"There is something I must tell you," Haldir told Aragorn as they were preparing to fight in Helm's Deep. "But you must keep it a secret."
Aragorn frowned, confused by his friend's words. "You can tell me anything. Haldir, I have known you since I was a child in Rivendell. What secret is greater then that?"
"Perhaps this one is." Haldir furrowed his brow, looking less like an elf then a worried child. "I promised Thurandil my services to one of his court, and I also promised to keep this person from battle. But I fear they have followed me, hiding among the back ranks. If anything happens to me, you must watch over them."
"Of course, but nothing will happen to you, unless something happens to me." Aragorn swung his arm over his friend's shoulders. "And we are not so easy to kill."
"No, we are not." Haldir smiled finally, the merry smile of the elves tempered by wisdom. "But still, you must promise."
"I promise." Aragorn stood and grabbed his friend's arm. "Now come, and let us meet with Legolas.
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Haldir fell, on the battlements of Helms Deep, and so did every other elf that came with him. The last one that was left was the elf that Haldir promised to protect, who loved him dearly, and would die for him. There was a great wound in the shoulder of their armor, and they fell upon his chest, tears running through the blood staining the armor. The orcs thought them dead, and ran over the two, stepping on them and pressing the armor into their chests. The elf just lay there. Then Aragorn came out, and then Gandalf, and for a second the field was empty.
Finding it hard to breathe, the elf pushed off of Haldir and rolled over. "Here," they called out in Sindarin, "Here I--!" They weren't able to finish, but it didn't matter. There was a cool and comfortable hand on their forehead as hands pulled off the bent helmet.
"You are safe," came a voice half recognized.
"Legolas... my brother." Legolas's face distorted and he pushed the hair out of the elf's face.
"You should not be here, I left you in Rivendell! You were safe there! Annuniel, my sister," Legolas kissed her on the cheek.
"I came to fight, not to disobey you." She smiled up at him. "And I survived, did I not?" She coughed, and there was blood on her lips, but her skin was not so pale as it could be, and she did not think she would die.
"Aragorn!" Legolas called out to his friend, who was speaking with Mithrandir. "Come quickly." Eomer, who had come to the aid of the elf with him, began to pull of the armor of Rivendell. He did not look at the fair face, which reminded him of his Eowyn.
"What is it, Legolas?" Aragorn came to kneel by the side of his friends, and Gandalf came after him.
"Annuniel," Legolas began, and swallowed in his throat. "She is my sister." Aragorn started, and then helped Eomer to pull off her breastplate. A throaty groan escaped Legolas, as the blood from a terrible wound near her heart began to bleed more freely.
"I am not going to die," Annuniel told her brother, and her eyes took on the swirling of elfin dreams.
"Sister?" Legolas asked. "What do you see?"
"The ring bearer. He is going toward Mordor, with his dear Sam." Aragorn cut off the arm of her white shirt to get at the wound while keeping her decency.
"Yes, he loves Sam. He was going to leave him behind," Aragorn told her, allowing a moment of intimacy, "but Sam wouldn't let him."
"What do you see?" Legolas asked again, to keep her busy as Aragorn took the dried athelas from his pouch and chewed it to bring out the juices. They'd boil more.
"Haldir..." she told him, and her eyes cleared. "He wants to come back."
"Only two elves have ever come back to Middle Earth. The Valar do not give such gifts lightly." Legolas explained to his sister. "What else do you see?"
But she would not be deterred. "Legolas, my brother, I am serious. He isn't dead," she swallowed, not allowing the blood to reach her lips again. Wounds that would kill men would not slay hobbits, and what would slay hobbits would not slay a dwarf, but what would slay a dwarf may not slay an elf. Aragorn understood this, but he thought that Legolas was too worried for his sister to think about it. As Eomer and Legolas removed her last gauntlet, he lifted her up so that she could see Haldir's face. He wanted to lament his friend's death. At that point, he understood. She was the one he had promised to care for. He had promised Thurandil, not Celeborn or Elrond, so it should have been more obvious.
Annuniel's hair was much lighter then Legolas's dark straight hair, and her curling blond locks hid her face as she touched his face. "He is not dead, only sleeping. Wake up, Haldir, captain of Lothlorien." The elf stirred, and opened his eyes. Annuniel began to cry and allowed herself to breathe heavily. The two of them lay together in the awe of the men around them, and then they both coughed blood and she slumped back into Aragorn's arms.
"Get them inside," Aragorn cried, and lifted Annuniel in his arms. "Annuniel, Annuniel. Shh," he murmured to her, and kissed her tears.
"I am not a child," she told him.
"No, but you are crying," he began, "and I haven't seen many elves cry."
"Then you haven't visited the Greenwood," she retorted, then closed her eyes. "We are all sad there." Aragorn hurried through the broken doors to where Eowyn and the women waited, their healing skills already hard at work. Eowyn came forward when he entered.
"My lord Aragorn," she cried, as she took in what was in his arms. "What has befallen her?"
"Elves are a hearty folk, and not so easily killed. But this one is not battle-ready, despite her courage. Will you help me?"
"Of course, my lord," Eowyn told him, and called for a cot to be freed. Haldir was laid upon it first, as the wounds on his back had killed him once before. "These wounds would kill a man," Eowyn told him as she bound his chest and back.
"As Aragorn said," Haldir told her mirthfully, wincing only once, "I am not a man, and perhaps better then most elves."
Annuniel was bound next to him, and she held a cloth to her chest and all the warriors but Legolas parted from them, for the sake of her decency. "Haldir, my cousin," Legolas began, but Haldir raised a hand to interrupt him.
"I did not tell you because I was not sure. I am not faultless, cousin, however much your father thinks I am." Haldir put his hand on his brow. "My little cousin is a masterful artist. She hid her presence from me well."
"Yes, I understand," Legolas told him, pained. Annuniel would not look at him in her shame, but allowed him as her brother to bind her chest. "When she was small she would hide in the forest, and I would find her. And then when the dwarves came to our forest, she hid the party, but then always they were found again. Still, she cried when they were captured, in fear of war or anger. Then there was great anger in my father, for the dwarves escaped with Bilbo."
"Brother, do not speak of me that way," Annuniel lamented. "You who love me so."
"Your brother speaks in a lovely way," Eowyn told her as she secured Haldir's bandages. "Brothers speak praise in different ways then sisters would have, but it is still praise."
"I understand your meaning," Annuniel said softly, "and he is a good brother. That is why I came after him."
"It is not your place to secure my life." Legolas cried out. "To worry our father so is worse then anything else. What if there was no one to find you."
"There would be," Haldir told the three of them, "for I told Aragorn to watch for her, but it was without revealing her identity."
"Come, now," Eowyn told the two, standing up. "Let us find clothes for you, for the Grey Pilgrim wishes for the party to continue." Her voice was sad as she said this, and she was missing Aragorn before he left.
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Author's notes:
Elves do not call magic, magic. The gifts given to them by Illuvater (God) are called Arts, which is why Haldir calls her an artist. Each elf has unique arts, and for example you could look at Galandrial's mirror and Legolas's skill with the bow, unmatched by any.
Annuniel (Sindarin):
Annun: (from the) West (from Andune in Quenyan)
Iel: Maiden (from sell: child of)
Definitions are taken from online elvish dictionaries. If something's wrong, I want to know (even though I would probably end up keeping the name anyway. I looked really hard, and I chose Sindarin words that were taken from other words/quenyan words because it fits Annuniel's personality. Hopefully it will become more obvious in future stories.