Chapter 6

My first patrol

Months had gone by since the elves of the woodland realm had left. I missed Tauriel more than I liked to admit to myself, I had not cried so much in a long time, but I never let anyone see it willingly. But Nana and ada saw it. I had been focused on my tasks, but getting worse at interacting with others. Even avoiding it entirely and even Glorfindel was getting worried about me.

"What is wrong mellon nin," He said as I sat waiting for him in the training yard. I knew he and Elrond wanted me to start patrolling with the guard to Nana's dismay as it was a part of our family's duty and with me now being his daughter I had to start taking on official duties. No matter what they were. Nana was not happy about it and had openly said her opinion about it, but I did agree. After all, the Valar had saved me and sent me home, and in my heart, I knew I would have to do everything I could for Middle Earth in return. Many long years of darkness would be on us. Angmar would rise, Arnor would fall, Rohan would become a country and Gondor would start to wither.

"Nothing mellon nin" I responded. "I am just tired after the long training sessions we had." The older elf did not believe me as he had spoken to Elrond and Celebrian too about my mood after the woodland elves left.

"It must be something Elwen, you are becoming a formidable fighter, and you are caring towards your family and the people. They all care for you in return. Are you not happy here? Why do you cry yourself to sleep?"

I looked at him shocked as he inclined that I was not happy here and that he knew of my crying. It was my dream to live here and never in my life had I felt so safe and loved.

"I am very happy here Glorfindel," I said in a snappy strict tone. I only noticed it after I spoke. Hearing myself I felt bad for snapping at him. "I am sorry, mellon nin. I did not mean to bark at you" Glorfindel just looked at me and nodded.

"You do not seem happy mellon nin, not after Tauriel left." He said in a statement.

"She is my friend Glorfindel, of course, I miss her." My head bowed as I was putting away the steel training weapons after the short morning training we had before our patrol would start, the last thing I wanted to do before we left on the patrol was to get a last feeling of my weapons. The sharp blades and not the training version.

"She had become more than a friend had she not?" He then said as facts and nothing less.

"What if she had? I could do nothing to keep her here and even if she felt the same I doubt any would be different had I said my feelings for her. She still is in service of the king of the woodland realm. Nay… mellon nin… it was a foolish dream of a foolish elleth…" I stated and turned away to grab the sharp weapons off the table.

"Love is never wrong, or to be dismayed. We do not choose who we love or why, but when we do. We love with all we are… I am worried for you, grief of a loss even of love can be dangerous for our kin" He said standing behind me.

"I have not lost my will to live… My heart is just shattered, for never have I felt such a connection…" I responded.

"Tell your Ada and Nana…." I cut him off.

"Nay do not tell them. Please do not tell them. I know not what customs there are for such love if it is even accepted. Do you?"

I asked him in distress

"Nay I do not… little have I ever heard of it and the one that would know is your ada…" I sighed and he stopped talking. Just looked at me with sadness.

"Let us go on patrol, get my mind off her, mellon nin," I said to his nods.

As the real weapons were not as heavy as the training blades for several reasons. If the training weapons were heavier the real would feel lighter to use in combat and it never made true sense to me, but it did to Elrond, Glorfindel, and Tauriel. So I took their word for it.

I had been given a Noldor bow and two long knives that set under the quiver on my back. I also had a quiver on my horse just in case I needed more arrows.

"Try not to think of her and the situation as we ride out. If anything is to happen I need you focused and sharp on the mission Elwen. I will not bring you back hurt or worse to your nana and ada." Glorfindel's words were harsh at that moment, but also true. I needed to focus and not think of my friend.

I simply nodded to his words and did a few stances with my weapons for I put them back in their scabbards. Already in my patrol outfit. Even if it was just heavy leather, mail and vambraces, and leg protection it was still heavily decorated with the heraldry of Imladris and my position there. I simply waited for the rest to gather. Ada and Nana came to say good luck and to be home for the evening meal and I told them I would. Nana basically threatened Glorfindel to bring me back safe or else. It was cute to see and I could not help but smile. The other elves of the patrol laughed too at Nana's comment.

