Greetings!
Now, as the winds take up the wintry chill and carries it to our windows to paint flowers of frost on the glass, we crawl up amongst soft pillows and sheltering blankets. With many a warm, and truly heartfelt 'thank you for reading" I give you the second part of the tale.
-ooo-
Imladris, III 2944, Hrívë 8
Part Two, in which sisters are annoying and so is the holly.
With a long-held, and finally released, exasperated sigh, Arwen tugged at the hem of Estel's unfinished tunic.
"Please, Estel, stay still!"
Unfortunately for Estel (but a quite well-earned punishment, according to the Lady), some needles remained in the fabric and they unpleasantly scraped against Estel's shoulders.
"Ow!"
"If you would stop fidgeting, we would be done by now and there would be no needles pricking your skin," his older sister stated in a most unsympathetic way.
"You have been at this for ages," Estel complained. "Is it never done?"
Rearranging his would-be robe for yet another time, Arwen tried to shield her frustration. "If you would only exercise some patience, little brother, we will soon be finished."
Estel shot her a puzzled glance. How was he supposed to be patient when every minute in his room spent inventing new robes, meant another minute away from the golden prince?
Not that he had told Arwen of this – and he would not! – but he was pretty sure Legolas cared not the slightest about what he was wearing. At least, he had not mentioned it during the short discussion they had had inside the library seven days ago. Nor had he said something of it outside the library either, when he gave Estel his cookie.
Torn between preserving the cookie forever and eating it (as in the end, that was what cookies was for) Estel had placed it in a small wooden box he kept on his bed table. However, as much as the cookie had proved a problem (Estel really liked cookies) the lack of profound exchanges of words between him and Legolas unsettled him more.
The young prince of Mirkwood was as beautiful as ever, but he had not approached Estel since that wonderful afternoon. But then, Estel had not approached him either so he reasoned that they were both equally at fault.
Well, he did not precisely like to call it 'at fault', but he did not want to admit to the missing courage in his heart either.
Frowning, and greatly worried that nothing at all would happen if matters were allowed to continue this way, he lifted a hand to his forehead and rubbed it hard.
"Estel!" Arwen was glaring at him, biting her lip hard as if to prevent any harsh words from escaping her. "Please!"
Grumbling, Estel lowered his hand and felt the needles scratch his skin once more as she pulled at the fabric.
"I only need you to remain still for a couple of more minutes. If you twist and turn, I cannot properly see what I am doing."
Estel would very much like to ask his sister why she, who was after all called the 'Evenstar', needed the candlelight anyway and could not simply shed some starry radiance herself.
Finally, Arwen stood and collected her extra needles and her scissors and whatever else she had brought.
"There," she said. "I believe you look just as handsome as prince Legolas."
Estel's attention was immediately caught and his eyes flew up to her face. She was smiling warmly at him and gestured towards the mirror. "Have a look for yourself."
Estel trod over to the looking-glass and inspected the reflected image. He had to admit that his sister's work was not too bad; the almost-finished silver-hued robe did fall quite nicely off his shoulders and it did matches his eyes rather well. All the same, Estel was hard to convince.
"No one could be as beautiful as Legolas," he sighed reverently as a picture of the elf rose before his eyes.
Now, such is the kindness of the elves, and maybe of some in particular, that words spoken in secret are not repeated to those who would not hear them – and certainly not to those who unknowingly uttered them. Arwen felt yet another smile, a different one, replace the one she already wore. If she was not mistaken, she was witnessing the first tentative steps towards a sweet fancy that she would, many years later, tease her brother about.
Yes, for not even the elves are immune to the tempting moments of possible teasing which arises at intervals – much more often than Estel would have liked them to, to be sure.
But for now, she watched contentedly as the young human's eyes lost their focus in the mirror, and how a dreamy expression swept across his features.
-ooo-
The Great Hall was completely flooded with tangled garlands of evergreen, unlit candles and torches and small, glittering bulbs of glass which looked like they would like to roll off the table tops at any moment and come crashing down to the floor, just for the fun of it. Plates with nuts and dried fruits, mugs of steaming herbal tea and mulled wine stood scattered across the room, sustaining those who tried to sort everything out long into the night. Heavy tapestries covered the window-openings and did their best to prevent the dancing snow from entering and wetting the newly polished wooden floor.
Estel made his way through the swarming elves, dodging and shuffling hither and thither to evade getting knocked down by a ladder or a suddenly swung garland. He spotted his ada and Glorfindel by one of the fire-places, Lord Elrond looking quite amused as his friend was trying to untangle a determined stem of thorny-leafed holly from his long, blond hair. Neatly avoiding a rain of small crumbs that Estel did not particularly long to know where they came from, he finally found refuge by the fire.
