DUTY, OBlIGATION OR MANIPULATION?
It was only a few minutes before the twins returned carrying a deer skin medical bag, a medium size bowl and a kettle full of hot water. They set all of it next to Elrond except the kettle which they put in the fire to keep the water warm until their father was ready for it, they then stepped back to allow their father room to work. He took a small cloth and grabbing the kettle from the fire poured the hot water into the bowl. He let the cloth absorb the steaming water before taking the now hot cloth and laying it over the bloody bandage on Eruraviel's arm. This was done so that they wouldn't cause further damage to the wound when removing the bandage.
Elrond let the hot water soak into the bandage for a few minutes before removing the now somewhat cool cloth and dipping it back into the water. After rinsing it, he reapplied the hot cloth once more. As he did this the coagulated blood that had acted as glue between the bandage and the wound loosened and it was with careful and precise movements that Elrond removed the soiled bandage. We all grimaced at the sight of the jagged hole that was obviously made from a human arrow. Orcs poisoned their arrow heads, and not only that they were designed to cause maximum damage when removed. The lack of black seepage indicated that the wound was not poisoned thankfully and the fact that no giant pieces of flesh were missing showed that it was not an orc who shot her.
The wound lent even more credence to the theory that humans and orcs were working together. They all watched as Elrond quickly and efficiently rinsed the wound and stitched it closed before packing the area with aethlas and willow bark to prevent infection before neatly tying on a new bandage.
"I'll need to change it once a day and from the size of the wound it will take at least a month to heal. And another two weeks after that before she will be able to build the strength up in that arm again. I will bind her arm to her chest to avoid her using it. I do not want her putting stress on the tears as I fear she may have damaged some of the tendons and the bone seems to be cracked from the force of the impact. My guess was that after she was injured she continued to use the arm when she went after the archers. This put even more stress on the limb. We will need to watch her as I doubt she will take kindly to being forced into stillness. Her faer itself seems wild and uneasy, what exactly is the cause of that I do not know, but it seems to be something she is used to judging from the marks around her eyes she seems used to a lack of rest and safety." Elrond said as he used a long roll of white linen to strap her arm across her heart. He tied it securely on her back in such a way as to prevent her from undoing the bandage on her own.
"Come let us get her into a guest room where she will rest more comfortably than a couch." Celebrían stated, and after a moment Glorfindel stepped forward and gently scooped the prone form of the injured elleth off the couch. He followed after Elrond as his lord led the way through the winding halls of The Last Homely House. He was somewhat amused at the fact Elrond was leading him to the one empty room next to Glorfindel's. Although he was happy that he would be nearby in order to help her more easily. He waited as Elrond opened the door to the right of his own before following him in. Fortunately the empty rooms in the household were all regularly cleaned, as such bedding and other items were replaced as needed. Because of this the room was both clean and fresh, and it lacked the dust and musk that you would expect from such a long unused room.
The room was colored in blues and greens with the bed in the back left corner with deep emerald sheets and a dark sea blue comforter and pillows. The dark, midnight blue rugs covered most of the stone floor with a single emerald and sea foam green couch against the right wall facing the bed with a cherry end table in front of it. There was a set of double doors that led onto a small balcony which over looked several of the waterfalls and some of the surrounding forest. The stone railing had ivy trailing up the columns and around the banister like water flowing over river rocks. Glorfindel set the sleeping elleth down gently on the bed after Elrond had pulled back the covers and they both set about removing her weapons. Glorfindel handed the daggers and swords to Celeborn and set about removing her bracers as Elrond removed her bow, quiver and the dual elven blades hidden beneath. After the bracers had been set aside Glorfindel removed her boots and gently covered her with the blanket. He jumped for a second as he remembered that she probably had a spike strip in her hair and pulled her forwards and motioned to Elrond to remove her braid. He looked somewhat confuse but did as Glorfindel bid him and he smirked at the dumbfounded expressions on the faces of his companions at the sight of the fourteen inch strip of barbs and needle like thorns woven into her hair.
He laid her back down once more and again covered with the blanket. They placed her weapons on the end table and gently closed the door as they left her to her rest. He would come back and check on her in a few hours but for now, he would need to find a way to convince her to remain in Rivendell at least until her arm healed. Judging from the fact that she had not mentioned it before now, he was almost positive that she would chafe against any restrictions to her movement's weather they would actually help her or not would not matter in the least.
