Elrohir’s stomach twisted painfully as he watched dusk fall over the empty courtyard. He felt as if the whole dark world was turning upside down.
“But he promised, Ada. He promised!”
Elrond lowered himself to the ground, heedless of his formal robes and velvet leggings. “I know, ionen. But sometimes things do not work out as...”
“He said he would come home, and we would go swimming and catch frogs, and play in the gardens,” Elrohir broke in, his voice choked with tears that he stubbornly refused to let fall. “He should have come home with Glorfindel.”
“Glorfindel stayed only two days, ‘Rohir,” Elrond pointed out gently. “Gildor will bring him home soon.”
“But today is the tenth day,” the distraught elfling insisted, his eyes shimmering. “He promised.” Elrohir’s shoulders slumped. “I have marked each day on my wall, and today is the tenth day. He promised.”
Elrond sighed, beginning to regret his decision to allow Elladan’s jaunt with the wandering company. Then inspiration struck. “Perhaps you have miscounted, hmm?” Elrohir looked insulted, and would have protested had his father not spoken again. “I find ‘tis much easier to count accurately with a few ginger cookies in hand.”
Elrohir’s face brightened slightly. “Does cocoa help, too?”
“Cocoa, too,” Elrond agreed, hoisting his son to one shoulder. “Shall we find Taurwen?”
As they moved toward the brightly-lit kitchen, Elrond’s keen ears picked up the distant echo of quick hooves and booted feet.
“And perhaps we should wash some strawberries, as well.”
*~*~*~*~*
