Part Five
The next morning was cloudy and the wind had a bite to it. After breakfast – Karoo-style for Gil and Elrond, which was like a full English breakfast with extras, scrambled eggs, toast and coffee for Erestor – they hit the streets of Prince Albert. Gil wanted them to stick together, but in the end they separated with an agreement to meet up in two hours at the Prince Albert Café, which they’d been told served good coffee.
“Well you can’t very well go up to every door and knock and ask ‘have you seen this man?’ can you?” Gil asked two hours later, once they’d got their coffee. “We don’t even have a picture.”
“I do have a photograph of him,” Erestor snapped. The sun had come out after about an hour and it had grown unpleasantly hot and he was feeling discouraged. Also frustrated, because the topaz continued to glow cheerfully every time he took a look at it. “But it’s not a very good one so there’s not much point. He has his hair in a ponytail and a cap on.”
Gil put his cup down. “You’re walking round with a picture of Glorfindel in your phone?”
“This cake’s not bad at all.” Elrond looked nonchalant, as though he was not deliberately and obviously trying to head trouble off at the pass. “You should have a slice, Res.”
“I don’t want cake,” Erestor said, despite having thought mere minutes earlier that Elrond’s cake looked good and he had rather a yen for chocolate. “I want to find that stupid git and get done.”
“Do you have photographs of a lot of people stored in your phone?” Gil had not been king for nearly four thousand years without learning to stick with a line of questioning.
Erestor shoved his iPhone across the table and Gil almost missed stopping it from hitting the floor. “Go ahead. Take a look. There’s a lot of people in there, yes. You know most of them. Some of them are you. Some of them aren’t. Should I only take pictures of you?”
Elrond got up with a murmur and went back in to the café.
“Don’t be bloody absurd. I just wondered what you collect in there, that’s all. If I had pictures of my exes in my phone….”
“They haven’t made a big enough memory card for that,” Erestor came back sharply.
“Oh yes, let’s go digging around in my past. Be my guest. If you can find one picture in my phone of…”
“Because you don’t keep in touch, you don’t stay friends, you just wave goodbye and move on.”
“Then what on earth are we talking about?”
“I don’t know! Oh, me, Glory, photograph.”
Elrond came back out with a slice of chocolate cake and what looked like a community newspaper. He put the plate down in front of Erestor. “Eat it. You need sugar. Don’t be an ass, Gil. My phone is full of pictures of friends. The only reason I don’t have one of Glory is that I back them up regularly and then clear my phone.”
“I don’t want cake.”
“Shut up for five minutes and eat it. It’s not Gil’s fault we haven’t found him, stop taking it out on him. That thing’s still glowing so he’s around here somewhere. I don’t think even my mother-in-law has perfected the art of turning up corpses.”
Erestor looked startled. Gil laughed and got up. “Think I’m getting a toasted cheese. It’s a while since breakfast.”
Elrond folded the paper back and began skimming it. Erestor hesitated then sampled the cake. It was homemade and tasted as good as it looked. The peace of the village slowly wound around him. He could hear people talking in what he assumed was Afrikaans, cars driving past, water flowing in a little canal along the side of the street. The sun was pleasantly warm now rather than hot and ….
Elrond shoved the paper in front of him and pointed. “There.”
Erestor frowned, took another forkful of cake and leaned forward to read. Then he picked the paper up and read the little notice again.
The initiative operates on a monitored loan basis which means we check in to see how they’re doing from time to time so we can make sure that they – and you – are happy. Due to our limited resources, our Foster Care Initiative operates in the Western Cape province only.
He looked at Elrond, shaking his head. “I don’t ….”
“Donkey Sanctuary,” Elrond said, tapping the paper again. “Don’t you remember when he got involved in that refuge for retired racehorses? And the dolphin rehab? And the…”
“Donkey sanctuary,” Erestor repeated. “Where do we find the address?” Elrond already had his phone out and was looking it up. Erestor ate the cake in three mouthfuls, gulped down the last of his coffee and got up. “Which way?” he asked.
Elrond got up as well. “Other end of town, about three blocks before we came in. That’s why none of us saw it. Where’s Gil? Oh, there. Come on, I think we’ve found him.”
Gil, who had just ordered his sandwich, shook his head determinedly. “I am eating first. If he’s here, he’s not going anywhere in the next half hour.”
“Then give me the damn car keys,” Erestor said, spotting and pocketing his phone which he had left lying on the table.
