Summer Storm

‘Do you think,’ Elladan said, wrinkling his nose at the page in front of him, ‘that we could insist that Elu Thingol’s ban is still in effect, and that, as his descendants, we should not be forced to learn Quenya?’

Elrohir snorted. ‘You could try it, I suppose,’ he grinned.  ‘I will pick up the pieces once Adar has finished with you.’

‘It is so tedious,’ his brother complained, tossing his pen down on the table and leaning back.  ‘Is it not enough that we have to learn Sindarin grammar, and Westron and Dwarvish?  And history and literature and geography of Middle Earth and Valinor?  And mathematics,’ he concluded in disgust.  ‘None of it is of any use.’

‘Do you think not?’  Elrohir asked in some surprise.  ‘I admit that I could do without some of it – I really do not know when a knowledge of Dwarvish will come in handy, although when I said that to Gwathor he laughed and said it was a very expressive language. He refused to tell me what he meant though,’ he added thoughtfully.

‘Everybody else is outside enjoying the sunshine and we are stuck in here doing lessons,’ his brother said with disgust.

Elrohir glanced at his brother, but decided not to remind him of the reason for their imprisonment.

‘Why can we not learn by doing things?’ Elladan continued.  ‘Erestor is always saying how important mathematics is as a subject, because it applies to everything in life – why does he not prove it?’

‘Well,’ Elrohir looked at his work on the development of ship-building in the early years of the Numenorean kingdom, ‘I can think of something that we could do – if we ever get out of here.’

‘Tell me,’ his brother demanded.

***

‘Have you brought more wood?’  Elladan asked as he felt his brother approach.

‘It is taking rather more effort than I thought it would,’ Elrohir sighed, dropping a load of hazel poles on the sandy beach left by the river’s curve.  The willows trailed their long branches in the water, cutting their work area off from inquisitive eyes and providing some shade from the hot sun.  Dragonflies hovered and dipped in the cool green water and an occasional fish broke the surface, creating shivering rings that rippled across the surface.

‘Well, it has to have enough space for both of us,’ his brother pointed out.  ‘It is a good thing that the coppice has provided so many poles – I do not believe anyone will notice that some of them are missing.’

‘Which is more than can be said for the rope,’ Elrohir added mischievously and they both grinned at the memory of the squabble that had broken out in the stables over the disappearance of the fine elven cord.

Elladan stood up and the twins looked at the rather rickety platform.  Big enough to hold two elflings, it still did not bear any resemblance to the study raft of their imagination.  In fact, he had to admit, it did not even look as buoyant as the branches borne down by the river in the spring flood. 

‘It is more difficult than I thought it would be,’ he admitted.

‘Perhaps if we lashed on more poles in the opposite direction,’ Elrohir suggested doubtfully. ‘It might make it stronger.’

‘Well,’ Elladan considered and grinned.  ‘At least the water is shallow,’ he said, resigning himself to the inevitable disintegration of their craft.

‘And cool,’ his brother added, eying the stream longingly.

‘Let us go swimming,’ Elladan said, abandoning his effort to select a pole of the right length.  ‘We can continue with this tomorrow.  Adar says you should never rush building projects, for they need careful planning.’  He nudged his brother.  ‘You can go and look in the library to see if anything there gives useful information on rafts.  You are the one who said books can be useful.’

‘We have already spent three whole days on this,’ Elrohir pointed out, ‘and we have not even tried it in the water yet.’

‘Tomorrow,’ Elladan promised.  ‘We will take our first voyage tomorrow.’

They pulled their attempt under the obliging willow fronds and tucked their stolen rope and tools into a convenient hole in the bank.  ‘There,’ Elrohir said with satisfaction.  ‘Nobody would know we had been here.’

***

Celebrian gazed at her sons as they ate their lunch, with a smile on her face and suspicion in her heart.  Several days had passed since any complaints about their behaviour had reached her ears.  That meant, she considered, only one of two things.  Either, unknown to herself, she was thought to be in extremely poor health – or her sons were up to something.  Since she could rule out the first option, she really needed to find out what was absorbing the twins’ attention.

