Dream of an Elf
Chapter 3: Bad Luck
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Erestor didn't believe in superstition. He believed in science. He believed in magic, of course, because elves were magic. But he didn't believe that something would cause someone good or bad luck. Accident happened, but bad luck…
"Erestor! Watch out!"
Erestor stopped walking immediately upon hearing Melpomean's scream, and watched in horror when a vase crash to the ground in front of him.
"Erestor!"
Everybody rushed to him panicky.
"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Melpomean who reached him first asked worriedly.
"I.. I'm fine." Erestor said. "Thank you, Mel."
"Are you certain? You looked shock." Lindir touched his arm in concern.
"Yes, what happened?"
They were standing in the main hall with high ceiling and two set of stairs leading to the second floor. They looked up to the second floor balcony where the vase fell off and saw a servant looked back at them with pale face and wide eyes. An elleth rushed to him and shook him not so gently.
"Abarat!" The elleth looked at Erestor, panic in her eyes. "He's fainted, my lord!"
They took the young servant to the infirmary and found that Abarat, the young servant, was carrying the vase to the kitchen, but slipped while he was at the balcony of the second floor. The vase flied from his hands and fell to the ground, and almost hit the Lord Counselor's head.
"Luckily, it missed Erestor's head just mere inches." Lindir sighed.
"You called that 'luckily'?" Mel shook his head in disagreement. "I call it a bad luck."
"I call it an accident." Erestor interrupted. "It's alright, Abarat. Stop crying." The counselor patted the servant's shoulder lightly. "Accident happened."
"I'm really sorry, my lord." Abarat started crying again.
"Don't…." Erestor was interrupted by a loud bang at the door and Glorfindel stormed inside the infirmary panicky.
"Are you alright, Erestor? Are you hurt? I heard that you are injured. Why are you still standing? Where do you hurt?" The captain asked when he saw his target.
"I'm alright, Glorfindel." Erestor sighed. "Who told you that I was injured?"
"Someone. Are you certain you are not injured?"
"Yes, Glorfindel, I'm certain that I'm not injured." Erestor replied tiredly.
"Then why are you in the infirmary?" Glorfindel knitted his eyebrows and looked at other people around him. "Oh, Mel, Lindir, Abarat, you are here too."
"Yes, we are here too." Lindir rolled his eyes. He knew Glorfindel would see only Erestor even though there were others around. "Abarat was fainted so we took him here."
"Oh, do you feel better, young one?" Glorfindel asked the young servant in concern.
"We should leave. Just let him rest for a while." Erestor smiled softly to the young servant and left the infirmary with other three elves in tow.
From that day, a series of accidents occurred to the counselor. Once or twice, a cat just landed itself on his head during its mouse chasing. A book mysteriously fell on his shoulder when he walked pass a bookshelf in the library. Another time, his sleeve caught a fracture of nail in the wall. It tore his sleeve and made a scratch to his upper arm.
One evening, Glorfindel found Erestor entering the house soaking wet from his head to toes. His smell was not pleasant to his delicate nose.
"What happened, Erestor?"
"Just an accident." Erestor replied dejectedly.
"Detail please." Glorfindel knitted his eyebrows and followed Erestor into the house.
"I was walking outside, and someone just decided to throw their dirty water over their balcony and exactly onto my head." Erestor grumbled.
"You know recently you have gotten bad luck enough to last until the next century." Glorfindel sighed.
"It.. they were accidents!" The counselor protested stubbornly.
"Alright, alright." Glorfindel held his hands up in defeated. "You need to take a bath. I'll call the servants to bring you some hot water. Just go remove your wet clothes before the stink get to your skin permanently."
"Thank you." Erestor muttered and entered his chambers, letting the door unlocked for the servants to draw him a hot bath.
A while letter, he heard Glorfindel's voice calling him from his bathroom.
"Erestor, your bath is ready."
"Why are you here?" Erestor emerged from a screen with only a towel wrapped around his slim waist. He brushed lightly when he saw Glorfindel's eyes roamed over his body.
"I just want to help my best friend, couldn't I?" The captain shrugged nonchalantly, and helped the counselor climb into the tub. "Who knows what will happen to you again with no one supervised."
"I'm not an elfing." Erestor glared at the captain coldly.
"But you are recently an accident prone." Glorfindel smirked when Erestor could not utter a word against him. Now Erestor stood in the bath tub with almost full warm water. "Your towel?"
"Excuse me?"
"Do you take a bath with your towel on?" Glorfindel raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, I'm just not familiar taking a bath with someone watching me. Is it necessary?"