"Estel," Lord Elrond smiled brightly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I am impressed you made it all the way here without incident."
Frowning, and really wishing ada would stop treating him like a small elfling, he muttered a response, sounding somewhat like this: "OfcourseIcouldmakeitherewithoutincidentsinceIamactuallynochildanymore."
After all, it was ages ago that he had stopped being a child!
Lord Elrond only chuckled which did not help things the least. "Not even our brave Glorfindel here managed that feat, ion nin."
Glorfindel chose to let out one of the milder curses he knew and tore at the strands of hair that held the holly secure. His usually cheerful demeanour had been replaced by a frustrated glower and he scowled at Imladris' Lord. "You cannot find it within your compassionate heart to help me, Elrond?"
"No, I am sorry. You have to work that out for yourself," Elrond said happily. "I am sure it is nothing to slaying a Balrog?"
"I am telling you," muttered Glorfindel, "if I had had my hair tangled at the time, there would have been no Balrog slain!"
Estel could not prevent the small smile that wanted to capture his lips. He had always loved listening to the splendid stories Glorfindel knew – and he knew loads! He had tales to tell of fiery Balrogs, of hideous trolls, of swift-flying eagles and of howling wolfs. He knew, Estel was sure, all there was to know about Middle-earth, and the lands beyond. After all, Glorfindel had seen Mandos' Halls from the inside and so he was someone to both admire and respect. Even though his present grumbling was now slightly lessening his proud – but never arrogant – air.
"So Estel," said Elrond, turning back to him, "how did the robe-making go?"
Forgetting all about Glorfindel's extensive knowledge and making a face, Estel sighed deeply. "It took her hours, ada!" he complained. "No matter what I said, she would not stop."
"And why were you in such a hurry to leave?" Elrond asked him, arching an eyebrow in the way he always did when he knew there was more behind a story than what he was being told.
Estel bit his lip. He had to choose his words very carefully.
"I wanted to see all the decorations," he finally said evasively as he meticulously studied the nearest wall.
Glorfindel stopped fighting the holly and shot him a puzzled look, but by a glance from Elrond, he was hindered from saying anything.
"I see," said Lord Elrond and nodded.
To Estel's relief, everyone's attention was turned away from him as the usual subtle – and sometimes not so subtle – murmur of admiration rose as Arwen herself stepped across the threshold of the Great Hall. The Evenstar had no trouble moving about in the room and risking her safety because immediately upon her entry, a winding, but open path was cleared before her. Doing her very best at keeping a straight face as she threaded her way forward, she made for the fire-place where her family members seemed to assemble one by one.
"If only I possessed your beauty…" Glorfindel muttered as she stepped up to them.
Allowing the grin to finally break through her mask of politeness, Arwen shook her head. "You are fine as you are, Glorfindel. I am not so sure that it would be appreciated by all if you had my looks."
Estel saw her casting a quick glance at ada, but he found he had no idea what that was for. Lord Elrond smiled with ease as Glorfindel resumed his battle with the holly.
"Little brother," Arwen smiled at Estel. "Have you yet forgiven me for tormenting you this afternoon?"
"Perhaps," said Estel, not wanting her to be too sure of his sentiments.
The truth was that he did not know himself. He had sped to the Great Hall as soon as she had let him out of his room, because he had been certain that Legolas would be here. But he was not. In fact, Estel had not seen the tiniest glimpse of the prince since breakfast and that was so many hours ago!
Beside him, ada and Arwen and Glorfindel began talking of something else, but Estel was lost to his thoughts – and the first shivers of misery that sparked within. Maybe Legolas regretted the kiss?
That would be horrible!
He could not! It had been a beautiful kiss!
But maybe the prince had decided that a human was of no interest to him? Maybe elven princes of Mirkwood thought that the mere idea of humans was silly and did not want to spend time with them?
Estel was not sure how many humans Legolas had met before, but they could not be that many? Estel only had to prove to him that he was indeed worth spending time with. If Legolas would only show up…
The young human hoped, but did not know for sure, that all prayers come straight from the heart was heard by the Valar. Therefore, he fervently wished that they listened to his plea and would convince Legolas to materialise in the Great Hall, or however they preferred to have things done. Estel, of course, had no way of knowing that already a small but strong thread, tentatively entwined with another one, had been introduced on the tapestry of Vairë.
