An Unexpected Side Story 03.2 – Younger Years: Glorfindel and Erestor

Elladan and Elrohir were grieved. They promised the Rangers to meet them in Bree in two days. And yet here they were, hindered by the little sister they were so fond of. Glorfindel chuckled as he came. The two brothers turned around to see the Golden Lord arrive with his trusty steed, Asfaloth. Glorfindel smiled when he saw Arestel clutching the doll he made for her. He returned his gaze back to the brothers, both of them looked pleading for something.

"Lord Glorfindel, please help me," Elladan said in an almost sobbing voice. Glorfindel looked down to Arestel and then chuckled again. She was holding tightly on Elladan's brown cape. She looked decided not to let her brothers go.

"We're in a hurry," said Elrohir. He was so thankful Estel didn't get hold of his cape. That was when Elladan knelt in front of the toddler and gave her a sincere-looking smile.

"Estel, Dan and Ro need to go now," Elladan sweetly whispered, trying to convince the little girl. Arestel shook her head no; messy silver hair swayed back and forth. For goodness sakes! Arwen still hasn't cleaned up Estel for the morning.

"No, Dan and Ro stays," Estel insisted.

The brothers sighed exasperatedly.

Glorfindel chuckled and knelt beside her.

"What about playing with me, Estel?" the Golden Lord warmly suggested. The young girl looked at him and furrowed her eyebrows. Deep inside, Glorfindel knew Arestel wouldn't be convinced easily. And to Elladan and Elrohir, they begged all the Valar to have their sister let them go. Still, Arestel stared at Glorfindel who continued to smile at her. And then, Glorfindel concluded: "We'll ride Asfaloth."

In an instant, the little girl smiled brightly. Glorfindel smirked at his triumph. Arestel let go off Elladan's cape as she was lifted off the ground carefully by Glorfindel. He settled the elfling in his arms as the two brothers finally smiled.

"We'll be back, Estel," Elrohir said as he patted his sister's hair. She giggled. "Ro and Dan will be back tomorrow. Do you have anything you want? Big brother Ro can get it for you."

Arestel smiled. "A spoon!"

Elladan and Elrohir blinked. "What, dear?"

"A big spoon!" Estel insisted.

"Okay…" Elladan awkwardly drawled. "We'll get your spoon." He smiled at her.

Without another word, both of them sprinted down the road and left with their steeds. Glorfindel silently watched them leave. He felt a sudden weight in his arms. Looking down, he saw little Estel beaming at him with a bright smile. And then, Asfaloth neighed. He had almost forgotten what he promised Estel. Glorfindel started to walk towards the white horse. He settled the child comfortably on Asfaloth's back before mounting it himself. Arestel let out a childlike laugh as the horse beneath her neighed and began to walk. It was slow, as if the horse knew he was carrying such a fragile rider. Glorfindel chuckled as Arestel flailed between his arms in delight. The Golden Lord made sure she wouldn't fall, or else he would face punishment from Lord Elrond.

Glorfindel softly urged for Asfaloth to take a left turn which would eventually lead them into Celebrían's garden. He heard Arestel squeal once more in delight; she knew well where her late mother's garden was. As they reached the aforementioned garden, some of Glorfindel's troops were absentmindedly slacking off by the entrance. Quickly his eyebrows furrowed; he commanded that the warriors should keep watch, especially when the brothers were out of the Hidden Valley. He sighed to himself and halted Asfaloth. The soldiers stood up as quickly as Glorfindel dismounted his horse. Arestel stayed behind; her eyes following Glorfindel's move with very much interest.

"I thought I asked you to keep watch," the Elf Captain began. His soldiers gulped in front of him.

"Forgive us, my Lord," said one soldiers, bowing low. His three other companions bowed before their captain.

"I was expecting you to stay where I posted you," came Glorfindel's stern and intimidating voice.

While the Lord was having a fearful conversation with his soldiers, Arestel, who was as impatient as her brother even in a tender age, silently slid off of Asfaloth's back. Her feet touched the ground with no noise heard, or at least unheard by the others Elves. She poked her head to get a closer look on Glorfindel and his soldiers, admiring the Golden Lord's great build and stature. To Arestel, he looked like a giant with his silver armor and maroon cape.

"Get back to your posts," Glorfindel commanded with voice full of authority.

Once again, the soldiers bowed. "Yes, at once, my Lord," said one of them and then sprinted off.

The captain sighed again and decided to turn back to Arestel. His eyes widened when he saw no Arestel sitting behind Asfaloth. For a moment he panicked, but then he was reassured by the neigh of his steed and by the tap of its left hoof. Glorfindel looked down the horse's left hoof only to see a bundle of silver hair sticking beside Asfaloth's foot. He smiled to himself and walked towards Arestel. He heard the little girl laugh as she tried to shift her position. From Asfaloth's foot, Arestel ran towards the rear of the horse, near its tail.

Glorfindel smiled. It was as if little Estel was playing hide and seek with him.

He slowly and silently made his way on the other side of Asfaloth, the one Arestel wasn't looking at. He gently tugged on her hair and Arestel laughed again. She ran back toward the main house and Glorfindel was forced to run after her, dragging Asfaloth closely behind.

Erestor opened the door of his study room. Surely he heard voices just outside the hallway. It was odd not to find anyone near the room. Shrugging, the counselor went back inside to mind his own business. He was trying to finish a book, one that Lord Elrond himself suggested to him. Erestor, like the excellent reader that he was, was already halfway on finishing his book. But no matter how busy he was, Erestor couldn't help but hear noises coming out of the room. He grunted and stood up once more and opened the door. That was when he realized the situation when his lips curled up into an amused smile.

