CHAPTER THREE

Of all the places I'd hidden at my father's fortress in Mirkwood, the stables had been the safest and the warmest; nothing bad had ever happened to me there. Galion hadn't wanted to risk soiling his elegant slippered feet or his robes by venturing anywhere near, and the minions he'd sent looking for me were usually too stupid to find my hiding places, or too eager to return to the main hall to put much effort into the search. Sometimes, though, those who did find me for some reason would pretend never to have seen me there. Whatever the reasons, more often than not, I could feel safe in the stables.

Lord Elrond's stables were bigger and brighter than my father's, but they smelled and felt the same -- all fresh-cut hay and horses and cool shadows. This was familiar to me, this was home. The horses poked their heads out of their stalls as we entered, all of them curious, with bright soft eyes and pricked ears.

Happy horses, I noted with surprise. Happy to see these big elves, not shrinking back into the shadows in the back of the stalls as they had at home sometimes, and there were no pinned ears either. The horses liked these elves.

This was important to note. The horses turned their attention to me as though they might be interested in meeting me. I wanted to meet all of them. But on my own time, not with the Big Elves.

In sudden alarm, I realized that Lord Elrond -- one of the Big Elves -- was still holding me. My heart gave a sudden convulsive leap into double time in fear. And I squirmed violently, twisting to get out of his embrace. Mith was gone and he'd told me to listen to the elf-lord, but I hoped that didn't mean that I had to let him touch me. Lord Elrond didn't feel angry like Galion always had, but that didn't mean I should be so stupid as to let him carry me. Past experience had taught that elf-adult moods could change without warning. Any moment, I might do something that would make Lord Elrond mad. He was very big and felt very powerful, so that I didn't want to be anywhere near him when that happened. And it would. Sooner or later, it always did.

He was strong, too. No matter how hard I squirmed, I couldn't jump out of his grasp as I sometimes could with Galion and his lackeys. Suddenly I was more afraid than I'd been since my first night in Imladris, and frantic to escape his hold on me. Our eyes met briefly in my struggles, but the Big Elf's eyes only held surprise and sadness.

He was sad? To my surprise Lord Elrond set me gently down on the dirt floor and stepped back. He even murmured what I think were supposed to be reassurances. It did help a little that he let me go. It let me know that I hadn't yet made him mad.

I backed away from him carefully. When he did not follow I moved over to the first stall. Now deprived of Lord Elrond's height, all I could do was stare up at the horse's chin and neck. Any hope of patting this horse or talking with him was totally lost. I wished I were taller as the horse stretched its neck over the door, widened its eyes, and blew a greeting at me. I missed the barrels and crates that Nesséro, the horsemaster, had set for me in Mirkwood to climb up at strategic places along the aisle. Standing on tiptoe, I reached up as far as I could to stroke the horse's velvety muzzle as it reached down toward me.

"Good morning, Lord Elrond," a low, pleasant voice spoke, its owner looming up behind me. "I see that you've brought someone to visit."

I whirled, ready to run should this stablemaster disapprove of my touching his charges. A big hand closed on my shoulder, but not harshly to keep me in place. Startled, I rocked back and stared upward only to recognize Lord Glorfindel. I already knew that he wasn't Elrond's stablemaster, but he seemed to spend a lot of time with the horses. A couple of grooms moved quietly behind him, paying none of us any attention as they went about their duties. I was glad; it made me nervous already to have the attention of two elf-lords focused firmly on me. More people staring would have made it even worse.

"Good morning," Elrond said mildly. "Legolas has come to see his mare."

"Has he now?"

Dropping to one knee, Glorfindel smiled and let go my shoulder. I didn't think I needed to run from him because he'd been nice to me before. The morning Gerdan and the Mirkwood guard visited, Glorfindel had asked about the carved horse the captain had given me and actually seemed interested in my answers. After that, he'd taken Mith and me to the stables to see the horses. The stalls had all been empty as the animals had been turned out. I'd had to look over fences then into paddocks and fields and hadn't been able to meet anyone up close.

