Dragonfly, you are of course right. But unlike Traps, I think Eros will be
solely from Haldir's POV. You will only see what he sees. Which at the
moment is nothing, since he's completely obliviously to what's going on.
And Valar knows I don't go in for graphics anyway.
Haldir's Heart and Soul, Alariel is Elrond's niece and Legolas' fiancée. Check back to part 1.
Thanks to all that have read and reviewed so far! Couldn't do it without you.
'Part 3'
When Haldir awoke the next morning, he was in his own bed and he was alone. Which in a way he was grateful for, since he certainly would have found it difficult to know what to say to her. On the other hand, it left open the very real possibility that he had been hallucinating and had, in fact, imagined the whole thing.
Except that, the next night, she did it again.
And again.
And again.
At which point Haldir felt it safe to conclude that he was not crazy. Far more worrying, however, he was now sleeping with the bride-to-be. This might make Legolas happy (Valar knew why, although perhaps she'd worn him out. She certainly was energetic), but Thranduil and Elrond were another matter. As a result, Haldir had taken to leaving rooms as soon as one of them entered (very difficult, suddenly they were everywhere), which he evidently hadn't managed as subtly as he'd hoped since it had led to Glorfindel taking him into a room and making discrete enquiries. Unfortunately, Glorfindel's concept of discrete enquiries was somewhat different from Haldir's own, involving as it did a rapid-fire question session while seated in a chair with a number of worryingly sharp objects attached to it. And a small dagger being casually twirled around Glorfindel's fingers.
Unsurprisingly, Haldir's somewhat garbled, nervous explanation that it was all a coincidence, and he had merely not seen the pot plant he had fallen over that evening in his haste to get away, did not wholly convince Elrond's rather over enthusiastic seneschal. Before long Haldir had lost his composure to the point where he actually considered claiming that he had developed an allergy to Elrond's unique choice of eau-de-cologne. It was just as well he hadn't, since even if Glorfindel had believed it in the first place - unlikely, to say the least - it would have surely been proved a lie when the elf himself arrived.
Haldir swallowed hard and gripped the arms of the chair as the Lord of Imladris gazed down at him with a concerned expression on his face.
"Haldir," he said kindly, "I like to think that the house of Elrond takes care of its guests. You have been here several times before and have not seemed to suffer unduly, but on this visit something is clearly bothering you. If there is anything either myself, or Glorfindel, or Erestor can do to help you, you need only ask."
Frankly, Glorfindel came across as just a little too sadistic for Haldir to believe that, but he couldn't deny that Elrond looked sincere.
"I realise my behaviour . . . may have appeared a little odd," Haldir said cautiously.
Elrond's lips curved in a hint of a smile. "I am no stranger to odd behaviour, Lord Haldir, you forget who my offspring are."
"Of course," Haldir agreed. "I mean . . . that is to say . . ."
"No apology is necessary."
"Thank you," Haldir said gratefully.
Elrond looked expectantly at him, obviously waiting for him to continue.
"It's really nothing," Haldir said. "I . . . I have been having some difficulty sleeping lately. The last healer I saw suggested that I might be suffering from . . . stress. Perhaps I am a little . . . on edge."
"Ah," Elrond said. "That certainly could explain it."
Haldir felt quite certain that Elrond did not believe him, but was merely choosing to pretend that he did. At that moment, however, he was too relieved to care.
"We have some very fine masseuses here in Imladris," Elrond was saying. "You may wish to consider taking some time to relax while you are here. I have visited them myself on occasion and I know Glorfindel finds them indispensable."
What that a recommendation?
"I . . . shall certainly think about it," Haldir said.
Elrond nodded, apparently satisfied. Haldir breathed a sigh of relief.
"Glorfindel," Elrond said, nodding to his seneschal. "If you would be so kind, I would like a private word with Haldir."
Every muscle fibre in Haldir's body tensed. At least, all the ones that hadn't already. Which was about three.
Glorfindel looked somewhat put out at this. Haldir strongly suspected that he would be listening at the door. Or maybe that was the idea.
"Haldir," Lord Elrond said, when they were at least visibly alone. "I am glad we have a chance to talk. As it happens, I would like to ask your assistance on a matter . . . pertaining to the forthcoming wedding."
Sweet Elbereth, why was everyone turning to him? He knew nothing about weddings. He'd been avoiding them since he'd passed his majority. Was there no one else in Imladris anyone wanted to inflict pain on?
"Naturally, one hopes it will all go to plan," Elrond said, his face almost devoid of expression. "But if it happened that one, or both, of the parties had doubts - purely hypothetically of course - I should be very sad to see all the preparations go to waste."
