I do apologize for my very long absence.
There is no way I could say otherwise for not updating "Moonlight" for such a long time, but I´m a very slow writer and my muse decided to work again 2 weeks ago, and so I´m still way behind with this story.
Right now I´m writing on the 10th chapter of "moonlight" and another story simultaneously, and according to my writing speed it will take some more time before chapter 10 will be online, I´m sorry.
Thank you to all of you who still have me on their favourite and authors alert list.
Thank you for bearing with me.
This little story is for Carol.
Happy Birthday lady!
I hope you enjoy reading it.
Let them be little
Rating: General
Beta: Any and San, thank you both for your work with my awful grammar. ;-)
Disclaimer: All recognisable characters belong to the Tolkien Estates.
I only borrow them for a short time.
The persons you do not know are mine, please do not use them without permission.
I do not own the song either.
Song by: Billy Dean
Title: Let Them Be Little
Summary: Glorfindel reflects on his feelings for a certain little girl.
Let them be little
Glorfindel laid on a daybed out on the balcony of his rooms in Imladris, still weak after what he had gone through a few weeks ago.
He still could not walk and Elrond had confined him to his room until his wounds were fully healed.
He felt useless. He could not go out on patrols; he could not go out to the practicing fields. He could do nothing at all, besides laying here and watch the clouds float over the blue skies.
Tonight the Elves would celebrate the summer solstice and he was glad for the opportunity to get out of this rooms.
Even if he loathed the fact that they would have to carry him to the feast.
He would have loved to dance with his two ladies, but that would have to wait until next time.
With a sigh he leaned back against the headboard and took up the book Yáviëwen had brought him from the library.
Starting to read, he noticed that he had read this particular paragraph for the fourth time and he could not grasp a single meaning. Frustrated, he tossed the book down on the floor, closed his eyes and let his head fall back into the pile of cushions which supported his back.
A distant sound of laughing made him open his eyes again and he tried to look over the banister of the balcony to find out, what caused this ruckus.
Not seeing a thing, he propped himself up on his elbows and could finally get a glimpse of what went on down on the lawn in front of the house.
He could see Tindómë frolicking around with Estel.
The human boy had become somewhat of an older brother for the tiny elfling during their ordeal in the wild, and she enjoyed it immensely, to have someone to play, even if he was a lot bigger than her.
With a little smile Glorfindel watched her jumping on Estel's back and urging him to carry her.
Estel grabbed her legs and ran as fast as he could, the elflings red-golden tresses flowing like a banner in the wind. Their laughter carried up to him with the breeze.
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you're changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon
Glorfindel watched them and remembered the day he first held his little one. With a chuckle he thought of how he had counted her toes and fingers.
How small she had been that day.
A handful of life, so precious to him like nothing else.
He recalled the joy he had felt that day and the fear.
He felt that soon darker times would come and he feared that maybe he could not protect her like he had failed to protect his first family all those centuries ago.
He never had feared death before, not after he went through it in Gondolin. But now ... now he was afraid ... afraid of dying and leaving this little bundle alone. He did not want to see her harmed because he was not able to stand by her side and help her.
He was afraid of losing her to the growing darkness, like he had lost his sons before.
He recalled the moment, when all his fears faded away like smoke in the wind... it was the moment his little girl smiled at him for the first time.
Yes ... she had smiled at him the day she had been born, no one could tell him otherwise.
Yáviëwen who told him that it was more likely a tiny burp or the beginning of a hiccup and Elrond who had explained with all his knowledge of the healing arts and father himself, that she was not able to smile at him this day.
They all were wrong.
He knew what he had seen on his daughter's face, and it had definitely not been a burp, but a bright smile which wiped away all of his fears and only left place for joy of having her in his life.
How fast she had grown up. Sometimes it frightened him.
Her first tooth only one year later, he knew it like it had been yesterday.
He was glad that his warriors would never know that he had cried when she called him "Ada" for the first time.
He remembered the one day when he had returned from a patrol and Yáviëwen had awaited him on the foot of the stairs, their toddler in the arms.
He remembered the look in his wife's eyes, when she set the girl down on the ground and helped her to stand.
He would never forget the pride he felt when his little girl made her first unsteady steps towards him, still lead by her mothers hand but on her own feet.
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
He loved the different ways the girl always managed to sneak into their bed and fell asleep again cuddled against the both of them.
He loved to hug his little lady for no reasons.
He loved to brush her hair and feel it flowing like silk through his hands.
He loved to help her dress.
He cherished every minute in her presence, painting with her, playing with her, even if it was an odd sight to see the mighty warrior, pretending to drink tea out of very small cups.
Even if he loathed, when she cried, because she had hurt her knee or was upset by something that had happened to one of her toys, he loved to hold her close and sooth her until she fell asleep in his arms.
He loved to watch her sleep, every night he spent some time at her bedside to look in her peaceful face and prayed to Illuvatar that she could keep this innocence for an eternity.
I've never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you're teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we're on our knees all I ask is please
He had learned to see the world with different eyes.
She taught him to see the beauty of a single flower hidden in the last snow of the year.
She showed him how much fun it could be to chase after a butterfly.
He had learned again to enjoy the simple things like a picnic on the lawn or a small nap in the afternoon.
She was the reason why he enjoyed walking on his hands and knees through the rooms, the girl sitting on his back and using him as a horse, even when he had the fear of losing all his hair one day from her constant tugging on it.
He loved the way she touched his face with her tiny chubby hands before she kissed him good night.
She was the one that made him complete like he had not been for millennia.
She was his treasure, the one he would protect with his life.
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It's time to let them go.
He watched the children play and knew that one day he had to let her go.
She would grow up some more and one day she would leave him.
One day he would be only the second most important man in her life.
One day she would have her own family.
He feared that day but he also could not wait to see what a woman she would become.
So let them be little 'cause they're only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
He wished that he could stop the time and keep her like she was right now, but there was nothing he could do against the time itself.
The only thing he could do was giving her the best life he has to offer, and he was intending to do this.
Let them be little.
The laughter of the children faded away when they rounded a corner and Glorfindel was brought back to reality by a sharp pain.
His mending hipbones reminded him that the position he held now for some time was not the best for them.
So he leaned back into the cushions again and allowed himself to drift into the realm of dreams, his last thought of what his little girl would look like when she was a grown up elleth.
The End