Faded Light: Book II
folder
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
12,210
Reviews:
46
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
-Multi-Age › Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
12,210
Reviews:
46
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
Characters and places belong to JRR Tolkien and to his estate. I own only my OC's and twisted storylines.
Guesses and Hidden Answers
(For additional notes and disclaimers, please see the top of chapter 1.)
- Credit for the title of this chapter goes to Galad in elin who gave me the suggestion, thank you.
And thank you, to everyone else who has been reading and reviewing, Ziggy3, Del, and BronxWench; this next one is a lot shorter compared to the previous one and definitely not as dark or angst-filled. The next chapter should be up sometime after the holiday, probably by the second week of December.
I had wanted to write a scene with Benain and Ithilhen for a while and hadn’t been able to get around to it, plotwise, until now...so, let me know how it turned out. -
Chapter 17
Guesses and Hidden Answers
It was a dream Benain had had for as long as he could remember...he was always someplace dark in the dream and he was running...sometimes, Amalda was there, holding on to his hand, other times he was alone; he could never see what it was that they were trying to get away from, only that they had to keep running...
After a while, he wasn’t running anymore and dream changed, the nighttime darkness turning into the darkness of a small room, the room where Amalda had just died; though he had been too young still to understand what death meant...he remembered he had been playing on the floor with a small wooden horse he’d had, when the two Men came in talking together, “...what about the boy?” one of them was asking.
“I don’t think he had anyone but the old woman,” said the other Man scowling in the elfling’s direction, “I think he’s a halfbreed...who knows where she found ‘im.”
Their tone had been enough to frighten the small boy who dropped his toy and ran to Amalda’s bedside taking her hand and trying to shake her awake...he still remembered how cold her hand had felt in his, and she wouldn’t wake up, “Ami...Ami...”
“...I’ll give you fifty to take ‘im off your hands,” said the first Man, “I know a dealer who’s goin’ north with a batch of slaves soon...he doesn’t care if they’re halfbreeds as long as they’re healthy enough to work...
“It’s too late, boy,” he said and picked up the struggling, distraught child, “she can’t hear you anymore.
“And it’s time for you and me to take a little trip...”
===========================================
Ithilhen sat up and watched the boy in the other bed struggling with another of his nightmares, which he was sure had become more frequent since they’d come home to Mirkwood.
Slipping quietly out of his bed he pulled out the small bag of candy he kept in a hollow behind his headboard and stepped to the other side of the room. “Benain...wake up, Mellon,” he shook the sleeping elfling as gently as he could.
The other boy’s eyes immediately came out of their glazed over state and focused on Ithilhen. “Diheno nin,” he said sitting up and rubbing his face. “Did I wake you?”
“I wasn’t asleep.
Lle mae?”
“Im maer, avaro naeth.”
“Can I get in with you?” asked the older elfling, accepting the other’s response for the moment, and looking at his bare feet. “The floor’s cold?”
“Aye...” Benain slid over and pulled back the covers to let his friend into the rather high bed...
\\\
The dark elf watched in frustration as the images faded from his mirror as the elfling woke, picking up the leaf pendant he had appropriated from Ruthlagor’s study, feeling once more the hatred he had always felt for the king’s son...
“You always were a stubborn one, Legolas,” he muttered to himself, “but I can’t believe even you would be obstinate enough to survive as a Haradrim slave...
“That child is not old enough to be of your getting...you could not have remained alive so long...”
Still, Esarulir could not escape the unease he had felt since he learned of the boy’s presence; he knew there had to be some clue to the elfling’s identity in his mind, beyond vague memories of Umbaran slavers and the death of an old woman, but so far all Esarulir’s occult lore had revealed nothing of import to his own interests
He considered the pendant carefully again with renewed interest. There had been woodelf magic in the crafting of each royal pendant, he knew; if the boy carried a single drop of Oropher’s blood, or if by some jest of the Valar it was Legolas faer returned, he would certainly be connected to it...
Putting away the pendant in a hidden panel in the wall of his private study, he retrieved a very old leather bound book from a high shelf and set to study the list of things he would need…
\\\\\\
“What were you dreaming about?” he knew Benain didn’t like to talk about his dreams or his life before, but he really wanted to help the younger boy who always seemed so unhappy after one of his nightmares...
“...it was just a dream,” the elfling shrugged, biting his lower lip as he often did when anxious.
“Would you like a piece?” Ithilhen offered the bag of candy to the other boy when he hadn’t said anything else for a long while.
“You shouldn’t have that in here,” he said, taking a piece, still half lost in his own thoughts, “the ants’ll get it.”
“...I don’t think they like this sort of candy.