"Be safe all of you and look out for each other," Elrond said in his Ever-Lordly way. Nana gave me a hug and kiss on my temple and said she would make sure the chef made my favorite chicken dinner for when we returned. Win-win was all I could think.

"I will be Nana, Glorfindel got my back and so do the rest of the patrol as well," I said in a serious way to make her not worry as much. She nodded to me and we mounted up, slowly we moved out over the bridge and up the thin valley road.

"Look after her Glorfindel" We heard Nana shout. "I will, you have my word" he responded to the ever-protective mother.

The valley in itself was full of natural defensive points. Sure it had been added walls and gates, but there had not been a great need for much more. Elves patrolled as far out as the trollshaws and the border with Arnor, as far south as the former realm of Eregion and North somewhat into what one day would become Rhudaur. Even in this time of peace none let their guard down yet at least, as the one ring had not been destroyed by Isildur when he had the chance. He failed as most humans do. They give in to drugs, their need for wealth and power, and in the end, die in the dirt. Even if I tried I could not think well of them due to my experiences and even if the Dunedain was meant to be better humans I doubt I would trust them. My displeasure was clear on my face when Glorfindel informed me that we were to patrol with said Dunedain on our border.

Not only did I have to put aside missing my friend, but now I had to deal with humans too. Thankfully my training with Elrond made it easier to keep my posture and not let out my feelings when it was better to keep them hidden. I tried to focus on the banners of Imladris in the wind and not let my frustration over the patrol and its goal to train with the humans darken my mood. That and I could still remember Tauriel's laughter fondly.

I had not spent much time with the patrol elves, except for Turan, one of the banner carriers. He had been in the training yard when I and Glorfindel had been training as well as Idril, Gaerdir, and Carandoldir. That was clear to me as they like the servants were very concerned about my titles and position. Thankfully the ice got broken when I and Glorfindel started to banter as we did during training.

"Glorfindel? How far is to the meeting point?" I said out of nowhere as I had been in my own thoughts too long.

"Not long mellon nin, but you have to keep your patience and keep focused," he said

"patience as the elven lord that has taught me to fight?" I said in a teasing voice. "The same elven lord that always complains about how much time I take in the morning and how he cannot wait to get started before the agreed time?"

"before the agreed time?" Glorfindel smiles and laughs "If I had not been on you to get ready early you would never have been ready until far after the agreed time" I giggle as he takes the bite.

"Ohh I remember several times I was ready before you even arrived at the training field, my good lord," I said as Glorfindel slowed down and looked me dead in the eye.

"And we both know that was only thanks to the efforts of others my dear Elwen." I sent him a stare and a smile to his responses as the elves behind us kept laughing and smiling.

"I must have been too good a pupil for you to have nothing better to banter me with than that" The elves behind us looked at Glorfindel for his response. "I will not say so. But I will call you a decent pupil if not only to save myself Lord Elrond's wrath" He grinned back at me. To which I grabbed a short pin from a tree and poked his horse screaming very confidently "BEE" This horse started to jump about and let out a few screams until it understood I was just messing with them. Elven horses were way too smart for their own good and Glorfindel gave me a deadly stare.

"Elwen, we are supposed to be on a patrol. Not to be seen or heard by the enemy" He said scolding me. But at least I made the elves laugh.

I bowed my head and said sorry. "But you kinda deserved it" he only gave me a stare until we all heard sounds ahead. It was clearly human and most likely the Arnorians.

Glorfindel gave the order to ride on in silence. Better safe than sorry I thought. As we came over the small hill we found a group of resting Dunedain, young most of them were and most likely still in training. As we rode to their camp Glorfindel clearly knew at least one of them.

"Amdir" Glorfindel said with a merry tone to his voice. "It is great to see you again my friend"

"Glorfindel," The man said with equal merriment in his voice. "It is good to see you also, my friend."

