From this point on in the story, I'm going to have two types of readers: those that love it and those that hate it. I am thoroughly enjoying myself plotting and scheming what to throw at you all next, and I hope at least some of you appreciate it. Oh, and if my elvish is wrong, let me know. I have limited resources at the moment to make my grammar accurate.


Tinwe and Legolas traveled in the wild north for a year and a half before they began to head south once again. They traveled through the grasslands of the east until they reached the borders of the great desert, where they stopped to resupply.

"It is going to be a long journey in the heat and the sand," Tinwe said, resting beneath a short grassland tree for shade. It was late in the afternoon, but the heat was still bearing down on them heavily. Legolas brought over a canteen of water and handed it to her before taking a seat to her left.

"Where do you think they will be at this time?" he asked, watching her pull out her map.

"It is early autumn, so I would predict they'd be in the north, perhaps traveling to the winter territory. We arrived at a good time, though. If we'd arrived in late winter and spring, we'd have had to either travel through most of the desert to reach them or waited for them to come closer to the border."

"Well let's get a good night's sleep and we can head off at first light."


Almost two weeks later the elves found themselves trudging up yet another dune, leading two thirsty and weary horses.

"Arod isn't used to this sort of weather. I don't know how much longer he will last if we don't find more water soon," Legolas said, stroking the poor beast's neck.

"Alagos was born here but she's suffering as well. If my map is correct, we should find water about three miles in that direction," Tinwe said, pointing to the southeast. "Come on, not too much further."

They just crested the dune when out of nowhere, they heard the sound of a horn echo across the vast emptiness. Legolas looked around for the source, but Tinwe just beamed.

"They've found us," she said happily, putting her hand to her forehead to shade the sun as she looked out in the direction she had indicated only minutes ago. Legolas squinted, not able to see anything.

"How do they know we are here if we can't see them?" he said, scanning the horizon.

"This is their land, Legolas. They know everything that goes on here. Just keep your eyes in that direction. You will see horses riding this way soon enough."

Sure enough, black shapes moved over the dunes shortly after Tinwe said this. Forgetting the heat, Tinwe quickly mounted Alagos urging the mare forward. Alagos, having heard the horn, was as eager as her mistress, and despite her weariness galloped forward through the sand. Legolas mounted Arod, determined not to lose her.

"Come on, my friend, you can rest soon." Arod started trotting forward, trying his best to keep up with Alagos.

By the time Legolas caught up with Tinwe, she had dismounted and was surrounded by over a dozen men dressed in white robes, who were all talking animatedly in a language Legolas did not understand. He dismounted, leading Arod towards the group, which made several of the men come over and start talking to him rapidly. He just shook his head, since he could not understand them.

"Greetings, husband of Tinwe," said one finally, grinning widely as he pushed some of the other men out of his way. "I am Feisal. Welcome! I am sure you are tired. Come, we shall take you to our village." Legolas nodded, letting himself get led away. Tinwe was somewhere in front of him, still talking away with the men. Legolas felt like an outsider, not sure what he was supposed to do. The men seemed very friendly, however, and kept talking excitedly, despite the language barrier.

It did not take long before the group reached the nomad camp, which was on the border of an oasis and held a small trickling stream that bubbled up from below. It seemed like the entire camp came out to great them, scores of people pouring out of tents at the sound of the returning company.

"Legolas!" He looked around as Tinwe grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the crowd that had gathered around him of women and children. Arod and Alagos were quickly led away towards water. "Come! You must meet the chief!" Legolas let her lead him towards the largest tent, the crowd of people following them closely. Opening the tent flap, Tinwe pulled him inside, where a group of men was sitting around a low table on colorful cushions. The man facing the entrance stood, his face breaking into a smile.

"Tinwe!" he said before coming towards her, arms open. A younger man who had been sitting on his left also stood, rushing forward and beating the older man to Tinwe. He picked her up off the ground in a massive hug, spinning her around before putting her back down. She beamed up at him happily.

"My goodness, Wealdul, you've grown!" she said, taking a step back and looking him up and down. "You're more than a foot taller than last time I saw you."

"Well you have been gone over ten years, mellonamin," he said, spinning around so she could look at him.

"We are glad to have you back, Tinwe," the older man said, coming forward and giving Tinwe a hug. Legolas noticed that there were white scars across his sun darkened face. This must be the chief, whom Tinwe had healed almost two decades before.

"It is good to be back, Chief Darweal. May I introduce my husband, Legolas Thranduilion."

"Mae govannen, Legolas," Wealdul said before his father could say anything. "Saesa omentien lle. Sut naa lle?"

"Elen sila lumen om entilmo," Legolas replied with a smile. "Amin mae, Wealdul Darwealion." This made Wealdul's grin wider, and he bowed respectfully.