“It might help to talk,” suggested the older elfling sagely, taking a piece for himself and retying the knot on the bag “... that’s what Nana always says...
“What was it about?”
“I don’t really know...
“I think it’s just things I remember from when I was little...but I only remember them when I’m asleep,” Benain admitted thoughtfully. “Usually I’m alone running in the dark, other times Amalda’s there or the Men who took me to Rohan...”
“Maybe you should talk to Ada about it...”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” the younger boy finished his candy and slip back under the blankets obviously trying to end their conversation. “He’d think it was just foolishness...”
“Ada wouldn’t think that.”
“That’s what the inn-mistress used to say,” he said.
“She never liked me...she used to say only very wicked children get nightmares...that that was why my real parents didn’t want me...”
“Nana and Ada don’t think like that!” Ithilhen almost shouted, horrified at the thought that any adult could ever say such terrible things and be believed...
Benain shrugged again, getting deeper under the heavy blankets, “...they’re just silly dreams anyway.
“...sometimes though..." he stopped, biting his lip again, "sometimes, I think I see my Adar.”
“I thought you didn’t remember him...”
“I don’t really...I just see him in my dreams...sort of...at least, I think it’s him...he’s so sad and I want to stay with him, but I can’t...and I can never really see his face...it’s just a dream though...” he yawned, half-asleep already.
“You want me to sit with you until you go back to sleep?” asked the older boy.
“Ae anírach,” he said getting more comfortable back under the covers. “Hannon le, melon nin,” he added through another yawn.
\\\\\
When Feredir stopped by later that night to check on the children, he smiled to find the two Elflings sleeping peacefully side by side, two blond heads resting against each other.
No one who saw them could have doubted the two boys sleeping so closely together really were siblings...
Carefully he took his son’s forgotten stash of candy from the elfling’s relaxed fingers and returned it to the dresser drawer beside his bed; he really wasn’t supposed to have it in his room, but one small bag of sweets did not seem like such a great offense. And so far it hadn’t attracted any vermin.
Though Feredir knew Tari would not be quite as lenient, if she found the contraband.
“Lore main, nin iond,” he whispered, placing a soft kiss on each blond brow...
TBC...
Elvish Translation:
Melon nin / my friend
Diheno nin / Forgive me
Lle mae? / are you well?
Im maer / I'm fine, good, well
Avaro naeth / Don't worry
Adar, Ada / Father, dad, daddy
Naneth, Nana / Mother, mom
Ae anírach / if you wish
Hannon le / thank you
Faer / soul
Lore mae / sleep well
Nin iond / my sons (plural)
- Credit for the title of this chapter goes to Galad in elin who gave me the suggestion, thank you.
And thank you, to everyone else who has been reading and reviewing, Ziggy3, Del, and BronxWench; this next one is a lot shorter compared to the previous one and definitely not as dark or angst-filled. The next chapter should be up sometime after the holiday, probably by the second week of December.
I had wanted to write a scene with Benain and Ithilhen for a while and hadn’t been able to get around to it, plotwise, until now...so, let me know how it turned out. -
Guesses and Hidden Answers
It was a dream Benain had had for as long as he could remember...he was always someplace dark in the dream and he was running...sometimes, Amalda was there, holding on to his hand, other times he was alone; he could never see what it was that they were trying to get away from, only that they had to keep running...
After a while, he wasn’t running anymore and dream changed, the nighttime darkness turning into the darkness of a small room, the room where Amalda had just died; though he had been too young still to understand what death meant...he remembered he had been playing on the floor with a small wooden horse he’d had, when the two Men came in talking together, “...what about the boy?” one of them was asking.
“I don’t think he had anyone but the old woman,” said the other Man scowling in the elfling’s direction, “I think he’s a halfbreed...who knows where she found ‘im.”
Their tone had been enough to frighten the small boy who dropped his toy and ran to Amalda’s bedside taking her hand and trying to shake her awake...he still remembered how cold her hand had felt in his, and she wouldn’t wake up, “Ami...Ami...”
“...I’ll give you fifty to take ‘im off your hands,” said the first Man, “I know a dealer who’s goin’ north with a batch of slaves soon...he doesn’t care if they’re halfbreeds as long as they’re healthy enough to work...
“It’s too late, boy,” he said and picked up the struggling, distraught child, “she can’t hear you anymore.
“And it’s time for you and me to take a little trip...”
===========================================
Ithilhen sat up and watched the boy in the other bed struggling with another of his nightmares, which he was sure had become more frequent since they’d come home to Mirkwood.
Slipping quietly out of his bed he pulled out the small bag of candy he kept in a hollow behind his headboard and stepped to the other side of the room. “Benain...wake up, Mellon,” he shook the sleeping elfling as gently as he could.
