Sunset

Eleniel: 16

Eleniel sighed as she stared up at the stars from her place lying on the soft grass of the gardens of Rivendell. She had been out there since the sun set, waiting for the bright lights to fill the night sky.

Her blue eyes immediately found the star she had been waiting for, and she smiled.

"Hello, Daerada," she whispered. "I… um. I was feeling a little… well, a little sad, so I thought I'd come to speak with you again."

Eleniel had been coming outside to speak with the star ever since she had learned of what had happened to her father's father. Whenever she was feeling upset, or angry, or a little lonely, she'd lie in the grass on a blanket, and watch the sun set into the mountains beyond Rivendell, and wait for that familiar light to fill the darkness. Her grandfather.

She wished she'd known the elf, as she had heard so much about him, as well as her uncle Elros, but she didn't. However, talking to her grandfather's star like this made her feel closer to him somehow, and she felt like she did know him. When she thought that there was no one to listen to what she had to say, she'd talk to Earendil, and it felt like he answered, in his own special way.

"I had an argument with Ada," the elleth continued, "not a proper one, but it was still an argument. I forgot to finish the work 'Restor had set me, and he got mad. But I didn't mean to, Daerada, I promise… I just… I don't know."

Sighing, she watched as the star seemed to glow brighter before speaking again. "Fin's been teaching me more moves with the sword, and Legolas is here, and he's making me practise with the bow, and we had Estel's twenty-first begetting-day, and Ro's been talking about taking me out hunting and I'm just so tired." he sighed before taking a deep breath. "My mind has been elsewhere as of late and completing the work just… ran into a corner of my mind and became squashed with all these other things!"

"That is a good way of explaining it," came a new voice, and Eleniel's eyes widened. She sat up, spinning around and seeing her father stood there.

"Ada!"

"Hello," Elrond said before slowly making his way over to his daughter. He sat on the blanket beside her and looked up to the sky. "Who were you speaking to?"

"Daerada…" she told him hesitantly. She didn't know what her father would make of it. Would he think her strange?

"My ada?" At Eleniel's nod, he looked up again. "I used to do that, you know, when I needed someone to speak to who wouldn't necessarily answer. I spoke to him when I was about to marry your nana, and when I found out she was pregnant with your brothers… because, believe it or not, those two events terrified me."

"They did?"

"They did. Your nana meant so much to me, and I was frightened to think that we were to become one. And the twins… well. I was to be an adar, and that was a big thing. I did not know how to be one, as I never properly had one, and I was worried that I would mess things up."

"You do not speak to him anymore?"

Elrond shook his head with a smile, placing his arm around his daughter's shoulders and drawing her close to his side. "I stopped finding things to say to him. After I married your nana, I realised there was nothing to be frightened of in the first place, and once the twins had been born, I was ready for you and Arwen. I had other people to speak to of my later troubles, such as Glorfindel and Erestor… speaking of which…" He gazed down at the elleth, who suddenly looked very downcast, and smiled lightly. "I heard what you said earlier, my little star, and now I understand. Perhaps if you had told me sooner why you had not completed the work then I would have realised that you have been put under a lot of stress recently. But, really, I should have known, and I am sorry. Do you forgive me?"

Eleniel smiled, cuddling up to her father, and nodded. "Of course."

The two stayed for another hour, talking quietly amongst themselves and sometimes asking for Earendil's opinion, to which his light shone that bit brighter when they directed their attention to him.

The corners of Elrond's lips turned upwards as he turned his head and saw that Eleniel's eyes were drooping shut, her head resting on his shoulder with his arms wrapped tightly around her. "I think," he said quietly, sitting up and gathering the younger elf into his arms, "that it is time for bed."

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Eleniel mumbled in a barely audible voice, but her azure eyes were looking pleadingly at her father, despite the obvious exhaustion in them.

Elrond smiled, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. "Of course." He lifted her into his arms and slowly walking back to the House.

Once he was at the door, he turned and smiled faintly at his father's star.

"Good night, Ada," he whispered.

Elvish used:

Daerada – Grandad

Ada – Dad/Daddy

Nana - Mum/Mummy

Hope you enjoyed some daddy/daughter fluff! :D ~ Gre3nleaf