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[gondolin_noble]

Glorfindel hadn't meant to actually sleep. To relax while Elrond entertained his son, certainly. The warmth of the fire and the comfort of the couch and Elrond's lullabies put an end to that plan, however - suddenly the stresses of the last couple months and his own hyper-vigilance while at home caught up with him all at once.

All in all, he's fallen asleep in worse places, and in worse company.

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[starrydome]

And soon the baby sleeps as well.

Elrond spends some time reaquienting himself with the shape of his ears, the curve of his nose. The scent of his skin.

Then he carefully places him on the couch, shielding him from drafts and the danger of the edge of the couch with carefully placed cushions. And once that is done, he engages in what he has come to think of as distance diagnosing. Diagnosing being the art of determining the health and well-being of someone in his care and distance because - well, the moment Glorfindel wakes up, he will have missed his chance and the golden-haired warrior is not a particularly heavy sleeper.

[gondolin_noble]

There are faint shadows, like bruises, under his eyes - he has been running on the thin line between just being tired and true exhaustion for a while now. Other than that, almost thanks the the commotion at home, he is fairly uninjured. He hasn't gone on long patrol for months, preferring to stick close while they have visitors. Sure, there's a few training bruises (some earned from Celeborn, some from stepping in the way of a thrust gone wrong to prevent it causing worse injury to the elf it was aimed at - his rawest trainees are a bit of a hazard, really).

[starrydome]

It seems like sleep is what was needed. And less else. That is good. He knows Glorfindel's fondness for this particular couch and in this case one might hope that it will bring about more restful and prolonged slumber than had he been asleep elsewhere.

He tries to remember what it had been like at home, right after his sons were born. They and their mother had been his main focus of course. And he'd slept very little.

Celeborn had made some strange remarks, that much he recalled. Nothing he had paid much heed to at the time though.

[gondolin_noble]

'Prolonged' is relative - after short while his eyes regain focus and he blinks, a little blearily, at Elrond.

"It is well there is not one of these couches in Imladris." If there was, he'd be caught by it daily.

[starrydome]

"I was just thinking it ought to be possible to imitate it somehow," Elrond answers, his voice pitched low on account of the sleeping infant.

[gondolin_noble]

"Keep it in your own quarters then - it is dangerous to the unwary." Glorfindel retorts, though he doesn't shift from the cushions' warm embrace.

"He is asleep?"

[starrydome]

"He is asleep. Wisely taking advantage of the opportunity he has been given here," Elrond says. As far as hints go, it is a gentle one.

"And I think it would have looked well in my study. Such a couch."

Of course, that will soon be a moot point.

[gondolin_noble]

"As the son and grandson of those still accounted wise in Arda, it is good to see he already has the trait." Glorfindel replies glibly, side-stepping the hint.

The would have garners Elrond a more pointed glance. He can think of quite a lot of reasons that Elrond wouldn't have much further thought as to what goes in his study... and only a few of those are good reasons.

[starrydome]

"Yes, although the respect for sleep is more from his mother than from me, I think," Elrond says with a chuckle, as he looks down at the sleeping infant. Thus missing the pointed glance.

[gondolin_noble]

He snorts, inelegantly, and settles further into the cushions.

"Just tell me your wife's parents go back to their own realm at some point." He deeply, deeply respects both Celeborn and Galadriel. He and Celeborn got into more messes together during the years of war than either of them care to remember. Galadriel is one of the few elves he remembers from his previous life.

...

He resists the urge to strangle them daily, as they attempt to 'help' with the running of the household.

[starrydome]

"They do. Theystayed for - what - two years at most."

Which to an elf really isn't that long.

It's an odd feeling, talking with the past like this-

[gondolin_noble]

Only as odd as talking to the future, and knowing you'll never be able to say anything about it in your own time.

"Thank Iluvatar. I may not actually die from exasperation."

This is an overstatement of the situation. But still.

[starrydome]

"They can be a little - "

He searches for a polite way of putting it.

"Difficult?"

[gondolin_noble]

"Strong-willed. And entirely too used to commanding their own defenses." He has bitten his tongue repeatedly, mostly to keep from forcibly reminding the pair of them that they are not the only elves who remember the horrors of the First Age.

[starrydome]

Elrond sighs.

He is fond of his wife's family but that does not change the fact that they are not always easy to get along with.

"For what it is worth, I sleep very well indeed knowing the defenses are in your capable hands," he says.

[gondolin_noble]

There's a not-quite-polite snort, soft enough to avoid waking an elfling.

"You sleep very well when this one and his equally voluble brother allow it."

[starrydome]

"That is true," Elrond amends. "But that shall pass. My faith in you shall not."

And then, despite the fact that it seems like it might be stretching the allowable, he amends that too."Will not."

[gondolin_noble]

There's a moment of surprised silence.

Then...

Impishly...

"You do realize that this in no way encourages me to take the quiet route... in anything?"

[starrydome]

Elrond merely looks at him.

"How would anything - anything - I could possibly say, have convinced you of that?" he asks. Rhetorically.

There are the strong-willed. And then there is Glorfindel.

[gondolin_noble]

"Most likely not." Is the swift and terribly honest reply. "But it is sad to see you surrender to the inevitable."

[starrydome]

"A strategic withdravel is not a surrender, Glorfindel. Who knows what I might do, once regrouped and ready?"

[gondolin_noble]

"Do your worst, Peredhel." He announces in tones that will actually get a lot of use in the coming decades, telling bedtime stories (with the voices in) to young elflings.

[starrydome]

"You might be surprised," Elrond replies. Serenely.

He looks down at the sleeping infant. There is love and sorrow in his eyes. It is such a long time ago now. How he misses that time.

[gondolin_noble]

Now, there are plenty of times Glorfindel has done things contrary to Elrond's will. Usually while explaining to Elrond exactly what he was doing. He does a fantastic impression of some great, golden elvish mule.

But that expression? That's something that Glorfindel doesn't have much defense against. That would be most of the reason why he rises, grumbling something under his breath about crazy Peredhel lords, heading back through the doorway.

He's back, moments later, with the missing twin.

[starrydome]

He reaches up and takes the sleeping infant, smiling his thanks at Glorfindel.

Once he has looked - not his fill, he will never be able to look enough at them - but enough to believe that they really are there, small and asleep, he says, quietly, "They made me remember how much I miss Elros."