Chapter 20: The Better Ellon

Celebrían held the ceramic bowl aloft so Caladhel would be able to better observe it. "What do you think? Should I take it with me?" She waited expectantly for her cousin's opinion as she had with every other precious item on her packing list.

Caladhel rolled her eyes dramatically at her cousin's question. "It is up to you!" she replied, for what must have been the tenth time.

Celebrían studied the design she herself had etched into the bowl's surface. "My mother loves it so."

"Then leave it here."

Celebrían considered her cousin's suggestion as she had the nine times before. In the end, she came to the same conclusion. "Oh, I can't decide!"

Caladhel heard a touch of anxiety creeping into her cousin's voice. Celebrían was practically vibrating with nervous anticipation at departing and Caladhel did what little she could to ease her cousin's mind. She took the bowl from Celebrían's hand and returned it to its former position on an end table. "You need not fret over the matter," said Caladhel. "You are moving to Imladris, not Valinor. It is but a two-week journey. Leave it here, and should you change your mind, we will bring it when next we visit."

Celebrían released a long, slow breath and with it a great deal of tension. She stared at the bowl a moment before turning a smile on Caladhel. "Why must you be so sensible?"

Caladhel shrugged and gave her standard answer. "One of us has to be." Caladhel had returned to folding table linens and so was caught off guard when her cousin's arms came circling around her.

"What will I do without you?"

This was not the first time Celebrían had asked this question, but each time she did its tone grew sadder. Caladhel had done her utmost best to keep her responses lighthearted, but the task grew more difficult as the day of Celebrían's departing drew near. She took Celebrían's hands in hers and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"I am certain you will manage."

Celebrían freed her cousin from her arms and stepped away. "You will come visit us often, won't you?"

"Of course!"

It had been Celebrían's want for Caladhel to move with her to Imladris and Caladhel had given the matter careful thought, for it was no easy thing to part with Celebrían. But while Caladhel enjoyed her visits to Imladris, she could not imagine living there. She preferred the forest to the valley. Even Thranduil's wood, with its dense brush and hidden dangers felt more like home than Imladris ever could.

When Caladhel's head cleared of her musings she noticed Celebrían studying her with a look of unease. "What is that look?" she asked. "Do you not believe I speak the truth when I say I will visit you?"

"I believe you believe it."

Caladhel thought it an odd and mildly evasive answer, which was not at all like Celebrían. "What troubles you, then?"

"I worry, is all."

"Worry for what?"

"That one day you will be farther from me than Lothlórien."

This new declaration puzzled Caladhel for she could not fathom what her cousin meant by it. "What do you mean?"

Celebrían sat herself down upon the edge of her bed and absentmindedly fingered the pile of linens Caladhel had been folding. "Alassiel loves to gossip," she said. "Nothing can occur beneath these trees without her hearing of it."

Caladhel knew all too well of the young elleth's talent. "And what tale is she spinning now?"

Celebrían lifted her eyes to meet her cousin's and Caladhel could see clearly the answer troubled her. "She says that you and King Thranduil have been seen alone together."

Caladhel knew she should be neither surprised nor upset that others in Lothlórien had seen her with Thranduil. Caras Galadhon was not that large a city, and such news was bound to travel fast. Still, it irked her some to be the subject of others' whispered conversations. "Is that right?" she asked, not knowing what she was expected to say on the matter.

"Is it true?" Celebrían asked.

"It is," Caladhel replied.

An expression of mingled hurt and sadness settled upon Celebrían's face. "You have said nothing to me."

Caladhel took a seat beside her cousin, her eyes pleading in silent apology. "I said nothing because there is nothing much to say – and besides, you have been..." Caladhel did not know what word was best, but it mattered not, for Celebrían finished the thought for her.

"Preoccupied."

There was a weight of guilt behind Celebrían's conclusion, but it had not been Caladhel's intent to blame her cousin for her silence. "I do not begrudge you and Elrond your time together," Caladhel assured her, "and your current concerns far outweigh any news I might have to share."

The corners of Celebrían's mouth turned down as she considered her cousin's explanation, before she shared the thought that pained her most. "I have always told you everything."

A pang of guilt struck Caladhel's heart at her cousin's words. "I know," she replied. And she did. Celebrían was such an open soul, but the same could not be said of Caladhel, who by comparison was far more restrained when it came to airing her thoughts.

As if eavesdropping upon her mind, Celebrían added, "You are as guarded with your thoughts as my mother. Sometimes I think you are her trueborn daughter and she found me upon a bed of moss."

