Finding Hope

Chapter 5

Erestor gently rocked Amdiriel in his arms. “I’ll never leave you, sweetheart, I won’t,” he whispered, again and again.

Glorfindel pulled Gailion in his arms for a cuddle, partly to keep himself from sobbing. Amdiriel had finally spoken, and it broke their hearts to hear her grief. Erestor with his big heart would be so good for her.

Mel and Tur knocked and entered the room with their dinner. Erestor finally lifted his head and spoke to Amdiriel. “Are you hungry, my little one?” The elfling nodded. “Let’s go and see what our friends brought us, then. Tinnu, my friend, you have to get off of Amdiriel’s lap now.” The cat rose, stretched, and gave Amdiriel’s cheek another lick, making the elfling giggle. Then he strolled back to his basket to clear the sticky sugar off of his fur. Elflings!

Melpomaen and Turidon set the trays with their dinner on the table then found the linens they had brought earlier and took them into the bedroom to make up the elflings beds. It was pretty obvious they had walked in on a private moment.

Erestor and Glorfindel carried their elflings to the table. The cooks had outdone themselves, and the trays were laden with fresh bread, a steaming meat dish of some sort, grilled vegetables, cheeses, several kinds of fruit, and sweets for desert. There was wine for the older elves and milk for the elflings.

“Oh, yummy.” Glorfindel said. “Are you hungry too, little one?” Gailion nodded. They added some pillows for height on two of the chairs, and set the little elflings in their chairs. Erestor made a plate for Amdiriel, while Glorfindel took care of Gailion.

Erestor set the plate in front of Amdiriel. “Here you are sweetheart.” Erestor poured her a glass of milk and set it in front of her. The little elfling laid her doll next to the plate on the table and picked up her fork, then looked up at Erestor. Erestor nodded to her. “Eat, little one. I’m not going anywhere.”

Melpomaen poked his head around the door. “The beds are all made up, Erestor. Um..we were wondering,” he pointed to the baby, still happily chewing on his horses leg on the floor. Erestor smiled and nodded, and Mel picked up the baby and carried him into the bedroom. A few moments later they heard sounds of giggling, cooing and silly elves talking baby talk coming from the room. Erestor chuckled, grateful that his friends were looking after the baby so they could concentrate on the older elflings.

Amdiriel was still not eating. Gailion was happily digging into his plate, and said “Eat Amdiriel, it’s really good.”

Erestor moved his chair around next to her, and sat, taking his own plate from Glorfindel. “Thank you, my love.” He began to eat and watched out of the corner of his eye. Amdiriel began to eat when he did. “Mmmm….this is good,” he said between bites. “Do you like it little one?” Amdiriel nodded, and continued eating. She had obviously been hungry. Erestor beamed at Glorfindel.

After dinner, Erestor and Glorfindel thanked and hugged Melpomaen and Turidon, and invited them to come back and baby sit any time they wanted. It was obvious they were very taken with Faelion and had enjoyed watching him.

Glorfindel first introduced Melpomaen to Amdiriel. Mel knelt down in front of the elfling so he wouldn’t tower over her. “I’m so very glad to meet you Amdiriel. And I’m so glad you’re here. I am a very old and good friend of your new Adas. Will you let me be your friend, too?” Amdiriel decided she liked this elf. He was nice, and he and the other elf had brought her the doll. She shyly nodded her head. “Oh, good. Will you let me give you a hug?” Another nod. Melpomaen carefully enfolded the little elfling in his arms and kissed the top of her head. Then he tickled her behind her ear, and she giggled. “Would you like to met my husband?” Another nod. He stood up, carrying the elfling over to Turidon. “This is my husband, Turidon. But you can call him Tur. And you can call me Mel. He is a warrior, and he is very, very old.”

Amdiriel stared wide-eyed at the big elf. He was as big as Glorfindel. And then Turidon smiled and held out his arms to her. She nodded to Mel and allowed the big elf to take her and hold her. “Hello, beautiful one. I am very happy to meet you.” Tur smiled at her, and she shyly smiled back before holding her arms out to Erestor.

