Greenwood barrels?" came Haldir's dreamy voice from behind them, "Like those?"
The other four elflings turned and looked towards where Haldir was pointing at two servants carrying two barrels that were most definitely from Greenwood.
"Yes! Exactly like that, Haldir! Thank you," Elladan exclaimed, before rushing towards the two servants.
The other elflings followed, Elrohir pulling Haldir along.
"Excuse me," Elladan began, cutting the servants off, "Where would you be taking those?"
The servants looked slightly surprised at the intrusion, but one answered, "Lord Elrond requested they be brought to the sitting room, on the ground floor. I believe they are there for when a few of the lords and ladies of Rivendell and the guests arrive, presumably to discuss the visitors' trip from Lothlorien."
"May we help?" asked Elrohir, putting on his best innocent face.
The servants didn't buy it, "I believe we can manage, my Lords. Now, if you'll excuse us, we really do need to deliver these."
The servants swept past them, leaving four disappointed, and one absentminded, elflings behind.
"Now what do we do?" wondered Legolas out loud, "I don't want to take the barrels away from them by force, as we know how well that worked out last time, but those barrels can't be allowed to get to the sitting room either, then there will just be more people between us and the barrels."
"Not necessarily," began Elrohir slowly, "If we can create a big enough distraction, then some of us can slip into the sitting room and grab the barrels."
"What do you mean by distraction?" questioned Lindir suspiciously.
"Oh, not much," Elrohir answered innocently, "Just something big enough to get everyone out of the sitting room."
~.-Half an Hour Later -.~
The five elflings stood outside the doors that led from the sitting room onto the veranda. They were not alone however, amongst them were a number of sacks which were all squirming and emitting chattering or hissing noises. The elflings next to them all looked tired and were covered in scratches and dirt. Their hair was in disarray and twigs, burrs, and leaves were caught in their clothes.
Elladan carefully opened the wooden door a crack and peered into the sitting room. Servants were rushing about, fluffing pillows and dusting. One started to prepare to open the barrels and pour the 'wine' into the awaiting pitchers.
Elladan looked around at the other elflings, "Quick! They're going to start pouring the enchanted water!"
Immediately, the elflings began their task. Elrohir grabbed one sack, which started to thrash violently, but he quickly soothed whatever was inside. Kneeling down, he placed the sack at the slightly open door and carefully opened it. A snake slithered out and into the sitting room, but the servants didn't take notice of it yet.
Elrohir gestured for the next sack and began to release a squirrel, but, seeing an elf enter the sitting room, he froze.
"What? What is it?" Lindir asked franticly.
"We're too late!" Elrohir looked horrified, "Ada's here and he has brought the guests!"
It was true, Lord Elrond had arrived at the sitting room and behind him were a number of elves, including Lady Celebrian, Lady Galadriel, Lord Celeborn, King Thranduil, Erestor, and Glorfindel, whom had both recovered from drinking the enchanted water.
"What do we do?" asked Legolas franticly, "We can't release the animals into the room, but then they will drink the enchanted water!"
Four elflings stared at each other in horror (Haldir just gazed off into the distance and started humming) as the situation they were in slowly sank in and eventually led to the question: What was worse? Some of the most important people in Middle-Earth seemingly getting poisoned in Rivendell by wine from Greenwood and possibly causing the next kinslaying? Or some of the most important people in Middle-Earth getting attacked by some mostly harmless animals?
The answer was obvious, so, swallowing hard, Elrohir reopened the sack he was holding and released the squirrel into the sitting room, then three rats that were followed by a rabbit, another snake, and finally, a skunk that Haldir had somehow managed to catch without being sprayed.
At first, nobody noticed the animals ambling about the room, and the elflings feared that the servant was going to serve the wine, but just before he did, a Lady from Rivendell, dressed in a deep blue dress with silver embroidery on the bodice, happened to chance across one of the snakes.
She had been showing another lady a ring she had recently bought, when she accidently dropped it. Leaning over to grab it, she realized that there was some sort of brown rope near her feet. Gently prodding it, she was most surprised and horrified when it let out an angry hiss. Finally realizing that it was a snake, she let out a bloodcurdling scream and ran towards the door.
It was only then, as elves began to look about the room, that they saw the animals. The other snake was peering out from under a couch, the squirrel was on the mantelpiece, but, when elves started to scream, it was startled and jumped into Celeborn's lap, prompting a shout from the usually immaculate and unfazed lord. The rats were running all about the room, and, when one happened to venture to close to one of the snakes, it was immediately attacked; causing an elleth to swoon. The rabbit, for the most part, was minding its own business, but, it was only when the elves noticed the black creature with white stripes running down its back, that the room fell into true chaos.
