Disclaimer: Made purely for fun, not profit. Belongs to Tolkien. And JKR, but you can't really tell I'm borrowing from her this time.

Erestor was always entertaining to watch. She was an expert at both concealing and revealing her emotions, and used it to good cause. It was a weapon, finely honed over centuries. This alone made her noteworthy. It was not the only thing that made Erestor incredibly fascinating to the Lady of Light. They were physically almost opposites. While Galadriel herself was tall, gold and silver intertwining her hair, Erestor was short (at least for an elf, or was it just the company she kept?) with black hair of a hue darker than almost any other in recall. Galadriel was the daughter of nobility, 'King' and 'Prince' the title for every other male relative, a true child of the Calaquendi. Erestor brought to mind certain of the elves of Doriath, quick and clever, dark and silent as shadows. Learned of the evils of the world, but less likely to rub their sufferings in your face. Vigorously, in the case of certain Noldor.

Galadriel wrenched her mind back on track. Watching Erestor was very interesting today, because she was being rather obvious. The elf who was droning on and on was incredibly boring (yéni had passed, and still he repeated himself verbatim), and no one was paying much attention. Erestor was trading notes with Elrond and making subtle faces at Haldir, who stood in the shadow of a pillar. She could sense that they were speaking mind to mind, but the conversation itself stayed out of her curious reach.

Which was another point about Erestor. Not often, but occasionally she did something rather remarkable, and then pretended it had not happened. She had brought it up with Elrond, who merely blinked slowly at her before saying he hadn't a clue what she spoke of, which meant of course that he knew but didn't think she needed to know, at least not from him. Which was itself rather significant, because normally he would tell her just enough to let her know it wasn't her business and let it go.

The fact that he had done something quite different left her wondering if he was saying 'Stay away' or 'Ask her yourself'. Very politely, of course. He was quite adept at being rude in the nicest way possible. It was actually an achievement to notice.

Thinking it over, Galadriel decided that he meant for her to find out herself. His actual intention was no the point here, if he truly wanted Erestor left alone, then he shouldn't have left things open to interpretation.

Galadriel subtly studied the seneschal, and felt a streak of jealousy as she watched Erestor exchange yet another note with Elrond, one which undoubtedly had nothing to do with wheat or boots or dwarven diplomacy or whatever it was the idiot was still monologuing about. She thought about asking Elrond, but felt it a point of pride not to ask. Even as her boredom would have her begging for relief- and yes she was aware that she was one of the oldest beings currently living on Arda, and yes she remembered countless lectures from brothers and fathers and grandfathers about patience (hypocrites all) but honestly, she could be doing something useful. Patience was all well and good as long as there was a point at the end of it all, but as it stood nothing much was getting accomplished, other than allowing her time to watch Erestor.

It was nice to know that someone else thought on the same line as herself about the proper use of time. Erestor seemed of one mind on the topic, and Galadriel dared guess that many of the 'notes' Erestor took during the wondrously informative speeches had very little, if anything, to do with topics addressed.

Suddenly, they were moving and talking about not boring things and Haldir was standing at a carefully proper distance but smiling subtly at Erestor. Which was another point, because Haldir did not smile and especially not where just anyone could see him but there he was. Granted, it took at least a century to be capable of reading his facial ticks but still. It was almost as though Erestor was trying to garner attention, in a subtle way.

"Father!" Ah, and here came the next series of entertainment. Erestor ducked behind a series of notes and a pillar, and began edging her way towards the door. "Erestor! There you are!"

It was vastly amusing to watch Erestor, the primary fear of anyone who dared oppose her intelligence in council, trade, or Imladris running, tamer of twins, warriors, and kitchen staff alike, attempt to flee that which others sought: Arwen Undómiel.

Most likely, this fear was rooted in their first real meeting a week prior. Despite previous visits, they had somehow managed to almost completely avoid each other. When they did actually meet, it was magnificent. Arwen decided that despite being the younger, she had a solemn duty to guide her new apprentice in proper appearance. She quickly managed to terrify Erestor by making friends with the Renegade Tailor (who did have a name, but had taken a liking to the title) and somehow learning Erestor's work schedule and free time habits. Haldir of course was dreadfully conflicted, but rather surprisingly assisted Erestor in her crusade to Avoid Arwen Until She Leaves. Which just made another tick in her book of Interesting Erestor. Haldir never chose anyone over Arwen except perhaps Galadriel when the situation called for it.

Galadriel watched as Arwen managed to pull Erestor (forcibly, it seemed) out the door, followed by a rather flustered looking Haldir and a bemused Glorfindel.

"You are plotting, and it does not give me any comfort." And there was Elrond at her elbow. She would never admit it, but he was the one person who perpetually managed to sneak up on her.

"Then it is well I am not in charge of you or your comfort. Indeed, as your guest I believe it is rather the other way around, and watching my dear granddaughter play doll suits me well." Elrond sighed, and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose. A rather Erestor-like thing to do. Or was he the originator of the habit? Galadriel tried to recall Elrond's younger years.

"At any rate, please do not torment my right hand overmuch. I have tried to protect her from Arwen's...enthusiasm, but it does not help that you encourage her." Galadriel didn't even bother pretending offence.

"It will not kill her to spend some time with someone as lively as your lovely daughter." Elrond shook his head, seeming rather amused.

"True, but that is Glorfindel's office. And Lindir's as well, I should add. Arwen may be just a bit too much when included with those." They froze their conversation when a rather harried looking Erestor leapt through the windows. Their third floor windows. She collapsed gracefully in a chair. Noticing the stares of her Elders, she smoothed her hair and robes.

"If they had not intended people to enter that way, they should not have made the trees so easy to climb, nor the windows so wide."

So:Bad News. I won't really have much (if any) access to until January, so the rest of this story is going to be extremely compact and not the longer fic I had planned. But I wanted to leave you guys with something. Probably on 1-2 more chappies, but I promised and felt bad about my last long unintentional hiatus.

If I haven't started posting stuff again by the 18th of January, feel free to poke me.

Setsuna1415, I'm sorry it took so long and all you're getting is rushed, but better some than none? *Nervous laughter*