The Littlest Warrior

“Here Adar…drink this,” Elrohir said as he shoved the cup of water into his father’s hand.

“Small sips milord,” Erestor repeated as he gently patted Elrond’s back.

“What happened?” the lady Nilya demanded as she finally reached Elrond’s side.

“It is all right milady,” Erestor soothed, “…just a little mishap, Lord Elrond swallowed too quickly and choked on his food.”

“Little mishap? Choked? My good Lord Erestor, I will have you know that no one has ever ‘choked’ on my food!” she said affronted.

“And what is this doing here?” she asked pointing to the bowl of polluted roughage that sat in front of her lord.

“I did not prepare this for luncheon…who put this here?” Eyeing the bowl suspiciously she shifted the rolling pin placing it under her arm and pinched a bit of the cabbage between thumb and forefinger popping the greenery into her mouth to give it a taste.

“Oh My Word!” Grabbing a napkin from the table, she pressed it to her mouth, and in very unladylike fashion spit the offending vegetable into it, then gestured for “Water! Please!”

Elladan hurriedly poured her a cup, and tossing her ‘weapons’ on the table she gulped the water down completely, emptying the cup before coming up for air. Turning to look at her two helpers she announced in gasping breaths “Whoever…is responsible…for bringing…this…to table…is in big trouble!”

One would not have thought it possible, but Estel screamed even louder as he buried his face in Rúmil’s shoulder.

“What is it Lady Nilya…what is wrong with the food?”

“My dear Erestor this bowl is laced with salt…and mustard seed, and if I am not mistaken paprika! And apparently it has been out of the pantry and off of the ice for hours, it is quite rancid! That concoction would turn the stomach of a troll…why I do not believe that even a Hobbit could manage to eat that. Who served this?”

Placing his hand on her arms, which were now firmly and defensively crossed over her chest, the Seneschal responded quietly, "Estel.”

Completely taken aback Lady Nilya glanced quickly at the still crying child as she lowered her voice and whispered back, “The baby gave this to his father?”

“Yes, he told us he prepared it by himself, especially for his father.”

“My word . He has not been near the kitchens since early this morn…that cabbage has been out of the pantry for over 5 hours. Do you know where he kept it?”

“My ventured guess is probably somewhere in his room.”

“Oh my.”

“You say it has turned foul?” Erestor questioned.

“Unquestionably foul, …and we will not even mention the salt and mustard that has been added to it…”

“My Lady?” Rúmil interjected, “…the little one left the bowl on the windowsill…to heat it in the sun, he said he was not allowed to go near the stove.” “This is my fault milady, he was so excited about surprising Lord Elrond that I did not stop to think of how long it might have been sitting there…but I swear to you milady…Lord Elrond, we neither of us knew that it had turned foul.”

“Well I should hope not Master…?”

“Rúmil, milady…Rúmil Hesonion of Lothlórien.” The Galadhel continued to bounce the crying child in his arms, rubbing soothing circles on the boy’s back. “Tis all right little one…everything will be all right.” But Estel was quite inconsolable, all he’d wanted to do was make his father’s lunch…to do something nice, and now it appeared to him that he’d all but poisoned his father. At the very least Lord Elrond would be decidedly ill for hours to come. Still coughing and trying to catch his breath the ancient lord covered his mouth with one hand and motioned to Rúmil with the other.

“COUGH, COUGH…GASP . My son…bring me…my son.”

Rúmil carried Estel back to the table and turning him round, placed him in his father’s waiting arms.

“There, there now…all is well…do not cry Melyanna; it was a tiny mistake, that is all . Everything is fine now…see? I am quite fine…truly.”

Estel’s cries began to lessen turning into soft sobs. As Elrond looked about the room he could see the apprehension on the faces of those assembled. “Everything is all right…please everyone go back to your meal, all is well…just a simple misunderstanding.” Turning then to his warriors he addressed them and made light of the situation. “Please everyone, continue with luncheon…all is well…it seems my little one is no better a cook than his brothers…heaven knows they too have had their culinary missteps. I can personally attest to that, as they fed me a variety of concoctions over the years – things that would have made even the strongest stomach do back flips.”

