Dragon Slayer- A Hobbit Fanfiction

Chapter 9: A Song of Embers

Italics- Memories
TA 2941
Rivendell

     Velcanyxa stared at the paper in front of her, at the neat letters that seemed to whirl in front of her eyes.  She needed to sleep but her assignment wasn't going to do itself. That was the unfortunate fact about school. Her older brothers now worked with their father at the forge but she still had to go to school. She didn't enjoy it.

     Celebrimbor came marching into the room, paper in hand, looking worse than she did. "Does our teacher think we don't have other things to do? I though working with Da on his projects was bad, this is ten times worse!"

     She snickered, gesturing for him to sit by her at the desk. He plopped down in the chair next to her and, still grumbling, passed her the paper. Light from the silver tree filtered into her room, adding additional light besides the lamp set on her desk. Behind them, Celebrimbor had left the door open.

     "Go close the door first, you heathen," she said, rolling her eyes. He stood up and closed it partially. "I meant all the way, doofus." He closed it almost all the way. She threw a pencil at him and he ducked, finally shutting the door.

     Sighing, she turned her attention back to the homework. It took her a few minutes to even figure out what her nephew had been working on, she'd done it a couple of years ago after all. Then she had to figure out how she'd managed to do it. Not to mention it was math. Celebrimbor came back and sat down beside her.

     Dipping her quill into the ink jar, she carefully began to draw a diagram. "Well Atar always told me to draw it first so we can start there. And I think then you set the equation up like this..."

~~~

Only two days following their late night work, both Velcanyxa and Celebrimbor fell sick. Still being children in the eyes of elves, they were still susceptible to the illnesses of the world. However much the Valar helped block out, the youngest of their race felt Morgoth's darkness even deep inside Valinor.

When asked, both said that the other had caught the illness and spread it to them. Her older brothers found this highly amusing, especially when she and Celebrimbor bickered over it. Usually, their arguments ending with both of them coughing relentlessly.

One day both of them had curled up in Celebrimbor's room. She'd taken the spare bed, snatching one of his many blankets before burrowing underneath it. He stared across the gap between the two beds, also tucked under a blanket.

Neither said anything, preferring to just listen to the birds outside their window. The light of Laurelin, the Golden Tree, streamed in, warming the wood floor and casting rays of light across their faces. Overall, it was a beautiful day out and both wished they could be outside, playing some sort of game with their family. Instead they were stuck inside, resting.

"I hate being sick," Celebrimbor grumbled, breaking the silence of the room.

She sniffled, then grinned, "Agreed, Celley."

"Don't call me that, you know I hate it," he retorted, "unless you want me to call you Velly."

Velcanyxa let out a fake gasp, "You wouldn't!"

"I certainly would, dork," came the reply.

She laughed, Celebrimbor snickering across the gap between them. Then he started coughing, while still also laughing, creating a weird wheezing sound. It only made them laugh harder, trying to stay quiet as their brother Caranthir was sleeping nearby.