Chapter 18

Lothlorien

Together they entered the forest. Aliya could hear the sound of birds chirping. It was very peaceful.

They had been walking for a while until they came upon an entrance and walked in.

"Welcome to Lothlorien." Aragorn said.

Aliya's jaw dropped. She had never in her life seen a place like this. It was basically a city built into a forest. There were staircases winding up the trees and rooms that looked like fancy tree houses in the trees.

Aragorn led Aliya down a path and stopped at the foot of a platform. Standing there was a beautiful lady. She had long flowing blonde hair. She wore a beautiful white dress. She seemed to be glowing.

"My Lady Galadriel." Aragorn said.

The lady looked over at Aragorn and smiled.

"Hello Aragorn. I'm glad you made it safely." She said. Then she looked over at Aliya. "You must be Aliya. I have been waiting to meet you." She said kindly.

Aliya looked at her in shock. "H-how do you know my name?" She asked shyly.

Lady Galadriel smiled. "Gandalf told me." She said. "I have been keeping an eye on you ever since you arrived at Middle Earth."

"How?" Aliya asked, shocked.

"I have a special power that will allow me to." She said. "Now I expect you would like to regroup with your friends?"

"Yes." Aragorn said.

Lady Galadriel motioned an elf over and said "This is Haldir. He will guide you to where you will be staying."

Haldir led them down the path. "You will be staying on this level." He said.

"Is everyone else here?" Aragorn asked.

"No. There was a dwarf traveling with you. Correct?" Haldir asked.

"Yes Gimli. He hasn't arrived yet?" Asked Aragorn.

"No. But otherwise everyone else is here." Haldir said.

"He's probably lost." Aragorn said, sounding worried.

"Such a pity." Haldir said, obviously not caring.

"I'm not joking. He could be going in the opposite direction if anything." Aragorn said seriously.

Haldir gave a frustrated sigh. "Shall I send out a search party?" He asked.

"I think that would be best." Aragorn said.

They walked down a small flight of stairs then stopped.

"Here is where you will be staying." Haldir said as they entered a small clearing in the forest.

Aliya looked around. There were ten beds in the room. Most of the beds except three had already been claimed for there were already bags and weapons on them. Trees were surrounding the clearing making it so the top half of the beds were under the trees. While the other half was under the sky.

"Where is everyone else?" Aragorn asked.

"They all had other plans. They all went to explore or find a place to hang out." Haldir said.

He was about to leave but he stopped and turned to Aragorn. "Are you sure you want the dwarf found?" He asked.

"Yes." Aragorn said.

"Very well." Haldir said as he turned and left.

Aliya walked over to an empty bed and set her things down on it.

She walked out of the room and started down a path. She wanted to explore a bit.

After a little bit of walking she came upon a garden. She walked down the garden path and saw a blonde elf walking down the path with their back turned to her. Immediately Aliya knew who it was.

"Legolas." She breathed.

Aliya walked quickly up to the elf and threw her arms around his neck (without choking him).

Legolas whirled around and smiled at the sight of her. Aliya smiled at him and threw her arms around him again. This time Legolas hugged her back. Aliya buried her face in his shoulder. She was happy to see him again (and not through bars). Legolas let go of Aliya and looked at her.

"There's still daylight left, do you want to take a walk and catch up on what we missed?" He asked.

"Sure." Aliya said.

Legolas smiled and reached for her hand but stopped.

"May I?" He asked.

"I told you I thought your hand was a spider!" She said as she grabbed his hand.

Legolas laughed. "I know."

They both walked together until they reached a bench under some trees.

Legolas sat down and motioned Aliya to come sit next to him. Aliya walked over and sat down next to him.

"Who were you stuck in a hallway with when the orcs paired people up?" She asked.

"Pipp and Mary." He said. "I would have preferred me and Aragorn to have been swapped though."

"Why's that?" Aliya asked, thinking she knew the answer.

"Well one reason is so then I could be with you. The other is because of Pipp." He said.

"What did he do?" She asked.

"When we had to take the doors off he nearly dropped his and I let him hold the torch and he nearly lit himself on fire." Legolas said.

"Well that's Pipp." Aliya said laughing.

