Sorry 'bout not updating for so long! Real life has been rather unkind of late although I now have a better idea of how difficult it is to be a single parent. My nieces have been staying with me while my sister has been in the hospital recovering from a very bad car wreck and I got a promotion at work but it's been more work and still I'm waiting on the promotion in pay.... *grumble, grumble*

I apologize for the shortness of this chapter but I'm confident that with all the new wonderful LOTR stories I've been reading here my muses will wake up and a longer chapter will follow soon.

Thanks for the reviews and the encouragement Queen of Gondor, Artemisa, Sabe, Mornaj, Arabella Thorne, Koko Kung, and last but not least, Key!

The ground seemed to rush up at him, a bright whiteness broken by the jutting brown of spiny rocks.

'This is going to hurt.' he thought. A scream ripped from his throat as pain blossomed in his side and his decent to the ground slowed. Still the force of his landing knocked the breath out of him and for a frightning moment he could not draw air into his lungs.

"Elf?" A voice asked, "Elf do you still live?"

Legolas opened his eyes and nearly fainted. A dragon stared back at him; its muti-faceted eyes a whirl of colors.

"What .... how... who..." the Legolas stuttered.

"Dragon. With difficulty. Jaz." The toothy smile didn't reassure the Elf. "Don't worry, I'm not going to eat you."

Legolas tried to sit up but the dragon pushed him back with a curled paw. "I didn't mean to hurt you, but I didn't have much time to catch you." The dragon spread his claws then and Legolas saw blood on the talons.

"Why?"

"Here isn't the place for explanations." The dragon's warm breath gusted across Legolas' face and the Elf shrank back. "Don't fear me, little one."

Legolas blinked rapidly wondering if there was something wrong with his vision. The dragon shimmered and in its place stood a dark haired man.

"Is this better?" The man asked. "We'd better go before Tlas finishes with your horse." He quickly scooped the young prince up and carried him effortlessly through the knee-deep snow.

"What are you? And who?" Legolas asked.

"A dragon of course." The man smiled at him, "I am called Jaz."

"But you are a man."

"All the young of my kind can shape shift," He continued to tramp through the snow; "the elders have forgotten the craft."

"Who is Tlas?"

Jaz shifted his hold on Legolas and the Elf winced. Jaz noticed and apologized, "You are full of questions, 'tis a lucky thing we are close to home."

"Who is Tlas?" Legolas persisted.

Jaz's pace quickened, "Not so loud Elf." He swept the dark hair out of his eyes and looked up, "I'll explain when we reach the cave."

Legolas startled, "Cave?"

Jaz snorted, "Think you I live in a dark, cold cave Elfling?"

"I don't like caves." Legolas said softly.

Noting the wide, frightened eyes of the Elf, Jaz kissed the blond hair, "You are weary and injured and probably cold." He wrapped his arms tighter about Legolas, "No so long now. There are the cliffs."

Legolas raised his head to see the evergreen covered cliff. At this moment it looked more beautiful to him that the forests of home.