"We are glad to have you here," the chief said, glancing at his son. He looked like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "You must be quite remarkable to tame our Tinwe."

"I am nothing special," Legolas said, smiling down at Tinwe as she took his arm. "I hardly deserve her."

"He is just being modest," Tinwe said, as she clung to him. "He is a great warrior, and is the son of our king."

"Indeed?" said the chief, meeting Legolas's eyes. "I suppose we can ask for nothing better for Tinwe, then," the chief smiled. "You are most welcome here, my lord."

"Thank you, Chief Darweal," Legolas said, bowing his head.

"Come!" Wealdul said, gesturing for the elves to follow him as he started towards the tent entrance. "We must set up a tent for you to stay in. I am sure you both will be followed around wherever you go and will need somewhere to relax away from curious eyes."

"That would be appreciated," Tinwe said, following Wealdul with Legolas taking up the rear. "I do hope you will not make a big fuss either. I heard several of the men suggesting a feast tonight."

"It is not an option," Wealdul said, looking back at her happily. "We must celebrate your return!"

"I should have known you could not resist the fanfare," Tinwe said with a sigh, though she smiled. "I hope that it will at least give me the chance to meet your new family. Though I believe I can guess who you married."

Wealdul just grinned at Tinwe's teasing, before ordering some of the crowd that had gathered once again to begin setting up a tent. As the group began work in a flurry of activity, Wealdul turned back to Tinwe and Legolas.

"Atiya will be very pleased to see you again, mellonamin," he said happily. "Would you like to see her now? She will have another child soon so she does not leave our tent much."

"I would love to see her again!" Tinwe said, not at all surprised to hear that Wealdul had married Atiya. "How many children do you have?"

"This will be our fourth," Wealdul said proudly. "Two boys and a girl so far. Atiya would not let me name her Tinwe."

"I don't blame her. I do hope you settled on something more traditional."

"She is little Yasmina," he said happily. "She is very like you nonetheless. Sweet, but headstrong."

"I have a feeling that comes from you, not me," Tinwe said with a laugh as they stopped in front of a large tent. Wealdul stuck his head inside for a moment before opening up the flap for the elves to enter.

"Tinwe! I am so glad to see you again!" A beautiful young woman looked up at them from her couch. She made to stand up, but had difficulty due to her large stomach.

"There is no need to get up, Atiya," Tinwe said, hurrying forward to force her back onto the couch. "I see you are about ready to burst."

"After the last three, it seems normal," she said with a laugh. "I would introduce you, but I have no idea where they all went."

"Atiya, this is Tinwe's husband, Legolas," Wealdul said, coming inside and standing next to the elf. "He is a prince."

"I see we both married well," Atiya said, a gleam in her eye as she looked at Tinwe. "I am glad you brought him with you. He is quite nice to look at, isn't he?"

"Yes he is," Tinwe said with a laugh, taking a seat on the couch. "I couldn't ask for more, could I?"

"Come," Wealdul said to Legolas as the ladies continued talking. "I will show you around the camp while the women talk."

Legolas followed him out of the tent. He was reluctant to leave Tinwe, but knew he would not be missed. She would probably be detained for hours by her friends anyway. So he and Wealdul walked around the village, the latter enthusiastically pointing out everything interesting with a great deal of flourish. He had a habit of inserting Sindarin words in the middle of sentences, which took Legolas awhile to get used to.

During the tour, a crowd of young children followed them around, whispering and giggling. Whenever Legolas turned to look at them, they would scream and dart away to hide, watching him from behind tents, people, or animals. Their antics made Legolas smile. None of them had been alive when Tinwe had last stayed with the nomads, so he was sure their arrival was a novelty to them.


While Legolas was getting a tour, Tinwe continued her conversation with Atiya. She had always liked Atiya, who had been quite little when Tinwe had arrived and had therefore seen the elf as a usual member of the camp. When Tinwe left, she was still young but had grown into a beautiful young lady, which had not gone unnoticed by her future husband. It was entirely unsurprising to the elf to see them wed now.

"I am genuinely surprised to see you married, though I am very happy to see it," Atiya said, resting her hands on her large stomach. "You would always tell us how you were rarely home, I can't believe you had time to marry according to your customs. Was it an arranged marriage?"

"Not at all," Tinwe replied. "We actually met on the battlefield during a very important war. I almost put my sword through him."

"I suppose warrior women are normal for you, so he wasn't put off by your aggression."

"Actually no, it is pretty unusual, but that sort of thing isn't important when it comes to marriage in our culture. We marry whom we love, since we will spend eternity together."

They were interrupted when two small figures burst into the tent.

