Okay, so first things first, this will be based INCREDIBLY LOOSELY on the movie version of Thranduil, but it will be FOLLOWING the PLOT of the BOOK. I wanted to go ahead and say that now because otherwise it would get a little confusing later on when things started to really happen. Other than that, just bear with me a bit while I get back into the swing of posting fics as I have been away for a bit due to school. Winter break is coming for me after this coming Tuesday so I'm going to try and get as much posted on this as I can while I have time lol. Anyway, sorry for the long note, any further notes will be at the bottom of the chapters and on with the story.

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Sudden Danger and Strange Welcomes

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The leaves rustled above her head, rousing her from the drowsy haze she'd allowed herself to fall into. The sun dappled her skin and the lace of her dress, warming her with its touch. She stretched, a lazy smile playing on her face as her book slouched off her moving belly and onto the forest floor upon which she'd lain. It was this motion that broke the spell of lazy happiness she'd been under and alerted her to the truth of her situation.

The woods she was in were not the ones she had entered that morning. The warm sunlight was rapidly vanishing, leaving her body chilled and exposed in the summery dress she wore. Leaves and brambles, both already well into their fall drying cycle, crawled forward to snag at the exposed skin of her legs and feet, where the weren't covered by her flimsy sandals. But all of this paled in comparison to what hovered over her head. Above her was an almost continuous roof of what looked like sticky white web.

She felt a scream begin to bubble up in her throat, but clamped her mouth closed before it could force itself from her body. Instead, she knelt down, picked her book up from the leafy bed it had landed in, thanking every god and goddess she could name that the leaves had not rustled when the book was moved. The came the hard part. She knew that spiders worked mostly through touch, and that most normal species had little to no sense of actual hearing, but she wasn't willing to risk it with a species big enough to build webs of that size. So not she had to try and get out from under the web without making any sound of alerting the eight legged hunters that she was sure were lurking above the white canopy somewhere.

The first few steps were entirely too nerve wracking. It seemed to her that no matter how softly she stepped or how skillfully she tried to avoid the leaved, she sent up a cacophony of crunches and snaps with every step. She kept expecting to see massive many legged shadows above her at any moment, but the moment never came, all there was, was more bramble, the growing cold and her ever present dread.

She had just begun to relax when she heard the snap from above and the ground below her jerked upward, shoving her knees into her torso and knocking the air from her lungs. It was the only reason her ascent wasn't accompanied by a scream. White web stuck to hair and skin alike as the hidden net closed around its prey, trapping her in a world of horrible alabaster that she knew would be the last thing she ever saw. She felt a sting in her side, like a needle prick, only instead of the spreading muscle pain she had some to expect from modern medicine, she felt instead only a strange numbing cold. It spread from her side, across her chest, stilling her shivers and her rapid breaths, as it crept, making her limbs heavy as lead. As the icy cold numbness made its way down her arms and legs, finally, all she knew was stillness and she thought, as her consciousness left her, that she wished she were home and safe and that she should've just stayed in and written that morning.

Feeling was the first thing to return to her. Warmth spread out from her torso, radiating life and energy to limbs that still felt near lifeless.

"Ah, awake at least it would seem." A deep voice sounded off to her side, right and deep. Her first instinct was to feign sleep and hope whoever was there would assume they were mistaken and leave. "Come now, don't be coy, I can assure you, you are quite safe." The voice sounded almost amused, but in the way an adult is amused by a child. It made her hackles begin to rise as she tried to force her eyes open. "Still too weak I see. I will have the healers come and see to you. Rest now, recover your strength. I will return when you are feeling a little better." This was followed by the sound of fabric gliding over stone, and then the presence was gone, leaving her alone with her warm surroundings and her unbearably weary body. She was unconscious again within seconds.

