Author's Notes: This takes place sometime between the Prologue and first chapter of 'Reasons'. The focus is on Glorfindel and Haldir, not Aragorn and Legolas, though both will have a brief mention at some point in this fic. Elvish is in ' '. Only the unknown characters belong to me! This fic contains eventual Haldir/Glorfindel slash, and verbal and physical abuse! Takes place a couple of hours after the last chapter. Can anyone guess who Rissan is?

Part 2. Games

Haldir cheerfully whistled as he let his bow sing, striking the target directly in the center. The young 'Lorien Elf casually strung another arrow, before releasing it as well. The second arrow split the first one down the middle, and embedded itself deeply into the wooden target. The third arrow, however, missed its target, striking the lower part of the target instead of the center.

Haldir frowned and tried again, but the same thing happened again. He began inspecting his bow, to see if it was damaged or needed repair. He bent his head over his work, letting his fingers run up the smooth wood of the bow.

A splinter pricked his thumb deeply, breaking off in the skin, and Haldir winced.

Glorfindel had finally awoken, and the Elven lord was heading back towards the Lord and Lady of the Wood, when he came across the empty clearing that Haldir was practicing in. It was rather well hidden, with tall shrubs and trees around it,

Haldir placed his bow on the ground, sat next to it, and began trying to remove the splinter with only his fingers, before he finally drew a dagger and began carefully cutting it out. Haldir showed no emotion, even when his efforts drove the rather large splinter in deeper, making it begin to bleed more.

Glorfindel questioned, 'Did you injure yourself?' He could see the blood swelling from the splinter, before it tapered off.

'Not too badly,' Haldir wryly answered. 'This will teach me to make certain that my bow is smooth and flawless.' He refused to go to the Lady of the Wood for a mere splinter, however deep, and persisted in its removal.

'I see,' Glorfindel said slowly. He could truly see, and he knew that Haldir would never get the splinter out with such a large blade, especially when he could only use one hand. Though Glorfindel told himself that he was just being nice, and that he still didn't like the haughty Elf.

Haldir finally conceded defeat and silently cleaned his dagger off, before re-sheathing it. 'Oh, well,' he sighed tragically. A sly look was in his eyes, before he stated, 'My skin will just have to heal around it.' The young Elf stood, grabbing his bow with his good hand, and prepared to continue practicing.

Glorfindel stalked over, drawing out the small dagger that he kept in a pouch, before he took Haldir's hand in his own firmly.

Haldir raised an eyebrow slightly, as the Elven lord expertly began extracting the splinter, surprised by the strange, unaccustomed feeling inside of him, while he watched Glorfindel work. Warmth was growing in him, and Haldir slightly swallowed.

Glorfindel carefully re-opened where the skin had begun growing over the splinter, and easily removed it. He had gotten many splinters in his youth, and his father had shown him out to remove them. The Elven lord ignored the stirring inside of him, as he silently held up the large splinter that had been in the smooth, perfectly-shaped thumb.

'You have my thanks, Lord Glorfindel,' Haldir murmured, genuinely grateful. He was surprised when the older Elf did not release his hand right away, but did not show it.

'You're welcome… young one,' Glorfindel said, finally dropping the soft hand that he held, and was annoyed with himself for missing the feel of the warm hand in his.

Haldir gave Glorfindel a brilliant smile, which lit up his face, before he turned back to the target and notched an arrow in his bow, before letting it fly. It landed where the other two arrows had, on the edge of the target. The 'Lorien Elf was embarrassed that such a respected Elven lord saw how bad he was at archery. Haldir practiced all the time, but could only hit the target once every three times.

He jested, 'And this is why I will never become the leader of the Galadhrim,' to cover up his humiliation. Haldir was just glad that his face hadn't flushed, as it tended to do when he was ashamed.

Glorfindel narrowed his eyes. 'Your stance is wrong, for one thing, young Haldir. Your feet should be set apart slightly, not together as if they were tied that way.'

'Like this?' Haldir said, spreading his feet apart a few inches. He bristled at the word young, but did not comment on it. He truly wanted to learn to master archery, and Glorfindel was rumored to be one of the best at it.

"Yes. And be mindful of when you draw the bowstring back- don't jar yourself with your elbow so much,' Glorfindel instructed.

Haldir notched another arrow and released it. A pleased smile broke out on his face when it split the arrow that had split the first one earlier.

Glorfindel could only stare for a few moments at the beautiful smile, which lit up Haldir's eyes, making them shine like stars.

Rissan seethed, as he stood in the shadows, watching the two blond Elves together. Haldir was his, and his alone, and no Elven lord was going to jeopardize that.

Haldir looked over at Glorfindel. 'Again, thank you,' he told the Elven lord, stifling a yawn of his own. 'I believe that it is nearly time to eat.'

'So I see,' Glorfindel said. 'I'll see you later, then, young one.'

'I am not young,' Haldir countered stubbornly.

Glorfindel replied, 'You are… to me.'

Haldir smirked. 'How would you know? You don't even know me at all.'

Not again, the Elven lord silently groaned. Another hint, another jest… Didn't the young one- Haldir- realize that he was a lot more pleasant to be around when he wasn't joking all of the time? Glorfindel felt his irritation returning, as he sternly looked at Haldir, who was still smirking.

'Indeed, I don't know you, but I would remind you that I am an Elven lord, and am not to be taken lightly,' Glorfindel finally answered.

'Then how should you be taken?' Haldir's eyes danced with mischief, as he purposefully misunderstood what the Elven lord had said. 'Shall I take you seriously? Humorously?'

