Disclaimer: I own my fuzzy pencil...not Lord of the Rings, and thankfully not Barney.
"...didn't know what else to do. I'm glad you came," A voice said, and somewhere in the back of Haldir's mind, it registered.
"You did the right thing," Another voice assured the first voice. Something was very strange about these voices. They were...they were...
Haldir's mind struggled into semi-consciousness. The voices were loud! That's what was strange.
"How long has he been out?" The second voice asked.
"At least an hour," The first replied. "He hit his head pretty hard."
At these words, Haldir noticed a throbbing pain in his head. He also felt a sharp pain in his ankle. He tried to think of what had happened before the darkness, which was still with him now. He had tripped...somehow and...hit his head...many times. It hurt to think so he stopped.
"So...dark...," He croaked.
"Haldir?" The first voice said.
"Open your eyes! Then it won't be dark!" The second voice added.
Haldir slowly opened his eyes. It was still very dark. But, it was also, most likely, nighttime in Mirkwood. He could see two figures above him. One was the girl that he had tried to help earlier, Ankara, and the other was...
"Legolas?"
"Yeah. I came here after you knocked yourself out."
Haldir thought Legolas seemed to be speaking much louder than usual. And he seemed to be wearing a less fuzzy outfit. Little did Haldir know, the hits on the heat that would have been fatal to a mortal man, had corrected the years of damage the elf had done to his sight and hearing.
"Why...why are you...," Haldir paused, putting his hand on his head, "why are you speaking so loudly?"
Ankara frowned slightly and whispered something to Legolas. Somehow, Haldir understood every word she said perfectly. "What's up with this guy?" she had said, "He can't hear me when I'm shouting at the top of my lungs, but he heard us whispering."
"I resent that comment," Haldir said propping himself up.
Ankara looked at him strangely. Legolas pulled her a couple of feet away and whispered something back to her. Haldir, with his improved hearing, heard, "I don't understand. He had been so deaf before. You see, he had fallen out of one too may trees when he was 5,000...I don't know how he heard us at all..."
"I resent those comments, too!" Haldir called.
Legolas and Ankara looked up, shocked. They moved farther away and continued talking.
"How did he hear us?"
"I don't know. Maybe the hits to the head did his hearing some good," Legolas paused and thought. He looked toward Haldir and whispered, "Haldir is a big, fat horse. Can you hear me now?"
"Those comments are also resented! And no need to shout!" Haldir responded.
Legolas looked at him like he was a big purple dinosaur named Barney. The look of shock and horror on their faces could only be described in such a way.
"Haldir," Legolas said, approaching the improved and slightly bruised elf, "I want you to go to Lothlorien and have them run sight and hearing tests on you. Wait...forget that...just have the doctors here check you out. You may prove to be a good detective after all."
Haldir stoop up. "I don't see why I should go, quite frankly," He began. "I haven't felt this good in 9,000 years!"
Legolas sighed. "Just go. If we find out how good your hearing and sight are, we can see if your detective skills are worth more than a trench coat."
"Will I get to keep it?"
"What?"
"The trench coat! If I'm worth more than it I want to make sure I'll be able to keep it!"
Legolas sighed again. "Yes. You can keep the trench coat."
Haldir jumped up. "Yay!" He shouted as he began skipping off toward the Mirkwood Infirmary.
Ankara watched and could only wonder what she had gotten herself into.
