“You are foolish to leave.”

Haleth packed away into a sack the cheese she had just wrapped in a cloth before picking up another one. “Is that the only piece of advice you plan to offer me today?”

“That, and you should stay here, but you glare at me each time I say it. As you are doing now.” Caranthir was sitting on a bench in the larder, slicing off pieces of apple to eat as he watched Haleth pack only the barest of supplies. He had offered her and her people protection in his lands, to which she had declined. He offered and escort to wherever they were going, and she politely said no. When he first opened his larder and supply houses to them, Haleth had said they would do well enough on their own, but it was evident they would need this generosity of the Elf-lord at the very least.

“My people are proud, and we wish to remain free.” Haleth carefully selected a sack of potatoes, placing them with the meager pile she had started at the door.

Caranthir had attempted to help her, grabbing hold of a sack of grain when she began to drag it to the doorway. She had slapped his hand, and then hoisted the bag over her shoulder herself and directed her host not to aid her.

So there he sat, eating his apple as she took only what she needed from what was offered to her, despite the fact she had been formerly offered all of it. “What is this?”

“Spice for drying meat. Take it, you should try it. You can tell me what you think of it when you come back to visit.”

Haleth glared over her shoulder. “I am not coming back.”

“Yes, I assumed as much,” answered Caranthir as the spice was returned to the shelf. “You should still take that with you.”

“I do not wish to be greedy.” Haleth placed another cheese in the sack after wrapping it. “There. I am done.”

Caranthir furrowed his brow. “For the whole of your people, you are taking a sack each of potatoes and cornmeal, and a few other odds and ends? Now, when I met you,” he said, standing up and setting the apple core down where he had been sitting, along with his knife, “I knew you were... a bit mad, like me. But I did not think you so stupid.”

Haleth’s eyes narrowed and she balled up her fists. “You are the one who is an idiot if you think your nasty words will persuade me to stay here!”

“So you are still contemplating my previous offer.” Caranthir purred these words to her as he encircled her, admiring her temper, the way her cheeks were flushed, and even the sour look on her face. Nowhere in his realm or any other had he found an elleth with such passion for her pride and people to match his own; now he knew it was because he had been looking for this trait in the wrong place.

“It would do my people no good to stay here. We need a place of our own, to rule ourselves as we choose. A place where my brother’s son can grow and become strong and learn to lead, not a place where he is pampered by your women so that he has no ability to protect his lands and people.”

“Your nephew Haldan is but a child. I cannot help it if the ladies of the court fuss over him. The loss of one’s father and grandfather is a tragic affair, especially for one of so few years.” He crossed his arms over his chest as he came to stand before her, and she did the same to mirror his pose. “If he stayed here, he would be trained by the finest of all warriors. I would see to it that my brothers would aid in this. Haldan would become a great leader, a Man with no fear of enemies, and no foes who would dare encroach upon his lands. He would be Elf-friend, and that title alone would carry a great deal of power.”

“I cannot accept that offer, as generous as it may be. You have already done much for us, and I am unable to repay you for any of it.”

Caranthir rolled his eyes, and raised his voice a little. “I never asked for repayment.”

“And... you shall have none but my thanks,” Haleth answered simply, taking the sack to the door with the rest of the goods.

“I think,” said Caranthir as Haleth tried to decide which item to carry up from the larder first, “the real reason you are not staying rests with you.”

“What do you mean by that?”

The Elf-lord closed in on his guest, joining her at the closed doorway. “I think you desire me.”

Haleth looked up, her eyes meeting his piercing gaze. “That would be a foolish thing indeed.”

“But is it true?” wondered Caranthir, amused now by the fact that Haleth was looking every which way but at him now. “Is it?”

“It does not matter. We leave tomorrow.” Haleth crouched down and grasped hold of the bag of grain with trembling hands, which were covered a moment later by Caranthir’s larger ones.

“To me, it matters. To you, it should matter.” Caranthir let down his guard, speaking in almost a whisper. “Can you not feel that pull? That need for your soul to seek out mine? It was not a coincidence that we were brought together. It was fated that we should meet.”

“The blood of the greater and lesser children of Eru should not mingle.”

Caranthir seized Haleth by her shoulders, causing her to look up at him. “Can we help it if you are Edain and I am Eldar?”

“No, but it means we should not do this.”

Letting go of her arms, Caranthir let out a snarl, hitting the bag of grain with his fist, splitting a hole in the cloth. “Tomorrow you shall leave and we will never see each other again.”

“More than likely our paths will never cross,” Haleth confirmed.

Standing up, Caranthir yanked the torn bag into a corner, spilling the corn onto the ground. He retrieved a fresh bag from the pile of sacks and placed it where the other one had been before stomping out of the larder.

Many hours later, Caranthir was standing over the bed Haleth was in, watching her in the faint moonlight. He had spent the afternoon riding, hoping to rid himself of his anger, but finding he was only more upset when he returned at dusk.

