A/N This was written for the challenge Elrond Tuesday. Thank you to Eldhoron for the title
It was a cold fall night in the Valley of Imladris. Not a single cloud was in the night sky. The only thing to be seen above was the bright shining moon and hundreds of twinkling stars which helped give light to the hidden valley below. Inside the house of healing, Elrond worked relentlessly on the task at hand while the rest of the inhabitants were getting ready to retire for the night.
Elrond would find no rest that night, nor any night thereafter. His mind was still attempting to recover from recent events that still had the whole of Imladris reeling in shock and turmoil. As he closed his eyes, he tried to get the image of his wife out of his head but found he could not. No matter how hard he tried, it stayed as clear and vivid as the day she was brought home to him. He could not even get the look of his sons faces out of his mind. The look of pain and anger shone brightly in their eyes when they returned from rescuing their mother from the orc den several weeks ago. When Elrohir handed his mother over to him, Elrond shuddered involuntarily at how light she felt and how frail and helpless she appeared.
Opening his eyes, Elrond tried to focus his attention back on his wife. However, as his eyes roamed her frail body, he felt the anger and pain boil to the surface once again. His fingers trembled as he carefully tended the many bruises, broken bones and welts that covered most of her body. Elrond knew in time she would heal from these physical injuries. He had no doubt about that, no, what worried him the most were the wounds which could not be seen. The ones hidden deep inside of Celebrían – the emotional scars.
These he knew would more than likely be permanent, and the only cure would be for her to sail to the Undying Lands. The raven-haired lord fought back his tears. This should never have happened to her. This should be him lying here in a traumatized state. He cursed at himself for failing to protect her. He should have known she would be in danger. Did he not have the gift of foresight? What good was it to be able to see into the future if he could not even protect the ones he loved?
Tossing the rag aside when he was finished tending to her, he stormed out of the room and went outside. Looking up into the night sky he screamed until he could scream no more. "Why?! Why did you allow this to happen to her? That should have been me! Curse you! Curse all of you!"
When he had finished screaming, Elrond fell to his knees and sobbed. No longer able to hold back the weeks of emotions he let it all out not caring who saw or heard him. Several minutes later, he felt a hand rest upon his shoulder.
Swallowing the last of his tears, Elrond turned his head and looked up into the blue eyes of Glorfindel – they spoke of sadness and pain. The golden-haired warrior had been taking a walk when he heard the screams. Knowing who they belonged to, he wasted no time in rushing over to make sure everything was ok. When he had reached his friend, he was devastated at what he saw. Glorfindel hated to see his friend hurt, and he could not help but blame himself for this. After all, he was sent back to protect this family. "My friend, it was not your fault. Please do not blame yourself for this." He held out his hand and offered to help Elrond up. At first, Elrond would not accept the help. He wanted to be alone to wallow in his misery. But when he realized Glorfindel had no intentions of leaving, he finally took his hand.
Glorfindel was relieved Elrond gave in to his help. As old as he was and as much pain and suffering as he had seen, he knew the last thing Elrond needed was to be alone – it was not safe. He already feared for Elrond's twin sons, but there was nothing he could do at the moment for them as they had taken to riding out almost every night in an almost savage anger to hunt down the creatures who had tormented their mother. But he could help Elrond, and help he would.
When Elrond had stood to his feet, he allowed him to escort him to his rooms. No words were spoken that night for none were needed. Glorfindel had ordered that no one was to disturb them unless it was about the Lady Celebrían and for the rest of the evening Glorfindel sat with Elrond, not as lord and captain but as close friends and sworn brothers, and he held him as he cried once again.