The years continued to pass both happily and peacefully for the inhabitants of Imladris and soon all four both Faelwen and Arwen were soon leaving their elfling years behind them and heading towards their majorities
The years continued to pass both happily and peacefully for the inhabitants of Imladris and soon all four both Faelwen and Arwen were soon leaving their elfling years behind them and heading towards their majorities
Arwen, gracious and regal, grew to rival the beauty of Luthien herself. She had the grace of an elven queen of old. As for Faelwen, she made good her wishes and studied the art of healing. She worked diligently and eagerly under Elrond's guidance; learning the property of the different herbs and elixirs as well as learning how to channel her own healing powers into someone else. She soon mastered much of the duties; so much so that Elrond began to grow rather suspicious at the lack of injuries sported by the twins when they returned home after being on patrol, considering the huge amount of scrapes and bruises that they had always accumulated through rashness and action without thought.
Of course, it didn't for a moment occur to any of them that their serene happiness was about to be completely upturned.
"Elladan, can't you be more careful?" sighed Faelwen, placing her hands over a large cut on Elladan's arm and focusing on the energy inside her; channelling it into her brother. Gradually, the cut began to fade until it vanished completely
"Blame this idiot!" said Elladan lightly, nodding at his twin. "We were sparring when Erestor called my name. I turned to see what he wanted and Elrohir kept coming at me!"
"Just be glad Ada and Glorfindel didn't find out you were using real blades to spar with instead of the wooden training ones!" said Faelwen reproachfully, rolling Elladan's sleeve down again. "You do not want to spend Nana and Arwen's first night back on the receiving end of one of their lectures!"
"Speaking of which, they must be due in a couple of hours. We had better be ready if we're going to ride out and meet them," said Elrohir, looking up from the dagger he was polishing.
"Lord Elrond! Lord Elrond!" Lindir burst into the room in a state of great agitation. The twins and Faelwen got hurriedly to their feet, exchanging worried glances.
"Ada is in the healing rooms at the moment, Lindir," explained Faelwen. "Can we help you?"
"It is most urgent, Lady Faelwen!" gasped Lindir, his face gone so white that Faelwen feared he might faint. "One of your mother's guards has returned, gravely injured. The party has been attacked by orcs."
"Attacked? Where is our mother?" gulped Elrohir. "Is she wounded?"
"She has been…taken." said Lindir sadly. "The orcs have captured her and four of her escort from Lorien. Glorfindel is gathering a party of the guards to ride out after them as we speak. I must see Lord Elrond!" He headed back out of the door again.
"Elrohir, come on," said Elladan, immediately heading for the door. "We need to go with then and bring her back."
"I'm coming with you," said Faelwen determinedly.
"You are going nowhere, Faelwen!" said Elladan sternly, rounding on his sister. "I am not having you anywhere near a band of orcs! You are staying here!"
"Elladan, I am not helpless! I can shoot! Besides, you might need me. Nana may be wounded!" Faelwen argued, speaking truthfully. She was a talented archer, with a clear eye and quick reflexes.
"Faelwen Elrondiel, you' will go up to the healing rooms and stay there with Ada untill we return with the guards! Follow us and I swear by the Valar I will skin you alive!" thundered Elladan.
Faelwen frowned, ready to argue but an angry glare from both the twins silenced her.
"I know you can shoot, gwaleth, but there is no chance that we will let you risk your life like that," said Elrohir. "Dan and I will bring Nana back, we can look after ourselves. We need you and Ada to be ready to help her here. Besides, Lindir says the guard is injured. He will need your help."
Faelwen sighed, knowing that they twins would not be persuaded to change their minds. They had always been very protective of her when she was an elfling and even now, as a grown elleth, they were still the same.
"Be careful!" she pleaded and they nodded simultaneously.
"We will be," Elladan promised gravely, patting her arm, before they both ran out of the door.
Faelwen drew a deep steadying breath and ran her hands through her long blond hair.
"Elbeteth, let them return!" she whispered a prayer. "Please let our mother be safe!" With that, she turned and ran up to the healing rooms as fast as her legs could carry her.
"Ada! ADA!" she cried, bursting through the door to be greeted by an ashen faced Elrond.
"Did Lindir…did he…Nana…" she stuttered incoherently, gesturing wildly.
"Yes, I know, iel-nin," said Elrond quietly, placing calming hands on her shoulders. "But you need to be calm. If your mother is hurt, she is going to need us both. We can only help her if we remain calm."
"But the twins have gone too! What if…" Faelwen began fearfully, but Elrond silenced her by placing a finger against her lips.
"Enough, Faelwen." he said firmly. "Be calm; there is no sense in panicking over what might happen. We must be prepared for what has happened. Come, help me get the supplies ready. And we must tend to the guard. His arm and shoulder are broken."
He spoke with firm assurance, but inwardly Elrond's heart was pounding and his stomach doing swan dives. What if Celebrian did not come back? What if the twins or Glorfindel didn't come back? What would he do then?
He shook himself sternly. He needed to stay strong for himself and for his children. He needed to believe that Celebrian was going to be all right. He could not break down now!
It was several hours later, though it seemed like an eternity to Elrond and Faelwen, when the weary rescue party finally returned. With pounding hearts, both elves ran down to meet them, to be overcome with both relief and horror.
Relief came because both twins were returned and well – though their eyes were dark with anger and hate. And the horror came with the sight of Celebrian, white faced and blood stained in Glorfindel's arms…and her eyes were closed! It looked as though there were stab wounds on her torso!
"Where is Arwen?" asked Elrond in terror, hoping that his legs wouldn't give way.
"She remained in Lorien, my lord," answered one of the guards. "Luckily, she was spared this horrific experience."
As well as Celebrian, four of the Lorien guards were wounded gravely, and two of the Imladris guards had trivial injuries. The orcs truly had done their gruesome best!
