Request: Elladan/elf of author's choice. Book canon elves only! Please include black leather, a fire of some type, and the phrase "Have you lost your mind?" Mild angst is fine, but it must end well. I generally prefer my Elladan on top, but I am willing to compromise on that point. No character death, rape, graphic violence or extreme angst. No parent/child incest. No heavy BDSM. No EVIL!Celebrian or EVIL!Elrond, and ABSOLUTELY no EVIL!Elrohir. No squicky characters paired, please. Silk scarves and general battle scenes are fine.

Summary: A Wood-elf learns that a dream come true is not necessarily the same as a wish granted.

Author's Note: I did not write Haldir as he is portrayed in the movies, but rather as he is described in the book: a simple border guard who knew enough of the Common Tongue to communicate adequately with the non-elvish speaking members of the Company of the Ring.

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ACT I

From his perch on a partly hidden flet atop a tree of middling height, Haldir watched the brethren Elladan and Elrohir as they slowly strolled with their grandsire Celeborn down the newly made paths of East Lórien, shaded by green-laden boughs shot with varicolored blossoms and not the shimmering silver and gold of years gone by. It would take getting used to, living in the verdant heart of a forest rather than the gilded one Haldir had known all his life. He smoothed a hand over the dark brown trunk by which he stood, remembering with regret the grey bark of Lothlórien's mellyrn, emblems of the Golden Wood's glorious beauty.

Nay, Lothlórien was glorious no more, he reminded himself. With the unmaking of the One Ring, the power that had held the ravages of time at bay failed. The enchantment that had once shrouded the land and shielded it from the outside world slowly waned until, one day toward summer's end of that year, the Galadhrim had awakened to the feeling of coming out of a long dream that they would never know again unless they sailed to the uttermost West.

Autumn and winter proved a trial for the Silvan folk of Lórien, burdened as they were by the heaviness of heart that the change wrought on their home. The mallorn-trees faithfully bore their golden blossoms come the following spring yet, still, that sense of profound loss prevailed. Nor did it abate as time marched on. And then, Galadriel had wearied and at last passed over Sea. With the departure of their mistress, the mellyrn seemed to grieve and droop and dwindle in radiance. It was then that Lórien had ceased to feel like a home to many of its folk.

It was why the greater number of the Galadhrim had followed Celeborn when the Elf-lord relocated to the southern portion of rechristened Mirkwood or, as it was now known, Eryn Lasgalen. At least, here, though the sense of loss was never far away, one did not have to live with the oppressive feeling of it every day. He suspected it was also part of Celeborn's reason for leaving Lothlórien.

Bad enough to bid his lady farewell for the Powers only knew how long; worse to walk alone amidst the forlorn trees that had borne witness to their love for so many centuries. And yet, Haldir suspected that Celeborn would not long call East Lórien home either for, though the Elf-lord had made it his dwelling place for now, he did not hold it dear as he had the Golden Wood.

Someone hailed the three walkers from afar and they halted and waited. Another Elf joined them. However, it was no Galadhel but a Wood-elf of northern Eryn Lasgalen, his green and brown raiment a contrast to the soft greys of the Elves of Lórien. Haldir's mouth tightened as Legolas son of Thranduil came to Elrohir's side and slipped his arm around the younger twin's waist. He looked away when Elrohir returned the gesture, drawing the woodland prince closer.

"He is a beauty," he heard his brother Orophin remark from beside him. "Small wonder Elrohir wasted no time claiming him."

Haldir chanced another peek. In time to see Elrohir press a tender kiss to Legolas' temple. Whereupon the archer lifted his face invitingly. Haldir did not avert his eyes in time to avoid watching the Elf-knight oblige the archer with a lingering caress that was equal parts lust and love.

Orophin clapped a hand on Haldir's shoulder. "'Tis a pity you did not press your advantage when you had the chance, brother," he murmured. "After all, you knew him long before Thranduil's son crossed his path. And he doted on you, too."

"As an elder indulges a child," Haldir retorted. "Even had I dared aspire to one such as he, any overture of mine would have come to naught. He never saw me as anything beyond what my service to him entailed. Aye, he was very kind and I will never forget that. But that is all he would have offered me; all that I could ever have expected from him."

