Chapter 5- Problems and Reconciliation
Haldir sat at the table in the front room of the talan, sipping his morning tea quietly and preparing in his head what he was going to say to Emlin on their ride today outside of the city. He really had not rested much the entire night after the initial conversation with her, but now that he was committed to at least an hour's worth of talk, he thought it might be better for him to know exactly what he wanted to say and get it out. According to past record, it would be just his luck that something would come out wrong and it would enrage Emlin more than she probably already was. Or he could possibly never get up the courage to say what he meant, which would prove to be a painful ride, because of the horrible, long bouts of silences that would ensue.
He chuckled to himself. It was almost hard for him to fathom that he was nervous about this whole thing with Emlin. Nay, he was not even nervous, he was down right petrified that something could go wrong and Emlin would never speak to him again. She was a forty year old elleth for goodness sakes! She was not even the Lady or Indilisse... He was frightened over a confrontation with a forty year old elleth half his size! Still his mind was quite unsettled as it played out all of the possibilities of the day.
Never before had he encountered such a problem with his brothers when they were small and he was charged as their parent. Even when he had looked after Indilisse when she was a elfling, Indilisse had never acted as horribly as Emlin did. Everyday, as the rift between Emlin and him grew larger and larger, he worried more and more that he had failed miserably as a father. Haldir felt literally at odds when Emlin would speak to him in a nasty tone or argue with him for no apparent reason. Why could she just not understand that he had lived many years longer than she, and could quite possibly know more?
Maybe he had never been cut out to become a father, and the time he spent raising his brothers was really not him doing it, but the ever guiding hands of the Lord and Lady. That could not be true, he had a wonderful relationship with Thoron. He was not the nurturing type, sure, but he was a leader and model as to the standards of the Eldar. Thoron always listened to him, took his teachings to heart, but Emlin could not be paid gold to sit and listen to him without so much as it appearing she was disgusted with him or like it was painful to be in the same room as she.
It had not started out like this when she was first born... well that was until she learned to talk. Even for a few years after she had learned, they still were close, but then she started to develop a thinking mind of her own. And he could not blame her for her short temper and arrogant ways, because that was what she had learned all those times she was around and Haldir was busy commanding his wardens or the way he acted around his friends. When she was small, she would follow him around on his daily routines about the city, asking him questions and being interested in everything. Indilisse had even grown quite angry that her daughter was spending so much time with him when she should have been acting like a child and playing with the few other elflings in Lórien. Nonetheless, though, he blamed himself constantly for teaching her these bad habits.
Emlin was, by nature, an exact likeness of him in mind, and Indilisse in body and spirit. This was a mixture so puzzling, that he often times wondered why the Valar had even permitted it. Truthfully, too, it was not bad that Emlin had a high-spirited arrogance, and that she spoke her mind, but at times it just grew too exasperating for him. He had never let things bother him so easily, but Emlin's strong will made him snap nearly every time as she grew older, and they would inevitably end up in a huge argument, leaving each other angry at the other. Maybe he needed to start from within himself, and fix his problem with even giving into her arguments...
The one thing that perplexed him, though, was what had caused them to push so far away from each other? When was it that Emlin just decided that she did not like him any more, and would ruffle his feathers whenever she got the chance? Was he so horrible a person that he turned people so easily around? There were no clear explanations for these things, as the logical would be Thoron being born, and Haldir spending a great deal of time with him rather than Emlin where they had previously been joined at the hip. But Emlin had started this years before Thoron had even been thought of.
Haldir sighed heavily to himself, his ideas now tied up into horrible knots, with no straightening them out possible before they left. He would go into this with nothing prepared, but he hoped that he could think quickly and restrain his temper. He heard the clearing of a throat and looked up, smiling feebly at Indilisse. "Good morning, meleth."
"What are you in such deep thought about so early this morning?" Indilisse questioned, finishing with the tying off of her hair as she made her way to pour herself her own cup of tea.
"Nothing." He replied with another sigh.
She chuckled quietly, "By the sounds of that, I would say that it would have to do with only one thing."
"Nothing else deserves more of my attention." Haldir said, "We are going out riding this morning."
