Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
Authors Note:
Whoo, I'm on a roll! Finished Chapter 20 today, and am already writing another chapter! Go me! Look what I can get done when I can't connect to FanFiction.net and want to avoid doing anything useful!
And I stand corrected in Elisandra's relation to Celeborn...oops. I normally catch stuff like that, but the Elves are so damn confusing, what with being immortal and all. I mean, you could know your great-great-great-great-grandparents if you were an Elf! Hey...multiple grandparents...hee. That would be fun on birthdays. To bad Elves don't celebrate birthdays all that much since they have so many of them...
Anyways, I intended to reveal who Elisandra's father is in this chapter, but stuff happened. Next chapter! I promise! I've even written the scene already! Now I just need to make up something to fill up the rest of the chapter. (it's currently about the size of Chapter 1)
In other news, I'm thinking of writing a 'Survivor: Middle-Earth' fanfic. Or maybe, since I've seen more episodes of it (ie, one) more often, 'Big Brother: Middle-Earth'. Just wondering what people would think about it, and who they think should be on it... (besides the entire Fellowship and Ringwraith #4...yes, a Ringwraith is an essential castmember!)
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter XXI-
-Fun With Sharp Pointy Things-
------------------------------
Haldir frowned as he walked through the hallways of Rivendell, absorbed in his thoughts. Because of this, Haldir barely noticed as Lord Celeborn came up beside him, keeping pace with him while watching him out of the corner of his eye. He was aware that Lord Celeborn was there, of course - he'd been Marchwarden of Lothlorien for too long not to notice when someone started walking beside him - but he knew whoever it was wasn't a threat and ignored them, preferring to keep to his own thoughts until his companion spoke.
"She looks a lot like her mother, doesn't she?" Lord Celeborn asked when he spoke. Haldir started slightly, looking over at Celeborn in surprise.
"Who?" he asked, though he knew very well.
"Elisandra. You do remember the copy of the portrait that came with the messenger from Minas Tirith, do you not?" Celeborn replied.
"I do." Haldir said quietly, turning his gaze to the floor.
"Then won't you agree that she looks a lot like her mother?" Celeborn asked. Mutely, Haldir nodded, and Celeborn eyed him for a moment before adding, "Though she does have a good deal of her father in her, from what I have seen and heard." Haldir's gaze shot up and he stared at Celeborn.
"Nobody even knows who her father IS." Haldir choked out after a moment.
"I do." Celeborn said with a small smile. "And if her father doesn't come forward, I am going to tell her myself." And with that, Celeborn picked up his pace and walked off, even as Haldir stopped in shock.
---
"So you do not think you can win?" Elladan asked Legolas innocently as they and Elrohir walked out of the garden where they had spent the past half hour bugging Elrohir to tell them what Elisandra wanted to asked Lord Celeborn about.
"I know I shall win, Elladan. I just do not feel like beating you and Elrohir at archery at the moment." Legolas replied in annoyance.
"I think you -" whatever Elrohir thought, however, was cut off by the loud exclamation of someone just around the corner. The loud DWARVISH exclamation. Legolas jogged ahead and peeked around the corner to find Elisandra and Gimli glaring at each other.
"What is it this time?" he asked, coming all the way around the corner.
"Dwarves are stupid." Elisandra sulked.
"No, she-elves are just too stupid to recognize our genius." Gimli grumped back. Behind Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan could be heard trying to stifle their laughter.
"Oh sure, dwarves were real geniuses. Which is why their two biggest realms were conquered." Elisandra shot back.
"That is not a sign of stupidity! We simply lacked numbers!" Gimli snapped.
"Don't you mean brains?" Elisandra asked with a smirk, and Gimli growled.
"Elisandra, Gimli, really." Legolas interrupted, trying not to smile. "It is impossible to debate why the Balrog chose to awake or why Smaug took a liking to Erebor."
"Still doesn't change the fact that dwarves are stupid." Elisandra insisted.
"Dwarves are not stupid!" Gimli protested.
"No more than Elves, at least!" Elladan said cheerfully, stepping into the argument. "But come, put your arguing skills to good use and help Elrohir and I convince Legolas to have an archery competition with us!"
