Hi people!

First of all I want to thank Celridel for her help in the edition. Also I want to invite the readers for leaving their reviews.

This chapter will be very short but it will make a difference between the relationship between Lord Glorfindel and Laura.

So... let's go!

Chapter 26: Amon-Ra, Amon-Dai

"Laugh, my heart, in the pale twilight

The stars are stretching far as sight

O, though time and world are in flight

There is peace in the cradle of twilight.

Love and hope are always dear,

Dearer when the twilight is near

Silver and violet so dusky sweet

Time when night and day do meet

Stars are spinning, shining bright

In the soft cradle of pale twilight

Love and hope are always dear,

Dearer when the twilight is near

The gold fades, the silver grows

An enchanted dusk over us flows

A promise comes in twilight gray

Hope shall not fail nor love decay.

Love and hope are always dear,

Dearer when the twilight is near

Laugh, my heart, in the pale twilight

When the stars stretch far as sight

For love and hope are always dear

Dearer still when twilight is near."

Laura turned to Glorfindel, her eyebrows arched enquiringly.

"Well…master?"

In truth, the song had been well played and well sung, even to the ear of an Elf. But she had not played it without fault, for certain. There were untuned notes and occasional mistakes in the rhythm.

"You play it well," Glorfindel admitted. "But there are still some things to be improved upon." He paused, then added with a smile. "And if I remember correctly, we had a deal that if you did not learn it in the same time it took me to learn 'On Horseback', you would sacrifice your hair. It seems to me you have too much at present."

Laura's eyebrows arched even higher in surprise, but there was a green glow in her eyes that told the Elf-Lord she was not defeated so easily.

"I? Cut my hair? she asked sweetly. "Why would I do that if I fulfilled my part of the deal? I can play and sing the song without a mistake."

"Not quite. There are some details that must be finetuned."

"Oh yeah? Like what, Lord Glorfindel? "She demanded mockingly, emphasizing his title. Glorfindel ignored this, sure he would win the argument this time.

"Some of your notes are slightly out of tune, or sometimes the rhythm is off, especially in the chorus."

"Oh really?" she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "The same thing can be said for your rendition of On Horseback."

Glorfindel felt a slight twinge of unease. His greatest vanity was his hair, which fell almost to his knees when unbraided.

And Laura knew it.

She laced her fingers together and leaned her chin on them, a faint smile on her thin lips.

"If the same thing could have been said of my song, then all I see is that we are in equal standing," he protested and saw with surprise there was a shimmer of playfulness in her eyes.

"Oh, come on, come on!" Laura said impatiently, but her eyes never stopped shining. "I'll cut off my hair and you cut off yours!"

"No! That was not in the deal! " he answered, his voice vexed with angry indignation.

Laura rolled her eyes and sat up with a sigh.

"Forget it. Give me your dagger."

Glorfindel hesitated for a bare second. His dagger, a beautiful weapon with quillions of gold wrought in the shape of wings, was sharp and deadly-not something you gave to a prisoner.

She took it with a sort of easy familiarity that surprised him. Holding it in one hand, she gathered her hair together with the other, and cut it from the shoulders without hesitation.

"Well, I cut my hair. Even a firíma honors her deals," she announced, flipping the dagger deftly and turned it towards him, hilt forward.

Glorfindel took his weapon back, then took his own golden hair and cut it from the middle of the back. He sheathed his weapon and met her eyes.

Laura looked down instead, and gently took the thick tress from Glorfindel's hand and placed it beside her own hair. She stared at these for a long time, an emotion that the Elf-lord could not understand, and would not understand until many years later: until the night she told him of a man had played her, and how she had wondered if her hands were so red that even love spurned her, not knowing the next night he would give her his soul.

"Amon -Ra, Amon-Dai," she said slowly, in a low voice, her head still bent.

Glorfindel had expected closure, not this. He looked at her and she went on slowly, trying out the words.

"Amon -Ra, Amon-Dai, " she said again. "Day and night. Day and night can never, ever together, and yet, the day has been beside the night for over two years. Every time the night tried to sink him into the darkness, the day went on illuminating everything around him, bringing warmth and ….." She paused, laughed. "Joy, fun, learning, things that the night had not had for a long time, but she can't give those back." Laura stopped and looked up at Glorfindel. The emotion in those emerald eyes was so great that Glorfindel was moved to the depths of his fëa, as he had never been.

"The Egyptians were right. Ra was able to bring good and light, but Anubis? Anubis brought death because that was the only thing he knows how to do. But Ra still accepted and appreciated Anubis." She stopped, her voice choked, still trying to smile.

Glorfindel leaned forward, and gently took the hair from her palm, and began to braid them together.

"Amon -Ra; Amon-Dai," he said. "Truth is the night tried to sink her darkness into the day, but the day persisted because with his light he gave he could show the night the beauty she had: the stars and moon and the night-wind. And the day realized that the Moon was no less beautiful than the Sun." He looked up, locking Laura's gaze with his. "The day found things that it never would have found otherwise. It found this out very soon-the night has a very strong will."

Laura laughed weakly, and Glorfindel extended his hand to show her the braid. The dichotomy between the gold and black was startlingly beautiful, each color more eye-catching because of its contrast with the other.

"Amon -Ra, Amon-Dai, " repeated Glorfindel, smiling as he dropped it into her hand. Lord Glorfindel, smiling gently as he extended the braid towards her.

Their hands brushed, and time spun itself to stop. Their hearts paused, breathless, with the braid between them. Moving along her arm, a tingling shock rushed into Laura's heart, becoming something wonderful, something gold and silver and beautiful. The shock of it made her jerk her hand away, the braid clenched tightly in her fingers.

"You felt it," Glorfindel said softly.

She shrugged indifferently.

"You Elves do pretty strange things."

"That was not me," he answered.

"Oh. Well, then it was just an electric shock. That's all."

"Electric shock?" Glorfindel repeated.

"Yes, you know. When there is a change in magnetism due to the change of seasons, it usually happens. The bodies release energy and often it is by means of light electrical discharges."

Glorfindel looked at her quietly, and Laura sighed impatiently.

"It's a matter of Physics-a branch of science where I come from. If you want, I'll explain it to you someday, but for now, I think I'm going to go to bed."

Her cold tone confused Glorfindel into obedience. He rose and bid her farewell.

Once Laura was in her cottage and sure that the Elf-lord was gone, she opened her hand and looked at the braid. It had not been an 'electric shock', it had been something so much deeper. She used to think science could explain everything. Now, there was so much it did not.

"Follies!" She said to herself as she left the braid on her dressing table and went to take a bath.

What do you think, guys? Waiting for your reviews!