Erestor couldn’t be happier. Amdiriel had actually asked him to take her. He held her as they watched Gailion be subjected to the same treatment.

“We’ll leave you all alone now. Just send someone for us if you need anything, all right?” Turidon said, as he and Mel gathered the dinner trays to return to the kitchen. “We’ll just leave the fruit and sweets that are left here in case the little ones get hungry later. Good night everyone.”

Erestor and Glorfindel thanked them again before they left. “What good friends we have,” Glorfindel said.

“Aye, and we are not the only ones,” Erestor said. “Mel told me Lindir and Taurfaeron are helping Caladir and Gurvelon, and two of Amarion’s friends are helping him and Diwen.”

“Is everyone so nice here, Ada?” Gailion asked Glorfindel.

“Aye, little one. Everyone in Imladris is. We all help each other whenever someone needs help,” Glorfindel answered.

Gailion nodded. “We did, too. In the village, I mean.”

“It is what elves do, sweetheart. It is how we are,” Erestor said. “Now, how would you two like to get a bubble bath and then get into your nice soft nightshirts instead of these tunics the guards fashioned for you?”

“What is a bubble bath, Ada?” the inquisitive Gailion asked.

“Well, it is a nice hot bath in a big bathtub with soap that makes lots of nice big bubbles. How did you bathe in the village, little one?” Erestor asked.

“In the river. When it was cold and snowy outside Ada would bring in a big barrel half and fill it with water for us in front of the fire. I liked that.”

“Well, let me show you what we have in here. You will really like it then.” Erestor replied.

A few minutes later, the two elflings were sitting in a hot bubble bath, giggling happily as their adas washed them.

At a knock at the door, Glorfindel yelled, “Enter.”

“Erestor? Glorfindel? Where are you?” Elrond called.

“In the bathroom.”

Elrond walked to the bathroom and stood in the doorway looking at the happy scene. “I just wanted to check how everyone is doing.” He was please to see Amdiriel looking happier.

“As you can see, my Lord, we like bubble baths.” Erestor said. “Oh, Elrond, would you mind just checking if the baby is all right? He is in his cradle.”

Elrond walked to the cradle and found the baby soundly sleeping, a soggy horse’s leg lying on his chin. He grinned, remembering his own sons at that age.

“He is just fine, Erestor. Sound asleep. I forgot you might like to have a rocking chair for him. I will have someone bring one up. Anything else you need?”

“No, thank you, Elrond. Thank you for everything,” Erestor said.

Elrond nodded and smiled. “Goodnight then. I will see you in the morning.” He winked at the elflings and left.

A few minutes later, the rocking chair arrived and was placed in the bedroom.

Erestor and Glorfindel finally managed to coax the elflings out of the bathtub. Bath time was never going to be an issue with them, it seemed. They dried the elflings with large fluffy towels, put on their nightshirts and set them in front of the fire to dry their hair. By now it was evident that Erestor was going to be Amdiriel’s primary caregiver, and Glorfindel would be Gailion’s - at least for a while, until the elflings felt more secure.

Amdiriel sat on Erestor’s lap as he gently combed through her hair. “Such beautiful hair you have, my lovely one. You are as beautiful as a princess.” He leaned around and planted a loud kiss on her cheek. “I love you, sweetheart.”

In a little while, their hair was dry. Glorfindel picked up a sleepy Gailion and sat on the elfling’s new little bed, his back against the wall, and held his oldest son, humming a soft song.

Erestor picked up Amdiriel and sat in the rocking chair with her, cuddling and rocking her. Amdiriel touched his face with a small hand, exploring it. “Will you love me and stay with me forever?” she whispered.

“Forever, my darling. I will love you forever, and I will stay with you forever,” Erestor whispered.

“My Ada. I love you, Ada.” Amdiriel snuggled into Erestor’s chest holding him tight, and so she didn’t see the tears of joy streaming down her Ada’s face.

Tbc….

To HHS: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying it. Here's another chapter for you. Don't forget to read Enough for Tonight and The Strong Heart too - that's where you will find out all about how Erestor and Glorfindel got together and all about the other characters. I personally think Enough for Tonight is the best of the 3.