Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing you recognize....though I wish I did....*crys*

Chapter 6. Not Enough

"It's not what it looks like!"

"Well then my dearest brother what is this?", Rumil asked with as much sarcasm in his voice as he could possibly get.

All around, guards were laughing and snickering at the sight before them.

Haldir's brain finally processed what was going on, and he shot them all dirty looks. He smiled to himself as every one stopped.

They were either looking around at the trees, or looking down at their feet, anything to keep silent. The only ones who didn't look

away were Rumil, Orophin and Eleniel, who seemed to be having a lot of fun with it. Orophin walked over to his brother, who was eyeing him carefully. He stopped inches in front of him. He looked at him with his most serious face. Haldir just stared him in the eyes--he knew something was coming. Orophin looked from Haldir to Eleniel, who waved silently. He looked back to Haldir, and suddenly burst out laughing. Haldir was startled from his little outburst, and gave Orophin a weird look and backed away. Orophin was crouched down on the ground, holding his stomach. Why he was laughing so hard.....no one knew.

"I suppose you all think this is very funny, but I was simply helping her off the ground after she tripped over her dress.", He said innocently.

"MMMHHMMM, I'm sooooo sure you were!" one of the guards said aloud. Haldir glared dangerously at him and the young elf

returned his gaze to his feet, which seemed to be very interesting all of a sudden. Haldir looked to everyone there, and

then turned his back to them so he was facing Eleniel.

"You all may leave now, and if I were you, I would run as FAST as I could," he stated calmly. The other elves just looked

at one another, shrugged, and turned to leave, but not before Rumil strode up to his older brother and, more roughly

than he had meant to, turned him around.

"What is wrong with you?! Why are you always so serious all of the time?!" he asked, practically yelling. "We were just trying to have fun with you Haldir, and you just keep turning us down... it hurts you know. You treat us like we are not your brothers. We are sick of it! If this is how you are going to act, then that's fine. We don't need you either!" With that said, Rumil got Orophin up off the ground, and they both walked out of the training area.

Haldir just stared, dumbstruck, at the spot where his brother had been standing just a few minutes before. He slowly turned around to face Eleniel, but he didn't look up. He didn't want her to see his face ever again. "She probably thinks I am a monster", he thought. Still looking down at the ground, he briskly walked off past Eleniel, who didn't try to stop him, and into the forest. Eleniel just watched his retreating form; she knew how he felt, for she had had something similar happen to her. She remembered the time when she had gotten into a fight with her mother and father--she was frustrated and started to yell at them. She remembered how they just looked so confused and hurt; her words had been like a million knives being thrown at them. Finally her parents just couldn't take her yelling anymore, and they decided to have a little talk with her. The words they had said were somewhat similar to those that Rumil had said to Haldir. They told her about how she was hurting them with her verbal lashes and that she acted like she wasn't their daughter.

(For this scene, play "Not Enough" by Our Lady Peace; I think it really fits this part of the story)

Sadly, she decided that she should go home and rest. She would go find Haldir later, right now he just needed some time to himself.

Eleniel walked slowly back to her shared talon.

She did not look up once, she could not see where she was going, but she knew her feet would guide her.

Soon she reached her home; she climbed the ladder and turned around. She looked out from her balcony and sighed, and

slowly entered her talon.



Miressawen was not home, so she was left alone. She walked over to her bed, threw herself down on it, buried her face

in her pillow, and screamed. She screamed until her throat hurt-- she had never felt this bad before; she felt so sorry for Haldir, and she needed to comfort him.... but not yet.

She soon got tired of screaming and started to calm herself, and soon she fell into a greatly needed sleep.



Eleniel awoke a few hours later, feeling relaxed and refreshed, all the happenings of the morning pushed to the back

of her mind. She was content, for once; that was, until she thought of Haldir. She untangled herself from the sheets and

ran to her door. She jumped from her talon and landed on the mossy forest floor--she needed to find Haldir, and fast,

before he tried to do anything that could harm others... or himself. She ran and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.

She knew not of where she was going but her heart was leading her to him.



After running for what seemed like forever, Eleniel came to a stop in a small clearing with a little waterfall. She

looked around, taking in the beauty of this secret place she had never seen before. Her eyes strayed around for awhile, until she saw the exact person she was looking for.

Haldir was sitting on a log, in front of the little pond. He was either ignoring her, or he just didn't notice her,

because he didn't turn to look at her. Eleniel approached him slowly, one small step at a time.

Haldir finally turned around; he watched her as she walked to him. It reminded him of when

he had first seen her--her long blonde hair draping over her shoulders, her pale skin glowing with an almost silver

light, and her blue eyes shining like the ocean. This was how he remembered her. She walked over to him slowly and sat

down beside him. He watched her every move, as if he did not want to miss a single thing she did. She smiled softly at him and gave him a look of sympathy.

"Haldir, I am so sorry." Eleniel told him softly. He looked up to her and nodded slowly.

"Why? Why do I deserve this? Don't they realize how I feel?" Haldir said.

"How do you feel Haldir?" she asked him gently. She wanted him to feel comfortable talking to her. She wanted everything

to be all right for him.

Haldir simply shook his head, and put his head in his hands. Eleniel watched him carefully and sadly noticed that he was shaking.

"Haldir... please just look at me..." she said to him. He slowly lifted his head to look at her. She saw that his eyes

were red, and his cheeks were wet with tears.

"Oh Haldir...." she said softly. She took him in her arms and hugged him, resting her chin on his golden head. She

comforted him as much as she possibly could; she was surprised that he was not pulling away.

They stayed like that for a very long time. Eleniel was just happy to be there, helping Haldir during his difficult time.

She had been gentle to him, and he had returned her hugs and comforting.

She smiled when she realized that this was the first time she had seen his soft side.............

she had seen the real Haldir.