Here's the thing with Erestor: he's a ball of stress and embarrassment in a body. The very epitome of the Type A personality, Erestor would regularly freak out about potential chaos and disorder and scrupulously worked to ensure that his own tasks had been completed to the very best of his ability. With only this fact in mind, it's probably very easy to see why Glorfindel and I made a point of not letting Elrond and Erestor spend too much time alone together. If Glorfindel and I were are risk of serious injury from egging each other on in extreme sports, Erestor and Elrond were walking a thin line between productive stress and giving each other a stroke.

As a co-worker, Erestor was terrific. He was hugely clever, positively bursting at the seams with good ideas, and was magnificent at organising others. He loved his work, and positively hoovered up extra tasks when they were made available, though Elrond had tried many times to force him to take breaks and introduce maximum work time rules for him. He was, in short, incorrigibly industrious, but I don't doubt that he enjoyed every minute of it.

In his personal life, Erestor was a much more elusive figure. Notoriously private, he was very much inclined to keep everybody, even Elrond, at arm's length. It was a very strange feeling to consider how little we knew about him, even though we'd been through so much together- wars, deaths, births, and all the uncountable tiny things that when shared lay the foundation for solid relationships.

It was precisely this aspect of Erestor that had Glorfindel and me worrying about how to broach his sleepwalking with him. He was so easily embarrassed, often the first in the room to blush at something, even if it wasn't an outwardly awkward subject, and everyone who knew it avoided discussing such topics with him. His sleepwalking, however, was an incredibly uncomfortable thing due to the very modest nature of the Elves. They didn't wear all those long shirts and robes on to keep the cold out. Getting around in those 1920s swimsuits was their absolute limit, and was strictly for water sports, where they would mostly be underwater anyway. Going to bed in a pair of short boxer shorts was something nobody but the wearer's spouse might ever find out, and was absolutely not something you would wear around Elrond's wholesome Elven halls.

The only thing we'd decided on was that I should tell him by myself, in case the sleepwalking was something that needed psychological assessment. I would assure Erestor that Glorfindel would keep mum about the whole matter as well.

"I honestly don't know how to broach this topic with him," I said quietly to Glorfindel the next morning as we got dressed for breakfast.

"Neither do I," Glorfindel admitted as he slipped his shoes on. "I don't think there's

any alternative, though."

"No, I think you're right, there." I sighed to myself, throwing a dark blue robe on. "Let's just find him this morning and get it over with, preferably before he gets any breakfast in him. I don't want him horror-vomiting all over my office."

"That's fair," he conceded.

Just our luck, as we went downstairs and hung a left, we ran into Erestor on the way. He looked comfortably neutral, though under his eyes was a little shadowy.

"Oh, Erestor, just the person I was looking for!" I said to him with a smile.

Erestor smiled back. "Good morning," he greeted the two of us warmly. "You were looking for me, you say?"

"Indeed yes," I replied. "I wonder, do you have a moment, Erestor? There's something I need to discuss with you quite urgently."

Erestor looked like he was waiting for us to tell him someone had died. A flash of panic went shone off his eyes, and he watched us carefully as he nodded.

"Don't worry," I said quickly, holding up a hand. "Nothing life or death, but it's not something I want to delay in telling you."

He was calmed slightly by that, and as I waved goodbye to Glorfindel, Erestor followed me up to my office, where we went in and closed the door.

Sitting across from me at my desk, Erestor twiddled his thumbs anxiously as he waited for me to drop some sort of a bombshell on him.

"Erestor," I began as I poured him a glass of water. "Have you ever had any issues with sleepwalking before?"

Erestor raised an eyebrow. "Sleepwalking?" he repeated. "I have heard of it, but it has never affected me personally, no."

"Nobody in your family who does it?"

"That is a rather personal question, Rhodri," Erestor said, though not unkindly meant, as he blushed slightly.

"I'm sorry," I apologised. "I know you're a very private person, Erestor, and I don't want to make this awkward for you."

Erestor looked confused now. "What do you mean?"

"Well," I sighed, "Last night at about 2:30 in the morning, Glorfindel and I were walking to the kitchen, and we saw you walking in the corridors. I wouldn't suppose you have any recollection of it, would you?"

"Me? In the corridors?" Erestor said, puzzlement all over his face. "No, I don't recall doing this. I was asleep all night."

