“Are you busy?”
Erestor gave Glorfindel the oddest look ever. “Am I busy? Let me think.” Erestor looked over the piles of unread or unsigned documents littering his desk. Sitting beside him was Melpomaen, his newly named personal secretary – a job the young elf had taken quite seriously. Things which Erestor had planned to set aside for years if possible were brought to light, and no appointment was postponed or altogether missed due to a conflict. The scribe was busily transcribing a document for Erestor and did not do more than look up and give Glorfindel a smile when the blond had entered. “No, how could I be busy? That is the most bizarre idea that ever I have heard.”
“Oh, good,” Glorfindel responded, ignoring the thick layer of sarcasm that covered Erestor’s words. “Come with me.”
“What? Why?” demanded Erestor when he saw the grin emerge on Glorfindel’s face. “Fin, I have not the time for games.”
“This is no game. Your presence is requested, and I must lead you there,” smirked Glorfindel.
Erestor frowned. “Lead me where?”
“I cannot tell. Now close your eyes and come with me,” Glorfindel instructed.
“This is insane. Melpomaen, tell him I have no time for this.” Erestor pointedly unrolled a scroll and hunched himself over the document.
Clearing his throat, Melpomaen leaned over and whispered to Erestor, who narrowed his eyes at the younger ellon. “Tis true,” Melpomaen apologized. “Your calendar is clear from now until this evening, due to the race later today.”
With a sigh, Erestor stood up. “Very well, but I shall not be led blindly through the house,” he argued.
“Close your eyes, or I shall need to blindfold you,” answered Glorfindel.
Snorting rather indignantly, Erestor closed his eyes. “Fine. But if anything ill comes of this... Melpomaen, ‘tis your fault!” The young elf swallowed hard and looked at Glorfindel with pleading eyes, but Glorfindel returned his look with a smile and a shake of his head. There was no reason for Melpomaen to fret.
Glorfindel tucked Erestor’s arm into his own, and began to lead the advisor through the hallways. He wound them up and down and back around again, hoping to throw his friend off as to where they were going. The entire way, he made pleasant conversation which was answered back with witty or playfully sarcastic remarks. Finally, he came to the main doors and walked them outside and across the main lawn, until they came near to the stables.
"Open your eyes."
"Must I?"
"You will hurt the little lady's feelings if you don't."
With a muffled sigh, Erestor blinked his eyes open to the sunlight. He knew that he had been escorted outside, but did not know quite where Glorfindel had led him. To his left, the blond was smiling; to his right stood Elrond and Elrohir. Elrohir had a most wicked smirk, and it was to him that Erestor looked. "Where are your siblings?" he questioned.
"Uncle Erestor! Over here!" called out Elladan. Erestor looked out over the field before glancing back at Elrohir.
"That is my horse."
"One of them," smiled Elrohir.
Elladan walked the huge dark horse up to the waiting group of elves, with Arwen dancing alongside. "Before you say a thing," began Elladan, "this is not a prank. This was Arwen's idea."
"And the two are not connected?" Erestor muttered under his breath so that only the elf lords on either side of him heard. He stepped forward to the proud horse and looked him up and down. "Morir, you are looking quite... floral today," he said. The horse threw back his head and high stepped his way around the entire group, showing off of the blooms that were woven through his mane and tail.
"My, Erestor, what a queer horse you have," joked Glorfindel with a wink.
With a snort and so only the adults could hear, Erestor replied, "You would know." Glorfindel smirked and blew him a kiss.
"If that means pretty, Uncle Finny, then yes, he is a very queer horse," Arwen said, complimenting her own work.
"I suppose he is going to make the rest of my horses jealous now, will he not?" asked Erestor, patting his lead horse's neck once the steed stopped prancing about.
Arwen shook her head, tugging on her 'uncle's' fingers when she wasn't sure he had seen her. "No, no, he will not, not at all! I fixed all of them like this!" Erestor gave Elrond a worried look, but the tugging on his hand again made him look back to Arwen. "The carriage, too, ‘tis all decorated."
"Oh. That is... very nice of you," he said, "but I have a race this afternoon."
"I know! That is why I did it!" she said gleefully. "All the rest of the horses are always pretty and braided and yours never are. That always makes me sad, and I think it makes you sad, too."
"I do not have the time to make them pretty," Erestor said apologetically.
"But I do!" Arwen shouted with glee. "At the start of every race," she recalled, "each rider has a pretty lady who puts flower wreaths on his horses and hands him a flower and gives him a kiss. I think I can do all of that if El'n'El help lift me up sometimes. You are going to have the prettiest horses in the whole wide world." She tugged on his hand again. "Uncle Erestor, there is something else!" She motioned impatiently to Elrohir, who grinned and stepped around his father, presenting a package to Erestor. "You have to open it," she explained to him, rocking back and forth on her feet.
Erestor carefully unwrapped the package and pulled from the plain paper a beautifully embroidered jerkin like those of the other horsemasters who raced across the lands. The crest of his house was displayed on the left breast of the garment and shone in the sunlight, the three silver stars prominent above the blue waters. "Shall I ask the occasion?" he questioned softly.
Arwen cued her brothers, father, and Uncle Finny in with a wave of her hand. "Happy Begetting Day, Erestor!" shouted the group, and Erestor blushed when some of the other residents of the house looked up from their daily chores at the little group on the lawn.
"Thank you, but as I have said times before, I do not know when that is."
"That is why we decided for you!" Arwen beamed, brimming over with enthusiasm. "Nana said that any day after she finished this, we could do it. She said you liked late spring best, too. It was very hard for us to wait, Uncle Erestor!"
"Listen to you!" laughed Elladan. "It was so difficult for you to wait, not us! We have acquired patience in our old age," he teased.
"Well, so will I," she answered, still fidgeting around. "You should try it on to make sure it fits for the race today," she insisted. "I helped to draw the designs with Papa, and El'n'El dyed the cloth, and Nana sewed it."
Now smiling, Erestor looked at Glorfindel. "And what, pray tell, was your part in all this?"
"They let me pick the day," he answered. "For the most part, it was all little Lady Arwen's idea."
"My lady, I thank you," said Erestor as he lowered himself to one knee. "This may be my 'first' begetting day, but 'tis truly the best," he said, kissing her hand as she giggled.
Author's Chapter Notes:
No one ever knew when Erestor's begetting day was.. not even Erestor