DISCLAIMER:
I do not own, or have anything to do with Lord of the Rings and the story's related characters. The characters Taryn, Nefiáthiel, and Nefára belong to me, everyone else is property of J.R.R. Tolkien.
A/N:This one leaves out Taryn for a while...just for now. This kinda lets you know where the other characters stand in their feelings about her. In this one: Haldir, Galadriel and Celeborn, and the introduction to the Fellowship.
TRANSLATIONS / DEFINITIONS:
Mellyrn = if we don't know it by now...we may have some trouble...*tsk,tsk*
talan / flet = um, see above...but for those of you that don't remember: a platform built into the *Mellyrn* trees of Lothlorien.
mela = love
Mani? = What?
a'maelamin = my beloved
Daro! = Stop!
Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion! = Welcome, Legolas son of Thranduil!
Vedui, Haldir o Lorien. Quel undome. = Greetings, Haldir of Lorien. Good evening.
If there's anything I've forgotten to translate, let me know, & I'll hop to it! ;)
Haldir raced through the forest to the northern march of Lothlorien, a smile sticking stubbornly to his face. No matter what he did, try as he might he could not deter that stupid, lovesick grin. Haldir knew it would give him away...if not to Orophin, then definitely to Rumil. Despite his efforts, his grin did not slacken, nor did his thoughts of the Elven maiden he had wrongly assumed of being 'ordinary' he and his brothers had found those two months ago, passed out and near death. Never had he dreamt that she would bear such a burden, nor did he think that she would ever capture his heart.
She wasn't beautiful - that should have been his first indication that she wasn't a 'normal' Elf, but instead he had cast away every wavering thought about her when he had glimpsed the pointed ears protruding from behind her golden hair. Her clothes had been another odd matter about her...one that Rumil had addressed promptly.
...
"Look at what strange garments adorn her. Surely she is no Elf..."
"Of course she is, Rumil! Look at her ears!" Orophin had replied. "She is an Elf as sure as you and I."
Haldir had dismounted from his horse by then, relaxed his grip on his bow that had slain at least ten of the Orcs that had nearly taken this Elf captive, and had walked up to where a group of Sentries and the other two Marchwardens stood gazing at the girl curiously. One look at her, and Haldir had felt the strangest feeling wash over him...as if he had known her his entire life, although she was a stranger to him. On a whim, he spoke.
"Give her full quarter, and let no effort to make her comfortable be spared. She is an Elf, Rumil, and she will be treated accordingly." Haldir watched her for another moment. "She is ailed; I will see her to the Healer. You two," Haldir motioned to two of the Sentries nearest him. "Help me."
The two sentries and Haldir were joined by two more graceful hands belonging to Orophin, and in no time they had the Elf maiden astride Haldir's steed. With one of the Sentries falling back, Orophin and the remaining Sentry had held the girl in place across the horse's back while Haldir mounted up behind her, and pulled the maiden closer to his torso. When he was settled, Haldir had nodded his thanks to the two Sentries and to Orophin. He turned a look to Rumil, who glared coolly at his younger brother.
"Do not glare, Rumil. It suits you not," With that, Haldir had ridden off toward Caras Galadhon and the Healer's flet. It had taken the girl a week to regain consciousness, and all throughout her sleep, Haldir had wondered about her. Who was she? Why were her clothes so...strange?
...
Haldir brushed away his thoughts as he drew up to the Mellyrn tree his was to hold his vigil in for the remainder of the day. A ladder was tossed down from the talan and Haldir scaled it without a hitch.
"Greetings, brother," A sweet Elvish tongue greeted Haldir as he pulled the ladder back up into the trees.
"Greetings, Orophin. How was your rest?" Haldir picked up his bow and studied it carefully. Next under his scrutiny were his arrows. He had forty in his quiver, and hanging on a branch above his head another twenty rested in a smaller quiver.
"It went well...what little of it I was allowed," Orophin cast a glance at his brother, a knowing look on his face. "I think I would do well to assume that you received no rest?"
Haldir laughed. "You would be correct. I did not take rest."
"How is Taryn?" Orophin inquired quietly, casting a fleeting eye over to Rumil who stood on the other side of the talan.
"Much better, and I am glad of it. She had me concerned for a while, what with her mood swings," Haldir pulled out a string from his quiver, untied the bowstring on his bow, and went about re-stringing the weapon with a practiced hand.
