Celeborn's Nine - Riders of the Night

Author's note: original character death
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Winters are hard on the steppes. Biting cold and dark, and it surprised no one when Aslin became pregnant. Staying warm had its dangers, although Elrohir did not seem too upset by it. If anything it brought him and the girl closer together, although there were never any words spoken to show possession or ownership. She was a Saka woman, and he was an elf. When they no longer needed each other, they would simply part and go their own ways. But it was hard not to marvel at the life they had created. Even Elladan was fascinated, but none were so fascinated as Tiger. Aslin was going to have a cub!

Of course, it being early winter Aslin was not showing, so it seemed more a thought than a reality. And on clear days she still got on her horse and rode with Tiger and Asplil in the forest along safe trails. There was nothing so beautiful as a snow clad forest on a clear day. The silence was so perfect, it was as if the very earth had stopped to take a breath.

Sitting on their horses by a frozen lake, the two young Sakas and the jinn tiger stared at it in wonder. "I wish today would last forever," Aslin suddenly said, her voice breaking the stillness.

Asplil smiled at her and said, " I can think of better things than sitting on the back of a horse in the cold."

"What is that?" Tiger asked innociently.

He looked at her and grinned. "I can show you," he offered.

Tiger returned his grin and said, "I know your games now."

"You know nothing of my games," he teased her. "Not that I haven't tried."

"Stop pushing," Aslin told her brother. Haldir had been a real bastard when they first arrived at the keep, but he was nicer now, and she wanted him to stay that way. Of course, when you think of the devil, he shows up. Haldir and his brothers, out hunting, materialized out of the woods and started towards them, a small buck hanging from a pole between him and Orophin.

"Aren't you glad now you behaved?" Tiger asked Asplil with humor in her voice. She turned Horse around and started towards him. Aslin joined her with Asplil bringing up the rear. Grinning broadly, she said,
" That is not big enough for all of us."

"Then maybe you need to get one yourself," he said as she climbed off Horse to get a better look at the buck. Giving him a quick kiss, she studied the buck and softly clucked.

"I do not see you lugging one around," Orophin stated, a bit insulted by her lak of respect for his kill.

Tiger smiled at him. Master's brothers were almost as proud as he was, not to mention beautiful.

"I tell you what," Rumil suggested, "Tiger and I will go try our luck and see what WE come up with."

Tiger frowned. "Tiger does not want to go hunting," she said firmly. "We still have half an ox from my last kill."

"She's right there," Asplil agreed. "But I must admit, I had never seen a tiger bring down a wooly ox before."

"You should see her with big snakes," Orophin said as he and Haldir secured the deer to Horse's saddle. Since Tiger was on the ground, she was just going to have to walk now.

"Real big snakes," Rumil emphasized and stretched his arms out. "Impressive."

"You had to fight really big snakes?" Aslin asked curiously, obviously impressed.

"Nagas, when we went after the last of the Nazguls," Orophin answered. "We fought them with bows and swords. Elrohir was particularly brave."

"How's that?" Aslin asked with what had to be her version of a shy smile on her lips.

Orophin glanced at Rumil and said, " Elrohir fought beside his brother, using his bow until the demons came and we had to switch to swords."

"He killed demons?" she asked as they started back to the keep, Haldir leading Horse while his brothers filled Aslin's head with tales of Elrohir's heroics.

During one particularly valiant event, Tiger, walking beside Haldir, looked at him and said in elvish, "I thought you did that, Master."

"I don't mind sharing with Elrohir," Haldir replied easily. "I've stolen enough of his stories."

"That is true," Rumil agreed. "And mine." Haldir cut his eyes towards his brother and arched a brow. "Well, I believe you have." Haldir smiled and let it drop.

"I have never stolen anything from Rumil," he told Tiger.

"A barmaid in Essess," Orophin interjected. "You stole a barmaid in Essess from him."

"That was a hundred years ago," Haldir reminded him. "I do not believe that counts now."

"I think it does," Rumil spoke up defensively. "I was traumatized for... hours after that."

"I was going to say you recovered rather quickly," Haldir snorted.

Tiger smiled and then asked, "You took Rumil's barmaid, Master?"

"Stole her from me," Rumil interjected inspite of Haldir's less than amused expression.

Tiger then did something that surprised all of them. "It is understandable," she said, "Master is prettier."

"Oh, very much so," Orophin laughed. "Haldir the pretty. I like it."

"Orophin the Dead has a ring to it, also," Haldir said as a warning. "I suggest you go back to building up Elrohir's reputation and leave mine alone."

