As dawn approached, the light in Lothlorien became softer and the darkness slowly slipped away into the shadows. Luthien awoke feeling refreshed and decided that she had better have a talk with Elanor before she became the surface of some graffiti. (Luthien suspected that had she not woken when she did the previous evening, she would now be sporting a most unsightly moustache.)

She found her friend curled up at the foot of a small tree, sucking her thumb. 'Elanor,' Luthien whispered, shaking Elanor's small shoulder. 'Wake up.'

Elanor's eyes flickered open slowly. 'Grrhrhghghgm,' she mumbled.

'Wakey wakey, hobbit lass. Your elf mellon needs to have a little chat with you,' Luthien said quietly.

Elanor sat up and yawned. 'Can't we talk later?' She moaned. 'And besides…perhaps I don't want to chat with you.'

'Elanor, I didn't mean to make Pippin choke. I'd never do something like that, don't be silly. Not that you are silly,' she added, seeing Elanor's eyes narrow. 'You see, I was trying to get you two a little closer together. But Pippin was eating and it seems he has a rather small windpipe…'

Elanor nodded. 'Yes. Well, I am hungry and it's silly for us to fight when we could be doing many other useful things. Like eat, for example…I'm sorry I accused you of being a murderer.'

'And I'm sorry I almost murdered Pippin,' Luthien answered. 'It truly was accidental and I'm really very grateful you have made Legolas see sense at last…it's about time he got worried about losing me. Not that he ever WOULD lose me, oh no-' she chuckled '-but still. Hurrah.'

Then they had breakfast.

Lothlorien was a rather big forest when it came down to it, really. The trees were very tall (trees generally are when they have been alive for countless years), and the ground space itself was very…big.

So, naturally, it was not very hard for a slightly-muddle-headed little hobbit lass to find herself lost in such a great wood.

Fortunately though, Elanor could hear voices steadily growing louder and soon footsteps headed in her direction. She was struck motionless at the sound of Pippin's scotty lil' voice. Presently, all the rest of the Fellowship plus one strolled into the glade and Legolas was the first to notice the very grubby Elanor. He and Luthien rushed up to her in alarm. "What has happened to you Elanor?" Luthien asked bewildered, "Your hair! You're in such a state! We must clean you up as soon as possible!"

"Of course," Elanor replied ironically, "as an elf you would be distressed about my appearance more than what I have to say."

Legolas and Luthien straightened, a little insulted, and both shrugged and began to mutter mutinously to one another in elvish. Aragorn, who could also speak elf, wandered up and happily joined them, occasionally pointing over at Elanor and laughing.

Grumpily, Elanor explained what she was doing wandering about in the first place, after she'd scowled a bit and glared at them. 'I was exploring,' she said simply. 'I thought that maybe, you know, I'd find something like…er…well you know how people go exploring and they explore?'

Luthien nodded and, when Elanor grinned and started to continue, she rolled her eyes upwards and pulled a face. 'Yes, well, that was what I was doing.'

'Great,' Luthien said. 'Now that we have that cleared up, Legolas and I must be off to meet some Galadhrim dudes, okay?'

'O…Kay?' Pippin repeated, confused by the term.

'Bye,' Luthien said, not bothering to answer. This pretending to be of Middle earth business was quite hard.

Elanor watched amusedly as her friend dragged off the very surprised Legolas into the trees. She heard him say faintly, 'Luthien this isn't the right way, if you'll just let go…' before they disappeared altogether.

Elanor stood silently for a moment, looking thoughtful, which wasn't really all that unusual. She had realised that time was running short. If Pippin didn't love her now, maybe he never would. Maybe she'd just become his friend, a friend who might as well be Merry, a friend who could be like his flower girl at a wedding in which she would not be the bride.

And she was bloody well going to be the bride.

She chewed her lip and gazed at Pippin. Pippin bit into some food and grinned at her. Her heart fluttered and she scowled inwardly at Merry, who was ruining a perfectly good romantic moment. What was it with him anyway? He never did anything, except for when he did something, so he might as well just not be there at all. In fact, same with the rest of them- it wasn't like they needed a whole fellowship, they might as well just have Pippin. And Legolas, she supposed, because otherwise Luthien would be heartbroken, and- she blinked and looked up at Aragorn, who was staring at her with his eyebrows raised.

'Pardon?' She said cheerfully.

'I said, why are you scowling, little one?' He said.

'Oh…it's a twitch,' she explained. 'Sometimes I just can't control my face.'

Pippin stopped eating and blinked. 'It, uh, doesn't happen often,' she said hurriedly. 'I mean, I'm normal, really truly I am, but-'

'It's alright, little maiden,' Aragorn said kindly, 'you don't have to explain, we all have little quirks.'

