Author's Notes:It's hard juggling three stories at once, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'd like to thank everyone for the wonderful feedback, I really appreciate your views and opinions. I'm trying not to make this story an MS as I'm dealing with the reality of what it would be like to end up in Middle-earth. I'm sure that towards the end, some people will probably think that this is an MS ;sigh; oh well, I have tried my best. Updates should come weekly as I am very busy with my own family; dealing with two little ones and a man that still acts like a grown child can be difficult.

-

-

-

Born Again

Chapter Three:

Silver Box of Doom.

-

-

-

Haldir felt his frown deepen as he looked at the reunited trio of slumbering mortals. They were truly strange. They were a complete enigma; never before had he encountered mortals with such odd dispositions as them. The woman was out-spoken and seemed incredibly rude, almost to the point of lunacy and the children... Well, the children were unlike any other mortal children he had met in the settlements around Lothlórien! Most seemed to fear and revere the Eldar, but these children only regarded them with intense curiosity, especially the littlest one.

The family's clothing was highly suspicious, even if it was surprisingly clean for mortals—from what he knew, the race of Men were not known for their cleanliness. And Haldir was privy to this information as he had surveyed many of the mortal settlements near Lothlórien and felt that they were clearly lacking in the meticulous ritual of bathing and washing.

The woman, Amelia, wore a strange white dress with a multitude of delicately embroidered yellow flowers that must have taken many hours of labour to complete. A wealthy family perhaps? From what his attuned eyes could perceive, the stitching was quite remarkable, almost eerily perfect. Yet, no matter how skilled the dress-maker was, Haldir felt that the dress was still incredibly indecent; it only reached to the middle of her thighs and there were no sleeves! How it was held up, was a complete mystery to him though it fascinated him beyond propriety. Her shoulders and arms were bare for all to see and he knew not what to make of this. He had been sorely tempted to offer his cloak so that she may cover herself more appropriately, but he was not certain how this gesture would have been received by her. Most likely, she would have argued with him.

What was even more stranger than the dress, were the blue leggings she wore beneath it. He could understand this, seeing as the tunic-dress was far too short to be a dress... But then, why make the dress short in the first place? It was all extremely puzzling. As well as their mother, the children were also clad in the same strange blue leggings but wore different short-sleeved tunics; the girl wore a rose coloured tunic and the boy, a dark blue one. The blue leggings the trio wore seemed to be made from a material that Haldir had never seen before.

What part of Middle did they hail from? It must be an unknown land, of that there was no doubt.

He eyed the sleeping family warily, folding his arms as he shifted his gaze to observe their footwear. The more he evaluated their appearance, the more suspicious he became. Tilting his head slightly, Haldir was interrupted from his musings as he could sense his brother silently climbing the rope ladder of the talan to join him on the platform.

Haldir motioned for his brother to speak quietly, as he was unwilling to disturb the family from their nightly rest. The woman slept fitfully, but he was relieved that she had at least ceased her arguing.

"We took this from the boy," Orophin whispered softly, so softly that only Elven ears could discern his Sindarin speech. "He was most anxious that we confiscated it from him; we had to swear that we would return it to him," he handed Haldir a silver metal box and a rectangular black pouch that smelt of leather, but also of other things he could not name.

"Have you opened this?" Haldir held up the pouch, waving it at his younger brother.

Orophin shook his head with a wry grin, "The other wardens and I thought it best for you to have the honour."

"I see," Haldir scowled mockingly. "What is it? Were my wardens so afraid of the contents, that they bade you to bring it to me?"

"Perhaps," Orophin's lips twitched with mirth before his face grew serious. "I would be careful, brother. We are uncertain of their intentions and know not what is in that pouch, nor what the silver object is."

Bidding farewell to one another, Orophin soon turned and scuttled back down the ladder to return to his guard post.

Haldir took the objects as he settled himself onto the wooded floor of the platform. He sat and inspected them with immense curiosity, running the pads of his fingers along the sharp lines of the metal box that had odd attachments to it. Putting the object aside, he focused his attentions upon the black rectangular pouch that spanned the length of his hand.

