A/N:
Please understand that I am trying to make Gliri a teenage "girl," who has not been in contact with anything (or anyone) but her family for most of her life. I believe that she has something of a thirteen- or fourteen-year- old's mentality (although she is in reality about eighteen years old), precisely because (a) she had no reason to grow up, not being among those that would cause her to do so and (b) in general, elves mature more slowly than do humans. At least so I have understood.
Adjusting to life with sometimes overly -serious Elves was hard for Gliri, but she did that well, with the help of the three Wardens, Haldir and Rúmil mostly. Yes, she will eventually fall in love with Haldir. and, No, this is not a self-insertion by any means, it is only typed in first person with third person where it would be a little awkward to try otherwise.
I really have no clue about how Gliriel would be an elf and the rest of her family mortal Men, but that is how my muse wanted to have it done (perhaps a few thousand years earlier, her ancestors were half-elves. I don't know).
My writing muse is picky, they will sometimes give me a lot of a story, other days none at all. Not to mention my muse had me write this whole story in a period of seven days (7/31-8/6/03). There have been fairly few revisions.
Thanks to all my reviewers!!
- Alyssa
**
Later that day, I felt her presence in the hallway before she knocked on my door. I set down my book of Beginner Sindarin Verbs and opened the door as her hand was suspended in the air, mere inches from the silver bell pull. She raised her eyebrows slightly before smiling nervously. My head cocked to one side; I wondered what she was doing here. She and Celeborn had been teaching me Quenya and Sindarin, respectively, for the past few months, but I had already had my lesson that day. It was also not normal for either of my teachers to make a courtesy call this late in the day, Haldir might have, audacious elf that he is, but the Lord and Lady are much more courteous.
I moved back to let her in, and she stepped past me to sit down in her usual chair next to my desk. With fake calmness in her motions, she picked out a book from my shelf and began reading it somewhere near the end.
I sat down again, and just as the Lady pretended to read, so did I. I saw her eyes lock onto a place somewhere above the pages of the book, and her pupils dilate to black specks, making it impossible for her to focus on anything in this light.
Just being around Haldir enough had made me more receptive to and observant of other's body motions and feelings. I had learned a few weeks earlier that Galadriel's eyes only dilated that much when she was either speaking with another elf mentally or when she was exceptionally worried about something. Both, it would turn out to be this time.
"My Lady, I can see that there is something amiss." I stated quietly. She did not respond or even look at me, the source of the noise, although a quiver began in the pages of the book as her hands shook.
"My Lady-?" I didn't finish my question, I knew by the sudden flutter of my heart in my chest that something terrible had happened. to Haldir. He was either wounded or. I swallowed loudly, not wanting to consider the other option. "W-which is it?"
"He's alive. barely. He just asked for you." Galadriel replied, her eyes now wide and her voice low and fearful. She looked up at me, and her brow furrowed in sadness.
"Wh-where?"
"Celeborn had Haldir brought to our flet; my husband is doing his best to heal the wounds as we speak." Folding the book shut, the Lady stood up and left my room. It took me a moment to realize that she wanted me to follow. I stood up so quickly that my chair shot backwards and made a hole in the wall.
I never thought that someone so calm and graceful Galadriel could move so quickly, but by the time I got to my door she was halfway to her flet. When I caught up to her, she quickened her pace and soon, but not nearly soon enough, I found myself in Celeborn's library. Galadriel beckoned me through a door in front of her, which I hesitantly went through.
I realized then just how much Galadriel and Celeborn loved their Marchwarden, for they treated him as a son. Loved much more deeply than the way I had been inducted as their foster-daughter. His wounds were being tended to by Lord Celeborn alone, a much more uncommon occurrence in Lothlórien than the rare student he took on.
Galadriel and I stood, supportively hand in hand, in the doorway, both of us afraid to interrupt the Lord of Lórien, former Marchwarden of Doriath (wherever that was). She and I were afraid for Haldir's life, just as much as Celeborn and Haldir's brothers were.
When Celeborn finally straightened from leaning over Haldir, he glanced over at the Lady and I, an apprehensive flash in his brown eyes that was soon clouded over. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with a clean white towel from a tray of equipment at the elf's bedside. He nodded to me, giving me leave to touch Haldir. I lifted a hand to my mouth, "Is he.?" I couldn't bring myself to say the word dead, though the meaning got through.