"You were indeed asleep all night, but that doesn't necessarily mean you were in your bed," I replied. "You walked into the kitchen. Gave Glorfindel and me a terrible fright. We worried you might hurt yourself on one of the sharp objects in there, so we called you over to us and herded you back to bed."

Erestor stared at me blankly, saying nothing for a few moments. Deciding not to accept it, he shook his head and said, "I think you might have the wrong person, Rhodri."

I shook my head back and said, "I promise you I don't."

He smiled. "It's all right, Rhodri, I know you and Glorfindel love to play jokes and make merry. I'd rather you both left me out of it, though, if it's all the same to you."

"We make a point of not dragging you into our jokes, Erestor," I said patiently. "We already know you're not into horsing around like that. I'm being deadly serious with you now."

Erestor chuckled a little and got up, making his way to the door. "All right, Rhodri. Thank you for the prank. I'm going to go and eat some breakf—"

"Mate, I'm telling you, I'm not kidding," I said quite firmly now. "Last night at half past two, Glorfindel and I caught you walking around the corridors in nothing but the skimpiest pair of underpants I have ever seen in my life, making for the kitchen."

Erestor froze. His shoulders slackened and his knees started to buckle. I shot out of my seat and grabbed him just before he keeled over, setting him down on the couch. I walked back over to my drawer and pulled out a bottle of Miruvor, tipping a good splash into a glass and walking back over him. Getting onto my knees beside him, I brought the cup to his lips.

"Take a sip, Erestor," I prompted him, his face now ashen and slightly clammy. He looked up at me, his liquid brown eyes brimming with tears. Reluctantly, he had a mouthful and sighed, a small flush of colour going into his cheeks again.

I nodded encouragingly. "That's the way. One more big sip for me, come on," I tipped the glass so that the last of the Miruvor ran into his mouth. He swallowed it and with a trembling arm, he wiped the tears off his face.

"Look, I know this is all a bit horrifying for you," I said gently. "Be assured, though, that Glorfindel and I don't think any differently of you, and we aren't going to tell anyone about this, either. It's none of our business. We decided to tell you because we thought it was something you'd want to know about."

Erestor whimpered unhappily. "Where is Glorfindel? Why is he not here as well?" he asked.

"Because I wanted to be sure we had privacy for what I'm about to say next," I answered calmly. "You see, sleepwalking falls under my purview as a psychologist, so I can try and establish if this has been going on for long and give you some assistance in managing it. Do you think that's something you'd be interested in?"

He nodded quickly, sitting up now.

"Very well. Let's go and eat some breakfast first so that you have something solid in you before we start, yes?" I smiled.

Erestor gave me a timid smile back, and together we strolled out to breakfast.

§

Upon our return to the office, Erestor valiantly sat through the Ts and Cs spiel, signed his life away, and we started.

"So you say you don't recall ever having done this before?" I began, pulling out a fresh piece of paper to start taking notes.

"Never," Erestor replied. "Well, not that anyone else has ever told me."

"And you haven't heard of any family members doing it, either?"

"My family is rather tight-lipped about personal matters, even with each other," Erestor admitted. "So if there is something there, I do not know about it."

I nodded, putting a question mark beside the wordsfamily history.

"Do you have any difficulties falling asleep or staying asleep?"

"Oh, no, I am quite fine in that regard."

"Have you noticed any small injuries in the morning that you can't explain? Bruises, small cuts, bumps, anything like that?"

"One or two bruises now and again, perhaps, but only very small ones," he said.

"How often would you say you find them?"

"It comes and it goes. When it happens, I might find them once or twice a week, but then I might go for long periods—years-- without seeing any at all."

"I see," I murmured. "When did you start seeing these mystery bruises, then?"

"I believe it started when you and Glorfindel had to go to Lothlórien with Lord Elrond. That was the day after you got married, if I recall correctly," he murmured thoughtfully.

"That was the first time you had had to run things by yourself, was it not?" I enquired, looking up from my notes as I felt a pang of guilt. It couldn't be helped of course, that we'd had to go away, but I felt bad for Erestor all the same.

Erestor advised that it was, and also confirmed that he had been sleeping much less during that time when I asked.

"Have you been sleeping enough this last little while?"

He shook his head.

"Despite the fact that Elrond's been sending everyone and their dog to bed at 7 o'clock sharp two nights a week now?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"He only sends them to bed," Erestor replied with a hint of a smile. "He never specifically said we were to be asleep by then."

