Disclaimer: Original characters supposedly belong to me, though the non-original characters events, worlds etc do, most indeed, belong to Tolkien.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Bondings and Hobbits and Threats, oh my!
Dorothy: Weren't you frightened?
Wizard of Oz: Frightened? Child, you're talking to a man who's laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom, and chuckled at catastrophe... I was petrified.
-The Wizard of Oz, 1938 Film Version
Imladris TA 1641
Glorfindel sat in Erestor's office, attempting to hold back the anger at what was in his hands.
Threats, all of them, lodged against Rian and Morwen.
It had taken all the restraint in him to not attack a man at the last meeting he had attended with Morwen. The man had seen fit to verbally attack her and in, what he thought was private, threatened her with physical harm if she did not follow the man's judgment. And Glorfindel could do nothing, stand and listen and order one of his soldiers to intervene since Glorfindel feared what he would do.
Of course, before said solider could intervene Morwen had, while raising her voice so many others could hear, verbally chastised the man to the point where he was begging for her forgiveness.
That had not stopped the written threats and accusations from pouring into Imladris. Glorfindel had taken to demanding Rian and Morwen's mail come to him first unless said message was from a known ally.
Glorfindel took the stack of threats and dropped them on Erestor's desk. He studied his friend and finally asked," How did you do this?"
"What?" Erestor asked, truly confused.
"Hide it, hide it all for the majority of two ages." Glorfindel said.
"Glorfindel, while Faeleth and I hid from the public, we did not instill on each other the controls you and Morwen have. Faeleth and I were lovers in all that time, we were not waiting for the proper time to…begin." Erestor said.
"I will not run the risk…." Glorfindel started.
"And even if you were tempted I would beg you not to do such a thing. Though putting a vow of celibacy on yourself does bring me much joy." Erestor said with a smile.
"You are such a comfort, my dear friend." Glorfindel said in a dry tone.
"I am aware." Erestor was silent as his eyes settled on the stack of letters Glorfindel had disdainfully thrown down on the desk. "Are they all threats?"
"Yes, most directed at Rian. Though even those have a certain sense of decorum to them as opposed to the ones directed at Morwen, which frankly I do not understand, seeing as how she was the one to offer them aid during the Great Plague, at great risk to her own being."
"I am sure more than a few became infatuated with her, elves do not often walk among their kind." Erestor said as he grimaced in distaste at one of the more colorful threats. "As far as they are concerned, she is a councilor of a suspicious people and an unwed female in a position of power, an even more fearsome thing."
"They have much more important things to worry about." Glorfindel said.
Erestor said, "They are not able to comprehend that, so they turn to the familiar fear, a female in power."
Glorfindel placed a hand over his eyes, "What I would not give for more of the Dunedain."
"If only." Erestor said as he walked towards his balcony.
Erestor looked down on a group of humans below. They had fled the Great Plague of four years ago and come to settle here. Elrond had sent out as many of his healers as he could, even sending out elves who knew only the basic skills on healing if only to aid, and still so many had died. The plague had taken Gondor's king and all of his children. That area had seen much misfortune in the years past.
Glorfindel came up beside him, "Those human families have settled well."
"Yes, though I fear the daughters are quite infatuated with all the elven warriors." Erestor said.
Glorfindel nodded, "Yes, that one blonde one, the one who likes music, she is quite infatuated with Elrohir."
"And poor Elrohir does not know how to let her down gently." Erestor said.
"He has always had a soft spot for the humans." Glorfindel murmured.
"As he should. He is aware mortal blood is one aspect of his very complex bloodline and he does not shun that, nor does Elladan." Erestor said with pride in his voice.
"Yes, but Elladan is so obviously smitten with Rian, an elf. Elrohir…" Glorfindel trailed off.
"Will make the decision that is best for him, as will Arwen. It is a longtime off, do not worry about it now." Erestor said.
"Where has Elrohir gone off to?" Glorfindel asked.
"He went to visit some of the periannath in the closet town, to make sure their recovering is going well. Alas, they are still very cautious of him but I think even they admire elven beauty."
"And they must sense that he means them no harm." Glorfindel said.
"No, one of them often gets him into a long talk about plants and trees whenever he stops to visit. Are the Rangers still doing a patrol on the outer-most borders of the periannath's homelands?" Erestor asked.
"Yes, I think we would all like to keep their border's safe, even if they could do without our help. They do not need to know what is out there." Glorfindel sighed.
The two laughed at one of the traveling fabric salesmen ran down the steps in a daze an annoyed Rian telling him what he could with his fabrics.
