By Vanessa Perry (alias Elwen)
Word Count: 872
Rating: G
Summary: Elrond and Celebrian welcome dwarves to Rivendell, somewhat begrudgingly on Elrond’s part.
Damn!” Elrond glared at the comb in his hand, then doggedly wielded it again, tugging hard at his wet hair. His wife only smiled into her book.
“Remind me again why we invited the dwarves to visit instead of sending an envoy to them?” he demanded between winces. A more inventive expletive shocked the usually peaceful air of their chamber; this one in perfectly accented dwarvish.
Celebrian marked her place and closed the book. Crossing their private chamber in a whisper of silks she came to stand behind her husband, where he sat at the dresser. Her open hand slipped in front of Elrond’s face. “Give me that comb before you make yourself bald,” she demanded.
In response Elrond only scowled at her in the mirror and clutched the comb tighter. “No. If I cannot inflict pain on them I need to inflict it on someone,” he growled stubbornly.
Celebrian giggled even as she pried his fingers loose and claimed the offending item. “I must confess that some of them do look in need of a good comb,” she replied lightly as she straightened the towel about his shoulders.
Nipping the comb between her teeth . . . she had decided not to lay it down for fear her husband would snatch it back . . . Celebrian poured a few drops of oil from a crystal bottle into her palm. As she circled her hands together the warm, woody scent of sandalwood enveloped them both.
Taking a deep breath, Elrond tried to relax his shoulders as his soul mate took handfuls of midnight hair and applied a thin film of oil to the tangled mess. Then he sighed in pleasure as the pads of her fingers began to massage soothing circles on his scalp.
“Glavin has the remains of a bird nest in his beard.” He commented. ” I did not care to examine it too closely but I am sure it was there. And it is easy to see why they travel light. They could probably dine for weeks on the remnants of previous meals trapped in those beards,” Elrond observed a little peevishly.
Celebrian pressed firmly on a particularly tense ligament at the base of her husband’ skull and he obliged her with an, “Ouch!”
Removing the comb from her mouth, Celebrian began to work gently at the ends of the luxurious hair. “Serves you right,” she admonished. “Most of them are very clean. I saw four of them combing and braiding each other’s hair yesterday.” Her eyes sparkled. “Whilst they were bathing in the blue fountain.”
Instantly, Celebrian felt her husband’s neck tense again. “Please tell me they did not chip the lapis lazuli tiles.”
She rapped him smartly on the top of his head with the comb. “I am sure they did not,” she asserted firmly. Then added, with a mischievous wink at him in the mirror, “But I think the fish were a little traumatised.”
Finally, Elrond smiled and, satisfied, Celebrian began to work a little higher, gently teasing out the knots.
Elrond sat passively. “The last party caught and cooked all the fish. We had to restock. Remind me again why we allow them into the valley. They seem to cause chaos whenever they visit.”
In response his wife waggled his intricately shaped fillet in front of his face. “Mithril. You know as well as I that The Lonely Mountain is one of the few places it is mined. And they were heading west to trade along the Great East Road. It would have been impolite not to have offered them respite on their journey. And well you know it,” she chided, replacing the fillet on its cushion. “You are only annoyed because they drive a hard bargain.”
“Well . . . I happen to like Elrianna’s new tapestry. I had hoped to hang it in our private sitting room.” Did Celebrian just hear her husband whine? Here was a side he did not reveal to the outside world and she loved him all the more for sharing it only with her.
She began to section off strands on his crown, deftly plaiting and weaving. “Well, now it will grace someone else’s sitting room. And that view of our summer garden will be a breath of fresh air in a cave, where sun is rarely seen. It will be much appreciated I am certain.”
The gentle touch of his wife’s fingers, her soft voice, the scent of sandalwood worked their magic and Elrond finally relaxed completely . . . the high lord of Imladris, soft as butter in his lady’s hands.
“I suppose I should not begrudge them the pleasure of at least looking at the image of a sunlit garden. And we have the original.”
“That is much better,” Celebrian replied with satisfaction as she set down the comb and bent to kiss the top of her husband’s head. And our garden will flourish again in spring.”
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” There was a loud splash beyond their balcony, followed by even louder and raucous laughter.
Celebrian hid her laughter behind her hand as Elrond dropped his head and sighed. “Not the silver fountain. I have just had it cleaned.”