It was raining.
“I would have to be raining,” muttered Glorfindel as he scrubbed the bottom of his left foot. “Makes all the sense in Arda for it to rain. I hope for a sunny day, but no. It rains.”
He leaned back in the tub, relishing the warm water before it cooled down. Normally, he simply took a quick shower in the public bathing house, but on this special day he had arranged for a tub to be brought to his rooms. He woke to the maids assembled in a line outside of his door with buckets of scalding water that would cool while he ate breakfast. As he ate in silence alone in his room and watched the steam rise from the metal basin that sat awkwardly beside his bed, he reminded himself not to eat overly much in case he became nervous (which he already was), and not to eat too little for he would fast for the rest of the week and the last thing he wanted was his stomach grumbling and disrupting his meditation.
He rose from the bath carefully so that the water did not spill too much, though there were towels on the floor around the tub to catch the errant droplets. He combed through his hair after patting himself off and wrapping the towel around his waist. After braiding all of the golden strands together, he went to the chair where he had set out clothing the night before. A simply pair of loose black pants and a white shirt that was slit down the front with very plain white embroidery on the edges awaited him. He had skipped the loincloth on Erestor’s suggestion that the last thing he wanted to do was wait to dry in damp undergarments.
No shoes, no weapons. No adornments of any sort. He unbraided his hair now that it was dry and shook it out, combing through the golden mane again. Before leaving the room, he knelt beside his bed. But it was not to Eru that he spoke.
“Well, Nana,” he began, “I wish I was saying this to you directly right now, but at least I am able to say it. I hope you are proud of me; I think you would be. Remember how you always told me those stories when I was little, and how you would tell me they were from a book you read as a little girl? And how there were other things you wanted to tell me that Adar would not allow? I found out what they are, Nana. Erestor has helped me – I know you probably do not know who that is, but I wish you did, Nana. He is... he is wonderful, you would like him. I like him. I like him very much,” Glorfindel admitted. “I think he likes me, but not quite the way that I like him. Love him. I love him,” he amended shyly. “Maybe, someday, I can tell him that. Anyway,” he finished, “I just wanted you to know. I love you. Maybe someday, in Valinor, you might meet him. I truly hope so.”
With a deep sigh, Glorfindel rose and took the heavy green book from his table. He blew out the candles and then left, leaving the door open and unlocked for the maids to empty the water and remove the tub. Then, he headed to the river, only smiling and nodding to those who passed by. When he reached the door to leave the house, he found Melpomaen standing at the entrance, with Tor on a leash wagging his fluffy white tail with loud thumps against the floor.
“I know you do not want anyone there, so I wanted to just say, I am so happy for you.” Melpomaen kept his voice low, in case he might embarrass Glorfindel.
“You are coming to the party at week’s end, are you not?” asked Glorfindel.
Melpomaen nodded enthusiastically. “I plan to be one of the first there and one of the last to leave!”
“Excellent!” Glorfindel clasped him on the shoulder. “Thank you, Mel. I have to say, I am a little nervous.”
“Do not worry. Master Erestor has not let anyone drown yet.” To this, they both laughed. “You will be fine. The worse part is the confession, I think.”
“Yes, I suppose,” agreed Glorfindel. “I kept worrying I would say something that would make him tell me I was not allowed in!”
“Eru loves everyone,” Melpomaen said, speaking a little louder and with confidence now. “He would forgive of anything.”
“I know. Well, I had best not keep Erestor waiting,” said Glorfindel. He bent down and scratched Tor behind the ears while his hand was licked and nuzzled. “Such a cute puppy,” he said. “Such a good boy. Oh, yes, you are a good boy. Yes, you are,” he continued as if the dog was arguing, when in fact, he had a lopsided grin on his little doggie face.
Melpomaen grinned. “Do you like dogs?”
“Very much,” said Glorfindel. “I had one when I was little that was either half-wolf or half-warg, I never knew which. One of the two mated with one of my father’s hunting hounds – oh, was he furious! When they were born, they were so wild, except for the runt. The others he let go when they were weaned from their mother – she escaped not long after. I kept the last one. He used to let me ride on him. We would tear through the forest, racing around the trees. He was a good dog.”
“Perhaps if I ever need a puppy-sitter, I might call upon you,” said Melpomaen as he stepped aside from the doorway.
“Anytime,” said Glorfindel. He returned the wave from Melpomaen as he headed out the door and down the stairs. Pausing, he smiled as he was greeted by the sun, pushing the rainclouds away. Though the grass was damp, the sky was clearing and Glorfindel continued on his way. He was halfway through the courtyard when he was stopped yet again. “Good day, little princess,” he said as Arwen bounded over to him and thrust her arms toward him. Squatting down and tucking the book under his arm, he lifted her up into his arms.
“Mmmm, you smell clean,” she said as her nanny approached from the bench they had been playing at. “Did you use soap today?”
“Arwen!” scolded the nanny as Glorfindel laughed.
“And your hair is down, too,” the little peredhel noticed, rubbing some of the strands of gold between her fingers. “Nana said you are getting reborned again today.”
“Arwen, I think you are bothering Lord Glorfindel quite enough,” apologized the nanny as she made to take the child, but Glorfindel shook his head.
Smiling at the girl, Glorfindel said, “Yes, your Nana is right. I need to meet Erestor down at the Bruinen, though, so I need to go now.”
“Alright, but does that mean that you have two birthdays then?” she asked, her big eyes giving him a questioning look. “I do not mind if you do; I will even make you two presents!”
Chuckling and handing her into the waiting arms of her caretaker, Glorfindel said, “No, little princess, I still have just the one.” Pausing as he mulled it over, he then said, “Actually, I have two already, so this makes three.”
“Three sets of presents?” Arwen’s eyes widened even more at the prospect.
