A/N: Hello, sorry for the lack of updating. My life is quite busy and hectic and my story isn't so high on my list of priorities as much as it used to be... Yet I suppose I shouldn't just drop it, though I am not sure what to do with the plotline yet. Er, any ideas would be highly appreciated. Hehe. Ok, here's da story:

He was exceedingly bored. It was not exactly fun to sit in a dark cell with a fat dwarf with a bad attitude as a companion. The dwarf was mostly in a stony silence, not at all paying attention to Anakin's polite inquiries upon his health and name. He would glare and pretend he did not see him, though this was far beyond the Jedi's understanding. When he did break his silence he would gripe constantly about the elves, and how every single one of them should be tied up and gagged in a place called "Mordor" where this dude called "Sauron" could teach them some manners. Not exactly knowing whom Sauron or what Mordor was, he refrained from commenting, instead nodding and pretending that he agreed with every word the dwarf said. This seemed to please him and egg him on even more, furtherly telling Anakin that every single one of his dwarven companions had no intention to bother the bloody elves. And then he began telling the Jedi of an extremely outlandish story of a battle with giant talking spiders and an invisible... thing. The dwarf called it a hobbit, though the Jedi had no idea what a hobbit was in the first place. Anakin soon fell asleep.

So his time was spent with the bitter dwarf that soon named himself as Dwalin. Anakin quickly grew very weary of his constant whining. The morning after he was locked up Galion came, and he had bread and meat and water for he and the dwarf's breakfast.

"Lemme out lemme out!" Dwalin whined as he tried to run out the door again, and Galion kicked him easily back inside.

"Hold there, little father!" he laughed. "You can come out any time you wish."

"I wish to come out now!"

"Then tell Thranduil why you were in the forest, why you attacked our folk, and then where you were going. And you shall be allowed to go free whenever you like."

Dwalin grumbled and sat back down on the floor, taking his food without word of thanks. Anakin didn't take his. He would be darned if he accepted food from someone who stuck him in a prison without word of apology. Ai, once he got out of here and got back to his ship... maybe he could fix the communications and ask Obi Wan to come get him.

"Where's Legolas? I want to get out of here!" he saw the look on Galion's face, and gulped, and tried to adopt a more professional tone. "You see, there has been a mistake. I was not trespassing at all, but I merely got lost..."

Galion gave him an exasperated look.

"You have stayed with the dwarf too long. I say to you as well: Unless Thranduil changes his mind for some unexplainable reason, you shall stay in the dungeons until further notice."

For another two days poor Anakin was stuck in the prison. He was bored beyond belief and increasingly getting agitated, and though he was fed quite well he was unwilling to spend another second in the company of Dwalin. He had taken to using his force to influence him into silence, though then the dwarf would sit there grinning stupidly at him and annoy him to the bone. He wondered where Legolas was. That bloody elf better get him out of prison right and quick or he's gonna have to break out of the cell himself!

He was lucky, because on the third day after he was imprisoned Galion appeared at the door again.

"Don't even bother," he said idly to the dwarf who got up and made ready to launch himself at the door, and he looked at Anakin, who was sulking in the corner. "Come with me, boy, the king wishes to see you."

"Is he going to let me go?" a spark of hope lit in the Jedi's eyes.

Galion shrugged.

"He did not tell me. Now you better get out here or I might change my mind and inform his majesty that you are too ill to carry out his wishes..."

Within two seconds Anakin was out of that dark cell, and he complained loudly when his hands were tied behind his back with leather thongs. But Galion pretty much ignored him as he led him back to Thranduil's throne room. The Elven king was still sitting in his throne, but this time Legolas was standing next to him, and was talking to his father quite animatedly. And he kept on refilling a glass in the elf king's hand.

"Er... my lord?" Galion gained the king's attention once he and Anakin had been standing - unnoticed - before him for about ten minutes.

Suddenly the king turned to them, and he was grinning broadly.

"Why, hello there, Galion my friend!" he laughed. "And you, Legolas' friend person... what are you doing here?"

"Er... you called me here... sir..." Anakin answered, and he glared at Legolas, who pretended not to see him.

"Oh yes!" he said, and he took a rather big gulp of his drink. Anakin guessed it was wine, and he probably had a lot of it already. "Well, you have been punished enough I suppose. Legolas here tells me that... that..." he creased his brow, as if trying to remember what he had been told, and then he shrugged. "Anyway, you are free to go if you wish. You can stay here 'till the feast if you would like... it is going to be held in a couple of weeks."

Anakin blinked twice.

"Er... thank you," he said, and then he fidgeted. "But I would really rather not -"

"Superb idea, ada," Legolas broke in loudly, and patted his overly drunken father on the back. "I could not have thought of a better idea myself."

Thranduil nodded proudly and finished the last of his wine.

"Yes. Now go play with your friend, Legolas. I'm sure you two can find something interesting to do about here."