Forbidden Fruit - part 2
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All was quiet in the valley, and Ithil slowly surrendered the sky to Arien, warming the earth and waking its children. Elrond stretched in his bed, feeling quite rested after a long, good night’s sleep. He got up and looked outside. It was a wonderful morning. This would be a great day to take a walk in the forest with his closest friend and advisor. It had been a long time since they walked together and just talked. He missed that. Somewhere along the line Erestor had changed, and Elrond regretted not being able to help him.
Washing up and getting dressed, Elrond kept thinking. There had to be a reason for all that had happened. Some event that stirred these changes in his friend. But what could that be? Nothing much had happened these last few centuries that would explain the counsellor’s peculiar behaviour. While braiding his hair his thoughts drifted to Glorfindel. It had always bothered Elrond that his two closest companions never became friends. It was odd. Even though the two of them were very different on the outside, Elrond knew they were the same at heart. Once or twice he had even imagined seeing a spark between them.
But whatever fire had been there, it had been rapidly stifled. In the early years Glorfindel had tried to befriend the shy advisor, but Erestor always withdrew into his study and asked not to be disturbed. And then there was Lindir. The minstrel that had admired Erestor so. Now the poor boy was even afraid to be in the same room as him. All because of the oranges. The damn oranges! Elrond grew frustrated. His thoughts only ever led him back to the problem.
He sighed and left his rooms to go and have breakfast. His mood was not so cheerful anymore. He took a detour around the corridors, hoping to catch Erestor before he locked himself in his study. The door to the Noldo’s rooms was open, and peering in Elrond saw no sign of the advisor. It was still early, and the bed was untouched. So Erestor had not slept. His nightmares were surely bothering him again. He would be in his study, then. Elrond sighed disappointed, and closed the door when he left.
He greeted a few elves he met in the corridor on his way to the dining hall, but the house was awfully quiet. This was usually the time of day where Glorfindel found most pleasure in practising with his sword, and many of his admirers would follow him and watch in awe. From the east balcony you would hear the metallic ringing of blades, and the joyful laughter of young elves watching their fathers being bested by the balrog-slayer. Elrond smiled to himself thinking of the snorts Erestor would make when hearing the racket.
‘Does he not have better things to do than showing off his brawn every morning,’ the advisor would say. And there would always be a hint of jealousy in his voice. Elrond entered the deserted dining hall, and went directly to the balcony. The rising sun was shining on an empty yard. A few elves were grooming their horses or oiling their weapons, but all was still. It was a very peculiar morning this day.
“Ada, are you in here?” a young and agitated voice sounded from the hall.
“Elrohir?” Elrond stepped back inside and saw the fear on his son’s face. “What is it, melme? What is wrong?”
“Tell me, ada,” he said. “Tell me, is it Erestor?”
“Is what Erestor?” Elrond did not understand what his son was trying to say.
“Is it Erestor who is allergic to the oranges?” the urgency in his voice told of a more serious matter than the question would imply.
“Why do you ask such a thing? I though we had already discussed....”
“Tell me, ada! Tell me now!”
“All right!” He was not used to his children or anyone else ever raising their voice at him, and he grew uneasy with this whole interrogation. “Yes. It is because of Erestor that I forbad the oranges. Why bother with this now?”
“Because we found him...in the garden...” Elrond heard his heart gallop in his chest, afraid that something terrible had happened. “...we cannot wake him!”
Elrond followed his youngest son as they hurried through the corridors and into the north garden. Pushing past bushes and trees, the two Peredhil took a shortcut to the orchard, where the large orange tree centred a clearing. As they entered the clearing they saw Elladan. He looked very upset. Elrond hesitated in his step. The ground was covered in fallen fruit. Smashed, crushed and torn to pieces, the oranges were strewn across the grass. On the other side of the tree, Elrond could see something lying on the ground.
The twins had covered the naked bodies with blankets, but Elrond did not have to see them to know what had happened. Erestor and Glorfindel were lying a few paces apart, dishevelled and sticky with the broken fruits. Elrond kneeled beside Erestor and hovered his hand over his brow. Closing his eyes, he felt for darkness in the elf’s mind.
Elrohir embraced his brother and tried to comfort him. Elladan felt such guilt over bringing that orange into the house, and thought that somehow this was all his fault. They could not lose Erestor. He had been a second father to them after their mother passed. And Glorfindel who had been their hero since the day he set foot in Imladris, how could they survive losing him? Elladan wept on his brother’s shoulder, praying to the Valar that their loved ones would stay.
Elrond checked both of the sleeping elves, surprised to find nothing wrong with them. They only appeared exhausted. He rose, baffled, not certain what to do about this situation. He looked at his sons, who were holding each other worriedly, looking to him for answers. He reassured his sons that everything would be all right. He concluded that the best thing to do would be to leave the sleeping elves where they lay, until they were properly rested. He situated guards at the entrances to the garden, stating that no one was permitted to enter.