"That should be interesting." Indilisse said evenly, sitting in her seat. She gazed at him for a few long moments, reaching out and placing her hand on top of his. "I am glad that one of my hard-headed loved ones is finally amending their ways."
"That does not mean she will." He remarked, drinking the last bit of his tea.
She smiled, "Even the smallest bit counts. Should I remind you of the story about the lion and the mouse, except this time you will have to live with the fact that your daughter is the lion, and you are the mouse."
He chuckled and leaned over the table, "I did not pay much attention to that story, Indilisse. I was too concerned that you were there, alone with me, in that meadow."
"Do not worry, I know." Indilisse giggled and kissed his lips lightly. "But you still got the moral of it, no matter how concentrated you were on how you were going to pin me to the grass."
"You think that was all I was trying to plan?" He raised a curious brow. "Indilisse, meleth nin, you may think my mind was only on how I was going to kiss you, but it was how I was going to get you would of your riding clothes and where I was going to kiss you."
Her face turned bright pink and she moved her eyes away from him, "I do not care how long it seems we have been together, you still make me blush."
"That is a good thing," Haldir gave her a lopsided smile. The sound of light feet on the stairs from the balcony of the talan to the upper children's chambers found his ears and he turned to find Emlin coming down in her riding clothes. "Good morning."
Emlin glanced up at him, seemingly surprised that he had spoken to her. She sighed, "Good Morning Ada."
"Would you like food before we go?" Haldir asked.
"Nay." She shook her head, "I do not like to eat in the morning."
"Very well." He stood and walked towards the door, "Let us go."
Haldir held the door open for her to pass in front of him. She did so quietly, and did not say thank you. All the way down to the stables, they said nothing. The entire time they prepared their horses, they said nothing. Slowly, Haldir's nervousness began to rise to an all-time high. This was not going as he had planned at all. He offered his help to lift her up on her horse, but she said she did not need any help. After climbing on his horse, he watched her struggle, but succeed in getting on the horse without a stool or stirrup. This aggravated him greatly, but he sighed heavily, and pushed it out of his mind. Their ride started out in just the same icy silence as it had started. All of this was consuming so much of his attention and worry that he had nearly not realized what a glorious morning it was.
Finally Emlin glanced at him when they were a good distance away from the city. "So, you have brought me riding. What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"
"I was hoping we could spend some time together." Haldir replied.
She scoffed and turned her eyes to the road in front of them. "Was this Nana's idea, or your idea?"
"Entirely mine," he said. "You may think me incapable of coming up with my own ideas, and raising children, and the millions of other things you think I do wrong..."
She muttered something, but he could not understand it even with his sensitive hearing.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"I do not think you incapable, Ada." Emlin pursed her lips together and glanced at him.
"Then what do you think of me?" He questioned, not knowing if he wanted to answer.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no words to describe it."
"Well, now that I have your captive attention, with no one to bother us," he began, "would you mind telling me why we have grown so far apart?"
"Do you not know?" Emlin replied bitterly.
"Nay, Emlin, I seriously do not." Haldir said.
She sighed heavily and shook her head disappointedly, gazing in front of her for some time in silence before clearing her throat. "Do you remember when I was an elfling, when I would follow you around everywhere?"
Haldir smiled to himself, "I do. They are some of my fondest memories of your childhood."
"I want to know why you stopped allowing me to be with you Ada." Emlin said, her voice emotional. "You started spending so much time with the wardens and then Thoron came along... you completely left me out of everything."
"I did not leave you out of everything." He countered, but thought about what she was saying.
"I stayed up much of the night preparing what I was going to say to you, Ada, about why I thought we are like we are." Emlin replied, "I know I have not been the most pleasant elleth to live with, but you stopped paying attention to me all of a sudden when I was till young."
Haldir raised a brow, "It was not proper that you were spending all of your time with me, Emlin. You needed to be a child. You needed to learn other things than warfare and what an unwell sense of humor your father and uncles had."
"But did you really have to banish me from your sights completely?" She asked, looking up at him. "All of a sudden, my invitations to the practice field stopped. You did not take me out riding anymore. It seemed almost as if you were hiding from me."
"The sad state of our relationship is because I did not pay enough attention to you?" He asked.
