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Reflections from the Paradise of Elves  by Bodkin

The Paradise of Elves – Part 26:  Reflections                        

Elrohir’s low voice echoed the tree song and reflected the brightness of sun on raindrops as he walked in the freshness of the early morning.

‘Will she not sleep?’  his brother asked gently, joining him in his slow pacing up and down the wide terrace.

‘No,’ Elrohir kept his tone soft and sing-song. ‘And she will not permit anyone else to sleep either.  In the end I brought her out, so that Sirithiel and Nimloth, at least, may rest.’

‘It will be a beautiful day,’ Elladan remarked looking at the dew adorning the points of the grass and sparkling on the gossamer of the cobwebs.  ‘We are supposed to be going hunting with Legolas.  Do you think you will be able to get away?’

‘Oh yes.  There will be no problem with that.  Aewlin will need her nana soon and, between our naneth, Miriwen and Sirithiel, they will be able to cope with the elflings during the day.  For one thing, as soon as the sun comes up, both of these little ones will decide that they need to rest until it sets again.’

‘Miriwen always denied that Elrin was nocturnal – she said it just felt like that.’

‘These are not only nocturnal,’ Elrohir sighed, ‘they are also possessive.  Every time I think they are settled and attempt to show my affection for Sirithiel, they wake and protest until they are again the centre of attention.’

Elladan smothered a laugh.  ‘That does not change any time soon, my brother.  Elrin still appears to have some mystical ability to know when I am drawing close to Miriwen – for inevitably the door opens and we have a small ellon with exceedingly cold feet slide between us.’

‘How did we come to this, my twin?’ Elrohir marvelled, as he stroked the flaxen hair of the infant collapsed on his shoulder.  ‘In all our long years, I never imagined the sheer simple happiness of being a husband and adar.’

‘At the end – before we sailed – I do not believe I had it in me to be happy,’ Elladan said, a bleak echo shadowing his voice.

‘It ate away at us, did it not,’ agreed his brother, ‘like a hungry winter, sucking life from those of us still there, numbing all sensation, so that we did not even realise that we were losing all that we were.’

‘And when we arrived here – it was like feeling returning after being frozen, and it hurt.  At first – at first, I wished I had remained.’  Elladan looked over the grass with eyes that were seeing another world.  ‘But then, gradually, I learned to adjust – to live again.’  They continued to walk slowly and silently along the broad stones. ‘We were right to come, my brother.  You were right to want to come.  This is our place and these are our people.’ 

They continued in silence for a few moments, relishing the quiet purity of the morning, enhanced by the joyful birdsong.  ‘Every experience I have had over these years,’ Elrohir said suddenly, ‘has increased my respect for – my honour of – Adar. Only now that I live with the depth of the bond between spouses and that between parent and child can I begin to realise how much he suffered and what he endured.  Not only was he sundered from Naneth, which in itself must have been an anguish I can scarcely imagine, he was then torn apart from Arwen when she chose Estel.   He had the strength to let them both go and still remain himself.  I do not know if I could have done it, Elladan.’  

‘I remember when he showed us the Evening Star,’ Elladan reminisced quietly, ‘and told us that Earendil was his adar.  And then when we heard of Elwing and the Silmaril – and we learned that he and Elros had lost them both when he was too young to remember them.  Adar learned resilience in a hard school, brother.’

‘And to lose his twin.’ Elrohir’s strong hands curved protectively around his precious elleth.  ‘I have at various times feared that I would lose you, Elladan, but it was never from your choice.  I have always known that only compulsion beyond your ability to resist would take you from me.’

Elladan gripped his brother’s free shoulder. ‘And I have known that you would always be there for me,’ he said simply. ‘And that will never change.’

Their steps slowed as they watched the sun creep above the shrubs that bordered the lawn, casting long shadows across the neatly cropped grass, offering the tentative warmth of early morning. 

‘A new day,’ sighed Elrohir.

‘And it is full of promise,’ his brother added.

 





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