Thieves were never looked upon well by those that inhabited Middle Earth. Even those that shared thieving skills were outcast in society. Dark people that walk so silently their steps rival that of the footing of Elves. They walk through shadows and make not a sound. They creep up on those who have done them wrong and stab them in the back. They handle daggers better then any and are unrivaled a unlocking doors. Those with a good mind in their heads cast away those that can steal from right underneath their noses... There was once a story of a woman that learned of all of these skills, a woman that was frowned upon and said to be a follower of Soroman himself. This woman half Elf half human named Ayleth was said to shape the fate of the Fellowship of the Ring... for good or for bad.

"Be careful friend for Ayleth knows no boundaries"- Legolas

"You are a mutt" Legolas spat. Hardly had anyone even seen him with such disgust in his eyes. Ayleth looked up at the elf unphased "If you ever refer to me with that retched term again you will wake to find that you have been stripped of everything you own" Ayleth paused and stopped walking around where Legolas stood and smirked "That includes your clothes" she said letting her eyes drop to the elves feet and back up to meet ice cold blue eyes. "You disgust me" Legolas said his eyes unreadable. Ayleth's features contorted fighting back a look of pain. A tear fell from her green eyes. "Have I always Legolas Greenleaf" Ayleth asked. The woman turned around and walked towards Aragorn. He had struck a nerve deep in Ayleth, and she fought with herself telling herself that what Legolas had just said was far from the truth.

"I bow to no one, I am my own person... do NOT tell me what to do"- Ayleth

"She is wild and untamed... she has no order" Legolas said exasperated. "And that is why you love her" Aragorn said a slight smile on his face.

"I do not know what I have done to deserve your hate Legolas" Ayleth said. Legolas looked at the woman standing before him. She had traded in her traditional clothing in for a dress. Surely Eowyn had forced her into it. Her dark red hair was brushed down her back. Ayleth did not look like a woman that could kill you and not care. "I am not a bad person... just a good person that has had the misfortune of doing bad things" she said, her green eyes stared off into the distance. "You know what you did" Legolas finally said, his voice was barely a whisper, "What you did still hurts me" he said and with that he turned and walked back into the castle.

It was done. The One Ring was destroyed. Ayleth sat on a bed, in a room lent to her by the new king of Gondor. "It is refreshing to see that you finally bow to someone Thief" a voice said from the doorway. "It took me a long while to put my trust in someone strong enough... Aragorn is a man that I can trust" Ayleth said. "Do you still hold your feelings for me Ayleth" Legolas asked. "I always will no matter if you hate me or not... I will love you until the day I die" Ayleth whispered. "When I look at you I only see the remnants of the woman that I once loved" Legolas said. Ayleth flinched. "When I look into your eyes I still see the little half elven girl that used to watch me through cracks in castle walls" he continued. "Most of all when I look at you I see a tarnished version of the Ayleth that used to be, a woman that has done things that she shouldn't have. A girl wild and untamed, a girl that is too far gone to be fixed" Legolas said. Tears fell from Ayleth's eyes. She held back a sob. "Why can't you see that what I am is not bad" she whispered. "I am not an evil person... simply someone that was subjected to evil things... things I was forced to do!" Ayleth said. "You could have been helped I would have come for you the moment word reached my ears" Legolas said.

"Lady Ayleth" a female voice asked from the doorway. "What can I do for you Lady Arwen" Ayleth asked. Ayleth was putting her daggers in sheaths on her belt. "Have you decided" Arwen asked. "I will be leaving with you, I must leave my childish fears behind me for now" Ayleth answered her Queen. "Aragorn will be happy to hear that" Arwen smiled. "I told him I would try, he understands me though... more than I could ever ask for" Ayleth said. "Ready" Arwen asked. "Yes, my Lady I am ready" Ayleth drew in a wavering breath calming herself for the trip to Rohan.

