Perplexities of Growing Up
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the places or characters used here except for Náriël-I did invent her, and if she resembles anyone else's character in anyway, im sorry- not done on purpose. Everything else belongs to Tolkien.
Author's Note:
In this story, although Náriël is a over a thousand years old and Legolas is a thousand something, maturity wise, and I suppose you could say in "human years" Náriël would be 14 and Legolas would be 17 (this is b/c I see it that since elves are immortal, but they still have to go from baby to adult then for every century or so that an elf lives, it would be like a human aging one yr…get it?). Also, Náriël is Elrond's daughter and Arwen and her brothers don't exist. lol. Ok, last thing, this is my first fanfic, so criticism is welcome, but be nice! .;;
note: ' ..' is thoughts and "…" is talking
Chapter 1
POV: Náriël
I was running through the forest so fast that the trees were a blur, of course that could have something to do with the tears streaming down my face…they continued to flow rapidly as I fled for my life. I was tired and hurt and there was a steady stream of blood trickling down my legs as my dress was torn and the branches whipped against me.
Looking back, I could still see the Warg, and he was gaining on me. I was in such a panic and I couldn't see where I was going. With my next step, I found myself swiftly tumbling down a thorny hill. I collided with rocks, branches, and some oddly red-tipped thorns. As I continued to plummet I heard a distinct pop, and I knew I had dislocated my ankle.
I felt myself slow, and at that moment, my head came in contact with a rock. My head pounded and out of the corner of my eye, I saw some red flowing down my face. Pretty soon, my vision began to dim and all I could see were spots. I shut my eyes in hopes of making the spinning stop.
I laid there for what seemed like an eternity, although it was probably only a few hours. Seeing as I was in immense pain and it was already far into the night, I curled up on the spot and attempted to let sweet sleep engulf me.I openedmy eyes to the soft sound of birds chirping, the warm rays of the sun, and the most pain I had ever felt in my entire life. The events of the previous night came flooding back to me as I looked up at the steep hill from which I had fallen 'it must have been too much for the Warg' I thought 'thank the Valar.'
As I sat there in the quiet of the woods, I heard the faint sound of rushing water. Carefully, I stood up and hobbled towards the stream. I gazed at my reflection. My long brown hair had come out of its braids and was now tangled and covered in dirt-the natural red flakes covered up by the grime. I sighed as I reached over the bank and began to clean up.
'I won't go back. Not yet, I should let him worry a bit. Prove my point… I wonder if ada has even noticed…' These thoughts flitted through my head as I splashed the cool water on my face.
I froze.
'I know I heard something, someone is watching me…I can feel it' I thought.
I quickly scanned the area and came in contact with a pair of stunningly blue eyes.
They belonged to another elf, a quite gorgeous elf at that. He had taken off his tunic and revealed a nicely toned stomach and well muscled body in general. His golden hair was braided back simply, but elegantly, and fell just a few inches below his shoulders, slightly shorter than mine.
But his eyes…there was something in them, something I could not read. It was as if he had taken a curtain and closed it so that no one could look into his soul. Although his face showed the slightest hint of surprise, it was hardly noticeable and his eyes remained completely stoic and unreadable.
All of a sudden, a thought hit me. 'What if he's from the Guard of Imladris? What if he's one of the soldiers sent by my father to look for me? How do I even know my father sent someone? Of course he did, he had to have noticed by now…3 days, he had to have noticed…but no, I'm not going to let him win, not yet. When I come back, it will of my own accord, not because I was finally found and caught.'
With that last thought, I stood up and sprinted away-or rather, hobbled, for my sprained ankle would allow me nothing else. I heard a sharp whistle and then the sound of hooves…
'Not again!'
POV: Legolas
I was about a day's ride away from Imladris, if I took my time that is.
'Finally.' I thought to myself.
I was tired and eager for the long journey from Mirkwood to be finally over. In my impatience I had ridden almost through the entire night, hoping to be able to reach Rivendell before sunset today. I loved visiting Rivendell. It was quite beautiful and peaceful and Lord Elrond was like a second father to me. He and my father had always been close, almost brothers.
Unfortunately, their kids were not the same. For all the centuries I'd known Lord Elrond and the many times I'd been to Rivendell, I have never met his daughter before-she always seemed to avoid me.
