"My lord!"

Feredir, captain of the Mirkwood Elven Guard, wordlessly averted his gaze to his startled subordinate. His stoic façade was unfazed as a young ellon, Sídhon, hurriedly strode towards him.

"What fares, Sídhon?"

"We have found a wounded bear in the woods," he replied.

"Absurd," the captain said, "Bears do not dwell in the forests of Mirkwood."

Sídhon said nothing, and shifted his gaze to his companions as an answer.

Feredir followed his gaze. There, three of his guards towered over a dark, bloodied bear, their hands brushing over the hilt of their daggers with growing intent. Fainor had notched an arrow and had aimed it at the beast's skull for precaution, though it seemed unnecessary. The bear was lying before them, near death.

"Fainor," Feredir said firmly. The elf glanced at his superior grudgingly, but obliged and lowered his weapon. The bear growled weakly, its large, cloudy eyes shifting over to Feredir. Its eyes bore pain. Insurmountable pain. Eyes of one who had too much blood split, had lived through too much evil and hate.

"It is still alive, my lord," Sídhon said, "But quickly dying."

Feredir gazed at the bear. It was beaten and bloodied beyond compare. Its body was ridden with grievous wounds, fresh and bleeding profusely. The wounds were deep, reaching through its thick hide and penetrating its flesh. There were multiple wounds along its side and back, and it seemed like they were inflicted by weapons. Its flesh had been beaten soft, and now bore a sickly, purple color. Patches of its dark fur had been burnt off, leaving charred black skin in its place. The bear's head was of somewhat better condition. Its face was young, but bore old scars. Its snout was shapely, but its face was somewhat hollow-looking, possibly from malnutrition. A long, shallow scar ran through its left eye, reaching down to its stout jaw.

The burns and bruises were somewhat irregular, and it was if the bear was bound and tortured. The wounds however, were inflicted with the intent of bringing death upon the beast. This made no sense. Most of its injuries were fresh, and it seemed like the beast had been ambushed and severely wounded by numbers great enough so that they could both hack and beat at the bear. Why would one ever feel the need to inflict such pain upon this creature? Perhaps the beast itself was great and malevolent and its enemies were tasked to slay it. Possibly its enemies were the evil ones.

Either way, Feredir was disturbed by such malice.

The bear's eyes followed his. They were bright and curious, like a child's. It did not seem to be aware of the fact that it was facing an almost certain death. This puzzled Feredir so. It was completely oblivious to its lethal wounds, perhaps ignoring it, or simply unaware of it all together.

"My lord? What shall we do with it?"

The captain contemplated slaying it and ending its suffering, but the bear seemed to be quite peaceful as it was. It breathed evenly, and blinked slowly, as if to marvel at its last sights of the world.

"It can do no harm," Feredir replied, his eyes never leaving the bear's, "It is breathing its final breaths as we speak. Let it rest."

The captain crouched down to one knee and slowly placed a hand on the face of the bear, as if to comfort it. Giving solace to a dying beast, he thought to himself, You are becoming too soft, Feredir.

"Rest well, mellon," he whispered.

His hand left the bear's face, and its lids fell shut. It was dead.

Feredir stood. "Well then," he said, somewhat heavily, "Let us return."

His men shuffled away, not sure what to make of their captain's show of affection. He was a stern, stoical elf who probably did not show that much love to his own mother. Sídhon was particularly confused, having spent the most time with the captain. In all years serving under Feredir, he had never encountered his captain's gentle face. He glanced back, seeing that his captain had not yet caught up to them.

Feredir walked with his usual indignant air, as if nothing had happened at all. He stepped briskly and surely.

He values his pride… Sídhon thought, watching his captain but in amusement and awe. He was in the midst of turning back around when his keen elven eyes suddenly noticed something behind Feredir. Subtle movement.

Feredir noticed Sídhon's widened eyes and immediately turned back around to face the bear. A strange thing was happening. The bear's dead body seemed to morph into something else. Its body began to shorten and thin, morphing into that of a human's. The fur seemed to disappear off its body, leaving it with swarthy, human flesh. Its thick stomach and legs reshaped into the slender physique of a human. More precisely, a woman. She laid motionless, long, black hair obscuring her face and chest.

The guards gaped at the woman as if she descended from the skies.

The woman still bore the heavy wounds. They seemed even more grievous against her soft, human flesh. She was naked, and her body was shivering from the sudden exposure to cold air. She would not last much longer.

Finally coming to his sense, Feredir hastily unclasped his cloak and threw it over the unconscious woman. He wrapped it snugly around her body, thankful that her thick hair covered her chest area. He lifted her up and carried her in his arms.

"My lord…" Sídhon started. The rest of the guards watched their captain walk off, utterly bewildered.

"I will not let a woman die in front of me," he said curtly.

"It is not a woman, it is a beast," Fainor spoke coldly.

"Then you are blind," Feredir retorted, "For what I see in front of me is a woman." He began to walk off, nudging past Fainor with an icy glare.

Sídhon grabbed his shoulder firmly. "And when you reach the palace? What will you do with it?"

"The King will decide on that."

So that's the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. This is my first Hobbit fanfic, and my first fic I've written for awhile so don't expect anything too grand. This is currently set pre-Hobbit (explaining why Tauriel isn't the captain), and I hope to keep everything as canonically correct as possible, but I do apologize in advance to all those purists out there, because I'll probably encounter some holes later on in the story.

But in the meantime, thanks for reading, mellon nin!