“No,” he laughed, patting her head. “When you are older, if you want, I will explain it to you sometime,” he assured her. “I will see you in a few days,” he added. “There is a party at the end of the week.”
“I know!” she shouted excitedly. “I am going to wear my green dress, and Erestor already said he will dance with me!”
“Good, I will see you then.” Glorfindel waved to Arwen and her nanny, and continued on his way, hastening his steps now.
At the river, Erestor was already standing knee-deep in the flowing water. He smiled when he saw Glorfindel approach. “You are late, you know,” he shouted. “I was about to send out a search party!”
“Sorry about that,” he called back. “I had to fight my way past a scribe, a puppy, and a little girl with lots of questions.”
“A likely story,” Erestor teased. He waited for Glorfindel to find a place to set the book where it would not get wet, and then motioned for him to come into the river.
Walking out to where Erestor was, Glorfindel felt the mud and pebbles stir up beneath his feet. He paused for a moment to adjust to the temperature and current before continuing. Once he was standing before Erestor, he stopped. “Is here good?”
“Maybe a little further. You are fairly tall.” They walked until they came to where the river was hip high. “Now,” said Erestor when they stopped again, “if you want to go back to the shore right now, not a problem. I will not say anything to anyone and it will be perfectly fine if you do.”
“No. I want to do this,” Glorfindel said with absolute certainty.
Erestor nodded and smiled. “I am very happy for you,” he said. “I am also very proud of you, and not just for this. I have never told you, but you have grown so much since when you were in Gondolin. Spiritually, and intellectually even. I hope you are not offended by my saying that.”
“No, I thank you for your words,” said Glorfindel honestly. “I... hardly hear anyone telling me anything like that.”
“I should have told you years ago,” Erestor said a little sadly. “Sometimes, we just assume such things are known. So... did Melpomaen assure you I would not let you drown?”
Grinning, Glorfindel said, “I trusted you not to even before he mentioned it.”
“I am going to support you behind your back,” said Erestor. “If you want to, you can hold your own nose, or else I can. The main thing is to just relax and trust me. And of course, to trust Him.”
“I trust both of you,” said Glorfindel as Erestor slid his arm behind Glorfindel’s back. Licking his lips and taking a deep breath, Glorfindel folded his hands together. “Can I close my eyes?”
“That part is up to you. Do you want me to hold your nose?” asked Erestor. Glorfindel nodded. “Alright. Just relax now.”
Glorfindel took another breath of air and closed his eyes, holding it in his lungs. He felt Erestor’s fingers pinch his nose, and then he felt the same hand putting pressure on his jaw and chin while Erestor’s other hand came around the side and pulled down on his chest. Glorfindel relaxed his joints and muscles, and felt the water rush over him, covering finally up over his head.
His chest tightened, and he fought not to break free and rise up for air. He could hear muffled speaking above him, and concentrated on that and not the ache of his lungs. When Erestor ended his prayer, he felt himself being pulled back up. The water ran down his face as he gasped and took in air. It took a few breaths as he wiped the water from his face before he opened his eyes, pushing his soaked hair back over his shoulders.
“Congratulations, my friend,” said Erestor nearly as wet now as Glorfindel.
“Thank you. Thank you for everything,” Glorfindel said as they walked back to the shore.
“It has been my pleasure,” said Erestor. When they came to shore, Erestor took off his shirt and wrung it out into the river. Glorfindel followed suit as the dark elf slung the damp shirt around his shoulders and retrieved a towel and a comb from some spot. He used the towel to wrap around the book to keep it dry, while the comb he handed to Glorfindel. “I know of the perfect spot for meditation, unless you have another place in mind already.”
“Please, lead on,” said Glorfindel as he hung his shirt over his shoulder and began to comb his blond locks as they walked.
Halfway to their destination, Glorfindel realized where they were going, and was happy when they finally reached the ridge overlooking the valley. “I really love this place,” he said as he tossed his shirt over a tree branch to dry.
“That was the impression that I got,” said Erestor as he spread his shirt over another branch, and then removed his pants and did the same with those. “I wanted to find a spot where we would be undisturbed, and I thought you would prefer to remain outdoors if possible.”
“This is perfect.” Glorfindel wriggled out of his trousers and added them to the hospitable tree. Sitting down in the grass, he folded back the towel from the book. “And thank you again for letting me borrow this. I have enjoyed reading it.”
“You are welcome. I thought we could spend this time discussing some of the things that you have read,” suggested Erestor. “Praying a little, of course – we can just play things by ear.”
“That sounds good to me.” Glorfindel opened the book and asked, “Can I ask you something about this book?”
“Yes, of course,” said Erestor, who was sitting with his legs stretched out before him.
“Why would anyone ever want to rewrite it?”
Erestor laughed. “Well,” he began, “when the twelve books of the elders were first compiled as Laws and Customs of the Eldar, everyone liked them very much. And then, after the Noldor revolted and crossed over the sea, they needed to justify everything that they had done – greed, envy, wrath, all of it. So, little by little, they rewrote things.”
“Because I like this version much better than the one everyone uses today,” said Glorfindel. “I especially like the passages regarding marriages between those of the same gender.”
Chuckling, Erestor said, “I thought you might. There are two things I have to say about what you have just said. First, the reason that the original passage was removed was so that more couples of one male and one female would marry, thus creating more little elflings who would then grow up and either fight for the elven armies or make more little elflings, and so the cycle continues.”
“Huh. And the second thing?” asked Glorfindel.
Erestor smiled. “The second thing is, that is just one of the many, many good reasons that ‘we’ do not use the version of Laws and Customs that ‘everyone’ else uses today.”
Author's Chapter Notes:
Erestor leads; Glorfindel follows