A/N: OMG OMG OMG!! I am soooooooooo sorry!  The tennis season just started here in good ol' Vermont, and I have been riDIIIIIculously busy.  But it's vacation week! sound the trumpets, laddies!

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CHAPTER 12: UNEXPECTED REVELATIONS

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"HALDIR! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

The spectators winced.

Haldir glanced towards the small figure that was racing towards him.  "Revenge," he called innocently.

Andiél somehow managed to give him a look of utmost incredulity, despite her attempts to push through the crowd. And no wonder:

There were six or seven ellith lined up on the field with apples balanced on their heads.  It looked quite ridiculous, actually – until you saw that about 30 yards away, there were five Elves with lifted bows steadily aimed towards them. 

The whole thing looked rather surreal.

Each time an apple was hit, Haldir tossed another.  And the most peculiar thing was the elleth would actually catch it, and willingly replace it on her own head.  You would actually think that they were enjoying being shot at – until one would suddenly give a deafening shriek and collapse.  But Haldir would roll his eyes, and have someone cart her off.

Andiél finally wormed through the crowd, and was about to close the remaining distance between Haldir and herself to deliver a smartly placed punch on one of his more valuable body parts – then something clicked.  She knew those girls… she stopped in her tracks – eyes widened – and not quite sure what to make of this new development.

Suddenly, a more familiar scream pierced the air.  Andiél snapped her head to see none other than Thradilia.  Instead of apples, the petrified elleth had only a small nectarine on her head, and was made to face away from the archer.  Her face was ashen white, and her entire body rigid and convulsing madly.

It was too much.  Andiél punched Haldir on the arm as she came up behind him.  "What do you think you're doing?" she yelled at him. "Stop all this madness at once!"

"Why?" Haldir did not even turn his head.  "These are the people that were hurting you!"

Andiél remained obstinate.  "I know, but this is too much.  Look at them." She pointed at Thradilia.  "She's about to pass out!"

Haldir just shrugged.  "So what? She was the one that started this whole thing."

At that very moment, Cylleth came running through the crowd hysterically.  She grabbed Andiél's arm. "Please, Andiél!  Believe me, it wasn't her!"

Haldir narrowed his eyes at her.  "Do you mean it was you?"

The frantic elleth shook her head passionately. "Someone sent us that note, Andiél! I swear!  We really thought it was real!"

Thradilia, who wasn't standing too far away, cried out. "Andiél," she sobbed, "Please! I'm sorry!"

"Would you like to join your friend?" Haldir asked harshly to Cylleth.

She gave an involuntary shiver. "No – "

"Then shut the hell up!"

Andiél frowned, "Haldir. Stop all of this."

He widened his eyes at her incredulously, "Do you mean so say you actually believe them?!"

She glanced at Cylleth.  The frenzied elleth was watching her pleadingly. "Please, Andiél…I swear it…"

And then at Thradilia, who had started to sway slightly.  She turned to Haldir. "Yes. I believe them."

He peered at her closely. "Are you sure?"  Andiél hit his arm, harder this time.  Haldir was unconvinced, but gave in.  Yelling at the archers to stop, he turned back to Andiél.  Biting his lip for a second, he finally asked, "Are you mad?"

She shook her head.  "No."

"Promise?" He looked hopeful.

Andiél had to laugh.  "Yes, silly!  I'm not mad at all!"

- - - -

"Wh-what is it you wanted?" stuttered the poor Elf.

Haldir eyed him condescendingly.  "Relax; I'm not going to bite. I just wanted some help."

The Elf stood up a little straighter. "Y-yes?"

Haldir placed the offending letter into his hands, with its envelope.  "I want you to find out who sent this to Thradilia."

"B-but," he bit his lip, "how?  I couldn't possibly – "

"The handwriting on the envelope, you oaf," interrupted Haldir with a glare.  "Go through every single test or notebook in the entire Institute if you have to. I want this by the end of the week!"

- - - -

A few days later:

"Hey Andiél!" greeted Taúr brightly on her way home.  "How was your day?"

She returned the smile as he took his place by her side.  "Alright, I guess."

"What's that?" he asked, pointing at her book.

"Quenyan Studies."

"Would you like me to hold it for you?" he offered.

