The Price of Pride

A/N: As I have browsed various websites and chatted on various lists, I have discovered that some of my Elvish was incorrect. As a linguist, I can’t stand errors, so I am fixing my mistakes from here on out. Please excuse the internal inconsistencies.

Elvish translations

Cuaren – my archer
Hannon chen – thank you
Im kahlesson chen – I trust you
Meldir – friend
Pen-vain – beautiful one
Pen-velui - lovely one
Tolo – come
Uma – yes

Chapter 33

I stripped in short jerky movements that would have revealed my anger to anyone watching. Fortunately, I was blessedly alone with no one to see my discomfiture. Or so I thought. I was so caught up in being angry that I did not hear Aragorn approach. True, he was trained by Elves, but he was still a Man, and only ever succeeded in arriving unnoticed when I was truly distracted. His hands closed over mine as I tugged unsuccessfully at the laces of the undertunic I was wearing. “Easy, cuaren,” he said. “Let me help.”

I submitted, my fingers too clumsy in my anger to untangle the fine laces. When he reached for the hem to pull it over my head, I took charge again. My control was too shaky from the anger to handle Aragorn undressing me. I pulled the shirt off, dropping it on the ground with my tunic before removing my boots. Aragorn looked like he was about to offer to help with the laces on my leggings, but I shook my head. That was not an option unless he wanted to be dumped on his back and taken right there. He might have wanted it, but I had promised him, the twins, and myself, that I would seduce him properly. I had to get Aragorn out of there, before I said or did something I regretted later.

“I am not very good company right now, meldir. You would be better off going to help the twins.”
He saw right through my excuses, as he always did. “You are upset, Legolas. Why?”

“Your brothers annoyed me.”

“They can be pretty annoying at times,” Aragorn agreed. “What did they do this time?”

“Tried to tell me how to run my life,” I muttered. I do not know why I answered. I had decided not to tell Aragorn about the argument. It was between the twins and me, and was not flattering to any of us. Yet I heard myself answering his question.

“You argued with them about me, did you not?” Aragorn guessed.

I tried to deny it, but his gaze was implacable. “Uma,” I replied finally.

“They forget I am an adult now,” he told me. “They still see me as the child they helped to raise. I cannot blame them for it, really, but it is annoying at times. Do not be too angry with them. Ada told them to watch out for me.”

Their Ada could take his plans and his advice and … I struggled to keep my temper under control. This conversation was not helping. I waded into the stream to clean off the blood from butchering the deer.

I ignored the sounds of Aragorn undressing on the bank. I forced myself to think about anything but the tangle I had landed myself in yet again when it came to my heart. I was almost succeeding when warm arms folded around me and a hot, naked body pressed against my back. “Let me help you,” Aragorn repeated. He took the soap from my hands. With one hand, hdid did the braids at my temples. The other continued to hold me in place. I trembled, from the intimacy of his hands in my hair and from the sensation of his skin against mine. When the braids were loose, he worked soap through my hair, lovingly cleaning the long tresses. I relaxed in his embrace, content to let him wash away my frustrations along with the blood. I sank into the water with him, at his urging, to let the current rinse away the soap. His hands had lost their hesitancy as they caressed my back and arms. When he started around to my chest, I knew I had to stop him. It was getting annoying, always stopping, but I still believed he was not ready for the intimacy he seemed to desire. I turned my head and kissed him. “Hannon chen, pen-vain. I feel better, but if you do not stop, I am going to break the promise I made to you.”

He stilled his hands but did not back away. “What promise?”

“To appreciate you as you deserve. If you push me beyond the limits of my control, I will not be able to keep that promise, and I will regret it. Trust me, pen-velui, to set the pace.”

“Im kahlesson chen, Legolas.” Four little words. How could four little words, twenty-two little letters, have such an impact? To know that he trusted me to guide him through whatever we chose to experience together was… humbling.

Gratifying.

Arousing.

I had to get us both out of this stream before I took advantage of him and his trust. I snatched the soap and finished my bath. “Tolo, we should return to camp before your brothers ruin our dinner.”

That thought was enough to get him out of the stream and into his clothes. We made our way back up the hill to the camp. Elladan and Elrohir had cut the meat into strips for smoking or roasting, but they had not tried to cook it. Aragorn set immediately to that task, leaving me free to glare at the twins.

“A word, Legolas?” Elladan asked, after enduring my silent stare for several minutes.

I followed when he gestured away from the camp.

“What?” I asked curtly when he turned to face me.

“I… We apologize. We were out of line earlier.”

I did not reply.

“We followed you to the stream, thinking to talk more calmly, to reach a compromise. We saw you, with Estel.”

“You have an annoying habit of seeing things not meant for other’s eyes,” I told him angrily, thinking back to another intimate scene he and Elrohir had witnessed many years ago.

“You did not take the comfort he was offering.”

“I took what he knew he was offering.”

“But not all that he was offering.”

“And I will not take it until he understands.”

“We realize that now, mellon. We love our little brother. We only want what is best for him. Can you understand that?”

I could, but it was not for him or Elrohir to decide what was best for Aragorn, and I told him so. “He is so young, Legolas, for all that he has reached his majority among Men. We will always be protective of him, but we will try not to interfere any more. Explore your ridge; watch your sunrise. We will not hinder you.”

“Hannon chen,” I said, a little less curtly. “I would never do anything to hurt him, Elladan.”

“I understand that. Now. Go make your plans, before it gets too dark to climb.”