Hello Readers! I am glad to be back on fanfiction after a 2-year break.

I am publishing today the story I had promised to many, a Glorfindel version of the Prophecy.

The main original characters are similar, although I promise that I created a story that is very different from the Haldir and Legolas versions. The creation process was lengthy, but most of the story is already written by now.

It is not necessary to have read the other versions to follow the Glorfindel one as I give the necessary background. I received a lot of comments from people who like to compare the versions and I would like to get your feedback on this new angle of the prophecy, now happening in Imladris with our favorite reborn elf.

I hope you will enjoy this new journey with me!

Annielle

The Prophecy - the Glorfindel Edition by Annielle

Summary: There is an old prophecy about the rebirth of elven heroes uniting Elves and Men to defeat Sauron once and for all. And Lord Elrond is willing to go to great lengths to ensure that it will take place in his realm, between his captain and the elleth from another world. Will Glorfindel willingly participate in this plan?

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings and any of its characters.

Warnings: Alternate Universe, some content not suitable for minors.

When the fiery storm and the elven champion meet,

the Halls of Mandos will release the fëar of the great

Twin warriors, new blood in elven lines

Reborn legends, kings and prince, hope in dark times

For in Men the Eldar must have faith

And unite to accomplish a glorious feat

before they sail to the Undying Lands

Chapter 1 - Deception

Year 2920 of the Third Age

They had taken many precautions to ensure absolute secrecy. The meeting was being held on the highest terrace of Imladris, one that could only be accessed by a long, tortuous stairway. Three guards were posted at the bottom, ensuring no one would climb the stairs, whether inadvertently or on purpose. The melody of the waterfalls was covering the voices of the elves and prevented the prying into their private business.

Elrond, lord of Imladris, was meeting with Mithrandir and his closest counselors. Secrecy was necessary since their allies could very well declare war for what he was about to do. The subject of the mysterious discussion was the centuries-old prophecy the wizard had found years before in the library of Minas Tirith. Mithrandir had shared it with the rulers of Lothlorien and the lord of Imladris, and Lady Galadriel had looked in her mirror for many long years before the Valar sent her images that would help them initiate the fulfillment of the prophecy.

"The woman chosen by the Valar is from a different world. She will give birth to the reborn elves after she becomes the mate of an elven champion. Three ellyn have appeared in Galadriel's mirror. Prince Legolas of Greenwood, Haldir, Marchwarden of Lothlorien, and Glorfindel," Elrond finished, nodding to the Lord of the Golden Flower, a reborn elf who had died during the fall of Gondolin. He had been tasked by the Valar to protect Elrond's family ans since then, Glorfindel was the captain of Imladris, a respected warrior spending most of his time at the borders of the realm, defending it against the bands of orcs that were attacking them regularly.

"Galadriel wishes to organize a council between our realms and Greenwood, to choose the champion who will marry the naneth of the reborn elflings. The meeting should take place within a year. I suggest that we skip the meeting altogether."

Glorfindel watched his lord with curiosity. "I thought you wanted these elflings to be reborn here." Truth be told, Glorfindel was not very enthusiastic at the thought, but he was open to the idea of having a companion after living in solitude for millennia.

"Exactly my point," Elrond replied with boldness.

"Lord Elrond and I think that Imladris must not miss the opportunity of having the elflings in Imladris," Erestor stated. "We believe we should get the woman in her world, by ourselves, and bring her here. Then, Glorfindel could bind with her before the council takes place."

Glorfindel had been expecting many things, but certainly not this. Mithrandir did not look surprised, so he assumed that Lord Elrond had had this conversation with the wizard before then. In fact, it looked like he was the only one who was hearing about this plan for the first time during this meeting.

"I cannot imagine Lady Galadriel being happy with you if you were to proceed as you intend," he eventually said.

Elrond nodded. Glorfindel was right, his in-laws would be furious if he were to take advantage of the knowledge they had shared with him and beat them to the prize. "I am willing to face the consequences."