"I told you already Elladan. NO." Legolas said with a groan.
"You just do not think you can win." Elrohir said.
"No, I know I can win. I just do not want to go to the trouble of proving." Legolas said with a sigh.
"Are you sure you can win?" Gimli asked. "I don't recall seeing you practice on the entire journey here."
"I do not need to practice every day to retain my skill." Legolas said in annoyance.
"So prove it to us!" Elladan said with a grin.
"NO." Legolas said firmly, glaring at the two elves and dwarf.
"You know, I haven't seen you do archery at all." Elisandra commented. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen archery done. Perhaps you could have this little competition to show me?" She grinned mischievously at Legolas as she finished, and Legolas just looked at her for a moment.
"FINE." He said, throwing his hands up in the air, and Elrohir and Elladan cackled evilly.
"See, all we needed was some help, brother!" Elladan said cheerfully.
"All you have ever needed is help." Elrohir retorted, causing everyone to laugh as Elladan's mouth dropped open in mock shock.
"I am going to beat you at archery just for that!" Elladan replied finally.
"We shall see about that!" Elrohir said. "Come, to the archery field!" And as a merry troop, they all set off for the archery field.
When they arrived, the field quickly cleared and developed an audience larger than just the practicing archers from before could account for. It seemed that the twin's entreaties to Legolas to have an archery competition with them had not gone unheard, and when they were spotted heading towards the archery field, it was quickly figured out what was going on. Despite the growing audience, however, Elisandra and Gimli got prime spots not far away from the three archers themselves. And, just as the archery competition was about to begin, Haldir arrived at the fields, and the twins promptly pulled him into the competition, as well.
So it was now a four-way competition between the twins, Legolas and Haldir, and the audience was starting to develop a distinct preference to those of the female gender, much to Elisandra's amusement. Or at least, it was to her amusement until she noticed that most of the females in the crowd seemed to be watching Legolas in particular, and cheering louder for him when he hit a bullseye than for the other three Elves. Then, for some strange reason that Elisandra couldn't comprehend at that moment, she suddenly started wishing the crowd would go away, though she kept the amused smile on her face.
Finally, the archery competition ended. Legolas had won, as predicted, and Elladan had come in second, driven by his sense of revenge against his brother, followed by Elrohir and then Haldir in last place. After lots of congratulations from the archers - and far too many she-elves complimenting Legolas on his skill with the bow, in Elisandra's mind - the four Elves that had competed came over to where Elisandra and Gimli were sitting, talking about the competition.
"I honestly thought I would be in third place, behind you, Haldir." Elladan admitted as they came up.
"Well, this was not exactly the best time for me to compete in an archery competition." Haldir said dryly. "I'm a little distracted."
"Oh, and what was distracting you?" Legolas asked, arching an eyebrow.
"A pretty maiden, perhaps?" Elrohir suggested with a mischievous grin.
"Yes, though not in the way you think." Haldir replied, shaking his head and smiling slightly.
"Drat it, Haldir; you need to find yourself a wife sooner or later!" Elrohir exclaimed. Elisandra, noting where the conversation was going, cleared her throat loudly.
"I'm going to go for a walk and leave you boys to your discussion." she said.
"We'll see you at supper, then!" Elladan said cheerfully, waving as Elisandra left.
As it turned out, however, they didn't see Elisandra for supper, since she decided to stay in her room for supper and start to seriously think about what was going on, and how she should go about finding her father. Her thoughts continued after her supper, but were interrupted when Legolas showed up not long after she had finished eating, looking both relieved and annoyed.
"You did not come to supper." Legolas said as he sat down in a chair that was facing the balcony on which Elisandra was now standing, watching him with amusement.
"No, I wanted to think." Elisandra replied, noting with curiosity that Legolas practically sprawled in the chair, looking exhausted. "You look tired." she commented.
"I spent the entire meal dealing holding polite conversations with one she-elf or another." Legolas replied in annoyance. "A result of the archery competition, I'm sure."
"I noticed the crowd seemed a little full of she-elves." Elisandra commented. She tried to sound casual, but she had stiffened, and it showed slightly in her voice. Legolas caught it and looked at her with a soft smile.
"That was the reason I did not want to have it." he said. "But you seemed to want to watch it."
