I don't own frikkin' Legolas. Grrrrrrrr! $#%&#@%@ disclaimer!!! Sorry, I was having a Wolverine moment…but I still need to say something: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA $@#$^#&^%$*&%$*&%$&!!!!!!!!!!
Ah. I feel much better now.
I am starting an online course on Quenyan:http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/qcourse.htm
Also, this is pre, pre LOTR, and Legolas does not know Aragorn.
The mind tends to wander on long stretches of path.
The horse does the walking; it follows the leader. It won't fall over if you stop guiding it.
Leaves…branches…trees…nests…birds…feathers. Feathers. What about feathers? Feathers in my hair. Walking through the woods with feathers in my hair. With someone I knew.
I always preferred the company of men. Many girls, I must admit, are prone to chatter, filling every moment with conversation, but most boys, most men, are content to simply walk, or sit, just be with their friend. Maybe not even look at each other; just know that you are in the presence of your companion, and should you happen to think of something interesting or funny, share it, but do not just fill time.
A twig snapped, and four heads turned towards it, elfin and equine.
A doe looked back, and the party moved on.
Legolas slowed his horse. "What do you really think of humans?"
"I am one. I have not the grace or beauty of an elf. I am good by human standards, but am pale next to a real elf."
"You are strange, though I do not mean that in mockery. All half elves I have known seem to be only elves. You are like a mortal…" he quickly amended, "in some ways." He did not want to offend her.
"My only solace is that I show the marks of my toil among men. My skin is ruddy from sun, and my neck bent from heavy loads…"
Legolas frowned, "I have never understood why men were fond of scars."
"It means we have endured! We have not survived by luck, but by strength and wit! It shows that I am not spoilt or cowardly to be watched over…"
"Is humanity something to be endured?"
Nileriniel could not answer.
"Then why do you cling to it so?"
"I do not hate men."
"I did not mean…"
"I do not hate men!"
"I think you…"
She shook her head, "I would not deny my human half. There is great strength, great courage in men." She had yet to see it, but she smiled at him. "You will see. There are good men."
They were silent.
Later, Legolas and Nileriniel dismounted to catch their dinner. There was not much game in these woods, so they did more walking than hunting, but they had bread, so they would not starve if they caught nothing.
Nileriniel opened her mouth to speak, but Legolas held up his hand; there was the same deer.
They would not shoot a doe, but stood watching it. It was not so strong as a buck, but beautiful.
They heard footsteps approaching. Three men appeared, and, not seeing any one else, proceeded to stalk the doe. The approached it, and shot,
The doe was hit in the gut.
She ran, and was pursued by five hunters for different reasons.
The men lost her, but still she ran, followed by elves.
She finally stopped, and could not go on. Legolas was about to approach her to put her out of her pain when a different man from a nearby village happened upon the deer, the elves still hidden.
The doe fell to the ground.
He knelt beside it, and spoke to it softly. He took its head in his hands and stroked it. Then he neatly snapped its neck, ending it.
He did not take the meat of the kill, but returned home after looking at the body of the doe for a few moments. He would eat bread tonight.
"There are good men." Nileriniel said to herself as much as anyone else.
She looked at Legolas and they both smiled.
Legolas finally caught a large wild fowl and they ate.
Just before they walked back to their horses he remembered an old custom whose culture he could not recall. He picked the longest feathers to his friend who took them, hesitantly.
She put them in her hair.
Sorry it's so short!! My dad said he saw a deer get hit today, so that is what this chapter is mostly based on, except this deer is the "mystical symbolic deer of humanity" … or something. Okay! No more resentment towards humans… Are we all ready to be elves now?