Killing Beauty

: Yeah it's me...thanks so much for the input! Love it!
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Ashva did not know why he suddenly got up, but Haldir removed her hand and left the tavern. She looked at Orophin and Rumil, who seemed to be just as surprised as she. Mouthing if whether or not she should follow him, they just shrugged, then Orophin motioned for her to go on. Still debating on whether or not she should follow, she got up and left the tavern. It took her a moment to locate him standing with his back to her staring up at the sky. Haldir had a passion for the sky that equalled her love of the mountains. The way he turned his head, she knew he was waiting on her. Then without saying anything, he stepped into the darkness.

Ashva followed and eventually found him standing on a ridge, his beautiful face once more upturned. When she was beside him, he said simply, "Sit." There were some rocks nearby that weren't as wet as the ground, and she made herself comfortable, well as comfortable as could be, on one of them.

Haldir had seen the look pass between Orophin and Ashva and it disturbed him greatly. He had talked to his brother before about not trying to use his lovers to seduce him, but it was a game to him. Not that he meant any harm by it. It just seemed the next logical step to him, to go from brotherly love to loving your brother. Perhaps it was his fault for allowing Orophin and Rumil to be around him when he was with his lovers, but.....Orophin had to stop, and Ashva........she needed to know why.

"When I was young," he said, beginning a tale he had never told to anyone before, "Lady Galadriel offered me two cups of wine and said they would decide my future. One was sweet and the other bitter." He paused as he remembered that evening in her garden. He had only reached his maturity and for some reason had caught her eye. It was not the infatuation of one wanting to be a lover, but the interest of one who saw something special in him. Having taken care of his brothers alone for most of his life, having someone so power even show a remote interest in him had fed his hungry soul. Although no one had ever mistreated him or his brothers, he had still felt a great loneliness and doubt, a feeling of being lost in the wood. He sometimes thought that when anyone looked at him, they didn't see him, they saw through him because he didn't exist. Lady Galadriel had truelly looked at him that night.

Continuing, he said, "The sweet wine, she explained would ensure I led a good life and would one day sail to the Undying West. I could be anything I wanted, a scholar, a craftsman, and I would live my life in complete anonimity and safety." He stopped as he tried to imagine Haldir the carpenter. "I would be just another elf in the wood." He went over and sat beside her, but his eyes were still on the sky. "The bitter cup would also ensure my immortality, but not the normal way. There would be a set number of days, which I do not know, and at the end of them, I would go to the Halls of Mandos. There would be many hardships...much pain...but I would be remembered. My name would not be forgotten. I would be immortal that way." He looked down to see if she understood. "I drank from the bitter cup, and when I got to the last drop, it was sweeter than anything that I had ever tasted. My Lady said that that was my life, that it would be sweet as well bitter, but I would not be forgotten as long as elfkind existed......as long as mankind existed." He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes. "I have had many lovers over the ages," he admitted without apology or shame. "And some of them I thought I could not live without, as I feel for you now. BUt they eventually left, for whatever reason I do not know, and my brothers were there for me. I need my brothers to love me as a brother. I need Orophin to think of me as a brother, to love me as one."

There was so much unspoken sorrow in his voice that AShva hated that she had conspired against him.

"If you love me," he said and turned to her, "you will never encourage that again. It would only destroy us in the end."

Ashva did not know if by us he meant he and her, or he and Orophin, but she accepted that they would all suffer. " You know I love you," she assured him and laid her hand on his arm. "I would never intentionally hurt you."

He smiled faintly and gazed back up at the sky. "You know for most elves the mornings are paintings of red and gold and blue," he began softly. "For me the sunrise means I survived the night."

Ashva sighed deeply. It was a chilling revelation but she held her tongue. He turned to her and smiled.

"We are an odd pair," he finally said. "You find your spirit in the mountains. I in the sky. I believe I would die if I could not see the sky."

She returned his smile and said, "Then we need to remove the roof from your talan." Then sensing the moment had passed, she rested her head on his arm.

"I still need some relief," he said in a matter of fact tone. Taking her hand, he placed it back where it had rested most of the evening.

"The ground is wet and the rock is hard. What do you suggest we do about it?" she asked playfully, actually liking the way it thickened beneath her fingers.

"You like horses so much......." he stopped and gave her his most wicked smile. "I imagine you can think of a way to.......ride?"

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The men stopped for the night at a place where the elf had once stopped himself. The quiver was made of the finest tanned leather with elven designs engraved on it. They were on the right trail.
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Ashva did not realize how tired she had been until after their love making, she found herself going to sleep against him. Somehow he managed to move away from her without waking her up, and it was the first red light of morning shooting across the East that awakened her. Still heavy with sleep, she looked around for him.
When she saw him, she held her breath. Haldir was telling the sun that he had survived the night. Standing in leggings and boots, he just stood there, eyes closed as the red light reflected off his fine skin. A breeze kissed his face and ruffled his hair, and indeed Ashva thought that there was some great spirit embracing him, that some divine being was also in love with him. But then maybe Haldir was in love with life so much because he knew there was an end to his. Ashva tried to be sad, wanted to be sad but couldn't. Haldir was in his glory and she couldn't take her eyes off him.