Of Fairy Tales and Arrows
Chapter Two
Heidi was awakened by the sound of a door being closed with a suspicious caution. At first her groggy mind paid no heed to it, then Larine's words floated back into her mind. She heard her grandparents rousing, thumping then the door opening downstairs, then shouts of her cousin's name followed.
"She wouldn't have?" Heidi whispered to herself in disbelief, then awareness came upon her as if she'd just been doused with cold water. Sitting bolt upright, then climbing out of bed she hurried to get some clothes on, then ran downstairs through the living room to the kitchen and out the door.
Her grandmother's weary, worried face greeted her with a well-hidden panic in her eyes, "It's Larine. We heard her get up and sneak out for some reason... I don't know why..."
Heidi nodded, the chill of the night no longer penetrating her winter coat. She looked to her side... ::The woods... Yes, that had to be where she went!::
"I think I know where she went grandma. I'll find her!" She rushed down the porch's steps calling over her shoulder, " Don't worry!" She grabbed a flashlight from the garage and ran to the fields ahead.
::I'm responsible for this... I have to be the one to find her.:: She ran the rest of the way through the field and disappeared in to the woods.
~~*~~
Larine was beginning to grow frightened. She'd been here for what seemed hours. The last time she checked the farm was the way she was going... She was cold, a little hungry, and oh, so scared. What had possessed her to do this without bringing Heidi with her?
She wanted to cry... In fact, her nose was already running. But she refused to cry. However, she only walked a few more minutes when she couldn't take it anymore. Everything looked different in the dark... and here the moonlight did not shine through to light her way, as the canopy above her was so thick. The trees had become shadows... big horrible shadows that seemed to want to reach out and grab her.
"I want to go home..." she whispered. The long unshed tears clouded her eyes, leaving her to collapse on the ground in their wake.
~~*~~
"It's that child again Legolas," said his sister coming to meet him at the bottom of a hill.
"Child?" he asked slightly confused as he looked up from a set of tracks he'd been following.
Another elf followed wearing a frown. "The blond human girl. She's here."
"In the middle of the night?!!" Legolas exclaimed. "As if the loss of one of our own is not enough!"
His sister's youngest daughter- the one she loved the most as she was the child of her elder years- was missing. She had last been seen chasing moths in childish delight. They were sure she was not lost... just entranced by something else. Yet concern was still expressed for wild animals still did prey in these woods, and at these very hours when the elves themselves were called by the moon and stars to wake and sing. So without company or the protection of fire the elf-child was in danger... but the human girl was perhaps in even more danger than their kin. The elf girl knew the forest at night and in the day. The human did not. And not one of their children would dare go out without a dagger at least for protection... humans tended to lean more to the reckless side when it came to things... especially ones the girl's age. Legolas frowned feeling a slight panic flow through his veins.
"Well, what should we do?" asked the elf Ilderis, an elf warrior of old that Legolas had grown up with. He swung waist length golden hair over his shoulder. His strong features set in a glare. "Leave her? Somehow guide her back?" The look on his face made it clear to the other two what his choice would be.
"We can't just leave that human girl alone out there! There are bears... WOLF packs!" his sister proclaimed with firey eyes, finally loosing her composure after hours of worry about her own child.
"We also can't expose ourselves to.... them. She is a HUMAN! They are no longer as they used to be. The old alliance... the link between the elves and the humans is broken. Leave her. Leave her to Valinor's graces. We are nothing more than... than creatures in stories to them now... she will be frightened if we help her." he snarled in reply to her.
"You speak of murder Ilderis. You can't... even if we will expose ourselves, she's only a child..."
"It makes no difference..." The other two elves knew why he was so againest this. They both supposed they would be too if they had watched their very own mate die at the hands of a human only but 100 years prior for taking pity on a lost human, who in fright at her glowing aura under the moon had taken one of their fire sticks that made a such a horrible deafening sound and killed her.
"Where is she?" cut in Legolas' soft voice.
"Why? What do you intend to do?" asked Ilderis with large eyes as he watched Legolas already begin to trek up the hill.
Legolas looked back at him with determined, reprimanding eyes. "Her family will come looking for her. If not now, in a few hours time. And it also may be hours before they find her. That leaves us only two paths..."