'Yes.' Elanor nodded. 'Quirks.'

She tried to smile while she devised a plan to get rid of the remainder of the fellowship who were not Pippin so they wouldn't get suspicious and so that Pippin wouldn't think she was a really grumpy, twitchy hobbit lass, because she wasn't.

'Er- look over there!' She exclaimed loudly, pointing at a clump of bushes. They all swung around to see what she was getting so excited about, and Elanor grabbed Pippin by the arm and dragged him away forcefully.

Boromir turned back, saying 'I see nothing, what was it you were- Elanor?' He blinked. 'Really, Aragorn, there's something strange about that lass, I keep telling you but will you listen?'

But as we all know Aragorn doesn't listen to anyone unless they are a Skank, so he ignored Borors and wandered off to his own little clump of trees to sulk about his loss of skankiness.

Elanor skipped gleefully along the path, yanking an exhausted Pippin along behind her. She was a lot fitter than Pippin because she played netball and he didn't, so she was a bit more used to exercise than him. She stopped for a second, amusing herself with the thought of her love in a netball skirt.

'Where are we going?' said Pippin, gasping for breath.

'Going?' Elanor said, blinking at him. 'Oh, yes, I'm going to…show you something.'

'Ooh, what are you going to show me?

Elanor thought fast.

And faster.

God her brain was slow.

'Erm, well, oh look- oh my GOD don't look, look away, look away!'

Pippin stared at the elves in the clearing.

'Pippin, come on, come on, you'll be scarred for life!'

His face was pale as he dashed after Elanor. They scampered across logs and through the grass until they were far, far away. 'What was that?' Pippin asked breathlessly in his adorable accent.

Elanor shuddered. 'I think they were trying to make, um, elf babies.'

Pippin was very shaken as he sat down. 'Is it time for lunch?' He asked after a moment of silence.

Elanor shook her head. 'No…'

'Oh good. I think I've lost my appetite and I hate missing meals.'

'And this is Harfandil. Harfandil, may I introduce you to my brave and luminously fair friend Luthien?' The taller elf smiled at Luthien in an alarming way and bowing low he kissed her hand and said, 'It is long since I have had the pleasure of acquainting myself with fair elves of distant lands.'

Luthien crinkled her nose in disgust and Legolas shifted uncomfortably. Harfandil didn't seem to notice as he was rather distracted by another well-proportioned elf maiden.

Luthien didn't care though; Legolas had called her (and I quote)"brave and luminously fair" so she would put up with another horny elf for a few hours if it pleased him. She wished he were horny though. It would make things so much simpler for her…

As it turned out the elves were holding a small party in Legolas' honour. This of course would be the perfect opportunity for her to launch her cunning plan. What cunning plan is this? You may ask. Ah, I shall say, and tally forth eh what.

Luthien intended to get better acquainted herself with her hottie hot hot and what better opportunity than a party… with lots of elf wine. 'Mwahahaa…" she quietly cackled but then suddenly she realised she'd lost Leggy! What was she to do! Luthien looked about her in panic but, alas, he was nowhere to be found. Then she spotted good old Reuvean talking to some other elves by a table piled high with fruits and wine and lots of yummy elf food, and walked over. "Greetings, Reavean mellon," she said with a pretty smile, and he and his friends turned to look at her. Suckers, Luthien thought, here I am fraternising with Middle Earthy people and they don't even know I'm not real…er, am real…but not fictional…anyway the point is HA.

"Luthien," Reuvean said, returning her smile, "It is good to see you again. These are my friends Karim, Fararth, Yarni and Nelor. This," he said to the two males and two female elves, "Is Luthien Firithnar, who has travelled far with Legolas' company and has proved to be an invaluable asset."

"Yay!" Luthien kind of squeaked.

The elves looked at her in bemusement and then laughed. "Well, if you will forgive our rudeness Luthien, " The tall dark-haired maid named Yarni said, "I think tonight be not a night for dark tales of wearisome journeys, but for merriness and laughter and much feasting. Come!" And merrily the group of them followed her off to a plain where they could dance.

Frodo and Sam sat around talking about Frodo-ish and Sam-ish things. Merry, Pippin and Elanor sat next to them silently looking bored and listless. The elves were all off partying at what Luthien had called an 'elf party with hot leggy,' and she'd been right smug about it too, so Elanor had been more annoyed than she otherwise would have been as she didn't actually even like parties.

But as Luthien was allowed to have fun and she was not, she decided that she would do what had to be done.

