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Chapter 11: Trouble is Fun (For Some) (Part 3 of the Flashback Saga No.2)

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Haldir was feeling quite uneasy. He had been having 'those-sorts-of-feelings' all day. It seemed that something seemed to be wrong…all wrong. Something was missing… Indeed, he was quite glad that the day was coming to an end. It affected one's nerves to be constantly on the edge!

Really, one had to be exceedingly happy about the behaviour of the young elves during the last two days. Unlike what he had expected, they had not demanded large celebrations by themselves with the four visitors. Actually, they seemed to be quite satisfied with staying within the bounds of Caras Galahon - and even accepted a chaperone with considerable grace when they had requested to walk to the flower fields outside the western walls.

Really, he ought to be feeling quite elated, Haldir reminded himself. Shaking his head, he made his way down the steps of his flet to find a night-cap before he retired to read for a few hours before headed to bed. When he met Rilla on her way upstairs he felt a sort of jolt inside him.

'Forgot something you wanted, Rilla?'

Rilla seemed unwilling to stay and chat, but turned and yawned widely before replying.

'Actually, no, 'Dir, I am going to bed. I am just…so…tired.' These last words were interspaced with gigantic yawns. Haldir, though surprised, did not vocalise any suspicion he might have felt and wished her a good night.

As we walked he pondered over this curious event. Rilla tired? Rilla going to bed at this time of night? There was only one answer that he could find for it. Last night they must have held some sort of celebration for the visitors…

Haldir shook his head. Having a inate sense of justice, Haldir knew he would not reprimand the young ones on his suspicion - for he may truly be incorrect - but reminded himself to speak to Orophin and Rumil and give them a slight talking to which would make them remember the improprieties and dangers of late-night feasting outside the city gates…

Haldir knew that if he had caught the group in the act he would have been livid. But he hoped his suspicion was quite incorrect. This hope was confirmed when he met Orophin and Rumil carousing happily with some young friends. They were wide awake, and another member of the Border Guard informed Haldir of the spontaneous sports carnival they had held that morning.

This was probably the reason why Rilla was so tired, Haldir thought to himself, pleased to think that his siblings and their friends had matured enough to understand that secret meetings and celebrations were not wise or sensible. He had worried about the group greatly before Glorfindel (supposedly) joined it, but as he respected the elder elf greatly (tacitly...) he trusted that he would not allow them to involve themselves in dangerous mischief.

After Haldir had retired, three doors of three separate flets under Haldir's opened almost simultaneously. Stealing down in stockinged feet, Rilla, Orophin and Rumil met at the base of the tree, with silent grins. They stole through the flet-filled trees, to the grand tree of the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien. Here, at its base were Elladan, Elrohir, Legolas and Jorluin, and together they made their way to the eastern walls. In a slightly covered area, where low hanging branches skimmed over the wall, they met Vincere, Lenodarin and Querdin, who were setting up a ladder over the wall.

They did not have to wait very long before they noticed three shadows skimming their way towards them. Neminari and Yolande were finding it difficult to keep their giggles quiet, and Hwestawen was trying to quiet them, while attempting to keep herself from imitating them.

When they were close Rilla gasped quietly, and whispered quickly to Hwestawen.

'Hwesta, did not Vari come with you?'

'Oh!' Hwestawen looked startled, 'No, she did not! She did not turn up, you see, so I thought she must have come with you!'

There were gasps from all the elleth, which made the ellyn turn around from their�preparing of the rope ladder.

'What is it?' asked Orophin in a quiet voice.

'Oh, Orophin! We do not know where Vari is! She did not turn up at either of the rendezvous!'

Orophin, struck, suddenly turned to Rumil.

'Go find her, Rum. Be quick.'

With a sharp nod, Rumil left, blending in with the shadows so quickly the elleth could not follow his progress.

It was fifteen minutes later when Rumil and Vari turned up, Rumil holding a breathless Vari's hand.

They quickly came up to the impatiently waiting group, who demanded to know what had happened.

'Oh, it was terrible!' gasped Vari. 'I was on the steps, going down my flet when I heard someone coming down the steps behind me, quite fast. I did not know who it was, so I swung over the edge of the steps and hung from the edge by my hands! The elf went past, and I found that I could not pull myself up! I was stuck, until Rumil came and found me.'

'How did he get you down?' asked a wide-eyed Neminari, and Vari giggled.

'He told me to let go and he would catch me. It took him quite five minutes to persuade me to do so, so when I did it, he was unready and we both ended up sprawled on the ground together! It was awful - if any of the elder elves had seen us they would have been shocked and both of us would be forced into perpetual chaperonage!'

The elleth giggled at this tale, but were quietened by the ellyn, who after hearing the details of the rescue quickly from Rumil, had returned to the problem of getting over the wall, which was twelve feet tall and about a foot thick.

