The twins had fallen asleep more than an hour ago, and yet the elves sitting near to the fire continued to amuse themselves, using their hands to create shadow animals on the opposite wall of the Hall of Fire.

“It has to be a bird; I think,” said Haldir, slowly nursing his glass of wine, ever keeping a vigilliant watch on Lord Celeborn despite the absence of danger. Once a warden, always a warden as the saying goes.

“A really fat and ugly bird,” Glorfindel half agreed. He tilted his head as Erestor shot him a withering look and readjusted his hands. “I have it! A fat, ugly, constipated ostrich!”

“It was a squirrel!” Erestor finally said with exasperation, his hands dropping to his lap.

Celeborn pulled a face, still rubbing Elrohir’s back. The little peredhel was curled up in his lap, drooling out of the corner of his mouth as he sucked his thumb. The Elf-lord seemed not to mind. “That is the bloody ugliest squirrel I have ever seen.”

“You can do better?” Erestor took hold of the bottle of wine and poured himself a glass with a huff.

Leaning sideways a little and being careful not to disturb Elrohir, Celeborn folded his hands together and upon the wall, a happy squirrel with a bristle-brush tail looked from side to side.

“Show off,” muttered Erestor, though he didn’t mean it in a rude way. “At least we know what you spend all of your time doing – perfecting your shadow puppets.”

“All great Elf-lords are shadow puppet masters,” answered Celeborn as he retracted the squirrel. “Right, Elrond?”

Elrond, who was being clung to by Elladan, nodded. “I would demonstrate, but if I wake one, it will wake them both.”

“Well, I am sorry to say that my schooling never included shadow puppet making,” apologized Erestor as Haldir made a peacock strut across the wall and preen.

Glorfindel set aside his glass and scooted closer to Erestor. “Here, let me show you. You will be an expert in no time.” Positioning Erestor’s hands, Glorfindel gently bent the advisor’s fingers and extended others as he went along. “Now, raise your hands up and tell me what you see.”

Cautiously looking at the tangle of his hands, Erestor lifted them into the light. “Oh! Look, a wolf,” he said, a slight smile on his lips. It took a few tries to figure out where the tail was, but eventually he made it wag and moved the animal’s head.

“When you get used to it, you can make him move more. Like this.” Glorfindel made a wolf of his own, then instructed it to sit, roll over, and play dead. After a little laughter from the rest of the group, Glorfindel stood his wolf up again and walked it over to Erestor’s. “Look, a new friend!” he said, and after checking briefly to be sure the twins were asleep, his wolf rather crudely sniffed at the other, and then jumped him.

“Glorfindel!” Erestor yanked his hands away from the pair that was ‘humping’ his own. “That was... very inappropriate!” he settled on, blushing furiously. His eyes looked upon the empty wine bottle, and he grabbed hold of it by the neck. “We need more wine. I will be back.” Quickly, Erestor left the room.

Chuckling to himself, Glorfindel looked up to see Elrond shaking his head and smirking. “What?”

“I have told you a million times, that is not the way to court him,” Elrond said.

Winking, Glorfindel answered, “We shall see.”