Elrond slipped from his reverie and stretched languidly, like a cat waking from a nap. He disengaged himself from the tangle of white satin sheets. He could still smell Erestor on his skin and on the sheets. Another scent mingled with Erestor's; the scent of his secret lover, whoever he was. Truly, Elrond was no closer to solving the puzzle than he had been the first night of their encounter.
Elrond rose from the bed and went to his bathing chambers, intent on removing all traces of his previous night's activities. He caught sight of himself in the mirror and paused to study his reflection. His eyes, normally a slate gray, were softer around the edges, as though some inner anger of which he was unaware had been abated. The careworn lines around his mouth and between his finely chiseled brows were smoother, as though a few hundred years had been erased. Even his shoulders, all ways erect and strong enough to carry the burdens of all Middle Earth were set differently.
Elrond was in love. All the signs were clear upon his features. His body told him that he loved the Elf who had been visiting him in his bed in the small hours of the night. How did one fall in love with someone and not even know their identity? How did one fall in love with a figment, a ghost? However one did these things, Elrond had gone and done it. Without his permission or knowledge, his body and mind had gone and found a way to love someone Elrond couldn't even name.
Fine, dark brows drew close together in a dark frown. The gray eyes again turned stormy. A frown marred the sensual mouth. A deep breath later and Elrond had decided that he grew weary of games. Erestor was in on the act. Erestor had the answers. Erestor had refused Elrond's demand for the accomplice's identity. The seneschal refused his rightful lord. Erestor had refused his friend. Elrond went from feeling confused and bemused to angry and betrayed in less than a heartbeat.
He dressed quickly after that, intent on making his way to the main rooms and locating Erestor. He and the seneschal would be closeted away until Erestor gave up the identity of his accomplice or Sauron came for the One Ring. Whichever. At that moment, Elrond cared not at all. He could not care less that the fate of Middle Earth rested, once again, on his shoulders. He cared not that one small, frightened Hobbit looked to him, the Elrond for answers. He had a right to know, dammit all, who came into his rooms at night to torture and punish with empty promises. For all the years he had wisely and patiently ruled the council, aided the Men of Numenor, gave up lover after lover, he had a right to know. He had a right to find happiness. Someone would pay for the empty promises.
Elrond schooled his features until their usual mask of calm aloofness and exited his chambers. He joined the members of the fellowship at a buffet of fresh fruits and warm bread that served, much to the Hobbits' eternal sorrow, as breakfast for the Imladris household. As Elrond approached the buffet table, he nodded to Legolas. Legolas offered his lord a deep bow with a sparkle in his blue eyes and Elrond paused for a split second. Was that smile secretive? Was there more in those sky blue eyes than casual reverence for an elder? Elrond dismissed his musing and glanced around. Everyone of the fellowship was present. Glorfindel was present, though he looked somewhat shaken and slightly ill. Elrond wondered at that when his old friend would not meet his gaze. His sons, Elladan and Elrohir, both dark haired and gray-eyed like their father. Erestor, Elrond realized, was not there. And Glorfindel looked as though he wished he weren't.
Glorfindel tried to find some place, any place, to hide. He noted Elrond's dark eyes scanning the room and knew he searched for Erestor. Glorfindel would love to know the whereabouts of his long time friend. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Erestor had taken himself. In fact, Glorfindel had asked around and no one seemed to know where the seneschal's hiding place. Everyone had checked the usual bolt holes. At Glorfindel's request, they checked again. Still no Erestor.
"A word with you, Glorfindel." The Elf jumped at the sound of his friend's voice. Elrond smiled thinly. "Have you seen Erestor this morning?"
"Nay, Elrond, I have been..busy with other matters. Is he missing?" Glorfindel's blue eyes widened innocently.
"Indeed, he seems to be absent this morning. Since I am unable to locate him, I suppose I will have to settle for you. Join me in my library." The voice was soft, gentle, conversational. The eyes were as stormy as the sea.
"Of course, my lord," Glorfindel followed Elrond from the room and down the long corridor to the infamous library of Rivendell. If the Imladris library did not have the text, scroll or book, then it did not exist. It had never existed.
Elrond closed the door behind Glorfindel and motioned him to be seated. When Glorfindel had chosen a seat, Elrond chose a seat opposite. "I had an interesting evening last night. Would you care to guess what happened?"
"Ah, no, I would prefer not to make such speculations." Glorfindel could guess, but he did not want Elrond to know how much he might or might not know. Ignorance was bliss, and Glorfindel had tried to remain in the dark for as long as possible. Not until Erestor confided his part in the duplicity while the scouting party was absent did Glorfindel realize the depth of the deception against Lord Elrond.
"Let's just say that I saw a side of Erestor I've never before seen. Would you know anything about that?" Elrond watched his friend closely, judging his reaction.
