Beyond Canon
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"Ooo... what's that?" Orophin asked, entering the parlor. He had an apple in one hand, which he bit into and chewed as his brothers looked over the new addition to the family's gathering room with glee.

"It is a new chess set," Rumil explained. "From Gondor. Erestor brought it over for us."

"Propaganda," added Haldir, picking up the white king and showing it to Orophin. "Tiny little versions of the king and his court. Sent as gifts to other kingdoms and bought by the upper class to show off to their friends."

"Who gets to be the pawns?" Orophin picked up one of eight identical pieces and chuckled. "Oh, we'd better not show this to Mr. Gamgee," he said as he replaced the piece.

Rumil picked up the white queen and handed it to Orophin. "Look, it's our niece!"

"Mmm. Doesn't look quite like her, I don't think." He turned the piece in his hand. "The face isn't quite right, and the hair isn't long enough-"

"I think it's just fine," Haldir said, taking the piece back from Orophin and placing it onto the board with the others.

Orophin shut himself up with his apple, looking over the pieces on Rumil's side of the game. "Ew, those are some ug-ly knights."

"I wasn't thrilled with playing the dark side," admitted Rumil, "but I did offer Haldir first choice. And besides, who can resist little Bishop Smeagol?" Rumil held up the tiny crouching figure near his face and mockingly blew it a kiss.

"Are we sure he wasn't adopted?" Orophin asked Haldir, pulling the rocker near to the table so that he could watch the game.

Haldir shrugged and positioned his pieces so they were all facing forward.

"Oh, don't start this, Halli. I'm sorry if you thought I was insulting her, but the piece doesn't quite look like Arwen."

Haldir said nothing and looked across at Rumil. "Since I chose sides, why don't you move first?"

Rumil put his bishop back into place and nodded. Orophin heaved a sigh and pushed back the chair from the table before getting up and leaving. Rumil moved a pawn forward and glanced across the board at Haldir. "You know he didn't mean anything by it."

Haldir looked down at his pieces. Instead of making a move, he flicked his king, sending the miniature King Elessar crashing to the ground before leaving the room.

"So... does that count as checkmate...?" wondered Rumil to himself as he reset the board.

- - -

"Halli? Oh, Halli, where are you hiding?" Orophin had been in all of the common rooms of the house, and each room of Haldir's suite. He thought to try the tree next, but heard his brother's voice coming from the rooms that the twins and Celebdreth had been sharing. Elrond had made the decision to evict his sons and nephew from the third floor just prior to the arrival of the ship his granddaughter Elodien was on, sending them to the first floor where he would hear them less often. She was offered the rooms and took them without question, not knowing Elrond's secret motive of having her directly across the hall from his own rooms. "It isn't that I don't trust them," Orophin recalled Elrond saying to Haldir, "but I don't trust them." Elrond had asked Haldir to keep an eye on the happenings in and around Elodien's room, and Haldir agreed. He had spent a time in Gondor briefly to educate the children of the king, and was the only other one in the house Elodien knew, with the exception of Legolas and Gimli. Elrond revealed to Haldir that he didn't trust either of them, either.

The doors to Elrond's rooms were shut at the moment, and Orophin closed in on the doorway to Elodien's suite, listening intently.

"Thank you for lending the books to me, Haldir."

"You have finished them already?"

"I stayed up last night until I had. I wish someone had been awake when I was done with this one. I have a number of questions I wanted to ask."

"As I have told you, my lady, you may come to me with questions at any time, day or night."

There was a bit of laughter, and then Elodien said, "That was when I was a child in Gondor that you said that to me. I would not expect you to keep such a promise here."

"I will honor my words, my lady."

"Haldir?"

"Yes, my lady."

"Please, you may call me Elodien."

"Yes, my lady."

Orophin decided now would be a good time to rescue, well, both of them from what could end up being an awkward situation. He stepped into view of the doorway. "Halli? Oh, Elodien, have you seen-" he spied Haldir, and walked over to him. "Halli! I've looked everywhere for you!" There was a stack of books in Haldir's arms and Elodien held one in her own hands. Orophin ignored Haldir's sudden blush, the close proximately between his brother and Elodien, and the two steps backward the elleth had taken. "Halli, I have something to show you – oh. Is... did I interrupt? I'm terribly sorry..."

Expecting a negative reply from one of them, Orophin was extremely shocked by Haldir's words. "As you should be." To Elodien, he said, "I am free after supper this evening to discuss the book with you."

"Shall we meet in the parlor?" asked Elodien.

"As you wish," Haldir said, walking from the room back to his own. Orophin followed after wishing Elodien a pleasant day, swinging a small sack back and forth at his side with one hand.

"She certainly is fair, that one," Orophin remarked once they were in Haldir's rooms with the door securely shut.

"She certainly is," agree Haldir, walking into the library to put away the books he had borrowed to Elodien.

"Takes after her mother, don't you think?"

"Better than taking after her father," Haldir said from the other room.

"Ai! I have an image of Estel in a dress now!"

Haldir shook his head as he came out of the library. "What is it with you and men wearing dresses?" he asked, sitting down on his bed. He moved Nibbles to his lap so that Orophin could settle down next to him.

"Funny, most of the time, it's `What is it with Oro', without specific incidents needing to be mentioned." Orophin looked over to see Haldir nodding and slapped him on the shoulder before concentrating on untying the sack he had brought.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?" asked Haldir as Orophin dug into the bag.