"What makes you think that Lady Galadriel is not already aware? That she is not watching this meeting in her mirror as we speak?"

"I am... blinding her," Mithrandir said with unease. "For now. Until we make a decision."

"Why would a wizard take such a stand? Why would you risk your good relationship with Lothlorien in order to help my lord?" Glorfindel asked.

"In Greenwood, King Thranduil would use the woman to his advantage. We would virtually never see the elflings, and we could forget about their presence uniting the elves and mortals of all realms," the wizard reasoned out loud.

"True, but it would not be the case with Lothlorien. You know this," he insisted, glaring at the wizard.

"Yes, you are right. But I feel that Imladris would truly be the best realm for them. Arathorn was raised here like his forefathers, and I cannot imagine anything better to unite Men and Elves than having these elflings be in contact with the Dunedain on a regular basis. It would be the first link, the starting point in the creation of an alliance stronger than under the reign of Ereinion Gil-galad."

Glorfindel stood. "My lords, I perfectly understand your motives," he stated with relative calm and extreme politeness. "But out of fairness for my fellow champions, Haldir and Prince Legolas, whom I respect tremendously, I do not wish to be part of this decision or its execution. Please keep me out of it. I should either travel with you for the council sometime this year... or work with you to alleviate the consequences of any other decision you may take."

He bowed to Lord Elrond and left the terrace. They listened to his steps as he went down the staircase.

"He reacted exactly as I had predicted," Erestor said with a sigh, once Glorfindel was out of earshot. "I wish it had been otherwise. He does not seem too enthused by the prospect of binding with the woman of the prophecy."

"He never met her," Elrond reminded him. "An ellon of such wisdom will never throw himself lightly into a marriage of convenience."

"Galadriel is certain that regardless of the path chosen for that woman, she and her mate will be in love. It will not be a marriage of convenience. The thought is abhorrent to anyone with elven blood since the disaster that was King Thranduil's binding!"

"For Glorfindel, it is a marriage of convenience," Lindir sighed. "I wish he had approved our plan. It means that we have to figure out how to bring the woman back here by ourselves. Without Glorfindel's help, it will be a difficult task."

"I already know how to locate her. She lives in a world that I visited a few times in the past on Valar business. It is not unknown to me. I even speak her language a little, which can only help us," Mithrandir informed them. "But I will need someone with me."

"Your sons?" Erestor asked the lord of Imladris.

"No. They are at the borders until the end of the month. Furthermore, they would not be able to keep Arwen out of the secret, and Galadriel would somehow know about it by channeling the thoughts of one of my children. No, I will have to go with Mithrandir."

"When are we leaving?" the wizard inquired.

"Glorfindel is leaving for the borders tomorrow and will be back in two weeks. If we leave the day after tomorrow, the woman will have plenty of time to settle here. She can welcome him upon his return, and we will see from there."

"Are you sure that she will fall into his arms so easily?" Lindir asked. After all, Glorfindel was very popular with the Imladris ladies, but did not have a known lover. Some said it was because he had grown tired of meaningless relationships, not that the captain had confided in anyone on this subject.

"If Glorfindel cannot bring her to his bed, there is no hope for the other ellyn," Erestor stated. The reborn captain of the guard was mysterious, incredibly handsome with his golden locks in a realm full of dark-haired Noldor. His lethalness in combat was also very attractive to the single ladies of Imladris.

"What of her children?" Mithrandir challenged. The woman in question, in her early thirties, had two children and was currently without a mate. In her world, marriages were broken very easily, with husbands and wives parting ways without ever seeing each other again if children had not been born. The wizard knew that separating a mother from her children was not a decision to be taken lightly, especially if they had no father. In fact, he was convinced that Galadriel had planned all along to bring her children with her to ease her adaptation. The wizard was not so certain that Elrond would be as welcoming. After all, these children were not part of the prophecy.

