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The Healing of Haldir	By : SlaveGirl Category: -Fourth Age to Modern times and beyond > Het - Male/Female Views: 2723 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings or it's characters. I do not make any money from this work.

Chapter List
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PART TWO

With the assistance of Legolas and Orophin, Aisling was able to move Haldir from the halls of the dead to her own small cottage.

“Lay him on the bed, face down,” she instructed as soon as she shoved open the small door.

She immediately went to the hearth, starting a rather large fire to help scare the damp away from the room. After lighting some candle around the small space, she went back over to her patient, checking his breathing and making sure that will all the travel none of his stitches had been torn open.

Legolas retreated to the doorway while Orophin stayed close to his brother’s side. The shock at finding Haldir alive, still hadn’t sunk in for the Lorien Warden and Aisling could sense his guilt.

“It is not your fault, you know,” Aisling commented as she filled a small bowl with clean water and grabbed a cloth. She started wiping the blood, grim and sweat from Haldir’s face.

Orophin blinked slowly, reaching for his brother’s hand and holding on tightly to the uninjured arm. “How could we have not known?” he whispered, his voice small and breaking.

Aisling had moved from Haldir’s face down to his neck. “There were no signs of light and his body grew cold. How could you have inferred any differently?”

“But yet you know,” Orophin replied.

“Yes.”

“How?”

She sighed as she continued to work. “It is what I do. I can sense it, feel it. When my father discovered I had an innate sense for healing, he taught me all he knew.”

“He was a healer himself?”

“Yes, and a very powerful one. Trained by Lord Elrond in Imladris and served under King Thranduil in Mirkwood,” she whispered.

She heard Legolas push away from the door, his steps sounding louder as he drew nearer.

“It cannot be,” he muttered more to himself.

“That’s how I know who you were, your Highness. My father served your family for over two thousand years. He was there the day you were born, the day the Queen passed from this world, the day your father was burned by dragon fire.” She paused in her story only long enough to have Orophin lean Haldir up on his side so she could clean his strong muscled chest. She couldn’t take her eye away.

“I have fond memories of Lord Velethuil,” Legolas commented with a chuckle. “Having been patched up by him more times than even my own father knew. I had always wondered what become of him when he left my father’s halls.”

Aisling and Orophin set Haldir back down, laying a clean white sheet over him before a warmer blanket. She filled and set a kettle upon the hearth.

“Tea?” she asked pulling down a few cups from her cabinet before continuing her story. “My father met my mother in Dale. She was human and he obviously, an Elf. They fell in love and ran away together to Rohan. He built this cottage for her. It was here where I was born and lived my entire life. My father travelled extensively when I was a child, healing people as best as he could. Even if much of the people of Rohan had never experience an elf or even Elvish medicine. But they were happy. We were happy.”

“What happened to them?” Legolas inquired as he took an offered seat at her small dining table, Orophin following suit.

She poured them all a cup of tea and placed a small plate of bread and cheese upon the table.

“My mother lived to be almost eighty years old. But one day her heart stopped and there was nothing my father or I could do to revive her. After that, we spent very little time here. I began to travel with my father, learning everything I could from him. He endured for nearly a hundred years after my mother’s passing, by then I was considered an adult and he felt like there was not much left he could do for me. He laid himself down on her grave and finally let his broken heart win.” She wiped away a stray tear from her cheek. It still hurt to think of her parents, but they would have been proud and that was all she needed.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Orophin said as he set down his tea cup.

Aisling shook her head with a wave of her hand. “I do not tell you this for earn your sympathy but for you to know you can trust me. That is why I wanted to meet you, for you to know that I have no ill intentions towards your brother. I would have Haldir healed and returned to his people.”

“You would ask nothing for yourself?”

“Only the satisfaction that I didn’t allow the enemy to take even this one life. He came to the aid of a people he didn’t even know, risking his life for the sake of others. It is a heavy sacrifice to have to make. He will need the will to live to continue to fight even if the odds seem to great. There is only so much I can do for him, especially now, but he awakens a lot of the burden will be on his shoulders.”

“Do you really think he will truly be well?”

Aisling shrugged, glancing over at the prone form in her bed. “That will be up to him. He will have to want to live. Like I told Prince Legolas, once he awakens I will better be able to see how much damage was really done. The blade came very close to severing his spine.”

