A/n: Groan, I just looked back and saw how wretched the last chapter was. (weeps in frustration) As a sort of apology, I hereby present this next chapter. ;_;. Weep. Oh, and I'm really really sorry about the remarkable lack of updates on my part. Really! It's school. Again, sorry and if anyone is still reading, I thank you tremendously.

Disclaimer: Okay, maybe I don't own it. But Legolas's clone is mine, all mine!!!!! An' so is Haldir's clone, an' Aragorn's clone, an'... um... yeah... Well, I do own the OCs.

Oh!!! And, ppl!!!! Check out the work of my mates, Nienna5 and The Lady ~Elentari! They write het, but Nienna's is good het (sorry i had to leave you out, kat, but you haven't updated in an age)

Chapter Four: Windy

Legolas shuddered as a gust of cold wind hit him, and leaned onto Erin's side. She placed an arm about him, because she was cold as well.

Erin hated the cold. She could still see, in her mind's eye, the fresh blood on the snow. "Don't eat me," she whispered involuntarily. Legolas shivered again and she hugged him.

He looked at her with confused eyes. She smiled reassuringly.

"It's okay," she said calmly. "I'll protect you from the shadows. They won't get near you like they did me." Legolas smiled back.

Watching the scene, Gwaloth seethed. //Even insane, she still clings to the cunn like a leech.//

Erin looked straight at her, and Gwaloth was given the vaguely disturbing feeling that her thoughts were being read.

"Stay away," Erin said clearly, her eyes fierce and hard. "I won't let you near my little bird. I won't let you swallow him whole." Her arms tightened about Legolas, clearly showing she was referring to him. Gwaloth stared incredulously at her.

"Erin, get away from him. Now."

Erin jutted her chin out stubbornly. "You can't hear me so I won't hear you," she said sweetly, with a deathly cold glare. "I do not hear you. I do not see you. You do not exist."

"Erin!," exclaimed Gwaloth, alarmed. "Let go of him, NOW! Or I'll... set the shadows on you!"

Erin jumped away from Legolas as if burned. She looked up at Gwaloth, trembling. "No! No! No!" she screamed, eyes wide and white with fear.

Gwaloth sneered down at her. "I will. You have been a bad little ward, Erin. Shall I call the shadows and make them eat you up?"

"No! No!" Erin began to cry. Gwaloth glared angrily.

"Then for the sake of the Valar you will BEHAVE!!!"

Erin nodded, pale as a sheet. Gwaloth sighed, and knelt down beside her. "I don't like frightening you, Erin. Please, obey my orders when I first issue them. They are for your own good, and Legolas's. You have shown very dangerous behavior in your past, and your more dangerous side could come out of you and try to strangle the cunn. It is for his safety as well as your own." Erin nodded once again, and huddled into a ball, silent as a ghost. Gwaloth smiled down at her.

"Okay. I won't ever threaten you again, Erin, I promise. Looks like we can be friends now, huh?"

"Sure." Erin's voice was flat and toneless. Her mouth was agreeing with Gwaloth, but her eyes were screaming one word:

Liar.

Gwaloth ignored it, and went over to sit by Legolas. She smiled sweetly at him. "How are you, Legolas?" she asked brightly. He didn't answer. He just smiled at her.

"Oh, feeling good I see! Hungry, though, aren't you? You must be. Come on, let's get you some food." Legolas hesitated, and pointed to Erin with a wordless question. Gwaloth scorned his questioning look.

"She's not hungry, Legolas. And anyway, her eating times are different from yours. All of you crazed ones are fed at different times. Come on."

With a shrug, Legolas walked behind Gwaloth to the fireside, where the guards were eating. They had paid no attention to the whole scene; it was their job to be discreet and they were content that Gwaloth knew what was best for Erin and Legolas. Legolas had not really comprehended any of what Gwaloth said, but some hidden memory made him trust her utterly. She might look mean sometimes, but she did everything for his and Erin's good.

Legolas took a chunk of warm bread and slowly began to chew. When Gwaloth wasn't looking, he offered a piece to Erin. She took it and began to gnaw on it ravenously. He smiled. The lady Gwaloth must have just been confused. After all, Erin didn't look hungry ever, so she might not have been.

Erin was too skinny to tell. Abstractly, Legolas wondered why he could remember her name and Gwaloth's, but he pushed the thought away. He could not think for too long on one thing, or it could become a memory. Their names were burned into his mind, however, and he was almost afraid of it...