Annoyingly, Gil sat down. “Not till I’ve eaten. Grow up, we haven’t even paid the bill yet. Fifteen minutes won’t hurt. Where is he?”
Elrond put the paper down, folded for him to see, and sank back into his chair, motioning Erestor to sit too. Erestor glared at him but he knew when Gil was going to be stubborn at least as well as Elrond did. He sat down just as Elrond got up again.
“I know how you work,” he said to Gil. “You’ll take your time now. I may as well get us another coffee while we wait.”
—–o
It was a very small town and it took less than ten minutes to drive back to where they had turned in last night and a few blocks beyond. The houses thinned out, some of them even backing onto patches of farmland. Erestor had the pendant in his hand and was staring at the yellow stone, but the light grew neither stronger nor weaker.
“Are you sure we’re right, El?” Gil asked. “I don’t see anything resembling a donkey around here.”
“Has to be out here somewhere. On the grid the town sort of tapers away and then you’re there.”
“Maybe we need to go back and ask someone. Go to one of the houses,” Erestor suggested.
“If the map says this is where we’ll find it, why the hell ask?” Gil gave him a look that was a combination of puzzled and unimpressed. “Look pretty stupid, wouldn’t we?”
“Do you think we could ask for directions, just once?”
“I suppose Glory always asked for directions?”
“Oh don’t be childish. No, of course not. Why do you think this pisses me off so much?”
“There,” Elrond said. “If you’d like to stop bickering. You sound like the twins when they were adolescents – hellish time to be a parent. On the left.”
Elrond was already out the car before they could start arguing again. He opened the gate after reading the notices on it, then closed it behind them after Gil drove through. “What do we do?” he asked, getting back in. “Just drive up and ask for the tall blond person? Do we know what name he’s using?”
“Probably Fin,” Erestor said. “That’s the least of our problems anyhow.”
A dirt track wound amongst trees and thick bushes that blocked out any view. The property was close to the mountain, which formed an attractive backdrop. Scents of sand and green things and animal dung came in through the open windows. They rounded a final turn and came out onto open land. A sandy, fenced pen stood off to one side, empty, while on the other side a herd of donkeys grazed on an expanse of lush green grass. There was a white house, low and long with a big front stoop and a tin roof, and a shed that stood open and out of which, carrying a bucket, came a tall blond figure, squinting against the dust cloud to see who had arrived.
Erestor was out of the car and running before Gil had come to a stop. He flung the pendant at Glorfindel, then ran at him and began beating him with his fists yelling. “Where were you? I emailed and you never answered! Where the fuck were you?”
Glorfindel dropped the bucket and stood and took it for a moment, then he grabbed Erestor by the shoulders and held him off. “What in hell is wrong with you? Stop that. Erestor, get a grip!”
“We have to sail and you were gone and no one knew where to find you,” Erestor shouted at him. Then he remembered where he was and said more quietly, “We have to sail.”
They stood quite still for a minute. Erestor felt stupid, useless tears welling hotly and tried to force them back. Glorfindel released his shoulders, hesitated, then wrapped his arms round him and held him. “It’s okay,” he said softly. “It’ll be okay. I’m here, we’re all together. And I wouldn’t miss the look on your face for the world when you finally see Aman.”
—–o
They were the only ones staying at the guest house so it was almost like having a well-catered holiday home to themselves. Later that afternoon Gil swam in the pool, Elrond relaxed in the sun smoking and refused to join him, while Erestor and Glorfindel sat round the corner, out of sight but not earshot, and talked quietly.
“Just didn’t see the point in getting a local network card,” Glorfindel was saying. “I only meant to stay a week or two. And then time just moved on and there were other things to see and do and I forgot. You know how it is?”
“Bitter experience, yes,” Erestor said, though he smiled when he said it. “And people were phoning and emailing and texting and you had no thought to at least check your mail. Internet café, something?”
Glorfindel shook his head and looked rueful. “I should have, shouldn’t I? I’m sorry, I know you were mad.” He had Galadriel’s pendant tucked in his pocket and took it out now to look at it. “This is disturbing, how does she do it?”
“I don’t ask dumb questions like that.” Erestor leaned back, stretched his legs out, and sipped a very nice fruit cocktail. The guest house only supplied breakfast as a meal but there were snacks and drinks and if that wasn’t enough, there were several eateries down the road. “I don’t ever want to know how she does anything. Even Gildor doesn’t ask.”
