He sat in the little garden behind the house, his once beautiful flawless hands calloused and caked with dirt. They were sore: he'd pushed himself too far again.

A shadow fell across the dark mounds of earth before him. It was Legolas. "Haldir..."

He didn't want to look up. Deliberately, without raising his head, he wiped his marred fingers on his worn jeans leaving dusty lines of brown. "What is it?" Haldir asked, his silky voice flat. But he already knew what it was.

"Uh..." Legolas shifted nervously from one foot to the other. "There's another env... letter for you."

It had been over two weeks since the last. Legolas had refused to touch the fallen letter on the floor of Haldir's study. With a broom and a dustpan, he'd carefully collected them up and dropped them unceremoniously into the trash bin. Even when he went to empty it, he carried the bag as though it contained a small time bomb that could detonate at any second; as though the buried letter could manifest some sort of physical power over him.

That night, he awoke to a strange sound that seemed to echo through the entire house. Legolas wrapped himself in a thick robe and ventured out into the hall. The door to Haldir's bedroom stood ajar. Cautiously, he peeked inside. It was empty.

His pointed ears twitched. There was that sound again! He followed it on silent feet to the living room. The ceiling and walls flickered, for the huge stone hearth was alight with a roaring fire that crackled and spit. Legolas gasped.

Crouching before the fire was Haldir's bent figure. Unwillingly, Legolas moved towards him. He felt his eyes grow wide in horror.

The sound was Haldir prying books, manuscripts, papers, notebooks full of scrawled writing, to pieces and tossing them into the greedy tongues of flame. Loose pages lay scattered across the floor like tattered flowers all around him. The most frightening part of the horrific scene was Haldir's face: the dancing orange light heightened the shadows of his features, that unearthly, wild expression.

In a moment, Legolas was at his side. "Haldir! My friend, Haldir!" His cries were desperate. He grabbed the elf's shoulders as though he were clinging to life, and shook. "HALDIR!" But the spell cast would not be broken. His eyes were full of the clouded darkness that only demons were known for, and he gazed at Legolas as though he did not recognize him. Then he went back to his terrible work.

"Haldir please!"

The paper ripped in his hands, white as bleached bone, and the sound was a low moan heard above the laughing flames. It was a nightmare! All a nightmare! "HALDIR!" He cried again, and knew nothing else but to throw his arms around his hysterical friend, and began to drag him away. There was a brief struggle, and then whatever had had a hold on Haldir's mind finally drew away. He was left without energy, lying bewildered on the floor amidst his torn and crumpled, half-burned papers.

"Where am I?" His voice was small and far away.

"...Come to bed..." Whispered Legolas, and he led him back to his bedroom.

After he'd seen him safely tucked into the welcome blankets... comforters, they call them... Legolas returned to the living room to dowse the fire. It smoldered, and he could almost swear that an evil voice taunted him from the hissing remnants of the carnage of words. He shuddered, taking a cardboard box and dumping the rest of the unburnt literature into it. He brought it outside and left it by the drive. Back in his own bed, sleep could offer no condolence to him that night; nor could it the next, or the next.

--------------------- -------------------- ---------------------

Haldir slowly stood and extended a hand towards him.

Legolas gave over the envelope. He wished he didn't have to. It had rent his heart in two when he'd found it in the mail the day before. Hoping that by some miracle it would have disappeared, he'd left the envelope alone in the postoffice box. But today it was there again, ever waiting. Haldir pursed his lips until they were the suggestion of a line on his face. "Thank you." He muttered, then left seeking the seclusion of his study to read the new letter.

"My Dear Elf,

I don't doubt that the last letter I sent you must have caused a
great deal of unease on your part. If you were foolishly thinking
that perhaps I am the publishing company rep, you are indeed mistaken!
I shall not be known that easily. But do know that I mean to cause
you no harm. I am just interested. Interested, not only in you, but
in your people. I am eager to learn about them and their ways. I
want to know how you exist in a modern world... How you've gone so
long without being discovered... I want to know everything.
Everything, Haldir, everything..."

It was signed in that same flourishing hand, "The Rememberer". That was odd, he thought. He realized then, that this letter did not frighten him so much. After all, there were other times when he'd been 'discovered' in his long life... But somehow, this time seemed different. There was something wrong about it, something his elf senses were warning him about ahead of time. Things that can't really be explained. Like the feeling one gets when they are being followed in the night, that inexplicable heightening of the senses when all is not well somewhere... Haldir felt that now, and it made him shrink with anxiety.

Quickly, he crumpled the letter and tossed it away.

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Chibi Legolas: There you are! How's that for updates?! ^_^ Thanks again to my reviewers. You guys are awesome, and you keep me going.

Note: This is not how I picture Haldir, really... So this story stands by itself as far as my writing goes. Sorry again, about any spelling mistakes. No spell check. :(

Take care folks! Will try to update again soon! ^_^