Ever since Glorfindel’s return, he had one thought on his mind: Companionship. Actually, the thought was slightly simpler, but one so refined as himself strived to find the most elegant phrasing for all occasions – even such things that made him toss and turn and sweat in the darkness. When the Valar had seen in their infinite wisdom to return him they had sternly laid out his course of action, which included protection of some of Turgon’s descendants and keeping a watchful eye on the enemy. Glorfindel had every intention of fulfilling these duties, but first he needed a little... companionship.

Thousands of years of solitude in a void will do that to an elf.

It was a happy circumstance that in his lone meanderings to reacclimate himself he encountered a small traveling party having difficulty with a pack of wolves. The beasts were no match for mighty Glorfindel, who had dealt with this vicious type of creature ages ago. Upon killing the leader and dispatching the rest of the pack, he sauntered up to the delicate elf-maiden and her companion at the center of the group. He glanced at the hands of the ellon beside her, noting no ring of marriage or betrothal. Her hands were covered by gloves, but surely from her body language the elf beside her was her brother or chaperone or some such thing. No matter; he looked unproblematic. This was going to be easy.

“On behalf of myself and my escorts, I thank you,” she said with a slight bow of her head. “I am Lady Celebrian, and these are my guides. To whom do we owe our thanks?”

“My name was Glorfindel when last I was here; I assume I shall keep that name now.” And he explained as quickly as possible the story of his return after taking gentle hold of her hand and chastely kissing the back of it whilst giving her one of his seductive looks. He could scarcely believe that after so long searching, he had hit the jackpot and found a noble instead of a peasant (which he was getting very close to settling for). Although the lady seemed not to notice and took more interest in his origins, the elf beside her narrowed his eyes and keep a careful watch on him, which admittedly gave Glorfindel goose bumps.

Celebrian smiled at the end of his tale and withdrew her hand politely. “My husband will be ever so thankful that you came when you did, Lord Glorfindel.”

Damn. Not an elf-maiden. “Your husband?” Glorfindel looked immediately to the lady’s right where the stoic elf stood.

This caused Celebrian to let out a twitter of laughter. “My husband, Lord Elrond, is home in Rivendell. This is his chief advisor, Lord Erestor.”

“We travel to Lothlorien, to see Lady Galadriel,” explained the advisor carefully. “You are welcome to join us. As always, safety in numbers.”

“Of course.” Glorfindel inwardly sighed and wondered if Galadriel was still as attractive as he remembered...

It took Glorfindel more than two days upon entering Lothlorien to rid himself of Elrond’s chief advisor, who had been quizzing him on all aspects of the First Age the entire journey and even after they had arrived. At first, Glorfindel was pleased that someone had shown interest in his glorious appearance (the lady had practically ignored him the entire time). After the first night he realized that this was not hero worship, but interrogation. Lord Erestor might have claimed he was only the chief advisor, but he sounded more like the grand inquisitor with every new question.

When Glorfindel found a hidden path that led to a secret garden, he decided that his wait was worth it. Staying concealed, he watched as Galadriel glided between the trees, humming as she tended to them. ‘Look who is all grown up,’ he thought to himself. The silly little girl he recalled from his childhood, the uncertain young maid who made the same trek over the churning ice that he had, was in the full bloom of her beauty. Her long silver-gold hair fell well past her knees and swayed gently with every movement. A gown of thin fabric in ivory tones draped over her form, curving in all the right places. Vaguely, Glorfindel remembered not getting along with Galadriel for some reason, but he could hardly recall why, nor did he want to at the moment.

Glorfindel smiled with predatory delight as he saw her look his way and beckon him forward. He had thought he had remained hidden, but this was Galadriel he reminded himself as he smoothed out his tunic and prepared to join her. Before he could, he felt the slightest breeze. He looked up to see that there had been another, only a few feet from him, in another path that led to the garden.

“What are you doing here so late, love?” The silver-haired ellon who had only appeared moments before was now standing behind Galadriel. He had lazily wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, peering over her shoulder with mild interest.

