earthdragon: Ah, but at this point, Rhodri ascertained that it can't have been Erestor. Not while he was sleepwalking, anyway. She only asked him if he had found objects in his room. He can't have simply moved them overnight, because the objects disappeared without a trace for several days before resurfacing somewhere else. She was trying to work out if he had simply taken them with him and then upon discovering them in his room the next day, had tried to put them somewhere else, not knowing where or how he'd acquired them.
Jenn: In my own interpretation, though they're in a smallish minority, Elves can be gay or bi. Given the official line of most Christian denominations regarding homo- and bisexuality, I very much doubt it's canon, though. From what I know about sexuality (not much in the grand scheme of things), a lot of it has biological underpinnings, and I honestly don't know if the Elves, who seem not to have such a wide variety in phenotypes as humans do, would be able to produce same sex-attracted offspring. However, that's not the world we live in, and I think it's important that sexuality-diverse readers have worlds that they feel comfortable immersing themselves in. This one welcomes them and hopes they feel at home.
§
I had briefly entertained the idea of just not telling Elrond about the suddenly-absent Narsil parts in favour of establishing Middle-Earth's first circus and proceeding to run away with it. However, a monkey wrench was swiftly thrown into proceedings when I realised we had no elephants.
"Bollocks," I cursed under my breath as Erestor and I made our way to Elrond's study.
Erestor looked at me quizzically. "Torture ringlet?" he repeated, having heard 'baul loch' instead of the actual word I used.
In no mood to explain what that word actually referred to, I simply nodded and said, "Mmm, common word from my region to express concern at a situation."
"Oh, I see," said Erestor. "Where are you from, anyway?"
It took a not-insubstantial amount of effort to stifle a "for fuck's sake" then. Not because I was angry at Erestor's asking questions and trying to get to know me personally. I was thrilled about that, but could it not have happened at any other time? I mean, come on.
"Erestor," I said as we stopped outside Elrond's door. "I promise faithfully to give you an answer when we are finished here. Right now, though, I must ask that we must focus on the task at hand, which is to deliver crushingly disappointing news to Elrond in a sensitive and loving manner."
Erestor looked stunned, but took my answer very well. He nodded, and I rapped my knuckles on Elrond's door.
Invited inside, I opened the door to see Elrond having a relaxed discussion with Glorfindel. I waved to the both of them.
"Oh, hello!" Glorfindel greeted us, his face brightening.
"Ah, Rhodri, Erestor, excellent. Just the people I was hoping to s-" Elrond paused when he saw my face, which must have displayed my unease quite openly. "Something is wrong." He glanced over at Erestor, who also looked quite perturbed, and then his eyes darted back to me.
"Rhodri, have you been roping Erestor into some sort of foolish endeavour with trampolines or branch sliding?" Elrond asked me, fixing me with a scathingly suspicious look.
Glorfindel let out a scandalised gasp. "How rude, Elrond!" he admonished him in a galled tone. "Kindly remember that's my wife you're accusing! She would never do something like that without me!"
The two of them quickly descended into a semi-playful verbal squabble, and for a brief moment, I became Elrond, burying my face in my hands and hoping to find enough patience to get through the afternoon.
"Oh, for the love of god," I breathed in exasperation.
They had both heard this and looked up at me in surprise, since I was often the loudest and most animated of all of them when this happened.
"Ahem, my apologies, Rhodri, I misinterpreted this as a time for levity. It seems I was very much mistaken," Elrond mumbled contritely. "Please, go ahead and tell us what's going on."
I sighed and walked over to where the two sat, pulling up a seat for myself. Erestor did the same.
"I'm sorry, I'm not upset at you," I said after a moment. "I just know you're going to hate this news. You see, Erestor and I were taking the long way to your study. We stopped for a brief look in that part of the corridor with all the sculptures and the shards of Narsil, and the hilt of Narsil has gone."
It was a terrible thing in and of itself that part of the sword had disappeared. Elrond had been planning on re-forging it and giving it to Aragorn if/when he eventually proved himself 'worthy' of it. On top of that, though, theft was almost entirely unheard of in Imladris. What cause was there for people to steal when they had everything they needed, and had the wisdom and patience to know that almost anything they wanted could be acquired with relative ease? Though he never said it out loud, Elrond was proud of the way Imladris was run, and with his strict moral compass in mind, I knew that hearing about a string of thefts would be painful for him.
