Current mood:

cold

HotGF Part 2
Author: Anu (anubeta@lycos.com)
Rating: R
Summary: Glorfindel's life, in his own words.
Warnings: Silmarillion-based.
Pairing: Glorfindel/Turgon.



Chapter Six:


I woke at midmorning, my eyes bleary and my head aching from crying. Turgon was a clingy, sweating hulk firmly attached to both me and the heavy pile of blankets. Remembering the events of the previous day, I sighed and tightened my lips, cuddling Turgon closer to me while he was still vulnerable in sleep.
If he’d been disposed to be merciful to Eol last night, he certainly wouldn’t be now. And thus, a dark duty awaited this day, that would surely end in death as a fitting judgment for one certain haughty dark elf. And though I was sorrowed over Aredhel, I knew that such a sentence would only be just.

Turgon woke before much time had passed as I lay there trying to collect my thoughts, contemplating endlessly. He looked at me. "Glorfindel, beloved." He rasped.
"I forgive, Turgon, I forgive." I told him, looking deep into his eyes.
"Then you do what I cannot. I must see to it. Will you stand with me?" He asked.
"I will follow you in all that you do." I assured him, and he held me close and laid many desperate kisses on my brow, as desperate as a baby’s first breath. I kissed what I could reach of him with utmost tenderness, his jaw, his neck, and his shoulder.

Then he rose and bathed and began to dress, and I took the bath after him even though it was cold, and he waited for me. When I was dressed we ate the light meal the servants brought, and then kissed once more, for courage and comfort, and then we left the room we shared as lovers and equals, and became a nobleman and his king, our social masks firmly in place.

When Eol was brought into the throne room in bonds to stand before Turgon, with Meaglin on his left and Idril on his right, Turgon sentenced him without mercy, saying, "For the murder of Aredhel Ar-Feiniel, Eol shall be cast into the precipice from the city walls on Caragdur. Is it just?" He addressed those gathered and Eol in general.

And I with the people all answered in one accord: "It is just."

And so Turgon rose and motioned that Eol be led away there, and Idril and Meaglin and I and as many of the people who would go followed them, and when we all stood on Caragdur there was silence, and Meaglin, standing aside, appeared as aloof as ever. Idril stood closer to me, and took my hand in hers, and I squeezed it in silent comfort as the guards awaited Turgon’s signal.

Turgon stood motionless, looking at Eol a long time, and Eol looked at him as proudly as ever. Turgon broke his gaze, and his hand rose from his side to give the signal. Eol spoke then, looking at Meaglin. "So you forsake your father and his kin, ill-gotten son! Here shall you fail of all your hopes, and here may you yet die the same death as I." Turgon gave the signal, and Eol was cast over the Caragdur.

Meaglin’s features seemed fixed, and Idril turned and hid her face in my chest wordlessly, as Turgon turned away form the scene and started back to the shelter of his palace. As he passed me his eyes met mine, and I saw grief and anguish and anger and pain, but worst of all, there was no recognition in them for me or for his own daughter.

The people also scattered, and Meaglin and Idril and Ecthelion and I were the only ones soon left on Caragdur with the guards, the wind blowing at the silence between us. Seeing that Idril was exhausted by grief and loss and that she leaned heavily on me, quite unable to stand, no less walk, I picked her up and cradled her to my chest, carrying her all the distance back to the palace. Meaglin’s glare cooled my back as I turned and walked away.

I laid Idril on her bed and left her once more in the care of her maidens, and then I went to seek my grieving mate.

I found him in the throne room, curled in his seat on the dais with his cloak over his face. I walked in quietly and shut the door behind me, instructing the guards with my eyes that none was to enter. He did not look at me or move as I approached.

Sweat trickled down my back as I sat at his feet and waited.
When there was no response from him, I leaned forward against his knees and was still or a moment, before commencing with my own sorrows. His sister, so long lost, was returned to us only to be struck down with a poison dart.