"No, he's sleeping at the moment." Celeborn assured me with a whisper as he washed his hands in a basin of water nearby. I rushed over to Haldir and grabbed his pale and cold hand. Whether or not he knew it was me, the muscles in his face loosened slightly and he sighed. Letting my eyes roam, I noticed a bandage on his other arm, and a slight swell in the sheets near his foot where his foot was bandaged, but none of these wounds would cause him to be bedridden, much less unconscious. Seeming to also have noticed this, Galadriel shot Celeborn a questioning glance.
Coming back to the bedside, Celeborn pulled the sheets down from the Marchwarden's chest, permitting the Lady and I to behold the wide white cotton bandage bound tightly around Haldir's stomach. There was a thin blood-colored line across the area where his navel was.
"I did my best to stop the bleeding, but the gash was deep - very deep. I stitched the skin, but there is a chance that the severed muscle will not reattach correctly. There is also another, somewhat smaller, slash on his thigh. it will take some painful rehabilitation before he is able-bodied enough to run, albeit walk again." Celeborn clarified, adding also his suspicions that Haldir, a feared warrior, had been surrounded and outnumbered by the fowl creatures.
I, who hadn't been listening too closely to Lord Celeborn, instead only watching Haldir's peaceful face, nodded and sat as a chair was placed behind me.
Haldir slipped back into consciousness only once in the next day, though he didn't open his eyes, it was obvious by the groans he emitted that he could feel some pain in his leg. Which apparently was a good thing. I opened his mouth and poured a small amount of pearly colored sleeping potion in, rubbing my hand on his throat to make him swallow. I hated doing that, making him go to sleep against his will, but I loathed seeing him in pain even more.
I sat there for a total of three days, occasionally accompanied by Rúmil and Orophin, and sometimes the Lord and Lady. When Haldir fully awoke for the first time, he inquired after his brothers whom he had fought alongside. Oddly enough, they had left only a few minutes previous.
I assured him that they were fine, and that he should return to sleep. He scowled deeply and his brow furrowed at being given an order. I don't think he recognized my voice but that was all right.
He managed to let out a weak "no."
"Fine. Then do us all a big favor and get up." I was shocked at the statement that came from Celeborn, but he appeared completely serious. When he entered the room I didn't sure, but it wasn't for me to ask; it still was his room, he could come and go as he pleased. I frowned at him, but the Lord placed a firm, yet gentle, hand on my shoulder.
In response, Haldir slipped his hand from mine and tried to turn himself around on the bed to get up. Pain shot through his face, his eyes shut tight, though I am sure he concealed most of his suffering beneath his exterior. Point taken and learned, Haldir groaned again and leaned discontentedly back onto the satin covered down pillows.
"Then do heed Gliriel's orders in the future." Celeborn finished resolutely, with the tone a parent would use to admonish a wayward child. I looked up at Celeborn, confused of what the lesson was. "The only way he has ever learned something is by pain. however regretful that may be." The lord relayed to me mentally and I nodded sadly. With a slight squeeze on my shoulder, Celeborn left the flet, quietly shutting the door behind him.
"What did he tell you?" Haldir inquired grumpily, still not opening his eyes.
"Well. he told me that, because of you, my Sindarin lessons have been cancelled for the time being, and that he has a ballet class scheduled in the opening." I tried to keep the jest from surfacing in my voice.
Haldir snorted and grinned. "Oh, that's nice.." His hand searched for mine, and with a quirky smile and slight shake of my head, I twined my fingers in his. Opportunistic elf he was, and opportunistic elf he remains, he certainly had the pity vote then, though.
I could tell he was falling back asleep, naturally this time, which in itself made even me feel better. His other hand reached across his abdomen for mine, and his breathing became much more even as his head lolled to the side.
**
Once, over the following week while Haldir slept, Celeborn asked me to leave. Not because Haldir's bandages were undone or some stupid reason like that, but because he had suddenly woken up much less often, seemingly getting worse. I also had not rested in well over thee days, nor had I taken in much food, much preferring to stay with Haldir at all times. Finally, Lord Celeborn persuaded me to take some rest, and Rúmil, being sympathetic to Celeborn's opinion, carried me the short-ish distance to my flet. I, being too exhausted to move, he set me on my bed and objectively changed me into a nightgown and pulled a blanket over my aching body, finally he kissed my forehead.
