Hello! Welcome back to my fic! It has gotten a lot of attention, though very few new reviews. However, I would like to thank BsG-Blondy, ElfLuver13, Maid of Imladris, Haldir's Heart and Soul, and GreenWood Elf for their feedback—it was very much needed and appreciated. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who reads this without reviewing. I'm glad people are enjoying it.

Disclaimer: You know, I put ownership of Lord of the Rings on my Christmas list, but Santa just did not come through for me…maybe next year.

ooOoo

To Be Forever Faithful

By: Ponytail Goddess

Chapter 25: Stay

Silent feet ascended the long stairway which led up to the dwelling of Lothlorien's lord and lady. A soft blue glow shined down on Haldir's golden hair as he continued up the spiraling stairway at a consistent pace. The lady had summoned him and he had a feeling this meeting was of great importance, though he did not know quite why. It was just suspicion, but his feelings were seldom wrong.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Haldir quickly walked around the large pool of clear, dark water in the public area and waited for the lady in the dimmed light. Then, like a lamp in the darkness she appeared, shining in with the glorious light of the two trees. With grace like no other, she descended down the white marble steps of her domain to meet Haldir. Going down on one knee, he greeted the lady with a bowed head, in awe of her beauty. He did not always get to his knees in her presence, but sometimes he simply could not help himself.

The smile on her face served as her acknowledgement of his great spectacle of respect. After a moment, he stood up so their meeting could commence.

"My lady," he said, continuing his formal acknowledgement of her, "You have summoned me tonight?"

Her eyes darkened and the mood was no longer light. "Indeed," she whispered and turned away from him to face the dark treetops of her fair city. "Haldir, I fear I have seen something very grave in my mirror this morning."

Haldir felt his heart start to beat faster. The lady had never told him about any of her visions from the mystical mirror before. He could hear the ill will in her voice and suddenly knew she had bad tidings to share with him tonight. Haldir found himself slightly disturbed when she did not continue to share with his right away, but instead stood in silence, looking over her night-blanketed lands.

"What have you seen, my lady?" He finally asked, unable to take the suspense anymore.

"I have seen the dark shadow of war." She whispered almost incoherently as she turned to face him. Her eyes caught his intensely and held them. Haldir felt as though she was looking into his very soul and gaging his reaction to the news. Though he tried to hide it, his initial reaction was shock. Elves were not of this world and had not fought on behalf of it in many years. Elves were now leaving these shores in hopes of avoiding conflicts by heading to Valinor for the remainder of their infinite days. Therefore, why were they going to war? It made no sense to him.

"I feel your deep confusion, Haldir. While we reside in Caras Galadhon, we are still inhabitants of Arda, even if we are leaving these shores for the glorious ones of Valinor. We still remain here and thusly must fight for the freedom of these lands. I do not yet know when we will be needed, but when the call comes, we shall indeed help forge a new day where evil will not have such a great hold on the world."

"Yes, my lady." Haldir replied, bowing his head. "I should not have doubted you."

"And you still doubt me now." She said softly, taking hold of his chin and lifting his eyes up to an understanding, though slightly sad smile. "Fear not, Haldir. It will all make sense in good time. For now, we must start to prepare for this battle against evil. I expect you to immediately start training all of our eligible wardens for the war. Get new wardens battle-ready and advance our older wardens to new levels of skill. Your second-in-command and the eldest and most trusted wardens may help you in this task. I put my full faith in you, Haldir. It is your job to make sure that our wardens are prepared to win in battle when the time comes."

"It will be so, my lady. I will start preparing for the classes immediately." Haldir stated dutifully, then bowed and turned around to exit, already beginning to make intricate plans in his mind to carry out her will.

ooOoo

Taking a break from the task at hand, Heledhril found his eyes gliding over the empty training grounds. Well, they were almost empty. Since he had not been able to sleep, he decided to go and practice alone in the training field, but had been surprised to find that he was not the only warden there. The new female marchwarden, Belegwen, was also out on the field, wielding her sword particularly skillfully as she trained by herself.

"She must be very serious about honing her skills to train so hard at this time of night and with no partner." He thought to himself, curious as to why she would give an imaginary foe a death match in the middle of the night. "I could learn something from her if she would duel with me. Perhaps she would like a partner..."

