Chapter 8, Bitter Memory   [Part Two of Three]

(Continuing Elladan’s story...)

The latest attack may have come without warning, but the twins had learned their lesson.  Uniting against another threat, both brothers spun around with their knives drawn, ready by the time their newest assailant reached them.  

Thoroughly upset by his quarrel with Elladan, Elrohir rushed forward, wanting nothing more than to release his pent up hurt by dealing a crippling blow to their latest attacker.  At the last moment, though, he realized to his horror that the figure running toward them was not some fearsome beast, but merely a human child.  With a cry of surprise, he jerked back his arm and allowed himself to be tackled and thrown to the ground.  His breath left him with a great ‘whoof,’ but Elrohir easily turned the tables and had the smaller youth pinned to the ground in a punishing hold, ending up face-to-face with his attacker.

Without words, the two stared into each others eyes, mere inches apart.  Fierce hate shone from the boy’s, who couldn’t have been more than ten years old, while confusion and shock were reflected in the elf’s, who was badly shaken to think he’d almost killed a child.  Neither one of them moving, barely remembering to breathe, they were locked in a wordless struggle as Elrohir became mesmerized by the pure hate the boy was projecting.

“Ro, get up.”

“Elrohir you can get off of him.”

“Elrohir!”

With a start, Elrohir finally registered that his brother had been talking to him and broke away from the hate-filled gaze.  He jerked his head to look at Elladan, but his eyes still reflected the horror he felt from almost killing a boy.

“Are you alright?”

Elladan was relieved when his brother’s eyes cleared and Elrohir came fully back into the present.  But then his twin’s gaze sharpened into something else, something foreign and Elladan felt a frisson of fear--Elrohir had never looked at him like that before.

“I am uninjured, my Lord,” Elrohir responded coldly as he drew himself up off the boy.

Elladan recoiled as if slapped.  He already come to his senses and knew that he’d been out of line earlier.  And yes, he’d expected to do some serious groveling before his thoughtless words were forgiven, but in his wildest imagination he had never pictured Elrohir reacting like this.

“Ro...I...” he began helplessly, but his words trailed away as Elrohir simply stared at a point somewhere over Elladan’s shoulder--he wasn’t even looking at him.

The tension between the two grew and Elladan tried again, “Elrohir, look, I’m sorry I...”

But his twin cut him off abruptly, “Would his Lordship allow me dress his wounds now?”

“‘Would his Lordship’...”Would his”...Elrohir stop it!” burst Elladan.  This was stupid.  

Elrohir finally did look at his brother, but his words didn’t comfort Elladan, “If you would still prefer to attend to your injury yourself, my Lord, I will see to the boy.”

The boy...oh...right.  Elladan quickly looked over to the human child, who had crawled over to the dog and was now draped over its back sobbing.  What?  Wasn’t this the child who eyes had just been lit with hatred?  What was going on now?  Was nothing how it should be?  Shaking off an unaccustomed desire to find a nice spot and start bawling himself, he turned his attention back to his twin.

“No, you can...fix this,” he said, holding out his blood-covered arm, surprised to find he’d nearly forgotten about it.  Now that he was reminded of it, however, the pain seemed to intensify.  

Sitting down, awaiting treatment, Elladan scanned the tree line while his brother quietly took out the small pack of healing supplies that all warriors and trainees carried.  The soft trill of the birds and the slow hum of insects comforted Elladan.  At least for now it seemed like nothing else was waiting at the edge of the forest, ready to pounce on them.

“I’ll have to cut your sleeve off,” Elrohir murmured, interrupting his thoughts.

Elladan looked at him hopefully.  Elrohir hadn’t spoken in that cold, unfamiliar tone this time.  He smiled uncertainly at Elrohir, but his twin wasn’t looking at him.  

“Ro...”

Elrohir shook his head.  “Shh...I need to concentrate,” he said quietly.

Elladan decided to do as his brother requested and sat without speaking while Elrohir cut the fabric away from the wound and then gently and efficiently cleaned the damaged area.  Elladan drew his breath in sharply when an herbal paste was applied to the open wound--it stung badly--but within moments the herbs began to work and the pain dulled to a tolerable throb.

