The Dark Star of Gondolin

Title: Dark Star of Gondolin
Fandom: Lord of the Rings
Author: Lynsey
Websites: Read updates and much more first at my livejournal: http://lynsey-schadegg.livejournal.com/ . Read my stories in an easy format at this archive: http://swoon.dreamelf.com/viewuser.php?uid=42 . Read all of my Erestor/Glorfindel only stories here: http://ressandfin.queencheetah.com/viewuser.php?uid=23
Beta: Patricia Pleasant aka slayer9649
Chapter: 5/?
Pairings: Eventually Erestor/Glorfindel, this chapter Turgon/Durel
Rating: NC-17 (for adult themes)
Warnings: hermaphrodite, angst, references to a minor in a sexual situation (nothing explicit)
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Do not sue, all I got are college loans, and this isn’t helping to pay them off.
Summary: Durel comes to some realizations and paves Glorfindel’s way in the council.
A/N: In this chapter, Durel is approximately equal in age to a sixteen year old human. This story contains the idea of an ellian or hermaphrodite elf. This chapter is an excerpt from Durel’s jounal (first person point of view). The courtesan in this world is roughly equal to the geisha of the real world (except add more sex).

Today has been…exciting to say the least. One trial after another has taken up my day, and I am writing it all down here to help sort out my thoughts. It seems as if I cannot go without some form of strife in my life, and since all has been quiet and routine for the past three years fate decided to deal me some excitement. I could have done without it.

First, I will start with this morning’s council session. All was going as usual. I was dressed in my usual outfit, looking like a porcelain doll. We were just getting seated, I beside my Lord, once again as usual, and someone joined the session that had not appeared before. I knew him. Oh, how I knew that bastard. I never thought that he could be one of the Lords on the council. All Lords of the Houses are invited to attend council, and any that want a say in the ruling of Gondolin do so. However, some Lords stay away from the tedious meetings unless they have a vested interest in going. Apparently, this particular Lord decided today would be a good day to peek in on the proceedings.

As he entered the council room I froze. In all my life, I have seldom felt fear. Discontent, yes. Unhappiness, yes. But rarely fear. Except in the presence of this elf.

My previous master.

I did not know he was the Lord of a House. In fact, when I lived with him all I knew was to call him master. I never knew his name or the name of his House. When he took me from the streets, I had been young and small. I do not know how old I was, and I also do not know how old I am now. I can guess, but I never had any parents to tell me my begetting day, or even my birthing day. I was maybe ten years of age when he found me rummaging though the trash behind some pub in the Burrow. He took me to his huge house, bathed me, fed me, and cleaned my wounds. Not so unlike what Glorfindel did nearly three years ago. However, what happened after he had me cleaned and fed was totally and utterly appalling. Days on end of serving him in ways no child should ever have to experience. I still become frightened when I think on it.

Seeing him this morning during council nearly made me cry out in fear. My eyes filled with tears of remembered pain, my body ached with the memory of lashes and rape.

I grasped Glorfindel’s thigh and leaned in to him, nearly climbing into his lap. Glorfindel, startled, pulled me close and looked into my tearing eyes. I couldn’t tell him what was wrong with me. Every time I tried to speak my voice came out as a pitiful moan of fright. I was glad we all sat on the large, flat pillows favored by most in Gondolin instead of chairs, for I would have fallen off immediately. Instead, I was pulled by Glorfindel onto his pillow and into his lap where I huddled, searching for comfort.

I could feel him standing close to us, hovering. Glorfindel greeted him cordially enough as he knew not what was causing my fear.

“Lord Ecthelion, it is good to see you. You have not been to council in some years.”

“It is good to see you also, Lord Glorfindel.” Ecthelion paused momentarily, I assume he was studying the quivering mass of fear that Glorfindel held in his arms. I buried my head in Glorfindel’s shoulder and hoped the ass-hole would just go away. “Who might this be?”

“This is Durel. My Courtesan.”

I can imagine the look that must have been on Ecthelion’s face. It was probably the same look that anyone gave my Lord when he told them he kept a Courtesan. Many could hardly believe that the Lord who fought for equal rights for all, the abolishment of child prostitution and slavery, and the illegalizing of drugs would keep anything like a personal Courtesan. Especially one as young as myself.

“A Courtesan?” asked Ecthelion. I could hear the surprise in his voice. “I must admit that I never thought you the type to take on a Courtesan.”

“Things change,” replied Glorfindel. I heard the other Lord seat himself on the pillow that I had previously occupied. Why wouldn’t he just go away?

I must have whimpered or cried out, because Glorfindel lifted my face up with one of his strong hands. “Why do you cry so, my star?” he asked in a very worried tone of voice. I heard Ecthelion laugh, and I nearly lost it. That laugh had haunted my days and nights for longer than I cared to remember. It was filled with evil and sensual intent. It caused a fearful sob to escape my lips.

Glorfindel snapped his head to face the other Lord, and he instinctively held me closer when I hid my head once again. “What is so amusing, Lord Ecthelion?” he asked in a polite way, trying to keep up the appearance of civility.

“Your little whore. I know him well. I find it funny that he has ended up in the same service I used him in. Do you remember me, pretty one?”

I cried harder. I couldn’t stop myself, no matter how humiliated I felt crying in the middle of the council chambers as it filled with Lords and their advisors. My Lord was not stupid, even if he was a little slow at times. He had probably deduced who and what Ecthelion was by now, and I felt him gently pick me up and stand. I heard Ecthelion stand too, and he still chuckled at my expense.