He rubbed the foreign material with a deep frown and tilted it slightly. There was a flap that folded over the pouch that seemed to jut out slightly. Hesitantly, he pulled the flap and blinked as it opened with a small 'pop' that was unfamiliar to his ears. He looked at the two silver buttons etched into the pouch, one on the upper and inner side of the flap and the other at the bottom. The top silver button seemed to have a peak that jutted out and the bottom button had an indent.

Testing his theory, he closed the flap again and was surprised to hear it shut with a 'click'.

He did this several times, clearly fascinated by the contraption and the ingenuity of it all. Finally, he parted the folds and examined the contents of the pouch, pulling out thin rectangular green parchment in the process. How the parchment had been dyed green, was a complete and utter mystery! He understood that cloth could be dyed, but parchment? Raising them to his nose, Haldir sniffed them delicately, grimacing at the tangy vile smells that emanated from them.

There was printed script upon the parchment that he could not understand, and there was also the face of a man on one side! All of them were the same. It was all very suspicious. Had someone spent all their time drawing upon all of the thin pieces? He did not think so. It was almost as if the ink had been deeply etched into the fine green parchment.

Sighing with confusion, he put the pieces of parchment aside and sifted through the pouch once more. There were silver coins, finely wrought and unlike the rough gold and silver coins he had come across in mortal markets before. All the coins seemed to be made with a skilled hand, produced exactly the same as the other, much like the parchments! It was too peculiar to fathom.

Soon enough, Haldir's eyes caught a flash of colour within the pouch. He pulled out the object and stared with awe at the three faces that smiled back at him, set against more strange parchment—this parchment, however, was slick and shiny to his touch. It was different, yet it was somehow the same.

The parchment, if he could call it that, was a portrait of the family that had been captured with precise accuracy! It was almost as if they were within the painting... Laughing and smiling at him, as though their very souls had been trapped and transplanted into the portrait. He scowled at the so-called painting, blinking at the fines lines of their faces. The setting of the sea and the shore was slightly familiar—that was the sole comfort that Haldir had been offered. The rest was an utter mystery, from their clothing to the objects that sat at their feet.

He felt his ears redden to their very tips as his eyes grazed over the woman's form. Valar! She was wearing nought but two pieces of cloth covering her most private assets.

Blinking with embarrassment, he wondered how a woman could put herself on display without feeling any sense of shame. Rather than looking uncomfortable, she seemed to be incredibly happy. Looking at the immaculate painting, things were becoming far more suspicious than he ever thought they could be.

The more that Haldir examined the contents of the pouch, the more he came across the mind-boggling portraits and uncanny paintings of the family. Some were in bizarre settings that he had never seen before in his long life and it disturbed him greatly to see them, for he knew not what to make of them.

There was one painting that particularly caught his interest; it was of the woman laughing as she was held from behind by a tall man with dark hair and clear blue eyes. He was comely for a mortal, but again, his clothing was strange. They seemed to be happy and the expression of love upon his face as he gazed at the woman was not missed by the silent Marchwarden. Could this be the man she had spoken of? It seemed highly possible; the woman's son slightly resembled him, though he had his mother's green eyes.

Haldir came across several more paintings of the man and Amelia, both looking insanely joyful and very much in love.

In the end, the paintings' perplexing nature grew taxing and he finally put them aside, along with the pouch. He would have to speak with her about them.

Haldir now focused upon the silver box.

Turning the object around in his hands, he bit his bottom lip in thought.

His fingers roughly grazed over an attached piece that caused the strange box to come alive! Shrinking back slightly with fear and widened eyes, he watched in deeply rooted fascination as a round cylindrical object expanded out from the silver box! Hesitantly, he slid the attachment back into place and watched as the circular object returned back into the box, as though it had never appeared.

Feeling mildly disturbed and intrigued, Haldir continued this process and watched with child-like awe as each time, the cylindrical mystery returned to it's place before expanding—all at his touch!

He briefly wondered what it was for.

