Killing Beauty

Haldir read the letter aloud from the healer in Rohan to Lady Galadriel and her lord. The woman stated that she had found Elrohir alone with an arrow in him and that she and her granddaughter were tending him in a healing house. It was recommended that someone come and get him. The name of the village was Maskye.

"I've been there," Ashva whispered to Orophin.

Lady Galadriel, until then quiet, looked at Ashva and said, "Then you must go there again and find Elrohir."

Lady Arwen, not entirely sure she understood what was going on, asked, "When were you there?"

"In another life, my lady," Ashva explained and made a slight bow.

"And you go with her," Celeborn added and nodded at Haldir. "Take whom you will."

Haldir accepted the order and turned away. Once out of ear shot, he asked, "We won't find any old lovers there, will we?"

"If we do, they will be ancient," she replied with a grin.

"And of course you will need companions," Orophin spoke up as Rumil joined them on the way to the stable. "All I ask is if this time you follow your own advice," he told Ashva. "And I take it you haven't told Lady Arwen yet that you are Ashva?"

"No I haven't," she admitted as Haldir suddenly stopped and spun around.

"You said Kalan has grown stronger, but you have not mentioned anything about yourself," he said almost accusingly.

"You never asked," she protested. "But I have acquired some new talents, and remember, I am only now becoming aware of myself."

"What talents have you acquired?" Rumil asked almost innociently.

"I'm still working on them," Ashva said and glanced up at Haldir. "Truely."
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(several days earlier)

The rain had stopped when Elrohir awoke, but he could still smell it's cold dampness and feel it on his face. More curiously was the woman asleep beside him. She was fully clothed, which he was not, and it was her warmth that kept the chill away. And while any other time he might have been tempted to act upon such a situation, he was in no position to act upon anything. The pain in his body was deep and the image of his brother falling under the dark warrior's sword was mind numbing at best, horrifying at worst. He tried not to think about it but to "feel". He wanted to find Elladan's life force and cling to it. His body told him that his brother was still alive, but Elladan was not awake where ever he was. Concentrating on him, Elrohir felt as if a heavy drug was pulling him down into a strange shadow, one he could not pull himself out of.

Forcing himself back, he whispered to Elladan, " Hold on to me. Do not let go."

Tarla awoke and heard him whispering something in elvish. Turning her head to look at him, she saw that he was awake. In the faint ligh, she thought he was breath taking, and in deed her breath did catch in hr chest. Wrapping her loose shawl around her, she sat up but left him the blanket. "It is almost light," she said and got up to start the fire.

Elrohir pulled the blanket up until only his face showed. He could still feel Elladan. "Stay with me, brother," he whispered again. "Stay with me."
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The rain did not seem to want to ease up as the four horsemen sought shelter at an abandoned farmsted. The horses were placed under a run down lean-to, and Ashva apologized to them for the lack of comfortable dwellings. But she assured them that the house they were occupying was no better; half of the roof was missing. But there was some dry space and it was soon occupied by four wet elves. Ashva, allowing a moment of her old self to surface, thought it a most promising situation, but it passed quickly. Haldir was currently obsessing on the possibility that they might run into her once young Rohan horseman.

"What are you going to do if you see him?" he asked suspiciously.

Catching a wink from Orophin, who was getting as tired of the mantra as she, Ashva said, "I may have to give him a kiss for old times. He was a fine horseman and no doubt a finer lover."

"He will be dried as old leather by now," Haldir protested.

"Indeed," she agreed and cradled herself into his body, using his chest as a head rest. Since she was sitting with her legs outstretched, Rumil stretched out and used her thigh for his pillow. Orophin followed suit and used the other leg.

"I think I could sleep this way," Orophin said and yawned. "At least my neck is warm."

"I miss the wolves," Rumil sighed suddenly. "I wonder what happened to them."

Ashva felt Haldir's body grow tense for a moment and then relax. They had been avoiding the discussion of her death, and while she sort of remembered driving her dagger into Mother, she didn't remember anything else. But then she had died. Memory does not come to the dead.

Drawing Haldir's arms around her, she asked, "Where did you place me, or did you leave me where I fell for the dogs to eat?"

