Hi guys! Welcome back to my fic, To Be Forever Faithful! I'm very excited to be posting today, as it is my 5 year anniversary on this website! Woohoo! I apologize if this chapter seems a bit rushed, but I really wanted to make a post today to celebrate my five lovely years of fandom. I hope you enjoy my latest installment!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or anything associated with Tolkien Enterprises.

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To Be Forever Faithful

By Ponytail Goddess

Chapter 30: Voices

"HALDIR!" Belegwen screamed down the dimly lit hallway, the blue-tinted light shining on her damp, uncombed hair as she made a mad dash down the stairs, ignoring curious onlookers who quickly stepped out of her way as she blew past them. By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, however, it was too late. He was nowhere to be seen, the moonlit path before her devoid of elves.

Still standing in the doorway, Belegwen gripped the right hand side of the entrance with both of her hands as she slowly sank to the ground, her head bowing down and damp knots of silvery tresses filling her vision and hiding all of the despair and pain that she bore within herself. Feeling overwhelmed again, Belegwen put a delicate hand over her mouth as she made a choking noise, holding in her sobs as best as she could and muffling those which she could not.

Soon she noticed the presence of another elf and quickly wiped away a few lone tears that had fallen, though she did not look up, not even when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. "Belegwen," she heard Rumil question her softly, "What just happened? I do not understand."

Upon hearing this, an alarm went off in Belegwen's head and her eyes widened dangerously as her mind searched quickly for an acceptable explanation for the incident. Rumil could not find out that she was breaking the rules with his older brother, whom he surely looked up to. "Well… Just the other night, Haldir complimented me on how I was able to become close with many of the wardens here without forming any romantic relationships. He caught us in a very interesting position, Rumil. I think he assumed the worst." She said slowly, risking a small look up at Rumil who was kneeling over her.

He looked shocked—sporting the same face that Haldir had when he walked in on them a few minutes ago. "You think Haldir believes us to be in a... a romantic relationship?" Rumil stuttered, "But that is against the rules!"

"I know! Rumil, what if our jobs are risk?" Belegwen said, playing along with what Rumil had said to try and get any assumptions of her relationship with Haldir out of Rumil's head. She gave him the best fearful face she could pull off, though she really was afraid, just not for what Rumil thought. Her heart was hammering in her chest at an unnaturally quick pace as she thought of Haldir never talking to her again. What if he would not listen to her reasoning? What if he did not believe her when she told him the truth?

"No! Do not panic Belegwen!" Rumil stated, probably more to himself than to her, despite the fact that he was holding her face in his hands. Quickly, he stood up and she followed his lead. "This is all just a big misunderstanding." He said, starting to pace in the way that Haldir often did, "Once Haldir calms down, he will surely listen to reason. I will seek him out tomorrow morning and clear this mess up. Do not worry meldir, I am certain that everything will be just fine." He said, looking at her, though she was looking off into the distance, her mind far from thinking about Rumil's words.

"Come on," he said, giving her a gentle shake, which made her gasp as she came back to reality, "You need to get some sleep and stop worrying. I will get everything sorted out. I promise." Then, with a concerned smile on his face, he led her back up to her room and bid her goodnight.

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Passing through dark shadows of the forest, Haldir ran at a pace seemed almost impossible for his body. With the agility of a wildcat, Haldir dodged through the upward sprouting mellyrn trees, clearing hedges with leaps that were almost graceful, but more powerful than anything else. Branches raked at his skin and clung to his fair golden tresses, but he ignored all of this and continued onward through the night. He only stopped when he tripped over a log and landed flat on his face, being so out of sorts that he had not seen it coming.

Cursing as he rolled over on the ground, Haldir's face revealed a visage of pain and anger. The seeds of the jealously had now dug a hole and planted themselves in his heart. Clenching his eyes shut, Haldir thought back to how the night had started out so innocently. He had taught a class and filled out some paperwork for Lord Celeborn at the library. However, upon arriving back in the warden's halls, he had spotted the two flowers he had left for Belegwen smashed on the stairs in the hallway.

Gently, he had went and picked up the crushed blossoms from the floor and had delicately traced over their injured areas with one of his fingers, sadness creeping into his hard eyes.

Had she been this mad at him? Surely she had found out that the flowers were from him. Who else would have given them to her? Had she done it on purpose or had it been mere coincidence—a mistake, perhaps?

He had planned on going to her tonight to try and listen to her side of the story more carefully, as he knew he had not given her side of the decision enough thought earlier. He sought to understand where she was coming from and would find a way to deal with the consequences she had brought upon herself.