He repeated his mantra in his head. Do not make a sound. Do not remember a thing. And no matter who you meet, they will be your enemies. I am the only one you can trust.

Erin's fire-red hair was matted and hung over her white skin, nose, mouth, and eyes. She was feeling awful, because the cat had taken away her little bird and might eat it alive. Tears ran down her cheeks at the thought, and she chewed half-heartedly on the bread she had been given. Nasty cat.

******************************************************************

Haldir sat in a languid position on his favourite chair, limbs askew. He sighed as he remembered that he had to go down to the patrol in a few hours. He only had a short while to rest.

Sitting up a bit, he began to admire his handiwork. He had constructed a hammock-bed on four posts, nearly as good as a real bed, in one corner of his talan. On it was a thick, pillow-like matress and full bedding, including a pillow with a pillowcase. There was also a fresh pitcher of water on a table, with an extra mug. Normally, Haldir only kept one mug. But the new occupant would doubtlessly need one. After all, they were so high up in the boughs of the tree that it would be a grueling hike to go back and forth between the kitchensand the fountains. Haldir had chosen this location for his talan for the solitude, but it did make living a bit difficult.

He got up slowly from his chair, and, with a sigh of contented exhaustion, flopped down on his bed to nap. Outside his talan, a few flakes of snow whistled by before hitting the Lady's magical barrier and melting.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Legolas sighed and looked blankly out of his hood at the cold world. He shuddered, wishing that it were time to stop for the day so that a fire could be lit. Fire... no! He couldn't think, couldn't remember.

After all, he had been commanded not to remember, and he must obey that command.

Gwaloth seemed to sense his conflict, and patted him warmly on the shoulder. "Are you all right?" she asked gently, eyes warm. Legolas nodded numbly.

"I'll bet you're cold, huh." Legolas nodded again, his jaw clenched to keep his teeth from chattering. Gwaloth gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder once more.

"It's all right. We'll be in Lorien by tomorrow, and the Lady's magic makes the leaves stay on the trees and the wind stay warm. It is the most beautiful place in the world. I can't wait for you to see it." Legolas smiled at her.

Across from Gwaloth, Erin rode on her horse. She was not preoccupied with the cold; in fact, her cloak had nearly slipped all the way off as she attempted to mimic the wingbeats of migrating geese far above them. Legolas pointed at her with a wry look. Gwaloth spun around, and gasped.

"Erin! Oh, dear," she said in a tired tone as she nudged her mount over to Erin's side and began to help her put the cloak back on. Securing it with a firm tug, Gwaloth let her horse step away again, and grinned at Erin.

"Are you pretending to fly, Erin?" she asked in a secretive tone. Erin smiled sweetly.

"No, I *am* flying! Look at me!" Erin cheerfully spread her 'wings' again, and Gwaloth chuckled.

"Well, at least your cloak isn't falling off this time!" Erin laughed.

"Thank you for fixing my feathers," Erin said kindly, a few minutes later. "If you hadn't stuck them back on, they would have frozen that way and I would have fallen down, down, down and hit the earth with a thud!" She smacked her palms together to emphasize the last word. Gwaloth looked at her with bright eyes.

"You're welcome. I certainly would not want you to go *thud*," she said seriously. Erin laughed.

"Because, if I hit the ground, I would have died!" she said with the same apparent merriment. Gwaloth sighed, and shook her head.

"Silly, I would have caught you before you hit the ground."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Brr! It's certainly very cold here. Are your feathers keeping you warm enough, bird?" Erin nodded enthusiatically, and began to chirp and tweet like a robin. Gwaloth smiled again. She turned to Legolas.

"What about you?" she asked quietly. "Are you warm enough?" Legolas only shivered. Gwaloth pouted prettily. "Poor baby."

The two twins, Hastel and Ryune, were sharing the same saddle. They were thin enough to fit. Gwaloth slowed her horse to back up to them, and began to chat with them. They began to look a good deal more cheerful.

Erin smiled fondly at Gwaloth's back. "Such a nice little girl," she mused to herself. "But definitely off her rocker. Any damn fool can see I'm not bird."

Legolas only laughed, a silent motion that left his mouth open with no sound coming out of it. In an instant, Erin went completely silent and started to mouth her words instead of speaking them; miming his movements exactly.

