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Fidelity

by Lily Frost

Chapter II: More Misfortunes

             Morning dawned bright and cold with winter's chill fading still, but spring's brilliant sunlight slowly seeping in. Elladan was woken up, after barely resting two hours, by a frazzled Erestor. He was not frantic - they had never seen Erestor frantic - but he was obviously distressed when he shook Elladan, his voice betraying his posture. "Quickly Elladan, wake up. You must hurry to your father's chamber."

             "Wha-why, Erestor? What's wrong?"

             "I cannot wake Elrond. You go to him, I will get Elrohir and then try to find a healer, Sero, I think. He has studied mortals for centuries and would know if it were an illness that those with mortal-blood are subject to."

             Elladan rose quickly, dressing in his clothes from the night before has he spoke to Erestor, "I was thinking Ecetince, she is by far the best with poisons."

             "Oh. Sure, why not both?"

             "If you say so." Elladan said, hurrying to his father's chamber and leaving Erestor to wake Elrohir.

             When he arrived there, Elrond was indeed sleeping, it seemed, with his eyes tightly closed in the manner of mortals; but there was a rigidness to his posture that alarmed Elladan. He felt for a pulse, and it was there; steady, but slow, like his breathing.

             "Ada, ada, you need to wake up." Elladan said, shaking Elrond's shoulders, not as gently as Erestor would have done. Elrond did not respond. Elladan lifted the eyelids, but there was no response, and the skin temperature felt normal, though perhaps a little cool. Figuring it was all he could do, Elladan pulled a spare blanket from the foot of the bed and spread it over Elrond just as Elrohir, soon followed by Erestor and the two healers, Ecetince and Sero, came rushing in.

             Sero immeadietly went about examining Elrond; pressing his head against his chest to listen to his breathing... he did not seem to be ill. Elrohir tried to wake him up by lifting his arms and letting them drop and lightly blowing on his ears, even prodding at him.

             "He is unresponsive and cool to the touch... but he breathes easily." Elladan explained to Ecetince. "He did not seem ill at all yesterday."

             "But he will not wake?" She asked.

             Elladan shook his head.

             "Apparently not." Elrohir added, giving up on his prodding.

             "Hm." She pursed her lips, a line forming between her eyes as she seemed to think. "If this were poisoning it could be either some mild sleeping potion, or something very serious."

             "And why would someone want to poison Elrond?" Asked Sero.

             Elladan and Elrohir glanced to Erestor, as if asking for permission. He shrugged, allowing them to make the decision; they were afterall Elrond's heirs.

             "I am sure some residents have heard of it already. But there has been a number of strange murders recently." Elladan told him and Ecetince.

             "We have heard of these, yes. They are connected?"

             "They were all very grotesque and involved the killing of humans." Elrohir said. "So we believe they were done by the same person or party."

             "That is awful." Sero said.

             "It is." Elrohir agreed.

             "Please, we are trying to keep this hushed so that there is not panic." Erestor said, giving them meaningful looks. "But we have also advised all non-resident humans and those with relatives nearby to leave for a short while."

             Sero opened his mouth to speak, but just then Glorfindel burst into the chamber, his hair a golden flurry and his expression distressed. "Lord Elrond! You must come at once, there has been another mur--" He paused mid-sentence and looked quizically about the room. "What is amiss here?"

             "We cannot awake Lord Elrond... it may be poisoning."

             "Ai!" Glorfindel cried. "This is very bad. And another murder - Elladan, Elrohir, go at once to the East corridor. It is Nardia..."

             "Nardia? Oh no, Glorfindel, say it is not so..." Elrohir begged, thinking of the darling little human girl he had become close to.

             But the look in Glorfindel's eyes told him it was so, and so Elladan grasped Elrohir's hand in his own and pulled him along the corridor's of the Last Homely House towards their destination.

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             Outside the door to the room, Elrohir pressed himself against the wall. From within the room he could hear Nadia's mother weeping and a muffled male voice comforting her.

             "Elladan, I cannot go in there. I cannot look upon her... she was but a child. Can you do it? Please?"

             The pleading in Elrohir's voice and in his eyes made Elladan's heart break a bit and he squeezed his twin's arm to reassure him. "Very well. I will... examine the body and talk to her parents."

             "Thank you." Was all that Elrohir could say.

             "Go back to Ada. I will join you as when I can."

             Elrohir nodded, and, bent with grief, left. With a deep breath Elladan pushed the door and entered.

             "Lord Elladan. I am so glad you are here." Elebrin said, with Melren, Nardia's mother, clutching him tightly. Her infant son, Denil, was sitting on the bed looking upset, though he was too young to truly understand and perhaps was just sensing what his mother was feeling. "I came as soon as I had heard, thinking to prevent the spread of panic and rumour."

             "We were going to leave tomorrow..." Melren sobbed. "To Bree. She was so excited."

             "Melren, we are so sorry about this. We are doing all we can to find out who has done commited these appalling deeds."

             "Deeds?"

             "There have been more murders. Certainly you have heard of at least two. There have been four... five now."

             "I see."

             "We need more clues as to who did this. May I look at the body?" Elladan asked, as gently as possible.

             "Under the sheet over there." Melren said, pointing in the corner.

             Lifting the sheet just enough to see beneath it, Elladan peered at the scene before him and had to drop it quickly to keep himself from vomiting. She had been murdered like the others, with her throat slit and her blood left to soak into the bed beneath her. The head was tilted back and twisted sideways at a grotesque angle. It may have been while she was asleep, but what a horrible thing to do! And two murders in one day, then. This was getting out of hand.

             "This happened during the night?"

             "Yes." Elebrin answered for Melren who could only nod.

             "And did you happen to glimpse the murderer?"

             "No." Elebrin answered again, having already heard the story. "It was nearly morning... she was still warm when Melren tried to wake her up."

             "I see."

             "Where is Lord Elrond?" Elebrin asked.

             "I... meet us in his study at noon, please. You too, Melren, unless you want to leave Rivendell still. Would you like an escort?"

             "I have already offered to bring her outside of our borders as far as possible." Elebrin said. "But she may wish to wait in leaving."

             She nodded, lifting Denil into her arms and trying to soothe her son.

             "There will be someone here to help you with the body very soon."

             "Thank you." Her voice was a whisper.

             "And again, my deepest sympathy. She was a lovely child. My brother was very close to her and always talked about her. You have one more, though, so be strong. I am sure that after your husband are already familiar with grief."

             "I have no husband." Melren said cooly. "Nardia and Denil's father left them."

             "Then may you be blessed with as much happiness as you have been burdened grief." Elladan said, the old blessing coming almost automatically in the empty space in the conversation while he contemplated what she was implying. Quietly, he left.

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             To be continued...

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Author's Notes: I'm really, really, really sorry about the delay! School got in the way, as did other stories and a rather nasty writer's block, but I'm back now. This chapter's a little longer, but not too well-edited, so I'm sorry for any typos, but I wanted to get it out.

Elvish:

Ecetince -- from Greek name for hyacith flower, hyacinthe, meaning broad-blade or 'ecet' in Quenya, with diminiutive ending

Sero -- from 'sere', meaning peace in Quenya