Chapter 6 – GIFTS AND UNCERTAINTY
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Taelyra's recovery was swift. Apparently, Telerin Elves were as resilient as their Lorien kindred.
Haldir had been on his normal patrolling duties but would return in the evenings to check on her and see that she was improving.
Taelyra's strength was returning but her recovery increased exponentially upon meeting Galadriel. Haldir was sitting with Taelyra in her room having tea with her. She had been able to get out of bed that day and sit up at a table. A subtle luminescence enveloped the room; Taelyra felt a tingling, warm sensation that made her turn towards the doorway. Galadriel stood there radiating warmth and welcome towards her and Taelyra thought the sun shining down on a summery meadow had never felt so good.
Taelyra gasped softly and Haldir enjoyed the rapturous look on her face as she took in the gentle radiance that was the presence of the Lady of Light.
Galadriel had come in and spoken gentle words of welcome to Taelyra and told her how pleased she was to see her recovering so well. Galadriel directed the words to Taelyra but her eyes fell on Haldir as she spoke them. She conveyed to Haldir, by thought, her gratitude for his newfound healing skills. Haldir smirked slightly as the thought of him as a healer still seemed ridiculous but he was none the less pleased at the results with Taelyra.
As calmly and subtly as she had come in, Galadriel left them. Suddenly, the room returned to its previous candlelit glow. Taelyra sat in revered silence.
"The Lady's effect on most, is profound," stated Haldir after a few moments.
"Mmm," was all Taelyra could manage as she looked across the table at Haldir. Her gaze fell upon the sword propped against the wall behind him.
"Artanis!" she exclaimed, "I forgot to present her with Artanis. How could I be so thoughtless?"
Haldir chuckled, "The Lady has seen the sword; when we first brought you here. She's been informed that you've come bearing a gift from your people and she will await your presentation of it. When you feel able, you may kneel before her and the Lord Celeborn and give it to them."
"I should like to bestow them with it tomorrow, if that is alright," replied Taelyra earnestly. "Will you accompany me when I do so, Haldir?"
"As you wish lady," was Haldir's reply.
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Taelyra left the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel feeling a whirlwind of emotions inside. She felt the very opposite of the cool and collected Lorien Elves. The Elves here all seemed to shimmer irredescently and exude calmness while she could barely contain her excitement at just being here and fulfilling her duty to deliver Artanis.
She felt the meeting had gone very well. She had confirmed Galadriel's speculation that she was a Telerin Elf from the far, Eastern lands of Middle Earth. Taelyra told of her people's contentedness in the Lindárin Realm until the Dark Forces had begun to encroach upon them.
As he had begun to gather strength, the Dark Lord Sauron had summoned great evil from the East and it was the Telerin Elves that first took up arms in the battle for Middle Earth. They had tried to vanquish the evil from their lands but it was too powerful. As well, their King - and visionary - had seen their future. For long years, he'd known that they would someday have to leave their beloved realm. He knew in his heart that the time of the Elves was passing. So en masse, his people had abandoned their fine homes and left the beautiful countryside in order to begin the journey back to their promised glory, the Undying Lands.
Taelyra told the Lord and Lady that her people would arrive at Lothlorien in a matter of weeks and that she and her brothers had been sent ahead as scouts and messengers.
She had tried to speak most diplomatically and present Artanis to the Lady of Light as her father had instructed. There was the small matter of the misunderstanding of Artanis' Wielder but she had tried to broach the issue tactfully and ensure Celeborn understood the Sacred Sword's intent.
Artanis, through its mystical energies, could not be wielded by just anyone who chose to carry the sword. Artanis itself, chose its Wielder and it currently seemed to favour the hand of a woman. Taelyra explained lengthily the history of the great weapon.
Long ago, Artanis had been thrust deep into a rock within the palace courtyard after serving a Telerin Captain well in a lengthy campaign.
It was the sword's will, that it be encased in the stone for ages until its power was once again required. As children of the Captain of the King's Guard, Taelyra and her brothers had grown up within the royal palace. Often they snuck in to the revered spot where the sword lay thrust to its hilt in the boulder. They sensed the awesome power of the weapon and heralded it but once they had overcome their awe, they would each take turns trying to pull it from the stone.
