A/N: I do not own the works of Tolkien. Enjoy.

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There was no way, no way in hell, no way in Mordor, for that seemed to be the equivalent to hell here, that she could even consider liking that jumped up arse of an Elf. Ara had stormed back to the house and unbuckling and tossing her new sheathed sword on a chair, had gone to the study desk where she had placed her own sketch pad and pencils and snatching them up, stormed back out of the dwelling, grabbing her iPod on the way out; not wishing to be there when her father returned. Slyly avoiding others, including Arwen who she saw walking towards the marble square, Ara made her way to the large gardens she and Elladan had been wandering the night before and briefly noticed the three hobbits they had rescued yesterday under a tree looking to be smoking pipes. Idiots, don't they know what that shit will do to their lungs? She thought agitatedly as she sauntered deeper into the gardens, seeking out the furthest spot from her father and from that damn other Elf imaginable as she weaved her way along winding paths and then; eventually through a meadow to where she came to a large old oak tree which stretched up high and wide, surrounded by long meadow grass. Long enough to obscure her surely and feeling this was the ideal place, she moved towards the tree and sank down to rest against its comforting trunk. Pulling her earphones discreetly through her shirt, she popped the buds in her ears and flicked the iPod on and selected the playlist 'Effed Off' and hit play before shoving the device in her pocket and sighing as she flipped open her sketchbook and taking a medium led, began to sketch. Why couldn't they just take Elladan on the quest instead? He fought well with her father and although Legolas had fought well too, Elladan she was sure was the better with a sword of the two. Unfortunately it was obvious and the history was too; it seemed Legolas was a superior archer and with her, Aragorn and Boromir on the quest; they'd kind of need a pretty good archer, one that could shoot those flying Nazgul beasts dead in darkness. She sketched furiously while Halsey blasted through her earphones. She didn't know what to do. And why shouldn't elleth fight? She suddenly thought furiously. If Elladan's own mother knew how to fight she would not have run into so much strife with those orcs and been tortured. She was now in Valinor for it. How dense are they here not letting females fight? She'd shown that arse she could and left him on the ground too. She hoped his legs hurt from it.

...

Legolas lay upon his back high up in what he had come to call his oak, for the seed from which it grew came from his woods and his mother planted it. He stared through the leaves and up at the blue sky letting the tree ease his angry and humiliated soul with its soft whispers and the soothing, light movement and rustle of its leaves and sway of its branches in the breeze. The morning had warmed and he basked in the sunshine which bore down on him. His temper was slowly calming and he had to admit, Glorfindel's daughter was exceptional with a blade. She could handle herself well and he now realised her edge was her slighter figure which maneuvered just that much faster than he could and that she was a she Elf. He had not expected such a fight and his humiliation was not being bested but by being taken completely by surprise that an elleth could best him. He also had to admit, he was annoyed he had lost the little bet. On the off chance she and Glorfindel were spies of the enemy, they were all potentially in danger. He heard a sigh of exasperation suddenly from below and rolled over on the flet and peered down through the branches and realised he was not alone. What is she doing under my tree? He wondered as he gazed down at her slightly hunched figure. There was something resting upon her half bent knees but he couldn't discern what for all of that glorious red-gold hair obscuring it. Silently he crawled along the flet until he could peer down and see exactly what she was doing and smiled to himself for she was drawing what looked to be a hound of the likes he had never seen. Curiosity got the better of him and he very quietly climbed down to a lower branch and lowered himself, belly down, along its broad length to watch her working more closely. He was but three meters above her and slightly surprised she had not noticed his descent but then he was an Elf of the woods, no one heard or noticed a Wood-Elf in a tree. He suddenly realised he could not only hear the sound of the strange coloured dry stick paints she used sketching upon the book of parchment but music and song only, she was not singing. He could hear the music well enough and found it strange and almost angry. The music was certainly not happy and it reminded him of the way she had glared defiantly at Glorfindel before leaving the grounds. It surely was not Elvish. Which brought him to his disbelief she and Glorfindel had been in Lindon. But why would they lie about that? Even if they were not spies which, he was starting to decide they were not given the parts Glorfindel had played in history against the enemy, but they were surely hiding something and it didn't bode well with him and he had been raised to be wary of other realms especially, despite his friendship with the four occupants of the House of Elrond, the Noldor. It was reason enough to remain quietly in his tree and watch her, after all he had been here first and it was his tree.

