By Any Other Name by Grundy

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The Council of Elrond

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Despite the glare it had drawn from the Noldorin officer, Celebrían would have gladly followed up on her first punch had her father not emerged from the tent. She was confident she could get away with smacking Gil-galad’s incredibly aggravating herald and right hand so long as Celeborn could pretend he hadn’t seen it. But not directly in front of him.

She had to settle for snatching her bag from Elrond and glaring at him, which wasn’t nearly as satisfying.

“I’m not sure which of you is worse,” Celeborn announced, crossing his arms.

At least she wasn’t the only one getting the scolding!

“You running off to get involved in this war without a word to anyone, leaving your mother as close to distraught as she’s been since Nargothrond-”

He levelled a stern look at his daughter, who had trouble picturing her mother distraught, least of all over her embarrassing miscalculation.

“Or you haring off alone on a misguided rescue mission beyond the borders without giving anyone a chance to talk sense into you. You are supposed to be old enough to know better!”

This time the look was directed at Elrond, who didn’t appear in the least bit troubled.

“I reached her relatively quickly and we’re both safely back. Events prove I was right to believe I could locate and retrieve her without a larger force,” Elrond replied mildly, inexplicably choosing not to mention how close the orcs had actually been. “I am not sure why you’re complaining. I am told her maps may be of vital importance.”

Irritated though she was at what sounded like Elrond entirely brushing off her father’s dressing down, Celebrían noted with some satisfaction that he was trying to unobtrusively rub his arm as he spoke. Served him right!

Celeborn still didn’t look pleased.

“As I know perfectly well that neither of you are likely to be bothered by anything I say on the subject, much less Gil-galad assuming he can be moved to say anything sensible, you will both answer to Galadriel.”

It took much for Celebrían not to protest the unfairness of her father’s solution – she knew perfectly well that in her mother’s eyes, there would be no acceptable excuse for her. But in Elrond’s case, ‘I saved your daughter’ would surely get him forgiven any rashness involved in short order!

On the bright side, her mother wasn’t actually here, nor was she likely to be anytime soon. What’s more, Celebrían was pretty sure Ammë wasn’t going to be in a hurry to try speaking to her over such a distance with Sauron on the loose, not to mention a horde of orcs so close by. Maybe she’d be less angry given time to calm down.

As long as she was indulging in wishful thinking, maybe Sauron would just drop dead choking on his own bile and save them all a lot of trouble…

At any rate, the optimistic view was that she had some time to come up with a good defense, or at least a somewhat sincere sounding apology.

“As you say, Uncle,” Elrond shrugged, as if having to answer to her mother was no particular trouble. “But I believe we have more pressing business at the moment. The maps, if you would, my lady?”

Celebrían glanced sideways at him, unsure if he was being serious or just trying to divert her father’s attention to safer topics.

But she found that Elrond hadn’t waited for an answer. He strode into the tent as if he expected everyone would follow. Which, she belatedly realized, he probably did – and with good reason. He wasn’t just some bold scout as she’d thought, but a commander in his own right. The banner she hadn’t recognized would be his.

Her father scowled at Elrond’s back but nodded for her to go on in, and she could see others falling in behind him and Gildor.

She didn’t recognize all who gathered inside, though she guessed that they must all be important in the hierarchy of the hidden valley.

“We’re calling it Imladris,” a voice to her left murmured.

Elrond was clearing space on the large table that occupied the center of the tent, and gestured peremptorily for an orderly to bring another chair.

He was literally giving her a seat at the table, though she wasn’t sure if it was on trust or merely out of respect for her parents.

They’re your maps, aren’t they? You’ll be the one talking about them. Unless, of course, you want your father in a worse mood than he already is…

She shot a startled glance at Elrond. Her parents often spoke to her like this, confident they wouldn’t be overheard, and Gildor occasionally did as well. But it was rare for anyone else to attempt it, let alone someone she’d only just met.

He raised an eyebrow, as if to ask how else he could say anything without drawing attention to the remark.

“By ‘we’, he means ‘he’,” Gildor told her cheerfully, claiming the chair to her right. “He’s counting on wearing down all objections, given that we’re likely to be here a while.”

“I don’t see why anyone should object,” Celebrían sniffed. “It’s a good name.”

 “Don’t encourage him!” Gildor protested. “He’s so taken with the place he’s talking about staying, or at least coming back once the war is over.”

Celebrían could see no reason Elrond shouldn’t do exactly that if that was what he wanted to do. It would have the happy side effect of keeping him well away from Lindon, which was where she suspected she’d end up.

Unfortunately, she did see several of the Noldor visibly wondering why such a young girl was included in this gathering. She started pulling maps from her case, handing them alternately to her father and Elrond so that the meeting could start before any of the doubters could work up a protest.

It was one thing for Gildor to antagonize them – not only was her ‘big brother’ old enough to have fought in the wars of Beleriand, he could be every inch a prince of the Noldor when the mood took him. It was another matter for her. As far as most of the Noldor were concerned, she was just her mother’s daughter, which to their minds meant she was coddled, spoiled, and too young to know anything.

She had never gotten to sit in on a council like this before – usually she handed her maps over to either her parents or Gil-galad and answered any questions and gave explanations in private. They spoke for her in council if it was necessary. But Elrond either didn’t know that or hadn’t thought it sensible.

That meant he had to start the meeting by shouting down the older elves who thought listening to a youngster who hadn’t even been begotten until four hundred-odd years into the peace was ridiculous. Though shouted wasn’t quite right.

