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imclimbingthestairsoforthanc · 5 months ago

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High Tide - Erestor x Reader (Pt. 1)

You find yourself in favor of men whose affections you do not return. Elladan is annoyed by your dismissive demeanor, a surprise party in your name irritates you further, the prospect of courting and marriage sparks some forgotten feelings - betrayal, fear, and a different kind of despair, and Erestor conceals his own feelings that only fester as time goes on.

A/N: part one is finally out! I hope you guys like it

Taglist: @batsyforyou, @asianbutnotjapanese

“You’ve been trying to do this yourself?” you said from your spot across the bookcase, “This would take weeks, even a month! How much have you done so far?”

Erestor looked up quickly with his eyebrows raised, “This is nothing,” he replied, “I started the day before yesterday. I’ll be finished in a fortnight.”

“Less if you had some help, right?” you said, “Isn’t it my job to help you?”

Erestor clicked his tongue and watched as you pulled up a chair on the opposite side of his desk and made yourself comfortable. If he noticed the way your hand brushed against his as you reached for a quill, he said nothing of it.

Only, he did notice, and he noticed the way your eyelashes fluttered against your blushing cheek bones as you wetted your lips. It was wishful thinking, Erestor knew, to imagine you flustered and blushing at the mere touch of a hand, his hand no less, what with the handsome young men lining up at your door for your hand in marriage, but he took the thought and ran with it.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as you scanned some of what he had already done.

“So many of these tradesmen are scheduled to come in on July the nineteenth and not to leave until the twentieth of August, some even later,” you said, “Since when did we begin housing the tradesmen for so long? I always thought that the ones coming from the farthest stayed only a week at longest.”

Erestor took a deep breath and cursed Elrond inwardly, “About that…”

“There you are!” came Elladan’s voice from the doorway of the library’s office, “I have been looking for you. Someone told me you went to the gardens when you returned, but I never saw you there.”

“I came straight here,” you said coldly, the reminder of your skittish behavior at the coldfells altering your demeanor. Your short-lived sour mood was long gone when you heard the pop of a wine bottle and watched Elladan pour three glasses of crimson liquid.

“There have been more letters for you. Would you like them now or later?” said Elladan as he began flipping through a stack of papers.

You rolled your eyes and leaned back in your chair, “I would like them not at all.”

“Touché.”

He kept sorting until he found the one that was sent the earliest.

It read as follows:

“To the Lady Y/N of Imladris,

I am Maedion of the Woodland Realm. I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you on behalf of my dear brother, Erythion. We have heard news of your search for a suitor, and have heard that you are a fine looking bachelorette. If you would be so gracious, we would like to schedule a visit so that Erythion might meet you. I look forward to hearing back from you.

Maedion.”

You made long eye contact with Elladan as he held the second letter in his hand, awaiting your response.

“Go ahead.”

“Fairest Y/N of Imladris,

My name is Cabedir; I am writing to you from the borders of Greenwood the Great. I have with me the notice that the Lord of your city sent out stating that you were on the market –

You pressed your lips into a contorted smile at the phrase “on the market.” Elladan read on.

I am writing to you in hopes that you would consider me as a possible suitor. Write back.

Cabedir.”

You raised an eyebrow as Elladan finished.

“Y/N of Imladris, House of Elrond,

I am Raegnir, a servant in the household of KingThranduil. I am writing to you from the house of my grandfather in the Grey Havens to inform you that I will arrive in approximately two months time to take you as my–”

Elladan snickered, then stood and stepped towards you.

“Take you as my bride–”

You giggled with a roll of your eyes, as you finished the rest of your wine. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Erestor’s lips twitch up in humor as he turned his page.

“This one is a reply to the party invitation–”

“Party invitation?,” you repeated, tossing your head back and furrowing your brows, “What party invitation?”

You saw Erestor stop his movements and look at Elladan, who looked back at Erestor with a blank face.

“You didn’t tell her?” said Elladan to the raven-haired scribe who only wrinkled his nose back.

“I thought you were supposed to tell her,” he said lowly.

“What?” you said as your eyes narrowed and darted between the two, “Tell her what?”

Elladan scratched the back of his head under your suspicious gaze and Erestor’s imperative expression thrown in his direction. “The Lord Elrond has received so many letters asking for your hand in marriage that he has decided to invite them as guests here in Imladris.”

You lowered your brows.

“There is supposed to be a party of sorts, a ball–you could call it, designed to allow you time to meet each of them and decide if they are commemorable.”