Caladhel laughed despite the serious tone of their conversation. "Now you are being silly," she said. "None could mistake your parentage." None with eyes to see, at the very least. Celebrían was a vision as lovely as her mother but with touches of her father's kin in the hue of her hair and skin. Caladhel, in contrast, bore no resemblance to her aunt at all, except perhaps in temperament.

"What is he like?" Celebrían asked, drawing the conversation back to Thranduil.

Caladhel, distracted by her own thoughts, did not immediately know whom she meant. "What is who like?"

"Thranduil."

"You have met him."

"We have never spoken beyond courtesies," Celebrían said. "He seems not to like me much."

Caladhel cringed at her cousin's accurate assessment of Thranduil's opinion, but attempted to reassure her nonetheless. "He does not know you well enough to genuinely dislike you."

"I am not so sure he agrees," Celebrían replied. And when Caladhel failed to answer her original question she prodded, "Well?"

Caladhel did not know quite how to answer her cousin's question, for she was not sure she knew herself. Gathering her thoughts, she did her best to sum up all the myriad impressions she had stored of Thranduil during her time in Limrond and over the past several days. "He has a mercurial spirit, and yet, in matters regarding his realm and his people, he can be constant as the North Star. He abides with a great pain, and goes to lengths unimaginable to shield others from his suffering. He can be fearsome at will and charming, too, at times. Most often I find him troubling." Caladhel sat in silent contemplation of Thranduil for a time, and after, added, "It is good you did not marry him."

Celebrían could not help but laugh at the last, for to her mind it came from nowhere. "I did not realize that was an option."

Caladhel knew better. "As I understand it, several of Thranduil's counselors thought it a fine idea."

Celebrían suspected she knew the Greenwood king's opinion on the matter. "I take it Thranduil did not agree with them?" And at the look Caladhel cast her she laughed again. Her thoughts turned then to Elrond, and she found herself oddly grateful that Thranduil had not been an additional obstacle in her husband's path. "Perhaps I should have Elrond thank him."

Caladhel smiled at the suggestion, thinking it not an altogether terrible idea. It had taken Elrond half an age convince himself that he was worthy of Celebrían's hand. She wondered now if Elrond would have quit his pursuit of Celebrían if Thranduil had stood in his path, or if the challenge would have made him fight harder. The question, of course, no longer mattered. Elrond and Celebrían were married now and Thranduil's interest lay not with her cousin.

"He invited me to visit Greenwood again," Caladhel stated without preamble.

"After holding you captive?" Celebrían thought this a strange turn of events considering her cousin's detention. And yet, she, herself, had suspected there was more to the story of her cousin's stay in Limrond than Caladhel shared, but at the time, she was too busy with wedding plans to give the matter much thought. "What was your answer?" she asked, wondering now how much she had missed in the days leading up to and following the wedding.

"I said he would have to convince me."

Celebrían thought it precisely the type of answer her cousin would give Greenwood's king. It also gave clearer cause to one particular bit of gossip Alassiel was spreading. "Was that the purpose of your little archery contest?"

"How do you know about that?" Caladhel asked, but the look she received from Celebrían was all the answer required. Alassiel. "Of course."

"Dûrion told her."

Again, Caladhel found she should not have been surprised. The warden arrived at the field just as she and Thranduil were departing. She knew now he must have watched them for some time before making his presence known.

"I heard the match did not go in his favor."

"He was gracious in defeat," Caladhel replied. "More so than Haldir, the first time I beat him."

The ladies shared a round of laughter at the memory of that particular occasion. When their amusement abated, Celebrían's expression grew serious. "Do you like him?"

Caladhel hesitated to answer her cousin's question. It was one she had avoided asking herself since the night of the wedding, preferring instead to ponder Thranduil's feelings and intentions.

"I cannot say," Caladhel replied.

"Can not or will not?"

Caladhel flashed her cousin a look of annoyance that Celebrían patently ignored. Sighing, Caladhel sought to answer as best she could for what little thought she had given the matter. "I like him better now than I did the day we met."

"Rather noncommittal of you," Celebrían replied. "Come now, be honest with me."

"I am being honest," Caladhel said a bit sharply.

Celebrían clearly did not believe her. Caladhel could read in her eyes that her cousin thought she held back. Maybe she did, but partly because she found it difficult to articulate the reason she originally humored Thranduil's request.

"I find his interest in me… curious."

"How so?"

