“Please, Ada, please!”
Elrond looked from tear-filled grey eyes to the still form on his lap. The fragile body was yet warm, as though the rabbit were only sleeping, and might suddenly twitch its nose and raise its ears before hopping off into the underbrush.
Only the curious angle of the neck betrayed the grim truth.
“I am sorry, pin nith,” the Elf-lord began gently. “I cannot...”
“But you can fix anything, Ada,” Elladan interrupted, wiping at his eyes with grimy hands. “You can!”
“Aye,” Elrohir agreed, turning a trusting gaze to his father’s face. “You must make her well, Ada. We ran the fox away, but she did not get up. ‘Dan said you could heal her, just like you do the elves who are hurt.”
The elder twin nodded decisively. “Just like the elves, Ada.”
Elrond shook his head. “This little one is beyond my help, ‘Adan. She is dead. See? She no longer breathes.” Drawing both his sons closer, he said sympathetically, ”Shall we bury her in the garden, by your Nana’s roses?”
To the Elf-lord’s amazement, Elrohir pulled away. “No!” the elfling shouted tearfully. “You can fix it. ‘Dan said so!”
“Please, Ada,” Elladan chimed in desperately. “Who will feed the baby rabbits if we bury her? They need their Nana.”
“We will feed them,” a quiet voice said firmly.
Elrond looked up in surprise as his wife placed their sleeping daughter in the cradle and came to kneel beside the distraught elflings.
“We cannot give the little rabbits back their Nana,” Celebrían explained, wiping the tears from the twins’ cheeks, “but we can feed them and care for them as she would have done. Will you help me?”
“Aye!” two tear-blurred voices chimed. “We will, Nana.”
“Take a basket and run get the babies, then,” the Lady urged. “And mind you be gentle with them, as you are with Arwen. Then you may pick a pretty place for the grave.”
Elrond watched in resignation as the elflings hurried to do their mother’s bidding, then arched an eyebrow at his wife. “Rabbits, then? And if they are too young to raise?”
“Are you not the greatest healer in Middle-earth?” Celebrían retorted with a smile, pressing a kiss to her husband’s cheek. “I have faith in you.”