Though he resisted the memory, Haldir found himself recalling the day he first met Legolas. Four years ago, he was stationed at the northern marches when the Company of the Ring entered the forest of Lothlórien, grief-stricken and harried after their trek through the subterranean byways of orc-infested Moria. He alone had spoken the Common Tongue; so it had fallen to him to welcome them and, afterward, guide them to safety in Caras Galadhon, the city of the Galadhrim deep in the heart of the Golden Wood.

He had been amiable with them all, but more so with the Mirkwood prince who, even were he not kin to his liege lord, was still a fellow Wood-elf after all. But he would not soon forget his pained surprise when he espied the silver band that adorned the archer's right forefinger. A ring bearing the crest of a scion of the House of Ëarendil. A closer if surreptitious scrutiny of its heraldic inscriptions revealed its owner. Legolas wore the signet ring of Elrohir, the younger of the twin sons of Elrond of Rivendell.

Haldir had barely managed to keep his friendly demeanor with the archer after that. He'd been glad of the order to return to the Northern Fences rather than remain in the city with the visitors. It would have been a torment for him to keep constant company with the Elf who had dashed even his faintest hopes to oblivion.

It was not that Haldir had ever thought himself worthy of any of Elrond's children. He was a mere border guard of no particular consequence, sprung from a family whose menfolk had faithfully served Lothlórien's rulers down through the centuries. But others could claim the same and Haldir did not see much of a distinction between them and himself. Save if one counted the fact that his father Glânthoron had become one of Celeborn's trusted captains following the tumultuous period when the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm awakened the Balrog that slept in the bowels of their mountain realm. Fear of impending doom led to the abandonment of the forest by many of its folk, including Lórien's last king.

Glânthoron never forgave elusive Nimrodel for daring to ask Amroth to choose between her security and his subjects. Even less could he forgive Amroth for forsaking his land and people for the promise of her hand in marriage. When word of Amroth's death at sea reached them, following Nimrodel's loss ere she could meet him, he was not able to summon much more than regret over the passing of fellow Elves.

Celeborn and Galadriel had proved very much to his liking. Fiercely protective and nurturing of the remnants of the Silvan folk they took under their wing, they won the Wood-elves' unstinting fidelity. Glânthoron raised all three of his sons to be unquestioningly loyal to the lord and lady and, by extension, to their daughter and her family as well. Haldir, Orophin and Rúmil never met her though. Their father wed late and, by the time of Haldir's birth, Celebrían had already sailed West.

She had suffered a ghastly captivity in a noisome orc-den ere her sons rescued her from its depths. Though her many wounds eventually healed, her injured spirit did not, and Elrond perforce sent her over Sea to recover from her ordeal in the hallowed land of the Valar. Her departure proved almost as devastating to her family as her initial torment. She it was who had been its fulcrum, her tender yet implacable devotion to her husband and children binding them together as powerfully as the ties of blood and name. With her loss came a loosening of those bonds, not so much from a lack of familial love, but rather from the vastly disparate methods of coping each of her loved ones undertook.

Elrond immersed himself ever deeper in his duties and responsibilities that he might vanquish his loneliness and longing even for a while. Their only daughter Arwen, on the other hand, made as much a home of Lothlórien as she did Imladris, for Galadriel provided the special closeness and affection her granddaughter had shared with Celebrían and which neither her father nor her brothers in their bereavement could spare her. The twins, however, found active expression of their anger in vengeful questing, eliminating the creatures who had struck at the very core of their family. Oft they journeyed with their Dúnedain kin and their bands of hardy Rangers.

Haldir would never forget the first time he laid eyes on the sons of Elrond as they stood before Celeborn and Galadriel, tall and proud, bowing their heads in due deference to their mother's sire and dam.

Well into their third millennium, they made an impressive sight, clad in black and grey from their billowing cloaks to their rugged tunics and long breeches to the leather bracers on their forearms and the sturdy boots that shod their feet. Lofty of height even for Elves and broader of chest and shoulders than any of the Silvan folk, they were the handsomest beings Haldir had ever seen.

They had come to spend a season with their sister and rest themselves after many harrowing years hunting down orcs and other fell beasts. Haldir had not yet reached his majority then, but he was fortuitously chosen by Celeborn to act as his grandsons' squire for the duration of their stay.

