Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction. I do not own any of the character, places, names, or anything associated with the works of J.R.R Tolkien or the Lord of the Rings (books or movie, whatever). My characters are Anita, Leila, and Arlandria and that is all.

Part 2

Chapter 22: Blurry

The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Eerily quiet. There were no birds singing, there wasn't even the sound of little rodent feet running across the carpet of leaves and pine needles. The only sounds were ones that couldn't be silenced; the rushing waters of the river, and the whistling wind as it twisted its way through the branches and pulled her jet black hair out behind her like a cape. The silence was creeping her out, but Glorfindel had told her to stay put…so put is where she stayed.

Her vantage point from where she perched on a topmost branch of an oak tree offered her a full view of the valley below. But she wasn't sightseeing, she was here looking for something very specific. Rather, someone very specific. She had never heard the name before, but when Gandalf had ridden into Rivendell looking a little worse for wear and in a state of panic, Glorfindel immediately set out to look for this Frodo Baggins with her in tow. But he had left her at the land's boundary, ordering her to stand as look out and to watch for his return; and so she had remained for several hours, crouched and balancing precariously on a branch.

A shrill scream like nails on a chalk board drew her attention in the direction of the river, her people's west most boundary. Standing up on the branch, positioning herself as though it were a tightrope, her sharp brown eyes scanned the landscape for the origin of the offending sound which had made her hair stand on end. For how excellent her Elven eyesight was though, she couldn't locate anything that could produce such an awful sound. Biting her bottom lip, she had to fight every urge to sate her curiosity and find out where that horrifying noise had come from.

Again she heard the shriek, and flinched as the sound hurt her acute hearing. The scream was followed a loud thunderous crash of mass amounts of water surging through a small area. And then silence again. Now she was really curious.

Her ears suddenly pricked up at the sound of a birdsong….no ,not a birdsong. A whistle, made to sound like the song of a bird. A nightingale… the sound used by Rivendell's guard to signal distress. Without hesitation, she stepped off the branch and gracefully plunged some eighty feet to the soft forest floor below, where she easily landed on the balls of her feet without making a sound. Swiftly and noiselessly she moved in the direction the whistle had come from, ever aware of her surroundings. Breaking through the tree line to the river bank, she caught sight of Glorfindel; holding the crumpled body of what appeared to be a child. But as she grew closer to him, she could see it was not a child at all, it was just a very small man...with very large feet.

"Anita, make haste back to Rivendell. Let Lord Elrond know that I have found the Hobbit and he is in dire need of milord's healing skills. I fear that my hard riding has only further done damage, and I will move far more carefully through the ravine to try and slow the poison."

Ani stared at the small man lying limp in Glorfindel's arms. His eyes were glowing blue, he was foaming at the mouth, and there was something black and rancid oozing from a wound on his shoulder.

"What the hell happened to him?"

"Anita!"

"Right." Ani spun on her heels and dashed back into the protective line of the forest. Scrambling up the nearest tree, she began to make her way across the landscape using the paths woven throughout the tree tops, like a bird flitting from branch to branch. These same paths would have been hidden from her seven years ago when she first ventured beyond the protective walls of Rivendell. But in that time she had become very accustomed to the world around her, and now she knew all the hidden trails of the forest like the back of her hand. She raced through the tree tops, her soft hide boots combined with her new agility made for a quick run back home. Ani had learned that it was far faster and safer to travel in the shadows of the trees than along the ridding paths below, which is how she made it back to Rivendell in an hour, much faster than Glorfindel would even on horseback.

One final graceful leap propelled her over the over walls of the town, and she hit the ground on the other side at a run. She ran past the merchants and the blacksmith, nearly running over the local seamstress as she tore through the streets back to her own house. Anita only slowed her pace when she came to a skidding halt inside of her grandfather's study, where Elrond and Gandalf were whispering in hushed tones with their heads close together bent over a scroll.

"Glo found him." Both men were on their feet at the same time.

"Where?"

"They had just crossed the Ford of Bruinen into our lands. He really didn't look good, I mean he looked like death." A grim look passed over both the men's' faces as she spoke.

"It is worse than I feared then." Gandalf looked like he was going to be sick. They didn't give her time to elaborate or respond, they both wordlessly brushed past her and left the room, leaving her standing there alone.

"You're welcome." She miffed under her breath before exiting the room. Ani didn't know what was so special about the small man she had seen that had everyone in such a tizzy. Honestly she had never seen Gandalf look so flustered in all the years she had known the wizard as when he had shown up to Rivendell looking for Frodo and not finding him here. With a shrug she turned and headed towards the kitchens. With Glorfindel's slow progression towards town, she had nothing to do but wait until he got back… might as well grab a snack while she was waiting.

Lazily she wandered through the halls of her home, not in any real rush to get where she was going. As much as she had hated this place when she and her twin had first shown up here, it had grown on her, and over time it truly had become her home. As time wore on here, life back in Tucson became more of a dream than any actual part of her life. Hard as it has been on her to adjust to life here, the tables had turned and now she found it imposing to consider life anywhere else. Running her fingers along the cool stone wall of the hallway, her head was bent as her mind wandered and she thought about the oddity of how life had changed so much on her.

"Anita!" Her head snapped up at the sound of her name being called, but groaned when she saw it was none other than her own father who called to her. " I am glad to see that you have returned. Is Glorfindel with you?"