He would apologize.

Haldir knew that he had gone too far earlier with his anger. All in all, he was not really mad with Belegwen's decision. Instead, he was furious that the crime was going unpunished because Erthalion could not remember what he had done. There was really no right way to get justice in this peculiar situation unless he remembered it. At first, Haldir had simply thought he was faking it, but the Lady of Light had even looked into his mind and saw that it was blank. Surely, everything would be okay though...

Hopefully.

Even with all of this knowledge, Haldir still planned on keeping a very close watch over Erthalion. He had been telling the truth when he told Belegwen that she was not safe. If Erthalion did eventually remember and failed to alert anyone to this fact, she could be in grave danger. While he knew Belegwen's heart was in the right place for making the decision that she did, she was still very inexperienced when it came to dealing with criminal minds, something Haldir had been doing for centuries. He would keep a close eye on Erthalion and be alert to any changes that he might show over time.

These issues and many more had crossed Haldir's mind while he practiced with his long knives that night and he had resolved to talk with Belegwen as soon as he got back to the mallorn that housed the warden's halls. On his way back from the practice field though, Haldir had stopped at the smith's shop to pick up a dagger that he had needed sharpened, only to be loaded with two of Rumil's long knives, which he had clearly forgotten to pick up, as they had been ready at the smith's shop for about two months. A bit sullenly, Haldir had taken the extra burdens and had brought them straight to Rumil's room, which should have been a quick, usual stop for him.

But it was not.

Upon seeing Belegwen, the only elleth he had ever loved, in his brother's bed and looking Rumil in the eyes as she was, with his hand underneath her chin as if he was about to kiss her, Haldir's resolve had immediately broken. The dam shot forth, letting waves of insecurity and distrust flow from its once secure perimeters. Every foul assumption that he could have made about their situation had passed through Haldir's head in a mere second of time and left him silently stunned, blinking as if it were a scene of apparitions before him and not his brother and Belegwen caught together in a precarious situation.

Now that he was thinking about it, Haldir felt like a fool for running away like that when he clearly should have taken some sort of action. A deep vat of jealously was simmering within him, just waiting to boil over and scald all who were in the way. Jealously, but also an indescribable pain that was eating away at his heart, almost making it hard to breathe as he laid in the dirt, staring into the canopy of mallorn leaves above him.

"I should have known." He murmured to himself as he looked into the heavens, grasping handfuls of dirt in his clenched fists as he grimaced into the sky. "I should have known putting too much trust in one elleth would end like this. I should have known that it could never work out. Why did I trust her?" He whispered, then closed his eyes and shook his head while cursing himself, trying to remove the image of his brother and Belegwen from his tortured mind.

There was no one he could turn to either, no one he could confide in about the situation. Therefore, when a messenger came to him in the darkness of the night and gave him a request to return to the fences from Lord Celeborn, Haldir packed a few things and left at dawn, only stopping to slip a note under Rumil's door, telling him to take over his classes until he got back.

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"Exactly where is Haldir?" Belegwen hissed to Rumil as they speed-walked down one of the paths towards the platform where announcements were made. It was time for Erthalion to take his oath with a crowd of wardens as witnesses, but Belegwen had not seen Haldir anywhere. If he could not be found, it would mean that she would have to give him the oath, which she sincerely did not want to do. In fact, if she could help it, she did not want to be anywhere near him.

Belegwen was scared of him, though she would never allow Erthalion to know it.

Even though she knew she could muster up the strength to give the oath herself, she really did not want to do it. However, when Rumil gave her a sympathetic look instead of answering, Belegwen's eyes grew large as she guessed what had happened. "Rumil... Oh no, you are not serious!" She exclaimed, scowling in disbelief as he frowned back at her. "He is not here?! Did you get a chance to talk with him before he left?!"

"No, he left before I woke up! The only reason I even know he left was because he left me a note saying that I am to take over his classes while he leads a border patrol!" Rumil said, failing to conceal the worried expression on his face as they both descended a small flight of stairs gracefully.

Belegwen must have looked quite worried at this because when the two finished taking the steps, Rumil caught hold of her upper arm and stopped her from her quick flight towards the platform. She turned to look at him, questioning his motives silently. He looked down at her soothingly. "Relax Belegwen. This will all be worked out in due time. When Haldir gets back, we will resolve this once and for all. I will not allow him to think poorly of you when you have done nothing wrong." Rumil said quite seriously, looking into her eyes as he made this proclamation.