"Faelwen, you deal with the guards in the healing rooms," instructed Elrond briskly, running his eye over them. "Glorfindel, if you could take Celebrian up to my room, I will see to her there."
Everyone scattered to do as they were bid and the twins hastened after their father while their sister directed the wounded and the soldiers who were assisting them towards the healing rooms.
Once they found themselves in the clear, cool chambers, Faelwen suddenly assumed a calm, confident and professional persona. She hurriedly put all four of them in beds and asked their comrades to help her strip them of their uniforms.
Running an eye over each of them, she gave instructions to one of the junior healers to prepare her a salve of athelas while she removed blade fragments, stitched the wounds and then used her healing energy to heal each of the guards individually; one with chest wounds, one stabbed in the side, one with an arrow in the lung and one with multiple sword wounds on the back. It took some time; far longer than she had expected from normal wounds. Then realisation set in…
"The wounds are poisoned!" she groaned, laying her hands on a guard's fevered forehead. "Laurenien, can you mix me a tea with the herbs I've ground in the wooden bowl on the counter? It should counteract any poison that's got into their blood streams."
While the tea was being prepared, Faelwen healed the wounds of the Imladris guards, which thankfully weren't too serious. Their cuts closed in no time and they seemed to suffer no further discomfort.
The soldiers watched in concern as their comrades were fed the tea to counteract the poison. Thankfully it seemed to restore the colour to their cheeks.
"The wounds have closed, but I will put the salve on the places where they were," she explained to the two junior healers. "It should help minimalise any bruising or muscle pain."
With gentle tenderness, she smoothed the salve over their healed wounds to ensure a complete recovery before covering them up with bedclothes and leaving them to their slumber. She turned to Laurenien and Ciryan, who were watching her silently.
"They should all be all right now – I think we caught the poison in time. I need you to monitor their temperatures. If there are any changes, let me know at once. I will be in my father's rooms."
"My lady, I think you should rest first," said one of the Imladris soldiers, whom she recognised as the twin's friend Urúvion. "You look exhausted."
"I appreciate your concern, Urúvion, but I am fine," she said, washing her hands quickly and splashing her face with cold water. "I must help my father now."
And she rushed out of the room.
She slipped quietly into Elrond's room to find Celebrian lying lifeless and pale in the bed, while Elrond was putting the final stitches into one of several wounds on his wife's upper body.
In horror, Faelwen noticed the ghostly pallor of Celebrian's skin. It seemed that a good deal of poison had managed to get into her mother's blood stream.
"Ada..." she asked hesitantly. Elrond looked up and regarded her gravely. "How is she?"
"I have managed to get treat the wounds," said Elrond grimly. "But there is a lot of poison in your mother's blood. I have given her something to counteract it, but I will need to keep a close watch. There is nothing more I can do at the moment. She has not regained consciousness yet and her condition is still very grave."
Faelwen swallowed against the onslaught of tears and went to sit by the twins, who were sitting pale and stricken on the couch by their parents' bed.
She reached for Elrohir's hand as she sat down next to him, then gasped as she noticed the blood-soaked sleeve that had slipped her eye earlier.
"You are wounded!" she said in dismay, moving to adjust his tunic and have a look at the wound, but Elrohir pulled away.
"It is nothing!" He insisted, his voice thick with tears, but Faelwen shook her head and firmly reached for his arm again. He bore a deep cut; painful but luckily not poisoned and it took but two minutes of Faelwen's healing touch for the wound to close. Elrohir squeezed her hand in thanks, not trusting himself to speak. Faelwen touched his face affectionately before looking over at the prone body of Celebrian.
"Ada, I know that Nana's wounds are not so easily healed, but do you think I could help?" she asked, wishing for anything to put this nightmare at an end.
"I am not sure, iel-nin," said Elrond sadly, angry and frustrated with himself for not being there to help his wife, and even more angry that he couldn't heal her right that moment and take her pain away. "But you can certainly try."
Nodding, Faelwen crossed the room to kneel on the floor by Celebrian's bed and took her mother's hand in her own. Focusing on the on her healing energy with more determination than she ever had before, she concentrated hard and focused on passing it onto Celebrian.
She sat there for hours.
Darkness had fallen when Elrond, still anxiously checking his wife's pulse and temperature, noticed that Faelwen's head was drooping onto her chest. She had used nearly all the energy she had to try and heal her mother, but there was not the slightest sign of change.
"Faelwen, bed," instructed Elrond gently and she blinked, looking up blearily; close to weeping with sheer exhaustion and frustration. Obediently, she got to her feet and her legs promptly gave way. Luckily, Elladan leapt to catch her and held her until she had regained a bit of balance.
"To bed now. All three of you," said Elrond firmly.
"But Ada, how can we possibly sleep knowing that Nana is so ill?" pleaded Elrohir. "Let us stay here in case something happens."
Elrond truly wanted all three to get rest, but he just didn't have the heart to refuse them, seeing their white, anxious faces. He agreed that they could spend the night in the room, though he insisted that the settle down on the couch and get some rest, even if they couldn't go to sleep.
Knowing that all they could do now was wait for their mother to regain consciousness, the twins settled on either side of the large sofa with Faelwen between them. Faelwen, every ounce of energy gone, promptly fell asleep with her head on Elladan's shoulder. Elladan wrapped his arms around her and rested his cheek against the crown of her head, gradually following her into slumber.
It was several hours before Elrohir could eventually retreat into the world of dreams, as he jerked awake every time his head began to droop. When he had finally succumbed to slumber, Elrond crossed to the couch and wrapped a blanket around the three of them, then whispered a prayer to the Valar. He prayed fervently that Celebrian would regain consciousness soon…for his children's sake as well as his own!