To Warm An Advisor's Heart

“Do you think we will reach Lothlorien before tonight?” you ask after sword practice with Aragorn. You sit beside Elrond and accept the bread he offers you.

“I do not think so,” Elrond answers. “If we do, it will be by sunset. And if not, it will be by tomorrow morning.” He studies her. He notices her hand is on her sword handle. “I’m sorry you feel unsafe in these woods.”

You sigh. “I know I’ve been annoying about orcs and Lothlorien,” you say. He shakes his head.

“You are only being precautious.”

“More like paranoid.”

“No more than you should be. And that ‘paranoia’, as you call it, is helping you do very well with your sword work. I believe Aragorn agrees with me when I say that you picked it up quickly. Faster than I ever thought.”

“I couldn’t agree with you more,” Aragorn says. He lightly punches your arm. “I’d say she’d make a fine warrior if she kept at it.”

“Thank you-“ you pause. You heard a twig snap just a second ago. You look around, seeing that everyone is here and accounted for. You can’t help but smile at Erestor.

He hasn’t talked to you since this morning. He practically ran off as soon as Elrond called the halt. He muttered something about having to go to the bathroom. You know better.

Snap! Another twig snaps, disrupting your thoughts about Erestor.

You walk to the trees, ignoring the curious glances you get from the others. You creep into the woods, not making a sound. You draw your sword as you swing around.

Clang! Your sword is knocked from your hands. The figure before you is cloaked, hiding its face from you. It also lost its sword. Before you can think, you tackle it to the ground. You tumble with the figure, managing to keep the upper hand.

Your fist nails its nose. Its hand hits your eye. Arms and lags flail as you both hit the other as hard as you two can.

You find out that the it is a he when you knee him. He cries out in pain and curls up. You take your cloak off and hog tie him like you’re seen in the movies.

“What is-“ Elrond gasps when he sees you sitting on the figure. The others follow behind. Erestor’s eyes widen. He helps you up and holds you close.

“Are you all right?” he asks. His hot breath dances across your ear, causing you to shudder.

“Yes,” you say breathlessly. His eyes darken. You gulp. Those eyes show you how badly he wants to-

“Why didn’t you call for help?” Aragorn demands.

You blink. That’s right, you aren’t alone with Erestor right now. Damn it!

“I didn’t need it,” you answer. “I was about to come and get all of you.” You point at the figure. “He was sneaking around the camp.”

“I wasn’t sneaking,” the figure huffs.

“You were too,” you say. “Because if you weren’t then you would have walked into camp.”

The figure falls silent.

“I recognize that voice.” Glorfindel laughs. “I just can’t believe he got beat by a she-elf.”

“If I remember correctly, you lost to me only a day ago,” you say coolly. Glorfindel stares at his feet.

“Who is it?” Elrond asks.

“I am Haldir. March warden of Lothlorien,” the figure says. “Now untie me.”

You roll your eyes. “I think he should be left like that. Maybe he’ll be more polite after a few hours.”

“You’re the one who began the attack,” he snaps.

“And you’re the only who was sneaking around,” you retort.

“Either way, I still wish to be untied.” You frown when Elrond leans down and unties the arrogant March Warden.

The figure stands and pulls down his hood. You stare at the long pale blonde hair that cascades down his shoulders. His eyes are gray and stare at you. His cheeks are flushed, your guess is from being beaten by a she-elf.

‘I liked him better with the hood,’ you think.

“Haldir, my friend.” Glorfindel hugs him. He lightly punches his shoulder. “So how does it feel to be taken down by our Rose?”

Haldir gives you a look that makes you gulp. “She can take me down anytime,” he purrs.

You roll your eyes. “Do elven males go in heat or something?” you ask without thinking. You blush. Elrohir doubles over in laughter while Aragorn fights a grin.

“Only when a she-elf reaches majority,” Elrond says. “It lasts a week every year until she chooses her mate.”

“The elf version of a period. Gotcha,” you say. “Does the elf bleed or cramp or anything?”

Elrond looks confused. “Of course not. Why would you ask that?”

You shake your head. “Never mind.”

“It’s a woman thing,” Aragorn says. “Human females experience a cycle for about a week every month.”

“Interesting, you’ll have to explain the cycle to me some day,” Elrond says.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know about it,” you say.