He rolled his eyes at her and returned to facing the path.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Haldir chugged down a glass of wine relentlessly, searching for the bottom. Next to him, Rumil hiccupped and rubbed his nose morosely. He took Haldir's glass away from him when he had finished his chugging.

"You're drinking too much," Rumil slurred, melancholy still in his eyes. Haldir laughed raucously, and slapped him on the back.

"Oh, you're just gloomy because I'm winning." Rumil glared at him.

"I'm quite sure you cheated, somewhere along the line," he said seriously, an adorable puzzled look coming over his brow. Haldir shrugged.

"Stalling!"

"Am not!"

"Then let's get on with it, shall we? What do you have left to bet?"

"Err... I think I have some wine from Mirkwood," he admitted with reluctance. Haldir stared at him in shock.

"You had Mirkwood wine all this time and you didn't TELL me?!" he yelled indignantly, gesturing poignantly with an uncorked bottle.

Orophin sighed and looked at his two brothers, rolling his eyes when Haldir managed to spill half the contents of an old red wine onto the very white floor. "Great," he muttered under his breath. "Now it looks like someone bled to death in my talan."

Hellë, another quiet observer, shrugged eloquently. "I suppose they can work out their hangovers tomorrow morning by sandpapering it out," he suggested in a quiet voice.

Orophin sighed, and looked at his talan floor. "But they've papered it so many times before... I'm afraid they'll sand it right through!" Hellë stared.

"How many times have they spilled wine on the floor?"

"Well. Let me think... there was the red wine two weeks ago, and the purplish one before that. About a month ago I seem to remember they brought up some orange carbonated junk sent up from the hobbits; I had to peel them off the ceiling! Then there was the red wine three months ago; they spilled so much of it that it took four hours to sand deep enough. Oh, and then, just five months ago, they threw a drinking party and invited their friends to bring their strongest wines... and then the white wine before that..."

Hellë gulped. "Ouch."

Orophin sighed. "Sometimes I think that it would be better if I just gave them my room and lived in a spare talan."

Meanwhile, the argument over the latest bottle was becoming decidedly more heated in the other corner of the room. Orophin winced as they knocked over yet another glass, and prayed that the one they were tussling over wouldn't crack under the pressure.

The gods, apparently, were feeling kind today. Orophin sighed with relief. His darling brothers got a tad bit on the violent side whenever they got drunk. Sadly, they insisted on getting drunk at least once a month, with vivid enthusiasm. Orophin smiled. But they had been going at it harder tonight, for the new inmates of Lorien would arrive in the afternoon the following day, and once those burdens were upong them... they would definitely not be able to drink for quite a while, possibly over a year.

Orophin had almost been able to hear Haldir's thought process as he absorbed the news from Galadriel's messenger: *Oh, #$%&*, they're arriving tomorrow? I still have so much to do... wait, she didn't act like they were going to leave. Ever. OH VALAR!!!! I'll never be inebriated again!*

What was funny was that Rumil had decided to get himself very, very drunk at the exact same time Haldir did.

Orophin sighed wistfully into his glass. The he grinned like a devil. "Ah, what the hell!" Orophin decided as he joined the fray with his brothers, scrabbling after an unused wine bottle and chugging away.

Hellë sighed, and shrugged sheepishly. "Well, as my human acquaintances are wont to say; "When in Rome..."

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Haldir stood stiffly at the side of the path that went through Lorien, at attention. The procession seemed to be taking a rather long tme to make its way through the trees, and not for the first time, Haldir wished nervously that they would hurry up. He had been nervous about this for the whole day, from when he woke up -with the worst hangover of his life- to now. His fingernails were already worn down to stubs.

//This isn't going to be easy. I hate first meetings anyway; but I'm going to have to be spending quite a long time with this Prince. Oh, Valar, please let there be justice in this cruel world and make them hurry up!//

It was nearly fifteen minutes until the procession stopped, a few feet in front of Haldir. The air was cold, and the wind was none too gentle, but at least there were no snowflakes falling. The Lady's barrier ensured that much, at least.

A few of the elves were shivering. Haldir stepped forward slowly, and cleared his throat.

"Well come, my Mirkwood fellows. The Lady has been expecting you for quite a while. If you would please bring the afflicted elves forward, we can have them settled into their new quarters immediately."

A group of five came forward, one of which was obviously the caretaker. She curtsied, and spoke through chattering teeth.