"I thought the bride is supposed to turn into a monster, but it seems Rian is doing that job just fine for Eregeth." Glorfindel said.
"Yes, many are eagerly anticipating the bonding of Thalion and Eregeth, if only to get Rian to resemble her normal self. How is Morwen handling it all?" Erestor asked.
"From what she has told me if she hears anymore about the 'proper food to eat' and the 'proper ribbons to wear' and the 'proper hair-style for she-elves standing as witness' and the 'proper nameless herb to place in the right shoe' she is going to show both Eregeth and Rian the 'proper way to throw someone into a fountain.' I fear Morwen has little tolerance for this…."
"Nonsense?" Erestor attempted.
"I was looking for a more proper term, but Morwen also used the term nonsense." Glorfindel said.
"She is near her wit's end. She begged me to find some reason to send her off to the Havens until a month before Eregeth and Thalion are to wed." Erestor said.
"I hope for her sake you at least tried." Glorfindel said.
"I did. I was going to send Eluialeth with her." Erestor said.
"Smart move, considering what happened the last time Eluialeth was fed up with all nonsense concerned with a binding ceremony." Glorfindel laughed.
"Now, now, I am sure my daughter did not intend to dye her sister's face purple."
"Of course she did not. She was aiming for more of a blue from what I heard."
Erestor laughed, "I honestly believed Galueth was going to kill her. I have never had to fight down my laughter so much."
"Yes, as a father and a councilor you must be objective in these situations."
"At least Eluialeth used dye that easily washed off."
"Galueth did not know that." Glorfindel said.
"Which made it all the more humorous." Erestor said.
"Especially when Eluialeth told Galueth if she spent more times studying 'useful things' she would know by the smell of the berry used the dye would easily wash off." Glorfindel laughed again.
"How did she learn of that dye, I thought it was only.."
"..used by healers, yes. Elrohir told her in passing when she was asking questions. I do not think he realized just how….helpful….his comment would turn out to be." Glorfindel said.
Their shared remembrance of times past was broken as Morwen came into the study, a wide smile on her face.
"Erestor, you must read my most recent letter from Tirnion. You will quite enjoy this new development out of Mirkwood."
Erestor extended his hand to read the letter, Glorfindel following from over his shoulder.
My Dearest Morwen,
While I would love to spend the next few lines bidding you long greetings and wishes of good health and telling you how much I miss your lovely face…
"Laying it on a bit thick, is he not?" Glorfindel asked as Erestor made a motion to quiet him.
…I fear I am far too eager to tell you of the best bit of news us Mirkwood elves have had in many long years.
Saeros has been banished.
Erestor stopped reading, his hands falling down in shock, "I most certainly did not see that coming."
"Keep reading." Morwen said.
"Yes," answered Glorfindel as he made an attempt to take the letter, "keep reading."
Somehow the elf, and calling him such a thing wounds my soul, had gotten it into his head he could overthrow Thranduil.
"What an idiot. Does he have any idea of who Thranduil really is?" Glorfindel asked.
"Apparently not, but he does now." Morwen said.
While I am sure you know Saeros was a favored son of the realm, at least in the people's eyes, they love and adore their King much more. Saeros had been making arguments against him for some time, ever since Thranduil proposed to move the majority of the people from tree dwellings to his safe hold in the rock.
"Something he simply did because he cares about his people and wishes to protect them." Erestor said.
Saeros had said Thranduil was trying to turn us all into dwarves.
"Bad move. Just…how stupid could he possibly be?" Glorfindel asked.
Needless to say, Thranduil was far from amused and had taken to "forgetting" about letting Saeros inside the new doors he has installed in the palace entrance. You know, the doors I told you about, the ones only Thranduil has real control over.
"I always said those doors were the best thing he's ever done…besides getting the good luck from somewhere to marry Laeriel." Glorfindel said.
"Glorfindel, may we continue?" Erestor asked.
"Of course." Glorfindel said.
Thranduil was quick to point out, after Saeros's many accusations of neglect on Thranduil's part, that if Saeros was so concerned about the elves living inside the palace rock, should he not be embracing the chance to sleep in the talans in the trees? Saeros, alas lacking both logic and common sense, was not amused. That was when he started to make accusations that the only reason the darkness was spreading was because Thranduil was on the throne and the Valar were punishing them for letting him stay there.
"He is not that foolish." Erestor said, "it is not possible."
"Oh, I think he is." Glorfindel said.
Thranduil laughed at him, for a long time, and then thanked Saeros because he had not had a need to laugh for so very long.
The councilors soon stripped Saeros of his position and three days later he attempted to throw a coup, he and his own foolishness versus all of the elves of Mirkwood.
