Warm and Toasty by Dagstjarna  

That day Finrod was tucked deep in the libraries of Nargothrond, with their stained glass windows and soft golden lanterns, surrounded by a heap of books. Ever since he was very young, he had always had some question no one seemed to be able to answer, and books were filled with information he could scrap together into answers that inspired even more questions. Today he had woken up to a red berry-bright dawn, and began wondering why some dawns were redder than others. So, he snuck off to the library to see if he could find out. By noontime he had quite forgotten his initial question, and was now reading about the different calls of frog species, and getting curious about what vernal pools were. It was quiet but for the occasional shuffle of someone passing among the shelves, and a sigh from his cat friend, a little calico napping on the table at his elbow. 

So far the autumn had been cheerful and bright, but that day it was nasty cold, wet and dreary with a damp chill that seemed to stick to one’s bones. Celegorm came after awhile to sink down beside Finrod, cold radiating off of him, raindrops still clinging to his eyelashes and sparkling silver in his hair. Dark circles shadowed his eyes. 

“You look very comfortable,” he said to Finrod, bundled up in a blanket as he was. 

“I am!” Finrod answered brightly. “You look quite miserable. Let’s go find something hot to eat.” 

They went down to the kitchens, which were bustling as usual, and they found the head cook was just whipping up a thick steamy soup of carrots, and leeks, and lentils. She gave them wooden bowls of it to sit with by the fire. 

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