When Terrico finally got to her room, she quickly pulled out the Egg. It shook in her hand. She took the washbasin and filled it with water, which she warmed with her staff. She took out the food she'd bought, along with a bit of Stonewing's orc-meat. As the egg started to crack, she heard a knock at her door. She ran and opened it. Legolas, still in his silver robes, stood in the doorway. "Can I come in? You took off so quickly, I was worried that something was wrong." "Nothing is wrong, but my egg is hatching. You can watch if you want." She opened the door a bit more, then motioned toward the bed in the corner. By then they could hear tiny chirps from the egg. Legolas sat on the bed, but then got up and knelt at the edge of the table, his eyes fixed on the cracking egg. Terrico smiled, looking up at Legolas, and then back at the egg. She knew that the baby dragon would immediately latch onto the first living thing it saw as its mother. The egg's cracks finally began to widen. With a loud crack, the egg split. The baby dragon tumbled out and landed facing Legolas. The dragon looked at Legolas, and gave a loud "Chirip!" Terrico laughed and gave Legolas a bowl of tiny scraps of food. "Feed it!" she said to him, "It thinks you're its mother!" She laughed, although a bit disappointed that she wasn't the one feeding it. Legolas began poking little chunks of fruit into the tiny dragon's mouth. It ate half the bowl, then yawned and fell asleep, curled on the table. Legolas grinned, he'd never actually cared for a baby of any species before. "You can wash it off in the basin there. Don't worry about drowning it, it has gills underneath those fins there at the back of its head." Legolas picked up the little dragon, which fit perfectly into his two cupped hands, and set it into the water. The slime from the egg washed off easily, and beneath it laid the dragon's shimmering blue-green scales. "Can I name it?" Legolas asked, looking at Terrico. "It's your dragon now, you can name it and keep it. It won't obey me." She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. "It looks like a male to me. What are you going to name it?" "I don't know. What are they like?" He looked at Terrico, who responded, "For one, they are dual-natured Dragons. They are at home in the forest as well as in the water. They are very loyal and like to explore. Most of the time they eat fruit or fish, but I've seen some hunt down orcs and small goblins to eat. They don't get much bigger than the work-horses the Men use in their fields." Terrico watched Legolas wash the tiny dragon. "In that case, I think I'll name it Sealeaf." When the tiny dragon heard this, he woke up and looked at Legolas. "I'd say he likes that name, don't you, Sealeaf?" Terrico smiled as the dragon turned its head to her when it heard its name. "Gladias Dragons are very intelligent." Sealeaf yawned. It tried to climb out of the water, splashing Legolas in the process. It ended up tipping over the basin and spilling water everywhere. Luckily, Terrico moved her things before they got wet. Sealeaf crawled out of the puddle and curled up against Legolas, putting a wet spot on the front of his robes. Terrico laughed. She gave Legolas the other half of the food in the bowl and told him "you'd better go before Gimli gets worried. I'll see you in the morning. If you see a little flame-dragon fly at you, run into the forest, toward the Shire. I'll meet you on the road, near the river." She gently gathered up the tiny dragon and set him into a tiny towel she had. "Take good care of yourself Sealeaf. I think, Legolas, that he'll sleep for at least a day." Legolas smiled and took the tiny dragon, then left to find his friend.
Later on that night, after resting for a few hours in the Inn, Terrico wrote up a set of instructions for Legolas as to how to care for Sealeaf. She left the Inn just before dawn, and went down the path towards Mirkwood. After a brisk walk, she jumped into the trees. She sat there, conjured a little flame-dragon, and watched. Just as dawn broke, she noticed a small band of elves from Mirkwood. They carried with them Thranduil's banner. Terrico told the flame-dragon to warn Legolas. She called out, though still well hidden, to the band. "Who are you and what is your business walking the Old Path to Rivendell?" She had obviously spooked the band, because they moved close together. They could not tell where she was, and feared that she might be a Dragon. "No one has come down this path in ages. I ask again, who are you and what is your business on this path?" The leader finally got up the guts to step forward. "We have been sent by King Thranduil to find his son, Legolas, who we believe came down this path with Gimli the Dwarf against the King's wishes. We are to find him and take him back to Mirkwood." After he had finished, the leader quickly moved back into the tightly packed bunch. "You are very much afraid, not as Legolas was. He spoke as though nothing could hurt him. He and his friend passed by not so long ago, but they are far away now. I know not where they have gone. Now go!" The elves ran toward Rivendell, certain that they'd barely made it out alive. They thought they'd passed a dragon for sure. After they had left, Terrico took off toward the path to the Shire.
