Not to dive into some sort of hyper-poetic rhapsody, but I witnessed one of those moments that divides a person's life into two parts: everything that ever happened before this moment, and whatever came after it.

We were standing the five of us abreast: Elrond to my right, Bregedúr to my left, and the other two to the left of Bregedúr. I heard the softest exhale- an inverted gasp, really, come from Elrond. I glanced over, once again worried that one of my friends was choking, and saw Elrond with a look on his face that I hadn't ever witnessed before.

His features, usually arranged into a rather sage, serious ensemble, had completely softened now. I could barely tell his eyes were quicksilver grey, because his pupils were now so enlarged that they had almost entirely obscured his irises. And then it hit me, before I even looked up to follow the course of his gaze: he's just seen someone who's made his breath catch.

Sure enough, when I directed my sight forward, I saw two arrestingly beautiful Elven women. They looked very similar, with the same azure eyes and oval face, but the one on the left was a little taller, with blonde and silver tresses, and the one to the right had locks of solid silver.

I had just started internally debating which of these ladies it was who had just taken my friend's breath away (or, god forbid, if it was both), when the advisor escorting them spoke.

"My Lord Elrond, the Lady Galadriel and her daughter Celebrían," he announced, indicating the blonde and the silver respectively.

"Good day, Lord Elrond," Galadriel said with a smile. Her voice was deep and rich, both mysterious and full of authority.

Fortunately, Elrond was far more subtle than Bregedúr when it came to love at first sight, and he gave no ostensible indication that Galadriel's daughter had just turned his world upside down. He stepped forward, a noble smile on his face, and took the hand Galadriel offered him and politely kissed it.

Now, turning to face Celebrían, I could see, from almost three metres away, that the pulse in Elrond's neck was beating like a bass thumping at a music festival. I could have sworn I could hear his heart pounding with my own ears as she started to speak.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Elrond," she said in a tone that was as silver as her hair, giving him a gentle smile as she offered her hand to him.

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Celebrían," he replied after giving said hand a chaste kiss and permitting himself to return her smile. "Welcome to Imladris."

As he stood there, being a good host and asking them all sorts of ridiculous courtesy questions, I scanned the others for a sign that they had picked up on any of this as well, but their expressions were all neutral as ever. My eyes widened as I realised that none of them had noticed anything out of the ordinary at all. Unbelievable!

"Are you well, Rhodri?" asked Glorfindel suddenly, a look of concern on his face.

The conversation came to an abrupt halt as everyone turned around to look at me. I realised I had unconsciously put my hand to my mouth, and my eyes had been wide all this time, so Glorfindel must have thought I was moments away from emptying my stomach all over Elrond's nice, clean floor.

I ripped my hand away, plastered an untroubled smile on my face and said, "Oh, yes, sorry, I just realised I left my toothbrush back in Mirkwood."

"Your what?" Gil-Galad yelped, eyes as wide as mine.

Oh, shit. Toothbrushes hadn't come to Middle-Earth yet. They were all looking at me like I was a serial killer now.

"Is that- do you mean you possess a brush made of teeth, or that this brush is to be used on teeth?" Elrond asked, his polite tone barely concealing his horror.

I held up my hands quickly. "Oh, no, no, it is a vanity item that was very popular among my mortal friends. It is a wooden stick with bristles that polishes teeth, you see. I simply carry it with me as a souvenir."

A silence fell over the eight of us for the next thirty seconds as the appalled expressions of all present relaxed just a little. It seemed I had managed to marginally improve the situation. I had been promoted from suspected throat-cutting hobbyist to harmless freak who toted around other races' hygiene items for fun.

Communications resumed at about the speed ice melts. Unable to stand a moment more of it, I made my excuses and departed, deciding to drop my bag off at my room and begin constructing a spaceship that would bear me away from this planet as soon as possible.

