Chapter 20

Rúmil and Orophin

Aliya woke up to the sound of birds chirping. She forced herself out of bed and left and got dressed. When she returned to the room she found herself face to face with Pipp and Merry.

"May I help you?" Aliya asked.

"Yes. We were wondering if we could do your hair today." Merry said.

Aliya smiled. "Why not." She said as she walked over to her bed and sat down.

She felt the hobbits start to brush her hair out and soon start braiding it. She clenched her teeth when the hobbits pulled too hard on her hair.

"There. All done." Merry said.

"Not bad if you ask me." Pipp said.

"Thank you." Aliya said smiling.

She walked out of the room and went to get breakfast.

Once she finished breakfast she started towards the garden but stopped when she heard someone talk.

"Did you do your hair today?"

Aliya turned around and saw Legolas.

"No. Pipp and Merry did it." She said. "Why is it bad?"

Legolas shook his head.

"No. It's pretty good actually. You really need to learn to braid hair." He said.

"How am I supposed to learn to braid hair when I can't even see the back of my head?" Aliya asked.

Legolas gave a small laugh and sighed.

"How about you start practicing on my hair and then when you are ready you can move on to your own hair." He said.

"What good will that do? Like sure I will learn to braid hair but how will that help me braid my own?" Aliya asked.

"I don't have an answer to that question but I can tell you that when the time comes you will naturally know how to do it." Legolas said as he walked passed Aliya.

Aliya walked quickly trying to catch up to him.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"To find Rúmil and Orophin." Legolas said without looking at her.

They walked down a path in the garden under some trees when they heard something in the trees. Legolas and Aliya stopped.

Just then two elves jumped down from the tree landing in front of them. Aliya jumped from shock.

"Rúmil, Orophin. What are you doing down here? I surely thought you would be at the training grounds." Legolas said in shock.

"We were there but we decided to just hang out in the garden." Rúmil said.

"It's lovely to see you again Legolas Thranduilion." Orophin said.

"It is lovely to see both of you again as well." Legolas said.

Then Rúmil focused his gaze on Aliya.

"Who might this be?" Rúmil asked.

"This is Aliya." Legolas said.

"Well it is lovely to meet you." Rúmil and Orophin said together.

"It is lovely to meet you two as well." Aliya said.

"She's pretty." Orophin whispered to Rúmil.

Rúmil nodded in agreement.

Aliya blushed.

"Well I should..um get going. Aragorn wanted me to meet up with him." Aliya said as an excuse to leave.

"No he didn't. He's spending the day with Haldir." Legolas said.

Aliya shot a glare at Legolas but he ignored it.

"C'mon you can hang with us today." Rúmil said.

"Yeah." Orophin said.

"No I don't want to get in the way of your guys' reunion." Aliya said, trying to get herself out of this.

"You won't get in the way." Legolas said, totally oblivious of the fact that she didn't want to stay.

Aliya sighed in defeat. She would have made it out of here successfully if it wasn't for Legolas.

"Alright I'll stay." Aliya said, forcing a smile.

They all started walking through the garden. Rúmil and Orophin taking the lead.

The truth was she didn't want to stay because Rúmil and Orophin were making her uncomfortable or embarrassed.

Legolas who seemed to read her mind leaned over to her ear and whispered, "Don't worry they're just being friendly."

When she heard this Aliya calmed down and just kept walking.

Soon they all stopped by a riverside. They all sat down by the water.

"So how was the journey here?" Rúmil asked.

"It was alright." Legolas said.

"I heard you guys got captured by orcs. How did you like that?" Orophin asked.

"It was not fun for sure but it could've been worse." Legolas said.

"It was pretty bad." Said Aliya.

Rúmil and Orophin looked at her.

"What do you mean?" Rúmil asked.

"We got locked up in filthy, spider infested cells and at night they would put the torches out so we were left in complete darkness." Aliya said.

"Well what do you expect from orcs? A nice clean bug free cell?" Orophin asked.

"Well… no but.." Aliya didn't know what to say.

At seeing this Rúmil elbowed Orophin in the gut.

"Don't you remember what Lady Galadriel told us? She's not from here so she's obviously not used to it!" Rúmil whispered quickly.

Orophins face turned red.

"Sorry I forgot you weren't-"

"It's alright Orophin. No need to apologize." Aliya said.

"Well sadly we can't stay here all day." Orophin said.

"As much as we would like to stay we can't. We have patrol now but there are two people waiting to see you Legolas. They should be here any minute." Rúmil said as he and Orophin waved bye and walked away.

Just as they left two elves started walking down the path of the garden and sat down with Legolas and Aliya.

"Elrohir! Elladan! What are you doing here?!" Legolas asked, smiling.

"We wanted to come and see you." Elladan said.

"How did you convince your father to let you leave?" Legolas asked.

"Legolas. My dear Legolas. We didn't have to convince or ask him. We simply left a note." Elrohir said.

"And why didn't you ask him?" Legolas asked.

"He would have said no of course." Elladan said. "If he said yes then we would have had to take like a million guards with us."

"What kind of good parent lets their child travel in dangerous times like this by themselves?" Elrohir asked.

"I can't imagine the look on adar's face when he reads the note." Elrohir said as he started laughing.