Legolas and Gimli had been outside, waiting for Terrico's signal. Sealeaf sat on Legolas's shoulder, watching in wonder everything that was going on around them. He hissed at the flame-dragon as it approached Legolas. The flame-dragon hovered in front of Sealeaf and the two dragons hissed fiercely at each other. The flame-dragon disappeared in a puff of flame. Legolas looked at Gimli, and the two took off for the woods. They got a few miles in before Terrico caught up. "You can slow down now. Thranduil's band stopped in Rivendell. I scared them so badly, I think they'll stay there for a few days before Elrond assures them that there are no dangerous dragons in this area." Terrico giggled as she remembered the frightened elves. "I hope that Thranduil doesn't remember that you have friends in the Shire." She looked about them, staring into the woods. She didn't notice any movement, which was both good and bad. No movement meant no scouts, elf or orc, and no dragons. She listened carefully, then motioned for the two to follow her. "The farther from Rivendell we are when they leave, the better. Don't go on the path. We'll be too easy to track." They left the path, making good time through the thin underbrush. They reached the river crossing at nightfall. Terrico showed them a tree overlooking the path and the river where there were thick branches well up the trunk. "We can camp up top." She easily made it up into the topmost branches, leaping upward and bouncing between trees. Legolas, Sealeaf, and Gimli looked up, and none of them could jump up like Terrico had. Terrico tied a long rope to one of the strongest limbs and sent it down. Legolas had to pick up Gimli so he could climb up, complaining loudly. "Dwarves are not meant to sleep in trees! I can't climb that high!" Gimli's complaining eventually got to Terrico. "Gimli! Shut your mouth before I summon a dragon to shut it for you!" Her staff's ruby glowed a bit brighter. Gimli stopped complaining, but still grumbled under his breath. Legolas climbed up easily. Sealeaf chirped happily on his shoulder. Sealeaf was growing hunger again, and let Legolas know by chomping down on his golden hair and pulling. Legolas called out twice, and then shrugged his shoulders to get Sealeaf to calm down. "I'm climbing as fast as I can, Sealeaf! I'll feed you when we get to the top." His climbing slowed once he caught up with Gimli. Sealeaf was not a patient dragon, and decided to speed up the grumbling dwarf. He climbed up onto Legolas's head and bit Gimli on the butt, right where there was the least bit of armor. Gimli gave a very loud yell, and shot up the rope at double Legolas's speed. Terrico and Legolas laughed, but Legolas did tap Sealeaf's snout to let him know that he wasn't to do that again. After both of them were sitting on the limbs, Terrico pulled up the rope. From the tree, the trio could watch the road in both directions for miles, as well as watch the river-traffic. They rested there for a day. Sealeaf was growing quickly. Even though he was only two days old, he was already strong enough to crawl around on Legolas's shoulders and was almost double his size at hatching. He was also a quick learner, listening carefully to learn what his 'mother' and his companions were saying. Legolas took great pride in the little blue-green dragon, and sat on one of the top branches, feeding Sealeaf and watching him as he stuck his face into the wind. Legolas used it as a chance to teach, and every time Sealeaf felt the wind, Legolas would say "wind" in both common and elvish. The next day they climbed down, and Gimli did not complain. They crossed the river with the help of a kind hobbit who owned a boat. There was a bridge being built, but it only reached halfway. By mid-afternoon, the trio had reached the edges of the woods that surrounded the Shire. Terrico began looking around constantly for territorial marks. She pointed out a few trees that bore deep scratches and scorch-marks. "Territorial marks, made to warn off other Dragons." Terrico said, pointing to a tree that had hundreds of scratches and scorches. Sealeaf found the scratched trees very interesting and sniffed at them constantly, once leaning so far off of Legolas's shoulder that he fell. He was unhurt, but he learned not to lean so far off of Legolas.