"Celeborn any ideas on how to convince her to stay and behave long enough to let her arm heal?" Glorfindel asked the silver lord. After all the ellon had managed to convince her to come with him to Rivendell as such he may have some usable ideas. He had seen elves before after the last alliance that faced similar problems and while it had taken many years with help from family, friends and everyone in Imladris the war torn elves had slowly healed, it was part of the reason he was currently as worried as he was. He knew that Celeborn and Elrond held the same worry, after all they were some of the elves that had need the longest time to heal due to the fact that they had been on the front lines and the commanders of the elven army along with Galadriel, Gil-Galad and Oropher. He knew that even to this day they still carried guilt over the numerous lives that were lost during the long war against Sauron and his armies. It was even worse for Elrond due to losing Gil-Galad who had been a second father to Elrond.
The fact that Eruraviel had faced losses greater than his own and had wandered for so many years meant she had learned to close in on herself and the stress from the battle and loss of Gondolin had never faded only managed to become more entrenched in her mind and faer. The fact that she had avoided all the elven settlements spoke volumes of her fear of connections with other elves. In all honesty, he was extremely surprised that she had agreed to come to Imladris in the first place. After all, she knew Celeborn or at least his reputation and would no doubt know that after Celebrían's capture that her guard would be extremely cautious. Why had she agreed to escort Celebrían home?
"I asked for her assistance in guarding Celebrían although why she has become protective of her so quickly I don't know. When she arrived in Lothloríen with Celebrían, she had only just stopped to let Celebrían dismount before turning to leave. I think the only reason at the time that she agreed to stay the night was to avoid being rude. It was on the journey here that the slight connection between her and Celebrían flourished. She and I have become friends but it will still take some work to convince her to remain long enough to heal. My biggest worry is the fact that she hid her wound. That speaks to the fact that she may feel like she deserves the injury to some degree and if that is the case, it will take many years of work to change her mindset. As old as she is, and due to her high level of skill I doubt she hid the injury due to embarrassment. In fact, I do need to thank her; I know that she only got off one shot with her bow, as her arrows are distinctive. In addition, the only shot she took was to kill an orc that was sneaking up on me and I had not seen him. It was that shot that probably gave her away to the archers. My guess is that she took the shot and it left her open long enough for them to catch her in the arm." Celeborn theorized.
Elrond had a calculating look on his face that made Glorfindel give him a puzzled glance as they re-entered Elrond's study.
"Elaborating on what you just said Celeborn I would guess that that's when she went after the archers and strained her arm. Moreover, Celebrían you may be the key to getting that stubborn elleth to rest properly. You, Celeborn and Glorfindel are the only solid connections she has right now. Working in tandem you may be able to make her understand that it would be better for her to rest here where it is safe that be weakened and out in the woods where she could come under attack and would have a large amount of difficulty fighting them off. Right now, we need to get her to stay long enough to heal. I doubt she will stay longer but we may be able to have her start visiting, if only to stock up on supplies. And with time we may be able to start getting her to remain for longer periods of time." Elrond elaborated. Glorfindel nodded and sighed as he steeled himself for what was sure to be a trying few months if not years. However, it would be worth it. He was not about to leave any elf to suffer the way Eruraviel was let alone the only remaining Gondolin survivor this side of the seas. The last Gondolin elf had sailed over a thousand years ago.
"Well my friends we best prepare for a very stubborn and irritate elleth. If you think that, I am a bad patient you have not seen anything yet. It was a notorious factor in Gondolin that the warrior elleth's strove to outdo the ellon's in nearly everything, including patient temperament. We are in for a long few months." He told them and could see them grimace at what was coming. He didn't have the heart to tell them it was going to be worse that what they were already thinking.
ERURAVIEL POV
Comfort and restraint were the first sensations she was aware of as she slowly awoke from a deep sleep. Why she had slept so deeply she didn't know as even when she knew she was totally secure she still slept lightly and fitfully. As the haze left her eyes and her vision cleared she was confused at the room she found herself in. Why hadn't they just woken her when they needed to leave the room? There was no reason to have let her sleep, and for that matter why had she not woke up during transport? Giving a slight grunt she went to push herself into a sitting position only to pause confused as only one of her arms obeyed her command. Looking down she was surprised and confused at the swath of bandages covering her arm and shoulder. Huffing at what she saw to be unnecessary Eruraviel reached behind her shoulder to find the knot that secured her arm from any movement. Her eyes widened when she couldn't feel said knot and groaned. She had fallen asleep in a room with Middle Earth's best healer. Judging from the bandages someone had notice her favoring her arm and told Elrond, who knowing other warriors, had probably used elven weave bandages, which were not used often, only to keep patients from being able to cut themselves loose from the wrappings. There was no way she was getting these bandages off.