‘If you look at them in that way,’ Elrond confided, leaning towards her, ‘they will realise that you are curious and slip away before you can pin them down to  carry out an interrogation.’

Her eyes sparkled as she gave him a wicked grin.  ‘How would you know that, my love?’ she asked.  ‘Were you, by any chance, a naughty little elfling yourself?’

He looked wounded.  ‘What makes you accuse me of that, my lady?’ he asked, making contact with her hand beneath the cloth and brushing his fingers gently across the ticklish palm. 

‘Remember that Adar knew you as an elfling,’ she warned him.  ‘I have heard stories.’

‘Cruel slanders,’ he asserted boldly.

Elrohir nudged Elladan and they slipped away from the table, making it out of the door before their parents’ eyes left each other’s face.

‘That was close,’ Elladan said.  ‘Do you think Adar deliberately diverted Naneth from us?’

Elrohir wrinkled his nose.  ‘No,’ he decided. ‘He was just being soppy.  He gets like that sometimes – especially when Naneth has just come back from visiting Lothlorien.’  He elbowed his brother.  ‘Come on, before Naneth decides she wants to know all about what we have been doing while she was away.’

They headed out through a side door, automatically avoiding the busiest routes across the gardens and into the woods.  It was another hot day and the leaves drooped despondently as if holding themselves up in the bright sun was simply too much effort.

The twins could hear the sounds of elflings splashing at the most popular swimming spot, but they ignored them and made straight for their secret construction site, following the path towards the river before veering off across the hard dry turf to duck under the willow fronds and scramble down to pull out their raft.

‘It does not look too bad,’ judged Elladan.  ‘I think it will float.’

‘Are we going to use poles to steer it?’ Elrohir asked.  ‘I am not sure we can make paddles.’

‘Poles will be all right,’ Elladan decided.

‘Let us see if it will float then.’ Elrohir kicked off his boots, pulling one end of the raft, which twisted reluctantly as he hauled at it.  ‘Help me.’

He waded into the shallow water as they scraped their platform over the sandy soil.  The raft settled on surface of the river, stirring slightly as the lazy current pushed it.

‘Well, it is floating,’ Elrohir said dubiously.

‘I do not think it will support us, though,’ Elladan said, his head on one side as he eyed the lattice.  ‘I will get on it – maybe we can use it one at a time.’

‘Take your tunic off first,’ his brother suggested prudently.

It proved more difficult to get aboard than either twin suspected, and they were both giggling and wet before Elladan had managed to place himself in the middle. The raft bore his weight, although it sank slightly below the surface of the water in so doing.

‘We need to make it stronger,’ Elrohir said, as they sat looking at their craft.

‘We have more poles,’ Elladan said optimistically.  ‘It was nearly strong enough – we will bind on more wood going crosswise and then it will hold us both.’

‘Maybe.’ His brother was not convinced, but could not come up with a better solution.

As they worked to strengthen their construction, the afternoon sun blazed down on the river.  The sky became glassy and took on a metallic sheen.  The last vestiges of breeze dropped and the leaves hung limply.  A distant growl of thunder from the hills suggested that, not too far away, the threatened storm was breaking with a vengeance.

The two ellyn paid no heed to their surroundings, continuing to work at their self-imposed task with a patient and dogged concentration that would have amazed their tutors.

***

‘It is raining in the hills.’  Celebrian leaned on the balcony rail and inhaled the sweet fragrance on the wind of rain after a long dry spell. 

‘Mmm,’ Elrond agreed, coming up behind her and slipping an arm round her waist. He bent his head to feel her silken hair against his cheek and relish the warmth of her presence. ‘The drought has broken – but this cloudburst is too heavy to be of much use.   It is not giving the earth time to absorb the water it needs so badly and most of it will pour into the rivers.  I hope that by the time the storm reaches the valley the rain will be gentler.’  He turned to face his wife.  ‘Have I told you how much I have missed you?’ he asked.

She smiled, her eyes like stars.  ‘I believe you may have done,’ she told him.  ‘But I am more than happy to hear it again.  Although,’ she added, ‘I think I would prefer a practical demonstration.’