He then faced long hours of pacing and worrying, wondering if he should not check on them one more time. The twins also worried, but their presence helped calm him down. It was a relief for him to finally tell them the truth. They were most shocked to hear about Lindir’s ‘accident’. They would never have believed Erestor to do such a thing. Hours passed. They waited and listened, dreading the moment when their friends realized what they had done.
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Erestor managed with great effort to open his eyes. His eyelashes were stuck together from dried orange juice. Groaning tiredly he sat up and looked around. Arien soared the western sky, and a light breeze ruffled his hair as he cleared his mind. When he tried to smooth his hair from his face, his fingers stuck in the dark locks, and a fierce struggle to free himself took place. His ears filled with a melodic laughter.
Glorfindel lay on his stomach, resting his chin on his hands, and watching Erestor with great mirth. Pieces of drying pulp still clung to his skin. He smiled adoringly, and Erestor nearly melted into a puddle of goo. He couldn’t help but giggle at it all, and blushed like a young boy when the seneschal looked at him so lovingly.
“We need a bath,” Glorfindel stated, and held up his hand to show how his fingers were stuck together. Erestor chuckled and nodded.
“We certainly do,” he said, and held up what looked like a bird’s nest in his hair.
They got to their feet and stretched. Erestor looked around at the mess they had created. It was a wonder no one had caught them here, since it was quite late in the day. He frowned when he noticed the blankets, because he could not remember that they had brought blankets. He saw the same expression on Glorfindel’s face, but in the end they just shrugged, wrapped the blankets around their bodies and headed for the bathhouse.
Surprised to see two guards standing by the house, they sneaked past them while they were talking, and were glad to find the bathhouse empty. Inside was a large pool where everyone could sit together, and then there were a few smaller, more secluded pools for couples who wanted privacy. Glorfindel led Erestor to one of these pools, and helped the sticky advisor enter the water. They sat quietly for a long while, just soaking up the heat. The water came directly from the nearby hot springs, and was always nice and warm.
Glorfindel sighed and put an arm around Erestor, pulling him close. Erestor rested his head on the strong shoulder provided, and closed his eyes in bliss. It had been a long time since he had felt such peace. Nuzzling up against his lover, he felt himself drift off again. But he did not mind. Everything was just right.
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Glorfindel woke softly by a melodious humming. When he opened his eyes he saw a perfect, pale back, slightly curved as Erestor was sitting in front of him, running his skilled fingers through shining, black hair. Glorfindel parted his legs to either side of the advisor, and slid forward to embrace him from behind. Erestor gratefully accepted the kisses bestowed upon his neck and shoulder, and tilted his head to make sure some of them hit his face and lips as well. After kissing softly for a few moments, Glorfindel drew back for a better view of those green eyes that he adored.
Erestor relished the feeling of secure arms around him. Wet skin on wet skin. The slightly wrinkled fingertips tickling his stomach. Those intense blue eyes, seeing him, and only him. It was where he always had wanted to be. He reached up to touch that flawless face. To caress that smooth, perfect skin. Letting his gaze follow his fingertip as he traced over those full, pouty lips, his voice quivered when he spoke.
“I love you, you know.”
“We became lovers but a day ago, and already you love me?” Glorfindel said with a dazzling smile. Erestor only shook his head slowly, feeling the need to be absolutely sincere.
“No. I always loved you.”
Glorfindel’s smile vanished, and he held Erestor even more tenderly. The look in the green eyes was so honest, so pure, and so afraid. Vulnerable even. He didn’t know what to say. He petted the soft hair, trying to wrap his mind around the words spoken.
“I thought you despised me,” he finally said. “I must have tried a hundred times to be your friend, and every time you shut the door in my face.”
“But I never wanted to be your friend, Glorfindel. It was easier to just stay away from you. I hated you as much as I loved you.”
“You hated me?” Glorfindel wasn’t as surprised as he sounded, but he was curious now. This was the first time the two of them had ever really talked. He needed to know everything.
“I hated you. From the moment you showed up in Imladris, everything changed. You were the great saviour, the warrior sent back from the dead by the Valar to protect us. You became everyone’s hero. And you took the twins from me.”
When he spoke the last words he could not manage to look Glorfindel in the face. The bitterness he felt was obvious. He still remembered the pain.
“How did I take the twins from you?”
“Always had I been there for them. Whenever they had a problem they came to me. When they were children I would play with them, read to them, sing with them, teach them things and tell them whatever they wanted to know. I was a third parent for their entire lives, and I was their friend. All that changed when you showed up. They no longer cared for books or songs. All they ever wanted to hear were your brutal war stories. And if one of them found a special someone, I was always the last to know. They spent all their free time with you, and I was forgotten like I never existed.”
“That is not true!” Glorfindel was shocked. How could Erestor believe such a thing? “Many times they came to me out of worry for you. In fact, they often spoke of how much you meant to them, and how it hurt them to watch you change. They said you were different once. That you used to smile.”
Erestor looked at Glorfindel, his eyes swimming in tears. Of course he had changed. Everything had changed that day. What became his sunlight also became his storm cloud. He had loved and admired the Elda as much as the other elves had, but Glorfindel had never treated him as one of the other elves. He wanted to ask him why, but he couldn’t find the words to phrase his question.