Eventually, Orophin, Querdin, Elladan and Legolas went over first, Vincere and Rumil stayed on top of the wall, and Lenodarin, Elrohir and Jorluin helped the elleth up the ladder and lowered them by their hands to the waiting ellyn on the other side. In a short time they were all making their way to Exilien.

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In the days after Rilla's passionate outburst at Glorfindel, Rilla had called a meeting without Glorfindel, and had stirred the others up into such a spirit of mischief that they agreed to go along with the original plan - Glorfindel's good opinion or not. When the four had arrived, the twins had listened to Rilla's reasoning, and had agreed with her opinion that it was merely 'a bit of harmless fun', as had Jorluin, and though Legolas had - once again - attempted to state the other side of the case, he had been quickly overruled. Not truly seeing the danger in the venture, it was not weakness that led Legolas to give in. Had Legolas been informed by one like Glorfindel of all the circumstances, he would have striven indefinitely to stop his friends - and would have refused to go. Unfortunately, due to Rilla's clever organisation and manipulation, the group had very little to do with Glorfindel.

It was a queer sight, which the ancient trees watched in sleepy-eyed indifference. A large group of young elleth and ellyn, quietly making their way through the forest with secretive glances and hastily stifled giggles. The swish-swish of the elleths long dresses was heard over the faint breeze that seemed to be chilled by the bright moonlight. However, without Glorfindel's presence there seemed to be something missing - including his prudence and sense of fun. He would have made certain that there were precautions against being cornered in Exilien by anyone who had heard their leaving. However, those in the group were all relatively young, and did not think about it.

They had prepared for the celebration well - the headquarters were full of tasty treats, and the ellyn usually left their smuggled supplies of Dorwinnian wine there for safe-keeping. The elleth had spread tiny fairy lamps around the whole area, and the effect overall was gorgeous. The ellyn commended them on their work, as the entered Exilien.

A fey mood came over the whole group, and while Jorluin and Lenodarin brought out two fiddles, the rest of them danced - either in pairs, triplets or by themselves. They played 'musical cushions' (for they had not enough chairs), which led to much hilarious laughter and much wrestling by the ellyn. The poor embroidered pillows took a good beating, but Hwestawen and Yolande promised newer ones in the not too distance future.

Rilla, Vari and Neminari spread out in the soft grass, with sighs of happiness. It was all too beautiful. Rilla, not yet suffering from a guilty conscience either about the party or Glorfindel, felt once again that life was all too wonderful.

Yolande and Hwestawen assisted the ellyn in bringing out jugs of cool drinks and glasses, as they sprawled upon the grass. The ellyn had opened a cask of Dorwinnian wine and were sipping it with great fervour - for it was incredibly difficult to come across.

Legolas had long ago relaxed - he often longed for such informal fun with both elleth and ellyn his own age, however in Mirkwood there was little time for such celebrations, so dangerous the area had become. King Thranduil, understanding the needs of his sons, had sent them to Lothlorien for a sort of enjoyable resting - for he had heard quite a lot about the infamous company there!

Jorluin had a youthful infatuation with Neminari, which embarrassed and delighted her at the same time. All the group teased the pair greatly, acknowledging that Jorluin that brought Neminari out of herself even more. However, Vincere often seemed to be jealous of the way in which Neminari unembarrassedly treated Jorluin - as if he were the younger brother she had never had, being an only child.

So the company was happy and contented as they lay there under the stars, telling tales and teasing each other with youthful fervour. Unfortunately for them, though, a particular�ellyn was having difficulties sleeping back in Caras Galadhon...

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Haldir was having a bad night. He could not sleep…he was restless in spirit and body. Sighing, he gave up the attempt, and dressed. He silently made his way down the steps, and almost fell off them when he bumped into an elf who was just opening Orophin's door, and who he eventually realised was Glorfindel. Glorfindel had also received an awful shock, but Haldir was the first to recover.

'Glorfindel!' he whispered, 'What on Arda are you doing here…' he looked to the right, where Orophin's door was.

Glorfindel coughed and looked sufficiently sheepish to make Haldir even more suspicious.

'I was... unable to sleep and thought I would call on Orophin…to see how he was recovering from this afternoon!' Glorfindel told himself that he sounded like a fool...

Haldir raised an eyebrow.

'Indeed! And what was Orophin recovering from?'

'Some thorough drinking with his friends, I saw them together this afternoon.' Glorfindel seemed more confident now.

'Ah, of course. I saw them too. Did you see him, now? Or are you just going in?'

Placed back into a precarious position, Glorfindel once again coughed.

'Just… saw him. Out to the world, of course.' he attempted a faint laugh, 'Like to go for a walk, Marchwarden?'

