AN: So it's been a year and almost six months since the last time I updated. I have no real excuse besides real life. I'm just a bad author! Soooooooo so so sorry to everyone who's paid attention to this story. I can pretty much promise that my life is much freer these days, and I have better plans for this story, so I'll be updating much more frequently than one chapter in a year and a half.

Thank you so much to all my reviewers. The ones who reviewed the last chapter: Malina Wilwarin, Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967, NinjaoftheDarkness, Chibi Inuyasha Lover 4ever, Labyrinth Lover, Dominatrice, Morbidmuch, idril66, plummet, hanakaru-chan, ForeverBlue90, GoodMorningCampers, TillyMe, and Ratty Rowley. I hope some of you have stuck around this long!

Also, to answer a question from Ratty Rowley, Kat does not know she's in Middle Earth (I mean she knows because people in Middle Earth have told her, but she doesn't recognize the name). I realize it's a bit weird to think that a librarian hasn't read LOTR, so the short answer is that she has, but that the powers that be who brought her to Middle Earth have removed those memories. She's almost a blank slate here, but she does seem to intuit some of the details. Hope that clears up any confusion.

Disclaimer: All characters that you recognize belong to Tolkien. Also, I am a poor student, so suing me would be useless.

A couple of days after the ball, I was working in the library as usual when I heard a commotion outside. I'm not generally a person who can ignore loud noises and lots of shouting (especially when I'm in a deserted room in a fairly quiet part of a large castle), so I went to the doors to see if this was some elvish equivalent of a high school fight.

It was.

It looked like there were three elves shoving someone around and shouting in his face. From the mean looks on all of their faces, I didn't really want to get involved. That was, until the bullied elf was shoved to the ground and landed at my feet, and I discovered that it was Fëanáro. Then I decided it was worth it (after all, elves hopefully don't hit girls).

I worked up my best this-is-a-library-and-I-am-in-charge glare, put on my voice that will make the loudest sugar-happy child freeze, and said very slowly, "I'll thank you gentlemen not to disturb the peace of my library. You are making quite a great deal of noise. Also, you can leave my friend alone."

Fëanáro didn't really react except to stay down where he was; he seemed to be pretty out of breath, and I could tell he had a bruise forming on one cheek. His three attackers, however, met my eyes with dangerous stares, and I was starting to regret speaking until the largest of them responded.

"The lady is correct, gentlemen," he said in a voice absolutely dripping with disdain. "We have disturbed the peace of her library and we cannot have that, can we?"

The two others smirked back at him, but they turned and sauntered down the hall anyway. At that point, Fëanáro managed to scramble back onto his feet (and believe me, it was hard to imagine him doing that gracelessly, but he seemed to manage). Taking my arm, he made to pull us both through the doors of the library.

"Let us go, Kat. I am fine and I am certain my brother will be leaving."

I turned to go with him for just a second (until my brain caught up with my ears), but then my eyes flew to the taller elf who had been attacking him. "You're his brother?"

"I am indeed, Lady Kat," the elf replied. "My name is Séregon. Perhaps Fëanáro has told you of our training sessions together."

"Yeah, I saw the leg that you practically ripped off! And then beating him up today? What's your problem, anyway?"

I probably should have gathered from the fact that Séregon had tried to cut off Fëanáro's leg that they weren't particularly close, but clearly in this case, my brain was lagging far behind my comprehension skills.

Séregon's eyes flashed angrily, but then his eyes widened almost comically in realization. "Oh, so he has not told you why he deserves this treatment?"

I racked my poor beleaguered brain for anything Fëanáro could have done to warrant such hatred, and I came up with nothing. I mean, Fëanáro's a pretty decent guy except maybe with regards to women he's seducing, but I didn't feel like his brother would care about all that. I shook my head, and a slow predatory grin spread across Séregon's face.

"Lady Kat, your dear friend Fëanáro is nothing less than a traitor to the crown. My friends and I are simply ensuring that he is treated as befits his crimes."

"Crimes?" I spluttered. "What the hell has he done that anyone would consider traitorous? I mean, he's best friends with the prince! Why would he betray the crown?"

Séregon chuckled in response to my obvious confusion. "You see, Lady Kat," he continued in the sugariest of tones, "Prince Legolas is also a traitor. I do not believe Fëanáro would betray his best friend, but together they have served the Dark Lord Sauron quite well."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Because your brother and the prince clearly are insanely evil. How could I forget?"

"I have not said they are entirely evil, milady. Merely unintelligent. They were charged with the very simple task of keeping a harmless prisoner from escaping, and the prisoner promptly escaped from their care because they decided to take him out of the palace. Most believe that it was simply an error in judgment, but I am not convinced it was not planned with Sauron's approval."

