It took Glorfindel more than two days upon entering Lothlorien to rid himself of Elrond’s chief advisor, who had been quizzing him on all aspects of the First Age the entire journey and even after they had arrived. At first, Glorfindel was pleased that someone had shown interest in his glorious appearance (the lady had practically ignored him the entire time). After the first night he realized that this was not hero worship, but interrogation. Lord Erestor might have claimed he was only the chief advisor, but he sounded more like the grand inquisitor with every new question.
When Glorfindel found a hidden path that led to a secret garden, he decided that his wait was worth it. Staying concealed, he watched as Galadriel glided between the trees, humming as she tended to them. ‘Look who is all grown up,’ he thought to himself. The silly little girl he recalled from his childhood, the uncertain young maid who made the same trek over the churning ice that he had, was in the full bloom of her beauty. Her long silver-gold hair fell well past her knees and swayed gently with every movement. A gown of thin fabric in ivory tones draped over her form, curving in all the right places. Vaguely, Glorfindel remembered not getting along with Galadriel for some reason, but he could hardly recall why, nor did he want to at the moment.
Glorfindel smiled with predatory delight as he saw her look his way and beckon him forward. He had thought he had remained hidden, but this was Galadriel he reminded himself as he smoothed out his tunic and prepared to join her. Before he could, he felt the slightest breeze. He looked up to see that there had been another, only a few feet from him, in another path that led to the garden.
“What are you doing here so late, love?” The silver-haired ellon who had only appeared moments before was now standing behind Galadriel. He had lazily wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck, peering over her shoulder with mild interest.
“I had the strangest feeling that I needed to come down here and look into the mirror,” explained Galadriel as she leaned back against him. “I felt a disturbance. Something is amiss.”
Glorfindel frowned to himself. Now he was starting to remember. Never content to deal with just her own life, she was always butting into everyone else’s. Luckily, she could only guess and use her intuition. It was not as if she had some magic mirror she could look into in order to find out—
“We should just look into the mirror, darling. It should have the answer for you,” suggested the gangly silver-haired elf.
“There goes the neighborhood,” mumbled Glorfindel to himself after he had managed to quickly sneak out of the garden. As he nonchalantly walked away, he felt he was being watched, and turned only briefly to catch the gaze of the chief advisor upon him.