"Annun is close to foaling," Glorfindel said to me. "She's very bored as we're keeping her up these days, so I know she'll be glad to see you. She's just over there." He gestured to a nearby stall, one with solid walls rather than planks, so that I could catch no glimpse of my mare.

Releasing the latch, Elrond gestured me over. The stall door latch softly snicked closed behind me. I sidestepped a mound of hay and Annun nickered as she turned greet me. Lowering her head so that I could slide my arms around her neck, she bumped her chin against my back, then nibbled at my hair as she used to do at home.

"She's a sweet old mare," Glorfindel said approvingly, "and she's good with Legolas."

"Hugs from mares are probably the only mothering the boy's ever known," I heard Elrond comment outside the stall.

"Sadly, yes."

Their conversation moved on to other matters -- expectations of current breedings and future foalings, I thought -- and their voices retreated. I was left alone with my mare and settled down close to her foreleg when she resumed eating hay.

Hers was as comforting a presence as it had ever been with her endless, companionable munching and the heat of her large body warming me. Her belly hung huge over me and she moved as if her hipbones were wobbly and uncertain of holding her hindquarters -- preparation for the foal that must pass between them. She would surely foal soon as Glorfindel said. I'd seen spindle-legged foals dance and play in the paddocks at Mirkwood, but Nesséro had never allowed me to witness the birthing of one. Not that it stopped me from watching anyway.

There were other ways to see, if permission wasn't granted. Mirkwood's stables had been graced with a second level for storage. Bales of hay and barrels of feed, extra blankets and boxes of equipment had willingly hidden me. Cracks in railings and floors had afforded excellent views of whatever had been happening down below as well as swift access for climbing.

Staring up into this stable's rafters, I noted where the loft stairs were and decided to explore the space over my head as soon as possible. Surely Lord Elrond wouldn't want me with him every minute of every day? Surely there would be more than enough time to find new, safe hiding places? If Elrond wanted me close days, then there was always the night. Sneaking was always easier in the dark, and the loft might be the perfect place to lie and see without being seen. I could be close to Annun, too, and none of the grooms or Glorfindel need ever know that I watched their comings and goings. I'd find out then who had kind hands for the horses and who might hit me as well as them if I got too close. I nodded and stroked Annun's leg, pleased with my plans and eager to implement them at the earliest opportunity.

Annun finished her hay soon and wandered over to gaze out of the open window to the sunny fields beyond her foaling stall. Heaving a great sigh to see her companions grazing in the new day, she rolled back her eye at me as if to say, "Outside, please." She circled back around when I ignored her request and nuzzled my new tunic with a hay-foamed muzzle, as if to try forcing me to my feet and over to the stall's back door.

"Can't go out," I whispered into her ear. "Your baby has to come first, then you can both go out."

She wasn't grateful for this information but only butted me harder with her nose. It was probably better for me to leave before she started making more demands, and I got yelled at for upsetting her. I couldn't give her what she wanted, anyway. But I could give her more hay.

Sneaking out the front door of the stall --the one Glorfindel had guided me through -- I listened carefully to find out where Lord Elrond and Glorfindel had gone. There they were, just outside the stable proper and still talking. Pushing the stall door closed, I darted across the aisle and swept aside an oil-cloth to pull free a fat flake of hay. Carrying it back to Annun, I was horrified to see my mare shove at the stall door. It swung wide, allowing her to gain the freedom she craved so much.

CHAPTER FOUR

The expression in Annun's usually calm brown eyes was smugly triumphant as she paced across the stable aisle. Dropping my hay flake, I ran after her and shoved desperately at her leg but she wouldn't stop. Ignoring all of my efforts, she gained the door beyond which was Elrond and Glorfindel. It mattered not that Annun barely fit through that door.

Snagging the end of her tail in a feeble, last attempt to stop her, I swore softly, using a couple of the bad words that Gerdan had taught me. Annun didn't even shorten her stride at my valiant efforts to slow her; she merely towed me across the cobbles. She seemed annoyed by the weight, though. Yanking her tail out of my grasp, she flicked it back in my face as she cleared the door entirely.

