Title & Chapter Number: The Elf in the Mirror 1/12
Author(s): - Author's Index
Website: Of Elves and Men
Fandom: Middle Earth
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These are not my characters and I make no profit from their use.
Special Warnings: None - Yet.
Betas: Mayetra
Cast: Haldir/Elrond
Timeline: Pre-LotR AU
Spoilers: None
Summary: Haldir becomes ill and Elrond cares for him.
Notes: This story came about from several bunnies and my love/lust for Elrond and Haldir! It was to be a simple silly pwp, but angst is my middle name sooo it turned into something else. It is a story of love and the things that sometimes keep us from knowing how to love. Hope you all enjoy it.
[] Haldir's thoughts.
Chapter One
Haldir hated escort duty. It sometimes seemed too much like babysitting to him. He was a Guardian and a warrior, not a guide. But Lord Celeborn had asked him to escort Arwen back to Imladris to her father’s house. Times were perilous and the Orcs got braver by the day. He agreed simply because as much as he despised her father, he was fond of Arwen. He thought if he ever married, he might like a she-elf who was dark and beautiful like she was.
This was their eighth day out and the trip thus far had been very uneventful. He had a feeling of unease though. Something did not feel right. He looked ahead of them and the very forest itself seemed to shimmer in the morning light. How odd.
Rumil had been watching Haldir for the better part of the last hour. He kept swaying on his horse. He had never seen such a thing in someone who was not injured. It quite alarmed him. He looked at Orophin, who nodded his acknowledgment back. They would watch carefully. Their captain and their brother was the world to them both, even if he was not the gentlest or kindest of elves to others. His pride and haughtiness had stood him in good stead over the years, making him the best there was among all the Guardians of Lothlorien.
Arwen was watching Haldir too. He was sick. She had seen sickness, seldom among elfkind but among humans, she had seen it. The sooner they got to Imladris, the better. Her father was the best healer in all of elvendom, and he would know what to do. She said nothing, though, for she knew it would only anger Haldir. He never liked doing escort duty and for some reason, he seemed to dislike her father intensely. She said nothing, but continued to watch him.
Haldir wondered why everything was getting so dark. It was early in the day yet, wasn’t it. Rumil and Orophin seemed to be weaving in and out. What was happening? He looked down at his own hand and found it moved in his line of vision even when he did not move it. He was cold too, so cold. Was it cold when they began this day? He couldn’t seem to remember.
Rumil watched as his brother toppled from his silver stallion and fell onto the forest floor. He was terrified. He leaped down from this horse and ran to his brother.
"What is wrong?" he asked, but blank eyes stared back at him. He shook his brother as if that would make him wake. He put his head close to Haldir’s mouth, listening for breath. Satisfied that his brother was not dead, he looked up at Orophin and Arwen. "How fast can we get to Imladris? Haldir is … sick."
"If we ride hard, we can reach there by night fall." Orophin replied, fear evident on his face as well as Rumil’s. Neither had seen illness before.
"He is ill. My father will know what to do for him. He has seen sickness before." Arwen tried to soothe the brothers, but in truth, Haldir’s colorless face was frightening to her too. It was disconcerting to see the normally strong, seemingly invincible elf here in the dirt, unconscious and pale as the dead. She looked at the brothers and they both seemed to be completely at a loss without Haldir to advise them. "We need for one of us to carry him so we can ride fast. Rumil, can you hold him in front of you?"
Rumil nodded, relived almost that someone was telling him what to do. He and Orophin lifted Haldir from the ground. He mounted Haldir’s horse for it was larger and stronger than his own. Arwen and Orophin helped get Haldir mounted in front of him. They mounted and began to ride hard.
Stopping only to let the horses rest and drink water now and again, they made Imladris just past nightfall.
~*~*~*~
"Riders are approaching fast, my lord. It appears to be Lady Arwen and her escort."
Elrond sighed. Something was wrong. He had felt it earlier today, but was unable to tell what it was. He walked out to greet his daughter and her escort.
Young Rumil came thundering into the courtyard on a huge silver stallion, holding what appeared to be an unconscious Haldir in his arms. Arwen and Orophin followed along with the extra horse.
Elrond’s servants and apprentice helped get Haldir down from the horse and onto a litter. The three other elves all started talking at once. Elrond held his hand up for silence and looked at Rumil.
"What has happened to Haldir?"
"He just… fell off his horse."
"He is ill?" Elrond looked down into the pale face of the March Warden and knew the elf was ill, very ill. "Has he been out of the forest recently?"
Orophin nodded and Rumil spoke, "He took food to a band of humans who were traveling just past the forest border. They had sickness among them, because he returned and took some medicines back to them too."
Elrond had to admit he was a little taken aback that Haldir had gone out of his way to help anyone, least of all, humans.
"Bring him inside and put him in the room next to mine. Have cool water brought for the large tub and, oh, Carnil, bring my medicines also." He followed the litter into the large, sunny bedroom beside his own. He and Rumil lifted the limp elf and lay him on the bed. Elrond listened to his chest and felt his head. His lungs were congested, and he had a high fever. His forehead was extremely warm. He needed to cool him down and get some medicines in him.
