Disclaimer: I own the hideous mini-Koi, the ranger, the sentinel, two kitties and Raven. JRR has the good stuff!
A/N: 'This is thought'
This in mind speech of Fire and Briar
'This is visions'
"" This is mind to mind Far Speak ""
A/N2: I am sorry this has been so long in coming, but had nasty case of writers block. I believe I have finally been cured of the dreaded thing! I hope to post on this story once a week as I am back at school. I thank you all for your patience during this 'wacking my head on the keyboard' time of frustration. Chapter 11 of Moonfire and Chapter 4 of Blood Thorns will be out soon! Thank you my faithful Beta fisch for getting this chapter back to me so fast !
To my Lovely Readers and Reviewers: THANK YOU!
Parting of the Fellowship
Haldir found Briar in the beauty of Galadriel's garden sitting on a bench and staring sightlessly into the night. The Fellowship had departed with the morning's light; much to the saddened heart of many of the Lorien inhabitants. Their departure had hit the hardest for Briar, Laurel, and strangely enough, Elladan. The two remaining triplets had finally given up ranting and screaming, as an irate Fire refused to back down in her adamant stance that Briar and Laurel were needed in Lothlorien still. The three sisters had clung to one another until the Lady Galadriel called the Fellowship forth to receive their gifts from the Lord and Lady of the Golden Woods. Along with cloaks made of the finest Lorien cloth, each member received a personal gift from the Lady Galadriel herself.
While making their way slowly to the boats, that would carry the Fellowship down the river to speed their travels, Fire had raced back the way she had already come and threw herself first into the strong arms of the twin sons of Elrond, then into the crushing embrace of the, not so arrogant, March warden. Whispering softly into Haldir's ear, Fire bade her friend to watch over those she loved and to remember that she would always be there for him should he need her. With crystalline tears hovering in her eyes, Fire raced back down to the rest of the waiting Fellowship with a heavy heart and clambered into the boat with Legolas and Gimli.
Haldir approached his tormented sentinel cautiously, as he was unsure of his reception. He watched as her eyes drifted into focus with such abject misery, that it nearly broke his heart to see. Sinking down quietly onto the bench next to Briar, the March warden reached over and lifted the grieving elleth into his lap. Tears spilled down Briar's cheeks as she turned and buried her face in Haldir muscled chest. Tightening his grip on his sentinel, Haldir began rubbing his strong hands in comforting circles along her back and murmuring gently as he laid his chin upon the top of her head; in hopes of bringing some relief to her tormented soul. How long he held Briar on his lap that night Haldir could never be certain, but the shared grief had opened his wounded heart to the prospect of possibly having someone for his own.
Fire was inconsolable in her grief at parting from her sisters. Tears slid heedlessly down her cheeks, as she rested her head on Legolas' thigh, staring at the river as it drifted slowly by. Gimli talked of his gift of three golden strands from the Lady Galadriel own hair. He was in awe of both the gift and the Lady herself. The strands of golden hair, Gimli was already making plans to keep as a family heirloom, would be trapped forever in a crystal encasement. It gladdened Fire's heart to see her friend so excited and knew the dwarf was trying to also keep her mind from wandering the dark path of grief.
The farther they moved from Lothlorien, the harder the tears fell. The ranger's only consolation was the safety of her sisters within the Golden Woods. Legolas had tried to reason with Fire to stay as well, but the ranger had won that argument decisively. After pointing out the facts that she had survived all those years as a ranger, survived the times that she joined the twins on their errantry to kill Orc hordes, survived a warg attack, survived a single handed fight with a pack of Orcs and then stood face to face with a flaming Balrog, Fire had demanded the place she had earned in the Fellowship. To that she slyly added the fact that it would be at least another full week or more before the binding was completely set and all danger was voided from being separated for long periods. Galadriel agreeing with Fire's right to go with the Fellowship was the final deciding factor.
Now she lay in the boat, with her head resting on her mate's thigh, wondering what would become of the company and if she would ever see her sisters again. Gentle warmth invaded the ranger's mind and body, filling her with a sense of comfort and love. Looking up into Legolas' worried gaze, Fire gave her mate a small, trembling smile through her tears, before sending the overwhelming love she held for Legolas back along the binding channel. The brilliant smile that curved his lips and the heated gaze of his darkening sky blue eyes told Fire that Legolas had indeed felt her emotions through their bond. Fire was still getting used to the intimacy of the binding channel and learning to control the flow of emotions between them was not always easy. She was afraid of distracting Legolas or of getting distracted herself at the wrong time, so they were practicing daily how to send and block each others emotions. With a sigh, Fire wrapped herself up in her cloak and drifted off into reverie secure in the knowledge that her mate and her friends would be watching for danger.
The water could not calm the restlessness he had been feeling since the Fellowship had left that morning. All of the Lothlorien elves had begun to ready themselves for the coming battle against the Dark Lord's fell minions. Elladan knew he should help in the preparations as well, but his heart felt constricted by grief. Elrohir would tease him mercilessly if his twin could only hear Elladan's thoughts on Fury at this particular moment in time. The older twin had closed off their twin bond with a quick, "I need time alone to think." His wandering mind refused to focus, so he decided to go for a walk to clear his very disturbing thoughts. Elladan's feet had guided him to this deserted spot, beneath a Mallorn tree, by the river. Normally the sound of water soothed his troubled soul, but today the older twin could not even hear the gentle rushing, as the water cascaded over the rocks. Elladan was well aware that he and Elrohir were leaving for Imladris first thing in the morning to bring word of the Fellowship's successful departure from Lothlorien and hand deliver important messages from the Lord and Lady of the Golden Woods to Lord Elrond.
