The group of a dozen elves, both ellyn and ellith, halted about twenty paces north of Haldir’s position at the front of his own group of warriors and ellith. To the east, the rivers Gelion and Adurant flowed past and, to the west, a few miles of open plains with a few scattered trees. There was little opportunity for cover out in the open like this. The new elves seemed to be taking the measure of the band of Galadhrim, dressed in the typical greens, browns, and greys of the forest. Haldir noted the dark hair and grey eyes of the twelve new elves before him and the more intricate embroidery and brighter hues of blues and reds which adorned their clothing. He smiled ruefully at the thought that of course the first non-Galadhrim elves he encountered would be akin to the Noldor. He could only hope that they would not behave like the Noldor from Valinor.

The leader, an ellon garbed in fine blue travelling clothes and taller than the rest, walked forward a few paces and gave a slight bow. “Mae govannen,” he said in accented Sindarin.

Orophin translated for the Galadhrim from his position slightly behind Haldir.

“Mae govannen,” Haldir replied imitating the bow, his hand resting comfortably on his longbow.

“I believe that is the largest bow I have ever laid eyes on.” The ellon gestured to Haldir’s weapon.

“Thank you,” Haldir replied with an easy grin. “It has exceptional range – about three times that of the bow you carry.”

“Fascinating,” the ellon replied with a nod, seeming to understand the implications that Haldir could have hindered the band’s approach if he had wished.

“I am Haldir of the Galadhrim and these are some of my kin.”

The ellon smiled and nodded in acknowledgement to the group. “I am Curugorn. We are of the Tatyai.”

“I guessed as much by your appearance,” Haldir replied with a nod.

“I am surprised to see the secretive folk of the trees out in the plains where they so easily can be seen and have no place to hide,” Curugorn commented.

Haldir was not certain that he liked the ellon’s tone. “We love the water as well and wished to explore the rivers. What brings you here?”

“We,” he gestured behind him. “My friends and I wished to explore the plains south of the dwarf road. We have been travelling for six turns of the stars now and you are the only other folk we have encountered.”

“I was wondering what would lure one such as you so far from his forge,” Haldir commented.

Curugorn seemed shocked.

“I am surprised you even know the word forge let alone what one is,” the ellon commented haughtily.

“Why is that?” Haldir asked innocently.

“Because you green folk hide in the trees like frightened squirrels all the time. Why I heard you even dwell up among the branches.” The ellon and his friends laughed heartily.

Haldir spoke matter-of-factly, “Friend, not only do I know the word forge and know what one is, I know from the appearance of your hands and the musculature of your arms that you yourself are a smith as are all of the ellyn in your party.”

“Surely you jest. You are a simple tree climber,” the ellon scoffed amidst more laughter from his friends. “You could not possibly have enough familiarity with skilled laborers such as smiths to know such things. Or are you simply guessing because the Tatyai are known for their fine skills as craftsmen?”

“Actually,” Haldir said brightly. “I know from experience. A friend of mine is a smith.”

“Really? Did he make your knife and dinner spoon for you?” The Tatyai laughed again.

“Noooo,” Haldir replied quietly. “He crafted this for me.” He reached over his shoulder and drew his blade which was forged in Lothlórien.

The Tatyai collectively gasped, loudly marveling at the weapon.

Curugorn closed the gap between himself and Haldir, reaching out a hand to touch the weapon. He hesitated, looking questioningly at Haldir for permission which Haldir gave.

“I have never seen its like. This is an amazing long knife!  Look at the temper of the steel! Well balanced! Exquisitely carved handle,” His friends gathered around touching the blade and commenting similarly.

“Is your friend a dwarf?” Curugorn asked curiously.

Many snickers echoed from the Galadhrim after Orophin’s translation as Angaril came forward, arms crossed, an expression of great displeasure on his face. “I most certainly am not a dwarf, though I appreciate the compliment on my craftsmanship.”

The Tatyai ellyn looked him over carefully, realizing he was indeed a smith.

“And, ah…” Haldir added. “This amazing long knife is called a sword. I am surprised that as smiths you do not know the term.”

Curugorn and his companions looked up at Haldir, suitably chagrined.

Curugorn handed the sword back to Haldir and bowed deeply. “My apologies, Haldir of the Galadhrim. Our earlier behavior was most uncalled for.”

“Apology accepted,” Haldir acknowledged with a nod.

“Well, we had best be off,” Curugorn said. “May the stars shine brightly upon you in your journey.”

