Seeing With The Heart

Title: Seeing With the Heart (3/7)
Author: Aglarien
Type: FPS
Pairing: Glorfindel/Erestor
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Not mine. The great Master Tolkien's estate owns everything else. I promise to return his elves when I'm done playing with them.
Warnings: AU.
Beta: phyncke
Author’s notes: Written for the Glorestor competition, and dedicated to the real Elladan and Elrohir and their beautiful family who all just seemed to creep into this story.
Summary: An encounter on the Great East Road changes the lives of Erestor and Glorfindel.


We may remark in passing that to be blind and beloved may, in this world where nothing is perfect, be among the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness.... The supreme happiness in life is the assurance of being loved; of being loved for oneself, even in spite of oneself; and this assurance the blind man possesses…… Possessing love he is not deprived of light. A love, moreover, that is wholly pure. There can be no blindness where there is this certainty.
Victor Hugo (1802–1885), Les Misérables (1862).


Chapter 3

Robert and Tom left the others to open their shop and oversee the workers. For the rest, the morning was spent with Erestor working on honing his skills in walking, determining objects, and listening for movement. Elladan, Elrohir, Robert’s two youngest sons, and Glorfindel would move around the room silently as Erestor listened and walked to wherever they stood. The first several times he ran into a wall, but the counselor found that his hearing was gradually becoming more acute since he had to rely on it more.

Erestor did not, however, have the nerve to try the stairs again. He knew now that he could do it if necessary, but it was not something he relished a repeat of. The thought of having Glorfindel carry him down the stairs when they left the tanner’s had crossed his mind more than once; the tanner’s staircase was steep and narrow and he had a fear of falling off into nothingness. Thankfully, most of the stairways in Imladris were built with banisters and had broader steps. Although his rooms, his office, and the other areas he spent most of his time in were all on the ground floor, if he had to use the stairs, he would feel more secure once he was home.

They worked steadily with Erestor, moving throughout the house for a good three hours, until Mistress Alice called for them to stop for a light repast of tea and rich biscuits with butter and preserves. Once they had eaten, Erestor was ordered to rest by Elladan for the couple of hours that remained before the mid-day meal.

Erestor, now feeling comfortable around the tanner’s home and sure that Glorfindel would follow, walked confidently to the guest room, his stick tap-tap-tapping to the bed. He sat on the bed, removed his boots, and curled up for a well-deserved nap, happy with his progress. He felt the bed dip and strong arms once again held him close. Rolling over to face Glorfindel, he smiled, asking quietly, “Have you been ordered to rest too?”

Glorfindel chuckled softly. “Where you go, I go. I told you I would not leave you in the dark alone, Erestor. Not until you tell me you do not need me with you. I have been thinking about when we get home. Elrond will understand, and I will assign most of my duties to my second until your head is fully healed and you are ready to go about on your own.”

Erestor was amazed that Glorfindel planned on staying with him even once they were home, and the love in his heart for the golden warrior grew even stronger. He raised a hand and gently traced his fingers over Glorfindel’s face, finally settling them on the captain’s sweet lips. He leaned over to kiss Glorfindel softly. “I love you, Glorfindel. So very much,” he whispered. “Thank you. Thank you for loving me – for staying with me.”

“I love you, Erestor,” Glorfindel said. “And you do not have to thank me. Staying with you is no hardship for me. I would be miserable if I were not at your side.” He tucked Erestor’s head under his chin and bestowed a soft kiss on it. “I thought we would use your rooms. They are larger than mine, and more importantly, you know your own rooms best.”

“You are moving in with me?”

“Yes, of course I am.” Glorfindel paused, wondering if he was moving too fast, but he could hardly stay with Erestor if they didn’t share rooms. “That is all right, isn’t it?”

Erestor raised his head. Smiling, he drew Glorfindel’s head down for another kiss. When their lips parted, he whispered, “It is more than all right.”

