A Dragon for Estel
Kuramagal
This is just a little half of a fic because I have ADD and can't focus on just one story. This will only have two chapters (the next one will be out shortly). Anyway, happy reading!
Estel's having a hard time falling asleep so Elrohir, Elladan, Glorfindel and Erestor decide to tell him a story. Fluff
Chapter One: Of Men and Elves
"NO!" a little voice screamed at the top of its lungs, causing the elf that was holding him to grimace as the shrill sound penetrated his ears. In the back of his mind, Elladan vaguely wondered when his ears would stop ringing. "You can't make me! No, don't! Please, anything else! Peas, broccoli, cabbage anything!"
Elrohir cringed as he watched, from a safe distance mind you, as his twin tried to valiantly hold their younger brother in his bed. His poor twin was failing rather triumphantly; then again it hadn't been any better when he was helping. That was why he had left said room…sort of…
It had actually been Elladan who had sent him from said room, something Elrohir could have kissed him for. He and his brother had been trying for the past three hours to get their little brother to go to sleep. Estel, who was normally the gentlest, sweetest, and most adorable child, looked like a rabid warg, Elrohir decided, and that was from a brother who loved the child dearly. The boy looked practically crazed; his dark locks were mussed and the blankets that might have once covered him were lying in a heap at the foot of his bed. His older twin, by the looks of things, was at the point of desperation. No, Elrohir amended, he had had triumphantly flown over the point of desperation and was now rapidly reaching panic.
Elrohir hid farther behind the door frame, praying that his twin couldn't see him. Elladan had sent him on a little errand to get a blanket for the child and there was no way in this world or the next that he would go back in there. His twin couldn't pay him enough to go back in that room.
This little fiasco had begun at sunset. The twins had taken their brother up to his room and begun to get him ready for bed. They had been trying to put the child to bed for some time now. But the second they got him into the covers and turned out the lights, he would jump out of bed and run after them. It had happened almost seven times now, and had gotten to the point where Elrohir had almost convinced his twin to tie the child to the bed. However, Elladan had sensibly refused. It was probably for the best. He could only imagine his father's reaction if Lord Elrond found out that they had hog tied their brother to his bed.
Elrohir cringed as his mind helpfully supplied him with all the possible punishments their father could and would think up. They would be worse than dead, he realized. Speaking of his father and untimely death, Elrohir wanted to kill him! He couldn't believe he had left this job to them! He was quite sure his father had never had this trouble with Estel. And what exactly had he done to deserve this? Then again, his father was his father. No one in their right mind would cause trouble for Lord Elrond, at least not someone who wanted to remain in one solid piece. But, Elrohir reasoned, he really didn't know what transpired at bedtime, as he was…at other places and…different beds…Elrohir felt his ears warm slightly. No, he was never present to see the child put to bed. Perhaps this was a common occurrence?
Estel gave off a shrill shriek. No, he decided, definitely not. Who would have imagined? After all, when his father had first mentioned what he and his brother would be doing for the child, he had jumped for joy. It seemed like an easy enough task. After all, how hard could it be to put one small child to bed? Elrohir cringed, both at the memory and at the fact that Elladan had nearly gotten kicked in the jaw. How could one child be such a terror? It wasn't that Estel was normally a horrible, bratty child. On the contrary, he was exceptionally well behaved for a five year old. He was polite and had manners that most parents dreamed of their teenagers having. He knew his place, and never spoke back or argued. At least, Elrohir had thought. But now as he looked at the little terror that was nearly killing his twin, he had to wonder if he needed to reevaluate that theory.
"Estel," Elladan coaxed trying to soothe the flailing child, "Please pen-neth, you have to go to bed. It is very late."
"NOOOO!" Estel bawled. "No bed, no!" Elladan sighed helplessly. Normally it was their father's job to put Estel in bed, but since the Lord of Rivendell was currently away for the day, the job had fallen on his twin sons…fallen being the key word in that sentence.
