Author's note:

Ugh... it's 9:45 pm NZ time on Friday night, and my Dad's Outlook Express is still receiving something like *fume fume* 100 OF 644 NEW MESSAGES due to the face that he couldn't process the 'delete' button in previous times, making Outlook Express run heaps slower. I am seriously pissed off with this and extremely tired, despite drinking herbal tea which in theory is meant to calm you down. It seems to have made me hyper. Must have put too much honey in it. Also *fume fume fume* I tried to format this on Front page editor (I am currently using Word because I haven't taken Computer studies for the last two years and I missed out on doing HTML) to make it look nicer. BUT when I uploaded it on ff.net they took away my Italics, centring and boldness factor and I was only left with underlining. And since stupid Microsoft and my stupid BROTHER deleted Netscape Navigator, I don't have Netscape composer which apparently works with all the formatting on ff.net. If anyone has any ideas, please tell me, help would be much appreciated.

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Chapter 4

Legolas was overjoyed. Oh to be going to the fair woods of Lórien! Since the stream of Nimrodel, ecstasy had been racing through his veins. He'd been waiting for this chance his life. So far, Lothlórien was as beautiful as the songs said it was. Alice flashed across the depths of his mind. Alice. What was she doing right now? His heart sank a little, bit didn't let the others on. He was betting none of them knew his relationship with the daughter of Elrohir. Legolas wanted it that way. Though Elrond and his sons knew. Arwen had confronted him about it. Hopefully she hadn't yet told Aragorn. Really, really hopefully. Aragorn was a tease at the best of times. Haldir lead them through the gate of Caras Galadhrom and welcomed them into the city. They were to meet the Lord and Lady Galadhrim. They were allowed to walk free as the Lord and Lady had commanded. Even Gimli, which Legolas found surprising. Dwarves hadn't been in Lothlórien for years. Haldir had said when, but Legolas couldn't remember. He wasn't paying attention, due to the fact he'd been knocked out by the beauty of Lothlórien. But then again, it could have been that tree branch that had thwacked him in the face on the way past... Well, not everything could be perfect. But a part of Legolas did wish everything was perfect. Coming to Lothlórien with the One Ring of Power was far from perfect. Especially now the company had lost Gandalf. Their resident wizard, guide and leader. But thankfully, Aragorn had been much useful in that place. Even though he was beginning to smell quite strongly due to all that running around killing Orcs in Moria. Same with Boromir. But he had not mentioned this to both of them. The journey was stressful enough already and human males had such fragile and fatalistic egos. They followed Haldir into the chamber of the Lord and Lady. Frodo was commanded by Celeborn to sit by his chair. They greeted Aragorn but he didn't hear what was said. He was sure he could see Alice and her friends outside.

Impossible He thought. Alice is in Rivendell. Her friends reside in Higher Earth. You forget yourself

"Welcome son of Thranduil!" Celeborn said. Legolas snapped back to reality. "Too seldom do my kindred journey hither from the North." Legolas nodded. Of course, that was true. One of the reasons he'd never been here. Why was that again? He had no clue. Oh well. The entire Fellowship sat down by Celeborn's chair and the talk continued. Celeborn and Galadriel demanded to know where Gandalf was. It was Aragorn who told them that he had passed into shadow, that he didn't escape Moria. There was an outburst amongst the elves in the room. Well, that was to be expected. Aragorn recounted the tale to Galadriel and Celeborn while they contributed their input. Gimli said something of appreciation to Galadriel. Maybe this dwarf wasn't as bad as Legolas thought. After all, he seemed to hold reverence for the lady. The discussion was held for a little while longer afterwards. What really spooked Legolas and the rest of the Fellowship in turn was Galadriel's freaky way of looking at you, into your soul, speaking into your mind.

Son of Thranduil, she spoke into his head. The woods of Lórien hold many surprises... things you least expect, things you dream of... you are about to discover them

Legolas shuddered at this. What surprises? This put him on edge. When Galadriel had finished everyone the third degree into their heads, everyone knew the conversation was over. She smiled.

