A/N: A continuation of chapter 84 'Filling in the Gaps'. Thanks, Lin, for the suggestion.

Eressë is the Quenyan word for 'solitude' or 'alone'. Should I continue this 'wolf saga'? XD

Point of View

Eleniel and Miluiel: 15

Glorfindel followed Eleniel quickly down the hall, rubbing at his eyes. Valar, he was tired. If the elleth had come to him on any other day, claiming that a wolf pup was in her bedroom, he likely would have laughed and helped her in sneaking it out of the House.

But alas, the work and documents and piles of parchment stacked up on his desk had been screaming at him to be completed since that morning, and his lack of sleep resulted in a very moody balrog-slayer.

Nevertheless, Eleniel was Eleniel, and Glorfindel was Glorfindel, therefore the two could very rarely go a whole day without roping the other into some kind of trouble.

Once they reached the room, Glorfindel's tired eyes just about caught sight of Miluiel supposedly standing guard outside the door. Her back was to it, arms spread out wide, eyes frantically searching the corridors for unwanted visitors. Once she caught sight of her best friend, she visibly deflated.

"El!" she whispered harshly. "I can hear it! It's running around and knocking things over!"

Glorfindel sighed, motioning with his hand for her to move away from the door. "The poor thing is likely very frightened," he told them. "You don't lock a wild animal in an enclosed room. Go and stand over there."

Miluiel and Eleniel stepped to the side, looking on with wild interest as Glorfindel placed himself so that his leg was in front of the door and would successfully stop any escape attempts. He clutched the door's handle and gently pushed down, opening it the smallest bit and readying himself. When no sound came from the other side, he glanced to the girls for a brief second before quickly opening the door and pushing himself in, shutting it behind him.

His eyes immediately scanned the room, and after a moment, they fell on a small ball of grey fur tucked neatly, yet discernibly trembling, underneath the beechwood desk in the corner of the room. Immediately feeling pity fill his heart, he stepped forward the smallest bit before lowering himself down, significantly lessening his height.

"Well, hello, there," he said quietly, peering closely at the wolf, whose head had since raised the slightest bit. Bright brown eyes, filled with such fear, stared straight at him. Over his years, he had gained much knowledge on the animals one finds in the wild. He had once helped nurse an adult wolf back to health after one of his soldiers in training had accidentally shot at it. This little thing couldn't be more than a couple months old. It had a little cut on its front leg, and its fur was tinged red, but apart from that the only thing which seemed to have put it in the state it was in was being taken by a couple of ellith to a house full of beings it had likely never been introduced to before out in the woods.

He sighed, turning slightly as the door cracked open and Eleniel poked her head in. He motioned for her to come and stand behind him quietly, and she and Miluiel did exactly that, gently shutting the door behind them. "Where did you find it?" he asked softly, keeping his eyes on the little wolf.

"It had collapsed by the river," Eleniel told him.

"And you didn't see any other wolves around it? Anymore puppies?"

The girls glanced at each other before shaking their heads. "No. It was alone. And we went over to it and it let us pick it up so…"

Glorfindel nodded in understanding, edging his way closer to the wolf. "You took it home."

"Yes. Was that a bad thing, Fin? Should we have left it?"

He was getting closer, now, and thankfully the wolf looked no more alert than it had when he'd first walked into the room. "No," he said assuredly. "If you could not see any wolves and it was injured, taking it here was the best course of action. However, you should not have taken it into the House. You should have kept it outside in the open and called for someone to help."

Eleniel's shoulders sagged. "I'm sorry."

"No point in worrying about it now, little warrior." He soon found himself mere feet away from the desk. Cautiously reaching his arm out, he patiently waited for the pup to lift its head and hesitantly lean forward to sniff his hand. Once it had done so, it hauled itself up, holding its injured leg at an odd angle, and slowly hopped towards him. Glorfindel lowered himself further, seating himself on the ground and lifting his arms to allow the wolf to step onto his lap and curl itself into a ball.

A soft gasp came from Miluiel. "It's so cute!"

The corners of Glorfindel's lips turned upwards as he peered closely at the animal. "I believe it is a she," he told them. He rested one hand on his knee and the other on the wolf's small back, silently victorious when it didn't flinch or recoil from his touch. Leaning down a little, he looked closely at the leg. It was only a small cut, but it seemed to be infected, and dried blood and mud surrounded it. "We shall have to take her to Arthion," he decided, not stopping the ellith as they carefully moved closer to him. Arthion, the stable master, was a veterinarian and terribly good with all animals, not simply horses. He had often been seen tending to injured foxes and owls.

Eleniel and Miluiel sat cross-legged around him, wide eyes staring at the little wolf. "Can we name her?" Eleniel asked.

Glorfindel sighed inwardly. He had worried it would come to this. "Naming an animal suggests you are intent on keeping it," he said purposefully, an eyebrow raised in the blonde's direction.

Eleniel sat back. "No, it doesn't!" she insisted. "I know we can't keep her. Her nana is probably out searching for her. But… can we?"

Glorfindel looked at her a moment longer, wondering if the situation was to turn out like young Estel and Wiggly, that blasted caterpillar…

"Alright," he relented. "You may name her. But we are not keeping her."

The girls grinned. "Eressë!" Miluiel said brightly, and Eleniel swiftly nodded in agreement. Glorfindel stared at them for a moment, brows quickly shooting up once more, before he rolled his eyes.

"You named her the moment you lay eyes on her, I'm sure," he said knowingly, and Eleniel shrugged.

"Perhaps."

"Now, then. What is going on in here?" Six eyes turned immediately to the door to see Elrond stood, arms loosely crossed over his chest and eyebrows elegantly raised.

Glorfindel immediately grabbed the blanket draped over the chair by the desk and swiftly covered the wolf.

Elrond smiled, walking forward. "Valar, Glorfindel," he said, "are you with child?"

"I could be, Elrond."

"With a wolf pup?"

All three grimaced, and at the little whine from the animal, the balrog-slayer removed the blanket. He gazed down at it for a few seconds as everyone remained silent, before lifting his head, looking his lord in the eyes, and putting on his most adamant face. "I swear to you, Elrond," he began, "for once in my long, long life… this had absolutely nothing to do with me."