I snorted. "That's called 'malicious compliance,' Erestor, and you know it."

Erestor's face shone as his cheeky smile widened, evidently very pleased with his little scheme. I could scarcely believe it was the same person who moments ago was at risk of passing away from acute humiliation.

"Anyway, during those times where you have bruises, do you ever remember having had any dreams? Something, perhaps, where you might be fighting something?"

He scrunched up his face as he pondered my question. "No," he said after a while. "Nothing that I can recall."

"How about last night? Do you remember having any dreams then?"

He shook his head again. "Not a thing."

Going by what he'd told me, I had the impression that Erestor experienced episodes of what is known as a non-REM sleep arousal disorder, which sleepwalking falls under.

There are a lot of theories as to why people might sleepwalk. Sometimes they're on drugs that disturb the sleep cycle. Sometimes it's alcohol (though that would be less likely in Elves). Most often, it's because they're sleep-deprived, and the parts of the brain that control strong emotions and complex movement fail to enter power-saving mode as they should. That's why they can get up to all sorts of weird things like evicting an older brother from his room, or putting pieces of cheese all over the bloody house (I'm sorry, but week-old unrefrigerated Red Leicester smells frightful).

Speaking of weird things, I thought to myself, "Erestor, one more question before we get to business: have you been finding strange things coming into your possession of late?"

Erestor looked at me in puzzlement. "Things? No, I don't think so. Like what?"

"Well, for example, Elrond's twin knives went missing a few days ago, and then they mysteriously turned up yesterday in the training yard," I elaborated. "They can't have just been moved the day they disappeared, because Glorfindel and I were training there in the days before and we never saw them there. Could you maybe have found them in your room and then put them outside again?"

He appeared more confused now but shook his head fervently. "No, I don't believe so," he replied. "I did quite a thorough clean of my room yesterday, and I didn't find anything like that, so I cannot imagine how they would have come into my possession."

"No small rocks, either?"

"Rocks? No, no, nothing like that," he shook his head. "I prefer to collect flowers, personally."

I frowned. It wasn't as though I didn't trust Erestor. I was sure he was telling me the truth, but Glorfindel and I had both suspected it might have been him. I'd had a hunch Erestor was accidentally taking things, finding them in his room, and then putting them out again surreptitiously a day or two later.

"You seem confused, Rhodri," he said, scanning my face.

"I am a little," I admitted, "but not because of anything you've done." I smiled. "In any case, what I think is going on is that when you take on too much work and don't compensate with enough sleep, you start to sleepwalk. Now, the solution to that is quite obvious, as I'm sure you can imagine."

Erestor nodded. "I have been rather negligent with my sleep when the workload has increased."

"Will you have any difficulty finding a way to cope with your workload while getting enough rest?" I asked seriously. "It's important that you get enough rest in such a way that you don't feel stressed because sleeping time takes up some working time. Are Glorfindel and I able to help, for example, with some of the paperwork?"

"Oh, no," answered Erestor with a casual wave of his hand. "I can make myself go to bed if I absolutely must, I just prefer to be awake and work."

"So you're telling me this is a matter of self-discipline, then?"

"I'm afraid so," Erestor confirmed with a wry smile.

"What are we going to do with you, Erestor?" I asked him with a chuckle. "Anyway, in the meantime, there are also some measures that you can take for your safety in case you sleepwalk again. Do you have a lock on your door?"

"I do, yes," he said.

"In which case I would suggest you lock your door of a night and also close the windows if you are able to climb out of them."

Erestor's eyes widened. "You really think I could fall out of a window?" he breathed in shock.

"It's certainly happened. People have died from sleepwalking and falling off high things. My younger brother, in fact, almost walked straight off the ledge at the top of a tall building in his sleep." I shuddered a little. I'd only just caught Oliver climbing out of the window of our holiday apartment in Spain, some 16 floors off the ground, before he stepped off and became a human pancake on the tennis court below.

Erestor looked horrified. I shrugged. "Sorry to scare you," I said apologetically. "Best to take the precautions where necessary, though."

He nodded like he'd never been more convinced of anything in his life.

"Well, give those ideas a go, and see what happens. Come back and see me if you find any unexplained bruises, and we can talk about some other strategies then, all right?" I smiled genially at him, and he gave me a small but warm smile back.