Her drawing was progressing into a long haired golden brown hound lying, tongue lolling out happily as it seemed to look out from the parchment. He was impressed and watching Ara draw was ironically calming considering she had infuriated him with her confusing insults and the way she spoke to him earlier and she was the sole reason he had needed to calm down. He watched now as she lifted her hand away from the parchment and ran it back through her hair and he wondered at its softness for it looked soft as the breeze lightly caught and stirred at its tresses. She chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully and then placed the coloured stick she had been using in her mouth and picked up another one and sketched wide sweeps of blue before picking up another and adding green to those sweeps of colour and then he realised it was the sea she now created behind the hound. This must be Lindon he decided as he continued watching and then she stopped and seemed to take something small from her pocket and the music he could hear stopped and then changed and it was a more friendly sound now and he wondered at the change in her mood also as she lazily stretched one of her long legs out straight and continued her drawing, which was fast becoming a finished masterpiece, resting the parchment book up against her other leg. Legolas had never seen the sea and to see it from her eyes as she captured the white capped waves and the frothy white shoreline and ripples of the moving water had him entranced, even the wet sand the hound lay upon looked as if he could just reach down and pick it up. There was the odd broken shell and seaweed and in the pale fathomless sky she now worked on, there were white gulls floating over the water. Suddenly he saw movement from the corner of his eye and realised he was sprung.

...

"Ara I've been searching the entire valley for you!" Arwen called out to the elleth who sat leaning against what had now become known as Legolas's Sulking Tree amongst a select few elves including her brothers and Estel who had named it so. Oddly Legolas was lying three meters practically above the young elleth, a look of horror on his face as he stared open eyed at Arwen and suddenly his finger was over his mouth signalling her to be quiet and she realised Ara had no idea he was there for she had just looked up at Arwen and suddenly flicked something white from her ears.

"Oh Arwen sorry I was uh kind of engrossed in what I was doing." She said in apology as she came to kneel down next to the other elleth, aware Legolas was right above them.

"What are you doing?" She asked and then looked upon the colours upon the parchment. "Clearly drawing, that is really, very good. You should show my Adar." She said enthusiastically.

"Thanks it's my dog, Max. I miss him; my younger cousin is looking after him." Ara admitted wistfully.

"I have never seen a hound like him, not that I have seen many hounds." Arwen said and Ara looked at her curiously.

"I didn't think there were any dogs here."

"No, it is the humans which usually keep them for hunting. Did you hunt with yours?"

"Only balls and sticks." Ara laughed and he does love to chase gulls but everyone loves to chase gulls."

"So he was more a friend?"

"Yeah, he is my running buddy and friend and great for cuddling in winter."

"What is cuddling?" Arwen laughed.

"Another word for hugging."

"You know so many strange words." Arwen declared. "I like them."

"You'll have to ask Estel for a cuddle." Ara grinned at her mischievously and she giggled and at that Ara laughed.

"And has my brother cuddled you?" She asked teasingly and Ara grinned at her. "I'll take that as a yes." She giggled again.

"You know I never took you for one to giggle." Ara teased back good naturedly.

"And I never took you for one to best the Prince of the Woodland Realm." She replied especially for the eavesdropping Wood-Elf on the branch above.

"Yeah well he really had it coming." Ara replied.

"Estel said you can really handle yourself, I wish I had skipped the morning meal to watch."

"Why don't Elleths fight here?" Ara suddenly asked curiously.

"We've never needed to, the guards and warriors protect the boundaries so we remain safe within our realms." Arwen explained and Ara cocked her head at her curiously.

"Then what do elleths do all day?"

"Well we are seamstresses or embroiderers or healers or gardeners and we also sing and play instruments or sometimes cook for fun. I am the only one who knows how to make Lembas in Imladris, my grandmother taught me." She said proudly.

"Oh yeah its recipe is practically top secret isn't it?"

"Yes, have you ever tried any?" The golden haired Elf shook her head. "Then you must try some of mine, I made some yesterday morning."

"That would be great, thanks."

"Oh by the way I have an issue with your healers." Ara suddenly changed the subject.

"Yes what is wrong?"

"This morning I was training, not duelling, it was earlier and Legolas was shooting and I fixed an issue he had with his shoulder and he was going to rip his shirt off which I stopped him cause he really didn't need to and he told me the healers usually ask him to."

