The minstrel looked at him in silent entreaty as he tried to juggle his instrument case, two tall stools and a music stand, causing the Peredhel to rush over to him and lend a helping hand.
" Thank you, my Lord. If you would follow me, we can return these things to the storage room."
Lindir led Elrond to a cleverly concealed doorway at the far end of the Hall of Fire. Inside the room, an assortment of items were neatly stacked along the walls. Everything from extra chairs, lap throws and musical implements, to a pile of floor cushions that looked, to the suddently uncomfortably warm Lord, like one big, inviting bed. They stopped beside it and Lindir put away the music stand and instrument case, before taking the stools from the Lord's hands and setting them atop the others.
Elrond knew that he had to take his leave of the room immediately, lest he commit the unpardonable act of foisting his attentions on the poor, unsuspecting minstrel before him.
" If there is no further need..." He began.
" But there is." Lindir interrupted.
And then the poor, unsuspecting minstrel snaked his arms around the shocked Lord's neck and proceeded to devour his mouth with a searing kiss. Elrond's hands lifted to clamp on Lindir's shoulders as if to push the elf away, only to pause there in a moment of raw indecision. Then those hands slid around to the minstrel's waist and Elrond crushed Lindir's body to him, returning the kiss with a desperate need.
Their moans of desire filled the room as they frantically tore at each other's robes, their fingers grown clumsy with mindless ardor. With their garments still half-off their bodies, the two elves staggered back until they fell into the thick pile of cushions. There, they continued kissing, consuming one another as if their lips were an offering of luscious fruit, while their hands ran feverishly over newly-exposed flesh. Then Lindir broke away, sliding down the cushions as Elrond, propping himself up on his elbows, looked at him in confusion.
Hooded, sea-green eyes stared back at him for a moment, then slid shut as Lindir engulfed Elrond's hard cock with his mouth. The Lord's elbows gave way and he fell, throwing his head back, as a ragged groan of pleasure tore from his throat. He tangled his fingers in Lindir's white hair and begun thrusting, with total abandon, into that moist, sucking heat as his mind became oblivious to all but the rapidly-approaching maelstrom about to overtake his loins. He could not even form the words to call out a warning as he felt himself explode inside the minstrel's eager mouth. His back arched and he uttered a hoarse scream that bespoke of the incredible release he was experiencing. It seemed to go on forever, this pleasure, as Elrond's body convulsed with each jet of pearly fluid that left his body.
Until at last, it was over.
The Lord laid limply upon the cushions, drained, as tears fell copiously from the corners of his eyes. He did not know if he was crying from the sheer force of this long-denied release, or from the troubles come lately to his heart, or from the feeling that he had just betrayed his beloved Lady, no matter that she had bid him to seek this very thing. Perhaps, he was even crying from guilt at his rough use of the minstrel's mouth.
As if sensing the Lord's troubled thoughts, Lindir moved back up, placing one elegant hand upon Elrond's well-defined chest. Grey eyes turned to look at him, widening as they took in the sight of the minstrel's mussed hair and swollen lips.
" Oh! Lindir...Forgive me." Elrond said, his voice raw.
Those sea-green eyes looked at him, gently.
" Do you remember Lasiel, my Lord?." he asked.
Taken completely aback by the question, Elrond could only nod his head in affirmative.
Lasiel had been Celebrian's handmaiden and close friend, come with her from Lothlorien after the Lady had wed Elrond. When Celebrian had taken her sad leave of Arda, Lasiel had sailed with her, unwilling to let her friend and mistress make the journey alone.
" Three days before she accompanied the Lady Celebrian to the far shores, Lasiel and I spoke our troth and bonded, though we both knew that my time to leave Arda had not yet come." Lindir said. Then his voice softened as he continued.
" As your Lady bid you, my Lasiel also bid me to take a lover and ease my pain until we could be reunited again. But like you, my Lord, I have never been able to bear the thought of laying with another elleth and I could not chance the possibility of unwittingly snaring an ellon's heart, just to sate my body's needs. So I did nothing. Yet these last centuries have been ones of nigh unbearable loneliness, with only my music for surease."
The Lord and the minstrel locked gazes in a long moment of perfect understanding. Then Lindir spoke again.
" I do not offer my heart, for like yours, it is already taken and thus, there is no danger of unrequited love. I offer only the simple comfort of touch, along with the gift of pleasurable release."
As Elrond looked at those earnest sea-green eyes, Galadriel's voice echoed in his mind.
{ Do not deny this gift, Earendilion. It is one my daughter wished for you to have... }
Elrond smiled.
" I accept this wondrous gift, mellon." He said, reaching out to cup the minstrel's face, tenderly.
" Let us go seek my chambers, so I may return it in kind."
The two very disheveled elves somehow managed to reach Elrond's spacious quarters without being seen.
Once there, they disposed of their clothing completely before falling onto the Lord's large bed, where they set about exploring each other at leisure.
Both were thankful for the fact that the bodies they touched did not recall the physical forms of their beloved spouses. And because of that, both were free to finally fulfill the parting wishes of two exceptional elleths, who loved them and would begrudge them not.
Far from Imladris two other bodies lay entwined, having just finished their own pleasurable explorations. They were laying not upon a bed, but upon thick grass beneath the twinkling canopy of the night-sky.
Erestor kissed the top of the dark-honey curls that rested on his shoulder, savoring the feel of Ja-zel's skin against his own. One of her legs draped over his and she snuggled closer as his free hand came to rest atop the one she had placed on his chest.
Earlier that day, they had skirted around the large clearing where Ja-zel had first encountered the twins. Their nostrils had twitched distastefully as they caught the stench of the orcs' rotting corpses. Erestor had not been able to supress a growl of fury at knowing how close the Peredhel brothers had come to losing their lives there as well.
As he thought back on that, Erestor placed another kiss upon his mate's hair.
" Did I thank you for saving the twin's lives, beloved?." He asked.
Ja-zel turned her head to look up at him, her eyes luminous.
" The very discovery of you is a form of thanks that far surpasses any I could have possibly been given. You are a priceless gift."
" Mmm..." Erestor cocked a playful eyebrow down at her. " Apparently no one bothered to inform you that I am an intractable, coldhearted; self-righteous, unfeeling; perfectionist who will most likely be an utter horror to live with..."
Ja-zel threw her head back and laughed.
" perfect!." She purred.
Erestor was about to let go with a laugh of his own, when both of their ears picked up on the muffled noise of swords clashing in the distance.
" That is not a welcomed sound." Erestor said.
They came apart as their bodies rippled into the change. Immediately, the two Lyons sped off in the direction of the battle. A short time later, they came upon a lone human, engaged in furious struggle against a band of orcs. To Ja-zel, the sight was an eerie replay of the one she had come upon but days earlier. But for Erestor, the scene took on a horriying twist.
{ Estel! }
TBC...