The last homely house was at peace. It seemed that the warm weather had drawn a comfortably soporific haze over the inhabitants, only the birdsong, the ripple of the river and the whisper of the wind breaking the stillness.
In the house of the Lord Elrond, only one creature seemed to be astir. The Lady Celebrian was preparing a bath for herself, letting the servants rest and indulging in the cooler water she had collected with her own fair hands.
Resting delicately on the lip of the elegant bath, her long sleeves gathered in one hand, she trailed her fingers through the cool water, colourful rainbows playing across the trails of scented oils that she had added.
Through the trellised roof of the chamber, light played between the trees above, flickering and dancing across her ivory skin. Shimmering flecks of sunlight darted and shimmered on the ripples and eddies that her fingertips roused in the water.
Tilting her head slightly, she let a smile tug at her lips. The doorway between her chambers and the bathing chamber lay partially open, left innocently ajar as she had carried the pitchers of cool water in, her hands occupied by the weight.
Satisfied that all was as she had planned, she rose, letting the sleeves of her robe tumble down, heavy sheets of rough golden silk. Elegant, pale hands moved to the delicate pins that held her robe closed and with careful deliberation, she removed each one, placing it upon the low dresser beside the bath.
Her expression remained innocent, though she knew she heard the faintest whisper of a sigh as her robe started to gape, allowing a tantalising glimpse of the flesh beneath.
Turning just slightly, her right side to the door, she lifted her arms to pin her long hair up. Her sleeves slipped slowly, dragging down her forearms, as she arranged the golden waves, each carefully spent moment allowing a little more of her white skin to show.
Satisfied, she drew her hands down, fingertips curling against the edge of the robe, brushing over her collarbones and slowly, surely, drawing the folds of the robe apart, baring throat, then shoulders and - with the slightest of shrugs - her upper arms.
Unmistakeable, a second sigh reached her ears and she feigned hesitation, drawing the halves of the robe closed over her breasts, eyes wide as a startled doe's.
Only stillness followed, but there was a tension in the air that made her skin tingle with pleasure.
Turning fully from the open door, she let the robe slip further still, the sensuous valley of her spine bared to the dappling kiss of the filtered sunlight. Parting her hands, as if spreading a cloth out before her, the robe shifted, then crumpled into a puddle of heavy fabric around her slim ankles.
With a coy glance back at the open doorway, she stepped into the bath, gasping at the chill as the water rose over calves, knees, thighs, teasing around her sex with its fluid kiss, hips, waist...
As soft ripples lapped greedily at her breasts, she turned to look to the doorway, tracing one hand along the cool marble that edged the bath, her smile sensuous, "Will you not join me, Elrond?"