Disclaimer: I do not own Legolas, Aragorn, or any of the other characters, items, or places that you recognize from Tolkien's work. They all belong to him and rightly so. I am simply borrowing them for a little while and I promise to return them when I'm done. However, I cannot promise they will be in one piece *evil laugh*.

Chapter 1

Everything was falling into place as Nilla waited in the alley outside of the busy tavern. The streets of Minas Tirith were lively with festivities as the good people of Gondor celebrated the end of the war, the return of their king, and his marriage to the Lady Arwen. For so long these people wondered if they would ever find reason to rejoice and feel safe again. The threat of Sauron cut deep into the hearts of the Gondorian people, and finally it felt as though their suffering and spilled blood had not been in vain. Sauron had fallen, and tonight everyone intended to celebrate King Aragorn and the age of peace that he brought with him for Gondor and its neighboring lands.

Everyone that is, except for Nilla. Her intent was quite the opposite. Her intent was much more sinister. Her intent was not to celebrate the King, but to deliver onto him a dark and long awaited punishment. To her, Aragorn was not a man who deserved praise or honour. He was a despicable creature who had ended the life of her husband. Aragorn, or Strider as she had known him previously, had taken away the person she loved most in this world, and after years of patience and plotting, Nilla was finally in the position she needed to be in order to do the exact same thing to him.

"Where have you been, woman?" asked Kalu as he placed a rough hand on Nilla's shoulder and spun her around. His voice was harsh and louder than usual. Nilla was also immediately aware of the smell of liquor on his breath. "I've been looking for you everywhere."

Nilla raised an eyebrow at this. "I have been in this alley since 7:30, as that was the time we had arranged" she responded in a matching tone of voice. "Perhaps if you had not preoccupied yourself with the ten pints of ale you smell of, you may have found me sooner."

Kalu took a step forward and allowed his large burly frame to back the much smaller woman against the wall. To further try and intimidate, he placed both of his hands flat against the wall on either side of Nilla's head as he spoke again. "You said we should raise no suspicion, remember? Waiting around in some abandoned alley in the dark is suspicious. Enjoying a beverage or two with your comrades is the opposite. It helps you blend in, and people forget those who blend in" he spoke as he would to a child, and he smiled when he saw the frustrated look on the face of the woman in front of him. "I want you to remember something. You came to me. You need my services and the services of my men. Services, let me remind you, that you have yet to fully pay for."

Nilla returned his words with a smile of her own. Regardless of what Kalu might think, she was not intimidated by him at all. In fact, while she needed him at the moment, he was a man that she thought even less of than Aragorn. At least the king had a sense of loyalty. Kalu had been a low level guard in the palace, having served under Denethor for many years until he was transferred to serve in Osgiliath, along with several others. The order had come from Aragorn at Faramir's bidding. Faramir had insisted that Kalu and these other soldiers might be resistant to falling in line directly under Aragorn, as they held a strong loyalty to the former steward. That being said, they were a strong bunch, who knew the routines and layout of the palace. As Faramir predicted, they were also lacking a loyalty to Aragorn, which made them all the more willing to assist with Nilla's plot.

"Not to worry, Kalu" she replied in much more sweet and sultry tone as she ran her hands slowly down the forearms of the man in front of her. "You will be paid the rest of the promised price after my instructions have been carried out." The man still looked a little unsure, but she could tell that he enjoyed her new demeanour as she continued to run her hands up his shoulders and down his chest as she spoke. "You have my word" she whispered softly as she moved in closer, as though to kiss him.

"What worth is the word of woman?" he chuckled. If he offended her with this comment, she showed no sign of it. Instead she seemed to smile more and moved even closer to him.

"My word is worth more than you can imagine" she said simply. "And I can assure you, that if you and your men are successful, you will get all that you deserve and more."

Kalu smiled big now, oblivious to the fact that their positions had been switched and he now stood with his back against the wall. "And what more will I get, may I ask?"

Nilla paused, as her eyes bore into his own with a burning heat that he mistook for passion. "You will get much more than gold, that I can assure you" she swore, "much more." And just as a young man passed by the alley and glanced at them, she leaned in and kissed Kalu to seal her promise. "See," she said with another smile, "I know how to blend in too. Now remember, you and your men are to follow my instructions to the letter, and be in place at exactly 9:15 in two nights' time. There can be no mistakes, so leave the drinking until afterwards this time." And with that she pulled away and started back down the alley, in the direction of the palace.

