MONSTER: Bed-Slayer

SUMMARY: Elladan and Elrohir are in need of a champion and only Glorfindel will do. Unfortunately for all concerned, the former Lord of the House of the Golden Flower is nowhere to be found.

NOTE: At age eight, the twins are the equivalent of three-year-olds in Human terms.

****

"Glorfi! We want Glorfi!"

Elrond and Celebrían ran from their bedrooms to where their twin sons slept and entered the room to find two tear-streaked faces staring up at them, little arms reaching out for comfort. Elrond automatically picked up Elladan while Celebrían cuddled Elrohir.

"What is it, iôn nîn?" Elrond crooned as he rocked his firstborn son in his arms. "What has you and your brother so upset?"

"W-w-we want Gl-glorfi," the ellon stuttered between his tears.

"But Glorfindel is not here, Elladan," his adar said, which apparently was the wrong thing to say for immediately both twins began wailing. Elrohir even pounded his baby fists at his naneth, who held him tightly through his tantrum.

"Glorfi!" the elfling yelled at the top of his lungs. "Glorfi! Want Glorfi!" Elladan joined his brother in his tirade, letting his own displeasure be known to his parents and everyone else in Imladris.

"Why do you want Glorfindel?" Celebrían yelled over her sons’ screams.

"Glorfi protects us from monsters," Elladan answered, cowering into his adar’s arms and letting Elrond soothe him. Elrohir was doing the same with their naneth.

"And where are these monsters?" Elrond asked.

"Un-under the beds," whispered Elrohir, the child’s tone one of true fear.

"Perhaps Ada can take a look and make sure they’re not there," Celebrían suggested but neither twin was pleased with that idea.

"No, Nana, Glorfi has to look," Elrohir protested. "Glorfi kills monsters, not Ada."

Celebrían gave her husband a wry look and when she spoke it was in Quenya, a language the twins had not yet mastered. "How does it feel to be upstaged by the Captain of your guards in the eyes of your sons?"

Elrond snorted, a rueful look on his face. "I am afraid Glorfindel has had too much influence over them of late."

"They adore him," Celebrían offered gently, "but they love you."

Elrond did not respond to that but settled Elladan more firmly in his lap to better speak to him. "You know Glorfindel is on patrol, do you not, iôn nîn?"

Two dark-haired ellyn nodded almost as one. "He will not be back for some days. Are you sure you wouldn’t want Ada to check under the beds for you? Ada used to slay monsters too, a long time ago."

Two pairs of grey eyes stared at him in disbelief and there was a tandem shaking of small heads. "No. Glorfi slays monsters," Elladan said with childish logic as he cuddled closer into Elrond’s arms. "Ada makes booboos go away."

"Well you can’t fault him on that bit of logic," Celebrían said with a smile, still speaking in Quenya. "They only see you in the healing wing, but Glorfindel is the one with the sword."

Elrond gave a soft sigh, cradling his firstborn and planting a kiss on the little one’s brow. Elrohir, he noticed, was already half-asleep again, a little fist held tight to his mouth. He gave his beloved a quizzical look. "I wonder though what has brought this on. Glorfindel has been away on patrols before and they’ve never acted like this. What could have set them off?"

Celebrían gave a delicate shrug. "Perhaps Erestor was telling them a story earlier, or they overheard some of the warriors speaking of their battles with the yrch."

"Should we take them back to our rooms for the night?" Elrond suggested somewhat doubtfully. "I know you are trying to wean them away from that, but they are obviously terrified of something and I hesitate to leave them alone. They might wake up again in fright."

"I suppose it wouldn’t hurt just this once," Celebrían said. "I just hope it doesn’t become a habit every time your Captain is away."

"Násië!" Elrond muttered fervently.

****

"GLORFI!!!!"

Elrond groaned as he disentangled himself from Celebrían’s embrace, while she merely gave him a wry grin.

"This is the third night in a row," the Lord of Imladris muttered as he rose from their bed and hunted for a robe to throw over him, not even bothering with slippers as he made his way to the door.

Celebrían sat up, her silver hair in disarray, and shook her head. "Remember dear, they’re only eight."

