Oaky, sorry if you got two notices about this story, I had to delete it as it wasn't quite ready for publishing. It would appear that I accidentally erased some of it, and on top of that, I forgot an author's note! How could I do such a thing?

Oh, and this story won't interfere with Someone Said Goodbye at all, because I've already got most of this one written, so that's that! I am actually having a lot of fun, and this being my break week from school, you will be able to expect another chapter of One by One, for those of you who are following that funny little tale! Oh, poor Glorfindel won't be... right... when he gets out of this experience! Thanks to those of you who are keeping up with my pyscho story updating! I appreciate it immensely.

JaydeRayne: you can breathe again!

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Dreams Are More Precious

by Caelhir

Chapter One

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The sun rose merrily over a little village nestled cozily in the crook of the valley. A river ran through the middle of it, giving the town its name, Rivertown, as well as its water source. Small, neat houses lined the streets, and further away, on the sides of the valley's hills, were farms and more dwellings, marking the town to bigger than what was revealed at a casual glance.

People were just beginning to move about as the sun rose above the peak of the valley, getting shop set up, opening doors, shaking out rugs, and various morning activities. Children burst out of their houses, freed from the breakfast table to pursue their friends in activities of their leisure. Several grouped together and ran to the small caves that dotted the hillside for some early morning spelunking. Farmers and their plow horses worked in their fields, and dogs barked happily.

It seemed a perfect morning, yet not out of the ordinary. Life in Rivertown was peaceful and slow, and this hardly seemed the morning for anything to go wrong, so when the ground began rumble and shake, the townsfolk were unsure of what to do.

Then, as the ground groaned and trembled more furiously, people began to shout and call their families to them, running for safety in the door frames of their houses. Mothers called for their children, and husbands called for their wives. Panic swept the village as terrified parents shouted their children's names as they were pulled to safety by frantic neighbors and friends.

The earth's shaking went on for what seemed to the townspeople to be hours until it finally became less and less often that the buildings shook and the ground trembled. Finally, the people ventured out warily from under their shelters, jumping when the ground vibrated in the after shock of the quake.

Families began to count each other to make sure of their complete members. Friends and neighbors embraced and smiled until a screams split the air.

"Matilda! George! My babies, where are my babies?"

Hannah, the town's healer, was screaming and crying hysterically as she wildly looked all around for her missing children. Her husband Matthew began to run from one group of people to the next, looking for his son and daughter. Another woman began to cry as she realized her children, Beth and Will, were missing, too. It was soon after found that Pete and MAry, two more children were missing as well, making six the final total of absent children. The townspeople began to talk amongst themselves. Where would the children be?

Finally, one boy, who was, in fact, not much younger than the group of missing children, spoke up.

"I saw 'em!"

The people around him turned to him and hurriedly shushed the others around them, waiting for him to speak again.

"I saw 'em, I did! They were going up to the caves up there–" he pointed at the hillside, "–to go 'xplorin', but they din't let me go wif 'em!" His young face broke into a pout at being left behind.

The adult around him instantly began to make plans for the missing children's rescue. If they were in the caves, they would be found.

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Legolas looked out from under the tree that had crashed down onto his shelter during the earthquake, scanning the area that he could see for his four companions.

Elrohir was pulling Elladan out of a ditch on the side of the road, and Lindir was rubbing the back of his head, looking irritated. Glorfindel was nowhere to be seen. Legolas sighed and tried to shift the tree, but failed. Calling out to Lindir, who trotted over, the two of them managed to move the offending tree enough to create a space for Legolas to wriggle out of.

As soon as he was freed, Legolas thanked Lindir, and the two strode over to where the twins were still struggling with the ditch. It seemed that Glorfindel had fallen into the ditch as well, and Elladan had fallen atop him. Elrohir had fished Elladan out of the ditch , and the twins were just now pulling a very muddy Glorfindel to the road.

"Well," said Legolas brightly, tending briefly to a scratch on his arm and beaming at the dripping Glorfindel, "now that we're all present and accounted for, shall we continue?"

The five had been on a scouting mission, very simple, just to check up on a few of the surrounding towns and their inhabitants when the earthquake had hit, disrupting their travel path. Elrohir nodded in agreement and the five gathered their scattered possessions and headed the way they had been intending.

