To Warm An Advisor's Heart

You walk into the barn. You can feel the twins exchange concerned looks every time they look at you. And it’s starting to get on your nerves.

“Would you stop with the pity looks,” you snap. “I realize that I got a little emotional back there but it’s a natural thing after what happened. I nearly died. Big deal.” You walk towards the horse stalls.

“Sorry Rose,” Elladan apologizes. “You have to understand, death isn’t a common occurrence. So when we think about what nearly happened…” He trails off and looks down.

“The only elf we lost was our mother and that was because she sailed to Grey Haven,” Elrohir says. He puts an arm around his brother.

You sigh. “Well I’m used to death so that’s why it’s not as big of a deal to me. You need to stop thinking about death as an enemy. It’s not the worst thing that could happen to someone.”

“What’s worse than death?” Elladan asks.

“Being trapped,” you answer. “Being around people who hate you. Being a slave. Dying may kill your body, but it’s better than having your soul die too.” You shake your head. “Enough of this depressing crap, which horses are yours?”

“I’ll show you mine,” Elrohir says. He skips to you. He point to a white stallion. “His name is Lightning. He’s one of the fastest horses in Middle Earth.”

“A stallion,” you muse. “Somehow, I’m not surprised that that’s your horse.”

“I like to have animals that can relate to me.” He wiggles his eyebrows at you. “Guess which body part he and I have in common.”

You laugh. “In all honesty, I don’t want to know. Nor do I want to think of how many horses you had to check out before you picked this one.”

Elrohir’s face falls while Elladan laughs. “Nice one,” he complements. “Now let me show you my horse.” Elladan’s horse is a pretty mare that is yellow with white spots near on her rear. “This is Buttercup. Mother gave it to me before she left.” He pats the horse’s nose. Buttercup neighs happily while nuzzling his hand.

“She must mean a lot to you,” you say.

“She does.” While the twins busy themselves with brushing their horses, you look in each stall. There are horses of all colors in the barn. Some are the color of the night while others are deep brown or soft grey.

You reach the end of the barn. You jump when you hear a horse whinny in fright. In the last stall is a rusty-colored horse that has a white spot between its eyes. It looks at you with fear in its large eyes. It backs into the corner of its stall, trying to get as far away from you as possible.

“It’s okay,” you coo. “I won’t hurt you.” You can already tell the horse must have come from an abused family because your pets would act like this when you first picked them up off of the street. You talk to the horse the same way you had talked to them. “It’s okay hun, don’t be afraid.”

You hold out your hand and don’t move again as you continue to comfort the horse. It slowly stops trying to get away from you. Its ears perk up as it listens to you soft voice. It must like what you’re saying because it slowly walking towards you.

It sniffs your hand before nuzzling its nose against it. You smile. You carefully raise your hand and begin petting the horse. It neighs in content and stands still as you scratch its ears.

When you stop it makes a sound of protest and bumps its head against your chest. You laugh. “All right, all right,” you say. You scratch its ear again. It closes its eyes and leans into you. You chuckle. “I’ll have to ask Elrond if I can have you.”

“It’s already taken,” a voice says. The horse jumps and backs away from you and the elf who is now beside you. “Though I must admit, I’m surprised that you were able to pet it. All of us have been trying for quite a while, but she doesn’t seem to like two-legged creatures too much.”

“Probably because you’re not treating her right,” you say. You look over to see Glorfindel is looking at you with amused eyes.

“Really? And how should I treat her?” he asks.

“Like a child who just had a nightmare,” you answer simply. “Who does she belong to?”

“Erestor,” he answers. “Until you, no one else has been able to even get three feet near her. Her name is Rusty.”

“Where did Erestor get her from?” you ask. You look at the frightened horse with sorrow. “She acts like she’s been abused.”

“She has. She was forced to work the mines by humans. They would whip and torture her on a daily basis. Erestor, Elrond, the twins, Arwen, and I were going to Lothlorien when we came across the miners. Erestor bought her from them and spent most of the journey to and from taking care of her wounds. He’s always had a soft spot for animals.” Glorfindel looks at you. “I take it you do too.”

