Flame of Gondolin, novella: A Christmas Carol

Winter, 1 TA
Imladris

"Watch out below!"

The shout lifted the heads of the Elves, and they scrambled for cover as a heap of snow slid down from above, just narrowly missing a few of them.

Anárië wiped her forehead and looked up, screening her face from the pure whiteness, but she couldn’t really make out much from the top, only that the voice had sounded remarkably like Erestor. And she actually wouldn’t put it past him to be right where he shouldn’t be to begin with.

Someone touched her arm, and she turned to see Berien, standing in the relative safety of one of the archways.

"I’ve brought some warm tea; you could use it, I think."

Gratefully, her friend placed her shovel against the pillar and stepped into shelter to take the offered cup; all around her, the others of her team were doing the same.

Berien watched her with worry on her face: "You work too much, Anná."

Anárië shook her head: "I don’t. If I wouldn’t be helping here I would be doing something else – it’s the way I am. You know I’ve always been on the move, even in Lindon."

"Never as much as now," her friend pointed out, "and even Lachuí is worried about you."

This didn’t sound like anything she hadn’t heard before so she smiled: "I am touched, truly; no one could ask for better friends than I have. But I’m fine. If I had to sit still and do nothing, I would probably go crazy within the hour."

Berien laughed outright at that: "Truer words were never spoken. How are things between you and Glorfindel?"

Anárië, remembering the times when Berien had lied for her, and the confidences they shared, sighed: "They are … going."

The grey eyes of the other elleth were amused: "Yes?"

She frowned furiously: "Yes nothing. There is nothing much to say."

Berien laughed: "You are as stubborn as a mule, but I forgive you; is it true, though, that he is giving you gifts as the days go by? Some Númenorean custom?"

This brought a blush to Anárië’s cheeks, but thankfully she was already warmed up from shovelling snow anyway, so she could attribute it to that: "He is; ‘twelve days’, I’m told it’s called."

"How many are left?"

Anárië didn’t need to think, answering without taking a moment to catch her breath: "Three, counting today. Today numbers as the tenth."

Berien was grinning from ear to ear when her friend looked at her again, and this made her frown: "What?"

Her friend laughed, shaking her head and placing a hand against her arm: "Nothing, nothing. I am simply glad you two are working it out, that’s all."

Anárië was very quick to retaliate: "What about you and Lachuí? How stubborn is that mule still?"

Berien threw her a withering look: "I suppose I should be thankful your counter-attack is as mild as it is, imp."

"You haven’t answered my question yet."

The raven-haired elleth threw her head back and laughed lightly: "Stubborn, that’s what you are. And if you must know, I’m making progress. We might be talking about springtime now."

Anárië blinked: "This coming year?"

Berien’s beaming smile told her everything she needed to know, and she couldn’t hold back a completely undignified squeal as she embraced her friend, and both of them laughed.

Glorfindel, who had spied Berien among those dolling out warm beverages, had the honour of walking to them at that moment.

"Is this a bad time?" he asked, amused.

Berien shook her head and grinned: "No, no, all is well, I’m taking the empty cups so you can get back to work."

He made way for her, and watched her straight back for a moment before he turned to Anárië: "What was that all about?"

His wife looked as happy as the cat that got the cream, a double portion: "She and Lachuí will bind soon. FINALLY."

This brought an answering smile onto her husband’s face: "Now THAT is the best news I’ve heard in while. What’s taken him so long? I was beginning to think he has the case of Elrond syndrome."

Anárië laughed at that, elbowing him as she turned to pick her spade up again: "You’re being downright mean. Lachuí is simply troubled."

"And stubborn," Glorfindel added, "Though I know of more than a couple who would call him pig-headed, but let’s not go into details."

His wife responded by tossing some snow his way with the shovel.

They worked side by side for the remaining part of their shift, and by the end of it things were actually looking a lot better than they had ever thought they would.

"This doesn’t look so bad anymore," Erestor summed up their entire thought process as he joined them once they were finished, "I think a few days more should do it, and the rest can be left to melt once spring starts showing itself."

Anárië agreed with him: "Besides, any more work like this, and we might just bury you under all this snow, Erestor; what in the name of Varda were you doing up the slides anyway?"

Glorfindel watched the exchange with arched eyebrows, amusement written all over his face, but he made no comment and didn’t do anything to help his friend, who fidgeted.

"Nobody was supposed to know I was there."

"A little advice, then," Anárië commented dryly, "Don’t shout at the top of your lungs like that anymore. I spent at least a decade listening to you hollering orders left, right and centre. I’ll always be able to pinpoint your location."

This made both the Elves laugh, and Erestor looked a little less rueful: "Point taken, but I couldn’t stay away. It was an experiment; I wasn’t sure if it would work."

She didn’t have to feign incredulity: "You weren’t WHAT?"

Glorfindel decided it was probably a good idea to intervene just then: "I think what Erestor meant to say is that we needed all the help we could get. And besides, it WAS easier to shovel away all the loose snow afterwards, remember?"

She couldn’t help but keep on glaring at Erestor, who looked thankfully in Glorfindel’s direction because he had practically just saved him.

"In any case, we’ve made a lot of progress," was the finish line from their dark-haired friend, before he excused himself to go see whether or not Elrond would have any orders for him for the coming days.

It was just as well that he took his leave then, since Anárië was two seconds away from throttling him.

"He very nearly swept us all away with his little avalanche!"

"He was only trying to help, and it DID work," Glorfindel countered, "Besides, no one was wounded, only showered with snow as far as I can see, and he DID give a warning shout."

She glared: "Whose side are you on?"

Her husband smiled: "The side of reason, of course."

Anárië huffed, turning on her heel and stalking off, despite the fact that she was trying hard not to smile. For some reason, Glorfindel’s sometimes-absurd explanations and injections always made her feel better about any given situation, even a dire one.

He caught up with her just as she entered the hallway where their private chambers were.

"Who are you mad with? Me or Erestor?" he asked in good humour, which finally cracked the last of her resolve and she dissolved into soft chuckles.

"Both of you, and let’s pretend I’m not laughing," she managed somehow, which brought an answering smile to his lips as he opened the door and held it for her to pass through first.

"I haven’t heard you laugh today at all, I promise."

She elbowed him again, leaving her cloak behind to dry off, and going to greet the two cubs next.

Her intentions were good, but they were side-tracked when her eyes fell on the centre-table in the living area.

"Oh!"

There was a vase standing in the middle of it, but that was a side-thought; the vase was full of flowers.

"Winter roses," Glorfindel commented, coming up from behind her, "I’ve always loved their colour. This batch grew wild just above the Last Homely House."

Anárië reached out and carefully touched one of the blossoms, cupping it in her hand and leaning in to smell them: "They’re beautiful, Glorfindel."

His hand touched the small of her back momentarily before he went in search of dry clothes for himself. She couldn’t stop smiling as she went to bend over the two impatient little animals.

"Your papa is very good to me," she whispered to them as she rubbed their ears.

And Glorfindel, hearing the whisper by accident as he entered the room behind her, hid his smile and pretended he didn’t know a thing.