Title & Chapter Number: The Elf in the Mirror 11/12
Author(s): - Author's Index
Website: Of Elves and Men
Fandom: Middle Earth
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These are not my characters with the exception of Eruanno and I do not 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 Eleven
The weeks passed and Elrond and Haldir spent them cementing the love they had finally acknowledged, but there were barriers not crossed yet. And they both knew it. There were still deep and painful wounds that neither elf could yet completely put away.
Duty called Elrond back to Imladris. For the first time in many, many years, he didn't want to go home. He wanted to stay here in the forest and learn all there was to know about Haldir. He had a feeling he would never grow tired of the younger elf and that there would always be more to learn. Haldir's temper was improved but this did not mean he was sweet and gentle natured. Some days he and Elrond seemed to disagree over almost everything, at least until naked skin met naked skin and then all arguments were forgotten in a haze of heat and pleasure.
"What do you do in that big old house all day every day? Don't you want to be out in the forest and to live among the trees?" Haldir couldn't imagine life where there weren't any talans. He had felt confined when he was sick in Imladris. He couldn't imagine living that way all the time.
"There is a lot to do. It keeps me busy." Elrond was proud of his haven of knowledge and took a small amount of offense at Haldir's assumption that all elves wanted to live in the tops of trees like they did here in the Golden Wood.
"Wouldn't you rather be out in the gardens or the forest?" He asked Elrond, who just smiled.
He and Haldir lay naked on the open-air platform that made up half of the younger elf's talan. Elrond ran a hand down Haldir's flat stomach and kissed his navel. The younger elf lifted his hips, urging Elrond to kiss farther down and as always, his lover obliged him. Neither of them said anything intelligible for quite some time.
"Are you sure there is no problem with me escorting Lord Elrond back to Imladris? I know there have been more raids of late up on the Fences. I feel as if I should be there too." Haldir was torn. He wanted to go with Elrond at least part of the way home. He had no idea when he would be able to see him again and wanted to spend every moment with him that he could. But he knew that the Orcs were getting bolder and bolder, and he was the March-Warden.
Celeborn smiled. "I think they can do without you for a few more days. Your brothers are in charge and besides you, they are the best."
Galadriel smiled and nodded her agreement.
Haldir reluctantly agreed.
~*~*~*~
Elrond and Haldir set out for Imladris. They took their time, enjoying the beauty of the Golden Wood and each other. They spent the first evening making love in one of the talans that dotted the forest outside Caras Galadon. Haldir still stiffened when Elrond touched his scarred back but he was learning more and more to let the elflord touch him without fear or shame. It was not an easy lesson, the elflord knew, but he desperately wanted Haldir's trust. He knew he already had his love.
The pair spent the day with Haldir's brothers as they came closer to the border. Elrond found it amusing that Rúmil and Orophin blushed when they realized he was their brother's lover.
Later in the night, they lay in each other's arms again, talking in the afterglow of love. Elrond wondered, as he had several times, if Haldir would ever be able to give his body to be loved the way Elrond had his own. He wanted to bury himself inside his March-Warden. But he would wait. And hope.
~*~*~*~
The two passed out of Lothlórien early in the morning. It was about two weeks to Imladris by foot and Haldir decided he would see Elrond all the way home. About noon on the second day out, they began to pick up a vague trail and the scent of others in the woods. At first, neither of them was worried because the trail wasn't an Orc trail. There seemed to be eleven of the others on foot, men by the looks of their tracks.
Even though they did not fear the men, the still kept an arrow nocked and ready as they tread along on silent feet.
They heard the men long before the men could have heard them. The two elves moved stealthily through the woods, determined to avoid any confrontation if possible. These woods were neither Lothlórien nor Imladris woods so the men had as much right as they did to be there. That did not mean that caution was not warranted.
It was nightfall when the men attacked. Both elves knew it was coming. They had kept up their progress but knew the men were not far in front of them. Both elves also knew when the men realized they were behind them. Both were ready when the attack came. The men came from all sides.
They fought the men, back to back, swords and knives lethal and deadly indeed in the hands of the seasoned warrior and the guardian. An hour later, eleven men lay dead and a very exhausted Elrond and Haldir buried them all in shallow graves.
When they finished their gruesome task, Elrond turned to the younger elf. "If I ever have to fight at your side again and you are that careless, I will kill you myself to spare myself the pain of watching you die at an enemy's hands."
Haldir looked at him with cold eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Lord Elrond? I am alive, am I not?"
"You are lucky to be alive!" A furious Elrond was as formidable as an angry Haldir, maybe more so. "I have never seen anyone fight with such disregard for himself. Not even Gil-galad. You were sloppy and careless, Haldir."
"They are dead. The world will not miss a few more human scum. I did my job. Now stop whining."
He turned away from Elrond and that was a mistake. Elrond had spent many years as a scholar and healer but he had spent many more as a warrior. Elrond's reflexes were lightning speed as he grabbed the younger elf and spun him around. He stepped close enough to Haldir that the younger elf could feel his breath upon him. "I will not see you dead. I did not sew you back to together all those years ago just to see you kill yourself in front of me," he snarled and he let Haldir go so hard that he stumbled backwards.
"You should have let me die!" Haldir screamed at him.
"Why?"
"Because I was not fit to live." Haldir's eyes were narrow with anger and something else.
"Why do you say that?"
Haldir turned and started to walk away once more.
"Answer me, Haldir. The young elf I found was certainly fit to live."
"You do not know."
Haldir stalked off and this time, Elrond let him go. The elflord knew that Haldir needed to tell him more. He cringed to think what more it could be. He remembered the horrors that Haldir had told him about several weeks back. He knew this was worse, at least to Haldir, it was.
Elrond built a fire well away from where they fought, killed and buried the humans. He heated some water for tea and pulled a bottle of Gondorian whiskey from his pack, he poured some in his cup and sat drinking as the tea water heated. He stared into the fire. He didn't think his companion was going to be a pleasant one for the rest of their journey.
"Did you pack some food?"
Elrond looked up at the question and handed Haldir a piece of the Lembas he was eating. He rummaged around and found an apple in his bag too. He held the whiskey bottle up and poured some in the cup Haldir held out to him. The blond elf tossed the liquor back and winced as it burned a trail down to his stomach
"I, uh, I've got a little cut that I need you to clean and bandage for me."
Elrond nodded, acting as if his lover had asked if he wanted an apple. Haldir stood and removed his cloak and tunic. The tunic was dark with blood on the side. Elrond's heart lurched in his chest. But when he looked at the wound in the firelight, it was a shallow gash on his right side. It had bled a bit but was a flesh wound. He did need to sew it up though.
Haldir lay still on his bedroll as Elrond sewed the wound up with the fine thread he carried in his pack. He poured a bit if the whiskey on it to clean it before and after and bit his lip as Haldir hissed at the stinging pain.
"You are stupid, Haldir of Lórien."
Haldir said nothing.
The quiet seemed to drag out into the evening with neither of them inclined to say anything much. They stared into the fire and drank. Finally, late in the night, Haldir spoke.
"Do you know why you should have let me die?"
Elrond said nothing, knowing that Haldir would eventually tell him.
"I am as bad as those men were."
Again Elrond held his tongue. Haldir looked at him and then back into the fire.
"Do you even care?"
At those words, Elrond was on him, grabbing a handful of the front of Halidr's tunic and getting in his face.
"Are you as stupid as you are acting?" Elrond had never seen his own children act as childish as Haldir was acting.
"Would you still love me if I told you I liked what they did to me?" Haldir jerked free from Elrond's grip and fled into the forest.
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