"I am not asking for you to dote on me." Emlin said, "I just would have liked to do some things with you. Just an archery lesson here and there."
Haldir felt a huge sigh of relief come over him, though he knew that their bruised bonds were far from being healed. "I thought..."
She sighed heavily and pushed back a piece of her hair behind an ear. "When I was small, I looked up to you as much as I do Nana. I tried so hard to be you... so hard... I got so angry when you stopped doing things with me. I discovered quickly that the only way I could get your attention was to be brash and argue with you."
"Emlin," Haldir said, not realizing that his voice was going to come out so emotional.
"And then Thoron came, and by that time the wedge between us had grown so large, you spent all of your time with him because I angered you so much." Emlin continued, "I just wanted to be noticed and praised by you, like you do your wardens if they do something satisfactorily. I wanted to be your pride and joy..."
"Emlin," he said again, his voice cracking. What had he done? All of these years of fighting and indifference towards each other was because he had made had made the decision that she needed to grow up like a normal elfling? Because he had let her mother take and nurture her into an elleth, so she did not become too male-like? Because he had paid more attention to Thoron than her? How could she think that he did not love her and think of her as his 'pride and joy'.
Daughters! He knew something like this was going to happen when Arwen had first placed Emlin in his arms. He just knew it!
"What, Ada?" She asked.
"I know now that this probably may mean nothing to you, but you have been my pride and my joy ever since you were given to your mother and me." Haldir looked down at her. "You do not understand how much I love you, Emlin. But it did aggravate me every time you argued with me because I thought you did not wish to show me respect I thought I deserved as your father and that you did not want me to be close with you."
A few tears fell down her cheeks and she quickly brought her gloved hands up to her cheeks to brush them away and lowered her eyes, almost as if she was trying to remain strong and not show her weaknesses. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her eyes to his.
"Emlin, too much damage has been done for our bonds with each other to be repaired this day." He began, "We must work at making them better."
"I understand," she nodded her head and sniffled.
Haldir sighed, weight lifting off of his shoulders, but still felt the anxiousness for the healings of their ties to one another to be complete. He could only hope nothing else would happen that would make her angry at him, or vice versa. "Iell nin, naethen. For my blinded eyes. I should have been able to see this when I made the decision that you should not spend any more time with me."
"As am I for my rottenness." Emlin replied, "You did not deserve it Ada."
He smiled softly and placed his hand on her cheek, "Oh, I am sure I deserved it. I deserve many things, and especially in this instance."
"I have missed talking to you, Ada." She said quietly. "But you forget what will happen when Thoron thinks he is being slighted his time by you."
"He has your mother's steadfastness," Haldir chuckled and removed his hand, placing it back on the reins in front of him. "You have my easily enraged temper. Thoron may have some adjustment issues, but he will be fine."
"You hope, anyway." Emlin chuckled lightly.
He nodded his head and raised a brow, "I can hope, can I not? Besides, if he does not, I have full intentions of marrying you off quickly when you reach fifty years so he and I will not spend so many years at each other's throats."
She scoffed and frowned, "Ada..."
Haldir laughed at the blush creeping through her frown. "I am only kidding, pen neth. While I have had many years of bliss with your mother, I would not wish the discovery of love on anyone. It is painful."
"Love, painful?" Emlin asked, "How can that be so?"
"When you fall in love, you will know." He replied. "And I do not wish to see my only daughter bound so quickly. Just when you start getting interesting."
She laughed loudly at that, the sudden outburst scaring the birds from the overhead trees, sending them into flight. Emlin looked up at them and sighed, the large smile remaining on her face. Haldir smiled to himself, so relieved to see her bright and wonderful smile once more while he was around. It had been such a long time since she had allowed her face to be so cheerful when he was speaking to her.
They rode in companionable silence for sometime more, enjoying the crisp winter morning air, until Emlin spoke to him as they nearing the a complete circle around the city. "Ada?"
"Yes?" He responded, pulled out of his finally content attitude.
"Who are the travelers that came into Lórien last eve?" She asked, glancing at him.
"You were down there and served them food, did anyone tell you?" He said.