She drifted in and out of consciousness, her body sending sporadic messages to her brain as nerves came back from the frozen numbness that had put her...wherever she was. She heard snippets of conversations, though the language was like nothing she'd ever heard before. It was a liltingly beautiful tongue that didn't seem to be spoken so much as simply flowing from the mouth of the speaker. Another strange thing was that all the voices she heard were female. She tried to consider why this would be, but her mind was determined to sleep, so sleep she did.

The next time she came back to the world, she was almost assaulted by scents. There was an overwhelmingly earthy smell all around her, like she was sleeping in a cave or a rabbit hole, but this was tempered by fall scented air, carrying a faint chill that was more sensed than felt. There were also more domestic scents, like wood smoke from the fireplace, freshly cut flowers, the soft smell of linen and a strangely male scent that seemed very close to her.

"Good morning, are you feeling better?" The voice sounded familiar, her mind treated her to a barrage of images as the smooth voice seemed to almost flow around her. She tried to respond, but all that came from her was a hoarse, almost cracked sounding squeak of air. It hurt like fire in her throat, spreading from her vocal chords in a creeping stinging crawl that slowly spread until it felt as if she would either breathe fire or simply crumble away at the neck.

"Easy now, here, drink this, it will ease the pain." She felt what she could only assume to be the rim of a cup press gently into her lips, coaxing them open as a hand, warm and impossibly smooth, encircled the back of her neck, helping her to sit forward slightly. She was expecting ice water to spill into her mouth as the cup tipped forward, but instead, the liquid inside seemed to warm her, soothing the parched skin in her throat as she began to swallow it down almost greedily. She heard a soft laugh as the cup was taken away, not all but empty, and was replaced by another smooth hand, gliding gently over her lips where small beads of excess moisture still clung.

"Now, try and open your eyes." She felt the hand at the back of her next, coming to rest against her cheek, urging her silently to wake fully and see the world again. But her eyes felt so heavy, all she wanted to do was go back down into the warm darkness from which she'd woken.

The hands seemed to be getting impatient The pressure in the gentle finger presses was becoming more noticeable. Also, they had begun to move, traveling in slow, probing paths down her neck and shoulders, applying gentle pressure as they moved. It would have been soothing, if she could just see the face of the man whose hands felt like the finest porcelain come to life.

"Come now, open your eyes, your wounds are healed, your body is rested, now all that is left is to simply awaken." The hands left her body as the voice moved further away, leaving her with an oddly empty feeling. She groaned, the sound barely making it passed her lips before it fell into the silence of the room. She knew he was right, she felt better than she had in months, relaxed in places she hadn't even known she'd been tense, rested, she wasn't even particularly hungry. She just had to force her eyes to open so that she might actually believe what she was feeling.

She tried to move, lifting her limbs felt like lifting boulders, but she managed to move both hands to her face, her ringers rubbing gently over her eyes until the heaviness began to leave them. Finally, she was able to life her eyelids, her hands falling to the pillow as she began to take in in the room around her.

The walls were carved to look like wood and roots, but shined like stone. Large windows, set high in the wall, allowed yellowed sunlight to filter into the room. She was surrounded by fabrics in every color of blue imaginable, though they all seemed to be faded with age, and all along on wall stood a massive hearth, a fire blazing in its grate and a man standing before it.

He would have been an imposing figure, back lit by the fire as he was, but the way he was dressed was a little too ridiculous. It looked like something you would buy from a Renaissance fair, all flowing brocade in golds and reds, it even had a train that rested around him in a dramatic fall of fabric. She could only imagine a tunic, leggings and boots beneath it. When that image, coupled with his hair and the face she'd envisioned as he spoke, she was treated to the image of a pouty king like figure that almost had her laughing out loud. But she was still curious. She had expected some kind of hospital room, complete with beeping equipment and backless gowns that made her feel ridiculously exposed. But this place seemed more fit in a fantasy than any kind of place a doctor would be.

The thought of hospital attire brought her mind around to her own form and the lack of clothing she seemed to be suffering from. The sheets of the bed rubbed gently against her skin, feeling as soft as silk, but without the slipper texture that had always driven her away from that particular fabric. It was the rubbing that alerted her to the fact that her clothed, ever stitch, were gone.