Orophin’s eyebrows shot up as he turned worried eyes to Haldir. “What does that mean?”

“He may never walk again.”

The silence that followed as deafening, the only sounds in the room being Haldir’s swallow breathing the and sudden pop or crackle from the fire.

Aisling watched the battle rage across Orophin’s face while Legolas remained ever stoic. Orophin would ask the occasion question as it struck him and Aisling did as much as she could to ease his worries.

Day had long broken and the sun shining in through the thin curtains as they continued to talk and plan.

Legolas left around midday.

“I must return before I am too long missed,” he said as he made for the door. “Take care of him, daughter of Velethuil and if our paths are too meet again, I hope to find you both is good health.”

“Thank you, your Highness.”

Orophin lingered a bit longer, not quite ready to be separated from Haldir just yet. He spent much of the rest of the day by his brother’s side talking to him, telling him how happy Rumil would be when he heard the news as well as their lady.

Aisling allowed the brothers their space, even if one was not responsive. She busied herself around her cottage, preparing an evening meal and washed her soiled clothes and Haldir’s red cloak. Eventually she replaced her blanket with it, knowing the cloth of Lorien-make would do him better.

She insisted that Orophin stay and share the meal she had made with her, as meager as it was, as well as stay the night.

“I will not have you traveling in the dark in these lands,” she said as she set the bowl of stew down before him. “I have my hands full enough with one patient.”

Orophin accepted his food graciously. “I wish I could stay until he is well.”

Aisling reached out a hand, placing it over his. “It could take months or longer.   But carry in your heart knowing that you will meet again one day. If your duties every allow you away, know that my door will always be open to you. I will not keep him from those who love him.”

“Thank you, my lady.” He raised their hands and kissed the top of hers.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out a gold chain with a mallorn leaf pendant on the end. He unclasped it before pressing it into her hand, closing her fingers around the still warm metal.

“Take it,” he said simply.

“I do not expect payment nor will I accept it,” she said trying to shove her hand back towards him.

“Yes, you can. It was given to me by our parents before they sailed. All three sons receiving the same small token. Haldir never wears his, having left it in Lorien for fear of losing it. When he awakens, he will not know you and he is much less likely to trust than I am. Give this to him, so he knows I was here and that I trust you with his life as he should too.” Orophin then said something in Elvish that made Aisling blush to the tips of her ears and he chuckled. “Tell him that as well so he knows that you are not a liar or a thief.”

“I will.” She secured the necklace around her own neck, tucking the pendant into her shirt.

They stayed up at into the night, Orophin telling her stories of Haldir, as if to prepare her for when he would awake up.

The following morning, Orophin departed with a heavy heart. He kissed her on the cheek before taking his leave upon his great grey stallion.

“Take care of him,” he said one last time.

“You have my word. We will meet again, son of Lorien.”

He gave her a lopsided smile before racing off back to Helm’s Deep.

Aisling sighed, leaning against the doorframe, fingering the mallorn leaf. She silently sent a prayer up to the Valar to keep Orophin, Legolas and the rest of their company safe through the dark days that were no doubt in front of them. But for now, she had her purpose and her task. With any luck, the darkness would not touch this place and allow Haldir to heal in peace.

It would be almost a week later when Aisling was awoken suddenly in the middle of the night, but the sounds of moaning and the rustling of the sheets. She sprung up from her makeshift bed by the fire and rushed over to Haldir’s side. His fingers gripped the sheet beneath him until his knuckles are turned stark white, his shoulders twisting and turning, his handsome features contorted into a painful grimace.

Aisling rested a hand upon his shoulder, holding him down and still. She ripped the blanket back to make sure he hadn’t torn any of his stitches. He hadn’t, but some of the skin surrounding the wound which ran from between his shoulder blades to the small of his back, was angry red and white fluid oozing from beneath the fine string. No doubt caused by his struggling.

Despite his very weak state, Aisling marveled at the strength he had to try and shake off her steadying hands. The pain starting to win the battle as she pushed a few strands of blonde hair away from his sweating forehead. She reached for the cup she always had at his bedside that contained his medicine for pain. She poured a little bit into his mouth and messaged his throat until she got him to swallow the whole cup.