“You didn’t like me, did you?” It was more a statement than a question. “Whenever you tried to ‘be my friend’, it was because Elrond asked you to, not because you wanted to.”
“I was afraid of you,” Glorfindel admitted. “I thought you were cold. Heartless even.” It shamed him to say such a thing, but he had to tell Erestor the truth.
“Heartless?” Erestor was not only offended, but deeply hurt by such a grim, not to mention incorrect, term. “Heartless!?” He squirmed to get out of Glorfindel’s grip, but the blonde held him tightly in place.
“I was wrong, Erestor. I was so very wrong. Please forgive me.” Erestor stopped wriggling, and Glorfindel tightened his hold on the advisor, kissing his forehead pleadingly. “Please forgive me.”
Erestor released a ragged breath, and tried to put words to his feelings. “I only ever wanted you to love me. But you made it very clear that you had no respect for people who rather devote themselves to books and politics than to swords and arrows.”
“What makes you say that? I never claimed such a thing.”
“Never mind,” Erestor said. He was growing tired with all this emotion. “Just a lot of little things. I was simply never welcome in your little group of followers.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to be there.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then what are you arguing about?”
Erestor chuckled then, and Glorfindel was relieved he had been able to lift the mood. He kissed Erestor on the forehead once more, and embraced him tightly. He felt sad he had not been aware to see this other side of the chief counsellor before. He wished he had noticed it earlier. As he saw him now, there was nothing cold about him. He was warm, passionate, and incredibly devoted. Glorfindel had been sad when he first came to Imladris. There was no elf that he really felt connected with, no one that was special to him. Elrond and his sons were of course his close friends, but he would have wanted a companion. A partner. He never saw a potential mate in any of the elves he had gotten to know.
Erestor had been so mysterious. He had wanted to get to know him, he really had, but Erestor frightened him. He was a very authoritative elf, and was known across the lands as the negotiator who could stare down a mûmak. He had admired the advisor. Looked up to him. Whenever one was in his presence one felt so insignificant. Erestor simply beamed with pride, knowledge and wisdom. Surely he would have no need of mixing with the mere common folk. Or so Glorfindel had thought.
Erestor adjusted himself in the Elda’s embrace, leaning his back comfortably against the broad chest, and relaxing once again. He didn’t want to fret about the past anymore. He was content to be where he was. He sighed deeply and smiled to himself.
“You know, I might have approached you earlier had you not been such a show-off,” he teased.
“Oh, *I’m* the show-off, am I?” Glorfindel joined in the teasing.
“Always playing with your silly little knifes, taking of your shirt so that everyone can se what pretty muscles you have...”
“Says the walking dictionary!” he countered, mocking offence. “Like you don’t take every opportunity to show off all the knowledge you crammed in that pretty little brain of yours.”
“That is hardly the same thing.”
“It is exactly the same thing.”
“So we’re both show-offs.”
“Exactly.”
They broke out in a fit of laughter, and had to dip their heads under water to be able to stop. When they surfaced, they embraced tightly, and kissed each other in a way that made them feel closer to one another than they had ever felt before. Blue eyes locking with green, they smiled.
“See,” Glorfindel said. “We are not so different after all.” He raised his hand out of the water, took Erestor’s hand in his, and intertwined their fingers. “Look how we fit together.”
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Elrond didn’t have much of an appetite. He passed time at dinner by simply moving the food around on his plate. Looking up, he noticed that his sons were doing the same. It was late in the afternoon, and still no sign of anything happening in the garden. He would go and check in on their friends as soon as he had finished dinner. /What a joke that was,/ he thought to himself. Seeing the worry on identical faces, he tried to say something encouraging.
“They will be all right, my beloveds. There is no need to worry.”
“Is that why you are not eating either, ada?” Elladan asked with a hint of amusement. Elrond smiled fondly.
“Sometimes I wonder if not you two take more after Erestor than you do me. You tease just the way he does.”
“I remember,” Elrohir said. “That we once called him nana, just for fun, and he ended up chasing us through the entire house. We thought he was going to spank us silly.” Elladan laughed so hard he nearly choked. They had been a very mischievous pair, even after they reached their majority.
“I remember you two used to sit on the floor in the library, hour after hour, just to watch him work,” Elrond added. “You were always very fond of him, and he knew that. He would never have hurt you, even if you did call him nana.” He smiled at his sons. He was so proud of them. They had grown into fine men.
“I know,” Elrohir said. “But he changed. We changed. After we started battle training we spent more time with Glorfindel than we did with him, and we lost that closeness that we used to have.”
He spoke with great sadness in his voice, and Elrond felt his heart grow heavy with regret. Erestor had been very close with the boys once. Perhaps in his despair the lonely Noldo had sought other pleasures as substitute for their company. Elrond shook his head. It was still not an explanation, but it felt as though he was getting closer.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Elrohir continued. “I love Glorfindel, and I’m very glad we have grown so close to him, but I miss Erestor.”
