Summary: Estel and Elrond share a quiet moment. This was written for the Middle Earth Express Prompt #11: Hair.

Disclaimers: I don't own the characters and I make no money from any of this.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven-year-old Estel yanked his brush through his thick, tangled hair in an attempt to bring some order to it. The bristles of the brush caught in a knot and stuck. Growling in frustration, Estel pulled the brush out of his hair and threw it across the room. It skidded through the open door and bounced off the wall in the hallway.

Elrond bent down and picked up the brush before looking around the door and peeking in at an unhappy young boy sitting dejectedly on his bed. "Is there a problem, Estel?"

Estel looked up to see his father in the doorway. "My hair is too tangled," he said quietly. "I can't get it brushed."

"Would you like some help?" Elrond offered. He had a feeling that the dejected look on Estel's face was from something more than a head of tangled hair.

Estel shrugged and stared at the floor. Taking that as permission, Elrond entered the room and sat down on the bed beside Estel, gently beginning to run the brush through his tangled hair, being careful not to pull too hard.

"Would you care to explain why you felt it necessary to throw the brush into the hallway?" Elrond asked carefully.

"I don't know," Estel mumbled. "I got mad, I guess."

"At the brush?" Elrond asked.

"No, at my hair," Estel replied. "It's always messy and tangled and I can't ever get it to look like…" Estel stopped in mid-sentence and fell quiet.

"Look like…?" Elrond prompted him, feeling like they were getting to the true heart of the matter.

"Like an elf's," Estel said quietly. "Your hair is never messy and tangled. I can't get my hair to look like yours."

"But you are human, Estel," Elrond said gently. "You are not supposed to look like an elf."

"I know that, Ada, but I'd rather be an elf, like you." Estel wouldn't look up at his father as he said this.

Elrond was silent for a moment. "Do you know who your hair reminds me of?" he asked quietly.

"Who?" Estel asked.

"Your father," Elrond answered. "He had the same dark head of curly hair that you do. As a child, he was ever struggling with it as well. You remind me of him in so many ways."

Estel twisted around on the bed to look at Elrond. "What was he like?"

"Your father was a brave, kind, strong, and honorable man," Elrond said. "This world was diminished with his death. He loved you and your mother with all his heart, and he would have loved to see himself reflected in you as I do. Do not wish to be something other than what you are, Estel. Ilúvatar made you just as you are supposed to be. He, and I, love every hair on your head. Never forget that."

"I love you too, Ada."

With that, Elrond hugged Estel tightly to him before continuing to brush out the tangles in Estel's hair as they talked quietly together.