Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel arrived the other day. Erestor greeted them and they went directly to the chambers where Elrond lay and Celebrian waited for them.
When they got into the room they saw Elrond lying on the bed, his skin had a sickly grey-pale color and pearls of sweat were on his brow. Most of the time he was lying still but sometimes the calm in the room was interrupted by Elrond's writhing and moaning in pain.
Galadriel laid a cooling hand on his forehead and closed her eyes. She searched for the light of his spirit and caught a flicker of it. He was still fighting for his own fate. Although he had lost control of his body his stubborn mind was still clinging to life.
"Elrond Peredhel, you stubborn elf don't let go we will find an antidote, I promise, help has come. You have so much to live for, don't give up and go to the darkness of Mandos.", Galadriel said in his mind and she felt that he was trying to answer her but she didn't get an answer. She slowly withdrew from his mind and looked in her daughter's desperate eyes:
"There is still hope for Elrond, he is clinging to life although his body might forsake him soon. We have to find the antidote!"
She took another blood sample and went to Elrond's laboratory to find an antidote. Celeborn led Celebrian away to his guest room for she needed sleep and he wanted to make sure she did sleep. Their children sat together with Nuriel in the Hall of Fire and told her stories about their childhood and the twins' pranks.
Galadriel returned to Elrond in the evening to test an antidote but as she came into the room, she saw Elrond wide awake with a bloody cut on his breast, trying to sit up. Galadriel pushed him down so he wouldn't exhaust himself. He tried to speak but he just coughed and his voice was too hoarse to say anything. Galadriel fed him some tea and he whispered:
"Nuriel...hide her! Danger... Haradrim Traders are searching...300 years ago...go now!"
Galadriel ran as fast as she could to hide Nuriel in one of the hidden caves for which only Elrond and a few other lords had access to. The rest of the Peredhel family gathered in the room where Elrond lay and discussed what to do.
Elrond was unconscious and the poison had effect on him once again.
Just as Elladan wanted to ask where they had hid Nuriel, they heard a silent chuckle out of one corner of the room. They all turned to see a man in weather beaten and old clothes.
"Who are you and what are you doing here",
asked Elladan but he feared the worst and Nuriel's nightmares might have come true.
The man laughed again:
"Seriously, elf, you should show a bit more respect, after all I am the one who holds your father's fate in his hands, literally."
He held up a small bottle with a clear golden liquid in it.
"This is the antidote against the poison I fed your father, but before you get the idea, this is missing one ingredient and without me you will never find out what it is. So there is no sense in killing me for your father will also die. I'll tell and give you the ingredient to complete the antidote and I ask only one thing in return: Your new little elven friend. I have to complete a quest my family started hundreds of years ago, oh and there is one more thing: you have only three hours to decide otherwise your daddy is d.e.a.d. I'm going to stay here with your dad until you either bring me the girl or you decide to let your father die."
At that moment Galadriel returned and with her Nuriel who didn't want to hide without saying goodbye to Elladan.
The man just grinned as he says her:
"I think she has made the decision herself without even knowing there is one. Sorry elf, but you have to die now."
He roughly grabbed Nuriel and held a knife against her throat.
"NO! Give us the antidote first!", shouted Elladan just to get some time to think of a plan to save Nuriel as well as his father.
The man sighed:" Ok, here you go, the antidote, and the special ingredient is an herb called laiquë. It is a rare herb and you are lucky that I found it. Just add it to the tea you are feeding him against the pain."
Celebrian snatched the antidote, mixed it with the tea and fed it to Elrond.
The man still stood near Elrond and stabbed Nuriel's side with his dagger. She cried out in pain and sank on the floor. Elladan charged at the man and snapped his neck before he could do anything else. He cradled Nuriel in his arms and stroked her hair. There was no hope left for her, she already had lost too much blood.
"I'm sorry, so sorry.", Elladan whispered. Nuriel shook her head:
"Don't be, your father is going to live, and I've had the best time of my life with you."
Elladan tried to swallow the tears that threatened to spill over on his cheeks but failed and soon sobs shook his body."
At this moment, Elrond woke up and although he was still very weak and was still in pain he quickly understood what was going on because he had seen the Haradrim before this all had escalated. He got up but his weak legs were not able to carry him and he crashed to the floor. Celeborn wanted to pull him up and lay him on the bed again but Elrond crept towards Nuriel and laid his hands on her side next to the wound and concentrated all of his healing energy to her. Twelve eyes widened in wonder as they saw the healing energy flowing into Nuriel's body. They knew that Elrond spend some of his energy but never so much that one could have seen it. But now a bright glow flew into her body. Elrond sank to the floor as her wound closed and when her eyes opened he fell limply on the floor and was once again unconscious.
Elladan stared into her eyes and their faces itched closer until both kissed and had tears in their eyes.
"Nuriel, promise you won't ever do this again, I love you too much to ever loose you again."
"I promise Elladan, I promise."

The End