"I did until I saw the audience." Elisandra replied with a light snort. Legolas chuckled, and then got out of his chair to stand in front of Elisandra on the balcony.
"You are amazing, you know that?" Legolas asked, cupping Elisandra's cheek with his hand. Elisandra looked at him curiously for a moment before replying.
"I would I'm so confused I'm lost, personally." she replied, causing Legolas to chuckle again.
"You ARE amazing, trust me." Legolas said, smiling slightly, then leaned in and kissed Elisandra lightly. When he pulled away, Elisandra smiled up at him before taking a step closer to him and snuggling into his chest. With a smile of his own, Legolas wrapped his arms around Elisandra, kissing the top of her head lightly. They both knew, then, that at least one confusing thing had been sorted out - they both had feelings for each other, and they weren't going to deny those feelings for as long as they lasted.
---
The next few days passed quickly in Rivendell. Most of Elisandra's days were spent talking with either Elladan, Elrohir or Celeborn about one thing or another, while Gimli and Legolas went about Rivendell causing generic havoc, having discovered that Gimli could go all sorts of places Elves couldn't. Occasionally, a she-elf managed to find Legolas and Gimli at whatever they were doing, and after getting rid of the maiden in one form or another, Legolas and Gimli would usually find Elisandra wherever she was and follow her around, watching warily in case more she-elves appeared. Gimli, it turned out, had even less patience for the she-elves that tried to attach themselves to Legolas than Legolas himself did.
In the evenings, Gimli usually went off somewhere - to his room or to the Hall of Fire - while Elisandra and Legolas went about Rivendell by themselves, enjoying some time together. It was actually quite a surprise that neither Elrohir nor Elladan guessed that there was anything more than friendship going on between the two, but the twins seemed completely oblivious to anything that might be considered bad about their foster-niece. They even dismissed the fact that rumors were flying around Rivendell about Elisandra and Legolas, saying the elves had too much time on their hands. And if the twins were so eager to dismiss all thoughts of Elisandra and Legolas being romantically involved, Elisandra and Legolas weren't about to tell them otherwise.
It was during one of Elisandra and Legolas' evening walks that they ran into Haldir for the first time since the archery competition. They'd seen him at meals, to be sure, but he came only just in time for the meals, and left right after, and could never be found to talk to. So it was quite the surprise to suddenly walk around a corner in a garden and find Haldir sitting in a tree, staring moodily out over Rivendell. Legolas, seeing the look on his friends face and enjoying the evening with Elisandra, was perfectly content to walk by and leave Haldir to his thoughts.
But Rivendell had had an effect on Elisandra. Or, more specifically, her Uncles had had an effect on her. Motioning for Legolas to be silent, she carefully crept along the path until she was right under Haldir, then found a stick and poked him. Haldir jumped and almost lost his balance on the branch, doing some fancy acrobatics to keep himself from falling off before glaring down at the offending poker, who was now almost doubled over with laughter.
"Elrohir and Elladan are a bad influence on you." Haldir grumbled good-naturedly when he saw who had poked him.
"Depends on what you call a bad influence." Elisandra said solemnly, calming her laughter.
"The influence that causes you to poke peaceful Elves with sharp sticks." Haldir replied.
"You looked a little morose; I just thought I would cheer you up!" Elisandra replied cheerfully.
"What if I WANTED to be a little morose?" Haldir asked.
"Being morose is never good, so regardless of whether or not you wanted to be a little morose, some cheering up was in order." Elisandra stated in reply.
"If you really want to be left alone, however, Haldir, just poke her back." Legolas said with a small grin.
"I could do that. Except I seem to be lacking sticks of the appropriate length, and I AM starting to get stiff from sitting in this tree too long thinking." Haldir replied, and then jumped lightly down from the tree. "How are you, old friend?"
"Fine, and you?" Legolas asked.
"Mmm, fine as well. Though if you ask anyone else you shall get a different answer." Haldir replied, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Oh? The general populace has decided you are not fine?" Legolas asked, and Haldir gave an exasperated nod.
"They all seem to have decided at the same time that I need to find a wife." Haldir said. "It gets quite unnerving, having Elves that you have only heard the names of walk up to you and ask you when you are going to get married."