“Glory?” Erestor hated to spoil it. Now it no longer involved him on a personal level, he loved seeing the way Glorfindel could light up about his latest project. “You don’t have the summer to give. We have to sail in November.”
Glorfindel went still and sat with his rooibos tea cupped in both hands – he drunk it in the local way, black with lemon and a spoon of sugar, to the delight of the proprietor. Finally, he sighed and nodded. “I do hate to let them down,” he said in a more subdued voice. “I suppose there’s no help for it though. I’ll have to create a family emergency in Europe, won’t I?”
“That’d be nicer than most people will get. Gil says to think of it like dying,” Erestor said dryly. “I’m rehearsing for a production that’s set for the Christmas season, so imagine how I feel? And my understudy is an ass, cannot act to save his life.”
Glorfindel nodded. “It always goes like that. You’re all right about it though, yes? Not thrilled, of course, but – all right? Gil has a damn interesting family over there for you to meet.”
Erestor shuddered. “I try and not think about that. Even he isn’t sure how his father will react to him having a same sex partner.”
“It’ll be all right,” Glory said, reassuring as he had been in the field at the donkey sanctuary. “You’ll get to see your mum; she’s bound to have been reborn by now. Maybe even your dad? It should be great when it stops being strange.”
Gil came round the corner wearing shorts and no shirt, towelling his hair dry. He stopped beside Erestor, chin-length dark hair scattering drops of water that caught the sunlight like tiny diamonds. “You should go in, the water’s great. You coming back with us, Glory? Our hotel’s booked for a few more days still. Back in Cape Town, I mean.”
“He doesn’t want that hotel wasted. Ery’s making him pay for a suite.” Elrond trailed behind Gil. He wore sunglasses and moved with sleek grace – people sometimes mistook him for a rock star, he had that kind of air about him.
Glorfindel shook his head and laughed. “Yes, I can see that. No, I’ll stay a bit longer, find a way to get them to take someone else on to help with the monsters – they’re like big, not very bright dogs most of the time. And I’ll sort out a phone, I promise,” he added to Erestor. “See to it as soon as I can get away to Ceres – they have a cellphone shop there. You don’t want to stay on? It’s pretty here.”
Erestor moved up on the bench, making space for Gil who put a cool, still damp arm around him. “We have to be back in London in a few days, we have lives and I guess we need to try and act normal till the Thing happens. Though it’s very peaceful, and I love the mountains.”
“I can stay for a bit,” Elrond said unexpectedly. “There’s some loose ends I’d like to discretely tie up and I’ll need to track down my son, but I don’t mind spending some more time here. Plenty of little places to visit, some good scenery to photograph.”
Of course.
“Do you need any portraits of the donkeys?” Gil asked, deadpan. “El’s become quite the photographer.”
Erestor smacked him but without heat. “He takes great pictures. Can we at least stay till tomorrow? There’s a ghost tour – can you believe it, in such a small place? I want to do it.”
Gil laughed. “An elf doing a ghost tour. Don’t see why not. As long as we get to spend one last night back at the Grace, I’m good with it. Like you said, it’s only money. We can’t take it with us. Not even to Valinor.”
“You can’t take all that with you, that’s never fitting into one bag.” Gil stood with hands on hips, staring down at the stacked pile of clothes and personal effects on the floor that Erestor was still adding to.
“You haven’t seen me pack before?” Erestor asked grimly. “It’ll all get in that backpack I just bought. They said one bag, they didn’t specify a size or shape. Soft sides mean more can get crammed in, and it’s not going through airport baggage handling, so it won’t get thrown and split open.”
Gil shook his head. “You like pushing envelopes, don’t you?” He had a notebook and a file of papers which he had just put on the bed. He sat down and picked up the notebook, opening it.
Watching him, Erestor pushed hair out of his face with the back of his wrist. “And that? Working right up till the end, of course.”
“Oh, I’m doing that so there’s nothing obvious, plus it’s not fair to leave a whole bunch of unfinished business for someone without any notes or guidance. And I spent months setting up that New York deal, I’ll be damned if I’m leaving it to implode. This though — I’m parcelling out money to people and organisations. I don’t need all that. My family’s disgustingly rich, we’re not likely to starve over there.”
“Isn’t that going to be kind of obvious once we’re gone? Like you knew you were about to vanish – which you then do.”
