"Uncle?" Elrohir knocked on the door again. "Haldir?" Elladan pushed past his brother and tried the handle, giving a frustrated bang on the door when he found it locked.
"Come, now, open the door. What did he say to you?" Elladan pressed his ear against the door, but heard nothing. "We are not above climbing the trellis!" He pressed his ear against the door again and fell into the room as the door was opened. Elrohir stepped over him and embraced his uncle before he could move away.
"Tell us what he said." Elrohir refused to let go, and soon Elladan was on the other side of him.
Forcing a half smile, Haldir said, "Nothing, nothing at all."
"Haldir," whined Elladan, "tell us!"
"No!" He pulled the twins from him and set his face sternly. "It is of no real concern."
"We're not going until you tell us what it was he said!" Elrohir stomped his foot as if this would help to convince Haldir, but the light-haired elf returned the young elf's look with a blank gaze. "Please?"
"It does not matter."
"Yes it does!"
"It does not."
"It matters," argued Elladan, his arms crossed. "It matters that you were crying and loud enough for us to hear you. There's no shame in it, but there's no reason you should be, either. No good reason, really, no reason for what he said. I don't even know what he said or what he did, but you were just fine when we left you in the parlor not an hour ago. Now, you look like someone killed your horse or broke your heart."
Realization came to Elrohir's eyes as he turned his head to his brother and then to Haldir. "Elodien. Oh, Haldir, he didn't--"
"He didn't anything. He knows nothing." Haldir turned around. "I understand your intentions, but I am not in the mood to be cheered up. Go now, please."
"Haldir--" began Elladan as he reached out for Haldir's shoulder.
"Go!"
Both twins skittered backwards and out of the door, quickly closing it as they went. It was promptly locked behind them, and they saw Orophin and Rumil just down the hall.
"Well?"
"Well, it does have to do with her, and with Ada, I think," whispered Elrohir as the four of them walked down the stairs. "He's stopped crying for now, but for how long?"
Elladan slammed his fist against the wall of the hallway before angrily kicking the woodwork. "I know Ada is brilliant, but sometimes, his lack of intelligence mystifies me." Elrohir was silent, but Rumil could tell this could turn into a disagreeable conversation between the twins very soon. He put an arm around each of them and leaned their heads toward his.
"We can not know for sure what was said, nor if it was your father who said anything." Rumil hugged his nephews closer and looked to his brother. "Orophin? Your thoughts? I, too, dislike seeing or hearing him in such pain. I will not have him fade from us."
"Hmm." Orophin led the group to the second floor. "I think the time may have come for us to take this matter into our own hands," he said, pushing open the door to his rooms when they reached the hallway. "We will speak here, where we will not be interrupted."
"Is it safe?" questioned Elladan as Elrohir asked, "Will we not get lost?"
"Don't worry," said Rumil. "The clutter is low enough, I promise you will not sink, and nothing lives in it that will bite you."
Orophin ignored the comments about the state of his dwellings and waited until everyone was seated and the door was closed to speak. "I call this first meeting of the 'Haldir Needs to Get Laid Club' to order." Orophin looked around the room, which right now included only his brother and his twin nephews. "We're a little light on membership right now, but I'm positive that will change in the near future. First things first. Twelve hours ago, Haldir had his mind set on being a husband. Now, he's gone back to being a hermit. Possible causes?"
"Because he's Haldir and he's just like that," mumbled Rumil. The twins had a more practical explanation.
"It's Ada," they said in one voice, for they had continued their conversation, though not for their uncles to hear, and Elladan did not need long to convince Elrohir. It was even Elrohir who now continued to speak, adding, "I think he was in the parlor with him, and I do not know what was said, but obviously it has Haldir quite upset now. I only wish we had been down there when it happened."
"Hmm..." Orophin rubbed his chin as he paced the room. "Since we won't know what to do until we know what happened, we need to find out what was said. We won't get it from Haldir, and I am not going to ask Elrond. Do we know of anyone else who was in the parlor?"
The elves shook their head at him as the door to the room opened. Valarda cocked her head and looked oddly at the elves spread around the room where they had found places uncluttered enough to sit. Orophin ushered her quickly into the mess and shut the door behind her. Setting a tray with buttered toast and jam onto a semi-cleared off table, she looked around again at the group in the room. "You didn't tell me we were going to have an audience," she finally said.
"I even sold tickets," quipped Orophin back as his wife sat down on the bed.
"Really? You mean elves would pay to see us? Well, if I'd have known, we could have done this back in Lothlorien." She picked up a piece of toast and began to eat it.
"Where did you get that?" questioned Orophin.
Valarda studied her toast as she swallowed. "What, this? The kitchen of course."
"The kitchen! Excellent! Just as I suspected!" Orophin sat down excitedly on the opposite side of the bed, grinning madly at her. Valarda looked as if she were about to get up and leave the room. "Were you down there for a while?"
"I suppose I was," she replied, then took another look about at the elves. "What's all this about anyhow?"
"Did you hear what was going on in the parlor?" questioned Rumil.
Nodding, Valarda bit into her toast again. "Of course I did. You can hear everything going on in the parlor from the kitchen and the other way around." All four elves were suddenly crowded around her on the bed. "I suppose you want me to tell you what it was that I heard."
"I'll make it worth your while, sweetheart," urged Orophin, running a finger along her arm. Valarda narrowed her eyes. "I'll REALLY make it worth your while."
