The Jewel of Mirkwood

Chapter 6

Glorfindel sipped idly from his wine watching with mild amusement as the King of Mirkwood conversed with his two sons’ and some of his councillors. Every so often one of the group would throw a suspicious glance in his direction but he merely smiled and inclined his head cordially towards them. The feast was obviously just an impressive show for Erestor and himself and while most of the elves seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere Glorfindel could sense the hastiness at which the gathering had been called. Erestor sighed at Glorfindel’s side and turned away from the young flippant maiden who was trying to encourage him into conversation. She seemed to take the hint when Erestor dismissed her and disappeared hastily into the throng of people leaving the two Imaldris elves alone again in a hall full of foreign elves.

“Have you seen anything of interest as yet?” Erestor inquired as he gratefully collected another two glasses of wine from the tray of a passing servant and handed one of them to Glorfindel. After their frosty audience with King Thranduil earlier both elves had been showed to their rooms and allowed time to relax and change from their travelling attire. It was obvious the king had taken little joy in their accompanying his son, and he had taken even less enjoyment from hearing Elrond had ordered they stay for the entire wedding ceremony, to oversee it’s correct execution. The King did not intimidate Glorfindel, he alone was elder than the elf king he stood before and he had faced worse foes in his life than an elf king with an attitude problem. Erestor had been visibly uneasy during the meeting and had said very little apart from providing King Thranduil with the necessary letters, papers and correspondents Elrond had instructed him to give to Thranduil upon their arrival in the woodland palace. It had been a relief to shed their clothes and bathe away the trail grime from their bodies but it had been bitter sweet to then hear of the banquet to be held and that their attendance was mandatory.

“Not yet, I do not see anyone of interest I wish to talk to. I believe they are all mere councillors and noble elves from the village nothing of consequence.” Erestor followed Glorfindel’s roaming gaze, impressed by what his friend saw in the almost immaculately dressed gathering of people around them.

“Yes and what of Thranduil’s youngest son?” Glorfindel rolled his eyes at his friend. Erestor, despite his reputation for being haughty and cold, was a sucker for gossip and took pleasure in conversing with the lower house servants of Imaldris in order to learn of scandals among the villagers.

“I dare say he will not make an appearance. Thranduil seems to have devoted his time to his two elder son’s I doubt his youngest’s presence is needed.” Glorfindel sipped again from his goblet of wine and turned disinterested from the activities of the hall to stare out of one of the windows. It had fallen dark outside and the lanterns of the village and the surrounding guard towers glittered like fireflies amongst the blackness of the forest surrounding them. Glorfindel heard Erestor sigh in boredom as two young maidens approached him and asked him of his origins. Erestor had never had any interest in young maidens, his tastes, or so Glorfindel was led to believe were more in tuned with boarder patrol guards, particularly one such marchwarden from Lothlorien.

To Glorfindel it seemed as if the feast they were promised would never arrive but just as the thought crossed his mind a deathly silence fell across the entire hall. Hastily Glorfindel spun around to see what had happened and almost dropped the goblet in his hand as a young elf nervously entered the hall. Glorfindel watched transfixed as the blonde elfling wandered over to where the King was sitting on his throne and bowed respectfully. Unlike the rest of the guests in the room the unidentified elf had not been announced by the herald at the door. It was stranger still that the substantially elder elf that followed him in was promptly announced as Tutor Filgree Goldwin. Glorfindel watched as the young elf nervously stood to the right of the king’s throne, his head bowed and his hands neatly pushed into a fold of the beautiful purple and silver silk robe he wore. All the gazes in the room were directed at the young elfling as the tutor respectfully addressed the King before joining the young elf. Glorfindel had never seen such beauty in one of his own race before. By nature elves were the fairest among all creatures on middle earth but this mysterious young elfling was a sight that made even the prettiest maidens in the room look terribly plain in comparison.

“Well will you look at that, I think we may have just been honoured with the presence of Thranduil’s illusive third son.” Glorfindel shook his head and turned his gaze reluctantly from the young elf to face his friend. Erestor was surprised to see a sparkle of something foreign within his elder friends eyes after they’d turned away from the elf in question. Could it be that his friend had found something interesting amongst the gatherers after all? Erestor smiled as he watched Glorfindel shrug his shoulders visibly unable to form words as his gaze wandered back to the elfling in the corner of the room. Thranduil seemed to pay little attention to beautiful elf as he called for dinner to be served and for the party to sit down around the banquet table.

Glorfindel’s gaze never left the young elf as he followed Erestor to their seats on the left hand side of the King. As the king’s guests they were seated first and would be the first served but Glorfindel paid little attention to the servants rallying around him as he watched the young elf sit awkwardly down next to one of Thranduil’s closest advisors. This seemingly natural act positioning confused the seneschal. If Erestor had been correct in identifying Thranduil’s youngest son it seemed unusual then that the prince sat further along the table than the king’s advisors and his other two son’s. Glorfindel watched as the elder tutor sat down next to the beautiful elf and leaned closer to whisper something to him. Immediately the elf looked up from his gaze at the table and instantly locked his eyes with Glorfindel’s. Beautiful blue eyes showed every bit of the youth’s inexperience, innocents and fear and Glorfindel suddenly felt sorry for the youngster who seemed to be out of his depth among such company. Glorfindel smiled warmly across at the youngster and despite his obvious fear the elf smiled briefly back at him before his gaze quickly averted back to the table as Thranduil stood up and began a very long winded speech as dinner began to be served.

TBC.........