"I don't mind." Glorfindel shrugged his shoulder. "Alright, I'll take some more water to wash your hair. Be careful there. You might slip in the tub." Glorfindel turned his back to Erestor to retrieve a bucket of water beside the door, when he turned around; Erestor was already sitting in the bathtub, submerging himself under the warm water, and closing his eyes blissfully. His towel was on the floor beside the tub. Glorfindel smiled softly. He approached the tub and sat on a stool beside the tub and leaned over Erestor's head. He used a small bowl to take water from the tub to wet the dark hair of the counselor, and applied some shampoo into his palms. Erestor moaned softly when he felt Glorfindel's fingers massaging his scalp expertly.
"Close your eyes. I'll rinse your hair." After finishing rinsing the dark hair, Glorfindel put the dark tresses over Erestor's shoulder and used a wash cloth to scrub Erestor's back and arms. "What is this?" The captain brushed his finger over a long scratch on Erestor's upper arm.
"Just a scratch. I got caught by a nail on the library wall. That's all." Erestor shrugged.
"What else did you get lately that I haven't known?" Glorfindel knitted his eyebrows worriedly. These accidents were getting more often. He thought. Observing closely, he found a bruise on Erestor's shoulder and several scratches on his neck. He touched all of them lightly, the touches that made Erestor shivered.
"The bruise? Did I mention that the dirty water came with a bucket? It hit my shoulder a little." Erestor chuckled. "For the scratches, they were from a cat jumping onto my head and it tried to balance itself on my head and my shoulder."
"Anything else?"
"Nay."
Glorfindel sighed and continued washing Erestor's back with soap and wash cloth. Erestor gasped when Glorfindel's hand move to the small of his back.
"That.. that'd be enough, mellon-nin. I can wash myself." Erestor's voice was shaking slightly, but very obvious for both of them.
"Alright." Glorfindel smiled. He'd not pursue it any further. This would be enough for the day. He thought. He gave the cloth to Erestor and left the bathroom, his sleeves soaking wet.
'Get a grip, Erestor! You are not an adolescent anymore. Why do you have to feel like this with only from a touch of his hand?' Erestor scolded himself inwardly. Oh, Valar! If Glorfindel could see through the water, he'd be embarrassed for the rest of.. eternity.
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Erestor couldn't look Glorfindel in the eyes for several days after the incident. He didn't visit the library every morning like he used to since he knew Glorfindel would be there. Sometimes, Glorfindel stopped by his office, but Erestor always dismissed him, busying himself with the amount of works on his desk.
"Erestor?" Elrond called him from the connecting door between their offices.
"Yes, my lord?"
"Did you see the report on weaponry that Glorfindel just submitted?"
"Aye."
"Why's it on my desk?" Elrond asked.
"I think the budget requested is too high. I understand that we have a numbers of new recruits, but the amounts of replace weapons are too high. However, I may underestimate the need of weaponry since it's not my field of expertise, so I pass the matter to you for your consideration."
"Is this really your reason? Not that you want to avoid Glorfindel whatsoever?" Elrond glared at his counselor knowingly.
"Why do I want to avoid Glorfindel?" Erestor glared back at his lord.
"You tell me?" Elrond smirked when Erestor's glare was even deadlier. "Anyway, I give you a full authority about budgeting, whatever field it is."
"This is not fair." Erestor grumbled.
"Do what you must, Erestor. I know you are a fighter. I don't know why you are avoiding him now."
"I'm not avoiding him!"
"Prove it then." Elrond smirked and closed the connecting door behind him.
"Insufferable brat!"
"I heard that!"
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In the afternoon, Erestor headed to the training area where Glorfindel was training his soldiers and new recruits. It was a warm day with clear blue sky and he saw many elves doing activities outside their houses and elflings running around with their pets. Erestor entered the secured area of the training field and easily spotted Glorfindel talking with his soldiers in front of the weapon racks at the side of the field, his back to the entrance so he didn't see Erestor approaching. Soldiers and new recruits were practicing with their weapons; sword fighting, wresting and target practicing.
The following incident was playing slow-motion in front of Erestor's eyes. A dog came running through the entrance with its owner yelling after it to stop. With panic, the dog continued running and hit a recruit who was going to shoot his arrow to the target. The arrow turned its course and directed to the unsuspecting captain at the side of the field.
"Glorfindel!" Erestor screamed the captain's name and darted out toward Glorfindel. The next thing he knew was a searing pain in his left shoulder.
"Erestor!" Glorfindel screamed and caught the counselor before he collapsed to the ground. The arrow was impaled through Erestor's shoulder; blood seeping through his heavy rope. Glorfindel's face was paler than Erestor's at the moment.
"Are you alright, Glorfindel?" Erestor asked the captain.
"What!?" Glorfindel choked out. "You are the one who got an arrow through your shoulder and you ask me whether I'm alright? No, I'm not alright, you idiot!" His face turned from white to red in a heartbeat.
"Oh, well." Erestor tried to get up, but the pain became unbearable. "Ouch!"
