Title: Shattered Heart
Author: amber
Rating: G
Characters: Elrond, Erestor, Celebrian
Word Count: 1289
Disclaimer: I am only borrowing Tolkien's works.
Challenge: Day 6 – Poet? You Know It
Summary: Erestor suffers from a cruel limerick.
"Look at Erestor, look at him there,"
"He is the one with the mousy eyes and hair,"
"He acts high and mighty, as if he walks on air,"
"It is to more than elflings he gives a scare."
"To you I say get close to him, I dare."
Erestor sighed as he overheard the limerick being chanted by the elflings while
they played in the garden. Elrond gave him a sympathetic smile as he rose and
closed the balcony doors which had been left open to let in the cool breeze. The
limerick had been first sung by a suitor he had scorned but had persisted over
the years until few remembered the reasons behind it. It popped up now and again
whenever Erestor did something someone greatly disliked. He briefly wondered
what had happened to trigger this round of torment.
"Forgive them, Erestor," Elrond began. "They little ones know not the story
behind the limerick. They just like the rime."
"You know as well as I that it was not an elfling that started it," he
responded. "I expect it anymore. I have but to upset someone in the valley for
the limerick to start making the rounds again."
"I will have it stopped," Elrond commented, thinking he was helping.
"No, let it go. It will die down in a few days," he said. "It is better for them
to think it does not bother me, although I would like knowing who reminded them
of it."
Elrond just shook his head as he returned to work.
--
Later that night as he prepared for bed, Elrond decided to broach the subject
with his wife.
"The limerick about Erestor is going around again," he commented to her.
"I know, I started it," his wife answered amused. "I think it is so fitting. He
can be such a prig sometimes."
Shocked by her comment Elrond decided to set her straight. "It is cruel and
uncalled for," he scolded her. "Every time he hears it, he is reminded of the
one who wrote it, a scorned suitor. The elf finally went so far as to try and
force Erestor against his will one night when he was in his cups."
"I am sorry, I did not know that," Celebrían commented shocked. "Why did he
refuse the elf?"
"You do know he is already bond do you not?" Elrond replied in surprise to her
question.
"What? Since when?" she asked I surprise.
"Erestor married shortly after he reached his majority," he explained. "He comes
from Ost-in-Edhel. He lost his wife and son when Sauron attacked."
"I never knew," she said.
"He does not talk about it," he told her. "It still pains him greatly.
Especially when you consider the fact that one of the orcs he killed during the
Last Alliance turned out to be his son."
"How horrible," she exclaimed as she realized that the rumors of orc origins
were true.
"When the valley was young, there was a young warrior who came here to live from
Mirkwood," Elrond began as he decided to tell her the whole story in an effort
to have her help in stopping the limerick from being sung. "Thranduil asked me
to take him in after some trouble there. I agree to give him a second chance and
assigned him to Glorfindel. He seemed to fit in well and there was no trouble at
first. Then he decided he wanted my chief counselor for his own as it would give
him status. Erestor, needless to say, did not want him in return. As far as I
know, he never told the elf that he was bound to another; just that he was not
interested. He kept his sorrows to himself. The warrior persisted and it became
so bad that Erestor began hiding in his rooms. When I told him to confront the
elf, he agreed. Erestor chose to confront him publicly at dinner the following
night so all would know he was not interested in being courted by any."
"That must have been cruel," Celebrían said as she sympathized with the poor
Mirkwood elf.
"He deserved it as he stood up at meal and announced that he and Erestor were
binding in one month," Elrond told her. "He was trying to force Erestor's hand
without knowing all of the facts. The warrior was a shameless status climber; it
was what had gotten him into such trouble before in Mirkwood. You need to give
Erestor a little credit. All he did was stand up after the announcement and
proceed to tell everyone that he would not be binding in a month and that he
would never bind with one so low. He then proceeded to leave the hall and return
to his rooms."
"What happened?" his wife asked carefully.
"Glorfindel waited until Erestor was out of hearing to stand up and berate the
elf in front of everyone. It seems that he had been ordered to leave Erestor
alone by Glorfindel several days earlier. It wasn't until several mornings that
we realized the full consequences of everyone's actions that night. When Erestor
didn't show up for work by the second day, I sent Glorfindel out to find him.
Two days later, after a massive hunt, we found him tied to a bed in an abandoned
hunt in the hills. The Mirkwood elf was on top of him trying to rape him.
Glorfindel pulled him off and threw him across the room where several of his
guards proceeded to beat the youngling up."
"But Erestor was saved right?" she asked.
"Not exactly," Elrond continued. "He had already retreated into himself and
begun the process of abandoning his hoar. In an act of desperation, because he
felt responsible, Glorfindel bonded to him to pull him back."
"But you said Erestor was already bonded?" she exclaimed in confusion.
"He was," he continued. "When he regained consciousness and realized what had
been done, he tried to reject the bond. Glorfindel somehow convinced him not to.
I believe that Glorfindel has promised to go back to the halls so that Erestor's
first bond can be honored once we sail."
"But that is unfair to Glorfindel," she remarked.
"Since coming, Mithrandir has led me to believe that the Valar are aware of the
true situation and will resolve it somehow upon all of our arrivals," he
answered.
"What did you do to the Mirkwood elf?" she wanted to know.
"I did not trust myself to judge him as Erestor is one of my friends," he
replied. "Celeborn was visiting and dictated that the elf had a choice. He could
either be banished for life from the Elvish realms or be escorted to the Havens
and sail on the next ship. He chose banishment and the last word we had of him
was that he headed east after the Avari denied his request to live with them."
"I did not know any of this, I am sorry," she said after thinking about what she
had been told. "I will do what I can to stop the limerick from ever being sung
again."
"I knew I could count on you," Elrond said as he picked her up and threw her on
the bed before launching himself after her. "Now hush and attend to me."
---
The next day a smiling Celebrían set about erasing the previous limerick by
teaching the elflings a new one.
"Our Lord was once a great warrior of might,"
"He instead chose the path of a healer making his soul light,"
"He is known to see far for he has the sight,"
"He married Galadriel's silver daughter without a fight"
"But it is his fault that she walks around always looking a fright."