Author: Zee

Rating G

Characters: Celeborn/Galadriel

Disclaimer: It ain't mine. They ain't either! Move on already!

Triple-drabble, as apparently I am incapable of writing anyting shorter.

Celeborn strolled through the gardens, slightly miffed and trying hard not to be. When one thought of Lorien, they immediately thought of his lady wife, never the one who ran the business of the community from day to day. He was not jealous, had no need to be, but just once in a while, he wished he did not have to hunt her down to look at or sign important missives. Springtime brought lots of invoices from traders.

So lost in his musings, he was past the third gardener before he realized he had walked into a frenzy of activity, the smell of rich dirt prevalent in the air. He made a sharp left, knowing instinctively where she would be.

Sure enough, in the hooded, sheltered corner, there she knelt, in dirt-encrusted leggings, his old tunic, and her hair tied back with a faded scarf. Those who didn't know her wouldn't recognize The Lady of the Golden Wood. Her hands were filthy, dirt under her nails. She didn't notice the shadow that fell across the patch of soil she worked on and after a minute, the Silver Lord laid his not so important scrolls on the closest bench and knelt beside her. For some time, their hands worked in tandem, trimming, coaxing, nurturing life. Finally, the area was complete and Galadriel looked directly at him, a streak of dirt on her cheek. For not the first time in a thousand years, the light in her eyes mesmerized him and he felt the strange stirrings he felt the first time he laid eyes on her. With infinite gentleness, Celeborn attempted to brush it away, making it worse.

"I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. With you."