"You would like me to ensure that this wedding goes ahead?" Haldir asked hopelessly, wishing very hard that he had just refused to come to Rivendell in the first place.
Elrond got a look in his eyes that looked terribly familiar. Like father, like son. It was a bad look.
"I do not seek to interfere with a matter of the heart," Elrond said. "The ways of the Valar are often . . . mysterious. I would simply hope that it was not terminated . . . prematurely. After all, a wedding is a joyous event . . . "
That was certainly a minority verdict.
". . . even if it does not go quite to plan."
By this point, Haldir was just plain confused. Legolas wanted the wedding stopped desperately, and Haldir didn't understand why. Thranduil wanted the wedding to go ahead equally desperately, and Haldir didn't understand that either. Elrond apparently just wanted to make sure he got the cake made and the flowers arranged before it was called off, and Haldir couldn't even begin to guess the logic behind that. If this was indeed a little joke by the Valar, when he went to the Halls of Mandos they would have to have a serious talk.
"I think we understand each other," Elrond said composedly.
Quite honestly, by that point all Haldir understood was that this vacation had been a very, very bad idea.
***
When he got back to his room that night, Alariel was sitting on his bed. Just as she had been for the last four. Haldir didn't know whether to curse or thank Elrond for the lack of locks on guestroom doors in Imladris.
"You look tense," she said. "Allow me to relax you."
For the first time, Haldir didn't just pounce and forget about his day. At the risk of confusing himself further, he had one question he had to ask.
"Alariel," he said, as he sat down on the side of the bed and started to pull his boots off. "Do you want this wedding to go ahead?"
Alariel moved up behind him and began to massage his shoulders. Haldir very slowly began to relax as her talented fingers worked their magic.
"Well, I've come this far," she said, seemingly unconcerned. "I may as well go on."
"You don't love him."
"Your powers of observation astound me."
Haldir frowned at her tone. "You want to spend eternity with an elf you don't love?"
"Haldir, this is a political match," Alariel said impatiently. "No one will expect us to have a real marriage. I will go to Mirkwood as Princess, look pretty and say all the right things. I will find my entertainment elsewhere."
"As you are at the moment with me."
"Exactly. And don't you start acting insulted. I'm just a passing distraction for you as well and I know it."
Haldir elected not to debate that. "But King Thranduil insisted that this was a love match. We heard that even in Lorien."
Alariel laughed and kissed the top of his ear, sending delicious tremors down his spine. "Actually, what Thranduil said is that Legolas' heart is in Rivendell. Which is certainly true."
Confusion was rapidly becoming Haldir's natural state. "Who is it with, if not you?"
Alariel stopped her ministrations. She swung herself round to sit sideways on his lap and looked hard at him. Then she kissed his forehead.
"You little innocent, you," she said affectionately. "I knew it two seconds after I first saw them together. But I suppose they fool others well enough, since no one else seems to have realised."
"Who is it?" Haldir asked, wracking his brain to think of anyone he had seen Legolas with more than the rest. When not forced to spend time with Alariel, Legolas seemed to spend all his time with Linisse, Elrohir and Elladan. So who could it possibly be?
Still, perhaps they tried to stay apart publicly.
"If you can't see it for yourself, I won't tell you. But if I were to give you a tip, it would be to watch Legolas. In matters of the heart he is young and does not hide his feelings as well as . . . the other."
"And you will say no more?"
"Indeed," Alariel agreed, bending her head and starting to kiss his neck.
"You still have not fully answered my question," Haldir said.
Alariel stopped what she was doing and looked at him impatiently. "I am trying to seduce you, Lord Haldir. It would go better if you would stop talking and use your mouth for that which nature intended."
"Why do you allow this wedding to go ahead when you plainly do not want Legolas as your husband?" Haldir said stubbornly, a small part of his mind wondering why he was pursuing this.
"I did not say that. He is kind and gentle, polite and well regarded. I dare say he will do his duty as my husband very well - at least by day. And Mirkwood will be a new experience. It will be nice to be away from Rivendell."
"Mirkwood is nothing compared to Rivendell in beauty."
"Beauty is such a fickle thing. Take me. I am now hailed as the beauty of Imladris. Before Arwen Evenstar left for Minas Tirith, no one even noticed I was alive."
"I did," Haldir said truthfully. "I saw you on many of my previous visits, but I was never able to get close enough to speak to you."
Alariel was silent for moment. A curiously vulnerable look had appeared in her eyes. It only lasted a second and then she shook it away.
"Have we talked enough now?" she demanded.
