Haldir sat alone by the pool, eyes distant. The festival in Caras Galadhon was far enough away to not disturb the silence in the glade, but he was aware of the presence of people on some instinctive level, and he was not pleased.
He didn't like that there were people nearby, but there was little enough he could do about it. Since childhood he had preferred solitude to the company of others, but he still had to return to the city at times. He had wanted to remain on patrol during the festival, but his brothers had overruled him. They had wanted to go and would not leave him behind.
Pulling a comb from his tunic, he slowly unraveled his braids and began to detangle his hair. While on patrol he rarely bothered, so there were several rather impressive snarls to be dealt with.
As the knots came undone, debris fell out-leaves, dirt, pine needles, even the occasional twig. The served well to camouflage his brilliantly white hair, but he was no longer on patrol, and it had been so long since he had last washed his hair that his scalp crawled.
At last all the tangles were removed, and he placed the comb aside. His hair hung limply around his face, the remaining dirt and grease rendering it lank, dull, and faintly tinged with brown.
With a quiet sigh, he stripped off his clothing and waded into the pool, his pale skin almost glowing against the dark background in a reversed silhouette. Already waist-deep in the water, he took a deep breath and dove beneath the surface.
The water was cool and clear, and it felt pleasant against his bare skin. He swam a few more yards, then returned to the bank to retrieve a bar of soap. Sitting on the grass by the pool, he quickly worked soap lather into his saturated hair, mercilessly ripping out any strands that dared to tangle around his fingers. When he considered his hair to be as cleansed as one wash could make it, he filled a pitcher with water and rinsed out the long locks so that the soapy water would not run into the pond to poison what lived within it.
Twice he repeated the procedure, until he deemed his hair to be clean at last. Then he returned to the pool for another swim.
Surfacing facing away from the bank where his belongings lay, Haldir stiffened. He could feel eyes lingering on his bare back. "Avoiding the festival?"
Haldir did not bother to turn; even were he unable to recognize the familiar voice, there was only one creature in Middle-Earth, be it elf, man, or orc, that could catch his unawares. "As you must be, my lord, to discover me thus truant," he replied mildly. Celeborn chuckled.
"I am indeed guilty as charged. I have no great love of crowds or dancing." Haldir glanced back over his shoulder, innocently unaware of the sultry picture his made, his hair disheveled and his full lower lip sticking out in a tiny pout. Sucking in a sharp breath, Celeborn patted the ground beside him and the help up the comb. "Come and sit with me."
The wet elf obediently splashed his way up to the bank where his lord sat and dropped down on the grass beside him, unashamed of his own nudity. Celeborn shifted until he knelt at Haldir's back, and began to gently run the fine-toothed wooden comb through his hair.
Haldir had the most incredible hair, reflected Celeborn, carefully undoing the tangles that had materialized during his last dip in the pond. When clean and dry, it was the purest white the Lord of 'L—rien had ever seen in an elf so young. Wet, as it was now, it darkened to true silver and glistened in the moonlight as if it were genuine metal and not hair at all. Only a coating of filth could contaminate the purity of the shade; the younger elf's tresses were by nature completely untouched by even the slightest tinge of yellow or gold. It was also the finest he had ever touched; the silver locks felt like wet silk under his hands.
When the comfortable silence began to feel oppressive, he broke it by murmuring in Haldir's ear. "Abandoned by your brothers?"
Haldir's shoulders moved in a slight shrug. "They asked me to accompany them into the city proper. I declined."
"You would live on the border in your uniform if they would only allow it," the lord commented wryly. "And regret it very rarely." Haldir yawned; the effects of a long day spent journeying to Caras Galadhon, combined with the soothing warmth of Celeborn's body behind him, were beginning to catch up with him. "I have missed you," he added absently.