We dismounted by the camp and found the younger Dunedain to watch us with great admiration. They must not have seen elves before or not so close. Some of them whispered as if we could not hear them, but we did and Idril came up beside me.

"Who do you think the woman is Amlon?" One said to the other "I know not, but she is very beautiful…" when another added, "Of course, she is, even the elven men are beautiful, or has she made you unable to look at them too?" and yet another added "look there are more women among them in the back" with yet another adding "Are the elves so few that their women are trained to fight? Do they not belong at home with the children?" One of the older then spoke up "I believe the one in front would make a very nice wife, and take care of all my needs in my now cold bed. Or even the one that walked up to her. She also has a fine behind"

With the last comment, the patrol started to talk among themselves "How dare that child talk of the lady in that way and of Idril" another added. "If not for the lady and lord Glorfindel being present I would give him a proper scolding"

Idril then whispered to me so low that only elves could hear.

"Let me take care of it my lady, you should have to listen to this…" She said horrified by their comments.

"Nay, let them talk," I said as I simply started to grin at their comments when one of them gasped.

"Look she is smiling or… do you think she can hear us?" the other added "No way, we are barely whispering" One of the others added "Elves have good hearing but we are talking very low, I doubt she can…"

With that, I said in the common tongue "I can hear you young Dunedain. We all can."

At that point, Idril turned towards them and her gaze was clearly not happy with the young Dunedain.

The group paled and looked down and away for the most part. When Amdir and Glorfindel noticed I was speaking to them. Neither had heard what was said, but Amdir came up like a strict teacher ready to punish if need be.

"I hope you younglings do not try and gossip and talk ill behind our elven friend's and allies backs!" he barked somewhat.

"Not ill Master, we were just in awe of them and spoke quietly amongst ourselves, or we believed we did." The palest of them said. His face was shamed by the comment he made.

"They are young and have much to learn of our kin, but the lady stopped them after they made a horrid comment about her". Said Turan

Amdir turned towards me and looked at me with curiosity as Glorfindel stepped up.

"My friend, may I introduce the lady Elwen. Daughter of lord Elrond and the lady Celebrian of Imladris"

"My lady this is Amdir son of Armendir. Captain of Arnor. "the son of a friend from the war" he added.

His eyes grew wide and he bowed his head. "My lady, please accept my deepest apologies for my training troop and their foolish comments. They are young and do not know their place around lords and ladies even if we try to instill it in them from a young."

I nodded to him as I told my horse Gilroch to stay put and he bowed as to say he understood and I walked over to Amdir. I tried to keep my human distaste from showing at least towards Amdir who greeted me well. For once I would use my title for what it is worth.

"Greetings Amdir son of Armendir," I said and gave him an elven greeting.

He raised his head and looked at me with a smile. "My lady" he repeated. "May I ask the name of that one?" I said and pointed at the older one who said I would make a good wife and warm his bad for his pleasure.

The captain turned and looked at the young Dunedain. Orphans or at least fatherless they were as many had lost families in the war against Sauron. But the Dunedain took care of their own and knew they needed to be ready for his eventual return.

"That is Huldor, son of Haldor. My lady" I smiled. "Thank you, captain." He bowed his head before I spoke again. "So Huldor, son of Haldor. You find me fit to warm your bed, and care for your needs as you said?"

The captain paled when he heard what I said. "Huldor, did you say such a thing about the lady?" He said with both anger and disbelief in his voice.

The young Dunedain paled and looked ashamed but said it as it was. "Yes, Master I did comment such about the lady"

Amdir walked over to him, grabbed his tunic, pulled him over to me, and pushed him to the ground.

"Apologize this moment!"

"I beg forgiveness lady of Imladris for my foolish comments about you. It was not meant in disrespect or…"

I looked down on him, he seemed sorry, but the way he had spoken of a woman in general or did not know who even was did not sit well with me.

"Draw your sword, Huldor," I said and backed off from him as I reached for my long knives. Amdir paled and so did Huldor even more.

