Disclaimer: Lord of the Rings, Celeborn, and Galadriel all belongs to Tolkien and the Tolkien Estate. Nothing herein belongs to me.
Time frame: Shortly after the news of Celebrian's capture reaches Lothlorien, but before Elladan and Elrohir find and rescue her.
A/N: This actually was inspired by a line I wrote whilst working on Poisoned Star, and a conversation that I had with my friend and beta Mirnava around said line. It got me to thinking...There are a number of tales out there concerning Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen's reactions to the news that Celebrian (their mother and, in Elrond's case his wife) was captured by orcs. Yet never before have I read or seen one concerning Galadriel and Celeborn. Thus this piece was born.
Many thanks to Mirnava for her betaing skills, and for providing the discussion in response to which this got written. To all of you readers, I would really love a few words telling me what you thought of it - good, bad, okay, whatever... Most importantly, however, I hope that you enjoy reading this.
~Tears Will Come~
"Celeborn, what are you doing?" Celeborn paused for an instant, his hands stilling on the buckle, and turned to look toward the door. Galadriel was standing there, her face pale and her eyes shadowed; if Celeborn had not known that the Eldar could not catch any Edain sickness, he would have thought her ill.
Celeborn quickly finished buckling on his breastplate and turned to retrieve his sword, which was hanging on its hook upon the wall. He answered his wife's question without looking at her, knowing that he would not be able to bear the look upon her face.
"I cannot simply sit here and wait," Celeborn said quietly, taking his sheathed sword in hand. "If I must, I will slaughter every orc between here and Imladris to get our daughter back." He wrapped the belt about his waist and buckled it, turning around as he did so.
"Celeborn..." Galadriel's voice was soft and broken, and on silent feet she hurried to her husband's side. "You know that it will do no good," she said. "You shall merely cause yourself harm."
Celeborn opened his arms and Galadriel slipped into his embrace without hesitation. Celeborn held her close, his cheek pressed against the top of her head.
"I know," Celeborn whispered, "But she is our daughter. You cannot ask me to merely sit here and wait. I cannot..." he trailed off, unable to find the words needed.
All was silent for a long moment, a long moment in which husband and wife, mother and father, simply stood, wrapped in each other's arms, sharing in their fear and their grief.
"I know."
No more words were spoken between them. Celeborn and his company were gone within the hour, riding hard for the mountains looming in the distance. Galadriel stood at the edge of the flet as they rode away, the tears that she had refused to shed causing her eyes to gleam as she watched them disappear amongst the trees. It was nearly an hour before she finally turned away and retreated to the safety of hers and Celeborn's rooms, sorrow darkening her heart.
It was only then that the tears began to fall.