Elrond did not actually shout. But he had a voice that could cut through arguments or shouting if he chose, and he didn’t hesitate to use it, insisting that Lady Celebrían would not only have her proper title – which was neither ‘Celeborn’s daughter’ or ‘baby Arafinwiel’, thank you very much – but also be accorded the respect due the Noldaran’s principal mapmaker.

Celebrían hadn’t realized until he said it that Elrond had any idea who she was or that most of the king’s maps for the past two yeni have been her work. Given that he spoke with the Noldaran’s voice in Gil-galad’s absence, the Noldor had little choice but to fall in line.

Once Elrond had laid down the law, even the more strident doubters had to let the matter drop, and the meeting finally got down to business. And to her surprise, her maps were not just one of several topics of discussion, they were the entire point of the meeting!

Each one was passed around to be read, considered and discussed. Questions were fired at her from all directions – how up to date was each chart? When had she added the figures for the strength of Lorinand and the Greenwood? Were the numbers directly from Amdir and Oropher, or relayed through intermediaries? What could she tell them of the situation in Khazad-dum? How had she estimated Sauron’s forces? When had their positions (or estimated positions) been marked? How likely was it that they would have changed since? What route had she taken down the mountains and to the valley? Had she been able to do any scouting on the way, or had she been focused on slipping through as quickly as possible?

She was used to just making the maps, not having to defend them as well. She’d only ever shown and explained them to Gil-galad, and he wasn’t nearly as skeptical an audience. But she did her best to answer, without showing her annoyance – even when the questions grew repetitive or some people wanted to argue a point that had already been discussed several times.

“My lords, these maps are all my own work and I will vouch for the accuracy of the distances and elevations. If you know anyone who can do better, you’re more than welcome to send for them. I’d be quite interested to speak with them. I’ve marked terrain as best I could. Numbers for any army are only as accurate as the information relayed to me by their commanders. If it is my own estimate, as with Sauron’s forces here and here, I have marked it as such and am happy to explain how I arrived at my numbers.”

She felt like they peppered her for hours, and was grateful that the orderlies slipped in several times to bring warm drinks and small snacks – tiny sandwiches and savory morsels sized just right to pop into one’s mouth between questions and chew quickly without looking undignified.

Elrond himself only asked a few questions – though she suspected that was because he realized the others would cover just about anything he might wish to know. (She might have underestimated Gil-galad’s herald once, but she wasn’t about to make a habit of it.) He seemed most curious about any details she could give on the terrain surrounding the valley, and any approaches they might have overlooked.

“I wish to work with you directly once you have had time to rest and recover from the journey,” he said thoughtfully when the questions from his lieutenants and her father’s finally wound down. “We’ve put together some rough maps of the valley itself, and what we know of its borders. But there are no cartographers among us, so I suspect you can better our efforts easily, even before adding any information you may collect yourself.”

“Did you want me to just redo your maps, or should I make a proper survey of the valley?” she asked.

“If you have whatever you require for your ‘proper survey’, that would be preferable,” Elrond replied. “I can’t say that I have any of the tools I understand mapmakers would need available for you.”

He paused.

“I’m also keen to know anything you can tell me of this region here. We were not in a situation that allowed us to scout the territory in much detail on our way in.”

He was pointing at the Bruinen just south of where its two arms met. Why he found that particular point so interesting Celebrían had no idea.

“Anything you can tell us will be valuable, no matter how trivial you may think it.”

Celebrian nodded, though she had the oddest conviction he didn’t actually want her full answer in front of his entire council.

“Unfortunately, as I have said, my lord, my notes were damaged. But I will do my best to reconstruct what I remember.”

She didn’t say out loud that what she remembered should be quite good – the exercise of writing it down meant anything in her notes was also in her memory.

Elrond’s look suggested he’d caught that thought – she was starting to suspect that dealing with him was much like dealing with her mother. Though her mother has never done whatever it was Elrond had on the river…

A slight smile played at the edge of his lips, but he gave no further sign of amusement – or annoyance – at what might not necessarily be a flattering comparison.

“There being no further questions,” Elrond said in a tone that made clear it was a statement, not an invitation to ask anything more, “the rest of you can be off. I daresay the lady feels she’s indulged your curiosity long enough when she only just arrived without so much as a pair of dry shoes.”

She was certain he’d done that on purpose, for it sent half of the gathered lords out the door quickly, and drew a chorus of concern from those who remained as to what she was lacking that they might perhaps be able provide.  

She was surprised to see the cranky Noldorin officer who’d looked at her so disapprovingly for hitting Elrond quietly taking notes on what she required – starting with warm socks.

“The lady will be quartered with Celeborn, I take it, my lord?” he asked.

Elrond glanced toward her father for confirmation before nodding.

“I’ll see what I can organize and have it brought to Celeborn’s tent. I believe we should be able to answer many of her most urgent needs.”

“Thank you, Pelendur,” Elrond said.

Celebrían noticed there was real warmth in his tone, much like her father’s when he spoke to his deputy Orodlin. She didn’t recognize his name, though, and wondered what his place was in the Noldorin hierarchy here in the valley.

This wasn’t the moment to ask, though, not when her father was waiting for her.

“I’ll see you at the usual time this evening, Elrond?” he asked expectantly.

“Of course,” Elrond nodded before turning back to Pelendur.

Celebrían tried not to show any disappointment at being effectively dismissed, or let her father or brother catch her sneaking a glance back.