"Draw your sword boy," Amdir said and the boy did so. Scared he was as I was ready with my knives. The cheers and happy comments from the training troop were gone. Huldor looked at his trainer and the other older Dunedain that had come with them and none of them would even look him in the eyes. They were clearly ashamed of him.

Nothing happened for many moments before I charged at him, he did not hold his sword hard or properly and with my first strike at it, the blade flew out of his hands before he could even do anything. Then one of my long knives cut his trousers off and they fell to the ground and the other I put to his throat. He was clearly scared at that moment. "You reach of fear… You do not deserve the title of Dunedain…!" I hissed at him and turned. As I put my knives back in the scabbards on my back. I looked at Amdir. "Your Apology is accepted" Idril stood by my horse and gave me a cheeky smile.

The elves started to laugh at him and so did the fellow Dunedain he had been whispering about me with. He on the other hand pulled up his trousers and went for his sword that lay in the grass.

Amdir clearly angry with the boy ordered him to be pulled him away and sent him back to city he came from. He could not believe what a fool the boy had been. When he returned he was still apologizing for his trainee's behavior again.

"My lady, please forgive this situation, I swear he will be harshly punished… I swear he is not of our Dunedain kin, but of lesser wilder folk. Many of them live with us and are of the dark men that never went to the star island"

"I accept your apology Amdir. One bad seed do not destroy a garden, as long as it is quickly removed." I said to him with a smile and he bowed to me again. "Now we came to train did we not?" I said and smiled at the trainees still here.

And that we did, sword, spear and bow was trained all day and the skill of the older Dunedain archers with their steel bows were impressive for humans, but could not hold up to our elven skills. When it came to sparing both I and Glorfindel were outmatching them, but little else could be expected as I had been trained by him myself.

As mid-day rose a rider came towards us from the south and talked to Amdir. Not many evil creatures were around at this point, but it seemed a band of ruffians had been seen to the south.

"I must excuse ourselves my lady" Amdir said and looked at Glorfindel. "We have much to learn of you all, but duty calls and we are the force nearest to the sighting. I must take my trainees to investigate. I hope we will have a chance to share skills with your kin again" he said before he bowed.

"We will come with you, my friend. We have plenty of time before we are to be back at Imladris and our elven horses are quick." The Golden-haired elf said and looked at me as I nodded to it.

At that point, the young of the Dunedain had been told of what was happening and some were scared, they had not been in a fight other than training before and to be fair nor had I. But I had been trained by Glorfindel and Ada. Both were skilled warriors and I doubt any ruffian could match them. We all jumped onto our horses and rode hard to the south.

Little was there to say so we rode in silence and then we came to see fields burning and a group of men gathered at a farmhouse. Then another in the distance and another and another.

"What is happening?" Amdir said worried as he was.

"Seems like ruffians are testing the alertness of your people" Glorfindel responded.

"There are too many fires that we can all go to one farm together. We need to split up" I commented, I don't know why I said it, but it felt right.

"Indeed. Elwen, you take Idril and half of our troop and go to that farm. I'll go to the next and Amdir, you and the Dunedain take the last two."

"But Glorfindel" I tried to say and he cut me off.

"You are a lady of Imladris and are well trained. I believe in you and we cannot go together. Too many farms burn and we need to save those we can!" he said firmly

I nodded and looked to Idril who nodded back with confidence in her eyes.

"Go" Glorfindel then commanded and we set off.

Our horses seemed eager to get us to the farm, and my troop split up into three smaller groups so we came on them from three sides. They did not question me at all and set off.

As we came up the hill Tudor blew the horn and the ruffians saw us come and some attacked us others seemed unable to move.

I pulled my long knives and jumped off my horse. With my left hand, I blocked, and on the right, I stabbed the first one coming at me. The second was shot by one of the elves in my troop and several others tried to engage the flanking elves, but were quickly cut down. Then a larger man tried to sneak up on me, but I could hear him well and swung around as my blades slit his throat. They were clumsy amateurs at best. Then we heard the cry of a woman being dragged out of the house by her hair. A large brute stood by her and pointed the rusty sword he had in his hand at us.