To my chagrin, my suspicions were correct. Elrond's eyes widened, and he sat up straight in his chair, watching me as though he thought he had misheard me.
"Surely not!" gasped Glorfindel.
I shook my head and shrugged at them both. "I know, I'm shocked as well. Given the recent disappearances of other various objects, I'm inclined to think that this might be indicative of a string of thefts."
Elrond closed his eyes in mortification, saying nothing for a while.
"Look," I said quickly. "For all we know, it might not be any serious attempts at thievery. Two of the three things that have gone missing have shown up in strange places a few days later, and it might be the case for the hilt as well."
"Don't worry, meldir," Glorfindel said in a newfound tone of reassurance as he stretched out from his chair and pat Elrond on the knee. "Rhodri and I will find out who's doing this."
"I'll help, too!" piped up Erestor, who until this point had been silent. We all looked at him in surprise. In keeping with his loner lifestyle, Erestor had never been keen on group work, and though he always did admirably when we had to all pitch in on a project, it was very clear that he preferred to work alone.
"Oh, good, Erestor!" Glorfindel enthused, beaming as he clapped his hands in delight.
"Yeah, this is going to be great," I agreed with a broad grin.
Erestor, totally out of character, smiled bashfully and looked at his toes, and I could hear Glorfindel screaming in my head from the preciousness of it all.
Elrond, bless his cotton socks, was such a whirlwind of emotions at this point (primarily bewilderment and devastation) that he looked like he was moments away from chucking it all and going home to his wife. This all really was the last thing he needed right now, but at least we were taking steps to fix it.
"Glorfindel's right, though, Elrond," I said to him gently. "We three will sort this out. The only thing you need to decide is how often we update you on our findings."
"Perhaps daily," Elrond said after thinking for a bit.
I nodded and smiled. "All right. Well, I suppose I'll start doing a bit of sleuthing, then. Expect your first report tomorrow morning." With a wave, I left the room and made for the crime scene to take a closer look around.
On my way there, I heard a voice from behind me. "Rhodri, wait for me!"
I turned around and saw Erestor jogging over, a hopeful smile on his face. Had he not been an Elf, I would have doubted his intentions in suddenly getting all buddy-buddy with me right in the middle of an Imladris-style crime spree. Happily, Elves aren't really built to lie, and usually very aptly detect lies in other Elves as well.
What worried me more was the possibility Erestor felt somehow indebted to Glorfindel and me for keeping quiet about his nocturnal wanderings, which was a terrible and unbalanced way to start a friendship. Nobody should have to ingratiate themselves in exchange for acts of basic decency. How was I meant to work out what was really going on, though?
"Sure thing, Erestor," I said with a smile as I waited for him to approach. When he caught up to me, we continued on for what was left of the Narsil display.
"So how are we going to start with this?" Erestor asked as we reached the sculpture area again.
"Erestor, are quite you sure that you actually want to do this?" I enquired as gently as I could. "You have an awful lot on your plate at the moment as it is. Taking on extra work seems to be a little… I don't know... counterintuitive."
His face fell a little as he clutched his hands together, and his cheeks started to flush a deep red.
"Oh, hey," I said quickly. "Look, Erestor, I like you very much. So does Glorfindel, and I know Elrond does as well, but you must admit that this is all rather out of character for you. You've always been the type to keep to yourself. And that's fine."
Erestor looked at me, his eyes filling up with tears again as he started to wring his hands forcefully. Uh oh.
"Right, okay, let's quickly go to my office and just sit for a short spell, all right?"
Seemingly unable to make any noise, he let himself be led to my office where I sat him on the couch and excused myself for a moment.
I streaked down to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of juice and two sticky buns, and ran back to the office. Erestor was curled up on the couch with his knees up to his chin, breathing quite shallowly, and when he glanced up at me standing there with this stuff in my hands, he almost lost it entirely.
Placing the buns and juice down on the coffee table, I sat down beside Erestor and looked at him calmly.
"Erestor, do you need to speak to a psychologist? Whatever you tell me won't have any impact on how I treat you outside the office." I asked in a kind but clinical manner.
He sniffled a little and slowly shook his head, eyes fixed on his knees.
"Do you want to talk to a regular person?" I pressed.
