33. Aspiration's Eulogy
How had it come to this? For hours now Aragorn had sat on the stone bench, gazing on the falls and the river, it's mad, rushing, churning, plunge so like his heart. Minutes had turned to hours as he sat and now as the sun began to set he was left with the same question unanswered.
How had it come to this?
In a span of a few days he had lost his heart irrevocably to the most beautiful woman in all arda and had all his hopes dashed upon the rocks, scattered and ruined.
Arwen would never hold his hand again, never kiss his cheek or sigh against his shoulder. He would never hear the silvery sound of her laughter at his jesting again. He had lost the dearest part of his heart and there was nothing left. The future was an abyss, black and gaping before him. Devoid of all hope.
"I thought I might find you here."
Aragorn sighed miserably. He knew this moment would come but he had been dreading it. He looked over his shoulder to find Haldir standing warily on the path behind him. The Galadhrim's silvery hair sparkling in the light of the setting sun.
"Might I speak to you?" Haldir asked. Aragorn nodded, making room for him on the bench. The elf sat down beside him, staring out over the river in silence.
"How is Orophin?" Aragorn asked when it seemed clear his companion was uncertain what to say.
"He is well." Haldir replied with a smirk "He is not nearly so contrite as I would like him but he is not permanently damaged. I came to apologize for my own behavior."
"There is no need." Aragorn shook his head, his shoulders slumping "I will not pretend that I understand all that has happened in Imladris these past days but I am truly, deeply sorry if any action of mine has damaged your honor."
"Not my honor." Haldir replied, "my heart." Aragorn looked up at him with a stunned expression and he plunged on.
"I have loved the Evenstar since I was little more than a child though I have never spoken of my feelings to her." he said. "I see now that I might have easily won her heart if only I had."
"You may yet." Aragorn shrugged, "You are a noble elf Haldir. I can think of no elf who would love her better than you." Haldir fixed the young human with his piercing eyes.
"So you are in love with her then." he stated. Aragorn nodded in reply, glancing at the elf with hollow eyes. Haldir felt a swell of pity as an understanding seemed to pass between them. They had once been rivals and were now friends.
"You know, I do not think either of us stand much of a chance to win her any longer." Haldir sighed.
"You are probably right." Aragorn agreed.
"There remains but one thing to do."
"What is that?" Aragorn asked inquisitively.
"We must get drunk!" Haldir replied with a smirk. A smile tugged at the corners of Aragorn's mouth.
"That is not such a bad idea." he nodded.
"Do not squirm." Elrohir ordered as he cleaned out the cut on his brother's face. Elladan scowled at him darkly but made no other reply as the younger twin carefully applied salve to his wounds. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No." Elladan snapped. Elrohir continued to patiently tend him until he sighed, his shoulders sagging.
"It is not what it looks like." He said finally. "Indelin is a child, she needed someone to watch over her."
"And so you fulfilled that by sending her to Orophin?" Elrohir asked with skepticism. He could not think of a more inappropriate elf, well, perhaps one or two but even Elladan was not that dense.
"It did not happen that way!" Elladan replied hotly, making a face as the disinfectant stung the cut on his forehead. "He approached her."
"It looks to me as if he did more than approach." Elrohir smirked. Elladan bristled, giving his twin an angry glare.
"He had it coming!" Elladan snarled but Elrohir stopped him with a piercing look.
"Do you have feeling for her?" he asked gently.
"She is only a child!" Elladan said in exasperation.
"Orophin is not so very much younger than you and I." Elrohir interrupted with an amused look, "Try again, brother."
"I..."
"Aye," Elrohir nodded, "That is what I thought."
"I want an explanation, and I want it now." Both twins looked up at the sound of the familiar voice to find Legolas standing in the doorway of their rooms, his arms folded over his chest and a menacing frown on his face.
"And we have a very good one." Elrohir replied with a grin. "What are we explaining?"