The fact that they were returning home to Imladris should have gladdened his heart, for Elladan missed his family and friends, but a cold knot of dread grew over the older twin's soul. When he had seen Fury depart with the Fellowship, his heart did a very strange thing; it nearly broke. The older twin knew, all to well, that Fury could easily handle herself in any battle the Fellowship encountered, yet hot, simmering anger still blazed in the older twin's mind. The unreasonable feeling that Fury had somehow willfully abandoned Imladris, and all of its inhabitants lingered in the back of Elladan's thoughts. Irrational the older twin knew, but Elladan had believed Fury would be safely defending her beloved home and the people she cared for, instead of heading out into the darkness of Arda to almost certain doom, with a cheeky grin and carefree wave. Growling in frustrated anger, at her unwitting betrayal of what was expected of her, Elladan surged gracefully to his feet and stormed off in the general direction of the city; never noticing his very worried younger twin watching from behind a small Mallorn tree to his right.
Laurel hung upside down from a Mallorn branch as tears dripped into her hair. She had argued aggressively about her need to go with the Fellowship, but Fire and Aragorn had refused to allow it. The Fellowship had agreed to take Fury with them. Then had left Shadow in Lothlorien to protect the two younger triplets; as his duty as Guardian of Anorak demanded. As much as Briar wished to follow Fire into the depths of Mordor, the sentinel's heart had cried out to stay. Briar belonged not only with the one who held her heart, but to Lorien as well. Briar's decision had been made, after a half hearted plea to go with Fire. The sentinel had seemed to be relieved that Fire and Galadriel wanted her to stay in Lothlorien, to help fight off any Orc attacks that might be sent against the Golden Woods by the Dark Lord. Laurel could not blame her middle sister for she had seen the light of love that flashed through Briar's eyes every time Haldir was close by. Laurel hoped that her sister and the March warden would both survive this horror that the Dark Lord had brought upon all of Arda, for they deserved to find happiness together. Laurel, on the other hand, had no one except her sisters and her adopted family. She had hoped that the youngest son of Elrond would have shown some sort of interest in her after their encounters, but it was not to be.
Sighing in frustration, Laurel thought back over the happenings after the disaster at dinner. Truthfully, she had no idea that Tygera and Briar thought her dead all these years. She had just assumed that their Ada, would have apprised them of the truth, as Gandalf had done with her. Both their way of coming back to Arda and their reason for being here at this time, was kept from the older two siblings, as Laurel finally found out. Briar had been told some of it, but Fire had been kept in the dark to protect her troubled soul. Fire had been the most fragile, of the three sisters, after they had been returned to Arda and re-housed in the bodies they now occupied. Her guilt, from the life she had remembered living before, had overtaken the ranger in this new life in Arda; effectively closing Fire off from trusting those that came to care for her. The Valar had truly believed that Fire was not yet ready to face the part the heirs of Anorak had to play in the final battle of Arda; when Fire had first awoken in Imladris. The bond the reclusive ranger had formed unknowingly with Legolas by the sharing of her blood, the trust that had begun to grow between them and the love hidden deep within their hearts gave Fire the support she needed to see the truth.
It was extremely unnerving to find out that you were not only two thousand years old, but that your soul had been reborn into a new body, so you could fulfill your destiny; as Eru had planned. It had taken many long nights talking with Gandalf and a lot of strong wine, for Laurel to grasp what her Ada was trying to explain. Laurel did not fully understand the whole soul transfer thing, but she was grateful it had happened. She was no longer faced with living life as a mortal, as she had always believed was her destiny. Laurel knew she should be ecstatic that she was an immortal and had the love of her family and friends, but seeing her oldest sister bonded to Legolas and the budding relationship between the March warden and her middle sister made Laurel long for a mate to call her own. Sniffling slightly, though she would never admit it, Laurel wondered if her previous behavior had been different would Elrohir be courting her now?
Shaking her head sadly, Laurel knew her way of acting would have only been one obstacle to the courtship. What normal elf would be able to get past the fact that the one they loved was a furry Feline crossed with wizard and had the King of Mirkwood as an adopted Ada. Haldir had been given chance to know Briar well before he found out about her heritage. Legolas was an exceptional elf, though she was biased as he was her brother. His sweet accepting nature, well it was most of the time anyway, would have helped him look beyond Fire's bloodline to the person she was, not the creature she became. Wishful thoughts brought no comfort to the saddened elleth. The reality of her history and the abilities she possessed made her an unlikely candidate for being a mate. Laurel knew that she had missed any chance she might have once had with the younger twin when she was forced to turn furry in front of him and most of Lothlorien to defend herself. It was probably better that she had her hopes dashed into oblivion now, rather then a time in the future. It would have been much harder to bear if she had become too attached to the younger twin and had willfully given her heart away forever. Laurel had felt a very strong connection to Elrohir from the start and had held out a slim hope he could accept her; fur and all.
Dragging her arms across her eyes to wipe away her tears, Laurel flipped off the branch onto the ground below and slowly made her way back to the city with a heavy heart. She had to meet with Haldir to get her border assignment. Laurel had immediately volunteered her fighting skills to the Lord and Lady, for the defense of Lothlorien, but had decided to give Briar some time alone with her March warden. Laurel might not have a mate to watch over, but she had her family.
Duty called Laurel to defend her loved ones and she would answer that call no matter the consequences.