“I had the strangest feeling that I needed to come down here and look into the mirror,” explained Galadriel as she leaned back against him. “I felt a disturbance. Something is amiss.”

Glorfindel frowned to himself. Now he was starting to remember. Never content to deal with just her own life, she was always butting into everyone else’s. Luckily, she could only guess and use her intuition. It was not as if she had some magic mirror she could look into in order to find out—

“We should just look into the mirror, darling. It should have the answer for you,” suggested the gangly silver-haired elf.

“There goes the neighborhood,” mumbled Glorfindel to himself after he had managed to quickly sneak out of the garden. As he nonchalantly walked away, he felt he was being watched, and turned only briefly to catch the gaze of the chief advisor upon him.

The next morning, Glorfindel found himself with a dilemma. He wanted to leave Lothlorien, for between avoiding Galadriel and eluding Erestor he was not having much fun. It also made it difficult to make introductions to any of the eligible maidens of the woods. The trouble was, everything looked the same no matter where he went – that, or the shadows and trees were playing tricks on him. It was not entirely surprising. Gondolin had had its wall, and Doriath the girdle, but to be honest, Glorfindel was practically pissed off.

Luckily, his bad mood was abated when he came almost into a previous unseen clearing. Looking straight ahead, he saw such a vision – and what a vision she was! She was bathing, humming to herself (where had he heard that tune before?), her dark hair pinned up with errant tendrils curling down her neck, damp from skimming the water.

By now, Glorfindel was really very much in need of... companionship. Lots of companionship. Loads and loads of companionship. Rough, sweaty, all-night-long... companionship.

The trees here were dense. Glorfindel quickly judged his path, swerving and ducking diligently until he was just a step away. With a grin on his face he licked his lips, the hunter now the wolf as he took that final step.

“Daro!”

The sudden outburst from a hidden warden caused Glorfindel to lose his balance and fall backwards. As he looked up from where he sat, he saw an arrow pointed down at him on either side. Between these stood Galadriel and Celebrian, neither looking particularly pleased.

“Good day... I seem to have lost...” He trailed off as Galadriel narrowed her eyes further, trying another tactic. “Lady Galadriel, how good to see you! It has been far too—“

“You may stop there, Lord Glorfindel,” snapped Galadriel. “You have much to apologize for already. There is no need to add another untruth to the list.”

“Excuse me, Grandmother, but I need someone to bring a towel!” shouted the maiden in the bathing pool. Galadriel turned to one of the wardens and gave a nod. He only too willingly rushed over to aid Arwen.

“Wait... granddaughter? Huh, if I had realized you were that old, I would never...” Glorfindel shut his mouth again, but only temporarily. “Do you always watch your granddaughter when she is bathing?”

“This was obviously an exception, Lord Glorfindel. Between the events foretold in my mirror and my daughter Celebrian’s concerns, I was certain you were going to be trouble. Now you know we are watching.” Galadriel gave him a final look before she and Celebrian joined an amply wrapped-up Arwen.

The remaining warden lowered his weapon. “Lady Galadriel has asked I relay to you invitation to stay. She prefers you where you can be watched instead of a hazard to half the Elven population.”

“Please tell me she has no other daughters or granddaughters,” begged Glorfindel.

The warden frowned. “Not that I am aware of, Lord Glorfindel.”

“Thank the Valar for small favors.”

It was not long before Glorfindel had stopped licking his wounds and was once again on his personal quest. He now had four people to avoid; six if he counted the guards. He had considered asking where the exit was when he had been caught earlier that morning, but it hardly seemed as if this information was going to be freely given to him. In fact, it certainly seemed as if they were keeping him trapped in order to make a mockery of him.

“No one makes a mockery of Glorfindel!” he announced to a pair of cardinals nested in a tree. His inattentiveness to his path caused him to crash into a low hanging branch. A pair of startled robins flew off as they scolded him.

“Because you do a fine job of it on your own?”

At first, Glorfindel wondered if he was losing his mind and had heard one of the birds respond, but he turned to see the ever-present Erestor lurking behind him. “Did she ask you to trail me?”

“No. I decided to on my own.”

