Glorfindel walked along, dragging a disgruntled, infuriated, and very highly affronted Denethor along the paths to the Last Homely House. "What is the matter, O Lord of Men? Are our paths not lovely enough for you? Too many roots? I can sympathize, when i do not watch where i am going, even i can trip over them at times. I shall sing, and that will make this little road we walk so much easier for you."

Denethor seemed to protest, but through the gag it was impossible to tell if that desperate mumbling was displeasure or joy, or so Glorfindel would claim. Glor' already knew which song to sing, it was his favorite and no one newcomer to Imladris escaped without hearing at least once. Sometimes he liked to get them coming and going. Glorfindel sang on in a loud, cheerful voice that some called the Imladris version of the rack:

"O! What are you doing,
And where are you going?
Your ponies need shoeing!
The river is flowing!
O! tra-la-la-lally
here down in the valley!
O! What are you seeking,
And where are you making?
The faggots are reeking,
The bannocks are baking!
O! tril-lil-lil-lolly
the valley is jolly,
ha! ha!"

Glorfindel seemed to think that making the road easier entailed making the entire road easier and so he did not stop singing until they crossed the bridge and were walking up the stairs to the courtyard of the Last Homely House. Erestor had heard that ear-splitting disquietude coming and was just coming out on the porch to give Glorfindel an earful of his own.

"Glorfindel!" Erestor snapped, "There is an infant upstairs trying to sleep, would you kindly silence -" Erestor noticed the bedraggled thing who was blindfolded, gagged, whose hands were bound, and who was connected to Glorfindel by a lead. It was clearly a Mortal Man of Gondor and Erestor felt his heart rate speeding up. "Glorfindel...," he said carefully, "who is that?"

"This?" Glorfindel said as though he just realized he had been dragging the Man along. "He calls himself the son of Ecthelion, who is apparently the current Steward of Gondor. He does not put me in mind of Ecthelion of Gondolin though. He never resisted," Glor' said with a leering grin.

Erestor's scowl could have boiled the ice of the Helcarax. "Why do the Valar hate me so?" he muttered under his voice before turning and running back into the house. A second later he ran back out. "Do not move under any circumstances!"

Running back into the House, Erestor rushed to Elrond's study, all in a state. "You are not going to believe this," he said by way of greeting. "However, i must ask that you do not kill Glorfindel, as dearly as i would like it if you did, it would do no more good than it did the first time i fear. He will only come back again, brighter, louder, and even more annoying."

"I assure you, Erestor, i have no plans to commit kinslaying any time soon," Elrond said with perfect calm. Many were the times that Erestor had burst into his study or private chambers in a flap about some foolishness of Glorfindel's. "What seems to be the matter?"

"He has just returned from his patrol. He has in his company a Man, bound, blindfolded, and gagged, who he tells me is the son of the Steward of Gondor. Why that incompetent idiot ever brought him of all people here is beyond me! Does he never think of the danger he risks to others in his actions?" Erestor was pacing about the study, practically tearing his hair out.

"I am rather surprised it has taken him this long to get here. I expected to receive Denethor the day after Estel got in. I suppose i was not in the right mind to calculate speeds though," Elrond said aloud almost absently. "Please have Glorfindel remove all restrictive devices and you may escort him here. You should also tell Glorfindel that he should get back to the border as soon as possible, though i anticipate no difficulty with Denethor's men. Ask him to take a party to the border and have my sons return here. Also, please have Gildor take this message to Lady Gilraen, remind him that it is imperative that he escort her here and not by the main road."

Erestor's only reply was to stare at Elrond the way he always did when the Lord of Imladris knew something aforehand but did not share it with him. He loved Elrond dearly and would do anything for him, but sometimes he wished that he would just once inform him before something significant took place. Erestor nodded and turned to leave, not in the mood to make a show of acknowledging Elrond's thanks.

Elrond paced his study, never a good sign, trying to persuade himself on his next course of action. A part of him wanted to have Estel brought to his study as well, that he could take that final step in truly owning responsibility for his child. But yet there was also that part of him that still wanted to shelter his "fourth" child, that same part of him still wished that he had not told Estel the truth of his birth and allowed him to leave for years at a time. The gods only knew where he wandered half the time as many times he could not even find him to keep an eye on him through the palantír.

And after all, he thought, Estel had already taken more than enough responsibility for Faramir.

It was the morning after they had arrived in Imladris that Elrond went to Estel's chambers to apologize for his rather curt reaction, knowing that if his little girl could forgive so easily than he, by rights, had to also. As he expected, his son was not yet awake and would not likely be for some while. But Faramir was waking and fussing and Elrond went to the cradle to look upon his grandson. It had been a long time since he had seen a child that young.

Elrond knew that he needed to be in healer-mind and make sure that Faramir was physically well after that difficult journey. Elven infants were delicate too, and he could only imagine how delicate this Mortal infant was. But it was when Faramir reached up and batted at a braid that had fallen forward that it all came back to the Elf lord. He remembered Estel's arrival in his home 50 years ago, his braids were never quite straight for years after that. Looking at his sleeping son he thought how childlike he still looked with all that grim countenance washed away by peaceful rest.

Elrond smiled warmly and kissed his son's brow and whispered, "never shall i cease to love you as my own. Sleep well, ion-nín, my grandson and i have some catching up to do."

Forcing himself to concentrate at the task at hand, Elrond stopped pacing and stood at his window. He thought it best if he could simply calm Denethor and get him gone again as soon as possible. As diplomatic as Elrond was, even with the most... trying... of visitors, one ill move directed at his son or grandson would prove just how wrathful a 6000 year old Half-elf could be.

As the footsteps of an uncouth Mortal drew nearer, Elrond turned, reminding himself that he must be tactful, yet knowing that that dour look about him was not going to give way to a welcoming smile no matter how he tried. He knew too much about Denethor to allow his guard to give in to any too genial behavior.

"Lord Elrond," Erestor said, appearing at the door of his study, "Lord Denethor of Gondor to see you." Immediately the advisor backed away and closed the door, but he made it a point to stay nearby.

"Welcome to Imladris, Denethor, son of Ecthelion," Elrond said, his tone terse.

ooo

Verse quoted from the Welcoming Song of the Elves in The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkein.

linda: Glorfindel is a dear, isn't he? I guess it takes capturing the heir to the Stewardship of Gondor and highly insulting him for a reborn Balrog-slayer to have any fun.

steelelf: Well, not terribly bad. Could be worse, for Denethor anyway. He should consider himself very fortunate he had Glor' as an escort and not the Terrible Two.

Delphae: Have you had any luck with the site as yet? For some reason, on my computer at home i can not get my profile page to stay current. I have cleared my browser cache and visited the Stats page numerous times. Go figure.

grumpy: Someone will need to get rid of Denethor as soon as possible, and hopefully without any paths being crossed between him and Aragorn.

Iblis: Moving is one of the truly difficult things in life. You have my sympathies. And yes, all of this, from your review :)

Elenhin: Spider webs? I have enough of those in my cellar. The only thing they are good for is making me a little quicker when i grab a bottle of water before going to work in the morning (it's a Pittsburgh thing to have a refrigerator in your cellar, i know of no other place in the world that does that. It's main function is a place to keep the beer.) But you are forgiven for being late, as this chapter is also. I had a very busy week last week. Thursday my mum and i went to Cirque du Soleil's Varekai (extremely good show, i recommend it), Friday was my birthday, Saturday i was lazy, Sunday was Mother's Day, and so on. I wanted to make this chapter longer, but i thought this a good place to leave off, and so i did.