Elladan used to dismiss the tedious practice that his father used to get the little one to go to sleep, but now he understood it. If they ever managed to get the little boy in bed and asleep, Elladan promised himself that he would never doubt his father again. In fact, he'd never say another word against his father. It was then that Elladan noticed his twin, who was lurking in the shadows of the doorway, trying to blend in with the walls.
"Elrohir," Elladan growled, gritting his teeth as Estel began to punch his little fist as his tantrum increased. "I could use a little help!" His brother stepped very cautiously into the room.
"Now would be nice!" the eldest shouted, leaning back to avoid a fist aimed at his jaw. Estel had begun a new fit of thrashing. Since when did he have all this energy?The older twin wondered. That, however was one of the last thoughts he had.
It was perhaps best that Elrohir came over, because just as the younger twin got a hold of the flailing child, Estel's foot found a rather sensitive spot on Elladan anatomy. The older twin crumpled to the floor, a look of absolute shock and agony etched on his face, but Estel, who was completely unaware of how he had hurt his brother, kept kicking and shouting.
Elrohir looked at both of his brothers, trying to determine which to focus on first. Elladan was still on the ground huddled over himself, his face still preserved in a look of shock and pain, while Estel was still flailing away like mad, screaming, "I won't go to bed! I won't go to bed!" Now Elrohir's teachers had taught him how to fight multiple opponents in battle. But nothing could have prepared him for this.
He and his oh so perfect twin were being bested by one child! Elrohir realized how stupid the situation looked, two grown elves, creatures that were supposed to be far beyond mortals, completely beaten by one little mortal boy. One completely incapacitated by the child, the other at a loss as to what to do with the child. So Elrohir stood there, holding Estel as far as possible from his person and trying to assist his twin.
"Elladan?" he asked tentatively, trying to making himself heard over Estel continuous screams of, "I won't go to bed!"
There was no answer from the elf on the floor, though he might not have heard it. After all Estel's shouting was reaching quite a climax.
"Estel," he said, in what would have been a soothing voice had he not had to shout it. "Come, it's alright." The child didn't seem to hear him however.
"Estel!" Elrohir shouted. He had never raised his voice so to the child, so quite miraculously the little boy stopped his tirade to look at his brother. Finally,Elrohir thought. His moment of thankfulness was cut short when the child's foot caught him in the jaw and he dropped Estel. Then before he could catch the child, or even blink an eye, Estel had flown from the room.
"Great!" Elladan seethed, seemingly finding his voice, though his face set in a grimace of pain as he tried to move. "Just wonderful Elrohir! Now you let him get away!"
Elrohir looked taken back. "Excuse me? If I hadn't grabbed him he would have gotten away when you nearly dropped him! Then what would father have said?" Elrohir retorted, his grey eyes flashing in defiance.
Elladan's own eyes grew dark. "It's not my fault the little one kicks so hard."
"Well, it's not my fault you can't hold onto one child!"
Elladan gave his brother a dubious glare. "That's not a child!" he declared. "It's a demon!"
"Oh, hush! Estel's just a little boy!"
"Tell me that after he kicks you!"
"Oh come on! He didn't kick you that hard!"
"Really? Care to trade?"
"Don't be a baby, Elladan!"
"Who's the baby? I wasn't the one cowering out in the hall while my brother dealt with the monster!"
"First I was not cowering, and second he's not a monster!"
"You were cowering! And if he's not a monster, I told you already, he's a demon!"
"NO, I WAS NOT!"
"Excuse me," a deep voice jolted the twins. Their bickering ceased as they turned to see the newcomer.
"But I think this might have escaped," an annoyed Glorfindel said. On his shoulders was Estel, who looked like he was having the time of his life playing with the golden tresses. Glorfindel shook his head (causing Estel's little fingers to pull his hair slightly) at Elladan and Elrohir were sitting on the floor bickering like elflings.
"You both need to stop arguing and playing around," the advisor admonished, unaware or ignoring the two very murderous glares he received. "Estel needs to get to sleep, and he can't do that if you both are acting like children and playing on the floor. Honestly, how hard is it to put one little boy to bed?" the ancient elf asked, giving both twins a rather irritated look.
Both brothers could only stare at him with their jaws hanging open, while Estel giggled from his perch on Glorfindel's shoulders. Elrohir was the first to recover his voice.