I was pretty shocked at this story-not that I really believed it. But when I couldn't come up with an adequate response within a few seconds, Séregon merely chuckled once more and left Fëanáro and I with a condescending bow.

I stood in silence at the door of the library for a few seconds before I managed to turn to face Fëanáro. I'm sure the look on my face was a nice mixture of confusion and curiosity, but I put aside any questions the moment I caught Fëanáro's eye. Normally it's pretty difficult to read any emotion (except maybe mirth) in the eyes of an elf, but I could clearly see the naked shame in his gaze.

"Oh, Fëanáro, you can't think I'd actually believe him!"

The elf in question shook his head rather dejectedly and then led me into the library.

"He is not wrong that we made an error in judgment," he began, "but I can swear to you that neither Legolas nor I would willingly serve Sauron in any capacity. We were fools to take the creature Gollum out of the gates. It was surely mercy that forced Legolas' hand, for the creature cried most piteously in his prison cell. We did not think that allowing him a few moments of sun would be harmful. But then he climbed a tree and would not come down, and when we were attacked by orcs, we lost him in the forest."

It was clear that this was a pretty touchy subject with Fëanáro, and I couldn't help but wonder how many people shared Séregon's opinion (at least that they were dumb if not actually traitors). But seeing the look in his eyes and the way he slumped into the closest chair, I couldn't bring it up.

"Don't be silly!" I told him. "We all make errors in judgment! I mean, Thranduil obviously doesn't think you're a traitor since he's always nice to you and he let Legolas go off on some quest! So who cares what your brother thinks? He's a nasty piece of work anyway, and I'm sure he's just jealous that people actually like you."

"You do not think that I am unintelligent?"

"No, of course not! You seem like a pretty smart elf to me! Besides, did I ever tell you about the time I knocked over a whole bookshelf full of books because I didn't want to get a ladder?"

Fëanáro snorted in amusement at that. "I do not believe that is quite the same error in judgment as losing a prisoner."

"Maybe it isn't, but my point is that we all make mistakes. So don't beat yourself up about it. I still think you're pretty much amazing."

"Thank you for that, Kat," Fëanáro replied. "Now I only have one question."

"What's that?" I asked.

"Why would I beat myself up?"

Even though I didn't want to push Fëanáro on the subject of Gollum, I didn't really feel comfortable with his brother calling him a traitor. I certainly knew he wasn't a traitor to the crown (and I was pretty sure the prince wasn't either), but I felt like Thranduil should know so he could be prepared to do damage control. It took a few days for me to override my I-don't-want-to-be-a-tattle-tale instinct, but I realized that running a country probably required different rules than being in elementary school, so I requested a meeting with Thranduil.

I must have sounded serious enough when I spoke with his secretary (after all, I still felt really strange just going and talking to a king. I mean, I didn't want to bother him or anything). Thranduil summoned me to his private study (a much cosier room than the one I had first met him in) that evening after dinner.

After we dispensed with all the usual pleasantries, I launched right in by saying, "So apparently Fëanáro's brother thinks that Fëanáro and Legolas are traitors to the crown."

Thranduil did not react at all like I thought he would. I had counted on some fairly justifiable anger followed by a plan to counteract Séregon's actions.

Instead he simply sighed and shook his head for a moment before replying. "Yes, Lady Kat. I am aware of his accusations and the accusations of others. I am afraid that there is not much I can do to help either of them."

This absolutely blew my mind. I mean, the guy was the king! Surely when you get to be king, you get some kind of superpower that lets you change your subjects' minds whenever you want. Maybe it's not the most realistic of ideas, but you've got to remember that I was coming from a democratic background, so I was always somewhat impressed with royalty.

"Surely you can just tell your people that the prince and Fëanáro aren't traitors! Won't they listen to you?"

Thranduil smiled a sad smile before responding. "When the creature Gollum was lost, I chastised the pair for their error in judgment. I realized that anyone, myself included, could have made the same error, and I made sure that my opinion was publicly known. Unfortunately, many of my people have always been quick to criticize their prince, and this did not endear Legolas to them. Fëanáro bears only a slight part of the burden, as he is Legolas' friend. But due to this incident and to Legolas leaving for Imladris and the quest, many of my subjects consider him to be ignoring or even tossing aside his duties as prince."

I hadn't really realized until this point that my contact with the elves of Mirkwood was fairly limited. I mean, I knew a few of them fairly well, but I didn't spend a lot of my time talking to elves that I hadn't met. Clearly I was only friends with the ones who truly respected Legolas, and I had completely missed any dissenting points of view, so I was a bit clueless.

"But I don't understand," I replied. "I thought you wanted Legolas to go to Imladris and then go on this quest. I mean, I don't even know what the quest is for, but I figured you wouldn't have sent him without a good reason and he wouldn't have just gone without your permission."

