Elenwe was bored. There was no one in Rivendell, or so it seemed. She sighed. Luna and Elrohir had left on their honeymoon some days ago, and Kerowyn and Lindir were taking care of the twins and their newborn Ileana. Elladan and Meahan were with Legolas in Mirkwood…and that left Elenwe all alone in Rivendell. Elenwe rolled over on her bed.

“I wonder if Elrond has anything for me to do…hell…I’ll even do paperwork.” Elenwe said to herself, and she slid off the bed and to her feet. She straightened her clothes and walked to the main house.

“Elrond?” Elenwe called. Elrond appeared from the kitchen.

“Ahhh, Elenwe. I was about to go to your home to see if you wanted to join me for a look at Luna and Kerowyn’s past, since I have to go to the Hall of History anyways.” Elrond said, smiling.

Elenwe shrugged. “Sure. I’ll do anything to escape the boredom.”

Elenwe followed Elrond to a darker corner of the house, and he stopped in front of a door. “Now where did I put the key?” He muttered to himself, fishing for it in the pocket of his robes. “AHA!” he said, and pulled out a slightly tarnished key. He opened the door and stepped in, Elenwe followed and felt her jaw drop as she looked at what was around. Elrond turned. “This part of the hall houses information on Luna and Kerowyn’s family before the untimely deaths. Who would you like to know about first?” Elrond asked.

Elenwe was dying to ask about Luna first, but chose instead Kerowyn.

Elrond nodded and led her to a part of the hall that was very clean. He stopped at a portrait of four people, two girl elflings, and a tall male elf, and a slightly smaller female elf. Elenwe looked at the painting. She recognized the two elflings of course, Kerowyn and her sister Meahan.

“Those must be their parents” Elenwe said. Elrond nodded.

“Carinebeth and Haledrile. Such wonderful elves. They truly cared for everyone, as Luna can attest to.” Elenwe nodded. Elrond looked at her and smiled.

“Carinebeth and Haledril truly led wonderful lives. Two daughters, one that should have been their daughter, and they were upstanding elves. Carinebeth and Haledril moved to Mirkwood with Kerowyn for sometime, and then Kerowyn came back to stay with my family and me. Luna had been living here about fifteen years at that point.” Elrond smiled, memories taking over his mind. But he shook himself back. “Follow me.” Elenwe nodded, and she followed Elrond to another painting. It was of Kerowyn on her own, smiling at something only she could see, a beautiful painting, with a backdrop of the Bruinen. Elrond smiled. “Kerowyn’s father used to request portraits every few years. This was the last one we had painted of Kerowyn. She was beautiful, about five years before you came. Before her father sailed, and her mother died. She was standing on a bridge over the Bruinen. The bridge is gone now, but the memory remains.

Elenwe smiled. “She really doesn’t look any different, except the spark in her eye burns brighter than ever before.” Elrond nodded and led Elenwe to another portrait. This portrait was one of Kerowyn and Lindir, a few weeks before their wedding, this being one of the most recent ones, there was no dust on it…not that there was any dust on any of them, but this one gleamed. The picture was gorgeous. Kerowyn was happy, and for once, Lindir didn’t look like the ass he truly was. There was a glow to Kerowyn’s cheeks, a glow that hadn’t left since, unless she was gravely injured, which was not rare. Elenwe wandered around a bit while Elrond looked at something in a cupboard in the hall. Elenwe came across one of both Luna and Kerowyn when they were younger. While Kerowyn looked happy and full of life, Luna looked distant and bitter. But there was a smile on her face…it just, wasn’t really a smile. Elrond came up behind Elenwe.

“Ahh yes, this portrait. Painted right after Kerowyn returned from Mirkwood. Luna was..bitter. About everything. I was lucky to get her out of her room for this…and I can’t even take credit. Only Glorfindel can. He probably threatened to take her door down, and we all know Luna…private as only the Valar can be.” Elenwe nodded. She still didn’t understand a lot about the Moon elf her brother called sister. Elenwe had a feeling that even Elrohir didn’t know how deep the crevices ran in Luna’s memories. Elrond sighed. “That’s all the paintings we have of Kerowyn and her family. She keeps most in her home.” Elenwe nodded.

Elrond led Elenwe to the part of the hall that was Luna. Elenwe sneezed and looked around, surprised at the amount of dust covering everything. Elrond looked a little sad. “She doesn’t want to even look at them, she lets dust cover them, like cobwebs on memories not looked at for the longest time possible. Elrond sighed and grabbed a dust rag that was as dusty as the dust it was supposed to get rid of. He wiped down some of the portraits and looked at them. Elenwe went to the beginning portrait, leaving Elrond to his ‘dusting’. The first portrait was of a tall proud elf, with a meek looking female elf next to him. There was another tall elf beside the male elf, with piercing eyes. And in the female elf’s hands was a baby. Elrond suddenly appeared.

“The Nilmar family.” Elrond said, and he pointed out each of the elves. “That elf in the center is Garaden. Luna’s father. Next to him was Luna’s older brother, he died in battle that very same month. That is Luna’s mother, Novenia. And Novenia is holding Luna when she was only a few weeks old.” Elrond moved on, and it was obvious to Elenwe as she hurried to catch up to him that he did not want to spend any time talking about Luna’s family.

Elenwe looked at the next portrait. There was one of Luna, and her parents. And Luna had the same look on her face; bitter and distant. Garaden’s face was cold. And Novenia looked like she was going to burst into tears any minute. Elenwe continued. There were few portraits, and only one of just Luna, sitting and staring out of a window. She wasn’t looking at the painter, probably by her own choice. Elrond appeared again, and Elenwe swore.

“Elrond! Quite sneaking up on me!” Elenwe said, seething. Elrond smiled a small half-smile.

“Watch your language.” He said, and that was that. He looked at the portrait Elenwe was looking at. “Luna was going to kill me when I made her pose for that portrait. Especially when I told her to look happy, and instead she looked away. It was that day that she found out about being the last moon-elf, and she disappeared.” Elrond said.

Elenwe chuckled. She could just imagine Luna sitting there as she is told about her race, and fleeing, swearing to herself that it wasn’t true. But maybe she did believe it. Maybe she didn’t care.

The next framed picture was a sketch. It was Luna, throwing a dagger at an unseen enemy. Elrond smiled. “A human passed through here, and sketched everything he saw, including all of us. All but Luna kept their sketches. Luna didn’t want it. She didn’t want anything that would remind her of what she feared. And for some reason, this was something she didn’t want. But I love this sketch. I love all the sketches. That was when Luna was first learning, and she managed to hit her target just right. The human was incredibly gifted.” Elenwe smiled.

Elrond looked around. “That’s all we have of Luna. She has refused to have any other portraits painted. So we might as well leave. I got what I wanted.” He held up a few books. “I was searching for these, I need to give them to Luna. But seeing as she isn’t here, could you take them to your home for me?” Elenwe nodded and took the books.

“Thank you, Elrond, for showing me these portraits. I won’t tell Luna anything at all, I promise.” Elenwe promised.

Elrond nodded, thinking. What if he were to make Luna have another portrait painted. But that was another day and another time. And not till she was ready.

((Luna Bubble to Elrond’s thought: Not in your lifetime Ancient One.))