Glorfindel had the grace to blush up to the tips of his ears. "I was made aware of certain circumstances while the scouting party was away," he admitted. "I cannot say who else is involved, besides Erestor."
Elrond's eyebrows rose a fraction. Glorfindel appeared to be speaking true. Which meant that Erestor had an unknown accomplice and that increased the stakes somewhat. Who, then, who? He had a brief memory of blue eyes in his mind's eye and he wondered. Could it be? "Find Erestor, Glorfindel. I would like to speak to him." Elrond rose from his seat and walked to the door. "I have been made a fool of and I like it not."
Glorfindel rose quickly to his feet and rushed to Elrond's side. "Please, Elrond, I do not think that Erestor had your humiliation in mind. I believe his actions stem from love."
"Do not speak to me of love or duty or kindness. Your words and Erestor's actions taste of pity. I am neither so old nor so lonely that I need anyone's pity." Elrond closed the door behind him with a ringing thud that echoed up and down the corridor.
Glorfindel stared at the door and
then turned his face to the ceiling. "Erestor, I promise you, Elrond
is the least of your worries. Should he choose not to post your head in the
courtyard, I will personally dump your broken body at Sauron's Black Gates."
He stormed out of the library, slamming the door even harder than Elrond had.
From beneath a table Erestor gulped loudly.
Elrond stormed from the library and around the corner and came nose to nose with Legolas Greenleaf. The Prince of Mirkwood took a hasty step backwards and placed his hand over his heart. "My apologies, Lord Elrond. I did not see you." His blue eyes met with Elrond's.
Elrond stepped back as well. When his eyes met Legolas', he felt an electric tingle that went through him like a bolt of lightening. He could smell woods and spring flowers emanating from the younger Elf. "The fault was mine, Legolas. I was not paying attention to where I was going. Have the rest of the Fellowship gathered?"
"I was, in fact, sent to find you. Aragorn and Gandalf are in disagreement and Boromir is in a bit of a sulk." A slight smile played at the corners of Legolas' mouth.
"The Steward's son is intent on gaining his own way in this." Elrond held his hand out, indicating Legolas should lead the way to the others.
Instead of leading Elrond to where the rest of the fellowship met, Legolas placed his hand lightly on the Elf lord's shoulder. "I have yet to thank you for your hospitality, Lord Elrond." Legolas gave Elrond a gentle nudge, guiding him towards the room the fellowship had commandeered as their own.
"This mission is important to all of Middle Earth, Legolas," Elrond tried to step away from Legolas but found the younger Elf keeping up with him. "I have one final part to play, albeit a small one, and I shall do my utmost to fulfill my duty."
They reached a closed door and
only then did Legolas remove his hand from Elrond's shoulder. As they entered
the room the argument grew louder and it took Gimli's harsh voice to alert
everyone to Elrond's presence. After that, the day settled in to yet another
round of arguments and discussions and history lessons. As before, Elrond
only listened with half an ear. Legolas diverted the rest of his attention.
Elrond wondered at the Elf's sudden attention. Could he have been mistaken?
There was only one way to find out.
Elrond watched and waited as the moon rose in the sky. He had made his decision during diner when, to his annoyance, Erestor had still not bee located. Glorfindel had reported that he and a small troupe of servants had done everything shy of uprooting the flagstone floors in their quest for the seneschal. The information further irritated the already frustrated Elrond. He decreed that since Glorfindel had been made aware of Erestor's duplicity-by none other than Erestor himself-then Glorfindel was responsible for locating the reticent seneschal. Or else. An unhappy Glorfindel stalked Imladris grounds and promised that when he dumped Erestor at Sauron's black gates, he-meaning Erestor-would still be alive.
Elrond gathered together his paraphernalia for the evenings work. He stripped off his formal robes and donned a light robe, under which he wore nothing but his skin and desire. He loosely wrapped a leather thong around his wrist for easy retrieval. Next, he tightly rolled a white satin bed sheet and tucked it under his arm. He crept from his rooms and made his way through the silent corridors of his home, feeling somewhat like a thief, until he reached the rooms occupied by the Mirkwood Prince. (Just for variety?)
During the prolonged meeting of the fellowship, Elrond decided the younger Elf was showing more than courteous interest. He decided, too, that the Elf must know something of events that had transpired in his rooms on the previous evenings. Elrond decided this after one too many "my lords" and an unguarded moment when Legolas had openly stated that he would "go where Lord Elrond bid." In Elrond's mind, there was no way those words were a coincidence. Legolas was in league with Erestor. No doubt about it.
Outside the door, Elrond paused and listened carefully. When he heard nothing from inside the room, he quietly pushed open the door and stood framed in moonlight, watching the younger Elf in his reverie. Elrond's body responded as he stared at the leggy blond lying prone beneath a light silk coverlet. His finely chiseled features were relaxed and not quite feminine in the moonlight. Long fingers rested atop the covers, gently curling in on themselves.
