Erestor exited the lecture hall to find an old friend waiting for him in the foyer. “A pleasant surprise as always,” he said, joining Cirdan near the center of the room. “Do not tell me that you came for the lecture.”
“I always attend them,” he said. Cirdan motioned that they should take a seat on one of the benches, and Erestor joined him. “Are you able to stay on the island for a while longer?”
“How long?”
“Maybe a few days, maybe a month.”
“I might be able to make time for that. I would need to make sure that I can get back before the water freezes,” Erestor reminded him carefully, for winter was due to come early this year.
Cirdan looked up to the glass dome that separated them from the sky. “There are no storms on the horizon. You should have safe passage back for a week or two. What I am proposing would likely only take a few days.”
Erestor fiddled with the black velvet hem of his robe sleeve. “ If you are certain… but I do need to return to a project I am working on. I am leading an effort to rebuild the Sarati School.”
“Yes, I have heard,” admitted Cirdan. “Do not worry about making it back. I can guarantee it. If it does freeze, I have ships to cut through the ice. We will get you back to the mainland, Erestor, and sooner than you think.”
Erestor shrugged. “Alright. I have a few days. If I am going to spend that time here, though, I also need a horse. I only have that small boat that I paddled out here.”
“Done. In fact, I will leave the entire carriage; I have friends who can get me back to my home. Meet me there after you have finished for the day. Nenua is looking forward to seeing you, as are the girls. We will even put you up for the nights you are here,” offered Cirdan.
“Alright, then, I accept.” Erestor stood up. “I have two more lectures here, but they are after lunch, and they are shorter than the one I gave this morning. I should arrive at your home before dark.”
Cirdan smiled and stood as well. “We look forward to having you as our guest.”
***
As promised, Erestor knew no end to the hospitality and entertainment at the house. He had a focused audience when he spent time during supper explaining what the Sarati School had been to Cirdan’s quartet of daughters, two of whom had since married and had their spouses living at Cirdan’s estate with them. During dessert, which was served in a lavish library that Erestor had yet to see, he informed everyone as to his plans for the upcoming admission process, and what changes were going to be made. He also spoke at length about the professors and others he had managed to tempt to join in on the project.
Once everyone had retired with the exception of Cirdan and himself, Erestor looked to his old friend for an explanation. “Are you up for a late night carriage ride?” Cirdan asked. Erestor picked up his glass of brandy, tipped it back, and then nodded and followed Cirdan to the door.
***
“Glorfindel?”
Previously mid-doze, Glorfindel blinked and looked up. “Yes, Fingon?”
“I was wondering if we could talk.” Fingon entered the room with slight caution. “Am I interrupting?”
“No, not at all.” Glorfindel sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What is on yor mind?”
“I was hoping you might be able to offer some advice,” explained Fingon.
“I shall do my best,” promised Glorfindel. “How can I help?”
Fingon sat down in the seat nearest to Glorfindel. He was just on the edge, the very edge, so that Glorfindel, even tired as he was, wondered how Fingon kept his balance. “I know how friendly you are, and what a great relationship you have with Erestor. I was hoping that you might be able to offer some advice on what one could do if they were.. a curmudgeon who was not sure what to do because they had experienced so many failed relationships they clearly were doing something wrong.”
Glorfindel furrowed his brow. “You want relationship advice?”
“Yes.”
“From me?”
“I think so,” said Fingon with a bit of hesitation.
“You are aware that Erestor and I have only been together a short time in the realm of things. We did live together on numerous occasions, but it took millennia before we were a couple, and longer still for us to marry.”
“Alright, but of my current choices, you seem to be the most qualified,” said Fingon. “I am certainly not going to speak to my cousin, and Salgant, honestly, he scares me a bit. Duilin scares me for other reasons. And suffice to say, I have a list of reasons I would not approach anyone else.”
“What about Beleg?” Glorfindel asked carefully.
Fingon frowned. “Are you that thick or are you being facetious?”
“Ah.” Glorfindel steepled his fingers. “So.. I take it you have not.. made any advances?” he asked, poker face on, not about to give away anything he had chatted with Beleg about.
“Of course not! He is the most proper Elf I have ever met,” said Fingon. “That is not a complaint, exactly, just an observation. He would much rather talk for hours and listen to music and sit in a tree than anything ‘Eastern’. Except he is from the East, just not.. Glorfindel, I am going to be blunt. It has been a long time since I felt quite this way about someone. Maedhros made me feel this way, but this time, it is not just when I am around Beleg or thinking about Beleg. It is all the time. He creeps into my thoughts the first thing every morning, and is the last thing I think of as I fall asleep. I dream of him. I dream of him as I never dreamed of Maedhros. I am tired of sleeping on the bed while he sleeps on the floor.”