"They will have to remain there," Elrond sighed. "The Valar know how I hate doing this. But we received information that only she would be granted immortality. The Valar never indicated that her children would also receive such a gift. They would be unhappy in Imladris, surrounded by elves and their now immortal mother while they grow old and never find a companion. It would be best if they remained in their world with the rest of their family."

Mithrandir nodded. Elrond's reasoning also made sense. Only the future would tell if it had been the right decision.

"Then let us plan. We must be ready in two days."

OoOoO

Two weeks later, Glorfindel came back from the northern border with a few warriors. As he led his stallion towards the stables, he noticed the sons of Elrond, who were following him on foot. His former pupils had become deadly warriors under his guidance, and he was very fond of them, even if he rarely showed it. Glorfindel was an ellon with absolute control over his emotions, and only the people who knew him intimately had learned how to read him and received more than the strictest of politeness. Elladan and Elrohir were two of them.

They reached him as he was guiding his warhorse in his usual stall.

"Lord Glorfindel, we are glad to see you came back so early," Elladan said.

"There was no orc activity reported by our scouts. It was very quiet at the borders."

"We are glad to hear that," Elrohir replied. "I wish I could say the same about our fair city."

"What happened?"

"Our adar and Mithrandir... they went to a different world to bring back the woman of the prophecy."

Glorfindel closed his eyes, very annoyed. So they had disregarded his advice and had brought back the stranger that they all expected him to bind himself to.

"Did you know they were planning to do that?" Elrohir asked.

"I had hoped I had convinced them otherwise," he sighed. He turned around to face them. "So? How is she?" The twins had come back from the borders a few days earlier. Surely, they would have seen her by now.

"You see... this is the problem my adar did not anticipate. She spent most of her time since her arrival... in the dungeons," Elrohir said, almost gleefully.

"In the dungeons? Why?"

"You should start from the beginning," Elladan chided his twin brother. "They literally went to her world and dragged her back through a portal. The minute she arrived here, she fell unconscious and started a transformation to become half-elven. It lasted three days. She became immortal, with some elven features she did not have before."

"As per Arwen, she now has slightly pointy ears, and her eternal light shines through her skin..." Elrohir continued.

"Interesting," Glorfindel mused. "I certainly did not expect the Valar to physically change her."

"And then... she woke," Elrohir grinned. "Arwen said the woman was not described as a fiery storm lightly in the prophecy. She was... outraged, violent. Screaming in her own language, that Mithrandir happens to understand a little, demanding to be brought back to her home immediately. She half-destroyed the healing rooms before guards were able to control her!"

"She spent a week in the dungeons, barely eating and drinking. Arwen was able to communicate with her a little, and convinced her that we are not evil. She started eating since then. But she is going through fits of anger and despair..." Elladan added darkly.

"This is a mess. They should have let Lady Galadriel take care of this. Where is the woman right now?"

"She is in a room being guarded at every hour of the day. She tried to escape a few times already, Adar had to place guards under her balcony too."

"I have to see your adar. This is folly. We cannot keep this poor soul trapped here forever. She will fade!"

"He is in his study. Mithrandir needs to leave soon, and they are trying to determine what the next course of action should be. Erestor, Lindir and Arwen are with them."

"Arwen is there? Good. She might bring some feminine insight that Erestor and Lindir certainly do not have! Are you coming with me?"

"Of course! We would never miss this! This has been the best distraction in a long time," Elrohir cried.

Glorfindel glared at his lieutenant.

"What Elrohir truly means," Elladan stated, ever the diplomat, "is that we are facing a challenge that will be interesting to resolve."

"Oh, I am sure this is what he truly meant," Glorfindel icily replied. The difference in maturity of the twins always astounded him. Elladan, his father's heir, was being trained to become the next lord of Imladris, while Elrohir was being groomed to become the captain once Glorfindel left Middle Earth.

They knocked on the door of Elrond's study and entered as soon as permission was granted. They sat and were quickly informed of the most recent events, after Elladan had confirmed having updated Glorfindel on the arrival and first contacts with the woman of the prophecy.