She tried to loosen them even slightly and growled when she failed. Eruraviel rolled to her side and sat upright rolled her eyes when her hair fell into her face. At least they had not taken her weapons merely removed them. Although they could have left her hair alone, while yes sleeping with the spike strip was uncomfortable it was a pain to have to redo her hair around it, as she couldn't do it in a hurry if she wanted to hide it adequately. Plus with one of her arms currently unusable she couldn't even pull it into a low tail. She glanced out the double doors that led to a balcony and was surprised to see dawn was approaching. She had no idea she had slept for so long. She reached over and pulling her boots close slipped them on her feet. Her arm was tied over her tunic and undershirt so she would need to wait until her bandages were either removed permanently if she could convince them to do so, or changed in order to switch out her tunic and undershirt for a clean set.
She stood up and was looking out the balcony doors when she heard a knock before the door opened. Turning she saw that her early morning visitors we Elrond, Glorfindel and Celeborn.
"Welcome my lords what can I do for you this morn?" Eruraviel asked. If they didn't need anything she was going to find a way to attach her weapons and head out of Rivendell, she had after all stayed the night as requested by Celeborn there was little reason to remain and be a burden to the Imladris elves. While the bandages may be an inconvenience, she was sure that she could find some way to work around them.
"Greetings, Eruraviel I have come to change your bandages and see if you felt up to joining us for a morning meal in my study to further discuss the capture of Celebrían and the attack on your way back to Imladris." Elrond elucidated calmly while she finally noticed the deerskin bag held at his side. She nodded realizing that they odd behavior of the human archers was definitely something that they needed to know about. She could investigate it further when she left Imladris and headed for the nearby human settlements. She sat on the bed as directed and felt as Elrond sat behind her his fingers making quick work of the binds that held her arm captive to her chest. She winced slightly as he pulled her arm slowly to straighten it as he pulled the slightly blood stained bandages free. She looked at her arm and was surprised to see the stiches lining the gash as long as her thumb. Using a damp cloth, he gently wiped the tender gash and packed the wound with more tinctures before re-bandaging it. he then helped her change out of her undershirt and tunic while Glorfindel and Celeborn looked at the wall in respect for her privacy. He helped her put on a clean light grey cotton undershirt before retying her arm across her chest despite her numerous protests. She argued that she would be careful not to further strain her arm, and he told her that he had heard that too many times to believe it when it came from a warrior. She told him that she planned to leave later that day and he responded that leaving with her arm compromised in anyway was a near surefire way to guarantee her death at the hands of the orcs and many other numerous creatures that were all too eager to kill or maim an elf. She said that what if something happened and Rivendell was attacked. She needed to be able to fight. He told her that they had numerous skilled warriors who would be more than a match for any opponent who dared to attack Rivendell. Frustrated at her inability to convince him otherwise she was left with no choice but to let him finish binding her arm, which he had started regardless of her protests. After tying off the wrap bindings, she was slightly surprised when he quickly and efficiently pulled her hair into a lose braid minus the spike strip he refused to add back in. Rolling her eyes at Celeborn and lord Glorfindel her were snickering at her protests and her inability to change Elrond's mind in any way.
Standing she followed Elrond and made sure to step on Celeborn's foot on the way out, while jabbing Glorfindel in the side causing both to jump and let out near simultaneous yelps. Smirking at her revenge, she calmly followed Elrond with two somewhat more contrite elven lords following behind. She took a seat next to his desk as they entered his study followed by Elrond who sat behind his desk as Glorfindel and Celeborn sat in the other two chairs.
"Eruraviel, Celeborn has already filled me in on most of the attack but did you happen to notice anything while taking out the archers?" Elrond asked, as he helped himself to the food sitting on the desk. It was simple fare of light bread with some cheese and fruit.
"Yes as a matter of fact but not until the last few. There was seven archers total all human. But it was on the second to last that I noticed their eyes were glazed , almost blank. Beforehand they had had almost no expression of any kind. You would think that since they were working with the orcs to attack elves there would be some hatred or anger, but there was nothing it was as if they were hollow. When I killed the last one, I had to swing down in front of him and got him through the heart. His eyes cleared for a split second and he smiled at me. I have a feeling that they were being controlled; possibly to create strife between elves and men. I am not sure but I will definitely look into it on my travels and see if I can get any further information as to just what is going on." Eruraviel would definately be looking into this, something about it just screamed of large scale manipulation. She had saved Celebrian and had grown extremely fond of the elleth who reminded her of the small elfling she pulled from the rubble of Gondolin so long ago. Anything wanting to bring harm to the elves and their settlements would need to go through her first. She may have failed Gondolin but she would greet Mandos personally before seeing another Elvish Haven fall to ruin.