Middle-Earth Meets Loki

Haldir's resolution

Loki walked silently besides them. He stayed but a step behind Legolas, and Haldir noted that he seemed a bit tense, but otherwise, he could not read him. Something that was both incredibly annoying and rather interesting. Despite everything, he found himself helplessly interested in this walking contradiction. Perhaps it was his downfall, wanting to understand the mortal, but he could not help but want to peel behind the layers that he hid under. He was hopelessly curious. For someone that was clearly not elvish, he was so...complicated. Haldir usually had no issue reading the mortals that happened through the territory. This one...Though...this one was different. 

His magic was also so different. So tied to him it was as though it was a part of his every being. That alone was rather fascinating, if Haldir truly were to be honest with himself. He had never seen magic so tied to a creature other than his elven bretheren, it was strange to see someone whose magic was so similar, yet such a start contrast as well. He had never seen a mortal capable of such huge feats of magic that this one was clearly capable of. Whatever he truly was...He was not truly mortal. He looked it, but so many looked like a mere man, and yet they were so much more. 

The magic was different from Gandalf's own as well. That much was obvious. No matter that, he still seemed to have deep control, at least, when he was not overcome with emotions which caused it to lash out horribly and without regard for those around him. Haldir had seen something rather terrifying. The man had to control himself quite well, and even then...mistakes happen, such as when he had woken alone in the forest. 

Which really now that Haldir was thinking about it was a bad idea in the first place. The other did not really know where he was, that much had been obvious, and to leave a fallen comrade who was...still alive, though unconscious was never a wise choice. He would say that Gandalf had made a vast miscalculation there. Though, perhaps they had not expected to be wrapped up with his people, so in that case, perhaps there was more to the story. Even still, the other had panicked and had panicked so strongly it had rather shocked Haldir with the depth of it. Legolas and him had managed to calm him down before his magic did any true damage, though Haldir suspected it was just attempting to protect him from any potential danger. 

Which really told more than it should and Haldir suddenly was struck with a thought...He did not know too much about this form of Magic that Loki had, but if it was as close to Elvish magic as he presumed that it was, it was quite possible that...well...that Loki was not used to kindness. His magic had flipped out so strongly with just having waken alone, and then to be approached by someone who his magic did not immediately recognize...it drew a rather bleak picture to say the least. 

Yet it was also just as telling. It said that Legolas had garnered trust in Loki. Whatever form that took, and however it had been attached to him, Haldir did not know, but he trusted him enough to allow him to be vulnerable, and with Haldir's trace very similar to Legolas, it was not hard to believe the two of them were able to calm him down. It did, however, pose the question of why it was that he felt more comfortable with Elves than he did with Mortal Men. There were not many who sought comfort in an elf over that of a man. Men were more capable of understanding the fleeting humanity than Elves were, and so it was strange...at least to him. 

Even still, it was clear that Loki had found a friend in Legolas, some form of comradery. He highly doubted Loki would acquiesce to simply anyone. He did not seem the type of person to roll over just because he was told to do it by another person. Haldir had tried many avenues to convince him, but Loki seemed to be the very stubborn type, quite similar to Legolas, perhaps that was why they got along so well. 

Still, something about this situation seemed...off to him. When he looked at Loki, he saw something...more than that. He stayed ever slightly behind Legolas, never on equal sides. Something which bothered him...perhaps more than it should. There was no meaning to such trivial things, and yet he could not seem to let it go. Were they truly friends? Friends as in the type of friendship that he had with Legolas? 

There was no denying that Loki felt more comfortable with Legolas than the rest of the company. He could not really fault him there. Though Haldir got the sense that Loki, for all his capability and power, was placing Legolas in a position higher than himself, which would make sense, were he an elf, but he was not an elf, and that much was obvious. 

For all his magic may seem similar, for all his stature may look it, and for all his words may claim it, he was not an Elf. That was more than obvious, his being was different from them. He was not an Elf, and he was not a Man, so what exactly was it that had happened to him...to act in such a way. 

It made Haldir worry. For Loki, which was rather surprising. For all that he may dislike his free and careless attitude towards his Lady, he was beginning to understand Loki, from the amount of time he had so far been forced to observe him, and it had only been a day, perhaps a bit longer. 

Haldir contemplated what he had seen, and he concluded something rather shocking. It was not that he did not want someone to see him and help him, it was that he was too scared of it to allow it to happen. Did that not paint a dark picture and landscape. 

Haldir found himself forming a resolution. When the rest of the Company left, he would go with them. He would follow them, and he would learn more of this mystery stranger. He could not help himself, and while he knew that he should stay within LothLorien, he simply could not find it in himself to do so. 

So, upon escorting the two all the way to the dining hall, where the rest of their company was, all of which seemed surprised to see Loki there (which really just proved that Loki did not often eat, at least within their presence) and he excused himself with a soft utterance and steeled himself. He would speak with his Lady about his resolution.