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Everyone who asked for that update: here you go! :)

*Disclaimer 3: I am not JRR Tolkien or CS Lewis. Sadly. I do love their work. So, onto the story where I own nothing but the plot!

When Destiny Is Rushed

3

When I woke up in the morning, I half-expected to be back in my bed at London, thinking that what had happened yesterday had been a dream. Opening my eyes, however, I realized it was real. I smiled, looking up at the trees and light blue sky. It seemed to have just dawned. My body woke itself up, so I guessed it to be around 7 or 8 back in London. Or maybe later. I had stayed up late telling Legolas about our various adventures in Narnia, so that might have messed up my system. Looking around and seeing most people still asleep, I decided that it hadn't. Leaving a note scratched in the ground saying that I went for a walk and to not freak out if I was gone, I stretched out and headed west (or left- there weren't stars out to navigate by. Yes, I could navigate by stars. Living in Narnia does that to a person.).

Heading through the woods, I realize Middle Earth is less like Narnia than I thought. Although I could still hear the trees, they were much thicker and heavier than in Narnia. The air was different, and the animals did not speak. Also, something just felt different. However, my brooding was interrupted by the sound of a stick cracking behind me. I whirled, mentally hitting myself for forgetting my bow, when I realized it was Peter.

He had my bow and quiver.

I smiled sheepishly at him as he handed them to me. "Susan, if you must go off walking in a strange wood without waking anyone up, the least you could do would be to take your bow with you." He told me, exasperated.

"Yes, brother dear," I told him, slinging them over my shoulder. "I wasn't planning on going far, anyway." Peter nodded at me.

"Of course you weren't, Susan," he told me. "But seeing as how everyone is up now, we can walk back and head out to this elf town that Aragorn tells me of."

I shrugged and turned back the way I had come and started walking, Peter only a beat behind me. We walked the way in silence, but it was a companionable silence. Reaching the spot where we had stopped the night before- I wouldn't go so far as to call it a "camp"- I saw that everyone had already packed up and was ready to go.

"Now that we've all arrived," Boromir said pointedly, looking at me, "Perhaps we might head off to Lothlorien?"

"Of course," I smiled sweetly, "I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties." Inwardly, I was frowning at him. Wasn't he raised to be polite to women? I'd have to find a reason for him to respect me, then, if he wasn't going to look for one. But for now, it'd probably be best for me to stay out of his way. I shook my head at him, and turned away to find Legolas. I was positive that my siblings would begin to think I was falling for the elf, but I truly wasn't. And that's not be lying to myself, either. I had the feeling that Legolas would come to be a very good friend, nothing more.

I found him counting all his arrows, which reminded me that I should probably go find the arrow I had shot the fruit over Boromir's head with. As if he had read my mind, Legolas pulled my arrow out from behind him. "Looking for something?" he teased. I smiled, and took it back.

"As a matter of fact, yes," I told him. Turning the arrow over in my hand, I realized that this was the first time I had gotten a good look at the arrows. The tip was a bright silver- it looked almost white. The wood looked mahogany and felt very sturdy. The fletching was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It seemed to change color with the light, being yellow and orange and red all at the same time. I was so absorbed in my examination of the arrow I think I actually jumped a bit when Legolas spoke.

"Eagle fletching," he told me. "The best there is. And the steel tip is Dwarven. They barely make arrows. I'd love to know where you got those." He spoke seriously. I smiled ruefully at him.

"I'd like to know too," I told him. "When we appeared here, we appeared dressed like we are know with the weapons we hold." I carefully put the arrow back into my quiver, which I had strapped on my back, along with my bow.

"Hm," Legolas appeared stumped. "Alright then. That is a mystery to ponder for another day, as we appear to be leaving now." I glanced over at the rest of our company and smiled at them. Peter and Aragorn were deep in discussion, following Lucy and the hobbits, who were singing and skipping off after Gimli and Edmund, who appeared to have found things in common after all. Leading them all was Boromir, looking very disgruntled.

"When did Gimli and Edmund become such good friends?" I asked Legolas, amused. He shrugged.

"I'm not exactly sure how it happened," He told me. "I woke up to them shouting at each other about something. I believe it was that Gimli believed that you shouldn't have wandered off, and your brother felt the need to defend you. Anyway, one minute they are yelling at each other, the next they are laughing and slapping each other on the back." I nodded.

"You know, the strange thing is that I'm not really surprised by that." I told him ruefully. "That seems to be how Edmund makes friends." We stood up and followed behind Peter and Aragorn.

For a while, we just walked in companionable silence. I noticed that, as time passed, Legolas got more and more on edge. I sensed that speaking now would be a bad idea, and suddenly noticed a flash of blond to my right. I saw another up on the left. A third was behind us. Now I knew what had Legolas so spooked. Being an elf, he probably saw them a while before I did. A few seconds later, I saw Peter start, and knew he had seen them too. He glanced back at me, and I shook my head almost imperceptibly. We shouldn't mention it. He nodded back at me, just as imperceptible.