"They are just concerned, I'm sure." Elisandra said.
"Well, they should keep their concern to themselves." Haldir said, sounding slightly cross. Legolas chuckled.
"Well, at least you only have strange Elves asking you when you are going to get married, and not strange Elves asking you to marry them." Legolas said, rolling his eyes.
"Ah yes, I thank the Valar everyday that I was not cursed with attracting maidens by the flock." Haldir said teasingly.
"It is only a curse when I am not interested in them." Legolas grumbled.
"Not interested?" Haldir said, cocking his head to one side. "My friend, have you finally found someone?" Noticing the glance Legolas and Elisandra shared when he mentioned Legolas finding someone, Haldir smirked and added, "Never mind, I already know the answer to that." At that moment, an Elf appeared around the corner Legolas and Elisandra had so recently turned. Upon seeing Legolas, the Elf's eyes lit up, and he came forward purposefully.
"Prince Legolas." the Elf said, bowing respectively, "M'Lord Celeborn would like to speak with you."
"At this time of night?" Legolas asked in surprise, knowing it was close to midnight, if not after.
"He said he wished to see you as soon as you were available." the Elf said, shrugging slightly.
"Very well." Legolas said with a sigh. "Haldir, I trust you can see the Lady Elisandra safely to her chambers?" he added, arching an eyebrow.
"I can walk to my chambers safely by myself!" Elisandra protested.
"You can, but it is not proper." Haldir replied, and then nodded to Legolas. "I shall see her safely to her chambers." Legolas nodded, and then motioned for the other Elf to lead the way before following him back down the path.
"Would m'Lady like to return to her chambers, or walk some more?" Haldir asked formally once Legolas was out of sight, bowing slightly to Elisandra. She shot him a look, and he grinned.
"Walking sounds fine." Elisandra said. Haldir offered her his arm, and she took it as they set off down the path, going in the opposite direction than Legolas.
\/---Reviews are nice, please leave one! But please, spare the author if you want another chapter! (yes, that's an open invitations to flamers...go ahead, I'm in the mood to laugh)---\/
Authors Note:
Whoo, I'm on a roll! Finished Chapter 20 today, and am already writing another chapter! Go me! Look what I can get done when I can't connect to FanFiction.net and want to avoid doing anything useful!
And I stand corrected in Elisandra's relation to Celeborn...oops. I normally catch stuff like that, but the Elves are so damn confusing, what with being immortal and all. I mean, you could know your great-great-great-great-grandparents if you were an Elf! Hey...multiple grandparents...hee. That would be fun on birthdays. To bad Elves don't celebrate birthdays all that much since they have so many of them...
Anyways, I intended to reveal who Elisandra's father is in this chapter, but stuff happened. Next chapter! I promise! I've even written the scene already! Now I just need to make up something to fill up the rest of the chapter. (it's currently about the size of Chapter 1)
In other news, I'm thinking of writing a 'Survivor: Middle-Earth' fanfic. Or maybe, since I've seen more episodes of it (ie, one) more often, 'Big Brother: Middle-Earth'. Just wondering what people would think about it, and who they think should be on it... (besides the entire Fellowship and Ringwraith #4...yes, a Ringwraith is an essential castmember!)
------------------------------
-No Eyes Needed-
------------------------------
-Chapter XXI-
-Fun With Sharp Pointy Things-
------------------------------
Haldir frowned as he walked through the hallways of Rivendell, absorbed in his thoughts. Because of this, Haldir barely noticed as Lord Celeborn came up beside him, keeping pace with him while watching him out of the corner of his eye. He was aware that Lord Celeborn was there, of course - he'd been Marchwarden of Lothlorien for too long not to notice when someone started walking beside him - but he knew whoever it was wasn't a threat and ignored them, preferring to keep to his own thoughts until his companion spoke.
"She looks a lot like her mother, doesn't she?" Lord Celeborn asked when he spoke. Haldir started slightly, looking over at Celeborn in surprise.
"Who?" he asked, though he knew very well.
"Elisandra. You do remember the copy of the portrait that came with the messenger from Minas Tirith, do you not?" Celeborn replied.