The other boy’s eyes immediately came out of their glazed over state and focused on Ithilhen. “Diheno nin,” he said sitting up and rubbing his face. “Did I wake you?”
“I wasn’t asleep.
Lle mae?”
“Im maer, avaro naeth.”
“Can I get in with you?” asked the older elfling, accepting the other’s response for the moment, and looking at his bare feet. “The floor’s cold?”
“Aye...” Benain slid over and pulled back the covers to let his friend into the rather high bed...
\\\
The dark elf watched in frustration as the images faded from his mirror as the elfling woke, picking up the leaf pendant he had appropriated from Ruthlagor’s study, feeling once more the hatred he had always felt for the king’s son...
“You always were a stubborn one, Legolas,” he muttered to himself, “but I can’t believe even you would be obstinate enough to survive as a Haradrim slave...
“That child is not old enough to be of your getting...you could not have remained alive so long...”
Still, Esarulir could not escape the unease he had felt since he learned of the boy’s presence; he knew there had to be some clue to the elfling’s identity in his mind, beyond vague memories of Umbaran slavers and the death of an old woman, but so far all Esarulir’s occult lore had revealed nothing of import to his own interests
He considered the pendant carefully again with renewed interest. There had been woodelf magic in the crafting of each royal pendant, he knew; if the boy carried a single drop of Oropher’s blood, or if by some jest of the Valar it was Legolas faer returned, he would certainly be connected to it...
Putting away the pendant in a hidden panel in the wall of his private study, he retrieved a very old leather bound book from a high shelf and set to study the list of things he would need…
\\\\\\
“What were you dreaming about?” he knew Benain didn’t like to talk about his dreams or his life before, but he really wanted to help the younger boy who always seemed so unhappy after one of his nightmares...
“...it was just a dream,” the elfling shrugged, biting his lower lip as he often did when anxious.
“Would you like a piece?” Ithilhen offered the bag of candy to the other boy when he hadn’t said anything else for a long while.
“You shouldn’t have that in here,” he said, taking a piece, still half lost in his own thoughts, “the ants’ll get it.”
“...I don’t think they like this sort of candy.
“It might help to talk,” suggested the older elfling sagely, taking a piece for himself and retying the knot on the bag “... that’s what Nana always says...
“What was it about?”
“I don’t really know...
“I think it’s just things I remember from when I was little...but I only remember them when I’m asleep,” Benain admitted thoughtfully. “Usually I’m alone running in the dark, other times Amalda’s there or the Men who took me to Rohan...”
“Maybe you should talk to Ada about it...”
“I don’t want to be a bother,” the younger boy finished his candy and slip back under the blankets obviously trying to end their conversation. “He’d think it was just foolishness...”
“Ada wouldn’t think that.”
“That’s what the inn-mistress used to say,” he said.
“She never liked me...she used to say only very wicked children get nightmares...that that was why my real parents didn’t want me...”
“Nana and Ada don’t think like that!” Ithilhen almost shouted, horrified at the thought that any adult could ever say such terrible things and be believed...
Benain shrugged again, getting deeper under the heavy blankets, “...they’re just silly dreams anyway.
“...sometimes though..." he stopped, biting his lip again, "sometimes, I think I see my Adar.”
“I thought you didn’t remember him...”
“I don’t really...I just see him in my dreams...sort of...at least, I think it’s him...he’s so sad and I want to stay with him, but I can’t...and I can never really see his face...it’s just a dream though...” he yawned, half-asleep already.
“You want me to sit with you until you go back to sleep?” asked the older boy.
“Ae anírach,” he said getting more comfortable back under the covers. “Hannon le, melon nin,” he added through another yawn.
\\\\\
When Feredir stopped by later that night to check on the children, he smiled to find the two Elflings sleeping peacefully side by side, two blond heads resting against each other.
No one who saw them could have doubted the two boys sleeping so closely together really were siblings...
Carefully he took his son’s forgotten stash of candy from the elfling’s relaxed fingers and returned it to the dresser drawer beside his bed; he really wasn’t supposed to have it in his room, but one small bag of sweets did not seem like such a great offense. And so far it hadn’t attracted any vermin.
Though Feredir knew Tari would not be quite as lenient, if she found the contraband.
“Lore main, nin iond,” he whispered, placing a soft kiss on each blond brow...
TBC...
Elvish Translation:
Melon nin / my friend
Diheno nin / Forgive me
Lle mae? / are you well?
Im maer / I'm fine, good, well
Avaro naeth / Don't worry
Adar, Ada / Father, dad, daddy
Naneth, Nana / Mother, mom
Ae anírach / if you wish
Hannon le / thank you
Faer / soul
Lore mae / sleep well
Nin iond / my sons (plural)