We took the long route together to Elrond's study, admiring the lush greenery around us that the midsummer had brought.It had been a while since I'd walked this way, and I loved looking at the statues and art that was in this area of Elrond's house. It was also where the shards of Narsil were kept, laid out on display on a piece of… you guessed it, bloody velvet, atop a huge slab of white marble.

"I made this sculpture," Erestor said quietly, standing beside a bust of Gil-Galad. I looked at it and felt a smile spread across my face. It really captured the essence of his face: stern but gentle, angular and beautiful, with an imposing presence to the untrained eye. And yet, on closer inspection, there was a softness and vulnerability to his visage.

"It's magnificent," I murmured in wonder, looking at him. Erestor blushed a little. "I can't tell you how impressed I am. So many details about him captured in a piece of stone…" I put a hand on the bust's shoulder and sighed wistfully.

Erestor shut his eyes hard for a moment and sighed. "I knew him very well. We grew up in fairly close proximity of each other and were often in the same place together."

I was surprised that Erestor was telling me this. I knew nothing about him, and then suddenly he was opening up?

"Erestor, listen," I said to him quietly. "I understand that you like to keep your distance from people in terms of privacy. You're not ever obligated to open up to me personally just because you did when you were speaking to me as a psychologist. You're not even obligated to open up to me in that role. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Oh," he answered, blushing a little. "To be honest, I didn't feel under any pressure to do it. I simply felt it was safe to do after how you and Glorfindel handled my sleepwalking."

"Just making sure. Well, you know, Glorfindel and I are always looking for new friends, so don't be a stranger, all right?" I said with a smile, clapping him on the shoulder. "You never have to be by yourself if you don't want to be."

Though the smile he gave me was tiny, his eyes crinkled up at the sides. That looked genuine to me. Strolling on, we reached the velvet monstrosity, and as I was staring up at the fresco on the ceiling, Erestor startled me with a small gasp.

I looked at him sharply. "What is it?"

He said nothing, pointing at the marble slab, and when I looked over, I saw that the hilt and lower part of the blade for Narsil was gone. We dashed over and looked close by, in case it had been knocked off the pedestal, but there was no sign of it.

"Oh dear," I whispered. "I think we might have some theft going on here, Erestor."

"Elrond won't be pleased," Erestor whimpered. I grimaced and shook my head, thinking of the mood this was going to put him into.

"Come on then," I said with a heavy groan. "I suppose we'd better go and deliver the news…"

Psych Notes

NB: To understand the Differential Diagnosis, it is important to understand that sleep is a four stage cycle that repeats itself through the night. Stages 1, 2, and 3 are known as non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, and Stage 4 is called REM sleep. Sleepers are often easy to awaken in Stage 1, and it gets progressively more difficult until Stage 3, or "deep sleep," during which the person is only awoken with great difficulty. Stage 3 is when most sleepwalking occurs. REM sleep is the period of sleep when dreaming occurs. Being awoken during this stage, despite its being much easier to do than in Stage 3, can often leave people feeling quite groggy.

Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Arousal Disorders (Sleepwalking type)

A: Repeated occasions of getting out of bed and walking around while asleep. The person's face is blank, not very communicative, and is hard to wake up.

B: The person can barely, if at all, recall any dreams going on at the time.

C: The person can't remember sleepwalking.

D: The sleepwalking affects the person by distressing them or impacting their personal, work, or social life.

E: The sleepwalking isn't because of drugs (medical or otherwise), alcohol, or some other substance.

F: The sleepwalking isn't due to an underlying medical or psychological disorder (e.g. REM Sleep Behaviour Disorders).

Differential diagnosis

Similar symptoms to sleepwalking can show up in REM sleep behaviour disorders, and the two can be hard to differentiate. The main difference lies in the fact that the person is often able to recall their dreams, as they usually feel like they are "acting them out" when they walk about and do odd things.

Among humans, differential diagnosis is also made to what is known as dissociative fugue, which is where a person is unable to recall blocks of time that are too large and significant to be considered normal forgetfulness. This is usually a symptom of a dissociative disorder (known colloquially as 'multiple personality disorder'), a disorder which due to its extreme unlikelihood of affecting Elves is not mentioned here. It is distinct from other sleep/wake disorders in that the person does not stay asleep while they are in dissociative fugue. They have woken up and simply entered that state of amnesia, whereas sleepwalkers and the like are asleep the entire time. It can make for quite a difficult differential diagnosis among clinicians.