He could not stop wondering and hoping for a chance at seeing her skill first hand, so without much ado, he found himself slowly and shyly approaching her as she battled fiercely through the field.

But then, she suddenly stopped. "Perhaps she has noticed me." He thought, although she had not looked in his direction yet. She seemed to be quite perplexed with her own sword at the moment. He froze, now slightly intimidated about approaching such a good swordsman. Then, in one mysterious motion, she thrust her sword down into the dirt solidly. Heledhril found himself cocking one eyebrow in confusion as he watched her with interest.

What he saw next astonished him. The marchwarden grasped both sides of the sword's cross guard and then lifted herself into a handstand on the sword. With closed eyes and a look of concentration, she steadied herself. Ever so carefully, she took one hand at a time and moved them to the hilt, all while maintaining her balance on the sword. Not being able to hold it in any longer, Heledhril let out a small chuckle at the audacity of it all, then regretted it as he saw that she had opened her eyes and was staring at him intensely.

"May I ask what are you doing, Marchwarden?" He inquired, immediately becoming serious as to not upset her. It was wrong of him to laugh at a warden of such high authority. He could get in trouble for doing so. However, when he next glanced at her face, he knew he was not in trouble, for her eyes were filled with good humor.

"I see you find my methods rather amusing Heledhril. Would you like to try it? It takes a great feat of strength and balance to do it, among other things." She stated, her eyes glittering as she waited for his reaction.

Though uneasy about trying something different, Heledhril found that he could not say no to Marchwarden Belegwen, who seemed to have better swordsmanship than any other warden he had ever encountered. "I shall feel silly doing this, but if it will help…" He said, shoving his own sword into the ground firmly.

Belegwen tested his sword, pushing on it to make sure that it was planted firmly and deeply into the ground. "Now you must grasp the cross guard and judge how much momentum you will use to get into position. Too much will propel you over the sword, while too little will not get you up there. Remember, once you are in the air, you must find your balancing point; a straight spine is a key figure in this."

Still perplexed by what he was about to do, Heledhril looked uncomfortably at the sword and then at Belegwen. He had always taken her for a rather shy and unconfident warden, but right now, she seemed quite different—very certain of herself. How odd to see such a change in her.

Taking ahold of the cross guard on each side of the blade, Heledhril took in a deep breath and pushed off of his feet quickly and delicately, only to find that he had overshot his mark and was hurdling quickly over to the other side of the sword. He tensed as his fall was stopped by two small hands gripping his calves tightly. "I have you," he heard her say, "I will hold you steady until you find your balancing point."

It was quite difficult indeed. A normal handstand was easy because one's arms were not so close together. It was very difficult to balance in this way though, with his hands almost touching one another. Heledhril could feel the sword shaking in the ground as he tried to straighten his spine and find his balance. He felt Belegwen help him along a little until his body became perfectly in line with the sword. "Point your toes, good. I am going to let you go now. Focus."

After about five seconds, he felt her hands release their grip and he focused all of his strength into his arms and the center of his body. He felt the sword shaking and starting to swivel a bit as he fought for his balance, then gracefully dismounted before he fell. Shakily, he straightened his back and looked at her. "Indeed, you are correct Marchwarden. It is a very hard test. Where did you learn such a unique training exercise?" He questioned, feeling quite curious about her methods. He had never seen anyone do things like this before and wondered where they originated.

"My father was a warden, long ago. When he was training, he came up with his own style of sword fighting and started to come up with many exercises that might help train wardens to have perfect swordsmanship. When he passed on, he left his book of methods to me and I have tested many of them out, all while forming a few hypotheses of my own. What we have worked on tonight is my own work, which I am greatly excited to try out. I have high hopes that if the method is perfected, it could be of great use to our wardens."

"Indeed," Heledhril said, perplexed by the elleth. He could tell that a great amount of her time had been spent on this method. "I would be interested in testing the methods out with you, if you would allow it."

"Really?" She asked, looking a bit confused. Her shyness was coming back quickly. "You would help me?"