“You will stay away from him,” Glorfindel growled. I could feel that his body was stiff with rage, just as mine was with fear.

Ecthelion stopped laughing. “Why should I? Don’t want to share your tasty little treat?”

“He is mine. I will decide who and what he interacts with, and *you* will have nothing to do with him. If you so much as lay a finger on him, I will heap you with so much legal shit you won’t be clean for years.” Now that I think on it, I am not quite satisfied with the way Glorfindel talked about me as a possession, but I can understand why he did. As a possession I had more legal rights than as a person. For some reason, that thought does not sit well with me.

Ecthelion was not stupid enough to challenge Glorfindel’s demand for him to stay away from me. Even if he had not attended council in some years, he would still know who was in good standing with the King. Currently, Glorfindel was in Turgon’s favor, probably because of my association with him. The King could never resist a pretty, painted face. Ecthelion must have nodded or shown his defeat in some way for I felt Glorfindel nod and back away. He left the council chamber with me still cradled in his arms. He took me outside, and he found a quiet spot for us to sit. Apparently, we were not going to sit in on council today. He sat with me on the soft grass and rubbed my back until I had calmed.

“That bastard was the one who kept you before you ended up at the Sweet Honeysuckle wasn’t he?”

I nodded and wiped at my face. The paint was beyond repair, and I probably looked terrible with the black, white and red smeared across my face. There was a large smudge of the stuff on Glorfindel’s tunic where I had laid my head. I tried to remove it with the sleeve of my robe, but all I succeeded in doing was smearing it more. Glorfindel took my hand and removed it from the stain to cradle it in his large, warrior hands. “I will never, ever let you be hurt by that monster again,” he said fervently. “I swear to the Valar that I will protect you until my dying breath.” As we looked into each other’s eyes, I realized two very disquieting things.

Glorfindel loved me. Truly loved me.

And I had the terrible, horrifying feeling that he would regret those words.

We sat in the lush gardens of the King for a few hours, and when we saw the stream of people leaving the council meeting we made our way back inside. It was time for my lessons. Glorfindel guided me to the Courtesan’s private chambers, and at the door he stops and turns me to face him. He hugs me gently and presses a kiss to my forehead. “Stay safe, sweet one. I’ll be back later to protect you.”

I enter the suite as Glorfindel walks back down the hall, and I was greeted by Maikasilmë, my chief tutor. She shakes her head at my appearance and wipes my face off with a damp cloth to remove the remains of the ruined makeup. She gestures for me to use her paints to apply the paints again. Several minutes later, I am ready to begin my lessons.

However, I never had my lessons today. Before we could begin, the King himself entered the chambers. Turgon motioned for Maikasilmë to leave, which confused both of us, but she did as she was told like a proper Courtesan. Alone with the King, I could not help but become nervous.

Turgon seated himself on Maikasilmë’s bed, lounging back against the pillows while he regarded me where I stood with my head bowed in the middle of the room. “Come here, little one.”

Who was I to refuse a King? I went to him, walking with the practiced steps I had been taught. I stood before him and bowed again. I remember I was rather pleased with my bow. I rarely made them so perfect.

“Your Lord is a trouble maker in my courts,” was the first thing he said. I felt myself go cold and hot at the same time. This could be bad. “He causes strife within the Houses, he demands laws that I simply cannot pass into being,” here he lifted his hand to raise my chin, “and he dangles this beautiful bobble in front of my eyes at every council session. I do not like to be teased with what I cannot have.” I tried to keep my face passive, but I probably failed. I do not have much practice dealing with situations like this. The King let his eyes roam over me for some seconds before he put his hand on my side and pulled me closer to the bed. “I could be very upset with your Lord right now. I could cast him from the council on a whim,” he said as he started rubbing my side through my robes. “So far, he has amused me to the point where I keep him around for the entertainment value. However, I tire of his antics.”

“Why do you tell me this, my King?” I questioned quietly.

“I could be convinced to…overlook his problem causing…for a cost. I may even consider bringing some of his plans into existence.”

“I will pay it,” I say without pause. At that moment, I received another revelation: I would do anything to make Glorfindel happy.

Turgon pulled me to sit on his thighs, like a child would sit on their parents lap. I probably looked like a small child sitting on that gigantic warrior’s legs. He turned my head to face him, “You would pay my price?”

“Anything.”

He smiled and rubbed my back slowly. “How old are you?”

His change of topic didn’t throw me. I answered quickly, “I don’t know.”

“Approximately then.”

“Around forty.”

His breath shuddered out at my answer, and his hands tightened on my body. It appeared that this excited him. “So young,” he whispered. “So young and sweet. Never have I been with one as young as you. Not even close.” He began to pant and pull at my clothes. I pushed at him sharply and he stopped to look at me.

“Promise you will put Glorfindel’s plans into action. Swear to the Valar,” I demanded.

His eyes hardened and he gripped my face in his large hands. “I swear to the Valar,” he pledged. I nodded and relaxed into his embrace.

It was late by the time he left the room. I sat in the middle of the large rug, re-applying my face paint for the third time today. It didn’t help that I kept crying and had to start over. By the time Glorfindel came to escort me home, I had managed to put myself more or less back together. He did not comment of my attitude or appearance. He probably assumed anything out of order was due to the incident earlier that day. He held me tightly in the carriage, and the second we got home I bathed. When I deemed myself finally clean, I retreated into the library with the excuse of studying.

And now here I sit, reading over the events of this day and wondering what they will mean for my future.


Maikasilmë = sharp starlight
Durel = Dark Star

TBC...............