Just on daybreak, Rory gave up pretence of trying to sleep. She got out of bed and went for a walk in the gardens, which as she suspected looked a herd of feral water buffalo from back home had run amok there. I hope Elrond has plenty of gardeners to put this mess back together, she thought.
Surprisingly, there were few people about the gardens. A couple of Dwarves that looked rather ill were bathing their feet in one of the many water features about, and one blonde male elf was trying to stand up using a tree for support. Rory walked over to him, making sure that he saw and heard her coming.
'Glorfindel', she said very quietly, quite certain that his hearing was likely to be much more sensitive than usual, 'What are you trying to do, hurt yourself?'
The elf, who looked much less handsome than normal, blinked and stared. 'Legs won't work', he muttered.
'Why is that?' she asked him, amused to find that she was right, elves might not get sick, but they sure as hell can get drunk and hung over.
'Well, I think it's because you pulled me into the water with you when I threw you in last night,' he said, giving up all attempts to stand up.
'I did warn you, silly; it's not my fault you didn't believe me', she replied to Glorfindel, who was now sitting at the base of the tree.
'Look', he said lifting his shirt a bit, you bruised me when you grabbed me to pull me in the water with you.
Rory looked at the black bruises on the lower part of the elf's ribs. 'I didn't do that; I didn't grab you that hard. You did that falling over, or maybe fighting that Dwarf who insulted your ability as a smith.'
Glorfindel dropped his shirt and thought hard. Obviously hard work with the headache he so clearly had. 'You may be right, I had forgotten that', he said after a considerable time.
Rory sat down on the opposite side of the path, and looked at Glorfindel. He was much paler than normal, his eyes did not want to focus, his shirt was dirty, and his hair tangled. Altogether, he looked pretty terrible, HHmmm, she thought, he's even lost his pretty elf lord glow.
'I believe there's supposed to be a council meeting this morning,' she said, merely to watch the elf panic. You see, Rory loved to pick on elves. One usually got such brilliant results, it was hard to resist. For a race of people who were so wise, and strong, and immortal, they had their weak points; besides she owed him for both dunkings she got last night, one he did himself, and the other he put some of the other elves up to.
'No, this afternoon, Elrond said so last night, so there', he replied, his usual good manners flown out the window along with the rest of his normal behaviour.
'You know, you should be nice to me, or I will leave you here, instead of maybe helping you inside, and there are two dwarves over that way', she said pointing; 'who knows what they might do to you?'
Now she did get her reaction. 'Where, where', the elf said, panicking, and trying to stand up only to fall down again.
Oh gods, Rory thought, this idiot really is going to hurt himself. Male Elves! Thousands of years old, and still as bloody brainless as mortal men.
'Take it easy, they haven't moved, you're safe at the present', she told the elf who was now very crumpled looking. 'If you promise not to throw me in that bloody cold water again, I will help you inside,' she said, taking pity on him.
Glorfindel now realised he had few options. He was unable to walk by himself, and the Dwarves just might to something nasty to him. He reluctantly agreed to allow Rory to help him, and promised not to throw her in any more cold water.
'Ok, which way', she asked him, having now assisted the elf to his feet.
'Up the path, and then left', he said.
Going up the path and left proved difficult. Glorfindel was tall, but like most Elves not really very heavy. However, the fact that he had little control over his feet made things difficult. Eventually, they made it inside, and Glorfindel was able to walk pretty much by himself using furniture and walls as support. Rory decided to see him to his room because god knew where he might get to if left alone.
Finally, they arrived at a door, which Glorfindel asked Rory to open for him. She did so and helped him inside. He sat down on his bed, and thanked her for her help, then before Rory could answer him, fell down on the bed and appeared to fall instantly asleep. Rory pulled his boots off for him, and covered him up, checking to see that he was only asleep. As she did so, for some reason known only to a drunk elf, he got a death grip on her left wrist, and she could not make him let go.
'Great', she said out loud to herself', stuck to a drunk elf. What a way to start the day'.
Hehehe...now we all know why everyone at Elrond's council meeting were all so short tempered. They were all suffering from the effects of the night before. Glorfindel of course wrote himself off so badly because Arwen stole his part in the movie...