Eomer was the new King of Rohan. He was holding a festival in remembrance of the Fellowship. Ayleth was known to many as the 'Tenth Walker', not an original part of the Fellowship.

Ayleth covered her eyes. Embarrassment written all over her face. "I do not understand why they think so low of me" she whispered to Aragorn. "Many think of you as a Thief" the Gondorian King spoke. "That I know of there is only one that thinks of me as a Thief and he is here now" Ayleth said. Aragorn looked up and sure enough there was the Prince of Mirkwood himself Legolas. A grin broke across Aragorn's face. There was another Elf with him. A beautiful Elven maiden. His old friend had found someone. 'To hide himself further from Ayleth no doubt' a voice in the king's mind said. Aragorn turned to his side and saw Ayleth head turned away from the scene before her. Arwen followed his line or view, but before she could hold her in her place Ayleth had slipped into the crowds "I.. I am sorry My King I- I cannot bare it" she had whispered before she disappeared.

"Well if it isn't the tenth walker herself" a voice that unmistakably belonged to Samwise Gamgee said from behind Ayleth, who had hidden herself behind a wall far away from the festival. "Why do you hide from him milady" Sam asked. "You act as if he is a snake ready to strike" he said. "This snake has already struck" Ayleth said tears streaming down her face. "And its poison is a slow death" she murmured. "They're lookin' for ya... even Master Legolas and his maiden" Sam said hoping to urge the shield maiden of Gondor out of hiding. "I want to be left alone" Ayleth said her voice rising. "Let me suffer in peace" she sobbed, sliding down the wall and sitting on the cold floor. Samwise left after that finding highly difficult to sway Ayleth.

"You should be happy you haven't found her Strider" Sam told Aragorn. "She is in a right state". "I feared as much" Aragorn said. Beside him Arwen hid her anxiousness easily. She feared that soon enough Legolas and Melonwyn would soon find Ayleth. "Shall I send for Eowyn to find her" King Eomer asked.

Ayleth held her favorite dagger in her hand. It was given to her by her father. She still felt the same thrill she felt so long ago holding the old blade in her hand. Ayleth had tried to convince herself that she was strong enough to return to King Aragorn's side, but her pain kept her in her spot. Tears had stopped falling not to long after Sam left... there were no more left to cry. Ayleth sheathed her dagger and stood up. Her legs wobbled, her knees locked and gave way, she came falling back to the ground. The Thief lay curled on the ground new found tears finding their way down her alabaster cheeks. "Ayleth" an all too familiar voice asked. Ayleth did not have it in her to talk back so she stayed silent. The she- elf that Legolas had brought along with him was at the head of the hall, a hand over mouth trying to hide her shocked look. "What has become of you Ayleth" Legolas asked, it seemed as if he was talking to himself as he searched the half elf for injury. There was drying blood on her knuckles, making it seem as though Ayleth had hit the wall in frustration. Legolas told himself that Ayleth had all the right in world to feel the way she did. He saw the betrayal in her eyes, the desperation in the way her helpless form lay on the ground, and of all things he saw love. Everything Ayleth had done, she had done with him in mind. Knowing when she consented to her father's bidding that she was thinking of the fact that she had betrayed the elf that she loved. She lay here in front of Legolas knowing that she was killing herself out of love for him. Legolas shut his eyes and shook his head, the Valar was cruel.

Melonwyn found Legolas in the gardens outside the castle. "My Prince what was wrong with her" she asked, still shaken by the sight of Ayleth in the hall. "Its hard to explain" Legolas answered. "She loves you" Melonwyn said. "Too much" Legolas countered. "In truth you are no stronger than her" Melonwyn told him. Legolas turned around anger evident in his look "and what makes you say that" he asked sharply. "I know you brought be here simply to shield yourself from that half elf... I can see that you love her" Melonwyn said, there was a small smile on her face. "You don't understand the pain that she has caused me" Legolas said. "Let it go" Melonwyn said. "You need to save her before she does something rash... save yourself while your at it" she said and walked out of the gardens.