"I should hope so!" Celeborn retorted indignantly. "You've been gone for more than a month!" Haldir twisted around as far as he was able in order to send him a sulky look, and he relented, "I have missed you too." He rearranged his limbs so that his sleepy Marchwarden could settle comfortably between his legs. Haldir promptly leaned back into Celeborn's solid body and drew his knees up to his chin, wrapping his arms around them like a child. Smiling indulgently, Celeborn set the comb aside and embraced Haldir tightly, resting his chin in the flesh between neck and shoulder. "I fear that someday not even your brothers will be able to coax you into the city," he murmured. "You could come and visit me," Haldir suggested drowsily. "I will build a talan in the forest where I may live in peace, and you will come, and see what a gift it can be to be left wholly alone."
"Ah, but would you not be lonely?"
"Not so long as you are there with me," Haldir replied with a shy smile, while his fingers traced along Celeborn's biceps in a manner that was anything but shy. In return, Celeborn nuzzled the pale column of his throat, nosing aside the curtain of hair that blocked the way. "Your hair smells like flowers," he remarked.
"I ran out of soap and had to borrow Rumil's," he explained.
"Why does Rumil have soap that smells of"-he sniffed Haldir's hair again-"violets and lily of the valley?"
"I didn't ask," Haldir said diplomatically. "I was rather desperate for a bath."
"Mmm. I can imagine."
"And just what, pray tell, is that supposed to mean?" Haldir demanded.
"Only that I have seen you returning from patrol duty before."
"Well, if you're going to insult me, I'm certainly not going to sit still and listen to it," Haldir declared, and jumped out of Celeborn's arms into the water. The resulting slash sprayed Celeborn quite thoroughly, and he rose slowly, removing his now-wet robe with an ominous glower.
Haldir grinned unrepentantly and dove beneath the surface of the water, confident of his escape. Equally confident of Haldir's capture, Celeborn strode to the far side of the pool and slid silently into the water. A tiny wave at his back alerted him just as Haldir pounced, nearly knocking him face-first into the water. Making the best of his half-failed strategy, the younger elf wrapped his arms and legs around Celeborn, and snuggled relentlessly into his back.
Celeborn sighed in mock-irritation, and ducked under the water, intent on dumping his burden. Haldir clung to him like a limpet, however, and flatly refused to be dumped. "Child, you will be the death of me," Celeborn grumbled after he came up for air.
"Hmm?" Haldir rested his cheek in Celeborn's long silvery hair and proceeded to ignore him.
Celeborn blinked, unaccustomed to being ignored, especially by someone clinging to his back like a barnacle. "Haldir?"
"Mmm?"
"Shall I tell you why I left the festival?" he purred. Haldir did not exactly stiffen, but Celeborn could sense that he was paying attention again. Gently, he unwound one of the arms wrapped around his throat-not tightly enough to choke, of course, less than comfortable all the same. The wrist limp in his grasp, he pulled it forward so that he could examine the hand dangling from it more closely.
Haldir's hands were beautiful, pale and delicate-seeming in the moonlight. The fingers were long, and looked as though they would snap at the slightest pressure, or melt away like ice in the sun. Celeborn knew better; he had trained those hands to deal death himself. There were none stronger in all of 'L—rien, save perhaps his own. Nevertheless, in the silvery moonlight Haldir looked hopelessly fragile.
Celeborn was more sturdily built, shoulders broad from a lifetime spent as a warrior as well as loremaster. His hair was shades darker than Haldir's, a blue-tinted silver even when dry. Where the Marchwarden was a strange mix of strength and delicacy, Celeborn knew that no one would ever fear to break the Lord of 'L—rien. He was simply too invulnerable.
"Well?" Haldir demanded at last, impatient with the long pause.
"Well, what?"
"Well, why did you leave the festival?"
"Can't you guess?"
"No."
Celeborn sighed. "You weren't there. I haven't seen you in a month and a half, Haldir. I miss you."
Haldir melted. Sliding down until he stood on his own feet again, he wrapped his arms securely around Celeborn's waist and pulled him even closer. "I know, lover. I miss you too. But I have to go."
"It would be so easy to resent you for your sense of duty," he whispered. "I know you must go. I do not have to like it."
"I would not ask it of you," Haldir replied, with honest regret. "But I cannot love your city for all my love of you, and you cannot leave it for all your love of me."