Elrond turned to her in surprise. "Do you think I would show my anger towards them for this? When I was their age, Elros and I often woke screaming from nightmares about our naneth. Maglor would hold us both and sing to us until we fell asleep again. He never admonished us or told us we were too old for such nonsense. I think he felt some guilt that he and Maedhros were the cause of our night terrors."

Celebrían’s expression softened as it always did whenever her husband mentioned anything about his brother or their lives as children growing up with Maglor. She knew he still had a great deal of love for the silmaril-haunted son of Fëanor. "Go to your sons, Elrond," was all she said. "They have need of you."

****

"How long before Glorfindel returns?" Elrond asked Erestor on the fifth day as he and his Chief Councillor sat in Elrond’s library going over the day’s schedule.

Erestor noticed that Elrond looked unusually pale and tired. Celebrían wasn’t much better, though both tried to hide it. The citizens of Imladris were well aware of the nightly terrors that beset the small heirs of their lord and lady and it distressed them, and puzzled them. During the day the twins seemed unaffected by whatever frightened them at night. Even at bedtime they appeared unconcerned, eagerly demanding a story and drinks of water before settling down to sleep. Yet, every night for the last week, one or the other had woken screaming, setting off his twin. The Chief Councillor of Imladris worried for the health of his lord and his family.

"If he kept to the schedule and encountered no unusual problems," Erestor answered, "he should be back by tomorrow night around the time of the evening meal."

"Well, he cannot be back soon enough," Elrond retorted. "Celebrían and I have taken turns remaining in the twins’ room in the hope that having an adult presence would stem the nightmares, but it hasn’t worked."

"Can you do nothing for them?" Erestor asked.

"We tried giving them a mild sleeping draught," Elrond told him, "but even that did not work and I would not increase the dosage for fear of them becoming addicted. They are very young and their bodies would be unable to metabolize the medicine correctly."

"Have you learned what sets them off?" Erestor asked.

Elrond shook his head. "No. All we know is that I am incapable of looking under their beds to see if there are any monsters to be slain. Only Glorfi is capable of doing so."

Erestor hid a smile at his lord’s acerbic tone. "They see you as a healer not as a warrior. They are too young to be able to extrapolate beyond that. Everyone has his or her set role and yours obviously is not that of monster slayer."

"I know and truly I do not mind but we just do not understand why they are doing this now. Glorfindel has gone on patrol before and they’ve never gotten upset, nor do they seem to have any apprehension about going to bed. It is almost as if they do not remember being frightened the night before."

"Perhaps they do not," Erestor ventured. "Their minds seem not to hold to such memories, which may be a blessing."

"For them, if not for their parents," Elrond said with a wry grin and Erestor chuckled. "Well, if it’s just one more night, I suppose we can survive but I’m very tempted to demote Glorfindel to full-time nanny and leave the guarding of Imladris to someone else."

Now Erestor laughed outright and Elrond joined him, his humor restored somewhat.

****

Glorfindel, however, did not return at the time specified and Elrond’s mood darkened towards wrath as Elrohir started screaming for ‘Glorfi’. "I’m going to slay him myself," he muttered as he stomped towards the twins’ room only to find his way blocked by Erestor and two ellith.

"Let us handle them tonight, my lord," Erestor said. "You and Lady Celebrían need your rest."

Elrond looked upon his Councillor with gratitude. "If they won’t calm down call us."

"Of course, my lord," Erestor said, though he had no intention of doing anything of the sort.

Elrond gave them a nod and returned to his bedroom. Celebrían was in the process of donning a nightrobe when he entered and looked at him in surprise. "Erestor is taking care of them tonight," was all he said as he slipped out of his own robe, "along with Mirwen and Rían."

"I do hope Glorfindel returns soon," his wife said as she climbed into bed, allowing Elrond to cradle her. She felt him nuzzling the curve of her neck and gave a small purr of pleasure as she relaxed further into his embrace. Elrond didn’t bother to say anything and in a few minutes both were beyond the need for words.

****

"How long did it take you to calm them down?" Elrond asked Erestor the next morning, noticing the attempt on Erestor’s part to hide a yawn.

"I think it was nearly dawn before we all succumbed to exhaustion," Erestor replied. "I left Rían muttering something about being glad she never had children."

