A.N. Here's to my first OC fic! I'm more used to write x reader oneshots, so yeah... I did a lot of research before writing this, so I hope everything turned out alright. Heads up, the first chapter is much like the book, but I'll try and only write about things that could change, or that my OC has relevance it it. If I can't do that, you'll find out how I'll make it work in the next part. :3 Stick around! 3
Chapter One ~ The Hidden Elf-Woman
"Halflings!" a worried feminine voice barely echoed through the bloody battle, but it was muffled too quickly for said hobbits to hear.
The same voice muffled a cry of smarting pain, and the female ignored the warm liquid dripping from her scalp. Luck seemed to smile upon her as she managed to get back on her weakened feet, and she followed the faint sound of rather large, but light, feet pounding on the ground. The rough sounds of the battle were still ringing in her sensitive leaf-shaped ears, but she could still make out the halflings' footsteps. Thing was, they were getting fainter with each second.
Shaking her head to clear her dizzy thoughts, her long blonde locks sticking onto her sweat-covered face, she ran in the comforting tree line as she realized the two had run into the nearby forest. She felt incredibly stupid to have underestimated her foes, hence her rough shape, but the horsemen had made all of her sneaking attempts in vain; she had found herself in the middle of the battlefield when war had broken out.
Feeling weaker and weaker — the harsh blow to the head previously delivered to her considerably weakened her — she didn't even react when she tripped and fell upon thick unearthed tree roots. She scrambled back to her feet, only to fall back down to the ground a few moments later. What was wrong with her? Dizziness finally stetted over her sprawled form, covering the world around her in a thick black veil.
The air circulating in Fangorn Forest was thick, but nothing you couldn't get accustomed to after a while. As for Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, all of whom were searching after the two previously-mentioned Hobbits, they still couldn't say they had grown used to it. This is why, once they reached a bare hill in the forest — one that fashioned a stony wall — they decided to climb it. It almost seemed like the stones were in fact stairs, but stairs that had been created by the forces of nature for they were uneven and far from smooth.
Legolas was the first to express his desire to climb such hill, and the two others quickly agreed afterwards. Aragorn walked last, slowly, scanning the footholds as he told them he had the feeling Pippin and Merry had gotten up here as well, but there were also strange tracks on which he couldn't put his finger.
"Look!" said Legolas, gaze glued in one direction, a few moments after they had reached the top and were looking around.
"Look at what?" replied Gimli, turning his head to look in that same direction.
"There, in the trees." the Elf told him, not tearing his gaze away.
"Where? I have not elf-eyes."
"Hush! Speak more softly! Look!" Legolas told him, as he now pointed in the direction that had greatly piqued his interest. "Down in the woods, back in the way that we have just come. It is he." He was referring to the old man they had briefly seen near their camp the previous night. "Cannot you see him, passing from tree to tree?"
"I see, I see now!" Gimli harshly hissed before he turned towards the Ranger. "Look, Aragorn! Did I not warn you? There is the old man. All in dirty grey rags: that is why I could not see him at first."
The Ranger turned his gaze back towards where they came, and he watched as a figure was heading their way. It was slowly, but surely, gaining ground over them. It indeed seem to be an old man — a beggar, even — who was using an old and rugged staff as support, as if years were heavy on his shoulders. His head was bowed, his hat also hiding his face, and his attention didn't seem to be on them. Silence was heavy around them, and they didn't dare greet him with kind words in these troubled times and unfamiliarly odd lands. There seemed to be more to this than what was obvious, powerful things, even, but for good or ill, the three couldn't tell.
Gimli stared at the slowly-approaching elderly man, gaze widened to moons, only to quickly snap from his trance. It was as if a bubble had been bursted, for he cried out, "Your bow, Legolas! Bend it! Get ready! It is Saruman. Do not let him speak, or up a spell upon us! Shoot first!"
Legolas seemed to be on the same wavelength for he took his bow and indeed bent it. But it painfully took him time to do so. It was as if something else willed otherwise. He held a green-feathered arrow, but only loosely as he didn't even properly string it. Aragorn, on the other hand, stood silent and watchful. It seemed as though he didn't truly know how to properly assess the current situation.