She and her fellow companions who weren't in charge of saving the world (i.e. anyone not Frodo or Sam) would just have to crash that elf party and do it with style too.

She informed them of her plan and they whole-heartedly agreed. She suspected that this was because Merry was addicted to the elf wine but didn't say anything of it.

They found their way to the party without much difficulty. For demure and peaceful beings they sure were loud when dancing and getting drunk and she thought about backing out for a moment. After all, it would be very easy for such tall elves to crush a wee little hobbit lass without even noticing. However, she stood strong in her resolve. She was going to annoy Luthien no matter what the cost, although she did hope the cost wasn't her life.

The three of them stood in the doorway…well… tree entrance thing… and tried to look tough, like gatecrashers.

No one noticed them.

Elanor coughed, waiting for the yell.

No yell came.

Pippin glanced sideways at her, silently asking 'er, what do we do now?'

'We dance,' Elanor answered gruffly. Well, she hoped she had sounded gruff. '…And, uh, Merry can get drunk.'

Merry lightened up a little and bounced off towards the refreshments log while Pippin and Elanor were a bit stranded and stuck for ideas.

'Er- shall we go back then?' Elanor said, scuffing the soles of her feet into the ground.

Pippin considered. 'We might as well dance for a bit,' he suggested. 'That is, if you want to dance with me.'

Elanor brightened up considerably and had to restrain herself from squealing. 'Oh, um, yes, I suppose I could dance with you,' she said. A big smile spread across her face and she gripped Pippin by the elbow and dragged him off towards the throng of elves who were all dancing not very elfishly, swaying to and fro drunkenly to a rhythm only they could hear.

The stars had scattered across the sky and twinkled and danced in the hair of the party members as they laughed and sang and danced about in the glades of the wood. The music drifted enticingly to all listeners nearby and many were coerced by its wordless invitation to get to their feet and dance.

Amongst all the crowd of beautiful elves, old and…really old, danced Luthien, in a dress of blue that matched the night sky, embroidered with tiny pearls, and with her pale skin and dark luscious hair she really looked like a goddess of the night sky. Or so a lot of drunken elves had told her. And drunken elves do know best.

And so Legolas beheld her: Luthien Firithnar, really hot available elven chick who seemed rather fond of him (mwaha – little did he know of obsession). He was now dressed in a mossy green tunic with black trews and a velvety black cape was draped about his shoulders.

That was just to give a little mood. Heh.

"Legolas!" Luthien shouted a little too enthusiastically and the elf she was dancing with cringed and rubbed his pointy ears. "Sorry, er, Mr. Elf," Luthien said, forgetting his name, and he moved off to the wine table as the song ended.

"Luthien," he grinned at her and she kind of half-fell over coz she could now see how very particularly hot he was tonight. As opposed to his everyday hotness – it was enough to make any girl fall over and make an ass of herself.

Once she had recovered herself and her enigmatic air had returned to her, she was about to ask a question like "Marry me" when he held out his hand and said, "Dance with me."

Yes, a much better plan, thought Luthien, and she graciously accepted his hand. He pulled her towards him swiftly and gently and she stood motionless with nothing short of ecstasy as he lightly placed a hand on her waist. Then she snapped somewhat out of it long enough to place her hand on his shoulder and concentrate on anything but the fact that she was 3 inches from his face. And his lips. And she knew how unworldly the delight of kissing those lips was. And she really wanted to do it again.

Before she could do anything foolish and unutterably stupid, Luthien was whisked away with the start of the next song by her All.

"That jewel becomes you, Luthien," Legolas said in his dreamy voice, "As does your gown. Why, indeed at this moment you remind me of a goddess of the star-filled night sky."

Unfortunately, Luthien then giggled hysterically, and she suspected she may have snorted.

Luckily, Legolas did notice this but put it down to the wine instead of to insanity. Lucky that.

"And you, master Greenleaf, look particularly yummy tonight, yourself." Luthien just realised what she said and answered Legolas' questioning look hastily with, "Er, you know, Sea Sprite language…"

Surprisingly Legolas nodded and actually looked a bit downcast.

"Why, what is wrong love…er, lovely…night, uh, got you down?" Good one.

He looked back at her soberly (even though he wasn't particularly sober), "Luthien… when will you be leaving our company? It is only that, the road before us lies dark and uncertain and I would not like to think of you travelling beside us into such perilous situations that we are destined to encounter-" Luthien frowned, but he continued, "yet, I do not wish for you to part with the fellowship and myself and set off alone…" Luthien's grin was so wide, it was painful. "I'm sorry," he said, "it is unfair of me to speak this way, you have every right to make your own decisions and I should not add to that task or sway it. I was foolish." He looked embarrassed. Luthien wasn't really sure what to do next. She kinda wanted to kiss him. But she wasn't sure how well that would go down. On the other hand they were both drunk so…

Legolas interrupted her train of thought, "Luthien…we are friends, and so I care deeply for you, that is all."