He was most pleased to discover that the Elf-knight could be as warm and affable with a child as he was cold and ruthless with a foe. Elladan, however, he found quite reserved, almost aloof at times, though not unfriendly. He did join Elrohir in teaching Haldir Westron, or the Common Tongue, which the Elf-lad's own forest bred sire knew very little of.

Why Elladan felt so distant, Haldir did not comprehend. He could only surmise that the older twin was generally disinterested in his affairs and so made no attempt to go beyond his initial befriending of the Silvan youth. In contrast, Elrohir seemed the warmer and more accommodating of their young attendant's adulation and it did not take Haldir long to become thoroughly infatuated with him.

Down through the many years, his feelings about the brethren changed little. He did not cease to be fascinated by Elladan; indeed, he hero-worshipped the older twin as much as the younger. But it was Elrohir whom he dared to entrust with his budding affection though the Elf-knight did not know it.

Shaking away the memories, Haldir resumed his perusal of the couple, his eyes gleaming as they fell on Elrohir. It was then that he became aware that he was being observed. Startled, he turned his head and met a knowing gaze. Elladan gravely regarded him, then glanced sidelong at his twin and law-brother before looking at Haldir again. At length, he shook his head and, turning away, followed his grandsire.

Haldir flushed with embarrassment and dismay. How long had Elladan been observing him? Had he seen his yearning and sorrow?

"Orophin? Do you think...?"

Orophin watched the group as they traversed the path until they finally vanished from sight. "Aye, he knows," he said in a hushed voice.

Haldir groaned. "If he tells Elrohir, I shall never be able to show my face to him again," he whispered.

"Elladan is no knave to spread gossip for the sport of it," Orophin chided him. "How can you think ill of him?"

The guard flinched. "You are right," he muttered. "'Tis wrong of me to demean him even in thought."

Orophin curled an arm around his shoulders. "Forgive me, brother, you are beset by disappointment and I have done naught but remind you of your loss. Come, let us visit Rúmil. I wager a spell with his rowdy brood will lift your spirits."

* * * *

ACT II

Bonfires were lit in the vast glade nigh to Celeborn's house. Abundant food and drink were passed around and music resounded in the great space as voices raised in song blended with the strains of flute and gittern in wondrous elven harmony.

Haldir sat with his brothers and their respective families around the fire farthest from the lovers, a desire neither Orophin nor Rúmil shared. After all, it was their privilege to settle themselves near Celeborn and his grandsons for gathered about them were the Elf-lord's ranking warriors and counsellors. But out of sympathy, they accommodated Haldir even if it meant sitting apart from their parents. They understood why he had chosen thusly. Here, the Elf-knight and his love were not perpetually in his sight. Here, he did not have to bear through an evening of additional heartache.

Thus, they were startled when Elladan joined their group, settling himself down beside Orophin, across from Haldir and Rúmil. The siblings exchanged furtive glances, wondering why Elladan had forsaken his place for their company. But none felt familiar enough with him to voice their puzzlement, not even Haldir who had served as his squire in times past.

Soon, however, they saw that Elladan desired to partake of less rarified company when he engaged Orophin and his warrior spouse in lively banter. With Rúmil helping his wife attend to their lively progeny and no other Elf in near enough proximity to talk to, Haldir found himself in isolation amidst the revels. Feeling quite lonely of a sudden, he looked about, wondering if he should join the merry party to their right.

Just then, he heard laughter and realized with a start that it was Elladan's. He looked up and saw that the older twin was looking past him, his eyes dancing with mirth. Haldir half turned around curiously to see what the Elf-lord found so humorous. He went utterly still.

Elrohir had pulled Legolas onto his lap, fingers playfully digging into his sides in apparent retaliation for some offense or other. Whatever it was the archer had said or done to merit the punishment, he now obviously repented of as he laughingly pleaded for mercy, struggling to wriggle out of the Elf-knight's hold. But when Elrohir would not relent, Legolas twisted around, threw his arms around his mate's neck and pulled him into a devouring kiss. The hilarity about them changed to bawdy jests and appreciative catcalls even as Elrohir promptly forgot his need for vengeance and wove his arms around his prince.

