Samara followed Elrond into a long hall. Several elves were cleaning the tables.
"Seems we have missed lunch time." She said.
Elrond laughed and guided her to the very end of the hall, where two seats were still prepared for lunch. He beckoned her to sit next to him.
"You handled yourself quite well." Elrond said.
"Thank you, although from inside I was dying." Samara said before drinking some water.
"Saruman can be…difficult to work with."
A silence fell as they both ate.
"So uhm how does the time difference work exactly?" Samara asked as she finished.
"Difficult to explain." Elrond said. "There is no fixed time difference, when the need for more time is high it seems that the sanctuary provides it." "One month there can be a day here."
"That's exactly what we need now." Samara said. "I need to learn to control the elements before Bilbo and the company arrive at the Lonely Mountain."
Worry filled her mind as she thought of her friend. A warm hand envelopped her own.
"I am sure he is fine, dwarves are tough, they'll keep him safe." Elrond said.
The door of the hall opened and Elrond groaned. Lindir came rushing inside with in his arms a stack of papers.
"My Lord Elrond…" He huffed. "I am truly sorry but these papers need your approval."
"Put them on my desk Lindir, I will handle it today." Elrond sighed.
The elf nodded relieved and left the hall.
"Can I help you with anything?" Samara asked.
"No only the Lord or Lady of Imladris's signature is valid and since you are neither you cannot." Elrond said. "But thank you for the offer."
Samara smiled but only noticed now just how tired Elrond looked.
"Okay, than I'll go to the…sanctuary it was called?"
"Yes, there is a large bookcase on the right, at the very left there is a section about airbending." Elrond said. "You can start to read those if you'd like?"
"I'd love to." Samara said as they walked towards the other end of the hall.
"I'll come get you for dinner, since you have no way to tell what time it will be." Elrond said.
"Sounds good." Samara said and they departed.
The sanctuary felt awfully quiet without anyone else there. Samara's footsteps echoed as she made her way to the bookcase.
"Airbending…" She whispered as her eyes scanned the old books. "Ah there you are…"
She grabbed a grey book with the title The spiritual guide to Airbending. "Let's get started."
A few hours later, Elronds eyes grew weary and he noticed that the words were not coming through anymore. The flame of his candle flickered violently as he turned the page over a bit more rough than he had meant. The sun was beginning to go down. A soft knock on the door disturbed him from his sentence.
"Yes?"
Lindir stepped inside.
"Apologies my Lord but dinner will be served shortly."
"Is it that time already?" Elrond asked. "Time flies when you're having fun…"
The sarcasm made Lindir frown a bit.
"Alright, I read and signed these." Elrond said as he handed a large stack of papers to his assistant. "These I need to discuss with my council and those over there are rejected."
He handed Lindir a second but smaller stack of papers and gestured to three seperate pages on the side of his desk.
"Very good my Lord I shall prepare a meeting for later this week." Lindir said.
"And be so kind to tell the kitchen to prepare two plates of dinner for me to take to the Avatar."
Lindir nodded and left the office. Elrond followed him and walked towards his private quaters. Quickly taking off his robes he changed into a more practical outfit. After retrieving the food from the kitchen he made his way to the sanctuary.
The orange glow of the setting sun was making the decend towards the sanctuary even more beautiful.
"And did you manage to read some of the books?" He asked as he walked through the gate. "They are quite heavy so even if you read only one I'll be…"
His mouth fell open by what he saw in front of him. A pile of at least ten books lay to the side and in the middle of the round square was Samara, preforming some airbending tecniques.
"That is amazing."
Samara looked behind her and smiled.
"Thank you."
"Did you read all these?" Elrond asked as he took one of the books in his hands.
"Yes, some of them twice before I could really understand it." "I've been busy with this scroll, it's the first one."
She walked towards him and showed him a scroll with simple airbending movements.
"I see…well I am very, very impressed."
He gestured towards the table and sat in his own chair. Samara took the chair closest to the stairs and they started to eat.
"Did you manage to do all your work for today?" Samara asked.
"Not everything, but all that was most important is handled." Elrond said. "I will handle the rest when I get back."
Samara looked at the pale face of the elvenlord and noticed the dark circles beneath his eyes.
"Do you get enough sleep?"
The question surprised Elrond so much that he did not answer.
"I'm sorry that is a very personal question, forget I asked." Samara said feeling her cheeks burn up.
"I do suppose I could try to get some more rest."
Samara smiled a bit at the tone of Elronds voice. Like a small child confessing.
A warmth spread in Elronds chest. He hadn't feeled this comfortable in a very long time. He took a sip from his wine and looked at the waterfalls in the distance.
"It's just that…sitting in my office all alone I forget the time." "There is so much work to be done it seems like it is never ending."
"You could use some help." Samara said.
"I guess I do."
A silence fell between them.
"So…" Elrond said as he cleared the table and put the scroll down. "Which one of these have you tried?"
"Only these two." Samara said as she pointed towards the upper two. "But it didn't come out the way I wanted."
"Show me."
"You have to get back to get your paperwork in order." Samara said.
"This is more important and much more fun." Elrond said with a smirk.
Samara felt her heart make a small leap.