What a day!
After hanging by the fire, the towel was like a warm hug around Dinmir's head. Her hair was as dry as it would get, so the towel would have to absorb the rest. At last, the repairs on her house were complete, and just before the first snow too. Leave it to Aldawë to celebrate with a snowball fight! And then to break teams and turn the whole thing into a free-for-all! Snow everywhere! Faces, hair, Clothing. Light dustings and bits turned to ice stuck on garments. Everyone had to shake the snow out of the creases before going inside.
In pursuit of a hot cup of tea, she threw on another layer of warmth and emerged from her room. In the kitchen was the one who should've taken the first hot bath, even before supper. He'd had a small tree's worth of snow dumped on him, but of course he shrugged it off, changed his clothes and said he was fine. Bah. Arandil. As if she didn't catch sight of a stifled shiver before she'd gone to her own steamy reprieve. Here he sat, perusing one of his books of building plans. Bah. Another shiver.
Dinmir rubbed Arandil's arms. "You should've already had a hot bath by now. I'll ask Farothel to help me get some more water going."
"I'm fine. I sat by the fire for a while and I'm not that cold anymore. I just need... another cup of tea." Arandil frowned at his empty cup.
Dinmir snatched the cup and the teapot, and set the cup down in front of him full. "If you're going to ignore my admonitions, you should at least get a blanket." She put honey and lemon next to his cup, then went to fetch a blanket. As she draped it around him, the plans he'd opened to caught her eye. "That's a very nice one."
"You think so?"
"It's lovely. You think you could build that for me one day? I mean... never mind." Why did she say that? Why would her cheeks be warming? Just because of the way he looked at her? The towel. The warmth from the towel was getting to her cheeks.
Arandil pulled a clean sheet of paper from the back of his book and laid it over the plans. She hadn't seen him grin like that in a while. "I always thought the veranda on this one was a little small."
"Hmm. Perhaps."
"I've been looking for the best way to fix it. Do you have any ideas?"
The plans were interesting, and she'd never been asked to give input on the layout of a house before. Yes, that was it. That was why she grabbed a chair and scooted in close. "Maybe if we take this room out and enlarge this one here, then we can expand the veranda."
"I don't think we should lose any rooms. What if we move it over here..."
What control Arandil had! Even without an edge to guide him, he drew a perfect straight line, and when he measured them after, he'd eyed the dimensions with near-exactness. Rooms disappeared, others flipped to the opposite side of the house. A size adjustment here, a transplanted closet there. A disagreement about the placement of lighting or a staircase one moment, the next Dinmir peering and pointing across Arandil's arm, excited about an idea. On this went until at last her brow unfurrowed from concentration. "That's it! That's perfect!"
"Then there's only one more thing to do." At the bottom, he wrote "Dinmir's House" and signed his name. He then rolled the plans up and handed them to her. "When the time is right, I'll consider it my honor to build this house for you."
Her cheeks warmed again as she put her hand around the roll. "It-It could be a while."
"As long as it takes."
One of the guest room doors opened and Auros emerged, sword on his shoulder, off for his morning practice. It was morning already?! He said nothing when he spotted them sitting together at the table, but as he walked past Dinmir saw the small upturn of his lips. At once she was aware of the blanket clutched in her right hand, pulled close over her shoulder. It was the same blanket she'd given Arandil. It stretched behind her, across Arandil's back, and ended resting on his left shoulder.
"I... need to go. It's almost dawn and I have to open my shop in a couple of hours." On the edge of haste and calm, she slid from her chair and draped the full blanket onto Arandil.
"You're right. I should get started on something too."
"Take the day off. Get some rest. You've earned it. All of you have. You've all done so much, and... I need to get ready." Dinmir hurried to her room, closed the door behind her and leaned against it.
How could she let Arandil stir her heart again?