The pain in his heart increasing tenfold, Haldir turned his attention to the fire before him. He bit his lower lip to still its quivering and fought back the moisture that suddenly dimmed his vision. He felt someone lean close to him. It was Rúmil, his youngest Elfling cradled in his arms. The child was nodding off and so Rúmil carefully lowered his voice when he spoke.

"They have ceased, brother," he murmured sympathetically.

Haldir swallowed and nodded. He defiantly blinked back his tears and looked across the fire at Orophin. But Orophin was momentarily engaged in selecting a sweet from the plate he and his spouse shared and did not see him. Haldir shifted his eyes to Elladan.

The Elf-lord was no longer laughing, but he still regarded his brother and law-brother with fond amusement. Attempting to distract himself from his heartache, Haldir studied him, unconsciously making comparisons between the twins as he had done over the centuries.

This evening, the brethren seemed so much younger than they had appeared to Haldir in many a year. Perhaps it was because they had let their midnight-hued tresses flow freely down their backs instead of weaving them into the thick single plaits of their years of errantry. Clad as simply as the Geledhil, both wore loose white shirts, sleeveless leather jerkins, buff-hued breeches and soft boots. But whereas Elrohir's jerkin was of a dark chestnut hue, Elladan's was a stark coal-black. It gave the older twin a distinctly raffish air.

Haldir blinked. To his confusion, bedazzlement suddenly overcame him as he continued to gaze at Elladan. As perilously beautiful as his brother, he thought. Another wave of shock washed over him at the ridiculousness of realizing this only now. The brethren were twins. Of course Elladan could not be less comely than Elrohir. So how was it that he had never truly acknowledged just how beauteous the older twin was?

He caught his breath when, without warning, Elladan looked in his direction and their eyes met across the bonfire. Elladan gazed back at him inquiringly, apparently noticing Haldir's baffled expression. An instant later, his eyes glittered and he smiled at the warden with a warmth he had never bestowed on him before. A warmth that felt like a caress as surely as if he had reached across and ran his knuckles down Haldir's rapidly reddening cheeks. This befuddled the young warden all the more. Elladan had always been reserved with him for all his kindness. Whence this – this feeling of connectedness tonight?

Perplexed, disconcerted, Haldir jerkily made to rise and depart. A hand on his elbow stayed him and he looked down into Rúmil's worried countenance.

"What is wrong?" he asked, taking swift note of his brother's strained features.

"Nothing is wrong," Haldir tried to assure him. "I am only tired."

Orophin had come around to his side to examine him closely. "Tired?" he anxiously scoffed. "That is most unlike you, Haldir. You are never tired."

"There is always a first time," Haldir replied. He looked at them beseechingly. "Please, let me go. I wish to be alone."

The two regarded him a moment longer then finally gave in. "They are leaving tomorrow," Rúmil quietly said. "Perhaps you will be at peace then."

"Perhaps," Haldir whispered. He wanly smiled at them, then got to his feet and quickly strode away.

Glânthoron's house was set upon a large talan nestled in a tall stout tree in the northeastern section of the enclave. His married sons had made their homes in nearby trees with bridges of woven rope connecting their dwellings to their father's tree-top halls. But Haldir had opted to build himself a separate two-chamber apartment on a smaller flet atop one of the tree's great boughs. He still joined his parents for meals and kept them company in the evenings when he was not about doing his duty. But when he desired solitude, he would retire to his rooms whose short distance from the others' domiciles gave him a modicum of privacy.

He paused just inside the door of his apartment. The sitting room was dimly lit by moonlight streaming in from its wide windows. Oblivious, Haldir listlessly toed off his shoes.

He bent to pick them up when, suddenly, he stiffened, sensing a presence behind him. But before he could react, a hand clasped his shoulder and he was propelled all the way inside. The door slammed shut behind him and he was whirled about and all but thrust against the wall. He stared at Elladan in shock as the taller Elf-lord loomed over him.

Elladan caught his wrists and, pulling them overhead, pinned Haldir's hands to the wall. At the same time, he wedged a knee between the young guard's legs, prying them apart. Outrage mingling with bewilderment, Haldir cast decorum aside.