They would feel simultaneous fear and exhileration and finally fall, laughing at their inability to withdraw the sword. Then feeling guilty for laughing in the presence of the great saber they would race back up to their rooms and boast of the conquests and valiant campaigns they would launch with the legendary blade in their hand.
Taelyra left this particular antecdote out of her explanations to Celeborn and Galadriel as well as the tale of her own liberation of the great sword from its stone sheath. That could be explained later, she had thought.
After her presentation of Artanis, Taelyra found herself rushing along the walkways of the forest and came upon a silvery meadow with a tiny brook running through it. Below the heath she stood upon she heard clear, Elven voices.
"Could you believe it, when she corrected the Lord Celeborn?" said one voice.
"Have you ever heard such pertinence before?" replied another.
"And her clothes, what was she wearing?" said the first again, "She refused the Lady's gifted clothes and wore those brash colours."
"Well, her costume reflects her character, I suppose," said the second Elf. "Bold and brazen."
Taelyra knew these Elves were speaking about her. She peered over the edge of the grassy knoll she stood upon and she saw three Elves sitting about on rocks. A male elf sat repairing the strap of his arrow quiver; a female was re-stringing her bow while a third, Haldir, sat quietly sharpening his sword.
Taelyra had not heard Haldir speak nor did he do so now in her defence. Her heart plummeted as the harsh criticism of the Elves' words sank in and she realized Haldir's silence rang as agreement with their statements against her.
Taelyra backed away from the edge of the small embankment and she turned to run along the path she'd just come down. She ran, not knowing where to, until she came to some stables. She smelt the fresh hay and the warm, musky scent of the big horses and she felt somewhat comforted to be amongst the large, noble beasts and away from the haughty tongues of the strange Elves.
When would her brothers arrive? She wondered desperately. These Elves were so different from her people. The Elves of Lorien hid their emotions deeply, displaying only regal confidence. The Lord and Lady could not help but radiate their ages' wisdom and quiet warmth but those lessor Elves around them, exuded only cool indifference.
For the first time since she had arrived, Taelyra disliked it here. Disliked it intensely and wished she were amongst her own people again.
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Haldir was lost deep in thought. He slowly drew the whetting stone along the long edge of his sword making the metal ring while his thoughts wandered back to their favourite subject, Taelyra. As hard as he tried lately, his mind constantly turned towards her.
She was both an irresistable enticement and a wary, mystery to him. Yes, she was very beautiful and he was attracted to her but she behaved very differently from him and those of his kind. She displayed her emotions readily and spoke too much and at times too loudly. He had nearly fallen over when she had corrected the Lord Celeborn this afternoon. What had she been thinking?
She seemed young to have been entrusted with this highly diplomatic duty but there was her point, that she was the only Elf the great sword "allowed" to wield it. Indeed, it was a mystical and strange weapon – to have chosen Taelyra as its carrier, must indicate that she too, was strange and mysterious.
He heard his companions mention her name, he seemed to be surrounded by her constantly these days. He desired a long patrol somewhere deep in the forest to clear his mind of her. A break from the sight of her to calm his desires and regain control of his emotions that roiled when she was near.
This was folly, he reprimanded himself. This was not how he'd heard love described. To find one's edar (soul mate) was to hear a clap of thunder in your heart at the moment you set eyes upon them. To feel as though you'd been vaulted heavenward and had no fear of falling back to earth. Well, at least that's how he'd heard it described in stories and song.
This whirlwind flight of fancy that he'd been experiencing was just the exhileration of meeting someone of a strange Elf culture under combative circumstances. But essentially, he'd been out performing his duties while she was endeavouring to perform hers – just like she had said.
Only yesterday, he had apologized to her for his treatment of her at their first meeting. His eyes had fleetingly gone to her arm, where the bruises he'd inflicted were but faint marks now. She understood his meaning immediately and had smiled kindly up at him.
"We were both just carrying out our duties," she'd simply stated.
