Chapter Text
Nerdanel squinted sleepily at the Maia of Mandos. The grey-shrouded Ainu was holding something wrapped in a blanket while he spoke to her. She had been roused in the middle of the night by firm knocking. By the time she had crawled out of bed, Nerdanel was very upset at whoever dared to interrupt her well earned slumber. She had been prepared to chew out the intruder until she saw that it was a Maia. The Maia looked a bit sheepish before launching into a very long winded explanation as to his purpose.
The only words she caught were: children, Turkafinwë, untimely murder and your's now until their parents return from the Halls. Then the blanket wrapped forms was being pressed into Nerdanel’s arms and the Maia disappeared. Nerdanel gaped in shock, still trying to process what had just happened.
Nerdanel looked down at what she had just been handed. Wrapped delicately in the blanket were two snoozing elflings. They looked to be twins, what with their matching facial features and nearly identical size. Nerdanel stumbled back to her bed where she placed the tiny elflings. In the dim light of a candle, Nerdanel surmised that they were very young, hardly more than toddlers. The slightly smaller one on the left started to snore lightly, curling into his brother’s side.
Nerdanel decided that yes, these must be Tyelko’s children. They shared his white blond hair and they had the same large, brown eyes which were currently glazed in sleep.
"My poor babies," Nerdanel wept.
She didn’t know if her tears were for her son and his lost wife, whoever she was, or if they were for the very young twins who now were parentless. She stiffened. They were not parentless. She would raise them! After all, she knew how to deal with twins.
With that thought, she crawled back on to the bad. After gathering an elfling under each arm, she fell back asleep.
\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//\\//
She awoke to find a light weight pressing down on her chest. Letting sleep clear from her eyes, Nerdanel found that she was face to face with one of her new wards.
"Hello little one," she smiled gently.
The elfling cocked his head before chirping a string of gibberish. Nerdanel blinked. She hadn’t even considered that her grandsons might speak a different language. The elfling bounced a bit and said something else. His twin grumbled a reply before pressing his face into Nerdanel’s side. Oh, how Nerdanel wished her husband was here. He would be fascinated with whatever language their grandchildren were speaking.
The elfling on her chest said something else. What ever it is that he said was enough to prompt his twin into action and sleepily try to tackle his twin off of Nerdanel. The first twin, who was wide awake, easily dodged. Before a scuffle could break out, Nerdanel sat up and lifted each elfling by the scruff. Twin one squeaked in protest while twin two mewled in terror. After a few second in the air, Nerdanel set them back down on the bed. The twins stared up at her with large brown eyes.
Not for the first time did Nerdanel see Tyelko in them. Resisting the urge to smother them with hugs, she set about trying to learn their names.
"Nerdanel," she said as she pointed at herself. She then gestured to the twins. They looked at each other before looking back at her.
"Eluréd," chirped the first twin with a little bounce.
"Elurín," mumbled the smaller twin, shyly ducking his head.
Unusual names, Nerdanle mused, but then again, Tyelko had never been one for rules or decorum. Feeling quite hungry, Nerdanel lifted the twins up, one in each arm, and headed downstairs.
The house was empty. Nerdanel’s older brother, Melehto, and father had long since gone to the forges and her mother had left for Yavanna’s gardens at dawn. This gave her free range of the house and time to get settled with her new grandchildren. Over the course of the morning, she learned that Eluréd most certainly did not like toast (he had thrown his across the room at breakfast) and that Elurín, if given the chance, would prefer to be carried rather than use his own legs. The twins also had most certainly inherited their father’s (and twin uncle’s) propensity for climbing (Nerdanel discovered this after she found them in the rafters).
When the rest of her family returned for the midday meal, Nerdanel felt that the twins were comfortable enough to meet every one. When Mahtan had come home first, he had given his daughter a questioning stare. When at last her brother and mother had returned, Nerdanel explained the situation. The twins were more than little overwhelmed with the attention. The both hid behind Nerdanel’s skirt and peered out at the unfamiliar elves.
It took them all week to become start to be comfortable around Mahtan’s and Melehto's towering figures and even longer to not jump in fright when Nerdanel’s mother, Rerinde, would unexpectedly scoop them up into a hug. After their initial fears were quelled, the twins settled into life far easier than Nerdanel was expecting. They quickly picked up Quenya and grew quite comfortable with their new surroundings.
Nerdanel was very protective of the twins and the elflings flourished under her care (She didn’t know why Melehto kept giving her strange looks, she had raised seven sons, so another pair of twins didn’t make much of a difference).
Eluréd was by far the more adventurous of the two. He loved to explore the vast estate that Mahtan’s family lived on. He could also talk your ear off. On more than one occasion, Nerdanel had sent them with her father to the Forges to get some peace and quiet.
Elurín was far more reserved. He followed his brother in everything, but was never one to initiate the lead. He was very clingy with his desire to be touched or cuddled (Nerdanel didn’t mind, after all Makalaurë and the Ambarussa had both been like that).
Not wanting to become the subject of the misguided gossip in Tirion, Nerdanel kept the boys sequestered away from the busy city.
Now all Nerdanel had to do was wait for Teylko’s return.