This village coming up, Rivertown, was their second to last stop before heading back to Imladris, Legolas thought, ticking off his mental list of visited villages. He normally didn't take part in Rivendell's patrols, but Elrohir and Elladan had invited him, and as he was here during his brief holiday from his own patrols in Greenwood, he had decided to join them. After all, this was Imladris, and so was fortified from most evil doers and misfortunes. However, Elrond had still given himself, Lindir, Elrohir and Elladan the usual "don't-get-hurt-don't-die-and-don't-get-into-trouble" speech as he always did. Clearly Elrond did not trust this particular group of elves to keep their noses clean for long!

It was a simple ten minute ride to Rivertown from where they had taken cover from the earthquake, and they drew nearer, laughing and joking. Legolas began to regale them with the latest of his attempts to drive the older prince insane.

"–And then the idiot runs around the corner," he was saying, "with nothing on at all but a curtain around his waist, yelling at the top of his lungs–" and here he pitched his voice high and fearful, causing Lindir and Elladan to howl with mirth, while Glorfindel wiped tears of laughter from his eyes and Elrohir snickered, "–started screaming like a child, 'Dear Valar, help! There's snakes everywhere! Help! Help!' And then, if you'll believe this, he actually went running straight through my father's council meeting!"

At this point, all of Legolas' companions were weak-kneed with laughter, and he himself had a difficult time not to collapse laughing at the memory of the nearly-naked Thoronsul scampering out of the room full of his seniors, his face the same color as an apple.

They five elves quieted down when they crested a valley and looked down upon a serene sight.

The town was spread perfectly upon the banks of a river that ran through the valley. The outlying farms added to the simplicity and beauty of the place. The five companions met eyes, still hiccuping every once in a while with laughter, and headed into the valley. Elrohir looked fondly at the town as they approached.

"Looks like a sleepy little place. A perfect place for a lazy couple of days, don't you think?"

However, as they drew closer, their sharp ears caught the sounds of distress, and meeting eyes again, they urged their horses onwards and their eyes soon found the source of the distress.

A large group of people stood in the town square, seeming to be gathered around a smaller group of people. Legolas noticed that there were several people who appeared to be weeping. Approaching, the elves caught the tail end of what someone was saying loudly.

"–don't care if it is dangerous! It'll be even more dangerous for the kids!"

"But Barry," pleaded someone, "please, think of your own children, and your darling wife!"

"Excuse me," said Glorfindel, and all eyes were on the elves. Whispers cut through the suddenly silent air like fish through water, and several people craned their necks to see the elves. A man stepped forwards.

"Who're you lot?"

Glorfindel smiled reassuringly. "I am Glorfindel of Imladris, and with me is Lindir, Elrohir, Elladan, also of Imladris, and Legolas of the Woodland Realm. We are checking in on the villages around here, and wondered if we might be of service to you."

The humans muttered for a few moments before a woman with shiny black hair pulled into a braid stepped forwards and began to speak to the elves, ignoring the looks sent her way.

"Please help us," she begged plaintively. "My children, and Flora's and Gertrude's, they've all gone missing after that earthquake. Please, help us find them!"

Glorfindel turned to his companions, checking to make sure that they all right with this. Elrohir and Elladan were nodding vigorously, while Lindir and Legolas looked a little more reserved about throwing themselves into danger for men. Lindir leaned over to Legolas and spoke quietly in his ear.

"It's children. No matter what race, children are children, I suppose. For a short time, let us lay our grievances with the race of men to rest."

The two light-haired elves nodded in agreement, looking back to Glorfindel and confirming their willingness to help. Glorfindel looked at the two younger elves and nodded, pride flashing in his eyes. He turned to the woman and smiled at her.

"We will help you find you children in any way we can, fear not."

The woman smiled at them, eyes watering. Two more woman stepped forward, a redhead and a blond woman, their eyes watering as well. This must have been Flora and Gertrude, Legolas presumed. He stepped up next to Glorfindel and asked where the children had last been seen.

"Up there," said the red-headed woman. "They love to go exploring in the caves. Harry said he saw them going up there early this morning."

The elves nodded and met each others eyes yet again. Elrohir raised an eyebrow.

"So much for 'sleepy little town,' eh?"

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Review, please!

And an interesting thing: I am still looking for that story I keep begging about, but now I'm doing something else. I'm actually going through the entire Lord of the Rings Fanfiction Archive with the only filter set to "Legolas," of course! It's actually been quite fun, and I'm finding a lot of awesome stories! I recommend it sometime.

So that's all. Review, please!