And our recompense for it was surely no better than the deed itself, for as cold as Meaglin appeared, he had lost both his parents at once, and such a blow he was not deserving of. Presently, Turgon laid his hand on my head, and I clung to his legs, rising on my own knees.

Aware of how uncomfortable the position was on me, he moved me off after a moment and took me in his arms. We sat in the throne together, leaning on one another for strength, and I drew his cloak over us both despite the sweltering heat.

Chapter Seven:


Life was slow to resume after that time.
Meaglin hid his sorrows well, and occupied himself with forging iron from the mine of Anghabar in the north of Echoriath. Turgon loved him, and I was glad to see that whatever designs Meaglin had planned for Turgon were now changed, and that he was taking a slightly more honorable route to power than becoming king’s consort or something equally unseemly, son in law.

Turgon kept him as counselman for several years before naming him regent, and Meaglin fooled everyone with his eagerness and willingness to serve Gondolin. The situation of an heir seemed resolved to Turgon and he was more cheerful, but I confessed to him that I did not believe his sister-son to be the best candidate, no matter how suited for it.

As ever, he valued my words, but did not heed them, and thus I said no more of it, seeking instead Idril’s counsel. She was perhaps more cunning than I, and saw Meaglin’s mind more clearly. All the same we were rarely apart, for although he loathed me and resented my place, he was as likely to come upon me unawares and stare unnervingly as he was likely to approach or follow Idril through her father’s house.

Ecthelion kept his house well, and Turgon placed him in charge of the Gate. I too tended my house, but more rarely, as my steward Amredeth was a wise man and my household was small, for I had no wife or offspring. My house kept itself mainly, leaving me free to keep Turgon’s bed and I became known as Idril’s companion, and commonly I was referred to as Glorfindel the Beloved because I had found such favor in the king’s house.

Whether the common people knew if I was Idril’s lover or Turgon’s I never did decipher, for rumors tend to be slippery and I could never track them to their den, but I suspected it from the solitary dark figure that haunted the palace.

Turgon woke me often at night with his dreams, and I became adroit at interpreting them. The world outside Gondolin was stirring, changing, and the eagles brought us no news of it, busy on their own missions of Manwe their master.

Until the day that the wind brought Thorondor himself to us, there existed a tentative peace and bliss in the King’s House. Meaglin, ever silent and watchful, spent his days in Turgon’s company, and I spent mine in Idril’s, no longer welcome to keep company with my King; or thus said the shining dark eyes of Meaglin who lurked ever about.

Chapter Eight:


"Mmmmm...good morning my beloved." I murmured into the mouth caressing mine, waking to see Turgon on his hands and knees over me. I kissed him back, stretching in the warm sunshine.
I had designed the bedroom in my house with him in mind, for I knew that he loved waking to the warm caress of sunshine.

He grinned and bit my neck gently, laving the nip with his tongue. "Hungry, are we?" I asked, amused. "Always." He replied, teasing my nipples mercilessly. I laughed. "Then go to the door and ask the servant to bring us breakfast, ah, and stop biting me!"

With a parting bite to my hipbone, he did rise and go to the door to call for a servant. Amazing, that here in our bed, we were equals, and just simply Glorfindel and Turgon, not the King and Lord of the House of the Golden Flower.

My sated musings were interrupted by him bounding onto the bed in his classic, over-enthusiastic, the-morning-after style with a tray in his hands. I sat up, eager to see what he’d brought us, but he pushed me gently back down and pulled the blankets off me until I lay bare in the sunshine with him sitting next to me, the tray in his lap.

"What are you doing?" I wondered aloud.
He smirked at me, a most unsettling thing when he had all the food and I was hungry. I narrowed my eyes as I tried to think ahead of him, and was entirely unprepared when he began laying fruit slices on my hipbones. I stared at him in confusion. "Just relax." He commanded, and I did so, waiting to see what he’d do next.

He decorated my ribs and nipples with more fruit slices, and then picked up a small pot of honey. "Hold still." He told me, and slightly aroused, I complied. He drizzled the honey from my shoulders to my knees, all over the fruit laid there. Then he set aside the honey pot and tray, and picked up a small piece of bread.

