Do Not Go Gentle

Yet Another Luncheon

The next morning I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. If I wasn't careful, I probably would have been able to fly away from Imladris and escape from all my doubts and worries for good.

But I had a quest to complete in Arda, and even though I didn't know what it was going to entail, I wasn't going to give up that easily.

I had too many friends here to give up on them.

The last thing I really remember from yesterday was falling asleep in Glorfindel's embrace. I must have been really exhausted- I probably slept for nearly 16 hours if my knowledge of timekeeping in this world is correct.

But that's not exactly a skill I've been able to uptake, so I would have to see if Elrond could find me a watch or something like one.

"Good morning, Persie," Gerda's voice chirped from the doorway as she let herself in my room.

I sat up in my bed and wiped the tiredness from my eyes. "Morning, Gerds. How was your day yesterday?"

Gerda, the beautiful brunette maiden, walked toward me with her hair tied back in a low bun and wearing a blue dress with a white smock. She looked like she could have been the elven version of a brunette Cinderella without the Wicked Step Mother.

And of course, without the cinders all over her.

"I went to visit my parents with Geren," she told me. "It was nice to visit them, I had not seen them for some time."

"They don't live in Imladris?"

Gerda shook her head. "They live a few leagues outside of Imladris's borders. It is far enough that Geren and I needed horses to get there and back within the day."

I nodded. "Did you have a good time with your family?"

"I find myself missing them more and more now that I had just seen them," she said. "It was nice to eat the food my Nana made, and hear the stories Ada tells again."

I thought back to when my mom would make the two of us dinner, and the funny stories we would share with each other while trying not to laugh into our drinks. It was nice to think of the woman my mother was, not what happened to her.

"Are you well, mellon nin?"

I snapped my gaze up to look at Gerda, who now had moved to the side of my bed warily. "I'm still a bit tired," I admitted. I thought that if I looked half as tired as I felt, she would be able to tell that I lied if I tried to hide it. "I might need to rest a little this morning."

"I thought there was something odd happening when Lord Glorfindel brought you back all tear-stricken and unconscious yesterday evening," Gerda revealed, sitting down on the bed with practiced poise. "Did he do something to upset you? I was awfully worried that something bad happened and earlier you were so excited..."

I shook my head, stopping her quickened pace. "No, I actually had a wonderful time," I said. "We just talked about what happened with the darkness that tried to suck my soul out of me. It wasn't a fun conversation, but it needed to happen."

She didn't look to be completely convinced. "If you say so."

I rolled my eyes and fell back against my pillows with a sigh. "It has to do with all of these scars," I told her, rolling up my puffy sleeves of the sleep tunic I wore, showing her all of the white lines that marked my tan skin. "That's why it wasn't fun. I dreamt of it too, last night. That wasn't fun either."

Gerda's face warped into worry. "Why is reliving that necessary? Did Lord Glorfindel force you to do this?"

I let my arms drop down at my sides. "Look, Gerds, I had to get some things off my chest that I haven't told anyone. Glorfindel understood so it was nice to talk to someone who had been through some tough stuff, too."