The Empty Vessel

Prologue

Posted: March 2003
Author: ZeeDrippyVessel
Type: FCHet
Characters: Haldir/OFC
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer 1; I'm not Tolkien, I don't pretend to be the Great one, I didn't sell this, yada yada yada. My OFC is mine. Any plots, characters or things from Lord Celeborn's Book or Elf Children series belong to their creators: Alex and May, I'm just borrowing them with their permission.
Warnings: graphic het sex, excessive foul language, she-Elf slapping, violence, major angst, character death, implied slash
Beta: May, Eowyn
Timeline: During LOTR
Disclaimer 2: To JS Bach, Mozart, Elton John, Metallica, Bad Company, Howard Shore, John Bon Jovi, Bad Company, AC/DC and any other musician who's music and lyrics I have impinged on. I have written none of the lyrics and apologize if I have offended any. I also wish to apologize to various television and movies which in the course of this I might have trod on, however, I don't think Beavis will mind the plug so much. And to the others who I was very much influenced by. This is ALL your fault!
Also, I have a former boyfriend that had rather unusual, but engaging habit that I adored. I have given it to Haldir. 20 guesses to what it is...
Dedication: This one is for all the beautiful women, who discovered that true beauty comes in the prime of their lives and not as skinny, young things!

Summary: A woman discovers her world isn't the only one falling apart.

*****

Haldir stood at the window, dawn's light filtering gently through with the breeze. His feeling of unease had strengthened during the night. "Change comes, will you embrace it?" the voice in his mind's eye whispered. For several months, he had thought it was Lady Galadriel speaking to him, but recently he realized it was not her voice. He heard the sound of sheets rustling. He turned and looked at the beautiful she-Elf in his bed.

"Come back to bed, darling", she purred, allowing the sheet to fall, exposing perfect, pointed breasts. She smoothed the side next to her. "You've allowed me to sleep far to much tonight."

The March Warden looked at the silver haired beauty. "I am not your darling. What will it take for you to understand that? You are nothing more than a receptacle for my lust." He turned back to the window.

The she-Elf's look changed to one of contempt the moment his attention lay elsewhere and her voice dripped venom. "You seek me out willingly enough. I have kept myself for only you for a millennium. And what do I have to show for it? You have made me a laughing stock among the Lady's maidens. " She rose from the bed regally, sheet draped around her tall, slender body. Her tone changed, softened, as did the mask of her face; a face of sweetness, well practiced in her mirror. Her hand went to his well-muscled arm. "Haldir, why wait? What questions could you still have? We have been partnered for so long. Why not make it...permanent. Your parents would have been ple-"

His hand gripped hers tightly and removed her fingers from his arm. "Do not tell me what would have pleased my parents. You hold yourself out for me because you consider me your best catch. I know how many others you bed with when I am not here!" Her eyes widened. "Yes!" he spoke harshly before she could defend herself. "My brothers talk. I know they have enjoyed you separately... and together. I know others have as well! " He slung her hand away from with contempt. "You would bed Lord Celeborn, if he would even look your way. You might be a laughing stock, but you have made yourself one. And I am one as well, because I continued to take you into my bed." His eyes returned to the window and he sighed. "Change is coming. Can you feel it?"

Tears filled her eyes. "Change, change. That is all you are consumed with." She dropped the sheet and began pulling on her clothes. "If I had others, it's because you forced it on me. It's difficult to..."

"I know, I know, it's difficult for you while I'm away. Once, I had convinced myself you missed me." He reached out and twirled a lock of her silver hair around his fingers. And yanked her to him by the hair of her head. "But it didn't take long for me to realize what a serpent you are." He pushed her away, again. And took a deep breath. "I have come to the conclusion that by continuing to entertain you physically, you are convinced we have a future. That is not the case." He took in her look of shock.

"Surely, my darling, you do not mean to cast me out, make me look a fool..."

"I said I'm not your darling!" The voice was powerful, booming. "Only you can make yourself look the fool. You and I have no future. We will not be. I will no longer be your plaything."

She stood tall and tried a different tactic as quickly as she would change shoes. "Alright, we are not meant to be, we can still be friends and lovers..." she paused to give him time to ponder that offer.

His gaze returned to the dawn's light. "You always did sell yourself cheaply. That's the one thing I liked about you. No wooing of the female heart."

Her breath rushed out of her in one whoosh. "Wooing? Is that what this is about? Wooing?" Her laughter was curt and harsh. "You couldn't woo an old woman who begged for any Elf's attention! You are Haldir the Arrogant, Haldir the Brooder, Haldir the-"

His hand went up, his back still to her. "Stop. Your flattery will get you nowhere." He looked at her over his shoulder. "And close your mouth. You look ridiculous." Her jaw, dropped open in astonishment, quickly snapped shut. She quickly gained composure and slid towards the door.

"One more thing." She stopped, but did not look at him. "Remove all that is yours from my talan. I do not wish any of the awkward ‘I forgot this and that.' Do it while I am on patrol. Have it done before I return. I wish no lingering of your essence, no reminder of you." He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Do I make myself perfectly clear, darling?" His stress on the word was sarcasm at his best.

She stood as tall as she could - almost as tall as he and spat between clenched teeth...

"Perfectly"

He waited until she had left the talan and then rested his head against the wood at the side of the window. The voice started again. His whispered plea was drug out of him as a painful grating.

"Please, please, my lady. Cease your weeping."

***

I see fingers drop rose petals on a freshly dug grave. I can hear sobbing from afar. Does it come from my throat? The pain, is so fresh, I am torn in many pieces. My love, my love, take me with you. My throat is constricting. I can not breathe...see the light?...the beautiful light...and that beautiful voice comes back to haunt my dreams...Change. Change. Wake up, it is coming, HE is coming.

*****