"Have you lost your mind?" he angrily demanded. But then he gasped when a hard thigh pressed up against his crotch. He closed his eyes, desperately clinging to the tatters to which his prior calm had been abruptly reduced.

"Not at all," came the rakish reply, which dispersed said tatters to the four winds. "But I intend to make you lose yours."

* * * *

ACT III

Lips descended on his ere he could speak. He uttered an inarticulate cry. It proved a mistake for Elladan slipped his tongue between his parted lips and Haldir found himself locked in a kiss of such molten voracity, he almost forgot to breathe.

He had some experience. He could not have remained completely untouched after all these years. But for an Elf who had never permitted more liberties than a few kisses and the grip and fondle of needy flesh within the constraints of clothing, this was a degree of intimacy beyond anything he had ever known.

Fire raced through his very veins as his mouth was thoroughly ravished. Had anyone tasted of him as if he were a delicacy to be savored? Or mastered him with such sure authority that he could muster no reasonable defense?

He did try to struggle against his captor; to loosen the pinioning grip on his wrists. To no avail. The Peredhel lord was strong. Astonishingly so.

Prickles of fear but also unlooked for excitement smote him when Elladan lowered a hand to his collar and unfastened his shirt from neck to chest. Fingers lightly curled about his throat, sliding down caressingly afore tracing the fine ridges of his collarbone. A moan escaped him at the gentle yet sensual touch.

Elladan released his lips and gazed at him with a small smile. "Tell me to go and I will obey," he murmured. "Otherwise, I promise you, we shall put your bed to good use this night."

Only afterwards would Haldir understand why he acted as he did. But at that very moment, he could only wonder at himself for doing so.

He took a shuddery breath, acutely aware of how vulnerable he looked. Yet something kept him from saying the proper words and instead he heard himself whisper, "Do not go."

Elladan's eyes gleamed in the silver-shot dimness. "I did not think I was wrong about you," he unexpectedly said.

He stripped Haldir there and then, every step performed with an economy of movement that bespoke his long experience in seduction. When Elladan loosened the Wood-elf's breeches and pushed them down past his hips to slide to his ankles, Haldir braced himself against the wall, his suddenly unreliable legs threatening to give way under him. Trapping him thusly, Elladan treated him once again to a spate of scalding kisses that all but stole the breath from him and reduced him to clutching desperately at the Elf-lord's shoulders, the leather of his jerkin creasing in the convulsive grip of Haldir's fingers.

Haldir would swear they later moved of their own volition to the ties on the jerkin, undoing them so that he could shove the garment from Elladan's shoulders. His palms came into contact with the warmth of flesh through thin fabric. Lucid thought gave way to primal need and he hastened to dispose of the barrier that kept skin from touching skin. In his lack of experience, he fumbled and cursed against the older twin's lips as he worked with recalcitrant buttons and breech-laces.

He did hesitate when he felt the bulge prodding his belly, straining to escape its confines. But something egged him on and, at last, Elladan's breeches slithered to the floor. Haldir caught his breath as hard flesh filled his hand. He gingerly, almost fearfully wrapped his fingers around the firm column. Sweet Eru, no Elf-male of intimate acquaintance had ever been so thick of girth or impressive of length!

He sharply hissed when the Elf-lord suddenly released his lips and lifted him in his arms. The change in position caused their shafts to slide against each other. Haldir parted his lips in a soundless cry, undone by the unfamiliar sensation. He clung to Elladan while the older twin bore him to the bedchamber, every stride bringing their lengths into delicious frictional contact.

He was laid on the bed and pinned down beneath Elladan's heavier frame. Argent light coming through the bedside window washed over their bodies, imbuing them with an almost unearthly glow. Again, he was kissed to near breathlessness while his arms, flanks and hips were lazily stroked. And then the earnest mapping of his body began, Elladan slowly moving downward as he kissed and sucked and licked every inch of his flesh or so it seemed to the almost delirious Wood-elf.

The delicate tips of his ears, the sensitive line of his sleek throat, the aching peaks and surrounding plains of each dusky rose nipple, the rippled wash of his abdomen all the way to the tender flesh of his groin with its smattering of silvery curls – naught was left untasted and naught displeased the Elf-lord if his lengthy tending to each was indication of his enjoyment of Haldir's graces.