Aslin was all smiles when they arrived back at the keep. She suspected there was some exageration in Orophin and Rumil's stories, but she believed he was as brave as they said he was. She only wished she had seen it. After putting her horse up, she went looking for Elrohir and found him and his brother practicing with their huge elven bows. She marvelled at the way the muscles in their backs, arms, and breasts stretched and pulled to draw their weapons. Even in warm clothing she could see the movements in her mind's eye.

He paused long enough to ask, "Have a nice ride?"

"Yes. Haldir brought in a deer."

He smiled, and for a moment Aslin felt something she knew she shouldn't. She didn't want it to end. Wrapping her robe tigher around her body, she watched him, his brother and Scopias' men shoot at the targets. The Saka way of doing it was different from the elven way, but both were leathal, and that mattered more than size of bow.

Aslin's growing silence aroused Elrohir's curiosity. It was almost as if she were afraid to speak, as if the only thing she was capable of doing around him was silently watching. Even when she came to his bed at night and made love to him, he sensed a desperation that saddened him.

Neither one of them was going to be happy with the outcome of this adventure. She would be so terribly out of place if he tried to take her back to his world, and he couldn't stay in hers. He told himself that she would find a husband of her own kind, one who would love her the way she deserved to be loved. And any child they brought into the world would be welcomed by the Saka people.

But in those dark moments, when the room they now shared was as cold as outside, when her naked body was pressed against his, their bodies warming each other, he couldn't help but think "this is right". And when he kissed her, and her mouth yielded to his, he reminded himself that he was her first lover. No one would ever take his place in that part of her mind. And when she rode him, her untied golden hair falling free to her waist, her eyes flashing with passion, he knew no one would be able to take her place in that part of his memory. She was his wild woman of the steppes, his virgin huntress now carrying his child.
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Daily rides turned into occassional rides as it got colder and she got larger. But one perfect morning was too enticing to let slip by. With Tiger and Asplil beside her, they slowly rode into the forest back towards the lake. Like every perfect day, the conversation was light with teasing and bold lies. Small winter birds decorated leaf barren ice cicle laden branches.

Reaching the lake, the rode their horses around it until they reached a high bank where they could see all sides of it. But this day, for the first time in its long equine life, Aslin's horse spooked at a darting fox. Spooked and lost its footing. Squeeling with fear the horse plunged over backwards, slid down the ridge and crashed through the ice. Too shocked to yell, Aslin tried to stay with the treshing horse as it plunged deeper into the icey water.

Tiger and Asplil jumped from their horses and ran down the ridge to the water's edge. Aslins horse, blind with fear and the pain of the biting cold, lunged upwards unseating Aslin. Tiger decided she needed to get in there and get the girl out if she could. Shape shifting she leaped into the water and hissed at the bitter coldness. It was like needles piercing her skin. Reaching Aslin, she circled the girl, but Aslin was so cold that she couldn't grab on. Tiger grabbed her tunic and started swimming back to the shore, to Asplil who took her under the arms and pulled her out of the water.

He looked horrified as he tried to get his sister to sit up and move. She was quite simply freezing too death. Tiger shape shifted and found herself shivering hard, although jinn tigers can not freeze too death. Asplil ran to gather wood to build a fire after leaving his furs over his sister, but when he returned she was still and Tiger was crying. The cold of deep winter, the cold of winter water can take a life in minutes. Tiger had seen the butterfly souls leave her body.

Asplil was beside himself, his cry ripping over the forest. Blind with rage, he ran back to his horse for his gortyn. Reading an arrow, he pointed it at his sister's horse and fired it. The animal screamed and thrashed but a second arrow stilled the beast that had betrayed its mistress.

Numb in his mind, terrified of what would happen if he gave into anymore of his grief, he picked his sister up and carried her back to the keep. Tiger, shivering uncontrollably, followed behind.

Glorfindel met them at the gate and took the Saka girl from her brother. "Go get Elrohir," he told one of the Galadhrim."

No one saw Elrohir weep or cry or swear or do anything. He took the Saka girl from Glorfindel, and with her mother and brother following, he carried her back into the forest where with his own hands and the blade of his knife, he chopped through the frozen ground until he had a hole large enough to bury her in. Then he wrapped her in his cloak, making sure her face was covered, and replaced the dirt. He stayed there a minute, his eyes shut tight as if praying, and then he got up and returned to the keep. Tomy and Asplil stayed a little longer at her graveside. Elrohir never mentioned her name again.

Tiger, sitting in front of the fire in dry clothes, Master letting her take some of his warmth as he sat behind her, wept softly to herself while Master gently rubbed her back. When Elrohir returned from burying Aslin, he sat in front of the fire and stared into it. If someone said anythng to him, he aknowledged it, but not much more. He just didn't want to talk.