"She is not adapting well at all, Glorfindel," Elrond sighed regretfully.

"The change was rather... abrupt for her. She was simply dragged here and expected to comply to your plans, if I was informed correctly," Glorfindel stated.

"That is the case," Erestor confirmed with a healthy dose of guilt. "We did not expect her to react that way. She is not like the women of Middle Earth. She is nothing like the Dunedain women, or even the women of Rohan or Gondor."

"Her world was much altered since the last time I visited it," Mithrandir admitted. "It has greatly changed in the past hundreds of years, and as a result... her culture, her strength, her character... she is not at all what we had expected."

"What is her name?" Glorfindel asked, to put a name on the now half-elven elleth that was causing such distress to his lord and the wizard. It was not respectful to keep calling her the woman.

"Valerie," Arwen replied. "I am the only one who has been able to communicate with her. She is angry with Adar and Mithrandir. She recognizes them as the ones who took her by force from her home and her family."

Glorfindel observed them all with his usual aloofness. They were turning to him, hoping he would have an immediate, miracle solution to their problem. True, he had been identified as a potential mate for the elleth. But it certainly did not give him insight to her soul, nor a way to communicate with her if she did not speak Sindarin, Quenya or Westron.

"Did you start teaching her our language?" he asked Arwen.

"She knows a few words already. Mithrandir improved her language skills upon her arrival. Glorfindel, what do you propose we do?"

He could tell that Arwen was truly distressed. Her avoidance to look at her father indicated that she was disapproving of Elrond's actions. For as far as he could remember, the Evenstar had wanted to know the woman of the prophecy, to become her friend and be part of her life. She was convinced that Men and Elves could be united again by creating a bond of friendship between the Dunedain and the woman who would bring back to life so many elven heroes. And now, her adar might have taken that dream away from her and from all her kin.

"Have a guard bring her here," he sighed. "Then we can decide on a course of action."

"I will go," Arwen volunteered. "I am the only one she trust."

OoOoO

Valerie Thompson woke suddenly when she heard the now familiar sound of hoofbeats on the ground. A company of soldiers had probably arrived in the city. There seemed to be a constant rotation of warriors, with guards leaving and arriving almost every day.

Bored, she stood and walked to her balcony, observing the arrival of ten guards, led by a large warrior she had never seen before. Like the other soldiers, he wore an armor, except that his was gold and silver with a golden sun on his chest. The way he held himself and the reverence of the others surrounding him made her realized that he must be the captain, or general, or whatever they called their war leaders. And unlike most of the males she had seen before in this strange place, this one had long, golden hair. The raven-haired twin males she had seen before from her window followed him in the stables and they disappeared from her view.

She went back to her bed and lied down again. She had spent many days wondering what was happening to her. She had been abducted a little while ago by two men, a black-haired man who was wearing an armor and an old man dressed in a gray threadbare robe and a ridiculous pointy hat.

She was the editor-in-chief of a magazine for young professional women, owned by her family. The magazine had been in trouble for many years before her father John Thompson, founder of a conglomerate of TV channels and magazines, had asked her to take it over and turn it around, something she had done in less than two years.

She was well known in the fashion world, and was friends with many designers and models, one of which had ended becoming, to her parents' dismay, the father of her twins born out of wedlock. It had been no small scandal within her parents' social circle, but she could not care less. Like her sister Allison, she was not interested in a relationship, afraid that it would end like her parents' marriage, who were staying together not to split the vast fortune of the Thompson family. The sisters had had a sad childhood in a loveless household, being raised by nannies rather than by their parents who were both too busy with their lives to truly care about their children.

Her twins were five years old, a girl named Phoebe and a boy called Adam. They were very much into sports and spent numerous hours every week involved in various activities, such as martial arts, soccer and archery. In this last interest, they had common ground with Valerie: she had been a junior champion of archery when she was a teenager.

Valerie grabbed her purse, that her abductors had left in the room where she was now locked, and took out a recent picture of her children. They had inherited her red hair and green eyes, and were very tall for their age. They were smiling as if they were trying to encourage her.