The ellith began running for the door, screaming, while the ellyn tried to keep the animals away from them. This caused one elf to end up with a bite from a rat and another to end up with numerous scratches. When Celeborn finally managed to get the squirrel off of him, with much jumping about to Lady Galadriel's amusement, it went flying, landed on Glorfindel's head, and ended up getting tangled in his golden hair, much to the Balrog-slayer's dismay. Lady Celebrian was trying to calm the elleth who had found the snake, who was on the verge of tears from panicking. Lord Elrond was still in his chair, staring in complete shock at the chaotic scene around him, but he was not to remain that way for long, as the skunk was rapidly getting irritated with the activity going on around it.
Eventually, when Glorfindel, who was stumbling around while trying to get the squirrel out if his hair, ventured slightly too close to the skunk, it finally let out its horribly smelling spray. As one, the whole room let out a cry, which could be heard throughout all of Rivendell, and everyone ran for the door. It was possibly the fastest the elflings, still peeking into the room, had ever seen a room clear. They waited a few moments, hoping that the stench would dissipate somewhat, before Lindir and Haldir went into the sitting room to grab the barrels. Lindir came out choking and coughing and Haldir didn't look quite like his dreamy self, but otherwise they were fine
"Well, that's done," Elrohir stated, sounding relieved as he gathered up the sacks used to contain the animals.
Elladan, Legolas, and Lindir just nodded, still looking shocked at what had just occurred, while Haldir began humming once more. Then they began to hurry towards the cave, Elladan pulling Haldir along, where they had hidden the other barrel of enchanted water. Once the barrels were hidden, the elflings took one look at their filthy, disheveled appearance, and decided that it would be far too suspicious to return to Rivendell looking like that. Thus they took a quick dip in one of the clear pools below a waterfall before they slowly began to make their way back towards Rivendell.
When they finally made it back, exhausted and still slightly damp, the elves of Rivendell were finally acting like elves should for once, as opposed to running around chaotically as they had been on their previous return, though some seemed rather giggly.
As Elrohir looked around however, he began to realize that not all was quite as it should be. He and the other four elflings seemed to have gained an escort of frivolous ellith, thus the reason for all the giggling. It was rather disconcerting to have a large group of female elves following them about, and Elrohir elbowed Elladan; wondering if he had noticed.
"What?" Elladan asked.
"Have you seen what is following us? They're worse than a pack of wargs," Elrohir muttered back.
Elladan looked about, his expression of curiosity slowly turning to one of horror, "What do they want!?"
"They're ellith; who knows? Maybe they want to attack us or maybe they want to flirt with us-." Lindir let out a soft snort, but Elrohir ignored him and continued on, "It's possible that-,"
Legolas cut him off and supplied, "They might want to go to the dance with us."
A horrified look came across Elrohir's face and he said, weakly, "I'd forgotten about that."
"Lucky you," Legolas muttered bitterly, "I doubt my father will be pleased if I don't manage to find a girl to dance with."
"I like dancing," Haldir stated dreamily, probably the first truly coherent thing he had said since his arrival.
After a moment of staring at the strange elfling, Elrohir turned at looked around at the surrounding group of ellith, a slightly hopeful expression appearing on his face, "How much enchanted water do you think they would have to drink to make them pass out for the next ten days; until the festival is over?"
"Elrohir!"
"It was just an idea!"
~.-.~
Nazgul: Also known as ringwraiths, these are what remain of the nine kings after the rings given to them corrupted them. They are slaves to Sauron and his most formidable servants.
Ada/Adar: Dad/Father
Ellon: a male elf.
Elleth: a female elf.
Daerada: Grandpa
Daernana: Grandma
Kinslaying: what it is called when elves kill other elves, an occurrence that rarely happens in the history of Middle Earth.
Ellith: the plural form of elleth, so a group of female elves.
Ellyn: the plural form of ellon, so a group of male elves.
Wargs: wolf like creatures that serve Sauron and orcs.
Review please, I don't care if you only say, "I love/hate/enjoy this story," all reviews are appreciated. :D Also, many thanks to my editor (and sister) CreateImagineWrite, who's been looking over my story for me. If you are into the Merlin fandom, you should check out her stories!