Elrohir finished up by winding a clean white roll of cloth around Elladan’s arm and tying it off neatly.  Elladan was amazed at how much better his arm felt and smiled.  Their father always did say the younger twin had a natural inclination for healing.

“Thank you.  That does feels better,” he said gratefully.

“You’re welcome,” responded Elrohir, as he turned to put the supplies away.  “....my Lord”

Elladan’s spirits plummeted with those last words, which had been added almost as an afterthought.  Elrohir’s gentle, caring touch had given him false hope that his twin had decided to stop the “my Lord” nonsense. 

Since it was his fault things were off-kilter between them, Elladan knew it was up to him to fix things.  With the strength and determination he was already known for, he faced the situation head-on and said, “Elrohir, I am sorry for my earlier words.  I wasn’t thinking.  Of course there is no difference between us.  You’re right...those few moments between our birth mean nothing and we are equals.  I was wrong to say otherwise.  Please forgive me.”

As apologies go, it was flawless.  It was said in the right tone.  It was sincere.  It was thorough.  Unfortunately, Elrohir was still too upset to accept it and responded ungraciously.

“You have nothing to apologize for, my Lord.  I simply didn’t understand my place before.”

Elladan breathed in deeply, trying to control his frustration.  He said he was sorry.  What more did his brother want?  More groveling?  Fine.

Careful to keep all trace of annoyance out of his voice, he said, “You know that’s not true.  What I said was foolish and wrong.  I was foolish and wrong.  I have never been nor will ever be ‘your Lord’ or anything of the sort...and would appreciate it if you would stop calling me that.”

“Very well...,” answered Elrohir, but Elladan just knew he was tacking on ‘my Lord’ at the end, even if he didn’t say it out loud.  His brother clearly wasn’t ready to forgive and move on. 

Elladan brought his hand up and pressed it into his forehead, trying to push away a headache that was trying to form--he had no idea what to do now--not only with Elrohir, but with the whole stupid situation.  He’d been attacked, he was hurt, his brother was upset with him, there was some strange boy on the ground crying his eyes out, and they were still supposed to deliver that boar to the village.  What a disaster!  

“You killed him!  He’s dead!”

Both twins whipped their heads towards the boy whose soft sobs they had been ignoring as his cries now filled the air.  His speech was heavy with a thick accent unfamiliar to the elves, but he was fortunately speaking in Westron, a language in which they were fluent, and after pausing a moment they understood what he said. 

“He’s dead!  Why?  Why did you have to kill him?”

Elladan looked to Elrohir--they always looked to each other when confronted with unusual situations, drawing strength and inspiration from one another.  Elrohir wasn’t looking back, though.  By the Valar!  This was not the time to stay in a snit!

“Elrohir,” he hissed.

Elrohir looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but kept his face expressionless and didn’t move.

Fine!  Be that way.  Cursing stubborn brothers in his head, Elladan scowled and squared his shoulders.  If Elrohir wanted to stay mad there wasn’t anything he could do about it for the moment.  Since apparently they weren’t going to deal with this situation together and Elrohir wasn’t doing anything, it was up to him.

He knelt by the boy and asked gently in the boy’s language, “What is your name?”

The child sniffed and said, “Benny.”

Smiling, Elladan said, “Well Benny, my name is Elladan, and that is my brother, Elrohir.  I’m sorry your dog is dead, but we had to defend ourselves when he attacked us.  As you can see,” he held out his arm, “he came after us first.”

The boy’s chin wobbled.  “But...but...he was my dog.  He was my friend.  You didn’t have to kill him.”

Elladan’s eyes darted to his twin.  Why didn’t Elrohir say anything?  He was always better at this sort of thing--wasn’t he the one who had endless patience when young elflings came around to watch the “big boys” practice?  But Elrohir was still standing there, his passive refusal to do anything more provoking than openly quarreling would have been.  He probably knew it, too, blast him.

Once again forced to breathe in deeply to try to calm himself, Elladan resolved to ignore Elrohir until his brother stopped his nonsense.

