Enduring Wind and Fire (LOTR)

XII

"If that is your life's work, 'Neth, you truly need to find yourself something greater to do with your time."

"Then I do suppose you would find it entirely agreeable if I should no longer mend your rent clothing that Nana refuses to sew, seeing you do not bother to learn how to fix your own garments."

Voronen sighed and handed the victory to his sister, though he did so begrudgingly.

"Voronen!" Laineth cried suddenly. "Why are you so mean to us?"

Laineth had truly been hurt by her brothers unthoughtful actions, though Voronen was oblivious to such a fact, and she wished that her brother was only ever kind.

The ellon glanced down at Laineth's face and smiled. "My intentions are not to be an unseemly person with no regard for the feelings of others, yet if you are hurt by the ways that I treat you, I shall not continue to do so."

Pleased Laineth was with this answer, and nodded agreeably, turning her attentions now to begging Anneth to fix her hair like Amarwe's.

"Patience, Laineth, you are capable of fixing your own hair, sister. Ask Voronen, I am positive he is able to do what you wish," Anneth said, mischievously looking at her older brother, who groaned most angrily and glared at Anneth. She merely laughed and shrugged.

Now, Voronen, handsome and strong as he was, was extraordinarily weak at anything that was remotely pertinent to the styling of hair. His own locks were never ruined or out of place, yet he could not ensure the same for his sisters when they were placed under his care. Nearly as weak as Anneth's archer skills were his abilities in the braiding of ellith's hair.

Laineth sat before her brother, expectantly awaiting the rather futile attempts that would come from her brother. From the reaction given Anneth from Voronen, Laineth had deduced that Voronen was as completely hopeless in the matters of beautifying hair, and half-unwillingly gave herself solely to the cause of seeing her brother fail miserably.

Seldom did many see Voronen fail voluntarily, yet it was moments such as these where his resolve was the strongest, when Anneth sported the knowing grin on her face as she anticipated the failure of her brother who was better than she in every aspect of physical combat but inferior to her in the ways of styling hair.

'Twas often that Voronen saw Anneth laugh at him for his ineptitude in this field, and had she been an ellon, he would have struck her. But alas, she was not, and alas for him, for she would laugh unendingly at this.

With a grim and minutely irritated expression, Voronen fumbled with his little sister's hair, oblivious to how Laineth wanted it, or even how to simply braid the hair at the crown of her head.

"Ai, Voronen, you truly are a failure, dear brother!" Anneth exclaimed much too gleefully.

His teeth did Voronen clench in response to Anneth's words, and cautiously, he attempted once more to create but a three strand braid that even Amarwe could easily create.

"I am a failure?" asked Voronen with an incredulous tone in his voice, masking his utter frustration and proper quandary. "I am a failure?" he repeated. "The elleth who cannot guide an arrow to hit even the largest ring on a target informs me that I am a failure and expects that I take her words to heart."

"Yes, she does, and a facile task such as a three strand braid should easily come to you, brother, unless Nana has been braiding your hair for the past hundred years."

Voronen only glared at his sister, in his mind swearing light-hearted revenge against her.

"Ah, so she has been braiding your hair? 'Tis precisely why your hair has appeared to well groomed and even in a good state." Anneth smiled. "Amarwe, Laineth, you do know Nana still does Voronen's hair because he is so inept in the ways of life that he cannot do so himself."