Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: I am going to have to do a full Glorfindel...minus the hash pipe
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Armanea was gone, slipped out when no one was watching, no doubt returning to her father's estate where he would protect her from any retribution from Gondor. To avoid causing Aragorn any more trouble, Haldir agreed that her humiliation was enough and dropped the matter. They were all anxious to be returning to Rivendell while the nights were still cool.

Lord Celeborn promised to return in the fall unless something pressing brought him back sooner. That did not mean the twins or any of the Galadhrim might not return before then, but he most definately was going to idle the summer away. Glorfindel was of the opinion that none of them were going to last more than a few weeks before the wanderlust hit them. The first whisper of danger and they would be out again. It had become what they lived for.

"That and sweet young widows," Elrohir teased softly.

Of course the chivalrous, and very theatrical Glorfindel made a great showing at their departure. If hearts broke at the passing of the golden elf lord, it was no wonder. Glorfindel loved females, human and elleth. He marveled at them, admired them and desired them. If he had offered one a hand up behind him, there would have been several hands reaching for his glove. High born and not so high born, all equal in his warm beautiful eyes. He was magic, forever young, and they loved him. Dressed in the softess of doeskin leggings with a fine white tunic, he was love itself riding away. Even royal ladies who had not tasted the lord's passion hated to see him go. Such was his power over mortal hearts.

On the path down to the gate, a bar maid picked a dirty rag off the ground and paused to watch the elf Lords Celeborn and Glorfindel and their riders pass her on their way out of Minis Tirith. Although it was nearly sundown, the sky was ablaze with color that seemed to create a halo around the riders. Neither elf lord paid her any attention, but the twins and three Galadhrim raised their hands in farewell. She grinned broadly and waved back. She was used to comings and goings, and if she never saw them again, well she'd have one hell of a story to tell in her old age.

Tiger was thankful she was not one watchng them ride away. Clinging to her beautiful Master, she laid her cheek against his back and closed her eyes. All she wanted to do was feel his warmth on her face and carry his scent in her brain. When the horses started side stepping and readying themselves for their lunge forward, she sat up and held tightly to him. Anticipating the touch of the spur, the gray horses leaped forward, following the sun towards their home in the west.
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Armanea stood in the high garden of her father's keep and watched the dieing sun. Her thoughts were cold and bitter. How was it possible to hate something as beautiful as an elf, as that elf, but she did. It ate at her, gnawing constantly on her raw nerves. She wanted to bleed him, to look in those silver blue crystal eyes and watch the light fade from them. BUt not before she made him pay, before she made him beg for his life, for his sanity.

"My Lady," Garran interrupted her thoughts. "My apologies but Lord Donath requests your company as he dines."

Armanea looked back at the handsome young guard and smiled. He was sweet, and he was going to help her catch an elf. He just didn't know it yet.
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Summer, warm and idyllic. And no place was as beautiful as Rivendell, once home to Lord Elrond, the father of the twins and Queen Arwen. But Glorfindel was right. Within a couple of weeks the twins were off again, their restless spirits untamable as they sought adventure. And a week later Glorfindel suggested that he do a fact finding ride to see if there was anything amiss in the field. The Galadhrim, minus Haldir, offered to go with him. If they ran into any tavern wenches who needed rescuing from boredom, they were more than up to the job,

Haldir was content to do nothing for the time being except laze around, read some of the stuff left behind in Lord Elrond's library and make love. He wanted to soak in it, saturate his senses with it, begin and end each day with it. Even when he took Tiger into the mountains, he found some way to seduce her and make her think it was her idea.

There was only one time they went into the mountains and wept and that was when he had Tiger show him where Cub was buried. After so many months it was still a raw place in her heart, and she keened her grief to the mountain gods, and he wept silently for her and held her close.

Tiger wanted another cub, but the spirits weren't answering her prays this time either. And when the ache in her arms became too great, he did the best he could and found her a puppy. She loved small living things and the puppy became her companion, her Chine dragon. And perhaps it understood her because it would watch her face with rapt devotion as she went over the day's events for it. And it followed her everywhere, listening when no one else would.

She was on one of her strolls with Dog when she felt something she had not felt in a long time. Celestial! Celestial was talking to her! Running back to the hall, she stopped and stared upwards. Celestial was coming!
The few elves who were still in Rivendell and outside at this particular moment, stopped and looked into the clear sky with her. Celeborn, spying her out a window, came outside and looked up as well.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Celestial is coming," she said eagerly. "Longma and Celestial are coming."

"Are you sure?" he asked curiously.

"He is talking to me now," she answered. "They have already found Glorfindel and Master's brothers. They are on their way home, but Celestial will beat them."

"I have no doubt about that," Celeborn agreed and gazed back up into the cloudless sky. "Did she say why she was visiting?"

