Author's Notes: Well, hello again! How is everyone? Enjoying the fic? I hope so, because this chapter is a bit longer than the rest. Please r/r! And always remember, flamers will be pointed and laughed at. Thank you [bows].

Oh, yes!! I also forgot to mention that I do not own the Fellowship (although, I would really like to own Legolas, hehe). I am just borrowing them for the length of this FanFic. But I do own all the unknown, never- before-heard-of characters.

Thanks so much to Missy-Chan, snickas, Draco's love slave, and Lady Eowyn of Rohan for being such wonderful reviewers!! I love you guys!!

"Blah" is normal speak; 'Blah' is in Elven; (Blah) is thoughts

Chapter 3: Looks Can Be Deceiving

"Hold!" yelled a girl to the Fellowship.

"Holy shit!" said some one, as the Fellowship all attempted to draw their weapons. It's not like they hadn't been paying attention, it's just that the girl had just appeared out of thin air.

"If any of you touches his sword, you'll have an arrow sticking out of your gut. Believe me, I don't miss," said the girl, who had an arrow pointed at the Fellowship.

But Legolas had been able to draw and notch an arrow before the others had even been able to touch their swords. When he looked at the girl, he noticed that her eyes had never left him, not even when she was talking to the others. (She must think that the others aren't as much as a threat as I am. Well, she is far enough away to not get struck by a sword.) Legolas drew his bowstring back even tighter.

"If you let that arrow fly, archer, then I shall be forced to do the same. And I have the feeling that you won't be able to dodge it, but I believe that I could dodge your poorly made arrow. Now, I've come to ask all of you why you are in my forest. If I believe you, I shall give you a guide out of my forest, since you have been traveling in circles all day." Faramir gave Aragorn a glare. "If I don't believe you, then your archer friend shall be the first to know what the after life looks like, followed by your magic- user. Then the rest of you shall die in whatever order I choose," said the girl.

(She called me 'archer.' Does she not know that I am an elf?) thought Legolas, who had been the only one to catch that part. (But she does know that Gandalf is a magic-user. She must have been following us for a while.)

"In our group we have the one Ring of Power, made by Sauron. We are bringing it to Mount Doom, to cast the Ring into its fiery depths," said Aragorn, since he was the leader of the Fellowship.

The girl pulled her bowstring back further. "I'm sorry, I really don't want to have to kill that beautiful archer of yours, and he's very handsome. But that story is complete bull shit." The girl pulled the bowstring as far back as it would go. Legolas did the same with his bowstring, hoping that he could at least protect the others from this little monster, even if he was to die.

"Wait!" cried Frodo, as he ran forward toward the girl. "Look! I have the Ring right-" he stopped when he saw that he had an arrow pointed at his nose.

This was the girl's mistake. Once Frodo had distracted her and she had pointed the arrow at him, Legolas let his arrow fly. The girl realized what she had done when she heard Legolas' bowstring snap back. She shot her arrow, and reached her hand out, like she was trying to block the oncoming arrow.and caught it in her outstretched hand.

She then quickly whipped the Elven arrow into place, notched on her bowstring. She had let her arrow fly, but had aimed for the ground, so that it didn't hit the hobbit in front of her. She didn't really want to hurt anyone; she just wanted them out of her forest.

Legolas didn't even bother to draw another arrow. He knew that he had failed the Fellowship, and had not been able to help Frodo get to Mount Doom with the ring. When the Fellowship believed all hope was lost, the girl spoke.

"It seems that we are at an impasse. Your archer cannot hurt me, but if you all ran at me at the same time, I would be able to only bring one or maybe two of you down, but you would be able to easily kill me. So, I shall put down my bow, and we shall call a truce. Anyways," she smiled. "I would not want to hurt any of you. It is not my way of doing things."

She eased her bowstring back, and put Legolas' arrow in her quiver, then set her bow upon the forest floor and she took a few steps back from it. The Fellowship stared at her dumbfounded. Faramir was the first to come out of the daze, pulling his sword from its sheath, and placing it on the forest floor, in front of the girl's bow. Then Legolas placed his bow next to Faramir's sword, followed by the rest of the Fellowship placing their weapons next to the rest, and backing up.

The girl smiled at the Fellowship. "I am called Lectra, or Dreaweil by some. You may call me by either."

Aragorn took a step forward and bowed. "My name is Aragorn." He looked at the others. "This is Faramir." Faramir took a step forward and bowed deeply. "This is Legolas." Legolas stepped forward and gave a slight bow. "Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin." Each gave a slight, awkward bow. "Gimli," Gimli nodded his head at her. "And our magic-user, Gandalf." Gandalf inclined his head even less then Gimli had.

When Aragorn had finished his introductions, Lectra stepped forward, picked up her bow, and slung it over her shoulder. The Fellowship all picked up their own weapons and put them back in their sheaths. When Legolas saw that he wouldn't be getting back his arrow, he picked up the one that Lectra had shot at the ground and placed it in his quiver. "For friendship," said Lectra with a smile.

"Yes, for friendship," Legolas replied.

"Where did you say you were headed?" asked Lectra, after everyone had put away their weapons.