Glorfindel caressed Erestor’s face with his hand and kissed his brow, wishing for more of the sweetest kisses he had ever known. But Erestor needed to rest, and as much as Glorfindel wanted to kiss him senseless, now was not the time. “How are your head and stomach feeling? Better?” He was well aware that the twins had given Erestor more herbal concoctions for the pain at breakfast and tea.

“My head is much better than yesterday,” Erestor replied. “The herbs Elladan and Elrohir have given me are helping, and I only have the nausea every once in a while now, but it passes quickly. I seem to be tiring more easily though. The injury seems to have sapped my strength and sometimes I feel weak.”

“Then rest for now, my heart, and heal. Sleep. I will be right here when you wake.” He lay awake while Erestor slept, watching over him protectively.

After Erestor and Glorfindel left, Elladan spoke to Alice. “Have you any chores to keep us busy, Mistress?” he asked. “My brother and I can hardly sit around doing nothing. We are both handy at many things, from cooking and carpentry to working a forge, and I am sure we have kept you from your regular tasks.”

Mistress Tanner thought for a moment. She wasn’t thrilled about giving her honored guests a job to do, but she understood they couldn’t just sit around twiddling their thumbs either. Robert had plenty of help with the tannery and the animals. The family’s prosperity allowed them to offer employment to many in the town. Her mind rapidly ran through the tasks at hand. There were those she usually hired help for, like the laundry; those she thought were altogether too dirty for these lovely Elves to sully themselves with, like cleaning the hearths; and those that were just plain women’s work, like making soap and putting up vegetables. The truth was, she often hired help for all of those tasks; the only things she usually kept exclusively for herself was the cooking for her family, which she loved. But then the Elves were just looking for things to keep them busy, so it didn’t really matter if they wanted to do some of the chores.

“Well now, let me see,” she finally said. “There’s plenty of hired help in the barn for the animals and in the tannery. How about if I just name off some regular chores like and you tell me if you fancy any of them? There’s water that has to be brought up in buckets from the well and the small barrels in the kitchen cleaned and fresh filled every day – my young Will usually does that and it better be where he’s gone off to. There’s always firewood that has to be chopped and brought in the house and stacked by the fireplaces, which John should be starting on. The fireplaces in all of the rooms need to be tended to as well. I made soap yesterday that’s out back and has to be cut up into pieces. Then there’s the regular housework I usually do every day – dusting and sweeping and scrubbing the floors that need it. I’ve been baking this morning, and the vegetables still need to be cleaned and cut up for lunch and supper. I’ll make us some peach pies for supper if you want to peel and cut up peaches.” She stopped for a breath. “My, I have run on, haven’t I?”

The twins laughed and rolled up their shirtsleeves. “I will take the cleaning today,” Elladan said. “You help in the kitchen, ‘Rohir. Tomorrow we switch places.”

“You have a bargain, brother,” Elrohir replied. “When Erestor wakes up, Glorfindel will make short work of the firewood.” He bowed to Alice. “Show me to your vegetables, Mistress Tanner.”

The Elves worked quickly, and Alice wished all of her help were as efficient. When Erestor and Glorfindel woke and joined them again, they stopped for a lunch of fresh bread and a thick beef soup. Robert and Tom closed the shop and came to have the midday meal with them too.

After lunch, and checking on their well cared for horses, Glorfindel did indeed make short work of many days’ worth of firewood, while Erestor sat in the kitchen with Elrohir and Alice, shelling a great bowl of peas and chatting with them about nothing and everything as they worked. The baking bread and pies, simmering soup, and roasting beef filled the air with tantalizing aromas. The two youngest Tanners ran in and out of the house as they did their chores, and when they stopped for afternoon tea, John carried a fresh brewed pot of tea and a plate of biscuits hot from the oven down to the shop for his father and brother.

Erestor grew fatigued again and felt a little queasy after his tea and biscuits, so Elladan fixed him more herb tea to calm his stomach and sent him to bed to rest, accompanied by Glorfindel.

