Waiting on the corner, Haldir watched for Legolas. He finally came, pulling up to the curb in the bright red convertible. Haldir hated the convertible. He didn't say anything about it, however, as he got in.

"How'd it go?" Smoothly, Legolas swung the car away from the sidewalk and back into the street. Wondering vaguely at Legolas' good driving skills, Haldir shook his head.

"Strange."

It really had gone strangely. He was looking for a new publishing company. The representative had met him before, and had asked him to talk about contracts over lunch. He'd worn a false smile and a deep navy suit. The whole time, he'd watched Haldir suspiciously. The elf, in turn, had disguised himself as a man, wearing his long hair loose and donning a white shirt with ebony vest and dress slacks. The black garments always succeeded in making his already almost translucent skin look paler, if that was possible.

The man had taken an extreme interest in his very quiet lunch guest. Some of his questions had caught Haldir off guard. There was something in the executive's eyes that Haldir couldn't identify; it made him exceedingly uneasy although he didn't show it. By the end of their meeting, the elf would have preferred drinking the restaurant's bitter coffee to talking to this man.

Legolas gave him a slanted look. "Strange?"

He'd asked Haldir if he'd ever heard of J.R.R. Tolkien. He answered no disinterestedly, which of course was a blatant lie. "I didn't like it."

"Did you get your contract?"

He merely nodded, then switched on the radio trying to ignore his hair flapping wildly around his head. The music that came blaring out, Rickie Lee Jones, was a sign that he didn't care to talk anymore about it.

Legolas understood and kept his eyes on the road.

------------------- ------------------ -------------------

A few days later, Legolas came bounding into the house. His brow was furrowed in worried consternation. In his hands, he held a bundle of envelopes, their mail, but it was only one that held his interest above the others. Usually, he didn't bother the other elf in his study, but today he went straight for that room.

"Hey, I think you should look at this. ...It's really rather odd." He added, extending the starched white envelope towards him. Haldir took one look at Legolas' worried face and his own grew wary. He took the envelope. It had only one thing written on it, and was addressed simply to "Haldir" in brown ink and a flowing hand.

He stared at it for an excruciatingly long moment, unable to speak. Finally, in a hoarse voice he whispered, "Was this all there was?"

Legolas nodded. "Nothing else with it. The rest of this is junk, and a magazine I ordered. There's no return address on it either." He pointed at the upper left hand corner. "Who ever sent it must have hand- delivered it to the office, and knew exactly which box was ours."

Haldir's hands began to tremble. "...No one knows..." He didn't want to open it.

"We can't return it unopened.... There's no add... Hey! Maybe it's from one of our kin!" Legolas brushed a hand supportively over his shoulder. His voice and eyes were hopeful.

He let out a long, low sigh, then flipped the envelope over and carefully began to peel back the seal. Inside was folded scented paper. The two elves looked at each other nervously, then Legolas gave him a coaxing nod. With nimble fingers, he pulled the paper from the envelope.

"If you are indeed reading this, then I suppose my convictions are
right. At first, I thought it utter madness... Yet I cannot dismiss
the evidence that I have collected. Elves exist. I have had my eye
on you for a long time. That's right! You've been watched, my dear
Haldir. And there's no use denying it! So... Tolkien must have
enjoyed talking to your kind. He recorded all of your chronicles.
Did you feel betrayed? Perhaps, and you had every right to. Which
one of you was it? Surely not you. Legolas, perhaps?

I will be in touch. In the meantime, enjoy your publishing contract!
I do so enjoy your novels..."

His temples began to pound, and his hands trembled freely now. His face, usually cold and expressionless as chiseled stone, was drained of all color and his eyes drooped. How could this be?! WHO could this be?! He leaned agains his desk where his papers and writing utensils were scattered across, and bowed his head. Who?! Who?! How?!

Legolas snatched the paper from his grasp and stared at it dumbfounded. "I can't believe it! I can't believe it!"

"What can we do? How long has he... has this person been spying? How long has it been known? Who could he have told?" Haldir buried his face in his hands. "It is all my fault! I am no good at deceiving men when in their midst."

He felt a hand lay gently against his shuddering shoulder. "Shh... We must figure this thing out... Don't despair... we... we will figure all of this out." Legolas tried to sound confident, but he felt nothing of it. His hand loosened and the paper slipped to the floor. Neither dared touch it again.

_____________--------------------------______________----------------------- _____________

Chibi Legolas: Haha, leaving you with a sort of cliffhanger. MAN, wouldn't that freak you out?! To find out that someone's been watching you?! Freaky.... Anyhoo, thanks to my reviewers! I think I have direction for this now. *evil grin* Until the next exciting update...

P.S. I have no spell check, so forgive me please if there are spelling mistakes. I will be fixing them as I discover them, but I can't promise perfection.