Belegwen stared back at him for a few seconds after he said it, looking into his eyes for sincerity. Finding it, she looked down at her feet and nodded a few times before pulling away from him and walking out of the sun and into the shade of the mallorn that the platform was situated on.

Slowly, Belegwen ascended the stairs to meet a very serious looking Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel, along with two wardens who flanked the rather ashamed-looking Erthalion, who did not meet her eyes as she approached the group. Instead, she looked at Lady Galadriel, who was smiling at her. Somehow, she knew the lady was aware of how nervous she was about doing the oath Quietly, Lady Galadriel stepped forward and placed a dainty hand upon Belegwen's shoulder.

"Is this your first public announcement?" Lady Galadriel asked Belegwen in a soft voice that did not carry beyond the confines of the stage.

"Yes," Belegwen whispered, maintaining her leader stature as to not give any indication of her nervousness to the crowd. Belegwen did not know if Galadriel knew her real reason for being nervous or not, but would gladly accept her counsel either way.

"Has Haldir shown you how to take an oath?" She asked, this time looking beyond Belegwen and staring at Erthalion, her eyes narrowing a bit.

"No, he has not," Belegwen said, crossing her arms as a cold shiver ran down her spine when she looked at Erthalion. "I have witnessed two oath ceremonies myself though and I am fairly certain of how they are conducted." She replied slowly, looking around a bit.

Something was not right. Belegwen could not quite pinpoint what was going on, but it was almost as if the air around her was thicker and the shadows around them seemed to be growing in a rather foreboding way. There was this unexplainable tension that had manifested itself in the crowd and on the occupants of the stage, all who now seemed rather restless, but none really knew why. Belegwen gave a questioning look to Galadriel, but she seemed just as disturbed by this as everyone else as she scanned the crowd of wardens with eagle eyes.

Convincing herself that it was just her own needless fear, Belegwen closed her eyes for a second to get herself focused, then approached Erthalion with a fake confidence that few could see through. However, when she was finally standing beside him, clouds started to gather over the sun in a rather abrupt fashion and a harsh wind started to pick up.

"What is going on?" Belegwen thought to herself, her eyes looking up at the sky that had been perfectly sunny and cloudless only a few mere seconds ago, but was now dark and cloudy, almost as if it was about to rain. Even Erthalion had noticed the changes around him and was looking around, a bit confused about the happenings around him as well.

Finally, Belegwen realized that despite the fact that the crowd was just as curious about their changing environment as she, wasting everyone's time would not help the matter. "May I have your attention wardens! We are gathered here today to witness this elf, Erthalion of Lothlorien, place an oath before the Valar. With the lord and lady of the wood as witnesses, I-"

Suddenly, everything went completely silent around her and Belegwen stopped talking, in awe of the total silence. Not even a bird or small breeze sounded to her ears. Blinking, Belegwen opened her eyes to see herself beside Erthalion on the platform, standing as stunned and silent as she currently was. It was as though she was looking through the eyes of another being, someone who was in the crowd.

"-is not serving justice-," a male voice demanded in her mind, somehow penetrating the deep and unsettling silence that was around Belegwen. In fact, it was the same male voice she had heard during her fight with Erthalion.

Shock hit Belegwen in the face, but when she blinked again, she seemed to suddenly be back in her own body, the sound of rustling leaves and chirping birds filling her ears once more. She could again hear the sound of her breathing, though it was heavy with panic from the odd occurrence. Looking around, Belegwen saw a couple of wardens looking at her as though she had sprouted another head.

What had just happened?!

"I… I..." Belegwen stuttered a bit, trying to pick up where she had left off from her speech. She was very uncomfortable at this point and was no longer certain that her nervousness was hidden. A waving hand from the back of the crowd caught her eye—Rumil. He was nodding his head in a very reassuring manner, smiling at her confidently.

Something about his mannerism was very comforting and allowed Belegwen to pull herself together. "With the lord and lady of the wood as witnesses, I shall recite the oath that is to be offered. The oath taker, Erthalion of Lothlorien, shall repeat after me and therefore bind himself into this contract with the Valar. The time has come Erthalion. Raise your hand and look up to those who will hear you."

Stepping forward towards Erthalion, she motioned for him to raise his left arm up to the heavens. As if he was lifting a great burden over his head, the heavily-bandaged Erthalion did as he was told, tilting his face upwards as well to face the grey clouds that had gathered overhead. As the lord and lady of Lothlorien reached out to touch his extended arm, all of the curious whispers from the crowd ceased and a natural silence encompassed the entire group.

