In the Moonless Night

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!" screamed Kerowyn, as she ran for cover.

"Ha, ha! Very funny." said Elenwe with her hands on her hips. Kerowyn peeked from around the corner, she could see that the bow and arrow was still in her friend's hand. "I'm not even aiming!" said Elenwe, irritated,

"Doesn't matter," said Luna, as she came up from behind Elenwe and took the dangerous articles from her hands.

"I was putting them away!!" she shouted. The twins, Legolas and Iodhil merely laughed. They all were at battle practice at what seemed to be the same time. Legolas, Luna and Iodhil were practicing archery, while the twins were taking a breather from their sword match. "So, my fraidy cat friend..." said Elenwe to Ker as she walked out to everyone, "Care you to have a little fun?" she asked, pulling out one of her swords. Kerowyn looked at her warrily. "Uhhh, let me refrase that.... Kerowyn... I noticed your skills with a sword could be a little better and so I want to help you..." said Elenwe, reasurring Ker that she wouldn't turn it into an actual match.

"Alright..." said Kerowyn, grabbing the sword from Elladan. The teaching was soon under way, but soon found it's problems.

"No, Ker. This way when I go that way..." Kerowyn tried to do what Elenwe said, but messed up. "Argh!" Elenwe took a deep breath. Iodhil chuckled,

"Are you sure it's not a teacher error...?" Elenwe glared at him,

"Excuse me?" Iodhil unsheethed his sword and stepped infront of Kerowyn,

"See, Ker, if you--" Elenwe hit his sword away with her own,

"If you think you're so great with a sword.... prove your claim..." she said. Luna shook her head, if it wasn't a match before, it was now.

"Alright..." responded Iodhil. They stood two yards away from each other, and not a muscle from either's body moved for an entire minute. Then suddenly Iodhil charged Elenwe, who merely slipped to the right and twirled behind him in time to tap his shoulder with her sword,

"Over here." she said. She thrust her sword at what she thought was an easy target, but Iodhil turned and blocked her shot, in an instant. They began a continueous attack and block method, which seemed to go nowhere, as either weren't showing their true skills yet. Legolas's attention left his target and swayed to the battle, Luna rolled her eyes and walked over to stand next to Elrohir and watch.

Elrond came and called his sons away for a moment of their time, but as they were gone the match heated. Iodhil began to take steps backwards and Elenwe followed attempting to get a hit, but suddenly Iodhil jumped in closer, causeing Elenwe to lose her balance. She lifted her sword to block Iodhil attack as she fell back on her knee and her hand, but suddenly a sharp pain ran through her and her vision blurred. She stopped and Iodhil vered his sword to the space next to Elenwe's head just in time. They both paused for a moment, then stood, the match undecided. "That was a cool little monuver..." said Elenwe, distracting from her faulter.

"Aw, are you done already?" said Elladan as the twins returned.

"Yeah... " said Iodhil in response to both Elenwe and Elladan. Besides Iodhil, both Luna and Legolas had noticed that Elenwe's form was thrown off at that moment of blurred vision, it wasn't like her, but they shook it off as nothing.

"Well..." said Elenwe, "I think I'm gonna go get us some water..." she walked off and around the corner. 'What was that?' she thought, she'd never had something like that happen to her before. She stopped and leaned against the railing, it was just surprise, she supposed. She stared off into the sky as the breeze rolled through her. Legolas came around the corner suddenly and stopped,

"I thought you went to get water..." he said, "I came to help you..." Elenwe stood for a moment.

"Huh? Oh, I'm an idiot, I forgot already..." she let go of the rail and walked over to Legolas. Suddenly everything was spinning and blurry again, she shook her head and looked up into Legolas's face,

"Elenwe! Are you alright...?" He had caught her just in time, Elenwe stood,

"Yeah, I just got dizzy there... It was a moment..." she said and continued on to get water as Legolas stood watching her. Something about her didn't seem right, she seemed a little pale,

"Actually... it was two moments..." he said, "In your spare... Iodhil could have hurt you if he hadn't noticed in time." he continued. Elenwe picked up the jug of water and some glasses,

"Iodhil, surprised me with that jump is all... anyway...Could you take this to them? I'm going to go ride Cyali for awhile." Legolas took the pitcher and glasses from her and left for the others, if she showed any more signs of this...whatever it was, he would make her go to the healing wing. Elenwe walked down the steps, down the path and to the forest, "Maybe I'll take a walk first...." she said to herself, "Cyali is usually sleeping about now...." She began to walk through the forest and her mind wandered with her.

