See how good I did? That just took a bit over a week! You should all be so proud of me, considering that there is something else which I would like to be giving my creative attention to, yet I'm doing this… mainly since I won't be able to soon. Sorry! We are going to be on our 'Amazing Family Adventure!™' in a week or so I believe. After that we go to my grandma's, and I won't be back until the start of August. Considering that I'm pressed upon to spend family time there, I will not be able to be on the computer much at all. However, I might be able to get off one or two chapters in that time if I write them in a notebook and then get an hour or whatnot and type them up and post. We'll see though, so don't get your hopes up.

But for now, there is a chapter. I plan on making one more before I leave.

AzureDragoness: Well thank you. I'm glad it turned out, I was a bit nervous with it being less humorous as most, so it was especially nice to know that it was okay. And with my scoop, I always imagined it to be more of a club like thing, taking into consideration that it is very dull…

Darth T-Rex: Ooooh good, then I got at least my main objective in that chapter fulfilled if it did bring back to mind that he is not just a little pest, but still has that evil part lurking in him.

Spoofmaster: Yes, you should feel way sorrier for Legolas.

Carmen: Yeaaaa, you weren't freaked by the long chapter! Much happiness on that account. And you are always so nice in saying I'm deep. Hehehe. Very flattering. Yet I wouldn't go so far as to call this deep… then again I don't think that I have the ability to be deep. I think I had spent too much time writing serious stuff… and it just sorta carried over into this. But whatever, it's all good yes? If you thought that was deep however… I'm sorry to say it poofed and I'm back to my usual shallowness!

Feagliniel: Dear, that review was huge! I get e-mails smaller than that. But it was very spiffy. …BUT OH!! You said the Thû luvs u thing! Oh!! Meeeh… Well he does luv everybody so that isn't a surprise I guess. Hehe… yes, the items at the top… la… I think he is in a lapse. He's around too many good people, it's getting to him. I also think that everybody has beings in their head, but some are afraid to admit it. Cassius Six Tools of Manipulation. Loved that. And I personally like black hair… but you know that already twitch and smirk Mmm… glad you liked the manipulation scene, it was fun to write. I cackled evilly to myself through it all, and the voices in my head congratulated each other on the smooth things that were working in it. Oo… and I have other ideas for the laugh. Don't I? Yes.

XNemesis: Actually, I do already have plans for Frodo and Sauron to meet. Loooong long again I made that and worked it into a big point for the plot. Obviously! frowns and then waves in a confused manner Um… hi mini-balrogs…

AAAClub: short bow Well, that did loads for my esteem! Thank you! I'll try to keep getting better, but we'll see. And I feel quite honored that I left you speechless! Thank you again!

kingmaker: …That was the deepest review I have ever gotten. Thank you. I'm glad that the characterization and everything works… most of the time I would like to think that I have a pretty good feel of what can be acceptable and what can't. Everything just seems to run its own little course on its own. I'm not so sure about Saruman making an appearance although that would be amusing. The thing is that most of everything at this point is pretty set. Gandalf will make an appearance, which hopefully should be amusing, although most assuredly not for the same reasons as Saruman would be.

Ruler-of-Da-World: Ah yes, now you're a big freshman yes? Not many people would say big for that, but I really don't care. They are just bakunkas. But there will be run-ins. Of course!

hephalumps and woozles: Thank you!

I think that's it… but oh! I just wanted to say that I figure that there are people out there who read this but do not review… and to them I say: Review lurkers! Come out from the dark! …Please? Because reviews make me happy and give me a reason to write. And the more reviews I get the happier I am in proportion. Although, to those who do review, you people make me feel very spiffy and you shall have my goodwill when I rule the universe. : )

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From then on the rest of the ride had consisted of one of those rare occasions when amazingly neither of them gotten on the nerves of the other. It probably was a bit too much to say that they were on a friendly level, yet if it was not so it was remarkably close.

They returned the horses that evening just after the sun had set, which pleased Haldir. He could tolerate the short walk to the house from there at that time, since it would not really take too long.

Sauron also seemed equally glad, but simply from being able to get off the horse.

