EP - Elrond Peredhil (age 6)

[starrydome]

Before this (oom)


The door slams open and a small figure darts across the floor, skidding to a halt just before colliding with a table. He turns quickly, the way you do when there is danger of someone sneaking up behind you. And stares.

It's a child, pale and pointy-faced, dressed in grey and black. The arms are a little too skinny, the skin beneath the eyes is a little too dark. The eyes are far, far too cautious. His age is hard to gauge, in part due to those eyes.

The Bar is clearly not what he expected, judging from the look of confusion and mounting concern on his face. Concern that is slowly edging its way towards panic. 

His hands move across the tabletop behind him and one hand closes on the handle of a used butter knife. 

Come what may - he will be ready for it.



(occ: I was a bit feverish last night and this is the result. This Elrond is a child of six (and although elven children mature faster than human ones, he is still very much a small child in some respects), who has already spent some time in Feanorian captivity.) ETA: open forever!

Comments

[starrydome]

Elrond starts and looks up at the - Man?

He presses his smalls lips together to keep them from trembling.

Don't show fear. That's important too.






(ooc: ... maybe. On the other hand, baby!Elrond tells me that he feels sorry for Maglor because his brothers are dead and he would be very sad too if his brother had died ...)

[ostro_goth]

"You have not been here before, have you?" Teja says. "I shall not harm you. I do not harm children -- and this place has the rule that none may be hurt here, in any case. None that followed you may catch you, either. Are you hungry or thirsty?"

[starrydome]

Elrond shakes his head, even if the Man's turn of phrase unsettles him.

We do not wage war on children, Brother.

Then he shakes his head again, but a little more hesitantly than the first time. He's always hungry. They do not go without food, but winter is hard and there is not much food to go around.

[ostro_goth]

"As you are new," Teja explains, "the bar will give you your first drink free. What would you wish for? Sweet milk with honey? Tea? A fruit juice?"

He remembers being cold and hungry, when he was in the hands of those monks. Feeding this lost child comes first.

[starrydome]

Elrond hesitates - and then he answers, softly and a little hesitantly. "Milk. Please."

They keep no cows so he has not had milk in ages. He misses it.

[ostro_goth]

"Plain and cold, or warm with honey and spices?" Teja asks.

[starrydome]

"Warm. With honey. Please." This time he sounds a little more certain.

[ostro_goth]

Teja gets a mug of warm milk with honey from the bar, and adds a small plate of oaten biscuits with honey and dried fruit in, that a child in his time might be given as a treat.

He suspects the little boy will appreciate them.

[starrydome]

Elrond is still standing where he left him, eyeing the door nervously.

It's stayed close so far.

When the Man returns, his face lights up at the sight of the biscuits. He's hungry.

[ostro_goth]

Teja offers the child both mug and plate, ready to fetch more. The boy looks as if he needed it.

[starrydome]

He takes both, but puts the plate down on the table so he can hold the mug with both hands. He drinks deeply and then he takes a biscuiet and forces himself to take a small bite.

Don't eat too fast. Or too much.

He chews, still occasionally glancing at the door. Still closed.

[ostro_goth]

"I do not think they can follow you here," Teja says.

Whoever 'they' might be.

"And even if they did, they would not be allowed to touch you. I would fight for you, if needs be; and there are those here stronger and more powerful than I, that would stand with me."

He goes to the bar again, and fetches an apple for the child.

[starrydome]

"Thank you," Elrond says. He recognizes that way of talking. It sounds like home and it makes him feel a little more at ease.

"Are you of the House of Bëor?" he asks, a little timidly.

[ostro_goth]

"No," Teja says. "My name is Teja, son of Tagila; and I am of a people called the Ostrogoths."

[starrydome]

And now he has to reciprocate. And he can't. He looks almost crestfallen. Manners are important, but he is not certain he is supposed to tell strangers who he is.

But the door is still closed, and this Man has been kind.

"I'm Peredhil," he says, and then corrects himself, "Peredhel." Singular, not plural. Elros isn't here.

He will save half of the bicuits for Elros.

[ostro_goth]

"Greetings, little Peredhel," Teja says, taking it for the boy's name -- of course.

Or at least moniker, name that he is known by.

"You are safe here, small one."

He notices the glances at the door.

[starrydome]

"The stars shine upon our meeting," Elrond says, reciting it the way children do when they've been taught what to say but haven't quite understood why.

"What is here? Exactly?"

[ostro_goth]

"Here is Milliways, the inn at the end of the world, beyond all worlds," Teja says. "You find food and drink and safety here, and a small green land out the back door. There are a few cats out there, and several horses, that you may meet."

[starrydome]

He looks confused. "Beyond the worlds? Does that mean that I am a Man now?"

Elves can't move beyond the circles of the world, but Men can. When they die.

"Am I dead?"

Maybe Maedhros did catch him after all. It will make Maglor sad. Maedhros too, perhaps. It's hard to tell when he is sad, but he doesn't like anyone speaking of the lost twins, Elrond and Elros' uncles, so perhaps children dying does make him sad. When he isn't angry anymore.

And Elros will be all alone. The last thought brings tears to his eyes. Tears that not even the promise of horses and cats can dry.

[ostro_goth]

"You are still a boy," Teja says. "And you can return to your world. Eventually, you will wish to."

Pause.

"I know not if you are dead. Can you open the door?"

[starrydome]

Elrond frowns a little. Puzzled. "I don't know. But I can't be beyond the world. Only Mortals go there."


(ooc: bedtime for me - I'll pick up tomorrow)

[ostro_goth]

"And you are not?" Teja asks.

[starrydome]

Elrond shakes his head. "No. That is why we are Peredhil, my brother and me. We are half-elven. We will have to choose if we want to die a mortal death."

Another thing learned by heart, but not yet fully understood.

[ostro_goth]

"Elves," Teja says. "Yes, I have met some of your kind, here. And that choice places a truly heavy burden upon your young souls. But if you have a choice, and have not made it yet, then you would not be dead yet, would you?"

Pause.

"Who granted you that choice?"

icon change

[starrydome]

He shakes his head. "No. That is why I do not understand this." And then he answers the question, politely if a little uncertain of why he is being asked. Whom else should it be?

"The Valar ask us choose."