Open To Anyone For Anything RP Post 2

[questionablewit]

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[grumpycatanthir]

The fight had been vicious and angry, and despite being somewhat aware that she had been deliberately provoking, his temper has never been his best feature. He has stayed away as much out of shame at the way he reacted, the things he said, as for any other reason.

Finrod's message caught him by surprise, and he considered not going for a long time.

But.

Haleth is mortal

He might never have another chance to apologise.

He rides slowly into the clearing, and wonders what he is supposed to say.

"Haleth?"

[takesnoshit]

She glances up at him, even taller on horseback than he is on foot, a shadow in the firelight. Caranthir the Dark, indeed. She cannot see his expression clearly in the twilight sky, but the uncertain way he says her name speaks volumes.

She looks back at the birds, tilting her head as she examines them. "These are nearly done," she says, eschewing any attempt at a greeting. Haleth has never had much patience for such diplomacies, though she can do them well enough when called for. "By the time you have seen to your horse, yours will be ready."

They smell wonderful. A few years of settled life has clearly honed Haleth's cooking skills.

[grumpycatanthir]

He blinks at her, bemused, and slowly slides down.

"Very well." He moves to take off the travelling tack and turn his stallion loose to graze, coming to sit opposite her when he is done.

"You... sent word to speak to me."

[takesnoshit]

"I did." The spit is removed from its place over the fire, and she is carefully removing the birds from it. One plate she hands to Caranthir. She does not meet his eyes. "A thing has happened which you should have knowledge of. But there are other matters of which we should speak as well, first."

She hesitates, which is even more rare than her refusal to look at him. "I owe you apology. I should not have goaded you as I did."

Let them begin with that, before anything else. Guilt is a thing almost unknown to Haleth, as is shame, but she feels their shadow when she thinks of her parting from Caranthir. Whatever her intentions at heart, it was poorly done.

[grumpycatanthir]

"I am listening." It must be serious, for Haleth to send for him after so long. He accepts the bird but almost drops it in surprise at her next words.

"You..." He takes a deep breath, the memory of the fight stirring old anger - but also shame.

"You said nothing that was untrue." He says slowly. "And I had no cause to be as cruel to you in turn as I was. For that, I also am sorry."

[takesnoshit]

It must be deeply personal, for Haleth to have sent for him. Even news of greatest import she might have sent by a messenger. There are messengers she would have trusted. But this is a discussion that could only have been held between the two of them, with no others near.

She shrugs a little at his apology. "You were cruel only because I drove you to it, and that deliberately. I took little hurt from your words." She had taken much more hurt from his own hurt, but that she had expected and accepted as the price of her actions. Or so she thought at the time.

She looks up at meets his eyes squarely for the first time in several years. "I sought to break your love for me, and bent my best efforts towards the task. It was unworthy of me, and unfair to you. I am sorry."

[grumpycatanthir]

Some things are too private. Even out here, with none but the birds and beasts to hear.

Caranthir shakes his head. "I was angry." He says slowly. "But I am always angry. It does not excuse what I said to you."

[takesnoshit]

She looks at him steadily for a long time, her expression unreadable.

"I forgive you," she says finally, then miss her head towards the plate in her s hands. "Eat, before it grows cold."

She suits action to words herself, looking back at the fire.

[grumpycatanthir]

He relaxes, when she says that, the stiffness going out of his shoulders.

"Still the same practical Haleth." He grumbles fondly, but obeys, turning to his supper.

"Thank you."

gaah, phone tags and typos, sigh. sorry about those.

[takesnoshit]

She shrugs. "You could not have expected that to change," she says, offhandedly. If he did, he did not know her at all. Haleth is nothing if not practical and efficient.

As is Caranthir, in truth, though perhaps not to the same extent. One way in which they had dealt well together. One of several.

One of the things she had turned against him, in their argument; pointing out all the ways a lover's arrangement--any arrangement--between them would have been impractical and futile, and flinging them in his face like weapons, with cold deliberation.

No, Haleth does not blame Caranthir at all for anything cruel he said to her. It would be hypocritical, when it was she who began the cruelty, with full intent.

She eats her food quietly, lingering a little more than she usually would. Awkwardness makes a poor seasoning.

Re: gaah, phone tags and typos, sigh. sorry about those.

[grumpycatanthir]

"No." He agrees. Haleth will be Haleth, after all.

He watches her as they eat, seeing the changes time has wrought on her and realising how smitten he is, for it makes her only more beautiful in his eyes.

"What did you want to speak of?" He asks as they finish.

(in this au they never so much as kissed, fyi)

[takesnoshit]

They eat in silence, and she feels his eyes rest on her. She makes no protest. She does not look at him in turn, but he is so bright in her awareness that the rest of the forest around them might as well not exist.

