Chapter 1: Little Kida

"Little one, wake up!"

5 year old Kida Tonamer woke up and rubbed her green eyes. But when she opened them her surroundings were not what she had expected. She couldn't figure out where she was.

She was in a elaborate, elegant bedroom. There were big carvings of elf women on the walls, a leaf canopy for a roof, a white linen bed and the sun was shining thru a windowless window.

A strict looking elven woman was standing next to her. "You've been asleep for 6 days now; King Thranduil would like to see you now."

King Thrauduil? Was she in Mirkwood? Her papa had told her stories of Mirkwood forest and the elves but why was she here? And where was her family anyways?

"Ma'am where is my papa and my brother and sister?"

"King Thrauduil will answer all your questions." The she-elf answers crisply. "Come you will follow me now."

Kida struggled to get out of the warm sheets she had been tucked into but as she wiggled she notice hers hands and feet hurting. She looked down at her hands and they were covered in bruises, as well as her feet.

Kida looked at the she-elf confused but all she got was a stern look. She painfully made her way to the edge of the bed. Another problem arose… the bed was too high for her, it was along ways down.

After trying to get off a few time the she-elf finally decided to "help" Kida and roughly picked her up and carried her out the door and into the most scary and yet amazing site Kida had ever seen.

Mirkwood was a city in the trees. The she-elf walked from tree to tree on bridges until they reached the center and biggest tree. On the bridge to this tree, Kida could see everything. The trees each had many levels with windows and bridges up and down them. And everything seemed to have this glow about it. It was so high that Kida cowered in awe because she couldn't see to the bottom.

The she-elf that was carrying Kida got to the other side of the bridge and in front of her were two Elven guards. "I have the little girl survivor." The she-elf said simply. The guards moved out from the door and opened it.

The room they entered was similar to the one they had left but it was much bigger and in the back-center were two thrones. On the bigger throne sat an elf with black hair and a big crown. On the lesser throne sat an elf with white blonde hair and a small crown.

"Aww, this must be the little girl you saved, Legolas." The big crowned man exclaimed.

The lesser crowned elf then got up gracefully from throne and went toward Kida and the she-elf.

"What is your name little one?" He asked kindly. "My name is Legolas Greenleaf and this," Legolas gestured to the big crowned elf, "is my father King Thrauduil."

"Kida Tonamer." She said in a small voice.

"Kida that's a nice name for a little girl, how old are you?"

"I'm 5 and I'm not a girl, I'm a Hobbit-lass." Kida corrected him

"A Hobbit!" the King cried. "You wouldn't happen to know a Bilbo Baggins, would you?"

"No, But my papa told me stories about him." She said shyly.

"What are your parent's names" Legolas asked softly, ignoring his father.

"Milo Tonamer is my papa. Ira Tonamer was my mama but she died after I was born…. Where is my papa?" Kida had had enough waiting.

"What was the last thing you can remember before waking up here?" Legolas softly asked instead.

Kida thought for a moment. She could remember sitting in their little kitchen with her older sister Lily learning her letters when her brother Rory came bursting thru the front door and told them to get to a hiding spot. The three of them went to the pantry to hide. "The Orcs have come." Rory said breathlessly. They waited a few minuets before hearing screams and banging. Kida curled into her brother's protective left arm and in his right arm he had a pitch fork. "Papa will be here soon." Rory whispered in her ear. A few minuets later they heard cracking and smelt smoke. "We got to get out of here!" Lily screamed. "This way!" Rory pointed to the little window in the back. They crawled as fast as they could to the window because of the heavy smoke. Rory opened the window and picked Lily up first and put her thru the window. Then he picked up Kida and put her thru the window and Lily grabbed her from the other side. Lily turned around to help Rory….and that's the last thing Kida could remember.

"My sister Lily was helping my brother Rory thru the little pantry window….our house was on fire." Kida said sadly. Then panic took her. She cried the hardest she had ever cried. She figured her brother and sister were dead and her papa must have been to, she was all alone.

Legolas took her from the she-elf and dismissed her. He stroked Kida's red hair and rubbed her back soothingly, her face buried into his chest. "I found you underneath some crates: bruised, burned and a bad gash on the back of your head." He said softly.

Kida put her hand on the back of her head and felt a soft, stinging spot. She cried even louder into his chest, he was telling the truth!

"Are they really dead?" Kida asked, still in disbelief."

"As far as we know…" Legolas didn't know how to tell her that her brother was burned alive, her father was found dead with an arrow in his back, not far from their house and her sister was missing. Probably taken like many other girls and women of their city. How Kida escaped that fate, Legolas could not fathom. "We only found 25 people alive." Legolas decided to leave it at that until she was ready for the rest of it.

Laketown had been raided and massacred by Orcs like many other surrounding cities and towns of late. Ever since Mordor's shadow had lengthened. And the Orcs were relentless, the Elves and Men couldn't keep up defending people. They were numerous and unpredictable, often attacking more than one city or town at a time or in one day. But Laketown had been the worst, maybe because it was the biggest city, or maybe because the most Orcs attacked it, but what ever the reason it had been wiped out. The Elves had never seen anything like it. The city had had 10,000 people but only 25 survived! Was Laketown that unprepared and misinformed? A couple thousand men had been out helping the Elves but they still had more than enough at home to fight. What happened?

This had been going thru Legolas's head over and over again in the passed 6 days. He went and sat in his throne with Kida still grieving in his arms. He looked down at the little 'lass' in his arms and another questioned popped into his head. What was a hobbit family doing in Laketown?

"Kida, how come your family lived in Laketown and not in the Shire?" Legolas asked.

"Because my Papa wanted to." Kida said muffled

Legolas turned her so she was facing him. "What do you mean?"

"My Papa and Mama went on an adventure and eventually came to Laketown and decided to live in it." Kida explained. She was only softly crying now, with a sniffle here and there.

It was at this time that the King decided to interrupt. "Good idea, Legolas! We can send her back to the Shire, where she belongs."

"No! I can't go there!" Kida cried. "My papa never went back because he said the hobbits wouldn't welcome us back, because adventuring is not natural for hobbits." She buried her self into Legolas' chest and began to cry again.

"Shhh. It's alright you won't have to go there if you don't want to." Legolas cooed, rubbing her back.

"Well, she most certainly can't stay here, it's against the law!" the King exclaimed. No one except elves could live in Mirkwood.

"She is not going to the Shire, they won't except her." Legolas said in a clearly annoyed voice.

"Fine then! Think of a better place for her than with her own people." The King said with a scowl and crossed his arms.

Legolas thought for a moment. Men wouldn't except her let alone know what she was and Dwaves were out of the question…the only place left was with Elves. And being that he knew his father wouldn't budge on letting Kida stay… Wasn't Elrond a known hobbit-lover?

"What about Rivendell?" Legolas asked.

"You mean the 'Last Homely Home'? Were Bilbo stayed?" Kida asked quietly, wide-eyed. She knew the story of Bilbo by heart.

"It works for me." The King answered grumpily.

"Would you like that Kida?" asked Legolas. He wanted to make sure she would be going to a place she would be happy with.

"Yes!" Kida shouted excitedly. Then she quickly covered her mouth with her hands and giggled at herself.

Legolas laughed with her. "Alright then, to Rivendell you go. I will send an urgent letter to Elrond immediately. We should get a reply in a week or so."

Legolas called the she-elf back and gave Kida back to her. "I will come see you after I have sent the letter."

The she-elf turned and then took Kida back to her room. "You should get some rest."

She tucked Kida back into her bed and Kida had to agree, she was very tired. But whenthe she-elf had left, she began to cry again… she was all alone.