“I thought you were trading off.”
“No, we had been, but he decided since I have that pain in my legs from time to time that—“ Fingon narrowed his eyes. “How did you know about that?”
“He told me.”
Fingon’s eyes lit up. “What else did he say about us?”
“Oh, you have it bad,” replied Glorfindel.
Fingon shrugged. “Look. I am.. old. Older than you,” he added. “I would like to have sex more than once in my life.”
“I.. you know, that is something I could have lived without knowing,” decided Glorfindel.
“It is the truth,” said Fingon unabashedly. “Lucky for me, I have great aim, or else Ereinion would never have been born.”
“Now you have confused and scarred me,” muttered Glorfindel.
“What, you thought I slept with Maedhros?” questioned Fingon. “He never wanted to make love. He wanted to rut,” said Fingon rather pointedly. “I was young, I was stupid, and I thought I was in love. And Eru forbid it if I even hinted at the idea of cuddling. We were intimate, yes, but thankfully, I had enough sense not to bond with him. I could have done without participating in his bondage fantasies – funny how that all ended up.”
Not expecting to answer questions like this, Glorfindel changed the subject to end Fingon’s verbal meanderings. “Have you considered asking Beleg what he thinks?”
“Do you think I should be that forthright?” asked Fingon.
Relieved that his distraction worked, Glorfindel suggested, “You have been more than forthright with me. I think what you should do is.. whatever you feel the right thing to—“
“No. I need real advice.” Fingon crossed his arms. “What would you do in this situation?”
Glorfindel looked to the door helplessly and wished someone would interrupt them. “Well… what is stopping you from approaching Beleg?” asked Glorfindel. “You have told me things that are rather private; how is telling Beleg your feelings more difficult?”
Fingon shrugged.
“What is holding you back?” Glorfindel was fully awake now, and he studied Fingon. There was something he was not saying – or perhaps, it was what he was saying. “Is it Maedhros?”
Fingon scrunched his nose. “What? No. It has been over between us for a long time.” He laughed, but it was not because there was humor to be found. It was that knee-jerk reaction when the alternative is to sniffle or sob. And Glorfindel knew; he knew because he had been there before.
“You need closure with Maedhros before you can move on.”
Fingon bowed his head and rubbed his face. “Maybe,” he finally conceded.
“Well.. then I suppose you need to speak to him before you will be able to speak to Beleg.”
***
“Would you mind taking the reins?” asked Cirdan when they arrived at the stable. “I can guide you to what I want you to see,” he added.
“No need to ask me twice. This must be something fantastic if it was worth keeping me on the island.” The night was crisp, but clear, and the stars seemed brighter here than they did on the mainland. Erestor found that it was hardly necessary for him to drive the carriage, and he held the reins loosely in one hand. “Will you at least give me a hint?”
Cirdan laughed and motioned ahead with his hand, though all that was before them was the path and tall trees to either side. “You will see it soon enough. Tell me more about the Sarati project. Do you think your school will be opening soon?”
“As soon as the weather prevents working outdoors, we will be concentrating more on the interiors. With as many people as we have working on it, I am hopeful that we will be able to announce the reopening in the spring, audition through the summer and open in the autumn.” Erestor leaned back to stargaze as he talked. “Finrod is more ambitious than I am. He thinks when the workers from Valimar arrive, the school will be finished before the first freeze. He wants to audition through winter and open in the spring.”
“If anyone can get that place in shape in time, it would be you. You have a good team, too. I wish I could help you out there, but I have so many duties here that prevent me from traveling very often.”
Erestor smiled. “Your moral support is appreciated.”
“Let me know if you find yourself needing any boats. I could build a little fleet for you,” offered Cirdan.
Erestor turned his attention away from the stars. “Actually, there is a river and a good sized pond. If you are so inclined, having a few canoes or sailboats would be an excellent idea!”
“Turn right here,” Cirdan directed when they reached a fork in the road. “I can arrange that. How many houses are there?”
“Twelve, but that seems like a lot of boats.”
“I think I can come up with a dozen canoes. As for sailboats, I would want to make sure they were well built. I can probably get two smaller ones for you, something that would comfortably fit six to eight people. I will need the depth of the pond so that I do not make the keel too long. Will you have time to build docks?” asked Cirdan.