“So do I,” Elladan agreed. “Elrohir, do you remember the day Glorfindel first arrived?”
“Of course. I remember everything about that day.” His face received a dreamy expression, and he stared into thin air as if he was picturing it in front of him. “He was wearing the finest clothing, set in green and burgundy, with golden flower embroideries.”
“He looked so regal,” Elladan filled in.
“His armour shone in the sunlight, and his weapons were like nothing I had ever seen.”
“The fabled balrog-slayer,” Elladan said, lost in his own memories.
“I even remember the feeling of awe I got when he walked passed me,” Elrohir continued. “And I remember the way his hair smelled.”
“Oh yes,” Elladan agreed. “Like spices and oranges...”
This is when Elrond choked on his meal. He didn’t even realize his sons were patting him on the back until a half chewed piece of an unrecognisable vegetable flew across the table. Before the twins could ask any questions, Elrond was already on his feet and pacing the room. Oranges. Oranges. Always back to the oranges. Elrond thought back to meeting Glorfindel in the twins’ room. /Please, meldir. I have not used this oil in centuries. I simply felt like wearing it. I like its scent./
Indeed. It was the same oil he had worn during his first time in Imladris. It was not much later that Erestor started behaving strangely. Hiding basket after basket of oranges in his room, devouring them in a manner that would bring you to imagine the way an orc would eat a baby’s head. Slowly, Elrond Peredhel was beginning to find the last pieces of the puzzle. The bigger picture was unfolding itself in front of him.
The lonely advisor. The overachieving seneschal. The sparks. The uncharacteristic behaviour. The losses. The suppressed emotions. The obsession. The oranges.
“Ada?” Elrohir’s voice reached him through the haze of his brooding, and he stopped pacing. “Ada, do you think...”
“Yes,” he whispered. Slowly, a sly smile crept into his features, which utterly baffled his confused sons. “Yes, I think.... I think everything will be all right.”
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Three months later, snow covered the entire valley. Naked trees glistened with frost, and everywhere in the forest you could see the footprints of animals imprinted on the white quilt that sheltered the earth. The days were dark, but the valley was alive and lit with lanterns. After the sun had completed its round and left the heavens black, tiny wads of soft snow began their slow journey to join their fallen brothers. In the last homely house, large hearths were warming the elves that dwelled within. But two remained without. A trail of soft footprints led away from the homestead, and up a hill. From that hill anyone who wanted could have a perfect view of the gardens all around the elven haven. Gardens where next spring orange trees would blossom unrestricted once more.
There in the shadow stood two figures, hand in hand, gazing up at the darkened sky. There was a blond one, clad in blue, and a dark one, wearing the deepest of red. From the garden they were barely visible, veiled behind a curtain of falling snow. The air was still. There was no sound that could disturb the couple where they stood in reverence of nature’s miracle. Their heads tilted upward, tiny stars of crystal snow landed on their faces, only to melt away on their warm skin.
Erestor giggled when a snowflake nearly got inside his nose, and it tickled him so badly he needed to sneeze. Glorfindel looked at his mate dotingly, unable to stop a wide grin from appearing on his face. In Erestor he had found the partner he had always craved, and more than that. He loved him something terrible, and could not imagine ever living without him again. Glorfindel rubbed his thumb over the hand in his, drawing Erestor’s attention. Ocean green eyes turned to look at him. It was amazing that he still got weak in the knees from such a simple thing.
“I love you, you silly elf,” he smiled, and pressed a kiss to the pale hand.
“I love you too, you big show-off,” Erestor grinned, and moved in close, face to face with his lover.
“Oh, *I’m* the show-off, am I?” Glorfindel’s grin grew wider, and he rubbed their noses together affectionately. Erestor nodded.
“You are.”
They kissed lovingly, trying not to giggle into each other’s mouths. Glorfindel got a bit frisky, and his hands travelled lower to cup a firm behind as they kissed.
“Guess what I want,” he teased, and started kissing Erestor’s neck, making him groan with pleasure.
“You... want to go inside?”
“No...” Glorfindel teased the most sensitive areas on the pale neck, knowing exactly where they were located.
“So you want to do it here, in the snow?”
“Uh-huh...”
“We did that yesterday, my love. You’ll have to think of something new.”
Glorfindel stopped and raised his head to look at his lover. “So I have to think of something new every day?”
“Uh-huh...” Erestor grinned and started kissing Glorfindel’s neck, eliciting a deep sigh of contentment.
“Don’t ever change, Erestor.”
Erestor stopped the teasing and faced his beloved Elda. The words had moved him almost to tears, but there was nothing but a warm smile on his face as he embraced Glorfindel. Rubbing their noses together affectionately, Erestor caressed the hair and the face he had been spellbound by for so long. They were finally together. Glorfindel took his hand and kissed it. He repeated the words he meant so sincerely.
“Don’t ever change.”
