Author's note: This is for Anita, who has proven to be such a great reviewer. Thanks Anita()!!! P.S. anyone can review to give me ideas about anything okay? After all, an author needs inspiration! ^_^

To the Tavern…

Legolas stifled a yawn, trying his best to look attentive as he heard more and more words of praise and marvel. He had been through this many times, and his boredom had never grown lesser with it. Except this time, he couldn't help but compare the elves in front of him with Joari. Looking over the girls, he couldn't help but laugh at the comparison. It was like comparing an apple with a fruit tart. Joari had more variety and vivaciousness, and in her own way, surpassed all the beauties Middle-Earth had to offer. Looking out from the corner of his eye, he noticed that Joari had left her partner and was walking off, her partner staring after her in a show of surprise.

I wonder what she's up to, he thought, chuckling silently to himself. "My lord?" The lady in front of him broke off, staring at the indifferent prince. "Nothing, my lady, you may continue." Inwardly, the lady groaned at his unperturbed manner. Just as she was about to start again, Joari appeared.

"Legolas! Thank goodness I found you! I'll absolutely die if you don't help me!" she grabbed him by the arm and tugged. Looks of outrage shone through the girls' faces as, in their eyes, Joari stole away 'their' prince. She batted her eyelids at them, "I hope you girls don't mind if I borrow him for a moment will you?" she grinned at them, despite the dagger-like looks. "'Later!" she cried, walking off with the prince in tow. Legolas looked back, trying his best to look apologetic, but failed and started grinning instead.

When they were out the door, Joari started giggling. "If looks could kill, I'll be as good as dead now!" she cried that the grinning prince. Legolas tried his best to look serious; "It was rather rude of you to barge in and drag me off," he gave another quick grin, "but I can't say that I'm too disappointed. So why did you bring me here?"

Joari looked at him, "How does going clubbing tonight sound?" she asked, her eyes shining, "Frodo, Pip, Merry and Sam are waiting for us outside, and we can all head for the nearest tavern. So what d'ya say?" Legolas slowly nodded. "But before we leave, let us alert Aragorn to our absence. It is only polite to do so." Joari grinned and turned. "Fine, let's meet at the stables. Don't get side-tracked by some pretty elf along the way k?" she winked and walked off into the darkness. Legolas stared after her.

"Don't worry, I won't." he whispered, contemplative, before walking back into the bustling hall.

***~~~~~***

                "Aragorn, a word with you please." Aragorn looked up at Legolas. "In a moment." He quickly concluded his conversation with the elf he was talking to. Walking over to one side, he caught Legolas's eye. "What is it?" As briefly as possible, Legolas told him of the little group's plan to leave. For the first time in his life (and he had lived a long time) he saw a hint of hesitance in Aragorn's eyes. "Would you mind more company? I think I would like to leave for a little while myself." Legolas raised an eyebrown, "But it's your celebration! How can…" he trailed off, noticing the flinty look Aragorn gave him. Something was definitely up. Aragorn turned away. "I'll have a word with Arwen." He walked up to the elf princess and whispered something at her. They stared at each other silently, oblivious to their surroundings, before she nodded, and continued talking to the elf before her.

Aragorn walked back to the watching prince. "We can go now." Silently, they walked out of the hall. As they walked, Legolas glanced over at his friend, who walked grim faced. Since he ventured no information, Legolas decided not to press the issue. After all, he thought to himself, if he wants to let me know, he can tell me later.

When they reached the stable, they found the girl and the hobbits already saddled up. Gimli too was there, having been invited last minute by Merry. She glared accusingly at Legolas. "Why didn't you tell me?" she asked, as he and Aragorn saddled up. He looked at her, obviously confused. "That there aren't any taverns/bars/discos around here! I thought I was pretty smart, calling a pub a tavern, but you elves don't even have one! The closest thing to it you guys have are inns! How on earth am I going to have fun and get drunk at the same time at some foggy inn?" her torrent of words clearly indicated her annoyance with the failure of her 'wordplay'. Legolas was about to fall on his knees and ask for forgiveness when he caught the amused look Frodo shot him. Deciding that it would look fairly ridiculous if the prince of Mirkwood suddenly knelt in between the horses, he mounted the horse instead.

Gimli looked at the girl. "Lady, that wasn't very fair of you. Legolas has been away from his people for a long time, you can't expect him to actually remember such things do you? After all, there were taverns aplenty in the route we had traveled." His voice filled with self-righteousness as he defended his elf friend.