Andiél smiled, and handed him her books. "Thank you!"

"You just try getting a little closer, Taúr o Rivendell," growled a voice behind them, "And you'll be eating those books for dinner!"

Andiél didn't even need to glance back to know who it was.  "Haldir," she said irritably, "Will you stop terrorizing my friends?"

Haldir gave Taúr a glare, causing the poor Elf to take several steps back.  Then, as if someone had turned a switch, he suddenly smiled at Andiél.  "Here," he said, as he handed her a small, silver box-shaped object.  "This is for you."

Andiél took it, frowning.  "What is this?"

Apparently, someone had flipped another switch.  Haldir rolled his eyes.  "Silly commoner.  It's a thôn."  Andiél raised her eyebrows at him, still not understanding.  He sighed impatiently, and showed her the small groove in the middle.  "Whenever you need to talk to me, you just put your thumb in the middle here.  I have the other one, and it will start to glow."

She peered at it curiously, and then looked back up at him.  "Why would I need such a contraption?"

"You just do!" he exclaimed, exasperated.  Without further ado, he huffed at her, and ambled away.

Taúr look it from her, peering at it oddly.  "Didn't Haldir say he would stop bugging you?" he asked her, "Why is giving you a thôn for?"

Andiél didn't reply, and looked rather irritated. It was a bit later, however, when she realized that the thôn was only the least of her new 'problems'.

On her doorstep, there was none short of 20 differently sized boxes, each individually wrapped.  Andiél approached them wearily.  Once she saw a tag, she recognized the careful, ridiculously neat handwriting at once.

"Haldir!" she shrieked, "You just wait 'til I get my hand on – OW!" 

Something had suddenly burned her right hand.  She gave it quick shake, causing a small silver box to go flying across the room.  "YOU!" she cried, taking slowly, calculated steps towards her victim.  Her hands clenched before her, she glared at it ferociously.  "How dare you?!  What do you have to say for yourself?!"

The thôn glowed innocently in reply.

- - - -

An hour or so later:

Haldir knocked on the door loudly.  "ANDIÉL! OPEN THE BLOODY DOOR THIS INSTANT!"

A sleepy elleth peeped her head out.  "What do you want? I was trying -" she gave a great yawn, "- to take a nap…"

He glared at her.  "Didn't your thôn glow about – say – half an eternity ago?!"

"What?" Andiél scratched her head. Then, she was suddenly jabbed her index finger at Haldir's chest violently, apparently wide-awake.  "GLOW?! THE BLOODY THING BURNED MY FREAKIN' HAND! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO, SCAR ME? And what is with all the gifts? I don't need any of that!  Take it back! Take it back!" she moaned hysterically.

Haldir chose to ignore this.  "I've been waiting forever!  No one ignores me!"

"Well," said Andiél matter-of-factly, "That was before you met me."  She refrained from sticking out her tongue.

To her surprise, Haldir merely sighed.  "I didn't come to fight," he said, causing her jaw to drop off her face.  "I wanted to show you something."

She looked at him suspiciously.  "What?"

He held up an envelope.  "I found who sent Thradilia and Cylleth the letter."

Andiél sighed.  "Will you not quit?  I recall telling you to stop."

"Are you sure you don't care?" asked Haldir disbelievingly, "You don't want revenge on the person that tried to ruin your life?  What if they had succeeded?  What if I hadn't come in time?  You could have been killed!  What would your parents – "

"Alright, alright!" she interrupted.  "I get it already.  Jeez."

Haldir smiled triumphantly, grabbed her hand, and pulled her out of the door.  He pulled out a torn piece of parchment out of his robes.  "They live in the Section 3. Come on." 

About ten minutes later, the pair arrived.  The entrance looked exactly like all the other doors in the entire campus, but Andiél suddenly felt apprehensive.  What do you say to the being that had tried to ruin your life?  "Are you sure you don't know who it is?"

Haldir shook his head, watching her.  "All I know is that he or she lives here."  Seeing Andiél give a slight nod, he raised his fist and banged loudly on the door.  Once he stopped, completely silence settled in.  The dorm was empty.

Andiél breathed a sigh of relief.  Perhaps this was for the better. She decided that she didn't want to know who it was after all.