Reaching out, Belegwen hesitantly went to grasp Erthalion's arm like her elders, but flinched as the male voice popped into her head again. "Do not touch him!" the voice commanded, getting progressively louder, "He will remember you! DO NOT TOUCH HIM!" The masculine voice hissed sharply, causing Belegwen to crinkle her eyes shut and place a hand up to her forehead to comfort the throbbing pain that had recently arrived.

"Are you okay? Belegwen?" Lord Celeborn asked, a concerned look on his face.

"Yes. Yes, I am. I am just a bit more nervous that I thought." Belegwen whispered, though judging by the look Celeborn gave her, she was quite unconvincing with her lie.

Suddenly, the dull pounding in her head faded a bit, as well as some of the tension in the air, though it did not completely dissipate. Finally able to focus on the task at hand, Belegwen once again reached out her arm to grab Erthalion's, expecting to have another out of body experience.

It did not happen. Belegwen stared at Erthalion's face as she hesitantly took ahold of his arm, but he gave absolutely no indication of having remembered anything. He continued to gaze up into the cloudy sky. Belegwen shuddered as a certain realization hit her head on.

Haldir was right.

There was no way that Belegwen would be able to tell if she was sparking memories in Erthalion's head or not. Because of this, she might be in danger. She was so very close to him right now. Even though Erthalion was flanked with two guards, he could still undeniably reach for her faster than they would be able to restrain him.

He could strangle her again and Haldir was not here to help her fight him off. What would she do if he was to attack right now? Could she hold him off a second time? Somehow, she doubted it. Plus, she did not think that Erthalion would make her suffer if he tried a second time. He would probably just break her neck as quickly as possible, making sure that he finished the job.

However, he did not seem to remember. All was calm around her. Belegwen decided that she would have to ignore all of her inner raging, self-doubts, and morbid thoughts to make this oath happen. She was wasting everyone's time. "Oh dear, what must they think of me now? I am so bad at doing this." She thought to herself, the forced herself to start the oath.

"Repeat after me," Belegwen commanded, interrupting her own self-degrading thoughts with those that would get the job done. "I, Erthalion the warden, stand before the Valar today as an elf who needs to change."

"I, Erthalion the warden, stand before the Valar today as an elf who needs to change." He repeated much more softly than her, in a slightly high voice that indicated he was becoming a bit nervous about the oath too. This was not surprising though, as an oath taken before the Valar could not be taken back and was to be taken seriously, as the consequences of not doing so were quite severe.

"I vow, with you and these elves as witnesses..." She called out.

"I vow, with you and these elves as witnesses..." He repeated, starting to shake a bit with nervousness.

"…that I will never commit an act of violence against another elf…" Belegwen recited, staring at him intensely as he shook underneath the eyes of the almighty Valar.

"…that I will never... commit an act of violence against... against another elf..." He stuttered out as his knees suddenly buckled. However, the two guards managed to catch him before he fell or one of the primary witnesses let go. They both proceeded to grip him around the waist tightly and held him up so that he could finish his oath.

"...and if I ever break this oath, I will suffer the chosen consequences of the Valar." Belegwen finished.

"...and if I ever break this oath, I will suffer... the chosen consequences of the Valar." He finished in a small voice, then gasped as a shock passed through his body and into the three who held up his left arm.

The Valar had heard the oath. "It is done." Belegwen called out, releasing Erthalion's shaky hand. When the two guards let him go, he fell to the ground, panting and sobbing as he shook uncontrollably on his hands and knees.

Leaving the guards to deal with Erthalion without even glancing back at the decrepit elf, Belegwen felt herself quickly descending back down to the forest floor, her arms wrapping around her body. Faintly, she heard Lord Celeborn calling after her, but she ignored it as the chills swept over her body again.

What had happened up there? Belegwen was confused and scared. The voice had seemed more powerful this time, more angry and fierce. Was she going crazy? Though all of the elves had sensed the unusual tension in the air, only she had spent seconds in another's body. For the first time in a long time, Belegwen found herself quite afraid of the supernatural…and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Belegwen!" She heard, as someone turned her around. It was Rumil. "Belegwen, what happened up there? Are you well?" Rumil asked, speaking quickly and in a very concerned voice.

"I heard the voice again, Rumil." She whispered, each word getting more and more silent. Upon actually admitting to this fear, the air around her became even more chilled and she soon realized that her eyes had filled with tears. Unable to control herself and not wanting Rumil to see her cry, she quickly took off running down the closest deserted path. Though Rumil called after her, she ignored him and ran into the forest as fast as she could.

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Edited by P.G. on 05/27/20.

So, there we have it! Please review and let me know what you think. Have a good one!

-P.G.