A Surprising Connection

Year 103 of The Third Age

The arrow whistled through the air and met its mark with a heavy thud, the shaft buried deep into the hay.

"You see," he said "You must relax. Soften your hands, quiet your mind, empty your lungs. Choose your spot, nock your arrow and release. Think only of the target- you are to tense; your mind to busy." Legolas handed her the bow, and reached for another arrow. "All right, your turn again."

Unede focused on the target. The bow rested in her palm, the strings rough against her fingers. She nocked the arrow and just before she was about to lift the bow Legolas placed his hands on her shoulders, and she felt a shiver roll down her spine.

"Wait." his breath was hot on her neck. "Loosen up your shoulders, then when you pull back anchor the bowstring. Line it up on the center of your nose and let your hand rest near your ear." He gently touched her jaw line as he spoke. "It won't harm you." He stepped away, and she tried to ease the tension that now knotted her muscles. "Now try again."

She repositioned, readied the bow, anchored the bowstring, and released the arrow. It flew across the field and sunk into the hay just outside of the target.

"An improvement." She said with a smile and met his eyes.

"Indeed!" The ellon replied his eyes bright with mirth.

The air buzzed with the sounds of whizzing arrows, and soon the quiver before them sat emptied, the arrows scattered about at the end of the range, glimmering beneath the light of the afternoon sun.

"I heard you trained with the Galadhrim" Legolas said as they made their way to collect the spent arrows.

"Oh, I wasn't aware I had become common gossip, who did you hear this from?" She inquired, as she pushed her hair behind her ear and watched for the ellons reaction.

"You have not, don't let it trouble you." He sensed her prying would not end, so he continued. "I heard it from my father, he takes pleasure in knowing all the gossip among the army, you are not among the chatter of the court or the common folk." Legolas wrenched an arrow from the hay and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Do you have family in the Golden Wood?"

"My mother dwelt in Rivendell and my father hailed from Mirkwood, after he died we returned to Imladris to be with my Grandparents while my mother mourned. After a time we went to the Lothlorien." They were quiet for a moment, as each pulled arrows from the hay, and slid them into their quivers and the silence between them was interrupted only by the clacks that marked the seconds ticking by.

"But you came back to Green Wood." Legolas pressed. Unede nodded, and felt it was safe to explain a little more.

"My father was a Captain, and he sat on the King Oropher's council, I came to protect the people he died for, as is my duty." Legolas nodded at her words, and they made their way back to the shooting range, and found their place in the last row, far away from the stands where onlookers often sat to observe their champions. Today only a few ladies rested in the stands with their wine, and their silks to watch the new recruits who shot further up the field.

"I lost my Mother, it is a terrible thing, the grief." Legolas whispered, "My father, he hasn't been the same since, but sometimes I see him, behind the mask of duty that he wears."

They were quiet for a moment. "Your father was on Oropher's council, what was his name?" Legolas asked as Unede nocked another arrow and took aim. It thudded into the bottom of the target, far from the mark.

Unede looked at Legolas, and wondered why he pried. The ellon knew more than he let on, and he held back more than she could guess. She fired another arrow, and pondered his motivation, so many of these young ellon's were the same, they hear a name, and hope it get's them in the door of some great house. She looked at him pointedly and decided to be direct. "We are here to train. Why are you asking me all these questions?"

"Forgive me, I was only making conversation. I thought perhaps our families knew each other, since they served in the same court." He said simply.

She fired another arrow, it flew truly and thumped nearer to the center of the target. She realized his father must be of higher rank in the army. If his father knew of her training, then he likely knew her family and could have vouched for her entrance into the kingdom. If this was true, then Legolas would be told her of her linage eventually. She watched him take aim, anchor his arrow and release the bowstring, the arrow sang as it flew and hit the center of the target with little effort.

"My Father was Captain Gelmir, and my mother is Laurebrian of the house of Finarfin." She spoke barely above a whisper.

Legolas looked at her, and let out a shy smile, his eyes glimmered in the warm sunlight. "And your mother went to be with her mother, The Lady of Light." He whispered as she nodded. They stood silently as each evaluated the reaction of the other and searched for the motivation that lay behind their mask.

After a moment Legolas broke the tension and finally spoke. "My father knew Gelmir. He sat with him on the Kings Council and fought with him at the Battle of Dagorlad." Legolas bit his tongue, and did not know if he should say more. "My father was with Captain Gelmir when he was slain." Legolas breathed the words.

Unede looked down, and tightened her eyes to hold back tears, the loss was still to fresh.

"Forgive me I should not have spoken out of turn My Lady." Legolas said and reached out to touch his shoulder. She shook her head and placed her hand on his. But, a fire went through her, and she pushed his hand away, who was this boy to stand before her and claim their families knew each other? Who was this stranger come to raze her noble house? The son of some small Captain, likely the Bow Master's boy. The archer surely would have been in the battle, part of the party who guarded her father and the King as they fought the The Darkness. It explained his mastery with the weapon.

She watched him and felt an anger flush to her cheeks. "Who is your father that you would claim all these bonds between our houses? You know nothing of the death and doom my family has endured." She spat.

Legolas looked at her sheepishly, and realized, that despite the day's they had spent training together with long knives, and the many afternoon's on the archery range, that neither of them had any idea who the other was. He smiled broadly, unable to hide his amusement in the blind defensiveness that had been bred into them.

"What amuses you so?"

"If our parent's were here to see us, they would call us blind asses, and we would never hear the end of it." He jested. "My father is The King, Unede. We have nothing to fear from each other, except dull dinners, and tedious early morning council meetings."

Unede could not stifle her laughter, and the tension dissolved between them as they giggled together in the heat of the afternoon sun, at the end of the archery range, in a spot which they had both chosen, because it was away from prying eyes.

She watched the joyful Prince and felt her walls' fall away. For she knew that she had found someone that she could trust. Someone who's motives were as pure as hers. Someone who's house had stood by her own for a thousand years, an elf who was an ally.

Though it seemed from the outside, that nothing had changed between the pair, their fea's felt the roots of a bond begin to take hold, and their hearts felt a little lighter.