A/N: All right then. I started this chapter in my History class when I was really bored and I think I pretty much know now what I will write. I hope that this update was fast enough for most of you…although I wish I had gotten it in on Saturday. Sorry, out to the movies and mini-golfing with friends. Well here is the chapter, read on!

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings nor any of the exact quoted speeches during the Council of Elrond; it is grounds of J.R.R Tolkien. No profit is being made of this and it is strictly for pleasure reading.

Previous: "What she said. How Thorn said 'but the thing is,' or something or another along those lines, 'Middle Earth is so full of wonderful things.'

"No, that's what she said," assured Pippin. "I wouldn't mistake it."

"Wait...did she mean Middle Earth as in this being new to her?" asked Sam as realization hit.

"No..." said Pipipn, shaking his head. "That's impossible."

"Is it?"

"Need…rest…feet…oww!" A low moan penetrated the thick silence that had just begun to settle comfortably around the moving group.

Frodo tiredly glanced behind him and Legolas gave a little disdainful snort. It wasn't really her fault that she couldn't endure as well as Elves, being human and all, but even half-a-warrior suffered such mild discomforts in silence. Still, as much as Legolas could plow on, even the hobbits were beginning to lag behind and had to be constantly prodded forward by Aragorn. It was time they stopped. "Gandalf," the Elf shouted. "The hobbits and humans are growing weary; it is nigh high time to stop."

The wizard raised a hand, showing that he had heard. He led the Felloship across two empty moorland area before stopping right next to a crest in a hill.

"Thank God…Valar…whatever," Torn mumbled, tumbling down in the sweet smelling heather.

"Strider?" asked Pippin, rolling over on his stomach to look up at the Ragner who was helping Sam unload Bill.

"Yes?" he asked distractedly.

"We can have a fire this time right?" he asked. "I mean, it's not like we are being pursued at the moment…"

Aragorn paused in his work to consider the tempting proposal. Pippin was right, they weren't exactly being chased, but still, Saruman had eyes everywhere. "We'll see," he replied, dragging a disgruntled sigh out of Pippin.

"Cold dinner again?" asked Frodo with a bit of subdued humor.

"Maybe," Merry put in before Pippin could answer.

"Legolas!" Thorn called out as the Elf's small feet trod right before her eyes as she lay on the ground.

"Yes Thorn?" he said quickly, without lookup up from his task.

Again…he didn't use "Lady Thorn" "Shouldn't we…um, catch our dinner tonight, just, um, in case we get in a tight spot later?" she asked. Even if she didn't have a major role in Tolkien's plot-line, she could still help. After all, moorlands contained badger sets, and that usually meant rabbits were plentiful. Food would not be easy to come by in the winding tunnels of Moria or freezing trails of the Misty Mountains.

"Then would you like to come?" he asked.

"Oh, I was just suggesting," she started but stopped as she looked up to see Legolas oiling his hunting bow.

"Suggesting…" Legolas prodded on calmly.

"That…that you, um, that I…I can, er help you hunt," she finished stupidly. Why am I such an idiot?

"Of course," replied the Elf, walking over to Bill to get a clean rag out.

"Eh?!" You weren't supposed to agree! "I…I can't shoot," she reasoned.

"Yes you can," he said back. They must have been over this topic ten thousand times.

"But my aim…"

"Is fine." He cut off. "And practicing at simple tasks such as this will help."

"I don't have a bow," she said practically, but was almost met smack in the face with a sturdy looking short-bow that was simply carved. "Er…thank…you?"

"A spare," Legolas answered towards the young woman's questioning look. "And now you have a bow."

"But how about…" she was stopped short again as a quiver, complete with arrows and all, came flying towards her.

"Arrows too," he finished lightly.

Thorn was still trying to shake the 'deer-caught-in-the-headlights' look off when he had chided at her lightly. "Are you trying to kill me!?" she asked incredulously. Normal people, or whatever, Elves didn't throw such sharp and…pointy objects at each other. Right?