Emlin shook her head and sighed, "Aunt Narië made us help, we did not speak to them."
"They are travelers from Imladris." Haldir said, trying to think of the best way to keep the severity of their fellowship a secret from Emlin. "They are four hobbits of the Shire, two humans of Gondor, an elf of Mirkwood, and a dwarf. I do not know of what land he hails."
"They are here on what purpose?" She continued.
"Gandalf the Grey has passed into shadow." He spoke slowly, knowing that the few times Mithrandir had come to Lórien since Emlin's birth, she had taken quite an interest in learning from him. "They traveled through Moria."
Emlin frowned, "Oh that is horrible!"
Haldir nodded his head in agreement, "Aye it is."
She seemed satisfied with his answers, even though he had nowhere even begun to answer her questions. How do you tell your young daughter that this group of men were on a mission to destroy the One Ring? That they may not succeed and the world's ending could be at hand? That he could be called to a great battle and possibly die? That everyone's hope rested in someone no larger than her younger brother?
They made their way back into the city, the large gates closed behind them. There had once been a time when the gates could be kept open during the day, and sometimes even during night, but now they took no chances, not even with the double patrol on the borders. Haldir noted that the city was unusually quiet for so late in the morning as they stopped at the stables and put away their horses. They walked out of the stables and Emlin paused, glancing up at him.
"Melin le, Ada." She said quietly and hugged him close.
Surprised that she did this, but more than happy that she did, he sighed and wrapped his arms around her back. "And I love you, Emlin."
Before he knew what was going on, she was gone and running towards Aranel, whom as just coming down from the upper talans. Haldir sighed and watched as Emlin talked excitedly with Aranel and they disappeared behind a large outcropping of bushes. Finally he knew, and he could make things right. Maybe the realization that he had to smooth things over with his daughter, in case he were to perish because of the great war coming to their doorstep, was not such a bad thing after all.
----
iell nin- my daughter
meleth- love
melin le- I love you.
Ada and Nana- if you do not know these already, then you should not be reading this story... ;-)
Pen neth- little one
Naethen- I am sorry (My sorrow)
Haldir sat at the table in the front room of the talan, sipping his morning tea quietly and preparing in his head what he was going to say to Emlin on their ride today outside of the city. He really had not rested much the entire night after the initial conversation with her, but now that he was committed to at least an hour's worth of talk, he thought it might be better for him to know exactly what he wanted to say and get it out. According to past record, it would be just his luck that something would come out wrong and it would enrage Emlin more than she probably already was. Or he could possibly never get up the courage to say what he meant, which would prove to be a painful ride, because of the horrible, long bouts of silences that would ensue.
He chuckled to himself. It was almost hard for him to fathom that he was nervous about this whole thing with Emlin. Nay, he was not even nervous, he was down right petrified that something could go wrong and Emlin would never speak to him again. She was a forty year old elleth for goodness sakes! She was not even the Lady or Indilisse... He was frightened over a confrontation with a forty year old elleth half his size! Still his mind was quite unsettled as it played out all of the possibilities of the day.
Never before had he encountered such a problem with his brothers when they were small and he was charged as their parent. Even when he had looked after Indilisse when she was a elfling, Indilisse had never acted as horribly as Emlin did. Everyday, as the rift between Emlin and him grew larger and larger, he worried more and more that he had failed miserably as a father. Haldir felt literally at odds when Emlin would speak to him in a nasty tone or argue with him for no apparent reason. Why could she just not understand that he had lived many years longer than she, and could quite possibly know more?
Maybe he had never been cut out to become a father, and the time he spent raising his brothers was really not him doing it, but the ever guiding hands of the Lord and Lady. That could not be true, he had a wonderful relationship with Thoron. He was not the nurturing type, sure, but he was a leader and model as to the standards of the Eldar. Thoron always listened to him, took his teachings to heart, but Emlin could not be paid gold to sit and listen to him without so much as it appearing she was disgusted with him or like it was painful to be in the same room as she.