End
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meldir = friend
ada = dad
melethron = lover
Ithil = the moon
Arien = the sun
lirimaer = my lovely one
melme = love
mûmak = oliphaunt
All was quiet in the valley, and Ithil slowly surrendered the sky to Arien, warming the earth and waking its children. Elrond stretched in his bed, feeling quite rested after a long, good night’s sleep. He got up and looked outside. It was a wonderful morning. This would be a great day to take a walk in the forest with his closest friend and advisor. It had been a long time since they walked together and just talked. He missed that. Somewhere along the line Erestor had changed, and Elrond regretted not being able to help him.
Washing up and getting dressed, Elrond kept thinking. There had to be a reason for all that had happened. Some event that stirred these changes in his friend. But what could that be? Nothing much had happened these last few centuries that would explain the counsellor’s peculiar behaviour. While braiding his hair his thoughts drifted to Glorfindel. It had always bothered Elrond that his two closest companions never became friends. It was odd. Even though the two of them were very different on the outside, Elrond knew they were the same at heart. Once or twice he had even imagined seeing a spark between them.
But whatever fire had been there, it had been rapidly stifled. In the early years Glorfindel had tried to befriend the shy advisor, but Erestor always withdrew into his study and asked not to be disturbed. And then there was Lindir. The minstrel that had admired Erestor so. Now the poor boy was even afraid to be in the same room as him. All because of the oranges. The damn oranges! Elrond grew frustrated. His thoughts only ever led him back to the problem.
He sighed and left his rooms to go and have breakfast. His mood was not so cheerful anymore. He took a detour around the corridors, hoping to catch Erestor before he locked himself in his study. The door to the Noldo’s rooms was open, and peering in Elrond saw no sign of the advisor. It was still early, and the bed was untouched. So Erestor had not slept. His nightmares were surely bothering him again. He would be in his study, then. Elrond sighed disappointed, and closed the door when he left.
He greeted a few elves he met in the corridor on his way to the dining hall, but the house was awfully quiet. This was usually the time of day where Glorfindel found most pleasure in practising with his sword, and many of his admirers would follow him and watch in awe. From the east balcony you would hear the metallic ringing of blades, and the joyful laughter of young elves watching their fathers being bested by the balrog-slayer. Elrond smiled to himself thinking of the snorts Erestor would make when hearing the racket.
‘Does he not have better things to do than showing off his brawn every morning,’ the advisor would say. And there would always be a hint of jealousy in his voice. Elrond entered the deserted dining hall, and went directly to the balcony. The rising sun was shining on an empty yard. A few elves were grooming their horses or oiling their weapons, but all was still. It was a very peculiar morning this day.
“Ada, are you in here?” a young and agitated voice sounded from the hall.
“Elrohir?” Elrond stepped back inside and saw the fear on his son’s face. “What is it, melme? What is wrong?”
“Tell me, ada,” he said. “Tell me, is it Erestor?”
“Is what Erestor?” Elrond did not understand what his son was trying to say.
“Is it Erestor who is allergic to the oranges?” the urgency in his voice told of a more serious matter than the question would imply.
“Why do you ask such a thing? I though we had already discussed....”
“Tell me, ada! Tell me now!”
“All right!” He was not used to his children or anyone else ever raising their voice at him, and he grew uneasy with this whole interrogation. “Yes. It is because of Erestor that I forbad the oranges. Why bother with this now?”
“Because we found him...in the garden...” Elrond heard his heart gallop in his chest, afraid that something terrible had happened. “...we cannot wake him!”
Elrond followed his youngest son as they hurried through the corridors and into the north garden. Pushing past bushes and trees, the two Peredhil took a shortcut to the orchard, where the large orange tree centred a clearing. As they entered the clearing they saw Elladan. He looked very upset. Elrond hesitated in his step. The ground was covered in fallen fruit. Smashed, crushed and torn to pieces, the oranges were strewn across the grass. On the other side of the tree, Elrond could see something lying on the ground.
The twins had covered the naked bodies with blankets, but Elrond did not have to see them to know what had happened. Erestor and Glorfindel were lying a few paces apart, dishevelled and sticky with the broken fruits. Elrond kneeled beside Erestor and hovered his hand over his brow. Closing his eyes, he felt for darkness in the elf’s mind.
Elrohir embraced his brother and tried to comfort him. Elladan felt such guilt over bringing that orange into the house, and thought that somehow this was all his fault. They could not lose Erestor. He had been a second father to them after their mother passed. And Glorfindel who had been their hero since the day he set foot in Imladris, how could they survive losing him? Elladan wept on his brother’s shoulder, praying to the Valar that their loved ones would stay.
Elrond checked both of the sleeping elves, surprised to find nothing wrong with them. They only appeared exhausted. He rose, baffled, not certain what to do about this situation. He looked at his sons, who were holding each other worriedly, looking to him for answers. He reassured his sons that everything would be all right. He concluded that the best thing to do would be to leave the sleeping elves where they lay, until they were properly rested. He situated guards at the entrances to the garden, stating that no one was permitted to enter.
He then faced long hours of pacing and worrying, wondering if he should not check on them one more time. The twins also worried, but their presence helped calm him down. It was a relief for him to finally tell them the truth. They were most shocked to hear about Lindir’s ‘accident’. They would never have believed Erestor to do such a thing. Hours passed. They waited and listened, dreading the moment when their friends realized what they had done.