"Please, do not panic. You are safe and non but the hearlers have seen your body unclothed. The garment you wore was...damaged in places and has been taken for a mending and cleaning." He began to turn, a hint of a smirk on his face as she clutched the covers to her chest. She couldn't help but blush as his impossibly blue eyed came to rest on her, his gaze making her feel as if there were no covers at all. He was breathtakingly beautiful. His face seemed to be sculpted from stone, high cheekbones lead to a set of full lips that seemed made for kissing and or course, the eyes that were trying to devour her whole.

She shook herself from her thoughts, shocked that something like that would even cross her mind. She never been overly interested in having a relationship with anyone. The few "encounters" she'd experienced had been disappointing at best and thoughts like that were something she'd never had any patience with. But now, they wouldn't stop. She tried to change her thoughts, to focus on anything other than the man standing before the fires, smiling as if he could read her mind.

"Can you speak?" he asked, moving away from the fire, towards the edge of the bed.

"Oh, yes. Sorry, I'm being so rude." She tried to laugh as she dropped her head, breaking the almost electric connection she had been feelings.

"No apology necessary. You are disoriented, understandably so, you've been through quite a shock. You are lucky my guards found you, the spiders are not merciful." He smiled again, though not it seemed to hold something sinister. "But then, you already know that I suppose. There is much you know, I would imagine." He held up a dirt stained book, it took her a moment to realize what it was.

"What happened to it? That was a first edition." She squeaked, reaching for the book, only to have it pulled away.

"First edition? Are there others?" He seemed to grow just a little more threatening as his body began to loom over her.

"Yeah. It's been around for almost 100 years so there have been a lot of reprints. Why do you care? How do you not know this already?" She asked, hold the sheet to her chest as she moved into a sitting position.

The man standing before her looked almost sad as a thought occurred to him. "You have no idea where you are, do you?" He asked, his voice growing quiet.

"Well no, I don't really, I assumed I was at some kind of weird hospital but I guess that idea was pretty silly given the surroundings and the complete lack of electronics. Is this some kind of LARP camp or something?" She asked, her head almost literally spinning as she tried to take in all the various details of the room.

"I do not know of this LARP you speak of. Perhaps an introduction is in order." He turned, setting the book on a nearby table before turning back toward her, gesturing for her to speak.

"Uh, okay. Hi, I'm Del, it's not short for anything, my parents just weren't very imaginative." She tried to put on a smile, but the situation was just too strange.

"Greetings Del, my name is Thranduil, King of the halls in which you now reside." He dropped his head and shoulders in a sort of bow. Whatever reaction he'd been expecting, it was nowhere near the almost hysterical laughter now echoing around the room. It didn't last long, Del realized how rude she must seem and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry. But you can't be serious. Is this come kind of joke? A Halloween thing?" The smile on her face was so innocent that it almost broke the Elf King's heart to subtly shake his head.

"I do not know this Halloween of which you speak, but I can assure you, this is no joke." He allowed the sympathy he felt to creep into his voice, his face softening to an almost paternal expression.

"This is impossible, elves aren't real. Middle Earth is a fictional representation of Britain. You've been watching too many movies man." She tried to smile again, but the look of complete conviction on his face dropped a small chill down her spine.

"I can see that physical evidence will be required." He sighed, seating himself gracefully onto the edge of the bed, his hand moving up toward his face. Long fingers swept silken hair behind an ear that tapered into an elegant point. It looked so real, but Del knew that prosthetics had come quite a long way from the rubber her mother had grown up with. Her hand moved without order from her brain. It reached up, taking the tip gently between her thin fingers, feeling the heat under the skin. She was so engrossed in her examination that she missed the look of extreme pleasure that crossed the Elf King's face. It took a moment for the truth to really settle in, but as it dawned on her, she snatched her hand to to her chest.

"Those are real! How are those real? How is any of the real?" She felt her body moving backward over the smooth sheets as her mind struggled to come to grips with the impossible situation she now found herself in.