Blinded by her tears, she put the picture in her sleeve to keep it close to her. Would she ever see her kids again? She had been at the party organized for the launch of the Christmas issue of her magazine when, as she had been leaving the reception hall, two men had dragged her through a transparent veil that had been floating in an empty street. She did not remember what had happened next, she only recalled waking up in what looked like a hospital room, surrounded by strange people who spoke to her in a melodious but incomprehensible language. They all had looked at her as if she was the next best thing since the invention of the wheel. She had demanded to have an explanation, and the old man, who spoke a little bit of English, had managed to explain that she was to remain with them for good, that she would never go back home. Why? Why had they taken her? He had not understood her question, and freaking out at the notion that her family might never find her back, she had tried to escape, destroying half the room in her anguish tainted with anger. That had only resulted in a difficult sojourn in what could only be described as a dungeon.

Where was she? What kind of city still had cold, damp dungeons like in the Middle Ages? An extremely beautiful woman had come to see her a few times. Arwen was her name. She was easily the most stunning being Valerie had ever seen. She had noticed how Arwen's clothes were very different from hers, and she started being suspicious that maybe, maybe she had traveled back in time. But during one of her visits, Arwen had worn her sable hair up and Valerie had realized that her visitor had pointy ears. She had stared at them for a while, and Arwen had realized that Valerie had just noticed for the first time that she no longer was with mortals.

Convinced that she was doing the right thing, Arwen had given Valerie a small mirror and shown her that her own ears had changed shape too. Without being as pointy as Arwen's, her ears were no longer round. Valerie also noticed that her skin seemed different, glowing slightly even in the semi-darkness of her prison cell. To make matters worse, she had realized that she could see much better than before and could hear sounds outside of the dungeons while she should not, the thickness of the stone walls being too great.

"What did you people do to me?" she had asked. Without fully understanding her question, Arwen had gestured between Valerie and herself to indicate that they were now similar beings.

Valerie had been shattered. It was an additional confirmation that she would never go back home. She had been physically changed, as a lab animal used in tests, and by people who seemed to think treating her that way was acceptable, normal. She had fallen into a prostrate state for a few hours.

That evening, guards had brought her to a room where she had stayed since then. She had tried to escape by the balcony during the first night, but she had been caught by a guard who had brought her back to her room. Since then, she had had guards at her door and under her balcony at all times. She could see that the city was beautiful, with an immense waterfall in the back and smaller houses near the three-stories high manor that seemed to be at the center of the city. Stairs and bridges were connecting many terraces all over the city. There were no asphalt or cars, there was no electricity and no heating in her room while the autumn nights were getting cold. She truly felt like she was now in the Middle Ages, or at least, in a city with a way of life from centuries before, like the Amish communities.

She lied in the bed, staring at the ceiling while trying to keep warm using the thin blanket on her bed. There were no glass windows here, and the wind was making the curtains flow in the dimming light of twilight. As far as she could tell, she was the only one who felt the cold in this manor, since Arwen was visiting her with sleeveless long dresses almost everyday and was never shivering or having goose bumps. So were the servants bringing her food and bath water. It was unsettling to say the least.

Valerie had refused to wear the gowns the servants were bringing every day, hoping to make a statement that she was not one of them, and that she never would. Maybe if they saw she was being difficult, they would send her back? At a loss about what to do with her, Arwen had asked servants to wash every night the dress she had been wearing at the magazine's party when she had been abducted. It was a silver cocktail dress, with long sleeves but short in length as compared to the standards of Imladris, the name of the city she had been taken to. She knew this because of the bulging eyes of everyone seeing her legs up to her mid-thighs. Maybe the silvery high-heeled sandals were difficult for them to take too? Quite frankly, she cared not.

There was a soft knock on her door, and Valerie assumed that Arwen was coming to visit her again. But instead of sitting on a chair near the bed like she usually did, Arwen invited her to follow her to her father's study. Arwen even asked if she would finally change her dress, but seeing Valerie's smirk, she did not insist, only sighing in disappointment.