"But of course!" Heledhril exclaimed, turning on his charm in an attempt to sooth her uneasiness with him. "It is a most interesting theory; I'm mystified by this. I have never seen anyone try to improve something like this before. Please, do tell me more." He said while taking a seat on the grass beside her. He watched as she did the same after pulling her sword from the earth.

"This is all based upon the idea that the sword and its user must act as one unit. By doing balance and strength exercises with the sword, one learns of the sword's limitations and strongholds, as well as one's own. That said, the sword becomes more than just a weapon, but a training tool for all good and necessary things that a warden should do." She said, then looked over his shoulder and out into the distance. "I do apologize, but Marchwarden Haldir is coming and I will need to work with him now. However, if you are still interested, you are welcome to meet with me here another day for training. I am often here at this time."

"Yes, indeed, I will practice your method and meet you out here again once I have mastered it. I am glad we had a chance to converse, Marchwarden Belegwen. Thank you for the lesson and your expertise." With that said, both wardens climbed to their feet. After offering her a salute with his fist upon his chest, Heledhril watched her turn around and approach Marchwarden Haldir.

ooOoo

Immediately, Belegwen knew something was wrong. Though Haldir was almost always serious, there was something different about his demeanor tonight, though she could not quite place what it was. His countenance was somehow even colder than before and he seemed a bit detached as well, which was not normal for him.

"Come," he called to her, "There is much for us to discuss." With that, he turned away from her and ran into the dark woods with her at his heels, trying to keep up with his long and furious strides.

Yes, something was bothering him. Belegwen frowned, not really knowing what she could say or do to make him feel better. He had been avoiding her whenever possible since their night of pleasure, which had been nearly three weeks ago. He guarded their secret with care, not even hardly bothering to talk to her during their fortnight of border patrol together. Then, the training sessions which had followed their return to the city had been filled with a tension so great that it was nearly unbearable to be around him. And now, there was this...

Something had to be done. Belegwen quickly decided that now was not the time for her to be her obedient, shy self. After checking for any signs of Eldarin life around the path, Belegwen quickly grew bold and grabbed his upper arm, pulling it to her bossom tightly and effectively stopping his run. "Something is bothering you. Tell me." She commanded him as he stopped.

He turned to her and appeared slightly shocked at her actions. She watched as his eyes scanned the premises to see if any elves were witnessing this. There was nobody around, but that did not stop his anger towards her. "Now is not the time. We will discuss this in the privacy of my talan." He tersely stated, yanking his arm away from her and continued running towards Caras Galadhon.

Filled with sadness, she followed him again, staying silent as they entered the city and ran towards the warden's quarters. Belegwen watched as he stormed up the winding steps towards his quarters, then followed obediently.

There was so much that she did not understand about him and what had come to pass between them. She did know one thing though; his silence and avoidance hurt. At the moment, she did not understand why she had feelings for this cold beast of an elf and why she had given herself to him, for he did not even seem to care that it had happened. It pained her to think about it, but yet she could think of little else.

Eventually, they made it up to his quarters. He opened the door and entered with her following closely behind him, her head hanging down in shame. "Sit." He commanded harshly, motioning her to the bed. Lifting her head a little, she sat down and looked up at him with the burden on her heart showing visibly upon her face. He stared back at her with a slightly odd look in his eyes that Belegwen could not place.

"I have met with the lady tonight and she did not give glad tidings." He started, watching Belegwen with his full attention. "She has seen a future in her mirror that she is most certain of. We are going to war, sooner than later."

Belegwen's eyes enlarged as she clenched her fists. "What?! Who are we fighting at the end of our own age?" She asked tensely.

"We will fight Sauron's forces as evil rises up once again. Few details have been disclosed to me and I cannot answer your other question. Our only duty now is to start preparing for it. I want you teaching swordsmanship classes. We will work the schedule out tomorrow." He said as he paced the room almost nervously.

"Very well then," Belegwen said coldly, rising from the bed into a standing position with her arms crossed. "Is that all?"

She looked him in the eyes, challenging him to say otherwise. The look she gave bestowed upon him made him stop for a moment, as she had planned. "Do not question the lady's will, Belegwen." He stated in a soft, irritated voice.

