It was a fairly warm day, with birds singing and the sun shining. Summer in the valley was just beginning, along with the mischievous natures of certain elves coming to the fore. Certainly considered mature by age –though not always by nature– the two crept around the side of Elandir’s stone building, peeking in to see if he was there and pleased to find he was not.

“Come on, he is gone!” The eldest of the two whispered, hauling the younger by his sleeve. “I want to see the swords!”

“You always want to see the swords. I want to see something else this time.”

“You are so boring! What is better than a sword?”

“I do not know, perhaps anything besides sneaking in? Elandir will be mad.”

“He won’t do anything, he never does.” The eldest shrugged, looking around and sighting on what could only be a work in progress. With awe he looked at –but did not touch, he knew better than that– the unfinished sword.

“Well, well, well. Elladan and Elrohir, we meet again.” A gruff voice said. “What have I said about being in here? It is dangerous and forbidden. GO!”

Scurrying like squirrels, the twins ran shrieking from the forge. Elandir was not like most elves they knew. He was big and brawny, well able to handle the iron and steel he worked with, and his voice was a deep bass that echoed off the stone walls. The scars he sported on his arms and face kept the twins in curious awe, and his rough manner kept them in fear.

They ran until they reached their ‘secret’ spot, a small glade above the falls. There Elladan sulked. “It is not like I was touching his stupid swords. Just looking.” He furiously whacked the head off an unresisting flower.

“I know. Elandir is scary, yelling like that. Only looking.” Elrohir echoed, plucking the grass around his feet. He had not wanted to go to the forge in the first place, but as usual Elladan’s wishes had overruled and they had gone.

“You screamed like Arwen when she sees a little bug.” Elladan jeered, not wanting to admit Elandir scared him too.

“I screamed! You screamed louder, and ran faster.” Elrohir shot back. “And here you call yourself adult.”

“You are the same age, brother. If I am not adult, then you are not either.” Elladan felt proud having seen the distinction.

“Ah, but it is you who are eldest, and therefore must make an example for us younger ones.” Elrohir childishly stuck his tongue out.

“You are not that much younger.” He returned the gesture.

“And neither of you are particularly adult by action, though your parents seem to think age has helped you to mature.” The golden voice of Glorfindel, their training master, said suddenly.

The twins whirled around suddenly and sheepishly as Glorfindel came into view. If Glorfindel had been sent to find them it meant Elandir had been to see their parents. Looking appropriately penitent they awaited Glorfindel’s amused instructions.

“I have been told, children,” Glorfindel stressed the word, “that your parents and Elandir the blacksmith have reached an agreement. He shall take Elladan as an apprentice in the mornings whilst I give Elrohir extra, um, lessons. Come the mid-day meal you shall trade places.”

The twins gaped at the elder. They were to be separated? How beastly a proposition was that! Trading glances they put on brave faces, knowing they would have to own up to their punishments. “And we can assume this begins tomorrow?” Elladan asked.

“Indeed, bright and early.” Glorfindel grinned, not maliciously but certainly in amusement. He knew of Elrohir’s preference to lie in, and Elladan’s love of extended breakfast. “Up with the sun and a quick meal, and then the fun begins.”

“Sometimes, Glorfindel, I think the years have warped your mind and you are truly insane.” Elrohir muttered darkly. The elf simply grinned wider, gave a mocking bow and strode off. Elrohir turned to his brother. “I knew we would get in trouble.”

“I cannot believe Elandir told on us!” Elladan was slightly outraged. “And what did Glorfindel mean by extra lessons? Lessons in what? We already have lessons in weaponry, tactics, supply, and all that. What more can he teach us?”

“That is what I am afraid to discover.” Elrohir sighed. “And I have to get up with the sun!”

“Oh, being up early will not kill you.” Elladan replied, waving a hand in the air. “It’s Glorfindel’s lessons that will. On the other hand, I have to spend the morning with Elandir. How do you think I feel?”

“We are most assuredly dead. Farewell brother.” Elrohir answered solemnly.

"A death sentence indeed. And to die so young. How tragic."

“Rise and shine, tithen gwanûn!” Glorfindel stood in the doorway to the twin’s room. They had separate chambers, but often opted to sleep together. Elrohir groaned and burrowed further under the light blanket adorning the bed, pulling his pillow over his head. Elladan gave Glorfindel a bleary gaze in the dim light.

“Itsill milldle ofa night.” He said tiredly, his words slurring with sleep.

“I beg to differ. The sun has risen outside the valley and as I speak is cresting the mountains to show her beautiful face to us. So up we come, and breakfast is to be on the march.”

“March?” Elladan half-sat up, though his brother had obviously decided to ignore the summons.

“So to speak. I have biscuits and water here, good soldier fare.” Glorfindel gave him a grin.

“Yeah, dead soldiers.” Elrohir muttered into the feather tick. He was listening, though he seemed asleep.

“Last call before I come over there.”

“Alright!” Elladan grumped, pushing his twin with his feet so he teetered on the edge of the bed before climbing out himself. Elrohir fell to the floor with a thump, issuing a pained groan.