Suddenly, running footsteps were heard inside, and the door swung wide open.  A small elleth's head appeared.  "Yes?" Her eyes rested on Andiél, a small smile appearing on her face.  "What are you guys doing here?"

Andiél's throat went dry.  "Nadireth?"  She turned to Haldir accusingly.  "You said you were sure.  It couldn't have been her!" 

Haldir glared at Nadireth.  "Stop faking it.  Why did you do it?" he growled, tossing the letter to her.  "It was you who sent this to Thradilia, wasn't it?"

Andiél tugged on his arm.  "Stop this insanity!  You've made a mistake." 

"I don't make mistakes," he said in a low voice.  To Nadireth, he snarled.  "Isn't Andiél your friend?  Why do you want to hurt her?"

Andiél spun around, ready to leave.  But a soft voice stopped her.  "He's right, Andiél."

Andiél froze.  "What?" she asked quietly, her entire body seemed to suddenly go cold.  She turned back slowly, and looked at Nadireth.  She gazed into her eyes, searching for an explanation.  She found nothing.  "I didn't think you were like that."

Nadireth's eyes flashed.  "What right to you have to judge me?  You were the one that gave me the dress, weren't you?  He bought it for you, and you 'gave' it to me, so he would hate me.  Well, it worked, didn't it?"  She paused for a moment, and then asked, "Besides, if you were perfect, would I have found such a note?"

Haldir interrupted angrily, "Don't you dare try to pin this on someone else - "

Andiél fixed her eyes on Nadireth sadly.  "I thought were friends…"

"Yes…" Nadireth looked thoughtful for a moment.  "If it were not for him, we would have been the very best of friends.  We're both commoners, aren't we?  We're both poor… but I work ten times harder than you!  I raised my family, got into here by pure scholarship, was first in my class! 

"Yet still, I am hated by everyone.  Hated! But you… you are so plain. You have absolutely nothing worthy of noticing – yet you are adored.  I resent that!  What right do you have to possess everything I have ever wanted?"

"ENOUGH!" roared Haldir.  He glared at her, and hissed, "Be prepared for your mark tomorrow."

Nadireth met his gaze evenly.  "Thank you," she snapped, and lifting her arm to slam the door.

"Nadireth," said Andiél quietly, stopping her.  She stared at her feet.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't know – didn't know that I had made you hate me so.  Really sorry."  She paused, taking a deep, shaky breath.  "But still, I want to thank you.  Thank you – for the one time that we were friends."

Nadireth bit her lip, and then closed the door numbly.

Haldir turned to Andiél.  "I – "

She raised her hand, silencing him.  "The mark is unnecessary."  She glanced at the closed door one last time, and then walked away.

On the other side of the door, Nadireth slid down against a wall, crying silently.

- - - -

The next day, the school was abuzz by the news that the top of the second year class, Nadireth of Lothlorien, had dropped out.  Andiél found a short note laid by her door.

"Andiél – there are so many things that I want to say, but in the end I realize all no longer matters.  Yet despite all of that…I'm sorry."

- - - -

A week later:

Haldir leaned comfortably back into his couch, grinning.  Andiél walked in rather angrily.  She held up her hand, which was rather red. "Explain," she demanded.

Elrohir and Elladan exchanged amused looks. This ought to be interesting…  Haldir stood up, and grasped her arm, pulling her down to the couch.  Despite her protests, he waved for a waiter.  "Oy. Get my girl something to drink."  The twins bit their lips, trying not to burst out laughing.

Andiél punched Haldir in the arm. "Your girl?! Since when was I your girl? Are you out of your mind?!" 

Haldir smiled at her cheekily.  "You've been so gloomy of late.  Cheer up!"

Andiél merely glared, not sure what to say.  While the group fell into silence for a moment, the waiter came with Andiél's beverage.  She glared at him, blaming him for the entire situation.  The poor Elf stumbled at her death look, and backed away – crashing right into the figure behind him.  The server spun around.  "I'm sorry!" he stuttered, quickly escaping.

"Well," said the Elf, lightly dusting off his robes.  "That was unexpected."

Four heads snapped in the direction of the familiar voice.

"LEGOLAS?!"

- - - -

There you have it! Please don't forget to review!