"It is no use having you sick when you're trying to heal him, Gliri." Rúmil repeated the Lord and Lady's words as he tucked the sheets under my chin and stroked a bit of my hair. I nodded appreciatively and succumbed to sleep.
Meanwhile, it seems, Haldir had woken up and was apparently disgruntled to see Galadriel sitting in my place.
"Where is Gliriel?" The wounded elf asked deliriously. I didn't think he had seen Rúmil carry me away, but I'm not sure. "Is she with Rúmil now?" He made motions to get up, angered to think that his brother bore me away in his arms with other intentions in mind than to help me.
He remembered the jokes his youngest brother and I would play on him and Orophin, partially because I even spent more time with the youngest Warden than with the middle or the eldest put together. That was not intentional on my part, for Rúmil, surprisingly, had the most time off, though his brothers held higher rank and seniority. I imagined Rúmil won more bets for time off than he admitted to; no wonder Haldir and Orophin were always pulling double shifts.
Haldir grunted in pain as the wound on his stomach threatened to tear the stitches. again, as he was not a placid sleeper by any means. Galadriel, wanting to see his hurt stop, placed a spidery hand on his forehead, and succeeded in pulling him back onto the pillows that kept him constantly propped in almost a sitting position. She was stronger than her thin form revealed, whether or not it was the way she held herself in such a proud unassuming manner, or whether it was actually that she was more powerful than she let on to.
"Haldir. Stop." The Lady commanded serenely. "Gliriel has been by your side for well over a week. She has not slept. she has not eaten. possibly for even as much as three days. And she deserves a little more credit than what you give her, you know she would never - could never - fall for either of your brothers or any other elf as she has fallen for you."
That sentence hit him hard, he had not been expecting those words to come from Galadriel, and he certainly could not have realized in the state he was in that they were true.
"Drink this. She'll be here when you next wake up. You have my word." Galadriel placed a cup of sleeping potion to Haldir's lips. Although he drank it under his own will, he still did not like the concept of aided sleep, and fought the effects of the draught until darkness overtook him.
Please understand that I am trying to make Gliri a teenage "girl," who has not been in contact with anything (or anyone) but her family for most of her life. I believe that she has something of a thirteen- or fourteen-year- old's mentality (although she is in reality about eighteen years old), precisely because (a) she had no reason to grow up, not being among those that would cause her to do so and (b) in general, elves mature more slowly than do humans. At least so I have understood.
Adjusting to life with sometimes overly -serious Elves was hard for Gliri, but she did that well, with the help of the three Wardens, Haldir and Rúmil mostly. Yes, she will eventually fall in love with Haldir. and, No, this is not a self-insertion by any means, it is only typed in first person with third person where it would be a little awkward to try otherwise.
I really have no clue about how Gliriel would be an elf and the rest of her family mortal Men, but that is how my muse wanted to have it done (perhaps a few thousand years earlier, her ancestors were half-elves. I don't know).
My writing muse is picky, they will sometimes give me a lot of a story, other days none at all. Not to mention my muse had me write this whole story in a period of seven days (7/31-8/6/03). There have been fairly few revisions.
Thanks to all my reviewers!!
- Alyssa
**
Later that day, I felt her presence in the hallway before she knocked on my door. I set down my book of Beginner Sindarin Verbs and opened the door as her hand was suspended in the air, mere inches from the silver bell pull. She raised her eyebrows slightly before smiling nervously. My head cocked to one side; I wondered what she was doing here. She and Celeborn had been teaching me Quenya and Sindarin, respectively, for the past few months, but I had already had my lesson that day. It was also not normal for either of my teachers to make a courtesy call this late in the day, Haldir might have, audacious elf that he is, but the Lord and Lady are much more courteous.
I moved back to let her in, and she stepped past me to sit down in her usual chair next to my desk. With fake calmness in her motions, she picked out a book from my shelf and began reading it somewhere near the end.
I sat down again, and just as the Lady pretended to read, so did I. I saw her eyes lock onto a place somewhere above the pages of the book, and her pupils dilate to black specks, making it impossible for her to focus on anything in this light.
