A work in Progress
Chapter 14
POV: Haldir
By:
PiXiE
No one had seeked me out to break off the engagement, there had been no warning, no dark looks, Aglarebwen had acted her normal self: totally ignoring my presence.
Since horse riding I had
gone through a myriad of emotions and at one point I almost wished that the
engagement were called off. Was I actually ready to marry? Was I committed
enough? And could I cope with Aglarebwen for an eternity? Elven weddings were
final once they had been culminated there was no going back, you were together
forever.
I was sitting at the
top most branch of an oak tree, staring down at Imladris, and I was wondering
if Aglarebwen could make the transition between her home and Lothlorien.
Despite what many
think, Lorien is not just a wood full of proud elves, who spend all their years
trying to gain wisdom from tombs of books. There was in fact a rather large
population of sylvan elves, shameless sylvan elves who were complete flirts and
absolutely corrupt. In fact Orophin, my brother, took after them quite a lot,
not surprising, as all of his friends were sylvan. As far as I am concerned the
only thing sylvans are good for is singing.
My musings were cut
short when I heard someone climbing up a tree. I looked down to see a familiar
face, twice. "I told you he would hear us!" one of the twins pointed out.
"Well, he could have
been dreaming," was the reply. "He was staring ahead unblinkingly."
"No matter what we
think of him he is not foolish enough to slumber on the highest branch of a
tree."
"You do it all the
time," the other shot back.
"I haven't done such a
thing since I was an elfling, and even then it was because you dared me! He,
however, is stoic and ever the stickler for the rules. He-"
"He has a name," I
interrupted looking at the two bemused.
"So do we," one
grinned.
"So which of us is
which?" the other questioned.
They knew that I
couldn't always tell the difference between the two, especially when they were
interacting together, without others. They tended to pick up on each other's
slight quirks that one usually didn't notice.
"Elladan and Elrohir,
otherwise known as the stars, so I'm told." I knew mentioning this would
distract them.
They both formed the
identical non-plussed looks before scowling identically, with impeccable
timing.
"Who told you that?" I
smirked at the irked tone.
"That's for me to
know." I replied. "It might be useful at a later date."
The two looked at each
other pointedly before their faces broke out into identical grins. "I fear we
were wrong." One started.
"Aye. I cannot believe
that we did not perceive this before."
I glanced at them
questioningly. "You are more like Laingalad than we thought!" they announced
simultaneously.
Was I? Certainly, most
definitely, not.
"But there is a reason
for our being here."
"Aye, for we grace the
presence of only those we wish to speak to."
"Or annoy," I added.
"That too," a twin
agreed.
"But we are
challenging you to a contest!"
I quirked an eyebrow
at this, "You wish to loose again. Is this how you pursue elleths?
Pester them into flirting with you?"
"No, my dear Haldir,
they pursue us!" he sighed dramatically.
"But it has been quite
some time since our last contest, we have improved since then."
"You can now hit the
target?" I grinned lazily.
One elf, who I
realised to be Elladan narrowed his eyes. "You try aiming correctly when you
have a rabid elleth pinching you everywhere." He unconsciously rubbed
his ear.
Elrohir chortled. "But
when shall we compete?"
"Tomorrow, at midday."
I decided. "I have a tedious meeting with Erestor to go to-"
"We feel for you!"
Elrohir did not sound in the least bit comforting.
"And at midday most
will be dining, so we can spare you both the embarrassment." I smirked at their
glares of contempt, before falling easily from the tree.
*
My talk with Erestor
had been arduous to say the least, constantly going over miniscule details that
mattered not to me.
Eventually it was
decided that our, that is Aglarebwen and myself, belongings would go ahead of
us, and my brothers would sort it all out and put it away. How I was persuaded
to give them such a task I know not.
When I made to leave,
Erestor made a flippant comment about my leggings and my elfhood, causing me to
hurry to my room and investigate further.
*
The next morning at
around eleven, Erestor managed to find me, my ploy of avoidance obviously not
working. He eventually finished his lengthy monologue about dust; apparently
someone had told him my room needed dusting, how they would know was a mystery
to me, for none but myself had been in there. I suspected Cerina. I could just
imagine her stealing one of my tunics to 'help her sleep' or some other such
nonsense.
After I managed to decline
the offer of having my rooms dusted (I didn't want people snooping) and hurried
to pick up my weapons before heading to the archery range.
