Chapter Five- Lothlórien

Opal: *on a webcam call to Angela* Alanna and Legolas really weren't happy with me about having them all go into Moria but I asked them if they were just being scaredy cats and said that I would go in just to prove that I am braver than two elves.

Angela: And what did they do?

Opal: Alanna said that she was game if I was. Legolas wasn't to happy about that but in the end I made him see it my way and he did it. He, unknowingly mind you, quoted Captain Barbossa. "I'm disinclined to acquiesce to your request".

Angela: He said that?

Opal: *nods*

Angela: Your powers of persuasion amaze me.

Opal: I know. This is off topic but I have really weird Internet here. It flickers on and off. How are my parents? Oh gosh! They must be worried about me!

Angela: It's alright. Don't panic. Your parents and mine have gone on a holiday at short notice. You're supposed to be staying at my house for the week while they're away. Gerald is here too but I threatened that Alanna would come and pay him a visit if he told anyone where you really were and he's kept his silence.

Opal: Phew. I'm surprised that our parents trust us to be alone in the house for a week. Neither of us would get any sleep and the house might have been non existent when they returned if I really was there. As such...

Angela: You aren't. I'm glad you called in time for this disclaimer. It would have been very boring without you.

Legolas: *off to the side somewhere* How in Middle-Earth does this thing work? Angela is in a different world and yet she speaks to you on this strange object as if you were face to face.

Opal: *to Legolas* No no no! Don't press that! That's the brightness button and I need to keep this on minimum brightness to conserve the battery. This is how I can send updates of the story to Angela so if you run the battery out, then the story can't progress until you take me back see? Look, I'm not going to explain the whys and wherefores of a laptop to you. All you need to know is not to touch it, alright?

Angela: *hopefully* You're quite sure we don't own Lord of the Rings?

Opal: For the last time, Angela. We. Don't. Own. Lord. Of. The. Rings. Only Alanna and Charlotte, who should be waking up any minute now.

Angela: Oh well, I'd better go. It's four o clock in the morning here.

Opal: WHAT!

Angela: Yep.

Opal: Oh, well. Better go. Charlotte will be waking up soon. Story to follow shortly. Bye! And don't eat any sugar!

Angela: Bye!

Opal: *to Legolas* No! Don't touch that! That's the power button! *computer screen goes black* *yells* LEGOLAS! I WILL KILL YOU! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID, BUT I WILL STILL KILL YOU!

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Charlotte regained consciousness just after the Fellowship entered Lothlórien. They were taking a break as they had been travelling non-stop since Moria.

'It's about time you woke up,' said Legolas.

'Where are we?' asked Charlotte as she sat up.

'Lothlórien,' said Aragorn. 'We only just arrived here. We'll continue once we've had a break and reach Caras Galadhon late tomorrow.'

Charlotte nodded.

Half an hour later...

The Fellowship of the Ring were travelling again. Charlotte was complaining about Alanna again, and had been almost non-stop. The rest if the Fellowship were studiously ignoring her.

'Is she always like this?' Boromir asked Legolas.

'She's worse than she was the first time I met her,' muttered Legolas. 'The first time I met her, which is also the only time I've met her, she complained and complained but she didn't rant on about it like she is now. She's the opposite of Alanna. You know Alanna, she acts more like a boy than a girl, but Charlotte is a different story. Girly, obsessed with her hair and clothes, et cetera. Any minute now, she'll start saying that it isn't proper for a lady to carry weapons.'

Charlotte's voice floated back to them.

'Alanna just doesn't observe the unspoken rules for ladies. She knows that it isn't proper for a lady to carry weapons, much less know how to use them, and yet she insists on doing it anyway. Moreover, she always insists on wearing boy's clothes, the nerve of her! I mean-'

'What did I tell you?' Legolas said to Boromir.

'Could you please knock her out soon? This Charlotte person is right that it isn't proper for a lady to carry weapons but I think I prefer Alanna. I never thought I'd hear myself say that but at least she's useful.'

'Tell me about it.'

Legolas quickened his pace until he was walking just a bit ahead and to the left of Charlotte. Legolas 'accidentally' managed to trip Charlotte up. The she-elf fell over, hit her head on a tree root and lay motionless.

'Oh my gosh!' cried Legolas. 'I am so sorry!'

Feigning surprise, Legolas knelt down beside Charlotte. As Legolas had hoped, Charlotte was unconscious.

'She conscious?' called Aragorn through the trees.

There was no reply. Aragorn frowned at the others. They could see Legolas from the side and Charlotte's legs (the rest of her was hidden behind a tree) and there didn't seem to be anything wrong, but Legolas remained silent. Legolas got slowly to his feet and raised his hands to shoulder height. The others ran over and saw why Legolas kept his silence.

A group of elves stood before Legolas, three of them with drawn bows aimed at Legolas's heart. Once the rest of the Fellowship joined Legolas, the rest of the elves surrounded them and pointed drawn bows at them.