Time passed and it was now a bit later in the day, sun set was a few hours away. Everyone had stopped practiceing awhile ago and were now going about their own business. Legolas was walking down the hall when Kerowyn turned around the corner and bumped into him. "Oh, sorry, Legolas."

"Hey, Kerowyn...." he began to walk again, but turned back and said, "Do you happen to know where Elenwe is? I haven't seen her since she left the practice field..." Kerowyn stopped and thought to herself,

"I haven't seen her since then either..." Legolas looked down in thought,

"Hannon lle anyway..." He kept walking down the hall. "Hmm, maybe she went for a long ride..." he thought to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~

The light scent of the greenery danced about Elenwe. As she walked a feeling of light headedness came over her slowly. She shook her head, trying to be rid of it, but to no avail. She miandered on for awhile longer and then stopped to rest by a tree. She noticed that her breath had quickened slightly and small beads of sweat had formed around her brow. "Okay... This is weird..." Dizzyness struck her with fursoity once more and she fell against a tree. She winched as a long ring whisteled through her ears. "What in the world... is... this...?" She attempted to keep walking, thinking she could shake the entire state off. Elenwe walked a bit more and emerged upon a small bare space next to the river that was surrounded by the trees of the forest. As she walked out the rays of the sun hit her and her body's temperature doubled. Her breath was now hard enough to be heard through the trees. The ringing hit her with again, but this time it was accommpanied by a fierce pain that ran through her body and she fell to ground. "W-what..." The ringing and pain died away and then came back harder. Elenwe cried out and then fell unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The twins sat at the chess board in the lounge, facing off yet again, while Legolas, Luna and Iodhil sat about reading. Kerowyn walked in with an unusal look upon her face. "Luna...? Have you seen Elenwe...?" Legolas looked up from his book.

"You mean she hasn't come back yet?"

"Come back yet? Did she go somewhere?"

"She said earlier that she was going for a ride with Cyali...."

"That's odd..." said Kerowyn, looking down in wonder. "I went by the stables, looking for her there first, and the young Elf said she hadn't been by all day." Luna put her book on the table.

"That's odd... If she didn't go riding... where did she go?" Kerowyn shook her head.

"I don't know, but I haven't seen her since she left the practice field. Have any of you?" They all shook their heads, none of them had seen a trace of her besides then, and that was odd. Iodhil stood up.

"Let us all go look for her. It sounds like there is something amiss here, though I'm not sure what." Legolas nodded and stood, Luna did the same. They headed for the door and turned around to stare at the motionless set of twins.

"Well...?" said Luna.

"Well, what?" said Elladan.

"Arn't you two coming?" she said, raising her eyebrows. Elladan sighed heavily as the two stood up.

"Can't you guys find her by yourselves?" Elrohir put his hand of his brother's shoulder.

"Come on, Dan, we'll find her faster if we all look." Elrohir walked in front of his brother and along side Luna.

"But Rivendell is so big." He whined. Iodhil gave him a friendly grab of the elbow.

"All the more reason for more of us to look!" he joked.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The rays of the sun beat hard on Elenwe as she lay in the forest. She was breathing hard and the sweat upon her had only increased as well as her pain. She opened her eyes slightly, slipping back into conousness. The orange, blazing, circular flame that hung in the sky on top of the horizon in front of her gave her a sick feeling, as if it were to blame for this. And as she looked at it her condition seemed to worsen. Elenwe couldn't take much more of this, she needed help and she needed it now. Her hand slowly rose to mouth, where she willed herself to whistle as loud as she possibly could. She took a deep breath and blew hard again, then she fell back into her pain, unable to continue. She prayed to the Valar that Cyali had heard her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Down at the stables, Cyali stood in his stall munching on hay. Suddenly all the horses heard a shill sound rise and fall in the distance and after a pause, it sounded again even harder. Cyali raised his head, he recognized that sound, it was a call from his master. However the sound was off, normally it would be sharp and clear, something was not as it should be. Cyali hit his head against the lock of the door then used his teeth to unlatch it by grasping the sides. Outside the young Elf boy was moving the buckets for the horses, he about jumped out of his skin when he saw the stable doors burst open and a Jargon go storming off into the trees.