"Elves? What are filthy elves doing here? Killin my lads are ya? Now you should have stayed where ya came from, we are not here to kill you fancy folk, but that of them big men" As he spoke spit flew from his mouth. What a disgusting creature. "Now you go back to where you came and let me have my new wife here or my boys will have some fun with you too" he laughed and then several others came out from the barn and the house.

We had noticed them and heard their heavy breathing and I focused on the woman first.

"let her go and I will allow you to live," I said calmly in common tongue to him.

"Ya dumb pointy ear, we have ya outnumbered, ya cannot win this. I think ill take ya as well and the one behind ya, nice looking bitches ya are"

That was the moment I had enough and I said calmly in elvish so the ruffians wouldn't understand. "Kill them all" as I said it I felt Idril and the others attack the ruffians and I had singled out the brute leader for myself. He screamed at me as his men got killed with very little effort and let the woman go before he rushed me. His swings were heavy, but he had no skill, no finesse, just like them, he was just stronger. Yet not stronger than one of the Eldar and my knives went for every main muscle group in his body, cutting all tendons he had falling to the ground like a sack of potatoes. He screamed in pain, but could not move as I stood by him. At that moment he reminded me of my foster father from the other world and distaste came to me.

"You will not enjoy this, and it will hurt," I said and he screamed as I stabbed him in the gut with both my blades and twisted them around. Making sure I made him suffer the most I could. He tried to lift his arms and come for me, but he couldn't he died a painful death in front of the home of the people he had butchered. Of the woman crying not far from him. His death was deserved and the longer it would last the better.

"My lady?" Idril then said from behind me. "My lady?" she repeated.

"Go and look for wounded. Care for them and see to the lady of the house. Make sure they are all dead" I commanded in elvish.

"Yes my lady," she said and were off. I pulled my knives out of his gut and cleaned them before I put them back in their scabbards and looked around. Glorfindel had dealt with those at the other farm and seemed the Dunedain had too. I decided to wait at the farm we were at as it was on the road home and I was sure Glorfindel would not want us to stay for long. It was a rush in my body, never before had I believed I would have done what I just did. I had killed two men, two scum of the earth and I felt nothing. I was happy about that but at the same time, it felt strange. No feelings whatsoever except I was happy I had revenged the woman's family.

She was not hurt other than by loss and as soon as the Dunedain and Glorfindel came she was taken care of by them. The chieftain of the group had been at Glorfindel's farm and he had taken him captive. They had a camp further south around old Ost-in-Edhil and would clear them out.

Amdir thanked us for the aid and we had none lost, but some of the Dunedain had light injuries and we helped them get bandaged up before we bid them goodbye and set off towards home. Glorfindel rode up to me not long after and put a hand on my shoulder.

"You did well Elwen. None lost and none were injured. That is a good day with your first command" he said.

"I did not do much, just told them I wanted them to come up on the rabble from three sides and they took care of most of the ruffians. I just took out two…" I said before he cut me off.

"Your first two. I am proud you did so well." He said and smiled at me.

"I thank you," I said and looked at the blood still on my hands. "I fear this is just the start of a long and hard age," I said before looking at him.

"Aye… The enemy is not defeated yet" he simply commented. "Darkness might still return" he then added.

"You are right," I said in a sad tone, for I knew what was to come even if it were many long years until darkness would fall over Eriador and Arnor.

We arrived back in Imladris a bit later than we said and Nana and ada were worried, but happy when we came home. Never had I been hugged so lovingly as they did to me. I told them what had happened and how I handled it and both of them laughed well at the story with the Dunedain young. But taken back by the ruffian attack on the farms. Nana looked me over several times to make sure I was not injured and Ada too. After they took me to get food and we all went to the hall of fire to rest and listen to songs and stories long into the night. Some of the elves from the patrol came by as well and bowed their heads to me. Still smiling as they remembered what had happened and they showed me honor for how I had dealt with the ruffians. For myself, I could only think of one other thing that would have made the day better, but that was not to be. But I was happy and home again.