Haldir reached a hand up and tangled it in her hair, holding her head firmly. "I think so," he said, and pulled her to him.
Haldir's Heart and Soul, Alariel is Elrond's niece and Legolas' fiancée. Check back to part 1.
Thanks to all that have read and reviewed so far! Couldn't do it without you.
'Part 3'
When Haldir awoke the next morning, he was in his own bed and he was alone. Which in a way he was grateful for, since he certainly would have found it difficult to know what to say to her. On the other hand, it left open the very real possibility that he had been hallucinating and had, in fact, imagined the whole thing.
Except that, the next night, she did it again.
And again.
And again.
At which point Haldir felt it safe to conclude that he was not crazy. Far more worrying, however, he was now sleeping with the bride-to-be. This might make Legolas happy (Valar knew why, although perhaps she'd worn him out. She certainly was energetic), but Thranduil and Elrond were another matter. As a result, Haldir had taken to leaving rooms as soon as one of them entered (very difficult, suddenly they were everywhere), which he evidently hadn't managed as subtly as he'd hoped since it had led to Glorfindel taking him into a room and making discrete enquiries. Unfortunately, Glorfindel's concept of discrete enquiries was somewhat different from Haldir's own, involving as it did a rapid-fire question session while seated in a chair with a number of worryingly sharp objects attached to it. And a small dagger being casually twirled around Glorfindel's fingers.
Unsurprisingly, Haldir's somewhat garbled, nervous explanation that it was all a coincidence, and he had merely not seen the pot plant he had fallen over that evening in his haste to get away, did not wholly convince Elrond's rather over enthusiastic seneschal. Before long Haldir had lost his composure to the point where he actually considered claiming that he had developed an allergy to Elrond's unique choice of eau-de-cologne. It was just as well he hadn't, since even if Glorfindel had believed it in the first place - unlikely, to say the least - it would have surely been proved a lie when the elf himself arrived.
Haldir swallowed hard and gripped the arms of the chair as the Lord of Imladris gazed down at him with a concerned expression on his face.
"Haldir," he said kindly, "I like to think that the house of Elrond takes care of its guests. You have been here several times before and have not seemed to suffer unduly, but on this visit something is clearly bothering you. If there is anything either myself, or Glorfindel, or Erestor can do to help you, you need only ask."
Frankly, Glorfindel came across as just a little too sadistic for Haldir to believe that, but he couldn't deny that Elrond looked sincere.
"I realise my behaviour . . . may have appeared a little odd," Haldir said cautiously.
Elrond's lips curved in a hint of a smile. "I am no stranger to odd behaviour, Lord Haldir, you forget who my offspring are."
"Of course," Haldir agreed. "I mean . . . that is to say . . ."
"No apology is necessary."
"Thank you," Haldir said gratefully.
Elrond looked expectantly at him, obviously waiting for him to continue.
"It's really nothing," Haldir said. "I . . . I have been having some difficulty sleeping lately. The last healer I saw suggested that I might be suffering from . . . stress. Perhaps I am a little . . . on edge."
"Ah," Elrond said. "That certainly could explain it."
Haldir felt quite certain that Elrond did not believe him, but was merely choosing to pretend that he did. At that moment, however, he was too relieved to care.
"We have some very fine masseuses here in Imladris," Elrond was saying. "You may wish to consider taking some time to relax while you are here. I have visited them myself on occasion and I know Glorfindel finds them indispensable."
What that a recommendation?
"I . . . shall certainly think about it," Haldir said.
Elrond nodded, apparently satisfied. Haldir breathed a sigh of relief.
"Glorfindel," Elrond said, nodding to his seneschal. "If you would be so kind, I would like a private word with Haldir."
Every muscle fibre in Haldir's body tensed. At least, all the ones that hadn't already. Which was about three.
Glorfindel looked somewhat put out at this. Haldir strongly suspected that he would be listening at the door. Or maybe that was the idea.
"Haldir," Lord Elrond said, when they were at least visibly alone. "I am glad we have a chance to talk. As it happens, I would like to ask your assistance on a matter . . . pertaining to the forthcoming wedding."
Sweet Elbereth, why was everyone turning to him? He knew nothing about weddings. He'd been avoiding them since he'd passed his majority. Was there no one else in Imladris anyone wanted to inflict pain on?
"Naturally, one hopes it will all go to plan," Elrond said, his face almost devoid of expression. "But if it happened that one, or both, of the parties had doubts - purely hypothetically of course - I should be very sad to see all the preparations go to waste."