Try two:

The ride from Helms Deep to Isengaurd passed with ease. Ayleth stared into the distance, a frown on her face. She still had those two little Hobbits on her mind. Merry and Pippin. She had watched them being taken by the Urak- Hai, not able to do anything to aid them. She had an arrow embedded in her in the place just bellow her heart and blacked out just before they were taken. A tear found its way down her cheek and she turned her head away to conceal it from the others. Ayleth did not need anyone else pitted against her. Legolas still disliked her, although she could sense that the hate was slowly but surely being replaced by something that made her entire face grow hot. "Ayleth look" Aragorn whispered, gesturing ahead. There on a bit of ruins were two little Hobbits smoking and eating. "Praise the Valar" she whispered, and egged her horse faster. "I am never letting the two of you out of my sight ever again" Ayleth yelled, smiling. "Welcome my Lords" Merry said standing up. "And My Lady Ayleth" he added grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "To Isengaurd" he finished throwing his arms out. "We have been looking all over this Middle Earth and we find you here smoking... and feasting" Gimli yelled enraged but happy nonetheless. "We are sitting on a field of victory enjoying a few well earned comforts" Pippin retorted. "We are under orders of Treebeard who has taken over management of Isengaurd" Merry said. The two slightly drunken hobbits jumped off the ledge that they sat on and walked over to the group. Pippin got onto Aragorn's horse and Ayleth offered Merry her hand to help him onto hers. "I did not think that you would miss Pippin and I as much as you did" Merry said. He sat in front of Ayleth as Gandalf quarreled with Saruman. "For a while I thought for sure that the two of you were dead, even after Gandalf reassured me that you weren't" Ayleth said, a dark look on her face. Not long later Saruman and Grima were both dead.

Legolas was waged in an internal battle, never in all long time had he seen Ayleth smile like she had when she saw that the hobbits were alive. Not sense... well not sense a long time ago. The new Ayleth that he did not know was slowly slipping away, replaced by the old Ayleth that he had been so deeply in love with. Legolas could feel the old emotion growing in his heart. He hated it. After what she did he could not help it.

Ayleth sat alone during the gathering at Endoras. She watched Merry and Pippin dance on the table top and watched with amused interest as Gimli and Legolas engaged in a drinking competition. "Are you well" A voice asked from beside her, extracting her from thought. Ayleth looked up and saw Aragorn "I am" she said and smiled slightly "It seems that I am the only one that has not been drinking" she said, noticing Aragorn's drink. He smiled and glanced at Legolas and Gimli who was now laying unconscious on the floor. "You've changed" Aragorn commented. Ayleth raised an eyebrow "have I" she asked. "The hobbits bring out a side of you I have never seen before" he said. Ayleth smiled "they make me laugh". "May I ask you a personal question" Aragorn asked suddenly after a few minutes of silence. Ayleth looked at him questioningly "go on" she urged him. "I would like to know what happened between you and Legolas" he finally said. "Not here" Ayleth managed.

Aragorn took Ayleth outside away from everyone. "When I was a little girl I lived on the outside of Mirkwood with my father and mother. My mother was an elf and my father was human" she began taking everything in stride. "On my seventh birthday I was allowed to go into Mirkwood, I was very excited" she continued. "That day I was walking outside the castle and I came upon a crack in the wall. I looked in and low and behold was the Price of Mirkwood himself" Ayleth said slight bitterness in her voice. From that day on until my seventeenth birthday I would always go to that crack in the wall and watch praying to the Valar that he would be there" Ayleth smiled slightly. "On my 17th I got my first dagger my father had been teaching me everything he knew, I slipped out of the house knowing that on that day Legolas would be practicing archery. I hid in a bush by the archery field and watched. As he got ready to go back into the castle. I got up ready to go back home and I stepped on a stick of course he heard and came to investigate. I ran, and he followed. Finally I ran out of breath and hid behind a tree.