“Why?” Glorfindel waited for an answer, but all he received was a shrug. He began to walk again and melodically chanted:

You never leave me alone
No matter where I roam
You are hardly trying
To keep secret your spying
So...

Glorfindel frowned. “So... hmm. Lord Erestor, what rhymes with roam?” He turned around, but found the advisor was gone.

When Glorfindel managed to wander his way back into the heart of the city early that evening, he found bakers and servers and musicians hurrying about, preparing the area beneath the tallest of the mallorn trees for some sort of party. Ribbons were tied around the bases of the trees and streamers draped from branch to branch. Tables of food containing perfectly arranged cakes and sweets sat undisturbed, with ample wine available at several places in the glade.

Glorfindel snagged a goblet of wine from a tray and sought out someone who knew as if they knew what was going on. A slightly familiar looking ellon whom he could not place stood overlooking the workers, and Glorfindel approached him. “Now, which celebration is this for? I can hardly keep track with all of the holidays we observe these days!”

Celeborn tried his best not to look too amused as he explained, “We are hardly celebrating a holiday. My wife just likes an excuse to throw a party, and with the arrival of my daughter here safely we agreed it was time for another. If you will excuse me, I need to collect my wife. Hopefully she is done primping by now.” He began to leave, but added as an afterthought, “You are more than welcome to stay for the festivities, Lord Glorfindel, so long as you keep your hands and eyes off of my wife, daughter, and granddaughter.” The silver lord winked at Glorfindel, who tried to fake a smile and groaned as soon as Celeborn had walked away.

Glorfindel’s initial reaction of keeping far from the celebration was overridden by the fact that there were bound to be single ladies at the party. More than one would likely have a little too much wine. With odds seemingly in his favor for a night of good old ‘companionship’, Glorfindel strolled out into the midst of the crowd, mingling and chatting and honestly having a good time.

As he wished one departing couple a good evening, he turned to find himself faced with Celebrian. Immediately he begged pardon and stepped away, but the Lady implored him to stay. “Lord Glorfindel, I have been looking for you! There is someone I wished to introduce you to.”

Vaguely, Glorfindel heard something about ‘lady in waiting’ and a name and some references, but he was enthralled by the maiden standing beside Celebrian. Delicate feet, ample curves, a bosom that might have been a little rounder, but then beggars cannot be choosers he reasoned. When his gaze reached the lady’s face, he blinked quizzically, and glanced quickly to Celebrian for an answer.

The lady giggled softly. “I am sure Lady Eresien would love to answer your questions.” And Celebrian slipped away, Glorfindel too shocked to follow, and the lady standing before him too embarrassed to do much besides blush and stare at the ground.

“Uhm... before I jump to conclusions, perhaps you could explain this to me.” Glorfindel nodded when the lady motioned for them to move away from the crowd They took a path that led into a garden with gazebos and benches. An empty one was procured and Glorfindel waited patiently for the lady to collect herself.

“Years ago when Lord Elrond was searching for the wisest people for his counsel, I went to Imladris in hopes of becoming an advisor,” explained Eresien. “The interview went quite well, and he praised my intelligence, but at the end told me that he had no intention of having any ladies on his counsel, for we are all ‘overly emotional’. On my way back to Lothlorien, I had the strangest idea. I returned, having borrowed the clothing of one of the ellon traveling with us. I was hired almost immediately, and Lord Elrond still has not learned of this deception.”

“Interesting. Does everyone in Lothlorien know?” asked Glorfindel.

“I grew up here. It would be difficult to hide my true identity.”

Glorfindel nodded. “Why tell me?”

“I just felt I could tell you.” Eresien bit her lip and added, “You wanted to know why I was following you earlier today? Well, I guess... I think I might be falling for you.”

“Really?” Glorfindel put his arm around the lady and leaned a little closer, more than ready to lay on the charm. “I will admit, I am deeply in need of... companionship...”

“Oh.” Eresien frowned. “Just... companionship? I was really hoping for a little more than that.”

“Such as...?”

“Must I say it?” And Eresien closed her eyes and hungrily pressed her lips against his.