"Mama, Mama! There's an elf in camp! I saw his pointy ears!"

"There's an elf in here too, Halil," Atiya said as the two figures stopped abruptly upon seeing Tinwe. "This is our good friend Tinwe. The elf outside is her husband, Legolas."

"Hello my friends," Tinwe said, smiling down at them. The young boy, who was about five, looked away shyly, but the little girl came right over and looked up at Tinwe curiously.

"Are your ears real?" she asked in the common tongue, cocking her head to the side. Grinning, Tinwe picked up the curious child and put her on her lap.

"Of course they are, little Yasmina. You may touch them if you like and see for yourself." A little hand moved cautiously up towards Tinwe's ear. As she reached out and touched the pointed tip, the little girl giggled and quickly pulled her hand away.

"Halil, where is Malek?"

"He's following Papa and the other elf around the camp," Halil said softly, glancing up at Tinwe. Tinwe smiled back at him, the little girl still giggling on her lap.

"Well let's go see what the men are up to," Atiya said, starting to stand up. Tinwe put down little Yasmina and helped her up, then gave her support as they walked slowly out of the tent.

It was slow progress through the camp, not only because of Atiya, but also because people kept coming up and talking to Tinwe. It made the elleth very happy to see them all. Some had changed a great deal, others hardly at all.

Eventually they came back to where Wealdul had ordered the tent to be erected for Legolas and Tinwe. In the short time they had been gone, the tent was up and furnished with spare carpets, cushions, lamps, couches and mattresses. It seemed everyone in the village wanted to help and was donating whatever they could spare. If they couldn't spare furnishings, they offered incense burners, dishes, food, and even clothes.

"Thank you all very much," Tinwe said in their native tongue to the assembled crowd. Everyone beamed at her and bowed as they dispersed, back to their work. Tinwe remained outside the tent talking to friends for some time before Legolas and Wealdul arrived.

"How was the tour?" Tinwe asked, smiling up at Legolas. During her current conversation, she had picked up Yasmina and was holding the young girl on her hip while conversing with friends. Upon seeing Legolas, Yasmina started squirming, forcing Tinwe to put her down. The little girl ran up to him, pulling on his tunic until the elf picked her up.

"It was very informative," Legolas said, smiling at the girl who now sat boldly in his arms. "How are you, my dear?" he asked, addressing her as she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Can I touch your ears?" she said, ignoring his question.

"Yes you may," Legolas said, holding still as the little girl reached up and touched his ear, giggling the same way she did when she had touched Tinwe's.

"What have you been up to, my little desert flower?" Wealdul said, taking Yasmina from Legolas.

"Aesha let me make bread today!" she said happily. "And tomorrow Daoud promised to teach me to ride a camel tomorrow!"

Yasmina and her father continued chatting animatedly as Atiya noticed her eldest son standing behind his father, trying to look important.

"And what have you been doing today, Malek?" she asked, as if she knew it was something she wasn't going to be happy about.

"Nothing," he said, crossing his arms defiantly. Tinwe laughed.

"You certainly are your father's son," Tinwe said, smiling at him, which made him blush and look away, still trying to look fierce. "He frequently used that same face on your grandfather when he tried to get him to leave me alone and go to bed."

"One of the problems with marrying Wealdul. His children take after him," Atiya said with a sigh. She looked around at Tinwe, deciding it was better not to know what her son had been doing. "So no children for you two then?"

"Oh no, we've only been married for a year and a half," Tinwe said. "It would be highly unusual to have children so soon after marriage."

"I was pregnant with Malek less than a year after we were married," Atiya said. "Though I suppose you can wait when you are immortal."

"Just one of the benefits, yes," Tinwe said with a smile. "I am sorry to end our conversation there, but I am quite tired and think I will take a nap before dinner. I suppose there is no chance of us getting away without a feast?"

"Not with Wealdul around, no. Even on such short notice he will make it enormous."

"That's what I'm afraid of. Anyway, I will see you later Atiya. Do go sit down and rest yourself, alright?"

"I will," Atiya said with a smile as Tinwe and Legolas entered their tent.

"They set all this up very quickly," Legolas said, looking around at the elaborate set up.

"They do this all the time, Legolas," Tinwe said with a laugh. "And with the whole village at it, it took very little time at all."

"You may be used to this, but it is all very strange to me," Legolas said, looking around at vibrant colors and luxurious furnishings. Tinwe smiled and kissed him, taking his hand and leading him over to a mattress lying on the floor.

"Just be grateful to sleep on a mattress again and not on the ground for a change," she said cheerfully, pulling him down with her as she sat on the mattress. "Trust me, this is only the beginning of the pampering we are going to get as guests in this village."