I don't owe these charas. Not even Caro is mine...^_^

This story is dedicated to my friend Caro, one of the biggest Legolas/ Orlando Bloom fans ever. Hope you like this little fic, Caro...



Caro-chan in wonderland by Aqua15

Chapter 1: Strange encounter of the third kind

Caro didn't know where she was or how she came here. The only thing she knew, was that she obviously wasn't in her bed any more. A second before, she had been reading an article about "Lord of the Rings" and now she was sitting in a forest with huge trees barring her sight. Only a dim light reached the ground because of the nearly pitch-dark roof of leaves.

//I'm just dreaming...I fell asleep! I just fell asleep...//

She wanted to calm herself down, but something made her doubt her own thoughts. Everything was just too real to be a dream.

Caro stood up with a deep sigh, and looked down her body only to notice, that she was wearing muddy white pyjamas with small pink rabbits on it.

"Let's go!" she shouted to encourage herself. Caro didn't want to remain standing like a fool in this forest, but its silence frightened her.

//It's too silent! No bird, no animal...nothing...//

Just when she wanted to take the first step she suddenly slipped and landed with a scream on the muddy ground. That was too much! A wave of fury overcame her and she shouted out her whole annoyance.

"Shit! Fucking forest! First I have to wake up in a damn forest, nothing wearing but the most embarrassing pyjamas I possess and then I have to slip because of a fucking..."

Suddenly she stopped, cause she realized she didn't even know the reason why she slipped. Slowly she looked over her shoulder and froze. The reason had been a leaf-covered dagger, that lay now shining in the mud. The first thing Caro did, was to check if her feet were OK. Luckily she hadn't cut herself. Then she focused all her attention on the dagger. It was made of shining blue steel and the handle was golden with an engraving of a silver leaf on it.

//Wow! This thing has to be very valuable.//

With a broad grin she took it and whispered a light "My preciiooouuss..."

Now she found everything quite ridiculous and burst into laughter.

"This little thingy looks like an Elven dagger. With that leaf and all...Maybe I'm in Middle-Earth!..." she giggled. But that would have been too strange, so she decided to believe everything was just an arranged joke of her friends. Maybe she was just one or two miles away from home and only a few moments later her friends will show up and laugh at her. So she remained sitting on the ground and waited for her friends to come.

But nobody came.

After nearly one hour of waiting she gave it up.

// Sure they want me to find home by myself...//

Again she stood up and checked the ground carefully before she took her second step in this damn forest.

Hours later...

Caro sat with an angry look on her face on a huge rock. She was tired of wandering around. Slowly she doubted she would find home that day. Or was it night? She missed her computer, she missed her TV and, above all, she missed her bed.

//Friends! They think they're funny! If I'll find them they are dead! How dare they to play such an evil joke on me? They'll burn for that!//

A loud grumbling interrupted her thoughts. She was hungry, very hungry! She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten something. She didn't even know the time. While muttering something Caro got up and decided to go into the direction, where she believed to see a light. Maybe it was a clearing in the forest and maybe she would find out where she was.

Stumbling, because of her increasing thurst and hunger, she continued her "journey". Finally she came to the light she had seen... it was a clearing. And there was a small stream, deep enough so she finally could drink something and bath her aching feet. Suddenly she realized, that she was still holding the beautiful dagger in her left hand.

//Strange...I thought I left it where I woke up... but at least I found a clearing and water...//

Caro looked up to the sky and found the sun standing far in the west, ready to go down behind a mountain, that stood lonely in the scenery.

//Look! A lonely mountain!// she giggled at that sight when she realized she had heard such a name for a mountain before. // There was a "Lonely Mountain" right in the west of... Mirkwood!// she remembered finally. She had studied the map of Middle-Earth a thousand times and knew it by heart and this sight made her feel someway uncomfortable.

Shyly she let her look wander into the north. Her fear had come true. A long row of mountains stretched over the whole horizon.

"Ered Mithrin" she whispered fearfully. There was no doubt: she was lost in Middle-Earth!

***

"A perfect day for a walk." Legolas, the prince of Mirkwood, said to himself. The sun glimmered dark red when he left his father's palace. King Thranduil had him allowed finally to take a short walk, though the wood was dangerous during the night these days. So Legolas got his allowance only after he begged for a few hours.

He took the path up to the clearing with the small stream he liked so much. There he often talked to the trees around him and asked the birds for news.

Lately the news weren't very good. The birds told something about huge Orc armies and a shadow rising in the southern part of Mirkwood. Also his father's messengers knew something about the shadow, that seemed to wander into the south, in the direction of Mordor. Since then the wood grew silent. The animals hid and even the birds didn't dare to sing. The wood resembled a cemetery.

But all that wasn't important to Legolas at that moment, as he made his way towards the peaceful noise of the small stream. Suddenly he stood still. He saw something sitting beside the stream, bathing its feet in the water. Using his Wood-Elven ability to remain unseen, he crept closer. IT was a young girl in strange brownish clothes with...pink rabbits on it. He wondered how this girl could have come here. She obviously wasn't an Elf. Her long brown hair, her rather small body, her unpointed ears, everything told him she was human. Normally she shouldn't be there. His father had sent out hundreds of messengers and soldiers to keep his wood clean of those mortal beings. Not important if they were Orcs, Dwarfs or Men. Then he realized that shining something in the girl's left hand.

// She has a weapon, an Elven weapon. She might have killed a messenger... for I don't think she can kill a soldier. But she seems so helpless staring like that into the water. Like if she was lost...// He couldn't really believe, that a girl, moreover a HUMAN girl could have killed an Elf without any weapon, and then take his dagger. She didn't even have a bag or something like that, but the last human town was nearly ten days of walking away. Maybe she knew how to live from the forest. But why does she now sit that way on the ground, looking so damn lost?

The prince decided to show himself to her. He slowly stepped out of the shadows of the wood and cleared his throat loudly.

Frightened the girl looked up, but when she finally found the reason of her disturbance her eyes began to shine brightly.

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Hope you all liked it! Please review!Next chapter will be the beginning of a small romance... ;-)