"Let's go," he said, ignoring her comment.

"Wait! But you can't just…I mean you just!"

"Go!" he cut off again, already seemingly half-way across the clearing.

"Oh the nerve! Get back here! I need rest! Sleep! Are you listening!?"

"No!"

"Argh!" With a frustrated huff, Thorn trotted after the elf as he easily cleared a generous heaping of brambles. "Wait! I can't jump as high…get back here!"

"Go around."

"There is no way aro…"

"To your left," he said back, already a little farther off.

"What ar-oh. Never mind!" Stupid cocky, know-it-all, egotistical, self-absorbed, annoying little stubborn…

She was stopped in mid-thought as she ran right smack into Legolas. "Ouch…"

"Shh," Legolas said, glancing behind her. "First lesson in catching prey, quiet!"

"I know that!" she snapped back irritably.

"Shh!"

"Ok…shh-ing" she said quietly. The woman carefully peered around the Elf's upper torso to see what he was so intent on. Nothing came to eye. "Um…" she all but whispered.

"Yes Thorn?"

"What are we looking at?"

He suppressed a narcotic sigh and looked down at the young woman. "Nothing yet," he snapped back. "Be patient…"

"Why don't you just ask Aragorn to come with you?" she hissed in a hushed tone. The Elf was a bit short-tempered.

"He has also gone out to hunt."

"Then where is he?"

"Hunting!"

"Don't you two usually go together?" she asked quietly, remembering a few Lord of the Rings articles she had read about the two's supposed friendship.

"Yes."

"Then wh-……oh." She quickly snapped her flapping mouth shut as she understood. Legolas must be trying to teach her how to hunt for her own survival if needed. It was obvious that they might not bring back much prey, so Aragorn had gone out on his own to catch what the Fellowship could actually eat. Thorn suddenly felt intent on Legolas' very words and not so much of her own discomfort.

He crouched down low in a patch of thick brambles and motioned for Thorn to do the same. She winced slightly as the sharp thorns and branches pricked at her bare arms and drew the cloak around herself.

"The moorlands are sometimes more difficult to hunt on," he said in a soft tone. "If you wish to catch anything, you must wait and listen. The wind will carry any scents you need to know; in order to catch much of any prey, you must trust in what your ears and the wind tell you. A rabbit in the brush is difficult to spot. Many times even wolves can trot right past them if they are not moving, given that the wind is not in favor."

She listened carefully. The Elf seemed to be talking a bit slowly. She guessed he was 'dumbing-it-down' for her since she couldn't really understand any of his other more complicated and fast moving lessons extraordinarily well. "So…do we wait?" she asked stupidly.

He shook his head. "We will be waiting here until sundown if we do that. We are upwind if we are to continue to travel in this direction. Any prey will scent us before either of us can spot them. We need to get downwind."

"Ok," she said. Thorn had never really been one to understand the whole 'upwind/downwind' thing either. All she knew was that if she licked her finger and held it up, she could tell if the wind was blowing left or right. That was it.

The Elf stood up soundlessly and quickly made his way along the brambles near the clearing. A couple of old sets, probably badger, could be seen in a small dip of the hill. Thorn did her best to follow Legolas quietly, but the dry grass made a noisy crackling sound as she trotted across.

The area they were in seemed to be almost bowl-like. This must be the hill that they had previously stopped at and made camp. Legolas was a little ways ahead, skimming tirelessly across the ground before coming to a stop in the cover of a bramble patch.

"Don't you usually have to track prey?" Thorn asked in a hushed tone. "Why are we just waiting?"

"We are not searching for large creatures," he said. "Hare are plentiful among these lands. It is possible to track them, but not practical for the time being."

"But we're so close to those badger sets over there, the smaller animals wouldn't dare come here right?"

"The scent of badgers is noticeable, but stale. They have long since moved on."

"You can tell?"

