Two Days Later

Alana was two days old, and had already won out the adoration of the whole realm, and beyond. Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn came a few hours after her birth, and Lord Elrond had arrived a few hours later. They had blessed the elfling, and been spell bounded for life. There was no way that they going to be able to leave her without leaving a bit of themselves.

Novthô l did not like being in bed, like many maidens did after birth. She was twitchy as she was unhappily locked into her room by a group of healers who had chased her down at the tavern gambling. After sending the other players away, they had locked the maiden in her room, and she had heard the keys being thrown into a rose bush outside. But, anyone who knew Novthô l, would know that she was not going to be stopped by a petty door, so Legolas had guards posted outside of her door.

But he had forgotten the window.

Novthô l climbed down the side of the palace with Alana strapped onto her back by her ripped curtains. Some of the servants outside in the gardens saw this with amusement. The maiden leapt over the windows, until she found the one she wanted, which was in the hall.

Novthô l slammed her foot into the window, and it shattered. Shards of sharp glass lay all around the hall, and many elves were coming to investigate. Novthô l knew this, of course, and had already taken off down the hall.

The elves arrived in the crime scene, and Legolas instantly recognized Novthô l's style. Only she would do that sort of thing. It was at this exact moment that the healers realized that their captive had escaped. A short, sharp scream filled the air. Novthô l flinched and tried to settle the now awake and rather unamused Alana.

Alana seemed to be asking, "Why'd ya hafta take me out of my nice bed?" Her eyes were wide and teary. She let out a howl, and Novthô l clamped her free hand over her ear. Now she'd be found. She quickly silenced the child with a bag of marbles shaking in front of her. Alana thought that the marbles looked scrumptious, and decided it was her job to eat them.

Legolas and a group of other guards going down to guard the dwarves passed Novthô l's hiding [place and she decided to follow. Pulling a cloak that Lady Galadriel had given to her, she walked down the hall, blending in perfectly.

They walked down a stair case, well, all but Legolas walked down a staircase.

Legolas dropped down the railing of the stair case to the floor silently, and walked to where the last tapestry furled. Pressing a knot in the wall, a secret door was opened and Legolas knew he had found the alleged 'dungeons'.

Before the door closed behind the prince another Elf slipped into the dark hall, and so did the invisible Mr. Baggins, though no one else knew.

Novthôl hugged her daughter to her as she stepped into the dank lower halls that were only in legends. It was said that Oropher created the lower halls when the palace was built in case of emergency, and if Mirkwood was under war women and children who were not trained warriors would hide in the pitch black halls. Not even the smallest bit of sunlight was in the place.

There was a small choked wail, and Legolas stopped and pivoted. Legolas sighed.

"You're supposed to be in bed." He said, discovering the intruder.

Novthôl glared at him. "I'm not going to stay in bed forever, Legolas!"

"You gave birth two days ago! You need to recover your strength!"

Novthôl leaned foreword and kissed Legolas soundly. "Maybe this is how I recover strength. My husband staying with me and moving!"

"Go back to bed!"

Novthôl glared at Legolas again, before calmly asking, "Want me to punch you in the jaw?" She curled her hand into a fist.

"You wouldn't."

"I could."

"I didn't say that you couldn't. I said you won't, because even if you do break all etiquette for Elf maidens you wouldn't actually hurt me."

In one moment he was proven wrong.

Rubbing his sore jaw, Legolas gave up and walked over to the dwarf he was assigned to watch. He sat down and watched as, despite her earlier words, his wife left and went back upstairs and to bed.

A chuckle from the dwarf behind him roused him from his thoughts.

"Feisty woman, eh?"

"Well, you wouldn't survive a day with her, Master Dwarf." Legolas responded.

"Why are we being kept down here?" The dwarf asked.

Legolas shrugged.

"Why, that stupid King! Locking us down here for no apparent reason!" The dwarf would had gone n if he hadn't seen the Elf smile.

"My father isn't being cruel, nor stupid. He's being paranoid!" Legolas laughed.

"Paranoid?"

"How would you feel if you had a grandchild being born at the same time you're trying to deal with some political business? My father was scared you would kidnap my little one!"

***

Novthôl glared at the wall, how dare her husband speak so! She was rather glad to have given him one in the jaw, and leave him to his dull duties. Twisting in bed, she wondered if she could escape again, and find somewhere no one would ever find her. An observation of the garden below proved that she would never use that escape plan again.

Sighing, she laid down in bed and let her mind wonder her to sleep.

***

Alana looked around the room, and let out a gurgle of glee at the funny writing on the ceiling. She began to giggle a little, and then it became a giggling fit.

The door opened and a familiar person walked in.

"What's so funny little person?" Legolas asked as he lifted up his daughter, and bounced her happily in his arms.

Alana giggled some more, and reached up to catch some of the golden hair that flowed over Legolas' shoulders. She twisted some of the caught strands in her hand a few times, before beginning to suck on it.

Legolas grinned when he saw his daughter begin to suck on his hair.

"Now, now. I don't think you want to suck on that, do you sweetie?" He asked, removing the hair gently from between clamped lips.

Alana found her play thing being taken away, and began to wail. Her eyes became teary and she began to wiggle, trying to capture her toy again.

Legolas looked around absolutely clueless. About what to do. He hadn't handled with a teary elfling yet, and his wife was peacefully asleep.

"Shh, shh, shh, shh, shh, shh." He said soothingly. "It's okay, shh, you can get another sucker." Legolas bounced Alana for a few minuets, and then when he had soothed Alana, he cuddled her close to himself.

Alana snuggled closer to the warmth, bringing up a thumb to suck on. She wrapped her hand around her father's warrior's braid, though she didn't know that's what it was, and listened to the steady drumming noise in her ear. Her father's heartbeat. Calm and gentle, just like him, and one of the few things that she would never forget, no matter how old she got.

R/R I'm sooo sorry for not updating. We've had everything from terrorist threats to two and a half feet of snow around my house, and it's a bit preoccupying. If you haven't yet noticed, I have been using clips out of 'Softly Falls the Rain' in this story. Also I brought up one thing you might want to remember. Throughout these stories I've always talked about how Alana listened to her father's heartbeat. It's worth remembering.