“What are you doing here Haldir?” Glorfindel asks. Ah yes, you nearly forgot about the stranger. Too bad you didn’t.

“I was sent by Galadriel to make sure all of you arrive safely,” he says. “You aren’t far from Lothlorien.”

You smile. Well, at least he’s bringing good news. You can’t wait until you get out of the damn woods. You feel Erestor’s hand on your hip. You nearly lean into his touch, but stop yourself. You don’t know if he’s ready for everyone else to know about you two.

“Well, we are about to continue our journey. I’m sure you’ll want to lead,” Elrond says.

“But of course,” Haldir says. He hands you your cloak. “Let us get going.”

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Just when you think things are only getting better, shit hits you in the face. You know this for a fact after meeting the handsome March Warden of Lothlorien named Haldir. While all of you were traveling, the elf shows up. He said he was sent by Elrond’s parent-in-laws to make sure all of you made is to Lothlorien safely.

You personally think it’s God’s way of playing a wicked trick on you.

Haldir, being the noble elf he was, insisted that the ‘ladies’ ride in the front with him. After all, he was a well-trained elven warrior who knew how to blah, blah, blah. You didn’t listen to him roll off all of the battles he’s been in and won. You know arrogance when you see it and boy does he fit the description. You wish you had a dictionary so you could look up arrogant to see if his picture would be beside it.

Besides, he can’t be that good if you were able to kick his ass so easily. You remind him of the tussle you had but a moment ago and he doesn’t bring up anymore battles, thank God.

So why is he causing you so many problems? Because he made his intentions very obvious from his heated looks he gives you. He even gives lame excuses to touch you. You have a feeling the only reason he also has Arwen in the front is because it was the only way to get you up there.

Personally, you’d rather be sharing a horse with Erestor. The thought brings heat to your cheeks.

“It does surprise me that you’re even more beautiful when you blush,” Haldir says. You roll your eyes. Can’t the creep see that you’re not interested? You already have yourself an elf and you wouldn’t give him up for anything.

You look back and see that he’s staring at you. You are confused because he isn’t giving you a warm look.

“Let us rest here for the night,” Haldir says, breaking your thoughts. “We will reach Lothlorien in the early morning tomorrow.”

Thank God. You hop off Wildfire. “I’ll be back,” you tell Elrond.

Elrond blinks. “You’re going off alone?” he asks. You know this is a shock to him since you hate the woods and don’t like the thought of being alone.

“It’ll only be for a moment. I’m taking Wildfire with me because he probably wants a drink from the river. Besides,” you lean closer so only he can hear you, “I’d like a bath.”

“All right, but be careful,” Elrond says. “If you aren’t back in an hour then I’ll send someone to check on you.”

You nod. You lead Wildfire through the woods. You can’t hear any of the others by the time you reach the river. You’re usually not one to go off on your own, but you like your privacy once in a while.

You look at your hands. They are covered in dirt as well as the rest of you. The only positive thing about riding in the front is dust doesn’t cover you when the horses unearth it.

You take off your cloak. You are about to take off your shirt when you feel someone staring at your back. “You have two seconds to state your name before I get my sword,” you warn.

“You like him, don’t you?” a voice accuses. You whirl around to see Erestor staring at you with hurt eyes.

“Who? Haldir?” You snort. “I wouldn’t like that elf if he was the last male on Middle Earth.”

“But I saw the way you looked at him. I saw how much he was touching you.” His fists ball up and his jaw is clenched.

You roll your eyes. You’ve had enough. First you had to deal with an arrogant, touchy elf for a good part of the day and now Erestor is acting like a jealous little brat. “The way I was looking at him was an annoyed look,” you snap. “And as for all of the touching. He was touching me. Not the other way around.” You can tell he is about to apologize. You hold your hand up to silence him. “I don’t want to hear it.” You rub your face. “First you accuse me of liking Glorfindel and then Haldir. Who’s next? Aragorn? The twins? Elrond?”

He doesn’t answer. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I wish to take my bath in peace,” you say. You realize you should not have said that. His posture changes completely with the statement. His hands relax and he gets a devilish smirk on his face. His eyes darken as he lazily walks towards you.

“Really?” he purrs. The sound of his voice going straight to your groan. You remember what happened the last time his voice sounded rough like that. He stops when he is almost touching you. "Mind if I join you?"

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mwahahahaha! i love the cliff hangers. please review.

Ivory Wolf