Disclaimer: I own nothing except the original characters. Everything else belongs to Tolkien.
A/N: As usual the things in bold are spoken in Elvish.
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The Galadrim are less than a day's march away from Helms Deep when Haldir gives the order for them to rest. Brianna checks on the Elves under her command and then unceremoniously flops onto the ground next to Valandil. She watches Haldir as he talks with one of the other Captains and Valandil shakes his head.
"Why don't you stop avoiding him? Talk to him," he says.
"I've tried." Brianna sighs and picks at a clump of grass. "He's angry at me for avoiding him for so long. He won't talk to me." She looks up at Valandil with tears in her eyes. "What am I going to do, Valandil? I wish I had never made that cursed case!"
Valandil smiles softly at her. "I happen to know that he treasures that display case you made. It hangs above the hearth in the main room of his talan for all to see." He shakes his head sadly. "Go. Talk to him. We're going into battle, this may be your last chance to make peace with him."
"You're right." Brianna dusts the grass off her hands and stands up. "I'll just have to make him talk to me."
Valandil chuckles as he watches her stalk toward Haldir with a look of determination in her eyes. "I do believe our March Warden has met his match."
Haldir glances at Brianna after he finishes speaking with the Captain and then turns to walk away. She reaches out and grabs his arm to stop him. "Haldir, we need to talk."
Haldir looks down at her hand on his arm and then back up at Brianna. "Now is not the time," he says. "We are about to go into battle." Haldir pulls away from her and walks away.
Brianna huffs in frustration and follows him. "That is exactly why we have to talk NOW!"
He spins around to glare at her. "I tried to talk to you for weeks and you did nothing but avoid me. The time for talking has past."
"Haldir, I'm sorry that I acted that way but I have my reasons…"
He cuts her off. "I know about your reasons, Brianna. Orophin told me about your father."
Brianna glares over at Orophin, who suddenly becomes interested in adjusting the buckles on his armor. "Yes, well Orophin has a big mouth."
Haldir ignores her remark about his brother and continues, "I truly am sorry that you had to go through that, but I'm not your father. I'm insulted that you would compare me to someone that seemed to take pleasure in hurting you."
"And yet there I was pinned against the wall with your hand wrapped around my throat. What would have happened if Rumil hadn't come when he did, Haldir?" Brianna hisses angrily and turns to leave.
Haldir grabs her arm and spins her back around to face him. "Believe what you want, Brianna but I regret what I did every second of the day," he hisses in anger.
Brianna yanks her arm from his grasp. "As you should," she says coldly and then walks off.
"Prepare to leave!" Haldir barks out and grabs his pack off the ground.
Rumil shakes his head and steps up to stand next to his brother. "Why do you let her get to you like that?"
Haldir sighs as he watches Brianna talk animatedly with Valandil. "Because I love her." He glances over at Rumil and almost laughs at his expression. "Why do you look so surprised, brother. Do you think I am incapable of feeling such an emotion?"
"No," Rumil smiles. "I knew you were in love with her. I'm just surprised that you admitted it so easily."
"What good does it do though. She despises me for what I did," Haldir says before turning to lead the Elves on to Helms Deep.
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"I take that it didn't go so well," Vanadil says when Brianna stalks over and grabs her pack.
"Ha! That's the understatement of the year!" Brianna laughs bitterly. She begins to rant about what happened until she notices Valandil smiling in amusement. "What's so funny?"
"You're in love with him aren't you?" he chuckles.
Brianna sighs. "It doesn't matter. He hates me now." She looks up to see the Galadrim starting to move. "Fall in, Valadil. We're moving out," she says glumly.
Valadil pats her shoulder sympathetically as he moves past her.