He sought out Haleth, finding out that she had retired early that evening as had most of the Haladin. After hours of brooding in his room, he decided that as it was his house that she was staying in for the moment, that it was his right to be in any part of his house, be it even the room she was sleeping in.

A wolf in the distance called out to another, and Caranthir turned his head to look to the window. The same noise woke Haleth, whose sleep had been restless during her people’s brief stay in Caranthir’s house. She had a knife to his throat almost instantly, lowering it only slightly to see who it was. “How did you get in here?”

“Is it not my house? Am I not of the Firstborn?”

The knife was still in her hand as Haleth said, “So you decided since I did not swoon and fall into your arms that you would come to take what I would not give.”

Caranthir had hold of Haleth’s wrist and twisted the knife from her hand before bowing his head to say, “Had I wished to do such a vile thing, it would already have happened. Likewise, if you really did not wish me to be here, you would have said no by now. Instead you make countless excuses for why not, without ever expressing your desire for me to leave you alone, for there is little doubt in my mind that you do not truly wish it.”

When Haleth did not respond, Caranthir let go of her wrist and set the knife down on the table as he walked to the door. Haleth cleared her throat and he looked back.

“I have never been with a man, and I vow never to be,” she said, her eyes cast down toward her hands.

“You are beautiful. Someday, you will catch the eye of one of them, if you have not already.”

“No... it is not them, it is me. I do not want to be in the company of one of them. They are hairy. And.. they have an odor displeasing to me.”

Caranthir smirked at this last comment. “So, men want you, but you do not want any of them.”

“There is more than that. If I were to marry, he would expect to become ruler of our people. I want more than anything to return to life as it was, to live in peace as we once did, governing ourselves in our tribes. Of anyone, it is my nephew who deserves the role of leadership, and for that reason especially, I must never become bride to any man.”

Haleth finally looked up and said, “I may not feel this soul-calling you speak of, but it has taken all my power of will not to... accept certain offers you have made.”

“Why deny yourself that which will not harm your people?” Caranthir stepped closer to the bed. “Tomorrow you will leave, tomorrow is for your people, and you will be strong for them, and a great and kind leader, this I know. But you still have tonight, for you. One night seems far too short a time, but if it is all the time we have, I will take what time we are given.”

Her fingers gripped the sheet and pulled it closer, revealing a space next to her. “Then join me tonight.”

Caranthir stripped himself of his clothing quickly, for Haleth was already naked, and crawled into bed beside her. There was no shyness from this woman, who turned onto her side and reached up to caress Caranthir’s smooth cheeks and chin, lingering on a scar from a superficial cut received in the recent battle. “I wish men did not grow fur on their faces,” she admitted. Her hands moved down his throat to his chest and she added, “Or anywhere else, for that matter.”

“Some of my people eventually grow beards, but that is all, and only some,” he said as Haleth pulled a face.

She pushed him onto his back, and boldly straddled his body. “You must promise something to me.” Caranthir nodded. “Tomorrow, you will tell no one of this, and you will make no attempt to stop us from leaving.”

“If that is your wish, then I swear, this night will be a secret I alone keep, and though I offer you any aid you might need, I will make no attempt to stop you from leaving again.”

“Thank you.” Haleth bent her head down, kissing Caranthir, who kissed her back more passionately. Kissing a path down the side of Caranthir’s neck, Haleth sucked on the soft part of his shoulder, then bit him, causing the Elda to cry out. “Did I hurt you?” she asked, not sounding very concerned as she licked the red mark she had made.

“Of course it hurt. But I like it when it hurts,” he growled. He reversed their positions, returning the favor. She wriggled and gasped as his jaw closed over the sensitive flesh.

As Caranthir lifted his head up slightly, smiling to himself as he saw the spot he had bit her, Haleth’s hands came up to tangle in his hair and pull him back down. “Do that again,” she insisted, lifting her hips up to grind against him.

Doing as she wished, Caranthir aligned their lower bodies, sliding his erection across the damp folds of skin. He grew longer with every moan she made, and without warning of his intentions pressed forward into her virgin passage. She gritted her teeth, but did not cry out as the Elda thrust those first few times. Soon they were moving together, the motions hard and rough like a stormy sea, wave after wave crashing against a rocky shoreline, powerful and relentless.

They spent the evening exploring one another, making love over and over again. As the glow of the morning came, Caranthir silently rose and dressed. No empty promises were whispered, no words of love exchanged. When the Haladin began their journey the next morning, Caranthir was nowhere to be found to offer them well wishes, but Haleth did not seem slighted by this, and if she was she never said such to anyone.

It was this way that they parted, Caranthir and his secret wife, for never did he reveal to her the laws and customs of his people, and never did she reveal to him that she knew of them, and thus they carried on with their lives and their fates, never to cross paths again.