He reached forward to brush a gentle kiss against her lips.  ‘I think I can find time for you in my busy diary,’ he informed her.  ‘Are you, by any chance, free now, my lady?’

Lightning fractured the sky above the hills, gleaming silver in his eyes.

‘I think I can find time for you, my lord,’ she answered as a distant rumble reached their ears.

They moved inside, disregarding the distant downpour, save for closing the doors behind them.

***

‘There,’ Elrohir said with satisfaction.  ‘That looks better.’

‘It is a good thing that it is right at the edge of the water,’ his brother observed.  ‘I think it would be too heavy for us to lift now.’

‘Shall we try it out?’ Elrohir asked. ‘It is getting late and we will have to go in for dinner soon, or we will have people looking for us.’

‘We have enough time,’ Elladan decided. ‘I do not want to wait any longer.  We will just test the raft and see if we need to do anything more to it tomorrow.’  He splashed into the water.  ‘You push it and I will pull,’ he commanded.

The raft moved more easily than they had expected, even though it was now considerably bulkier than it had been earlier.  Flushed with success, neither ellon noticed that the water was lipping gently closer to the bank, reducing the width of the small beach.  The grasses at the river’s edge stirred uneasily as the water pushed at them and the willow fronds stretched downstream as if to hold the explorers.

‘We must not forget the poles,’ Elrohir insisted, holding the platform as he grabbed several of them and handed them to his twin.

Elladan was already scrambling out of the water to position himself on top of the raft.  ‘Come on,’ he said, taking the poles, ‘or you will be left behind.  I can feel the current.’

‘It is working,’ Elrohir said with pleasure as he joined his brother.  ‘We are afloat!’ Grabbing one of the poles, he pushed at the bank and the platform freed itself from the hold of the land. The small raft turned in a lazy circle as it responded to his move. ‘This is harder than it looks,’ he added.  ‘You take a pole too, Elladan and see if you can steady us.’

‘We are explorers,’ Elladan cried, ‘seeking out new lands for our people.  I am the captain.’  He took one of the poles and pushed it down into the water, using it to try to steer the uncertain craft. 

‘You are always the captain,’ his brother complained.  ‘It is not fair.’

‘You can be the captain tomorrow,’ Elladan offered. 

‘You always say that too,’ Elrohir retaliated, ‘and then, when tomorrow comes, you say you are tired of that game and you want to do something else.’

The raft began to move sluggishly downstream, steered rather haphazardly by the novice sailors, both of whom were too busy concentrating on the awkward business of moving in their chosen direction to observe the feeling of anxious anticipation in the atmosphere around them. 

Elrohir pulled his pole from the water.  ‘We are getting better at this,’ he commented.

‘Naturally,’ Elladan said cheerfully.  ‘Only – is the river getting deeper?  For I seem to have to push the pole in more deeply than when we started.’

Elrohir looked at the water critically.  ‘It is moving us faster, too.  I think perhaps we should go back now.’  He thrust his pole into the swirling stream and pushed against the flow of the stream.  ‘Both together, Elladan,’ he said.

For several minutes they tried to manoeuvre the small wooden platform; their tension increasing as they realised how little headway they were making against the force of the water.  The wind, cool and smelling of rain, whipped at their hair and the reeds rustled urgently.

‘It is not working,’ Elladan said nervously.  ‘What do we do now?’

‘You are the captain, remember?’ Elrohir snapped.  ‘What do you think?’

The water below them was changing colour, its restful clear summer green taking on the reddish haze of the spring floods and it was now rising perceptibly as the lower-growing grasses disappeared beneath its surface.

‘Push for the bank,’ Elrohir spoke sharply.  ‘It does not matter if we have to abandon the raft.  Just let us get away from the river.’  He drove his pole into the water right up to his handhold at the top, attempting to move across the current towards a bank that was seeming increasingly unattainable.  ‘Not that bank,’ he insisted impatiently as Elladan moved the raft back into midstream.  ‘If we land on that side, we will have to cross the river to get home.’

