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The candles revealed the exhaustion and greyish pallor on Glorfindel's face. Erestor could see the sweat covering the brow and soaked the sun kissed golden hair. Glorfindel licked his cracked lips before settling into a deeper sleep, the fever raging.
"This was not how I imagined our first night together, Glorfindel. I had hoped that you would at least be conscious for it." Erestor knew it was useless to speak to somebody who was unconscious but he could not help it, the stillness in the healing wing felt so unnatural.
Glorfindel shifted and moaned as the bandages on his shoulder shifted as well. The Balrog Slayer settled down again at the touch of Erestor's hand on his arm. The sheets were pulled up to cover the pale chest but Erestor only had eyes for the closed blue eyes.
He sat closer to the bed, startling when the soft padding of feet came and a soft voice asked. "Will uncle Glorfindel be alright?" Forcing a smile to his face, Erestor turned his attention to the doorway where a very sleepy Elfling stood rubbing at his eyes.
The dark eyes were sleep tousled and the feet were bare as Erestor extended one hand and Elrohir rushed towards him, looking at the bed on which Glorfindel lay and the head councillor of Rivendell lifted his lord's second born onto his lap, the child easily settling into his arms.
Elrohir was trembling faintly and Erestor closed his arms around the small Elfling. "He looks so pale and small." Erestor snorted at this when he looked at the bed, Glorfindel looked in no way small but powerful still even when he was ill.
"He is very ill, Elrohir, so we must be very quite so Glorfindel can rest."
"He is not going to die?"
The sharp grey eyes that the Elfling had inherited from his father were filling with tears as they met Erestor's dark ones. Erestor pressed the child closer to his chest. He could not lie to Elrohir when the child had just confirmed his worst fear, the fear that Glorfindel would leave these shores and go to Mandos' Hall.
"I am not sure, Elrohir. Glorfindel is very ill…." Words choking in his throat as Glorfindel shifted again.
Small hands touched his cheeks and he could see the tears slipping down Elrohir's own cheeks as the small Elfling cuddled closer, seeking comfort and reassurance from one he considered family.
"But Ada can fix him. Ada can fix anybody." The small voice sounded hurt and absolutely sure of what he was saying and Erestor felt his heart constrict painfully in his chest. He did not have the heart to contradict the Elfling who had so much faith in Elrond's healing abilities.
It was true and Elrond was the greatest healing in Middle Earth but even his lord could not save everybody and Erestor was not sure if Glorfindel was meant to be saved.
He had seen the exhaustion on the pale face of the elven lord as Elrond finished tending the wounded general. If Glorfindel would survive the night and the fever then perhaps the golden elf stood a change for the poison was a strong one and it had not been easy to identify. Weaker men would have already subscrumbed to the poison but for this moment Glorfindel was still fighting the poison.
"We will ask the Valar to keep Glorfindel's spirit safe while his body recovers."
Elrohir looked back at the pale, still elf lying on the bed as he leaned in closer, touching Glorfindel's arm and whispering. "Please get better soon, Glorfindel. You still have to teach us the sword and you have to show Erestor that you can still defeat him when you play chess with him."
The child's voice was choked with tears and Erestor felt his heart nearly breaking. This was not the first time that Glorfindel had come home injured but it was the first time in a long while that Glorfindel had been this gravely injured.
While his own heart was not yet on the line, he had not opened himself up to the golden elf yet but both Elladan and Elrohir adored Glorfindel and he knew that the Balrog slayer felt the same way about the two children that were entrusted into his protection.
Erestor was just about to tell Elrohir to be quiet, when with a low grunt and loud coughs, the blue eyes opened. Erestor rose immediately, hushing Elrohir's happy cry as the Elfling leaped up on the bed to carefully sit at Glorfindel's side as the blue eyes locked on the small Elfling the elf seemed unable to recognize Elrohir in his fever.
Erestor quickly took a glass of water as he came closer to Glorfindel's bedside, finally sitting down and softly saying. "Glorfindel, it is I, Erestor. Do not try to move for you are wounded. Do you remember what happened?"
He held the glass of water up to the nearly bloodless lips as Glorfindel drank greedily, Elrohir looked on. The fever clouded eyes locked with his own, but Glorfindel did not seem to recognize him. "Glorfindel, it is me, Elrohir."
The voice sounded small and Glorfindel turned at the sound of the voice, the old bright smile twisting his lips even as he grimaced. "Ro?" He choked out, panting slightly and struggling to sit upright.
Erestor could only place a hand on the muscular chest to stop Glorfindel from rising and reopening the wound. This roused the older elf and instead of increasing his struggle as Erestor had anticipated Glorfindel relaxed completely under his hands as the dark eyes cleared slightly but they now filled with pain.
"Erestor?" The voice was soft and hoarse and Erestor could only nod.
"Why are you here? You have council in the morning. You should be resting, not sitting by my bedside when I am such a poor companion."
Despite himself Erestor smiled as he said. "You foolish, foolish elf, how can I rest easily when I know that if I leave you here alone, you might soon be up on your feet when you really should not be. Somebody needs to watch over you."
"And you are best suited for the task?"
"Of course I am. It surprises me that you even need to ask such a thing, Glorfindel. I know several ways of keeping you in bed."
"Glorfindel?" At the soft, small voice Elrohir went around to Erestor's side so he could climb up on the councillor's lap and the old smile resurfaced on Glorfindel's face as the fever glossed eyes locked with Elrohir's grey ones.
"You will not die, now will you?" The child yawned and Glorfindel chuckled lightly before it became a grimacing, pained cough.
"I do not plan to die, Elrohir. There is still too much that I have to do…" The blue eyes darted to Erestor's face and the younger elf smiled unconsciously at the intense gaze despite the fever.
"Elrohir!" A soft cry roused the attention of the small Elfling as Elrohir turned to see his father standing in the doorway, looking weary as Elrond drew closer when he saw Elrohir sitting on Erestor's lap.
The elven lord looked pale, through not as pale as Glorfindel and the usual sharp grey eyes looked dulled but the lips formed into a comfortable smile as he saw the small scene at the bedside of the fallen warrior.
"Ada!" Elrohir made a move to climb off Erestor's lap but the lord of Rivendell held up a hand as he drew up his own stool and sat down. There were unusual circles underneath the sharp eyes as Elrond yawned, earning himself a laugh from Erestor and a giggle from Elrohir.
"I am sorry if Elrohir has awakened you. I heard him walk past our rooms but he did not come in so I assumed that he was merely wandering. Celebrian made it quite clear that I was the one who had to go after our wayward child." Elrond scowled for a moment as he brought a hand up to go through his hair.
Elrohir hopped down from Erestor's lap and into his father's, startling the elven lord as Erestor looked at Glorfindel as the wounded elf gripped his hand tightly, eyes slipping closed again. They sat in silence for a while as Elrohir dozed lightly on his father's lap, head resting against the older elf's chest.
"The fever is breaking." Elrond answered softly as Erestor turned back to look at his lord.
"I am glad it is. I do not like to see him so vulnerable."
"Yet you will see the more caring side of him soon, Erestor. The side he will not show to anybody but you as he has longed to do for several years now. The light in his eyes when you gave your answer was enough to tell me he will fight to remain by your side. Please allow him close, for I think that both of you will be more happy when you do so." Elrond rose, shifting Elrohir's weight in his arms as the child settled into a deeper sleep immediately.
"Sometimes, Elrond, I wonder how you can see so well."
"Years of practise, mellon nin, years of practise. Goodnight." With those words Erestor was left alone as he stared down at the unmoving elf lying in the bed and knew that regardless of the long road, he would be with Glorfindel every step of the way.
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