"I did need him to journey to the council in Imladris, if only to spread the news of Gollum's escape. I am quite sure most of my subjects agree that it was his duty. But as for the quest..." Thranduil trailed off and stared at me for a few moments, as if he was measuring me in some way.

"Do you understand, Lady Kat, that what I am about to tell you cannot be discussed with just anyone? I will permit you to speak of it with Fëanáro, as he is already aware of the circumstances of the quest my son participates in, but you must not speak of it with anyone else."

I agreed to this, of course, and Thranduil continued with his tale.

"Many thousands of years ago, a legion of men and elves defeated the Dark Lord Sauron. They did not destroy his ring, however, and it was lost to all for many years. The creature Gollum evidently discovered it, but he kept it hidden for quite some time until a hobbit of the Shire won it from him. The hobbit returned to the Shire with the ring, and all was quiet for a time. Sauron began to rise again, because without the destruction of the ring, he was never truly defeated. The wizard Mithrandir discovered that the one ring of Sauron's creation rested in the Shire, and he sought to bring it to Imladris. Legolas and Fëanáro were tasked with keeping Gollum prisoner, so he could not share the whereabouts of the ring with Sauron. When he was captured by orcs in our forest, we knew that someone must report our misfortune to the council and to Master Elrond in Imladris. The council decided that the ring would be taken to Mordor to be destroyed by a young hobbit named Frodo Baggins, and my son has gone along as part of the fellowship to destroy the ring."

To put it lightly, I was stunned into silence by this tale. While I knew that Mirkwood and Middle Earth could be dangerous places (don't forget that I was already acquainted with the giant spiders), I never could have predicted that I was in the middle of some epic story involving dark lords and quests. I didn't really understand everything Thranduil was telling me (where was Mordor and why did it sound so foreboding?), but I could catch his drift that Legolas was off basically helping to save the world. So why did people consider this a dereliction of duty?

Once I finally recovered my powers of speech, I said, "But that sounds pretty much like he's doing his duty! I mean, obviously if Sauron takes over, everyone will have bigger problems than him missing council meetings and stuff like that."

Thranduil nodded pensively. "That is indeed true, and there are many of my people who are willing to look beyond Mirkwood and see that Legolas is doing what is best for everyone. But you must understand, most of my people do not know exactly why he is on this quest. For them, he should have returned home immediately after the council meeting in Imladris. When he did not, they believed he was only ignoring his duties as they have seen him do so many other times. Legolas has never inspired blind devotion from our people, as he has never been entirely enthusiastic about taking the throne one day. For a time, I simply worsened the situation by allowing him to miss council meetings for guard duty and training, and now many of my people believe he never intends to become involved in ruling. And I am a little afraid that they are correct, but I do not see him as being quite as delinquent as they do."

"What do you mean, that they're correct? You don't think Legolas wants to be king?"

"I know he does not," Thranduil responded. "He has told me such on several occasions. I believe if it were forced upon him, he would respond admirably, for he is a capable and intelligent elf. But I would not force it upon him unless I had no other choice. And now I fear he has taken the decision completely out of my hands. I received word just yesterday that he has joined with a great host of men in attacking the very gates of Mordor. The army has not been sent to succeed, but rather to lend Frodo a distraction as he attempts to destroy the ring, and I worry that I will never see my son again."

"But he-" I could barely get the words out. "Do you mean that he's going to war to die?"

Even though I had only been in Mirkwood for less than a year, I knew how elves felt about death. It was obvious from Dínendal's disdain for mortals and from the stigma that Fëanáro experienced when he was hobbling about on crutches that elves did not deal well with death. They were never meant to die, and even in Mirkwood, where battles happened relatively often, elves were almost never killed. I knew that if Legolas was heading into certain death, he had basically abandoned any hope of returning to Mirkwood. I could see how people might take that to be ignoring his duty as their prince, but I couldn't see how they could ever consider him a traitor. I thought it was rather selfless.

Thranduil didn't really respond to my question, but I didn't expect him to. We both sat quietly, lost in our own thoughts for a few minutes. Finally he spoke again, and I could hear the concern evident in his voice.

"Even if he survives, how can I expect my son to return here to his life as it was before? I cannot see him being unchanged. As his king, I should demand it of him, but as his father, I will not. So you see, that is why people believe he is abandoning his duty, or even a traitor to them, even though they do not know the reasons for the quest. Joining the quest so wholeheartedly was enough to prove to them that he will never become king."

I nodded, because it was indeed obvious that Legolas never would be king. But all I could think was that I sincerely hoped that this elf, an elf who I had never met, would return to Mirkwood someday and be okay.

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