She sets aside the remnants of her dinner, cleans her mouth and hands, reaches for another cord of wood to add to the fire. Sparks fly up into the air.

"It has been three years," she says finally, looking at the sparks floating above the flames. "Do you still feel as you did then?"

o7

[grumpycatanthir]

"It has." He agrees, and raises an eyebrow at her.

"What does it matter if I do? You made your position... very clear."

[takesnoshit]

Haleth nods slowly, taking this in, still watching the fire. She does look older than she did, but stronger, more hale. Three years of peace and regrowth has given her much that she lacked, and the Haladin also. A relative prosperity. Her hair is decorated with beads and feathers, tightly braided against her head to the shoulder, where it flows more loose.

She is not wearing the dress he once gave her, though she has it still. But the clothes she wears were cut from cloth of his making, and the embroidery at the edges is his.

"A thing impossible has happened," she says, suddenly looking at him, her gaze clear and forthright as ever. "Impossible enough that I do not expect you to believe me when I tell you of it, which is no slur to either of our honors. A woman came to the Haladin some months ago, brought by the winds and Higher Powers from a time long beyond this one. Her name is Canien. She has my features, my hair, the look of the Haladin. But she is also clearly elfborn, and has your eyes, and names herself Caranthiriel."

She falters suddenly, looking away, and her next words are much quieter. "She smiles as you do." Or as he used to, at least. Which he mostly only did when looking upon Haleth.

[grumpycatanthir]

It pleases him, to know his gifts are being used, even as it hurts, that she accepted his gifts but turned him away in turn.

"An impossible thing?" He raises the other eyebrow, only to stare at her.

Haleth doesn't lie. And even if she would, why would she tell a lie of such absurdity.

"But... you cannot have children." he stammers.

[takesnoshit]

"So I have thought." Haleth looks back, serious and certain. "But even so, I believe she is all she claims to be."

keywords XD

[grumpycatanthir]

"But... but that's impossible!" Caranthir stammers. "I... I have had no other... feelings... for any. And you have no sister in any case."

hehee

[takesnoshit]

"You have misunderstood." She meets his gaze without faltering. "She is our daughter, Caranthir. Yours and mine."

he's like: what no this is not logical

[grumpycatanthir]

"Ours?!?" Is about all he can manage.

He's not wrong!

[takesnoshit]

"Yes. I have no doubt of it."

XD

[grumpycatanthir]

He drops his head into his hands and shakes his head, taking a few deep breaths before he lifts his head and looks at Haleth again.

"What... what did our daughter..." And Eru but that's so strange to say. "What did she want of us?"

[takesnoshit]

He is taking this more calmly than Haleth had expected, in truth. She shrugs. "Nothing. She does not know why she was brought, not how, nor for what purpose. So far she has been content to remain with the Haladin, spending time with...with the mother she had lost."

Her eyes lower for a moment. It is not knowledge of her own eventual death that troubles Haleth, but speaking of it to Caranthir. She pokes at the fire, unnecessarily. "There is no way to return to her own time that she knows of, save for the long road. She is inclined to view this impossibility as a blessing of sorts." Her eyes flicker back to him. "She does wish to meet with you, if you are willing."

[grumpycatanthir]

He is taking this calmly because the alternative is to run away screaming.

He flinches a little at the reminder that Haleth is mortal. He has more sympathy for Aegnor, these days, not that he would ever say that to his cousin - besides, Aegnor didn't even try.

"I...." He says helplessly and then nods. "I ... I would like that. But. The reasons you gave... still hold. For me."

The Oath, the Doom.

[takesnoshit]

Haleth, in contrast, has always been calm about Canien's appearance and existence. Impossible or not, it is a fact; she had only to decide what to do about it. And that, in the end, was not difficult.

Much more difficult to decide how Canien's existence changes her relationship--or lack of it--with Caranthir. If it does.

"They do," Haleth agrees, her voice quiet. "But Canien escaped those fates. That much she has told me." She closes her eyes briefly. "There are many things about her life I have refused knowledge of, for they are not mine to know. But that, I did ask. The Doom of the Valar perhaps weighs on her as it does on all the Firstborn, but the Oath at least did not ensnare her."

Haleth is nearly unflappable; her temper is hard to rouse outside of battle, and she can face tempests without upset. But there is relief underlying her words, and to one who knows her there will be something else obvious: she loves this impossible daughter. There are very few whom Haleth loves, by any measure, but Canien is among them.

[grumpycatanthir]

He sags, visibly relieved.

"That is good." He breathes, throwing a hand over his eyes. "That is very, very good."

Of all the arguments Haleth gave, that one was the cruelest, for it was the truest, as well, that Oath and Doom followed hard at his heels, and to bind to him would be to bring It's attention to those he most loved, and it was that argument that has kept him away.