"I do." Haldir said quietly, turning his gaze to the floor.
"Then won't you agree that she looks a lot like her mother?" Celeborn asked. Mutely, Haldir nodded, and Celeborn eyed him for a moment before adding, "Though she does have a good deal of her father in her, from what I have seen and heard." Haldir's gaze shot up and he stared at Celeborn.
"Nobody even knows who her father IS." Haldir choked out after a moment.
"I do." Celeborn said with a small smile. "And if her father doesn't come forward, I am going to tell her myself." And with that, Celeborn picked up his pace and walked off, even as Haldir stopped in shock.
---
"So you do not think you can win?" Elladan asked Legolas innocently as they and Elrohir walked out of the garden where they had spent the past half hour bugging Elrohir to tell them what Elisandra wanted to asked Lord Celeborn about.
"I know I shall win, Elladan. I just do not feel like beating you and Elrohir at archery at the moment." Legolas replied in annoyance.
"I think you -" whatever Elrohir thought, however, was cut off by the loud exclamation of someone just around the corner. The loud DWARVISH exclamation. Legolas jogged ahead and peeked around the corner to find Elisandra and Gimli glaring at each other.
"What is it this time?" he asked, coming all the way around the corner.
"Dwarves are stupid." Elisandra sulked.
"No, she-elves are just too stupid to recognize our genius." Gimli grumped back. Behind Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan could be heard trying to stifle their laughter.
"Oh sure, dwarves were real geniuses. Which is why their two biggest realms were conquered." Elisandra shot back.
"That is not a sign of stupidity! We simply lacked numbers!" Gimli snapped.
"Don't you mean brains?" Elisandra asked with a smirk, and Gimli growled.
"Elisandra, Gimli, really." Legolas interrupted, trying not to smile. "It is impossible to debate why the Balrog chose to awake or why Smaug took a liking to Erebor."
"Still doesn't change the fact that dwarves are stupid." Elisandra insisted.
"Dwarves are not stupid!" Gimli protested.
"No more than Elves, at least!" Elladan said cheerfully, stepping into the argument. "But come, put your arguing skills to good use and help Elrohir and I convince Legolas to have an archery competition with us!"
"I told you already Elladan. NO." Legolas said with a groan.
"You just do not think you can win." Elrohir said.
"No, I know I can win. I just do not want to go to the trouble of proving." Legolas said with a sigh.
"Are you sure you can win?" Gimli asked. "I don't recall seeing you practice on the entire journey here."
"I do not need to practice every day to retain my skill." Legolas said in annoyance.
"So prove it to us!" Elladan said with a grin.
"NO." Legolas said firmly, glaring at the two elves and dwarf.
"You know, I haven't seen you do archery at all." Elisandra commented. "In fact, I don't think I've ever seen archery done. Perhaps you could have this little competition to show me?" She grinned mischievously at Legolas as she finished, and Legolas just looked at her for a moment.
"FINE." He said, throwing his hands up in the air, and Elrohir and Elladan cackled evilly.
"See, all we needed was some help, brother!" Elladan said cheerfully.
"All you have ever needed is help." Elrohir retorted, causing everyone to laugh as Elladan's mouth dropped open in mock shock.
"I am going to beat you at archery just for that!" Elladan replied finally.
"We shall see about that!" Elrohir said. "Come, to the archery field!" And as a merry troop, they all set off for the archery field.
When they arrived, the field quickly cleared and developed an audience larger than just the practicing archers from before could account for. It seemed that the twin's entreaties to Legolas to have an archery competition with them had not gone unheard, and when they were spotted heading towards the archery field, it was quickly figured out what was going on. Despite the growing audience, however, Elisandra and Gimli got prime spots not far away from the three archers themselves. And, just as the archery competition was about to begin, Haldir arrived at the fields, and the twins promptly pulled him into the competition, as well.
So it was now a four-way competition between the twins, Legolas and Haldir, and the audience was starting to develop a distinct preference to those of the female gender, much to Elisandra's amusement. Or at least, it was to her amusement until she noticed that most of the females in the crowd seemed to be watching Legolas in particular, and cheering louder for him when he hit a bullseye than for the other three Elves. Then, for some strange reason that Elisandra couldn't comprehend at that moment, she suddenly started wishing the crowd would go away, though she kept the amused smile on her face.