“You are decidedly evil. Are you certain you came from Turgon’s forces and not Morgoth’s?” He said, peeking over the bed as he hauled himself up.

“Quite sure.” Glorfindel replied. “Now, get dressed. Elladan, Elandir is awaiting you. And Elrohir, my little pupil, we have much work to do.”

“That is precisely what I feared you would say.”

After he goaded the twins into dressing and eating their meagre breakfast, Glorfindel escorted Elladan to the blacksmith and then led Elrohir deep into the woods. To the elf’s confusion, he sat down when he reached a glade and patted the area next to him.

“Come, Elrohir, sit by me. We have much to speak of.”

“Speak?” Elrohir remained standing.

“Yes. What lessons did you think I meant? You already have lessons in combat, supply, logistics. No, I wish to teach you something now that I rarely teach anyone. That is looking inward and following one’s own heart, as well as being fully aware of one’s surroundings.”

Slightly mollified by the explanation, Elrohir cautiously sat down. “Fully aware, sort of like when you blindfolded Elladan and me and made us use our ears to figure out the next movement?”

“Very much like that.”

“I do not understand the rest of it though.”

“Ah, yes. Looking inward. Do not think, Elrohir, that it has escaped my notice or your parent’s notice that you often give in to what it is your brother wants. You may be twins and have a deeper bond than any one of us may understand, but this does not mean that because he is the more outspoken of the two of you that he must have his way all the time.”

“I do not quite grasp what you mean.”

“You did not want to sneak into Elandir’s forge, did you?”

Elrohir hesitated. “Not particularly.”

“Yet you did anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Because Elladan told you to.”

“Yes.”

“And that is what I mean. You gave in to his will. Can you tell me why?”

Elrohir thought a moment. “Why, simply because Elladan tells a convincing story. Besides, he is the eldest, and he should have what he wants. I am only the second twin. He also said we could do what I wanted later.”

Glorfindel shook his head. “Wrong. Eldest or not, that does not give him the automatic right to demand what he wants. And being second-born, Elrohir, is not a bad thing. Never belittle yourself like that. As for doing what you desired later, what exactly was that?”

“I wanted to go swimming. Summer is beginning, and the days are getting warmer. To be able to swim is a good skill, also.”

Glorfindel gave the elf a searching look, then suddenly sprang to his feet. Being their training master he knew Elrohir’s fighting tactics, and noticed that alone the elf was weaker. Without his brother he did not try as hard. But when Elladan fought by his side, he still allowed the elder twin to take the lead, and this was what Glorfindel wanted to break him of. Fighting in tandem was all well and good, but he needed to know self-combat as well and decisive actions. There would not always be someone to lead him.

“Get up. Take a swing at me.” He said to the startled elf.

“Wh-what? I do not understand.”

“You do not need to understand. Just do as I said.”

Standing carefully Elrohir shook out his arms and then lunged, swinging at Glorfindel. It was blocked easily and Elrohir ended up in a choke-hold before he could catch his balance.

“That is your main problem. You always depend on someone else to be there, to back you up if you should fail. Someone to take the lead. This is what I am going to teach you, Elrohir; to fight for yourself and by yourself. To take control. It will make your fighting skills both with and without Elladan that much stronger.” Glorfindel released the younger elf. “Do you understand what we are doing out here now?

"Yes." Elrohir replied, smiling tentatively. He did understand, and though he had his misgivings, he knew Glorfindel was right. He needed to learn to use these skills.

After Glorfindel and Elrohir had left him at the forge, Elladan hesitated outside the doorway until Elandir’s gruff voice told him to come in. He slowly did as instructed then stood there and looked around. It was the first time he had been in there with permission.

“Don’t just stand there, put the apron on.” Elandir waved a long steel bar at the wall near the doorway. Elladan saw that upon a nail hung a heavy, blackened apron and saw that Elandir wore one as well. Putting it on he circumspectly watched Elandir.

The big elf had placed the steel bar into the fire and Elladan watched wide-eyed as it slowly turned a deep cherry red then faded into an orange-yellow shade. Elandir pulled the bar out, laid part of it on the anvil and hit it with a funny looking hammer four times, one on each side of the bar, then heated it once more and placed it into a strange metal piece, twisting as he did so, and a perfect nail landed in a bucket of water, hissing and steaming. When the bar was gone Elandir set the hammer aside and then stared at the young elf, saying nothing. Finally Elladan cleared his throat.

“Ah, well, I am here. What are you going to do to me?” He eyed the smith warily.

Elandir blinked once and continued to stare. After a minute, when Elladan began to fidget, he spoke. “I am not going to do anything to you. I am going to teach you what it means to listen. I am going to show you first how to make your own set of smithing tools.”

“Oh.” Elladan said, stepping a little closer. Elandir gave him a look.

“Well, you cannot do it from over there. You shall have to approach me sooner or later.”

Elladan gulped then went right up to the smith. Elandir gave him a terse nod. “Alright, now what?”

“Now you listen and learn. Then you make.”