The dark-haired elf-lord turned to Haldir’s brothers and Arwen, all anxiously watching.
"He has a lung fever. He is very ill, but he will recover. It will take a few weeks, I think. This disease hardly bothers the humans who get it because they are more used to disease. It is odd, is it not, that human disease can make us ill and barely affect them, even when we live on when all is left of them is a memory." Elrond seemed lost in thought for a moment then his attention snapped back to the matter at hand, Haldir. "Anyway, Carnil and I shall bathe him and give him medicines. You three look weary, so why do you not get some food and take some rest. Melde will show you to your rooms, Rumil and Orophin."
"We need but one chamber, my Lord." Orophin said quietly.
Elrond nodded, looking pensively at them for a second, "Very well."
He turned back to his patient.
~*~*~*~
After they had eaten, the Lorien elves went to their room. A bath had been brought for them, and they both stripped and got into the tub, one on either end.
Orophin looked at Rumil with tears shining in his eyes. "I am scared, Rumil."
"He will recover. Lord Elrond is the best healer in elevendom, and he said that Haldir will be well again."
The younger of the two, Orophin, moved so he could sit in front of his brother, his back to Rumil’s chest. Rumil put his arms around him and tenderly kissed the back of his neck. His hands slid beneath the water to soothe supple skin as he murmured gently into Orophin’s ear.
When the water grew cool, the tall willowy brothers rose and dried one another with soft towels. Their embraces were more than brotherly as they pressed their bodies together and lay together on the bed. Their kisses were passionate and lingering as they gave one another comfort and love as they had since puberty. It never occurred to either of them that what they did was somehow wrong. They only loved and trusted each other and Haldir, along with the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien. It was only natural they turn to one another in a time of need and uncertainty.
~*~*~*~
Elrond and Carnil undressed the March Warden. Elrond smiled at the admiring looks that his apprentice gave the long, powerful body on the bed. It took them both to get him into the cool tub. The deadweight was not easy to move, even for ones with the strength of elves.
Elrond prepared a medicine for Haldir’s fever and another for his congestion. He gave them to the sick elf with a dropper, a few drops at a time until he had dispensed all the dosage. He made a poultice for his chest, while Carnil bathed his face with cool water.
Before the water got too cold and gave Haldir a chill, they lifted him from the water and lay him on towels on the bed to dry him. Once dry, they rolled him off the towels and Elrond applied the smelly poultice to Haldir’s chest. He covered his chest with a towel and covered his body with a blanket.
"I will stay with him, Carnil. Go and get yourself some dinner. I will send for you, if I need you."
Elrond settled in a chair by the bed and looked at his patient. He knew how he and Celeborn had found them, the three brothers, hiding under their family’s wagon. Their parents lay dead along with their horses. The small elflings were unharmed, just very, very afraid, but the oldest one had been beaten and raped and even tortured by the men who ambushed them. He did not speak for months afterwards. Elrond had been in Imladris at the time with his wife, and had treated the young elf’s wounds. He knew no balm for the wounds in his soul.
Haldir had grown into a cold and arrogant elf. Elrond was not very fond of him, even though he tried to understand why the elf was like he was. That he did not particularly like him did nothing to take away from the other elf’s beauty. Elrond leaned over and brushed the silver hair out of Haldir’s face with his hand. He actually had to resist the urge to kiss the young elf’s fevered brow.
~*~*~*~
Haldir was scared, but he had promised Mother and Father that he would look after the little ones. He had done so since they were tiny babes, one born on a year after the other. He was sure that Father could make a bargain with the men to send them on their way. He placed his brothers under the wagon, telling them to stay put no matter what. When he turned back around, his mother fell to the ground, blood staining the front of her dress as her throat was slit by a man behind her. Two other men restrained his father and they stabbed him, dropping him on the ground like refuse when he died.
"Hey, look what I found." One of the dirty men came out from behind the wagon with Rumil and Orophin. "They’re boys but they’re a pretty as ten year old girls."
"No!" Haldir screamed and ran at them from behind the horses, where he had hidden. Perhaps he could have saved his parents. He would never know, but he was sure he was going to save his younger brothers.
Two sets of strong arms caught him. "Oh, look at this one. It’s all grown. I’d rather have it, anyway. Look at the pretty mouth."
~*~*~*~
Elrond was brought out of his reverie by Haldir’s screaming. He spoke gently to the elf and tried to calm him, but it was to no avail. He kept screaming, his eyes wide open and seeing nothing. The healer climbed into the bed with him and put both arms around him.
"Haldir! It is Elrond. You are safe."
"Mother! Father!" He screamed as tears ran down his face. He screamed for his parents until he finally dissolved into sobs.
Elrond rocked him as he would have a crying elfling and whispered, "I will not ever let anyone hurt you again, Haldir," over and over until he was finally still again. He realized some time later that he meant what he said.
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