Cyali followed the direction of the sound as best he could and after galloping for a few minutes, he approached his ill master. He lowered his head down to her face and nudged her. Elenwe was barely conscious, but could speak, "Mellon-nin, Saes... go get help..." she managed. Cyali turned slowly then took off for the Last Homely House.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elladan leaned over the railing and shouted to Iodhil who stood on the ground below, "She's not in any of the chambers in this upper wing..." he said, he wondered why he had been roped into looking for Elenwe again. He believed that Legolas, Iodhil and Kerowyn were overreacting just a tad, while Luna and Elrohir seemed to be humoring them as he was.

"Alright." responded Iodhil, he began to his left to go check the practicing field, just in case she had gone back. However his attention vered to the trees just as Cyali burst through and stopped in front of him. He reared and shrieked trying to get Iodhil to listen to him. "Cyali... Where is Elenwe?" asked Iodhil. Cyali shrieked and ran back to his master with Iodhil hot on his tail. As Iodhil ran he suddenly caught a glimse of Elenwe in the distance. He ran up and kneeled next to her, "Elenwe! ...Can you hear me?!" Elenwe didn't respond. Iodhil picked her up bridal style and ran back to the Last Homely House as fast as he could. He reached the front and ran up the stairs, various elves turned their heads in shock at the sight.

Kerowyn and Luna were walking around the corner of the second floor. "I'm sure Elenwe's just fine, Ker..." Kerowyn put her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Elenwe!" as she saw Iodhil run by. Luna and Kerowyn ran to catch up,

"What happened?!" said Luna.

"I'm not sure, but she needs Linwe!" he breathed as they ran around another corner towards the healing wing. Elladan saw them running from another open hallway and then ran to get his father and the others. Iodhil threw open the doors to Linwe's healing chamber and Linwe's head snapped up,

"Linwe!" said Kerowyn, "It's Elenwe!" Linwe looked at her a moment,

"Put her on the bed." she said calmly. Iodhil set her on the bed gently and Linwe sat beside her, her eyes running up and down her friend, analysing the situation. Linwe stood and walked over to her various bottles, she picked up a few and began to mix something. Elrond, the twins and Legolas all came through the doors and gave the others a start. Legolas looked at Elenwe,

"Elenwe..." he breathed quietly. Elrond stepped forward and examined her, he then turned to Linwe,

"What are you mixing?" Linwe walked over and sat on the bed next to Elenwe again,

"Something to rouse her... she's not conscious at the moment..." Everyone looked at each other, Elenwe's sweating and quickness of breath had increased again and such an unconscious state was not a good sign. Linwe moved a small cup of fuming liquid past Elenwe's face a couple of times and Elenwe came to with a start. Her eyes opened and she looked around at everyone. She struggled to listen as they spoke, winching all the while at the ringing that was relentlessly filling her ears.

"Penneth... Do you know what is happening to you?" asked Elrond. Elenwe managed a, "No." through her hard breaths and moans of pain. Elenwe looked up and her eyes met the last rays of the sun through an open window, she winched harder as a wave of dull pain and pounding force washed over her.

"The... sun..." she said.

"The sun?" Elrond looked at her and raised an eyebrow. Linwe leaned forward and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a cloath,

"The sun's heat is irritating her symtoms somehow...here Elenwe... drink this..." Linwe put a small bottle to her mouth and she drank the medicine. After a few moments Elenwe's head fell to the side and she difted into unconsicness again. Luna looked at Linwe,

"Was that the liquid?" she asked. Linwe rised and walked back over to her herbs and bottles.