"These are my charges, milord. Please, if they're misbehaving or acting strangely, call for me and I will try to help. This is Erin, former noblewoman," she said, bringing forth a slender woman who was muttering sadly to herself. Hellë stepped forward, and gently took her arm. Erin did not appear to notice, but he led her away anyway, talking in a low, soothing voice.

"These are the twins." Orophin and Rumil stepped forward, and they each took the arm of a twin, gently steering them in the direction of the kitchen.

"And this is the Prince, Legolas Thranduilion of Eryn Lasgalen." A small, thin figure stepped forward, and their hood was lifted.

//I suppose there is justice, after all,// Haldir thought weakly, as he walked forward to take the hand of the Elf that was standing before him. Although he seldom admitted it, he preferred the company of men, and this person was...

Perfect. The epitome of androgyny, he stood about five and a half feet tall with long, golden hair framing his face. His mouth was a soft, pale pink, curving and certain to be adorable if he pouted. His skin was as pale as the moon, and his cheekbones were high enough to emphasize his eyes.

All right, maybe not so perfect.

The eyes were blank, devoid of life, of awareness; devoid of anything that could possibly be worth saving. They showed to interest in life or any emotion over being sent away from home. They were eyes of ice. Cold. Hard. Uncaring. When Haldir looked down into the depths of Legolas's eyes, he could see nothing but darkness.

Haldir shivered, and then snapped out of his reverie. This was no time to fantasize about an insane Elf Prince. Clenching his jaw in determination, Haldir led Legolas up the stairs to his talan.

Legolas followed him trustingly and willingly, but he was more like a marble statue than a living being. He was unquestioning and totally uncaring, content that Haldir would see to things.

He was also as silent as a ghost, as Haldir shortly found out. No matter what he said, Legolas showed no sign of having heard him. Haldir gritted his teeth and fell silent.

//So, Prince Legolas, content to be looked after like a doll, eh? You're in for a rude awakening, my friend, a very rude awakening.//

*****tbc*****
A/n: Sorry, but my muses are abandoning me and I felt that this was a good sort of way to leave off while I chase them all down with butterfly nets...
A/n: Bit longer than the previous snippets. (big, wolvish grin) Wahahahaha! Gwaloth is such a confusing person! I am so EVIL for creating her!

In response to reviews:

Silvawen the Elf Crumpet: ^^. You're so nice. Unfortunately, my mother is a security Nazi and she'd probably leave me at any arranged meeting spot trussed up like a turkey with a paper stuck to my forehead reading : 'This is a Traitor. Fire at Will.' To make a long story short, my mum doesn't want me to tell anyone online (that I haven't spent over three years getting acquainted with) where I am. Bugger mum. (gets cross) Well, we'll be staying in Devon, but I can only say 'around Christmas' cos otherwise Fate would have a lark and cause an insane obsessive homocidal maniac to hack into your e-mail and decide to kill me. At least according to my mum's perspective.
Grr.... Luv anyways!

Wynjara: Hai!!!!! Nice to meet you, thank you for your review. Hope you review again!!!!!

Cheysuli: Ah-HAH!!!! I knew it! Chronicles of the Cheysuli!!!! Well, the weird syaing means: The fate of a man is in the hands of the gods, and is accompanied by a palm raised towards the heavans to show the 'in the hands of the gods' part. To say it the short way, just 'Tahlmorra' will do, with the gesture.
And, no, no one in Lorien has met Leglolas previously. I luv Rumil, he's so sweet and bouncy.

Keeper of the Dreams: ^^. Hyper!!!!!!!! Well, I hope u like this chappie!!!!!

Legolas19: Here we go. And, to give a hint: There's someone else who Legolas used to love... ! Eeeep!!!!!! Help!!!!! My muses are running after me with harpoons for giving that away!

Lady of Legolas: Three reviews, how nice! See, Legolas's problem is that he's apparently scared to death of something, but he refuses to speak or make a sound. So everyone's worried. Bai bai!!!!!!!

Cerasi: Hello! (blinks) short term memory... have I met you before? Sorry if I have... Ep! Too many reviews! (faints)

Oh!!!! And I must apologize: Gwaloth really does have a nice side. _ Trust me, my muses are the only ones who want it that way... I was never good at writing !happy! girls... want to give her a twisted past or some flaw of a sort that won't give the plot away!!!!!!!! But NO!!!!! She's a Mary Sue person-type-thing. Ick... muses, you owe me big time.