"I don't see your point?"

"They don't need to; they're taking advantage of him. I mean some muscle strains sure, you need to get out of your shirt but I warrant the elleth healers are doing it to get an eyeful and that's not right or professional." She said seriously and Arwen was surprised as she worked out through Ara's strange way of talking, at what she meant.

"Legolas would have worked that out surely." Arwen said and Ara shook her head.

"No, I'm pretty certain he hasn't which makes me think it goes on in his realm too."

"I'll let my Ada know." She said worriedly.

"Thanks, he's an arse but it doesn't mean he should be tricked into taking his clothes off."

"No, I am sure the Prince will not be impressed by that revelation." Arwen stood again and discreetly caught Legolas's eye and he looked incredibly annoyed by the news but remained silent. "As much as I am enjoying relaxing here and chatting, I am meant to be dragging you to the seamstresses to have a few things made but we can still continue our chatting." She said cheerily and Ara nodded.

"I have completed my drawing now and it has served its purpose." She said and placed the book aside to which Arwen picked it up and flipped through it, marvelling at the six other drawings depicting a hedgehog, a woodland and a stag, strange tall dark buildings and then one beautiful designed, spired building with enormous doors. There was also two more drawings of the golden haired hound; one of him sleeping and the other running through water.

"What purpose is that?" She asked curiously as Ara packed up her drawing sticks.

"An emotional and stress outlet." She admitted as she stood up.

"What bothers you? Or maybe we can speak of it on our way." She said tactfully deciding Legolas had eavesdropped enough. It was then she noticed two strange white cords and on their ends they were like buttons. "What are those, I saw you pull them from your ears earlier." She asked intrigued.

"Earphones, for playing music through." Ara replied.

"Like the way the Silver Beast Car played music? That is what Estel said."

"Yes just like that." Ara smiled. "It is flat right now but I'll show you it properly tomorrow when it's working again." She added cheerily and Arwen had no idea what she meant but nodded eagerly nonetheless.

"I want to thank you for aiding Estel and the hobbits yesterday; he said if you had not, they would never have made it to Imladris." She said quietly and Ara nodded seriously.

"It was close but those Wraith horses did not stand a chance of catching us."

"Estel said the way you handled the Silver Beast was incredible, he said he has never travelled so fast in all his life." Ara laughed at that.

"We definitely were, if I were home and got caught going that fast I'd be in a lot of trouble." She grinned.

"How do you mean?"

"Let's walk and I'll explain." Ara replied and without looking back, began walking back towards the buildings. Arwen looked back quickly to see a very grateful looking Wood-Elf mouthing a 'thank-you' to her and she nodded and narrowed her eyes at him to let him know she would find him and demand exactly why he was clearly spying on Ara.

...

That had been very, very close and by Arwen's look he was going to pay for it later. He would just make a point of staying clear of her between now, the council and dinner for she could be scarier than an orc when she felt like it and he couldn't very well just behead her and be done with it. He smirked wryly at the retreating figures of the two elleths; Arwen's appearance had been helpful and there had been no strain in the conversation the two elleth's had, in fact, they spoke as if they were old friends and perhaps they were? It certainly made him doubt further that she was indeed a spy of sorts and surely the wonderful drawing had been from Lindon? Something still did not make sense though, well many things; she still fought as only ellons should and there was still the strange thing at the stables which she and Arwen had spoken of and then the music which somehow emitted from something she wore. It was all very confusing and strange and that he did not trust. He slowly sat up and leant back against the trunk of the tree, letting his spine and muscles mould to fit comfortably and a bitter thought struck his mind again; those elleth healers had all been taking advantage of him. He would be speaking with his father about it as soon as he arrived home after the council. How many others of the Woodland guard had they tricked into getting half naked for them? He suddenly felt grateful to Lady Ara for not treating him so, for being respectful earlier upon the training fields but he wondered; if she had known who he was, would she have still helped him? And what exactly was her problem with his identity? Perhaps it had something to do with her father? She was very confusing and Legolas felt a little bad for he had assured Elladan he would not bother trying to vie for her attention but he was curious and it was no longer just about whether she and Glorfindel were in cohorts with the enemy. Unfortunately she really didn't seem to like him but he could change that surely?

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