Just being around Haldir enough had made me more receptive to and observant of other's body motions and feelings. I had learned a few weeks earlier that Galadriel's eyes only dilated that much when she was either speaking with another elf mentally or when she was exceptionally worried about something. Both, it would turn out to be this time.
"My Lady, I can see that there is something amiss." I stated quietly. She did not respond or even look at me, the source of the noise, although a quiver began in the pages of the book as her hands shook.
"My Lady-?" I didn't finish my question, I knew by the sudden flutter of my heart in my chest that something terrible had happened. to Haldir. He was either wounded or. I swallowed loudly, not wanting to consider the other option. "W-which is it?"
"He's alive. barely. He just asked for you." Galadriel replied, her eyes now wide and her voice low and fearful. She looked up at me, and her brow furrowed in sadness.
"Wh-where?"
"Celeborn had Haldir brought to our flet; my husband is doing his best to heal the wounds as we speak." Folding the book shut, the Lady stood up and left my room. It took me a moment to realize that she wanted me to follow. I stood up so quickly that my chair shot backwards and made a hole in the wall.
I never thought that someone so calm and graceful Galadriel could move so quickly, but by the time I got to my door she was halfway to her flet. When I caught up to her, she quickened her pace and soon, but not nearly soon enough, I found myself in Celeborn's library. Galadriel beckoned me through a door in front of her, which I hesitantly went through.
I realized then just how much Galadriel and Celeborn loved their Marchwarden, for they treated him as a son. Loved much more deeply than the way I had been inducted as their foster-daughter. His wounds were being tended to by Lord Celeborn alone, a much more uncommon occurrence in Lothlórien than the rare student he took on.
Galadriel and I stood, supportively hand in hand, in the doorway, both of us afraid to interrupt the Lord of Lórien, former Marchwarden of Doriath (wherever that was). She and I were afraid for Haldir's life, just as much as Celeborn and Haldir's brothers were.
When Celeborn finally straightened from leaning over Haldir, he glanced over at the Lady and I, an apprehensive flash in his brown eyes that was soon clouded over. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with a clean white towel from a tray of equipment at the elf's bedside. He nodded to me, giving me leave to touch Haldir. I lifted a hand to my mouth, "Is he.?" I couldn't bring myself to say the word dead, though the meaning got through.
"No, he's sleeping at the moment." Celeborn assured me with a whisper as he washed his hands in a basin of water nearby. I rushed over to Haldir and grabbed his pale and cold hand. Whether or not he knew it was me, the muscles in his face loosened slightly and he sighed. Letting my eyes roam, I noticed a bandage on his other arm, and a slight swell in the sheets near his foot where his foot was bandaged, but none of these wounds would cause him to be bedridden, much less unconscious. Seeming to also have noticed this, Galadriel shot Celeborn a questioning glance.
Coming back to the bedside, Celeborn pulled the sheets down from the Marchwarden's chest, permitting the Lady and I to behold the wide white cotton bandage bound tightly around Haldir's stomach. There was a thin blood-colored line across the area where his navel was.
"I did my best to stop the bleeding, but the gash was deep - very deep. I stitched the skin, but there is a chance that the severed muscle will not reattach correctly. There is also another, somewhat smaller, slash on his thigh. it will take some painful rehabilitation before he is able-bodied enough to run, albeit walk again." Celeborn clarified, adding also his suspicions that Haldir, a feared warrior, had been surrounded and outnumbered by the fowl creatures.
I, who hadn't been listening too closely to Lord Celeborn, instead only watching Haldir's peaceful face, nodded and sat as a chair was placed behind me.
Haldir slipped back into consciousness only once in the next day, though he didn't open his eyes, it was obvious by the groans he emitted that he could feel some pain in his leg. Which apparently was a good thing. I opened his mouth and poured a small amount of pearly colored sleeping potion in, rubbing my hand on his throat to make him swallow. I hated doing that, making him go to sleep against his will, but I loathed seeing him in pain even more.
I sat there for a total of three days, occasionally accompanied by Rúmil and Orophin, and sometimes the Lord and Lady. When Haldir fully awoke for the first time, he inquired after his brothers whom he had fought alongside. Oddly enough, they had left only a few minutes previous.
I assured him that they were fine, and that he should return to sleep. He scowled deeply and his brow furrowed at being given an order. I don't think he recognized my voice but that was all right.
He managed to let out a weak "no."