"Calm yourself. I understand this must be quite firghtening for you but I need to know whast occurred to bring you here." His hand closed over her arm, stopping her panicked fleeing before she managed to push herself off the other end of the bed.

"I don't know! I was in the woods behind my house. It was sunny and warm, on of the first real summer days of the year, so I decided to go to my favorite clearing to read. I must've fallen asleep because the next this I know, I'm waking up in the nightmare forest and almost getting eaten by gigantic spiders." She tried to keep the panic from her voice, tried to sound calm and rational, but she could tell just how convincing she wasn't from the look on his face.

"You go into a your forest, fall asleep while reading of my world, and wake to find yourself in my forest instead. Was there nothing else you saw or perhaps heard? Something strange about the day, perhaps the weather?" He seemed almost as desperate as she was to make sense of the situation. An understandable desire given that a random girl from another world had just dropped into his realm.

"No, there was nothing. I mean, there were more animals than usual in the forest, but that was probably just due to the nice weather." She shrugged, her eyes losing focus as she tried to remember anything else that may have happened.

"What type of animals?" Thranduil's voice became almost dangerously sharp, cutting through her wandering thoughts and pulling her back to the moment.

"Oh, uh, rabbits mostly, but there were also an awful lot of bluebirds and other little birds. And they didn't seem afraid of me. I figured it was just because of their size, they were much bigger than any other rabbits I'd seen in the forest." She fell silent as she saw his face darken.

"I will return shortly, someone will be along in a moment with some...more appropriate garments." He stood and marched toward the door, turning his head to speak over his shoulder. "I will expect you out of bed when I return, we still have much to discuss." With that parting order, he disappeared through the doorway and Del was left alone.

She didn't have long to ponder her situation before the door was opened once again. She gripped the sheets around her tightly as a dark haired woman came in, smiling kindly as she deposited a cascade of fabric over a small chair that rested before a vanity that was situated in a tiny corner by the window. She turned, pulling the covers out of Del's hands and clean off the bed, leaving her exposed except for where her arms covered or her legs crossed.

"Off the bed please. I have to get you dressed and ready before the King returns." The voice was beautiful, fitting for such a beautiful woman...no, not woman, elleth Del reminded herself. She was among elves now.

She took a deep breath, scooting off the bed as gracefully as she was able. She flinched as her feet touched stone that was so cold it seemed to bite. Her arms remained crossed around her torso, covering "the goodies" as her mother had always called them.

"You needn't cover yourself. Your body is actually quite beautiful." The elleth smiled.

"Sorry, my people value their personal privacy." She tried to sound unaffected by it, but the shaking in her voice betrayed how uncomfortable she truly was.

"I see. Our races are not dissimilar in that respect, but it does not extend to one's own chambers. Please remove your arms from your chest. I must get you dressed before the King returns." The elleth sighed, moving to physically pose her nervous charge. Del closed her eyes, dropping her arms to her sides.

She expected some kind of reaction, a gasp or at least a startled "oh" when her chest was revealed, but all she got was a small giggle and the sound of fast moving feet. For some reason, this made her feel more comfortable. After all, they were both female and the only thing she had to hide had already been seen, so there was really no reason to be nervous anymore.

"Arms above your head please." The elleth's voice sounded amused. Del put her arms over her head and felt a cottony like fabric slide down her arms and over her face, whispering down her body to cover the majority of her tattoos, including the one between her breasts that had always made her self conscious when naked. She still didn't know why it made her nervous, it wasn't a vulgar design or anything, merely a swirling mandala that was meant to symbolize balance, but for some reason, she always got nervous whenever anyone saw it.

As the fabric of the under dress settled into place, she opened her eyes, watching as the elleth scrutinized the fit. She tried to ignore the look of faint consternation on the beautiful face, but it was hard to miss and only served to make her feel self conscious once again. Did she not look right in it? Was it too small? It didn't feel small, though it was a bit odd fitting around the chest, but surely in a world where bras hadn't been invented yet, slightly odd fitting garments had to be something that was just expected...right?