I was in the corridor adjoining my bedroom when I heard laboured footsteps coming from behind. Turning around, I saw Glorfindel some metres away, doubled over and wheezing audibly. He paused for a moment to look up at me, and immediately dissolved into paroxysms of shrieking laughter.

"Glorfindel!" I hissed in alarm. I ran over, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him into my room with me before his ringing howls of amusement could attract any attention.

"The state of you!" I said in disbelief, hands on my hips as I shook my head, watching this twit crylaugh into his hands for another two minutes.

"Ah, I apologise, Rhodri," he finally said, wiping the tears off his face. "That really was shockingly awkward, though. People must have thought you were a murderer-"

"Yes, yes," I groaned, waving a hand impatiently. "As if I hadn't thought of that already! Why do you think I made such a quick escape? Now, are you going to help me cast the spell that makes the earth swallow me up, or are you not?"

He gave me a sunny smile. "How about something better than that?"

"A spell that makes the earth fly into the sun?"

"Even better. Let's go swimming," he said, pointing out the window. "It's just started raining." His blue eyes sparkled with winsome delight as he looked at me, awaiting my answer.

I felt a broad smile spread over my face. I had never met someone as impossible to get sick of as Glorfindel. A nod of my head was all it took for him to beam at me, and with that, we hopped the balcony and made our way through the rain out to the pools.

Funnily enough, nobody else had thought to go swimming, so we had the entire place to ourselves. A small blessing, as I did not want to see, or be seen by, another living creature at that point.

"So what happened back there, anyway?" Glorfindel asked as our third water fight drew to a close.

"Hmm?" I looked up, feigning confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come now, Rhodri," he said with a knowing smile. "You're usually never afraid to be the odd one out. Suddenly escaping at the first possible opportunity? Decidedly out of character."

I felt my expression falter, and then I sighed. "All right," I relented. "I'll tell you, but this absolutely must stay between us! Not a soul can know, no matter how tempting it gets!"

"Of course," he nodded earnestly.

"Swear on it!" I held out my little finger. He smiled and laughed a little as he wrapped his little finger around mine.

"Does this actually have any binding magic?" he enquired as we shook our interlocked fingers up and down firmly.

"Will my answer have any impact on how well you keep your promise?"

"Not at all."

"Then no," I answered. "It is merely for peace of mind and the right to visit public shame on the person who breaks the pinky promise by announcing it loudly in disbelief."

"Threatening enough," he acknowledged. "Now, tell me all."

We perched up on a couple of branches as I spilled the details, and Glorfindel's jaw was in his lap by the end of it.

"Elrond is in love?" he whispered ecstatically. "Magnificent! Oh, what happy news," he cooed as he drummed my shoulder with his hands, clearly thrilled to bits. "Wouldn't it be just lovely if they married?"

"Steady now," I said, putting an arm around him with a laugh. "We don't know that she likes him back yet, for a start. We don't even know her," I added as an afterthought. "And I don't know how much we could really learn about them to try and set them up without revealing to Elrond what we know."

"I wonder if Elrond is actually aware that he has fallen for someone," Glorfindel mused.

"Has he ever been like this before?"

"Never," Glorfindel answered, shaking his head firmly. "I was under the impression he was married to his career, and you know we only partner once, so I had assumed that that was Elrond's lot in life," he added with a wink.

I laughed and shook my head. "Ah, you know, this is going to be a real bastard of a thing to keep on the down low." Glorfindel sighed and nodded.

And it was, too. Galadriel and Celebrían had apparently come to Rivendell because Galadriel was looking for her husband (had she misplaced him?). Celeborn, said missing husband, was indeed in Rivendell, which sorted that mystery out mighty quick.

But then another mystery seemed to pop up, which I had quite forgotten to anticipate. Elrond was such a stolid, constant sort of person that any changes (even borderline imperceptible ones) in his mien or behaviour were enough to spark conversation. It wasn't my mystery so much as others were mystified by it.