"Someday the war will end for good, and you and I shall live for all eternity in your talan on the border, and never need another soul."
Haldir smiled wistfully. "Someday." Celeborn turned in Haldir's arms and rested his forehead against his lover's. "I love you."
"I know," he murmured. "I love you, too." He kissed Celeborn's nose swiftly, then ducked his head to bestow a long, cat-like lick to the soft flesh of his throat.
The Lord of 'L—rien tilted his head back, allowing Haldir greater access, while his fingers tangled in the sentry's moonshadow hair. Haldir smiled, and brushed a butterfly kiss across the hollow of throat. "Pretty," he said softly.
Celeborn tugged a lock of his hair teasingly. "You are the pretty one."
"Only a blind man or a fool would deny your beauty. I am neither."
"And what am I? Fool or blind?"
"Merely my own true love. And are not all lovers fools?"
"Only when destiny allows. 'And thus doth caution make cowards of us all,'" he quoted softly, eyes intent on the long satiny hair rather than his lover's face.
Haldir sighed. The necessity of their discretion did not trouble him, but lying to his spouse grated on Celeborn terribly. He kissed Celeborn again, seeking to distract him. "Be not of melancholy mind, my lord, for I am here. Waste not what time we have together with bitter wishes for what he have not."
He smiled more cheerfully, and Haldir exhaled in relief that the shadow had passed. "I thank you for your most sensible advice, my lovely one. I shall take it to heart."
"What care I of what should share your heart, so long as I never leave?"
"Then carefree shall you be indeed, for when you depart thence I shall forthwith wither and fade, and so you will dwell within my heart for all eternity."
Haldir touched Celeborn's face tentatively, brushing callused fingertips over full lips and smooth skin. For a moment, his eyes became terribly vulnerable, and then he jerked away, diving under the water. Celeborn froze briefly, then dove after him.
Haldir surfaced in the shallows and sat, hugging himself and shuddering convulsively. His lover joined him, a little frightened by the sudden reaction, and embraced him tightly. Haldir shivered again, and began to cry. "What is it?" Celeborn whispered, stroking his hair.
"I saw-I saw-"
Celeborn stilled. Haldir, like Galadriel, had the Sight, although nowhere near her ability. Galadriel could scry to See what she needed; what Haldir Saw was forced upon him. Most often his visions came from mirrors, still water... and the reflections in others' eyes. "What did you See?" he asked gently.
Haldir made a tiny choked noise, and tried unsuccessfully to stem the flow of tears. "You," he replied eventually. Celeborn waited. "You were-I was dead. You were crying."
Celeborn stared blindly at the moon's reflection, fractured by ripples. "How?"
"I don't know, I only Saw a moment. It wasn't in Lothl—rien." He clenched his hands into bloodless fists. "It hurt."
Celeborn's hold on him tightened. "Maybe it can be avoided." Haldir looked at him silently. He never Saw what could be averted, only the inevitable. Even Galadriel could not predict events with the same terrifying accuracy. "You know it cannot," he said at last.
The lord of 'L—rien bowed his head. "I know."
Haldir kissed him softly. "I will come back. I promise you, if I must wait until the end of time, I will come back to you."
He shook his head sadly. "Never make a promise you cannot keep, Haldir."
The sentry's eyes flashed. "Do not doubt that I would do anything within my power for you, my lord."
Celeborn smiled bitterly. "Then will you stay with me?"
Haldir went white. "I cannot. Do not ask that of me, if you love me, please, Celeborn. I cannot stay here."
"I know you cannot stay. Just as I cannot help asking you." He laughed humorlessly. "A sorry pair, are we not?"
"My lord," Haldir pleaded, although for what he didn't know.
"I am sorry," he said, wearily. "'Tis none of your doing, and the fault belongs not to you."
"I will come back to you," Haldir repeated fiercely.
"You will not need to," Celeborn replied simply. "I will follow you."
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Story notes: Series/Sequel: Yeah, once I get off my lazy butt and write them.