By the time he closed his lips around the young Elf's shaft, Haldir had long left his wits by the wayside. He no longer spoke but gasped, moaned and grunted his reactions. Before long, the wet sucking warmth wrenched from him a series of soft staccato cries that culminated in a shuddery wail when he spilled himself down Elladan's throat.

Afterward, he could only lie in sated lethargy, watching in apprehension and anticipation as Elladan purposefully slicked his fingers with beads of his emerging seed. Haldir's mouth went dry at the sight of the twin stroking the length of his shaft before running his fingers over its blunt tip to gather the glistening fluid. He gulped when more of the slippery cream issued forth, copious enough for the Elf-lord's need.

Elladan leaned over him while his hand slipped between Haldir's thighs. The Wood-elf held his breath then gasped when he felt himself partially pierced.

"You thought to save this last for him," Elladan murmured, pressing his finger in all the way.

Haldir nodded, closing his eyes tightly as he was carefully but thoroughly probed. He winced when Elladan proceeded to stretch him, wondering how in Arda was he supposed to accommodate the Peredhel lord's formidable shaft when mere fingers were enough to cause him discomfort.

"'Twas for him that you kept so chaste. But now, I am here in his stead. Will you surrender yourself to me, Haldir?"

Something in Elladan's voice compelled him to open his eyes and gaze at the Elf-lord. Elladan was regarding him with an intensity he found almost impossible to bear. But there was something more in the depths of his grey eyes. Uncertainty? Nay, there was no lack of confidence there. Deference then, Haldir comprehended. Elladan knew the warden was his for the taking, held in thrall as he was by the older twin's beauty and skill. But he would not take what Haldir did not give with willingness unclouded by seduction or compulsion. Moved beyond words, Haldir reached up and drew Elladan down into a yielding kiss.

Smothering an imprecation born of long suppressed need now suddenly answered, Elladan withdrew his fingers and, quickly smearing his shaft with his seed, moved between Haldir's outstretched legs. Hooking his hands behind the young Elf's knees, he lifted his legs and urged them high around his waist. Haldir instinctively crossed his ankles then braced himself for his first breaching.

He caught his breath when he felt the initial press of Elladan's shaft into him, opening him slowly to sensual invasion. Thick flesh slid wholly into him and he visibly winced. Ah, the stretch and burn of it was almost more than he could bear. As was the shocking intimacy of the joining of their bodies. Trembling, he gripped Elladan's arms, acutely aware of how fulsomely the Elf-lord filled him. He had heard many a tale about how it was to be speared but no spoken word could ever have prepared him for the actual experience.

He felt the caress of lips on his temple, cheeks and mouth. Heard Elladan's whispered assurances as they mingled with his own shuddery breathing. Gazed into searching eyes that seemed to know him better than he knew himself.

Elladan's lips alighted upon his, coaxing them apart with a swipe and thrust of his tongue ere he once again supped of the Wood-elf's sweetness. Keeping Haldir thus occupied, he began to push into him, shallowly at first so as not to hurt him.

Haldir gasped and instinctively sought to escape the incursive onslaught on his body. But Elladan caught him fast, firmly held his hips in place and relentlessly drove into him, stroking him within until the younger Elf was arching up into every thrust, torn between exquisite sensation and shocked disbelief at his repeated cleaving.

Elladan gave him no quarter but took from him as much as he bestowed. Enjoyed him while he plied him with bliss. Wrested from him all the pleasure his body could offer even as he strove to deliver him into ecstasy.

By now Haldir was half sobbing, unable to withstand the deluge of rapture that swept his body, overcome by the unravelling sensations in his belly. When Elladan curled his fingers around his shaft and caressed it, he nearly keened. No longer aware of anything but the wild pleasure within that was rapidly spiralling out of control, he let loose a litany of breathless pleas for Elladan to stop the wondrous insanity.

"Nay, only you can end it, my fair one," Elladan murmured, his own voice now harsh with the need for release. "Do not fight it. Let go, Haldir."

He broke then. Shattered into countless, tiny shards. Shuddering helplessly, Haldir spent himself in what felt like an endless stream. In the midst of his throes, he felt a gush of warmth fill him and realized with awe that Elladan had likewise come to completion and spilled himself deep within his body. Haldir's cheeks crimsoned further at the thought of the Elf-lord leaving his seed inside him. He fought to steady his breathing, failed at first, then managed to calm down somewhat.