"No. Her body seems to be putting her in an unconcious state to ease the pain, but........ I am unfamliar with this illness...." Iodhil spoke up,

"Does that mean you don't know how to heal her?" Linwe returned bottles and herbs to their rightful places,

"If I had some more knowledge of it.... then behaps...." Legolas stepped forward,

"Earlier today while sparing with Iodhil, she seemed to lose focus for a moment.... then a few minutes later she almost passed out... she told me it was just a dizzy spell... but...." Linwe looked at Legolas and then closed her eyes,

"Very well... so the illness progressed..." Linwe turned to them, "I've given her some poten medicine to ease or even take away the pain.... but only time will tell if it will help her..." Elrond turned to his friends and family,

"We all shall leave her alone for now..." Elrond reasured them that nothing they could do would help now. They all reluctatly walked out of the room, looking at Elenwe. She remained the same for now and Luna whispered to her to get well in elvish.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been one and a half hours and the sun had finally called it's rays back to it, beyond the horison, now it was night. All had been worried and anxious about Elenwe, but now Luna was becoming a problem. It was the first moon-less night of the month and she was very irritable as usual. She and Kerowyn walked to the healing wing, Luna entered another chamber so she could have Sanarium take the edge off for her. Kerowyn however stopped, it had been awhile since anyone had seen how Elenwe was doing. Kerowyn open the door quietly to not disturb her friend, but as she looked into the dark room she shrieked. Luna quickly walked out to her and Legolas, Iodhil, Lindir and the twins came quickly as well. "That is it, Kerowyn?" asked Lindir, worried about her as usual.

"It's Elenwe." she said, pointing to the open door.

"What's wrong with Elenwe?!" asked Iodhil anixously.

"She's not here!" said Kerowyn, frantically. Elladan opened the door wider and they looked into the empty room. Legolas turned to his brother,

"Go get Linwe and Lord Elrond!" he shouted. Iodhil, Elladan and Lindir ran off to find the two. Luna scowled,

"Why do you guys have to shout so much??!!" she said, practically shouting herself. Her head was pounding so much that she wasn't even thinking of Elenwe's disappearance. Legolas turned to her,

"Sorry, Luna, but we need to find Elenwe." he said. Suddenly they heard a malishous giggle behind them, they wiped around to see Elenwe standing next to the railing with a cocky grin on her face,

"Ahhhh. Are you worried about me?" she giggled.

"Elenwe! You shouldn't be out here, you're in no condition to---" Kerowyn started, but Elenwe cut her off with a bit of laughter.

"I'm not staying in bed...." she looked at them all with the cocky grin still on her face, "Hmmm, but... I know how I can answer my question..." Across from the railing of this third floor hall way, there was another one parallel to it, and a bit of railing stretched between the two for architechusual beauty. Elenwe jumped on the railing lining the hall and then to the rail that stretched between the two buildings. All eyes widened and Elrohir shouted,

"Elenwe?!" She looked back at them and laughed,

"Ahhhh... You really are worried about me..." she teased them. She looked down at the ground below. "Long way down... Better make sure I don't fall." she said as she did a back flip on the rail, causing Kerowyn to scream and the others to bolt to the rail. Elenwe giggled and did a front flip, the others could only look on in horror as their friend put herself in danger.

"Elenwe, get down!!" shouted Legolas.

"You'll kill yourself!!" shouted Elrohir. Elenwe didn't listen, she turned and looked up at the sky and took a deep breath,

"I just love the moon-less nights... they're so much better than any other night..." She turned to them, "No offense to you of course, Luna." she said sarcastically. Luna stared at her with a angry scowl,

"... You can fall for all I care, I'm going to bed." Luna turned and walked back into the healing chamber, slamming the door. Elenwe took no notice of her and turned back to the sky and closed her eyes.

"Nights like these... just make me want to sing..." she said before raiseing her voice to the night.

You're on your own now my little nightmare

You cannot stay here, it's far to bright for you

If you attack you just lay there.

Play dead dear, it's your only hope of pulling through

And seconds they seem like a lifetime, a dream recurring

A dream that can't come true

And they'll pin it all on you after all you've been put through.

"Coivedui, she's crazy, see?" that's what the white cloaks say

Now excuse me, but you're losing every opportunity

To put us all away.....

Elrohir, Legolas and Kerowyn looked on at their friend in confusion. What in Middle-Earth had gotten into her? "Please, Elenwe...." said Kerowyn. Elenwe turned to them,

"Ya know.... you're all so boring.... Let's have some fun!" she said.

"Sure, just come down...." said Elrohir putting his hand out for her.