"Are they still going to be here to watch?" she questioned, settling back against the headboard as she continued to eat her snack.
"Only if you want them to be here."
"Hey!" Elrohir looked a little upset. "We paid for these seats!"
"Tonight's show requires audience participation," Valarda said without batting an eye.
Rumil scooted back a little. "I'm out," he said. "No offence, sis, but my wife would kill me."
"Guess I'll settle for a refund," Elrohir said ruefully, crossing his arms. "After you let us know what happened in the parlor, of course."
"I came downstairs," said Valarda as she remembered the evening, "and went to the parlor. Haldir was there playing chess."
"With whom?"
"No one. He was just playing chess. Against himself, I suppose. Anyhow, he was playing chess, and he seemed rather cheerful. I asked if he wanted to join me for a bite to eat in the kitchen, but he declined, and so I said goodnight. I left and obviously went into the kitchen to fix myself something and saw a stack of letters on the table from the city. I began to sort through them when I saw Elrond walk past the door. He noticed me and paused and gave a nod, which I returned. I think he must have intended to go in to get a book or something; he looked tired when he walked by, but he began a conversation with Haldir. I didn't much pay attention at first, they were talking about elflings."
"Please, Valarda, we don't care what they bantered about. Tell us, what did he say to him to upset him so?" questioned Orophin.
Elladan was more direct. "Did he mention Elodien?"
"I'm getting there!" Valarda sighed heavily and finished the rest of the current slice before starting on another, dipping it into the jam. "Well, Elrond made mention of 'all the elflings around the house', and Haldir said there were only two. That's when I really began to take an interest in what was said."
- - -
"Two? I count three under this roof," came the voice of Elrond.
Valarda's ears perked up, and she looked up from the letter she was reading from her father to the wall that separated her from the parlor and mouthed 'three' while trying to count the elflings she knew of, and came up with the same total as Haldir.
"Three." Haldir was obviously doing the same.
"Vilya, Tallasinde, and Elodien, of course."
Standing up quietly, Valarda padded softly to the wall and listened more carefully, hearing now the sounds of chess pieces moving on the board had ceased. "Well... of course..." she heard Haldir answer. "But Elodien... she's hardly an elfling. It's surprising she did not marry already." Valarda was focused on the conversation now. She could read Haldir's voice well, better than most and even better than his brothers at times, from the many long years of trust the two had built being in charge of the border guard in Lothlorien. He was using a tactic to extract information, and he was already unhappy with the answer he knew he would get but had not yet received.
"Her life as a ranger was good, but did not allow her time to learn of our culture and history. She is lost here, and it will take many years of guidance beneath this roof for her to grasp the concepts, language, mannerisms..." His list droned on, and Valarda suppressed a sigh. Apparently, Elrond did not notice his granddaughter was a grown woman who was obviously not a complete innocent. At least, not from what Valarda had seen and heard. Leave it to Elrond to want to keep her protected within the confines of the house.
As the conversation continued, Valarda realized Elrond was doing and saying what he was out of fear - he had left his daughter in Middle- earth, never to again see her. Now, he had a chance to keep a small part of her safe, and was going to do all within his power to do just that.
- - -
"Then what happened?" insisted Rumil.
Valarda shrugged. "Then Haldir left. I stayed in the kitchen and made my snack, and brought it up here after stopping in the parlor to bid Elrond a good evening."
"So Elrond doesn't think she's ready to marry," mused Orophin. He looked around at those sitting in the room. "We have a very important mission ahead of us. As is implied by the name of our organization, we are going to have to band together in order to get Haldir an elleth. Frankly, up until this point, I assumed he could do it on his own, but none of us anticipated Elrond the Balrog - no offense El and El - to be in our way. This is going to be a very, very difficult task. Our goal must be to get Haldir and Elodien together without getting Haldir killed and without Elrond realizing any of us helped, because in all honesty, he would then kill us, and I don't like that outcome very much."
"This coming from the elf who tried to get someone to kill him only last year so he could see what it was like to be in the Halls of Mandos," laughed Rumil.
Pointing a finger at his brother to shush him, Orophin said, "I was under the influence of vanilla pudding at the time, I cannot be held accountable for my actions!" To the rest of the group he said, "I will do whatever is in my power to accomplish this task. What say you all?" There was a resounding 'aye' from the group. "Excellent," said Orophin, rubbing his hands together. "We shall meet again in two days time. Everyone think of some ideas between now and then, and we shall work out a plan. Now, if you will excuse me, I promised to make this worth someone's while," he said with a grin. Rumil and Elrohir left almost immediately, but Elladan lingered. "Yes, what is it?"
"What sort of... participatory activities might the audience be privy to if they were to stay?" he asked as he gave Orophin a sly look.
Orophin thought for a moment and then said, "Well, for starters, this bed needs to be made. And then, the tables could use a dusting, and the floor obviously needs to be picked up, not to mention- Elladan, where are you going? I've not even told you about the lint you get to scrape out from between my toes!" He laughed as the door was slammed shut when the peredhel left the room with a chuckle.
Valarda gave Orophin a most unhappy look. "Lint between your toes?"
"I thought it truly impolite to tell him the lint was between your toes, dear."
"You know," Valarda called as her husband rolled off the bed and out of distance to be hit before escaping into another room, "it's not Elrond whom you need to fear death from!"