Lips meandered from his chest up to his throat. Haldir trembled as the salty moisture in the hollow at the base of his throat was licked off. He whimpered, surprised by the faint frisson that emanated from the caress. Surely he could not be ready for yet another coupling! Yet he did not know whether to be relieved or disappointed when Elladan carefully withdrew from him.

Elladan wiped away the evidence of Haldir's spending from the warden's chest and belly, using a corner of the rumpled blanket beneath them.

"So sweet," the Elf-lord breathily murmured. "I should have claimed you long ago and plague take the consequences of my haste."

"Why did you hesitate?" Haldir softly queried, a shiver of delight snaking its way up his spine.

Elladan snorted and looked at him. He raised his hand and stroked the guard's still rosy cheek, then dropped a kiss on his nose ere brushing his lips against his mouth.

"You were so obviously in love with my brother, to have taken you then would have been little more than ravishment in your eyes," Elladan pointed out. "Not that I would have balked at having you thusly had I thought it the only way to win you for myself. But, I preferred that you came to me willingly, even if out of a broken heart, than bear my attentions grudgingly merely because I had plucked your innocence."

Haldir could not gainsay him. He had indeed kept himself chaste all these years in the unlikely event that Elrohir might yet look upon him with more than a mentor's eyes. He had thought to gift this last vestige of virtue upon the Elf-knight should that dearest wish come to pass. Had Elladan seduced him then, it was indeed quite likely that he would have turned from Elrohir because he would have deemed himself sullied for his first love. At the same time, he would probably have resented Elladan for taking his dream away from him even as he dutifully warmed his bed. Aye, it would not have been wise to coerce him into a liaison not of his choosing.

He frowned. "You said, had you thought it the only way," he commented. "Did you think me easily seduced then?"

"Certainly not," Elladan retorted. "I know you to be constant; almost insupportably so. But I also know my brother. He cared for you but he could not love you. He was not made for you any more than you were made for him and we both knew it."

"Both?" Haldir was aghast. "Then Elrohir knew all along of my feelings for him?"

"We are neither blind nor obtuse. Of course, he knew. And he worried about you for he did not wish to cause you hurt. But I told him I would prefer that he did break your heart. For then you would seek comfort and I would be there to give it to you."

"How confident of you!" Haldir exclaimed, not sure whether to be admiring or reproving.

Elladan chuckled. "Nay, had we not been twins and I not his mirror image, I would not have been so sure of the outcome. But..." Elladan ran a fingertip along Haldir's lips, grinning when the Elf reflexively sucked it. "...I was fairly certain you would be tempted by the idea of intimacy with one who bore so close a resemblance to him, you would be able to pretend that 'twas he who held you in his arms and filled you to bursting."

Haldir stared at him. "I did not—" he began. "I swear, I would never use anyone thusly!" he blurted out. "Least of all you, Elladan."

"Nay? Then why did you yield to me this eve if not to assuage your yearning for him?" Elladan asked a tad skeptically.

"There is that," Haldir honestly admitted. "But 'twas also because..." He hesitated, abashed. "When I saw how you looked in the firelight, 'twas as if I had never seen you before and yet... and yet I did know you well and worshipped you. Methinks I dwelt so much on your differences from him that I failed to see your similarities and – thus denied that I could want you as much as I did your brother."

He stopped, astonished at this sudden insight into his own feelings. Guilt swiftly followed on the heels of his discovery.

He had judged Elladan according to his limited understanding of the twins' roles in their valley realm. He had failed to consider that, as Elrond's heir, Elladan could not be alike to Elrohir in all ways. It was not to his brother alone that Haldir should have compared the older twin but also to their grandsire and father. Only now had it occurred to him that Elladan comported himself much as they, while Elrohir had emulated the Elf he had seconded for much of his adult life. This was Glorfindel – formerly of the House of the Golden Flower in ancient Gondolin and reborn captain of Rivendell's forces – who, upon his return to Middle-earth, had shed the somewhat dispassionate demeanor of one who ruled others, be they of a noble house, a sovereign community or a great realm.