Some days after our return, I was sitting in my office, between appointments, bouncing my ball against the opposite wall and catching it. A figure materialised at the entryway. I recognised who it was instantly and bounced the ball straight at them.

"Hello, Rhodri," said Gil-Galad pleasantly as he entered the room, holding the ball up for me to take.

"Good to see you, Gil-Galad," I smiled, inviting him to sit. "Take a load off. Shall we break out the checkers board?"

"Actually, Rhodri, perhaps not today," he politely declined. He strode over and sat down, looking rather businesslike.

I was confused. Gil-Galad loved checkers and would often swing by when the clinic was at a lull and thoroughly whip me in a few rounds. And he was usually much more smiley, too.

"What's going on, Gil-Galad?" I asked, a little worried now.

"Well, I was hoping you might tell me," he replied. "It all seems a bit off, but not in a way I can put my finger on," he rested his head in one hand and looked off to the distance as he frowned.

"What in particular is displaying hints of… ah… 'off-ness?'"

Gil-Galad looked up sharply. "You mean you haven't noticed it?"

"I'm afraid for a definitive answer, you will need to be a little more specific," I shrugged at him.

"Elrond," he said simply.

Ah, now the penny had dropped. "Oh, I see," I chuckled. "There have been some small variations in his manner of late, yes. What have you noticed?"

"Well…" Gil-Galad began. He looked around nervously, organising his thoughts. "He mostly conceals it very well, but he seems to get nervous and forgetful now."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Not enough that he makes any errors or social gaffes," he added quickly. "No, just enough to show that something is going on under the surface."

"Give me an example," I requested.

"Well, only yesterday, Elrond and I were talking in the courtyard. The conversation went well until the Lady Galadriel walked by with Lord Celeborn and Celebrían and a few others. He suddenly started to freeze up a little, and the words he said ended up off topic. At some point he seemed to have a hard time concentrating, and I could see his pulse in his neck hammering."

Gil-Galad leaned in and beckoned me to come closer. "Do you know, Rhodri, I- I think Elrond might have social anxiety, too. Perhaps he is terrified of the Lady Galadriel, though there is no need for it, as she is very fond of him."

He sighed, looking relieved that he had gotten that off his chest. "What do you think, Rhodri?"

I was in a pickle here. I hated to lie to Gil-Galad, but I knew Elrond would be beyond mortified if I told his boss he was head over heels, and that he was probably distracted because he was imagining himself putting a ring on Celebrían's finger. I decided to take the middle road and strictly answer his questions. Lying by omission, as it were.

"Hard to say, really, Gil-Galad," I replied. "I have noticed the things you have mentioned from time to time, too, but I couldn't confirm or deny something like social anxiety without doing an assessment first."

"Will you talk to him about it?" he asked. "If it is social anxiety, I want to help him through this."

I smiled. Gil-Galad was a solid, dependable friend, and it warmed my cockles to see how much he cared about Elrond's wellbeing.

He saw my smile and looked at me quizzically. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because you're a wonderful person," I answered simply, sending my friend beet red. "Look, here's the thing," I continued."Even if it's not social anxiety or an irrational fear of Lady Galadriel, Elrond will always be better off with your love and support. Just small things like asking how he is going from time to time, reminding him to take a deep breath if he looks nervous, and providing helpful cues to keep him on track with your conversations. Don't get angry or hurt if he forgets, just have patience and compassion."

Gil-Galad considered what I said, and nodded. "Of course," he said. "But it would be good for him to get checked, I think. Promise me you will speak with him?"

"When a suitable moment arises, I promise to talk with him," I guaranteed, crossing my heart as I did so.

He seemed satisfied with this, and said, "Excellent. In that case, if you have the time now, I would love to thrash you at a game of checkers."

I rolled my eyes at his smack talk and got up to retrieve the checkers board, retorting, "You're a beautiful dreamer, Gil-Galad, no two ways about it, but it won't save you from crushing defeat."