FALLING ↳ GLORFINDEL

CHAPTER 2: THE PRESENCE OF SAURON

Chapter Two: The Presence of Sauron

I don't own Lord of the Rings.

Aireraumonis stirred sleepily. She did not remember what had happened, nor how she had gotten into a bed; her hand was clasped in another's, and it was dark; for a terrifying moment, she wondered if she had gone blind, but then she saw the outline of Glorfindel's sleeping form in the chair beside her bed and realized it was simply nighttime. Her second realization was that it was Glorfindel's hand that was gripping hers; she flushed, but smiled all the same, tapping the hand upon hers thrice with her free hand.

She was still tired, somehow, but when she saw Glorfindel stirring sleepily, all her exhaustion vanished. He blinked lazily twice, and when he saw her tired smile, he shot up, smiling brightly, now wide awake, and gripped her hand with both of his, bringing it to his chest.

"Miril," he whispered, tentatively reaching out and pressing two fingers against her cheek. "You are awake."

It was stated so matter-of-factly that Aireraumonis wasn't really sure how to respond. In her sleepy state, she found that she loved it when Glorfindel smiled. Back in Gondolin, she thought his smile was perfect for the Lord of the House of the Golden Flower—bright and full of mirth and laughter. After returning back to Middle-Earth, however, he seemed to almost glow when he smiled. Perhaps it was because the Valar had granted him powers equal to the maiar, but Aireraumonis sometimes thought that his smile could rival the brightness of the sun. It was funny, sometimes, that she, one of the most revered elves on all of Middle-Earth, could be turned into a blushing elleth at the sight of her best friend she had been desperately in love with for almost seven thousand years.

"Were you afraid?" she teased.

"Terrified."

Aireraumonis blinked at the unexpected response. She couldn't tell if he was joking or not, and although Glorfindel'slooked dead serious, she knew that her mind was still only half-functioning, and it was still dark, and even her elveneyes had trouble adjusting so quickly to using only moonlight and starlight as a guide. Besides, she wasn't a full-elf anyway—her grandmother had been a human—and so being one of the half-elven (she was technically only a quarter human, but Elladan, Elrohir, and Arwen were all less human than her and were still considered half-elven, so she did so too) meant that she didn't receive all the elvish perks, and suffered from some human habits as well.

"Ah," was the only thing she could think to say, and then she tried to sit up, despite Glorfindel's protests.

She was in the halls of healing, of course, but it seemed as though Glorfindel had been the one who had been charged as a temporary healer, although she wasn't sure why; Glorfindel may have been quite skilled in the art of healing, but it was not his strength. As the blankets fell from her chest to her lap, she realized she was not dressed in the once-beautiful silver gown that had been torn and soaked and dirtied by her journey through the forest; now she wore a simple gown of the purest white. Her fingers had been bandaged, and Glorfindel had taken to carefully holding her hand to prevent any more injury from coming to her still-brittle fingers.

At any rate, only two of the numerous beds were currently occupied, and Aireraumonis was in one of them. The other lay a sleeping form that she recognized at once, and guilt seized her; it was Frodo, of course, and he did not look much better; his skin was still as white as death, his veins as black as night; he made small cries in his sleep that only elvenears could ever hope to pick up. Glorfindel, with his prince-ly lineage and full-elven blood, could see the situation much better than Aireraumonis' still-drowsy state, and he did not have the heart to tell her that Lord Elrond did not expect Frodo to make it through. She was still convinced that if anything happened to the little hobbit, she was to be blamed; and though Glorfindel knew it to be untrue, he did not know how to convince her of that.