Killing Beauty

Love the questions! Simple answer: Elrohir felt something that he had never felt before and wanted to try it again. When she said no, it pissed him off. Elladan doesn't really know what happened, but being around Elrohir must be affecting him....sort of like being brain linked to a deer in rut. As for why she didn't tell Rumil the truth...she doesn't remember him yet so no trust has been built up. Still I find his acceptance of who she is sweet. I believe that had he heard all of the earlier convrsations, he would have known right off it was her.
As for Orophin's stallion, it's still his horse.....for the time being I guess. There's also her ada's stallion...hhhhhmmmmm?
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Haldir wasn't sure he heard her right. She wanted to know how she died and where she was buried? The twins were very interested in his answer as well.

"Yes, tell us Haldir," Elrohir smirked.

Mara recognized her error and regretted bringing the question up in front of them, but it had been preying on her mind since her talk with Rumil. But this nonsense with Elrohir had to stop. "You," she began and pointed a finger at him, "have repeatedly tried to go back on our agreement, and I am tired of it." Elrohir stopped smiling as she advanced on him. "I am grateful that you flushed an orc out that cave for me to kill; it was what I wanted. You and your brother are the finest hunters I have ever known......but I paid my debt to both of you." She stopped and looked at Elladan, who acted as if he wanted no part of her tongue lashing. Turning back to Elrohir, she snapped, "I understood as did you, that once we returned to Rivendell that would be it. Is that not so?" He looked squeemish. "Is that not so? Or do your honor your word to wellborn ladies and lie to the daughter of the Horsemaster?"

"I honor my word," Elrohir retorted angrily.

"Then honor it and leave me be," she said and met his fierce gaze. "I believe my family has honored yours more than you will ever honor mine." She waited hopefully.

The hard expression on Elrohir's face started to fade. Lanir's daughter had made her point. "You will be bothered by me no more," he announced and walked away, Elladan striding after him. Mara looked up at Haldir, who was studying her closely. "Have I offended you?" she asked.

"You don't remember me," he said thoughtfully a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I remember the wolves in the trees," she replied softly. "Max came to me first, then Rumil told me of Mani. I think I have always remembered the black stallion with the white face, even when I was a little girl." She looked at the grass and then back at the river. " I remember the swans."

"But not me," he repeated.

"Then tell me who I am. Tell me about us."

Haldir sighed deeply, a great doubt tugging at his thoughts. He did not want to return to that year, to that time when a mountain and an evil seduced one he loved away from him. He did not want to stir those memories up after so many years holding them at bay. But he could see plainly in her eyes that she did not remember him, that it was only lust that kept her interest in him. Lust was not a bad emotion just not the one he wanted to see in her eyes. Still.....

"You remember the wolves?" he asked and started walking with her falling in step beside him.

"Pieces. They seem to be the clearest."

"That's because you let them sleep with you, and you fed them from your plate when you thought no one was watching," he explained.

She considered it and then bobbed her head and looked back up at him. "How did we meet?" she asked.

"Do you remember this?" he asked and stopped. Lifting the edge of his tunic, he showed her a fine white scar on his side. She looked at it but no memory stirred.

"Did I do that?" she asked, hoping she had not.

"Have you ever met Princess Valiel?" he asked curiously. "In this life, of course." It was an attempt at a joke and he smiled.

"She has been to Rivendell. Did I know her in my other life?"

"Very well indeed," Haldir mused. "I was taking her to meet her husband when we were attacked by Oshorsemen. I was hit twice, and the arrows were tainted." Finding a pleasant spot to sit under, he patted the ground beside him and proceeded to tell her of that first meeting, and their strange ride on a blak stallion with a white face. "You saved my life, and Orophin's stallion is Glider's son by an elven mare," he explained and realized that nothing was stirring in her thoughts.

Mara really wanted to remember. She wanted more than anything to remember. Why would she remember Max and Mani and not him, not this beautiful elf who reminded her so much of.......the answer was there in front of her. She was already remembering him...remembering him as her ada. And suddenly it all seemed very wrong to her. It was like a bath of ice water.

"What's wrong?" Haldir asked, seeing the change come over her face.

