Walk Like a Ninja
I hesitated. My eyes flashed back to the dark comfort of the stairs.
"Stop this, why hide? Sometimes hiding is a good idea but right now it will not help; besides Legolas already knows my hiding spot so I really wouldn't be hiding anyway. I need a plan…"
Nothing.
"…um, ok maybe the plan can wait." I told myself.
I ran after Legolas who hadn't stopped walking and was quite a ways down the hall. I didn't feel like talking, and he didn't look like he wanted to converse either, so I remained silent….or as silent as I could be. My foot falls sounded annoyingly loud compared to Legolas's silent ones. I tried to see what he was doing different, my eyes trained on his feet. But it was kind of hard, because he walked so fast that simply keeping in pace with him was difficult much less watching his feet. "Stop," I commanded. Legolas gracefully came to a halt and raised an inquiring eyebrow. I stepped to the side to gain a good view. "Okay, now walk forward slowly," I told him. He complied.
With my analyzing mind I watched him, taking note of his every movement…..…..and didn't notice anything different. He was still walking forward so I readjusted my position and watched him again. Finally, after an incredibly long time - probably three minutes - I noticed that he walked toe-heel instead of heel-toe. I came up beside him and tried to mimic his movements. He seemed quite amused by my actions and quirked a small smile. After about fifteen minutes of walking along at snail speed, I told him to go a little faster. And that is how we arrived at a dining hall. I had been so concentrated on my feet that I did not notice we had even arrived.
"You will want to keep your head up for now, lest you accidentally walk in to someone." Legolas said.
I looked up and gasped, quite startled. "Not a hallway," was the incredibly useful thought that came to my mind. Legolas seemed to enjoy my shock, for he laughed. "Could you not tell that we were come to the dining hall?" he asked. "Remarkably enough, all the floors around here look the same." I muttered.
He walked down some large steps into the broad high roofed room filled with long wooden tables lined with benches. Large chandeliers decorated with antlers were lined up across the ceiling. The shape of them casting shadows that looked like twisting vines. Many people were there seated at the tables eating. The room was filled with the sound of many voices and I noticed with surprise that I did not recognize the language. From my vantage point on the stairs, I followed his movements with my eyes, watching him walk casually down between the rows of tables. He looked relaxed enough, but he still had the stiff back of a soldier. Many people greeted him as he walked by, some clasping his shoulder in a friendly way others nodding their head in respect.
"I suppose I have to join him," I sighed to myself as I began to climb down the steps. As I made my way through the rows of tables I felt eyes on me. Throwing a hurried glance around I noticed not a few people blatantly staring at me. "They're watching me, they're watching me they're watching me! What do I do!" I panicked. "No, stop Breathe!" I commanded myself. "You're probably drawing even more attention by looking so uncomfortable." I took another quick glace around and freeked. "They're still staring at me! Now what? Umm, run!" I thought. I randomly broke into a sprint and in no time at all had caught up to Legolas who was standing in conversation with a tall man clothed in dark green and brown.
"Hey, he's dressed just like that guard that was standing outside my room!... and like the ones I passed in the hallways….. and the ones right in front of the entrance to 'The Bridge to Nowhere'…. Come to think of it the ones in front of Thranduil's throne were wearing something similar under their armor. Okay, so he's a guard. And he is rather buddy, buddy with Legolas. Come to think of it, Legolas stands like the guards. So Legolas is a guard! Probably…..ish, maybe. Need to work on that….."
Filing these thought away I watched as Legolas took a seat at one of the empty spaces at the table. The guard he had been talking to sat across from him. It was then that I realized they were talking in English, not the other language everyone else seemed to be speaking in. "Probably for me," I thought. Legolas glanced at me and gestured for me to sit in the space directly next to him. I did, and was met with a very unwelcome surprise, "Ohh, my feet don't reach!" I mentally wailed. "Whoever built these benches is going to face my wrath. Couldn't they have at least ONE bench for people who don't have enormously long legs? I mean come on its common courtesy! Everyone here can't be that tall." I paused my rant and peered under the other tables at peoples legs. Surprisingly, they all touched the floor with leg to spare. With a huff I sat back in my seat "Maybe this is the tall shift and then they change the benches for the other people." I thought, unwilling to believe that everyone was this tall.
Soon, a person came with plates of food for Legolas and me. The food was uninteresting, at least for me. After the stresses of the morning I did not feel like eating. So I simply nibbled at a few carrots and resolved to wait patiently till Legolas was done. Of course my resolve failed in a matter of moments and I entered a highly dangerous realm of boredom. "Argh, nothing is happening!" I screamed inside my head. "Something to do, something to do,…count the tables. One, two, three….twenty seven, twenty eight…forty-four, forty-five. Ok, now what? Count them in Irish! A haon, a do, a tri….." that attempt soon died, as I didn't know any numbers past ten in Irish. I resorted to dancing my fingers on the table – I was half way through a very impressive fox trot when a voice interrupted. "Are you not hungry?" Legolas questioned glancing sideways at me. "No, do you want it?" I asked pushing my plate towards him. "Only a couple of carrots eaten? Where is you appetite little one?" The guard asked conjovialy. "I think I left it under the stairs." I answered with a wry smile.
"Do try to eat a little more," said Legolas softly. I replied by nudging the plate still further in his direction. "I get your message even if Legolas does not." The guard said. "What news from the forest, have the spiders been routed?" he asked, changing the subject as he speared a piece of meat from my plate with his fork and began eating it. "I have not heard," said Legolas with a wry smile as he watched the man eat my food.
I smiled. "I like this guy! Maybe I should have been listening for his name. I suppose Legolas has said it several times by now…."
Legolas rose and stepped away from the bench. "Until I see you again, Daeron." He said with a nod. "Aha! His name is Daeron." I applauded myself for my amazing sleuth skills as I made to follow Legolas. Daeron raised his hand in parting.
"He has some really nice braids in his hair," I noticed.
Then I remembered Legolas, I saw him walking away and hurried to catch up with him. As we made our way out of the dining hall I began to consider what I should do next.
"I need more information, but I really don't want to talk with the wizard right now. Still, there are so many unanswered questions. Who was this 'colleague' of his that is responsible for bringing me here? What sort of experiment was he preforming? Why? Has it been done before? Urgh, and I bet he won't tell me even if I ask him nicely. I'll have to figure all this out for myself.
So…the library. Yeah, the library. If they have one…." I couldn't bear the thought. "They'd better have one." I thought to myself. Just the thought of a library filled with dusty old books and wooden shelves made me feel better. "Next stop Paradise."