I feel your powers of deduction can guess who won.
"The question remains, what did Thranduil do?" Erestor asked.
"You could, oh, I don't know..what do they call it…keep reading." Morwen said.
My King, showing a level of restraint frankly many did not think he had, gave Saeros a small laugh, a pat on the head, and then in a voice that would make an orc tremble told him he had two hours to get out of Mirkwood, consequences be damned.
Thranduil was nice enough to provide Saeros with a horse, a knife, and a pack of food. He even sent a missive to Gildor Inglorion informing him of the situation and telling Gildor it was his decision whether or not to take Saeros into his group. Thranduil would not feel betrayed if he did and would not be the least bit disturbed if he did not.
Frankly, I think Thranduil handled it quite well.
"To say the least." Erestor said.
All those once feared to be in Saeros's camp are now being questioned, though many turned from him long ago. As for Maergeredir, while I cannot share with you what Saeros was holding over him as it is most personal, I can assure you the situation has now been rectified and Maergeredir has become a much more happy elf.
Now, I must tell you of the most curious squirrel I observed the other day...
"Is there anything of consequence after this?" Erestor asked.
"Not unless you wonder about the most curious matter of Mirkwoodian Squirrels." Morwen said.
"Well," Glorfindel said as he perused the rest of the letter, ignoring the raised brows of both Erestor and Morwen, "at least one delightful thing has happened these past few days. Though, I'd give close to anything to have seen Thranduil's face when Saeros attempted the coup. Really, such behavior among the young elves today."
"So says the ancient one." Morwen mumbled causing Erestor to laugh and Glorfindel to give her a look.
"Yes, well, seeing as how you are betrothed to such an ancient elf I think it would be best for you not to mock them." Glorfindel said.
"And it is perfectly fine for you mock such young elves?" Morwen asked.
"You are young only in age." Glorfindel stated.
"So now he tells me." She said to Erestor, who was doing his best to hold back his laughter at the antics of the two.
Elrond sat in his study going over his correspondence.
A seedling of the White Tree had been planted in Minas Anor. A lovely thing to hear after the White Tree had died, as if it too contracted the Great Plague that had ravished many parts of Arda.
Celebrian was holed away in her parent's realm again, seemingly better able to deal with the past events in her home than in her husband's realm.
Elrond wondered if she would even be back for Thalion's wedding.
The thought of dear, sweet, determined, quiet, steadfast Thalion being the first of his "children" to wed brought a smile to Elrond's face.
The bonding ceremony was something the realm needed, something to take their hearts and minds off of what was going on in other places.
The humans who had survived the plague and had come to settle within Imladris's borders also needed the ceremony, if only to see that in some respects the two groups were not so different.
Though there would, of course, be parts of the ceremony that would baffle the humans. They could still observe the traditions familiar to their own and perhaps be soothed by all the elven song and prayer devoted to a bonding ceremony.
Though Elrond could not blame Elrohir and Morwen for their desire to flee the realm until so much of the preparation was over and done with. Galueth's ceremony had been bad enough, but this was one between two members of the household with an overzealous Rian at the helm.
With Arwen at her side.
Elrond held back a laugh at what he thought poor Elladan would go through when he and Rian finally picked a proper date.
To be fair, Morwen would probably be at the helm of that one, just to ensure no one strangled the bride before her day.
"What fills you with such mirth?" A rough voiced asked.
Elrond looked up from his desk, "Oh, Mithrandir, just the thought of the young elves."
"Ah, yes, the wedding. I fear dear Rian is making much more of it than Eregeth ever wanted and Eregeth does not know how to say 'no.'"
"Yes, that seems to sum it up quite well. Is there a reason for the sudden visit?"
"Can I not just spend time with a fellow lore master?"
Elrond gave him a pointed look.
"You are much too suspicious, Elrond. Though, I did wonder if we could discuss the periannath, or as they call themselves, the hobbits."
Elrond shook his head in amusement and made his way to the door to call for a page to bring refreshments, knowing how long Mithrandir could and would talk.
Elrohir gave his horse one last pat and made his way into the house. He had met Mithrandir on the way back and guided him into Imladris. Knowing his father was in a meeting he decided to wash up and then hunt down his twin.
As he made his way to the stairs he was stopped by the sound of whispering. He turned and saw a group of young human females gathered around the enclosed space where the horses were trained. He smiled at them, giving them a wave.
Elrohir shook his head in amusement as he was answered with more giggling and whispering.
Elrohir was passing by the minstrel's hall as a hand reached out from below his and grabbed his ankle.
"Wha….Elladan? Why are you hiding under a table?"