“Very much. Do you mind going back to the twins? I want to pet her good-bye and I doubt she’ll-“

“Say no more.” Glorfindel walks away. “I shall see you in a bit,” he calls over his shoulder.

Once Glorfindel is gone, it doesn’t take much coaxing to get Rusty to come back to you. You pat her head. “I will come back and visit you as soon as I can. Maybe I can find some apples in the kitchen.” Her ears twitch when she hears ‘apples’. You laugh. You kiss her head before walking to the front of the barn, where the twins, Elrond, Glorfindel, and Thranduil all stand.

“Glorfindel was telling us how you are a horse whisper,” Elrohir says.

“What?” you ask, confused.

“You were able to pet Rusty. I’m sure Glorfindel already told you that that is a miracle in itself,” Elrond says.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” you say. Elrond is about to disagree, but you continue, “Can I see your garden now? I’ve been looking forward to it all day.”

Elrond’s chest puffs and he grins. “Of course you can. Let’s go.” You take the arm he offers. As all of you leave the barn, you hear Elrohir say ‘suck up’ between coughs.

“Elrohir, why don’t you, Elladan, and Glorfindel go see how the boarders are doing,” Elrond says coolly. Elrohir pouts, but complies.

Glorfindel doesn’t move. He looks like he wants to protest. “Run along Glorfindel,” Thranduil says. “You know that the twins will get into trouble if you don’t watch out for them.”

Glorfindel nods and walks away.

“That was your excuse to get them away from us,” you say once they’re gone.

“It worked, didn’t it,” Elrond says.

You laugh while Thranduil grumbles. “You’re not going to try to find a reason to send me away also, are you? Because if you want to be alone with this beautiful elf, then I’ll have to step in-“

“Do not worry my friend. I do not think of Rose that way. I just didn’t want her to choke on all of the male hormones while strolling through my garden.”

“Ah. I’m sure Elrohir has already been making many suggestions to her,” Thranduil says. “At least that’s what I remember him doing when he had a crush on the pretty elf from Mirkwood.”

You look from one to the other. Do they realize that you’re still here? Or do they think that you’ve suddenly become deaf? Wait a minute. Are they saying that Elrohir has a crush on you? Shit. You don’t like Elrohir like that! Sure, he’s handsome and stuff, but he’s a little too perverted for you.

“So you’re saying that Elrohir likes me,” you say, interrupting their conversation.

“Why wouldn’t he?” Thranduil asks in shock. “Any male who doesn’t like you must be out of their mind, or they don’t prefer females. It’s obvious that the twins like you. Even Glorfindel seems to have taken an interest to you.”

You blink. “What?!” You shake your head. “You are crazy!”

“Am I? Ask Elrond. Glorfindel wasn’t even going to come down to the barn until he found out that you were there.”

You look at Elrond. “Is that true?” you ask.

“Yes,” Elrond admits.

“But that’s not the most amazing thing,” Thranduil continues. He reminds you of a child that wants to tell you a secret. “Even-“

“Thranduil, I doubt Rose wants you to list every elf that finds her attractive,” Elrond says. He gives the king a look that tells him to keep his mouth zipped.

You growl. What is the big secret? That’s three people now who’ve nearly told you. You swear that if it happens one more time you’re going to strangle someone.

Your anger fades as you walk between a row of bushes that are twenty feet high. You gasp. Flowers of every kind and color fill the garden. In the middle there is a fountain with a marble stone of an elf maiden holding a wounded dove.

“That is my wife,” he tells you. “She was one of the most beautiful elves in Middle Earth.” You hear the loneliness and sorrow in his voice. You want to say you’re sorry, but you have a feeling he wouldn’t want to hear it.

Instead you walk around the garden. You smell the many fragrances and watch the hummingbirds and bees dance around the flowers. You find a bench to sit at. You move your right arm around, which is sore from the crutch being in your armpit for so long.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Thranduil asks. He takes a deep breath and smiles. “I always love coming here because of this. I’ve never seen such beauty in my life.”

