Title & Chapter Number: Legends 13/16
Author(s): - Author's Index
Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: NC17
Disclaimer: This world and its creatures belong to J.R.R Tolkien, New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson. I've just bullied my way in long enough to right a wrong. You know the one I mean. (Haldir deserves better…) I receive no financial compensation for the following tale. I "do this for love."
Warnings: Explicit het sex; a few slashy references
Betas: Telbeth the Indefatigable
Cast: Haldir/OCF (a Maia, no less!); Rumil, Orophin, Galadriel, Celeborn, Aragorn, and a few original critter characterizations
Timeline: 3rd Age of Middle Earth during the War of the Rings -After the visit of the Fellowship to Lothlorien through the Battle at Helm's Deep
Spoilers: None
Summary: During a border patrol, Haldir discovers a lone Nazgul horse and a strange visitor with an annoying attitude and some very spooky skills. Things unfold deliciously until a deception and a surfeit of pride cause them to separate. They are re-united at Helm's Deep with an entirely different outcome, of course. Horses and dragons and crows…oh, my!
Notes: Dedication - Hennaid to my friend Sulien for nagging me into this romp and forcing me to learn Sindarin (well, pidgin Sindarin); to Craig Parker for gifting us with his interpretation of Haldir, and to my amazing husband for being…well…amazing!
Setting: Fangorn Forest
Timing: Just after the battle at Helm's DeepFangorn Forest looked dark and brooding even in the new light of the dawn. Illume had paid little attention to their direction, so focused was she on repairing Haldir's wounds.
By the time Dolen settled to the ground at the edge of the wood, the healer had mended all but a few external scrapes…and had -after much soul searching – allowed herself to take away some of the sorrow she knew he would experience on waking. She could not let him bear the full weight of the loss of so many brethren.
Exhausted, she slid from Dolen's back and eased Haldir's sleeping weight to the ground. The dragon, now mantled in the dull grey of the stones that dotted the nearby fields, curled around the slumbering Elf, obscuring him from view. She whiffled the length of his body and tattooed one cheek ever so gently with the tip of her tongue. Illume stroked her finely scaled side and dropped a kiss against her neck.
"Thank you, Dolen, "she whispered and stumbled toward the trees. Glancing back, she smiled. True to her name, Dolen appeared to be a large boulder resting at the edge of the forest.
~*~*~*~
The first sight that came to Haldir's eyes on waking was an intricately carved dragon's head. Even in simple grey fieldstone, it was beautiful with its elegantly triangular shape, large intelligent looking eyes and gracefully flared nostrils.
He lay on his stomach, snugged into the statue's belly with its wing arched overhead. And he was warm. How could this be, surrounded as he was by stone? Carefully, he flexed his back. It ached, but the searing pain was gone. And he could draw a full breath. Illume! He thought she had come to him after he had fallen beneath the Orc blade. Had she performed a healing? Or was he dead and dreaming?
"A healing…" a hesitant voice inside his head confirmed. Sweet puffs of warm air surrounded him and he realized he was staring into iridescent sulfur yellow eyes. Slowly, he extended a hand toward the statue's curved nostril. The great snout moved into his palm and whuffled softly.
"Only on dragon back… "Haldir mused, recalling Illume's response to him when he had asked her if she could fly. Other memories began to stir.
"I called you to Helm's Deep. You are Dolen."
"Dolen," the dragon agreed.
"A dragon who can speak common tongue inside my head…?" Haldir regarded her evenly.
"Speak common tongue," she confirmed.
"What place is this? How came we here? And where is Illume?"
"Slow speak, please," the dragon requested politely.
Haldir swallowed his impatience and sat up, bracing one hand on the dragon's side to ease the ache in his newly mended back. Her scales were smooth to the touch, as if fashioned from polished mother-of-pearl. As he watched, they warmed to a toasty golden hue beneath his hand. He gave the satiny hide an experimental rub and earned an appreciative churring noise from Dolen.
"Nice-good," she sighed into his mind, hide fluttering under his ministrations.
"Such a beauty," Haldir found himself saying aloud. He widened the sphere of his rubbings and Dolen flexed her wing skyward in sheer bliss. The elf stared up at the ribbed gossamer sail overhead and wondered idly how something so delicate looking could lift a dragon into the air.
"Strong, very strong," Dolen offered.
Ah. She could read his thoughts as well as she could understand his speech. Enchanted with this exquisite being, Haldir leaned over to test the feel of her scales against his cheek.
"And beautiful, "he smiled, brushing a light kiss against her hide. To his delight, it bloomed to a rosy hue where his lips rested.
"Forest..."
Haldir looked up.
"Illume, tired. In forest..."
"Why did she not stay with us?" he asked, puzzled.
"Tired," Dolen repeated. "Walking tree people... Good water in forest."
Haldir stared at the dark tangle of branches a few yards away. …Fangorn… Dolen must have brought Illume to the Ents for their rejuvenating waters.
"Why did we not go with her?"
"No fire in forest." Dolen moved one clawed foot restlessly.
"No fire..." Haldir stopped and stared up at his companion. "Dolen," he began carefully. "Do you make fire?"
She hiccupped a small flame for him.
"Make fire," she agreed dropping her head down to eye level with the Elf. He reached out to stroke her forehead. A fire-drake... Illume's dragon was a flying fire-drake. Most dreaded of dragon-kind.
"Nice-good I," she said a little plaintively, rubbing her snout against his chest. Haldir grasped her face in his hands and stared into her luminous eyes. "I know, pretty one. I know. But I must go into the forest to find Illume."
Dolen blinked. "No fire in forest," she repeated a little sadly and settled back down into a curl.
Haldir stroked her neck. "Dolen, you must leave this place. Hide somewhere safe."
Dolen did not move. "Haldir nice-good" she rumbled softly. "Find Illume."
The Guardian was loath to leave this amazing creature behind, but, with a final stroke to her side, he turned and made for the forest.
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