Disclaimer- I don't own anything of J.R.R, Tolkien's.
Chapter 1
She danced merrily around the large trees as she listened to the beautiful sounds of nature and sang along with her eyes closed. She was one of the happier elves of Lothlorien even though her life at times was much more difficult than that of others.
She tried not to wander very far from the central part of Lothlorien, she knew there was much evil about, even she could feel it.
She was safe either way with the many guards that hid in the trees watching for enemies and unexpected visitors. Many of the guards recognized her at once and let her be enjoying her sweet song and voice. She knew them well and was good friends with many of them since they were not elves of royalty and had jobs to do. All these elves slept in the smaller flets that were higher up in the trees.
She was a curious looking elf, though very beautiful she was very different, and easily recognized by the elves. Her senses were not as keen as most elves so it was easier for her close friends to play jokes on her as she couldn't pick up noises as easily.
One of her closer friends was the leader of the guard, Haldir. She enjoyed his company very much as they had grown up together and alike in humor and temper, but now she did not see much of him as there was much evil abroad and he was always occupied and on the borders of Lothlorien.
She had stopped dancing but continued singing, she knew the guards that were high in the trees enjoyed hearing her voice as many complimented her when they would exchange jokes or the latest gossip. She was in the middle of her song when a blonde elf jumped from the tree she was under and landed softly in front of her. It was Haldir. "Haldir! Do not scare me so!!" she said alarmed, her heart slightly beating faster.
"My dear Leuthil, we truly must work on your listening skills. I was making much noise as I approached you." he said with a smile on his face which quickly faded and turned to something like concern, "Come quickly strangers approach and I came to get you out of the way. We do not know if they are evil or not, so stay behind Orophin and be very silent."
She did not see or hear any sign of strangers approaching. As she strained her ears and vision to try and make out figures through the trees, failing miserably, many elves came down from the trees surrounding her including Orophin and Rumil, along with four others.
She followed closely behind Orophin as Haldir had instructed her. After a very short walk and many turns between the trees they were suddenly surrounding 8 companions of different races.
They all had very glum expressions on their faces, and not to her surprise seemed to miss her as arrows were being pointed in all their faces. She stayed behind Orophin, but she was on her tiptoes looking over his shoulder and trying desperately to get a look at the strangers.
She immediately noticed the elf in the company of the strangers, he seemed so out of place to her at first glance, seeing as he was the only one of his kind among the group. She looked upon the faces of what appeared to be children, but as she looked closer they were in fact very grown up, they were simply….smaller. The dwarf also stood out like a sore thumb, especially when she knew how disliked dwarves were in her land. Lastly, she took a moment to look upon the two humans, both men, and both looking way worn from a long journey.
She caught the eyes of one of the humans and quickly lowered her eyes hiding behind Orophin. Haldir then spoke as the silence became heavy, "The dwarf breathes so loud we could have shot him in the dark" he spoke slowly in the common tongue. She smirked at Haldir's comment, 'always arrogant' she thought as she rolled her eyes.
She then stopped listening to their conversation as she thought about what she might do for the rest of the day. They talked and she thought to herself for some time then they began moving waking her from her thoughts.
"Leuthil, Orophin will take you ahead to the city. We will be short one guard but we will manage." said Haldir in his regular joyous voice.
"I do not wish to cause trouble Haldir, I shall walk with the group, I do not want you to be a guard short on my account." She answered him.
"Very well", he said smiling at her, then turning to the 8 companions said, " As was agreed, I shall here blindfold the eyes of Gimli the Dwarf. The others may walk free for a while, until we come nearer to our dwellings."
Leuthil watched the dwarf's reaction and immediately saw the disapproval in his eyes. "This agreement was made without my consent. I will not walk blindfolded like a beggar or prisoner. And I am no spy. I am no more likely to betray you than Legolas or any other of my companions." he said in his own defense.
"I do not doubt you", said Haldir sincerely, "Yet this is the law and I am not the master of the law, so I cannot set it aside."