"You might explain why there was nearly another kinslaying in the courtyard not long ago." Legolas replied, his expression almost as intimidating as his father's. "Barring that, you can offer me a good reason for why a princess of the Noldor spent her morning trying to murder the heir of Gondor."
"Murder?" Elrohir asked wide eyed.
"We had nothing to do with that!" Elladan replied quickly.
"Well that is not entirely true." Elrohir argued uneasily.
"We only parted them!" his twin insisted "We did not tell her to kill him!"
"Parted them?" Legolas asked, his jaw nearly falling open. "They are not..."
"No!" Elladan replied
"But they were thinking about it!" Elrohir added. Legolas shook his head as a dull ache began to form behind his eyes. If anything he was even more confused.
"I think we had better speak with Haldir." Legolas said finally, "You will come with me." Elrohir made to protest at being treated like a servant in his own house by an elf one hundred years his junior but Elladan shook his head. The older twin had seen Thranduil in action enough to know that he was not an elf to be trifled with and at the moment Legolas was doing a very good impression of him.
"I really wish I had some notion of what was going on." Elrohir said miserably.
"I am glad he hit you." Rumil said with a frown as he stared down at Orophin who was laying on the couch with a damp towel on his face. "I should have liked to hit you myself."
"Whatever are you talking about?" Orophin mumbled from under his towel.
"I am talking about that poor little elleth you mistreated." Rumil said with disgust.
"I did not mistreat her!" Orophin snarled back "I did not even touch her!"
"I suppose she just ripped her own dress!" Rumil looked up at the sound to find Legolas and the twins at their door. Legolas looked rather angry but it was nothing to compare to the expression on Elladan's face.
"Oh no!" Rumil said quickly, despite what he had said he really did not want to see his brother killed. "I did that!"
Elladan nearly charged across the room. Elrohir seemed to be far better prepared this time though. He gripped his brother by the shoulders, holding him back as Legolas took hold of his arm.
"It was an accident!" Rumil added, panic gripping him in the face of almost certain death. "I went to stop her and caught her sleeve!"
"Will you stop this!" Legolas fairly shouted, digging his feet into the floor as he struggled to hold back the peredhil. "Rumil, can I have your word that you did not touch her?"
"Of course! And neither did Orophin I was with him the whole time!"
"Good," Legolas breathed a sigh of relief as the older son of Elrond began to calm.
"Then why did you accuse him of mistreating her?" Elladan asked with a menacing scowl.
"He was rude to her." Rumil said, glaring at the battered lump on the sofa that was his brother.
"She does nothing but dog my every step!" Orophin defended, pulling the towel from his face. Whatever treatment they had used it was working nicely for already the wounds were beginning to heal. "I tried to discourage her but she refused to take the hint."
"I hardly found your letter discouraging!" Elladan snapped.
"What letter?" Orophin asked in exasperation.
"The one with your crest on it!" Elladan replied as if he were speaking to a very slow child "the one where you asked to meet and speak your heart to her." Orophin stared at him open mouthed a moment.
"Do not deny it." Elladan frowned, folding his arms over his chest "I saw it myself and it was in your hand."
Rumil blinked several times before reaching inside his tunic and drawing out the letter Indelin had dropped in the Hall of Fire. He swallowed hard as he unfolded it before handing it to Orophin.
"How did she get our letter to Arwen?" he blurted out.
"Arwen?" Elrohir asked, his own expression turning a bit dark.
"We can explain!" Rumil said quickly, sensing the new threat.
"Haldir is in love with Arwen." Orophin sighed heavily.
"We thought only to give him a little push." Rumil said a bit guiltily "We are sorry Legolas, we knew you were in love with her."
"She is in love with me but I do not return her feelings." Legolas said sadly.
"In love with you?" Elrohir asked, "Are you mad?"
"She is in love with Estel!" Elladan added.
"Aragorn?" Rumil asked, crinkling his nose in distaste.
"You are mistaken," Legolas shook his head, drawing Arwen's Letter from his tunic "She wrote me herself."
