Chapter 12
They rounded the corner of the far end of the healing ward together, Neinna, quietly pushing the wheelie-chair with Haldir, sitting somewhat awkwardly with a pointedly sullen look on his face. Neinna sighed inwardly, resisting the urge to move some strands out of his face. She had taken care to go the long route to the baths, so as to save Haldir the discomfort of 'curious glances' from the other healers and patients who frequented the faster routes.
Nothing was said between them, the only sound being the clickidy click of Neinna's clever little chair. Haldir couldn't stand the sound of it, and squeezed his eyes shut as if that would somehow dull the incessant clicking noise, reminding him of the position he was in more often than he wanted. It would have to do, he thought bitterly. 'Maybe I'll drown in the bath and not have to worry about it.' He smiled a bit at the thought.
"Well, we're here." Neinna's words broke him out of his thoughts and he did his best to sit up and look disinterested in whatever she was talking about. They had come to a large empty room which seemed to be walled-in completely by massive thick vines which arched up creating a canopy of impenetrable green foliage peppered with little blue flowers which filled the warm air within. In the middle were several springs of water releasing copious amounts of gentle steam which created hundreds of glistening droplets in Neinna's once-dry hair. She smiled, glad to see it was still empty since last she'd checked. She pushed him in silently, pausing at the entrance to pull a deep blue curtain across the entrance-way.
Haldir took the moment to breathe in the heavy, scented air, his eyes flickered to the candles which lit the space dimly, as well as the gentle blue light which seemed to emanate from the springs of water themselves. Everything smelled deeply organic, and for a moment Haldir closed his eyes, and forgot why he was here. Neinna turned from the curtain, preparing to admonish Haldir for not trusting her and being difficult, but stopped herself at the sight of him. Haldir, the elf who moments ago had seemed so bitter and mean looked… serene. She smiled to herself, pulling her long hair together into a pony-tail and securing with a bit of silvery twine. He looked so much better now, so much more alive.
"Haldir?"
He restrained himself this time, opening his eyes slowly and tilting his head back slowly. He could feel Neinna's eyes on him from behind, and hated the feeling almost as much as the sticky warmth that was beginning to form over his skin. She slowly moved into view, carrying in her hands what seemed to be a large pitcher. Haldir groaned audibly. "Just dump me in the pool. I'd rather drown than be bathed like a toddler."
To his surprise, Neinna chuckled and after putting the pitcher down took hold of the wheel-chair. She leant down next to his ear, smiling. "And what if I did? What if I did just dump you in the pool?" Neinna smirked. "I would be the worst healer in the whole of Middle Earth, now wouldn't I?"
Haldir frowned. "I suppose."
Neinna stood in front of him again, looking at him expectantly. 'How to go about this…" She thought carefully, 'there's no delicate way to…" She glanced at his clothing, sopping wet white pants and a shirt which would have to be laundered separately to and allow for proper cleansing.
Haldir felt more and more uncomfortable the longer she stared at him, seemingly lost in thought. "What is it? Spit it out." He said, sounding a mixture of angry and impatient. Her look of embarrassment did little to explain her thoughts, though as a slight blush peaked on her cheeks Haldir slowly began to realize her dilemma. 'Well,' He thought somewhat bitterly 'perhaps Nolo will think twice before asking me to be more… hospitable towards her, eh?'
"Your shirt."
Haldir looked up at her, a bit startled at her sudden demand. He fumbled with his long-sleeved shirt, each front-hook seemed to take an eternity to unlatch. Why was he so infuriatingly clumsy now? Neinna tried not to look at him, which only seemed to anger Haldir more. Halfway done with latches, he ripped the final three apart in one frustrated motion, flinging it on the floor with disgust. A couple candles struggled from the gust of air before stabilizing themselves, to Haldir it looked quite a bit like laughter.
Neinna fought both a smile and a frown at the same time. How was she to deal with this? She was certainly used to dealing with the elven form from a medical standpoint, but this wasn't quite the same. She furrowed her brow as she caught Haldir's subtle glare.
'Stop being such a child, Neinna, you're a healer and it's about time you took care of your patient without acting so stupid.' Without a word she walked over to him, shut her eyes tight and removed his "lower-garments" without too much trouble at all. She grabbed a nearby towel and threw it at Haldir, before daring to open her eyes looking the other direction.
It took a moment for Haldir to register what happened. Somewhere between having his pants forcibly removed and having a towel thrown onto his head he had turned a shade of deep pink that was once thought to be impossible for elvish skin. Slowly he reached up and removed the towel from his head. "Was that absolutely necessary?" He scowled as she turned around, blushing furiously. Neinna looked at the ground. "Yes." She said solidly. "I'm sorry if I alarmed you."
Haldir opened his mouth to jab her with another nettle-like barb of insults but Neinna turned from him without another word, picked up the pitcher and headed to the nearest spring. Praying furiously that Haldir would not hear her bird-like heartbeat.