Written as a fill for a prompt on the Silmarillion Kink Meme thing on dreamwidth. Features Haleth as a transwoman and heavy Haleth/Caranthir.
When the stories told of love between one of the Eldar and a human, Haleth didn't think this was what they meant.
And yet here she was, waiting by the trunk of a gnarled old tree, adjusting her tunic and wondering if he would come, wishing she didn't care. She did, so much, but she would do her best to never let him know that.
She hears his horse before she hears him. He must have tied his huge destrier several feet away and was walking towards her now. She bristled, hating how quite Elves were. Unnatural, she wanted to call it, although she knew it was far more natural than her.
She turned around suddenly, quite certain he would be behind her when she did. He was, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw her.
"How do you always know?" he said, voice flat and emotionless. She knew it wasn't like that on purpose; she'd figured out that he tried rather hard to get anything across at all.
She crossed her arms. "I just know."
He nodded thoughtfully, like her response had been something other than impulsive childishness. They stood like that for a few moments, under the canopy of green trees, their boots pressed against soft moss that Haleth wished she could wriggle between her toes.
"Would you mind if I kissed you?" he asked stiffly.
She examined him for the first time in several weeks. He was road-weary and his clothing stained from travel. As always, his face was too square, his cheeks too red, his eyes set just far enough apart to be unsettling. His black hair was lank around his shoulders, and his build was stockier than all other Elves she'd seen.
And she'd seen many Elves- they trampled through her land often enough. She'd even seen his brothers once, even the one the women whispered had been handsome once, before the oldest of them had ever been born. It didn't matter much now, Haleth had thought, since that was long gone- Maedhros had an expression even flatter and eyes even colder than her Feanorian, any beauty he'd once held ravaged by torture.
She didn't know what lay under Maedhros's cold eyes, but she knew what lay under Caranthir's.
"Yes," she said. "You may."
The passion in their kiss betrayed their formal words, Haleth's arms quickly wrapping around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He was sloppy, lips pressed against her with a fervor she could only compare to the feeling she got when slaying orcs. She liked that he was sloppy. She liked that she was the one who knew how to do things, that she could teach this immortal Elf something new about life.
When they separated, she stared into his dark eyes.
"I want to take this farther," she stated. "But we don't have to."
She could feel his fingers press into her arms. He held her close, breathing her in. She let him take his time. Elves did that; they were slow, thoughtful, pensive, evne the harsh ones, ever hers. The world itself moved at a different pace for them, she often thought.
"Why," he said, the word barely a question.
"Because I love you," she replied.
She wasn't the human maiden of the stories. She wasn't beautiful. She had dark, straight hair and a hooked nose, lips that were too thin. She wore old furs and necklaces made of orc teeth, either walked barefoot with calloused soles or wore boots so heavy they clomped.
But he wasn't the handsome Elf lord either. He was often angry, proud eyes glinting with a darkness no hero in a story had. His hands would shake when he yelled, balling into fists that threatened to hit the nearest person. Haleth didn't care. If he ever tried, she could hit back.
They kissed again, making an effort at tenderness this time.
"If we do," she said. "I want to warn you..."
He cocked his head, hair falling to the side. She could see the question in his eyes.
"I was not born a woman," she finished, jaw clenched.
This was where she learned where he stood. She was determined not to show how scared she was. She straightened her back as she met her gaze evenly.
He wasn't stupid. He knew what she was saying. For once she wished he showed an inkling of his emotions on his face, that he wasn't so naturally shuttered off from the world.
"Is this...a big deal with humans?" he asked finally, haltingly, as though he didn't understand. Maybe she'd given him too much credit.
"I was born a man," she clarified.
He did that head tilt again, then let out the smallest of smirks. "The question still stands," he said, kissing her for a third time.
When the separated, she was grinning.