"How did you get Glorfindel's letter?" Elrohir asked, recognizing the parchment immediately.
"He gave it to me." Legolas replied. He struggled to suppress a groan as the twins exchanged uneasy looks. "Tell me you did not..."
"We have a very good reason!" Elrohir defended as Legolas rolled his eyes.
"And they had the nerve to be angry with us." Orophin frowned as he sat up on the couch.
"At least we did a passable impression of our sibling's handwriting." Elladan retorted.
"Enough!" Legolas said in exasperation "We came to speak to Haldir. Where is he."
"He went..." Rumil paused, looking around the room. "That is a good question. He should have returned from the apothecary long ago."
"It is time we sorted all this out." Legolas scowled. "You will find your brother." he said pointing at the twins before turning to the Lorien elves.
"And you will find yours." he added.
"And who will you find?" Orophin asked as he slowly climbed to his feet.
"Whichever I find first." Legolas replied, motioning to the door. Orophin Nodded at Elrohir as he passed him before pausing beside Elladan.
"I um..." he began.
"Aye," Elladan nodded "and my..."
"Aye." Orophin nodded.
"So that much is settled then?" Elladan asked, both elves nodded before heading out the door, their younger siblings trailing in their wake. Legolas only shook his head, more thankful than ever to be an only child.
Hours passed, and evening turned to night. The stars twinkled overhead as the small search party combed the valley to no avail, inspecting every rock and root for signs of the missing elf and human. The house settled into a less than peaceful quiet and in the uneasy silence is was far less difficult to hear the faint sounds of singing that crept up from the wine cellar
Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go
To heal my heart and drown my woe.
Rain may fall and wind may blow,
And many miles be still to go
But under a tall tree I will lie,
And let the clouds go sailing by.
"I like it." Haldir declared thumping his glass on the table with a bang. "Where did you learn it?"
"From a..." Aragorn hiccuped "from a Hobbit."
"Whatsa Hobbit?" Haldir slurred the question.
"It's short." Aragorn replied, holding out his hand at eye level. "rather fat, and drinks prof... proof... pruf... It drinks a lot."
"Rhach, humans!" Haldir chuckled "You lie too much!"
"I am not lying! It was here in this very hall" Aragorn replied, poking the table. "I saw it myself."
"I have heard that humans see things when they are drunk." Haldir declared with a superior tone.
"I was not drunk!" Aragorn defended. "I was but a child of ten!"
"Then you are more mad than I thought." Haldir laughed, refilling the human's cup and pouring wine over the table.
"You think of a song to sing if you know so much then!" Aragorn replied, waving his hand at the inebriated elf. Haldir frowned in concentration, forcing his mind to work through the fog of alcohol. Finally a thought seemed to come to him and he began to sing.
Alas my love you do me wrong
To cast me off discourteously
For I have loved you well and long
Delighting in your company
"I cannot remember the rest." Haldir said with a frown.
"It suits her." Aragorn replied, laying his head on the table with a miserable sigh.
"You are drunk." Haldir observed, staggering to his feet. He wobbled slightly before sinking unceremoniously to the floor with a dull thud.
"That is the Orc calling the Troll evil." Aragorn replied... "Is there any more wine?"
"We are in a wine cellar!" Haldir laughed as he lay on the floor. "The question is; Is there any more good wine?"
"We are too drunk to know if it is good or not." Aragorn declared, standing shakily to his feet and inspecting the wine rack through bleary eyes.
"Dear Valar." Aragorn turned at the sound of the familiar voice and his face broke into a wide grin as he saw Legolas on the steps, flanked by the twins.
"What is going on here?" the Mirkwood prince demanded.
"Haldir!" Rumil cried pushing past them and rushing to his brother, hauling the inebriated elf to his feet, Orophin following close behind.
"We are celebrating!" Haldir said with a grin as his brothers struggled to steady him. "The death of asper... asper..."
"Aspiration!" Aragorn said, raising the bottle in his hand.
