Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Haldir ran to the battlement and stared out over the city, expecting to see something of Tiger, but there was nothing. She had simply vanished. Too scared to start condemning himself, although he knew that would come, he ran back for his brothers. They had to help him look for her. And Glorfindel! She liked Glorfindel. Maybe she would go to him.

Of course he made a wild impression when he ran into the main hall yelling for his brothers amid the continuing festivities. One pleading look at Glorfindel brought that lord on the run, along with the twins. Celeborn rubbed his lip a moment with his forefinger and then followed as well. Something was seriously amiss if Haldir was running around with only his leggings on.

Aragorn insisted that all stay put and enjoy, but he like Celeborn had to see what was going on. As did Legolas and Gimli....and Arwen and Eowyn...and Farmir. They got outside in time to hear Haldir say, "Tiger has run off."

There were no wisecracks, only stares as the words sunk in. "Where did you see her last?" Glorfindel asked.

"She went over the battlement."

"A suicide," Gimli whispered to no one in particular. "She'll be at the bottom somewhere."

Haldir stared at Gimli in horror but resisted the urge to hit him. There was a ring of truth about what he said. But after a night of searching nothing turned up. Tiger was gone.

"Perhaps she has returned to Longma," Elrohir offered as a way to console his friend.

"No," Orophin interjected, " once she cools off, she will be back." Of course no one asked why she had run off, not at first anyway.

Over a breakfast that was only being half eaten, Arwen asked, " What led to her fleeing? I thought she was......." She stopped when Haldir met her gaze.

"An indiscretion I had no business making," he answered. Since he was not one to indulge in self pity, although self loathing, anger and rage were not unusual to him, he got up and said, "I have to keep looking for her." His brothers pushed their plates aside and got up to join him. Apparently no one was that hungry. All of them were thinking the same thing could have happened to them under similar circumstances, and they didn't really blame Haldir. Males made mistakes; it was in their nature. But to run off over one indiscretion was a bit extreme. That was just too highly emotional and possessive, even for a jinn tiger.

"She's pregnant," Haldir told his brothers as they saddled their horses.

Well that explained it. She was crazy. As soon as she calmed down, she would be back. That she was scared,hurt and completely alone in a strange land was not being dwelt upon. She would return.
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Celeborn stayed in MInis Tirith as long as he could, but the day Glorfindel gave away their pack horse to appease the resurrected husband of one of his young widows, it was time to go home. The silence as they rode away in the dark hours of the night was almost deafening. Everyone was looking for the tiger, but after thirty plus days of being gone, Celeborn didn't think she was coming back. Haldir was too proud to show how much it disturbed him, but it showed in the way he kept looking around, listening, even scenting the wind. And the weather was starting to turn cold at night. He worried about her, and everytime he could get a moment to himself, he tried to will her to him. He had never told anyone this, but he could 'feel' her sometimes, just at the edges of his mind. She was hurting.

Stories began to surface of a tiger living in Rohan. Everytime one of these stories arrived, Haldir and his brothers, or Glorfindel or the twins would go out to check on it. Always it was weeks late and the tiger was gone by then. Even more pathetic were the few who claimed to have seen a woman alone on the grasslands. She and the tiger were so intertwined, they were saying the woman and the tiger were one and the same. No one said anything to disuade them.

Haldir knew Tiger was in trouble; he could feel it but he couldn't find her, and she wasn't coming to him.
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Tiger lost her cub on the coldest night in January when the winds were howling like wolves and ice was thick in the mountains. Although destined for immortality, he had been born too soon, too small, too fragile. His little body had been perfect, and as hard as she had tried she could not keep the fragile, delicate little butterfly from leaving his tiny heart. She grieved horribly, holding the tiny body, kissing the whisps of silver hair on his head, pleading for the gods to bring him back to her. He was all she had now, but that wasn't true, this perfect little creature was no more. Silver tears rolled down Tiger's cheeks. Mena grieved with her and sometime during the night a small party of dwarves attracted to her heart wrending sobs came and buried her son. They offered her shelter, and for the first time since leaving her master, she accepted the company of other beings. BUt nothing could alleviate the grief in her heart. Tiger wanted to die but couldn't. Jinn tigers do not fade away.
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Haldir sat in front of the fire with a goblet of good wine in hand. He knew she was close by, up in the mountains probably, so near she had to feel him calling to her. But he also felt her enormous grief and he knew what it meant. He was a proud elf and no one would ever see him intentionally cry, but he also made sure he got very drunk that night. So drunk that if anyone wanted to pick a fight with him, he would give it to them.
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In the early spring Celeborn led his riders north to investigate some troll sightings. They all needed to get away from Rivendell, and the cross country ride was good for them. Even Haldir acted as if he appreciated the ride. Tiger wasn't coming back, and he simply had to let her go. Plain and simple..her loss. And to celebrate the letting go, he took out one large troll by himself and then seduced the most beautiful woman in the human village that they stayed in, threatening her husband at sword point if he tried to interfere. Glorfindel promised the man a horse, just not the ones they were currently riding. Haldir thought it was funny.
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Tiger came out of the mountains and attacked a herd of sheep and goats just at sundown. She killed just to be killing and when the humans came out to drive her away, she found a high place and roared her misery at them. She wanted to die, to be rid of the pain she could not shake. But she could not just lay down and let them kill her. Her instincts to survive were too great.

A week later she attacked some cattle, killing several calves in the process. And this attracted the attention of the King of Rohan. Although he had never heard of tigers in his realm, the villagers who had seen the great cat all described the same thing, a tawny orange beast with stripes. An avid hunter, he found himself looking forward to going after it. Imagine Aragorn's look of surprise when the king of Gondor came to visit and found a tiger skin on the floor of his reception hall.

And since the tiger had a taste for young animals, Eomer knew exactly what kind of bait he was going to use.
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Tiger watched the men set their traps for her. Sitting on a rocky ledge near a spring of water, she contemplated her next move. She was tired of running, of hurting of missing Master and cub. She had seen Glorfindel once from afar. She was certain he had seen her too, but she had slipped away before he could reach her. Laying back on the rock, staring up at the sky, she imagined Celestial was up there somewhere, but she couldn't feel his thoughts anymore. She could feel Haldir's sometimes. Once she had almost answered his summons before Cub died, once. She didn't like thinking about Master; her heart was still too sore.

Maybe this was it. She would let the men catch her; they would kill her, then she would go to find Cub. Simple. She looked to see how far along they were. Nets. She didn't like nets, but men and orcs liked nets. When they slipped away into their hiding places, she approached the bleating goat and softly roared to impress them. Since this was to be the end, she would make a good show. Roaring her loudest, she jumped on the tied kid. The net sprang up. Tiger suddenly had a change of heart, she didn;t want to die after all.

The men ran up but no one attempted to stab the creature in the net. The kill belonged to the king. he was about to drive his sword into the beast when he stopped and stared in amazement and shock. Within the net was no tiger but a woman.

"Please don't kill Tiger," she softly pleaded, now regretting her decision to let them trap her.

Eomer knew he had taken a tiger, he had seen the tiger spring the trap. He also knew there was now a woman in his net. "So the tales are true," he told one of his retainers. "The woman and the tiger are one. And now she's mine."