"Because it seemed to come from nowhere." Thranduil's change of heart was truly a mystery to Caladhel. She could not identify a single interaction during her stay in Limrond that might have lead to his turning. "I was not a particularly tractable captive," she explained. "I insulted him to his face mere hours after we met."

"Shocking," Celebrían replied, but the expression on her face said she was anything but shocked. It was well within the realm of Celebrían's imagining for her cousin to insult a king. "What did you say to him?"

"I told him he was less of a king than Isildur."

"Truly?" This this time Celebrían was shocked and the emotion could be heard clearly in her voice.

Caladhel nodded and smiled some at the face her cousin made. "At the time, it was a generous comparison."

Celebrían pondered these new details a short while before offering up her thoughts. "Perhaps it was your rudeness that drew his interest."

"How so?"

"He strikes me as one uncomfortable with politics," she said, "and pretense."

Caladhel was quite sure she agreed. What she failed to see was what that had to do with Thranduil's interest in her. "I do not take your meaning."

Celebrían's brow furrowed as she considered how best to explain her thoughts. "Thranduil was a prince long before he became king," she said. "I doubt many in his life have treated him with anything less than the utmost respect due his station, regardless of his words or deeds. You may well be the first to have said to his face what you genuinely think of him."

"And you imagine that would give him cause to pursue me?" Caladhel was deeply skeptical of the idea.

"Perhaps," Celebrían replied. Her thoughts drifted to an ellon she knew far better and there she found further support for her cause. "Father once confessed to me that the first emotion he felt towards mother was anger."

"What angered him?" Caladhel asked.

"They had a disagreement when mother first visited Thingol's court."

"Over what?"

"I do not know," Celebrían replied. "I do know their argument did not stop him from loving her."

Caladhel was poised to ask more, for she had always been curious to know what drew her aunt and uncle together, but her next question was cut short by the sound of hurried footsteps approaching Celebrían's chamber. An elleth appeared at the door a moment later, slightly out of breath. Alassiel bowed to both ladies before addressing them.

"My ladies... Please... excuse my intrusion."

"What is wrong?" Celebrían's voice rose in concern at the elleth's harried state, for she knew Alassiel was not one for running.

"I thought you should know. I spoke with Húlben… on the way to his talan. He said…" Here Alassiel hesitated, as if just now giving second thought to what it was she had come to say.

"Come now, Alassiel," Caladhel chided. "If you are going to be a gossip then out with it already."

Alassiel obliged, declaring with great drama, "Haldir attacked King Thranduil."

"What?" Caladhel could not believe she heard the elleth right.

Alassiel saw the Lady disbelieved her and endeavored to explain the matter more thoroughly. "Well, maybe attacked is not the right word," she said. "They were sparring with staves, but Haldir struck the King in the head and choked him to near unconsciousness."

"Why would Haldir do such a thing?" Celebrían asked.

"I do not know, my Lady," Alassiel replied and glanced nervously toward Caladhel before adding, "but I suspect… that is… you know how fond he is of Lady Caladhel."

Celebrían cringed at Alassiel's opined addition to her storytelling. "Thank you, Alassiel," said Celebrían, dismissing the elleth with a wave of her hand. "That will be all."

The elleth bowed quickly before hurrying from the room, no doubt to inform more in the city of the day's events. Celebrían turned to her cousin who wore an expression of equal parts concern and confusion. "Are you well?"

Caladhel shook her head. "I do not think so." Without another word she made straight for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To find him," Caladhel called back to her as she fled the talan.

Celebrían watched her cousin hurry away along the skypath unsure of which ellon she meant to find.


Caladhel dashed along the walk as quickly as the shoes and dress she wore would allow. Her thoughts were all a whirl and she could not still them enough to focus on one before another pushed to the fore. Alassiel's words made no sense to her. Haldir was not a violent ellon, nor was he so green with a stave as to accidently injure a sparing partner. She knew how little he cared for Thranduil following his expulsion from Greenwood, but neither Haldir's words nor his actions these last few days suggested a violent encounter was in the offing. Caladhel did not want to believe Alassiel spoke true, but her hopes of a mistake were overshadowed by a certain bit of knowledge: while the elleth who bore the news was fond of spreading tales, those tales were most often true.

Caladhel reached the talan in little time and rapped loudly on the door. It opened a moment later and the face that greeted her shocked Caladhel to her core. His right eye was cut and shaded in hues of purple and green and a band of similar colors ran across his throat beneath the chin. The injuries were just as Alassiel described, but still Caladhel found herself disbelieving.

"What happened?"

Thranduil gestured for her to enter the talan. She did so and rounded on him as he shut the door, awaiting his answer.