Luthien wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic about this or…not. Did he mean that's all we are, friends? Or that's all I was trying to say? Oh well, she thought, it matters not. I shall snag him soon enough. Then she realised he was waiting for her to say something.

"Oh, er, I…I am your friend and you are mine." Oh God! What a stupid orc! Except…they don't like anything…but still! "So I…I'm glad." Wow. Nice save. You think that up all by your wittle sewlf? Stupid stupid stupid! Glad is such a crap word. I hate it. It SUCKS!

Legolas, to her immense relief, smiled back at her sweetly. And she just awed at him for a moment before saying. "I…I think you should know, Legolas, that I truly admire you. But its more than mere admiration, Legolas, I-"

"-Luthien! What a lovely surprise! Down here! That's right, on the floor…or closer to it. It's me! Your best pal, Elanor!" And sure enough, Elanor stood by their feet. One icy glare from Luthien and her wide smile faded.

"Thank you so much, Elanor, for that introduction. So well timed and very appropriate." Luthien answered her so-called best friend's cheerful greeting in a low and deadly voice.

"Oh." Said Elanor, for once cottoning on. "Have I interrupted something?"

Luthien looked poutingly at Legolas but to her displeasure he was engaged in a drunken conversation with a very merry Pippin.

She let go of Legolas' shoulder and he let go of her waist (damn Elanor!)and the four of them moved off to a secluded table out of the way of dancers. Luthien walked begrudgingly and regretfully.

Merry soon swaggered up and joined them. "All the more for the merriment," muttered Luthien to herself. Elanor (trying desperately to avoid a severe duffing up later on) went to pat her arm but Luthien pulled away and wouldn't look at her. Childish, you might say? Well…shut up…poo head!

Legolas began talking with her and brightening, she decided to ask him something she'd wanted to ask him for days, "Legolas, would it be possible…that is…I would very much appreciate it if you were to tutor me in the ways of archery. It would be a noble thing for the greatest archer to honour me with their wisdom of the bow and arrow. Its alright if you wish not to, I understand…" she trailed off, silently praying.

They all looked at Legolas who himself looked slightly embarrassed by such praise. "Such praise from so fair a maid and yet one so skilled in weapons overwhelms me. I am honoured by your great confidence in me, Luthien, and I will teach you all that you can learn in so short a time. It surprises me that you should not have already learnt archery in your young years as you have been taught swordcraft! Alas, I can teach you a little, and you are eager to learn, so there is no problem. And I've no doubt you are a quick and apt pupil."

Luthien blushed and thanked him.

Elanor was about to ask him to teach her too but thought better of it. It was a shame Pippin didn't really know how to use a weapon. But she loved him anyway. He was after all, a vair funny Scottish holbytla, and that's all that really mattered here.

Elanor sat with her head in her hands, feeling a little whatchamacallit. Dizzy, was it? Well she wasn't sure. It was hard to remember words on such a… wordy… night. Oh, she thought, gazing around, where was her Pip-pip?

He was nowhere to be seen. Oh, hang on. Her eyes tried to focus but they weren't doing a very good job of it. That… could be him. She blinked and peered forward, staring dazedly at him.

Yes, yes, curly hair. Beautiful face… she listened carefully and noted the Scottish accent.

It was he! She thought with drunken glee.

She smiled happily at him, her eyes glazed over, and Luthien rolled her eyes. What was her little friend doing? It seemed that the elvish alcohol really didn't go down well with this hobbit… no siree. She was as tipsy as a tipsy tipper.

Luthien watched (Legolas was off doing something for the moment so she was free to. well…not look at him) in amusement as Elanor bounced up, stumbled a bit, and bounded a little wobbly like over to her Love with a big smile across her face.

'Pip… in.' She exclaimed, throwing her arm around his shoulder.

He nodded happily. That was his name.

'You… are my, my… hang on a wee sec…umm...second. YOU-' she paused and looked at Luthien 'not YOU-' back to Pippin '-you, you are my LOVE.'

She nodded looking at Pippin with a, er, drunken love in her little hobbit eyes.

And then before he could say anything or proclaim his own love for her, they simultaneously collapsed on the floor next to each other and within minutes were snoring peacefully on the dirt floor.

Luthien blinked.

Strange.

Merry came and stood beside Luthien, looking down at his fellow hobbits.