"Stupid creature," he muttered as he latched the gate of its stall behind it.

"It's not a stupid creature," Haldir returned.

"Sure it is."

"Why? You cannot tell me that the ride was very bad this time. We weren't riding for hours and hours without taking breaks."

Sauron contemplated his reply for a moment. "Okay," he said finally, "that was not as bad as I had expected it to be, although I still felt like I was using muscles that I didn't know I had." At this he rubbed the heel of his hands down his legs, grimacing slightly. "But it wasn't that bad I suppose."

"There you go."

"It's still stupid though."

Shaking his head, Haldir just walked out the stable. "If it makes you feel better or something to think so, go right ahead."

"I will."

"Wouldn't expect any less."

From there they had walked back to the house pretty much in silence. Sauron seemed to retain something of his positive demeanor during the walk since he did not scowl at any of the people who passed them as he normally did. Haldir considered all of this with mild surprise, but with very little hope. While he was much more in favor of Sauron staying in this sort of mood, he did not think that it would last very long.

Finally they had turned down the small lane that led back to the house. It was quiet and dark… yet not as dark as it should have been.

Through the large window above the door the light of a candle spilled out into the lane.

And considering that they had left that morning without any of the candles still lit, there was no reason that it should be alight. Unless, of course, somebody else had gone there and lit it.

"Suppose it's Elhith?" Haldir whispered to Sauron from where they had stopped dead in the road.

Frowning, Sauron slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. He said that he would be a couple of days. One day seems a bit short for such a thing."

They continued to look up at the light for a moment more silently, trying to figure out on their own what it could mean.

What Osse had said to him as he had left resurfaced itself in Haldir's mind. His family was supposed to be coming there soon. However he quickly dismissed the thought that they could be there as Osse had said soon, not immediately.

Or at least he hoped that by soon he had not meant immediately. That would have been very frustrating to Haldir for them to come before he had a chance to really prepare for it or anything.

He was brought out of his thoughts when Sauron turned to him and spoke again. "I have a plan."

"A plan?" Haldir repeated, unable to say anything more intelligent because of the sudden shaking from his previous considerations.

"Yes. We don't know who's in there, or why they are in there. I suppose there could be some less than wonderful people around here."

Haldir stared at him, keeping his face absolutely emotionless.

Sauron shook his head. "Besides myself! I thought you had decided that I didn't count for anything anyways."

"That you don't count is one thing, that you fit into the description in certain aspects is another."

"You know what I meant."

"You were getting at that you believe that there are elves here who are not completely honest and all that?"

"Yes."

"I doubt it."

"Then who's in the house?"

Haldir didn't have a ready answer for this, and Sauron instantly knew it. "Willing to listen?"

"Do I have really have any other choice?"

"You do actually. You could just go in there and yell to the person and see what happens."

That did not seem like a very favorable option. "Okay, tell me what you're thinking." He couldn't believe he was actually asking.

"All I think that we should do is get something before we just go up and see what is going on."

"Get something?"

"For defense," Sauron explained.

Haldir smiled a bit. "Do you really think we are going to get attacked?"

"No… but if we have something and the person does not, then we're in a better situation aren't we?"

"Then that's not defense. That's intimidation, or something like that."

"Well, in that instance it would be. But if they do have something then it can be for defense."

"Who would have a weapon here?"

"The Noldor did at a time you know. You could light their tempers with a match just about. Bit of a crazy lot they were."

"Hey," Haldir bristled.

"Oh, yes," Sauron said, nodding slowly. "You were in Lothlorien under Galadriel. So of course anything I say against her people you'd take as offense. My mistake."

After eyeing him for a moment, Haldir relaxed again. "So, what sort of 'something' are you thinking of?"

Sauron rubbed the back of his neck in thought. "Well, obviously there isn't anything here that is a real weapon since I'm not allowed to be around them, yet there are many things around the house, mostly on the way upstairs, which could be used as one without much imagination."

"Imagination?" Some words just didn't seem to fit in Sauron's vocabulary. "Well, say on."