"A friendly match on the training fields."

Caladhel shook her head. She stepped closer and raised her hand to within a hair's breath of his injured face. "It does not appear the match was overly friendly." Again, she pressed him. "What happened? Tell me."

Thranduil sighed, and moving away from her, took a seat on the edge of a nearby desk. His gaze fell to the desktop and he traced the design carved into the border with his fingers while he spoke. "I believe Haldor informed your warden of what passed after he was expelled from Greenwood."

"And Haldir attacked you?"

Thranduil lifted his gaze from the floral pattern carved into the desk to find Caladhel's incredulous eyes upon him. "He did more than that," Thranduil replied. "He threatened to kill me." And here he laughed, a short burst of air lacking humor. His hand rose to throat and his fingers ran lightly across the discolored skin. "He might be able to do it, too. Your champion is quite skilled."

Caladhel frowned at this new revelation. "I heard nothing of a threat."

"Because he spoke softly, so only I would hear."

Caladhel shook her head. She did not, could not believe him, despite all the evidence before her eyes. "Haldir would not do such a thing."

Thranduil saw anger rising behind her eyes. He did not wish to be its cause, but nor would he offer Caladhel lies merely to soothe her. "Of course he would," he said in as gentle a tone as he could muster. "He loves you."

Caladhel opened her mouth as if to speak but halted on the brink, at a loss for words. She attempted a second time, the only thought she had in answer. "Haldir is my friend."

The corner of Thranduil's mouth rose in a half smile. He found it altogether strange that he would be the clear sighted one in this matter. "I always thought ellith were more observant of such things," he said. And shaking his head, added, "A friend would glower at me and counsel you to keep your distance. But an ellon who would threaten the life of an Elvenking over an injury long since faded does not think of you as a friend."

Under different circumstances, Caladhel might have thought Thranduil's logic sound, but her thoughts were currently too confused to acknowledge the possibility.

"You know nothing of Haldir."

Thranduil disagreed. "I know him better than I care to," he said, rising from his seat. "I know he is a better ellon than I."

This statement confused Caladhel even more. It was strange enough that Thranduil lacked even the semblance of anger towards Haldir for his injuries, but to speak of him in such a manner… "Why do you say that?"

Thranduil frowned at her question, and stepping closer, lifted his right hand so that his fingers alighted on Caladhel's face. She did not withdraw from his touch, but studied his expression close as he studied her face, not meeting her eyes, but following his fingers as they traced the line of her chin. He released a deep breath and after his eyes rose to meet hers. In their depths Caladhel saw a deep well of sadness, the source of which she could not name.

"I know Haldir is better," he said, "because if ever he injured an elleth I loved, I would not threaten him. I would see him dead."

Caladhel knew not what to say in the face of such a declaration. As confused as her mind was, she could not mistake Thranduil's words for anything other than a promise, one without question directed at her. She thought the sentiment deeply ironic, given all that had happened between them. She was certain Thranduil felt the same, which did go a long way in explaining his lack of enmity towards Haldir.

Caladhel pushed Thranduil's last words forcefully from her mind. There would be time enough to think on his promise later. Right now she had to find Haldir. Caladhel withdrew a step, breaking contact with Thranduil's hand, which he then lowered to his side.

"I must go speak with him."

A flash of mingled pain and fear lit Thranduil's eyes, so briefly Caladhel thought she might have mistaken it. He nodded in reply.

Caladhel turned and fled Thranduil's talan without another word. She had to find Haldir and hear his side of the tale, but for the first time in over two millennia, feared what he might say.


A/N: Given some of the reviews I've received, I feel I need to be clear about my Middle-earth fanfiction philosophy. I do my best to couch all my tales within the established literary canon Tolkien created. There are, of course, many instances where Tolkien changed his mind or wrote various versions of specific stories, so canon can be a fluid thing at times. One topic Tolkien wrote an entire essay on is elves and sex/marriage. In short, sex=marriage for elves. They only marry once because they are immortal and if they die they are reborn and eventually reunited with their spouses. They also don't divorce, because Tolkien felt they would never choose the wrong mate (a debatable opinion given the Eöl/Aredhel tale). Bottom line, any fanfiction that has elves jumping into bed with random people whenever they like is completely AU and not at all in line with Tolkien's view of elves. As I expect many of you have more experience with the movies and fanfics than the books, I thought I'd be the one to break the news. I also hope these details shed some light on why my approach to telling this story might differ from other fanfics where elven relationships are written as if the characters were human.