Valerie was learning their language quickly, and could now have simple conversations with Arwen. She had not shown any interest in speaking with anyone else, especially not with Arwen's father and the old man who had participated in her kidnapping. The servants were not addressing her, scared of her temper since she had half-destroyed the healing rooms.

Arwen led her to the study through a few hallways with numerous paintings of elves, all dazzling and serious looking. When Valerie was introduced, there were a few men she had seen before, Arwen's father and two of his counselors, and the old man wearing clothes that had seen better days. To her surprise, there were three new additions she was seeing for the first time. Arwen introduced her twin brothers, who were inelegantly gaping at her, marring their otherwise incredible comeliness. She knew her appearance was very different. First, even if everyone here had long hair, even the males, no one seemed to have soft curls like hers. Furthermore, auburn hair shining like fire under the light seemed to be an absolute rarity, if she were to trust everyone's gaze. But that was when they first saw her. Then, they analyzed her face, her piercing emerald eyes, the curves of her body and... her long, naked legs barely covered by her modern dress. The eyes of Arwen's brothers had followed the same path than everyone else's had done before. But not the third man, the one she guessed was the captain of Imladris.

His blue eyes were set on her face, and she could not read his thoughts at all. His expression was neutral, as if he was indifferent about her, about her fate. He was even more impressive from up close. One could feel that he was important just by the way the others looked at him with deference. She knew Arwen's father was the lord of this strange city, but his captain was obviously his second-in-command, even more so than the other two men called Erestor and Lindir. The captain's eyes were the most attractive part of his face. They were serious and seemed to contain so much wisdom, which was very strange in such a young face. She didn't know how or why, but she knew instinctively that this man had greatly suffered, that he was still very tormented even if he seemed indifferent to what was happening around him.

"Valerie, may I present you Lord Glorfindel, the captain of our guard."

Valerie didn't quite catch his name in the sentence, but nodded when he nodded haughtily.

She turned to the old man who spoke a bit of English. She knew his name was Mithrandir.

"Mithrandir, I still have no idea why I was brought here, and I was wondering when you were planning to send me back home. May I remind you that you are holding me against my will? You had no right to take me. I demand that you take me back home immediately!"

Everyone looked at the wizard, wondering what she had said to him in her language, but he seemed not to have understood what she had said. She had spoken too quickly, but despite this, her tone and expression indicated that she was making a demand and that she was still not happy with the situation.

Sensing that the old man didn't understand her, she looked around the room for help, but everyone looked puzzled but the captain, who still had a neutral if not bored expression.

A cold breeze made her shiver. She heard papers slide off a desk further away. She looked around again and saw that there was some painting material in a corner of the study, with a half completed portrait of a woman she had never seen yet.

"Can I use this?" she asked in her tentative Sindarin to Lord Elrond, the presumed rightful owner of the material she wanted to use.

He nodded, wondering what she would do with the paint. He prayed that she would not go anywhere near the painting of Celebrian he had started a few weeks back. But thankfully, she remained far from the painting of his beloved, and just took some blue and white colors and painted something on a parchment before coming back to them.

She showed them a representation of the portal that Mithrandir had created, while repeating the same words to the wizard.

"She wants to go home. She wants me to reopen the portal," he told them in Sindarin. "Sorry, I cannot," he replied to Valerie in English.

"Am I your prisoner?" she asked, but once again, it was a word he didn't understand. She went to the table once more, and this time, used some black, red and beige paint.

Very quickly, she painted an image that was very telling. Arwen's heart broke when she saw what Valerie had painted. It definitely was a shape with long, red hair, behind the black bars of a prison.

"Am I your prisoner?" she asked Mithrandir again.

"No," he cried, the sound similar in Sindarin and English. "Oh Valar, she thinks she is a prisoner!"

Valerie lifted her first painting, showing the portal once more. "Home?" she said, having caught the word in the elvish language.

"No."