‘But the river wants to push us that way,’ Elladan said urgently.  ‘If we go with the current, we will stand a better chance of getting to the side.’

‘Do you want to get stuck on the wrong side of a flood?’ his brother asked.

Elladan’s actions suggested that he agreed with his twin, but, try as hard as they could, they were making little progress, when a terrifying sound made both turn and look back.

Behind them, a wall of dirty water was rolling down the river towards them, pushing before it the detritus it had picked up as it headed towards the valley.

‘Lie down and hold as tight as you can,’ Elladan said; his voice as calm as if he were sitting on the grass outside his home.

‘Wrap the cord round your wrists,’ Elrohir added, ‘and keep your head down.’

The raft bounced on the small waves advancing before the flood, as if it were testing itself against the challenge of the greater ones following, and the ellyn scarcely had time to breath before the force of the water swamped them, spinning the raft and swallowing them like a snake gulping down a small bird.

Elrohir’s lungs ached as their rough craft surfaced and he snatched a quick breath before turning his head to check for his brother’s presence.  Elladan choked, coughing out the water he had inhaled when a stray branch had slammed into his arm and his twin was concerned to see a thread of red colouring the water beside him.

‘Elladan?’ he demanded.

‘I am all right,’ his brother insisted.  ‘You just make sure you hold on.’

Their raft rode the wave as it began to dissipate and spread across the water meadows in the lower part of the valley, slowing slightly as the force was released.

‘We need to get off the water,’ Elrohir said as he worked his hands loose of their grip on the rope weaving the poles together.  ‘The river curves slightly in a minute – we are likely to be pushed towards the willows.  Will you be able to grab hold of them and climb up?’

‘You will have to go first.’  Elladan turned his head towards his twin.  ‘I think my arm is broken,’ he said.  ‘I will need you to help me.’

Elrohir rested his freed arm on his brother’s back.  ‘I can do that,’ he said.   He turned cautiously and began to unfasten the rope that held the raft together.

‘Are you sure that is wise?’ Elladan enquired weakly.

‘No,’ Elrohir admitted, ‘but I do not see how else I am to hold us in one place until I can pull you into the trees.’

‘Oh.’ Elladan lowered his head to rest it on his uninjured arm.

His brother glanced at him anxiously.  For Elladan to take so little interest in how they were going to escape this predicament he must be in considerable pain and Elrohir could not imagine how he was going to get his twin to safety without hurting him further.  Elrohir narrowed his eyes at the approaching trees, now with the lower part of their trunks in the water and their long flexible branches drawn out in the current.  He gasped with relief: the depth of the water made the impossible possible.  If he could only hold the raft still for a few moments, his brother would be able to step onto the lowest branch.

Attaching the loosened rope to the front cords, he took a deep breath.  He was only going to get one chance at this.

‘When I grab the branches, you need to jump,’ he said urgently.  ‘I will not be able to hold the raft for long, Elladan, and we cannot let the river sweep us any further.  Try to get up, twin.  You have to do this.’

Elrohir allowed the first willow fronds to pass him by.  He needed to hold the raft so that the branches would drag them as close as possible to the low branch that would be within his brother’s reach.  He wound one hand in the ropes on the raft and snatched at the whippy branches, groaning as the forward motion of the small craft dragged them through his hand.  He tried again, this time with a quick twisting movement to stop the fronds slipping.  ‘Help me,’ he begged, throwing his thought at the tree.  ‘Please do not let my brother fall in the water.’

Despite his plea, he was surprised at the tug of interest he felt in response as the branch flexed slightly to put itself precisely where the injured elfling needed it to be so that he could step to safety without jarring his arm further.

Elrohir used his handhold to help him jump to the branch just above his brother, releasing the raft to swirl downstream in the current.  ‘Thank you,’ he breathed to the tree.  ‘Please help me get him higher, so he is out of danger and we can wait until the water goes down.’   

Elladan leaned back against the solid trunk, holding his right arm against his chest.  The bleeding that had seemed so alarming in the water had stopped, which eased Elrohir’s mind a great deal, but he tried to conceal his alarm at the obviously broken bones.