'You do realise, don't you,' said the leader of the elves to Legolas, 'That the humans breathe so loudly that we could have shot them in the dark?'

'Yes. I do,' replied Legolas. 'And I never truly realised how quiet elves were until spending over three weeks with this lot. Humans really are the noisiest creatures to walk this earth.'

'What did His Royal Highness say?' asked Boromir.

'He said that humans are the noisiest creatures that walk this earth,' translated Aragorn.

'Sit back and watch the fireworks,' Boromir muttered to Aragorn. In a louder and more innocent voice he said, 'Oh, I don't know. That Balrog was pretty noisy.'

'Don't say the name!' Legolas almost roared.

'You faced a Bal... er... you-know-what?' asked the leader of the elves incredulously. 'Moreover, you were within a mile of one and lived to tell the tale?'

'Well we didn't face it, per se, we spent most of the time wisely running away from it actually, but we were within thirty yards of one. In my opinion, we were all very lucky to escape with our lives.'

'I don't blame you for running away but who exactly are you?'

'My name is Legolas, Son of Thranduil; the annoying humans are Aragorn, Son of Arathorn and Boromir of Gondor; the Halflings are Samwise Gamgee, Meriadoc Brandybuck, Peregrin Took and Frodo Baggins; the dwarf is Gimli, Son of Glóin and-'

'I see. So then you are the Prince of Mirkwood?'

'Yes.'

'Have you seen Lord Elrond's daughter, Alanna, recently? I know she was travelling with you, but where is she?

Legolas wordlessly pointed to the ground. The other elf looked down and spotted Alanna.

'Ah,' he said.

'Legolas,' moaned Alanna from the ground. 'Did you have to make me trip over? A pinch on the back of the neck works just as well and doesn't give me a headache for the next day or two.'

'Well, now I know for next time,' said Legolas tersely, looking down. 'But if I have my way, there won't be a next time.'

Everyone else looked down and saw Alanna looking up at Legolas. Her eyes were their normal sapphire blue and her voice was back to normal.

'Oh, hello Haldir,' Alanna said, spotting the strange elf. 'It hasn't been that long since I was last here, has it?'

'A year? Maybe a bit more?' said Haldir. 'Precisely what are you doing here, might I ask?'

'Assisting this lot,' Alanna said, waving her hand in the general direction of the others. 'Now would you two lovely boys give me a hand?'

Haldir and Legolas helped Alanna to her feet. She brushed the leaves off her shirt and trousers and out of her hair and then turned to face Legolas, hands on hips.

'Don't look at me that way, Allie,' Legolas said, forestalling Alanna's inevitable tirade. 'You know that Charlotte drives me insane.'

'You're right,' Alanna sighed, removing her hands from her hips. 'Now can we please get going? I need to sleep. Badly.'

'But you've spent the entire time from Moria almost to here in a dead faint!' protested Boromir. 'How can you need to sleep?'

'I'm not physically tired, but if I go for much longer without sleep, my brain is going to shut down for a few hours. Switching between being two completely different people in the space of a few hours is very mentally draining.'

'Two different people?' asked Haldir, signalling the other elves to lower their weapons.

Legolas and Alanna looked at each other.

'Later, Haldir,' Alanna said. 'Much later.'

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At about sunset on the next day, the Fellowship arrived at Caras Galadhon. They followed Haldir up a lot of stairs that wound up the outside of one of the trees and when the reached the top, Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn were waiting for them.

'Nine there are here, yet ten there were that set out from Rivendell. Where is Gandalf the Grey?' asked Celeborn.

'He did not pass the borders of this land,' said Galadriel. 'He has fallen into shadow.'

'It was a Balrog,' said Aragorn. 'We should not have gone into Moria.'

All elves flinched at the mention of the Balrog.

'You must remain here for a while. Rest and recover and then you may continue on your journey,' continued Galadriel.

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Night fell and, almost, all of the Fellowship were getting ready to sleep.

'Where'd Legolas go?' Aragorn asked.

As if on cue, the blond elf came into view between the trees. He was talking with Galadriel who currently had her eyebrows raised at something Legolas had said. Legolas asked something else and Galadriel nodded vigorously. Legolas then turned and walked resolutely towards the rest of the Fellowship.

'What was that about?' asked Boromir.

'Just something I needed to clear up,' replied Legolas, studiously avoiding Alanna's gaze.

Alanna fixed Legolas with a calculating stare that made him flinch.

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About a week later, the Fellowship were preparing to leave. Everyone had been informed of the plan, which was to use boats and paddle down the river until they reached the Falls of Rauros. Once there, they would decide whether to go to Mordor via Minas Tirith, Boromir's city, or to cross the Emyn Muil, a maze of mountains that, according to Gimli, were impassable, and then attempt to find a way through the Dead Marshes and approach Mordor that way.

They were making preparations to leave the next day when it was noticed that Alanna wasn't with them.