Glorfindel realized that he had set himself up for that, though he was very vexed right now. Such bluntness was unthinkable to him, and Glorfindel silently stalked away, leaving Haldir behind. He was not going to tolerate an impertinent youth saying such things to him, of all people. Glorfindel even wondered that the Lady and the Lord let Haldir get away with such bold statements.

Haldir had only been joking, so he didn't understand why Glorfindel was now upset with him. A small shadow crossed his face, before he sighed and turned back to his archery, after watching Glorfindel rapidly stride away. A second sigh escaped the first, for Haldir was extremely disappointed, though he didn't know why.

His distraction kept Haldir from noticing when Rissan stepped out from the shadows of the tree he had been hiding in. An unreadable look was on the older Elf's face, as he noiselessly crept up on Haldir and tapped him on the shoulder.

Haldir jumped slightly, before two arms firmly took a hold of his waist, and warm breath swept over one of his ears. The blond Elf felt a body press against his and the arms around him held him tighter, and he tried not to show his slight fear.

'Haldir…' Rissan breathed into the other pointed ear. 'I have been looking for you for a while now…'

'Rissan,' Haldir said, relief flooding through him. 'I didn't know that you were looking for me.'

Rissan purred, 'But I was, Haldir…' His arms took an even harder grip on the younger Elf, making him wince.

'I'm sorry,' Haldir told his lover automatically. He knew that he should have found Rissan first, but he had wanted to practice his archery and then Glorfindel had come along.

'You should be, because instead of spending your free time with me, you spent it with that Elf from Rivendell,' Rissan snapped. He had made his feelings about this to Haldir- or so he had thought. Haldir was supposed to spend all of his free time with him and no one else.

Haldir flinched. 'He was only helping me with my archery; there's no need to get jealous, Rissan. And he got the splinter out of my hand for me.'

Rissan coldly smiled, before he roughly ran a hand down Haldir's back, causing the younger Elf to shiver, but whether it was from pain or pleasure was not known.. 'Please make sure that no reason ever occurs for me to get jealous, Haldir… I could not ever stand seeing you with another; I would die of grief less than minutes later.'

'All right,' Haldir agreed. He did have a deep respect for Glorfindel, though he also enjoyed teasing him, but he didn't want to cause Rissan to die from grief because of him. 'I won't spend any time with him unless Lord Celeborn makes me.' Though he was not happy now, because Glorfindel had been nice to him and now he was going to have to go out of his way to avoid the Elven lord, to make Rissan happy and keep him from dying.

'Excellent,' Rissan said, glad that that had been settled.

No one knew exactly where the dark-haired Elf had come from; he had just shown up one day, with naught but his weapons and the clothes on his back. Soon after he'd arrived, Rissan had staked out the youngest Elf in the Galadhrim- Haldir- as his, and made certain that everyone kept far away from him, for he was a possessive Elf by nature. Those who crossed him paid dearly for it, though most were not around to talk about it.

Haldir hated giving in like that, but he genuinely loved Rissan and did not want to hurt him. To his surprise, Rissan removed his arms and turned him to face him. A harsh grip was placed on Haldir's right wrist, and the younger Elf frowned, not understanding what Rissan was actually doing, until the grip grew hard enough to bruise him, being felt even by his bones.

'That hurts,' Haldir protested, before he tried to yank his wrist away, and he gasped in pain when the grip grew harder. 'What are you doing? Let me go!'

Rissan stated, 'Marking you as mine, Haldir. You belong to me and no one else, and it's time I reminded you of that.'

Haldir winced even more, as the grip grew unbearably hard. His wrist was hurting badly now, and he fiercely tried to pull away, but the grip merely grew worse. He felt his bones shifting in his hand, and desperately struggled harder, but he was no match for a full-grown Elf, who was much stronger than him. Rissan twisted the wrist sharply, making Haldir cry out in pain. He was making certain that no mistakes would be made here.

By the time Haldir was released, he was certain that his wrist was either sprained very badly or broken. It was red and swollen, with dark, purpling bruises on it, in the shape of the fingers that had been holding it so tightly. When he tried to move his wrist, the pain was so bad that he had to bite back a choked scream. He turned a hurt and bewildered look to the older Elf, who stood there coolly looking at him.

'That,' Rissan stated flatly, 'was for daring to look at him. You are mine, Haldir, and you would do well to remember that. I do not want to see you near him again, understand?'

Haldir wordlessly gaped at Rissan, not understanding. Anger, fear, confusion, and betrayal shone in his blue eyes, before he ran off, in pain of two kinds. The pain was both in his wrist and in his heart, so Haldir fled away from it as best as he could.

How could Rissan hurt him like this, Haldir wondered, as he raced through the bushes and trees, ignoring Rissan's plea for him to come back. He had only been joking with Glorfindel, and that wasn't against the rules, unless he upset him too much. Haldir would never hurt Rissan; love wasn't about hurting the one you loved, after all.

A few tears pricked at Haldir's eyes, for his right wrist was really hurting now. The swelling was only getting worse, and he didn't know what to do. He couldn't go to Lady Galadriel; she would ask him what had happened and he would not be able to lie.

Haldir didn't want to get Rissan in trouble; it was his fault for being with Glorfindel, after all. He knew how easily that Rissan got jealous, and each time it was his fault. But Rissan had never hurt him like this before.

The 'Lorien Elf dodged around two trees and ran straight into a warm, strong body. Haldir hissed in pain, because he had jarred his throbbing wrist, before he tilted his face up to meet the stern look on Glorfindel's face. Haldir inwardly groaned, for he did not need this right now. Rissan was already mad enough at him; this would just make things worse.

Glorfindel's annoyance grew when the impatient youngster ran directly into him, and he disapprovingly raised an eyebrow. That is, until he saw the swollen wrist that Haldir tried to hide, placing it behind his back, after the Elven lord had seen it.

To be continued