The Elf nodded, but kept his eyes looking outwards into the clearing. It was a badger set indeed, but things such as this sometimes contained more than just badgers.

The spiky brambles were poking uncomfortably at Thorn as she shifted about uncomfortably. She was painfully aware that her cloak was making a 'swish' noise as she moved about; but when Thorn glanced at Legolas, he was not looking at her. The Elf's mouth was slightly twisted n concentration; his eyes never leaving the badger set.

What is he doing? There is no way we will find anything here, except for an angry, snarling badger! They waited in their spot, beneath the bramble thickets, for really only almost ten minutes. However, Thorn could have sworn that some one had waylaid Mr. Time-Turner since everything had felt so ridiculously sluggish. She had not wanted to put her behind on any sharp branches that may have grown near the ground, even if her thighs were aching, so Thorn remained crouching his her right leg happily fell asleep. Now it seemed as if her left leg had taken up Ambien CR and was slowly blinking out on her as well. She was concentrating on waking her legs up again without moving about; a seemingly impossible task; when the Elf beside her prodded her gently. "Huh?"

Legolas made no noise, but signaled for her to look out towards the old badger set.

Thorn followed his light-blue gaze to look out in the direction he was concentrating on, however, Thorn couldn't' really see anything out of the ordinary. The young woman shot a question glance towards the Sindrian Elf.

He gave her a pointed glance and made a mute motion out at the badger sets again.

Torn tried looking out again, but could see nothing but the patch of brown heather beside the gap in the ground. "I don't see anything…" Thorn whispered as quietly as she could.

"Look out at the heather patch," he said in a voice so hushed that Thorn needed to ask him to repeat himself. "Do you see the white strip that is bobbing up and down?"

Thorn squinted her eyes carefully, trying to see the bit of white Legolas had pointed out. "There are lots of light-colored-strips," she hissed at him.

"The one closest to the set," he whispered back. "It is a pure white, look carefully."

Thorn glanced out once more, this time carefully analyzing the area near the set. There was a strip of white in that area. "Now what?"

"Watch, there are two of them."

Thorn was about to ask 'two of what?' but then she could have sworn the white strip had moved some. The night was fairly still so even the grass did little but rustle ever so slightly. She had long since grown used to the night sky of Middle Earth back in Rivendell. In her old time, the city streetlights and pollution together had blocked out just about all of the stars. Now, both stars and moon shone full and bright, dappling the semi-moorland with enough light to see somewhat clearly.

Legolas had slowly brought his bow up and was fitting an arrow into the strings. He leant down towards Thorn and said, "You are to shoot for the hare with the white tail as soon as I let go of my arrow. I will take the other one. Make sure you take out the first creature before my arrows falls or the other will go down the old set and we will not be able to take it."

She looked at him with visible confusion, but Legolas was already aiming his arrow. If she had had more time, then she would have said something along the lines of 'There are two hares?' or 'Where is the rest of the hare's body?' or even 'How do I fit an arrow onto this kind of bow?' However, there was no time and Thorn quickly realized that Legolas was waiting for her to assume position. With a frantic little scramble, she reached into the quiver and fitted one of the beautifully crafted arrows.

The Elf's blue eyes spared a quick glance at the young woman before narrowing the piercing gaze back towards the heather patch. Thorn was crouched slightly to the right of him, her arm quivering slightly with the effort of managing the draw-weight of the bow. The small brown hare was but three feet away from the white tailed one which currently had its head buried in search of something unknown to him. The Sindrian Elf flexed his powerful shoulders and shot out the arrow with unthinkable speed. Not even a moment later, Thorn let go as well, and her arrow went flying towards the target. Sort of.

When Thorn had been asked first to go hunting with Legolas, she had felt both worried and irritated. Thorn had figured that since her aim was so horrible at the archery range, she would have no luck hunting much of anything. However, using a bow for real, using a bow for such purposes, felt different. Her stomach had twisted in worried knots when fitting the arrow, but crouching there in the cover of the brambles, shooting alongside such a skilled archer made her feel important. Perhaps 'important' wasn't really the word though. She had felt like the too was an archer.