"Good," Orophin nodded before turning his Elven eyes out to the wide plain between Lothlorien and the walls of Moria. "My regards to her, next time you see her."
Haldir nodded. "I will tell her," he replied before casting his Elven eyes out over the plains to watch for the coming of the Fellowship.
...
Celeborn watched Galadriel carefully as she poured water into the basin of her mirror. "Galadriel, are you certain about her? As a bearer? I will trust your judgement, but I must know..."
"Celeborn, trust me," Galadriel looked up from the silver water of her mirror, tears clouding up the deep blue depths of her eyes. "I trust her, and always will I trust her. You saw naught of what I did when she first awoke...her vulnerability was strangling. It hung in the air as a mist of the floor of the forest, but she has adapted well to her task. I believe in her."
"I would not put it past her to fail in her task; if she is as you say she is..."
"You do not trust her because she is not truly an Elf," There was no question in Galadriel's voice, and her eyes bored holes into Celeborn accusingly.
"I have said no such thing. I simply...I meant no harm by it, mela. While we walked in the forest with her those many days ago, something about her presence struck me as odd. It was as if she belonged here, and then again as if she did not." Celeborn's eyes fell to the plush grass beneath his feet.
Galadriel was silent as she gazed into the rippling pool of silver in the basin before her. Suddenly she looked up at Celeborn, a look of awe in her blue eyes. "Perhaps she does belong."
Celeborn's eyebrows shot up. "Mani?"
"She is destined to be a Bearer. The Necklace was not lost, not by chance, but for reason. She is a destined Wielder of the Necklace. In a short time she will have a grasp on the power the Necklace wields, but not without our aid." Her deep voice trickled over Celeborn's senses, enthralling him as it had done at their every encounter.
"What of the second Necklace?" Celeborn inquired quietly. "Is it spoiled?"
"Nay," replied Galadriel. "She will find it...and restore it to its rightful Bearer."
"Do you imply, a'maelamin, that Taryn was meant to have this Necklace, and...Haldir the other?" Celeborn raised himself to his full height and moved gracefully over to his wife. She simply nodded, and Celeborn's face lighted up. "So they do belong..."
Galadriel nodded again. "I will fetch her," She spoke swiftly. "She has much to learn."
Celeborn was left with amazement in his eyes as he lifted the silver basin from the stone pillar in the center of the clearing and poured it slowly back into Galadriel's fountain. She would be needing the Mirror again soon, he knew. As soon as his task was completed, he set off after his wife, knowing full well that Taryn would be in the Library and that Galadriel would instantly be at her side.
...
It was drawing nigh to nightfall when the Fellowship had first come into view for the Marchwardens, and Haldir had motioned for every Sentry and his two brothers to silence themselves. They would allow the Fellowship safe entry into the Golden Wood, after that he was not sure. Haldir watched in silence for a while, listening intently as one of his Northern kindred sang of the Elf maiden Nimrodel while the Company passed her shores. A light conversation ensued between the members of the Company before the Elf attempted to scale one of the Mellyrn trees: the one Haldir himself was perched in.
"Daro!" He ordered, and the Elf dropped from the limb he had a hold on, ordering the others in the Fellowship to remain silent. Haldir spoke to him in his own tongue and then listened, bemused, as the small creatures whispered amongst themselves in the Common tongue about who - or what - he was and the Elf translated his words for the Fellowship.
"Yes, they are Elves, and they say that you breathe so loud that they could shoot you in the dark." Haldir could see nothing, but he heard a frightened gasp and the tiniest slap of skin against skin and spoke again to his Elf cousin. The other Elf listened for a moment and then turned back to the Fellowship in the Common Tongue. "But they say also that you need have no fear. They have been aware of us for a long while. They heard my voice across the Nimrodel and knew that I was one of their Northern kindred..."
Haldir heard no more of the Elf's voice. Instead, he cast his eyes out over the plains to where a dark mass was gathering at the rear wall of Moria. Orcs, for sure. He squinted and received a fairly good estimate of the time they had before the ghastly creatures were to arrive. They had at least mid-way through the night since Orcs loathed travelling by day. The devils had speed, Haldir knew, and they would be at the borders of Lorien shortly after they had set out. The Fellowship had been lucky getting out of the Mines of Moria by day; that had given them a good head start on the Orcs that were sure to follow.