“I agree.” You pat the bench and he sits beside you. “Where is Elrond?”

“He received a letter from his mother-in-law. He is answering it right now,” he says. He studies you. “What do you think about Rivendell?”

“I love it here,” you answer. You lean back. “I love all of the elves here and I love all of the beautiful scenery. Everything is so calm and peaceful, as life should be.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind having things shook up once in a while,” Thranduil says.

“That is true,” you say. “But right now, I only want tranquility.” You look at him and see that he is starring at you. “What?”

“Nothing.” He looks away from you. He twiddles his thumbs and you can tell that he’s holding something in.

You realize something. Elrond is no where in sight. Here is your chance to ask Thranduil a few questions. “Thranduil,” you say. “What were you going to tell me earlier?”

He looks relieved. “I thought you were never going to ask!” He turns towards you and motions for you to lean in. “Well, as you know, Erestor came and saw Elrond this morning to get your crutch. You were also probably told by the twins that at that time, Elrond was in a meeting with Glorfindel and me.”

“And…?” you ask. You want to tell him to hurry up, but you can tell he likes building up the suspense.

“It’s the first time I had seen Erestor stop working, so I made a small comment that got him blushing like a guilty child.”

You blush. You think Thranduil must have said something along the lines of seeing you naked this morning. “What was the small comment?” you ask.

“I said to him, ‘Why Erestor, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you have a crush on your new guest’. He didn’t come up with a smart remark like he usually does. He just blushed and said that he better get back to work.” Thranduil’s eyes shine.

He may understand what he’s talking about, but you’re still in the dark. “Thranduil, maybe it’s so simple that I’m missing it, but could you please spell things out for me.”

“What I’m saying,” Thranduil leans closer to you, “is that the Chief Advisor seems to have a crush on you.”

You look confused. “Who’s the Chief Advisor?”

“Erestor!” he says.

Your jaw drops. That gorgeous elf likes you? You shake your head. Even in this world, where there is magic, it seems impossible for an elf like Erestor to like you. “You must be mistake. I doubt he really likes me.”

“He does, but he won’t admit it,” Thranduil says.

“So what do you want me to do? Go into his office and kiss him senseless? I’m not that crazy.”

“No, no, no. I don’t want you to do anything.” Thranduil looks almost sorry for a moment. “You see, I didn’t realize that he actually felt that way about. Now that he knows that Elrond, Glorfindel, and I know, he’ll act like he doesn’t.”

“And what did Glorfindel say about this?” you ask. “After all, you’re the one who claims he also likes me.”

“Nothing,” he answers. “I doubt he think Erestor will be much competition. While Glorfindel will make his feelings for you aware to others, Erestor will keep it bottled inside and admit it to no one, not even himself.”

“But why? Why is he like that?” you ask.

“When he was younger, he liked a pretty she-elf who seemed to like him back. They were together for decades until Erestor learned that she was only with him because of his position, and because he was a friend of the Golden Flower of Rivendell. That’s Glorfindel,” he adds, seeing your confused look. “Poor elf’s heart was broken. He locked himself up in his office for weeks after that and focused on his work. He hasn’t changed his habits much since.”

“Why are you telling me all of this?” you ask. “If he’s never going to admit his feelings and if I can’t do anything to change his mind, what’s the point in my knowing?”

Thranduil gives you a look that reminds you of the way your father used to look at you. You feel tears enter your eyes and you turn your head from him. “I tell you think because I think I have an idea as to what kind of an elf you are, Rose. You are the kind of person who won’t give up easily and who won’t stop trying even if you get hurt.”

“What makes you say that?” you ask.

He points to your right ankle. “You’re still walking on it. Even with the crutch and even with the pain, you still use it.”

You don’t know what to say. You look down and absorb everything he has told you. You think about Erestor and what you’re going to do to win his heart.

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hope all of you enjoyed it. ^_^ please review. Even if you don't think you're good at it, just say what you think. I like hearing feedback. much love,

Ivory Wolf