"If you think it's so easy," the twin began, his voice unusually nasty, "Then why don't you try it?" Glorfindel's eyes narrowed. Had Elrohir just challenged him, the blond wondered.
"Yes," Elladan said, wincing as he got to his feet, "Let's see you put him to bed."
Glorfindel smiled at the twins attempt at a challenge. Put Estel to bed? How hard could that be, he after all was just a small child. How hard was it to put a child to bed?
"Come along Estel," Glorfindel said, throwing his snidest looks at the twins. "It's time for bed." Nothing could have prepared the several thousand-year-old elf lord for what happened next.
As soon as the words left Glorfindel's mouth, he knew that they were going to have a very bad effect. The child on his shoulders stiffened slightly and then started to howl and squirm around. "NO! NO! NO!" Estel screamed at the top of his lungs. "NO BED!"
Now this was an especially hard situation if the child is in the parent or guardians arms. But to have a flailing child on your shoulders, so close to your head and hair causes an even bigger problem. And for Glorfindel this was exactly the case. While Glorfindel had been challenged by and handled many a beast in his day, he never had one that had taking him from atop his head. Estel grabbed a handful of Glorfindel lush golden hair and was proceeding to pull it out from elf's skull.
"Elladan!" Glorfindel shouted, trying and failing to pull the little fiend off his head. "Help me!"
The twins gave him identical smiles. They were those smiles that they reserved for moments like this, when someone who deserved it was getting it, just what they deserved. "Should we help him brother?" Elladan asked, casually, as if little children, namely their youngest brother, always attacked Glorfindel in such a way.
Elrohir took extra time to analyze the situation. "I don't know brother," Elrohir finally said, raising his voice slightly to get over Estel shouts of "No! No!"
"It might affect our health. I wouldn't want to get hurt in the process." Just as he finished speaking, Glorfindel managed to pull the child off his head, and with the same grace someone might drop a snake that was about to bite him, dropped the child on the floor. It took Estel only a matter of seconds to get up and race out of the room. The twins looked at Glorfindel in dismay.
"Look what you did!" Elladan cried, "Now we're going to have to go and find him. He's probably on the other side of Rivendell by now!" Glorfindel, who had managed to calm his racing heart, gave the twin an incredulous look. It was apparent he had other ideas.
"Excuse me, but by 'we' I hope you weren't referring to me. Because, we aren't going anywhere. You, Elladan, and your brother will be going. I am going to go back to the bottle of wine I was about to enjoy, when that frantic little beast interrupted me!"
Glorfindel was about to leave when two sets of arms grabbed him a drug him back into the room.
"Oh no you don't! You dropped him! We'll tell Ada that you dropped Estel!" Elladan threatened. Now Glorfindel knew the twins weren't ever really serious with many of their pranks, but the dangerous glare in the elder twin's eyes told him Elladan wouldn't hesitant to do just as he said. And he knew Lord Elrond would be less than pleased. In fact, it would be more like a hunt for his blood. After all, Estel was his baby.
"Okay," Glorfindel acquiesced, "What do I have to do?"
"First, you're going to help us find him," Elladan said.
"Second, you're going to help us put him to bed," Elrohir continued.
"And third," both twins began together, "We're not going to have any mention of this to Ada."
Glorfindel nodded. He couldn't have put the last bit better himself. He had just resigned himself to his fate and was about to exit the room on his quest, when he found someone else standing in the doorway.
"Excuse me," a fourth voice joined the fray causing the twins and Glorfindel to look warily at the newcomer, and the 'gift' he brought them. "Did you loose this?" Erestor asked casually as if missing children always wound up in his room at the wee hours of the morning.
The looks on the faces of the twins and the military advisor were priceless. "May I ask," Erestor asked looking at the twins, one of whom was standing very gingerly and Glorfindel who was rubbing his head. "What exactly is going on here?"
All three previously mentioned elves looked at one another tiredly.