Elrond smiled. "It’s not that bad usually. I just wish I understood why they are doing what they are doing. It makes no sense."

"To you, but to them...."

"If Glorfindel does not return soon...." He left the threat unspoken.

"He’ll be here, my lord," Erestor said soothingly. "I have never known him to be more than a day or two later than originally planned. He knows how much you depend on him."

"I never suspected that I would depend on him to help keep the night terrors from my sons, though," Elrond responded ruefully.

To that Erestor had no answer and wisely remained silent.

****

That night it seemed half of Imladris was up trying to calm the twins to no avail. Every warrior in the House looked under the beds, declaring that there were no monsters to be seen but the twins refused to believe them. Several ellith attempted to soothe them with lullabies and one or two even tried bribing them with sweets. Celebrían was none too pleased with that.

"We’re trying to calm them down, not make them any more active than they already are," she said in exasperation, clearly at the end of her rope.

It was then that the sound of horses’ hooves clip-clopping on the flagstones outside alerted everyone that the patrol had returned. Elrond turned to Erestor. "Get Glorfindel up here now," he snarled and Erestor fairly ran to do his lord’s bidding.

It seemed an eternity but in actuality it was only ten minutes before the golden-haired Captain of Imladris strode into the twins’ bedroom still in riding gear. He gave Elrond his obeisance. "My lord sent for me?"

"No, I did not," Elrond snapped, pointing at the twins who had miraculously stopped crying as soon as their hero entered the room, "but they have been screaming for you every night for the past week."

Glorfindel raised an eyebrow and stared at the twins, though his expression was unusually soft for one who had died slaying a balrog. He went to one knee before them where Mirwen and Rían held them in their laps. "What is this, my little warriors? Why the tears?"

"We want Glorfi," Elrohir said with a hiccup and his twin nodded.

Elrond and Celebrían exchanged mystified looks and Celebrían knelt beside the Noldo. "But Glorfindel is right here, my loves."

Both twins shook their heads. "No, Nana, not Glorfindel, Glorfi!" Elladan nearly yelled.

At the confused looks on the other adults’ faces, Glorfindel started laughing as he stood up. "I’ll be right back."

Without further explanation he left the room but returned in a short while holding a stuffed toy rabbit that oddly enough held a small sword in one of its paws as if it were guarding something... or someone. As soon as he entered the room both twins beamed. "GLORFI!!!" they shouted and with an affectionate smile Glorfindel handed them the toy.

Elrond stared in disbelief at his sons, both cuddling the stuffed toy at the same time. "That’s Glorfi? All week long they’ve been screaming for a toy?"

Glorfindel looked at his lord and gave him a sympathetic smile. "Just before I set off on patrol, they came to me and insisted I take Glorfi with me to keep me safe. I think it would have been better if he had stayed here instead."

"I never noticed the toy was missing," Celebrían said ruefully.

"I didn’t even know it existed," Elrond countered, looking even more rueful.

"I think Lord Celeborn gave it to them when he was last here. Told them they would have to share."

"I never noticed," Elrond said, looking even more chagrined, wondering what sort of father he was making that he did not even know his own sons’ toys.

Glorfindel stood and put his hands on Elrond’s shoulders. "Do not be dismayed, mellon nîn. I was unaware of its existence myself until the twins handed it to me, saying they wanted to make sure I was well protected against monsters."

Elrond couldn’t help casting his friend and the protector of his House a wry grin. "And were you?"

Glorfindel laughed. "Oh yes, but I think from now on we best leave ‘Glorfi’ here to guard your sons instead." He turned to look at the twins and chuckled. The other adults followed his gaze and there were amused looks all around. Cuddled together on one bed, Elladan and Elrohir were fast asleep with the stuffed toy nestled between them, contented smiles on their little faces.

Peace had come to Imladris at last.

****

All words are Sindarin unless otherwise noted.

Iôn nîn: My son.

Ada: Hypocoristic form of Adar: Father.

Nana: Hypocoristic form of Naneth: Mother.

Yrch: Plural of orch: orc.

Násië!: (Quenya) ‘Amen!’

Mellon nîn: My friend.