Minding Arwen
WolfPyre

Minding Arwen

By: WolfPyre ([email protected])

Fandom: Tolkien’s world…set pre-LOTR

Dsiclaimer: The characters are not mine…I am just playing with them for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll give them back later!

Rating: G

Archive: Sure, just let me know where!

Summary: Elladan and Elrohir are instructed to mind Arwen. Things do not go the way the twins planned.

Notes: For those of you not versed in Tolkien’s world, here’s a brief history: Elrond Half-Elven married Celebrian, Lord Celeborn and Lady Galandriel’s daughter. They had three children, twin boys, Elladan and Elrohir and a girl, Arwen. Glorfindel is one of Elrond’s advisors. For the purpose of my story, Glorfindel and Elrond grew up together and like brothers, therefore Glorfindel is like an Uncle to the children.

Feedback: YES! YES! YES! If only to keep the muses happy!

~~~

“Nana! We finished our studies and are going outside now!” Elrohir stated as he and his twin brother, Elladan, walked through the common room.

“Arwen want to go too!” The little girl stomped her foot and glared at her brothers.

“No Arwen!” The boys answered simultaneously.

Celebrian set down her embroidery. “It is not long until the evening meal. Surely you can keep her occupied until then.“

“But Nana, we are going to play Warriors and Orcs-“

“-She will just be in the way!”

“Then you will choose a different game.”

The twins dropped their heads. “Yes Nana.” They took Arwen’s hands and headed outside.

~~~

Elladan kicked a rock into the grass. “This is not fair!”

“I know, but we can do nothing about it. Nana would have told Ada and then we would have been in trouble.”

“Arwen want to play now.”

“What do you want to play?”

“Horsy!”

Elrohir sighed and crouched down so Arwen could climb on his back. Elladan made sure she was holding on tight and smacked his brother lightly on the back. “Go ahead. She’s on.”

Elrohir took off in a gallop, doing several laps around the fountain before running into a clearing in the garden. “Go Horsy! Go!” Arwen yelled.

When Elrohir finally stopped, Elladan pulled Arwen from his back and spun her through the air by her arms. The little girl giggled as they fell to the ground in a dizzying heap.

“Elrohir! Elladan! Telutan has a new bow. Come and see!”

The twins turned to see their friend coming towards them. “Sorry, Calion. We have to watch Arwen.”

“Come on, it will only take a minute.”

Elladan looked at his brother. “Arwen can stay here.”

“We cannot leave her alone.”

“We will only be a minute.”

“She will run off some where while we are gone.”

“I will handle that.” Elladan walked over to Arwen. “We are going to see our friends new bow. You stay here until we come back.”

“Arwen come to.”

“You have to stay here.” He picked her up and set her on a bench by the fountain. “Do not leave this bench. We will only be a few minutes.”

Arwen started to climb down.

“No Arwen!” Elladan took her chin in his hand. “Do you know what will happen if you leave this bench while we are gone?”

Arwen shook her head.

“A dwarf will come up through the ground and eat you!”

“No it not!”

“Yes it will. I saw it happen before.” Elrohir added in quickly. “Now stay there.”

The boys headed off after Calion, looking back to be sure Arwen stayed. Elrohir felt a pang of guilt over the fear he saw on her face as she looked at the ground around her. That guilt was quickly forgotten as he ran to his friend’s house.

~~~

Arwen was not sure if she should believe her brothers. They had tricked her like this once before. She gathered all her courage, crawled to the end of the bench and looked down at the ground below. At the same moment a toad hopped from the ground to the fountain behind her. Startled, the little girl lost her balance and toppled off the bench, scraping her leg on the stone as she fell.

~~~

Glorfindel was walking towards the house when he heard crying coming from the gardens. He turned and followed the sound to its source. “Arwen? What is wrong?”

Arwen ran to him and wrapped her arms around his legs.

Glorfindel scooped the toddler into his arms, sat on the bench and rubbed her back until she was calm. “Now, little one. What has upset you so?”

“Rohir an Edan.”

Glorfindel sighed. “What have they done now?”

“Dey left Arwen here an not come back. Den Arwen look for dwarf an falled down. ” She started to cry again.

“Shhhh…I have you now.” He stood and headed for the house.

~~~

“Telutan is so lucky. I cannot believe his father gave him that bow.”

“It was beautiful.” Elladan replied. He spied a stick perfect for swordplay and picked it up.  “Come. Let us go play until the evening meal.” He smacked his twin with his new sword and ran.

Elrohir laughed as he chased his brother, Arwen completely forgotten.

~~~

Elrond heard his daughter’s crying as soon as Glorfindel entered the house.  He hurried out of his study and into the hall. “What is wrong?”

“ADA!” Arwen held her arms out to him.

Glorfindel carried the child to her father and handed her over. “The twins left her alone in the gardens.”

“An den Arwen look for dwarf an falled down.”

