Stillness of Grief

(disclaimer: I do not own these characters)

Prologue

There was something very strange about the elf.
He just sat there, day after day, at the exact same spot, staring out of the window, as if he had been carved out of stone.

In the five years Estel had lived with Elrond of Rivendell he had never seen the stone elf move, nor heard him speak. The elf had always been there, in front of the window, staring into the void.
The only visible thing that indicated that he was still alive was the little movement of his chest.

Every day his father would sit next to the stone elf and talk to him. Tell him about the things he had done and the people he had healed. Estel guessed there was no one in Rivendell who knew as much about Elrond as the motionless elf.

Yet the elf never gave any sign that he listened.
Nor did he seem to notice the fact that Elrond forced food down his throat every single day.
The stone elf kept staring out of the window, without blinking, as if he was waiting for something.

Something that never seemed to come.