'Er-' he said. 'Well.'

She nodded. 'Indeed.'

Presently, Legolas came bounding back to them. Yes bounding. "Hello my beautiful!" he said waving at Luthien enthusiastically.

She took a step back and then as she realised a broad grin spread over her face. He was drunk. Sloshed as a seal. Whipped as a whirligig. Wobbly as a …anyway.

"Hey, erm…Legolas." She said testing the water.

"Grehmemenrh…" he said merrily.

"Erm, what?" What the hell was he on about.

"Wine is rather grand is it not, beautiful elven maid?"

"Yes, it is. In proportion…" Luthien decided she liked Legolas much better when he was cool and aloof. I don't know why.

On the other hand…drunken elves are more…open to suggestion from oh say, a girl who's hot for them. Mwahahaha.

However, it seemed as though it wasn't she who would need to hold herself back, because Legolas was acting rather forward at the moment.

He stumbled towards her, though managing to preserve a little of his elvish grace. Ish. She decided to wait and see what happened.

Elanor looked up from her brief nap in time to see Legolas singing rather loudly on his knees to a very embarrassed looking Luthien. Her best friend wasn't drunk enough to join in the duet and so stood there trying to act as though, well, Legolas didn't always act like this. It wasn't hard because he didn't and so it wasn't like she was lying or anything…no, no she wasn't.

'Luthien?' Elanor slurred, standing up with difficulty. 'What's the matter with him?'

Luthien glanced downwards. 'I don't know. I thought he was quite good at holding his wine down but it seems I was mistaken.'

'Deary me,' Elanor said, shaking her head, as though she hadn't been raving mad only ten minutes earlier. 'Well, at least he's got a nice voice.'

'True.'

Legolas began belting out a ballad, playing an imaginary lyre along with the tune.

'Ohhhhhhh,' he crooned. 'Luthien, fair Luthien,'

Luthien wondered if she should leave him to it- it was getting awfully embarrassing and he was attracting a fair audience, who were watching with amused smiles, as if used to this sort of thing.

She decided to stay. It wasn't often, after all, that he sang to her.

In fact it was never.

'Luuuuuuthien… with eyes as…' He paused in his song, although continued to play his imaginary instrument gaily.

'Lovely as the sea?' Elanor suggested helpfully.

He shook his head, getting distressed. He couldn't think of what her eyes were! How would he finish the song?

Elanor stepped forward and patted his knee kindly. 'It's ok matey,' she said. 'Here, give me your harp thingie, I'll help you.'

He reluctantly handed her the non-existent lyre and Elanor cleared her throat.

Luthien groaned inwardly.

They were both as loony as two loons on loon tablets. She was used to Elanor being as mad as this, but Legolas was meant to be the sane one here!

'Ahem ahem. A song for Luthien by Legolas… well it would be by Legolas if he wasn't so drunk and could think properly… this is what he would be singing if he could come up with the words.' She tried to draw herself up and look like Legolas.

It didn't work.

'Oh, fair Luthien

Who has hair that is fair

And eeeeeeeyes that are also faaaaaaaair-'

Here Luthien gave up and stomped out to their tree. She couldn't take it any more.

But that didn't stop Elanor from seeing her song through to the very woeful end.

When she had FINALLY finished, she looked about her at the astonished crowd. She winked at them knowingly and tapped her nose, "That's right! Hobbits can sing! Take that elves!"

They looked rather baffled and some shrugged their shoulders and moved off. Legolas looked about him bewilderedly. "Where is my fair maid, Luthien?"

"Erm, we lost her a while back. At the beginning of the song really." Elanor answered off-handedly.

His fair face was distraught! "Oh no! Alas, she has missed my ballad for her!"

"Erm…" said Merry piping up, "I think that won't really matter too much…in the big and small of it all…"

Pippin nodded agreeably. Then popped back to sleep.

Miss Bramblerose reporting live from computer…not, sadly, middle earth. Anyway. THAAAAANKYOU OUR DARLING PEOPLES WHO HAVE REVIEWED! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH WE ARE USING CAPS LOCK! AND NOW- *gasps* THE SHIFT KEY- TRULY A SIGN OF LOVE.

Yes so the thing is, we treasure our reviews like, erm, treasure. That is close to our hearts. So we thankyou ever so ever so ever so much. J

Oh yes, and someone suggested we say what the guys think of us. *nods* Very clever. So we have done that in a later part (aren't you just wriggling with excitement?!) only it came out a little, um, strange. But that is not the point not it is not. OH and ALSO… hang on… I can't remember. So, thankye kindly sir for reviews was the point. Yes. I'm not lying.