13

The blonde prince looked slightly nervous but managed to give her a quick smile nonetheless. The brunette gave him a small nod in response, still staring wide eyed at him.

"Oh! I didn't realize you were here, Master Miriya. What brings you to the library?" A female voice suddenly called from behind Miriya, who quickly snapped her attention toward the source of the voice. Glorfindel smiled brightly upon seeing Miriya. "I just thought that maybe I would stop by and say hello. Oh wait!" Glorfindel suddenly exclaimed, realizing something and stepping closer to Miriya's table. "I guess that explains why you weren't present yesterday afternoon. And what are you doing here alone, Master Miriya? Surely someone ought to be with you! Not only is Thranduil absent from this conference, but I'm afraid the others have left as well for the evening…" He trailed off for a moment as he frowned and tilted his head slightly.

"What are you reading?" He questioned curiously, glancing down at the book in question.

"Um…just some light reading. Nothing too serious though. How about yourself?" Miriya asked politely. Glorfindel smiled.

"Actually, I was hoping I could borrow this book from you. It's about the history of Durin's Folk after Erebor was reclaimed. It seems fascinating actually. Do you think you'd be willing to lend it to me? You know, just for my research purposes and to pass it on to someone else who might actually enjoy it." He added, giving her a hopeful smile. Miriya sighed and placed the book on the table.

"I wouldn't mind lending it to you, Glorfindel. But I don't think that's a very wise idea. I mean, it is written in Elvish language…you won't be able to decipher it very well." She explained.

"But I know that you can translate it easily enough. After all, you're supposed to be a master linguist in this kingdom, aren't you?" Glorfindel argued softly, smiling kindly at Miriya.

Miriya stared down at her lap silently, thinking through her words carefully. This wasn't the first time that Glorfindel had been nice to her and she had gotten used to it, but every time he was nice to her…it made her feel incredibly uncomfortable. He knew more than anyone that she didn't feel comfortable around people. If someone knew that Miriya knew how to speak a different language then they'd probably try to befriend her for a while and make her feel better about not being close to them. That was just how people who weren't close to people like her ended up feeling. She couldn't allow those feelings to cloud her judgment regarding Glorfindel. Besides, it didn't seem like she was going to be able to learn more of the language anytime soon anyways. At least this way she could teach the others some new languages in case they needed to understand some ancient elven language and it came in handy.

"Are you sure you want to borrow it Glorfindel?" Miriya asked hesitantly, unsure about whether to be able to refuse him or to agree. He nodded enthusiastically.

"Absolutely! It looks interesting anyway, so I'm sure I'll find enjoyment in it. And besides, I promise to return it to you afterwards once I'm finished." He assured her with a bright smile. Miriya hesitated briefly before she shrugged, giving a resigned smile.

"Alright, I guess that's fine. I'll even translate some of it for you.