It had not started out like this when she was first born... well that was until she learned to talk. Even for a few years after she had learned, they still were close, but then she started to develop a thinking mind of her own. And he could not blame her for her short temper and arrogant ways, because that was what she had learned all those times she was around and Haldir was busy commanding his wardens or the way he acted around his friends. When she was small, she would follow him around on his daily routines about the city, asking him questions and being interested in everything. Indilisse had even grown quite angry that her daughter was spending so much time with him when she should have been acting like a child and playing with the few other elflings in Lórien. Nonetheless, though, he blamed himself constantly for teaching her these bad habits.
Emlin was, by nature, an exact likeness of him in mind, and Indilisse in body and spirit. This was a mixture so puzzling, that he often times wondered why the Valar had even permitted it. Truthfully, too, it was not bad that Emlin had a high-spirited arrogance, and that she spoke her mind, but at times it just grew too exasperating for him. He had never let things bother him so easily, but Emlin's strong will made him snap nearly every time as she grew older, and they would inevitably end up in a huge argument, leaving each other angry at the other. Maybe he needed to start from within himself, and fix his problem with even giving into her arguments...
The one thing that perplexed him, though, was what had caused them to push so far away from each other? When was it that Emlin just decided that she did not like him any more, and would ruffle his feathers whenever she got the chance? Was he so horrible a person that he turned people so easily around? There were no clear explanations for these things, as the logical would be Thoron being born, and Haldir spending a great deal of time with him rather than Emlin where they had previously been joined at the hip. But Emlin had started this years before Thoron had even been thought of.
Haldir sighed heavily to himself, his ideas now tied up into horrible knots, with no straightening them out possible before they left. He would go into this with nothing prepared, but he hoped that he could think quickly and restrain his temper. He heard the clearing of a throat and looked up, smiling feebly at Indilisse. "Good morning, meleth."
"What are you in such deep thought about so early this morning?" Indilisse questioned, finishing with the tying off of her hair as she made her way to pour herself her own cup of tea.
"Nothing." He replied with another sigh.
She chuckled quietly, "By the sounds of that, I would say that it would have to do with only one thing."
"Nothing else deserves more of my attention." Haldir said, "We are going out riding this morning."
"That should be interesting." Indilisse said evenly, sitting in her seat. She gazed at him for a few long moments, reaching out and placing her hand on top of his. "I am glad that one of my hard-headed loved ones is finally amending their ways."
"That does not mean she will." He remarked, drinking the last bit of his tea.
She smiled, "Even the smallest bit counts. Should I remind you of the story about the lion and the mouse, except this time you will have to live with the fact that your daughter is the lion, and you are the mouse."
He chuckled and leaned over the table, "I did not pay much attention to that story, Indilisse. I was too concerned that you were there, alone with me, in that meadow."
"Do not worry, I know." Indilisse giggled and kissed his lips lightly. "But you still got the moral of it, no matter how concentrated you were on how you were going to pin me to the grass."
"You think that was all I was trying to plan?" He raised a curious brow. "Indilisse, meleth nin, you may think my mind was only on how I was going to kiss you, but it was how I was going to get you would of your riding clothes and where I was going to kiss you."
Her face turned bright pink and she moved her eyes away from him, "I do not care how long it seems we have been together, you still make me blush."
"That is a good thing," Haldir gave her a lopsided smile. The sound of light feet on the stairs from the balcony of the talan to the upper children's chambers found his ears and he turned to find Emlin coming down in her riding clothes. "Good morning."
Emlin glanced up at him, seemingly surprised that he had spoken to her. She sighed, "Good Morning Ada."
"Would you like food before we go?" Haldir asked.
"Nay." She shook her head, "I do not like to eat in the morning."
"Very well." He stood and walked towards the door, "Let us go."
Haldir held the door open for her to pass in front of him. She did so quietly, and did not say thank you. All the way down to the stables, they said nothing. The entire time they prepared their horses, they said nothing. Slowly, Haldir's nervousness began to rise to an all-time high. This was not going as he had planned at all. He offered his help to lift her up on her horse, but she said she did not need any help. After climbing on his horse, he watched her struggle, but succeed in getting on the horse without a stool or stirrup. This aggravated him greatly, but he sighed heavily, and pushed it out of his mind. Their ride started out in just the same icy silence as it had started. All of this was consuming so much of his attention and worry that he had nearly not realized what a glorious morning it was.