"Fine. Then do us all a big favor and get up." I was shocked at the statement that came from Celeborn, but he appeared completely serious. When he entered the room I didn't sure, but it wasn't for me to ask; it still was his room, he could come and go as he pleased. I frowned at him, but the Lord placed a firm, yet gentle, hand on my shoulder.
In response, Haldir slipped his hand from mine and tried to turn himself around on the bed to get up. Pain shot through his face, his eyes shut tight, though I am sure he concealed most of his suffering beneath his exterior. Point taken and learned, Haldir groaned again and leaned discontentedly back onto the satin covered down pillows.
"Then do heed Gliriel's orders in the future." Celeborn finished resolutely, with the tone a parent would use to admonish a wayward child. I looked up at Celeborn, confused of what the lesson was. "The only way he has ever learned something is by pain. however regretful that may be." The lord relayed to me mentally and I nodded sadly. With a slight squeeze on my shoulder, Celeborn left the flet, quietly shutting the door behind him.
"What did he tell you?" Haldir inquired grumpily, still not opening his eyes.
"Well. he told me that, because of you, my Sindarin lessons have been cancelled for the time being, and that he has a ballet class scheduled in the opening." I tried to keep the jest from surfacing in my voice.
Haldir snorted and grinned. "Oh, that's nice.." His hand searched for mine, and with a quirky smile and slight shake of my head, I twined my fingers in his. Opportunistic elf he was, and opportunistic elf he remains, he certainly had the pity vote then, though.
I could tell he was falling back asleep, naturally this time, which in itself made even me feel better. His other hand reached across his abdomen for mine, and his breathing became much more even as his head lolled to the side.
**
Once, over the following week while Haldir slept, Celeborn asked me to leave. Not because Haldir's bandages were undone or some stupid reason like that, but because he had suddenly woken up much less often, seemingly getting worse. I also had not rested in well over thee days, nor had I taken in much food, much preferring to stay with Haldir at all times. Finally, Lord Celeborn persuaded me to take some rest, and Rúmil, being sympathetic to Celeborn's opinion, carried me the short-ish distance to my flet. I, being too exhausted to move, he set me on my bed and objectively changed me into a nightgown and pulled a blanket over my aching body, finally he kissed my forehead.
"It is no use having you sick when you're trying to heal him, Gliri." Rúmil repeated the Lord and Lady's words as he tucked the sheets under my chin and stroked a bit of my hair. I nodded appreciatively and succumbed to sleep.
Meanwhile, it seems, Haldir had woken up and was apparently disgruntled to see Galadriel sitting in my place.
"Where is Gliriel?" The wounded elf asked deliriously. I didn't think he had seen Rúmil carry me away, but I'm not sure. "Is she with Rúmil now?" He made motions to get up, angered to think that his brother bore me away in his arms with other intentions in mind than to help me.
He remembered the jokes his youngest brother and I would play on him and Orophin, partially because I even spent more time with the youngest Warden than with the middle or the eldest put together. That was not intentional on my part, for Rúmil, surprisingly, had the most time off, though his brothers held higher rank and seniority. I imagined Rúmil won more bets for time off than he admitted to; no wonder Haldir and Orophin were always pulling double shifts.
Haldir grunted in pain as the wound on his stomach threatened to tear the stitches. again, as he was not a placid sleeper by any means. Galadriel, wanting to see his hurt stop, placed a spidery hand on his forehead, and succeeded in pulling him back onto the pillows that kept him constantly propped in almost a sitting position. She was stronger than her thin form revealed, whether or not it was the way she held herself in such a proud unassuming manner, or whether it was actually that she was more powerful than she let on to.
"Haldir. Stop." The Lady commanded serenely. "Gliriel has been by your side for well over a week. She has not slept. she has not eaten. possibly for even as much as three days. And she deserves a little more credit than what you give her, you know she would never - could never - fall for either of your brothers or any other elf as she has fallen for you."
That sentence hit him hard, he had not been expecting those words to come from Galadriel, and he certainly could not have realized in the state he was in that they were true.
"Drink this. She'll be here when you next wake up. You have my word." Galadriel placed a cup of sleeping potion to Haldir's lips. Although he drank it under his own will, he still did not like the concept of aided sleep, and fought the effects of the draught until darkness overtook him.