Once the elder Elves had left the dining room, Elrohir said, “I worry about him traveling, ‘Adan. He is doing a good job of hiding his discomfort, but he is far from well. I suspect the head injury will be giving him headaches and nausea for some time.”

Elladan nodded. “I have been thinking the same. We will not be able to travel swiftly and will have to break our journey at least three times a day and allow him to rest for an hour or two each time. It will take us near a month to get home, even taking the road – too long of a journey for him.”

Alice paused in her clearing of the dining table. “Would it help if you had a wagon for Master Erestor? We’ve a small wagon, just long enough for him to lie down in, that my Bob isn’t using since he got the bigger one. Two of your horses could pull it easily. He could lie down or sit up front with the driver as he pleases then, and he’d have a good bed to sleep in at night. Would make it easier to for you to carry the meat and fruit I’ve been drying too, and you could take one of our tents to cover it with in case of rain. Bob can take an extra man with him the next time he goes to Rivendell and collect it.”

“Mistress Alice, you are a wonder,” Elrohir said, smiling. He kissed her cheek, which was closely followed by Elladan kissing the other.

Alice tittered and blushed. “Oh, get on with you both,” she said, shooing them away.

~~~*~~~

When Erestor woke and he and Glorfindel left the guest bedroom, Alice directed the twins and Glorfindel to the bathhouse behind the main building. Robert had built this structure after seeing the public baths in Rivendell. It was a brick building complete with its own hearth at one end for heating water and warming the room, while at the other end a natural stream ran below for a convenient water source. Inside were three large wooden bathtubs and shelves for towels and soap. Hanging curtains surrounded each tub and could be pulled around it for privacy. The floor was made of hand-crafted cobbled stone, and slanted inward toward the center of the room. When a large cork plug was removed from the tubs to empty them, the water ran down to a drain in the center of the floor to flow back into the earth. Many in the town thought Robert must have been touched in the head to build it – after all, who could possibly need to take a bath so often that they required a bathhouse? But the family loved it and it was typically used daily by one or all of them.

Erestor sat and chatted with Alice while the others bathed. Once Glorfindel returned, the captain again assisted Erestor with his bath in the bedroom while Robert and his family cleaned up from their workday.

As the Elves joined the others in the dining room for supper, Robert announced, “I have something new to show you tonight, Master Erestor.”

Erestor looked towards Robert’s voice expectantly. “You have already been so kind and helpful to me, Robert. What have you to teach me tonight?”

“I think I can guess,” Glorfindel said, watching the food being brought in and placed on the table by Alice and Elrohir. Eating the eggs for breakfast this morning had been challenging for Erestor, but dinner included things like peas that would be even harder for a blind Elf to eat easily. “Would it be how Erestor is going to manage to eat this delectable looking meal?”

“It would,” Robert replied with a knowing smile. “But first something easy – a bowl of simple soup.” The master of the house ladled the steaming broth into bowls. “It is just a plain broth, barely thickened with a little potato, Master Erestor, so you can pick up your bowl and drink from it if it’s easier for you.”

Erestor had a few spoonfuls of the soup, and when it had cooled somewhat, did as Robert suggested, drinking from the bowl, careful not to spill any around his mouth. The soup was warm and satisfying, and tasted delicious. He considered asking if there was more since his stomach was feeling better, but he could smell the savory aromas and didn’t want to spoil his appetite for the rest of the meal.

When the soup bowls were cleared away, Robert began to carve the large roast beef. Bowls of peas and potatoes and a plate of fresh sliced bread were passed around the table. “It’s nearly impossible to eat meat and things like little peas and cut up potatoes with a fork when you can’t see what you’re stabbing at,” the tanner began. “It’s better for someone to feed you than try to do that. My ma didn’t like for one of us to bother feeding her, so she came up with another. Lord Glorfindel, you take some pieces of this beef and put it between two slices of bread for Master Erestor. He can hold it in his hand to eat it and won’t have to be guessin’ where all the little cut up pieces are on his plate. You just need to watch in case any of the meat falls out of the bread.”