‘Try to get a bit further up,’ he insisted, his voice remarkably steady. ‘Just in case the water rises any higher.  Then you can rest, Elladan.  Come on – step here.’  He led his brother slowly to a place where the branches offered a sheltered place to rest and settled him down.  ‘Stay awake, my brother,’ he commanded.  ‘We are too cold and wet for you to sleep.’ Elrohir blew nervously on the blisters on his hand.  ‘I will try to find a piece of loose bark,’ he said.  ‘Then I can bind your arm.’

‘All this willow,’ Elladan said faintly, ‘and just for once I would welcome some willow-bark tea.’

Elrohir grinned.  ‘I do not believe I can help you there,’ he said.  ‘I would tell you to chew on some bark, but I have no idea if it would be safe, so you had better not.  I will be back in a moment.’

It took him little time to find a piece of bark of a suitable size, but ripping strips of fabric from his wet trousers proved impossible. 

‘Use my knife.’  Elladan’s eyes were closed, but he was clearly aware of what was going on.

‘I only wish we had some dry clothes,’ his brother said, taking the small blade with relief and cutting strips of material long enough to tie the bark in place.

‘I hope you are not going to try to set the bones,’ Elladan commented.  

‘I am not entirely stupid,’ Elrohir sniffed.  ‘I know enough to know that I would only make it worse.  The bark is to keep your arm steady so we do not make it any worse and I have cut enough fabric to make a sling to keep it still.  Adar will set it as soon as he finds us.’

‘How long do you think that might be?’ his twin asked in a tone that suggested that rescue could not come soon enough.

‘He will not be long,’ Elrohir said sturdily. 

***

Celebrian sat up suddenly.  ‘The ellyn,’ she said.

Her husband returned to sudden alertness. 

‘We must find them,’ Celebrian insisted.  ‘They are in danger, I am sure of it.  I felt -,’ she paused and felt inside for her connection to her sons.  ‘One of them is hurt,’ she told him. 

Elrond rose swiftly and replaced the indigo silk robe he had abandoned earlier.  ‘They are afraid,’ he agreed.  ‘I will send out people to seek them at once.’ 

The searchers assembled rapidly.  It was not, after all, uncommon for their lord’s sons to disappear for long enough to cause concern, but the drenching rain that had begun to fall from the leaden sky did not make their task any easier and the usual hiding places showed no evidence of having recently been used. 

‘They must be somewhere!’ Celebrian said frantically as yet more seekers reported back empty-handed.  ‘They were at lunch – they have not had time to go any distance.  Find them!’

‘Do any of the other elflings know where they might be?’ Elrond asked wearily.  ‘Have you asked?’

‘I have asked those who know them best,’ Erestor said. ‘They have not seen them today.’  He hesitated.  ‘They suspect that Elrohir and Elladan were involved in some scheme, but they insist that they have no idea what they were doing – although apparently, when they arrived at the swimming hole yesterday, they were already wet.’

‘The river?’ Elrond’s stomach tensed with anxiety.  ‘It has been pouring with rain in the hills – the river will be rising.’

‘I will take some more people to check again,’ Erestor told him.  ‘If they are there, we will find them.’

***

‘Elladan, do not go to sleep,’ Elrohir ordered.  ‘Sit up and talk to me.’

‘Do I have to?’ his brother said.  ‘It hurts and if I am asleep I will not feel it.’

‘Please, El,’ his twin pleaded, the anguish in his voice stirring his brother to brief alertness.  ‘You are already too cold, and I am scared that if you sleep you will not wake up.’

‘Silly twin,’ Elladan said affectionately.  ‘I will not leave you.’  He leaned his head back against the tree.  ‘Do you think Ada and Nana are looking for us yet?’

‘I know they are,’ Elrohir said staunchly.  ‘They will find us soon.’

‘You said that before – and they are not here yet.’

‘They will find us soon,’ his twin replied, biting back the dread that said that nobody knew where they were or what they had been doing. ‘They are getting closer.’  He put his arms round his brother, trying to pass on the small bit of warmth in his own body while shielding Elladan from the cool rain-wet breeze.