"I need to think," she said and stood up. "This is all too quck for me to grasp." She stopped and looked up as Elrohir came running as fast as he could towards them.

"Haldir! Haldir!" he yelled. "There is a dragon in the wood! The orcs have found a dragon!"

Mara hesitated a moment as Haldir jumped to his feet and took off after Elrohir. Dragons had once been common on Middle Earth, but as far as anyone could remember, there were only two left and they were not supposed to be here! Following as quickly as she could, she found the Galadhrim and Lord Elrond's guardians hastely meeting and then sprinting into the forest with their bows and swords. She tried to follow, but Lady Arwen stopped her.

"I need to go!" Mara exclaimed and tried to jerk her arm free.

"The Galadhrim do not know you," Arwen explained quickly and held on tight. "They will be looking out for your safety and one of them might get killed."

Mara stared at her but allowed herself to be restrained. It was happening again. She was being made to wait for their return. Gazing into Arwen's silver blue eyes, she remembered that night when she waited for her ada, when she heard the last crack of his great bow. She could still hear it.

"Stay with me," Arwen said softly. "If the dragon and orcs get by them, we will have to deal with it ourselves and I will need your help."

Mara tried to be patient, tried to wait, but eventually she took a deep breath and said, "I have no weapons, my lady. I need to go retrieve my bow from the stable."

She could see the hesitation in Arwen's eyes. "Promise me you will return," Arwen said, "or I will not let you go."

"I promise," Mara replied. "I will return."

Arwen reluctantly released her. "All right, but hurry back."

"I will, my lady," Mara repeated and then sprinted back to the barn. It was a good thing in a way that Lady Arwen had stopped her. She had had no weapon and would have been a hindrance for certain. Finding her bow, she frantically tried to string it, but her hands were shaking and she found she was having a difficult time bending the damned thing. Then the frayed end came loose. She was wasting so much time!

Ada's bow or rather his bowstring. Scrambling through the hay in the stall, reaching for her pack, she withdrew the Galadhrim bowstring and studied it. One thread of golden hair wrapped around the main string strengthened it, making it almost impossible to break. Calming herself by taking deep breaths, she bent her bow and attached the string.

She had promised Lady Arwen to return, but she had not promised to stay. Entering the stall of the black stallion with the white face, she purred softly and explained to him that they were going to fight a dragon and that she needed him to take her there. She explained that his owner was already there with his beautiful brothers and that they had to hurry, that the woods were on fire.

The stallion whickered softly and nuzzled her hand. He would take her into the burning forest.

Lady Arwen called after her as she galloped by, but Mara paid her no heed. As far as she was concerned, she had returned; she just hadn't stayed.

Smoke filled her nostrils and she could see an unholy light in the sky as the mellorn trees burned in the distance. Haldir would be where the dragon was. So would the twins. Stopping Promise, she tried to get her bearings. An aweful roaring cough told her where the dragon was. Urging the stallion onward, she crossed a grove of young trees and found another forest trail. She turned back towards the roar.

The dragon roared fiercely and spit it's poisonous breath at another tree as the Galadhrim tried to deal with it and the orcs that were controlling it. This was not a probing sortie into the Golden Wood; it was a deliberate attack, and Lord Celeborn was at the front of his warriors.

Mara galloped off the trail, stopped and looked up at the huge beast that knocked a company of elves over with its enormous tail and snapped at them. The beast was toying with them, it's evil black face sporting a permanent grin of malevollence. The orcs that were with it were heavily armored and tearing into the Galadhrim, who were meeting them head on. The fierceness of it horrified her. Then she spotted Haldir aiming an arrow high in an attempt to put out one of the dragon's eyes. The beast saw him and snapped.

Mara didn't think as she knocked an arrow and fired. All it did was tell the creature that she was there. Seeing the horse, the dragon reared high and spit a flame at them. Promise leaped aside as the flame landed where he had been. The dragon was no longer interested in the elves as it turned its attentions to the horse and rider. Mara jerked Promise back around. It had never occurred to her that the dragon would find the horse a greater threat than the elves. Or maybe it was a combination of horse and rider, she didn't know, but she did know this, the dragon was trying to follow her as she kicked Promise into high gear and turned towards the forest edge. She heard Lord Celeborn yelling as the dragon lifted from the ground. Too afraid to look back, she clung to the stallion's neck and urged him on.

