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It was going to be a long night for the peredhel, the sun was just beginning to rise over the desolate peaks of Mordor but the stream of wounded and dying flowing into the healing tent never seemed to slow. Tiredness gripped onto Elrond, pulling his eyelids down, weighing his limbs down like shackles, devouring any energy it could sink its teeth into.
But in true Elrond fashion, he refused to rest until all were treated, much to the annoyance of the older sindar elf that seemed to appear at the most unfortunate times. Well, unfortunate for Elrond, not Celeborn, who found the healer during his weakest moments as exhaustion threatened to overcome him.
It was at such a moment that Lord Celeborn decided enough was enough, he stepped closer just in time to steady Elrond as he tipped forward.
“You’re finished here Elrond,” he murmured, anticipating a protest Celeborn held up a finger, “no, there are healers other than you present, who can attend to the wounded much better when they’re not worrying over you.”
Placing a hand on the dark haired elf’s shoulder, he swept Elrond out of the tent before he knew what was happening. They were halfway to the Lord of Lothlorien’s tent when Elrond dug his heels into the ground and pulled away.
“Celeborn, you know as well as I do that, I am one of the most skilled healers available.” He crossed his arms over his chest, with an annoyed sigh.
“Exactly, ‘one of the most skilled’, there are others and I refuse to allow you to work yourself into the ground.”
“But- “
“Elrond, if you continue to act like a petulant elfing then I will have no problem treating you as such.”
A wiser or perhaps more well rested elf would have noticed the warning tone in Celeborn’s voice, unfortunately wisdom seemed to have left the half elf and he was too tired to fully grasp what that tone meant.
“Is that so?” Elrond raised his eyebrow, “in case you’ve failed to notice, we are at war, Celeborn. We do not have the time for such foolish nonsense my lord, nor do we have the time to argue about this, now if you would kindly excuse me, I have lives to save”
Before he could finish turning around, a firm hand gripped Elrond’s upper arm, while an equally firm hand landed sharp stinging swats to the seat of his leggings.
“Now shall we continue this discussion here, or in my tent?”
Only the deaf would miss the threat held within Celeborn’s words, and Elrond’s ears were perfectly functional at that moment, though he doubted they would survive the lecture soon to follow.
This time, the pale haired lord grabbed the collar of Elrond’s tunic, as he marched him into his tent.
“I see you’ve brought company” A voice called out from the furthest corner.
“Thranduil, for every word that leaves your mouth and for every minute your nose is not in that corner, I will be adding to your punishment,” Sounding more like an exhausted nanny than a former Prince of Doriath, Celeborn pinched the bridge of his nose.
Elrond, merely stared in disbelief as Thranduil drew patterns on the floor with his toe, he seemed to resemble a cranky child more than a prince.
“You, Elrond, can go stand in the opposite corner, the same rules apply, no talking, no looking around and do not move until I get back.” Celeborn ordered before striding out of the tent.
As soon as Celeborn was out of ear shot, Thranduil pivoted to face a shocked Elrond and leant one arm against the supporting pole.
“So, what are you in for?”
Meanwhile on the other side of the elves’ camps …
“Oropher, Glorfindel, Gil-Galad, you each owe me a bottle of your finest wine”
“Celeborn, what have we done now to invoke your wrath?”
“Speak for yourself Ereinion, I have done nothing wrong”
“Didn’t you hide all of your son’s left socks yesterday, Oropher?”
“I have done nothing wrong today, balrog slayer”
“I have a name you know”
“Really? Never heard it before, but you have apparently forgot that I am a king of my own realm”
“And yet you continue to play childish pranks on your own child”
“Thranduil started it when he put a hole at the end of each finger of my gloves”
“Silence you sons of fools, Celeborn why are you here? Not that we don’t appreciate your company”
“Because Elrond and Thranduil are currently having some much deserved corner time, before I strap or paddle them,” Came the weary reply.
“Thranduil, I can understand but what has Elrond done to deserve punishment?” King Oropher exclaimed in disbelief, “from what I’ve seen and heard from my son, the young peredhel is more likely to paddle Thranduil than be paddled himself”
“He refuses to rest or take care of himself, every time I dropped another soldier off at the healing tents, he looked closer to collapsing than the last time I saw him”
“He means well but the boy struggles to put himself before others, especially when it comes to healing” Gil-Galad fondly explained. “If you don’t mind, I would like to deal with him myself, my friend”
“You are more than welcome to Ereinion”
“You’re on your own with Thranduil though” Oropher called out. “And don’t beat all of the childish antics out of him, Valar knows he has already matured too fast for one so young”
“I doubt I would be able to, even if I wanted to, he is after all your son, Oropher”