"Yes, that." Haldir nodded.
"It's a party!" Aragorn declared, shoving the bottle into Elladan's chest. "Have a drink."
"I do not want a drink." Elladan said with a frown.
"Then we will sing!" Aragorn replied, prying the cork from the bottle. "In Gondor's White City where the lassies are pretty... I first set my eyes on sweet..."
"You have had enough fun for one night." Elrohir said soothingly, laying a hand on his arm "You are going to bed."
"No I am not!" Aragorn said with a sneer. "I am going to have another drink!" He tipped his head back, downing several large gulps before Elladan knocked the bottle from his hand, sending it clattering to the floor and spilling wine over the worn stones.
"You have had too much already!" the older twin snapped, his expression verging on panic. "Do you wish to drink yourself to death?"
"What is it to you if I do?" Aragorn replied, his voice dripping with contempt. "I will die eventually anyway, what is fifty or even a hundred years one way or the other to an elf?"
Legolas winced as he watched the exchange. Aragorn had given up and it was clear from the look on the twins faces that they had been so absorbed in saving Arwen that they had never considered the loss of her affections might destroy their little brother.
"Estel," Elrohir began gently but Aragorn shoved him off, falling against the wine rack as he lost his balance.
"Don't call me that." he snarled, swaying as he struggled to right himself "Don't ever call me that again. There is no Estel. I am Aragorn, I am nothing more than a pitiful, weak, useless, mortal who has no right to the heart of the most beautiful creature in all arda, and now I do not even have the hope of her friendship!"
"Estel," Elladan said softly, tears welling up in his eyes. Aragorn squared his shoulders, drawing his feet under him once more and walking up to the elf with narrowed eyes.
"You," the human said, stabbing a finger in the older twins chest. "Are a Balrogion." Elladan stared at him in silence, not even distracted by Haldir falling over and nearly crushing Rumil against the wall under his weight.
"All of you." Aragorn continued, waving his arm at the other elves "Do you think me a fool? Did you think I believed for one moment she would give up everything for me? What has ever stood in the way of any of your hearts but your own pride? The chance to love was yours for the asking and you would not risk. I have not even the right to speak my heart!"
Without another word he pushed past his brothers, staggering up the stairs. Legolas watched him go with a smug smile on his face. It was not often that a mortal could put the firstborn in their place. Twice in the same day; Aragorn had set a record.
The twins looked at each other in shock but it was Orophin who moved first. He untangled himself from Haldir, squared his shoulders and strode purposefully toward the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Rumil demanded, struggling under the weight of his brother.
"I am going," Orophin replied, with all the dignity he could muster "to make a fool of myself." He turned and headed resolutely up the stairs. The twins exchanged glances, identical uneasy looks marring their faces before they turned and bolted up the stairs after him.
"Just where are they going?" Rumil asked, his voice almost a whine. Legolas chuckled, shaking his head as he crossed the cellar to help the younger elf with his burden.
"I cannot be certain," Legolas replied, hooking one of Haldir's arms around his neck "But I believe at least one of them is about to be married."
"Married?" Rumil asked as if he had just been handed a live cobra "Are they completely mad?"
"Yes, well," Legolas nodded with a smile. "Love is like that."
Balrogion - Son of a Balrog
To the Bottle I Go - by JRR Tolkien
Greensleves - Traditional
Alive, Alive-O - Traditional
And the royal mess unravels... We are getting down to the end of the story and I think it's pretty clear how things are going to turn out... yeah right, clear as mud. The next few chapters involve apologies kissing angst and some steaminess, but I imagine you figured that out on your own. There are only a couple of chapters left but I'm not sure how many until I actually write them. I know I scared some people with the Hal bit in the last chapter but I needed to make it perfectly that this wasn't infatuation. Haldir is in love with Arwen. This is the main reason that he needed his own story. RL is really keeping me busy but I am writing as much as I can. Thanks for all the great reviews.