"What are you waiting? What is the matter with you?" Gimli shot the Wood-Elf in a harsh whisper. He only briefly glanced at him before he turned his attention back towards the old man.
"Legolas is right," quietly cut in Aragorn. He didn't look away. "We may not shoot an old man so, at unawares and unchallenged, whatever fear or doubt be on us. Watch and wait!"
What they didn't know, nor would they for some more time, was that a certain female Elf was watching the three travellers from the nearby canopy. She wasn't hindered by the elderly man, nor should she, since he was the reason she was currently able to even stand. In fact, she had found the trio and led him to them, keeping a low profile as he had instructed her.
The old man's pace then accelerated, and he reached the rocky wall with surprising speed. He craned his back upwards to look at the trio who was gazing down at him. He wore a hood underneath his hat, so even then they could not see his features, safe for the tip of his nose and his long grey beard. Silence still ruled over them, and it didn't seem ready to leave them be just yet.
"Well met indeed, my friends," the old man broke at last, his soft voice echoing through the forest. "I wish to speak to you. Will you come down, or shall I come up?" he then asked, but when his sentence ended he immediately started to work his way up the strange stairs.
"Now!" Gimli cried. "Stop him, Legolas!"
The Elf didn't even move before the old man said, "Did I not say that I wished to speak to you? Put away that bow, Master Elf!"
The bow and arrow fell from the Wood-Elf's grasp, gently hitting the ground next to his feet in a soft thud. He arms were relaxed as his side, hung loose, as he kept his gaze glued on the old man.
"And you, Master Dwarf, pray take your hand from your axe-haft, till I am up! You will not need such arguments."
Gimli obeyed, strangely, as he too kept his gaze glued on the intruder as he kept climbing the rough stairs. He didn't seem weary anymore. The only thing resonating in the regained silence was the Dwarf's sharp intake of breath, which was loud in the current stillness.
The old man had reached the top of the hill when he said, "Well met, I say again!" He walked towards them, not even furtively glancing once in the hidden Elf's direction — for it would have immediately given her away. He stood before them, a few feet away, and he watched them from under his hood. "And what may you be doing in these parts? An Elf, a Man, and a Dwarf, all clad in Elvish fashion. No doubt there is a tale worth hearing behind it all. Such things are not often seen here."
"You speak as one that knows Fangorn well," cautiously started Aragorn, not answering his question. "Is that so?"
"Not well," he replied, as his thoughts briefly veered towards the hidden female elf. "That would be the study of many lives. But I come here now and again."
"Might we know your name, and then hear what is it that you have to say to us?" asked Aragorn, starting to get a little impatient. "The morning passes, and we have an errand that will not wait."
"As for what I wished to say, I have said it: What may you be doing, and what tale can you tell of yourselves? As for my name!" His soft laugh broke him off, which oddly affected the Ranger. It seemed... familiar, and yet not simultaneously. "My name!" the old man repeated. "Have you not guessed it already? But come now, what of your tale?"
Silence once again ruled over them.
"There are some who would begin to doubt whether your errand is fit to tell," said the old man, breaking the silence once more. It seemed to be his newfound habit. "Happily I know something of it. You are tracking hobbits, I believe. Well, they climbed up here the day before yesterday; and they met someone that they did not expect. Does that comfort you? Let us sit down and be more at ease."
That's when he turned away from the trio, towards the cliff behind him, and he headed towards a few fallen stones. As he did so, the three relaxed and stirred, as if they had all just been released from some spell. Gimli's good hand flew to his trusty axe, Aragorn drew his sharp sword and Legolas picked up his strong bow, without forgetting the arrow he had also dropped.
The old man either didn't notice any of this or simply didn't care, for he gently sat on a low flat stone. His white garments were then exposed, his grey cloak drawn apart, and the three drew connections in their minds that they only doubted until then.
"Saruman!" cried Gimli, springing towards him as he held his axe high in his hands, as some kind of threat. "Speak! Tell us what have you done with our friends! Speak, or I will make a dint in your hat that even a wizard will find it hard to deal with!"