The water ebbed from the base of the tree as quickly as it had risen, leaving the ground beneath them slick with red mud as the river settled back into its banks.  Elrohir huddled closer to his brother, talking to him insistently and demanding responses to irrelevant questions.  Elladan complied, but his answers were becoming briefer and less connected, when, finally, Elrohir noticed movement along the path on the far side of the river.

He froze, but almost at once realised that the light shapes in the dull evening were evidence that Glorfindel’s patrol had chosen to return to Imladris along the bank of the river.

He leapt to his feet, yelling at the top of his voice, finally acknowledging to himself how close he had come to losing control in this hopeless situation.  ‘Glorfindel!’ he shouted.  ‘Help us!’

The blond elf stopped and turned towards them, his keen eyes seeking out the small figures.  ‘What have you been up to now?’ he asked, his voice calm and relaxed and so comforting that Elrohir had to blink back tears.

‘We got swept downriver,’ Elrohir said, focusing on the key information, ‘and El’s hurt his arm.’

‘We had better get you home then,’ the warrior told them, judging the depth and speed of the water before urging his great horse into the river, leading two more of the guard across to the two elflings in the tree.  He reached out and lifted Elladan down without difficulty, wincing as the child whimpered with pain.  ‘You are rather chilled,’ he commented pleasantly, drawing Elladan under his cloak and holding him gently.

‘It hurts,’ the elfling told him.

‘I am sure it does.’  Glorfindel looked at the undamaged twin.  ‘Ride with Gwathor, Elrohir,’ he instructed.  ‘I would look at your brother’s arm, but I think it better to get him to your ada as quickly as we can.’

Elrohir caressed the rough bark of the tree.  ‘Thank you,’ he said again, as he let Gwathor lift him onto the saddle and wrap the warm cloak around the pair of them.

‘Let us keep the journey smooth,’ Glorfindel decided.  ‘This one does not need to be rattled around more than is unavoidable.’  He urged his horse back across the water, keeping up a flow of inconsequential chat to soothe his friend’s elflings.  ‘We had best get you to your parents before your naneth decides that this is all your adar’s fault.  You might think that your naneth is always sweet and gentle, but let me warn you that she can be very fierce when she is upset.’

The distance that had seemed to unachievable when Elrohir was confronted by an angry river and a pain-wracked brother passed in a haze now that he was able to abandon responsibility to Glorfindel and he cuddled up to the warm body of the protective warrior and the long shivers eased.

Imladris blazed with light as the patrol followed their advance messenger into the courtyard and Elrohir roused enough to accept his naneth’s relieved hug without complaint.

‘Take him in and give him a warm bath,’ his adar said.  ‘Then wrap him in warm blankets and give him some hot milk.  I will come as soon as I have seen to Elladan.’

‘I want to be with him,’ Elrohir protested.

‘Later,’ Elrond said firmly.  ‘You need to be looked after too, my son.  I will bring your brother back to you once his injuries have been treated.’

Reluctantly, Elrohir accepted the message in his adar’s tone of voice.  ‘You will bring him?’ he asked.

‘I will.’

Acknowledging silently that he had little choice in the matter, Elrohir allowed himself to be led away.

‘Elrohir was very brave,’ Elladan said.  ‘He got me out of the water and kept me safe. And he bound up my arm and would not let me sleep and tried to keep me warm.’

His adar kissed his dirty hair.  ‘I am glad he cared for you so well,’ he said.

‘We are twins,’ Elladan told him simply.

Elrond pressed his cheek against the dark head.  ‘I know.’

***

Elrohir was still awake when Elrond carried his brother into the room they still shared on occasion and tucked him into the second bed. 

‘Will he be all right?’ he asked sleepily.

‘He will be most uncomfortable for a while,’ Elrond told his son honestly.  ‘It is a bad break – but the bones have realigned well, and, provided he does as he is told, he will be well.’

‘I will look after him,’ Elrohir offered.