Shamed, Haldir averted his eyes. "Forgive me," he mumbled.

"For what?" Elladan said, drawing him into his arms. "You acted on what you perceived of us. There is nothing wrong with that. If I must chide you, it would be for hurting yourself for so long, pining for someone who had never shown you more than platonic affection and thus blinding yourself to those who would have given you what he could not. But I am not angered nor do I think less of you for it. I will be offended, however, if you do not offer me the same single-minded devotion you gave Elrohir. He had too much of it as it was, between you and Legolas. I confess that made me rather envious."

Before he could say another word, he found himself on his back with an amorous Wood-elf atop him, kissing him almost insensible. A swath of silver curtained their faces and Elladan breathed in Haldir's intoxicating scent. Wild and woodsy with just a touch of the fragrant blooms that gave the forests their color. His lust awakened once again and he wrapped his arms around Haldir's slender frame, lifting his hips so that their groins met and his love might feel the evidence of his resurgent need.

Haldir groaned and pressed himself more closely against Elladan. At length, he broke their kiss and gazed down at him, eyes glistening and hooded with desire.

Elladan huskily chuckled. "May I presume that there is no longer cause for envy?"

Haldir nodded, a smile curving his mouth. "No cause at all," he whispered. "You have plucked more than my innocence, my lord."

"Oh? And what else did I pluck?" Elladan murmured, raising his head to nibble at the pale flesh of Haldir's throat.

"My heart," Haldir moaned.

He heard a low growl. He shivered with anticipation as he was rolled over, Elladan wedged between his thighs.

"Such a bountiful harvest I have reaped after the long drought," Elladan silkily said. "And now, at last, I shall feast until my hunger is glutted. Ready yourself, beloved, for I refuse to waste this night in slumber."

He allowed Haldir no further speech as he made good his claim and bent to partake once more of the spoils of his labors.

* * * *

EPILOGUE

Glânthoron and his family gathered in the vast clearing where, little more than a year ago, they had gathered around the bonfires of a celebration feting one newly wedded couple. Now, they would say their goodbyes to yet another lately married pair.

The Elf-captain smiled somewhat crookedly as his weeping wife embraced their eldest son. No longer would Haldir call Lórien home nor any other woods. Not even when he sailed West would he long abide in the heart of a forest. For he was bound to an Elf whose forefathers had built majestic halls of stone and great vessels that plied the waters of Arda.

Glânthoron gave Haldir his blessings, his pride in him shining brightly in his ageless eyes. Rúmil and Orophin also bade their brother farewell, catching him in fierce hugs, grinning even as they fought to keep their tears from spilling. Quite teary-eyed himself, Haldir glanced at his mate as he came up beside him.

"'Tis time," Elladan softly said. Behind him, Elrohir and Legolas waited, already astride their horses.

Haldir nodded then stepped before Celeborn. He bowed to him in liege obeisance one last time. Henceforth, his lord would be the noble Peredhel who had claimed him in wedlock.

He turned to Elladan and said: "I am ready."

They mounted their steeds. With a final smile at his family, Haldir followed Elladan out of the glade.

As they travelled the wide tree-shaded path to the forest edge, he looked about him, committing every leaf and stone and blossom to memory. For the second time in his life, he was quitting one home to build a new one. Only this time, he would build it not with the family he had been born into but with the one he had chosen to join himself to.

He glanced down at his right hand where a gold band gleamed on his forefinger. Haldir smiled at the insignia inscribed on it, attesting to his station as the lawfully wedded mate of Elrond's older son. Of Elladan, his gallant Lord of Imladris.

FINIS

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Glossary: flet (also talan) – tree-top platform upon which the Elves of Lothlórien built their homes
mellyrn (also mallorn-trees) – the gold-crowned, grey-barked trees of Lothlórien found nowhere else in Middle-earth
Eryn Lasgalen – Wood of Greenleaves; Mirkwood's name after the War of the Ring
Galadhel (pl. Geledhil) – Tree-Elf; a Silvan Elf of Lothlórien
Galadhrim – Tree-people; another name for the Geledhil
Moria - the Elves' name for the Dwarven realm of Khazad-dûm after the Dwarves abandoned it
gittern – lute-like stringed instrument