Minas Tirith.

As evening drew on, Aragorn and Faramir stood in the courtyard watching the Elven host crossing the Pelennor toward the North Gate. The first thought that crossed Aragorn's mind was, "How did they get Glorfindel and Erestor to ride side-by-side at the van?" Elrond and Arwen were rather wondering the same thing from the other end of the march.

That morning the two seemingly-opposite Elves were showing their differences again. After Glorfindel's night on patrol, and subsequent bout of intense thinking, the Balrog-slayer spent the best part of the morning trying to get the dark-haired advisor to talk with him. For the most part, Erestor stayed with his old "ignore and it will go away" tactic. But just as they were moving into their formation, Erestor decided he was going to have to make himself a little more comprehensible to the thick-skulled Vanya.

Deciding not to make Glorfindel's dim-witted mistake of shouting and drawing the attention of every Elf in the vicinity (battle-warriors know nothing of subtly), Erestor's sharp, low tone was all it took to silence Glorfindel for the rest of the day when Erestor told him that he "would not hesitate to make Lord Námo take the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower back... permanently," if he dared to so much as look upon him without express consent again.

As they approached Minas Tirith, Erestor started to feel intensely guilty about his strong words earlier. He wondered why exactly he reverted to such sharpness with Glorfindel. He wondered why he refused to even talk to him, surely other Elves he had talked to had not met their doom. But Glorfindel had once already, and even if Erestor had to fool the Valar themselves, he was not going to show the slightest sign of the feelings he encountered whenever he looked at the tall, blond, carved, perfectly.... Erestor shook himself back to thinking about political matters at once.

Glorfindel was doing all he could to keep his eyes trained on the back of Elrohir's (or Elladan's) head. He really had no fear of Erestor actually following through on his threat, nor did he feel entirely offended by it after having heard what Haldir and his brother's discussed that night in the wood. Glorfindel, really, was more confused than anything. Why did Erestor act so, after all? Especially if he was in love, as Haldir seemed to believe, Glorfindel wondered if it wasn't something he had done that had made the dark-haired Elf so cold. Glorfindel felt guilty that, had he offended Erestor somehow, it must be terrible for him to love him and yet be so upset with him. Yet, Glorfindel thought of all the times he had tried to be friendly with Erestor, all to no avail. The only way it could be described was infuriating. Erestor had really brought it all on himself anyway. He had but to tell Glorfindel what grieved him, then at least he might have a chance to make amends. It seemed like Erestor actually wanted to keep the animosity between them. 'Very well, then,' Glorfindel thought with a half scowl, half sneer.

Fortunately just then Aragorn came out from the city gates to welcome them. All were whisked quickly up through the city and taken to the Citadel where a feast had been laid. Seated at Aragorn's left were Arwen, Elrond, Elladan and Elrohir (or vice versa), Glorfindel, Erestor, Haldir, Rúmil, Orophin, and the Lord and Lady of Lorien. All through the feast Glorfindel over heard a conversation between the twins that sounded very much like the one he overheard from the three Silvan brothers. Likewise, Erestor was treated to a similar Lorien Three version of the chat the Peredhil family had around the fire one evening.

If Glorfindel had doubts that perhaps Erestor did indeed love him, the twins discussion did much to relieve those misgivings, though he began to wonder of the two had not been spending too much time around Mortal ears. How could he not have heard them? When Elladan mentioned to Elrohir (or was it the other way round?) that the reason Erestor was always so cold with Glorfindel was because he was afraid to show his feelings to the Balrog-slayer, Glorfindel turned to stare at Erestor.

In that moment of distraction the twins wore matching grins of unparalleled mischief that did not go unnoticed by their mortal brother and host. Aragorn had a feeling he knew exactly what those two were up to and he made it a point to focus in on the conversation Haldir, Rúmil, and Orophin were holding to see if his suspicion was correct. What the King heard was proof enough for him.

Erestor nearly groaned when he heard the Three mention the name of Glorfindel. But his interest was peaked when Rúmil said something about Glorfindel being afraid to profess his affection for the Noldo advisor because he was sure that the feeling was not mutual, after all, considering the way Erestor always reacted to him.... Erestor could not help but feel rather indignant. So not only his dearest friend and his sons thought he was cold and rude, but so did the Lorien Three and Glorfindel himself. He wondered just who else held this opinion of him, without mention of the fact that those damned Silvans obviously thought that the Noldor had less than sharp hearing. Not only that, but Erestor's sense of guilt returned in full force. It must have been terrible for Glorfindel, if he really did love him as everyone seemed to think, to be ignored by the one you love.

Though Galadriel fully disapproved of getting so noticeably involved, Celeborn could not help also overhearing the conversations of the Rivendell twins and their own three wardens. Catching Aragorn's gaze, Celeborn silently intimated that perhaps they could assist this little set-up in some way. Aragorn nodded, tapped his father's shoulder and whispered his plan. Elrond made a point of showing utterly no interest whatsoever when he leaned forward to catch Erestor's attention.

Erestor, thankful for a distraction from his guilt-ridden thoughts, went quickly over to Elrond. "I must slip away from the feast in a moment, mellon-nín," Elrond whispered, "but i shall not have time to find my quarters, and after the last few weeks i truly do not wish to be bothered with making sure that everything is in order before i fall asleep. You would not mind seeing to everything for me, would you, meldur?"

Erestor smiled, thankful to be able to get away from the crowd. "I would be most happy to take care of everything for you, meldur-nín. Should i have a bath drawn for you?"

"That would be appreciated, Erestor. Hannon-le," Elrond said before rising and slipping away to wait for Aragorn in his chambers. Erestor was directed to Elrond's chambers by the King before he too stole away after his father.

Just as Erestor was leaving to see to Elrond's wishes, Celeborn pulled him aside to ask him where he might find Elrond later that evening as the Elf-lords had much yet to be discussed. Erestor gave him the directions he was given by Aragorn and was quickly gone. Several moments later Celeborn beckoned Glorfindel over to his end of the table. He did everything in his power to avoid the gaze of Galadriel though, trying to forget the things he saw in her mirror. Celeborn asked Glorfindel if he would mind terribly going to his chamber to fetch a small gift he had brought to give to his granddaughter. Having recieved Celeborn's "directions," Glorfindel nodded, bowed, and hurried off. When he was well away Celeborn explained to the twins, who were duly impressed and were finally beginning to understand the question which plagued the Elven population of Middle-earth since they were born: "Where did they get it from?"

---

We all know these translations by now right?

Mellon-nin - my friend

meldur - dear friend

meldur-nin - dear friend of mine (or my dear friend, i just think the other way is more poetic)

hannon-le - thank you

My readers have my apologies for the week-long halt in updates. Last weekend i went away, had the best time of my life, and when i came back... i couldn't write (or do much else, truthfully). I left all my creativity and spirit there. I knew well enough not to push the next chapter and just let it come in it's own time. Hopefully i am back into the swing of it again.

I wonder where Aragorn's directions are going to send our two favorite Elves....