Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own any elves.
Something Like a Proposal
"You deserve someone who has more left to give."
"And yet my path has led me here."
"There could be another, somewhere. One whom you have yet to meet."
"There is little to be done about that. I am not a stranger to duty, my lord. I know what I do, what I allow."
"There is one thing that could still be done," he protested. "Give me the word and I will go to your father and put an end to this. No blame will fall to you, it will be my doing alone. I swear it."
She tried to lighten the mood. "I wonder if I should be insulted. You are trying very hard to avoid this on my behalf."
The teasing fell flat and he flinched. "I did not mean-"
She sighed. "Stop," she said firmly, "I know what you mean." She studied his face for a long while and then suddenly smiled even as surprise flashed across his features. "I think," she said, "that knowing what you are willing to do is enough."
He bowed his head and tried to bring forth some strong emotion besides guilt. She was still nigh a girl to him, if a beautiful one, and he was not sure his heart had returned with his body from the bloody remains of distant battlefields. He was not yet sure that his ability to feel had returned-even grief seemed far away. This child, this silver flower-she was made for better things than this, he could not help but think.
Regardless, he had let them be backed into this cursed corner, and now the only place he could run to was the one place he could not go.
Instead, he went to one knee, and looked up. There was too much hope and too little resentment in her eyes. "Then I offer you kindness, my Lady of Spring," he murmured finally, "and safety-and I promise that you shall never lack for comfort. I am worn and tired, and you think me better than I am, but if I can bring you happiness, then I shall do so."
"Then I shall be content," she said, and instead of raising him to his feet, she knelt before him with her pale hands folded in her lap.
"There is much I may come to regret." She spoke gently now. "But I doubt that marrying a good man will be one of them."
They sat there in the gardens, she still hopeful and he out of words. For the first time they were free from onlookers, and pretense, and put-upon expectations.
"Kiss me," Celebrian said, so he did.
...
Love can come from kindness, and, for a while, that was enough.
A/N: Thank you for reading long enough to see this! Reviews, of course, are very much appreciated. (Mostly, I'm wondering if the last line was a good idea or not.) Don't take this too seriously though, my thoughts on Elrond and Celebrian are hardly set in stone.