Disclaimer: Much of this is Tolkien’s. I make no money from this.

Note: Many thanks to Istarnie for the encouragement to write this.

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The stars ever shone brightly here – more brightly than anywhere else in Middle-earth. A smile lit Glorfindel’s face as he listened to the music of the water playfully tickling the rocks below, as it bathed them in the twinkling light. Somewhere nearby, the breeze hummed a peerless tune through a wind harp. The fragrance of flowers wafted on the breeze, further delighting his senses. These were the nights he lived for – the nights he lived to remember for they brought the most wondrous of memories.

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It was on a clear fragrant night such as this that she had first appeared to him - an apparition of golden loveliness and shimmering light. She had whirled past him in a dance at the Festival of Flowers on Taniquetil, her graceful fingers brushing his shoulder and arm before she disappeared into the swirl of motion around him. On the following pass, he had reached out to her only to be taunted by a gauzy sleeve fluttering past his cheek. His next attempt yielded a deep blue scarf draped around his neck - a beguiling fragrance surrounding him as he inhaled the scent of her. As the dance ended, he did not try to catch her again for he knew now she would be coming for him.

He remained motionless amidst the other neri who stood transfixed similarly ensnared, awaiting their partners for the next dance. His patience soon rewarded him with the curvaceous form of a tall, slender Vanyarin maiden. The sapphire of her eyes matched her dress perfectly as she drew close, nearly touching him, gazing up into his face. As the new dance began, the blossoms in her hair teased his chin, further intoxicating him as he drank in the sight and feel of her as her body pressed against his only to move away again in a most tantalizing display.

Dance after dance, step after dizzying step, they twirled and touched, brushed and caressed. When the music finally ended for the night, a glass of wine and a plate of sweet cakes found them sitting side by side at the water’s edge, laughing with delight amidst the merry starlit spray of the waterfall. He never was quite certain afterward when it was they first clasped hands or for how long she nuzzled against his chest secure in his arms before his mouth met hers in a sweet ever-deepening bliss.

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Now as he stood overlooking the waterfall in Imladris, his glass of wine dangled forgotten in one hand while the fingers of his other hand briefly traced his lips. He could still taste that kiss after all of these yeni.

He used to wish she had come to Middle-earth when he returned to help with the fight against Sauron, but after so many millennia of fighting and death, he was thankful she had not. Leaving her behind in the care of their children and his parents had been one of the hardest things he had ever done, but the Valar had said it must be so for his skill and might were needed there. As a lord of a house of princes – one of the greatest Eldarin warriors of all – how was he to refuse?

Before his departure, he and his beloved promised each other that every night like this, they each would go outside, look at the stars, and cherish their memories until they could be in each other’s arms again.

At long last, his time in Middle-earth was over. In a few short weeks, he would finally take ship for Valinor, for home, for her.