"You want me to come down...? Okay." Elenwe jumped from the railing and onto Elrohir, using his chest as a landing pad. Elrohir groaned in pain as Elenwe leaned in towards his face, "Tag... You're it." she jumped up and ran off down the hall. They imidiatly started after her when Elrohir heard,

"Ion-nin!" Elrond and the others caught up to them and spoke as they ran. Elrohir told them what had happened and that Luna was now out of the way.

"Why in Middle-Earth would she do that?!" said Elladan. Legolas spoke up,

"Something's wrong... She's not herself... it must have to do with this illness..." Elrond nodded,

"That is a fair assumption... we need to get back to the healing wing." They could see Elenwe running from them in the distance, when they saw a door even further away open. Erestor stepped out and into the middle of the hallway, Elenwe skided to a stop in front of him and stared expressionless.

"How many times, Elenwe, have I told you to not run in the hallways?!" Elenwe looked at him,

"Move." Erestor was taken back by her demand,

"What?! I will not! Now you stop running in this hall right now!" The sound of Elrond calling to Erestor reached their ears. Elenwe grinned,

"If you won't move on your own... then I'll move you myself." She picked up her fist and punched Erestor with a blunt force and walked a few passes down the hall. The others reached Erestor and helped him to his feet. Lindir spoke to him,

"Are you alright?" However, nothing but meaningless babble came from his lips. Elrond looked at Elenwe,

"Why did you do that?" he asked sternly. Elenwe looked him in the eye,

"Because he was in my way... and more importantly, he was annoying..." she grinned slightly after saying this.

"What?!" Elenwe turned away, grinned then turned tail and running away. Elrond lead Erestor to the healing wing while the others continued to run after her. She couldn't help but giggle at the huffing figures that trailed after her.

"Run, run, run, little Arashs. You'll never catch Dulinde." Elladan almost tripped as they ran,

"What... is she talking about?! ...And when... did she get so fast?!..." he breathed out. Elrohir shook his head.

"Don't... ask me." They chased her around and around Rivendell for what seemed like eternity, but never once did Elenwe falture or slow down. They ran into a small court yard with a large fountain. In the middle of the fountain stood an elven statue of great size. Iodhil and Elladan stopped to bend over, Kerowyn blopped down on a bench and Legolas, Elrohir and Lindir came crawling up after them. They stopped beside the others. Elenwe realized she had left them in the dust and turned back.

"How...how... can she do... that...?" panted Lindir, as they all gasped for air. They shook their heads and a rich laughter deep from one's evil toes came from above them, they looked up to see that Elenwe had somehow climbed to the top of the statue without them noticing.

"Tired, are you?" She said in a sacasitically worried voice and laughed again.

"Tired?!" shouted Iodhil, "Well, after running all over Rivendell for forever I think you'd be tired too!!" He breathed. Kerowyn mubbled to herself.

"How did she get up there?" Elenwe smirked.

"I'm not tired." They looked at her in surprise. It was true, there wasn't the slightest sign that she had done any movement at all. Elenwe smirked again. "I have mountains of energy! ...And think I know how to use it." With that she bounded from the statue and ran off. They groaned and dropped upon the benches. Their bodies would completely give out if they followed her for much longer at the pase she was going.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Kerowyn. They wondered. What in the hell were they gonna do? Their friend had had gone completely insane and now had the energy of an entire Oliphant. They wished Luna were with them. She was the only one with enough guts to just smack Elenwe, maybe that would knock her back into her senses. Elrohir sighed,

"On top of this Luna's going to be moody too." he said. Everyone suddenly remembered why Luna was absent. Elladan whimpered.

"Damn it, Luna! Why do you have to go all hormonal during the moonless nights?!" Kerowyn took off her shoe and threw it, hitting Elladan in the head. "Ow! What was that for?" Kerowyn folded her arms.

"Luna's not being hormonal! ...Which I take offense to, by the way... It's a health aspect of being a Moon Elf and you know it!"

