Leaning back in his chair in Elrond’s office (well, not his chair, but the one he preferred), Erestor unconsciously purred in the back of his throat and let out a long, relaxed breath. “Praise Eru, I am so happy he is gone,” he said to himself, but the words did not go unheard by another.
“Happy who is gone?” Glorfindel laughed when Erestor hopped in his seat and gripped the arms of the chair. “Sorry, thought you were alone, did you? So, who are you happy not to have around?” he asked, leaning against the doorway. With a smirk, he entered the room, waiting for the answer.
“Ahhmmmmmm..Elrond,” Erestor lied, looking over his shoulder to make sure the peredhel was not about to enter the room. “Yes, Elrond. I like to be able to take a moment before I begin the meeting, just meditating to myself and...” He stopped when he noticed that Glorfindel was not buying the excuse. “Gildor,” Erestor admitted ashamedly. “He just... comes in here and takes over for the time he is here. So much work to be done, but no, let us feast, let us have a party. We have our own celebrations, thank you very much, and none of them pose the risk of Elrond being set afire.”
Chuckling to himself as he recalled the image of Elrond deciding not to jump over the flames but to race through them singing his pants, Glorfindel nodded. “Gildor is best in small doses, even I will admit that. He does have a way about him.”
“Indeed, he does,” agreed Erestor as Elrond entered the office, stopping when he saw his chief advisors sitting across the desk. Turning around, Erestor regarded Elrond with the same puzzled look he was being given. “This is meeting day, is it not?”
“Well... yes, it would be, except I was certain that I told you I would be busy,” said Elrond, walking slowly around his desk. “I told the twins I would go with them for a few weeks holiday at the river; just fishing and camping and the like. I suppose you never got the memo.”
“What memo?” questioned Erestor, looking now through his papers.
Elrond shuffled through the items on his desk as well. “The one I wrote up for our last meeting.”
“M’lord, the last time we held a complete meeting was in-“ Erestor leaned forward, taking the unsent memo from Elrond as it was guiltily passed to him, “-in the Springtime. It is now nearly midsummer.”
“I thought I mentioned it,” apologized Elrond, but Erestor waved it off. “You do not mind taking my responsibilities while I am gone?”
Erestor made a notation in his planner as he asked, “You want me to fulfill all of your regular duties while you are away, correct?”
“Yes-no,” Elrond said, quickly changing his mind as Erestor began to grin. “My duties to the house, not to my wife, you sneaky bastard, I know what you meant.”
A few feet away, Glorfindel gave them both an odd look at the pair laughed at some sort of inside joke they no doubt shared.
“Oh, well, not that it would matter, we know I am boring and celibate and have a much earlier bedtime,” continued Erestor as he made a few more notes. “Anything I should know for the next few weeks?”
“Nothing I can think of. If there is something, I will let you know. We will only be at the Bruinen,” Elrond said as he and Erestor stood up. Glorfindel followed suit. “When I return, we shall hold our meetings again. It has been an odd summer, but I do not think anything was in dire need of discussion.”
“Correct as usual,” remarked Erestor. “Have a wonderful vacation.”
Glorfindel added his sentiments before leaving the room with Erestor, whose mood swung from faux friendly to genuinely perturbed in record time. “You would think he would remember these things! I swear, if he goes senile, we are going to have to have him locked off in some room somewhere and then you will have to assume responsibility here.”
“Wait, what?” questioned Glorfindel as he followed Erestor back to their office.
“Right, he has heirs,” Erestor suddenly recalled. “With our luck, they will end up senile, too.”
“Stop, stop, Erestor, wait a moment.” Glorfindel held his question until Erestor turned to look at him as then asked, “What is senile?”
“Senile... an affliction the races of men and hobbits sometimes contract; and I swear sometimes that all of the ents have it, too. They forget things constantly and become cranky and ornery.” Erestor dropped his pile of notes onto his desk with a thud and a growl. “Dammit, where did my planner go?” he insisted, flipping through the items on the pile.
Very cautiously, Glorfindel set down the book he had grabbed from Elrond’s desk where it had been forgotten by Erestor. The counselor gave it a withering look. “Do elves ever go senile?” Glorfindel dared ask just before he was hit with the missing planner. All the same, he still managed to laugh while rubbing his sore arm.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Elrond forgets