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The Last Song of the Ainur	By : TICS Category: -Multi-Age > Het - Male/Female Views: 2084 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings (and associated) book series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter Two

"I am Haldir," he began,
tapping his chest as he said his name.
"These are my brothers, Orophin," he continued, pointing to
the tall Silvans who stood to one side of him and a step behind, "and
R�mil."

At the sound of their names,
Orophin and R�mil nodded at the women.

"Hal Dear?" Elise
whispered to Anna. "His name
is Hal Dear?"

"I think so," Anna
replied. Biting her lip, she held
the bat in one hand and pointed to her chest with the other. "Anna," she said to Haldir.
Pointing to Elise and Rebecca, who still hovered just inside the doorway, she
said their names as clearly and distinctly as she could.

Haldir nodded his understanding,
and repeated each name. Pointing at his brothers, he said their names again,
annunciating each syllable. This
time Anna nodded, parroting Haldir's pronunciation of the Elves' names.

"An-na," Haldir began,
looking the woman directly in the eye to be certain that he had her attention,
before pointing behind him at the ship that floated offshore. "Ship," he said, "An-na
go on the ship." He accompanied this short speech by wiggling two of the
fingers of his right hand in a walking motion over the palm of his left. Seeing the fright in her eyes as they
widened at her understanding of him, her head shaking violently back and forth,
her grip on the bat tightening, Haldir sighed. It was becoming obvious to him that their language
barrier would preclude the women from understanding the Elves' intent. It did not appear that they would volunteer
to accompany the Elves back to the White Ship. He had no wish to alienate them, but it seemed that he would
have no choice but to take them by force. He resolved to try once more.

"An-na," he said, no longer smiling, but looking
sternly at the wide-eyed woman, who took a step back from him, "An-na,
E-lise, Reb-e-cca, go in the ship, with Haldir, Orophin, and R�mil." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the
waiting ship.

"No! Absolutely not! Who do
you guys think you are? We're not going anywhere with you! Get out! Get away
from us, or so help me God I'll bash your brains in!" Anna yelled, raising
the bat over her shoulder. From behind her Elise raised her fire poker, while
Rebecca began screeching, turning and disappearing inside the house.

In a movement nearly too swift to
follow with the naked eye, Haldir stepped up to Anna and ripped the bat from
her hands, flinging it across the porch.
Ignoring her screams as well as her beating fists and kicking legs, he
slung her over his shoulder, turning to carry her down the beach.

Elise had no time to react to
Haldir's sudden attack on Anna before she found herself disarmed and slung over
Orophin's shoulder. One strong arm
kept her pinned, her hard punches and strong kicks not seeming to register on
him at all.

"R�mil �fetch the little
one!" Haldir called over his shoulder to his brother as he stooped to
collect his weapons with his free hand.

Although she tried desperately to evade him, R�mil reappeared outside of the house in moments carrying
Rebecca's limp form draped in his arms.
At Haldir's sharp, questioning look, R�mil shrugged, saying, "She
swooned." He lifted her to his shoulder before bending to pick up his
weapons and follow his brothers with their shrieking burdens to the skiff.

In one seamless motion, Haldir set Anna down in the skiff,
dumped the rest of his weapons in the bottom of the boat, and pulled his sword
from its sheath. "Sit still," he ordered, knowing that the point of
his sword aimed at Anna's throat would work as an adequate translator.

Orophin and R�mil set their
burdens down next to Anna, who promptly ignored the point of Haldir's sword to
check on the unconscious woman. Elise sobbed, leaning against Anna, who glared
at Haldir with undisguised malice.
"Where are you taking us?" she demanded, not expecting a
reply. Haldir simply held his
sword steady, staring back at her.

Haldir's brothers pushed the boat
into the water before jumping back in and taking up the oars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Surely you did not expect
their gratitude or affection, Haldir," Orophin ventured, smearing a thick
slice of bread with jam as the three Elves sat at a small table in the galley
of the ship. "They are
unable to understand but a few words that we speak�we stole them from all that
was familiar to them - a heinous theft in any culture, certainly - threw them
into the bowels of a ship, and bear them hence to which end they know
not."

