The day after the ball, Maerdess sat in the sewing room at work on some aprons for the kitchen staff. For many yéni, she had prided herself on her lineage and courtly bearing. This had led to her being dismissed as arrogant by the other ladies, but she knew well the value of propriety and ceremony in the circles in which she moved. The question was, how could she apply the teachings of her parents and peers and keep the favour of the other people she lived with? She had no intention of falling foul of her liege lord's wife. Mulling over her conversation with Celebrían, she considered what her lady had said.

“I have a cunning plan,” said Celebrían, but Maerdess cut her short.

“I believe you do, my lady, but I think it would be for the best if you stopped interfering.”

“You have not heard it yet,” protested Celebrían.

The lady led her aside and told her, “Find a way to persuade the other ladies to slap Lord Glorfindel.”

“Why?” asked Maerdess, shocked.

“Because it would help him to find us less boring!” she declared waggishly. “In truth, he thinks too little of us because we think too much of him – in every way. He lacks respect for the ladies of Rivendell, and we must teach it to him.”

“If we respected ourselves more, and paid more heed to proper deportment, we would have less need to resort to such measures,” Maerdess argued.

Celebrían walked away.

Maerdess frowned. She disliked the idea that she would probably be the subject of the lampoons at Rivendell again. The dance with Glorfindel had evidently not changed people's perceptions of her. What could she do?

After the midday meal, Celebrían played with her sons in the family garden. They made shapes in the snow with their footprints and used twigs and other objects to decorate them. Lothwen and Losgael were with them, and they laughed and played with as much abandon as the boys. Glorfindel watched them from the balcony above, with Elrond at his side.

“Your sons are most creative, my friend,” he said, with a chuckle.

“Aye, that they are,” replied Elrond with a fatherly grin. “The years go by like leaves on a breeze. These times are so precious to me. I shall go down and join them. All work and no play makes me feel dull, like a cloudy day where little sunlight filters through, and all the lamps must be lit.”

“I will join you, if I may,” said Glorfindel, “but there is a matter I wish to discuss with you first.”

“Can it not wait?” Elrond pleaded. “The border sentries...”

“It is a personal matter.”

“Ah. Is it about Maerdess?” Elrond sighed.

It was clear to Glorfindel that his friend was weary of the matter of the intrigues among the ladies of Rivendell where his chief captain was concerned, but was willing to bear the burden of hearing another tale of woe if the telling did not take too long. That patient, slightly glazed expression the lord of Rivendell wore when discussing such matters reassured Glorfindel as much as it annoyed him. He was glad to know that Elrond would keep the matter private, but was frustrated that his lord often seemed to find the unburdening of his chief captain's soul tedious. Perhaps he was reading too much into it. Elrond was eager to play with his sons while they were still young, after all. There just never seemed to be an appropriate time to speak of matters of the heart. Still, his pent-up feelings needed release and Elrond was there.

“Elrond, you know she slapped me in front of everyone?”

“Yes,” said Elrond patiently.

“Did you also know we apologised to each other?” Glorfindel asked, embarrassment moving his eyes to the happy group in the garden. He disliked Elrond's patient expression more than ever just then.

“I did. Are you completely reconciled or have you decided not to continue with her?” asked Elrond. He put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Glorfindel forgave Elrond, and turned to him. That gesture meant a lot to him. He needed to know that someone cared about how he felt about what had happened without blaming him. Elrond never played games with him. Apart from snowball fights. That was permitted. “I have decided to put away my feelings for her, but it is easier said than done. It is frustrating that when I finally decided to entrust my heart to a lady, I offended her. It seems I always offend the ladies, and the only ones who are interested in me are the ones I do my best to avoid, for they only desire me for my name and reputation,” he complained.

“Celebrían tells me you find the conversation of even those ladies whose company you profess to enjoy to be of no interest to you, and you speak only of yourself and your own interests. This they consider to be arrogant, Glorfindel,” said Elrond.

“That is because I only speak of those things I believe will interest them, Elrond,” he argued defensively. “Namely, myself and my exploits. They ask me to tell them about myself.”

“Ai, Glorfindel, it was ever thus between myself and my beloved wife,” declared Elrond. “Eventually Erestor put me out of my misery by explaining what it meant to tell her about myself. She did not wish to hear stories in which I was the hero. She wanted to know about my hopes and fears – those things I like and dislike, what makes me happy or sad. It took me a very long time to talk about my feelings with her, but when I finally did, she ceased thinking of me as a mouldering relic of another age and saw me as someone she could spend the long years of her life with.”

Something clicked into place in Glorfindel's mind, like a rock that would start a landslide. A shift in his mind in which the way he thought of things was irrevocably altered, and his perceptions of the world were changed forever. “It is a terrifying thing to consider sharing such intimate matters with anyone, particularly a lady,” he said, wary as a cat before a slavering hound. “I find it much less daunting to speak of matters that do not leave me feeling... naked... and open to scrutiny.”

“If you do not find the courage you need to open your heart to anyone, Glorfindel,” warned Elrond, “you will find yourself getting into embarrassing situations over and over again. In the end, you will be utterly alone. I understand the fears that keep you from letting anyone into your heart, but believe me, it is well worth doing. Once I understood the importance of letting Celebrían know how I felt about things from day to day, I did so as much as I could. It was a long time before I was able to do it well, but that, more than anything else, caused her to love me. If I had not taken the risk that she might laugh at me or think I was weak, I would not be the happy husband and father I am today. You are denying yourself so much, my friend!”

“I know you are right, my friend,” Glorfindel told him, his voice muted, “but honestly, I would rather fight ten Balrogs than open my heart thus. I cannot bear the thought of being so vulnerable.”

“One day you will find a lady you trust,” replied Elrond. “Will you come and play with us?”

“I will,” said Glorfindel, shrugging off the conversation. Playing with Elrond's family was his greatest pleasure, and he took the steps two at a time as he made his way towards them.

With a merry laugh, Losgael dodged a snowball thrown at her by Glorfindel, and scooped up snow to return the compliment. There were no sides in this battle, people just threw snow at each other, running gleefully around, dodging and returning fire. Seeing him enjoying himself as part of the family, her heart leapt inside her. If only he was her husband, and the two young boys were her own! In her mind's eye, she had a cozy home and a family of her own, and lived in bliss.

Glorfindel tumbled to the ground with two small wargs on top of him, growling dangerously. They looked remarkably like Elladan and Elrohir, but the chief captain of Rivendell seemed convinced that they were monsters and he must needs call for help.

Losgael lifted Elladan off of him and declared, “I will save you, my lord!”

“And I will dispatch this one,” he replied, and rolled over. “I thank you, my lady, I am deep in your debt!”

When they chased the boys away with a flurry of snowballs, Glorfindel and Losgael ran the gauntlet of the other three adults, who pelted them with snow. The boys ran to their parents, fought side by side for a moment, then resumed their previous form of casting missiles at everyone within range.

The pleasure of working together with Glorfindel brought happy memories to mind, and Losgael laughed. Joy sparkled in her eyes. Romantic notions flooded her heart, and she could not help herself as she said aloud, “I wish this was all mine.”

“It can be, if you wish.”

Did she dare to even dream that Glorfindel said that, or was it wishful thinking on her part? Turning to him, Losgael took a deep breath. This would either send him away or draw him nearer to her, but she was terrified of letting him know how she felt. The tension of not knowing either way was unbearable, though, and that made her choose to take the risk of asking Glorfindel to repeat what she thought he had heard him say, and what he had meant by it.

TBC...