His sister made quick paces to stand before him with a desperate, mother like despair. "You won't... kill her will you? I know that with most intruders who find our hidden realms... who see us that is what we do... or at least imprison them... or find some other way to preserve the secrecy we dwell in but..."
"THAT is not my intention. She is but a child Namarice," He set his gaze on Ilderis once more, "and this particular child has seen us. My theory is that she has come out here to seek us. For some unknown childish reason. It is safe to expose ourselves to a child..." ::Especially this child....::
Ilderis' eyes grew hot with anger. "How..."
"A child still has innocence, and thank the maker an open mind." Legolas proclaimed before his friend could finish. "And she will not have been the first child to see us."
"Not the first?" Ilderis questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Legolas set his jaw to keep the emotions from his face as he spoke in a soft voice. "Several years ago there was another of her family that did. A child of wonder... and a great sadness... The heart of an elf...", Legolas' brow furrowed in thought his words now just peppered with his random thoughts and memories. He looked at Ilderis and his confused expression, "She could never have done us harm... neither could this child...."
Ilderis' who had come to live among them after him wife's death, had no knowledge prior to now of any of this... history. It made him uncomfortable. He could still see his wife.... he wanted to believe it, but....
"You speak of the one you used to sing to... the one that..." , she glanced at Ilderis, realizing treading carefully about this would best around Ilderis. "The one who would watch us from her window at night as a child."
Ilderis' was clearly shocked at this and he watched Legolas carefully, trying to see if his eyes, his facial expression would betray something more about this. It was clear there was more to it, something both were hiding.
Legolas' eyes clouded with memories momentarily, his emotions being betrayed briefly before being set back to his normal passive expression. "She is that child no more. I have seen her just a few days ago. She is grown up. Her heart is still the same, just hardened by the years... I doubt she even remembers us."
Ilderis nodded at this, trying to piece things together unsuccessfully. "Then what do you intend to do about this child lost in our forest?" He gracefully and in a much calmer tone and manner asked as he made his way to the siblings in front of him.
Legolas looked down obviously in thought. "If I find that her family has begun searching for her I will lead her to her home. If not then we have no choice but to take her into the heart of Little Greenwood. If that happens... we will watch over her until dawn, then lead her to the edge of the wood where they will surely find her, or she herself can make her own way back."
"And what if we are seen by one of the other humans?" Ilderis challenged.
"Then we shall see. It may be just a chance meeting... one they will shake off as no more than a mirage or a dream, even a trick of the light... or... I shall meet my death." Legolas said looking away and heading further up the hill once more.
"Wait! Wait! What do you mean? You will meet YOUR death Legolas?" his sister cried running up the hill.
"I am taking full responsibility for the child. You and Ilderis will continue to search for Laris." They each gave him a hard, unbelieving look. "'Tis better that just one of us suffer that fate than several. Now where is she?"
"In the middle of the wood next to the Great Tree." Namarice answered softly.
Legolas nodded and turned on his heel ascending the rest of the slope, leaving the other two staring after him in worry.
TBC...
AN: Okay.... well first I'd like to point out that I am NOT fluent in Elvish... hence I just made us Ilderis, Namarice, and Laris' names hoping they sounded elvish. (Watch it WILL be a form of elvish... only they'll have very baaaaaaaad meanings). Also, the Legolas sister thing... okay this is my personal opinion... I do not believe Legolas to be an only child given my observations when reading the book and listening to the totally awesome radio drama by BBC. I believe him to, YES be A prince of Mirkwood, but not the heir. That being my argument I believe his father may have had at least another child. In this story, Legolas has an elder brother who resides with his father... where ever they may be. According to the book Legolas started his own, I don't know what you'd call it... tribe maybe, of elves. This leads me to conclude what I do, and it is this same band of elves that he leads now in the woods of my story... ahem... end my opinions and explanations. Please don't be mad at me if you disagree, for I understand if you do.
Anyway, how do you like the chapter? Feedback is niiiiiiiice....^_^ Thanks to all who have reviewed this on my LJ, and those who do in the future. And thanks to Brenda and Tina and Tsukiori for making me get off my lazy duff and actually start posting this....
