And in darkness, light by AdmirableMonster  

In these days and at this time

Midnight had passed him by some time ago; Erestor was still working on the accounts.  This was not needed, and indeed Elrond would have been quite annoyed if he had known.  But Glorfindel was out on patrol, and Erestor never slept well when Glorfindel was gone.  Or vice versa, unfortunately, but every so often they both suffered a fit of madness and decided that surely, this time, they’d be all right for a few days.  They did always make it through those periods, even if it was always worse every time than they thought it would be.

He did not notice the light approaching until the door creaked open and the sudden brightness of a Fëanorian lantern flooded the room.  Erestor jumped and swore.

Celebrían stood there, lantern raised, her silver curls cascading freely across her shoulders. Her eyes were red, and her nose was swollen.  “Oh,” she said.  “It’s you.”

Erestor and Elrond’s wife shared a mutual and guarded respect for one another.  At one point, Celebrían had believed Erestor to be a romantic rival—Erestor was still unable to fathom why—and the jealousy had driven something of a wedge between them.  It was funny now to contemplate, since Erestor did not think he could ever have even imagined Elrond as a romantic object—a penitence, yes, a youthful lord, even, perhaps, a friend, but a potential romance? no.  And then there was the not-inconsiderably amusing fact that Elrond had been sleeping with Ereinion at the time.  But somehow Celebrían had never been jealous of that.  Well, it was hard to be jealous of Ereinion—had been hard.

“I’m sorry,” Celebrían said.  “That was rude.”

“Rudeness does not bother me,” Erestor told her.  “Can you not sleep either?” 

She shook her head.  “Elrond fell asleep in his chair.  I don’t think he slept last night, and I don’t want to disturb him.  But the bed is so empty.”

“I know the feeling,” Erestor told her, trying to sound sympathetic rather than bleak.  Celebrían gave him a faint smile in a way that suggested he had not been entirely successful.

Perching herself on the desk, she kicked her legs pensively, more like an adolescent than a lady Elf.  “It hurts,” she said fiercely after a moment.  “They say he will be reborn in Aman—Glorfindel came back, after all, but…but…”

“But he wasn’t exactly happy about that,” Erestor said thinly.  “It hurts to lose someone, Lady Celebrían.”

“We’re not friends,” she snapped.  “I don’t need you to comfort me.”

“Duly noted.”  He gave her a slight, respectful tilt of the head.  “But you did start the conversation.  What do you want?”

She growled, perhaps frustrated that he had scored a point.  “I don’t know,” she said.  “I want Ereinion.  I want to truly believe that I’ll see him again.  But—” She bit the inside of her lip.  “Elrond is not the only one who is peredhil,” she said, not meeting Erestor’s gaze.  “I don’t know.  I don’t know.”

Erestor thought about what it would be like to lose Glorfindel, even in the normal course of things, and shivered a little.  There were rumors about Gil-Galad, of course.  But Erestor had not been at Himring when he was first fostered, and he did not know how true any of them were.  It sounded like a situation more complex even than Elrond’s.

“Well, I can’t help you with any of that,” he said.

Celebrían made a little frustrated noise.  “I want to sleep,” she said plaintively.  “I can’t cry anymore, and I don’t want to scream and break things.  I’m too tired.”

Erestor waved his hand at the little cot in the corner.  “I often use that when Glorfindel is away and I can only sleep in fits and bursts in between distractions,” he said.  “You’re welcome to it.  Sometimes it’s easier to sleep if you have someone awake in the room with you.”

“Ugh,” said Celebrían.  She slipped off the desk and padded over to the cot, then curled up on her side with her knees into her chest.  “I won’t sleep,” she said.

He shrugged.  “You can still use it, I don’t care.”

When he looked up from the accounts again, she was asleep after all.  Sometimes all you could do was take care of each moment as it came.  And Glorfindel, at least, would be back soon.