At last.

At last I seem to be getting through to you, to be piercing the barriers with which you have surrounded your mind. I sincerely hope that I am, at least, as I am beginning to tire and if this fails I do not know what else to do.

Indeed, I barely know what to do even now. I must find a way to punch through your defenses, to get inside your head and figure out exactly what is going on, but I find that as I have gotten past the initial stages of my original plan I am at a loss as to how to proceed. I would like a moment of respite, a moment in which to think, but I know that I have not the time to formulate a plan. Were I to take the time necessary any small progress I have made would be erased, any opening in your defenses, sealed - and I am not foolish enough to think that what I have done here would work a second time.

In the absence of ideas, all I can do is soldier onward. Soldier onward and hope that I succeed.

"No," Erestor answered, retrieving his sword, "I was not." He moved more slowly now, energy from the fight dimmed and gone. He was unused to such confrontations, to being riled as he had, and it was hard to stay incensed. Eventually he picked up the weapon and stood facing Glorfindel, who as of yet had made no move to recover his own blade. He merely stood, silently staring at the floor.

Glorfindel was not silent out of anger or spite - he truly did not know what to say. He had, over the course of their argument convinced himself that Erestor had to be lying, and the discovery that he spoke the truth was wholly unexpected and, really, a rather nasty shock. He suddenly felt very, very small, and even more useless, and stared at the floor because he could not bring himself to look Erestor in the eyes.

The dark-haired Elf held out a hand. "If you would, please..."

Glorfindel looked up briefly, confused. "What?"

Erestor gave a somewhat embarrassed half-smile. "My shirt." He was beginning to feel uncomfortable without it; Erestor was not normally in the habit of keeping so much of his skin exposed.

"Oh." The seneschal had entirely forgotten that he was still holding the garment. He handed it to Erestor. "Here."

"Thank you." Erestor quickly put it back on, and Glorfindel's gaze returned to the floor. Neither of them spoke for several minutes - both Elves were weary, the fight having robbed them of both mental and physical energy. Neither of them had the capability to formulate an argument; neither of them wanted to. Glorfindel wanted merely to be left alone, and Erestor wanted very much the same.

With a sigh, Erestor picked up the seneschal's sword and handed it back to him.

"Will you let me go, then?" Glorfindel questioned quietly, eyes at last meeting. They held a pleading expression which was not lost on the advisor, but he was still unwilling to give in to what the seneschal wanted.

The morning was growing late, yes, and they both probably had worked that needed tending to... but this issue was far from resolved and he did not trust Glorfindel to be left alone.

Some of this must have registered on his face, for the next thing that Glorfindel said - in the same soft voice as before - was, "I will not do it now."

"What about later?"

He shook his head. "I honestly do not know."

It took no time to reach a decision. "Then I cannot let you go."

"Erestor, please just let me be alone?" He lacked the energy to put his full force behind the argument; even then it would not have been effective.

Erestor sighed again. "You know that I cannot. You know that I will not."

Glorfindel took a step forward, beginning again to feel frustrated with all this, but Erestor moved, effectively blocking the door. "No, Glorfindel. No."

"Erestor-" the seneschal began, but the advisor cut him off with a look. It paused Glorfindel's argument for a moment; he thought, and then began again. "Erestor, please. I assure you that I will not do it now."

A question occurred to the advisor. "Why?"

"Why?"

Erestor raised an eyebrow, feeling some of the frustration as well. "Why not now?"

Again, Glorfindel paused. He was hesitant to speak to Erestor of his thoughts... but then, revealing them might gain him some solitude. He sighed. "Because... it is day, now. Were I to take my life now, someone would see it, and that..."

Erestor's brow furrowed. "That what?" His tone was gentler now than it had been before.

A slightly bitter smile flitted across Glorfindel's face. "...that would cause more trouble than is necessary." It was better, far better, the seneschal thought, to slip away unnoticed.

That Glorfindel had created such a distinction came as a surprise to Erestor, though, he supposed, he should have realized it. Glorfindel had had a sharpened sword during their fight - he still had a sharpened sword - but he had made no move to use it against himself, despite the fact that he had had plenty of opportunity to do so.