For this reason, it seemed to him a wonderful miracle that only moments later a slim figure, crowned with the most beautiful golden hair stepped into the room.
Irresolute, Legolas lingered by the arched doorway, undoubtedly a little taken aback by all the commotion. His eyes widened noticeably as a mound of something yellow and very weird-looking was carried across the floor on a large silver tray. Not even Estel, who had been spending a good share of time in the kitchens lately, could say what that – or those? – was. Legolas gaze followed the tray but when they swept over Lord Elrond they abandoned their previous quest. A swirling wind of joyous anticipation awoke within Estel as the prince pulled himself up, and with a small smirk began to make his way over to where the Imladris family was standing.
Glorfindel chose that moment to finally extract the extremely disappointed twig of holly from his hair with a triumphant cry. "Hah!" he suddenly beamed, causing Lord Elrond to roll his eyes and shake his head, and Arwen to laugh.
"The Great Conqueror," Elrond teased him. "It is good to know that you are still able to defend yourself from any looming threats."
Estel really was too busy staring as Legolas wove his way towards them. He moved so gracefully, and he was more elegant than Estel suspected he himself could ever hope to be. Still, he squared his shoulders and pushed back his unruly hair, smoothing it down, quite determined to make the best impression possible. After all, this was a most important moment.
His family and Glorfindel (who was almost considered family too, but you know…) were still talking and laughing. To his annoyance, a hand landed on his shoulder and demanded his concentration. Reluctantly he did a half-turn and met Glorfindel's smiling eyes.
"What say you Estel? Your family here seems to seriously doubt my ability to defend this realm."
Estel shrugged. "I know not."
Glorfindel raised his eyebrows. "Is that so?" He gave a dramatic sigh. "Because you are still a youngling – but only because of that – I forgive you," he grinned fondly and then…
…then he lifted his other hand and with all the strength of a very strong dwarf, he ruffled Estel's hair.
Letting out a sharp squeal of protest, Estel dodged and tried to escape the hand. Pulling away from Glorfindel, he bumped into a passing elf carrying a plate full of hazelnuts. Accompanied by a surprised cry from the elf, the nuts leaped into the air and cascaded to the floor in a brilliant rain and landed on the tiles with a drumming song.
Frozen, Estel watched in horror as the round hazelnuts picked up speed and rolled across the floor in all directions. Completely mortified, he could not decide what was worst: the roaring laughter of Glorfindel, his sister's twitching lips as she bestowed a look of pity upon him, or ada who surprised blinked at the scene unfolding before them.
Then the decision was made, as Legolas suddenly stood in front of him and looked like someone who never spilled anything at all.
Estel swallowed hard and felt his heart sink into his stomach. It could probably have sunk all the way into the earth, had the floor not been in the way. So engrossed in fearing the worst, Estel was too preoccupied to even send the shortest of prayers to the gentle Star Lady. Glorfindel's laughter was still mocking his ears as Legolas tilted his head to one side and the smirk he had presented turned into a full-scale grin. Then, the prince did the unexpected:
"Will you show me around," he asked.
The frantic movements around them slowed and the colours all seemed to blend with each other; if Estel had been asked to tell the greens from the reds, he was not sure he would have succeeded. The mingled sounds of cheers, laughter, annoyed grunts (some of those glass bulbs were prone to roll off the tables), shouts and singing dimmed, and for his life Estel could not manage to recall any of the oh-so-important matters that had filled his days before Legolas had arrived in Imladris.
"Uhm," he nodded numbly and led the way, away from his family and through the mist of the most beautiful confusion that had ever graced the Great Hall with its shimmering mists.
If Estel had chosen that moment to look back towards the fire-place he would have seen his sister stepping up to their father, and with her eyes still on the small human and the blond elf, saying something not meant for many other ears, whilst nodding softly in their direction. He would have seen a frown born out of deep concern for the happiness and well-being not only for his youngest, but for a large part of this world, cross the face of Elrond. Estel would have seen his father's shoulders rise and fall with a small sigh, as the worries of the inevitable future once more arose in his mind. But he would also have seen how the frown was soon replaced by the tug of a smile at the Lord's lips and the slow nod of understanding and gratitude.
And for those with keener eyes yet it was not impossible to notice how Imladris' founder leaned closer to his friend of many a century, and, in return, how Glorfindel's hand settled supportively on his lower back.
