Haldir woke slowly, stretching languorously in recollection of the heated night of passion he and his wife had enjoyed. He turned to face her, but found, she was not in bed. He felt the spot were she had lain, and it was cold, indicating that she had been up for some time. He rose, looking out the window. It wasn't that late, so why was she up so early? He felt her presence, not so far away, at the practice grounds, and stopped short in the act of drawing on his tunic. Why would she be there at this hour? Especially when he was home, he thought with a lazy smile to himself. Normally, they stayed in bed for a whole night and a day, talking, making love and holding each other after his absences. It was becoming a tradition that he greatly missed now that it did not happen this morn.

He climbed down from their talan, and made his way to her, feeling confusion cloud his normally clear judgment. He thought back to a few nights ago, on the fences, a night which puzzled im even now, but he had not had a chance to ask about its occurrences. when he had felt his contact with her abruptly severe, much like it did during conversations, when the others mind was on something else. When he had felt her contact return, she was changed. She wasn't the sleep lost, contented, somewhat aroused Ardenia that she was only minutes before. She was upset. Angry even. It felt like something of her had been taken during those few minutes of absence. He stopped on the path, only meters away from the practice grounds. He finally realised, then, that there wasn't something wrong with Ardenia, it was someone. And he completely intended to find out who. For if they were costing her any of her new found happiness, he would see they paid for it in blood.

A/N: I know this chapters short sorry, but I thought it was important to get Haldir's thoughts during this time in to the situation. And he's just had lots and lots of (good) sex, (lucky him!) so his mind isn't working as fast as it normally would. So that's why it took him a whole page to figure out what was wrong with Ardenia instead of a paragraph. Probably a good thing actually, considering then it would have been an even shorter chapter! Lol.