Turning back to the child, the said, “Benny, the dog was hurting me.  My brother had to stop him, or he would have hurt me more, maybe even killed me.  You must understand we would not normally hurt your dog.”

Benny wiped the tears from his face with his palms and mournfully looked at Elladan.  

“I want to go home,” he said with a catch in his voice.

“Would you like us to go with you?” Elladan asked kindly.

The boy shook his head.  “You killed Tarnok.  You might hurt me, too,” he said, suddenly sounding afraid.

“We won’t hurt you...I promise.”

When the boy didn’t answer, Elladan added, “We could even carry Tarnok home for you if you’d like.”

He knew if they did that, by the time they could come back for the boar the forest animals would have devoured it and they would fail their test--they wouldn’t have enough time to find another boar before they had to return--but he really felt he needed to somehow help the devastated child.  Normally he would have talked to Elrohir about such a monumental decision...oh, how he wished he could talk to Elrohir about this...but he was on his own and made the best choice he could.

“O...okay,” Benny finally said.  “Tarnok needs to go home too.”

Nodding, Elladan stood up and, resolve failing, tried one last time, “Elrohir, are you alright with this?  You know we cannot carry both the dog and the boar.”

“I will follow your lead, as always,” responded Elrohir coolly.

Elladan was beginning to get angry now.  Enough already!

“Very well,” he said sharply.  “You carry his front, I’ll get the back.”

----------

It was a silent procession that made its way through the forest toward the village.  The twins followed the youth, carrying the dog between them but neither of them speaking.  

After awhile, the clouds rolled in and shrouded the forest in gloom, matching everyone’s mood.  It was not a happy trio that finally reached Brightfalls.

Their entrance into the village caused quite a stir.  Obviously it wasn’t an every day occurrence to have a couple of elves show up with a dead dog between them.  Before long, the three boys were surrounded by dozens of people, talking loudly and staring at the twins.

Momentarily forgetting their quarrel, the two shared a quick look, wondering if there was going to be trouble and what they would do if there was.  But to their immense relief, a large, imposing man held up his hand and quieted the gathered masses.  

“Benny, who are these two?  What happened?”

“Papa!  These…these elves killed Tarnok.  He was just helping me hunt…wasn’t doing anything wrong…and then that one stabbed him,” he said angrily, pointing at Elrohir.

The twins’ jaws dropped at the youth’s sudden transformation.  The grief was gone and in its place was fury and accusation.  In a day full of bewildering twists, this was the most unexpected.

The tall man moved over until he stood right in front of the twins--his towering presence unnerving as he leaned over.  They could see his face harden as he looked down on them, asking coldly, “You killed Tarnok?  Why?  What kind of game were you playing?  Did it amuse you to destroy a little boy’s pet for no reason?”

With each new question, his face came closer and closer to Elrohir’s, until he was just inches away, his large, solid presence menacing as he crowded the slim young elf.  When Elrohir stared at him, not saying anything, the man’s mouth twisted in disgust and he spat, “Don’t play games with me, boy.  I know you understand me.  You elves all speak the common language.  Stand there and act superior if you want to, but mark my words, I am the headman here and I’ll get to the bottom of this.  Just because you’re an elf doesn’t mean you can get away with crimes in our village.”

Elladan hadn’t been able to form a coherent sentence up until this point, shaken and tired of feeling that things were out of control.  But when the large man threatened his strangely impassive twin, Elladan pushed his way between them and managed to say calmly, “I assure you we did not attack your dog without cause.  The truth of the matter is that it attacked me first and my brother was merely defending me.  It was never a game.”

There was a flicker of doubt in the man’s eyes as he eyed the bandage on Elladan’s arm and the young elf felt a ray of hope that the misunderstanding could all be cleared up when another voice chimed in.

“He’s a liar, Papa!” Benny interjected vehemently.  Turning to Elladan, he added, “You just wanted to claim the boar for yourself.  Tarnok and I, we hunted it, we killed it, but you thought you could take it away.”  Twisting to once more face his father, now with tears in his eyes, Benny said, “We had just killed a boar, Papa, when they pushed me aside so they could take it.  Tarnok saw them and tried to defend me.  All he was doing was keeping them from hurting me.”

