Bright Light in the Darkness

Chapter 5

Elanor could not help but smile as Haldir walked into the day room, her spirits lightened as his presence. It had been a long, tense week without his presence to calm her, though the hobbits most certainly helped to keep her distracted.

And while she had promised that she would try, Elanor had found herself avoiding Legolas the entire time that Haldir had been gone, though it wasn't as though the Prince had sought her out either.

Forgoing all decorum, Elanor rushed over to meet him, collapsing in his arms as soon as he had crossed the threshold into the large, open room.

"What would your aunt say if she saw you?" Haldir quipped.

"She would likely say that I remind her much of my mother," Elanor said, burying her face in his tunic and breathing deeply of his warm, familiar scent. He smelled of the forest, which always helped to ease her worries and just about any ail she had suffered from.

"Surely the last week without me has not been so eventful as to warrant this reaction," he said, smiling slightly. "You act as though you have not seen me in many years."

"At times it felt as though you would never return," Elanor lamented, causing the normally stoic elf to stare down at her in suspicion. Elanor was known to be playful from time to time, but hardly ever this dramatic. Though it did not take him long to guess where this was coming from.

"You did not speak to the Prince, did you?" Haldir stated, pushing her away slightly as he looked down into her eyes, the disappointment clear in his voice. Elanor frowned.

"I did," she said. Haldir continued to stare until she finally crumbled. "Well, once. And not for very long. But I promised I would try, and I did." Haldir sighed heavily.

"That is not-"

"Oh, save your tongue, Haldir," Elanor said, turning away from him.

He looked around the room, noting the half full carafe of wine on the table and her empty goblet.

"Elanor," he said softly. She did not respond, only walked over to the balcony and stepped out onto it, wrapping her arms around herself. "You must face this."

"I thought I had," she said dryly.

"We both know that you have not, only pushed it aside under the guise of dealing with it," he replied, walking over to the wine and looking down at it. "Shall I check with the servants? See just how you have been handling things while I've been away?" Elanor turned to look at him, her blue eyes alight with fire. "Finally, a reaction I have sought."

"Anger? You wish to anger me?" Elanor asked with a derisive snort. "Whatever for, Haldir?"

"I wish to see some sort of feeling in you besides self-pity and self-loathing," he replied. "It does not suit you, my lady."

"You do not wish to see me wallow in self-pity and self-loathing? Then why do you insist that I speak to him for that is all it will conjure?" she hissed, striding up to him as she narrowed her eyes.

Yes, she knew that she needed to speak to Legolas at some point to try and bury the past, but she did not need Haldir pushing her like this. She was over 2,000 years old and could make decisions for herself, could she not?

"We both know that you must speak with him to finally move from your past," Haldir said calmly.

"I have dealt with my past!" Elanor shouted.

"No, you have not! And I am tired of seeing the cloud of it hang over you!" Haldir replied, finally raising his voice. Elanor's eyes widened as she took a step back. It was rare that the normally calm and stable marchwarden raised his voice to her. "Yes, you have made great improvement. And I've come to believe that you are truly happy here, but just mentioning him takes you back to that dark edge, and I worry that this time you will tumble over!