“What are you going to do with all of them?”
“I have no idea.”
Glorfindel was standing on the outside of the fence that encircled his property with Ecthelion. The council had met earlier in the day, and more than one joke was made regarding ‘Glorfindel’s new pets’. For the first time ever, the blond stomped out of council early, leaving the door to slam behind him. Ecthelion had come to update him on what had transpired after his departure.
“How many are there now?” Ecthelion asked.
“You actually expect me to try to count them all?” Glorfindel made an attempt to, but there were dozens, and they frolicked about as children should, making it difficult to keep track of their numbers. In the few weeks since Glorfindel had first opened his doors to them, the population had swelled to the point that now his soldiers were chased out of the barracks completely. Groups of tents not only held his recruits, but some of them were set up for the older orphans as well.
“You know you cannot keep them all here,” said Ecthelion.
“I certainly do know that!” snapped Glorfindel back. He sighed as Ecthelion raised his brows, but said nothing. “Sorry. This is not quite what I had anticipated. I thought maybe there were a few and that we would just find homes for them, but there are so many. Who knew we had so many orphans?”
“Not all of them are orphans.” Both of the ellyn turned upon hearing Salgant’s voice behind them. The portly elf strolled up to the fence, leading a stubborn snorting mare alongside him. “Some of the families in the valley are having difficulties, what with the droughts and now the late frosts. They are sending some of them here, knowing you will not turn them away.”
Ecthelion’s mouth twisted unhappily. “How well they know you, Glorfindel.”
Glorfindel turned his attention to the nag that was now draping her head over his fence. “Where did you find her?”
“Ah, yes. She was formerly assigned to the king’s guard. Unfortunately, she does not play well with others.” He patted the side of her neck and was nearly bitten for his efforts, which he laughed off as the other two ellyn exchanged uncertain looks. “Here.” Salgant handed the rope he had been holding to Glorfindel.
“What am I supposed to do with her?”
Salgant chuckled and looked past Glorfindel to Ecthelion. “What is he to do? My, and here I thought I was bringing her to the right person.”
“No offense, but she hardly belongs here. Even if the children were not about, I do not need one badly trained horse to rile the rest of them.”
“Well, then, I must hurry along. The butchers in the valley close earlier than the one near the market.” Salgant reached over to take back the rope, but Glorfindel held fast.
The blond tightened his grip when Salgant gave a tug. “You are going to have her sold to the butcher?”
“Yes. Although horseflesh is less desirable, with the drought, I am sure she might fetch a bit of coin.”
Glorfindel stared hard at Salgant, attempting to read him. Part of him was certain that the horse would not meet such a horrible fate, but the other part was not willing to take that chance. “Fine. You win,” he said finally, giving the rope a tug strong enough to dislodge it from Salgant’s hands.
“Good. I knew I brought her to the right place.” He patted Glorfindel’s shoulder before giving a nod to Ecthelion and then heading on his way. Glorfindel sighed and watched the mare butt her head against the fence when some of the children came too close for her liking.
Ecthelion scratched his head. “I thought the point of our meeting was to come up with some ideas on how to decrease the population here.”
There was a little grumbled muttering as Glorfindel unlatched the gate and pulled the mare onto the pasture. “I just need an infinite amount of money and unlimited land, and I will be fine.”
“A logical solution.” Ecthelion followed after Glorfindel, keeping a safe distance from the horse. “And if you are unable to conjure up a million pieces of gold and a thousand acres?”
“Then I guess I am just going to go broke.” Glorfindel tied the rope to a post normally reserved for the laundry line and left the mare to graze. “I hate being so nice.”
“Of course you do. But you are so good at it,” commended Ecthelion.
---
“So, what are you going to do?”
Glorfindel handed Erestor a glass of wine and shook his head as he sat down on the chair beside him. “The reason I just explained everything to you was so that you could tell me how to fix it.” The pair was on the balcony, watching fireflies lazily dance about.
“How do you expect to learn anything if I just give you the solution?” asked Erestor. Glorfindel glared back at his companion, who shied away slightly. “Alright, alright, let me think about it.” At least ten minutes passed before Erestor said, “Boy, you really dug yourself in deep this time.”
“I know.” Glorfindel gulped the wine in his goblet. “Now, if you would kindly help dig me out I would be forever grateful.”
“You could probably funnel some funds into the valley. Set up a few schools or an orphanage or something, and that might help take care of some of the problems. At least that way the children would have somewhere to go.”
“Of course, that only fixes things temporarily. Once they reach a certain age they will be expected to fend for themselves, but without training and without a family, where do they go?” Glorfindel rubbed his head and groaned. “If it was just one or two, it would be easy. When Ecthelion took me in, he was able to concentrate on just me. One on one it would work, but there is no way I can handle all of them.”
Erestor shook his head. “You keep taking the angle that it has to be you at the center of it. You need to learn how to delegate more.”
“I... fuck. Fuck!”
“Shhh... we should go back inside,” suggested Erestor. He gathered up both of the wine glasses and ushered Glorfindel back indoors. He decided against another glass of wine and placed the empty goblets on the counter as they passed. Once they reached the bedroom, Glorfindel threw himself onto the bed and flung his arm over his eyes. Erestor sat down on the edge of the mattress and pushed on Glorfindel’s shoulder. “Take off your shirt and roll over.”
Under normal circumstances, Glorfindel might have been hoping to hear such a thing, but at the moment he was much more in need of what he was sure Erestor was going to do. As soon as he had settled his head upon the pillow, he felt Erestor’s warm hands at the base of his neck. Slowly, the day’s tension was massaged away, from his sore shoulders to the kink in his back. “How is Faelion doing?” he managed to ask as he began to doze.
“I think he made the right decision. He improved quickly. How are the rest of your recruits doing?”
“Not bad, all things considered. We are much further behind than I planned to be at this stage,” Glorfindel sleepily admitted. “I feel as if they will never master the skills they need to at this rate.”
“I am certain they will. You took on a large group, and it takes more time to train so many.”
Glorfindel fell asleep with this thought in mind.