" I was thinking the rolling pin and the fire poker in the kitchen."

"Rolling pin…" Haldir said, cringing as he remembered the last time he had used that thing with very limited success. Or probably more accurately with no success.

"Does that sound like a good idea?"

Haldir was a bit taken aback that Sauron was actually asking for his opinion. That hadn't happened. "Uh, yes, that sounds fine," he finally got out.

"Good. So we will go in there and get those and then head upstairs to see who it is."

Haldir nodded and followed Sauron up to the door. Slowly Sauron opened it, gently pushing it in so that it didn't make a sound and then closing it again behind Haldir. They both then snuck into the kitchen to get out their 'weapons' of choice for the evening.

"You seem to actually have an amount of grace for once," Haldir could not help but point out in a very low whisper as Sauron made his way around the kitchen without running into anything or tripping.

"Yes, when I take the time to I can have quite an amount. You should see me dance," he whispered back casually as he pulled the rolling pin from among the other various food preparation utensils without causing anything to clang or ring.

Haldir almost let out a small yelp of laughter at this, but Sauron shot him a warning glance before he could. Even in the dim light Haldir could tell when he had looked over since his eyes, which at all times had at least a bit of that disturbing fiery light to them, showed up especially in the dark.

"And that was a joke, so don't go asking me if I really did."

Haldir nodded, although he didn't suppose it was very noticeable, and swallowed his laughter as he made his way to the hearth to retrieve the poker.

When he got this, he stood straight again and looked over to where he could see Sauron's silhouette. "Your eyes are creeping me out," he said as he looked at him and couldn't ignore having those glowing things staring at him anymore.

"That had always been a bit of the point," Sauron answered, blinking.

"Well, yes, I suppose so, but still…"

Apparently Sauron was giving him one of those 'whatever you say' nods by the way his eyes bobbed a bit, and then turned towards the door.

Haldir rolled the fire poker in his hand thoughtfully and followed.

They made their way up the stairs now, not speaking to each other as they came closer to the top. Haldir stayed behind Sauron during this time for two reasons: if there really was any sort of danger (which he doubted very highly) then Sauron would be the first one to come in contact with it, and secondly because at the moment Sauron wasn't doing too bad of a job leading.

Once at the top they looked around a bit, but saw nobody. The candles all along the hall however had been lit and were shining in the dark. There obviously had to be somebody about.

Sauron did not wait long there and went into the hall, going to the first door he came to and looking under it. When this did not seem to have any light, he went to the next, and the next, and so on.

Once Sauron came to the part where the hall turned, Haldir decided to follow him, but only to the corner. Sauron looked under Elhith's door, and then Haldir's, and finally the last, which happened to be his own.

He looked under this twice, as though he could not really believe what he was seeing, and then turned to Haldir and mouthed that there was a light in his room. While he said this he had an expression as though he felt that he had been violated by this unauthorized entrance into his room.

Now he stood up and reached for the handle, yet at that moment the door swung open.

Sauron instantly looked shocked and reacted in a manner that seemed to be reflex. The rolling pin in his hand came down upon the head of the person who had come out, who in turn collapsed onto the floor upon his cranium making its acquaintance with the rolling pin.

While Haldir would have yelled at Sauron for this, Sauron himself seemed to be rather confused by what had just happened and in no way smug for his actions, as Haldir thought he would be. "What did you do?" Haldir said finally, unable to just leave it without anything.

"I didn't mean to, honestly I didn't. I was just surprised and it just… happened…"

Haldir shook his head, having to release the energy he suddenly had built up in some way.

Still shaking his head, he walked over towards Sauron and the now unconscious person, kneeling down to turn them over and see who they were.

His face instantly paled when he saw.

On the same note, Sauron actually seemed a bit uncomfortable as well. "Well, what do you know, it was Elhith…"

Haldir pulled his hands down his face, feeling himself go cold. "What are we going to do? Oh no… this is bad…"

Quickly Sauron regained what little of his composure he had lost the moment before. "It's not that bad. If it had been anybody other than Elhith, yes, then in all likelihood it could have been very bad. But this is Elhith and so perhaps not." Looking at Elhith's prone form sprawled across the floor, he tapped his chin thoughtfully for a second. "Help me get him to his room."