“And upon you in yours,” Haldir replied.

With that, the group of Tatyai made their way around the Galadhrim giving them a wide berth and continued on their way.

Once the party was out of sight, the Galadhrim collectively turned to Haldir.

“You have done this before,” Galadin said shrewdly.

“Indeed, I have,” Haldir said with a sigh. “Let us be on our way as well.” 

With that, they gathered their things and continued on their journey.

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It did indeed take six turns of the stars to arrive at the dwarf road just as the Tatyai had said. The whole way there, Gilwen kept giving Haldir sidelong glances and whispering with the other new wives who looked differently upon their husbands as well.

Captain Haldir finally gave in to Husband Haldir and took Gilwen aside just before they reached the road.

“You have been very quiet since we encountered the Tatyai. Please tell me what is troubling you,” he asked, taking her hand in his.

She regarded him carefully, lightly tracing her finger down the line of his face from forehead to chin.  “You are different out here. I marvel at how easily you take command and how you dealt with those who scoffed at us. The other ellith have sensed this in their husbands as well. What has changed in you ellyn?”

Haldir smiled, relieved that he had not done anything wrong, or so it seemed anyway. “We were march wardens before we came here. We guarded the borders of Lothlórien for many ennin. In guarding the borders, we had to treat with many folk of different clans and races. I do not take kindly to those who fail to treat me and my kind with the respect we deserve, and I have no qualms about educating those who would scoff at our ways.”

“Beloved, you have a great deal of pride for one who does not know the simple things.” She smiled in return.  “But what you did for us with those Tatyai…they will not look upon our kind with such haughtiness again. You taught them a lesson they well needed to learn. I think they will give more consideration to strangers and not judge so quickly those who are different from them.”

“Pride is a fault of mine, I admit. But I did what I felt was necessary,” Haldir replied.

She threaded her fingers through his hair and drew him down for long kiss. When he leaned away again, she whispered, “Thank you for what you did for us. I am so very proud of you.”

He could not help but smile in return, especially when he heard Rúmil’s rather loud sarcastic comment, “Thank you, Gilwen. There will be no living with him now.”

When the snickers from the others had settled, Angaril gestured ahead of them to the east, commenting in Sindarin, “It has been so very long since I have seen a road…” switching to the language of the Galadhrim, he continued, “This road looks out of place here and so…wrong somehow after seeing such beautiful plains beside the river.”

“It does seem to spoil the land,” Galadin agreed. “However, the dwarves are very efficient and use it to good effect. They put their wares such as metals from the earth into wooden boxes with wheels on them and use animals to drag the boxes along the flat surface of the road. I have travelled here before with one of our smiths to trade for metal and saw the boxes myself. That is what a road is for.” 

The new warriors nodded sagely while Haldir glared harshly at the five from Lórien, silently encouraging them to repress their snickers and any potentially offensive comments lest they answer to him.  Those of Lórien obeyed their leader and silently nodded in acknowledgement of Galadin’s explanation.

“Haldir,” Orophin whispered after a time as he pulled his brother aside. “I have added to the map again. It looks as if we could travel northeast from here, and eventually we would come to Doriath. I am guessing that we could reach there in perhaps 10 days.”

“And what would we do then, Orophin?”

“I do not know. I was merely making an observation. However, we are gaining a better idea of how long it takes to travel these lands. I just thought you would want to know.”

“Thank you, brother,” Haldir replied. “Strangely enough, I find that I am less interested in going there with each passing day. I just want to go home now.”

Orophin looked at him oddly. “To Lórien?”

Haldir smiled a little sadly, “No, to Celos Galen. I want whatever time I can have there with Gilwen, living the way our people were meant to live before we have to leave to fight again.”

Orophin clapped Haldir on the shoulder, “We still need to map the western side of the forest from Celos Galen, but then I, too, wish to settle with my wife and whatever family will be added unto me before Celos Galen is no more.”

Haldir gave his brother a brief hug, then called for the others to turn and head back the way they had come.

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Ennin – a period of 144 years

A Note on the Clans of Elves: The First Clan was the Minyai later called the Vanyar and they all went to Valinor and were the first to leave for Valinor. The Second Clan was the Tatyai and those of that clan that went to Valinor were called the Noldor. They were in the second group to depart for Valinor. The Third Clan was composed of everybody else: the Teleri who went to Valinor, the Sindar, the Galadhrim, the Green elves, and so on.

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