"Aye, Haldir.
I would not be overly fond of us, either," R�mil agreed, his upper lip coated with a
thick mustache of jam. His pink
tongue licked at it, followed by his sleeve as he continued, "And as thrilling
as this conversation has been, one of us must break away to venture into that nest
of vipers to bring them their breakfast."

"One could hardly describe their accommodations as
being in the 'bowels of the ship," Orophin. Although I did not expect
docility, neither did I expect three screaming Nazgul," Haldir sniffed,
draining the dregs of his tea.
"I do not believe they have stopped their caterwauling for the
briefest moment since we took them from the beach. Had I even the barest fragment of sense, I would toss the
three of them overboard."

"Nay, brother�as you have so aptly and consistently
reminded me, it is "the will
of Il�vatar that it be these three and no other," Orophin stated, smirking
at Haldir.

"Kindly do not flaunt my own words at me, Orophin. I know well that it is Il�vatar's will
that guides our actions," Haldir grumbled, frowning at the laughing pair
of Silvan beside him. "Still,
as they remain foul-tempered shrews even after a full moon's cycle at sea,
perhaps Eru might condone such an action - He has ears, also."

"Bah! How you exaggerate, Haldir! They are not so shrewish as you would
lead us to believe�merely frightened," R�mil said, waving a dismissive
hand at his older brother. With a humorous twinkle in his eye he continued,
"Although, speaking of 'ears,' my eyes could not believe what they were
seeing when the one tried to tear yours from your head, Haldir!"

Haldir winced at the memory, his hand unconsciously cupping
the delicate point of his left ear.
"One would think they had never seen ears before!" he
agreed. "When she failed to
separate my ear from my skull, the three of them screamed even louder!

"No Elf has walked the world of Men for more than an
Age, Haldir�I do not believe that they had ere seen an Elf before,"
Orophin commented, finishing the last of his bread and jam. "You had best bring them their
breakfast, R�mil�they will be hungry."

"Me? Why me? Why should it
not be you, brother?" R�mil challenged, raising his eyebrows at Orophin.

"It should be you this morn
because it was my turn yesterday bringing their dinner. Besides, did you not just venture that
they are merely frightened?"

"Frightened, yes�but that
does not make them any less loud," R�mil argued, cringing a bit.

"Valar!" Haldir swore,
frowning at the two bickering Elves.
"I will bring their breakfast�you two are worse even then
they!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carefully balancing on one hand a tray piled with fruit,
bread, jam, a pot of hot tea, and three cups, Haldir took a deep breath,
squared his shoulders and opened the door to the cabin in which the three women
resided.

Immediately, his ears were assaulted by shrill shrieks as
two of the women scrambled backwards away from the door. The bolder of the women, the one who
called herself 'An-na,' no longer screeched when she saw him, but rather stood
in front of the other two as if to protect them, watching his every move
warily.

Setting the tray down on a small table, the younger women's
cries making his ears ring, Haldir felt his self-control begin to finally
slip. Slapping a hand down on the
table, rattling the platters, he bellowed, "ENOUGH! I will tolerate this
screaming no longer! We have not harmed you. We feed you, provide you with the necessities you require.
Never have we threatened you in any way and yet you persist on reacting to our
presence as if we were demons from the bowels of Mordor!" Breathing
heavily in his righteous anger, Haldir eyed the quivering, albeit speechless,
females huddled in the furthest corner of the room. After a moment, realizing that he had more than likely just
exacerbated the situation by losing his temper, he sighed, shaking his silver
head. "My apologies," he
said in a much softer voice, "I know that you cannot understand me as of
yet. No longer will you be captive in this cabin. Keeping you safe in here has been our only objective, but I
believe it has only served to make you more frightened of us. You are free to
walk the ship as you see fit�I can only pray to Eru that you do not decide to
throw yourselves from the deck into the sea."

Turning on his heel, he left the cabin, leaving the door
standing wide open.

Anna watched the face of the Elf - she and the others had
concluded that that was the only word that could accurately describe the tall
silver-haired men with the pointy ears who had abducted them - shift from an
angry expression to one of remorse.
She eyed the open door after he had left with curiosity�and
longing. It had been weeks since
she had last seen the sun or felt the wind on her skin.