Elrond looked to Glorfindel for clarification. Glorfindel could only shrug.

“Arwen need banbage.” The little girl cried and lifted her dress to show her skinned knee.

Elrond pushed down his anger at his sons and hugged his daughter to him. “You do? Well then, we must take care of that before all else.”

“I believe Elladan and Elrohir were planning to return to the gardens to collect Arwen. I will await their return there.” Glorfindel stated and, after a nod from Elrond, went back outside.

~~~

The mighty warrior stalked his prey from the trees above, waiting for just the right moment to pounce. “KILL THE ORC!” Elrohir flung himself out of the tree.

Elladan broke free of the hold and faced his brother. “You cannot kill me Warrior! I am a mighty Orc!”

Their ‘swords’ clashed together as they fought. Elrohir swore when his ‘sword’ snapped in half and he tackled Elladan. Elladan managed to squirm on top and pin Elrohir. ”Now you are dead Warrior!” He lifted a ‘knife’ and drove it towards Elrohir’s heart. 

Elrohir caught his twin’s wrist. “I do not think so Orc!” He said as he flipped Elladan onto his back. Their momentum rolled them down the hill and they landed in a twisted, giggling mass of arms and legs.

“That was fun!” Elladan declared when he got his breath back.

“Yes it was.” Elrohir rested a moment. He suddenly had a feeling he had forgotten something. “Ai! We forgot Arwen!” He hopped up, pulled his brother to his feet and ran for the garden.

“Arwen!” Elladan called as he rounded the corner near where they left her.  He skidded to a stop and was knocked over when Elrohir ran into him.

Glorfindel pushed away from the fountain he was leaning on and stood over the boys. “On your feet!”

The twins jumped up. ”It was an accident!” Elrohir said when Glorfindel did nothing but level a stern eye at them.

Elladan rolled his eyes and would have smacked his brother if Glorfindel were not standing in front of them.  He could never understand how easily Elrohir cracked under the parental glare.

“An accident? You call intentionally leaving your sister unattended an accident?”

“We did not do it on purpose!” Elladan said quickly, hoping to salvage what reasonable explanation he could after his twin’s hasty statement.

“We can explain!”

“I am sure you can.” Glorfindel took a calming breath. “Your father is waiting for you in the study.” He gave both their bottoms a firm smack and herded them inside.

~~~

Elrond frowned as he listened to his wife’s explanation on how Arwen ended up in the twins care. “They know better than to argue with you.”

“They were not happy over the prospect of minding Arwen. I am sure they did not intend to argue with me.” Celebrian stated, her motherly instinct to protect her children coloring her words.

“That is no excuse.” He finished dressing Arwen’s wound. “There you are Tinuamin**. Good as new.”

“No it not! You forgetted someting!”

“I did?” Elrond tapped his chin in thought. “Hmmm…I cleaned the wound, put on ointment and a bandage…no, I cannot think I what I forgot.” He turned to Celebrian. “Would you happen to know?”

Celebrian shook her head. “No, I do not.”

“Then I must not have forgotten anything.”

“ADA!” Arwen giggled. “You forgetted the magic kiss!”

Elrond smacked his head. “Of course! The magic kiss.” He leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Arwen’s scraped knee. “There you are.”

“Now Arwen good as new!” She hopped off the desk and ran to her mother. “Arwen all better now! See?” She showed Celebrian her bandage.

Celebrian smiled. “I can see that.” She turned to address her husband but voices coming from the hall caught her attention.

“This is all your fault!”

“My fault? It was your idea to leave her!”

“You could have said no!”

“Like that would have stopped you!”

“Then you should have stayed! I could have gone alone.”

“I wanted to see it too. You should have stayed!”

The argument was interrupted by two resounding smacking sounds. “You both should have stayed. End of story.”

A moment later, the twins entered the study rubbing their bottoms, followed by an angry Glorfindel. He pushed them forward to stand before their father.

“It is about time you two returned.” Elrond regarded his sons sternly. “I am sure I do not need to tell you why you are here.”

“No Ada.” They replied.

“Then please explain yourselves, beginning with arguing with your mother.”

“We wanted to play Orcs and Warriors-“

“But Arwen wanted to go with us. She would have-“

“Been in the way. We did not mean-“

“To argue with Nana. Please-“

“Believe us. We are sorry Nana.”

Glorfindel shook his head. He sometimes found following the twins’ conversations when they finished each other’s thoughts caused his head to ache. Apparently, though, Elrond did not have such problems.

“Go on.”

“We played with Arwen. But then-“

“Calion told us Telutan’s father gave him a new bow. We wanted-“

“To see it so we told Arwen to stay on the bench. But she-“

“Would not stay so we told her if she got off the bench-“

“A dwarf would come up through the ground and eat her.”

“It was my idea.” They finished in unison.

Celebrian hid a smile. She had just heard her sons blaming each other for the days adventures. Now, as they stood before their father, they each took the blame upon themselves. Even though they always did so, she was still amazed when it happened.