Elladan looked at Benny in astonishment at the blatant lie.  The boy was claiming the boar kill as his own?  And was asserting that the twins attacked him?  It was so brazenly false that a rush of anger flushed through him.  He had had enough of this farce.  They’d lost their boar, no doubt consumed by forest creatures by now, and they’d lost the better part of the day carrying a dead dog to help out a sad boy, who apparently was repaying their kindness with lies.  Elladan tried to catch his twin’s eye, wanting to communicate he was ready to leave…now, but Elrohir was pointedly not looking at him.

Wanting to kick his twin...hard...for being so pigheaded, Elladan swiftly ran through options in his head on ways to get them out of this mess.  

Before he could come up with a diplomatic solution that his father, as well as his trainers, would approve of, a wiry man listening to the exchange moved forward and addressed the group with feral gleam in his eyes.

“You see!  You see!  This is what I’ve been trying to tell you.  This is what we get for trusting elves.  You’re fools to think they’re our friends.  They steal our food and, if not for the bravery of poor Tarnok, might have even hurt young Benny.  They need to be punished!”

“What?!” blurted Elladan at the ridiculous statement.  “We were hunting a boar, on elven lands, when your beast, unprovoked, attacked.  When we saw how upset the boy was, we offered to carry the dog back to your village.  We stole nothing and certainly haven’t earned any...punishment.”

“So you are fools as well as thieves,” the skinny man nastily hissed.  “These lands are controlled by our village, not some elf.  Any boar you hunt in these woods belongs to us.  So not only do you need to answer for the death of poor Benny’s hunting dog, but also for trying to steal our game.  Game which is needed to feed our people.”

“Is that what this is about?  Who has rights to the boar?” asked Elladan, his voice cooling.  He was not about to let this odious man intimidate him.  He folded his arms in front of him and looked every inch an elven lord as he continued, “Well it’s a pity that dog attacked us.  Our intent was to present the boar, that we had hunted on our lands, to your village as a gift from the elven lord, Elrond.  Of course I’m sure by now the forest has claimed it, so none will benefit barring the scavengers.”

Once again, Elladan thought the headman, Benny’s father, would see reason.  His demeanor had calmed down and he appeared to be considering the situation.  

“You say you were hunting on elven lands?” he asked thoughtfully.

Elladan answered readily, “Aye.  I agree this is near the edge of our territory, but these forests are elven lands under the protection of Lord Elrond.  The hunt for the boar was a part of our training, as was our delivery him to you.  We took down the boar, but before we could prepare it, I was attacked by your son’s dog.  My brother did kill it, but only to defend me.”

The man nodded reflectively, then turned to his son, “Benny, is what he says true?  Did Tarnok attack him first?  Are you trying to lie to me?”

“No!  He’s the one lying, honest, Papa.  It happened just like I said.  They saw that I’d killed the boar and I guess they wanted it.  They didn’t say what they were going to do with it, but when they came to take it, I wouldn’t let them and they pushed me.  That’s when Tarnok bit him.”

If Elladan hadn’t been there himself and known the truth, he might have been persuaded to believe the boy.  The beseeching, open look in his face certainly was convincing.

Benny’s father frowned and turned back to Elladan.

“He says you pushed him, “he said, menace creeping back into his voice.

“No!  I didn’t push your son.  My brother didn’t push your son.  No one pushed your son.  He is, I am sorry to inform you, a liar,” Elladan said firmly.

“Frank, I can’t believe you’re standing here listening to this.”  The wiry man who had spoken up earlier addressed Benny’s father in an angry tone.  “It’s obvious these elven brats are the ones lying.  What would Benny have to gain by not telling the truth?  Surely you believe your own son before these two trespassers.”

Benny’s father, Frank, looked at him and then around at the rest of the villagers.  They all chimed in at this point, agreeing angrily that it was the elves who were lying, who should be punished.

Elladan tensed as the shouts grew louder and villagers crowded in.  He wasn’t sure what he would do if they attacked him or his brother.  He had never imagined his first combat being against a bunch of human villagers, but then again, he had never imagined himself in this kind of situation at all.  He forced his hand to not reach for his sword.  If he had to fight, he wasn’t going to be the one to start things.

