Camping Crisis Chapter 3

Sensitive Subjects

Tension remained high even after they set up camp. "Estel, does your naneth know you smoke?" Elladan demanded.

"You have no right to get involved with my personal relationship with my mother. You’ve forgotten what it’s like to have so many rules since your naneth left!"

"Well, at least I can choose to follow her across the Sea. Your naneth will die someday, and you’ll grieve till the day you follow her into death. Don’t you think you’ll regret not obeying?"

Estel was truly upset. He was already sensitive about his and his mother’s mortality. "I wouldn’t let my mother get captured by Orcs. I wouldn’t let her go on perilous trips outside Rivendell without me following all the way, even as the Orcs tried to take her."

Elladan and Elrohir fumed. This had gone much too far. Identical sets of eyebrows narrowed, teeth and fists were clenched, and whole bodies tensed in anger.

"How can you help?" Elrohir shouted. "You’re just a weak little mortal boy! Besides, how can you protect her if you’re always busy with your own little pranks and ‘adventures’? Anyway, my Naneth is a free spirit; she can’t just be caged up. She found healing, and Elladan and I continue to avenge her. If Orcs captured your mother, you’d likely be captured, too. You’d both probably die."

"At least my people don’t pity themselves to death. We can recover; you have to run to your precious West."

While they were shouting, they failed to notice the Orcs approaching. Estel, Elladan, and Elrohir were taken before Legolas could get them to hear his warning.