Chapter 6

Estel sighed for the tenth . . . no . . . possibly the eleventh time that morning. Elrond had promised yesterday that he could sit in a chair by the window today with the injunction that if he tried to leave his bed, unassisted, he would be dumped straight back into it by whoever discovered him.

At least his mother had left the curtains open today. For the longest time Estel had been unable to bear strong light so they had remained closed on all but the cloudiest of days and his world had been defined by the walls of this room. He suspected that, if asked, he could by now make a very accurate depiction of every knot and line of grain in the ceiling beams above his bed.

If he was honest, for the first few weeks he could not have done even that, so perhaps boredom was a step up. The strange aura's in his vision were becoming less frequent but still plagued him when the light was too strong or he grew tired, which happened far too often for his liking. At the sound of the door opening he turned from counting the panes in the nearest window.

"Good day, Estel. How are you feeling?" Elrond was smiling . . . at least what passed for a smile most of the time for Elrond. Estel had known him long enough now to gauge that he was in a pleasant mood.

He tried to sound very healthy, giving his foster father a broad smile. "I'm feeling much better today, thank you." Even he cringed at the slightly over enthusiastic tone in his voice and decided immediately to reduce the intensity of the smile. It was making his cheeks ache anyway.

Elladan followed his father, his smile much broader and his eyes twinkling as he strode to Estel's bedside. "Hello, Little Brother. Gilraen tells me you enjoyed your breakfast today."

Estel scowled. "The breakfast was fine. But mother accompanied it with a bed bath."

Elrond was arranging furniture by the window so Estel's hope rose. Elladan laughed. "That's what mothers do. She did it when you were a baby so she's used to it."

Estel rolled his eyes. "I'm a bit bigger nowadays and I've been bathing myself for a long time. Have you any idea how embarrassing it is to be bathed by your mother when you're twenty years old? No. Of course you wouldn't. As an elf you were still a child."

Elladan only laughed again as he threw back Estel's covers. "Well, she is not here now. So just let me find your slippers and then Adar and I will help you to your chair."

Moving to the edge of the bed, Estel gingerly dropped his feet to the floor, where he was further embarrassed by having his foster brother put his slippers on for him.

That's when Elladan did it. He knew he should not but he and Elrohir had teased Estel ever since the young man was old enough to retaliate. Kneeling at his foster brother's feet he said, "Let me just fasten these. We would not want ikle brother to get cold tootsies."

Estel did not bother with words. He used the simple expedient of putting the aforementioned tootsies, backed with most of his body weight, on Elladan's shoulder and pushing. His foster brother landed unceremoniously on his bottom with a loud, "Oof!"

Just as Elladan was about to forget himself and make a grab for Estel's ankle, Elrond's voice cut through the high spirits. "Elladan. I have just spent several weeks attempting to return your foster brother to some semblance of his previous good health. I would appreciate it if you did not negate all my hard work within the space of one morning."

Grinning smugly, Estel held forth an imperious foot for Elladan to fasten the slipper. Elladan obliged him without further comment but there was a twinkle in his grey eyes which promised, "Later, Little Brother."

As Elladan moved to his foster brother's side, Elrond appeared at the other. "I understand that you will find it difficult to resist the temptation to move more quickly, but I want you to walk at the pace set by Elladan and myself, at least for your first excursion."

Estel's brows climbed into his fringe, where they hung about looking surprised for a while. He estimated the distance between bed and chair to be all of four good strides. Even had he the intention it would be very difficult to build up any speed within four strides. And since when had four strides been described as an "excursion"? Excursions at the very least included a packed lunch.

Any further consideration was prevented by Elladan and Elrond wrangling Estel into a dressing robe. Estel did not remember owning such a garment and suspected, from the costly and voluminous fabrics, that it was on loan from his foster father. He revised his estimate of the number of steps required to reach the chair. Elrond was several inches taller than Estel so, with the need to hold yards of fabric out of the way, it was likely to take an additional two or three.

He was just trying to work out how to best handle the fabric when Elladan and Elrond took an elbow each and levered Estel slowly off the bed and onto his feet. The youth blinked, discovering that he had to lean most of his weight against his foster father as the room performed several lazy circles. He was very relieved when he was not required to move for several moments.

"Just relax, Estel. You may be feeling a little dizzy . . . as you did when you first sat up. Just let me know when you are ready to move." Not for the first time in his life Estel mentally rolled his eyes at Elrond's gift for understatement. Not only was the room rotating but strange blue and yellow glowing lights were wavering at the edge of his vision once more.

After what seemed like an eternity, the room ceased its gyrations and Estel straightened. "I'm alright," he murmured as he considered how to put one foot in front of the other. It had been some weeks since he had performed that exercise and his brain seemed to have forgotten how. Just as he was about to panic, his helpers took a small step. In automatic response his own leg moved and Estel let out a relieved breath.

It took twelve steps to reach the chair. Estel counted each one. Of course, the last three had been more drag than step for, by then, his muscles had run out of energy and his knees had assumed all the coordination of a new born colt. Had his helpers not been elven strong Estel's descent into the chair would have been swift and uncomfortable, but they held him easily, even managing to arrange the heavy robe before lowering him gently.

At this point the room was performing its by now familiar rolling, not that Estel could see much of it through the coloured light display, so he closed his eyes on the scene. When he opened them again it was to the awareness that time had passed. He was sitting back in a comfortably padded chair, with his legs resting on a footstool beneath a heavy blanket. A table, containing a glass of water and a book, sat to his left and a long window stood slightly ajar to his right. For several moments he simply savoured the sounds of birdsong and water and the scent of earth.

"How are you feeling now?" Elrond appeared at his left, bending to tuck the blanket more closely. "Has the dizziness faded?"

Estel blinked away the last of the blue lights. "Have I been asleep? Yes. The dizziness has gone."

"You only rested for a few minutes. We would have carried you to the chair but I considered a blanket bath from your mother to be enough indignity for one day."

Noting the twinkle in his foster father's eyes Estel allowed himself a grin. "I don't suppose you could instead persuade Lindir to do that for me tomorrow?"

Elrond took pity on him. "I am certain he can be spared to assist you. I shall make the arrangements." He placed a small silver hand bell upon the table. "In the meantime, should you require anything, ring this." Elrond fixed him with a stern glare. "And I mean 'anything'. You are not to try to leave this chair unaided. Do I have your promise, Estel?"

Had his foster father not asked him a direct question Estel would have dissembled. But he had been raised to respect an oath given. "I promise that I shall not try to rise from this chair without aid." Estel all but choked on each word, particularly when he saw Elrond smile knowingly.

"Then I shall leave you to enjoy the fresh air. Elladan will return in a little while with your luncheon." With those words Elrond departed on silent feet.

Estel leaned back against the cushions, rolling his head indolently to look at the sky. It was a cloudy autumn day but he did not care. Just to feel connected to the world beyond his room once more was enough for the moment.

In the weeks that followed Estel improved . . . although not nearly as quickly as he would have liked.