"Here now, lady, what are you doing out?" A low laugh sounded, and Glorfindel appeared on the threshold. He disappeared the next moment, in pursuit of my mare, no doubt.

I was both relieved and alarmed when Lord Elrond preceded Glorfindel and Annun through the door. A quick look around the clean-swept aisle reminded me there was nowhere to hide and so I stood, helpless to avoid the attentions and temper of this Big Elf. Lord Elrond gave me a quizzical look, but didn't reach for me. Glancing briefly behind me, Elrond noted the abandoned flake of hay halfway across the aisle.

"She escaped you, did she?"

I nodded and stared at my feet.

"Did you forget to latch the door behind you?"

"Went for hay," I mumbled. "Not gone long." I kept my eyes on the floor and knew that Elrond would be very angry with me now.

"Legolas, you cannot assume a horse will stay behind a stall door that is not secured."

He didn't sound all that angry. Not yet, anyway. But he did sound stern, and the stretching silence made it clear that he expected some response from me. Glancing up, I dared to reply. "I know."

"If you know, then why did you not latch the stall door?"

"I..." Why hadn't I? I wanted Annun safe, and even though I had been in a hurry, why hadn't I locked the stall door? I knew she wanted out, so why?... How could I tell the Big Elf that I was rushing to steal more hay for her before they saw me and stopped me? "I... don't know."

Silence met my words. I waited for the hard blow that was surely to come, but all I heard was a deep sigh. Then came a hand on the back of my head -- a gentle hand, guiding rather than commanding. Almost as gentle as Mith's. It still made me flinch, though. I hadn't expected it.

"Come, Legolas, let us get out of the aisle. Glorfindel has your mare, and she needs to go back into her stall."

An irritated Annun was returned by the other Big Elf, who seemed highly amused by her displeasure. My flake of hay was tossed at Annun's feet, and Glorfindel exchanged glances with Lord Elrond before stepping back and into the shadows, to watch whatever was to happen next.

"Come here please, Legolas?"

Ah, comes the punishment. I knew it would, sooner or later. But there was no dodging it now. My feet dragged across the aisle to the elf-lord's side.

"Perhaps you don't understand how our latches work," Elrond commented. "Here, let me show you."

I watched closely as his big hands worked the latch. Twice he explained, but I didn't really hear the words, startled as I was by what was happening. Only Gerdan, the horsemasters, and a couple of the kitchen servants in Mirkwood had taken the time to explain anything to me before. Elf-lords just didn't explain things. Not anything. Ever.

"Can you close the latch yourself?"

I nodded.

"Show me."

I had to get up on tiptoe to reach the chain, and it argued with me before seating itself at the base of the metal rod, but I did it. Feeling a certain amount of triumph but knowing better than to show it, I looked at the latch and waited.

"It's not easy being small, is it?" Glorfindel said softly from the shadows. "Not when everything around you is so much bigger, taller, and out of reach?"

That made me stare at the floor again because I wasn't certain what kind of a response he was looking for.

"Legolas?" Elrond's voice commanded that I look up at him. "There is nothing wrong with being small, and you will grow in time so that things will not be so difficult for you to reach. Until you do, however, you must tell us if you do not understand or need help with something. Anyone here in Imladris will be glad to help, and no harm will come to you because of it. It's not a bad thing to be a little boy. Do you understand?"

"Yeth." I did understand. But that didn't mean I believed it.

"Good. Now please come and meet the other horses."

He scooped me up into his arms again, so fast that I couldn't run. We started off down the aisle and instinct told me that I might yet be in trouble. Pushing my hands against Elrond's chest, I let go a shriek and kicked. Hard.

He looked startled at my fighting him -- hadn't he carried me into the stable without protest only minutes before? That didn't matter; he was too close and might turn his anger on me at any minute, regardless he seemed to have overlooking my transgression at leaving the stall door open. I wanted down, and right now.