That he had not was important, and, to Erestor, a good sign. With a sigh, he stepped aside, leaving the doorway wide open. With a nod, Glorfindel stepped forward to make his exit, though as he did so, Erestor cautioned, "Do not think that I have forgotten this."

The next time that Erestor saw him was that night at dinner. In the presence of other people, Glorfindel was as he normally appeared - smiling, and pleasant. Erestor noticed, though, that the smile did not entirely seem to be genuine, and when he managed to make eye contact with the seneschal it disappeared altogether for a moment, before being forced back into place.

As the meal ended Erestor knew that he could no longer leave Glorfindel by himself - the hour was growing late; other Elves would be retiring. Rivendell would be asleep and that meant that if Glorfindel were to do something, he would do it now. When the seneschal excused himself from the table, Erestor did the same, and followed.

He kept his distance, or so he thought, until they reached Glorfindel's rooms, at which point the seneschal turned around. "Erestor, what-?" He sounded more exhausted than aggravated, which made sense as he had not had any sleep for at least the past two days.

Erestor was weary, as well, but he tried to ignore that - he would doubtless be spending the majority of the night awake again. "I am not going to leave you by yourself, Glorfindel."

The seneschal did not even bother to resist. He merely opened the door.

Once they were inside, Glorfindel wearily gestured to the chairs and couch. "Have a seat."

Erestor did so, picking the couch, and Glorfindel chose a chair on the opposite side of the room. The two Elves sat in silence for a very long while, Erestor's eyes on Glorfindel and Glorfindel's eyes on the floor. They both seemed to be waiting for the other make some sort of a move, but neither one did. The standoff lasted nearly an hour, at the end of which Glorfindel was even wearier than he had been before.

At length, he began, "Erestor..."

The other Elf said nothing, but he raised his eyebrows, attentive.

Glorfindel spoke slowly. He was exhausted, and his head was beginning to hurt. It was the sort of headache one usually encounters after spending too long reading a large book in a dim room, or playing strategy games against a smugger and greatly superior opponent, and it made it more difficult for him to focus, and to put into words that which was going through his head. "Why... why does this concern you so greatly? Why do you stop me from doing this?"

Erestor spoke slowly too, though not out of weariness. They had already discussed this subject; he failed to understand how it could be anything less than clear. "Because I do not want you to die, Glorfindel. That is why I stopped you last night, and that is why I will not let you get into such a situation again."

"How did you know I was going to do it, last night?" Glorfindel spoke the words faintly.

That question, as it had before, gave Erestor pause. This time, though, he knew that asking such a question was not a diversionary tactic on Glorfindel's part - the seneschal wanted to know and he did indeed look so miserable that Erestor desperately wanted to give him an honest answer.

How had he known? How had Erestor known that Glorfindel's purpose last night had been to take his own life, how had he known where to find him?

I have been watching you... he wanted to say, but that was not entirely accurate - that implied constant surveillance, something in which Erestor had not been engaging. He had been aware of the situation, though that was through no effort of his own. He knew what was going on, but he knew that like he knew the other facets of a friend's personality - incidental observations in the same category as favorite color and favorite food, that had taken no conscious effort to record - he just knew.

Glorfindel sighed, having given up hope of receiving an answer. Fate seemed to be conspiring against him, today. "Never mind."

Erestor, deep in contemplation, had not paid attention to that statement. "You... you seemed troubled, yesterday," he finally offered, softly. He was the one looking away, now, lost in thought.

This came as a surprise to Glorfindel; he had taken pains to ensure that no one knew of his feelings. The shock showed on his face; he said nothing.

This silence caused Erestor to feel the need to elaborate, and he was so lost in his own musings that he did not notice Glorfindel's surprise. "You have seemed troubled often, of late...but... yesterday it was worse..."

He took a breath. "I know that I had not spoken to you of it before, but I felt that it was not something into which I should pry..." He was beginning to wish he had pried, now. "... yet yesterday you seemed different than before - something did not seem right - so I sought you out, to talk to you, and instead I found you on the roof."

"You knew..." Glorfindel whispered, talking to himself, barely able to believe it. "You knew."