"Well," Elladan began and evil gleam in his eye. "We were trying to get Estel to go to BED," Elladan said putting a lot of emphasis on the word 'bed'. As was expected Estel let out a shrill shriek and started thrashing in Erestor's arms. This caused the chief advisor to quickly put the child on the ground. Estel made a beeline for the door, but Glorfindel who was learning how this little game worked, quickly slammed it shut. With new tears in his eyes, Estel looked up at the military advisor.
"Estel," Glorfindel began heavily, "You don't have to go to bed, go play with your toys." Estel gave Glorfindel a brilliant smile and then gave him, or rather, his knees, a hug and rushed off to play with his toys.
Elladan walked over to Glorfindel with a glare that would have made his father proud.
"What in all of Arda could have possessed you to tell him that?" Elladan snapped in a hushed tone, so said child wouldn't hear him.
"I did it so we could figure out a way to get him to … you know, without him screaming like a banshee!" Glorfindel retorted, also whispering. It was then that somebody began to tug on the door at his back. Glorfindel turned to see Erestor.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked the chief advisor giving Erestor and askance glare.
"I, Glorfindel, am leaving," Erestor declared looking remarkably like a ruffled bird. "Something you should have thought of a long time ago."
"You can't leave!" the twins cried.
Erestor smiled darkly. "Watch me," he stated in a tone that no one would have doubted.
"If you leave," Glorfindel threatened, "I'll tell Elrond where his private stash of wine had been disappearing to." Erestor didn't look perturbed.
"You steal and drink it with me, idiot! You're not going to incriminate yourself," Erestor said with a shake of his head. He had always know Glorfindel was touched in the head, that fight with the balrog hadn't left him completely unmarked. He just hadn't realized it had been this bad. After all, incriminating oneself was a sign of either madness or sheer stupidity.
"He may not tell," Elladan began with a dark smile.
"But we will!" Elrohir continued. Both twins shared the equally bright and evil smile. Erestor glared at them.
"I'm not going to forget this," he warned.
"Neither will we," the twins replied, smiles still in place.
"So," Erestor began grudgingly, "What are we going to do with him?"
Glorfindel made the first comment. "We could let him stay up."
"And let Ada have all of our hides? I think not!" Elrohir said. "Other suggestions?"
"Maybe we could bribe him?" Elladan suggested. The other three adults looked absolutely scandalized, as if he had just suggested tying up the future king of men and leaving him with no food or water. Though, Elladan reasoned, Elrohir had already suggested that. Bribery, in Elladan opinion was much better. Personally, Elladan thought there was no better plan. After all, a little candy worked wonders on all children.
"What's wrong with it?" he pressed, seeing them all roll their eyes.
Erestor was the first to answer. "Do you really think that your father would approve of us bribing Estel to get him to fall asleep?" the advisor asked with his eyebrow quirked in such a fashion that Elladan almost felt stupid. Almost.
"Besides," Glorfindel continued, watching out of the corner of his eye as Elladan made a nasty face at Erestor. "What are we going to bribe him with? In case you haven't noticed, no one has any candy." Between the two advisors, Elladan thought Glorfindel had the better point, though he wasn't going to be the one to tell Erestor that. No one in their right mind would tell Erestor that Glorfindel was more logical, not unless said person wanted to have all of their appendages removed.
"What about a story?!" Elrohir blurted out. There was instant silence from the little boy. The three other adults turned to look at the youngest of them.
"What did you say?" Erestor asked, as though Elrohir had just said some piece of unheard of knowledge.
"A story," Elrohir said, noticing how the child turned to look at him. "Would you like us to tell you a story?" he asked, addressing Estel this time.
Estel's eyes brightened, and then he smiled. "Story!" he said happily. Then he sat on the edge of his bed and looked at them expectantly.
A story ... of course that's what a child would want! Men ... seriously ... after all that it was a story that got Estel calm… Personally, my parents found it worked wonders on me, it got to the point where I had to be read a story or I wouldn't go to sleep. Anyway, enough reminiscing! Chapter two, the final chapter will be up soon. Please use the lovely review box and tell me what you think and or if you have any suggestions. Thanks.
Oh and the second chapter for WRWWS will be out soon. I promise!
Kuramagal