Haldir turned his attention back to the Elf at the foot of the tree and addressed him once more, telling him to come up into the tree and to bring the Ring Bearer with him. The rope ladder was sent down once more, as the Elf translated again.
"Now they bid me climb up with Frodo; for they seem to have had some tidings of him and of our journey. The others they ask to wait a little, and to keep watch at the foot of the tree, until they have decided what is to be done." Haldir shook his head and waited for the Elf and the Ring Bearer to ascend the rope ladder. The Elf came first, and Haldir recognized him slightly.
"Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion," Haldir greeted politely, extending his hand to Legolas, who accepted graciously.
"Vedui, Haldir o Lorien. Quel undome," Legolas replied, stepping aside as Haldir glanced over the other Elf's shoulder to look over the two little people now standing on the talan.
"Mae govannen," Haldir experimented with the two smaller creatures in his native tongue, and smiled in surprise when Frodo answered in Elvish as well.
"Welcome!" Haldir spoke again in the Common language. "We seldom use any tongue but our own; for we dwell now in the heart of the forest, and do not willingly have dealings with any other folk. Even our own kindred in the North are sundered from us." Even as he spoke of this, he couldn't help but have his mind drift back to Taryn. Where had she come from? Haldir shook his thoughts away and continued. "But there are some of us who still go abroad for the gathering of news and the watching of our enemies, and they speak the languages of other lands. I am one. Haldir is my name. My brothers, Rumil and Orophin, speak little of your tongue."
Haldir let himself drone on and on, not caring if the three of them liked hearing him or not. Now that the Fellowship had come, he would just assume return to his flet and fall asleep in the manner of Elves: eyes open and aware, yet he could not do so. The Orcs would be advancing from Moria soon, as the cloak of night began to settle over the forest. Haldir turned his attention back to the two little creatures, Frodo and Sam, as they had been introduced. "We had not heard of -- hobbits, or halflings, for many a long year and did not know that any yet dwelt in Middle-earth. You do not look evil! And since you come with an Elf of our kindred, we are willing to befriend you as Elrond asked; though it is not our custom to lead strangers through our land. But you must stay here tonight. How many are you?"
"Eight," Legolas replied. "Myself, four hobbits; and two men, one of whom, Aragorn, is an Elf-friend of the folk of Westernesse."
"The name of Aragorn, son of Arathorn is known in Lorien, and he has the favor of the Lady. All then is well. But you have yet only spoken of seven."
"The eighth is a dwarf," Legolas spoke quietly.
"A dwarf! That is not well. We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days! They are not permitted in our land. We cannot allow him to pass."
Frodo jumped in defense of his companion. "But he is from the Lonely Mountain! One of Dain's trusty people, and friendly to Elrond. Elrond himself chose him to be one of our companions, and he has been brave and faithful!"
Haldir turned and gazed at his brothers and held a short conversation with them before turning to Legolas and inquiring of him in their own tongue. "Very good," Haldir cast a weary eye over the talan and down into the forest where the dwarf sat conversing with the rest of the Company. "We will allow him to pass, although we do not like it. If Aragorn and Legolas will guard him, and answer for him, he shall pass; but he must go blindfold through Lothlorien." Haldir cast his eyes about the darkening plain once more and noticed the Orcs beginning to make for the eaves of the forest. Haldir decided to keep this last bit of news from them to cause them no further worry.
"But we must tarry no longer, and your Company must not remain on the ground. We have been keeping watch on the rivers ever since we saw a great troop of Orcs going north towards Moria, along the skirts of the mountains, many days ago. Wolves howl along the wood's borders. If you have indeed come from Moria, then trouble surely nips at your heels. Early tomorrow you must go on.
"The four hobbits can stay on this talan with us -- we do not fear them! There is another talan in the next tree, and it is there that the others must seek refuge. Legolas, you must answer to us for them. Call us if anything is amiss! And watch that dwarf!" Haldir showed Legolas the way to the ladder and bid him good night. Shortly after the two remaining hobbits, Merry and Pippin, came up to join the Marchwardens. Haldir gave the four hobbits their second, and much more filling, supper. After the supper, the hobbits wrapped themselves in the blankets they had brought with them and the blankets given to the by the Elves and tried to sleep, although their home for the night was not to their liking. Haldir made sure that they were attended, and then he took up residence on the edge of the talan, bow and quiver at his quick disposal should the Orcs pass too close for comfort, and hobbit chatter going on at his back well into the night.
Go to story...
Prologue - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
|
