Glorfindel sang as he bathed little Faelion. The elfling laughed and
splashed, and as unusual, it seemed that there was more water on the floor
and on Glorfindel than on the elfling – not that his Ada Glor cared about
that. He loved bathing Faelion, and after the elfling had discovered the
mud in their garden, he certainly had needed a bath. Their little one was
just over one year old, and was already running and talking like mad.
Neither Glorfindel nor Erestor could live with the idea of having their
three elflings cared for by others every day while they worked, so they
devised a plan where they each worked three days out of seven while the
other cared for the elflings; each seventh day the family spent together.
Today it was Glorfindel’s day to care for their children while Erestor
attended a meeting with the ambassador from Mirkwood. Gailion and Amdiriel
were still with Melpomaen learning their reading and writing, but would be
back for their midday meal.
“There’s my clean little elfling again,” Glorfindel declared, lifting
their youngest from the now dingy water. Faelion squealed with laughter as
his ada tossed him up in the air and caught him again. He wrapped the
elfling in a thick towel, then carried him into the bedroom and set him in
front of the fire. “Wait here for me, little one, while Ada cleans up the
bath, then we’ll get dressed and get ready for lunch with your brother and
sister, all right?”
“All right, Ada Glor,” the elfling answered, reaching for the
long-suffering Tinnu, who was napping with his mate Glirien in front of
the fire. He dragged the large black cat close, and his little hands began
to stroke the soft fur – backwards. Glirien opened an eye at the loss of
the warm body beside her, but seeing the elfling, she simply went back to
sleep.
“Watch Faelion for me, Tinnu,” Glorfindel said, grinning at the elfling
and the cat before returning to the bathroom to clean up their mess.
Singing once again, he grabbed some towels to sop up the water covering
the floor.
After petting the cat for a few minutes, Faelion decided he wanted to see
his Ada Restor. He loved his Ada Glor, but his other Ada was special. Very
special. “Ada Glor, going to see Ada now,” he called. Pushing Tinnu aside,
he said, “Stay, Tinnu,” and scurried to the outer door. If he stood on
tiptoe, he could just reach the latch, and it only took a moment before he
was running through the halls, laughing and skipping his way to his Ada’s
office, a black cat running behind him.
Glorfindel closed the water taps he had been running to rinse the bathtub,
still singing merrily, and not hearing a thing out of the ordinary.
Glirien opened her eyes at Tinnu’s frenzied meow and watched her mate
streak out of the door after the elfling. Lifting her heavily pregnant
body off of the floor, she waddled into the bathroom and meowed, touching
Glorfindel’s hand with her white-mitten paw to get his attention.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Glorfindel said softly, stroking the soft gray and
white animal. “Did we wake you up?”
Glirien meowed loud and long, and waddled back to the bedroom, turning
back to see if Glorfindel was following.
Lifting an eyebrow, Glorfindel tossed the towels he was using into the
basket for laundry and followed the cat into the empty bedroom. “Faelion,”
he called, “where are you little one?” And then he saw the open door.
Heedless of his still wet clothing, he rushed out into the hall just in
time to see a black tail disappear around a far corner and a trail of
water from the elfling’s still dripping hair.
Faelion pushed the door of his Ada’s office open, and found it empty. He
was just going to call out when he heard voices talking in the next room.
Grinning and giggling, he pushed the door to the other room open, and
squealed, “Ada!” when he saw Erestor sitting at the end of a long table.
Elrond covered his mouth with his hand to hide his grin and raised his
eyebrows at Erestor.
Erestor was out of his seat in a flash and hurrying to his little one.
Tinnu ran interference and tackled the elfling to the ground just as
Faelion approached the table.
Landing on his behind, Faelion giggled and held his arms out to Erestor.
“Wanted to see you, Ada,” he grinned.
The Lorien ambassador grinned at the elfling, then calmly spoke. “Is it
the habit of your realm to allow wet little elflings to run around
unclothed, Lord Elrond? A new method drying them perhaps?”
Elrond lost his battle to hold his laughter in and laughed until his sides
ached. “Not at all, my dear prince,” he finally managed to get out. “Only
little elflings who just had a bath and manage to escape their minder.”
“What are you doing here, sweetling?” Erestor asked, picking up his
youngest son and wrapping him in the folds of his robes, just as a soggy,
out of breath Glorfindel burst into the room.
“Wanted to see you, Ada,” Faelion said, wrapping his little arms around
Erestor’s neck and planting a loud, sloppy kiss on his Ada’s cheek.
“Missed you.”
“I missed you too, sweetling,” Erestor whispered, kissing his
golden-haired elfling on the brow, “but you were supposed to stay with Ada
Glor this morning.”
“Have you met Lord Glorfindel yet, Legolas?” Elrond asked. “He captains
our forces admirably and sees to the valley’s security, but apparently has
not yet learned everything there is to know about elflings.”
~the end~