"You stupid counselor!" Glorfindel put his arms under Erestor's back and knees, and lift him up easily. "Somebody run ahead and inform Lord Elrond that we have the idiot counselor bloodily injured, needing his attention now!" A couple soldiers nodded their heads and ran to the house swiftly.
"Could you please cut the words idiot and stupid and any other insults?" Erestor couldn't help protest the choice of words Glorfindel mentioning him.
"What would you like me to say then? My savior? My clever counselor? My darling?" Glorfindel tiled his head to look at the slim body in his arms. He felt Erestor's body getting colder, and his lips were turning green. "Don't sleep, Erestor, stay with me."
"It'd be better my shoulder, not my heart." Erestor muttered quietly. "Not you."
"You are an idiot."
They reached the infirmary and found Elrond waiting there with his best healers, preparing everything prior to their arrival. Glorfindel put Erestor on the bed and stepped back to let the healers doing their jobs. One of the healers used a pair of scissors to cut Erestor's robe and tunic, and removed his clothes to better look at his wound. The healer gave a potion to Erestor to ease his pain. Since Glorfindel hadn't removed the arrow to prevent causing more damage to the counselor, it was then Elrond's duty to do it himself. Elrond put a stick, with a thick cloth wrapping around it, between Erestor teeth preventing him from biting his own tongue, and touched the arrow lightly. Even the slight touch drew a muffle scream from Erestor. Glorfindel could not take it any more; he reached his hands to grab Erestor's face, to stay Erestor from tossing.
"Do you remember the place overlooking the valley where we had breakfast together one morning?" He whispered, trying to distract the counselor. Erestor looked up to see Glorfindel's face hovering over his head. "I plan to build a house there. A small cottage with all plant you recommended; apples, cherries, strawberry, vegetables, and flowers; a lot of flowers especially red tulips. Do you like the flowers I gave you? Do you know what they mean?"
At the moment, Elrond could clean the wounded area, cut the arrow and applied some salve to make the wound go numb. He waited until the skin around the wound went white, and used a small knife to cut the skin to remove the arrow head. Erestor shut his eyes tightly and tried not to toss too much, but he couldn't control his own body. He didn't even feel Glorfindel's hands on his shoulders and his lips on his forehead after the arrow head was removed. Elrond and the healers dressed the wound quickly and put Erestor in a loose sleeping shirt.
"You're going to be fine, Erestor. Now sleep." Elrond said softly while putting a blanket over the slim body.
"Who is going to cut the weaponry budget that Glorfindel's requested then?" Erestor mumbled and passed out immediately.
"What?" Glorfindel glared at Elrond. "Erestor was at the training field because you told him to cut my budget?"
"I didn't mean to.. oh, hell!" Elrond shook his head. Trust Erestor to throw the problem back to him even in the dead/alive state. He was impossible. Actually, they were both impossible and a match made in heaven or in hell for Elrond case. The lord mused.
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"I wonder why Erestor was an accident prone lately." Lindir was in Erestor's office, talking with Melpomean who was trying to manage the documents on Erestor's desk.
"I told you I called it bad luck." Melpomean shook his head in sympathy to his boss.
"May be you are right." Lindir nodded his head in agreement. "But since when and why?"
"It has been a couple weeks I guess, but for the why, I have no idea."
Their conversation was overheard by Glorfindel who was coming to Erestor's office to get some books for the counselor.
Was it because of the mistletoe? He wondered.
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Glorfindel entered the infirmary and found Erestor still sleeping soundly. He was sleeping with his eyes close. The captain put the books he retrieved from the counselor's office on the side table and brought something with him to Erestor's bed. He looked at the sleeping form lovingly and looked at a twig of mistletoe in his hand.
If Erestor got bad luck because they didn't kiss under the mistletoe, maybe, maybe he could get the reverse result this time. Glorfindel pondered.
This must do.
Glorfindel leaned over Erestor and put the mistletoe over their head. He sighed softly. He didn't like kissing Erestor while he was sleeping, but he had no choice. If Erestor had been awake, he wouldn't allow it. Glorfindel bended down and put his lips on Erestor's forehead, under the mistletoe. When he straightened up, he was startled by Erestor's eyes glaring back at him.
"Mistletoe? Really?"
"Uhm, Erestor." Glorfindel stuttered.
"I think you can do better than that." Erestor smirked.
"What?"
"The kiss." Erestor's face turned a shade of pink slightly. "You could kiss better than that, couldn't you?"
"What?"
"Don't make me repeat it." Erestor glared at his idiot captain who was looming over him.
"You believe it now?" Glorfindel smirked.
"No." Erestor paused. "Maybe?"
"Aha."
"It's not going to be worse than this." Erestor shrugged his good shoulder.
"Alright, for good luck." Glorfindel leaned in closer; Erestor could feel his breath over his lips.
"For good l.."
Erestor's word was cut off by Glorfindel's lips on his own.
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[..tbc..]
Author note: Again, sorry for any mistakes occurred. Review please. :)