Galadriel turned and walked the length of the room again, wringing her hands all the way. “You will find in the storerooms a goodly amount of lembas, sealed well. It should keep for many years if by some chance the fields should fail or the trees should fall.” Pivoting, the lady now retraced her path. “All of the extra rooms have been checked. Anything that is mine is packed, anything which is your father’s he has, and anything that is yours you will find in a small pile in the room upstairs.” She waved her hand from her sons toward the ceiling. Three fair-haired elves nodded in understanding. Galadriel took a deep breath and resumed her pacing.
Orophin rolled his eyes behind closed lids. By the time she finished, they would be ready to depart for the West. Opening his eyes, Orophin noted that Galadriel had stopped her pacing and was now in front of them, but facing the wall that he and his brothers were. Her back to her sons and husband, Galadriel continued to express her concerns for their well-being. Orophin nudged Haldir at his left with his elbow. Haldir shifted his gaze, and as Galadriel continued, Orophin opened and closed his mouth, adding exaggerated facial expressions as he did so. Suddenly Galadriel turned, and Orophin and Haldir resumed a deeply focused appearance.
“If you need more horses, I discourage going to Rohan. The world shall greatly change, more so than it has already. Go to Imladris, Glorfindel assures me there will be horses available if you should have need of them.” Once again with her back to the group, it was Rumil who poked Haldir. He glanced to his left, and Rumil used his hand to form a crude mouth, opening and closing his fingers against his thumb as Galadriel continued, sticking his own tongue out at the hand puppet. Orophin snorted unexpectedly, and the three dropped back into attention as their mother looked upon them once more.
“This will be a difficult transition. For all of us.” Her eyes wandered to Celeborn, but she dared not meet his gaze, voice wavering slightly, and again she turned away. She collected herself for a few moments, breathing deeply. The three brothers knew exactly what would come next, and the two younger looked expectantly to Haldir. The eldest looked slyly at Celeborn, knowing he had watched the previous impersonations. Against his better judgment, Haldir mimicked the speech that followed, silently, as his brothers and father watched. He used his arms to overemphasize the motions Galadriel made as she spoke, perfectly in synch. Though the brothers had to silently contain their mirth, Celeborn appeared to look away, seemingly unamused.
“I do not want any of you to think you have to follow me. I will not lie to you; I hope to see each of you in Valinor. But you must do what will make you happy.” Galadriel turned, smiling, and Haldir’s arms were crossed in front of him a split second before. “I will not depart for another few days. Please, if there is anything, do not fear to ask,” she sighed, dropping her hands to her sides, her bottom lip trembling now. “I love you all so much. I am going to miss you greatly.” Her voice cracked, the tears fell. Her sons rushed forward, embracing her in a clumsy, messy group.
“We will be fine. How can we not be, you have left enough lembas for the next three ages,” Rumil comforted with a half smile, closest to his mother.
“If only you would have taught me to make lembas all those years ago, you needn’t have bothered with stocking so much of it.” Haldir hugged Galadriel tighter, leaning his cheek on her shoulder affectionately.
“We will look out for one another. We have to, I would hate to have to tell you I wasn’t watching and stepped on my older yet much shorter brother.” Normally, Orophin’s remark would have resulted in a swat or a kick, but Orophin’s long arms were wrapped around the majority of the group, and Haldir let the comment pass.
Celeborn was content to stand back and observe, locking this memory in his mind forever. A part of him worried he might never see these four elves he cared for so dearly together once again. He blinked back his own tears as Galadriel disengaged herself from her sons, tucking back a few stray strands of Rumil’s hair behind his ear, tugging on Orophin’s tunic to straighten it. The back of her hand wiped the wetness from Haldir’s cheek and chin, and the eldest sniffled, unashamed. Bowing her head, as if no more could be said at the moment, Galadriel glided to the door and disappeared from their sight.
The moment she was out of range, Celeborn let out a suppressed chortle of laughter, shaking his head with arms tucked into the heavy sleeves of his robe.
“Oh, of course. You hold it in while she’s here. Coward.” Orophin’s tone was playful. Celeborn smirked, as if he knew the punch line of a different joke. “What? Ada, what is it?” Celeborn shook his head, regaining his composure quickly. Galadriel suddenly reappeared at the doorway.
“Your pardon, I only wished to inform you I saw everything you did behind me.” Her eyes, though reddened, had a gleeful look about them, but her tight smile showed she was far too proud to dissolve into a fit of giggles over the incident. As quickly as she had appeared, she was once again gone.
“Oh, we are in such trouble.” Rumil shifted his gaze to Celeborn. “Look at Ada laughing now.”
Orophin chuckled in spite of himself. “So that is your secret, you knew that she knew.” Celeborn slyly nodded affirmative, not bothering to wipe the smirk from his face.
“But…how?” wondered Haldir aloud, his voice a mixture of embarrassment and disbelief. Celeborn nodded to the east, to the wall that had been to the left of all of them. Across the side of the talan, mirror panels caught and reflected the sunlight that graced the room. “Well that is just lovely,” Haldir said sarcastically.
“At the least,” Orophin finally spoke, “it was just this one time. She has not seen all the rest of the things we have done behind her back all these years.”
Celeborn snorted. “Believe me when I tell you she has a mirror for that, too.”
Orophin groaned with realization. “She isn’t taking it with her, is she? I do not look forward to her spying on us. She will have nothing much to do in Valinor and the time would be there.”
“In Valinor,” Celeborn informed them, “I do not think she would need the mirror to know of what happens here.”
“We are in such trouble,” Rumil repeated, eyes still glued to the mirrors on the wall.