Her arrow was loose now and she watched in fascination as Legolas' arrow hit dead center his target; or at least she figured so since there had been no terrified hare flying out of the heather patch. Her own arrow landed just a little right of the white strip. The little brown patch of 'heather' suddenly sat up in shock and froze in place. Only for a moment though. But that moment was long enough for Thorn to fit another arrow and shoot.

The arrow sailed just as the hare dashed off, landing straight in front of it and frightening the poor creature away from the entrance of the old badger set. The hare turned tail to fell a second time, but Thorn shot again for a third time. This shot must have been the closest she had ever gotten to a 'bulls eye' since the arrow flew straight into the hare's haunches.

She was about to give an overjoyed yowl, when the animal got up and tried to run again. It was still alive. "Legolas do something!" she shouted, no longer concerned about the level of her voice. "I…I didn't kill it! It's still alive."

"I know that!" he snapped back, more irritated with the fact that she was shaking him then the fact she had missed the hare's vital organs. He had known that she would miss. He notched one of his own arrows and carefully aimed; this being quite a challenging task even for him, since the hare was now circling around itself, seemingly running in frightened circles. Almost…there! With a satisfied glance, the Elf released his arrow, landing it dead on target and killing the hare instantaneously.

Thorn stared in awe with her jaw almost hanging open. He had just been able to get a dead shot while the animal was moving about in a frantic hurdle? And she couldn't even catch it when the hare was moving in a straight line? Wow. "That was amazing," she remarked.

Legolas nodded in acknowledgment and shifted himself from the cover of the brambles. They had made a good catch for this night; not really what he would have done if he had gone by himself, but Aragorn was also hunting so hopefully, the Ranger could bring back a more filling meal. He plodded over to the two hares. They were both fairly sized, a male and female.

Thorn watched in fascination as the Sindrian Elf muttered something, and then took his arrow of out his catch. Thorn quickly snapped back into reality and picked her other three up as well. No point in wasting perfectly capable ammo.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," said Legolas, bending down towards his hare.

Thorn was about to give him a nasty rebuke when she saw the ends of his mouth twitching, with suppressed mirth. "What's so funny?" she asked sharply, but couldn't help a smile.

"Nothing," he said quickly. "We need to make haste now. The sun has long since set and I am about certain Aragorn has beaten us back."

"It was a race?" Thorn asked.

"A friendly competition," he replied. "Us two against a lone Ranger; we were curious to see how it would work out."

"Ouch…" she mumbled. "Sorry for making you loose then."

"We don't know that for sure yet," he said, straightening up with a reassuring smile. "Who knows, maybe he got stuck somewhere and fell down a ditch." There was an amused smile on the Elf's face.

"In which case you will need to save him," she said.

"Exactly, now let's go."

The two walked the distance back to the camp; a seemingly shorter walk than coming. Legolas had taken both of the hares since Thorn wasn't sure she liked having a once-cute, dead creature staring at her while she held it up by its legs. Aragorn had already been sitting by the fire by the time they got back, skinning his catch; a hare and something else that was already cooked and boiled beyond recognition.

"Looks like you lost mellon-nin," said Aragorn good-temperedly when he saw the Sindrian Elf and young woman trudging back from their little expedition.

"Suppose I did," Legolas laughed. "But by how much I must know," he added in, taking a seat by the fire, while Boromir picked up the two hares and began skinning.

"Not too much," answered Merry. The Took and Brandybuck hobbits were currently munching on something that looked surprisingly like wild turnip; although how they had come by it Thorn did not know. They must be laying off on the hare and creature-that-Thorn-could-not-define for tonight.

"Actually, more than that," Sam informed. "She means the time that Aragorn actually got back, not the time that you finally decided to un-engross yourselves from your mushrooms to notice that Aragorn was back."