"We're going to Mount Doom, which is in Mordor," said Aragorn.

(Well, at least he's acting like a king today, unlike last night,) thought Legolas.

"Oh, there could be a little problem with that," said Lectra grimly.

"What? Can you not get to Mordor from here?" asked Faramir, hopefully.

"No, no. You can get there from here easily. The Mordor boarder is the Southern boarder of my forest. So, that's not the problem. The *problem* is that no one in my forest will go near the boarder, let alone lead some one there," said Lectra.

"Then how the hell are we suppose to get out of this bloody forest?" asked Gimli, louder then needed.

"You mean that there are others in this forest?" asked Faramir, completely ignoring Gimli, like usual.

"Yes, and no, Faramir. There are not others like myself in this forest, which I would never allow. But there are many forest creatures who would lead you out, if it was to another boarder," said Lectra in reply. "And Gimli, for all of you to get out of my forest, then we shall have to find you a suitable and willing guide."

"But I thought you said." trailed off Aragorn.

"I said that no one in my forest would, but I might be able to get someone from the bordering forest to. It might take awhile, but I never said it was impossible," said Lectra matter-of-factly.

(She sounds like Gandalf.) thought Legolas, with a snicker under his breath.

"How long do you think it will take to find a guide?" asked Gandalf, while the others all grumbled.

"Well, if I send some one in all directions, then," mumbled Lectra. "Oh, about two days."

"What? We can't wait that long! We've already spent too long in this damn forest!" yelled Gimli.

"Well, excuse me. But that's how long it will take. And do remember that you are talking about *my* forest," stated Lectra, sharply.

"Sorry," mumbled Gimli.

Lectra then began to make sounds in a language no one recognized, while the Fellowship watched in amusement.

"What are you doing?" asked Frodo of Lectra, when she had paused for a breath.

"Calling messengers," was her quick reply.

But before any one could ask any more questions, the messengers arrived. One was a large falcon, almost as tall as Frodo. Another was a large salamander, which was the color of flames, and it let off slight warmth. The next messenger was a deer, which was taller than Aragorn. And the last messenger was an odd looking creature, that looked like a cross between a horse and a fish, and covered completely with scales.

"What are all of those creatures?" asked Merry in awe.

"The Falcon is just a giant falcon, and her name is Snowy, because of the white spots on her wings. The salamander is a Fire Drake, and his name is Flame. The deer is a great deer, and her name is Dawn. And the horse-fish is a hippocampus, and his name is Wave," explained Lectra, as she went to all of the creatures and gave them a hug.

She then began to talk to each one in a soft voice, telling them to tell all the creatures of her forest that there was to be a meeting, and that everyone was to pass on the message. The four creatures each nodded when she was done telling them the message, and each took off in separate directions. While this was going on, the entire Fellowship was all watching in amused silence.

"She's mental, she is. Probably spent to long alone here in the forest," Faramir murmured to Legolas, who chuckled softly.

"I heard that, but I'll ignore it. For now," said Lectra quietly as she passed by Faramir, who looked very scared.

"Well, come on. I'll bring you to a place where you can spend the night." And with that, Lectra started to walk back the way the Fellowship had come.

"She is the only one who knows her way around here," said Legolas, as he started off after her, with the Fellowship following behind.

Now that he didn't have to worry about have an arrow sticking out of his gut, Legolas was able to study this girl, who was their guide for the moment. She was wearing brown breeches, with a light green shirt and a dark green tunic over it, which both had leaf patterns on them. When Legolas looked at the whole outfit together, the girl would have almost looked like a tree, if she had been standing still.

(So that's why we didn't see her. She blended in with the trees. And she does have the perfect figure to be thought of as a tree, if she was standing next to a path,) thought Legolas.

The girl turned around to look at him, then slowed down a little, so that she was walking right next to him. Whenever she wasn't looking at the trail ahead of them, she was watching Legolas, almost as if she was studying him, the way he had been studying her. When she looked at him, Legolas noticed that there was some thing unusual about her eyes. It looked like they were almost changing colors. But he would need to get a better look at them to know for sure. The girl also had shoulder-length hair, which was the same color brown as her pants, and fell in front of her ears in a very pretty manner.

(I must admit, she is pretty,) thought Legolas. [I know I kind of made Legolas sound gay, but I'm not quite sure what happened between him and Aragorn, because he won't tell me at the moment. He just says that it was 'bad'. Hopefully he will tell me soon.]

"Lectra," said Faramir, breaking the silence. "Before you called Legolas 'archer.' Why did you call him that, instead of 'elf', as most people do?"

(At least I'm not the only one who caught that,) thought Legolas.

Lectra gave Legolas an odd look, before turning around to look at Faramir. "I called him 'archer' because that's what he is. He's your archer, is he not? I did not call him an elf, because I did not know he was an elf," was her answer.

"But it is obvious that he is Elven. Everything about him shouts Elf," replied Aragorn with a slight crease to his forehead.

"Looks can be deceiving," was all she said, softly.

TBC.

Did you like this chapter? I hope so; I worked a long time on it.well, not really. I can't back that up. And always remember that constructive criticism is always..constructive. Flamers will be pointed and laughed at (as always). I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please r/r!!