Gil-galad smiled wryly. “I thought of that, and then I realised there was nothing anyone could do even if it does look suspicious. We’ll be gone, they can speculate all they wish. It’s not as though they can follow us. And I want to leave something good behind.”
Erestor came and sat beside him, leaning against him. “Yes, you would. Organisations? You need to give some to the Karoo Donkey Sanctuary or Glory will never forgive you.”
“Donkey Sanctuary?” Gil frowned and then his face cleared. “Oh yes, god, so much has happened I’d forgotten. Port Alfred. He’s not still there, is he? Time’s getting on, just over a week left.”
“He’s still out there, but El went back to get him, just in case he lost track of time. They’re meeting up with Dan in Monte Carlo and travelling together.”
“Dan’s in Monte Carlo? Didn’t he have a gambling problem?”
Erestor shrugged. He was a firm believer in Elladan’s survivability. “We all have some kind of problem. He’s not great with money, no, and he probably maxed out credit cards which he knows he won’t have to pay, but what can you do?”
“That’s a form of fraud,” Gil pointed out, starting to play with Erestor’s hair. “We don’t all have problems. I don’t anyhow. I’m completely normal.”
“Your aunt wouldn’t agree. She’d point to me as an unhealthy preoccupation.” This was no less than the truth and had actually happened.
“My aunt just likes to micro-manage and you’ve a mind of your own, that’s all,” Gil said with a snort. “She’ll get over it in time.”
“Even for an elf, that might be a really, really long wait,” Erestor said comfortably. He was getting used to being unsuitable.
Gil laughed and kissed him. This took a while and they finished up leaning back against the headboard and crushing the pillows.
“I’ve heard people say they’d do something like that if they were told they only had three months to live,” Erestor said. “Spend everything. Have a ball. Go out smiling.”
“What would you spend your money on now, knowing you can’t take whatever it is along?”
Erestor thought about it. “I don’t know. Go for a really good dinner somewhere exceptional like the Fat Duck. Take in some theatre, but there’s nothing outstanding on this week – wish I could have seen Cats again, I loved being in that. Listen to music – well, we’re going to the opera tomorrow night so I’ll hear the Magic Flute one last time. The only thing I really want is to be with you, and that doesn’t cost anything. Maybe stressed nerves sometimes.”
“Well, I searched South Africa for your lost ex, with Elrond in the back navigating.”
“Because you like Glory and you’re good to me,” Erestor agreed. “And it was just the Western Cape, not the whole country.”
“I like Glory and I love you. Love makes men do damn strange things sometimes.”
“That’s why I don’t have to spend lots of money to be happy – I’m with you,” Erestor said, rubbing his cheek against Gil’s shoulder.
“Ha. Yes. You can even take me over the Sea with you.”
Erestor sighed. “Yes. Our next road trip. You, me, Glory, Elrond, Dan, Gildor. And your aunt and uncle. On a boat. For – how long do they say? Ten days?”
“Something like that.” Gil was quiet, petting Erestor’s hair. Erestor closed his eyes and leaned against him, enjoying it. “El for ten days. On a boat.”
“If it’s any help, he won’t have the camera this time and even if he did he could hardly ask them to stop while he took a few shots of the dolphins.”
“No.” Gil continued to worry at something. “He’ll have to give up smoking too.”
“I suppose so? That’s going to be a bitch for a lot of people. I’m glad I tossed it back in the 70s.”
“You’re not listening. Elrond. Boat. No cigarettes.”
Erestor thought about this, then realised what he was saying. “We couldn’t swim, could we? Or get our own boat?”
“I don’t think I’m competent to sail to Valinor,” Gil said. “I can see the last great road trip being very special and unique.”
“Elrond being sarcastic, Gildor being snide, Elladan being seasick…”
“Glory feeding the birds and the orcas and the seals…”
“On our way to find a safe new home, just like Glory’s donkeys,” Erestor said half laughing.
“But together,” Gil reminded him. “And if the facilities aren’t a bit better than the donkeys have in Prince Albert, at least we’ll get to watch my aunt implode and everyone running for cover.”
They both smiled at the images. Erestor said, serious now, “We know some good people really, don’t we?”
“We know some very good people,” Gil agreed, resting his cheek against Erestor’s hair. “So good it almost makes the idea of ten days stuck on a crowded boat bearable.”
~*~*~*~*~
Finis
~*~*~*~*~
Beta: Red Lasbelin
Inspiration: Binky
Artist: me, Kei
Art Beta: Red Lasbelin