Ah so they're mushrooms…

Merry made a little noise that sounded a bit like an "umphf" before turned back to the wild mushrooms.

"This is a good catch though," said Boromir, pausing in his work, his hands slightly red. "Who took out the one with the white tail?"

"That would be Thorn," Legolas said.

He didn't say "Lady Thorn" in front of everyone this time. Although I guess it sounds nicer this way.

"That explains it," he said with a little smile.

"Huh?" came Thorn's oh-so-intelligent reply. Like her teacher used to say, "if you ever want to sound smart, just say "huh?"

"Well Legolas' hare only has one clean puncture through it…whilst yours has…let me see here. Ah, two arrow marks in it. One through the haunches none-the-less…" he said, but was still shaking his head in good-humor.

"It's not that bad!" Thorn protested a bit testily.

"No one said it was," soothed Aragorn. "Let's just try to ease the suffering of our poor friends next time," he laughed.

"Leave her be now," came Gandalf's deep rumble before Thorn could snap back at the Ranger as well. "And I do believe that we have a story to account for," he said.

He doesn't mean the hunt now does he?

"Legolas, Aragorn, if you would please, while we wait for our grateful meals to be prepared," Gandalf motioned towards the grassy area near the fire.

"Ah mellon-nin, they want an account of our adventures," twinkled Legolas. "Which one shall it be then?"

Aragorn paused for just a moment, deep in thought. "Would you like one that was mostly your fault, or the one that was all your fault?" he joked.

"How about the one in which you got us captured by orcs, and quite stupidly might I add," Legolas snapped back.

The Ranger winced at the memory. "I'd rather not…" he mumbled.

"Then 'Captured by Orcs' it is!" exclaimed Legolas excitedly.

The other members of the Fellowship happily moved in around the large fire that was going, with Legolas and Aragorn at the head of the circle, Frodo and Sam seated next to Aragorn, then Thorn and Merry and Pippin, along with Boromir, slightly farther off, but still within earshot, tending a different fire that was boiling the night's meals. Gandalf had placed himself on an outcropping rock and Gimli stood from his position. A story from Aragorn and Legolas usually meant some sort of excitement.

"Well…" Pippin prompted.

Legolas cast him a mischievous glance. "It was a dark and stormy night…" he began comically, before Aragorn cut him off.

"Mellon-nin, the day was as clear as ever, and you know that! To add on…it was no where near dark, or night…this was plain in the morning actually."

Legolas cast his friend a goofy grin before letting out a fake sigh. "Why don't you start then?"

"I…"

"You go, you know it best."

"Very well," Aragorn nodded. "Then let's make this quick. It was a bright and not-stormy day" he said, somewhat emphasizing the last part. "I had just…"

A/N: There you go. Sorry no campfire story yet. Haha, you have to wait. Also if I had continued on…this would have been ridiculously long and you wouldn't be seeing this update just yet. I am so dreadfully sorry this took two weeks! Ugh! I have been super busy with school and since most of my friends have their birthday in February (me included) I have also been busy with party stuff. Anyways…I hope you enjoy. Please review, I will update sooner if you review more!

Poem: I would also like to add in that I write poetry and have posted my own poem on fanfiction. It is called Wolf and Sheep and can be accesed through my screen name. Please, if you get the time, look it up and leave a review telling me what you think. Thank you all!

Friend's Thoughts:

(Watching the school's morning announcements on the television. A large Chilck-Fil-A cow is doing an advertisement)

Wyatt: Oh dude…if I was there I would so jump that cow.

Me: Seriously?

Wyatt: Yea, I'm being serious here.

Me: So when we go to Disney Quest this weekend, you'll jump the cow if we can find one?

Wyatt: Sure, gimmie five bucks and that cow's going down!

Me: You'll get arrested…

Wyatt: That cow cussed at me, I swear it! It's a reenactment of the Tigger incident!

Ahhh….Wyatt cracks me up.