In a dark corner of the Wood-elf king's palace, two elves suddenly appeared. One of them, dressed in a green shirt and dark green leggings, hastily drew her hand away from the crystal-topped staff the other held.

"Well, I guess we don't need to hurry anymore. Do you want to know what I heard about today's battle, Lilith?" Amai said as she strode off towards the training grounds.

"If it's anything about sugar, I'm not listening," replied her friend dryly as she took the lead.

Amai pretended she didn't hear that. "I heard that the Prince is here, and that he's going to oversee the practice today! Isn't it exciting?" She began to bounce up and down.

Lilith merely nodded.

The leader of the practice was giving out orders to where everyone was being placed. "Amai, you're in second rank today."

Amai bowed slightly and ran off to her station. Lilith watched her go then turned to the commander. He assigned her to front rank, and she set up in front of Amai. They flashed quick smiles at each other and stood to attention.

Holographic (what'd I tell you?) orcs howled and screeched on the other side of the field they were using. An arrow or a sword-stroke from one of them would not only take you out of the battle, it would take you out of the whole month's practice. So far, Lilith and Amai had used a combination of skill, teamwork, and very good luck to remain, but as the less skilled elves were skimmed out of the fight, the opponents became stronger, more clever, and more numerous.

Suddenly, with a roar of war cries and a clash of metal against metal, battle was joined. Amai, her eyes serious, shot an arrow into the throat of a charging orc. He flickered out of existence, clawing at his neck.

Lilith raised her staff. An icy jet of water burst from it, "killing" a large group of orcs instantly. She repeated the process, but her mind wasn't on the battle at hand. She scanned the crowd of spectators, searching for the prince of Mirkwood.

Someone caught her gaze. She gasped as she was drawn into sapphire blue eyes. They sparkled like the surface of a deep river, hiding away deeper knowledge and wisdom beneath the surface. She pulled away with an effort and looked over the elf with such beautiful eyes.

He had blonde hair pulled back into a half-ponytail and wore green and gray traveling clothes. He was slender, but looked very strong. A quiver full of arrows and a bow lay at his feet and a long knife was thrust in his belt. His face seemed young, but his eyes told of many hardships and many deaths. Once again, Lilith felt herself falling into those endless eyes.

Amai was like lightning, shooting orcs at a rate that defied the laws of physics. She dodged an axe-stroke from a particularly large orc and, in one fluid motion, pulled her dagger out of her boot and drove it into his heart. She looked around to see how her friend fared.

Lilith wasn't paying attention to the battle, seemingly transfixed by someone in the crowd. Before Amai got a chance to see who it was, an orc sniper shot at her friend. Without thinking, Amai tackled Lilith, knocking her to the ground and breaking her trance. The arrow flew over their heads, whistling as it passed.

"Amai," Lilith gasped out. The impact with the ground had knocked the wind out of her.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Amai almost shrieked, panting from the panic that had just swept through her. "What in the world did you think you were you doing?"

"I was…" Lilith trailed off, looking in the crowd for the handsome elf. Her search proved fruitless; it seemed he had left. She almost felt disappointment, but there was a battle at hand, and she had to deal with it first. "I'll tell you later. Thanks for saving me."

Her anger passing, Amai shrugged it off. "It was nothing. I know you'd do the same for me. Back to battle it is!" She grabbed her weapons from where she had dropped them and ran back to her post.

Lilith made sure that Amai was all right; she knew her friend had a way of hiding her hurts. Satisfied, she turned back to the battle with a resigned sigh.

"Who was that?" she whispered to herself.

Disclaimer: Yeah I know I kinda forgot to put a disclaimer on chapter one. Whoops! Anyway, the only things that really truly belong to me are Amai and Lilith (and someone else who I'll be introducing much much later!) Legolas doesn't belong to me *sob sob* but I wish he did. Blah blah blah.