Disclaimer: Nothing is what I own, except for my own stunning originality.
Author's Note:
I am inexpressibly weary of Library Erestor. Shy Erestor. Little Erestor. Lonely Erestor. Gay Erestor. Shy little lonely gay Erestor.
I am also inexpressibly weary of Happy Glorfindel. Silly Glorfindel. Santa Glorfindel. Popular Glorfindel. Horny Glorfindel. Gay Glorfindel. Happy, silly, Santa, popular, horny gay Glorfindel.
I am very weary.
So I decided that the best cure was to write them the way that I wanted them. So. There.
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Chapter One
Mist filled Imladris like a gentle exhalation. Spring had come to the valley at last. The river still flowed icy and muddy brown, but the ground was warm and soft. Fields would plowed; gardens plotted, and the last of the wintersweet would disappear. Elrond studied the yellow and red flower in his palm and finally slipped it into his pocket, giving up. It would come to him, soon.
Almost it came to him, as he ate breakfast, absently spooning jam onto his eggs instead of his toast. Like the faint fragrance of the fading flower, it disappeared with the first sticky mouthful. It disappeared entirely when the door exploded open and a man in a expansive brown coat and knee high boots strode into the room.
"Master Elrond," he cried happily "I hoped to catch you early."
Nearly choking on his breakfast, the elf rose, gladly abandoning the eggs.
"What brings you----Radagast!" Elrond stepped away from the man's hearty embrace, and looked him up and down "How could you have---the river---"
Radagast chuckled and didn't answer for a few moments as he flung the curtains away from all the windows.
"You elves and your houses, hideously dark. There, better." He surveyed his handiwork with satisfaction as the morning sun streamed into the room "The Brunien may stop some from entering the valley, but it has a difficult time in stopping a Wizard, especially one on a mission. Despite what others may have to say on the matter."
His face darkened for a moment but the expression disappeared as soon as it came.
"I believe that you have been given a token of the news I am bringing you." Radagast stated, rather than asked"Although," he cast a critical eye at the table "most news is better after breakfast."
Elrond took this generous hint.
"Tell the kitchen I have a guest this morning and to please make certain that there is---" Elrond and the servant shared a glance towards Radagast's tall and hearty figure "enough of everything."
"Yes, sir." Esovoya stared openly over her shoulder at the wizard as she reluctantly left the room.
Radagast, coat flung off, leaned back in the chair opposite Elrond's. Ever restless, the wizard turned a fork over and over in his long brown fingers.
"After, not before," he said sepulchrally when Elrond opened his mouth. The elf laughed.
"I was going to ask about this token, but I suspect it is bound up in the news you refuse to give me, so," Elrond lifted his hands "I wait on your good pleasure. Did Curunír Lán send you?"
Radagast's mouth tightened.
"Yes, but he is not the first, or the only to hear of it, the air, the birds, the very trees are breathing it, if only Curunír had the ears to hear it, but deeper matters interest him. He has small time for---" He spoke as if reciting from memory "such petty matters."
He flicked something across the table to Elrond.
"There. A small token from Greenwood," he leaned forward, smiling mysteriously as Elrond stared at it "where the winters last longer, and leave more slowly."
Elrond held the small bunch of yellow-red wintersweet , his eyes suddenly lost in the distance.
"A strange token," he said slowly "Winter leaving spring, flower heralding flower, child of Valinor come---"
The door opened and Esovoya stepped into the room, bearing a heavy tray. Her eyes flicked over Radagast and Elrond's still figure.
"Foolish girl!" Radagast bellowed bad temperedly and took the tray away "Go away and don't meddle in things you don't understand."
Esovoya glared at him.
"Enjoy your breakfast," she said, voice sharp with sarcasm. The door slammed behind her, and Elrond sighed.
"Never mind, Radagast, it was gone before she came. When seasons are changing---" the elf waved his hand vaguely "in all events, there seems to be nothing evil in whatever is going to happen. I understand----most, but not all."
His eyes, clear and natural now, looked curiously at the wizard.
"You could be the child of Valinor."
Radagast shook with silent laughter.
"Child," he managed finally "has not described me for some time, young one. I am no interpreter of other people's visions, but I highly doubt---" here he shook again "that I am this mystical figure. Pass the sugar."
As soon as everything that could be eaten had disappeared---including, strangely enough, the unfortunate eggs---Radagast stood and shook Elrond's hand.
"I must be going. The journey from Imladris to Greenwood is not, I assure you, a slight one, and spring, I must be there when spring comes to the North, my friends would never forgive me if I was not."
"But your message," Elrond protested "And you cannot stay only a morning, you must stay, at least for a few days. We rarely see visitors from the North."
The wizard shrugged into his long coat.
"The message has already been delivered." Radagast said, almost petulantly "For tales of elves and their double-speech, you should be able to decipher what is as plain as the sun---beside, you will have more important matters than an old wizard to fuss over. Any words for me to carry back with me?"
"That you are absolutely the most irritating of all the wizards and my favorite visitor. Safe journey, friend."
Elrond still seethed with curiosity, but said nothing, knowing that to pry anything out of an Istari was impossible. It was the little hints they let slip, here and there, that counted.
"And an impeccably perfect spring to you, Master Elrond." Radagast bowed exaggeratedly "I will take your news back to the trees of Greenwood; it will amuse them."
It seemed to amuse the wizard as well, for as he swirled through the doorway, finally disappearing from sight, he was laughing to himself.
