[fanfiction: lord of the rings] Swift as Moonlight

[perfectworry]

title: Swift as Moonlight
verse: Lord of the Rings (movie 'verse)
community: writerverse
prompt: Phase #5: Challenge #9: Weekly Quick Fic #3 ("moon dance" + bonus: missing scene)
word count: 286
rating: G
summary: After Arwen returns to Rivendell with Frodo, Glorfindel sets out to find Strider and the other hobbits.

The horses belonging to the elves of Middle-earth were not like their distant descendants in generations to come. An Elvish horse was the cousin of the great maeras of Rohan, who live as long as some Men and are cleverer than others.

So Arwen dismounted, carrying Frodo, fading, in her arms, and let Asfolath wander free once they crossed the ford into the hidden valley of Imladris. Asfolath reared up behind her, in victory and challenge to any riders that remained, but they washed away with their fell beasts in the clear, clean waters, summoned into a rage by Arwen's incantation.

Then he turned and trotted off, his hooves delicate on the green grass that grew still in Rivendell in autumn. His mane fell white as moonlight, smooth and untangled by his run through the wilds with Arwen and the Ring-bearer on his back.

So Glorfindel found him, grazing near the stables. He worried for neither horse nor rider: Asfolath would never allow his rider to fall. Faithfully, Asfolath returned Glorfindel to Rivendell no matter what befell them.

For it was Arwen who had taken the white horse and ridden him into the Wilds beyond the edges of the valley, to find the Ring-bearer and the Ranger. She rode in with the Ring-bearer; from inside the valley, Glorfindel heard the river rise up to meet her magic, passed down from her father to his sons and daughter.

"No time to rest, Asfolath" said Glorfindel, mounting swiftly. "We must find the others, for the Nine are not the only evil abroad this night."

Swift as moonlight, horse and rider galloped from the valley of the Last Homely House and into the night, searching for the Ring-bearer's companions.