"Do not let your hearts be troubled," She chided. "Tonight you shall sleep in peace." That got a collective sigh of relief from his companions. Legolas seemed content too. A peaceful sleep. What bliss.

"Go now!" Said Celeborn. "You are worn with sorrow and much toil. Even if your Quest did not concern us so closely you should have refuge in this City, until you were healed and refreshed. Now you shall rest, and we will not speak of your further road for a while." So they did. It was to be discovered that all of the company except him (this was to be expected; only elves could climb trees with ease) were going to be sleeping on the ground. This was much rejoiced by the hobbits however, to his surprise. He was lead into a pavilion high above the trees. Ah. This was nice.

"Legolas?" He heard a voice. That voice was distinctive... could it be?

Alice had had a wonderful time in Lothlórien thus far. She had been here two days and already she was in love with the forests. She was being taught Sindarin by Haldir. This proved difficult and frustrating for Alice, usually really good with languages. She found Sindarin's sentence structure really random and this resulted in many tantrums, a very stressed Alice and a very alarmed Haldir. Now she was sitting in a Pavilion watching the sunset. Oh sunsets were so beautiful here! The air was nice too.

"Well, Gina's certainly gotten herself settled," Carry commented dryly. Alice giggled.

"Agreed," They'd made special allowances for the humans to be here, after they insisted they could climb trees perfectly well. Gina, however, was currently salivating over Orophin and half the male population of Lothlórien. But she was having a pretty hard time with language barriers. None of the elves could speak English and muttered away flushed comments in Sindarin which was very frustrating to Gina as she couldn't understand a word.

"I feel sorry for Gina though," Carry continued. "She can't be understood. It's an unknown feeling."

"Oh I don't know," Alice replied looking at the satisfied smiles on the elves' faces. "I think they understand quite well through body language."

"True," Carry replied. "Anyway. Beth looks kind of lonely I better go talk to her just so she doesn't commit suicide. Again." Alice gave her a look of sympathy.

"Ok, well have fun trying to talk her out of it," Alice said cheerfully. As Carry moved into the crowd, she saw an unmistakable blonde head bobbing amongst the crowd Carry had just walked into. That face was really, really familiar. Those electric blue eyes, that killer smile, that silvery blonde hair. Features she had gotten lost in. No mistake. Legolas was here. Present. In this room...

"Legolas?" She said, her voice sounding faint. He heard her though. He heard all right. Legolas's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Disengaging himself from the elf maiden who he was making polite small talk with, he strode over.

"Bain nîn?" He asked. "This is a blessing! Pray, for what reason are you here?" Since it was a public place, he clasped both her hands and kissed her on the cheek instead of something else that might embarrass him, and her, in front of all the Lothlórien elves present. And besides, that elf maiden who he was talking to before looked pretty livid already. Opps.

"Well, I had a chat to Granddad," Alice began. "And he allowed me to come. On the condition that I brought Dad and 5 other people."

"And those 5 others are?" He asked.

"Nimithil, Carenmeril, Gina, Carry and Beth," She counted. Legolas raised his eyebrows.
"And how did Gina, Carry and Beth find their way to Middle Earth?" Legolas pressed.

"Very, very long story," Alice said by way of an answer. "All Elrond's fault."

"We have got awhile to converse," Legolas replied.

"Why is it that when I say something's a long story the other person involved says 'We've got ages'?" She whined. Legolas grinned. "Oh fine. Elrond decided I'd be lonely in Rivendell without you so he sent for Gina, Carry and Beth to stay for an unlimited amount of time. I think." By this point Alice realised she was babbling incessantly. "And yes. The rest is pretty self explanatory if you look at the details carefully."

"How much chocolate have you consumed?" Legolas pondered aloud with a warning glare.

