Surprise, Sixty-four K! Happy birthday to you, I'm so glad you had a most fabulous birthday (I mean, you deserve it, of course;). I apologize, there's no Angst (or Galion, I'm dreadfully sorry about that) which I know you love, but it has Glorfindel and Erestor both! And polite!Glorfindel, that has to count for something, right…? XD
Anyways, enjoy!
You want to know how chess night started, you say? Well...sit down here, and let me tell you. I'm going to jump right in where it actually began – where Glorfindel and Erestor actually spoke for once, and the threads of an idea was formed...
…
"Good morning, Counselor Erestor," Glorfindel greeted, letting his feet fall from the council table where they had been resting.
"Good morn, Captain," the black-clad adviser said, and then ignored him as he sat at the chair on the right of the head of the table, arranging his papers and documents for the council that was going to begin in less than half an hour.
Glorfindel, cautiously raising his feet to prop them on the table again, was pleased when it wasn't noticed. Leaning back in his chair, he studied the enigma that was Lord Elrond's Chief of counselors. He had never seen the elf anywhere but in this council and formal situations, though Glorfindel had once or twice delivered a report to his office, where the adviser looked frazzled and immediately waved him out.
Thinking more on it, Glorfindel realized the Counselor was somewhat withdrawn, though he was quite outspoken in council meetings, and his arguments were always well-reasoned and sensible. If Glorfindel didn't know better, though, he'd think Counselor Erestor enjoyed destroying others' 'unreasonable' opinions in their debates. Oddly enough, the adviser had never really spoken to Glorfindel, and yet almost everyone Glorfindel had met fawned over him and wanted to speak to him, ask him questions, and hear the tales of his previous life. To be honest, Glorfindel rather preferred the adviser ignoring him than being like all of the rest of his...admirers.
"Excuse me, Captain," came a cool voice near the head of the table, and Glorfindel looked up, startled from his thoughts.
Counselor Erestor was regarding him with a quirked eyebrow and tight lips. "Would you lower your feet from the table, please? It's not a footstool."
Glorfindel raised his eyebrows, but dropped his feet. He might have said something, but the door opened just then and Lord Elrond entered, followed by two younger advisers who immediately took seats beside Glorfindel.
"Good day, all," Elrond greeted Glorfindel and Erestor cheerily, sliding into his seat with ease. Erestor slid him a sheaf of papers and he smiled, straightening it and placing it before him. "Thank you, Erestor. Who else is coming today?"
Erestor looked at the two advisers, sitting on either side of Glorfindel, and he resisted the urge to roll his eyes at their huge smiles directed at the reembodied Balrog-slayer. "We're early, my lord – it's twenty minutes before we start, but there is the envoy from Forlindon and that new adviser that just arrived from Lothlórien. Including our advisers who haven't arrived yet, that makes twelve people we're still waiting for."
"Ah, good then," Elrond said. "Is there anything else I need to know?"
Erestor's gaze flickered to Glorfindel, who was smiling easily at him, and he frowned slightly. "No, my lord. There is –"
The door opened again, and a group of elves filed in. They took their places at the long oval-shaped table, leaving only one empty seat.
Elrond raised an eyebrow. "Well, that was certainly fast. Is there anything we need to go over before we start?" he asked Erestor, and the adviser shook his head.
"Nothing to discuss, but there are two more people we're waiting on. You might want to arrange your documents according to topic of discussion before we officially start, however."
"Good idea," Elrond agreed, and began laying his papers upon the solid oak of the table, perusing them with a concentrating expression and occassionally shifting one or the other. The others at the table did the same with the few items they had carried in the room; but Erestor, already organized as usual, merely shifted his quill on the table surface to a more straightened position and glanced around the room.
Glorfindel was not arranging his papers. He wasn't doing anything, in fact, other than smiling at nothing and leaning back so far in his chair that it wobbled on its back legs. For a malicious moment, Erestor wondered if it might fall over, but Glorfindel rocked back and slammed the front legs onto the marble floor, wincing and smiling apologetically when the sound echoed through the large room.
Erestor released a quiet snort and decided to occupy his time by writing out a concise schedule for the celebratory banquet in two months. It wouldn't hurt getting a head start on it.
It was ten minutes later before the door opened again and two young advisers entered, both females with coiffed dark hair and arms piled with books and messy documents. They hesitated, and then one sat at the only available chair, while the other stood to the side a little awkwardly. Erestor was opening his mouth to order one of the seated attendants – there were two at the very end of the table, and they did nothing, really – to go fetch a chair from the supply closet, when there was a golden flash and Glorfindel stood swiftly from his seat, smiling charmingly.