Erestor turned to face me now and nodded. "Yes, please," he breathed.
"All right," I said with a smile. "What's going on, Erestor? What's come over you today, hm?"
"I'm lonely, Rhodri," he choked before his composure fully dissolved and he started to sob into his knees.
A chorus line can-canned through my head singing "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the actual fucking fuck?" Before today, this guy had shown a hint of a tear only once in living memory, and now he was pouring out his entire lachrymal glands in one sitting.
Bewildered, I shuffled a little closer to him (I always gave Erestor plenty of room, since he appeared to prefer it that way and had never tried to sit nearer to people).
"Do… do you want a hug?" I asked cautiously between his sobs.
I saw his head nod a bit as he rubbed his forehead against his kneecaps. Moving a little closer, I put an arm around his shoulders and gave him a friendly squeeze. We sat like that for a while until he was able to dry out a bit.
"How come you're lonely, Erestor?" I probed. "You always seem so uncomfortable with the idea of building personal relationships with others that we try to leave you in peace. If we'd known you were lonely we'd have been in your face constantly!"
Erestor let out a deep, shuddering breath. "I am uncomfortable with it, but that doesn't mean I don't want it all the same," he admitted.
"Well, mate, it sounds like you've reached a point where the discomfort of being alone finally outweighs the discomfort of reaching out to people," I said with a small smile. "What does that tell you?"
"That I've lost a lot of opportunities to make friends," he answered bitterly.
"You might have passed up a few through your life," I conceded. "Most of us have made a mistake or two like that. You're not without options now, though. Glorfindel and I both like you mighty fine, like I said before. We'd always love to-"
A knock came at the door. "Rhodri? Are you in there?"
"Oh, it's Glorfindel," I said to Erestor. "Can he come in, or is this a bad time?"
"N-no, he can come in," Erestor replied, nodding fervently.
"Come in if you're good-looking!" I shouted at the door.
The door cracked open a fraction, and I saw a flash of gold outside. "Oh! Oh! Is it me? Am I good-looking?" I was so sure he started bouncing on his feet.
I excused myself, stood up and went to the door. "You're stunning, Glorfindel. Come inside," I murmured, opening it up.
"As if I'd say that to anyone else but you," I continued in my head as we walked over to Erestor not quite suppressing a grin.
"I know, but I just love to hear that you think I'm handsome!" he sang back at me. "Hello, Erestor!" he said, turning now to the presence on the couch. Glorfindel looked taken aback as he noticed Erestor was tear-streaked.
"Oh, dear," he said softly, taking a seat on one side of Erestor and putting a hand on his shoulder. "What is the matter?"
"Erestor needs a friend," I said simply as I sat on the other side of him.
"Oh, well, you have two in this room right now," Glorfindel said brightly as he gestured at himself and me. "Can we help?"
"I think so," Erestor answered with a timid smile. "But why do you both keep acting strangely when I try to reach out?"
"Well, think about this from our perspective, Erestor," I replied. "You've been a very withdrawn person as long as we've known you, and the same day we tell you about having seen you in a very compromising position is the day you start acting so differently."
"Did I do it wrong?" he gasped.
"No, no," Glorfindel assured him quickly. "Not at all. We just… we wouldn't want you to be trying to make friends with us now just so you could be sure we would keep quiet about this situation. We'd keep it to ourselves whether or not you wanted to get to know us personally."
The penny seemed to drop for Erestor at that moment. Sometimes it takes hearing the same concept a few different ways before it really clicks. This time it really became apparent.
"Oh!" he exclaimed. "It was this sleepwalking issue that made me decide to do it, but not for the reason you're worried about."
"What was it, then?" I asked curiously.
"Well, I suppose I have always been afraid to reach out to others because I wasn't sure what to expect," Erestor admitted. "What if I confided in others and they divulged it? And then this happened, and the two of you told nobody-"
"Which is basic decency and should be expected-" I added firmly.
"But it is not always observed, even if it should be obligatory," Erestor continued, looking at me pointedly.
I sighed. That much was true.
"I suppose what I am trying to say is that my fear of people finding something secret out about me came to pass, and at the same time, that fear was shown to be unnecessary."
"Ah, so we pass the test, do we?" I said with a grin.
Erestor chuckled weakly. "Yes, you could very well say that."