Haldir sighed as he drew the sharpening tool along his blade one last time. She was of a very foreign people and under very clear commands of both her King and family. Once her duties here were carried out, she was to follow her people to the Grey Ships and leave Middle Earth forever. This was a very different path from his own.
He was pledged to serve and protect the Lord and Lady until they deemed their time here in Middle Earth was done. Then, and only then, would he follow the call in his heart and go over the seas with his people. Currently, Celeborn and Galadriel were embroiled in helping Gandalf and his strange Fellowship on a Quest to destroy the Ring of Power. Who knew how long this venture would take? And what toll it would have on the Elves of Lorien?
Taelyra only intrigued him, nothing more. He had not travelled in a long time and he was growing lonely. His need for excitement and companionship had driven him to distraction over this girl but it was nothing more than that. A fleeting distraction that should go unheeded. He should maintain his sensibilities and treat her with the utmost respect that her diplomatic visit deserved.
Haldir was pulled from his thoughts by the callling of his name. He looked up as one of his Sentinels strode up.
"The Lady wishes that you bring Taelyra to her immediately," the Sentinel told Haldir.
He nodded and stood. Sheathing his sword, he calmly walked up the path that led out of the meadow.
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Taelyra knelt by the trickling brook splashing the cool water upon her face. She had fallen into a ridiculous cycle of beginning to cry, feeling foolish for crying, then crying more because she felt so foolish. How had she quickly gone from a formidable Elvish fighter to this flighty girl in her short time in Lorien? What was happening to her? Perhaps she had endured a head injury during her skirmish with that warg, she wondered.
She heard footsteps coming up the path and quickly stood trying to regain her composure. Her cheeks felt cooled by the water so she hoped her face was no longer flushed. She blinked her eyes a few times to clear them and wiped them with her sleeve one last time. She took a deep breath and began to walk slowly towards the footsteps so it would appear that she was merely enjoying a stroll.
"Taelyra," Haldir's clear tenor rang out her name, nearly destroying her new and carefully constructed composure. Reflexively she felt her heart leap and her spine tingle at the sound of his voice saying her name. Her response angered her and the flush rose in her cheeks again. This angered her even more.
"Yes Haldir," Taelyra responded looking up at him and trying to show as much cool, composure as he always displayed.
"Galadriel wishes to see you. She bade me bring you to her immediately."
"Oh," said Taelyra tentatively. This sounded urgent and a bit ominous. She had just come from meeting with the Lady, why would she want to see her again so soon and privately?
"If you would follow me please," Haldir began to lead Taelyra to the Lady's chambers.
As she followed Haldir along the wooded path, Taelyra's thoughts raced trying to guess why the Lady needed to see her so urgently and wondered if it was connected to what Haldir's companions had been saying. Had she commited some offense to the Lord and Lady that required swift and immediate reprimand?
Was the Lord Celeborn so affronted that Galadriel was stepping in to correct the situation? Taelyra's pulse quickened as they walked and she nearly ran into the back of Haldir when he came to stop before a wide stone staircase leading down into a small clearing.
Within the clearing Taelyra could see a large silver tureen encased in a beautifully carved stone base. Next to it was a small pool fed by a tiny, graceful waterfall. On the edge of the pool sat a tall silver pitcher. She did not see Galadriel.
Haldir gestured that she should go ahead down the stone steps. Taelyra seemed frozen to the spot. Haldir glanced at her, her green eyes were wide and she seemed a bit flushed in her cheeks. She was a flighty thing, he thought confirmingly.
"The Lady awaits you," he spoke gently to her.
Taelyra looked at him, almost panicked, Haldir noticed she was shaking ever so slightly. Why was she so apprehensive?
He took her hand gently in his and looked intently into her eyes. "A summons from the Lady is a great honour, to speak privately with her is a gift not a threat," he said calmly.
The warmth of Haldir's hand calmed Taelyra immediately. His words were heartfelt and she could not doubt the love and respect he had for the Lady. He believed in what she embodied and he served her selflessly. This thought grounded Taelyra and she exhaled the breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
She smiled her thanks and Haldir encouragingly gave her hand a gentle squeeze as she began to descend the stairs towards Galadriel's Mirror.