Once again, however, it was Benny’s father as the village leader who calmed things down by raising his hand for silence.

“My son has no reason to lie to me,” he began.

“We...” broke in Elladan, but he was cut off when Frank raised his hand again, silencing the young elf as well.

“As I was saying, my son has no reason to lie to me.  However, in the interest of the long friendship we have shared with the elves, I will not insist on contesting your decision to hunt on our grounds.”

Elladan wanted to scream at the man...they had been on elven lands.  They’d done nothing wrong.  He held his tongue, though.  If the man was going be reasonable, he was willing to remain silent on that point.

Frank wasn’t finished, though.  “What is clear from both of your accounts, however, is that Tarnok, my son’s hunting dog, was killed by him,” he said, pointing at Elrohir.  “A well-trained hunting dog is very valuable to us and we are owed compensation.”

Elladan snorted inelegantly at the preposterous statement.  “In the first place, your beast of a dog attacked us.  If there was any form of compensation required, it should be from you to us.  And moreover, even if we were to agree that you were the wronged party, which we in no way do, with what could we possibly pay you.  Do you honestly believe we carry coin when we’re hunting?”  Elladan finished sarcastically, disgusted and angry all at once.

“I hoped you would have something so we could clear this up quickly,” Frank said coolly, “but if not, we will just have to wait.”

“What?”

“It’s simple, really.  We will keep him with us,” Frank said, pointing at Elrohir, “while you go fetch a responsible adult so we may discuss this situation further.” 

Elladan fought to keep his expression calm.  Adult?  Who were these men anyway?  Their dog attacks him and Elrohir, they want compensation or for Elrohir to stay with them, something he wouldn’t even consider, and now they apparently didn’t find him competent to resolve the situation with them?  He and Elrohir were, after all, lords themselves.  Maybe it was time to let the men know exactly who they were dealing with.

“I am perfectly able to discuss this situation with you.  You needn’t wait for an adult,” he said, spitting out the last word as if it were offensive.  Continuing on with more dignity, he added, “My brother and I, the sons of Lord Elrond, have represented our people before and are perfectly capable of doing so now.”

Frank visibly paled as the words sunk in and the problem may resolved itself right then, except the other villagers didn’t seem to be as impressed as their headman at Elladan’s words.

“Don’t believe him...we already know he’s a liar!”

“Sure he’s Elrond’s son...and I’m the moon goddess!”

“He’s just trying to get away without paying.  Don’t listen to him.”

“Blasted elves!  Always think they’re so superior.  Even their kids think they’re better than us!”

It was getting uglier as the villagers became more and more worked up.  Elladan couldn’t let it get to far.

“I don’t care if you believe me or not,” he shouted, causing the crowd to fall silent.  Continuing in a quieter voice, he said, “We will let my father know your concerns when we return home and you may petition him if you feel necessary.”

“Indeed!” Frank responded in disbelief.  “You leave and that’s the last we see of you.  You expect us to believe your father, whoever he may be, would send us our due?  No, we keep your brother here while you go back home alone.”

The confidence and righteous anger that Elladan had been feeling up to this point was oozing out of him as he realized these men were serious.  They weren’t just making noise to hear themselves, they really expected him to leave Elrohir behind.  He realized that he was out of his depth and found himself wishing paradoxically for one of his instructors to show up.  Even if it made him look young and inept, he’d be happy this once if an ‘adult’ were there to take over.

Licking his lips, he looked at the men arrayed before the twins.  None of them showed even the slightest hint that they were sympathetic and for the first time since this whole stupid affair started, he found himself genuinely scared.  He would not leave his twin behind. 

“No,” he said, as forcefully as he could.  “We have done nothing wrong and you have no right to hold him.”

One of the men leaned forward, leering into Elladan’s face, “You’re the only one who says you’ve done nothing wrong, but you’re just a stinkin’ elf.  Why should we believe you when one of our own says you’re lying?”

Elladan’s eyes flashed and he tensed up ready to shove the man’s words down his throat, when a firm hand on his arm drew his attention.  

Speaking for the first time, Elrohir said to him in their own tongue, “No.  Go.  Find one of the masters.  I will stay.”