The old man had anticipated it, somehow, and swiftly got to his feet. He stood tall on top of the flat rock on which he was previously sitting, his grey garb and hood flung away from him. His white clothing brightly shone. In quick motions, he lifted up his staff and Gimli's axe was ripped from his grasp, sent farther away, and its sharpened end dug in the soil. Aragorn's blade grew red-hot, as of it was set ablaze from the inside, and he had to let it go since it burned his flesh. As for Legolas, he shot the arrow he had been previously stalling, but it never reached its target for it burst in flames in mid-air.
Still hiding, the other Elf tensed up, wondering if she should intervene. Once she noticed no harm had been made to the elderly fellow, she relaxed. She made few sounds in the canopy, sounds easily picked up by Elven hearing, but she decided to remain in hiding nonetheless.
"Mithrandir!" the Elf cried, as sudden realization struck him. "Mithrandir!" he repeated. He hadn't even noticed the odd sounds coming from the trees.
"Well met, I say to you again, Legolas." the old man replied, even if the other hadn't told him his name during their short conversation. He hadn't even yet spoken a word prior to his exclamation.
The trio stared at him again, but with a much different light. None dared to speak. The old man's hair was as white as snow, like the colour of his robes. His eyes, brightly shining under his voluminous brow, were mightily piercing. No, it's not that none dared to speak, it was more like none knew what to say, what words to use. Smiling, the hidden Elf was content with watching from afar — well, she wasn't that far. She was beaming, though.
"Gandalf!" Aragorn finally uttered, shaken from his loss for words. "Beyond all hope you return to us in our need! What veil was over my sight? Gandalf!"
Gimli didn't say anything, but he did sink to his knees in a deep bow.
"Gandalf..." the old man repeated for himself, as of he had forgotten it, but had been trying to recall it for a while. "Yes, that was the name. I was Gandalf."
He stepped down from his rocky perch. He picked up his grey cloak and wrapped it back around him."Yes, you may still call me Gandalf," he told them, as his old voice — Gandalf's voice — echoed instead. He turned his attention towards the deeply bowing Dwarf. "Get up, my good Gimli! No blame to you, and no harm done to me. Be merry! We meet again."
As he laid his hand on Gimli's head, the Dwarf gazed upwards and laughed. "Gandalf!" he exclaimed. "But you are all in white!"
"Yes, I am white now," he replied, with a nod. "Indeed, I am Saruman. Saruman as he should have been." His gaze then wandered towards the hidden Elf-Woman. "You can come out now, Lossiel, the misunderstanding has been straightened out."
With a nod none but Gandalf saw, she dropped down from the tree in which she hid and swiftly climbed the odd stairs she knew so well. The trio quickly turned around, another person the least of what they could expect more, and simply stared at her as she, in turn, nervously stared at her own two feet, observing the curves in the soft, but durable dark leather of her boots. They only knew that she was Elvish, and on their side.
After a few uncomfortable seconds, she bee-lined to Gandalf's side, who chuckled, and that's when the trio noticed the fresh scar near her golden scalp. She bore long locks, which went down to the lower-middle section of her back. Her hair was split unevenly about her head, and would hide half of her face if she hadn't cut it in a steep oblique line, starting from above her brow to her jaw, near the base of her ear. She had one warrior braid, which was made on the side from which less hair fell down to her back. Her irises were shaded a dark navy blue, and they seemed dull. To her shoulders clung an Elvish cloak, much like theirs, but its brooch was different.
"Do not be troubled by her, my friends. She has proven herself a noble ally — as a matter of fact, she was the one who first located you! She wished to lend a hand, and a hand she shall lend us, I trust." Gandalf told them, which made them tear their curious gazes from her. She was immensely grateful of this. "But come now! Tell me of yourselves! I have forgotten much that I thought I knew, and learned again much that I had forgotten. Tell me of yourselves!"
A.N. Told you! XD Anyways, I know there isn't much to base yourself on yet, but what do you think of Lossiel so far? If you have any tips, or things you'd like — or would hate — to see take place, I'd be glad if you informed me of them. Go ahead if you wish to give me any criticism, which I know I need! :3
Disclaimer: Anything you can recognize isn't mine, I'm just writing this for kicks. :3