He recoiled in horror. "Do not ever speak to me that way again," he warned her. "If you must know, we placed you on the mountain pass where you said you could see the Golden Wood. That way I knew you could see me."

"Us," Orophin added. "And I certainly resent you leaving me to tell him you were gone," he added with a touch of humor in his voice.

"I'm sorry," she aplogized to him, "but if Mother had touched you, I would have been telling him of your loss. Which reminds me, I can do that now."

"Do what?" Orophin asked.

"The touch of pain. I can do that now," she answered in a matter of fact tone.

"How do you know?" Haldir asked. "You haven't practiced it on me."

"And I won't, but it is no different from the other. I could have done it all along."

"And this is useful for what reason?" Rumil asked curiously, his hands folded in his lap.

"One can be killed with it," Haldir replied distastefully.

"We left Max and Mani in the pass," Rumil sighed, no longered interested in a death touch. "Haldir turned the stallion loose on the Plains of Rohan, but we never found out what happened to him."

"He was a good horse," she sighed. "Maybe a Rohhirim found him."

"Your old lover," Haldir teased and slipped a hand under her tunic with his right hand. She tried not to squirm as he cupped her breast and thumbed the tender nipple. It became even harder when he slipped his other hand under her tunic and repeated the subtle torture. Ashva had a feeling that the brothers knew what Haldir was doing.

"You know," she sighed and leaned back against him so her mouth was not far from his ear, "two can play at that, and my touch is much worse."

"What makes you think I'd mind," he mused, "or that they would mind?"

Ashva considered his words and wondered if he had lost his mind. Orophin considered his words and sat up. Rumil just considered his words. Ashva freed herself from his torturous hands and turned to face him. Rumil, now without his pillow, turned on his side, propped his chin on his hand and watched.

"Do you mean to carry this further?" Ashva asked her smiling lover. "Because if you offer, I will accept."

"You will?" he retorted in a most agreeable manner.

Orophin hated the way Haldir was stalling the inevitable. It was most certainly his intention to bed the ellyth, and he as much said that they, he and Rumil, could join in if they so desired. Of course Rumil was intimidated by Haldir and would simply watch and take matters into hand, but Orophin had no such inhibitions. Hoping to speed things along, he slipped up behind Ashva, moved her hair away from her neck and kissed her there. He could feel her shudder as he used his tongue to caress her warm skin.

Ashva sensed something about Orophin in tht kiss that really did not surprise her, because she felt the same way. The prize this evening was not her, but.....Haldir. Orophin would do whatever it took to be close to his beautiful brother. To steal a moment of pleasure when his brother was least likely to say no, because Haldir would always eventually said no. Turning to Orophin, she touched his face and drew him towards her. Haldir watched with hungry eyes as she and Orophin savaged each other's mouth. Let him watch as they undressed each other with desperate hands. Let him watch as they turned burning eyes towards him . How can one so beautiful have such a wicked look about his eye?

Ashva had to be the aggressor for Orophin, the one who melted Haldir's resistance. Orophin knew he would not get much, but he was like a starving man begging for crumbs. Ashva thought about bringing her lover on to the knife's edge, but Haldir might not want his brother's to see him helpless. Still she stirred the whispers in his flesh, found the core of his being and it made the fire hotter. Mounting him like one of her stallions, she looked at Orophin and smiled. Now was the time for him to steal his moment.

Orophin leaned over and claimed his brother's mouth, and Haldir premitted the kiss. Their tongues sparred with one another, and Ashva was certain that only one thing would have given Orophin even greater pleasure. Inflamed all the more by what she was seeing, Ashva felt the sweetest of hurts engulf her body, driving her to claim more of her lover inside of her. Haldir moved Orophin away so he could watch. Orophin watched too, his hand on Haldir's chest. He could feel his brother's heart start to quicken towards that moment of absolute perfection. Haldir was through kissing, he wanted release. Ashva took him one step higher and then freed him. Orophin watched his beautiful brother sink into the fire of his own blood. He was magnificent.

Ashva helped Orophin find his own release, and indeed it was exquisite, but Haldir did not watch. He was spent.