Glorfindel was running after Arestel who was very much delighted of being chased while the Golden Lord was panting to death. His armor was weighing him down and no matter how mighty his strength was, the energy of children always tired him out. Glorfindel himself couldn't understand why the toddler had so much energy. Arwen wasn't even half as energetic as Arestel when she was young. Still, he was fond of the youngest one. She was like the daughter Glorfindel never had. Erestor went out of his room to catch Arestel and picked up the toddler in his arms. She let herself be carried and settled into the counselor's arms.

"Slowdown, Whirlwind," Erestor laughed as he shifted Arestel in his arms. The toddler panted and smiled, waiting for her playmate to reach them.

Glorfindel reached them, obviously out of breath. He stopped and clutched his chest, panting heavily.

"What a child," he managed to say through heavy breaths.

"Whatever are you doing with Estel, Lord Glorfindel?" Erestor asked with an amused voice. "Where are Elladan and Elrohir? I thought Lord Elrond has tasked them to watch over the little one?"

Said little one giggled in his arms.

"I am afraid they are not here at the moment, Lord Erestor," Glorfindel finally caught his breath. "They wouldn't be back until a few weeks or so." He paused. "Until then, I'll be looking after little Estel."

"How amusing. The mightiest Golden Lord watches over a child," Erestor mused. He was definitely finding their situation very amusing.

He had heard many stories on how much little Estel was such a wee little devil. She was an energetic child, who preferred to play all day. Her favorite playmates were her older brothers, more reason for them to be stuck with taking care of the child. Arwen would spend her time dressing up little Estel, combing her hair and giving baths. Erestor had also heard that time when Estel cut up her mother's wedding dress which made Lord Elrond very furious at the two brothers.

And then, one soldier came to them.

"Captain Glorfindel, there was an Orc-sighting near the river," the soldier reported.

Instantly, Glorfindel turned and mounted Asfaloth. Before leaving, he turned one more time to Erestor.

"Please watch over little Estel while I'm gone."

With that, he left.

Erestor placed Arestel on the couch. The little girl looked at him with expressive dark grey eyes. The counselor looked at her and knew that the girl was actually expecting something fun to do. But Erestor was anything but fun; Elladan and Elrohir already mentioned how Erestor was serious almost every day. Even Glorfindel and Lindir remarked this. But looking at the toddler in front of him, Erestor needed to think of something fun. And he needed it fast. Arestel was starting to look bored.

"Estor, where did 'Del go?" the toddler's voice snapped him back into reality.

Erestor looked down to her. Being at the age of three, Arestel could barely pronounce their names right, especially the names which were too long for her to say. So the child was convinced that their names were Dan, Ro, Del, and Estor. But the counselor thought Elrond managed the toddler's intellect well; for her age, she already had a wide vocabulary. But his attention was still focused on the question at hand.

"He went to work, Estel," Erestor smiled.

"Let's play!"

Oh no. It was the dreaded sentence that made even the great Elladan and Elrohir tremble.

"Let's play!" Estel clapped her hands.

Erestor sighed and nodded. He started looking around his study room, hoping for something childish for Estel's liking. How could he find such a thing when his room was full of books? He caught a glimpse on what appeared to be the Glorfindel doll of Arestel lying on the couch. Then it hit him. Pulling out a very old book, Erestor took a pair of scissors and started to cut off the paper from his book. Arestel leaned on the edge of the couch to watch the counselor do his work on the floor. Erestor smiled at his work. Paper dolls.

It wasn't that much but when Erestor gave to Arestel, her eyes widened and her smile reappeared again. He made a total of four people from the paper: two for Elladan and Elrohir, one for Lord Glorfindel and one for himself. He watched as Arestel smiled and took the paper from him. The toddler began to scribble and Erestor made sure she wouldn't be out of paper.

Suddenly, she stopped scribbling. Erestor waited for something.

"Where's Wen?" the toddler asked.

Erestor flinched. He had forgotten to make Arwen. Arestel began to look sad and her eyes became teary.

"Wen…"

Quickly, the counselor stood up and took another old book. He began cutting and drawing and folding the paper. He was almost done with the Lord Celeborn paper doll when Arestel decided to help him by biting off the Lord Celeborn doll's head. Erestor snatched away the doll from her reach.

"No, Estel, we do not bite off other people's heads." He paused for a moment. "Unless you're Gareth…"

The toddler beamed by just hearing the dragon's name.

"Gareth!" she beamed.

Later…

Glorfindel arrived by sundown. The Orc camp was ravished and none was left alive. He felt good for having to trash the enemies by his own troops. He already settled Asfaloth in his stable to get some rest. Glorfindel himself was actually on his way back to his chamber when he suddenly remembered Arestel. Turning down the other hallway, he knew just the place where he last saw Erestor with her. The Lord was starting to wonder what kind of activity Erestor would have done to keep the child company.

He then stopped by the doorway, knocking once and the twice. No answer came except for a groan inside. Glorfindel furrowed his eyebrows as he entered the study room. To his utmost surprise, it was dark and messy, very messy. He entered warily, keeping an eye to whatever in Eru's name that was making that groaning noise. His eyes then darted on a certain couch on which the toddler he had so much left a few hours ago playing with a handful of paper.

Arestel looked up and dropped her paperwork. She immediately grabbed her original Glorfindel doll and ran towards the Lord. He picked her up in his arms.

"What happened here?"

"Estor and I played a game!" Estel chirped.

Speaking of, where was the counselor? Glorfindel started to walk again but he almost lost his balance when he tripped on something. Looking down, there Erestor lay, exhausted for keeping Arestel company for the whole day. No wonder Elladan and Elrohir almost gave up on her.

This is not a pairing between Glorfindel and Erestor! (In case someone is wondering since many people pair these two with each other) I welcome comments and suggestions. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you!