Okay... this is my latest Lord Of The Rings story. It occurs before 'The Fellowship' and is about Legolas and his love, a half-elven princess living in her father's kingdom among men. She's very young, with dark brown hair, clear green eyes, and a smile that could brighten the gloomiest cave.

As usual, I own the main character, and a FEW minor characters, but the point is , Dréana is mine, Legolas and most of the rest of them are not. Please review!

Princess Dréana walked slowly through the Dark Forest, her ears straining for any noise. She was half-human, so her senses were not quite as strong as those of full-blooded elves, but she was also half-elven, so her senses were much more heightened than those of men.

This was an odd place, and it gave her feelings of uneasiness. There could be Orcs hidden here, among the dead, rotting trees, but luckily, she was skilled with her sword, and even more so as an archer.

Suddenly, a chill came over her and she quickly pulled her hood over her head. It was bad enough, being out here alone and being attacked, but it would be so much worse if her attackers discovered that she was a princess.

The quicker she got out of there, the better. She began to run.

She froze, hearing noises around her.

Pulling her bow from her back, she fit an arrow to it and drew back, searching for the sourse of the noise.

"Your senses have grown a bit lax, my dear."

Surprised, she let the arrow go. It struck the ground and stayed there, sticking up at an angle. She dropped her bow as well and whirled around.

A blonde elf in beautiful green robes stood there, grinning at her in all his elf-prince glory.

"Legolas!!!" They embraced tightly and in pulling away, he kissed her forehead. "I've spent far too long in my father's kingdom," she explained, turning to pick up her bow and extract her arrow from the dirt. "I've had no use for my elven senses there. They've weakened considerably..."

"And does your father know you've come?" he asked, staring at her lovingly.

"No. But he'll never notice. He's too busy with the kingdom and my brothers. I've told my brothers, though, so they'll not worry. They send their greetings."

"You must be tired, Dréana. How long have you been travelling?"

"Not but three days."

"Three days? You must not have stopped to rest at all! But come. We are almost there."

She followed him, and slowly they made their way out of the Dark Forest into the sunlight, which was slowly fading behind the mountains.

"Legolas... how did you know I would be coming?"

He smiled. "I have a bit of the foresight, myself, love."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*(*~~~~*)*~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Prince Legolas has arrived with Princess Dréana!" The word quickly spread through the kingdom of Mirkwood and the elves stood outside to catch a glimpse of Princess Dréana as she walked gracefully at Prince Legolas's side, her eyes sparkling with excitement at being among the elves once more.

Though she was a bit dirty, and her dress old and fringed (which was to be expected, living among the race of men), she was still a beautiful sight.

"Before I appear before your father, love, perhaps I should get cleaned..."

Prince Legolas smiled and looked down at his young love. "My Dréana, my father does not care how you look, he will be glad to see you all the same."

"Legolas, I cannot appear before an elven-king with dirt on my face!" she let out a soft laugh. "It isn't proper."

Okay, I have a small writer's block right here, so if anyone has any suggestions, put them on a review, okay? Otherwise (as I usually try to put up a chapter at LEAST every 3 days) the next chapter may be pretty dull, unless Mr. Tolkien comes to me in a dream or something, which is NOT very likely to happen. So any help is MUCH appreciated.

Thanks,

Diana