“Commemorable–”

“I wish you would give it a chance!” said Elladan, “Many elves have tried for nearly a century to reach out to you. At some point, they will stop admiring the beauty of the mysterious Noldorin woman residing in Imladris. You will be beyond the hopes of finding a husband and will be forever companionless.”

You snorted and tapped the side of your empty glass. “Nothing lasts forever.”

“But some things last a lifetime,” he replied, “And when the course of a lifetime tied to the breaking of the world depends on one fateful night in the middle of August–”

“In the middle of August, I will be tied up organizing the reconstruction of the bridge over the Hoarwell, not dancing my heart out with ten different strangers as the bridge supports are raised.” You downed the wine Erestor had yet to finish before sauntering over to the bookcase. “I have a proposition.”

“That is?”

“Nothing that concerns you, Elladan,” you bit, “Unless you can learn from Erestor to keep your tongue behind your teeth regarding what I should and shouldn’t do about my romantic life.”

“Unnecessary,” said Elladan with a roll of his eyes.

“Touché.”

Erestor’s eyebrows shot up as he listened for your proposal, disregarding the harsh exchange.

“With the completion of the Hoarwell bridge, I believe we could merge the old routes with what the traders are using now,” you said, pointing between the old map and the new, “instead of taking the North-South Road and following the Glanduin to the foot of the mountains then traveling north, the travelers could take the North-South Road to the mouth of the Swanfleet, then travel north by boat and make their way east after reaching the last bridge.”

“And why should they not take the Bruinen if they are to travel by boat anyways?” said Erestor.

Your head tilted to the side, “There are parts of the Bruinen that are treacherous and fell,” you said, “I would not have them travel it by boat.”

“Please,” said Elladan, “This is about that bachelor visiting from the Havens, isn’t it? Just–”

“I didn’t realize I asked for your advice, Elladan,” you said with a sharp turn of your head, “Maybe, I wanted to live out my days in peace and solitude, free of the worries of married life; but it seems like you will see to it that I do not live out one day in peace and solitude! Be gone from my sight, and do not–”

“My lord Elladan,” came Lindir’s voice from the door, cutting you off, “Your father has requested that he meet with you in the breakfast hall.”

You watched with a snarl plastered on your face as Elladan retreated before sitting down across from Erestor.

“Ever since Arwen pledged herself to the edain, Elladan and Elrohir have been quite anxious about your own decision.”

“I see not why it concerns them.”

Erestor put down his own quill. “Arwen was meant to live a life everlasting with her people–her brothers–until the breaking of the world, but for the sake of love she has chosen to tie her fate to one mortal man. When he dies she will be forever sundered from those who have loved her since the beginning of time, and will love her until the end. Elladan and Elrohir would be anxious to know that another they care for so deeply would not make such a decision.”

As would I, thought Erestor, though my intentions are not the same.

“You should not be so hard on him.”

You looked up at Erestor to find his keen eyes softened at you–a look you only received from him in the quiet of the early morning as the two of you began work in each other’s company alone. His eyes were as grey as a misty horizon before an April sunrise, but beyond that horizon and beyond the thick fog of his guarded soul and your calloused denial in the bay of a distant land on the other side of the mist was harbored an unconditional love that wavered not–cliffs of hidden longing that did not break at the crashing of the waves and a burning devotion that could not be put out by any storm.

You tore your eyes away.

“Perhaps,” you said, “But I see not why they grieve for her love of a mortal; he is a noble man with a good heart. There have been many elven folk who have not been so lucky.”

Erestor took a deep breath through his nose, aware of the alternative you were referring to.

“Not all of them have died,” he said, “By pledging her love to an edain Arwen succumbs herself to mortality–”

“Is mortality all that awful, though?” you said, clear eyes clouding over to mask some veiled despair. Erestor did not miss it.

“You have faced mortality,” replied Erestor, “You have faced the terror of mortality that we elvenfolk are not meant to withstand. Why do you condone such a decision? Would you make such a decision?”

You stopped writing in favor of mindlessly doodling on the side of the paper that you would later have to rewrite.

“It is not death I fear. I am afraid of drowning,” you said. Your eyes grew more distant and your hand stilled.

Silence filled the air like heavy rain fills deep footprints; erestor parted his lips to tease it to find you had broken it completely.

“I should have died the day my father broke the dam and flooded the dell.”

#tolkien #silm fic #erestor x reader #erestor #lords of imladris #imladris #lotr #lord of the rings

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