Elladan pulled his arm away, shocked his brother would even consider staying behind with these people.  Ignoring the men still arrayed around them, he responded to Elrohir similarly in elvish, “No!  Don’t be a fool.  We owe this village nothing.”

“It doesn’t matter…”

“Yes it does!” Elladan interrupted.  “You aren’t thinking clearly.  Not only do we not owe them anything, but these are not our people.  We cannot know what they do to prisoners.”

Elrohir was also wary about these humans, but perversely was willing to stay if only to prove to Elladan that he could make his own decisions.

Coldly, he asked, “Do you have another solution?”

“Not yet, but…”

“But nothing.  They will not release us both and we certainly cannot fight our way out.”

“Then we wait for one of the training masters to find us.”

“For how long?  A week?  Two?  Three?  And do you really think only one of the masters would come?  No.  They’d all show up here.  How will it look when the entire class has to come and rescue us?  Not only would we have failed our test, but we’d become the laughingstocks of our peers for eternity.  It is better you leave now and keep this as quiet as possible.”

It was a strong argument, but Elladan had no way of knowing his brother’s real justification was to prove to himself that he was not Elladan’s puppet.  It had nothing to do with saving face.  

Caught up in the immediate situation, Elladan was oblivious to his brother’s inner thoughts and hissed, “You can’t be serious.  I don’t care what the others think.  You really want me to leave you here?  I expect they won’t let you roam free.  You’d be locked up.  Is that what you’re agreeing to?”

“Yes.”

Elladan was flabbergasted.  How many times had the training masters drilled into them the need for the teams to stay together during the test?  To look out for one another?  If no other solution presented itself, they both should stay.  It was ludicrous for Elrohir to even consider remaining alone.  He couldn’t leave his foolish brother with these wretched, ignorant people.

“No.  I won’t allow it.”

It was utterly the wrong choice of words and Elladan knew it the instant they left his mouth.  Practically choking, he sputtered, “I mean…”

“You won’t allow it?”  Elrohir cut in coldly.

The younger twin drew himself up as tall as he could and his eyes narrowed.  “Of course.  I forget myself.  What exactly does Your Lordship recommend we do?” he asked in a harsh voice Elladan barely recognized as his brother’s.

“Elrohir…” he pleaded, feeling sick.  The rest of the villagers might as well have been on another continent as Elladan’s vision tunneled on his brother.  “Elrohir...look, I didn’t mean it that way.  I told you I’m sorry for earlier.  I really, truly am.  But this is mad.  I won’t leave you.”

“So you do believe you make the decisions for us?”

“No!”

“But you refuse to let me stay?”

“Yes, but...”

“You can’t have it both ways, Elladan.  Either I have an equal say, or I don’t,” Elrohir said harshly.

“Elrohir...” Elladan groaned.  This whole discussion was about to make him stark raving mad!  Just because he wasn’t about to leave Elrohir behind didn’t mean he thought he was in charge.  

“Quit spewing that sissy language!”  His thoughts were interrupted as a particularly large villager grabbed Elladan’s uninjured arm and shook him.

Reacting instantly, Elrohir jerked the man’s hand away from his brother.  Furious or not with Elladan, no one was going to touch him.  “Enough.  I’ll stay,” he said decisively.

“Good,” said Frank quickly, appearing relieved to settle things before anyone became violent.

“But I didn’t agree,” said Elladan, alarm robbing his voice of the command he was trying for. 

Frank shrugged.  “Doesn’t matter...he did.” 

Elladan opened his mouth, desperately trying to think of something to say, but no sound came out.  How did things get so out of control?  He and Elrohir had found more than their share of tight situations in the past, given their sense of mischief, but between them they’d always found ways to solve problems before they got too out of control.  Of course, that was it.  There was no “them” at the moment.  Elladan’s ill-considered words had created a divide that had pushed them apart and right into this mess.  It was his fault.  Maybe he should just agree to let Elrohir do what he wanted and be done with this whole wretched affair.

“Very well,” he choked out in a small voice.  “I’ll go find one of our trainers.”