Finally, the archery competition ended. Legolas had won, as predicted, and Elladan had come in second, driven by his sense of revenge against his brother, followed by Elrohir and then Haldir in last place. After lots of congratulations from the archers - and far too many she-elves complimenting Legolas on his skill with the bow, in Elisandra's mind - the four Elves that had competed came over to where Elisandra and Gimli were sitting, talking about the competition.
"I honestly thought I would be in third place, behind you, Haldir." Elladan admitted as they came up.
"Well, this was not exactly the best time for me to compete in an archery competition." Haldir said dryly. "I'm a little distracted."
"Oh, and what was distracting you?" Legolas asked, arching an eyebrow.
"A pretty maiden, perhaps?" Elrohir suggested with a mischievous grin.
"Yes, though not in the way you think." Haldir replied, shaking his head and smiling slightly.
"Drat it, Haldir; you need to find yourself a wife sooner or later!" Elrohir exclaimed. Elisandra, noting where the conversation was going, cleared her throat loudly.
"I'm going to go for a walk and leave you boys to your discussion." she said.
"We'll see you at supper, then!" Elladan said cheerfully, waving as Elisandra left.
As it turned out, however, they didn't see Elisandra for supper, since she decided to stay in her room for supper and start to seriously think about what was going on, and how she should go about finding her father. Her thoughts continued after her supper, but were interrupted when Legolas showed up not long after she had finished eating, looking both relieved and annoyed.
"You did not come to supper." Legolas said as he sat down in a chair that was facing the balcony on which Elisandra was now standing, watching him with amusement.
"No, I wanted to think." Elisandra replied, noting with curiosity that Legolas practically sprawled in the chair, looking exhausted. "You look tired." she commented.
"I spent the entire meal dealing holding polite conversations with one she-elf or another." Legolas replied in annoyance. "A result of the archery competition, I'm sure."
"I noticed the crowd seemed a little full of she-elves." Elisandra commented. She tried to sound casual, but she had stiffened, and it showed slightly in her voice. Legolas caught it and looked at her with a soft smile.
"That was the reason I did not want to have it." he said. "But you seemed to want to watch it."
"I did until I saw the audience." Elisandra replied with a light snort. Legolas chuckled, and then got out of his chair to stand in front of Elisandra on the balcony.
"You are amazing, you know that?" Legolas asked, cupping Elisandra's cheek with his hand. Elisandra looked at him curiously for a moment before replying.
"I would I'm so confused I'm lost, personally." she replied, causing Legolas to chuckle again.
"You ARE amazing, trust me." Legolas said, smiling slightly, then leaned in and kissed Elisandra lightly. When he pulled away, Elisandra smiled up at him before taking a step closer to him and snuggling into his chest. With a smile of his own, Legolas wrapped his arms around Elisandra, kissing the top of her head lightly. They both knew, then, that at least one confusing thing had been sorted out - they both had feelings for each other, and they weren't going to deny those feelings for as long as they lasted.
---
The next few days passed quickly in Rivendell. Most of Elisandra's days were spent talking with either Elladan, Elrohir or Celeborn about one thing or another, while Gimli and Legolas went about Rivendell causing generic havoc, having discovered that Gimli could go all sorts of places Elves couldn't. Occasionally, a she-elf managed to find Legolas and Gimli at whatever they were doing, and after getting rid of the maiden in one form or another, Legolas and Gimli would usually find Elisandra wherever she was and follow her around, watching warily in case more she-elves appeared. Gimli, it turned out, had even less patience for the she-elves that tried to attach themselves to Legolas than Legolas himself did.
In the evenings, Gimli usually went off somewhere - to his room or to the Hall of Fire - while Elisandra and Legolas went about Rivendell by themselves, enjoying some time together. It was actually quite a surprise that neither Elrohir nor Elladan guessed that there was anything more than friendship going on between the two, but the twins seemed completely oblivious to anything that might be considered bad about their foster-niece. They even dismissed the fact that rumors were flying around Rivendell about Elisandra and Legolas, saying the elves had too much time on their hands. And if the twins were so eager to dismiss all thoughts of Elisandra and Legolas being romantically involved, Elisandra and Legolas weren't about to tell them otherwise.