"Is something wrong?" Del asked, feeling her nerves begin to rise.

"Yes, but it is something I can fix." The elleth disappeared around a corner, returning a moment later with several lengths of more cottony fabric. Before Del could even ask what she intended to do with them, the elleth began weaving them into a long, tube like braid. "Arms up again please." Del obeyed, somewhat nervous about where the fabric was going to go.

If the elleth was aware of her misgivings, she didn't give any indication of it as she stepped forward, sliding the braided band down Del's raised arms, working it downward until it rested just above her breasts. It was an odd sensation, and she couldn't imagine it looking very good, but decided to keep it to herself. Which turned out to be a good idea because the elleth wasn't finished. Without preamble, she gripped the bottom of the fabric and pulled it sharply downward, making the skin smart and putting an almost uncomfortable amount of pressure on her chest.

"Ah, perfect size. I had to estimate as there are few here who are so...well endowed. How does it feel? I can loosen the braid if it pinches or you feel like you can't breathe." She smiled, clearly unaware of how Del was feeling. The stunned woman cleared her throat.

"Um no, it's fine, thanks." She tried to ignore the cramps in her stomach that always accompanied being this uncomfortable, repeating a litany of calming phrases in her mind as the elleth busied herself with the multi-layered dress. First came yet another under dress, this one with sleeves that flared slowly out into a bell. It was a shade or two darker than the first garment, taking on a decidedly blue hue as it settled over the fabric beneath it. Next came the actual outer garment, and it was unquestionably beautiful. Del had never seen anything like it before. It's color seemed to shift between shades, one moment it was almost a jean color, then it would be almost navy.

"That is beautiful. What is it made of?" She couldn't help but ask.

"It is silk, the dying process leaves deposits between the strands as they are woven together which gives it the appearance of changing color. It will suit you nicely." The elleth smiled, walking up to her and slipping the shimmering fabric over her head. It settled more heavily than she expected around her shoulders, hanging loosely on her curves. She looked to the elleth, who was busying herself over in the corner the dress had been in and gave a small gasp as she turned, an embroidered belt in her hands. She wanted to comment on it, say something that would adequately express how beautiful the belt was, but nothing seemed to do it justice so she kept silent as the belt was fixed around her waist, giving the dress just enough shape to fit her. "There now, very fitting indeed. Now please have a seat at the mirror."

Del nodded, having a seat infront of the vanity in the corner and pushed her long locks behind her, letting them dangle over the edge of the chair. She expected some kind of deriding for the condition, she had never been very good at keeping her hair trimmed and healthy, but all she received was a nod of thanks and the feeling of a brush slowly working through the tangles she'd managed to get while sleeping. It was such a soothing feeling that she found herself relaxing into thoughtlessness, her eyes drifting closed as the elleth began to braid the hair at her temples, keeping it loose.

"There, all done." The elleth sounded pleased, which was encouraging and Del opened her eyes, looking at the simple yet elegant hair style. It was just a few simple braids, taken back from the sides of her head and pulled together in the back, but the effect it had was startling. She looked much more dignified than she had before, more like a lady, it was an odd feeling, but she couldn't say she disliked it.

"It looks beautiful, thank you." She smiled up at the elleth through the mirror. She returned the gesture and gave a small curtsey before turning and sweeping out of the room. Del sighed, feeling suddenly out of place without the elf in the room to remind her that this was how it was supposed to be. She looked down at the dress, watching the fabric as it pooled around her legs, shifting slightly with every movement of her legs, and suddenly she felt so silly. She was playing pretend, dressing up in clothes that would never suit her and she was about to talk to a King. None of this made any sense. She sighed, leaning forward, her head coming to rest in her hands just as the door opened.

"Ah, very good, now we may talk."

So there it is, Chapter 1, I've never done a fic like this before so please let me know what you think by leaving a few words in the box below.