Random quote of the day (or inside joke):
I LOVE SPAGHETTI!!!!! ^_~
Chapter Two
Heidi was awakened by the sound of a door being closed with a suspicious caution. At first her groggy mind paid no heed to it, then Larine's words floated back into her mind. She heard her grandparents rousing, thumping then the door opening downstairs, then shouts of her cousin's name followed.
"She wouldn't have?" Heidi whispered to herself in disbelief, then awareness came upon her as if she'd just been doused with cold water. Sitting bolt upright, then climbing out of bed she hurried to get some clothes on, then ran downstairs through the living room to the kitchen and out the door.
Her grandmother's weary, worried face greeted her with a well-hidden panic in her eyes, "It's Larine. We heard her get up and sneak out for some reason... I don't know why..."
Heidi nodded, the chill of the night no longer penetrating her winter coat. She looked to her side... ::The woods... Yes, that had to be where she went!::
"I think I know where she went grandma. I'll find her!" She rushed down the porch's steps calling over her shoulder, " Don't worry!" She grabbed a flashlight from the garage and ran to the fields ahead.
::I'm responsible for this... I have to be the one to find her.:: She ran the rest of the way through the field and disappeared in to the woods.
~~*~~
Larine was beginning to grow frightened. She'd been here for what seemed hours. The last time she checked the farm was the way she was going... She was cold, a little hungry, and oh, so scared. What had possessed her to do this without bringing Heidi with her?
She wanted to cry... In fact, her nose was already running. But she refused to cry. However, she only walked a few more minutes when she couldn't take it anymore. Everything looked different in the dark... and here the moonlight did not shine through to light her way, as the canopy above her was so thick. The trees had become shadows... big horrible shadows that seemed to want to reach out and grab her.
"I want to go home..." she whispered. The long unshed tears clouded her eyes, leaving her to collapse on the ground in their wake.
~~*~~
"It's that child again Legolas," said his sister coming to meet him at the bottom of a hill.
"Child?" he asked slightly confused as he looked up from a set of tracks he'd been following.
Another elf followed wearing a frown. "The blond human girl. She's here."
"In the middle of the night?!!" Legolas exclaimed. "As if the loss of one of our own is not enough!"
His sister's youngest daughter- the one she loved the most as she was the child of her elder years- was missing. She had last been seen chasing moths in childish delight. They were sure she was not lost... just entranced by something else. Yet concern was still expressed for wild animals still did prey in these woods, and at these very hours when the elves themselves were called by the moon and stars to wake and sing. So without company or the protection of fire the elf-child was in danger... but the human girl was perhaps in even more danger than their kin. The elf girl knew the forest at night and in the day. The human did not. And not one of their children would dare go out without a dagger at least for protection... humans tended to lean more to the reckless side when it came to things... especially ones the girl's age. Legolas frowned feeling a slight panic flow through his veins.
"Well, what should we do?" asked the elf Ilderis, an elf warrior of old that Legolas had grown up with. He swung waist length golden hair over his shoulder. His strong features set in a glare. "Leave her? Somehow guide her back?" The look on his face made it clear to the other two what his choice would be.
"We can't just leave that human girl alone out there! There are bears... WOLF packs!" his sister proclaimed with firey eyes, finally loosing her composure after hours of worry about her own child.
"We also can't expose ourselves to.... them. She is a HUMAN! They are no longer as they used to be. The old alliance... the link between the elves and the humans is broken. Leave her. Leave her to Valinor's graces. We are nothing more than... than creatures in stories to them now... she will be frightened if we help her." he snarled in reply to her.
"You speak of murder Ilderis. You can't... even if we will expose ourselves, she's only a child..."
"It makes no difference..." The other two elves knew why he was so againest this. They both supposed they would be too if they had watched their very own mate die at the hands of a human only but 100 years prior for taking pity on a lost human, who in fright at her glowing aura under the moon had taken one of their fire sticks that made a such a horrible deafening sound and killed her.
"Where is she?" cut in Legolas' soft voice.
"Why? What do you intend to do?" asked Ilderis with large eyes as he watched Legolas already begin to trek up the hill.
Legolas looked back at him with determined, reprimanding eyes. "Her family will come looking for her. If not now, in a few hours time. And it also may be hours before they find her. That leaves us only two paths..."