"I know the plan" Kalu called out to her. "If there are mistakes, it will not come from our end." He shook his head as he noted that she didn't even look back before she disappeared into the night. "She's a real piece of work," he thought to himself; sinfully gorgeous, with long curly black hair and piercing green eyes, but a piece of work. In fact, he was a little surprised she hadn't written out the instructions for them with detailed notes and a map to match. "Maybe she finally gets that we don't need..." his thought was halted as his hand felt a folded piece of parchment in his coat pocket that had not been there before. He growled, not needing to open it to know exactly what it was. "See you at 9:15, wench" he snorted before heading back into the tavern.

"You are not very good at this, mellon nin" Legolas laughed as he and Aragorn stumbled into the guest room with their drunken friend carried between them. The elf's words were met with a grumble as they, not so gently, lowered the passed out dwarf onto the bed.

"I have faced many difficult and daunting tasks in my lifetime, Legolas" Aragorn replied as he began to remove the dwarf's boots before getting frustrated and abandoning the idea. "However, one thing I will admit to having little practise with is putting a dwarf to bed. Especially a heavy dwarf that has spent the entire night trying to out-drink you."

Legolas feigned innocence, with a hurt look on his ageless face. "You are blaming me for his condition? That is hardly a fair judgment, as I was not the one who initiated the competition." The elf's statement was returned with a shake of the new king's head.

"Regardless, if you and Gimli intend on spending the oncoming year in merry travel companionship, I do not recommend this becoming a regular occurrence" Aragorn advised, as both friends broke out heavy grins. "Or else putting a dwarf to bed will become something you are very, very good at. And I can only imagine what your father might say in response to that being added to your list of talents."

The two friends broke out into laughter for the hundredth time that night. It had been an evening full of good food, good friends, cheerful reminiscing, and of course, lots of good wine. It had been just under a week since Aragorn's coronation, and while most of the members of the fellowship were planning on departing from Gondor soon, all of them was relishing in each other's company. There was no question that it would be quite a bit of time before they were all together again, and so it was also known to all of them as well that they should cherish the time they had. While it did feel somewhat bittersweet that one member of their fellowship was missing, it eased all of their hearts to have Faramir in his place, as he represented his brother well.

"It seems that neither of you are very good at this" came the calming voice of Arwen as she appeared in the lightened doorway. Both Aragorn and Legolas looked somewhat guilty as the daughter of Elrond proceeded to place a soft blanket over the sleeping dwarf before turning her eyes back to them. "You have put him to bed but now threaten to wake him with your laughter" she chided, with a hint of a smile on her lips. "Now out; both of you. Let him sleep."

"Forgive me, Arwen" Legolas began as she shut the door behind them. "I should have known better. It seems I have spent far too much time with discourteous mortals who have done nothing but impart their bad behaviours onto me." Aragorn smacked him on the back of head in reply.

"I do believe that you are just as guilty as your friends are, son of Thranduil" she responded with a small laugh. Legolas looked offended, and Aragorn grinned with satisfaction.

"And I do believe that you are biased, Milady" came the elf's reply.

"I would not have it any other way" Aragorn added before placing a loving kiss on his beloved's lips.

"Nor would I" Arwen agreed. "Now, if you will both excuse me, it is well past the eleven o'clock hour and I think that I will retire for the night." After Legolas wished her a pleasant night, and Aragorn promised to join her shortly, Arwen continued down the hall towards the royal chambers. Once she reached her room, she silently began to remove the pins that held her hair back and let her tresses fall delicately around her face. It was then that she saw the figure emerge from the balcony. It was one of her ladies in waiting.

"Milady," greeted the woman with a polite bow of her head. "I have turned down the sheets and lit the candles on the terrace for you." This was a common thing for her ladies to do, as Arwen enjoyed spending at least a few minutes on the balcony before retiring for the night. "Is there anything else that I can do for you before I retire?"

"No, there is nothing else. You may go" Arwen replied with a smile. "Thank you for all of your help" she added, as she began to walk towards the balcony.

"The pleasure is all mine," came the reply. "Good night, Milady."

"Good night, Nilla."

To be continued...

Author's Note: A big thank you to anyone who has taken the time to read this chapter. I'm really excited about this story, as it has been in my head for a long time. I have never written a story like this before, and I hope I do my ideas justice. Please let me know what you think by leaving me a review.

I hope to have the next chapter up within a day or so, and I can guarantee that things will not remain cheerful for Aragorn and his loved ones for very long. Not if Nilla has anything to say about it. See you again (hopefully) in Chapter 2!