Hi! This chapter is just a flashback, so please remember this. I got a bit carried away with it, so decided to put it in its own chapter :) It is basically telling you all what happened before Eleniel went off to Lothlorien, and the next chapter will be her reaction to finding out about Estel… :D Please enjoy!
"Ada, can I visit Daernana, Daerada and Arwen?" Eleniel asked one morning.
Elrond looked up from the parchment he was signing and raised an eyebrow at his daughter. She was lying on the couch in his study, her upper body hanging off the end in a very un-elf like way, but they were alone, and so he didn't bother to reprimand her.
"I have no time to go, Eleniel, look at all this work. Glorfindel could take you, but he undoubtedly has too much to do as well. And your brothers – they have just returned from their patrol and I do not want them going out again so soon," he replied.
"No," Eleniel said, "by myself. Can I go by myself?"
Elrond's eyebrows shot up higher than Eleniel had ever seen them go as he looked at his daughter, not quite believing what he'd heard. "Alone?" he asked, and a deep chuckle escaped his mouth, "do not be senseless Eleniel."
Eleniel groaned and lifted herself up, laying straight along the couch now. She looked at her father. "I'm not being senseless," she said, "I'll be fine! I've had loads of training, and Lothlorien isn't too far away…"
"It is very far away Eleniel."
"Okay yes, it is, but I'm perfectly capable of doing it. I can look after myself Ada."
Elrond didn't bother pausing in signing the documents. There was no way on Middle-Earth he was going to agree. "No," he told her simply.
"Why not?" Eleniel huffed, anger rising in her voice.
Elrond raised an eyebrow in warning at his daughter, before laying down the quill and leaning back in his seat, staring intently at the elleth. She was still so young; how could she expect him to let her go by herself? The sight of her sat there with a frown on her face and her blue eyes narrowed into slits was the exact image of a stubborn child who hadn't gotten her way, and so this only added onto the fact that she was too young and certainly not capable of looking after herself!
"Eleniel, I will not let you travel to Lothlorien alone. You could be injured, and nobody would ever know about it. You are too young and nothing you say will dissuade me. I will not even apologise, as I have nothing to be sorry for. You are my daughter and I love you – I will not allow this."
The youngest peredhel listened and slowly, her balled fists uncurled and she sighed in defeat. Looking down at her hands, she spoke in a barely audible voice. "I just wanted to see Arwen."
Elrond heard this and closed his eyes, letting out his own sigh. He knew how difficult this was, Eleniel being away from her big sister. He, too, missed his evenstar, but she was happier in Lothlorien than she would have ever been in Imladris. Looking up at the blonde, he leaned forward in his chair and rested his chin in his hands thoughtfully. "What if someone went with you?" he asked.
Eleniel shrugged. "Having a group of boring warriors 'protecting' me wouldn't be fun at all Ada. If it comes to that, I'd rather not go."
"Boring warriors?" came a new voice, and Eleniel jumped as her eyes darted behind her to the door to her father's study. Glorfindel stood there, arms loaded with stacks of papers, a look of mock-disbelief on his face. "Who are you calling boring?" he asked.
Eleniel smiled. "Not you Fin, I promise!"
Glorfindel huffed as he walked over to Elrond's desk and dumped the papers down on it, turning and looking at the young peredhel who was now sitting cross-legged on the couch. He walked over to it and sat next to her before turning and laying down, placing his muddy boots on the elleth's lap.
Eleniel made a face and shoved them off, groaning when she saw they had made a small dirty mark on her cream-coloured leggings. "I hate you," she said in annoyance, turning herself around and lying on the balrog-slayer's chest.
Glorfindel smirked. "Oh, I love you too," he teased as he poked the elleth in the side, watching as she let out a squeal before pulling her closer to him and resting his chin on her head.
Elrond smiled at the scene in front of him before remembering what he and his daughter had been talking about. "As I was saying, iell nin, I was thinking about only sending one warrior with you, not a group. There have not been many orc sightings for a while, and your brothers saw nothing suspicious on their patrol, so I suppose one would be enough."
Eleniel smiled brightly. "Really?" she asked, lifting her head up slightly from the balrog-slayer's muscled chest.
Glorfindel frowned. "What's this?"
"Ada's letting me go and see Arwen in Lothlorien!"
"Ah. That will be nice!"
Eleniel nodded, turning to look at her father, who let out a chuckle. "You should have heard what she asked earlier mellon nin."
"And what was that?"
"If she could go by herself."
Glorfindel let out a huge laugh which shook Eleniel, and she rolled her eyes as she glared at her father, only getting a wink in return.
"By herself? Valar Eleniel, have you any common sense at all?"