"Anna, where are you going?" Rebecca called, as
the older woman took a couple of hesitant steps toward the door. "It's a trap! They'll�they'll�make
you walk the plank!"

Tossing the other woman a look of disbelief, Anna said,
"If they were going to kill us, they would have by now."

"Oh, yeah? That's the same thing you said when they
were standing on the beach�right before they kidnapped us!" Elise reminded
her.

"I never claimed to be infallible, Elise, but I'm going
to take my chances. I'm going outside.
I can't stand being cooped up in here any longer�besides�he looked sorry
that he had yelled at us," Anna replied. "Plus, you have to admit we haven't been very
cooperative."

"Of course we haven't been cooperative! We're
prisoners!" Elise shot back.

Nodding toward the open door, Anna said, "Not
anymore." Turning, she
stepped through the door into the narrow hallway, leaving the other two women
still huddled in the corner of the cabin.

Her back to the wall, she inched her way like a fugitive
toward the beckoning sunlight. Tensing, she peeked out of the door that opened
onto the deck, expecting one of the Elves to appear at any moment and drive her
back into the cabin that had been her unsolicited home for so long.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Haldir was leaning on his elbows at the railing, staring out
at the rolling swells of the ocean.
He was surprised, not that the woman chose to come on deck, but that she
had opted to come to stand just a foot away from him, also gazing out at the
ocean.

A playful dolphin chose that moment to leap from the water,
as it and several others swam beside the White Ship.

"Ooh!" Anna cried in surprise, as the mammal
splashed alongside the ship. She
smiled at their antics, the first time she had felt a smile touch her lips
since the Before.

"Dolphin," Haldir said, pointing at the slick
mammals as they jumped through the waves.
"They follow the ship."

Anna glanced at the Elf, understanding only the word
"ship." "Dolphin?" she asked, pointing at the cavorting
creatures as they jumped high and landed with great splashes. Seeing Haldir nod, she repeated the
word a few times, trying to commit it to memory.

After a few moments of silence, she turned to Haldir. A bit hesitantly, her voice low-pitched
and husky, she said, "Hal Dear?" When he turned, she looked into his
gray eyes and, touching her own ear, whispered, "I'm sorry�"

Haldir smiled because her tone and expression told him that
she was trying to apologize for attempting to rip his ear from the side of his
head. "Sorry. You are sorry," he replied.

"Sorry, sorry," Anna repeated, the word in his
language unfamiliar on her tongue. She turned to look once again at the playful
dolphins.

"An-na? I am sorry, too. Haldir is sorry," he said, looking into her blue
eyes. He touched his chest and
inclined his head as he said the words, smiling again when he saw that she
understood that he was apologizing for losing his temper.

They spent the morning in a companionable silence, watching
the mammals play alongside the ship.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It became habit for Anna to join Haldir at the railing each
morning after breakfast, to watch the waves roll by. Starting with the word for 'dolphin,' Haldir found himself
giving the woman language lessons each morning. She seemed an apt pupil, rarely forgetting a word from the
day before. It pleased him to see
her progress.

One bright morning they stood at the railing watching the
dolphins, each lost in their own thoughts. Anna's fingers played idly with the ring she still wore on
her left hand. Looking down at it,
memories of her life Before and the days that had followed came flooding back
in a rush. Tears formed in her
eyes as she slipped the ring from her finger, laying it gently on the palm of
her hand.

Haldir watched her curiously as she tenderly touched the
golden circle with one finger, tears streaming down her face. Tipping her palm, she let the ring fall
over the side of the ship to disappear into the murky green-black depths. Her
sorrow hit him with a force that rocked him to his core. The ring symbolized someone she cared
deeply for�someone she had lost to the sickness loosed by the influence of
Morgoth, he realized. Her mate?

"An-na," he said softly, touching her chin with
one finger to turn her tear-streaked face up to meet his. In a heartbeat, he had her gathered in
his arms, allowing her to grieve in the safety of his embrace. "Shh, An-na," he whispered
into her hair. "Shh�"

As he held the weeping human, he didn't think about the
strangeness of being able to feel her sorrow as he did, or the knowledge that
came to him unbidden of whom the ring had symbolized. Neither did he think
about his sudden, overwhelming need to comfort her.

But he thought about it later.
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The Last Song of the Ainur

Chapter Two