Elrond looked at his second son.  ‘I believe you already did,’ he said, leaning down to kiss his forehead.  ‘Elladan said that you were very sensible.’ He ran his fingers through the still-damp black mane.  ‘We will talk more tomorrow,’ he said firmly. ‘Now you will go to sleep.’

His son accepted his instruction, turned so that he could see his twin and stopped fighting his weariness.

Celebrian looked at him enquiringly as he joined her on the sofa.  ‘What happened?’ she asked.

He shook his head.  ‘Tomorrow will do for questions such as those,’ he said.  ‘They are home, they are safe – let them sleep.’  He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

‘Do they need to be watched?’ his wife asked.

‘Not unless you feel you will be unable to sleep,’ Elrond told her.

‘You are the one who needs rest,’ she told him.  ‘Come – we will go to bed.  We will hear if they wake.’

As she turned to close the door to their room, Celebrian looked over her shoulder and met Erestor’s eyes.  She smiled and inclined her head in acknowledgement as he quietly indicated his intention to spend what remained of the night watching over her sons, leaving her to care for Imladris’s lord.

***

‘What were you doing?’ Elrond asked, keeping his voice calm with some effort.  ‘You know you are not permitted to swim in the river.’

‘We were not swimming,’ Elladan pointed out.  ‘You never said that we were forbidden to take a raft on the water.’

Celebrian snorted in a most unladylike manner in her effort to control her laughter and her husband spared time to throw a reproachful glance in her direction.

‘Did it not occur to either of you,’ their adar persisted in his attempt to clarify the thought processes of his sons, ‘that that is the same thing?  That it is the river you are supposed to avoid and that whatever you might wish to do on, in or under it is forbidden in the same way?’

The twins exchanged glances that showed that clearly they had not understood that.

‘There are plenty of streams and ponds in Imladris where you may indulge your desire to get wet, make rafts, dive, catch fish – and whatever else you choose to attempt.  You are not to do any of these things on the river, do you understand?  You will not play near the river unless you have an adult with you and we know where you are.’

He pinned them with his glance, wondering as he did so whether the technique would be easier with a single child to be the focus of its intensity.  He seemed to recall from his own early years that the need of the adult to look from one twin to the other reduced the force of the message by far more than half.

‘Yes, Adar,’ the twins chorused, sounding resigned to yet another unreasonable adult restriction on their liberty.

‘I do not want to go anywhere near the river,’ Elrohir added, and Elrond softened as he thought that the effects of their enterprise would probably make more of an impact than his words.

‘You conducted yourself well under pressure, Elrohir,’ Elrond approved, ‘although had the pair of you behaved sensibly, you would not have been in danger in the first place.  However, the flood was not your fault – it was just ill-chance that put you in the wrong place at the wrong time.’

He looked at Celebrian and shrugged slightly.  She had argued fiercely that the twins did not require punishment for their adventure – that the experience was punishment enough in itself.

‘You, Elladan, will not be able to leave the house until your arm has healed,’ he observed mildly.  ‘Elrohir will remain by your side and help you as much as he is able.  The only penalty I will impose on you is as much for your naneth’s and my peace of mind as it is to make you think before you leap.  A chalk board is being placed in your playroom – you will ensure that you note on it each day where you are going to spend your free time.  This should ensure that when you do not return at the time you are expected, at least we should know where to begin our search.’

Elrohir shivered, recalling the seemingly endless hours when he had recalled hopelessly that no-one knew where they were.  ‘That is a very good idea, Ada,’ he said disconcertingly.  ‘I promise that we will do that.’

‘Well,’ Celebrian told them, glancing mischievously at her husband, ‘there is one good result of this.  You will have much more time for your studies over the next weeks.  Your tutors will be pleased.’

Elladan pulled a face of revulsion before suddenly his eyes brightened.  ‘And I will not be able to write anything,’ he said with pleasure. 

Their adar grinned.  ‘Then you will have plenty of time to improve your Quenya,’ he said, and looking at his sons’ disgusted faces, he laughed, relieved that again they had survived a perilous situation and come home for him to scold and love.  ‘May we always be here for them,’ he entreated, deep in the silence of his heart.  ‘My sons.’