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Erestor managed with great effort to open his eyes. His eyelashes were stuck together from dried orange juice. Groaning tiredly he sat up and looked around. Arien soared the western sky, and a light breeze ruffled his hair as he cleared his mind. When he tried to smooth his hair from his face, his fingers stuck in the dark locks, and a fierce struggle to free himself took place. His ears filled with a melodic laughter.
Glorfindel lay on his stomach, resting his chin on his hands, and watching Erestor with great mirth. Pieces of drying pulp still clung to his skin. He smiled adoringly, and Erestor nearly melted into a puddle of goo. He couldn’t help but giggle at it all, and blushed like a young boy when the seneschal looked at him so lovingly.
“We need a bath,” Glorfindel stated, and held up his hand to show how his fingers were stuck together. Erestor chuckled and nodded.
“We certainly do,” he said, and held up what looked like a bird’s nest in his hair.
They got to their feet and stretched. Erestor looked around at the mess they had created. It was a wonder no one had caught them here, since it was quite late in the day. He frowned when he noticed the blankets, because he could not remember that they had brought blankets. He saw the same expression on Glorfindel’s face, but in the end they just shrugged, wrapped the blankets around their bodies and headed for the bathhouse.
Surprised to see two guards standing by the house, they sneaked past them while they were talking, and were glad to find the bathhouse empty. Inside was a large pool where everyone could sit together, and then there were a few smaller, more secluded pools for couples who wanted privacy. Glorfindel led Erestor to one of these pools, and helped the sticky advisor enter the water. They sat quietly for a long while, just soaking up the heat. The water came directly from the nearby hot springs, and was always nice and warm.
Glorfindel sighed and put an arm around Erestor, pulling him close. Erestor rested his head on the strong shoulder provided, and closed his eyes in bliss. It had been a long time since he had felt such peace. Nuzzling up against his lover, he felt himself drift off again. But he did not mind. Everything was just right.
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Glorfindel woke softly by a melodious humming. When he opened his eyes he saw a perfect, pale back, slightly curved as Erestor was sitting in front of him, running his skilled fingers through shining, black hair. Glorfindel parted his legs to either side of the advisor, and slid forward to embrace him from behind. Erestor gratefully accepted the kisses bestowed upon his neck and shoulder, and tilted his head to make sure some of them hit his face and lips as well. After kissing softly for a few moments, Glorfindel drew back for a better view of those green eyes that he adored.
Erestor relished the feeling of secure arms around him. Wet skin on wet skin. The slightly wrinkled fingertips tickling his stomach. Those intense blue eyes, seeing him, and only him. It was where he always had wanted to be. He reached up to touch that flawless face. To caress that smooth, perfect skin. Letting his gaze follow his fingertip as he traced over those full, pouty lips, his voice quivered when he spoke.
“I love you, you know.”
“We became lovers but a day ago, and already you love me?” Glorfindel said with a dazzling smile. Erestor only shook his head slowly, feeling the need to be absolutely sincere.
“No. I always loved you.”
Glorfindel’s smile vanished, and he held Erestor even more tenderly. The look in the green eyes was so honest, so pure, and so afraid. Vulnerable even. He didn’t know what to say. He petted the soft hair, trying to wrap his mind around the words spoken.
“I thought you despised me,” he finally said. “I must have tried a hundred times to be your friend, and every time you shut the door in my face.”
“But I never wanted to be your friend, Glorfindel. It was easier to just stay away from you. I hated you as much as I loved you.”
“You hated me?” Glorfindel wasn’t as surprised as he sounded, but he was curious now. This was the first time the two of them had ever really talked. He needed to know everything.
“I hated you. From the moment you showed up in Imladris, everything changed. You were the great saviour, the warrior sent back from the dead by the Valar to protect us. You became everyone’s hero. And you took the twins from me.”
When he spoke the last words he could not manage to look Glorfindel in the face. The bitterness he felt was obvious. He still remembered the pain.
“How did I take the twins from you?”
“Always had I been there for them. Whenever they had a problem they came to me. When they were children I would play with them, read to them, sing with them, teach them things and tell them whatever they wanted to know. I was a third parent for their entire lives, and I was their friend. All that changed when you showed up. They no longer cared for books or songs. All they ever wanted to hear were your brutal war stories. And if one of them found a special someone, I was always the last to know. They spent all their free time with you, and I was forgotten like I never existed.”
“That is not true!” Glorfindel was shocked. How could Erestor believe such a thing? “Many times they came to me out of worry for you. In fact, they often spoke of how much you meant to them, and how it hurt them to watch you change. They said you were different once. That you used to smile.”
Erestor looked at Glorfindel, his eyes swimming in tears. Of course he had changed. Everything had changed that day. What became his sunlight also became his storm cloud. He had loved and admired the Elda as much as the other elves had, but Glorfindel had never treated him as one of the other elves. He wanted to ask him why, but he couldn’t find the words to phrase his question.