"No, he found the Hobbit and he is riding back with him."

Elladan simply nodded in response before handing his daughter a piece of folded up paper with a wax seal on the back. "This arrived for you while you were away."

Ani snatched the letter from her father's hand, recognizing the handwriting on the front instantly. Flipping over the parchment to undo the wax seal, she huffed to discover that it had already been tampered with.

"Will there ever be a time when I am the first to read a letter addressed to me?" The silent accusation in her tone was directed at the elf standing in front of her.

"Yes. When I feel that your behavior is no longer in danger of destroying this household's good name."

Ani rolled her eyes. "It was years ago, you need let it go, seriously." Tucking the letter into the front pocket of her brown tunic, she abandoned her quest for a snack and instead retreated to her own private bedroom.

Once alone in her bedroom, she retrieved the letter from her pocket and sat down to read her little treasure from Mirkwood. She knew it was going to be the same old stuff; how the weather was, had the harvest been good that year, how many horses had been born in the stables that season…nothing that they really wanted to say to each other. They had both known they were in for a world of trouble after the scandal they had caused together, and having their parents read every single letter they wrote was just the tip of the iceberg. Ani knew that Elladan read every letter Legolas sent to her before she read it, and she knew that Thandruil read every letter she sent to Legolas before he got to read it.

After so much time had passed though, she figured someone would have eased up by now. It had been seven years since that summer the two had been discovered as lovers, but Elladan acted like it had been but yesterday that he dismissed Legolas from Rivendell in shame and had basically put her under house arrest. Since then Anita had been on her best behavior, trying without any success it seemed to regain a little bit of trust so that she could write a private letter, just one where she could say what she really wanted to tell him.

I miss you. I wish you were here. My life sucks without you. But none of that would ever find its way to paper. These letters were just a continuation of their original game…pretend to be just friends and act cordial; when in reality the last thoughts to drift across her mind at night were their kiss shared in the rain, or the night stargazing, or when they had jumped off a cliff hand in hand.

With a heavy sigh and an even heavier heart, Ani folded up the letter when she had finished reading it and stood up to place it with the others. Opening the draw of her nightstand, she placed the folded paper in with all the rest of Legolas' letters to her. She had saved every single one, and after seven years the pile was becoming monstrous, but she couldn't bear to throw even one away. It was all she had left of him; letters and memories were the only thing she had to remember that whirlwind summer of passion they shared.

A knock at the door drew her attention away from her reverie. Double checking that her stash was safe, she opened the door and was greeted by the sight of her twin, looking like the pinnacle of Elvish nobility. Leila hadn't cut her hair in the years they had lived in Rivendell, and now it cascaded down her back like a golden waterfall.

"Aw, all dressed up and nowhere to go?" Ani never missed the opportunity to poke fun at her sister's formal Elvish attire. Her sister had been far too at home adapting to the long flowing gowns and robes their people traditionally wore, and sad to say it suited her very well.

"Did you hear?" Lei's voice was in a hushed but excited whisper, completely ignoring her twin's teasing remark.

"Did I hear what?"

"Riders have been dispatched to the other realms to summon ambassadors here, Elrond wants to have some kind of summit meeting."

"Ooookay….and this is exciting because….?"

"Ani," Leila crossed her arms in front of her chest and gave her twin a look like she couldn't believe the excitement level wasn't mutual. "A council between Elves, Dwarves, and Men hasn't happened in over a thousand years, so that means something really important is going to happen. "

"Oh how amazing. I don't know if I will be able to contain myself, the extreme thrill of such an event may kill me." Ani couldn't have made her voice any more monotone and bland if she had tried. Lei just rolled her eyes at her sister's sarcastic answer.

"Fine then smartmouth, be that way, " Spinning gracefully on her toes in a flurry of dress layers, the fair haired elleth began to walk away before she called over her shoulder, "I just thought you wanted to know that a messenger had departed for Mirkwood."

"Mirkwood?!" But Lei had already disappeared around the corner. Somewhere in Ani's brain the puzzle pieces began to fit together. Turning back to the drawer where she kept her secret treasure trove of letters from the Elvan Prince, she shuffled around in the mass amount of paper seeking one in particular. Finally seeing it, she hastily reread the much older letter wherein Legolas told her about how in response to their little escapades while he had been in Rivendell, his father had cracked down on his free time.

My father seems to have decided against my will that I have too much time to spare in which I may malign my lineage. I have been given a great deal of responsibility within the realm now, more attempts to prepare me for the burden of the crown I can only assume. I have been placed at the head of a small company whose sole charge is to guard a loathsome little creature named Gollum. In addition to this my father has given me the title of Chancellor, a task whose purpose is to deal with foreign affairs. In short, if my letters to you become few or far between it is with my deepest regret, however I do believe this was the goal of my father.

Ani clutched the letter tightly to her chest… foreign affairs, that's what he said his new title put him in charge of. If this summit meeting, council thing, was as important as Leila seemed to think ii was , then Thranduil would have to send Legolas to deal with it right? Her chest tightened at the thought of seeing him again. After seven long years of dreams and memories fading into each other until the distinguishing lines blurred beyond recognition….there was a chance however small that he would return to her. Anita had never been much of a believer in the power of prayer, but that day she prayed with every desire in her heart that fate would see it fit to give them another chance.

Blurry- Puddle of Mudd