It was during one of Elisandra and Legolas' evening walks that they ran into Haldir for the first time since the archery competition. They'd seen him at meals, to be sure, but he came only just in time for the meals, and left right after, and could never be found to talk to. So it was quite the surprise to suddenly walk around a corner in a garden and find Haldir sitting in a tree, staring moodily out over Rivendell. Legolas, seeing the look on his friends face and enjoying the evening with Elisandra, was perfectly content to walk by and leave Haldir to his thoughts.
But Rivendell had had an effect on Elisandra. Or, more specifically, her Uncles had had an effect on her. Motioning for Legolas to be silent, she carefully crept along the path until she was right under Haldir, then found a stick and poked him. Haldir jumped and almost lost his balance on the branch, doing some fancy acrobatics to keep himself from falling off before glaring down at the offending poker, who was now almost doubled over with laughter.
"Elrohir and Elladan are a bad influence on you." Haldir grumbled good-naturedly when he saw who had poked him.
"Depends on what you call a bad influence." Elisandra said solemnly, calming her laughter.
"The influence that causes you to poke peaceful Elves with sharp sticks." Haldir replied.
"You looked a little morose; I just thought I would cheer you up!" Elisandra replied cheerfully.
"What if I WANTED to be a little morose?" Haldir asked.
"Being morose is never good, so regardless of whether or not you wanted to be a little morose, some cheering up was in order." Elisandra stated in reply.
"If you really want to be left alone, however, Haldir, just poke her back." Legolas said with a small grin.
"I could do that. Except I seem to be lacking sticks of the appropriate length, and I AM starting to get stiff from sitting in this tree too long thinking." Haldir replied, and then jumped lightly down from the tree. "How are you, old friend?"
"Fine, and you?" Legolas asked.
"Mmm, fine as well. Though if you ask anyone else you shall get a different answer." Haldir replied, rolling his eyes slightly.
"Oh? The general populace has decided you are not fine?" Legolas asked, and Haldir gave an exasperated nod.
"They all seem to have decided at the same time that I need to find a wife." Haldir said. "It gets quite unnerving, having Elves that you have only heard the names of walk up to you and ask you when you are going to get married."
"They are just concerned, I'm sure." Elisandra said.
"Well, they should keep their concern to themselves." Haldir said, sounding slightly cross. Legolas chuckled.
"Well, at least you only have strange Elves asking you when you are going to get married, and not strange Elves asking you to marry them." Legolas said, rolling his eyes.
"Ah yes, I thank the Valar everyday that I was not cursed with attracting maidens by the flock." Haldir said teasingly.
"It is only a curse when I am not interested in them." Legolas grumbled.
"Not interested?" Haldir said, cocking his head to one side. "My friend, have you finally found someone?" Noticing the glance Legolas and Elisandra shared when he mentioned Legolas finding someone, Haldir smirked and added, "Never mind, I already know the answer to that." At that moment, an Elf appeared around the corner Legolas and Elisandra had so recently turned. Upon seeing Legolas, the Elf's eyes lit up, and he came forward purposefully.
"Prince Legolas." the Elf said, bowing respectively, "M'Lord Celeborn would like to speak with you."
"At this time of night?" Legolas asked in surprise, knowing it was close to midnight, if not after.
"He said he wished to see you as soon as you were available." the Elf said, shrugging slightly.
"Very well." Legolas said with a sigh. "Haldir, I trust you can see the Lady Elisandra safely to her chambers?" he added, arching an eyebrow.
"I can walk to my chambers safely by myself!" Elisandra protested.
"You can, but it is not proper." Haldir replied, and then nodded to Legolas. "I shall see her safely to her chambers." Legolas nodded, and then motioned for the other Elf to lead the way before following him back down the path.
"Would m'Lady like to return to her chambers, or walk some more?" Haldir asked formally once Legolas was out of sight, bowing slightly to Elisandra. She shot him a look, and he grinned.
"Walking sounds fine." Elisandra said. Haldir offered her his arm, and she took it as they set off down the path, going in the opposite direction than Legolas.
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