"Cool," I gave him the thumbs up. "So now we're friends, huh?"
Erestor nodded, flicking a shy smile between me and Glorfindel.
"Oh, good!" Glorfindel enthused, beaming at Erestor and then suddenly catching sight of the two sticky buns.
"Tell me," he murmured to the two of us, "Are those sticky buns intended for consumption any time soon?"
"They're intended for consumption right now," I answered happily as I cut both buns into thirds. "There, two pieces each if my arithmetic hasn't totally failed me."
Grabbing a bit each, we sat and chewed thoughtfully.
"Now, returning to my original question," Erestor mumbled through a mouthful of dough, "how will we start this task of finding the thief?"
"Haven't got a bloody clue," I replied, throwing the last morsel of my piece in the air and catching it in my mouth. "I'd rather hoped we might find some useful information by the rest of the shards."
"Shall we have a look, then?" Glorfindel asked, already on his feet.
"Why not," I said as Erestor and I got up and followed him outside.
It was not pessimistic in the slightest to say that we were totally out of our depth here. Glorfindel and I were especially ill-suited for a career in forensics because we were too jolly and easily distracted. Suspect interrogation? Forget it. Remembering crucial details, or even noticing them in the first place? Ha! And as for joining the dots for an amazing, Sherlock Holmes-like "a-ha!" moment, we'd have had better odds hoping that Sauron was a kindly sort who was open to negotiations about his Ring.
Erestor, however, with his proclivity for note-taking and overall meticulous nature, was in his element.
Or at least he would have been, had we even had a hint of a lead to go from.
Keeping in mind that the need to trace a criminal had never arisen in Imladris, with the lack of forensic equipment and techniques in this world, we were essentially reduced to looking for fallen hairs and dried mud that had stuck to shoes, neither of which had been left by the remains of Narsil.
"Rather than searching for physical clues, perhaps it might be wise to see if anyone else has noticed this sort of thing going on," I said as we sat dejectedly in my office half an hour later.
"Whom would we even speak with, though?" Glorfindel asked. "It seems like so far, the only people that have been affected are us."
"That we know of," Erestor returned. "Perhaps we should ask around to see if anyone else has had things go missing."
Seemed like a good idea. Splitting up, we headed back out and strolled around the grounds and corridors, casually chatting with whomever we ran into. It was a beautiful sunny day, and folks were out in their droves milling about, occupying benches, and busying themselves in all manner of ways.
Glorfindel didn't even have to find someone. Before he could get more than a handful of steps out of the office, he was flagged down by a cousin of Bregedúr's, an Elf with shining black hair appropriately named Galvorn who worked in the forge. He seemed to be enjoying the sun with his wife, Lithwen, and their two kids, all perched on the side of a garden bed with the rays on their face.
Erestor tentatively sat on a bench some way away beside Turil (yes, little Turil, friend of the spiders), who had since grown up to be one of Imladris' pre-eminent naturalists, and struck up a conversation with her.
I didn't have far to go, myself, before I was stopped with the wave of a hand.
"Oh, hello, Bilbo," I greeted him cheerfully as I plonked myself down on the bench he sat on. "What's new?"
"Ah, I am making great strides with my book," he said, gesturing proudly at his ever-growing manuscript, complete with illustrations. I ooh-ed and ahh-ed as he took me through the latest chapter before we returned to the page he was working on.
"And what of you, Rhodri?" he asked convivially. "No doubt you've been kept busy of late!"
"Never a dull moment here, Bilbo," I said with a grin. "In fact, there's a new task just come up which is why I was wandering around here."
"Oh, yes? Tell me about it," he said, swinging his legs back and forth as he watched me with interest.
"Not as happy as I'd like, but it's interesting all the same: burglary."
Bilbo raised an eyebrow at me. "Burglary? Have you considered taking up a life of crime, my dear?"
"Me? Good god, no," I laughed. "Not cut out for that sort of thing. No, there's been a string of robberies around Imladris of late, and I'm going around asking people if they've seen anything suspicious. Do you know of anything untoward-"
"Ah, I could tell you a thing or two about burglaries!" he interrupted, eyes wide and legs swinging furiously now as his cheeks flushed a tad. "That Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, why, she attempted to make off with my entire silverware collection one weekend!"