"I've done it this time," Mara whispered to the stallion. "Fly Promise, fly!"

Breaking free of the forest, she spun the stallion on his heels and galloped parallel to it. A fierce cry sounded overhead and a black shadow passed by. Once more she jerked Promise back, almost sitting the stallion on his butt as he stopped and turned. The dragon spit again as she bolted back the other way. She didn't know how long they could do this, and she knew if she ever broke for the Plains of Rhohan, the creature would get them. But by keeping it away, the Galadhrim and Guardians would be able to dispose of the orcs, and then.....maybe then.........Promise skidded to a stop and reared savagely as the dragon dropped in front of them. Down on all fours like a cat, it readied itself for another spit of flame.

Promise seemed to sense the impending breath of fire and charged into the woods, the young trees going up in flames behind him. Gazing skyward, Mara could see the beast was looking for them. Charging back towards the battle, if only to find something more useful to use against the dragon, she saw Haldir, bloodied faced but grand, disposing of an orc. He saw her.

"Ride that way as fast as you can," he yelled and pointed. "If you can get to the stream, come back!"

Mara understood and nodded. Driving Promise back into the open, she galloped along the forest edge with the dragon swooping low over them. Promise was running on his life, and at the small stream, she turned and kicked him as hard as she could. He leaped forward and ran as fast as he had ever run back the other way. The dragon glided in low.

Mara heard it scream in agony and glanced back over her should. Galadhrim in the trees that weren't burning had fired on the creature at the level of its eye. One golden haired warrior stood farthest out and fired a second shot into the beast's evil eye. Blinded on one side, the dragon reared high to savage the elf, he jumped back out of its way. Mara wanted to make sure he got away and readied her own bow for another shot. By whatever power that was with her that day, she steadied her hand and heart and fired. The arrow drove deep into the corner of the other eye. Roaring, it lifted off the ground and turned back towards the northeast.

She sat there and watched it leave.

"Mara!" Elrohir was yelling at her. "Ride back and tell the Lady of the Wood that all is well, but we have wounded."

Mara nodded and turned Promise's head, but then she saw Haldir. His blood was hot, his emotions high, like when he killed the stone trolls. He looked at her and saw the lust in her eyes. He knew she was remembering.

When Mara returned to the wooded city, she quickly announced that the battle had been won but that healers needed to be ready for the injured. Lady Arwen was displeased with her but said nothing. Mara didn't have time to explain herself. There was too much to do.
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It was dark and Haldir was not in his talan, but Mara waited. In that silky darkness, her blood high, she felt the memories come. Sitting in a chair by a table, she remembered it all. She remembed now the arrow ripping his flesh and the terrible cry of pain; she remembered the first night they made love and how there always seemed to be an under current of violence in her passion. And she remembered mother and the magic charm she taught her....how to make a male mad with desire without giving them relief. She had learned the trick on him, on his sleek flesh. When she closed her eyes she could see him bound and helpless, and if filled her with a raging desire.

She waited with that thought in her mind all night. When Haldir arrived just before morning, he read her face and smiled. "You remember?" he asked.

"Everything," she said and stood up. He was beautiful, a magnificent golden creature, and when he bent his head to kiss her, she met his mouth with a savage kiss. Her hand slipped under his tunic, and the moment she felt bare skin, she opened her mind and found the core of his being. He gasped at the sudden surge of desire. "I remember everything," she whispered and eased him back on the bed. AS long as she had her hands on bare flesh, he belonged to her. And she kept one hand on him until he could stand no more and asked to be released. Mara/Ashva held him tightly as he shattered into a million sparkling shards. Then she laid her head on his shoulder and remembered how he smelled of the forest.

"I have missed you," she whispered.

"I knew you would remember," he sighed.

"But we do have a problem," she said.

"We'll talk when I wake up," he replied as a great weariness settled over him. "I need to sleep."