A/N: I'm glad I still seem to have readers. I'm sorry the updates have been taking forever, real life have been getting in the way lately. Honestly, I've been struggling with high anxiety as of late but I'm going to try and get back on track with life and with updating more or less regularly (assuming I don't have deadlines and whatnot). So yeah, don't think I've given up on this fic, in fact it's keeping me going. Anyway, thank you guys for the reviews! Also, is there anything specific you'd like me to write about? Certain scenarios from Estel's childhood and things like that? Let me know and I'll see what I can do! Not much to say, here's the next chapter. Enjoy it!

Eight

A father is neither an anchor to hold us back

Or a sail to get us there

But a guiding light to show us the way

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"Why must ada leave?"

"Because," Glorfindel sat down next to the very anxious Estel. The child had become very attached to Elrond and when he wasn't playing with his brothers or doing his studies he hardly left the elf-lord's side. In all earnest, Glorfindel was rather impressed at how well Estel had adapted into life in Imladris. He was an extraordinarily sharp and keen child and even when he was younger (he had recently turned seven years old) he'd been aware that he was not an elf. Glorfindel wondered that if this was something that would perhaps bother him more when he got older and grew into human adolescence.

"Your Adar has many important obligations to see to. Sometimes this means he must travel but he is never away for too long a time." Glorfindel explained although he had a feeling that this would be of very little comfort to Estel.

Estel sighed somewhat disappointedly. He hated obligations and all the grown-up words that everyone always used. He knew what an obligation meant though: his brothers had explained it to him before. It means that there was something important you had to take care of that could not be cast aside. If Estel would have it his way, he would wish that he was his Adar's only obligation. He'd told this to Elladan and Elrohir but they had merely laughed at him and told him that it was silly to think of himself as an obligation because they all saw him as a gift sent to them by the Valar themselves. His brothers weren't even there at the moment either: they were off hunting or doing something else that Estel was far too young to partake in so he was, for the time being, stuck with Glorfindel. He did love Glorfindel as much as the other, but the elf just was just so boring and didn't seem to know the meaning of the word 'fun'. Even his father and Erestor would play with him when there was time to spare but he had never once played with Glorfindel. He was always with his nose in his books or writing in his journals.

The other elves in Imladris often spoke of Glorfindel. Estel heard them talking either in passing by or when nobody thought he was there or paying attention. He was always good at sneaking about unseen and even though he had been told many times that eavesdropping was a dishonest act, sometimes he simply could not help himself. When they did speak of Glorfindel it was almost as if they saw him as a hero of sorts and he could tell by the way that they treated him in person; courteous bows and polite conversations. They looked up to him and treated him with almost the same respect as they did with Elrond. Estel had never understood what was so special about Glorfindel and nobody had ever told him why. To him, the elf was just an old and sometimes stern teacher who'd lost his ability to have fun a long time ago.

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The day remained long and uneventful. Estel had his lessons as usual; elvish and history was on the day's agenda with Erestor as his teacher. He had picked up the elvish language quickly but had not yet completely mastered it. On this day however, he remained unfocused and his mind kept wandering to thought of Glorfindel and the more he thought about it the more Estel wanted to know, even if he had to find out on his own. Once his lessons were over and Estel had free time to do as he pleased until supper-time he decided to go on a little adventure himself. Glorfindel's study was located at the far end of the halls of Elrond and he knew he wasn't allowed to go there without permission but there was nobody else around and a little peak couldn't hurt.

The door was unlocked and the six year old had been able to sneak into the room unnoticed. It was slightly different from his Adar's study. For starters, it was a bit smaller and far more cluttered which surprised Estel because he always thought of Glorfindel as someone very organised. There were paintings on the walls portraying different kinds of battles that he did not recognise and Estel stood looking at them amazed. There were plenty of books and scrolls of parchments in the bookcases and several open journals on the desk. Estel picked up one of the books which read the title "Book of Lost Tales: Part I." and as he carefully flipped the pages there were drawings of various different elves and one of them looked very much like Glorfindel, fighting some kind of monster he had never heard of before. The language written in the pages looked almost like Elvish but it was Elvish he for some reason could not understand. Suddenly, just as Estel was getting enchanted and lost in the magic within the book, the door closed behind him and out of surprise the six year old jumped and the book fell out of his hands to the floor.

It was Glorfindel.

"Estel, what on earth are you doing sneaking around in my private study?" In honesty, Glorfindel wasn't sure who seemed the more surprised at that particular moment: himself or Estel. There had always been very clear rules put in regarding where Estel was allowed and where he wasn't. As far as restrictions were concerned, most of the time he was allowed to go wherever he pleased in Imladris but Glorfindel's bedroom and study had always been forbidden. The elf liked his privacy and as much as he cared for Estel it was nice to be able to have some moments of peace to himself.

"Goheno-nin, Glorfindel." said Estel quietly "I was just curious and wanted to know." Estel bowed his head in shame.

"Well aier, anything you want to know you could have just asked. You know what we always tell you about trust? How would you feel if I went into your room and looked at your things without your permission? You would be upset would you not?" Glorfindel told him

Estel nodded, knowing very well how important trust and loyalty was to his family and he felt ashamed to have broken it. He felt tears streaming uncontrollably down his face and Glorfindel quietly cursed himself under his breath, realising he had gone about things about to harshly. He was not yet used to the presence of children in Imladris even though Estel had been there since he was merely very little but the two of them had not spent as much time together as he had with Lord Elrond and the twins. Perhaps, thought Glorfindel, they did need some time to bond. Clearly there were things Estel wanted to know about him that he for whatever reason felt like he could not ask Glorfindel himself.

"Come here child," Glorfindel embraced Estel in a hug and the child sobbed for a few moments into Glorfindel's shoulders. "There is no need for tears dear one, I am not angry with you. I was merely a little bit surprised."

Estel dried off his tears with his sleeves and looked up at the Elf. "You don't hate me?" he asked with genuine concern in his voice

"Hate you? By the Valar, no. Of course not. I care about you just as much as everybody else, Estel. Now can we perhaps agree that next time you want to look in my study, you ask or at least knock yes?"

Estel nodded.

"Good, now what was it that you wanted to ask me? I saw you were looking in one of those books." Estel went and picked up the Book of Lost Tales, and opened up the page with the drawing of Glorfindel and the elf sighed, almost as if he was expecting it.

"Did you really fight monsters? What kind of monster is it?" asked Estel, he had stopped crying now.

Glorfindel couldn't help but to smile at this. It was only a matter of time before he would be asking questions about things like these and the only reason to why he hadn't been told about the stories of Glorfindel's past was because he had been deemed too young for such gruesome tales but perhaps now, it seemed like he was old enough for at least some of them.

"I did yes; that creature in the drawing is called a balrog. It was created by the Dark Lord Morgoth many thousands of years ago." Glorfindel explained

"Did you fight him too?"

"Aye, you see Estel, I was born in a place called Gondolin as one of the Calaquendi elves. I have fought many a battles in my life. I will tell you my story if would like to hear it?"

Estel nodded excitedly and Glorfindel replied with a warm smile. "Come, we can tell stories over supper-time which I believe will be served in a few minutes." Glorfindel took Estel's hand and lead him out of the study walking through the hallway to the dining hall.

To be continued…

Opinions? I wanted to explore the relationship between Estel and the other elves in Rivendell that are not just Elladan, Elrohir and Elrond and I figured Glorfindel would be a good way to start. Please leave a review!