'Wait, my friend.' Haldir shook his head with a small smile, 'Glorfindel, stop playing games with me. I know very well you were just opening the door, and I would like to know why you do not wish me to see Orophin.'

'No... no reason at all Haldir! You are imagining things!'

'Glorfindel, stop it immediately! You are making things worse. As Marchwarden of Lothlorien I need to know what it happening. Am I right in guessing that Orophin will probably not be in his flet?'

Glorfindel sighed. He wished it did not have to be like this…

'I do not know for certain…but I suppose we should now check.'

'I believe so.'

Haldir opened the door of Orophin's flet, and went to his bedroom door. Opening it, by the moonlight he could see it was completely empty, and the bed was unslept in. Quickly checking the rest of the flet, he came to Glorfindel.

'Well, Orophin is not there. Let us check on Rumil.'

Haldirs face was grim, for he knew what to expect. However, he was still hoping against hope that perhaps Orophin and Rumil had merely gone to a friends house to drink the night away. That would depend on whether Rilla was in her flet, or not.

After ascertaining that Rumil too was missing from his flet, the pair silently made their way to Rilla's. Haldir left Glorfindel outside the door, as he slowly checked each room.

He came out. Though his face was calm, his eyes showed how livid he truly was.

'Glorfindel…' his voice was low and dangerous, 'Did you know about a celebration within this group, which I believe you are a member?'

'Haldir, I admit I was there while they were speaking of having a celebration. As you might have thought of, if you were not so suspicious at the present moment, I was totally against the idea. I told them that their idea of having a celebration outside the city gates, in the middle of the night was foolhardy and ridiculous, as it was against Lothlorien's laws.'

Haldir, calming, put a hand on Glorfindel's arm.

'Forgive me, my friend. I should not have expected you to allow this. So they did this even after you had told them the reasons why they should not?'

'I believe so…' Glorfindel paced the floor in front of Rilla's flet, 'The fact is, Haldir, that after I told them what I thought, Rilla was quite incensed with me, and told me exactly what she thought of me…She, and the others, have avoided me since.'

His words were not bitter, or petulant. The mature elf knew no guilt over what he had said - for what he had said was right. Also, he knew that eventually the young ones would realise why he had said what he did, and that he would not lose his friendship with them.

There was only one slight thing that worried him… This was the first time he had encountered the rage of Idril directed towards himself…and, as he was considerably fond of the elleth, he had no wish to lose her friendship…

'Of course…' Haldir was now very stern, 'It is about time that my sister learnt exactly what is occurring beyond her little dreamland in Lothlorien. It is time she grew up.'

'Grew up?' Glorfindel looked at the Marchwarden, slightly concerned, 'My dear Haldir, do you expect her to be mature already, having only been of age for a few mere months? I do agree that she needs to know a little bit more of what goes on in Arda outside of Lothlorien, but I would not like to see her lose her childishness.'

'Nor would I…' Haldir smiled, slightly mollified by this reasonable outlook towards his dear sister. 'But she, and all of the others, must be taught a lesson. Their frank disregard for the laws of Lothlorien are disturbing! And I have no doubt that Rilla led them…But the ellyn…Orophin, Rumil, Elladan, Elrohir, Querdin - Legolas! They should have known better.!'

'I don't believe Legolas is to blame, Haldir. He is the prudent one of the group - if he had known the dangers he would have put a stop to it.'

'Only for Rilla to lead another rebellion…' Haldir sighed, 'Glorfindel, it seems like it is only you who can truly control the ellyth. I shall consult with you about her punishment.'

'We cannot think of punishments until we catch them all, Haldir. How do you mean to do that?'

'Will you lead me to their headquarters?'

'Haldir, you know that I can not. It would be betraying their trust - for I am one of them. It would be treason. However, if I did not have another idea, I would have too.'

'And what is this other idea?'

'Well, they must have scrambled over the wall. They mean to scramble back over it just before dawn - all we must do is find the place, and wait for them.'

'All too easy, it would seem.'

'Mayhap, but it shall work.'

With another sigh, Haldir made his way down the steps, Glorfindel close behind.

Many apologies about how long it has taken me to post...! And I'm dubious about the 'ellyth' thing. I can't remember the singular word and so I took a stab at it for I am tired. (heh) I've been reading up on betas of late and have been wondering whether it was 'too late' for me to find one for this particular fiction. What do you think?

Btw, could someone tell me whether Milo is merely an Australian thing? I'm sure it is, but I just want to check. (For I have practically written a totally Milo-orientated chapter in the fanfiction I'm working on at the moment... Crazy I know, but Milo has been on my mind a Lot lately...!)

Also there are all these creepy box things in the 'edit' place...I hope they disappear...