The Littlest Warrior

As dusk began to settle over the quiet valley, seven stalwart elves rode out from Imladris on a mission to bring their comrades home, while high in the trees the biggest threat that Imladris had seen in millennia watched and waited. The sudden frenetic activity in the house had drawn it in closer, closer than was probably safe to maintain anonymity; but it had the taste now, and it craved more.

“The essence of these beings is stronger than that of the others, purer, if that makes any sense. Except for the small ones…they were pure, the taste of them was strong, but it did not last very long. The others, the larger ones, tasted somehow old, used up, like the one in the barn – it took so many to gain any strength. But here, in this place the taste is strong; it is more difficult trying to single them out, but if I could find another stray - the reward will be great. The essence of these beings does not mingle together like the others, it keeps itself apart, separate; I have only small pieces of it now…but both of the chosen ones are here – if I could but find them. No matter, it is of no consequence, if not them, then one of their pack will do. There does not seem to be any of the smaller variety, pity, I would have enjoyed another one of those.”

Estel marched ably back and forth just inside the kitchen door. He had been at it for almost an hour, and Lady Nilya was certain that he would start to lose steam any moment now. She was wrong. The little one had made a promise, given his word, and if there was one thing Estel believed in, it was keeping your promises. His brothers had learned that lesson the hard way, promising and then disappearing when a pretty face or the assurance of spilled orc blood presented itself. It had only taken one very painful (for them), full out crying marathon to divest them of that bit of business. They now knew, with Estel there was no such thing as a promise that could not be kept. They considered themselves adults, but the inconsolable wail of this child who loved them so much, forced them to truly grow up. He had to come first, above all other things, all flights of fancy, all inclinations towards selfishness, he had to come first. Their father warned them, Erestor warned them, and they had not taken that warning to heart. Estel however, taught them a lesson they would not soon forget.

Flashback:

The child had only been in Imladris for two months and so far his transition from life in the wilderness with his parents, to life in Imladris had gone surprisingly smoothly. There had been some occurrences of intermittent crying, but those usually happened whenever Glorfindel’s blond hair reminded the boy of his mother, and then he would spend the best portion of the next hour sobbing, asking “where mama?” These events could, however, be shortened considerably if he was left in the company of the ‘two people’, as he was wont to call the twins. The child was fascinated with their likeness and it was almost always guaranteed to distract him from whatever course of action he was taking. Estel was enthralled with the twins, preferring even to sleep with one of them than to sleep in his own bed, and there were many nights when he toddled back and forth between their two rooms until one or the other of them was forced to get up and move in with his brother just so they could claim sleep. Estel loved his brothers, and they loved him, unfortunately they were at a time in their lives when they could be distracted by a pretty face. And so it came to pass that on the morning when their father was preparing for a diplomatic mission to visit Thengel, the twins were to be left in charge of Estel.

Erestor, as Elrond’s chief counselor, was accompanying the great elf lord to Rohan, and his last words before he kissed Estel good-bye were “Do not make promises to him that you do not intend to keep…he is very smart and he will not let you cheat him of a promise.” Unfortunately the twins were too busy shooing the counselor out the door, anticipating their unbridled control of the house, to take Erestor seriously. “He is only two Erestor…how hard can it be?” Their words would come back to haunt them almost before the seneschal cleared the gate.

Waving bye-bye to his new father and his beloved Westor, Estel was bouncing in his brother’s arms trying to get down. Placing the independent little tyke on the ground the child said two words “Find bunny” and sprinted towards the garden as fast as his little legs would carry him. Once there he reiterated his intentions “Find bunny!” and he and his brothers were on the hunt. The twins sat back lolling under a gnarled oak tree and allowed Estel to search the high grass picking the flowers as he went. Every few minutes they would hear the same two words “Find bunny!” Eventually Estel grew tired of hunting alone and made his way back to the oak tree to enlist the help of the two-people. “Roh find bunny,” he said as he tugged on his brother’s leggings. “Dan bunny!” he said pointing to the grass “Find bunny?”

“All right little one we will help you find the bunny,” Elrohir said as he rose from the shade of the tree pulling Elladan to his feet as well. “You look over there and we will look over here all right?”

“Good bunny! Find bunny!” the child said giggling. As the three searched the grass their hunt was interrupted by two more infamous trackers…Imladris’ most notorious husband hunters Menwen, and her best friend Perwaen. Always up for a little game of chase and tickle, the twins allowed themselves to be distracted from their rabbit hunting by the two maidens and Estel was not at all pleased. Pulling on his brother’s boot top Estel pointed back to the garden “Find bunny.”

“Just a minute Estel, Lady Perwaen has something she wants to tell me,” said Elladan as he tickled the blushing maiden. Not to be dissuaded Estel moved to his other brother, tugging now on his boots.

“Find bunny?” he asked.

“Later Estel…we will find the bunny later,” Elrohir answered as he drew Menwen into his embrace.

“Later?” the child questioned.

