Chapter 01

Of Songs and Letters

"O! what are you doing?

Erestor, you're boring!

Come join me for singing!

The river is flowing!

O! tra-la-la-lally."

Erestor did not attempt to look up from his work. He was scribbling furiously on a paper, his eyebrows etched with annoyance, as the younger elf continued to pester him with her singing. Perhaps Erestor knew why she was singing, and decided to purposely ignore her, or he did not know, and he simply did not care. Whatever it was, his mind was set to finish what Elrond asked him of, despite being the warrior that he was also.

"You will not let me take that, will you, tra-la-la?" Erynlith asked in a singsong, looking over his shoulder.

Erestor moved the letter away from her eyes, and said, "This is not for your eyes to see. And yes, Lord Elrond will not let you deliver this message. Following what happened a few months ago, no one would send you out for sending letters ever again." He felt the need of adding a 'tra-la' at the end, but decided not to.

"Oh, but is always fun to leave the valley, tra-la-lay… oh, I rhymed!" She beamed proudly, clapping her hands in delight.

He felt an urge to roll his eyes at her. "Yeah, well congratulations, Eryn. Now please, leave me to my work. I have to finish this before dinner! Go pester Lindir all you want, tra-la-la."

She laughed at him. "Like I said, you're boring today, tril-lil-lolly," then she tapped his shoulder. "What is that for anyway? Do we get to visit Lórinand again, tra-lay?"

"No," said Erestor quickly. "This is bound for the King Elendil in Gondor, and… wait! You cannot know anything about this!" He obscured the letter once again from her. "Get going, Eryn!"

But the younger elf only slumped back on his velvety couch, her legs crossed and her lips etched with a pout. "You have been busy of late, dear friend," she whined. "You have been away in the barracks for too long, and you know how I always miss you, tra-lo. Oh, I rhymed again!"

Erestor ignored her again. Lord Elrond had trusted him of watching over this younger elf. She was a few centuries old, and cheerful. Had it not been for her relatives in Lórinand, he would not take care of her. As a child she lived with him in Imladris, occasionally traveling east to visit her uncle and cousin in Lórinand.

"Erestor…" Erynlith whined again, trying to draw his attention once more. "Hurry up with your letter and come outside with me. Did you know that eltiria are in bloom again in the valley? Autumn will claim them soon and you will not see them, tra-la."

Suddenly, Erestor jerked up from his seat and pounded the wooden table.

"Now, look what you've done!" His accusing voice came. He held up the unfinished letter. At the end of a paragraph, there was a black smudge of ink. "Stop talking to me! I'm trying to concentrate here!"

She made a face. "Oh, so now it's my fault?"

Erestor fully turned to her. "Stop talking to me! I spelled entourage wrong! Now, I should rewrite this all over again!"

"Not my fault, tra-la-lay," she repeated, smiling deviously at him. "And I can't believe you would spell that wrong, tra-la."

"Get out of here," he said and mumbled more incoherent words under his breath. He pulled another clean sheet of paper from his drawer and rewrote everything the other letter contained. His hands felt numb from all the writing. If it weren't for Elrond trusting him into this, he would never do it in the first place.

Erynlith stood up from the couch. "I'll see you at dinner then, dearest scribe and counselor, tra-lo," she said, her voice was laced with both sweetness and sarcasm.

Erestor shot a glare at her. "Get out of here."

She did, laughing as the door was shut.

Author's Notes: Here's a new story I've been working on since March. This chapter is more like a prologue, a little mischief here and there. We'll have Thranduil appearing next chapter and some action elves. Stay tuned! Please review and tell me what you think of the first chapter.

Have a great day ahead! ₍₍ ◝(・ω・)◟ ⁾⁾