Legolas then put his arm Aliya and leaned in and kissed her.

Aliya put her arms around his neck. She could feel a smile go across Legolas' lips.

Just then they heard a sound.

"Oooooo."

They both pulled away and looked up. They saw Pipp and Mary up in the tree. They were dropping flower petals on them.

"You two need t-" Legolas started but stopped and started coughing.

"What's wrong?" Aliya asked as she put a hand on Legolas' shoulder.

Legolas coughed one more time before saying "I inhaled one of the flower petals." Immediately after he said that he started coughing and this time a petal flew out of his mouth.

"As I was saying you two need to stop spying." Legolas said.

"We weren't spying. We just happened to be in this tree and this tree just happened to have flowers." Mary said.

"Sure." Aliya said.

Then Legolas stood up. "It's just about time for the feast." He said.

Pipp and Mary climbed down from the tree and Aliya stood up. Legolas offered Aliya his arm. She gladly took it.

Together the four of them made their way down to the dining area.

Once they got there they realized that the rest of the fellowship was already at table.

Legolas sat down in a seat next to Aragorn. Aliya sat down next to Legolas. She looked to her right to see who was next to her and saw Haldir.

Pipp sat across from Legolas and Mary sat across from Aliya.

Before they knew it elves started bringing in the food and everyone started eating.

"Where's Gimli?" Legolas asked.

"He's lost. Haldir sent out a search party." Aragorn said.

At hearing this Pipp (who was half way through his drink.) Spit it out all over Legolas.

"Ugh yuck!" Legolas said as he grabbed a napkin and wiped himself off.

"Sorry!" Pipp said quickly.

Just then an angry Gimli walked into the room and sat down.

"Ah good the guards found him." Aragorn said.

"Those orcs put me in a cell by myself so I had to travel alone!" He said angrily. Gimli slammed his fist angrily on the table causing Aliya, (who was holding her glass of water) to jump and spill it on herself.

"Ugh." She said as she tried to dry herself off.

Legolas looked from Aliya to Gimli.

"I thought you had a map." Legolas said.

"I did until I lost it." Gimli said as he stuffed a roll in his mouth.

"Calm yourself Gimli. You are here now and we can get you a new map." Lady Galadriel said calmly.

At hearing this Gimli straightened himself up and calmed down.

"All of the beds have been claimed correct?" Lady Galadriel asked.

They all nodded.

"Lovely. Well there will be two fresh outfits for all of you. One of them is pajamas and the other is a day outfit so then, when you are wearing that your other clothes can be cleaned." She said.

They all thanked her.

Soon everyone had finished their main meal and dessert and were headed off to bed.

Aliya looked at the clothes that were left on her bed for her. They were beautiful. She grabbed her night dress and went to a room Galadriel said they all could take turns changing in and changed into her night dress.

After she was all changed she cleared her bed and sat down at the end of it. She watched everyone get situated. Pipp and Mary were sitting in their beds talking. Frodo and Sam were unpacking some things. Boromir was looking at the clothes that were given to him. Aragorn was sharpening his sword. Gimli was asleep already. Legolas was undoing his hair and Gandalf was talking to Aragorn.

Aliya looked around to see who's bed was near hers. She looked to her left and saw Legolas. She looked to her right and saw Pipp.

Just then Legolas walked over and sat down next to her. Aliya looked at him. His hair looked so different when it was not braided.

"You're going to sleep with your hair braided? That doesn't sound too comfortable." He said.

Aliya felt the back of her head trying to un-do her hair but she found it extremely difficult.

Legolas who seemed to notice this gently moved her hands away and started to un-do her hair.

"Wow. I never noticed how nice your hair looked when it's down." Legolas said as he started to comb his fingers through her hair.

"That's because you've never seen me with my hair down." Aliya said. For some reason she liked the feeling of him combining his fingers through her hair.

Soon Legolas had finished with her hair and moved to his own bed. Aliya looked over at him. He was reading. She assumed he got the book from Lady Galadriel. Then Aliya moved up to the top of her bed and covered up. She laid there staring up at the trees until she drifted off to sleep.

I am working on the next chapter at the moment. I will try to finish it as soon as possible.