After walking to the door, her angry eyes met his once again. "It is not the lady's intentions that I hold in question." She spat, then exited the room feeling quite horrible. She would need time to work all of this out in her head. For now, all she wanted was a nice bath and her bed.

ooOoo

He stood absolutely still, his eyes still fixed on the door well after she had left. Her eyes were haunting him. Learning about the war did not seem to trouble her as it did him, but she was mad at him—he just knew it. However, what he did not know was what he should do about it.

Trying to ignore the problem, he found himself stripping down and donning his robe for a bath. Quickly, he went down the stairs to the bathhouse, only to find Belegwen quickly exiting it as he entered. Knowing he needed to say something, he grabbed her arm. "Belegwen…"

But that was all he had time to say, as she ripped her arm away from him and continued towards the stairs without even looking at his face.

Gracious shores, how was he going to remedy this situation?

After rapidly bathing, Haldir hurried up the marble steps with the hopes of catching her before she went to sleep. He only made the quickest stop at his talan to run a comb through his hair before continuing on to hers. He knocked on the door ever so softly, but did not wait for an answer before he entered.

The lights had already been dimmed, but Belegwen was not in bed. She stood out on the balcony, her eyes gazing up at the stars. He knew she felt his presence, but made no move to turn and face him. Slowly, he approached her, not knowing what state he would find her in. He felt a light breeze as he exited the room and walked out onto the balcony. Cautiously, he put his hands on her shoulders. "Belegwen…" He murmured, slowly sliding his hands down her arms, finding no resistance.

Or so he thought. Whipping around at the speed of light, he found himself face to face with a very upset elleth. Her angry eyes met his and she all but smacked him with her look of indignation. "How dare you!" She hissed quietly, grabbing the front of his robe with a clenched hand. "How dare you toy with my heart! I have all but bonded myself to you and you have ignored me for weeks now! Do you think I will accept such poor behavior? Do you?!"

"Belegwen, you misunderstnad-" He started, as she turned away from him and barged back into her room. He followed her back into the room and then continued, "I told you this has to be a secret. This is the only way we can be together right now. I am not mistreating your heart; I am simply not revealing it for all to see."

She stood with her arms crossed, staring at the wall in the dimly lit room. He came up behind her again and, taking a chance, gently put his arms around her waist. Feeling no opposition this time, he bent down slightly and brought his lips within an inch of her tiny, pointed ear and whispered, "I still feel the same as I did that night under the stars. I still care about you, Belegwen."

He felt her begin to tremble in his arms and drew her in closer until he could feel every curve of her backside against the front of his body. Breathing softly on her ear still, he lowered his head and placed a few slow and sensual kisses on her neck, awaiting her reaction as his hands slid languidly over the smooth satin robe that covered her stomach.

"If that is how you feel," she replied breathily, "then why are you so unkind to me when we are in public? You say you are trying to hide our secret... You may hide what is there, but you need not be so cruel towards me." She whispered, trying to sound angry but failing more and more with every kiss that he layered up and down her soft neck.

Quickly, he turned her around so she faced him and pulled her chin up with two fingers so her eyes met his. Her blues eyes stared into his and he felt his heart start to beat more quickly as he tried to find the right words to say.

"I'm sorry."

It was all he could come up with, but it was enough because her fiery lips hit his own immediately with a passion he had not dreamed of. One of her hands pushed into his hair roughly while the other dragged down his back, pushing her body tightly against his own. He could feel the heat and curves of her body through their thin robes and shuddered as he grasped her firmly and joined in.

It was only one kiss, but it felt like it could burn on for all of eternity. Finally, he pulled away, gasping for breath, in awe of the power of it all. Silently, he pulled her into his embrace and stroked her damp hair, shutting his eyes to savor the moment. "My lady," he murmured into her hair, "I will try not to be so harsh. You are a marchwarden and deserve more respect than what I have given you. However, I will not allow other elves to see any hint of what is happening here. This is a secret and it must be well guarded. You must not think that my actions as a marchwarden and my duty to the elves have anything to do with my feelings towards you. Promise me you will remember this in the future. No matter how rude or cruel I am when I am doing my job, you must promise me that you will let it all go because I am only being what I must—a marchwarden of Lothlorien. Do not fear my harshness in the outside world. My personal feelings for you will not change."

Leaning down again, he kissed her forehead softly. "Promise me now."