A few minutes passed like that, in tense silence, waiting. I resisted the urge to draw my bow, knowing that I could draw it when they revealed themselves if need be. I heard a stick crack over to my left and a quiet whirr of air that sounded like a bow being drawn, and knew that they were about to reveal themselves. Without truly registering what I was doing, I had my bow nocked with an arrow and pointing at one of the elves- they looked too much like Legolas not to be- just as they circled us with their bows. Realizing that no one else had heard them, only Peter with his sword out and Legolas with his bow, I smirked over at Boromir. All of us had drawn closer in our forced march pace, and he was quite close enough to glare back at me.

"The dwarf was breathing so loud we could have shot him in the dark," the elf with Peter's sword drawn on him drawled. His bow was pointing directly at Peter's forehead. Slowly, I began to twist so that I would be aiming at him, but he swung his bow on my so fast I didn't even have time to realize it. "You wouldn't move, if you know what's good for you." His voice still had that drawling tone to it, and I was extremely wary of his bow, but there was something enrapturing in his eyes that left me momentarily blind to pretty much everything else.

The elf appeared startled by me too, his mouth half-opening in surprise. We both quickly recovered our senses, however, and remembered that we did have bows pointing at each other. Legolas didn't appear to have noticed anything, and decided to break the tension by staring pointedly at the elf until he realized it and started, turning towards Legolas.

"Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion," he told us, in which I assumed was an Elvish language. Legolas responded in kind.

"Govannas vîn gwennen le, Haldir o Lórien." Glancing over at me and seeing my extremely confused face, he translated for me. "Haldir- the elf threatening you with his bow- welcomes us. I responded in kind." I nodded, quite certain that only Legolas had been welcomed and that he had asked for something. How I deciphered that, I do not know. I stopped trying to puzzle it out, because Haldir resumed speaking.

"A Aragorn in Dúnedain istannen le ammen," he said, gesturing to Aragorn and nodding his head. That one I pretty much figured out: Aragorn was well known to them. Aragorn responded simply with Haldir's name again, not friendly, not cold or distant. I guess Aragorn understood Elvish, but he continued in our language- I hesitate now to call it "English"- so we could understand, I assume.

"We have travelled for a long way and are in need of shelter and assistance. Might you be of help?" The elf named Haldir nodded once.

"The Lady of the Woods expects you," he told us. "Follow me." Strangely, he didn't turn around and start walking. Instead, he continued talking. "But first, we must blindfold the dwarf." He told us, gesturing to Gimli, who proceeded, along with Edmund, to voice outrages. I sighed, almost positive that this was a racial thing. I decided to step in before Haldir decided to put an arrow through my brother.

"If Gimli must be blindfolded, so too must the rest of us go," I told him, using my best diplomatic training from Narnia. I also glared warningly around, letting my glare linger on Boromir, who had opened his mouth to say something. Aragorn nodded.

"'Aye," he told Haldir, "For it shall be better this way, so that none of us may betray your secrets." The elf nodded once and said a few more Elvish phrases. The rest of the elves walked around, taking out black bits of cloth. Why they carried them around, I cannot answer.

Haldir apparently took Legolas's well being very seriously, as he came over himself to blindfold him and me. I let him wrap the black cloth over my eyes, repressing the shivers that ran through my body when his gentle hands ran across my face. Suddenly, I felt a wisp of air blow past me and knew he had gone to lead us through the forest.

Feeling Legolas moving closer to me, I tried to inconspicuously lean his way. "You appear to have confounded Haldir, dear Indilwen," I made a confused noise, and he explained. "Indilwen is the Elvish version of Susan. I use it as a jest, thinking Haldir may think you an elf."

"And why must he think me an elf?" I asked, mildly annoyed, though I didn't know why.

"Only because you seem more like an elf than a human," he told me. "A petite elf with strangely dark hair, but an elf nonetheless."

"And no pointy ears," I reminded him.

"Ah, but you cannot see your ears because of your hair," Legolas countered. "Had you not been with your brothers and sister when we had found you, I would have been convinced you were at least half-elf."

I remained silent for the remainder of our walk through the woods of Lórien, pondering what all of that meant. As we stopped, I finally decided that I didn't get enough sleep and was having delusions. I stood patiently, waiting for my guide-elf to remove the blindfold from me. I was so lost in my own world that I was completely caught off-guard when, as my blindfold was removed, I looked up into the beautiful storm-blue eyes of Haldir. For a second I was left completely stupefied. He seemed to be too, before tearing away and quickly removing Legolas's blindfold. He walked away quickly, almost to the point of rudeness, to lead us into Lórien.

"What did I tell you, Indilwen?" Legolas asked, seemingly dumbfounded. I shook my head and followed after Haldir, telling myself that all it was was sleeplessness.