Finally Emlin glanced at him when they were a good distance away from the city. "So, you have brought me riding. What is it you wanted to speak to me about?"
"I was hoping we could spend some time together." Haldir replied.
She scoffed and turned her eyes to the road in front of them. "Was this Nana's idea, or your idea?"
"Entirely mine," he said. "You may think me incapable of coming up with my own ideas, and raising children, and the millions of other things you think I do wrong..."
She muttered something, but he could not understand it even with his sensitive hearing.
"What did you say?" He asked.
"I do not think you incapable, Ada." Emlin pursed her lips together and glanced at him.
"Then what do you think of me?" He questioned, not knowing if he wanted to answer.
She shrugged her shoulders. "I have no words to describe it."
"Well, now that I have your captive attention, with no one to bother us," he began, "would you mind telling me why we have grown so far apart?"
"Do you not know?" Emlin replied bitterly.
"Nay, Emlin, I seriously do not." Haldir said.
She sighed heavily and shook her head disappointedly, gazing in front of her for some time in silence before clearing her throat. "Do you remember when I was an elfling, when I would follow you around everywhere?"
Haldir smiled to himself, "I do. They are some of my fondest memories of your childhood."
"I want to know why you stopped allowing me to be with you Ada." Emlin said, her voice emotional. "You started spending so much time with the wardens and then Thoron came along... you completely left me out of everything."
"I did not leave you out of everything." He countered, but thought about what she was saying.
"I stayed up much of the night preparing what I was going to say to you, Ada, about why I thought we are like we are." Emlin replied, "I know I have not been the most pleasant elleth to live with, but you stopped paying attention to me all of a sudden when I was till young."
Haldir raised a brow, "It was not proper that you were spending all of your time with me, Emlin. You needed to be a child. You needed to learn other things than warfare and what an unwell sense of humor your father and uncles had."
"But did you really have to banish me from your sights completely?" She asked, looking up at him. "All of a sudden, my invitations to the practice field stopped. You did not take me out riding anymore. It seemed almost as if you were hiding from me."
"The sad state of our relationship is because I did not pay enough attention to you?" He asked.
"I am not asking for you to dote on me." Emlin said, "I just would have liked to do some things with you. Just an archery lesson here and there."
Haldir felt a huge sigh of relief come over him, though he knew that their bruised bonds were far from being healed. "I thought..."
She sighed heavily and pushed back a piece of her hair behind an ear. "When I was small, I looked up to you as much as I do Nana. I tried so hard to be you... so hard... I got so angry when you stopped doing things with me. I discovered quickly that the only way I could get your attention was to be brash and argue with you."
"Emlin," Haldir said, not realizing that his voice was going to come out so emotional.
"And then Thoron came, and by that time the wedge between us had grown so large, you spent all of your time with him because I angered you so much." Emlin continued, "I just wanted to be noticed and praised by you, like you do your wardens if they do something satisfactorily. I wanted to be your pride and joy..."
"Emlin," he said again, his voice cracking. What had he done? All of these years of fighting and indifference towards each other was because he had made had made the decision that she needed to grow up like a normal elfling? Because he had let her mother take and nurture her into an elleth, so she did not become too male-like? Because he had paid more attention to Thoron than her? How could she think that he did not love her and think of her as his 'pride and joy'.
Daughters! He knew something like this was going to happen when Arwen had first placed Emlin in his arms. He just knew it!
"What, Ada?" She asked.
"I know now that this probably may mean nothing to you, but you have been my pride and my joy ever since you were given to your mother and me." Haldir looked down at her. "You do not understand how much I love you, Emlin. But it did aggravate me every time you argued with me because I thought you did not wish to show me respect I thought I deserved as your father and that you did not want me to be close with you."
A few tears fell down her cheeks and she quickly brought her gloved hands up to her cheeks to brush them away and lowered her eyes, almost as if she was trying to remain strong and not show her weaknesses. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her eyes to his.
"Emlin, too much damage has been done for our bonds with each other to be repaired this day." He began, "We must work at making them better."
"I understand," she nodded her head and sniffled.