“And dare I say…” Erestor interjected, “…they were considerably older than our Estel when they did it.”

“Ah yes…,” continued Elladan as he moved to reclaim his seat, “I seem to recall a particularly evil plate of corn cakes…Elrohir’s recipe, if memory serves…most unfortunate consequences that…”

“And let us not forget YOUR forays into the pantry…” Elrohir retorted, “…I would like to note a bowl of vegetable stew…with your SECRET ingredient…what was it again Lady Nilya?”

“Crushed Hops…it seems Lord Elrond was developing what the humans call ‘a cold,’ and young Elladan decided that he needed hot soup and LOTS of medicine…for you see the time was drawing near for the Winter Solstice, and Elladan was determined that his father would not miss it due to a stuffy head and fever. That little escapade quite nearly cost him a trip to the woodshed. Hops you see, have a tendency to peak one’s appetite…Lord Elrond was absolutely ravenous, could not get enough to eat…why I could not get the food in front of him fast enough…and he was quite tipsy as well for hours after that,” she said in a huff. “Should have tanned BOTH your little hides for that one.”

‘Both?” exclaimed Elrohir, “Why me?” “I had no part in that one,” he said laughingly.

“Please…do you take me for a novice? In those days there was nothing that was done by one of you that the other was not aware of.”

“Nothing has changed on that front in millennia,” Glorfindel quipped, “why I would not be the least bit surprised if you two were the ones that suggested it to him in the first place.”

“Glorfindel…you wound us,” they said practically in tandem.

“See you there…did I not say it? Together as always, yes, I certainly smell your hands in all of this.”

“It would be like them…would it not?” Erestor queried, eyeing them suspiciously.

“Indeed it would,” Elrond confirmed, then pulling Estel away from his chest he wiped the tears from the child’s face as he gently asked…“Melyanna, did your brothers tell you to do this?”

Estel slowly shook his head no, responding…“Iss s’posed to be a s’prise. I wanted to make you lunch cause you dinna break you fast…but I made you sick…I sorry Ada.”

The child then launched himself back into his father’s arms and clung to Elrond as though it would be his last chance to do it this side of Arda. Elrond kissed the soft curls atop the child’s head and again tried to convince him that all was well.

“Awww…no harm done Estel, we all make little mistakes, that is how we learn…is it not Erestor?”

“Why yes it is…we try, and sometimes we fail, but that does not mean that we intended to do anything wrong.”

“See…now…,” he said pulling the child away from him again, “We will have no more tears this day, it was not intentional, and as you can see I am fine, (a little queasy) but none the less fine. Now, what say you… shall we have Lady Nilya bring us something to eat? We can have our lunch and then we shall both go and have a lie down and take a nap? How does that sound to you?”

“Can I sleep in your room wit’ you?”

“Absolutely, I would not have it any other way?”

“A’right Ada…I am a liddle hungry.”

“Right then! Lady Nénilya if you would be so kind as to bring Estel some warm bread with butter and marmalade, and…a plate of spring melon, how does that sound Estel?”

The child perked right up, “Dat sounds won’erful Ada, I love spring melon.”

“Spring melon it is then! Nilya if you would bring me a small bowl of clear broth…I do not think I can put much more than that on my stomach at the moment.”

“Of course my lord, clear broth coming right up.” Nilya started for the kitchen, reaching the door she hesitated, then turned and cleared her throat saying, ”Ahem…ladies, you may ‘release’ your captive now…follow me.”

Like two well-trained soldiers the ellith followed their ‘commander’ into the kitchen, leaving Rúmil to breathe a sigh of relief. The resounding round of laughter that followed their exit left Rúmil feeling as though he had unknowingly been under siege.

“They are somewhat…intimidating, are they not?” he queried as he hastily straightened his tunic.

“Yeth…dey are.” Estel said giggling, then imitating his beloved father said…”Dey are indeed!”

…