I am that merry wanderer of the night.
I jest to Oberon and make him smile.
--Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act 2, Scene 1
o0o0o0o0o
“Elrond!” Gil-galad stopped short in his tracks, causing me smack right into him. He turned and backed up, raising his hand in the direction of my shoulder, as though to help correct my graceless stumble, but he dropped it without touching me.
“Sire?” I asked.
“Are you following me?”
“Trying. But it is not so easy. You walk fast and make a lot of unexpected stops and detours.”
He laughed, “Do you mean like now, or earlier when Círdan stopped me on the path? He has a knack for finding me as well. I noticed you went to ground as soon as he appeared.”
“Not exactly. I just sat down on the bench back there to read for a while.” Gil-galad smiled at me with a feinted indolence, in complete contrast to his usual energy and purpose.
“With your book upside down? Ah, I see. You just happen to find yourself on the path from the council chamber to the palace at whatever random time of day I happen to take it?”
“Fine. I admit to stalking you. You are hard to get alone. Should I be watching out for Círdan? Or has he left for Harlond by now? I don’t think he thinks highly of me.”
“On the contrary, he keeps a close eye on you and he badgers you because he believes your intelligence runs well ahead of your judgment. He recently told me that you remind him of me at your age. Círdan was the blight of my youth!”
“Pompous old goat.”
“I thought so at one time myself. Now, I highly value his counsel. Keep an open mind and you will suffer less than I did.” He looked around us. “It seems we are alone,” he said, waggling his eyebrows at me”he should have looked ridiculous doing that, but he didn’t. Far from it. I giggled and he laughed at me. I blush to think of it even now. But at least I could always make him smile.
Downhill and behind us lay the administrative center for the city of Forlond, for all of Lindon for that matter, and uphill in the direction we had been walking, lay the palace and the king’s personal offices and his residence, mine as well, but in an adjacent wing. The early afternoon torpor which struck the population of Forlond following their midday meal was even more apparent the day after the Midsummer’s Night festivities. The area was deserted except for guards standing on each side of the entrance of the palace, looking like toy soldiers from where we stood.
Gil-galad smiled warmly at me and touched my heated cheek with a large graceful hand. More times than I cared to recall, as I fell asleep at night, I had imagined those long fingers mapping the contours my body.
He cocked his head to one side, thoughtful, as though he read and understood my agony, one-half the natural concupiscence of a healthy young man and the other half a longing for companionship and affection. I had lost Maglor and Maedhros, and most recently Elros had left me as well. And I still at times felt like a foreigner in Forlond.
A flock of white birds wheeled in the sky above us, shining silver at a certain angle. “Look at that. What do you think they are?” he asked. His hand had slipped from my cheek to rest on the back of the neck under my hair. I shivered and grinned at him.
I didn’t say, ‘Fuck the birds! All I can think about is you.’ Instead, I more conservatively ventured, “Probably gulls. They are too high to really tell.” I sighed and cocked my head, my face rigid with what must have been a stupidly vacant smile. This is what I wanted, but I had no idea what to do or say next. Valar, he was handsome in full sunlight, his rugged jawline, his generous mouth, those bright blue eyes squinting against the glare.
“Ai, Elrond, what should I do with you? Resistance to such beauty is not one of my strong points, I fear. I’m heading back to my bed now. Do you want to come? I stayed up much too late last night”had to show my face at no less than three Midsummer’s Night gatherings. And it will be a late night again tonight.
“I had thought to take a nap before a meeting I’ve scheduled for less than four hours from now. It’ll be followed by a supper with the leaders of the merchants’ guild of Harlond. Círdan has no patience and less sympathy for their disputes. Left them to me to entertain as best I could.”
I stared at him slack-jawed in surprise. His amused eyes focused on me glinting with challenge. “So, are you coming with me then?”
My earlier bravado had drained out of me leaving me speechless. The possible implication behind that question went well beyond my wildest dreams of anything I had allowed myself to expect I could achieve that sunny summer afternoon. Instead of feeling a sense of accomplishment, I felt more like a rabbit frozen in the gaze of a falcon.
“To take a nap, sire?” I managed to choke out.
“Or whatever else it is that people do in bed on an unexpectedly open afternoon. That's what you wanted, wasn't it?” His voice had deepened into an enticing and erotic growl. So, this was how it felt to be the object of the much vaunted seductive power of Ereinion Gil-galad, I thought. I suddenly found myself exactly where I had wanted to be, but without the drawn-out effort that I had assumed would be required. Nothing but good could come of this.
“Absolutely.” I might have been naïve at times in those days, but I never lacked in courage.
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