The Balrog-slayer stepped back and gestured at his seat, looking at the lone female standing with her numerous heavy items. "Sit here, my lady," he said, and when she blushed and nodded, sitting where he motioned, he pushed the chair in and moved back to stand against the wall.
Erestor cast him a piercing look, rather annoyed at such unesseccary flaboyant behaviour, but Glorfindel only smiled and looked away.
"Well..." said Lord Elrond after a long moment. "Is this everyone, then?"
"That was completely unnesseccary," Erestor told Glorfindel. The last person had left the room just a moment ago, the door swinging behind him, and Erestor had begun gathering the notes and reports everyone had made during the two-hour-long session. Glorfindel had stayed, dropping easily into one of the abandoned chairs, and had propped his feet on the table again.
Erestor had elected to ignore that, but he couldn't help but mention what he thought of what Glorfindel had done earlier.
Glorfindel, his chair teetering dangerously again, smiled that little smile that quirked his lips and crinkled the corners of his eyes, but it was quietly smug and Erestor didn't like it. "Giving a female a seat when she had none was unneseccary? How so?"
"There is a collection of extra of multiple chairs in the supply closet just next door," Erestor stated, clicking his collection of papers against the table to even them out. "You could have gotten one of those, instead of standing the entire time and looking as though you'd fallen asleep."
Glorfindel laughed. "Don't tell me you haven't thought of just going to sleep when it got really boring here."
Erestor refused to even blink. It was entirely true, but he would never admit that. "You could have asked about another chair."
"True, true." Glorfindel rocked back and forth on the chair a little more, and Erestor collected more papers.
He had finally stacked all of the papers and was readying to call someone to help carry them when Glorfindel stood to his feet, stretching casually and yawning. "Well," he said, heading for the door, "I'll see you later, I suppose."
"Good day," Erestor bade him coolly, taking the most important of papers and going to the door as well. A bored attendant leaned against the wall just outside, and Erestor ordered him to bring those leftover documents to his office, and then he went down the corridor in the opposite direction Glorfindel had gone, his mind growing occupied by other, substantially more important things than a smugly grinning Balrog-slayer.
To say Erestor was surprised when he saw Glorfindel in the library would be an understatement. Shocked would have been more appropriate to describe his expression when the golden-haired warrior wandered into sight, running his fingers along the books as he moseyed down the corridor between bookshelves.
"Erestor!" Glorfindel exclaimed upon seeing the adviser, his hand falling from the shelves, and he smiled widely. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm hunting oliphaunts," Erestor said drily. "What do you think I'm doing in a library? I'm looking for a book I need." He returned to his task, pulling out every other book on this row, examining the title and the artist, then placing it back in its spot.
Glorfindel was beside him, peering over his shoulder. "What are you looking for?" said the Captain, overly cheery and definitely in Erestor's personal space.
Erestor took a neat step away and plucked another book from the shelf. "A book," he said, scanned the cover of the one he had, and then slid it back into place. That wasn't the one he needed.
"What's the name? Perhaps I could help you look for it," Glorfindel suggested, smiling broadly.
Erestor snorted derisively, but quietly. "No, thank you. I'm sure I can find it myself." He continued down the aisle, checking books every-so-often. He would have this catalogued already, but there were books being added every day, and he was far too busy to do something like that. He really needed to assign someone to do this, and he made a mental note to do so.
"Okay!" Glorfindel agreed. He fell behind Erestor, his attention caught by other things, and Erestor was relieved that the Balrog-slayer seemed to have lost interest in conversation for now.
And then Glorfindel spoke again. "Oh!" he said. "What's this?" Something clattered, and Erestor turned quickly, startled.
Glorfindel was holding a square box about four inches high, silver engraving on the edges of the hardy metal. His eyes were bright, obviously excited, and he snapped the lid open to peer inside.
"Ah, that's a chess game," Erestor said. "It's Lord Elrond's, please leave it alone."
Glorfindel grinned in delight, setting the box on an open area on the shelf, then picked out a few pieces to look at them curiously. "I've not seen one of these since...Gondolin. I'd have thought they were out of style by now. Ooh, this piece is new, what is it?"
The pieces were snatched from his hands, and Erestor placed them carefully back into the velvet-padded box. He latched the lid shut, standing on the very edge of his toes to reach the top shelf and shove it back. Smiling tightly, he brushed his hands off and stepped back. "That is Lord Elrond's," the adviser said. "It was a gift from the High King, and it's the only full set in Imladris. I'm sure you wouldn't want to...accidentally break it, would you?"