"Well, she sure acts like she's hormonal to me." Kerowyn took off her other shoe and threw it at him. "Ow! Okay, okay. I'm sorry!" He rubbed the side of his head. Elrohir stood up,

"Well, since we have no idea what to do at the moment, let's go see if Ada does..." with that they all went to Elrond's study.

~~~~~~~~~~~

They had spent about an hour debating what was to be done and soon the sun would rise. They finally decided they would find Elenwe and subdue her (somehow) so she could be brought back to the healing wings. They emerged from Elrond study and now debated on where to begin there search when they heard noise coming from their left. They followed the noises all the way to the practice fields. They turned into the grassy area and their jaws dropped in horror. All about the large field were weapons of every sort ascue and out of the racks. They looked to the armory den and it's doors were swinging back and forth in the air. Targets were cut in half and mangled, trees (and a part of the buildings) were shot up with arrows and various other training items, such as running beams were about. It was as if an entire army had suddenly decided to furosly practice and never cleaned up. At the edge of the field there was a dummy of straw, hung from a tree by a nouse. It had various daggers and arrows stuck in it and was also mangled. Elenwe stood six yards away, fingering two different daggers in her right hand with a single in her left. She stood so her left side faced the dummy and with imense accuracy and force she flung the dagger from her left and hit the dummy in the heart. It swayed back and forth, twisting about from the force. Their eyes all widened at the display. Elladan practically shouted in surprise,

"Since when can she do that?!" Iodhil nodded.

"And look at what she's doing with the other two!" Elenwe turned around to face them after hearing their stammers. She smiled.

"Oh. Hey, guys." With out looking she threw one of the daggers in her right hand, which pierced the swinging dummy in the head. She continued to play with the last in her hand. They couldn't believe what they had just seen. Elenwe had gotten a bit better at throwing daggers since Luna started to teach her--but nothing like this! Legolas stepped forward,

"Elenwe! Did... Did you do all of this?!" She cocked her head to the side and giggled.

"Who else?" Lindir stepped up beside Legolas.

"What are you a lunatic?! How could you do all this?! I swear you've gone completely mad...!" he yelled in frustration. Elenwe lowered her stare upon him and she seemed even more dangerous as she spoke with a malicous delight.

"Careful, Lindir.... Or I just might use you as a target." She brought the dagger in front of her and aimed for him. Everyone flinched in shock, but Elenwe suddenly brought it back down in front of her and laughed manaically. "You should have seen your faces!! You really are a bunch of little Arashs, arn't you?" Elrohir scowled,

"Elenwe, that wasn't funny!"

"Of course it was!" she laughed. She suddenly stopped and dropped the dagger. Elenwe griped the sides of her head in pain and shouted. "No! Not this damn ringing again!" she cried out in pain and dropped to her knees and then fell unconscious. The sun's first rays spread over the field as they ran to her. They rushed her back to the healing wings. Elenwe did not stir at all that day as Kerowyn and Linwe watched over her. Unfortunatly for Lindir, Legolas, Iodhil and the twins, they were assigned to clean up the mess Elenwe had made that night. Luna emerged in the late morning confused by everyone's weryness.

"What's the matter with you guys?" Elrohir and Elladan walked by with drewping eyes and piles of weapons in their arms.

"...Don't ask....." they mummbled tirely. She was later updated by everyone about the strange behavior of Elenwe.

"She's gotta be ill... or she's finally cracked." Just before sunset Elrond, Glorfindel, the twins, Iodhil, Legolas, and Lindir had gathered in the lounge to try and relax a bit. Kerowyn had taken Luna back to the healing wings. Kerowyn walked into Elenwe's room and saw that Linwe was busy mixed herbs.

"So how is she doing, Linwe? Any finds yet?"

"No. She has not moved all day.... I am troubled by this though..."

"Why is that?" The last rays of day sliped arcoss their faces from the window and disappeared.

"At least before there were some simtomes to go by, but now she is merly unconscious."

"But I'm not ill for the hunreth time!" They spun around to see Elenwe gleaming at them and sitting on the side of the bed.

"Bu--How--Again?!" stammered Kerowyn.

"Again." Elenwe giggled, "So tell me why is it that so much time passed before you found me last time? You guys were pretty easy to ditch."

"Yeah, well, we weren't running on pure insanity!" Kerowyn shouted at the exhaustion of the night before. Elenwe giggled.

"Elenwe..." started Linwe, "Do you feel any pain? Any weariness at all?" Elenwe stood, walked over to the window and stretched,

"Nope! Feel right as rain! Why? You don't really think I'm ill--oh boy, you really don't get it. Well... Later!