After several long moments, he stopped struggling and his breathing became more even again. Aisling let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and sat back on her heels. She contemplated her next move. He was never allowed to writhe like that again, lest he cause more injury to himself. She noted that his lower body had never moved and it was simply his shoulders that had trembled so violently.

She grabbed her last spare sheet. Taking a knife, cutting the material into three long stripes and braiding them together until it was thick and unrelenting. She laid it over his shoulders, securing each end to the underside of the bed, effectively pinning him down.

“Forgive me,” she whispered as she checked his back one more time. Thankfully, he had not broken any of his stitches, but had managed to reopen his wound in a couple of small places. She wiped them clean against before reapplying her salve to keep it moist so the skin wouldn’t become too tight.

Even though Aisling had kept him in a healing sleep, these episodes would recur every couple of days for the next month or so. While it worried her that he was suffering so much pain, it was good that he was feeling something. Hopefully, the orc hadn’t actually severed anything too important. She had to keep reminding herself, that keeping him tied to the bed was really for his own good.

It was almost seven weeks to the day when Aisling noted a significant difference in him. She had managed to keep his struggling down to a minimum and his back was almost completely closed. His breathing came more even and deep as if his body was in a more natural sleep. She smiled despite herself as she tidied up from breakfast that morning.

“You will untie me this moment, devil woman!” a deep voice rasped from her bed, startling her so severely that her tea cup came crashing to the ground.

She spun around and met the brightest pair of blue eyes she had ever seen in her life.

She was at his side in an instant, pressing down on his shoulders to get him to stop moving.

“You will stop before you hurt yourself!” she hissed, her pressure not relenting not matter how hard he tried to shake her off.

He was still incredibly weak, she could feel it despite his fighting and he gave up after a few moments.

“What have you done to me?” he pleaded, turning his face from her, burying it into the pillow beneath him, his hands gripping it as if it was his only lifeline.

“I saved you,” she whispered as she carefully removed her hands from his back. His muscles were strung so tight, she was afraid he might snap, but she had to keep him calm if she was to help him now.

She hadn’t expected him to awake up so suddenly. Granted she had eased off of the sleeping drought, but the vehemence at which he awoken alarmed her. He was not a man to be trifled with, something Orophin had warned her about.

He moaned into the pillow, “It’s like fire.”

“Then let me help you.” She approached him with the cup of his pain medicine as he peaked out of the corner of his eye at her.

“How do I know you do not intend to kill me?”

“If that was my intention, you would already be dead. Now drink!” she pushed the cup against his lips.

He started up at her, his lips pursed together until he realized she wasn’t going to move until he followed her orders. He drank the bitter liquid regardless, even if it did kill him at least the pain would end.

He sighed as he settled back down onto his pillow.

“Better?” she asked, crossing her arms, glaring down at him. He just grumbled. “Now, I will only untie you if you promise not to move. I have spent far too much time making sure you don’t hurt yourself in your sleep, to have you ruin almost two months of hard work.”

He closed his eyes as the pain slowly started to subside, making him lightheaded.

“I promise,” he muttered.

Aisling hesitated for a moment, before reaching around and loosening one side of his binds.

“Now, who are you?” she asked as she sat down on the floor beside the bed.

“Do you know how for whom you have cared?” he grumbled again.

“I know who you are, it is important that you do as well. Now, answer my question, who are you?”

“Haldir.”

“Correct,” she chuckled.

Aisling could almost see his eyes rolling behind his closed eyelids.

“Since I know who I am and you do as well, who are you?”

“Aisling and I have cared for you for the last two months.”

Haldir’s eye shot open and she was once against struck the pain she saw behind his crystal blue eyes. He coughed, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. She fetched him a drink, tipping his head back to help him drink.

“What happened to me?” he finally asked at length.

“You fell,” she replied simply, sparing him from the gruesome details for the moment.

“No wonder I feel like I have been trampled by a dozen hors…” he stopped abruptly, his eye glazing over for a moment. He gritted his teeth against something and hissed out a long painful breath.

“What’s the matter?” she asked softly, resting her hand against his clutched fist.

“I can’t feel my legs!” he shouted, his voice echoing off every surface.

Aisling swallowed the lump in her throat. Her worst fear had become reality.
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The Healing of Haldir