As it was though, and maybe as it was supposed to be, Estel was busy seeking a path between the tables and the decorations (and some of the stray and eager hazelnuts that were still to be captured). His mind was clearing up little by little and his confidence was returning, albeit unhurriedly. Legolas was right behind him and Estel had really hard time trying to decide whether or not it was a good thing that the elf sometimes took hold of his tunic so as not to lose him in the crowd. When that happened, Estel's head filled with fog all over again and if he was not careful, he would send another set of nuts flying about the room. If there was one thing he knew as he trod forward, it was that that was not acceptable!
Successfully they finally reached a calmer corner of the room in which Estel stopped and turned to face Legolas. Having no clear idea on what the prince expected from him, he decided to go with the nonchalant style. He did not particularly like it but did it just the same – to be on the safest of sides possible.
"So," he said, shrugging one shoulder, "this is the Great Hall."
Legolas did not respond for three agonisingly long seconds. Then he nodded. "I figured."
But his tone was light.
Estel relaxed a little and felt like he had gained some ground to stand on. "It is really crowded," he supplied.
"Yes," agreed Legolas. "Is it always so?"
"Sometimes. Especially around the solstices." Estel thought hard, wanting to convey the air of someone who had lived through a hundred celebrations at least. "But at the Summer Solstice there are lots of other travellers here as well. We are not as many in winter."
Transfixed, he saw a new smile growing on Legolas' lips. This one was shyer and more hesitant. The blond prince shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "But I came here," he finally said.
"I am very happy about that," told him Estel sincerely, seeing the tips of Legolas' ears turning a beautiful shade of light red.
The conversation melted into the surrounding ring of voices around them and Estel shuffled his feet uncomfortably.
It was so hard! Never before had he thought that speaking to anyone could be so difficult.
When no words came to either one of them, they settled for watching the decorating business instead.
Estel had just counted to the fourth glass bulb that came crashing down onto the floor when Legolas spoke up.
"What do you think that is?" He pointed to the large silver tray that was practically drowning beneath what looked like a mountain of bow shaped, yellow squash.
"It looks like a mountain of bow shaped, yellow squash," Estel said as that was exactly what it looked like.
"No it does not," protested Legolas. "Squash are larger."
"You should know – you who like squash," teased Estel him, earning himself a wide grin from the prince.
"At least I am not afraid to try new things," said Legolas, lifting his chin a little in an attempt to look superior.
"If those taste like squash, I am not interested," stated Estel with utter distaste painted across his features.
Neither of their masks could remain in place for too long; two seconds later, they were giggling as their expressions were conquered by the growing sense of happiness around, and inside, them.
"Did you know that my ada will be here in one week?" Legolas asked him as they had regained both their breath and their footing.
Estel frowned for he seemed to remember words of that kind being spoken in his presence at some time.
"I must think of something to give him for the Solstice," the elf sighed. "It is nearly impossible – he says he already has everything he could ever wish for."
Estel nodded in complete understanding. It was not their fault that the elder elves had lived far longer and so had collected all the things they wanted. Yet, it was the younger ones who were punished as they subsequently never knew what to give them. Hopeless it was and Estel said as much.
"It is hopeless," he said and Legolas sighed in agreement.
From out of nowhere, Glorfindel and one of the Mirkwood Company appeared at their side.
"Estel, prince Legolas? Time for bed," the elf-lord announced. "You will see each other again tomorrow."
Quite a surprise it was that neither youngling protested too much. It had been a long day after all, and Estel was – if he were to be honest – tired. It truly was exhausting, this constant struggle to try and find the right words, the right expression, the right smile…
But it was wonderful.
As if by chance, the elder elves' attention was drawn to the next glass bulb that in this very moment chose to roll off a nearby table.
Estel knew a perfect opportunity when he saw one. Taking a deep breath to gather courage, he went for it.
Leaning closer, he placed a quick kiss on Legolas' cheek. The light in the golden prince's eyes shone like Anor herself.
Trying his luck, Estel bit his lip before offering a cheeky smile.
"I am not afraid to try new things," he said.
This was getting better and better.
-ooo-
Here ends the second part of the tale. The third part is yours to read in one week. In the meantime, be kind to the gingerbread figures and don't scare off the tinsel!
-ooo-
Note: Imladris Library wishes to make it clear that we are all too well aware of the ongoing dispute regarding the Lord Glorfindel's true identity. It is clear that in this peculiar (and rather wearisome) story, the author has for no given reason decided that the Glorfindel of Gondolin and the Glorfindel of Rivendell are one and the same. This is nothing that Imladris Library chooses to debate, but simply wants to point out. We now wash our hands of this sordid business and wish you a good night!