"None," Alice said slowly. "Long stories make me babble because I want to get them over and done with." Legolas nodded slowly as if to say right. He wasn't all too convinced that Alice hadn't been consuming extreme amounts of chocolate while he was absent. What if Gina had brought some down? That sickly sweet Caremello stuff that Alice seemed to adore? He hoped not. Legolas was convinced that chocolate was not good for your health and was going to do everything he could to keep Alice away from it. Even if that meant death or something very near that. Getting back to the moment.

"Anyway, how's the quest?" Alice instantly wanted to kick herself for that comment. How tactless. But, she wanted to change the subject. Seeing the look on Alice's face, Legolas chuckled.

"Not as well as to be expected," He replied, his voice gaining a more serious tone. "We lost Gandalf to the shadow in Moria." Alice's eyes widened. A certain little word starting with 'f' that was working its way up to the top of her vocabulary list just didn't seem strong enough. Poor Legolas. Poor Fellowship. She couldn't imagine what those poor little hobbits were feeling, in particular, Frodo. They all seemed rather attached to the wizened, old wizard. Alice made mental note to go see how they were doing. Legolas didn't look to happy either. Of course, it didn't help of course that there was a lament for Gandalf playing in the background from what she could gather due to her rather limited Sindarin vocabulary. There were lines of worry and ultimate concern plastered all over his face. Not a good sign. But however sad the music was, it was really pretty. Everyone seemed lulled into it. She'd have to learn some Elvish songs in time. If her voice willed to provide the long, eluded music of the Sylvan Elves that is.

"Would you care to dance?" Legolas asked, his features losing the depths of concern and turning into that killer smile that made Alice's knees quite weak, as well as all of the other elf maidens in the room who were gazing Legolas's way.

"Of course," Alice replied, locking her knees so they wouldn't collapse from under her to the marble-like floor from Legolas's smile. The music was still slow and were still lamentations for Gandalf (Alice briefly wondered at this point if they had composed a full orchestral score with a 7 part vocal chorus resembling the style of Handel's Messiah as this was the tenth song in lament for Gandalf) therefore the dancing was slow. Alice tried her best to follow Legolas's lead, but it is all too hard when one's hand eye co-ordination ability is nil, especially when it comes to dancing on one's feet. After countless dances of concentrating so hard, Alice was extremely tired. The night was growing old, and she felt in need of some well earned sleep.

"Legolas?" She mumbled, feeling just about ready to collapse with fatigue.

"Yes?" He replied.

"I'm really tired," She said. "I should go and get some sleep before I readily collapse on the floor in front of me. I don't think that would be a good look." Legolas pondered on the sight of this and chuckled.

"Nay I think not," He agreed. "Do you want me to escort you back to your bed chamber?" Even in her tired state, Alice had time to think about this.

"All right," Alice replied crankily. "But do not think of this as an opportunity to get into my..." She was going to say pants, but realised that they were missing. "Bed." She looked up as Legolas's expression became one of absolute mortification and couldn't help but emit a small giggle. Oh well. What ever dirty thoughts were in her messed up mind, she could blame them on Gina later on for putting them there in the first place. Not a word was said between the two (excepting directions) as Alice pointed out the way to her luxury tree hut room high above the trees.

"Until morning," He said embracing her. "I will thank the Valar for this day." Alice nodded.

"Me too," She replied. Legolas kissed her lightly. "Night night."

"Sleep well," He whispered.

"Mmmm," was the reply as maids claimed the sleepy Alice attempting to try and get her prepared for bed. Legolas crept softly down the steps back to his offered room. Sleeping under the Fellowship's pavilion would have to wait until tomorrow night. However, he didn't know someone was watching. Someone evil. Devon had escaped. Or had she been set free?

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Dum da dum dum! Ah I love cliffhangers... oh stop complaining, all of you. I haven't used them in ages. I can go to bed now, the new messages have finally stopped coming through. OE is fixed. Yay! Am going to bed. Am really sleepy. *yawn* Nyuk, nyuk. Toodles Noodles.