Haldir sighed, weight lifting off of his shoulders, but still felt the anxiousness for the healings of their ties to one another to be complete. He could only hope nothing else would happen that would make her angry at him, or vice versa. "Iell nin, naethen. For my blinded eyes. I should have been able to see this when I made the decision that you should not spend any more time with me."
"As am I for my rottenness." Emlin replied, "You did not deserve it Ada."
He smiled softly and placed his hand on her cheek, "Oh, I am sure I deserved it. I deserve many things, and especially in this instance."
"I have missed talking to you, Ada." She said quietly. "But you forget what will happen when Thoron thinks he is being slighted his time by you."
"He has your mother's steadfastness," Haldir chuckled and removed his hand, placing it back on the reins in front of him. "You have my easily enraged temper. Thoron may have some adjustment issues, but he will be fine."
"You hope, anyway." Emlin chuckled lightly.
He nodded his head and raised a brow, "I can hope, can I not? Besides, if he does not, I have full intentions of marrying you off quickly when you reach fifty years so he and I will not spend so many years at each other's throats."
She scoffed and frowned, "Ada..."
Haldir laughed at the blush creeping through her frown. "I am only kidding, pen neth. While I have had many years of bliss with your mother, I would not wish the discovery of love on anyone. It is painful."
"Love, painful?" Emlin asked, "How can that be so?"
"When you fall in love, you will know." He replied. "And I do not wish to see my only daughter bound so quickly. Just when you start getting interesting."
She laughed loudly at that, the sudden outburst scaring the birds from the overhead trees, sending them into flight. Emlin looked up at them and sighed, the large smile remaining on her face. Haldir smiled to himself, so relieved to see her bright and wonderful smile once more while he was around. It had been such a long time since she had allowed her face to be so cheerful when he was speaking to her.
They rode in companionable silence for sometime more, enjoying the crisp winter morning air, until Emlin spoke to him as they nearing the a complete circle around the city. "Ada?"
"Yes?" He responded, pulled out of his finally content attitude.
"Who are the travelers that came into Lórien last eve?" She asked, glancing at him.
"You were down there and served them food, did anyone tell you?" He said.
Emlin shook her head and sighed, "Aunt Narië made us help, we did not speak to them."
"They are travelers from Imladris." Haldir said, trying to think of the best way to keep the severity of their fellowship a secret from Emlin. "They are four hobbits of the Shire, two humans of Gondor, an elf of Mirkwood, and a dwarf. I do not know of what land he hails."
"They are here on what purpose?" She continued.
"Gandalf the Grey has passed into shadow." He spoke slowly, knowing that the few times Mithrandir had come to Lórien since Emlin's birth, she had taken quite an interest in learning from him. "They traveled through Moria."
Emlin frowned, "Oh that is horrible!"
Haldir nodded his head in agreement, "Aye it is."
She seemed satisfied with his answers, even though he had nowhere even begun to answer her questions. How do you tell your young daughter that this group of men were on a mission to destroy the One Ring? That they may not succeed and the world's ending could be at hand? That he could be called to a great battle and possibly die? That everyone's hope rested in someone no larger than her younger brother?
They made their way back into the city, the large gates closed behind them. There had once been a time when the gates could be kept open during the day, and sometimes even during night, but now they took no chances, not even with the double patrol on the borders. Haldir noted that the city was unusually quiet for so late in the morning as they stopped at the stables and put away their horses. They walked out of the stables and Emlin paused, glancing up at him.
"Melin le, Ada." She said quietly and hugged him close.
Surprised that she did this, but more than happy that she did, he sighed and wrapped his arms around her back. "And I love you, Emlin."
Before he knew what was going on, she was gone and running towards Aranel, whom as just coming down from the upper talans. Haldir sighed and watched as Emlin talked excitedly with Aranel and they disappeared behind a large outcropping of bushes. Finally he knew, and he could make things right. Maybe the realization that he had to smooth things over with his daughter, in case he were to perish because of the great war coming to their doorstep, was not such a bad thing after all.
----
iell nin- my daughter
meleth- love
melin le- I love you.
Ada and Nana- if you do not know these already, then you should not be reading this story... ;-)
Pen neth- little one
Naethen- I am sorry (My sorrow)