When I arrived I found
Elladan and Elrohir snickering, partnered with an elated Aglarebwen, looking as
if New Year had come early.
"Ahh! Haldir!" a twin
started.
"We thought you had
backed down. Not being able to compete at our level."
"An elfling could beat
you Elladan." Aglarebwen commented dryly. "You have only just learnt to hold
your bow the right way around."
"That is my brother
you're insulting!"
"I know," Aglarebwen
pursed her lips. "I decided not to comment on your…ah…abilities, as I did not
want to mortify you in front of the esteemed March warden."
"Soon to be March
warden," Elladan corrected. "He hasn't done the deeds yet!" I noticed a slight
pinkish tint colouring Aglarebwen's cheeks.
"What?" Elladan
questioned when Elrohir elbowed him in the side. A pointed glare immediately
jogged his memory, causing him to blush slightly.
Elrohir cleared his
throat. "Shall we now approach the targets?"
Not waiting for an
answer he strode off towards a target while I took a chance to look around the
range.
It was bereft of any
elves other than our group, Lord Glorfindel and a lone elfling at the end, who
was haphazardly attempting to hit the target. Even from where I was standing I
could see his grip was wrong causing his arrows to glance to the left.
Elrohir stopped by
Lord Glorfindel and conversed with him briefly before standing in front of the
target, adjacent to his.
"You can go first." I
motioned to Elladan, "to give yourself enough time to fetch your arrow from
that tree yonder." I waved my hand in a northerly direction.
Elrohir and Aglarebwen
laughed, while Elladan rolled his eyes, good naturedly, before taking aim and
firing, hitting a bull's eye, but not in the centre. Glorfindel beside us was
firing a barrage of arrows making a star shape on his target.
"You next!" Elrohir
announced grinning at me. I nodded in compliance, noticing Lord Glorfindel
striding up to his own target, removing his arrows.
I took an arrow out of
my quiver and took aim, pulling my bowstring back until, it was taught, causing
the wood of the bow to ripple as it was put under strain.
Taking target, I
released the arrow, waiting expectantly for it to hit the target as it normally
did. Unfortunately, this was not the case. My arrow reared off in a
surprising arc, missing my target completely, instead hitting another
embedding itself in the hall, taking some golden hair with it. I gaped in
horror as Lord Glorfindel turned, wincing as the arrow tugged his hair.
This did not
bode well.
A/n the are a variety of reasons for this chapter not being put up and I would like to comment that I actually finished writing it about 3 weeks ago. Francesca then accidentally took it home, but said she would type it up, which she did but then her computer went A-wall and it's only just been fixed.
She told Mo that she would give her a floppy disk of this chapter rather then Mo having to type it up again. I believe Mo got that some time during the week (I've been absent the last 3 days) and so I received the chapter today.
So…to reviews!
Elvenprincess19: Am I the only one that doesn't think Haldir would randomly go to his room and strip and then stare at himself? Yeah he's conceited, but not that much!
Haldir's heart and soul: Well technically he's not cheating on Laingalad as he doesn't like any of his pursuers and is actually trying to get rid of them, my poor lil elf!
Dakota: Hello my dear ranger, what ever you are now ;) Lol, you love naked Haldir! I know you do! Rather scary all these Haldir fans around me at school *shudders* but at least I have Legolas for myself! (at least in my mind)
chibi: Aha! Someone else that thinks it's disturbing! I knew I wasn't alone in this world! I personallt don't think he would do it, I told Fran to get him to change or something, but No! she never listens to me! *sighs dramatically*
Kylin: Thanks! It's not a marriage, well I suppose in a marriage you do order people around, but yeah we have in depth discussions, well we did but time is spread a bit thin at school so I will take this opportunity to tell mo to WRITE chapter FIFETEEN *coughs* okay now that I've got that out of my system, perseverance is a good thing when you're trying to mesh ideas, we've been doing it for over a year now so it's easier, if you want to look at our early attempts see all hell breaks loose, another one of our stories, completely ridiculour but that was more for humours sake than an actual story…
me: Hi Nicole. I love Cerina, esp. as Cerina is Mo's nickname *waves* oh how that annoys her! Moley! *coughs*
everdawn: well we'll just keep you hanging!
Will WILL be updating next Sunday *glares at Mo* she will have written the chapter and not spent time writing other things or drawing etc.
PiXiE