“Orophin is always looking for another challenge. I am sure he can design something for us,” Erestor assured Cirdan. “I can just imagine it now – a dock for each house, and maybe a race course with buoys. They can use them to go fishing, too.”
“You are going to want to make a right when you reach those trees,” interrupted Cirdan. “In that case, consider it done. I will get to work on the canoes tomorrow, and I will only need the measurements before I can start on the sailboats. I can store them here until spring, and then we can figure out how we will get them there.”
“Where are we?” asked Erestor suddenly as the trees began to close in on them.
“You will need to go a little further – can you see the pathway?”
Erestor squinted and looked ahead. “Yes. What is this place?”
Cirdan waited until they were close enough for Erestor to make out the structure at the end of the pathway. “The Cottage of Lost Play. It has clearly seen better days.”
Erestor pulled on the reins to slow the horses. “I have heard of this place. This is fantastic!”
“I just thought you might like to see it, with your current interest in decrepit schools.”
When the carriage came to a halt, Erestor jumped down and surveyed the building, looking for a door that would lead inside. “Who owns it now?”
“No one. I checked.” Cirdan followed and showed Erestor where the nearest doorway was. “Everyone who had anything to do with it gave up claims on it. I like how isolated it is. It is the sort of place someone can really have a good think at.”
Erestor reached out to touch the handle of the door. “Can we go inside?”
Cirdan reached out to show Erestor that the door swung in and was not locked. “Sure. No one will stop us.”
The cottage had not been inhabited for centuries, but the mostly brick construction meant that it was sturdy and still standing. “We have had trouble with a rabbit infestation,” explained Cirdan as something scurried by their feet in the darkness. “The island is lacking for cats and wolves, and while there are some foxes here, the rabbits still outnumber them. The cottage is full of them.”
“All the bunnies,” murmured Erestor as they climbed up a staircase, several more rabbits leaping by. “When was it abandoned?”
“Oh, probably four hundred odd years ago. It was already overgrown at that point, but it was still used. Then, everyone just moved away and headed back to the mainland. Without anyone here to repair minor things, it became even more lost and forgotten. It was only recently that someone stumbled upon it when they were driving their flock and some goats wandered onto the property.” Cirdan led the way up another flight of stairs. “It would take a lot of work to clean it up,” he added as they found several families of bats living on the next floor.”
“I can see that.”
“That is why the island council voted to have it torn down this spring.” Cirdan had to walk back around to collect up Erestor when he froze in his tracks. “You said yourself. The place is in ruins.”
“It could be salvaged,” disputed Erestor.
“It could be, but who will see to that? No, everyone on the island has been asked. We have had committees and councils to discuss it, and we even offered that anyone who chose to take up the task to do whatever they wanted with it so long as they lived there and it was used. No one came forward in thirty years,” explained Cirdan.
“I never heard of this until now,” said Erestor. “I am certain there are others who might have seen this as an excellent opportunity.”
“No one on the mainland cares what happens here on the island,” said Cirdan.
“I do,” Erestor argued. “I would not make four or five trips a year to make sure you had a scholar for lecturing if I did not.”
“Then you are one of the few,” Cirdan said. “Those who are on the mainland are not going to relocate here. In the winters, it gets very cold, and our weather is not as ideal as the weather on the mainland. We do not have the theatres and gardens and craft halls and libraries you would want to have access to.”
Erestor ran a finger along the dust on the brick. “It kind of reminds me of Imladris,” he admitted. “No waterfalls, but there is water. It looked like there was a river that ran through the back.”
“It is a lovely estate. Too bad no one had interest in revitalizing it.” Cirdan opened the door to the roof and led Erestor up. Many of the bats followed them. Overhead, a blanket of stars twinkled down in greeting. “At least this way the land can be reused.”
“What if someone came forward and wanted to reclaim the building?” asked Erestor as he took in the view from the roof. “Would it need to be someone from the island? Or is it too late for that?”
“I think the council could be convinced to reverse their decision,” said Cirdan. “They did look for someone for over thirty years. No one actually wants to see it torn down.” Cirdan surveyed the rooftop. “We should return before Nenua sends out a search party.”
Erestor chewed on his lip. “Would you mind if I stayed a little longer? I can even walk back.”
“I can leave one of the horses for you,” offered Cirdan. “Do you think you will know the way?”
Erestor nodded slowly as he walked the edge of the roof, hand running along the bricks. “I will make it back.”
Cirdan nodded. “Good night, then.” Before he disappeared down the stairs, he added, “If anyone can get this place back in shape, it would be you.”
