Tensions were high as the fellowship of seven tumbled into the 758th Arda. The visit to the last world had been, to say the least, an unmitigated disaster and had not at all been conducive to fostering good relations amongst them. Clearly, they had not been prepared to be launched into a world where a silver gate with pretty scripted glowing "runes," sitting in the middle of Ost-in-Edhil, could randomly open portals to different worlds and facilitate interstellar travel. Of course, the introduction of an army of sues calling themselves "Jeh-die" or some such completely threw off their otherwise prepared defenses, resulting in an imprisoned traitor-sue and four mind-wiped elves.
It had been vicious. Elladan and Elrohir had rediscovered their "brotherly bond," while Amrod and Amras fought over the right to claim the hand of Afnestae, warrior-daughter of Celembrimbor, who ruled the Noldorin capital in her father's absence, never mind that her apparent parentage effectively made her their grandniece. It had taken all of Elured and Elurin's powers of stealth to remain unnoticed until they could rescue their companion sue from her holding cell, forcibly drag their elven comrades away from their respective sordid affairs (and how sordid they were!), and reprogram the silver gate to send them off to another Arda before it self-destructed, hopefully along with the rest of that Eru-forsaken realm.
So now here they were, the members of Operation: Arato, sprawled across what seemed to be the sunny fields of Pelennor, with their various weaponry and provisions strewn about, tensions still high, and humiliated elves ready to lash out at the first thing that moved, which unfortunately happened to be a hapless sue daintily coughing up the grass and dirt she had unwittingly swallowed upon their graceless arrival.
"Answer me this, Sue," Amrod not so gently prodded her with a tapered boot as he stepped over her prone form to reach for his prodigal bow. "Why is it that you of the Edain have yet to be claimed by Eru's gift? Is there a reason why you inflict the Ardas with your continued existence?"
"Ignorant Feanorian," Elurin scoffed, picking up wayward arrows and replacing them in his quiver. "Is it not obvious her author has abandoned her and her story?"
"So, even your author can't stand you?" Amras taunted the stricken sue before proceeding to throw Elurin one of his usual glares. The sue remained silent and simply began to collect her share of the debris as the dirt and grime started to magically shimmer off the flowing white fabric of her gown.
Elured frowned at this exchange, but busied himself with the map he was updating. They had to reestablish normalcy somehow and what better way than to remind themselves of the proper enmities, right? He mentally reassured himself as he threw a sympathetic glance at his grandnephews, who remained face-down and unmoving upon the grass, both visibly wishing for the bliss of oblivion that usually accompanied "normal" travel between worlds.
"I shall head forward and scout the conditions at this realm's Minas Tirith and hopefully obtain new provisions. We need beasts of burden if we're to find the edge of this world sometime this age," Elurin declared, having collected all his weaponry and personal effects in record time. "The rest of you seek cover at the fringe of these White Mountains," he instructed pointing at the nearby range.
"What gives you, son of Dior, the right to tell the rest of us what to do?" Amras angrily jibed at the younger-looking elf who had beaten him in collecting his personal effects.
"Because I'm one of the only two of this company that wasn't just entangled in familial relations," Elurin ground out, insensitive to the anguished groans his comment elicited from his still prone grandnephews.
On cue, swords were drawn and fine elven steel began to clash, until Elured, rolling his eyes, directed the sue to work her powers on his otherwise level-headed twin and the Feanorian brothers.
"And what makes you think an elf like you will be able to blend into a city of Edain unnoticed and unprotected from whatever random sue you are likely to meet?" Amrod relatively peacefully challenged, still groggy from the sue's influence.
"Because I'm taking the sue with me and will be posing as her elven escort," Elurin explained to the Feanorian as if speaking to an elfling, mustering a half-glare as he started to shake off the sue's spell.
"Brother, please just take the sue and go. We'll wait for your signal and come after you should you not meet us within three days," Elured tiredly injected, forestalling further discussion on the matter, as he started pulling up a still despondent Elladan from where he had been lying.
"I want to die," Elladan weakly rasped as he let Elured hand him his empty pack and lead him towards where most of his belongings laid strewn.
"There, there, I know," Elured soothed, as he left his hapless grandnephew to do the same to the other, whose things had, by the mercy of Eru, been strewn on the far side of where his brother's had been.
"Three days, Son of Dior, then we'll come rescue you from your foolhardy scouting mission and whatever relations you will be having with a bunch of Edain," Amras taunted the departing Elurin who angrily gripped his bow as he left with the sue in tow.
Author's Note:
I realize it has been over six years since the last chapter. To be honest, I've been keeping my account active just for submitting reviews to the fics I continue to read on ffnet. One day, I decided, what the hey, let me see what craziness I've written. Lo and behold, I was entertained by my own story (I guess it helps when you can't remember what happens next :P). I know I just hate it when I come across a fic with potential that never gets finished. So here I am with an update and the intention of finishing the story. It might not be as epic as I originally planned, and I don't know if anyone will still read it, or if any of my former readers would like it finished, but I'd like to see if I can actually finish this story. That is, if law school and practice hasn't yet sapped me of all creativity. I guess we'll see.