A/N: Thank you reviewers! Would still love to hear from more of you!
Chapter 12- Trolling For Maidens
Her mind reeled, in utter disbelief that Haldir had actually said it. She was in even more disbelief that he actually did love her in the way that she had hoped he did for so long now. He really loved her? Had he really kissed her like that? Had he really overcome his hard-headedness and pride to tell her the whole truth? All of this had been the last thing she had expected to happen not even a day after Haldir had just explained to her why he had acted as he did when she left. Despite her disbelief, though, she could not help but become so excited over the fact that she was going to his talan, with the promises of things to come that she had only wished for all of her life.
She stood in front of his door and adjusted the gown on her shoulders. Lifting her hand to knock lightly on the wood, Haldir was already there opening up the door. "I hated when you did that when we were young, and I still do."
He laughed, "I know that."
"Then why do you do it?" she questioned.
"Because I can," he replied quietly, stepping back and motioning for her to enter the talan. She stepped in, and glanced quickly around the room as the warmth from the fire enveloped her. "You act as though you have never been here before."
Laereth smiled sheepishly and blushed timidly, "You see, ever since this afternoon, I have been trying to make sense of this all. You have never ever changed your mind so quickly over such an important matter. Actually, you never change your mind after you have made your decision. I keep waiting for someone to come wake me and tell me it is all a dream… and I am looking for things that may be out of place so that I may know if it is a dream and…"
While she was rambling on, he slunk his way over to and placed his arms around her, holding her still. When she had finally gotten to a point where she needed to pause in her talking, he leaned down and kissed her lightly. He pulled away, and she opened her eyes to meet his still close to hers. He said, "Is this a dream?"
"I know not," she said. "But if it is, then it is quite possibly the best dream I have ever had."
He smiled and left her standing alone as he walked over the a decanter of red wine sitting on a side table and poured two goblets. She watched him make precise movements about; every move he made was deliberate and graceful. Even with his clothes on, she could see the flexing and flattening of even the finest, most minutes muscle beneath the fabric. Such a picture of perfection was he, despite his rather arrogant, often cynical, manner. He walked back over to her, and handed her a goblet. She took it from his hand and placed the rim to her lips, taking a long sip of it. Hopefully it would calm her nerves.
"I would be careful, Laereth," he said with a smile. "That is some of the wine Thranduil brought with his last visit. While it does not seem strong drinking it, it leaves quite an after affect."
Laereth chuckled, "And how quickly you forget I have lived in Mirkwood for many years now… I have built up a tolerance to it, though it is a small tolerance."
Haldir raised a curious brow, "A tolerance means you drank it often, and I know that Thranduil is very specific about those who have access to the Dorwinion wine. I did not think that bards were that highly thought of in Thranduil's kingdom."
She smiled mischievously, and walked around a large chair toward the cushion-covered chaise. As gracefully as she could manage, she slipped down into the seat and looked back at him, "You just need to know the right people."
"And who would those people be?" he questioned. "A lover?"
"Perhaps," she said, taking another sip of her wine and placed the goblet on the table beside her.
"Perhaps?" he said, sitting beside her. "Who was this Elf who could talk you into such things?"
Laereth met his eyes, watching the reflection of the fire flicker within the grey for a long time. She smiled softly and looked away, "It was no lover, Haldir. Only a very good friend by the name of Legolas."
"So you were close with the princeling," he said quietly, almost disappointedly, as he turned his eyes away from her.
She sighed, and reached over to turn his head toward her, "I do not think it is fair that you have had your fill of maidens, and at the first sign of a possibly close relationship I have with another, you become jealous."
Haldir took a breath, "I have always been jealous of the ellyn who so much as speak with you. It only took me two millennia to realize that the intense love I have for you was the cause of it, and then have come to such a point that I could not hold it in any longer."
"I know," she nodded.
"And I fear that I could never live up to someone like Legolas… I have met him before, you know," he said. "I see how he acts around other ellyth."
She leaned over and placed her lips to his before moving away, "You have nothing to worry about, Haldir. As I said before, there have only been a few prospects, and Legolas is certainly not one of them. He and Bainon are friends because they are both high-ranking captains in Mirkwood, so he spent a great deal of time at Bainon's and also with me when he was not out patrolling."
After a few moments of listening and watching the fire crackle, she turned back to him, "There was many a time he kept refilling my glass with this wine, and I ended up becoming quite knackered. I think he found it quite funny, but he always made sure I did not do anything brainless afterwards."
