A/N: Another chapter for you guys! Second one today, which im sure you will like. This was my favourite chapter I have written yet!- I'm a big romantic at heart!

Note from [co-writer] E: The last chapter was my favourite to write I love doing the Haldir/ Earendur confrontations please review guys we're both trying to get better at writing and we hope you enjoy

I do not own any of Tolkien's work or characters, only my own!

Nienna and Eärendur had decided it was getting late so they would go back to their talans to change before going to get some food. Nienna had left him at her talan after agreeing she would meet him there in a short while, she was sure he would be ok to get back to his talan on his own.
Eärendur was in a very good mood while he was walking to his talan, he had spent the whole day with the lovely Nienna. He was sure Lillieth would forgive him eventually and he made Haldir look like an idiot in front of many people, not bad for one day. When he finally reached his talan he noticed something on the floor outside his door. He walked over to investigate, the only thought that came to his head was 'is that an apple'. As he approached it to pick it up he felt the floor underneath his feet fall through and he fell into a net that was positioned precariously beneath him.
He was trying to register what was happening, a piece of wood dug into his back, and the apple upon his chest. He then saw the face of Haldir above him.
"I believe that apple belongs to you, am I right?" asked Haldir with a smug grin on his face.
Eärendur looked up not believing the situation he was in. He reached around to retrieve his dagger from his waist but realised he hadn't worn it today.
"How did you manage to set this up. I thought this type of childish was below you?" asked Eärendur.
"It may be below me but I believe you have already met my brothers" said Haldir as Orophin and Rumil came into view.
"It is good to see you again, Eärendur. I remember you being taller when we last met" mocked Orophin. A laugh escaped from the mouths of the three brothers.
"Please let me out, you have made your point" pleaded Eärendur.
"No, you will stay in here to think about your actions. I am now off to go for my walk with Lillieth where you will not be able to interfere" Haldir replied. The three brothers started to walk away then Haldir's face resurfaced near the edge then tipped a bucket of apples into the net with Eärendur.
"I wouldn't want you to get hungry while you wait here" chuckled Haldir.
Eärendur sat in the net fuming. "I hope you realise, this means war" he shouted.

Nienna arrived at Eärendur's talan to find him hanging below the floor in a net filled with apples and pieces of wood.
"Eärendur what are you doing?" Nienna asked him.
"You know just hanging around, care to give me a hand?" he asked in a soft voice.
"How did you get down there?" she asked in reply.
"This is courtesy of the March Warden and his brothers" he said.
"They wouldn't do this without cause. What did you do?" she asked.
"Nothing" he replied. "Eärendur!" she raised her voice at him.
"Ok, when we were in the market earlier, I may have spotted Lillieth and Haldir and I may or may not have threw an apple at him, knocking him into a trough full of water" he said with his head bowed.
"You will never learn will you. Give me one good reason why I should let you out?" she said.
"Because I am charming and handsome?" he replied with a sense of arrogance.
"Nowhere near good enough" she replied before walking away.
"Wait! I am sorry, if you let me out I promise to not go near Lillieth or Haldir tonight. We can get that dinner as well" he said in a begging tone.
"That's a start but you need to promise to stop interfering in her life. The March Warden is an honourable man, and as you can see his brothers are not to be messed with either. I promise he will not hurt her, she is happy with him. At the moment you are hurting her more than he ever would." She said, trying to make him understand.
"I promise, I will give them space. But he deserves payback. Now would you let me out, please" he replied. Nienna then walked up the stairs towards where the open net hung. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out onto the remaining floor outside his talan.
"Now for the meal, my lady?" he asked as he put his arm around her.
"I hope you can cook" she replied with a smile on her face, as they entered his talan.

