"To think, to love," she whispered, "to love.... oh blast it!" She sat up in bed. The moon shone bright through her open windows and a soft breeze strummed her skin.


"I have a lifetime to feel these emotions and I truly wonder when I will start feeling them," she sighed.


'But what about Legolas?' a voice in her head teased.


'Legolas is a Prince and I am from a rival noble family,' she answered herself, 'It's politics, pure and simple. He will wed someone who supports him and his family and I will wed......someone. And also, I'm NOT in love with Legolas. I barely know him!'


She scoffed at the idea.


'What about the way he felt so close....what about how he almost kissed you?' the voice taunted once more.


'Almost kissed me?!' exclaimed Eden, 'Almost kissed my ear is more like it.'


'That's quite sensual too,'it answered.


"Oh shut up," muttered Eden to herself. She was restless. Tossing and turning, she rolled from side to side, her night gown riding up until she had to lift herself off the bed and pull it back down.


Oh the misery of boredom and eternity...if only she had her glasses. On the nose, off the nose, on the nose, off the nose and it would last for quite a long time. She felt as if her glasses were her only source of entertainment and now that they were gone, there was nothing to do.


'River,' she was beckoned by the curiosity of her human side. No one was allowed to swim there at night and no one was allowed to swim there alone in the day. (Author's note: what is it with me and putting rivers and water in my stories??) Oh, if her father had seen her then, she would have been punished severely, but he was not and so Eden ran downstairs and out into the night.


Summo was wide awake and alert when she came into the stable and she smiled at him mischievously as she told him her plans.


:"We will go to the river, yes?" she giggled, "I mean, everyone is always telling me, "there are dangerous things out in the forest, Eden" or "you're going to get yourself killed, Eden" or "don't ride in the middle of the night in a dark forest, Eden" but I have never seen anything dangerous in this wood. Ever and I have lived here all my life." And so these were the thoughts of Eden Goldenlight, true and simple and so my gentle reader, the stupidity of young animals (for we are all animals) should never cease to amaze you.


And so riding Summo towards the river, she rode hard and fast, just in case all the people that warned her were right, but when she arrived beside the river, she got a terrible feeling.


"We should not have come here," she whispered to Summo. The horse seemed to be looking back at her with a look on his face that seemed to say "no shit."


Something made a terrifying screech behind her and she twisted Summo around to face.....well whatever it was it looked scary and not particularly friendly. She had never seen or heard anything about this creature in her life. Her breath caught in her throat as the thing gave out another scream that made her blood run cold and her face turn a startling white. It reared on its back paws, gnashing its teeth and fixating its fierce eyes on her. Its tongue lolled inside its mouth as it sniffed at her scent. It would look like a wolf except for the head which looked similar to that of a rodent.


"Go," whispered Eden, and Summo took off into the forest. She could hear the animal behind, snapping at Summo's legs and making terrible noises which frightened her so. She urged Summo on faster, but the creature did not slow its pace.


'We need to go somewhere for safety,' she thought, 'We'll never outrun him.'


Home


'Home!?' she cursed herself, 'Idiot, you know you can't lead it back home and it will still be after you. That won't solve anything!'


The house of Thranduil........


"No," she said out loud. 'No, I cannot,' she thought bitterly.


'It is the only place that could save you, not another living creature for miles,' a voice rationalized, 'Pride taking you away again, is it?'


'I am being chased by....by...a really scary thing,' she thought, 'Pride should be of my least concern.' And so she pulled Summo forward and quickly changed course and rode north towards the palace, the creature still close behind.


'How could my life get any worse?' she thought, sadly. She was answered with a splatter of water on her face. It had started to rain. 'You had to ask, didn't you?'


'Oh the embarrassment that I will face when I come to the palace,' she thought.


Better to be embarrassed than dead.


'That's for sure,' her thoughts however were over the span of seconds, you see, for when you are being chased by a frightening animal there is no real time to converse with yourself and Eden was mostly worried about how she and her horse were going to get out of this little predicament.


An hour passed and Summo never ceased to stop running at his pace. Unfortunately, neither did the beast that followed. The palace gates were now in view and Eden urged Summo faster. As she was getting closer and closer, she called for help and instantly heard the sound of arrows, but she did not stop Summo until she was inside the gates and the creature was no longer behind her. A drop of rain dripped down her nose and water ran off her finger tips. She sat on Summo in the rain for what seemed like hours, staring straight ahead at nothing..


No matter how hard Eden tried to act and be tough, she could not and she thanked the Valar for the rain which washed away her tears. She had never been so frightened in her entire life and her heart beat with intensity as she tried to calm herself down, her hands still clutching the reins ever so lightly.


She did not heard as the guard approached her and spoke to her. "My lady?" he said, "My lady, are you alright?" But she did not answer. Her thoughts were frozen and so were her movements and she did not notice when they took her off the horse and brought her inside the barrack's.


"Is she alright?" someone asked. "What happened?"


Everything was tuned out.


"She's gone into shock," one of the elves cried.



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


Oh drama drama...I didn't mean to make this so moody. You will find that I will sometimes make fun of Eden, but that's because she can be an idiot sometimes (like now).


I just saw ROTK and let me just say: nothing compares to Tolkien's books.