Elrond swallowed. He couldn't believe he was about to do what he was considering doing. In his youth he would not have dared. Perhaps, he mused, he had begun that slow descent in to madness that sometimes afflicted the eternal. Soon, he would go to the Gray Havens. Hopefully his sanity would hold out that long.
Softly, he closed the door behind him and crept forward inch by precarious inch. If he made a sudden noise, his element of surprise would go up in proverbial smoke and he would lose precious moments subduing his playmate. Deftly he slipped from his robe and let it fall to the floor. He unrolled the satin sheet and, holding it in two hands, quickly pounced on the bed. He wrapped strong arms around Legolas, who struggled and thrashed and cursed in Sindar. Elrond had one of the slender wrists wrapped in the leather thong and worked furiously to bind the other hand when the satin sheet slid from Legolas' face.
"Lord Elrond?" Wide, slightly frightened eyes studied the Elf lord in the darkness. "My lord, what are you doing?" His hair was unbraided and had become mussed during the fray.
"Turning the tables on you and Erestor, my dream lover." Elrond hissed close to Legolas' pointed ear.
"I do not understand, my lord.
Have I given some offense? Are you sending me back to Mirkwood?" Legolas
relaxed against the bond holding him and studied Elrond carefully. "You
mentioned Erestor. Am I accused of some bit of mischief?"
Elrond paused; one hand still locked around Legolas' wrist and stared hard
into the glazed eyes of the younger Elf. "I thought…I mean…ah…"
He paused, feeling all the blood drain from his face as he realized his terrible
mistake.
Legolas shifted, revealing his nude body beneath the silk coverlet and the white satin sheet used by Elrond. "You do not look well, Lord Elrond."
Dropping Legolas' wrist, Elrond jumped from the bed, pulling the sheet with him, trying desperately to cover his nudity. "I have made a terrible error, Prince Legolas. Please forgive me," he said, backing away from the bed with his hands clutched in front of his withering erection.
Legolas instinctively clutched the receding sheet to cover himself. Elrond backed up in one direction, namely towards the door, while Legolas hugged the sheet in front of his waist and backed in the opposite direction. The sheet stretched taunt between the two powerful male Elves. Elrond searched around in the darkness for his robe. He spied the garment several feet away and tried to reach for it. Legolas refused to relinquish his half of the sheet and Elrond was forced to stand upright.
"If you would simply let go of the sheet, Legolas, I will be able to retrieve my robe and make my way back to my rooms."
"Pardon, Lord Elrond, I cannot…" Legolas looked nearly ready to faint from embarrassment.
Elrond would have liked to disappear beneath the floor, but barring a minor miracle, he knew that wasn't about to happen. He leaned towards his robe, frantic to retrieve the clothing and get out of Legolas' room. A distraught Elrond stretched out his foot, hoping to drag the garment to him. At the same time, he leaned back, stretching his long leg as far as it would go. Legolas, somewhat overbalanced by Elrond's superior weight, fell forward with a squeak and landed face first atop the bed. As he fell, he released his grip on the sheet and Elrond, suddenly free, staggered backwards. He tripped inelegantly over his own feet and sat down on the cold floor with a flop.
"Lord Elrond, are you all right?" Legolas looked up from beneath a wealth of golden hair.
"I am fine, Legolas." Elrond sighed as he picked himself up off the floor, satin sheet still held in front of his privates. "I feel I owe you an apology. I thought that you were a participant in a series of pranks played on me by Erestor. I can see now that I was mistaken. I hope you can forgive me." And forget this whole night ever happened. Elrond bowed stiffly from the waist and used the movement to snatch up his offending robe.
He swung the door open and walked stiffly through, his glorious ass exposed for any and all to see as he clutched his robe and sheet to his hips. He stalked through the halls back to his rooms and slammed the door to his private chamber with enough force to rattle several maps and paintings nearly off the wall. He flung the silky robe and satin sheet in a corner and flopped down on his bed in a huff. He had no idea how he would face Legolas in the morning. He only hoped Legolas would share the incident with no one; especially not his sons who were often in Legolas' company since their return from scout duty.
Rolling over dejectedly, Elrond
pulled the sheets over his head and tried to erase the whole incident from
his mind.
In the hallway outside Legolas' door an entirely different assessment of the
situation was under way.
"Well, well, well. That went better than I hoped."
"You know, that was evil and cruel and I can't believe I let you talk me into participating in it. Besides, now I have a problem."
"What, dear one?"
Hands slowly opened to reveal an enormous erection. "This is what the sight of Elrond's bare ass does to me."
"You aren't alone, I think,"
"Is that supposed to be an attempt at consolation?"
"I had something else in mind for that."
"Ah…"