Tiger laughed softly. "Celestial says that Longma will say she is just visiting, but he thinks she wants more of Glorfindel."

The mischief shining in Tiger's eyes led Celeborn to believe that maybe Tiger's second opinion was probably the right one. "Where's Haldir?" he asked her.

"Hunting for dust bunnies." Then dropping her head she said, "I do not know what a dust bunny is."

"I surprised he didn't offer to show you," Celeborn mused. "Well, run tell him Longma is coming."

Dog yapped loudly and ran after her as she took off for their dwelling close to the waterfalls. Celeborn had nothing against dogs personally, but he never understood why Haldir got one that jumped everytime it barked. And he had seen river rats bigger than Dog, who could have passed for a dust bunny himself.
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Haldir was lying on the bed reading one of Elrond's abandoned books when Tiger ran in and quickly notified him that Longma and Celestial were on their way. She then looked around, her eyes sweeping the room.

"What are you looking for?" Haldir asked and got up reaching for his tunic.

"I was hoping to see a dead bunny," she said. "And Glorfindel and your brothers are also returning."

"Excellent."

Tiger suddenly looked up. "They're here!" she shouted and ran outside with him following.

For the first time in the entire history of Rivendell a Chine dragon lighted in the beautiful river that ran through the heart of the elven city. He chortled loudly, a dragon's laugh, and turned his tail towards the bank so the woman on his back bearing gifts could walk down without getting her boots wet.

"Celeborn!" she loudly greeted but was suddenly grabbed by Tiger, who practically swung her off her feet. Wrapping her arms around the jinn tiger's neck, she said, "Yes, I have missed you too, my sweet." Looking past Tiger, she smiled at Haldir. The elf was smiling but there was also a troubled look in his eyes. When Tiger introduced her to Dog, Longma understood. Unless it was mentioned by one of them, she would never speak of Tiger's child.

"Come in," Celeborn finally got in his greeting. "Will he be all right there?"

Longma looked back at the dragon. Tiger, holding her dog, was already crawling on the dragon's enormous paw to share gossip. Celestial had missed her terribly. Now if they could convince the dog that he was not destined to be a dragon snack.

Haldir decided to follow the grown ups, which included a couple of Celeborn's adminstrators. "Tiger said you had already run into Glrofindel and my brothers," he said as a way to make conversation.

"Yes, they had killed a couple of wargs when I found them. Nasty buggers, wargs."

"Maybe I should have gone," Haldir opined.

"Letting your shoulder rest is the best thing for you," Celeborn gently admonished him. "I'm certain there are still plenty of wargs left for us to hunt." Leading them back to his sitting room, he asked Longma, "May I get you something to eat."

"No, but I will take something to drink. I ate in their camp. Elves can do great things, but those elves need to learn to cook more than just spitting it on a fire." She touched her chest and made a burping face.

Celeborn motioned to one of his aides and they all soon had a glass of good elven wine. Longma smiled and took a sip of the delicious liquid, letting it sit on her tongue a moment before swallowing it. "I always liked your wine better than mine," she said with a big smile.

"I'll see you have some to take home with you," Celeborn offered as she opened the huge bag she had been lugging. "I thought you might all need new tunics by now," she said and pulled out some bundles of exquisite silk embroidered with golden dragons. "I always liked you in dark blue and red," she said and passed the garmet to Haldir.

"Thank-you," he said and opened it up for a better look. It really was beautiful, and the golden dragon was so finely detailed it looked as if it had been painted on.

Celeborn received a tunic of pure yellow silk with two dragons facing each other on the breast. "I'll pass out the rest when they get here. I also have something for Tiger," she said and pulled out a robe of royal purple with phoenixes rising up the front of it. A delicate piece of silk and lace also fell out of the bundle, but Longma quickly put that back. She glanced at Haldir, but they both decided to just be quiet about it.

No doubt Tiger was telling Celestial all about how bad Master had been to her how he had caused her to lose the cub; and Celestial would tell Longma......Haldir drank his wine in silence. When Tiger did finally come inside, she got excited when she saw the pretty robe Longma had for her. Grabbing it up, she ran out of the room and didn't come back until she had it on. Tiger was breathtaking in her pretty robe, and when she knelt at Master's feet, her smile brightening the room, he smiled back, his heart wishing he could undo all the bad things that had happened to her.

"Do you like it?" she asked and jumped up so he could see her phoenixes better.

"I love it," he replied and took her hand in his. "Come sit and listen. Longma has many stories to tell us."
When she tried to sit on the floor, he held her hand and indicated she could sit with him. He had never made her sit at it his feet; it was just something she did. With Longma here, he wanted her sitting beside him, not like Dog at her feet.