Chapter Eighteen:
Current Mood: hot
Current Music: 21 Things I want in a Lover – Alanis Morrissette
We're leaving in a few days. After a month and a half at home, it's time; I'm not sure how much longer father and I can pretend to be civil. Still, I did enjoy the visit – I'd missed mom and the others.
Doran and Carielle are happy that we'll be leaving soon, but then, they've always preferred sailing to dry land. It's as if the waters of Ulmo run in their veins! I myself have always been drawn more to Varda's stars and Manwe's winds, even though my ship and the water she sails on are very dear to my heart.
Haldir is looking forward to returning also. I'm finding that the more I learn about him, the more difficult it is to put him out of my mind. After that night when he'd caught me in his room while he slept, I'd barely had the courage to look him in the eye, yet I find it impossible to get the image of his beautiful sleeping form out of my mind. And he was beautiful – the image of a Vala if ever I saw one.
But it's not just his beauty that attracts me – I realized this recently. He's honorable and loyal, strong and courageous, kind, passionate, and even playful and a bit mischievous (essential for getting along with any of my crew!). There's so many things that endear me to him; so many that make him…different from Ameron. Ameron is also very kind and loyal and honorable, but I don't think he's ever traded jokes with my crew until we were laughing so hard we hurt, or challenged Carielle to an archery match, with the looser buying the ale. It's the little things that make them different – how Haldir and I can fiercely debate politics without it becoming a screaming match, or have dinner together and eat like real people and not dainty aristocrats.
I think this visit to Mirkwood has been good for him.
Not so sure it has been good for me.
He backed her into the wall behind her, careful not to be too rough. Two pairs of hands roamed questingly over their bodies, slipping under fabric and caressing flesh – soft and supple, or toned and firm.
His mouth devoured hers in a frenzy of need and want, drawing soft moans and whimpers from low in her throat. Her hands moved upward, anchoring in the cascade of his soft mithril hair, shining in the moonlight, as she deepened the kiss.
Before her clouded mind could register his hands leaving her hips, her outer vest slid from her shoulders and his eager fingers began manipulating the buttons on her tunic. It was all a haze of passion and happiness to her, her body responding to each subtle touch and caress he gave her. He knew what his touch did to her, and that power aroused and excited him even more, almost, than the knowledge that he finally had her all to himself.
They blindly stumbled their way over to the bed, falling together onto the soft mattress, never breaking contact. He rolled her beneath him, straddling her waist and pinning her arms to her sides, her palms flattened under each of his knees. She made a show of trying to struggle free, giggling with delight when he slightly increased the pressure to keep her captive.
"Oh, no," he said with mock seriousness, betrayed by the glimmer in his eye, "you're not getting away from me!" He then assaulted her with a new barrage of kisses, slowly traveling from her mouth across to flick his tongue teasingly around the curve of her ear, drawing a delighted shudder from his prey. Then he continued to her cheek, her jaw, and trailing down her long neck. All the while, he continued his efforts to free her from the cloth barrier between his hands and her warm skin beneath.
Finally as the last button was freed from it's hold, the fabric slid back revealing the smooth flesh underneath. He gasped softly, extending his hands, but not yet touching her, as if he were afraid she were an illusion that would dissipate if he tried to touch her.
"You are beautiful, Mirien," he breathed. Her heart leaped at the words, coming from his mouth. In his voice.
"Haldir…" she whispered back. He leaned down to kiss her, but she was distracted this time from the thumping in the next room. Haldir looked up and grimaced at the intrusion, but the pounding continued. He sighed and looked as if he were about to call out to whoever was ruining the mood, when the thumping was accompanied by a familiar voice.
"Mirien? Mirien, wake up!"
Mirien sat up in bed, hair damp, heart racing and mind still clouded from her dream. Already the details were fading, but the main 'plot' remained – she and Haldir had been in love, and it was wonderful.
"Mirien, wake up!" the voice grew more insistent. Carielle's voice. She looked out her window and saw that the sky above the trees was just beginning to glow with the new morning light. 'What could she want with me so early?' she thought grumpily.
"Coming," she said aloud, wincing at the sleepy voice that she heard from her own mouth. She slipped on her robe and shuffled to the door, opening it to reveal the excited face of her armourer.
"Mirien," she exclaimed, "you're awake!" The captain rolled her eyes and sighed. Carielle smirked. "I just thought you'd like to know of a visitor that just arrived. He's on his way now." Mirien's eyes narrowed.
"A visitor? What visitor?"
"Me!" A too-familiar voice answered her from down the hall. She stepped out to see her husband walking towards her, arms outstretched. "Hello, my love! Surprised?" Mirien hesitated slightly as he embraced his bewildered wife in a warm hug. She finally closed her arms around him, and had enough sense to answer him.
"You have no idea."