“Yes, later little one.” Estel did not move, instead he stood there with his head cocked to the side staring at Menwen as she seemed to be trying to wipe something that she had on her mouth off onto Elrohir’s face. ‘Curious,’ Estel thought, ‘why does she not use that hankie thing?’ Several more minutes of this passed and Estel tried again to get his brother’s attention. Once more tugging on Elladan’s boot tops he pointed to the garden and made his case, “Find bunny.”

Just barely coming up for air, Elladan said “Later little one, I will find the bunny later – I promise.”

“Pwamice?”

“Yes I promise, later, now run and play.”

Estel moved away for all of two minutes, then returned with “Later now” falling from his lips repeatedly.

“Later now! Later now! Later now! Later now!” Elladan, caught up in his romantic moment, responded before he thought, and spoke snappishly at the child. “That is enough Estel, stop it!”

Big elf open mouth, insert foot.

First came the scrunched-up little face, then the open-mouthed silent cry of distress, and then…then he let them have it. Full blast. If there had been such a thing as an air-raid alarm in Middle Earth, this child could have qualified. He screamed, he yelled, he cried big fat tears and once the “top of his lungs” had been reached, he must have borrowed someone else’s because he only got louder. He bounced up and down, he stomped the ground and he screamed until he turned red; that accomplished, he continued until he started to turn blue, and then he screamed even more.

Elrohir jumped up from his lounging position yelling at his twin; “What did you do to him?” he said as he moved to pick up the child.

“Nothing, I swear! I merely told him to stop it.”

“Well you must have done something more than that,” Elrohir admonished, “…for he was not crying before, and now he wails as if you struck him…you did not strike him did you?”

“Do not be ridiculous; of course I did not strike him I would never do such a thing to a child, any child…and certainly not to our brother. I did raise my voice a bit.”

“Ah ha! That is it then…you yelled at him!” he said as he bounced the crying child in his arms, but Estel continued to scream; tears streaming down his face, nose running, and he would not hold still. He squirmed, bounced, and jerked his little body up and down as if he was being tortured, all the while his face turning more and more blue.

“I did not yell…I might have been a bit terse,” Elladan replied, a look of guilt and worry now encompassing his face.

“With you that means you yelled. There, there, Estel…do not cry love, bad old Elladan did not mean it.”

Estel stopped crying only long enough to add his own admonishment to the equation; pointing one tiny little snotty finger at Elladan he uttered two words and then went right back to crying…”Bad Dan!”

“I did not mean to upset him…but he was whining. Is he supposed to turn that color? I do not like the look of that Roh…I think there might be something wrong with him.”

“The only thing wrong with him is that he has two jackasses for brothers,” Perwaen interjected, “here, give him to me.” Taking the child from his arms she lovingly cradled him against her breast and gently cooed to him, as Elladan could only look on enviously. “Tis all right my darling…Elladan is going to find your bunny right now…right Elladan?” The look she gave him could have shredded an orc at fifty paces.

“Yes of course,” he said hastily. “See Estel I am looking for the bunny right now.”

“And Elrohir is going to help him, will you not Elrohir?” her companion added as she stood huffily, placing her hands on her hips.

“Yes, yes, of course…see Estel, I am looking…here bunny bunny.”

Estel raised his head long enough to verify that the ‘two-people’ were searching; satisfied that the hunt was on in earnest he sniffled and zup-supped and halted his screaming only enough for Menwen to wipe his nose on the aforementioned hankie. “There now,” she said as the two elleth cooed and fussed over him, “that is better, is it not?” Estel refused to comment on whether it was or it wasn’t, and maintained a watchful eye on his brothers as they continued the search; all the while bottom lip quivering – garnering even more sympathy from the ellith.

“Come Estel let us go into the kitchen and get some apple nectar…you like nectar do you not?” the elleth asked. Still the child made no commitment one way or the other. As they made their way into the house he peeked around Perwaen’s shoulder and to his displeasure found that his brothers were perhaps not being as ‘thorough’ in their hunt as they could have been. The child pointed at them and immediately began squirming in Perwaen’s arms, bouncing up and down as if to hurl himself to the ground and the shrieking began again. Realizing that their deception had been discovered the two raised their hands trying to ward off the onslaught of tears they knew was coming; waving frantically they attempted to convince their brother that they were indeed searching with purpose.

“No…no…no, do not cry again,” Elladan pleaded. “See, see I am looking, I am looking!”

“Please Estel do not cry, we are looking little one, we are looking - sincerely…we are!”

As Perwaen and Menwen passed through the doorway into the house the elleth looked back over her shoulder and gave the twins something to think about. “I suggest that you do a thorough search, the way the two of you have distressed this child is unconscionable, so unless you come up with a rabbit you need not seek us out to keep you company this eve.” That said, she and Menwen disappeared into the house carrying Estel, and the little one gave his brothers one last parting shot…”No look…Find!”

End Flashback

From that day to this the twins never made another promise to Estel that they were not fully committed to keeping; and although Nilya could see that the boy was tiring himself out, she also realized that her hope that he would stop and rest was slipping further and further away. She tried to purloin him away from the door by offering him a snack, a treat or a drink of nectar; but Estel refused her offer, his reasoning – “A good sen-try does not eat on duty,” an on he marched. A promise is a promise – he would make the March Warden proud.