He stroked it over my skin where honey had pooled in the contours of my body, dipping it well. Then he took a bite and grinned at me, offering me the rest. I took it without moving, and he began with more bread. We shared the fruit the same way, before he undertook to lick all the stickiness from my skin.

I arched when he finally got around to taking my erect member in his mouth, shouting some, such was the point of desperation he’d driven me to with the food and his tongue. In a moment I hit head on with a climax so grand my vision darkened, and I felt the warm, wet mouth recede and creep up my body.

Panting, I looked down to see Turgon crouched next to me, a most definitely predatory gleam in his eye. I grabbed for him and missed, he rolled me onto my belly easily and began work with fingers and tongue on my back. When he finally reached my buttocks an eternity later, I spread my legs wide, gasping at the change of pressure on my renewed erection.

He laid his hands on my thighs and I was soon thrashing and wailing under the expert ministrations of his clever tongue. Withdrawing, he laughed at my discomfiture and sat me up, slicking my member as I clutched the bedding feverishly. Realizing he’d driven me into this frenzy to set himself up for a good hard pounding, I glared at him between gasping breaths, incapable of speech.

He caught the gleam in my eye and panting himself, turned onto his hands and knees. In the state I was in I’d have been a fool to refuse such an eloquent offer, and grabbing his hips with my hands drove into him deeply. He pushed back, seeking his own pleasure, and I gave up and slammed into him in abandon.

Feeling orgasm impending, I leaned down and bit into his shoulder, turning a scream of pleasure into a growl of intense delight. I passed out with the fire that ricocheted through my lower belly, and when I came to Turgon was leaning over me, chuckling breathily as he wiped hair from my face.

Regaining some of the air I’d lost forgetting to breathe, I laughed back at him. We were asleep before our breathing returned to normal.

Day like this, when we hid away in my house, were often the most pleasant of all, and our urges for occasional reforging our bond were often commenced here. Servants were less likely to interrupt us here, which is why the urgent knocking at the door alarmed me even as Turgon and I jerked awake.

"What is it?" I called.
Amredeth’s muffled voice answered. "My Lord, the Regent of the King sends for him, he has a messenger with an urgent message waiting in the palace." I looked at Turgon, he was beginning to get dressed. "Give us a moment to compose ourselves and we’ll be right there, Amredeth." I replied, reaching for a cloth to dampen and clean myself with.

Turgon and I swept into full dress speedily, which was a rather astonishing feat as we had kept one another awake nearly all night. I didn’t bother with the room any more than to simply close the door, and as I followed him through the streets to the palace, I wondered where I had gotten the habit to be so messy. Perhaps it was just him?

When we reached the King’s Hall, Meaglin was there, silently considering a boy in rough farming clothes, obviously from down in the valley. He was looking uneasily around, and when Turgon swept in and I after him, he nearly fainted bowing so low. Turgon nodded acknowledgement of him, then turned to Meaglin. "What word?" He asked.

Meaglin answered without ceasing his dark brooding, lips the only mobile living thing on his features as he spoke, returning to stone when he had finished speaking. "Ask the boy." He replied mildly.

Turgon looked at the aforementioned boy and the child babbled out that there was a great eagle, Thoron-something, on Gladden Fields, and he insisted that Turgon come to him, for he bore dark news none other should receive first. Turgon paled, and was silent a moment, bracing himself.
"Bring me to him."

Meaglin and Idril and I followed at a distance as Turgon went down the stairs leading away from the walls, the child leading him wordlessly.

Thorondor was indeed there, waiting for Turgon. The boy went back to his family gathered outside their house and Idril held my hand as Turgon and Thorondor spoke quietly, alone. Meaglin stood a short distance from us, his gaze covering all.

Presently Thorondor alighted, his great wings bearing him away, and Turgon stood there a moment watching him go, before his knees crumpled under him and he fell to them, his face in his hands.