“What a clever idea,” Glorfindel said, placing two large slices of the beef in between the pieces of bread. “Could he not could have had his egg in bread this morning too?” he asked.

“He could,” Robert replied with an easy smile, “but I wanted him to try and eat with it a fork. He did well, even though it’s hard to do.”

Alice took a small clean bowl and put peas and pieces of potato in it. “You put the vegetables in a bowl so they don’t go sliding around a plate,” she said, carefully placing the bowl in front of Erestor. “You can eat the vegetables with a fork or a spoon, Master Erestor, whichever you prefer. Try them both and see what you like the best.”

Erestor took a bite of the meat and bread and couldn’t help smiling as he chewed. It was delectable: the meat was tender and the fresh bread only added to its flavor. “Your mother was a very wise woman, Robert,” he said before he took another bite. He found he preferred to eat out of the bowl with a spoon, and he ate his peach pie dessert the same way. By the time the meal was finished, Erestor was sated and beginning to grow tired, undoubtedly helped along by two mugs of good, strong ale. He hadn’t eaten so much since he and Glorfindel had left the Grey Havens, but the food was every bit as good as that served up by the kitchens in Imladris and he had thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

After Alice and her sons quickly cleaned up, everyone settled in the parlor for an evening of singing and storytelling. Erestor lay comfortably on the sofa, his head on soft pillows, simply listening to the songs and the stories told by the twins of their travels, drowsy and content. Glorfindel sat beside him on the floor. The fire’s warmth spread throughout the room, and the crackling of the wood as it burned combined with the creaking of Alice’s rocking chair to lull Erestor to sleep. He caught himself beginning to doze and snapped awake once or twice before finally losing the battle.

Glorfindel heard Erestor’s breathing even out and knew the tired Elf had finally succumbed to slumber. So attuned was he to Erestor’s movements that he knew the counselor had been fighting to stay awake. Rising to his knees, he softly brushed dark hair out of Erestor’s face. With a gentle smile, he whispered, “I should take him to bed. His body is demanding rest and sleep so he can heal from his injury.” He carefully stood and then lifted Erestor up in his arms to carry him to the guest room.

Elladan and Elrohir bid the Tanners goodnight, heading off to the room they shared. Once the door was closed, Elrohir said softly, “They are so in love. Do you think they have told each other yet?”

Elladan nodded. “Yes, I think they finally admitted it to each other. They’ve always been close friends but they seem closer now – even more comfortable with each other. You saw the way Glorfindel has been looking at Erestor and how protective he’s been. If Erestor’s injury finally made them come to their senses about how they feel, then that’s a very good thing to have come out of it.”

“When Erestor was going down the stairs, it was Glorfindel he asked to help him – not one of us. He trusts Glorfindel implicitly. Father will be pleased,” Elrohir said, yawning. “He’d all but given up in despair that they would ever come to their senses.” He quickly shed his clothes and crawled into the bed. “Don’t forget – you work in the kitchen tomorrow. I hope you cleaned really well today so I don’t have much to do.”

Elladan chuckled and joined his brother in bed. “Good night, little brother.”

“’Night, ‘Adan.”

~~~*~~~

Glorfindel carefully undressed Erestor and managed to get the nightgown on him without the injured Elf waking. That in itself was remarkable, but Erestor’s injury was making him sleep often and deeply. It did not occur to him that it was also because Erestor truly trusted Glorfindel to keep him safe.

He quickly shed his clothing and donned his own nightgown before sliding into bed beside Erestor, pulling him into his arms. Moonlight shone though the windows and illumined the sleeping Elf, adding silver highlights to the dark hair spread over the pillows. More than anything else at that moment, he wished he could taste Erestor’s sweet mouth with his own. Settling simply for a light, chaste kiss on Erestor’s lips, he held the Elf he loved close, listening to his steady breathing, until he too fell into reverie.

Tbc…