See chapter one for author's notes and disclaimers.


"So then, after everything was taken care of, Giles finally translated the writing beneath the drawing..." Willow dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Smiling as he listened to her tale, Legolas put a hand on her arm to steady her as she shook with laughter, and he urged her to continue. "What? What did it say?" Calming somewhat, she finished her story, "Actual size." Again the giggles took her, but this time he fell victim, as well.

When the latest fit of hilarity was under control, they found themselves standing in a bit of a clearing. Setting down his pack, Legolas gestured towards a barely discernable path off to one side. "There, Willow. The spring is just beyond the tree line."

She quickly made her way down the path. Stripping her clothes off, she hurriedly stepped into the steaming water. Sighing out loud at the sensation, she let the heat relax away the aches and pains of the past week.

When Willow finally felt warm again and refreshed from her time in the spring, she made her way back to the bank. Approaching the spot where her clothes had been, she found them to be gone, and in their place sat a neatly folded stack of traveling clothes in the same browns and greens worn by Legolas.

'Darn sneaky elf. He better not have been peaking,' she mused half- heartedly, wondering just how he'd managed to leave them here without her noticing his presence.

Upon closer inspection, she found the garments to be some of his actual clothing. Eyeing them speculatively, she called into the trees, unable to see him but knowing he would hear, "Legolas, you're a foot taller than me. There's no way these'll fit."

From somewhere beyond her sight he replied. "Just put them on. We will make adjustments."

Willow was fairly certain she heard him snicker as he responded, and she had the urge to stomp through the trees and wipe the smirk off his face. However, the fact that she really had no idea which direction his voice had come from thwarted that plan. 'And, of course, the fact that I'm naked.'

Sighing in defeat, she struggled into the too large and, to her modern sensibilities, strange clothing. With a frown creasing her brow, she walked back to the clearing where she'd left him to go take her bath. Her eyes narrowed at seeing the smug grin on his face, and she began to glower at him. "What's so funny you...you...overgrown pixie?" Even to her the insult sounded lame.

But it only made him smile more. She looked so adorable and very much like a child playing dress-up. She walked on the breeches, their cuffs a good six inches past her toes. The sleeves of the white under tunic hung off her hands by a foot. The tunic, which came to his knees, nearly reached her ankles.

His continued inspection began to make her uncomfortable, and she could feel the blush creeping up her neck. "Legolas, I look silly. Give me back my stuff."

He chuckled as he reached out to her with one hand, going for one of his hidden daggers at the same time. Taking her hand, he tugged her over to stand in front of him. He knelt before her and carefully cut the excess breeches to stop at her ankles. Then he split the seam on each side of the tunic from the bottom up to her waist, creating a sort of long dress consisting of a front and back panel with open sides. Placing the knife back in its hidden sheath, he rolled the sleeves of the under tunic up to the middle of her forearms. Finally, he searched his pack until he found an extra piece of lacing, which he tied around her waist as a belt.

Looking down at his handiwork, she had to admit that he hadn't done a bad job. Twisting experimentally, she also found her movement much less constricted than when she first put on the rather restraining outer tunic. She may have been thin, but he was a deceptively slender elf. "Hey, this looks much better. They're warmer, too. I guess I won't have to switch back to my others."

Still kneeling, his smirk returned full force as he spoke. "You couldn't have worn those anyway. I burned them to ensure your cooperation."

The mischievous twinkle in his eyes only added to her indignation. Even his elven reflexes were no match for her as she gave his shoulders a shove, sending him reeling backwards where he landed in an unceremonious sprawl. He laughed out loud as she knelt over him swatting him as she scolded. "That was mean. What about my shoes? How am I supposed to trek through the forest for weeks barefoot?"

Eventually calming his laughter, Legolas gestured to his pack. Glaring at him once more, she turned back to the pack and found that her sandals, whose straps had almost all broken, were now mended and on top of the other contents. Removing them with a small look of surprise, she walked a few steps to a fallen tree and sat to put them on. She was trying to keep the scowl on her face as she did so, but the corners of her mouth were betraying her and trying to twitch up into a smile.

Legolas got up, retrieved his pack, and came to sit next to her. She glanced at him and almost grinned. 'No,' she thought, 'I'm mad at him...' Knowing she wasn't truly angry with him, he nudged her with his shoulder. Seeing her façade begin to crumble, he repeated the action. She finally lost the battle with herself and began to giggle. "Thank you," she said softly.

Reaching into his pack again, he pulled out a pair of soft leather shoes. They weren't made for travel, but he had a solution. "Here, put these on over your own shoes. They will provide protection while your own will serve as a sturdy bottom surface."

She began to do as he told her, when a thought struck her. "Why'd you waste space in your pack for extra clothes?"

He chuckled and responded with a wry smile on his face, "I often need replacements. Adventures seem to follow my travels." He paused briefly. "Though some adventures are more pleasant than others," he stated and lightly tapped the end of her nose with one slender finger.

Blushing at the implication, Willow quickly finished putting on the shoes and stood. It was a pleasant surprise to her that her sandals made up for the large size of the leather pair. Turning to face the elf, she offered him a hand, "Shall we?"

He quirked an eyebrow, but nevertheless allowed the slip of a girl to pull him to his feet. Hefting his pack onto his shoulder, he gestured for her to begin walking. With a devilish smirk on his face, he spoke from behind her, "Willow? Did I tell you about the time that I encountered an entire glade full of frogs...?"

She shrieked and clapped her hands over her ears before turning to look at him briefly, a look of horror in her wide eyes. He merely laughed as he followed her retreating form into the forest once more.