The dwarf stood firmly with his legs apart and his hand on the hilt of his axe, "I will go free or I will go back and seek my own land."
"You cannot go back", said Haldir sternly, "now you have come thus far, you must be brought before the lord and lady. They shall judge to hold you or to give you leave. You cannot go back and even if you did so our sentinels would shoot you and you would surely perish before ever reaching the borders."
Leuthil watched as the elf who accompanied the 8 companions stepped forward. She did not take the time to truly look at him before and now she saw how truly handsome and kingly he was, even for an elf. "A plague on dwarves and their stiff necks!" he said.
Then the human who had caught Leuthil's wandering eyes before stepped forward "Come! If I am to lead this company, you must do as I bid. It is hard on the dwarf to be thus singled out. We will all be blindfolded even Legolas. That will be best, though the journey will be slow and dull." he said. 'So he is the leader of the group' Leuthil thought.
The dwarf then laughed, "We shall look a merry troop of fools. Though I will be content if only Legolas here shares my blindness."
The handsome elf stood with no expression on his face but spoke with an air of authority, "I am an elf and a kinsman here."
The human then spoke again, "Now let us cry; a plague on the stiff necks of elves. But the company shall fair alike. Come blind our eyes Haldir."
The elf sighed, "Alas for the folly of these days! Here all are enemies of the one Enemy and yet I must walk blind, while the sun is merry in the woodland under leaves of gold!"
Haldir handed the guards blindfolds and he also handed one to Leuthil who took it from his hand with some speculation. She went to the stranger standing nearest to her, which happened to be the elf, looking glum. She walked to him and stood on her toes to reach high enough. He seemed not to take notice of her, Leuthil looked over at Haldir for some sort of help seeing as she couldn't reach high enough to place the blindfold correctly. "Legolas my friend, the lady Leuthil shall lead you. A woman's guide is much steadier and calmer than that of a male. You will be glad to have such a gentle guide." he said.
"Thank you Haldir. I suppose I shall still have a much more pleasant walk to Lothlorien than that of the dwarf." He said smiling at Leuthil. He then bent his knees so she could reach his eyes effortlessly.
They had put the blindfolds on and began walking. Leuthil was at the back of the line guiding Legolas by the hand. She tried as best she could to lead him over the softer part of the forest floor. He suddenly whispered to her. "Why do you travel with the guards my lady?"
"I was simply enjoying the forest. It was by chance that Haldir crossed my path. Then we came upon you and well that is how I came to be here." She said. "If you do not mind my asking, what is your name?"
"My name is Legolas, of Mirkwood." He said
"Mirkwood? That is very interesting" she told him lightheartedly, "well, I am Leuthil of Lothlorien."
"A beautiful name my lady. You enjoy the beauty of your forest then?"
"Thank you, and yes, more than anything except perhaps for writing poems. That is what I delight in."
"I am sure your poems are excellent, perhaps one day I shall have the pleasure of reading one. I only wish I could enjoy this beautiful forest that I have not laid eyes on for so long." He then sighed.
She wished there was something she could do for him, but seeing as Haldir kept glancing back at them nothing sensible came to mind, "I wish there was something I could do, if it were up to me I would not make such a demand as to have all of you blindfolded, an extremely unnecessary rule if you ask me."
Legolas chuckled to himself, "Well then it is truly a shame that you do not make the laws of this land."
They finally reached the hill of Cerin Amroth and removed the blindfolds. Leuthil gently removed Legolas's. He took her hand and bowed to her whispering as he kissed her hand "Thank you my lady."
She also bowed to him and with a last glance at the exceptionally good-natured elf left. Legolas stared at her peculiar nature until she became lost in the trees. ' She is very strange' he thought.
Leuthil walked away and couldn't help but thinking of the sad emotions that could be seen in his dark blue eyes. She wondered what chaos had befell them.
A/N I hope you liked it and if I get a couple of reviews I will continue. New chapters should be up soon if I do decide to continue as this is a totally revised version of "Unattainable Love". thanks for reading!