Eleniel sighed. She was really beginning to get a little upset, what with both her father and Glorfindel more or less telling her she was stupid when all she had wanted to do was prove to her father – but most importantly herself – that she was perfectly capable of not getting eaten by orcs and wargs while travelling to Lothlorien alone.
Deciding to completely ignore the balrog-slayer's question, Eleniel began to play with her braid.
Glorfindel narrowed his eyes slightly and leaned forward, turning his head to look at the elleth's pitiful face. He put on a smile and blew on her ear, making her flinch away.
"Stop it," she said.
"Not until you smile."
"Why should I smile when you just insulted me?"
"You know I was playing with you."
"I do not care."
"If you do not smile for me this minute, I swear I will make sure the most boring warrior gets sent with you to Lothlorien."
Eleniel smirked evilly. "But Ada said you can't come as you have too much work to do."
Glorfindel's mouth dropped open and he immediately leaped into warrior mode, growling as he flipped Eleniel over so that she was laying on her stomach on the couch, face pressed into the cushion as her hands were pinned behind her. The balrog-slayer hovered over her, looking down into her laughing blue eyes.
"Take it back! And smile for me while you are at it."
"No!"
"Do it."
"No!"
"Eleniel."
"Glorfindel!"
Elrond sat at his desk, rolling his eyes yet smiling at his daughter and best friend. The bond between those two had never failed to make his heart melt, and everyone else's who saw them together.
Something caught his attention in the corner of his eye, and the elf lord glanced up to see Feredir at the door. The dark-haired warrior looked at his lord and friend with a smile and entered the room properly when Elrond nodded at him.
Feredir walked over to the desk and quirked an eyebrow in the direction of the couch, where Glorfindel was now poking and tickling Eleniel and, finally, getting smiles and laughs out of her. "I tried to knock," he said as he turned back to Elrond, "but I don't think anyone heard me."
Elrond stood up and walked over to the other side of his desk, placing a hand on the warrior's shoulder. "Goheno nin Feredir, I was keeping watch over Glorfindel to ensure he doesn't kill my daughter."
"He is killing me! Ahahahada heheHELP!"
Elrond smiled. "I am afraid you're on your own now little warg," he said before turning to look at Feredir. "Was there something you needed mellon nin?"
Feredir nodded. "Yes. I wanted to let you know that I have finished signing those documents and will get someone to give them to you later in the day."
Elrond smiled, glad that all the paperwork he had had to give to Glorfindel and Feredir to sign before they started training the new recruit of elflings in the summer was done. "Thank you, Feredir," he said, patting his friend on the back.
The two of them turned at a particularly loud squeal coming from one side of the room. "Alright," the elf lord said, "Glorfindel, you really will end up killing her soon enough."
The balrog-slayer turned his head, a huge grin on his face, before agreeing that enough was enough and sitting back, smirking down at the panting elleth still lying on the sofa, her once neat and tidy blonde hair looking as messy as it could possibly get.
Suddenly, Elrond had an idea, and turned to look at Feredir. "Would you mind doing something for me?" he asked.
The raven-haired warrior turned to look at his lord. "Of course. What is it?"
"Eleniel would like to visit her grandparents and sister in Lothlorien, and I have told her she must have someone going with her. Would you mind if-"
"Of course, Elrond, it would be my pleasure," he said with a smile, bowing before turning and walking over to Glorfindel and Eleniel.
He reached down and effortlessly picked the protesting elleth up, hoisting her over his shoulder. "Looks like you are going to have me to put up with for a few weeks," he said, walking out of the door and quietly shutting it behind him.
Elrond's smile quickly faded, however, as he walked out of the room. He sighed, sitting down with a thump on the chair behind his desk.
Glorfindel frowned. "What is it?" he asked.
"I have asked Feredir to take Eleniel to Lothlorien."
"That is good, is it not?"
Elrond nodded. "It is, yes, there is no one besides you that I would trust to take her more than Feredir… it is just that I will miss her, mellon nin. She will be gone for a while and she has never left me for this long before."
A knowing smile on his face, the balrog-slayer stood up from the sofa and walked over to the desk, fixing his braid as he went.
"Elrond," he said once he reached his lord, "Eleniel is almost an adult, and once she is, and you can no longer tell her what to do and protect her as you would an elfling, she will be going away for far longer than this. Now, you will always be her father, remember that, but she will have much more freedom than she does at the moment. She will not tolerate being treated 'like an elfling', as she continuously informs us."
The Lord of Rivendell nodded, understanding completely but not liking what he heard.
"I know," he told his friend, "she is growing up. But she will always be my baby, and if she ever forgets that, then I swear to Eru…"
Elvish used:
Ada – Dad
Daerada – Grandad (Celeborn)
Daernana – Grandma (Galadriel)
Iell nin – My daughter
Mellon nin – My friend
Goheno nin – Forgive me
Please review! ~ Gre3nleaf