"A drinking friend?" he questioned with an amused smile. "Laereth, I could never imagine you doing that."
"You could not?" she laughed, knowing quite well that he was being sarcastic.
"But these other prospects you speak of…" he began.
Laereth sighed, "I know not what exactly you are trying to get at… but no. I have had no serious relationship with them. Only a little innocent banter and courting. I could never see them as a mate because I compared them to you all the time."
"Aye, my boots are hard to fill," Haldir replied, leaning over quickly to kiss her. He was off the chaise before the comment registered with her, and retrieving a covered platter of food. He balanced it carefully in his hands as he came back over to the chaise and set the food on the low table in front of it. She surveyed the tray, finding an assortment of cured meats, breads, cheeses and small fruits. He really was good at trying to woo an elleth, and putting such an aesthetically pleasing meal together was perfect for that.
Their meal commenced slowly, but in a state of complete ease. She had never really felt this way with another ellon before, even with Haldir long ago. It was so easy to converse with him… tell him everything he wanted to know, as he did the same for her. And even with all their years together, they had never really shared this strong a connection with each other. But now that they had both admitted their foolishness to each other, it seemed to open up a gateway of affections and feelings for each other that had so long been oppressed. She was so overjoyed for that… that she had not wasted so many years on something that would never, or could never, be between them.
She watched as he plucked a small red berry from the tray, "Have you tried strawberry with the wine?"
"I have not," she smiled and knew his next move before he even tried it.
"They say that the berry compliments it rather well," he said, offering her the strawberry.
Laereth chuckled, and gave him an amused, but bashful look, as he moved it closer to her mouth. She took a good-sized and yet still delicate bite, chewing on it thoughtfully as he stuck the rest into his mouth. Waiting to see what next he had planned, she was slightly disappointed when he sipped his wine and looked back at her curiously.
"You did not take a sip of your wine," he remarked.
Perhaps he was waiting for her, testing her to see just how bold she really was. And the wine she had consumed up until that point had made her just bold enough, "There is another way that I wish to sample the wine."
He raised a dark brow in question and gave her a lopsided, pleased grin. She smiled slightly, though she could not hold it as he inched slowly toward her, and captured her lips with his. He moved his lips slowly and methodically against hers, before running his tongue lightly on her lower lip and she accepted the intrusion gladly. Laereth found it quite startling that he would, in a sense, ask for permission to deepen the exchange between them. Usually he would just take what he wanted and be done with it, but it almost felt as though he was timid in trying such a thing. To say that she was not slightly nervous about this night would be a lie, but she was not about to ask his permission to try anything… she had waited too long to feel his lips pressed against hers in this wonderfully spine tingling fashion.
And for his hands to be roam freely about her body.
Like they were doing a quite sufficient job of now.
She sighed against him, turning more towards him and venturing a hand up his thigh. He tensed quickly at the unexpected place her hand had landed, but relaxed just as quickly as he smiled against her mouth. Maneuvering himself gracefully in his seat, he pushed her back against the chaise, resting himself cautiously over her. Laereth removed her hand from his thigh and brought both of them to support herself as she was being pushed back, by wrapping her hands about his neck. His hands, that had previously been concentrated on tracing the neckline of her gown, slipped lower to cup her breasts. Even through the fabric of the gown, she felt as though his skin was touching her skin, as though their connection was really that remarkably strong.
And then, just as quickly as he laid her back, and enveloped her with this long string of kisses… or one continuous kiss… he pulled back and looked down at her. She grew worried for a moment at his perplexed expression. "What is it Haldir?"
"You said you had no serious relationship with the ellyn who courted you," he said.
"If I were to ask what that meant…"
She smiled, "I thought it would be pretty simple to understand, but nay… I have not yet known fully the interaction between ellon and elleth. There have been plenty of experimental things, but I have always stopped it after simple things such as this."
He gave her a serious look, and lowered his head to kiss her lightly. Again he pulled back, reaching up to brush back a piece of her hair that had fallen into her face. Haldir smiled tenderly, "In that case, we may wait if you wish. That could be quite painful."
"I have lived long Haldir, I know of the stories and I am certainly not worried with you," she said. "You are an adequate teacher."
"I am only adequate?" he questioned, feigning his hurt.
"Well, we shall see if you are better at teaching this than teaching one to fight with a sword," she replied.
Haldir scoffed, "You know this is not the way to make an ellon feel like making love to you."
Laereth giggled and ran a finger along his jaw line, "But you forget, meleth, I know your mind like I know my own. You cannot resist a challenge, especially one that involves two of your favorite things in the world. You will try your hardest now to prove me wrong."