Glorfindel tilted his head, looking at him curiously. "You wouldn't happen to know how to play, would you?"
Erestor blinked. "Well...yes, I do. I can't, though, that's not mine."
"Well!" Glorfindel beamed broadly. "Would Elrond really mind if I played a game?"
Erestor's gaze shuttered. "If you asked him, perhaps he wouldn't mind. But why don't you try that – asking first – before going and opening things that don't need bothered?" He turned to leave, but Glorfindel spoke up behind him.
"I haven't played a game in Ages, Erestor!" said the Captain. "Could I challenge you to a game?"
"No," Erestor said, and walked around the corner of the tall shelf, disappearing from view.
Glorfindel thought for a long moment, smiled, and then headed for the door of the library.
It was perhaps almost midnight when Erestor finally made it to the library again, a book tucked under one arm, and wearing more relaxed clothes – for him, it was a slightly looser robe, black as usual, and slippers instead of high-laced boots. He sat in the padded chair beside the fireplace and took the silver circlet that defined his office from his forehead, placing it onto the small table beside him. Finally relaxing, he pulled his feet up beneath his robes and opened his book, flipping to the marked page, and began reading.
Erestor was only six pages further into the book when something heavy slammed onto the table beside him, creating an explosive noise, and he startled, dropping his book and looking immediately toward the source of the noise.
It was the chess box that had been dropped, Glorfindel standing over it – and Erestor, subsequently – with a massive smile on his face. The Balrog-slayer, beaming, snagged a nearby chair and sat in it across from Erestor, the seat creaking beneath his weight.
Wondering how on Arda Glorfindel could have snuck up on him, Erestor huffed and slid down into his seat. "Go away, Captain," he said, flipping back to the page he had been on and pulling it up closer to his face.
Glorfindel ignored him, opening the chess box and pulling the board out, laying it sideways on the table and beginning to set pieces on it. He avoided Erestor's circlet, brow furrowing in confusion at some of the chess pieces, but put them on the board anyway. Once the box was emptied of game pieces, he set it to the side and folded his hands together on the edge of the table, smiling at Erestor, who was studiously concentrating on his book.
"I would like to play a game with you," Glorfindel said politely.
Erestor pursed his lips and elected to ignore the Balrog-slayer.
"I asked Lord Elrond, and he said I could use it," Glorfindel added. "He also said, as long as it was fine with you, I could challenge you to a game. So! Will you join me?"
Erestor hmphed.
"I can't exactly play by myself," Glorfindel said. He gave Erestor a long, considering look, then his gaze fell to the readied chess board. "Hmm," he said. "What is this piece? There weren't any of them in the old game – and there were two less of the foot-soldiers."
"They're bishops," Erestor grumped over the edge of his book. "And the 'foot-soldiers' are called pawns now. No, I won't play with you; this is my only free time during the day, and I'm reading."
"Your only free time is at midnight?" said Glorfindel in more than a little surprise.
Erestor said nothing.
"Oh, well, okay," Glorfindel said. "But couldn't you play just this one time? I have to learn how to do this...new version of the game." He stared at Erestor, and the adviser could feel his blue gaze boring into the book that was blocking his view of Erestor's face. "Please?"
Exasperated, Erestor dropped his book into his lap. "I'm reading! Why do you want to play chess anyhow?"
Glorfindel's gaze fell to the table. "I see," he said. "You don't actually know how to play. That's why you're refusing."
Erestor snorted and lifted the book again. "That's not going to work on me."
Glorfindel sighed heavily and sat back in his seat. "I suppose I'm just going to wait, then."
Erestor raised an eyebrow behind the safety of his book. Glorfindel would be waiting a very long time indeed, if he thought that just sitting there was going to do anything.
Silence fell, and the moon, visible from the high window in the library, moved slowly across the dark sky. Two hours later, Erestor rose, stretched, snagged his circlet from the table, and walked quietly from the room after casting a disbelieving look at the snoring Glorfindel.
"Good eve!" Glorfindel greeted Erestor cheerfully the next night, setting the chess board on the table. A book was slowly lowered, and shocked dark eyes peered up at him for a moment before the book snapped back into place, and Erestor huffed.
Glorfindel grinned and set out the chess board. He wasn't quite sure if this was how the pieces were arranged, but he was trying. Sitting back comfortably, Glorfindel yawned, glanced outside at the rising moon, and casually stretched his feet out to rest them on the fireplace's stone hearth that jutted a few inches from the marble floor.
