Disclaimer: All of these nice elves belong to Tolkien, I'm only borrowing them for a bit. No harm intended (hopefully, there are no flips occurring in his grave because of this.)
The Golden haired elf stared at his friend in slack jawed amazement. "Erestor, don't be ridiculous! You cannot wear THAT to the welcoming ceremony of the KING of Eryn Lasgalen!"
"I fail to see anything wrong with my particular choice of clothing." Erestor said coldly to the golden haired shadow that had plagued him all day. "In MY opinion, brown and gray robes are perfect for an overlooked and overworked advisor who will not even be noticed in the feast, unless you happen to announce to the whole of Imladris that my choice of style is not to your liking."
Glorfindel grinned
"-which you will most definitely not even consider doing, because if that happens, Lord Elrond and I will soon have a little chat dubbed, 'why your favorite vase is now missing and who – despite popular belief that it fell from the table – broke it'."
The balrog-slayer winced. "Point taken." There was a pause.
"But still, the robes just don't work! This is spring! Therefore you should-"
"GLORFINDEL! I do not CARE what season it is! I happen to like my robes, and I happen to be wearing them tonight and incidentally, YOU of all people cannot do a thing about it, so STOP pestering me!
Silence returned to the study where they were both supposed to be working. Glorfindel silently picked at a bit of wood off the wall, but stopped when he realized what he was doing. Erestor raised an eyebrow and said pointedly "Should you not be informing me of what happened on patrol today?"
Glorfindel briefly considered informing Erestor of the little incident involving a bottle of wine and a tree root, discarded it and said simply, "We saw no orcs."
Erestor rolled his eyes and muttered something about annoying seneschals and the obvious. "No, really Glorfindel. The way you walked into my study wearing night wear had me convinced of a full scale war."
Glorfindel took that to be a good sign. He was about to open his mouth to continue the debate on the cut, style and the general wear-ability of Erestor's robes, when the door of the study swung open and a panting chief minstrel entered. He looked as if he had run the whole length of Rivendell to get to where Glorfindel considered to be akin to Morgoth's stronghold torture wise.
"Have a seat, Lindir," Glorfindel said, pulling out a chair from the other side of the desk. "You look a little winded."
"I am merely tired. I have been running through the halls in search of Elladan, have you seen him?"
"No, I can't say that we have, although Erestor and I were having a wonderful conversation about what we are going to be wearing to King Thranduil's welcoming festival to Imladris. I am going to wear sky blue spring robes and sadly, Erestor has chosen to..." He would have rambled on, if not for the death stare Erestor was sending across the desk that would have made Sauron himself cower in fear.
"Glorfindel." Erestor said in a deceptive calm, "the subject of my robes is not the current topic of discussion. What IS under discussion is why Lindir is anxiouly running through the halls on what is clearly an urgent matter searching for Elladan."
Glorfindel glared back at Erestor and said to Lindir, "He thinks that brown and gray robes are suitable wear to the feast tonight, AND" he raised his voice "he does not even consider the fact that Imladris has a reputation to maintain, as well as-"
Erestor raised his eyes to the ceiling in silent prayer, and said, "Glorfindel, Imladris' reputation does not hang on the dependence of what one advisor wears to a feast!"
"But you are Elrond's chief advisor," Glorfindel said stubbornly. "Thranduil will be watching and judging you."
"If he judges me by my robes, I have pity for him and the rest of Mirkwood." Erestor replied calmly, looking through a stack of papers. "Now where did I put - Ahh, here it is. What was that about nothing happening on patrol? Because it seems that some of Elrond's wine is missing, and if I am not mistaken, there are only three of us who know the location of Elrond's secret store…"
Glorfindel was trying not to look too guilty when the door banged open again, and Elrond's eldest son stepped in, dark hair falling out of his braids, saying in a frantic tone, "I can't find Lindir anywhere! Have you seen him?" His gaze landed on the three of them. "Oh."
"Elladan, so nice to have you join us! Come in for a moment, will you?" Glorfindel said, grasping at this new distraction from Erestor's wrath.
"I am sorry, but Lindir and I really must leave. We are scheduled to perform a piece on the Harp called 'A Waterfall of Mallorns', which we have practiced but twice and the feast is tonight!"
Lindir hurriedly stood and followed Elladan out the door. It closed and silence took the room. A very brief silence. "I still think-" Glorfindel began.
"No."
"But those robes are-"
"I will not."
"They're ugly."
"I could say the same about your walls."
"Thranduil will not be seeing my walls, nor judging them, and I really think that-"
"Glorfindel."
"Yes?"
"No."
The silence returned. Glorfindel was beginning to really hate silence, it was too…well, silent." He began to hum a song he had learned from Tom Bombadil. "-And the grass is green, the roots are brown, the sky above is yellow. Tom Bombadil's a merry fellow! Tra la la lolly! Ha ha ha holly! And the sky is mellow! Tra la la-"
"Glorfindel."
"Hmmmm?"
"Close your mouth or I will close it for you."
"Fine." But Glorfindel could not sulk for long. The mere fact that there was a challenge a few inches away from him kept his mind turning and in no time, he was arguing once again. "Erestor, those robes must be at least one hundred and fifty years old."
"So?"
"So, they are old, dirty, moth-eaten, and brown. No one wears brown robes Erestor, no one."
"I do."
"Exactly my point."
"I count as NO ONE?! Honestly Glorfindel, you are behaving like a silly elleth who has been allowed to her first feast. The clothes are not that important! Especially since I, and not you are wearing them."
"That makes little difference."
"I beg to differ, mellon nin."
Glorfindel decided to try a different track. "You know, the other day I visiting the seamstres's shop when I saw the most exquisite robes…"
"Were they brown?"
"Well, they were a sort of a reddish color and they had-"
"No."
"Erestor, saes mellon nin, lasto a enni."
"I am listening, I'm just not doing anything."
"I can clearly see that.."
"It's funny," Erestor said thoughtfully "I was always under the impression you were blind, but perhaps stumbling into everything was just a natural clumsiness."
"That is not amusing."
"Oh, but it is."
"Nay, you are wrong. I am not clumsy. If you want to see true clumsiness, all you have to do is to observe-"
There was a large crash by the door and a few seconds later Elladan's twin burst in.
"-Elrohir."
"Thranduil's party has already arrived!" The young Peredhel said, looking excited. "Ada is requesting your presence in fifteen minutes, so hurry!" There was a muffled shout, and the younger twin looked around guiltily. "I must run." He sprinted out of the study in the opposite direction from where he had come. A few seconds later, an enraged Elladan rushed passed, looking ready to kill.
The two Elves sat frozen for a minute and then suddenly sprang into action, grabbing loose papers, reports and, oddly, a pair of Glorfindel's socks. Erestor raised his eyebrows but Glorfindel merely shrugged and took them from him.
"Erestor," Glorfindel said while heading out the door.
"Yes, mellon nin?"
"If you must wear the robes be sure to at least wear the pair that is lacking in holes."
Erestor laughed "Lasto a lalaith nin, mellon nin, lasto a lalaith nin," and walked out of the study leaving an open-mouthed seneschal behind him.
ELVISH TRANSLATIONS:
Mellon nin = my friend
Saes mellon nin, lasto a enni= please my friend, listen to me
Lasto a lalaith nin mellon nin, lasto a lalaith nin= listen to my laughter my friend, listen to my laughter.