"How well you do know me," he said lowly, placing his lips to her neck, raining kisses down to her chest. He returned to her lips and kissed her passionately.
"And I can tell by the feel of things," she replied, making sure to run her hands down in the small space left between bodies to brush his excitement through his leggings, "that you are not the least bit offended."
He grabbed her hand away from him, and also the other, to pin them down over head. "Let me pleasure you this night, Laereth… as much as I can anyway with this task set before me."
"I would not stand for that," she said.
Haldir laughed, "Nay, you will be on the flat of your back the entire time."
She rolled her eyes, "I will not tolerate that."
"Aye, my lady," he replied. "But there is one thing I would ask of you in return for my selfless acts this night."
"And what would that be?"
"As we couple, I ask that we couple as two Elves binding their lives one to the other," he said.
Laereth felt the air catch in her throat, and she met his eyes, holding his gaze for a long while to try to discern if he truly wished this. "Haldir, so soon?"
"If I do not do it now, I know that I will be dim-witted later on and push you away from me again," Haldir said.
"But I do not wish for you to regret it in the morning light," she replied.
"I would not regret it, Laereth," he said. "Never would I regret this with you… I only worry that I will talk myself back into my original vow that I would never bind. I do not want to hurt you like my mother was hurt; I love you dearly and that will never change."
Laereth smiled softly, "I already told you earlier this day that as I accept you as my lover, I accept everything you are and hold dear to your heart."
"Even my brothers?" he questioned, with a resigned sigh.
She giggled, "This reminds me of the day we came to an agreement on me helping you with them while you pursued your warden training."
"It is much like that, but now we can call it what it really was so long ago without the joining of our fëar and our bodies," Haldir said. "We can properly call it a marriage… and have children of our own someday."
Laereth nodded and, lifted her head to reach his lips. She said, "We were foolish then. We were both of age then… that was when we were meant to do this."
Haldir chuckled, "Better now than never."
"As much as it pains me to say this, I agree," she said with a smile.
He leaned down and engaged her in yet another long kiss, but he stopped in the midst of a second one, and tensed slightly. She wondered what was wrong, but the rather obnoxious singing found her ears as well. Haldir grumbled to himself, resting his forehead to her chest, obviously trying to find some calm before the singers reached the door.
"They are no better than they were as Elflings," he groaned. "Except now they live by themselves and like to celebrate for no reason at all."
Laereth smoothed his hair out and she giggled at him. The knock came then, the singing stopped and Haldir removed himself from her, straightening his tunic. She sat up as well, reaching over for her wine to take a long sip of the potent liquid. Haldir took a breath before pulling the door back. Rúmil was the first to speak, "Haldir! Good evening."
She laughed at the obvious slur to his voice, and listened at Orophin continued, "Come join us, Brother."
"It is obvious you are drinking, but what else could possibly be so important that I need to join you?" Haldir questioned.
"We are trolling for maidens," Rúmil replied.
Haldir shook his head, "You two are reprehensible. I thought you were trying to bring Laereth and I together."
"We are," Rúmil said.
And Orophin continued, "We decided to take the fight to her doorstep, by making her jealous of the other ellyth."
Laereth scoffed to herself and began to stand from her spot, but Haldir motioned with his hand behind his back for her to stay sitting. "I do not want to go with you two."
"Since when?" Orophin questioned, sounding slightly offended, even through his obvious inebriation.
"Since this night," Haldir replied.
Rúmil grunted, "Fine then, we will tell Laereth about all those notes you wrote to her but never sent."
Then there was complete silence between them. Laereth had certainly never heard of these notes, and wondered what was in them, but that did not matter to her right now. Haldir sighed heavily and hung his head. She decided then that Haldir had spent too long toying his brothers and stood up from the chaise, and walked over to wrap an arm about Haldir's waist, and grabbed a hold of the door.
"The March Warden is busy this eve, my brothers," she said, seeing the looks of shock on their faces, though she was sure the full gravity of the situation had not occurred to them yet. "Go find your own merriment and come back in the morning for the morning meal."
With that, she shut the door in their stunned faces. Haldir laughed at her, bending down to place a kiss to her lips, "I think I might just keep you around, Laereth. Especially if you can brush those two off that easily."
Laereth laughed, "Haldir, I do not think you quite understand how long I have waited for this. Do not make me wait any longer."
"Aye, my lady," he replied.
She smiled, "Now, I have not yet seen the March Warden's bed chamber… perhaps you would care to show me?"