Elrohir was forced under the table with his twin, as they both attempted to cram in the tight space.
"Shh, I am hiding from Rian. She has gone.."
"Insane?" Elrohir asked.
"Yes! She has lost all reason and now she is talking about when we will bond and Elrohir, I have not even thought that far ahead yet!"
"Elladan, it's been over five hundred years since you asked to court her, that is a valid topic for her to explore."
"No, not it is not. I…I feel pressured Elrohir and I am stressed and I believe I am developing a nervous twitch."
The twins were interrupted as the cloth covering the table was pulled back and an amused Glorfindel looked down on them, "I thought you two had grown out of this habit."
"I was forced under." Elrohir said.
"I needed a good place to hide." Elladan said. "Glorfindel, why is Morwen not badgering you with all these demands about when you will wed?"
"Elladan, first, remember that is not something of which we speak of in the open." Glorfindel said.
"Right." Elladan said, ignoring his smirking twin.
"Second, Morwen told me of the pact you two made years ago, if you had not found someone by a certain age you would turn to each other…"
"And if we had, we would be married to our respective partners at the same time." Elladan finished.
"Indeed. Well, I also have a pact with a very old friend who fell while I was in Gondolin, and I vowed to never get married unless he was able to stand there and mock me while he gave his sympathies to my intended." Glorfindel said.
"Meaning…." Elladan started.
"Unless they see fit to re-birth him and send him to Imladris, it will be a long wait." Glorfindel finished with a smile on his face.
"Thank you, Glorfindel, I have finally have a plausible excuse…reason." Elladan said.
"Reason, Elladan, go with reason." Elrohir said.
Elrohir watched as his brother dashed off, laughing at him, "Is that true?" he asked.
"Quite, Ecthelion made me swear a vow. I do fear the day when he and Morwen meet."
"Why?" Elrohir asked.
"I fear the schemes they will come up with at my expense. If I did not now Morwen's father was in no way related to Ecthelion, I would have started researching her family line for clues. Alas, she is more closely entwined to the house Erestor comes from."
"Really?" Elrohir asked fascinated.
"Oh yes. Quite scary actually. I do wonder what Manwe was thinking when he made that line." Glorfindel said.
"Probably plotting revenge against someone." Elrohir said.
"Indeed." Glorfindel said.
Elrohir noted Glorfindel was holding his side, "What did you do?"
"Oh, that new, and I only used the word horse because demon would be wrong, saw fight to send a slight kick to my side. I just came from the healing hall." Glorfindel said.
"Ah, yes, I fear you should stick to white horses, Glorfindel."
"Yes, indeed." Glorfindel agreed.
Elrohir spoke with Glorfindel for a few more moments and then headed off to wash-up and rest.
It was good to be home again.
Glorfindel sighed happily, in a content state as Morwen sat behind him unbraiding and brushing out his hair.
"The horse really kicked you? Has a horse ever dared to do such a thing?" she asked, carefully working out a knot.
"Not that I can recall. I fear I will not be recommending this horse for breeding, it is a demon." Glorfindel said.
"Glorfindel, be nice." Morwen chastised as she tugged on his hair, "finally done getting all of these knots out."
"Good." Glorfindel said, leaning back and tugging the brush from her hands, tugging her arm to gather her close to his good side.
"What did you do today after that riveting letter from Tirnion?" he asked.
"Avoided Rian, talked to Eluialeth, she seemed quite intrigued by Tirnion's letter. Apparently she also observes the curious behavior of squirrels."
Glorfindel laughed, "What interesting acquaintances you have, Morwen."
"May I remind you, they are also your acquaintances. One is, in fact, the daughter of your very close friend."
Glorfindel toyed with her hands, "Sadly, I know many more disturbed elves. One day when you are older.."
He laughed as Morwen thumped his side.
"….I will tell you the story of Ecthelion, Duiliun, Rog, a tree, a very strong piece of rope, a horse, and Meglin's bathing chamber."
Morwen laughed, "I fear I do not want to know, I will have nightmares."
"Yes, they often caused such a reaction in people." Glorfindel said.
Glorfindel went silent, idly enjoying the calm peace, "…it feels good."
"What does?" Morwen asked.
"Being able to talk about them without so much pain. Often we forget all of those good times, when really, they should be all we think of."
Morwen nodded, "One day we will learn to do so. Though, perhaps, only thinking of the good times every now and then makes them all the more special."
Glorfindel smiled at the sentiment and leaning over he gave Morwen a soft kiss.
"Thank you." He said, meaning it in so many ways.
A/N: Renna, thanks for the review, always good to know you are enjoying the story!