With that, Bilbo launched into a story which, while interesting, was not particularly helpful to me. Still, I figured we were both enjoying it, so it wasn't a complete loss. After his narration had drawn to a close, I decided to get back on the job, and fondly took my leave of him.
"Let me know if you see anything, all right, Bilbo? Or if any of your things disappear, come find me!"
Bilbo smiled and waved as I headed out to the busy courtyard, hoping to find someone less likely to get tangential on me.
Fortunately for me, the next person to catch my eye was Singlis' husband Oldreth, who looked to be finishing work (he baked in the kitchens) and enjoying a few minutes luxuriating in the sun before heading home.
"Oldreth, hi," I said to him as he gave me a friendly nod. "Do you have a moment?"
"Certainly," he replied with a smile. "What can I do for you?"
"Well, you see, there's been a string of burglaries around Imladris of late, and I'm going around asking people what they know about it," I began as I sat down beside him.
"Funny that you should mention that, actually," Oldreth said, sitting up now. "Handir told us last night that a painting had disappeared from the library yesterday."
"Oh, really?" I said with interest. Handir, Oldreth and Singlis' eldest, had grown to be a very sweet, very talented librarian, where he happily indulged his love for both books and contemplative silence day in and day out. I saw quite a bit of him whenever I was in the library, but due to the new duties that had arisen, I'd barely set foot in the place this last year.
"Mmm. For my part, I haven't seen or heard of anything suspicious, but it might be prudent to speak with him," Oldreth said. "He was quite shocked by it all."
"I might just do that," I said. "Thanks very much, Oldreth. Oh, and by the way," I made a gesture of relish, "those sticky buns today were to die for. Magnificent."
Oldreth beamed. "Ah, excellent. I thought it would make a nice surprise for Lord Elrond, so I'm pleased to have good reviews before they reach him."
"Ah, you and Singlis are such good eggs," I said, smiling happily. "Anyway, I suppose I'd best be off so I can speak to your boy. See you around, and thanks again!"
With that, I ambled down the halls to the library where a slender, silver-haired Elf with a kind, gentle face was carrying a large stack of books away from a table.
"Oh, Rhodri!" he said to me in pleasant surprise, depositing the books into a small trolley. "Hello! I haven't seen you in here for quite a while now. If you keep staying away like this, the books might not recognise you anymore." He grinned playfully as he started to wheel the trolley over to a shelf.
I snorted. "Don't remind me, Handir. Things have gotten awfully busy lately, which is what brings me here, in fact."
"Is that so?" he said. "What is it that you seek?"
"Well, there's been some theft going on of late around Imladris, and it's fallen to me, Glorfindel, and Erestor to do some investigation. I just spoke with your father, and he told me that something had been taken from the library?"
"Ah, yes, the painting," he groaned. "Come, I'll show you."
He led me to a wall close to the front door where a cluster of paintings and sketches hung. There was a small section where the wood panelling was a few shades darker, which I guessed was where the stolen painting had been.
"I'm not sure how much you've looked at the paintings on this wall, but the one that was stolen was of the Harbour of Alqualondë."
"Oh, yes," I said as I recalled the picture. "Yes, it had the swan boats, didn't it?"
"That's the one," Handir confirmed with a sad nod.
"When did you notice it had disappeared?"
"I think it must have been in the middle of the day," he replied, wrinkling his brow a little. "I glance at the paintings now and then from my desk over there," he gestured at the librarian's desk a few metres away. "I'd seen them in the morning, and I was looking at them as I ate lunch, but then I went into the back to restore a book, and the next time I sat down, I saw it was gone. That must have been an hour or two later."
"Do you know who was in the library at the time?" I asked.
Handir shook his head. "I was quite absorbed in what I was doing at the time, unfortunately."
I chewed on my lip thoughtfully. "Hmm. Well, I'll see what I can uncover. If it's all right with you, Glorfindel, Erestor or I might come and ask a few more questions later."
"Certainly," he said with a kindly nod. "Best of luck finding out where it went, Rhodri. I hope it's not gone for too long."
"I'll do what I can," I replied with a cheery smile. "Thanks for the help. See you later!"
With a wave, I was off again, feeling like I was no closer to any kind of a breakthrough. The only thing I was sure of was the relief I'd felt that the burglar had made off with one of my least favourite paintings in the place. Time to find Glorfindel and Erestor and see how much progress they'd made.