No matter. I'm going to enjoy my two week's break from duty in the quiets of Imladris; although, technically, I'm going for business reasons, the work should take no more than three days time, the rest, I'm going to enjoy relaxing. I yawned and stretched under the lazy morning sun, jumping off of my horse to head over to a nearby stream. I needed to refresh myself before I continued on.
On my way over to the river, I removed my tunic, thinking I would be able to enjoy a nice cool bath to escape the summer heat.
Oh how wrong I was.
As I knelt by the stream, a movement caught my attention. It was a young maiden, probably only a few centuries younger than I. I was horrified upon seeing the state that she was in: she was covered in dirt mixed with blood from scratches; her dress was torn as if it was attacked by a rabid cat; her hair tangled and sprinkled with dirt and mud.
I watched her for a few moments as she attempted to clean up.
All of a sudden, she jerked her head up and began scanning the area.
'It seems she's noticed my presence.'
We locked eyes for a few moments and I quickly attempted to mask my feelings. I happened to be very closed off and guarded when around others and many times rather enjoyed solitude. I did not allow people to read me easily, nor did I often permit others to get too close.
I noticed her wandering glance…her eyes roamed all over my body. It took a bit of will power to keep myself from blushing and to keep my stoic expression in tact. Then, with out warning, she jumped up and attempted to run away, which failed miserably seeing as she probably had a broken or sprained ankle. Her limping like that looked kind of pitiful and I had a sudden urge to help the elleth. With that, I called for my horse, and rode off in pursuit.
POV: author
Náriël didn't get very far, only several feet and her ankle gave in, sending her crashing to the ground. Rolling over onto her back she let out a deep sigh and gazed at the towering trees above her. She suddenly started feeling very ill and spots began dancing before her eyes. The trees spun and began to slowly fade…
No sooner had Legolas gotten on his horse did he have to dismount. He noticed the young elf maiden sprawled on the earth and rushed over to her.
She had already slipped into unconsciousness.
This did provide an opportunity though for Legolas to better examine the girl before him.
'Heh, it's already obvious that she will grow up to be quite a beautiful maiden…' His eyes scanned her body, taking in her injuries.
He now noticed that some of her wounds were more serious than he thought. She was bleeding on the side and it seemed like her upper left thigh, for there was blood seeping in through the rags of her probably once beautiful elfin gown; besides that, she had hit her head on something for he could now see that her hair was not only caked with mud, but dried blood.
Legolas bent down and gracefully scooped her up into his arms, returning to his previous spot on the river bank. He retrieved medical supplies from his satchel and as he laid them down, he began cleaning her wounds. His talented hands moved quickly and in no time he had cleaned and dressed all wounds but two: the one on her side and thigh.
'Now this presents a problem…'
Being the proud and dignified prince of Mirkwood, Legolas could not bring himself to remove the elleth's dress in order to take care of the last two injuries.
'There's not much left of her dress, but still! I cannot just take it off! What if she wakes up? I would have removed her gown and it would seem as if I was groping her thigh…the fact that I can't seem to find my tunic and am therefore half naked myself sure would help the situation.' He thought with bitter sarcasm.
He let out an exasperated sigh and tilted his head towards the heavens.
"As if I did not have enough to deal with! All I want to do is finally reach Rivendell!!" He was so frustrated and tired that he couldn't help but voice himself aloud.
At that moment Legolas picked up a soft sound with his sensitive ears. Glancing down, he saw the girl's eyes slowly flutter open and refocus. It was at this moment that Legolas noticed the little charm hanging from a delicate silver chain on her neck. It was a silver elvish design with a beautiful opal in the middle-the symbol of Rivendell's nobility.
Realization suddenly hit him straight in the face. It was like being smacked good and hard…this was Elrond's daughter…the one he had never met.
'Oh boy, this sure is going to be interesting…'
A/N:
So? What do you think so far? Good? Bad? Please review so I know if I should go on with the fic or if I'd just be wasting my time!
The next chapter will be up when ever I have time to get it done…that is if you all WANT another chapter, but hopefully I'll get into a pattern and update weekly or something like that. Although the genre is romance/action/adventure, there will be some angst later on…
Oh and one last thing, I know this was kinda a short chappie but I wanted to end on a semi-cliffhanger so…yeah…