"Prisoner?" she asked again in Sindarin. She was learning very quickly. She only had to hear a word once in order to retain it for good, thanks to the wizard.

"No."

"This doesn't make sense!" she cried in English. "Either I am your prisoner or you send me back home!"

She shivered again when another chilly breeze entered the office. What would it be once it was winter in this manor without windows? She would eventually have to accept warmer clothes if she didn't want to be found frozen to death in her bed one morning.

Valerie heard the voice of the captain for the first time, as he was talking to Arwen. A deep, melodious voice that inexplicably made her heart beat faster.

"You are cold?" Arwen asked Valerie with surprise, as if it was inconceivable. "Can you really feel the cold?"

When Valerie didn't answer, the unfamiliar word having no meaning yet for her, Arwen stood and touched her hands and face. She immediately called a servant and spoke a few words to her before trying to engulf Valerie into a warm hug. Valerie moved away to avoid the embrace, and Arwen went back to her seat, obviously hurt by Valerie's reaction.

Valerie wondered if they were aware that she had children to go back to. After all, she had not been with them when they had taken her. She pulled the picture of her children from her sleeve and put it in front of the lord of Imladris.

"I have two children," she told him in English. "I need to go home. They need me!"

The lord looked fascinated by the picture itself at first, before he got her meaning. She could read in his eyes that he understood perfectly well what she was saying. He sadly shook his head and gave her back the picture.

A servant entered and put a warm cloak on her shoulders, and it gave her a little distraction in the state of distress she was in. But despite her best efforts, she couldn't stop the tears. She was trapped. She was a prisoner even if they claimed she was not, and they would never return her home. She had nothing left to do here today. She wanted to go back to her deluxe prison cell and be alone to cry herself to sleep. She needed time to think. Maybe she could find another way to escape? She furiously wiped her tears and asked Arwen to bring her back to her room. The elleth looked at her father, who granted permission for her to leave.

Arwen took Valerie's arm and pulled her out of the study. Once they were gone, everyone turned to Glorfindel to get his first impression.

"She is definitely a sight for the sore eye," Elrohir told everyone. "That hair! Those legs!"

"Elrohir! Please refrain from talking if you have nothing wiser to say," his adar chided while Elladan almost choked with laughter.

"What do you think?" Erestor asked Glorfindel, who simply stood to look at them all.

In reality, his emotions were all over the place. It had been a while since an elleth had raised his interest in such a way. Her looks had not been what he had expected. She was very different than an elleth, in a most pleasing way. Everything about her was attracting him, even if he had spent most of the audience just looking at her eyes. He had been touched by her struggle to communicate with them, by her pleas to send her back to her children. He had not even known that she had elflings, but leaving them behind had definitely been a mistake. She would never remain peacefully in Imladris unless her children were with her.

"Give her more freedom," he replied with false detachment. He left the study without a look back, eager to be alone in his apartment. They had put Valerie in a room close to his, as if it would help create a connection between them. They did not even realize that the last thing she would want was to start a relationship with anyone. He stopped before her door and heard Arwen's voice quietly talking to the half-elven elleth. He listened to the conversation until her heard that Arwen was about to take her leave.

"I am sorry," she was telling Valerie in Sindarin. "You are a good elleth. I swear that you will be happy here. I want to be your friend. I will take care of you, this I promise solemnly."

It was not the first time that Arwen was pronouncing the word mellon in her language. Valerie knew by now that Arwen was asking her to be her friend. She seemed like a nice woman, although she was a little on the naive side. Could she use this naivete for her own purpose? Her priority was, and would always remain, to escape as soon as possible. If she acted like she had accepted her fate for a few weeks, they would lessen their vigilance, and maybe she would find a way to leave. She wondered in which country she currently was. Was there a major city close by? Could she reach it on foot, or did she need to steal a horse? All good questions that Arwen would answer without realizing what Valerie was doing.

"Yes, want friends," she said in her basic Sindarin.

AN: So, what did you think of the beginning of this version?