Of their own accord, Haldir's thumbs began to trace the contours and edges of the silver box. His roaming fingers unwittingly pressed against something and before he could move, he was being blinded by a flash of light that came from the corner of the box.

With a startled and outraged cry, he dropped the object onto the floor and brought the heel of his hands to his eyes. "Agh! What is this devilry?" He heard himself growl hysterically as he opened his eyes and could see nought but colourful spots dancing across his vision. He rubbed them again, desperately trying to quell the panic he felt within his heart at not being able to see.

-

-

-

Amelia was jolted awake at the sound of a muffled cry and foreign curse.

She sat up, blinking away the remnants of her fitful sleep before scanning the wooded platform that was high up in the branches of the tree. Slightly alarmed, she watched with morbid fascination as the man named Haldir writhed on the floor with his hands against his eyes, as though he was in tremendous pain.

Coming to her senses, she rose quickly and went to his side to see if he was all right, glad that her children slept deeply.

"Are you all right?" She asked, kneeling beside him as he whimpered and kept his hands to his eyes. Had he hurt himself?

"I am blind!" He muttered to himself, "I am blind!"

Amelia's maternal instincts soon began to take precedence over the situation as she pulled his unwilling hands away from his eyes. Forcefully, she opened his eyes and blew lightly—if he had something in them, that would surely get it out. But as soon as he felt her cool breath in his eyes, Haldir struggled against her touch and pushed her away with an inhumane strength. "Haldir?" She said the name fearfully, "What's the matter? Are you okay?"

Several moments of silence passed as she watched the man steady his breathing, all the while composing himself to neutral indifference. Though his crouched form was fraught with underlying tension.

Amelia frowned and shifted awkwardly in the silence. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled—from the corner of her eye, she could see several shadowed forms standing on nearby branches, watching them closely.

Haldir rose from his crouched position and finally raised his ice-blue eyes to hers.

Amelia felt her heart flutter against her rib-cage as he glared at her. He looked quite deadly and frightening as he gazed at her.

"What," Haldir started quietly, "Is that evil contraption?"

She followed his arm as he pointed to the object on the ground.

It was her camera.

He was getting agitated over a simple camera? The man had some serious issues.

She opened her mouth to speak, but found that her words were lodged in her throat as she spied her purse and it's contents strewn out across the wood flooring. With a cry of indignation, she rushed to her fallen purse and the private family photos that were laying upon the floor for all the world to see. Her cheeks burned in anger and tears brimmed within her eyes as she set about placing the photos and money carefully back into her purse, before she turned on the man that was now looking at her with a stern countenance.

"How dare you! Those—"

Haldir held up his hand with barely concealed fury, "How dare I? My lady, I have been attacked by your monstrosity! You shall explain yourself immediately," he waited for her to respond.

Amelia felt her mouth open and close, her anger momentarily forgotten. "Attacked? Monstrosity?" Blinking with disbelief, she snorted and picked up the fallen digital camera. "Are you crazy? How can you be attacked by a camera?"

"Is that what it is called? A Cam-eh-rah?" He asked pensively as she waved it in front of him. Amelia noted that his hand lingered upon the hilt of a dagger that was strapped to his side. How could one person become so frightened over a camera? And how many weapons did the man carry!

She was baffled. Completely and utterly baffled. How could he be wary of her because of her camera? For goodness sake, she should wary of them—after all, they were the ones with the dangerous weapons and fake, pointed ears! The man and his fellow comrades were clearly in need of medical attention, of the mental kind.

"It's not a weapon," she reassured sarcastically. She refused to believe that he didn't know what a camera was. But then why did he react so intensely at the flash? She had honestly thought he was in pain... Perhaps that had been an act? She could not be certain, but she was clearly confused by his ignorance.

"I was blinded by that... That thing," Haldir said stoutly, "I consider it to be a weapon. What are you?" He demanded, "Are you a sorceress of some kind? In all my years, I have never seen such objects come to light! You will speak, for I will not have you endanger my wardens nor the people of this wood."

The brown-haired woman felt her head begin to pound once more.

Things were growing far too strange for her liking.

-

-

-