“You didn’t like me, did you?” It was more a statement than a question. “Whenever you tried to ‘be my friend’, it was because Elrond asked you to, not because you wanted to.”
“I was afraid of you,” Glorfindel admitted. “I thought you were cold. Heartless even.” It shamed him to say such a thing, but he had to tell Erestor the truth.
“Heartless?” Erestor was not only offended, but deeply hurt by such a grim, not to mention incorrect, term. “Heartless!?” He squirmed to get out of Glorfindel’s grip, but the blonde held him tightly in place.
“I was wrong, Erestor. I was so very wrong. Please forgive me.” Erestor stopped wriggling, and Glorfindel tightened his hold on the advisor, kissing his forehead pleadingly. “Please forgive me.”
Erestor released a ragged breath, and tried to put words to his feelings. “I only ever wanted you to love me. But you made it very clear that you had no respect for people who rather devote themselves to books and politics than to swords and arrows.”
“What makes you say that? I never claimed such a thing.”
“Never mind,” Erestor said. He was growing tired with all this emotion. “Just a lot of little things. I was simply never welcome in your little group of followers.”
“I didn’t think you wanted to be there.”
“I didn’t.”
“Then what are you arguing about?”
Erestor chuckled then, and Glorfindel was relieved he had been able to lift the mood. He kissed Erestor on the forehead once more, and embraced him tightly. He felt sad he had not been aware to see this other side of the chief counsellor before. He wished he had noticed it earlier. As he saw him now, there was nothing cold about him. He was warm, passionate, and incredibly devoted. Glorfindel had been sad when he first came to Imladris. There was no elf that he really felt connected with, no one that was special to him. Elrond and his sons were of course his close friends, but he would have wanted a companion. A partner. He never saw a potential mate in any of the elves he had gotten to know.
Erestor had been so mysterious. He had wanted to get to know him, he really had, but Erestor frightened him. He was a very authoritative elf, and was known across the lands as the negotiator who could stare down a mûmak. He had admired the advisor. Looked up to him. Whenever one was in his presence one felt so insignificant. Erestor simply beamed with pride, knowledge and wisdom. Surely he would have no need of mixing with the mere common folk. Or so Glorfindel had thought.
Erestor adjusted himself in the Elda’s embrace, leaning his back comfortably against the broad chest, and relaxing once again. He didn’t want to fret about the past anymore. He was content to be where he was. He sighed deeply and smiled to himself.
“You know, I might have approached you earlier had you not been such a show-off,” he teased.
“Oh, *I’m* the show-off, am I?” Glorfindel joined in the teasing.
“Always playing with your silly little knifes, taking of your shirt so that everyone can se what pretty muscles you have...”
“Says the walking dictionary!” he countered, mocking offence. “Like you don’t take every opportunity to show off all the knowledge you crammed in that pretty little brain of yours.”
“That is hardly the same thing.”
“It is exactly the same thing.”
“So we’re both show-offs.”
“Exactly.”
They broke out in a fit of laughter, and had to dip their heads under water to be able to stop. When they surfaced, they embraced tightly, and kissed each other in a way that made them feel closer to one another than they had ever felt before. Blue eyes locking with green, they smiled.
“See,” Glorfindel said. “We are not so different after all.” He raised his hand out of the water, took Erestor’s hand in his, and intertwined their fingers. “Look how we fit together.”
----------------------------------
Elrond didn’t have much of an appetite. He passed time at dinner by simply moving the food around on his plate. Looking up, he noticed that his sons were doing the same. It was late in the afternoon, and still no sign of anything happening in the garden. He would go and check in on their friends as soon as he had finished dinner. /What a joke that was,/ he thought to himself. Seeing the worry on identical faces, he tried to say something encouraging.
“They will be all right, my beloveds. There is no need to worry.”
“Is that why you are not eating either, ada?” Elladan asked with a hint of amusement. Elrond smiled fondly.
“Sometimes I wonder if not you two take more after Erestor than you do me. You tease just the way he does.”
“I remember,” Elrohir said. “That we once called him nana, just for fun, and he ended up chasing us through the entire house. We thought he was going to spank us silly.” Elladan laughed so hard he nearly choked. They had been a very mischievous pair, even after they reached their majority.
“I remember you two used to sit on the floor in the library, hour after hour, just to watch him work,” Elrond added. “You were always very fond of him, and he knew that. He would never have hurt you, even if you did call him nana.” He smiled at his sons. He was so proud of them. They had grown into fine men.
“I know,” Elrohir said. “But he changed. We changed. After we started battle training we spent more time with Glorfindel than we did with him, and we lost that closeness that we used to have.”
He spoke with great sadness in his voice, and Elrond felt his heart grow heavy with regret. Erestor had been very close with the boys once. Perhaps in his despair the lonely Noldo had sought other pleasures as substitute for their company. Elrond shook his head. It was still not an explanation, but it felt as though he was getting closer.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Elrohir continued. “I love Glorfindel, and I’m very glad we have grown so close to him, but I miss Erestor.”