And he waited.
The next night, Glorfindel was there before Erestor even entered the room. He was reclining easily in the chair he had taken the two nights before, leaning on the table that already had the game set up on it.
Erestor stepped around him and sat in his own chair. As he usually did, he carefully took the circlet from his head and rested it on the table, beside the chess board. Pulling his legs up beneath him, Erestor opened his book – a new one this time – and began reading.
Glorfindel yawned and stared at him.
It might have taken immense strength of mind not to look back at Glorfindel, but Erestor was simply irritated, and finally raised his book to block his face from Glorfindel.
Twenty minutes later, when the moonbeams were filtering softly through the window and mingling with the constant flickering of the fire, Glorfindel rose and left the library.
Erestor heard the soft fall of footsteps and he lowered his book just enough to see Glorfindel's golden hair vanish out the door. He snorted quietly, knowing that Glorfindel would give up at this point, and went back to his book.
He was rather surprised when, just a few minutes later, Glorfindel came back into the room, holding a wine bottle in one hand and two goblets in the other. The Captain sat at his seat again, smiling widely at his new idea, and poured both goblets half-full after easily tugging the cork out of the bottle.
"Here," he said, handing one to Erestor. "I brought wine!"
Erestor blinked at him slowly, then finally sighed and took the drink. Holding the book with one hand now, he took a sip of the wine and returned to reading.
Glorfindel squinted at him for a long moment, decided he had made a step in the right direction, albeit a small one, and leaned back to enjoy his own wine.
The fourth night, Erestor finally looked at the board Glorfindel had set up, only daring to look over once he was sure the Balrog-slayer had nodded off.
The pieces were set wrong, Erestor realized, and checked once more to be sure that Glorfindel was actually asleep. He seemed to be, blue eyes glazed in contemplative sleep and head fallen against the back of his chair, so Erestor set aside the wine goblet Glorfindel had again brought, and he leaned forward to move some of the game pieces around.
Satisfied after it was all in order, Erestor stood and yawned deeply, picked up his circlet again, and padded out of the room.
Once the soft sound of his footsteps had disappeared down the corridor, blue eyes blinked once, and Glorfindel sat up. He looked at the board and smiled.
"Why are you doing this?" Erestor asked the next night, finally speaking.
Glorfindel, somewhat surprised, blinked. "Doing what?"
"...This." Erestor waved his hand demonstratively. "Coming here, setting up this game, bringing the...wine." He flicked his half-empty goblet. "It can't be just because you want to play chess."
Glorfindel folded his hands in his lap and regarded Erestor with a smile. "It is, though," he said serenely.
Erestor didn't say anymore that night.
On the sixth night, Erestor pushed a pawn forward as he left the room.
Later, when Glorfindel woke – he had truly been asleep this time – he saw the moved piece as he was preparing to put the board away, and his smile was so bright it seemed to light the room.
Glorfindel was waiting, again, this time with the pawn just as it had been placed the night before. Another pawn, the one on his side, was set forward as well.
Erestor glanced at his happy smile and the altered board, pursed his lips, and sat in his chair to begin reading. He made it twenty minutes before sighing heavily and letting the book fall into his lap. "Fine," he muttered. "Fine." He lifted a knight and set it sideways on the checkered board, then began to sit back again, but Glorfindel's hand flashed and his bishop had moved halfway across the board.
Erestor stared at him for a long, annoyed moment.
Glorfindel beamed.
Erestor sighed again and seemed to be considering it, then he carefully shut his book and set it to the side, jumping a pawn two spaces forward to threaten the bishop.
Glorfindel pulled the bishop back two spaces, and he smiled widely. "So!" he said. "How was life today?"
Erestor moved a pawn. "Why do you want to know?" he said with a sardonic snort.
"Well..." Glorfindel waved a hand at the chess board. "We're playing a game together, we're supposed to talk and converse...you know, be sociable."
Erestor sat back and tapped an armest. "If you really want to play chess with me," he said, "then you must know one thing. I do not make idle conversation, it's pointless and a waste of time and brainpower. If you'd like someone else to chat casually with, you may go find someone else."
"Right," Glorfindel said after a long moment. "Very well then." He slowly edged another pawn forward a space. "All right!" Glorfindel said again a bit later. "How was life today?"
…
And that is how the tumultuous, rather odd friendship of Glorfindel and Erestor was started. It didn't begin smoothly or easily, but it happened, and somehow Erestor managed to restrain himself from strangling Glorfindel in their more ridiculous moments.
Thank you for reading! Please review! *sprinkles glitter*