Idle fingers swept a tangled bunch of blond curls out of Glorfindel’s face. “Good morning, darling,” murmured Gildor, pressing a kiss to the other elflord’s cheek.
Glorfindel smiled, turning his head to steal another kiss. “Good- hmm, too late to be morning,” he realized, sitting up. He rubbed his eyelids with the back of his hand.
“Probably,” smirked Gildor, pulling on his lover’s arm as Glorfindel began to rise. The golden haired ellon twisted out of Gildor’s grasp and set his feet on the floor. “Where are you going? Elrond gave you the week off-“
“Yes, but I will be late.” Glorfindel was unsnarling his golden locks as he stood and looking around for his discarded clothing. A fresh shirt was pulled out of the dresser as Gildor sat up, the sheet draped over his legs and lap. “Wear one of the blue ones,” insisted Gildor as Glorfindel began to pull a white shirt over his head. It was traded in an instant for one of sky blue. “Are you going to tell me where we are going?”
“We- uhm, did you want to come with me?” asked Glorfindel hopefully as he buttoned his shirt.
Gildor folded his arms behind his head and leaned back against the headboard. “Where are you going?” he amended when he realized he was not exactly invited.
“You can come, too,” Glorfindel said quickly, sitting down on the edge of the bed so that he could put his leggings on. He tucked in his shirt and then looked over his shoulder and said, “I am sure that no one would mind.”
“Where are you going?” prodded Gildor once more, annoyance creeping into his voice.
Glorfindel opened his mouth, about to answer directly, but closed it, furrowed his brow and then said, “Have you ever heard of the Sedrynerins?”
“Oh, Findé, tell me you are not thinking of joining that lot.” Gildor sighed and shook his head. “They are... practically a cult. All of the praying and the singing instead of having fun, and they would be very disapproving of our relationship. You do know they have a lot of very strange rules that they follow.”
“I know, but... some of it makes sense. I have been reading a book Erestor gave me-“
“Figures he would be one of them,” interrupted Gildor, fluffing up his pillow.
“-and... why do you say that?” demanded Glorfindel.
“Because he is the strange sort of elf I would expect to believe all of that nonsense. But go ahead, if you want to – I suspect there is some sort of cult gathering prayer meeting thing you are going to attend?” asked Gildor.
“No. It is not a cult!” argued Glorfindel gently. “Look, I did not understand until I began reading this,” he said, picking up the large green book that Erestor had loaned to him and setting down beside Gildor. “Now I am curious to know more; I am going to a... well it is a prayer meeting of sorts, but it is not a cult!”
“Of course not. Well, I will remain here. To be honest, I am still tired from the journey. I will not stop you from going, though. In time, I am sure you will come to your senses.” Gildor pushed the book aside to make room again for himself as he slipped beneath the covers.
Glorfindel set out from the house hastily, barely remembering to put on a pair of boots before he left. In passing a few days prior, Erestor had invited him to ‘a gathering, nothing special, just a few of us by the river for singing and scripture’. It was really the first time that the pair had spoken in private since he and Erestor had talked on the ridge of the valley many weeks earlier. The blond elf had made it to the river a week past to see Melpomaen being inducted as a Sedryner. However, he had kept quite a distance, and watched from the safety of a tree.
He was still wary of others who passed them in the halls of the house with their prayer books in hand or who engaged him in conversation at dinner. His conversations with those of other faiths had not done as much to move him as the long talk with Erestor had. Elrond seemly fairly bored with his own beliefs, or at least the ones he claimed to have, once he got into things. Some of those he talked to were not even entirely certain what beliefs they were supposed to have, only that they had been taught enough to get by. There was one thing that was obvious no matter what – no one was as passionate about their religion, except for Erestor and those who followed the same path.
It made Glorfindel feel somewhat unworthy of the faith. He had doubts that he could become as serious about it as the others. On the other hand, he did not have a desire to be part of any of the other groups as he found himself having with the Sedrynerins.
Once every few months, the Sedryners in the house would congregate by the river. Glorfindel had been vaguely aware of this, but it would be the first time he would purposely seek them out. They were easy enough to find, he discovered, milling around the bank and greeting one another happily. As soon as he caught Erestor’s eye, he was waved over and with slight trepidation, Glorfindel approached.
“How are you today, Glorfindel?” Erestor held out his hands and took the younger elf’s into his, holding them tight for a moment. “I do hope you are well.”
“Ahhm... thank you, yes, I am. How are you?” Glorfindel hoped no one else could hear the fear in his voice or see it in his eyes. He began to catch snippets of conversation from others nearby that mentioned his name and looked down to the grass when he saw someone practically staring at him.
“Eru has blessed us with a fine day. I am well and among friends; my day has already been wonderful.” Erestor let go and put an arm around Glorfindel’s shoulder, leading him off a little ways from the main area. “Truly, are you well? I can feel your apprehension.”
“That bad?” Glorfindel tried to chuckle, but it came out uneasily. “Are you sure it is alright I am here?”
“Yes. You are nervous, and some are curious that you are here. It is a natural response from both parties involved. None of us bite, and no one will attempt to sway you in a direction you do not wish to go. You are a guest here; worry not,” Erestor said comfortingly. He paused and then asked, “How is Gildor?”
Glorfindel shrugged and looked over at the crystal blue waters that flowed silently past. “He is alright. He was doing better last night, I think. This morning I upset him. He sounded a little jealous of the fact I was coming here instead of staying with him.”
Erestor pondered this for a moment. “Do you think he wanted to join you here?”
“No.” Glorfindel was slightly surprised that there was no hopefulness in Erestor’s question, only an air of neutrality which was usually used to mask his true feelings. “He... he seems rather to not like your religion somewhat,” Glorfindel said carefully.
“We tend to get that quite a lot more than you may think,” Erestor said with a rueful smile. “Come, we are about to begin and there is a spot beneath a tree that would be perfect for listening to the readings.”
Glorfindel found himself led over the grass to a tree near the river. The trunk was so large that both he and Erestor could sit with their backs against it and still both face the spot where the leaders would be. Various elves took turns reading stories from a book that looked similar to the one that Erestor had lent to Glorfindel, and in between others would sing and encourage those present to sing as well.
Most of the time, Glorfindel silently listened and observed. Every now and then, he picked up on the words of a song and would join the others. At the end it was asked of those present how many planned to attend the next session. Without putting much thought into it, Glorfindel had raised his hand before Erestor had lifted his into the air.
As others started back for the house, Erestor turned to Glorfindel. “I am sorry that Gildor is upset with you,” he said, “but I am very happy you decided to come today.”
Smiling, Glorfindel said, “So am I.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Someone is jealous