Idril and I flinched as if struck, and the impassive Meaglin looked on. Gathering my courage, I went to him, dragging Idril with me the full distance. We circled around to stand in front of him, and he did not look at either of us. Idril sank to her knees and took him in her arms, and I dropped listlessly beside them. What tragedy had brought him to this?

I was afraid.
I reached out and laid my hand on his shoulder and he reached out for me and folded me against his chest, hiding his face in my long hair. Idril murmured soothingly to him, and over the next hour we coaxed from him Thorondor’s tidings.

His father; Fingolfin, High King of the Elves, was dead.
Killed in single combat with Morgoth, protecting his lands and his kin. The battle was long, and Fingolfin wounded his enemy even unto his own death, but he lost in the end, crushed under Morgoth’s heel.

And as sorrowed as I was, Turgon’s sorrow was greater. I held him and wept with him, heedless of the heat of the day under the cold of sadness. Near noon Meaglin approached, even as Idril’s pained broken whispers of love and comfort began to buoy her father up from the depth of his grief.

I looked at him, and I fancied I might have seen kindness in his eyes. I told him in low tones of what had happened, and he looked stricken for a moment before his mask slipped into place again. I sent him for Ecthelion, and to spread the news among the Gondolindrim. He went, and I focused my efforts on my mate.

When Ecthelion arrived, his own eyes rimmed in red, Idril and I had gotten Turgon standing, and were leading him along toward the palace, toward Turgon’s haven of peace.

All of Gondolin was in mourning that day.
When Turgon sat unmoving and unspeaking in my arms in his darkened throne room that evening, a messenger came, saying that Thorondor was once again on Gladden Fields, and requesting audience with my King. I dismissed the man and waited.

After a time, Turgon’s sad gray eyes turned to me. "I must go to him." He grated out. I nodded, and standing with him and laying his arm across my shoulders, I supported him as we went, together.

We stood before the great bird, and Thorondor’s eyes were half-lidded and his wings drooped with sadness. Seeing that Turgon could not speak, I did for him, praying that the two kings would forgive my insolence. "My Lord Thorondor. We request that you grant us your speech." The eagle’s golden eyes swiveled to me, and he was silent, regarding me.

He finally deigned to speak. "Morgoth has broken the body, intending to feed it to his wolves. I have borne it up out of Angband and it now rests on the mountain top that looks from the north over Gondolin." And that as all he said, moving off a space before taking flight again.

When the buffeting from his great wings no longer blew our hair, I dared look at Turgon once more. "What do we do now?" I asked him softly.
His eyes met mine, and my heart broke for him anew. He replied simply "We bury him."

I took him up to the afore-mentioned summit, and the Gondolindrim followed after us. We laid a high cairn over the father of our king, as a gift and a labor of love and an expression of our own sorrow for him and with him. And when it was done we all went back down to our city, all those who had helped, some guiding those of us home who could no longer see for weeping.

And Turgon leaned heavily on me, and I bore his weight and took him to our bed in his house and laid him in it. He was as still as death while I undressed him and laid the blankets as he liked, and when I joined him he turned instinctively into me for warmth.

I cried for myself as well as him that night, for I had no father or sister or brother or daughter as he had, and all that he was to me, his family was to me as well. And I feared that I might lose him as he had lost them, and that thought held too much darkness to bear, lest I go mad with despair.

Chapter Nine:

When I woke, he spoke to me without opening his eyes, which were closed in grief. "Hold me. Just hold me." He said. I could do no less. I held him.
We spent the day in bed, for he had no desire to move, and I had no desire to leave him. Another night passed, and it's morning brought hunger to me with it. I rose, and sent for food, and coaxed Turgon to eat. I had begun to itch from the remmants of our last breakfast in bed, and I bathed and took him with me.

He had very little desire to move or act, and none whatsoever to speak, but he trusted me and did whatever I bade him. I told him to get into the tub, and he did so. I washed him, and then told him to get out of the tub, which he also did. I dried and dressed him, and taking him into his room brushed his hair and laid his crown upon his brow, that he might draw strength from it.