His sister made quick paces to stand before him with a desperate, mother like despair. "You won't... kill her will you? I know that with most intruders who find our hidden realms... who see us that is what we do... or at least imprison them... or find some other way to preserve the secrecy we dwell in but..."
"THAT is not my intention. She is but a child Namarice," He set his gaze on Ilderis once more, "and this particular child has seen us. My theory is that she has come out here to seek us. For some unknown childish reason. It is safe to expose ourselves to a child..." ::Especially this child....::
Ilderis' eyes grew hot with anger. "How..."
"A child still has innocence, and thank the maker an open mind." Legolas proclaimed before his friend could finish. "And she will not have been the first child to see us."
"Not the first?" Ilderis questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Legolas set his jaw to keep the emotions from his face as he spoke in a soft voice. "Several years ago there was another of her family that did. A child of wonder... and a great sadness... The heart of an elf...", Legolas' brow furrowed in thought his words now just peppered with his random thoughts and memories. He looked at Ilderis and his confused expression, "She could never have done us harm... neither could this child...."
Ilderis' who had come to live among them after him wife's death, had no knowledge prior to now of any of this... history. It made him uncomfortable. He could still see his wife.... he wanted to believe it, but....
"You speak of the one you used to sing to... the one that..." , she glanced at Ilderis, realizing treading carefully about this would best around Ilderis. "The one who would watch us from her window at night as a child."
Ilderis' was clearly shocked at this and he watched Legolas carefully, trying to see if his eyes, his facial expression would betray something more about this. It was clear there was more to it, something both were hiding.
Legolas' eyes clouded with memories momentarily, his emotions being betrayed briefly before being set back to his normal passive expression. "She is that child no more. I have seen her just a few days ago. She is grown up. Her heart is still the same, just hardened by the years... I doubt she even remembers us."
Ilderis nodded at this, trying to piece things together unsuccessfully. "Then what do you intend to do about this child lost in our forest?" He gracefully and in a much calmer tone and manner asked as he made his way to the siblings in front of him.
Legolas looked down obviously in thought. "If I find that her family has begun searching for her I will lead her to her home. If not then we have no choice but to take her into the heart of Little Greenwood. If that happens... we will watch over her until dawn, then lead her to the edge of the wood where they will surely find her, or she herself can make her own way back."
"And what if we are seen by one of the other humans?" Ilderis challenged.
"Then we shall see. It may be just a chance meeting... one they will shake off as no more than a mirage or a dream, even a trick of the light... or... I shall meet my death." Legolas said looking away and heading further up the hill once more.
"Wait! Wait! What do you mean? You will meet YOUR death Legolas?" his sister cried running up the hill.
"I am taking full responsibility for the child. You and Ilderis will continue to search for Laris." They each gave him a hard, unbelieving look. "'Tis better that just one of us suffer that fate than several. Now where is she?"
"In the middle of the wood next to the Great Tree." Namarice answered softly.
Legolas nodded and turned on his heel ascending the rest of the slope, leaving the other two staring after him in worry.
TBC...
AN: Okay.... well first I'd like to point out that I am NOT fluent in Elvish... hence I just made us Ilderis, Namarice, and Laris' names hoping they sounded elvish. (Watch it WILL be a form of elvish... only they'll have very baaaaaaaad meanings). Also, the Legolas sister thing... okay this is my personal opinion... I do not believe Legolas to be an only child given my observations when reading the book and listening to the totally awesome radio drama by BBC. I believe him to, YES be A prince of Mirkwood, but not the heir. That being my argument I believe his father may have had at least another child. In this story, Legolas has an elder brother who resides with his father... where ever they may be. According to the book Legolas started his own, I don't know what you'd call it... tribe maybe, of elves. This leads me to conclude what I do, and it is this same band of elves that he leads now in the woods of my story... ahem... end my opinions and explanations. Please don't be mad at me if you disagree, for I understand if you do.
Anyway, how do you like the chapter? Feedback is niiiiiiiice....^_^ Thanks to all who have reviewed this on my LJ, and those who do in the future. And thanks to Brenda and Tina and Tsukiori for making me get off my lazy duff and actually start posting this....
Random quote of the day (or inside joke):
I LOVE SPAGHETTI!!!!! ^_~