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Reflections from the Paradise of Elves  by Bodkin

The Paradise of Elves – Part 25:  Completing the Set     

‘Why,’ asked Legolas jealously, ‘has Elrohir been permitted to remain with his wife at this time, when I was summarily dismissed to the garden?’

Elladan grinned as he stretched and leaned back on his elbows to admire the stars.  ‘Because you are useless?’ he suggested. ‘Because watching you stand there and shake was driving poor Elerrina beyond her levels of tolerance?  Because my adar thought that you might draw a blade on the next person to put a hand on your wife?’

His friend scowled.  ‘It was not like that at all!  I was calm and supportive – and did all the things I had been told to do.  And still they threw me out.’

Elladan turned his head to inspect him.  ‘There would be reasons, Legolas.  And delivering twins – especially from a first pregnancy – can be a nervous time.  I suspect Elrohir’s presence is as much to do with his long years of working with Elrond as a healer as it is to do with his paternity.’

‘Your brother has been increasingly nervous in past weeks,’ Legolas observed.

‘H’mm. There are times when too much knowledge is not helpful.  Still, I believe he has managed to keep his worries from Sirithiel.’  Elladan turned to his side.  ‘What do you think of Thranduil’s trip to the new lands?  I was surprised when I heard that he had loaded up a packhorse and headed off with no more than a couple of his advisors.’

Legolas laughed.  ‘You are turning into a perfect administrator, my friend.  Even at a moment like this, you are attempting to discover something that might be of political import.’  He admired the quality of Elladan’s grimace.  ‘Adar could not endure any more talking – he felt he needed to go and see what was happening for himself.  There is truly nothing more to his journey than that.’  

‘I am surprised he felt he could leave Elrond and Celeborn to deal with things fairly in his absence.’

‘Do you not think he trusts me to uphold the position of Lasgalen?’  Legolas asked. ‘I am his deputy, my friend.  You will show me the respect you would to him.’

‘Little chance of that,’ his friend snorted.  ‘I know you too well.’  He turned to look at the house, where a wall of glowing windows warmed the night.  ‘Still, at least you will not make a point of annoying my daernaneth.’

‘Is something happening?’ Legolas enquired, as Elladan’s attention seemed to focus on the most brightly lit window. 

‘Not yet.  But it is close,’ he replied absently.

Legolas looked at him sharply.  ‘What I would like to see,’ he said to act as a distraction, ‘is all of our elders – but especially Galadriel and Celeborn and my adar – sent off together to spend several weeks in each other’s company as they travel to the new realm.  No aides, no grooms, no guards, no-one at all to absorb the irritation – and then, I would like to be a fly on the wall, able to watch the battles that go on.’

Elladan sat up, a slow appreciative grin spreading across his face.  ‘You do not want much, do you?  Even as a fly, you would be in great danger.’  He considered. ‘I would not want to put my naneth in the middle of that confrontation.  She would be run ragged trying to keep the peace.  Your adar seems to like Celebrian as much as he is annoyed by Galadriel and she might just be able to avoid bloodshed. Moreover, Elrond and Celeborn would combine to keep the combatants apart.  No, it should be just the three of them.’

‘It would never happen, though,’ Legolas added regretfully. ‘I cannot imagine your daernaneth travelling anywhere without a full complement of elves to see to every aspect of life.  No-one who dresses constantly in white would do well in the wild.’

‘At this point I should say Mithrandir,’ Elladan remarked,  ‘but when my mind places them side by side I can appreciate that is an argument that will not hold water.’

Legolas laughed at the vision of the white-clad, but scruffy wizard, who seemed to carry with him evidence of all the places through which he journeyed, dust-covered and adorned with leaves and twigs from his hair to his hem. ‘Mithrandir can present himself well,’ he said, ‘but it is not, shall we say, his prime motivation.  He is not afraid to get dirty.’

‘He has more often been seen as being afraid to get clean,’ Elladan said dryly.  ‘But I suspect you underestimate my daernaneth.  She likes to look good, but she is able to put that to one side if necessary.  Anyone who crossed the Grinding Ice is not going to refuse the demands life places on her for fear of a bit of mud.’

He turned again to the window, aware of his twin’s tight-strung nerves as the process of birth reached culmination.  ‘The first one is almost here,’ he told Legolas. ‘One more push.’  He stood, as if his readiness would be of help in some way.

‘Keep breathing, my friend.’  Legolas rose and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘It will not do any of them any good if you faint.’

Elladan felt his twin’s stab of exultation as the infant slid into his hands, drawing her first breath to protest an arrival into a world that seemed cold and vast.  ‘She’s here,’ he said. 

‘I remember the next bit as being rather frantic,’ Legolas spoke softly.

‘Adar will want the other delivered quite quickly,’ Elladan agreed. ‘It is better thus. Elrohir is concentrating on Sirithiel again.  Miriwen must have taken the new-born.’

They waited, tense, as the new naneth gathered herself for a final effort. 

‘Done,’ Elladan announced, weak with relief.  ‘She’s here. Elrohir is beside himself.’

‘Perhaps, my friend,’ Legolas grinned with excitement. ‘We should go and greet him.’





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