Joari looked at them, surprised. Suddenly, she just laughed. The others stared at her, dumbfounded. "I'm sorry," she said, gasping, "I was just teasing. I didn't know you guys would take it so seriously." She turned to Legolas. "I'm really sorry. Hope you'll forgive me for that." She shook her head. "Man, you people are seriously different from the guys back home. Let's go already. Lead on, Pip!" Pip, who was with Merry on a horse, nodded, and the company was off. Gimli shook his head, "She sure is no dwarf-woman, that I can assure!"

                                                                ***~~~~~***

The inn was fairly crowded, and though it wasn't very noisy, it you couldn't exactly call it quiet either. Joari looked around and almost groaned. Their beer here had better be good, she told herself, as she followed the hobbits to the bar. As she walked across the room, she could feel many eyes on her, and couldn't help but feel a little smug about it. I guess I do look pretty exotic here, she conceded, especially in this gown. She went to a barstool and sat down, "Bring me a martini," she said, feeling very mature at that moment. The bartender stared at her, having no idea what she was talking about. She sensed his clueless-ness and sighed. "What about beer? Don't you have that?" Yet again, he stared at her.

She gave up and turned to the hobbits. "Hey, will you guys just order something? Preferably something I can get drunk on?" she ordered. Grinning, they ordered a round of ale for the whole group, including Legolas and Aragorn, who have just come in from the stables. Eagerly, she started drinking from the frothing cup, ignoring the looks that the rest were giving her. As soon as the ale touched her tongue, she almost spat. The ale had a fruity taste, and was rather sweet. The rest were laughing uproariously at her reaction. Even Aragorn cracked a smile. Gimli chuckled, "That's almost always the usual reaction of a human-male when they've tasted the brew of the elves…" he supplied, as the laughter slowly died down. She sighed, "Which means I won't be able to get drunk and give you a good dunking, dwarf." He glared at her, "Why of you were but a man I'll have to help you remove that tongue of yours." Whilst the rest, even Aragorn, gasped in shock, (after all, there are just some things you don't threaten a woman with) Joari was trying her best to suppress a grin. "I'll like to see you do that, dwarf," she replied coolly, arching an eyebrown. Gimli looked rather surprised at her reaction, and began to give her a once through. She didn't look all that dangerous, sitting there in that blue gown of hers. Despite the restraining looks that the rest were shooting him, he stood up.

And found a knife pointing directly at his throat. He cursed, "How did you do that? I didn't see you holding a dagger at any point." She looked at him, still not moving the dagger's point. "Well?" Gimli winced, "Woman, you're almost as blunt as I am. I concede defeat. Are you happy now?" She grinned at him, and suddenly he didn't feel as bad as before. "More than you'll ever imagine, dwarf." Aragorn looked at her, his curiosity awakened. "My lady, I must say I did not know of your talent with daggers. May I be permitted to ask where you hid the dagger? For I swear I didn't see and traces of it earlier."

She looked at him mischievously, "So, you really need to know is it?" She turned her back towards him. "Well, help me unzip." Even the hobbits, who'd started talking among themselves, turned to face her, slack jawed. Aragorn heard the challenge in her voice, and not wanting to back off, closed his eyes and began to pull the zip downwards. When Joari realized that there was no reaction coming, she sneaked a glance behind and found that all of them had their eyes closed and had formed a circle around her. She sighed, "How can you guys see anything if your eyes are closed? Don't worry, you won't see anything scandalous…" she trailed off expectedly.

Cautiously, the group lifted their eyelids. They realized that woven into the fabric at the back of the dress was something like half a scabbard. "The zip's just for show, and to secure the dagger in. I got Araya to add this in coz' I wanted someplace to put the dagger till I could return it to Legolas. Cool huh?" She replaced the dagger, "See?" Zipped up, only the hilt of the dagger could be seen, which was hidden by her hair. She turned to the elf, "Do you want it back now?" He shook his head, still somewhat 'blur'.

She turned around and continued drinking. "At least this sort of quenches one's thirst." She continued on as if nothing had happened. Soon, they blinked back to their senses. The hobbits and Gimli continued talking, while Legolas and Aragorn sat to one side.

What will happen next? Is everything as it seems? Find out, in chapter 7: Conversations, with a little dash of dance! Thanks for all those encouraging reviews! It feels great to be appreciated!