Whether he did or not, I could not tell. I then took his hand and walked him to Aredhel's gardens, and sat with him there. Idril joined us, and held him. I was at a loss of what to do for him. I sought out Meaglin, to be sure that all matters of state were carried out appropriately.

There was innuendo and malice in every word he spoke, but I left his counsel knowing two things. One, that Gondolin was in capable, if dark, hands. Two, was that Meaglin hated me.

In the evening light, as I came out to the garden to take Turgon inside, I saw two eagles overhead, bearing riders. I closed my eyes, pausing in the doorway, praying to the Valar for mercy. Idril looked up then, and understood my action. "Take him and set him on his throne, and I will see to what must be done." I instructed her, then looked into Turgon's pain-filled gray eyes. "I cannot shield you from your duty; you must recieve the riders of these eagles." I said to him regretfully. He nodded, and I was moved by his tenacity.

I went down to see to them.
And I met Hurin and Huor.

When I reached the plain, the eagles were already flying away, having had nothing to say to anyone. Two Men stood together, watching me approach. Men! I had never seen or met a Man before them, besides the Easterlings that had passed by my valley now and then in ages long past, and these were not of that people. Both were shorter than I, although one was smaller than the other.

They spoke Sindarin, and I understood them. Hurin was older than Huor, twenty-one, a man among Men according to age; although he later assured me he was not of full stature of most Men, falling on the shorter side. Huor was not grown, and referred to as a boy by his older brother, being only thirteen.

I introduced myself as Glorfindel of the House of the Golden Flower, and bade them to follow me to be presented before the King. They kept thier own counsel, and followed the path I led them along up to the city. The Gondolindrim were defensive of thier city, protective of thier King, but seeing I trusted them and that they held no malice, the people were content to accompany us to Turgon's throne room.

Turgon recieved them well, although Men had never set foot in Gondolin before. I remembered several dreams he had had of Men, and when Hurin said that he was of the House of Hador, I was relieved; for Ulmo had warned nothing but good of them to Turgon. Turgon welcomed them, and gave them quarters in his own house. Hurin recounted to Turgon in detail Dagor Bragollach and his part in it, and soon we knew all of it, from Angfauglith to Ulmo's part in rescuing him along the Sirion.

I was bidden to lead them to thier rooms, and I came to like Hurin's honest assesing glances about himself, and his few practical questions about the nature of things here where they would stay. I told him that he could call for food if he wished, for the hour of the evening meal was past. I did not mention our King's sorrow, but he had known it. I told him of our schedule here, and warned him to be ready in the morn if Turgon should desire to speak with him at greater length.

I had the stewards bring for them clothes, and offered Huor mine and Idril's company for the morrow, if he was not welcome to stay along his brother in the king's counsels. I left them to themselves, and went back for Turgon.

He was with Idril, going up to his chambers, when I met them on the stair. I would have relieved Idril the burden of caring for him, but Turgon laid his palm against my face to stay me. I met his eyes. "You should go and see to your House." He said.

I refused. "My loyalty is greater with you than with them."
"It should not be so. They love you, and are sorrowed and they feel greater sadness in the wake of your neglect. They need your leadership more than I need your strength." He gently put me in my place, reminding me of my responsibilties.

I did not will to leave him, and opened my mouth to argue. Idril lay her fingers on my lips. "Go and do as he bids you, and I will see to him. But come again tomorrow, for the guests Ulmo has sent to comfort my father will need guidance themselves." I nodded, and with a kiss to the brow of she who was as a sister to me, and an embrace for my beloved, I went.

Chapter Ten:

The men of my House were so used to not seeing me, that when I was among them and not with Turgon, they were wary and hesitant. Turgon had been right, I had neglected them badly, and they had suffered for it. I took a meal with them and went to great lengths to earn back thier unfailing trust.
I marveled at thier independency, and was kind to them, staying up late and forsaking my bed for their company. Several of the younger men worked up the nerve and asked me if they might take wives, and I not only allowed it, but encouraged it. My House was a large one, many men had sought me out to pledge themselves to my service, knowing my tale and that I had the favor of the King.