Haldir didn't have a thought of contradicting or for pointing out that Sauron was trying to do something good. He simply listened and stood up. However when he went to go and help pick him up, Sauron had already done so.

This caused Haldir to merely stand there and stare at Sauron for a minute. Considering how thin he was, there didn't seem to be any way in Arda that he'd be able to lift Elhith by himself.

"The door, Haldir," Sauron said, slapping Haldir from his thoughts.

With a blink, Haldir went to Elhith's room and opened the door, standing in the hall and watching as Sauron took Elhith in and put him on his bed. Having done this, Sauron once again looked at Haldir. "Now what?"

Even though his mind was still taking a second longer than usual to process everything, Haldir came to the conclusion on what to do pretty quickly. "We need to look through the things he has for something to wake him up."

"Sounds decent enough."

At that, they both began rummaging through the shelves of things Elhith had piled all over his room, hoping that something would turn up quickly.

Finally Haldir thought that he came across a possibility. It seemed to be something that would be used in place of smelling salts, which would have probably been appropriate enough for the situation.

He popped the lid off and was instantly hit in the face by the odor of whatever was inside. Unconsciously his eyes began to water and he ran the back of his sleeve over them to clear his vision.

Sauron noticed that he had found something and came over, also getting hit with the smell and stopping instantly. He buried his nose in the crook of his arm and squinted as though the scent was burning his eyes, which was likely since it was doing the very same thing to Haldir. "That would wake the dead," he said through his sleeve.

"So long as it wakes Elhith," Haldir said, trying very hard not to breath through his nose. "Okay, you prop his head up."

"Will I need both of my hands?"

"Probably."

"Ugh," Sauron muttered, yet did as Haldir asked and held up Elhith's head.

Haldir came over and waved the vial under Elhith's nose once, figuring that there was no need to overdo it. All of the house would probably stink from it for a week as it was.

The effect was immediate. Elhith coughed and opened his eyes a bit, and then squeezing them shut again almost instantly.

Finally he seemed to have gotten over the smell and sat up, looking at them both curiously. "What happened?" he asked softly, his hand going to the top of his head.

Haldir and Sauron looked at each other, and Haldir nudged him. "You did it," he whispered. "You explain."

While Sauron did not seem very enthusiastic about this prospect, he did it. "Well, you told me that you would be gone a couple of days, and so when we got here and saw the candles lit we thought somebody had snuck in. So we got some things, just to be safe. Then you opened the door just as I had been about to, and without even thinking I… clubbed you over the head," he finished, displaying the rolling pin.

Elhith looked from him to the rolling pin and groaned a bit. "So that's why I feel like my head has split open?"

"Probably," Sauron answered.

Although he closed his eyes, Elhith pointed to the far corner of his room. "Brown bottle on the left," he said.

Sauron went and got this to take back to Elhith while Haldir put the other bottle back where it belonged.

When Sauron put the bottle in his hand, Elhith pulled out two pills from it, swallowing them dry and then sitting there silently. Up to then Haldir still was unsure about his mood. Most people would be very angry, or at least he personally would have been, but Elhith did not seem so. On the other hand, he was not his bubbly self either.

There was a long uncomfortable silence that neither Haldir nor Sauron seemed to want to break. If somebody was going to speak it would have to be Elhith.

And at length he did. "So, you both were in on this?"

Haldir frowned. "Yes," he said quietly.

"Were you cooperating then?"

"…Yes."

Finally Elhith smiled. "Then I can handle having a headache for a while."

At first Haldir didn't understand what Elhith was getting at. He cocked a brow and turned to Sauron, who shrugged. Yet not a moment after that he knew what Elhith had meant.

However, he felt that it was one of those things that would probably be undone if Sauron understood too. So he just kept his information to himself.

"Now, if you would not mind," Elhith began, laying down again, "I would like to get some rest."