'Where is she?' asked Merry.

'It's me,' said Legolas. 'She's been avoiding me all week.'

'Why would she do that?' asked Pippin.

'She knows,' sighed Legolas.

'Knows what?'

'She isn't coming with us to Mordor.'

'So it's true,' came a voice behind them.

Everyone turned around to see Alanna standing behind them with a betrayed look on her face.

'Alanna, I... Yes,' said Legolas with a sigh.

'I suspected you would try something like this but it won't work.'

'Allie, please!'

In response, Alanna turned on her heel and ran through the trees. Legolas sighed.

'She'll keep reminding me about this forever. And, for me, forever is a very, very long time.'

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Alanna ran straight to the place where she could see the group leave. Alanna was very pleased with herself as she had had the foresight to 'arrange' supplies for herself for as long as it would take the Fellowship to reach Rauros Falls.

She would not be able to accost them while they were on the river, but once they reached Rauros and had to decide the route, she would make her appearance.

She transformed into a wolf and loped off into the forest. She changed into an elf and gathered her things: weapons, spare clothes, her supplies, et cetera; put everything into her pack; swung it onto her back; changed back into a wolf and ran off into the forest.

She had almost left Caras Galadhon when a voice came from the trees.

'Just where do you think you're going?' asked Haldir, stepping out of the shadows.

Alanna sighed mentally and changed back.

'Don't try to stop me Haldir,' Alanna said. 'You can't beat me in a swordfight and you know it.'

'But where are you going?'

'I'm following them. I refuse to be left behind while they put their lives at risk. If there's any risk taking to be done then I am going to be a part of it.'

'But what about Charlotte? You told me what happened in Moria and with the dragon. Charlotte could be a very big problem.'

'Oh don't you start,' Alanna growled. 'First it was Legolas, now it's you. Are all of my friends turning against me?'

'No! I just don't think it's a good idea. If you want to go then you'd better do it quickly before your boyfriend comes.'

'He is not my boyfriend.'

Alanna glanced around to make sure Legolas was nowhere nearby.

'I'll deal with you later,' she snarled.

She changed quickly into a wolf again and raced off. Alanna disappeared through the trees and Haldir sighed.

If Legolas finds out that I let her go, I am a dead elf, he thought.

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Later that day, the remaining members of the Fellowship returned to their sleeping quarters. They had conducted a search over the whole of Caras Galadhon but there had been no sign of Alanna.

'Where could she be?' asked Aragorn in wonder. 'I know you elves are good at hiding but could she evade the eight of us and half the elves of Lothlórien for three hours?'

'No,' said Legolas firmly. 'Only if she-' Legolas stopped mid-sentence.

'Only if she what?' asked Boromir.

'How could I have been so stupid?' Legolas exclaimed. 'Aragorn, where are her belongings?'

'They're gone,' he replied.

'I am going to murder her,' said Legolas. 'Best friend or no, I am going to murder her.'

'These look like pawprints,' said Pippin examining the ground.

Boromir was puzzled. 'Why would there be pawprints?'

'She's gone,' came Haldir's voice from somewhere. 'I tried to stop her but she got away. It's so dangerous for her! She'll be killed!'

'Yes,' Legolas growled. 'By me.'

'She's a dangerous girl when she wants to be. She'll be fine,' said Aragorn.

He said this in a reassuring tone but Legolas remained caught between anger and worry.

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O-makes!

Somewhere between Rivendell and Moria:

Alanna and Legolas were on guard duty while the rest of the fellowship slept, and, as usual, Alanna was not being serious. She beckoned Legolas over to a small rock ledge, and pulled out a big camouflage-patterned metal device. This device was huge, easily as tall as Gimli, and Legolas stared.

'Where the heck did you store that thing?' asked Legolas.

'Don't ask,' she told him, before lifting it up, and peering into a slot in the base.

She then crouched down until her head was not visible over the ledge at all, only the big metal thing, which Legolas still did not know what is was. He was about to ask, when she turned towards him, the top half of the metal thing sporting a gigantic mirror, and shrieked loudly.

He looked around wildly and hissed, 'What? What is it?'

She dropped the metal thing and half-sobbed 'There's this tiny creepy blond elf somewhere!'

Legolas jumped and looked behind him 'A creepy blond... Oh very funny, Alanna, very witty.'

She was rolling around on the ground, cackling with laughter. 'Your face was so funny!'

He rolled his eyes, but asked her anyway, 'What was that thing?'

She rolled her eyes, walking back to camp.

'Haven't you ever seen a periscope before?'

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A Note From Angela and Opal:

Opal: I can't think of anything more to say than: Please review.

Angela: Yes do! We like reviews! Especially when they contain sugar!

Opal: Angela! You know that you aren't allowed sugar after the incident with the custard pies and your turn to clean the windows. I don't think the readers need the details to work out what happened.

Angela: He he he...

Opal: Until next time! Auf Wiedersehen! If I'm still alive, that is...