“Were you aware Arwen fell off the bench and injured her leg?”

They immediately turned to Arwen. “Are you okay?”

“We did not mean for you to get hurt.”

“Ada fixed Arwen an gived magic kisses. See?” She showed her bandage once again.

“We are sorry Arwen. Please-“

“Forgive us.”

“Okay.” Arwen replied without any thought, as only children do. “But you play with Arwen t’morrow, okay?”

The twins hugged her. “We will.”

Celebrian picked Arwen up. “Come. We must clean you up for the evening meal.” She placed a kiss on each of her son’s cheeks and left the study.

The boys turned back to their father. Elladan felt a cold chill race through him when he saw the look on his father’s face.  He quickly decided it was time to do some fast-talking.  “We are really sorry Ada. I do not know what we were thinking when we left Arwen alone. We certainly did not expect her to-“

“Dina (Be silent)!” Elrond commanded. “Your quick tongue will not help you this evening.”

Elladan held Elrond’s gaze, defiance warring with wisdom. Luckily for the boy, wisdom won and he lowered his eyes in defeat.

Elrond gave a small nod of satisfaction. “I will not stand for the behavior you have displayed today. Arwen could have been seriously injured or lost in the woods if she had gone off alone. You know what you have done is wrong, do you not?”

“Yes Ada.”

“Very well. I will decide on your punishment after the evening meal.” He led them towards the doors. “You both are filthy. You have time enough before the meal to bathe and put on clean clothing. I will meet you in the dining hall.”

 ~~~

The meal was a somber affair. Elrohir and Elladan were preoccupied with the pending punishment, though it did not dampen their appetites. They stretched the meal as long as possible to delay the coming storm.

Elrond was familiar with their tactics and was not in the mood to allow them. “It appears you have finished eating. You will go to your room and prepare for bed. I will join you shortly to discuss your punishment.”

“Yes Ada.” They pushed away from the table and slowly made their way to their room.

“Ada is very angry with us. What do you think he will do?” Elrohir asked as he removed his tunic.

Elladan mimicked his action. “I do not know, though I am positive whatever he chooses will be extremely unpleasant.”

“Do you think he will…” Elrohir could not bring himself to say the word. “You know.”

Elladan shuddered. “I hope not.”

They had just pulled on their sleeping clothes when their father entered the room. He seated himself on the bed and called the twins to his side. “I am very displeased with the days events and do not feel additional chores or time confined to your room is sufficient punishment for your behavior.”

Elladan unconsciously covered his bottom with his hands as his father’s words sank in. “Please Ada. We are sorry.”

“We will not do it again.” Elrohir added with tears in his eyes.

Elrond hardened his heart to their pleas. He very much wanted to reassure his sons that all was well, but he knew discipline must be maintained. “It pains me greatly to punish you in this manner, but I must be sure you understand the seriousness of your actions.”

He took each of his sons in turn across his knee, lifted their sleeping tunics and brought his hand down on their bared bottoms fifteen times. When he finished, he led them to separate corners of the room and instructed them to remain there until he said otherwise.

He waited until the crying turned to sniffles, then lay back on the bed against the pillows and called his sons to him. The boys launched themselves into their father’s waiting arms, Elladan on the left, Elrohir on the right.

Elrond hugged the boys to him. “I do not expect to see this type of behavior again. If I do, you will feel more than my hand. Lle rangwa amin**?”

“Yes Ada.”

“Good. Then we will speak no more about it.” He dropped a kiss on each of their cheeks. “Amin mela lle**.”

Lye mela lle, vithel**.” They replied.

Elrond held them until they fell asleep, then carefully put the to bed. He left the room quietly and returned to the common room to find Glorfindel waiting, a glass of wine in each hand. Elrond took one and dropped into an overstuffed chair. “Where is Celebrian?”

“She is putting Arwen to bed.”

Elrond nodded and sighed. “You know, I never believed the statement ‘this will hurt me as much as you’ until the time came to discipline my own children.”

“Nor I.” Glorfindel commiserated, having raised several foster children and disciplined Elrond’s children himself.

“I only hope our children do not follow in either of your mischievous childhood footsteps for I do not think any of us will survive it.” Celebrian stated with a smile as she entered the room.

Elrond pulled her into his lap. “I do not believe you have room to talk Melamin**. Celeborn has told me many stories of your youth.”

Glorfindel laughed as he recalled of a prank if old. “Do you remember the time we…”

And so the evening progressed, tales of childhoods past being recounted until the pull of sleep became to great to overcome. They bid each other goodnight and retired to their rooms, each drifting into pleasant dreams of times of old.

The End

** Tinuamin – My daughter
** Lle rangwa amin? - Do you understand me?
** Amin mela lle. – I love you.
** Lye mela lle, vithel. – We love you, too.
** Melamin- My love

 
 

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