Haldir nodded, and both him and Sauron left, doing downstairs to the main room. For a moment Haldir had thought about getting something for dinner, but then decided that it was probably wiser just to wait for breakfast. He wasn't terribly hungry… or so he told himself.

After having sat a bit, Haldir slowly felt sleep creeping up on him. He had not slept well the night before, and the day had been a pretty full one in comparison to most of his. However there was something that he needed to discuss with Sauron first.

"Um, Sauron?" Haldir began, trying to figure out a way to present his thoughts without instantly making them something that Sauron could twist into one of his deals.

"Yes?"

"My family is going to be coming here soon," he said slowly.

"Is that so? The house will be a lot fuller then," Sauron said in an off hand manner as he picked up a book from the table. Apparently he wasn't taking much thought to what Haldir was saying.

"Yes, it will." He paused again. "It's been a while since I've seen them."

"That happens when you are killed."

Haldir rolled his eyes. "I know. But I was just wondering if you would try to act less like you normally do."

Sauron looked up at him from the book he was skimming through. "And you mean…?"

"Try to be cordial for once. Not even just indifferent, which would on most days be nice in itself, but attempt to be pleasant."

There was a small pause, and then Sauron looked down at the book again. "I don't see anything that could benefit me for doing something which is apparently so far from my nature," he said, flipping a page.

Haldir sighed. "You can't just do something for once because I would appreciate it? Does everything you do have to have some sort of benefit?"

This time the pause was longer. "Yes," he replied, but he did not seem quite as adamant about it as he usually would.

"Please? Just for a day, so that they can get settled a bit and I can enjoy having them around and not need to worry that you are going to be up to something?"

Setting the book down, Sauron considered what Haldir said while fiddling with his belt. While Haldir had thought of continuing the argument some, to try and bring up additional points, he decided that it would probably be best if he just was silent.

He was starting to think that leaving things in quiet was a pretty good idea.

Finally Sauron answered. "Alright."

Haldir couldn't believe it. He might have wanted Sauron to agree, but he hadn't thought that it would actually happen.

"You will?" he said incredulously.

Sauron closed his eyes as though really thinking about what he was agreeing to, and then nodded his head. "Yes, I suppose."

"Thank you," Haldir said, still a bit in shock.

"Yeah, you're welcome."

And then they sat there a bit uncomfortably.

Sauron cleared his throat. "I would like to add that if I'm doing a favor for you now, I will expect that sometime in the future, when I need to ask something of you, you will comply and all that."

"Yes, of course." Haldir then thought about it for a moment. "Well, so long as it is not like you're asking me to go do something really bad or anything."

"Fair enough."

"So, if that is all settled," Haldir began, getting up, "I suppose I will go to bed so that I'll be ready for tomorrow."

Sauron looked at him questioningly. "What's tomorrow?"

"I am going to get the house ready for them to come. After all, it's only been us three here… and it's not really as clean as it could be."

With a snort, Sauron shifted a little. "Speak for your own things. My room is perfectly clean, thank you very much."

"I'm sure," Haldir replied sarcastically.

"It is. If you don't believe me, I give you permission to take a look. I bet it looks better than your room."

"We'll see."

Haldir left then and made his way upstairs, going quietly to keep from waking Elhith up. As Sauron had suggested if Haldir did not believe that his room was clean, Haldir went to the door and opened it.

And to his surprise, it was just as Sauron had said. It was cleaner than his own.

"Told you," Sauron said right behind him.

Haldir just about jumped out of his skin. "Next time could you not do that?" he asked while trying not to look quite as surprised as he was.

"No," Sauron said with a smile, "it was too much fun."

Haldir kept from saying the next thing that came to his mind to say.

Sauron made his way around Haldir and into his room. "Now that I've proven my point, you can go off to bed." He gave a false smile, which Haldir returned in kind.

"Thank you for your permission. It was quite necessary."

"All you need to do is ask and I'm more than happy to give such things."

"I know it," Haldir muttered under his breath as he went to his room.

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I'm sooo happy… I'm close to the really good stuff! Muahahahahahaha! Too bad it won't be done for a while… meh. So tell me how you likey.