Lillieth and Haldir made it to the secluded spot where they had been previously, he held her hand and guided her to sit on the grass underneath the willow tree. He had prepared some food which he had bought along in a basket, he opened it to reveal some strawberries and grapes along with a jug of cream. He also placed two glasses in front of them, the water they would get from the large clear pond which was beside them. He picked up a strawberry which he dipped in the cream and slowly guided it to her mouth for her to bite into the fruit. Like always, this made her blush. It was his presence that made her act in this way. In turn, Haldir had never been so captivated by an elleth before.
"I have never done anything like this before" Lillieth said.
"I find that hard to believe, my lady. You must have had all the Ellyn [male elves] chasing you" replied Haldir.
"I did have a few admirers but it's hard for anyone to get close to you when you have a protector in your household who was renowned throughout Mirkwood" she stated giggling slightly.
"Eärendur?, I cannot imagine him being very skilled" he replied.
"Oh no, he is my father trained him personally. He aided in the defence of our household and the borders many times. He was offered positions of higher rank of our king, Thranduil, even a place among the retinue that escorted prince Legolas to Imaldris. He always refused." She explained.
"Why is that, my lady?" asked Haldir quite curious to know why.
"He always said the duty to look after me was the greatest he has ever been given. I feel guilty for holding him back but I could never convince him to take any of the positions." she replied.
"You have a true friend there, Lillieth. If he wasn't such a pain, I may even like him" . Lillieth giggled at this.
"He does grow on you, if you give him time" she said still laughing.
"Even being immortal, I doubt I will ever have time" chuckled Haldir in response.
I while later after consuming their light meal, Haldir suggested a swim in the open water. Which Lillieth agreed to. She was very wary of taking off her dress so she could take a swim but the water seemed very inviting so she slipped it over her head leaving her underdress on and slowly entered the body of water. He didn't seem so shy and simple removed his tunic and dove in, he didn't want another tunic getting wet today. He swam over to where she was trying to hide her body whilst trying not to stare at his. As she was nervous the first thing she could think to do was splash water at him.
"What was that for, my lady?" Haldir questioned.
"You looked hot, my lord, I thought it would cool you down" she replied her cheeks once more warming from the blood flow due to embarrassment. She couldn't think why she had said what she did.
"As do you, my lady" he said as he splashed her back. They then started to swim around the pool splashing each other. After a while Haldir had enough and swam up to her enveloping her in his arms lifting her slightly out of the water. Her dress clung to her body where he could see the outline of her body, and he smiled to himself at the image.
"Do you surrender my lady?" Haldir said, looking into her eyes.
"Yes I surrender, please don't throw me under" she said still trying to catch her breath from laughing.
"What do I win, my lady" he asked. Suddenly she was very conscious that she was in his arms and she could feel the warm from his naked torso. This made her shudder, not from feeling cold, but from the feeling that had come over her. The feeling that she wanted to get closer to him. They remained silent for a while before he lowered his head to hers where their lips met in a soft kiss.
She lifted her hand up to his head and entwined her fingers in his long, flowing hair while she deepened the kiss. They broke apart for air and giggled at each other. Haldir lowered her into the water and took her hands in his. It was then he noticed something disturbing, bruises discoloured her wrists. How he hasn't noticed them before, he did not know. He couldn't help but ask about the marks on her wrists, the words escaped from his mouth before he had time to think.
"Lillieth, where did you get these bruises?" He asked with a concerning look on his face, he hoped nobody could ever do this to such a beautiful, special elleth. She pulled her hands away like she had been burnt and stared at Haldir with a look of pain before exiting the water to retrieve her dress.
"Please don't leave, I didn't mean to offend you" he said following her out of the water.
She said nothing and tried to retrieve her clothes so she could leave the clearing and return to the safety of her talan.
He walked up behind her pulling her close to him wrapping his arms around her.
"Please don't go" he whispered in her ear. The warmth of his body against her made her feel at ease and she turned to face him.
"I will stay. Just please don't ask me to explain the bruises. I will tell you when I am ready" she replied. He smiled and said "Ok, I can ask nothing more of you. Please come sit with me". She nodded and they walked over to the grass underneath the tree where they sat before.
"I have something to give you, you do not have to accept it" Haldir said to her while taking a box out of his tunic before handing it over to her. She took the box in her hand and opened it.
She was shocked to see that it was the necklace she had admired earlier at the market.
"Haldir, you didn't have to get me this." She gushed.
"It is only what you deserve, something to remind you of me." He replied before taking the necklace and putting it around her neck. "There, beautiful" said Haldir before staring deeply into her eyes.
He then took her hands in his and placed a soft kiss on each wrist where the bruises marked her skin.
She smiled in response before moving closer to him burying her head in his chest while he wrapped his arms around her. She finally felt at home.

Nienna and Eärendur were sat in his talan in the presence of the empty plates that had bore their meal. Both with satisfied looks on their faces.
"That was particularly nice, I concede that you are a good cook" stated Nienna.
"What can I say? Handsome, Intelligent, Charming and a good cook, I have many talents." Eärendur said while placing a goblet to his lips before spilling the contents down his tunic.
Nienna couldn't hold back her laughter "I see grace isn't one of your talents" she mocked.
"At least I can make you laugh. You are beautiful when you smile" he replied.
She looked at him not expecting the complement he had just given her.
"Then it's too bad you have gone out of your way to make me angry, lately. If not I might be smiling more" she stated.
"I will have to make up for that then, won't I?" he asked.
"You can make up for it by stopping this childish pursuit of the March Warden. If you can do that then maybe I will invite you over to my talan for a meal tomorrow night" she propositioned him, hoping to stop his childish actions.
"For that offer I would do anything, my lady" replied Eärendur.
"That is good to know. Now I will leave so that you can clean yourself up. I will see you tomorrow night for dinner then?" Nienna asked. Eärendur then stood up to lead her out of his talan.
He kissed her on the cheek. "Until tomorrow night, my lady" he said his goodbye.
Nienna blushed at this and smiled because this seemed to be different behaviour from how he acted before. She then kissed him back on the cheek before departing for her own talan. As he watched her leave he sighed and muttered to himself "I'm sorry Nienna, he has this coming to him".

Haldir still held Lillieth in his arms for what seemed like only a few minutes but now the moon was high in the sky.
"Can I ask you something?" he asked.
"What is that, my lord" she asked in reply.
"I formally ask permission to court you, my lady" he blurted out quickly as he was nervous.
She blushed then said "You know my answer must be yes, but you require permission from my farther or another male relative for it to be official" she replied.
"I will write to your farther first thing tomorrow morning" said Haldir.
She jumped and spoke with fear in her voice "You cannot do that, my farther doesn't know I am here and he wouldn't allow it. He would simply ride here with his guard and take me back to Mirkwood" she explained.
"Do you have a brother?" he asked. "No"
"Anyone I could ask?" he asked hoping there would be.
"There is only one" she paused realising what she was about to say.
"Who is that my lady?" he asked praying it wasn't who he thought it would be.
"Eärendur" she said with her eyes on the floor. A groan escaped from his mouth.

Please don't forget to review! I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will be up tomorrow, hopefully.