First Elandir named all the many tools he used in various types of smithing. He was mainly the blacksmith, but he knew how to handle the soft metals like gold and silver. Elladan’s attention wandered slightly as he tried to circumspectly examine his surroundings. Glorfindel had already informed Elandir of his short attention span, and the blacksmith just kept going. If Elladan did not get something, he would find out the hard way what it cost to not listen.

After explanations, Elandir told Elladan he was to make his own tools. The young elf blanched. “But, you only explained a little bit!”

“I will be here to guide you, but you are doing the actual work. If you were listening, then you should not have a problem.”

Elladan blushed, knowing he had not listened as well as he should have. Not wanting to admit this, though, he set to work, not noticing the deft way in which Elandir handled him. Before he knew it, Elandir’s voice was telling him to stop, he had finished the job. Wiping a dirty hand across his face, leaving a black streak from the iron, Elladan tentatively smiled up at the big smith.

“You did well, Elladan.” Elandir said. No other praise was needed before the smile turned into a sunny grin.

Elladan examined his new tools, his first major work done alone, and frowned. They were not as good as the tools Elandir used. The smith saw this and picked up one of the hammers, using it to pound a piece of hot steel into the beginnings of a nail. With a shrug he finished the nail and laid the hammer back down.

“They may not look perfect, but they are sound and they get the job done. There are no flaws to make the metal weak, the only flaw is what you have within. If you think you will fail, then you shall. If you believe you can do your best, then you will.”

Elladan blinked and stared at Elandir. The smith had busied himself with putting tools away and cleaning up the forge a little bit, as the midday approached. Noticing for the first time Elladan saw a faint light in the elder elf’s eyes, like he could see in Glorfindel’s eyes. Elandir was older than he had thought, had seen the light of the two trees! In awe, Elladan watched the smith. Though large, he had a certain grace and moved like one of the cats that hung around the stable.

“If it is not too forward, sir, but may I ask a question?”

“You just did, but yes.”

“How did you acquire all the scars?”

Elandir gave the young one a long look, his face betraying nothing of what he was thinking. “I had an apprentice once, he was very much like you. He did not like to listen, and had a short attention span. One day he decided that since I was to be late, as I had been working off site that day, he would try to catch up on some work. I arrived to find him suffering, terrible burns all over his body.”

Elladan gulped. “Did he survive?”

“No.” Elandir said shortly. “No, he did not.” Looking away the smith sighed. “He was my son, my only child. Because of his death his mother left, unable to bear such a silent household that had once echoed with his laughter. You are the first apprentice I have consented to since.”

“How long?”

“Many years. Your father was merely a child and Imladris barely a thought. I was one of the greatest smiths, for I learned under the tutelage of Celebrimbor himself when I was younger than you.” Elandir turned back to Elladan, his face tight. “Promise me, Elladan, you will never be so foolish as to think you can be lax around the elements, that your tools will always do as directed. One stray thought, one misplaced bit of attention, and your life can go up in flames.”

Silently Elladan studied him. After a minute he bowed his head. “I promise, Elandir, that I shall always be attentive.” After a second he got a thoughtful look. “This is what you meant to teach me, is it not?”

Elandir looked slightly amused. “I was to teach you smith work. What you learned was to listen. If you continue to work with me I shall make a smith of you yet, young one. But the other lessons you carry with you away from here, those are what make you an adult. Age does not mature you, but experience and mistakes do.”

“I see.”

“Now, before the midday arrives and you are summoned to eat, I want to show you one thing.” Elandir went to the metal cabinet in the corner of the room and opened it, removing something from the shelf. When he turned back Elladan saw he carried a dagger, unsheathed. The blade was slightly curved and sharp, the hand-grip straight grey steel. The pommel, though, was carved in sharp relief with the tengwar for his name inlaid into a deep green stone, what was often called an elfstone, a beryl.

“It is unfinished. Maendir still must do the leatherwork on it.”

Elladan stared wide-eyed. “But, what have I done to deserve such a splendid piece?”

“You have not yet been gifted this, but I was bade to show you. When it has been deemed you have learned your lesson, you shall be given the dagger and if you wish to make a matching sword.”

“And who shall be the one to deem me worthy of learning my lessons?”

“That is to be revealed when the time comes.” Elandir replied with a secret smile. “Now, off with you to lunch. I shall see you on the morrow.” He put the blade back into the cabinet.

Elladan wandered back to the great house in a thoughtful daze, not even registering the approach of his twin until Elrohir grabbed his hand.

“I think, dearest brother, that we have let our youth take over our lives. I look forward to the rest of this summer and further lessons, for it shall do us good.”

Elladan smiled and looked at his brother. “Indeed, it shall. But we do not need to let go all of our youthfulness. Come, I shall race you the rest of the way!”

“A! Ni toled, alag gwanunig!” Elrohir shouted as he ran after him, laughter making it difficult to achieve his stride.

“Impetuous twin indeed!” Glorfindel watched them run. “I think they are both impetuous, but they learn and grow even despite.”

“Of course, gwador.” Elandir had silently come up behind Glorfindel. “And they will do great things with what they learn. They will be great, if only in their own hearts.”

“And that is all we can ask for.”

“Indeed.”

I veth

Metta

Nêgan

The End