She looked up and into his eyes, studying them for sincerity, as she always did. Pushing back a piece of his golden hair, she gave him a soft peck on the lips. "I promise."

Happy that she had forgiven him, Haldir smiled down at her momentarily, then kissed her deeply once more. Desiring her greatly, he pulled her body up against his own, nuzzling his face against her hair for a moment. Quietly, he whispered in her ear, "May I?"

"Please." She implored as a shiver ran through her. Not needing to be asked twice, his lips roughly connected with hers as a fire lit within him. He grasped her tightly against him and let his hands wander, making her gasp several times as he touched her in all the right places. His hands went to the tie on her robe and it slid off of her smooth skin with ease. He lost all control of himself as they reached her bed and before he realized it, he found himself bonding with her once again.

ooOoo

As Belegwen gasped for air in the aftermath of their passion, she felt Haldir quickly roll off of her and immediately leave the bed. No, this could not be. He could not lay her bare and then leave and expect everything to be fine between them. With the quickness of lightning, her hand shot off the bed and grabbed his arm as hard as she could, trying to clamp on with the same iron grip that she knew he had mastered a long time ago.

Her eyes burned into his with a questioning look, longing for something that he did not understand. "You cannot leave yet." She commanded breathily as she tried to gain her composure again.

His looked back down at her, his face studying her countenance as best he could in the small tendrils of dim light that were cast over her. His eyes were questioning what she wanted, though he did not bother to ask. "Belegwen, I must go. We have a big day tomorrow and there are only a few hours left to sleep before we must both be working again."

Her face became sad and unreadable. She paused, trying to think of the right words to say. "Haldir, if you truly care for me then you must know that I need more than what you are offering me now. I have given you comfort tonight, now please… stay and give me mine." She said, begging all while loathing herself for sinking to the level of begging. Why should she beg for his attentions? If he cared about her as deeply as he said he did, surely he would offer them to her freely, would he not? Sighing internally, Belegwen was growing more and more confused about their situation and it tormented her heart to no end.

Haldir, on the other hand, was staring into her eyes with confusion. Finally, he questioned her with an odd expression on his face. "Was that not comfort for you? Did I not give you pleasure?"

"Yes," she shot back immediately, "Yes, you gave me great pleasure, but it is not comfort."

He still looked confused and Belegwen felt even more frustrated with him. "Then, what must I do?" He asked quietly.

She looked down, wishing she had just let him go. She did not want to plead with him or make him uncomfortable. This had not turned out to be what she thought it was though and inwardly, she felt broken because they did not feel the same way about each other.

"No," He said suddenly and firmly. He grabbed up her chin and made her look up at him as he sat back down on her bed. "You must tell me what to do. You promised me you that you understood my feelings and intentions and I tell you again, they do not waiver. I do not wish to displease you, so tell me what I may do for you now."

Belegwen saw what she thought was sincerity in his eyes. Could she really trust him with her heart though? She did not wish to hurt like this any longer. Deciding to take the chance he was offering, she quickly replied to his query.

"Stay with me." She said, opening up to him and giving away the desperation in her heart for something of permanence. "Please. Even if it's just until I go to sleep. Stay." Then, she shut her eyes because she feared he would become angry at her for having such a silly, feminine request. She waited for his reproach, but it never came.

Instead, she felt him lift the sheet and join her in bed, pulling her towards his naked body. She opened her eyes when she felt his warm skin upon hers and found herself face to face with him. "Like this?" He questioned softly, pecking her cheek as he pulled her into his hard, muscular arms.

"Yes," she breathed, terribly surprised that he was still here. Gently, she snuggled her head into the crook of his shoulder and stared up into the glass roof of the ceiling, looking at the stars.

"Anything for you." He muttered, before moving a bit more to get comfortable. Then, she sighed softly as his breathing caught a regular pattern.

"Perhaps," she thought, "there is hope for us yet."

ooOoo

Edited by P.G. on 5/25/20.

So, what do you think? I'm presenting you with an extra-long chapter today. It's the longest I've ever wrote. I plan on it being the first of many because you guys deserve longer chapters than what I've been giving you. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. Though my classes start in soon, I will try to make time for this in my busy schedule. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

-P.G.