He released me immediately, leaning back and letting me slide down his thigh until my feet reached the floor with a thump. Stepping back, I panted and stared up at him, noting almost guiltily that he rubbed his thigh where I'd kicked him so hard.

"All is well, Legolas." Glorfindel spoke softly, coming slowly out of the shadows to stand beside me. I was grateful that he didn't reach for me with more than his voice. "No one is angry with you, no one means to hurt you. But the horses want to meet you. See?"

He pointed down the aisle. Every stall doorway framed an equine head turned in my direction, ears tipped toward me in definite interest.

"I don't want to disappoint them, so let's all go and see the horses, shall we?"

Interested, hah. They probably just weren't used to elves who screamed and kicked elf-lords. Still, whether they wanted to meet me or not, I definitely wanted to meet them. With that in mind, I noted again where the doorway to the stable was located and then followed the Big Elves down the aisle.

Glorfindel and Elrond went off together down the broad aisle, pausing at each stall in its turn, scratching horse chins and behind ears, relaying names and histories as I warily scuffed along behind them. The two elf- lords took turns adding details, until they were both deep in another equine debate and I was all but forgotten. Which was just fine with me, because it gave me the chance to hang back and watch them.

They didn't argue fiercely, didn't get angry or mean like Galion had done. Glorfindel only laughed when Elrond seemed to growl, and their words just went on. They seemed to be debating some sort of breeding plans, with Elrond arguing for something and Glorfindel insisting that such plans were hopeless. I got bored soon and wandered down the aisle where I found a shining white horse that stood very still and alert, with his ears canted up as he watched Glorfindel.

A glance between the boards of the stall told me that he was a stallion, easily noted from my lower angle. Even if I couldn't have seen, his heavily muscled neck and look of eagles would have told me so. Snorting, he spared a glare at me and stamped a foot in warning as I came nearer. All I got for my soft-murmured greetings and reassurances were pinned ears. He didn't even deign to lower his head and sniff my outstretched hand. He did, however, grasp the edge of the door in his teeth and rattle it. Hard. He didn't seem like a really friendly horse.

I stopped trying to get his attention when he started digging at the base of the door. Within seconds, he was slamming the points of his hooves against the stall wall and weaving back and forth, obviously agitated that his master was ignoring him. I watched in awe, wondering whose stallion he was. More than anything, I wanted to ride him. Wanted to feel his power surge beneath my hands and legs, wanted his mind and heart flying with mine.

I knew how. Knew I could do it. Perhaps tonight, if I could sneak out after dark.

Glorfindel strode past me to approach the stall and laid the palm of his hand between the stallion's eyes.

"Naur," he whispered into the flattened ear and draped his free hand across the damp, arched neck. "Be still, I am here."

Naur... 'Of fire.' For all that the stallion was white, Glorfindel's horse was fire. I understood him and knew that he would understand me. Yes, we would fly together through the darkness.

"He's beautiful, isn't he? He's also evil."

I jumped back at Elrond's voice, so close to my left ear. So absorbed had I been in watching Naur, I hadn't heard the elf-lord approach. Nor had I been conscious of Elrond's squatting down beside me.

"Naur is not evil, Lord Elrond." Glorfindel was stroking between the beast's eyes now; the ears were no longer pinned. "Only devoted."

"Devoted he may be, but he is as dangerous to others as he is devoted to you." Elrond looked across at me. "No one rides Naur but Glorfindel, no one can for he violently refuses to carry anyone else. And no one -- not even me -- dares to enter his stall but Glorfindel. This stallion will hurt anyone else who enters." He glanced over to me, his expression very serious. "Note that, little one. Naur will hurt you if you approach him."

That was silly, I thought. Naur wouldn't hurt me.

"Would you like to meet Silme, my horse?" Elrond offered.

I hesitated, wanting nothing more than to prove to Elrond that he was wrong: Naur would carry me. But now was not the time; I would wait until after dark. For now, I decided that I wanted to meet Elrond's horse and nodded shyly in reply.