Even as he spoke, he couldn’t believe he’d actually said those words.  He was really going to leave Elrohir behind?  His worried eyes sought his brother’s and for a brief moment their eyes met.  Elrohir looked determined, however there was a hint of sadness in there as well.  Elladan was marginally comforted that his twin was obviously hating the distance between them as much as he was.

“Are you sure?” he whispered hoarsely.

Elrohir nodded once and Elladan’s shoulders fell.  

“I’ll go,” he said again quietly, but then added in a stronger voice, “but I want to see where he will be staying.”

Frank nodded, “Fair enough.  We’ll keep him in the storeroom.  Come.  I’ll show you both.”

The crowd followed a short distance behind as the two elves silently followed the headman.

They stopped near the far end of the village next to a small, well-built structure.  Frank gestured for a man to come forward, who pulled out a key and unlocked the heavy door before motioning them all inside.

Elladan’s anxiety level fell dramatically as he viewed the storeroom.  It was small but airy, with windows high up to allow for ventilation.  There were barrels stacked up against one wall and a few piles of sacks along another, but the rest was empty and clean.

“We’ll bring in bedding, some food, books...he’ll be kept comfortable while you’re gone,” said Frank mildly.  “Satisfied?”

“Ro?” questioned Elladan.  They both knew he wasn’t asking about the accommodations.  It was one last chance for Elrohir to say he’d changed his mind and they would find another solution.

“It’s fine,” said Elrohir firmly, answering the unspoken question.

Elladan knew his twin was going to say that, but it still took him a moment to accept that he was really about to leave Elrohir behind with people who were admittedly unfriendly.  

“Well,” he said, clearing his throat which had suddenly tightened up on him.  “I guess I’ll see you in a few days, then.  Uh...keep out of trouble,” he added, failing badly at an attempt to lighten things up.

“Safe journey,” was all Elrohir said before walking over to a stack of barrels, sliding to the floor and leaning against one.

After a last look at his twin, Elladan walked out, cringing as he heard the lock click shut.

He turned to the headman and said, “I will return soon.”  Then, unconsciously changing his posture, effortlessly showing all who saw him that, yes, he was an elven lord, he added in a commanding voice that could have come from Elrond himself, “You had better see to it that he comes to no harm.”

Without further word, the young elf spun around and ran out of the village.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That was it?!  That was your new story?  Elrohir was locked in a stupid little storage room?  I thought it would at least be another story of dungeons and rats.  Now you tell me he can’t even manage being locked in a room for a few days.  Oh Valar!  What next?”

Estel’s disgusted outburst stopped Elladan’s train of thought and he blinked as he pulled his thoughts from long-ago events to the present.

He glared at his little brother, both for the interruption as well as the words. “Aye, they locked him in a well-lit, cheery little store room and that is how I left him.  But that is not the end of the story, Estel.  Mind your tongue and your thoughts until you hear the rest.”

Elladan frowned.  In recounting the story, he’d brought up a lot of bad feelings that he’d just as soon never revisit.  This was one of the few times that he and Elrohir had been so completely at odds with one another and, like every other time when they’d truly fought, it had ended badly.  

He sighed as he reminded himself that this had happened centuries ago and everything was fine between himself and Elrohir.  Shaking off the gloom, he thought about where to pick up the story again.  His journey to find the training masters?  Their not-so-favorable reaction to his story?  His frantic journey back?  He shifted his body to get more comfortable, took a sip of water from a cup Legolas handed him, and then began again.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:  No, haven’t been hit by a bus or anything...I’m still here.  This is the section of the chapter that has plagued me forever.  I can’t even count how many times I’ve rewritten it.  Dozens?  A hundred?  I don’t know.  Bits and pieces that just never fit together.  I made Benny a young man, I gave him a brother who came later and confronted the twins, I made Benny speak a language the twins couldn’t understand, I made Elrohir’s behavior more hurt than standoffish and wrote about his thoughts rather than just Elladan’s, I gave Elrohir a bigger voice in the village, I made Benny’s father the nasty, wiry fellow instead of the headman, blah, blah, blah.  Basically, this section has been tormenting me long enough and I finally plowed my way through it.  Whew!   Done!