“So do I,” Elladan agreed. “Elrohir, do you remember the day Glorfindel first arrived?”
“Of course. I remember everything about that day.” His face received a dreamy expression, and he stared into thin air as if he was picturing it in front of him. “He was wearing the finest clothing, set in green and burgundy, with golden flower embroideries.”
“He looked so regal,” Elladan filled in.
“His armour shone in the sunlight, and his weapons were like nothing I had ever seen.”
“The fabled balrog-slayer,” Elladan said, lost in his own memories.
“I even remember the feeling of awe I got when he walked passed me,” Elrohir continued. “And I remember the way his hair smelled.”
“Oh yes,” Elladan agreed. “Like spices and oranges...”
This is when Elrond choked on his meal. He didn’t even realize his sons were patting him on the back until a half chewed piece of an unrecognisable vegetable flew across the table. Before the twins could ask any questions, Elrond was already on his feet and pacing the room. Oranges. Oranges. Always back to the oranges. Elrond thought back to meeting Glorfindel in the twins’ room. /Please, meldir. I have not used this oil in centuries. I simply felt like wearing it. I like its scent./
Indeed. It was the same oil he had worn during his first time in Imladris. It was not much later that Erestor started behaving strangely. Hiding basket after basket of oranges in his room, devouring them in a manner that would bring you to imagine the way an orc would eat a baby’s head. Slowly, Elrond Peredhel was beginning to find the last pieces of the puzzle. The bigger picture was unfolding itself in front of him.
The lonely advisor. The overachieving seneschal. The sparks. The uncharacteristic behaviour. The losses. The suppressed emotions. The obsession. The oranges.
“Ada?” Elrohir’s voice reached him through the haze of his brooding, and he stopped pacing. “Ada, do you think...”
“Yes,” he whispered. Slowly, a sly smile crept into his features, which utterly baffled his confused sons. “Yes, I think.... I think everything will be all right.”
-------------------------------
Three months later, snow covered the entire valley. Naked trees glistened with frost, and everywhere in the forest you could see the footprints of animals imprinted on the white quilt that sheltered the earth. The days were dark, but the valley was alive and lit with lanterns. After the sun had completed its round and left the heavens black, tiny wads of soft snow began their slow journey to join their fallen brothers. In the last homely house, large hearths were warming the elves that dwelled within. But two remained without. A trail of soft footprints led away from the homestead, and up a hill. From that hill anyone who wanted could have a perfect view of the gardens all around the elven haven. Gardens where next spring orange trees would blossom unrestricted once more.
There in the shadow stood two figures, hand in hand, gazing up at the darkened sky. There was a blond one, clad in blue, and a dark one, wearing the deepest of red. From the garden they were barely visible, veiled behind a curtain of falling snow. The air was still. There was no sound that could disturb the couple where they stood in reverence of nature’s miracle. Their heads tilted upward, tiny stars of crystal snow landed on their faces, only to melt away on their warm skin.
Erestor giggled when a snowflake nearly got inside his nose, and it tickled him so badly he needed to sneeze. Glorfindel looked at his mate dotingly, unable to stop a wide grin from appearing on his face. In Erestor he had found the partner he had always craved, and more than that. He loved him something terrible, and could not imagine ever living without him again. Glorfindel rubbed his thumb over the hand in his, drawing Erestor’s attention. Ocean green eyes turned to look at him. It was amazing that he still got weak in the knees from such a simple thing.
“I love you, you silly elf,” he smiled, and pressed a kiss to the pale hand.
“I love you too, you big show-off,” Erestor grinned, and moved in close, face to face with his lover.
“Oh, *I’m* the show-off, am I?” Glorfindel’s grin grew wider, and he rubbed their noses together affectionately. Erestor nodded.
“You are.”
They kissed lovingly, trying not to giggle into each other’s mouths. Glorfindel got a bit frisky, and his hands travelled lower to cup a firm behind as they kissed.
“Guess what I want,” he teased, and started kissing Erestor’s neck, making him groan with pleasure.
“You... want to go inside?”
“No...” Glorfindel teased the most sensitive areas on the pale neck, knowing exactly where they were located.
“So you want to do it here, in the snow?”
“Uh-huh...”
“We did that yesterday, my love. You’ll have to think of something new.”
Glorfindel stopped and raised his head to look at his lover. “So I have to think of something new every day?”
“Uh-huh...” Erestor grinned and started kissing Glorfindel’s neck, eliciting a deep sigh of contentment.
“Don’t ever change, Erestor.”
Erestor stopped the teasing and faced his beloved Elda. The words had moved him almost to tears, but there was nothing but a warm smile on his face as he embraced Glorfindel. Rubbing their noses together affectionately, Erestor caressed the hair and the face he had been spellbound by for so long. They were finally together. Glorfindel took his hand and kissed it. He repeated the words he meant so sincerely.
“Don’t ever change.”
End
-------------------------------------
meldir = friend
ada = dad
melethron = lover
Ithil = the moon
Arien = the sun
lirimaer = my lovely one
melme = love
mûmak = oliphaunt