"No, I just brought it along as a decoy." Orophin pulled out a small figurine, his fingers closed over most of it, but Haldir could tell it was off-white in color. "I did my best to match it to the ones in the set."

"What set?"

"But I carve in wood, I don't make molds for clay, so it is not exact," continued Orophin.

"Orophin, just show me!"

"You are so impatient!" Orophin grabbed one of Haldir's hands with one of his free ones. "Here. I am sorry I said anything ill of your little Arwen." He dropped the wooden figure into Haldir's palm.

"Orophin, this is..." Haldir swallowed hard and held the miniature up to the light. "She is perfect."

"So you like it then?"

Haldir hugged Orophin tightly, then drew back to study the figure again. "How did you do it?"

"Honestly, I used Elodien as a model. She sat perfectly still the other night while she read by the fire, it was easy for me to carve it." Orophin reached into the sack again. "Now, I took some additional liberties, and..." Pulling out a second white figure, he grinned and handed it to Haldir. "...I hope you like it, your highness."

Haldir chuckled, looking over a much smaller version of himself. He frowned after a moment and touched a hand to his face. "My nose isn't really that big, is it?"

"What's wrong with it? It's not big, Halli, it's... a dominant feature," said Orophin.

This seemed to appease Haldir, and he looked to the bag in Orophin's lap. "It appears you have a few others."

Orophin grinned, biting on his tongue so he wouldn't laugh so loud. "These are for Rumil's side!" he said, pulling out one of the dark figures.

Haldir slapped his free hand over his mouth and fell back on the bed. He was sitting up once again after a moment and grabbed the queen from Orophin's hand. "I have a sudden urge to play chess."

- - -

"Hey!" Rumil pouted as he watched his second tiny gollum be swept from the board. "This isn't fair." He slumped his head onto his hands and glanced across the room at Orophin. "What did you do with my Haldir, Oro?"

"Whatever do you mean?" questioned Orophin.

Rumil retreated his queen. "He usually isn't this good."

Orophin grinned. "All hail the King of Greenwood, and his-"

The other two brothers looked up to see why Orophin had stopped, finding Elrond standing in the room. Rumil paled more than usual, and Haldir caught himself before he had knocked over his drink. "Are you looking for something, my lord?" asked Haldir.

Elrond nodded, moving closer. "I was told that Erestor and Glorfindel had come by. Have you seen either of them?"

"If you are still trying to convince them to move into the house, you are fighting a battle which cannot be won," advised Haldir. Although it was his turn to move, and he knew exactly what he wished to do, he dare not draw Elrond's attention to the board.

"No, I have given up on that," admitted Elrond. "You have not seen them, then?" All three shook their heads, and Elrond left the room.

"That was close," whispered Rumil, reaching to the windowsill to retrieve the dark queen that originally had come with the set. As he was about to replace it, Elrond came back into the room. Rumil dropped the queen to the floor, folding his hands in his lap, cursing to himself as the queen rolled toward the center of the room.

"If you see either of them, will you call for me?" Three heads nodded and once more Elrond disappeared.

"Whew." Rumil grabbed the errant piece from the ground and swapped the queens but just as he was about to put the piece into the sack, a commanding voice sounded from the doorway.

"Daro!" Elrond marched up to the table, and Orophin cringed in his chair, looking on helplessly as his brothers were confronted. "What is in your hand?" he demanded.

"What are you talking about?" Rumil asked, trying to sneak the figure up his sleeve. He cursed the tight cuffs of the shirt he had worn today.

Elrond reached forward and picked up the nazgul that stood as the queen of the dark forces. "Where is the piece that was here?"

Rumil sighed, casting his eyes down as he set the piece onto the board. Elrond took up the tiny reproduction and looked at it, narrowing his eyes. "This is meant to be amusing?" he asked, looking around the room as he held up a small version of himself.

Only Haldir had the courage, or stupidity, to smirk. "In a small way, yes."

Eyes further narrowed, Elrond snapped the figure in half with one hand and cast it to the ground. Elrond's eyes fell upon the white pieces, and Haldir's face fell as the king and queen were taken from the board. Elrond looked to Orophin for confirmation.

"It's Arwen and Haldir," Orophin said. "Please, don't break those. I took great care in making those for him."

Elrond raised his brow and gave an intimidating frown as the pieces were handed back to Haldir, who now dared not let go of them as he looked to the ground at the broken piece. "Orophin, I expect that you will not be making any more replications of my image for your chess game?" he asked rather dryly.

"Of course, not, my lord. I have far better things to do with my time."

Elrond said nothing to this and left the room to find his former advisors. There was a collective sigh of relief once the three brothers were sure he had gone up the stairs.

"It's a good thing I made enough of him ahead of time," Orophin said, approaching the board to look at the progress.

"So... how many more of him are there?" asked Haldir, replacing his king and queen before moving a rook.

"Enough to make him the pawn, and then some." Rumil tipped the bag onto the table, spilling the little Queen Elronds across the board. They knocked the majority of the other pieces, black and white, from their spots, and many off of the board. One Elrond in particular spun toward Haldir's royalty, and pushed over the king and queen. "Ooops. Guess that's check and mate, Halli!" winked Rumil.
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