"You would like me to ensure that this wedding goes ahead?" Haldir asked hopelessly, wishing very hard that he had just refused to come to Rivendell in the first place.
Elrond got a look in his eyes that looked terribly familiar. Like father, like son. It was a bad look.
"I do not seek to interfere with a matter of the heart," Elrond said. "The ways of the Valar are often . . . mysterious. I would simply hope that it was not terminated . . . prematurely. After all, a wedding is a joyous event . . . "
That was certainly a minority verdict.
". . . even if it does not go quite to plan."
By this point, Haldir was just plain confused. Legolas wanted the wedding stopped desperately, and Haldir didn't understand why. Thranduil wanted the wedding to go ahead equally desperately, and Haldir didn't understand that either. Elrond apparently just wanted to make sure he got the cake made and the flowers arranged before it was called off, and Haldir couldn't even begin to guess the logic behind that. If this was indeed a little joke by the Valar, when he went to the Halls of Mandos they would have to have a serious talk.
"I think we understand each other," Elrond said composedly.
Quite honestly, by that point all Haldir understood was that this vacation had been a very, very bad idea.
***
When he got back to his room that night, Alariel was sitting on his bed. Just as she had been for the last four. Haldir didn't know whether to curse or thank Elrond for the lack of locks on guestroom doors in Imladris.
"You look tense," she said. "Allow me to relax you."
For the first time, Haldir didn't just pounce and forget about his day. At the risk of confusing himself further, he had one question he had to ask.
"Alariel," he said, as he sat down on the side of the bed and started to pull his boots off. "Do you want this wedding to go ahead?"
Alariel moved up behind him and began to massage his shoulders. Haldir very slowly began to relax as her talented fingers worked their magic.
"Well, I've come this far," she said, seemingly unconcerned. "I may as well go on."
"You don't love him."
"Your powers of observation astound me."
Haldir frowned at her tone. "You want to spend eternity with an elf you don't love?"
"Haldir, this is a political match," Alariel said impatiently. "No one will expect us to have a real marriage. I will go to Mirkwood as Princess, look pretty and say all the right things. I will find my entertainment elsewhere."
"As you are at the moment with me."
"Exactly. And don't you start acting insulted. I'm just a passing distraction for you as well and I know it."
Haldir elected not to debate that. "But King Thranduil insisted that this was a love match. We heard that even in Lorien."
Alariel laughed and kissed the top of his ear, sending delicious tremors down his spine. "Actually, what Thranduil said is that Legolas' heart is in Rivendell. Which is certainly true."
Confusion was rapidly becoming Haldir's natural state. "Who is it with, if not you?"
Alariel stopped her ministrations. She swung herself round to sit sideways on his lap and looked hard at him. Then she kissed his forehead.
"You little innocent, you," she said affectionately. "I knew it two seconds after I first saw them together. But I suppose they fool others well enough, since no one else seems to have realised."
"Who is it?" Haldir asked, wracking his brain to think of anyone he had seen Legolas with more than the rest. When not forced to spend time with Alariel, Legolas seemed to spend all his time with Linisse, Elrohir and Elladan. So who could it possibly be?
Still, perhaps they tried to stay apart publicly.
"If you can't see it for yourself, I won't tell you. But if I were to give you a tip, it would be to watch Legolas. In matters of the heart he is young and does not hide his feelings as well as . . . the other."
"And you will say no more?"
"Indeed," Alariel agreed, bending her head and starting to kiss his neck.
"You still have not fully answered my question," Haldir said.
Alariel stopped what she was doing and looked at him impatiently. "I am trying to seduce you, Lord Haldir. It would go better if you would stop talking and use your mouth for that which nature intended."
"Why do you allow this wedding to go ahead when you plainly do not want Legolas as your husband?" Haldir said stubbornly, a small part of his mind wondering why he was pursuing this.
"I did not say that. He is kind and gentle, polite and well regarded. I dare say he will do his duty as my husband very well - at least by day. And Mirkwood will be a new experience. It will be nice to be away from Rivendell."
"Mirkwood is nothing compared to Rivendell in beauty."
"Beauty is such a fickle thing. Take me. I am now hailed as the beauty of Imladris. Before Arwen Evenstar left for Minas Tirith, no one even noticed I was alive."
"I did," Haldir said truthfully. "I saw you on many of my previous visits, but I was never able to get close enough to speak to you."
Alariel was silent for moment. A curiously vulnerable look had appeared in her eyes. It only lasted a second and then she shook it away.
"Have we talked enough now?" she demanded.
Haldir reached a hand up and tangled it in her hair, holding her head firmly. "I think so," he said, and pulled her to him.