All worked out well, and by the time I had gone to bed I had appointed a regent, in case any harm should befall me, for it was hardly likely that I would ever have sons or daughters. I was woken not an hour later by my steward Amredeth, informing me that Galdor had come to see me.

I was not familiar with the head of the House of the Tree, and wondered at his prescence. I said for him to be let in, and given refreshment if he so desired. I dressed again, and stumbled down to my Hall where he waited.

"Glorfindel." He said after he had greeted me. "I know you are great in the favor of the King and City, and your bonds with him are tight. Great sorrow has befallen him in these last days, and I have heard that he was deeply agrieved. I would speak to you of his sudden guests, Men from the outside, and of his state. Is our King well and hale, fit to deal with these events, or is his Regent given too much lieniency?"

So he too knew the malice of Meaglin, and not just Idril and I. Perhaps Meaglin was not quite as discreet as he ought to be. I suspected at his designs in letting his darker nature be seen, but alas, who was to know the mind of Meaglin; lest it be Idril, and she did not speak of what she saw in her cousin's heart.

I spoke. "I believe he will do well enough, for he is stronger than he seems. The worst danger to his state is past, and he desires to continue in his position; whether to avoid much wieght falling upon his regent I do not know, and cannot guess. He does not see clearly where Meaglin is concerned, but despite his blindness to his sister-son, I feel he has clarity of sight regarding his guests. I trust them, for he has forseen them in dreams sent by Ulmo, and so he has told me in times past. Who else has seen what our King has not?"

Galdor answered "The Lords of other Houses besides you and I have seen him revealed, Rog of the folk of the Hammer of Wrath and Duilin of the Swallow and Ecthelion of the Fountain, and by wise stealth is was done; or he has a greater plot we have yet to see in him."

"It may be he has grown lax in vigilance to decive, or he has developed a plot I have yet to guess. It may be that he is merely grown more clever and stealthy in other ways, and trusts this one to heedlessness to aid his plans. I will watch him, and what I see, you will know."

He nodded, and laid and hand on my shoulder. "You are wiser than you are often given credit, for you hide your brilliance twice as cleverly as Meaglin his hate, and it is always calculated when you show it or show it not."

I smiled a bit then, for I could not resist his charming smile, and the compliment pleased me. "He may yet be wiser than me, and who can tell until the end? I will watch him as I can, and as I have promised, I will do. If I see his devisions I shall reveal them, that they may not succeed, for Meaglin must not prevail; while Turgon lives or after."

"You are truly an asset to him, I see why he keeps you at hand. For one who lacks the benefit of being raised among a people, and only learned to speak after you came here not so long ago, you are quick of wit and keen of mind in ways that one could never expect. Should you ever turn against him, pray that it not be so, I would fear that all would fall before your mighty hand."

"I shall never turn against him, for I take no pleasure in either leadership or royalty, aiding where I can and when I can, and hoping that my efforts be timely."

"For one who has never tasted battle Glorfindel, I think I would be honored to stand beside you in a fight." It was high praise, indeed, especially from him; for the House of the Tree was a great house, and it's leader perhaps second only in heart to Turgon himself.

"And I would be glad to stand with thee, that your valor might overcome my fear, Galdor, but let there be peace all there can and will be, and let us talk no more of war and battles this day, for I think that they will come all to soon." Given the events of the world outside, it was the truth.

"Then I will say farewell, and keep you from your bed no longer, for we both have the business of the city come morning." He rose, and I rose with him, taking his forearm in farewell.

"May your House prosper and be blessed, Galdor."

"May all greatness come to the sons of your line, Glorfindel."

I released him, and he left.

I found Amredeth asleep by the stair as I made my way from the firelit Hall in the dark by stumbling over him. I excused him from my service this night, for the man was tired and only too glad to go to his bed. When my eyes adjusted to the dark in the corridor, I went up the stairs and fell into my bed, still dressed.