"Do you think he will come after you?" Legolas asked through laughter.

Elladan exchanged a look with Elrohir before saying, "Nah. Chances are he won't even punish us when we return home. He will simply be relieved we made it home safely."

"Who might you be?" Elladan asked, looking at Aliya.

"I'm Aliya." She said.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Aliya." Elladan said.

"She's really pretty." Elrohir whispered to Elladan.

Elladan nodded in agreement.

Legolas seemed to be getting slightly irritated by how many people have commented this.

Once again Aliya's face became red and she grew uncomfortable.

"So. What do you say we have some fun." Elrohir said as he stood up and jumped in the river followed by Elladan.

"Come on you two." Elrohir said. "The water is not too bad."

Legolas stuck his hand in the water. Then without warning jumped into the water.

Aliya watched as he came above the water.

"Come on Aliya! You're missing all of the fun." Elrohir said.

"No I'm fine here." She said.

"Aww come on." Elladan pleaded.

"No thanks. I don't really feel like getting drenched right now." Aliya said.

"The water's nice." Said Elrohir.

"I'm fine." Aliya said as she took her shoes off and put her feet in the water. "Here. This is as far as I will get into the water."

Just then Legolas started wading over to Aliya and stopped in front of her.

"May I help you?" Aliya asked.

Legolas didn't say anything. Instead he lifted his hands out of the water and gently grabbed her waist.

"Legolas what are you…" Aliya asked as he did that.

Before she knew it Legolas had lifted her up and threw her into the water.

Elrohir and Elladan roared with laughter.

When Aliya came above water she looked around angrily for Legolas. When she found him she swam up to him and splashed him in the face.

"Why did you do that?!" She asked angrily.

"You were missing out. Don't tell me that the water isn't nice." Legolas said innocently.

Aliya sighed. She knew she couldn't argue with that. The water was nice.

Aliya sighed. "You got me there." She said.

Just then a wave of water went over Aliya. She turned and saw Elladan. She started splashing him and stopped when he submerged himself underwater. Aliya looked around for him then she heard a yelp and Elrohir disappeared underwater. Aliya laughed then she felt something grab her ankle and pull her under.

Aliya opened her eyes and saw Legolas with a smile on his face. She pushed him back. Then Legolas pointed behind her. Aliya turned and saw Elrohir and Elladan fighting underwater.

After seeing that she quickly went above water along with Legolas, Elrohir and Elladan.

They all stood in the water in silence until Legolas spoke.

"So who won the fight?" He asked.

"I did of course. Noodle arms here is a little too weak to win a fight against me." Elrohir said proudly.

Elladans jaw dropped.

"Noodle arms? Noodle arms?! I'll show you noodle arms!!" Elladan said as he threw himself at Elrohir and once again they started fighting.

Aliya looked around for Legolas. He was on the shore.

"Come here. I want to show you something." He said.

Aliya swam over to him and climbed onto shore.

"What do you want to show me?" Aliya asked curiously.

"I wanted to show you what my father used to do to me when I was a kid." Legolas said as he grabbed her waist.

"Wait what-" Aliya started but before she could finish Legolas threw her and she landed in the water.

Legolas POV

Legolas threw Aliya into the water. He watched as she came above water but when she did it was not as he expected.

When she came above water Legolas heard a cry of pain come from her.

Legolas then immediately jumped into the water and swam towards her.

"What's wrong?" He asked frantically.

He couldn't see her face because she was crying into her hands.

"Aliya. What's wrong??" He asked, nervous he hurt her. "Did I hurt you??"

He saw a slight nod of her head.

"I'm so so sorry." He said as he gently moved Aliya's hands away from his face and as he did that he realized she was not crying. She was laughing.

He was speechless.

"What? Why? Huh?" Was all he managed to ask.

Aliya POV

Aliya watched as Legolas rushed over to her. She had decided to pull a prank on him for fun.

Aliya stood there 'crying' while Legolas questioned her. Then Legolas pulled her hands away from her face and she looked at him laughing.

"What? Why? Huh?" Legolas stuttered.

"Don't worry I'm fine." Aliya said reassuringly.

Legolas stared at her blankly.

Aliya laughed.

"I pranked you!" She said laughing.

Once Legolas found his voice he said, "That was not funny!"

"Yes it was. Even you know that." Aliya said.

Legolas sighed and glanced over at Elrohir and Elladan, who were now talking, before saying, "Yeah I guess your right. You did fool me pretty good."

Once Legolas had finished what he was saying Aliya turned around her and Legolas swam over to Elrohir and Elladan.

It was already dark out.

"You guys want to watch the stars?" Elrohir asked, turning to face them.

"Why not." Legolas said as he started swimming towards shore.

Once they all had climbed onto shore they laid down on the grass and watched the stars.

"I have never had this much fun in so long." Elladan said happily.

"Yeah." Legolas agreed.

Aliya sighed happily. Elrohir and Elladan weren't that bad after all.

Soon it became very late and everyone became very tired.

Legolas and Aliya bid goodnight to Elrohir and Elladan and they went their separate ways.

When Aliya got into the 'bedroom' she un-braided her hair and without even changing flopped down in bed and fell asleep.

Sorry it took so long. I got a little behind.

Translation

Legolas Thranduilion= Legolas son of Thranduil