To Walk In Night

by Nili

Just before Aragorn should travel back to Rivendell, a Mirkwood patrol is attacked and Legolas captured. When Aragorn finally finds him and his captors, both come to realise that a dark force is stirring in Rhûn that might destroy all they hold dear.

2. Faithful Friends

Disclaimer: For full disclaimer, please see chapter 1.


A/N:

Thank you! *huggles stunned readers - except for Jazmin3 Firewing, of course* Thanks SO MUCH for all your lovely reviews! I missed all of you too - and your reviews, of course, but let's just pretend I never said that! *g* Aragorn and Legolas weren't quite that happy to see me again, I don't know why either. *shrugs* They're weird, we all know that...

It's great to hear that you liked Thranduil's ... insanities, I really think it's amazing he's lasted this long. He's a very, very poor elf and deserves our sympathy. *g* And I agree that it's probably best if the two of them leave Mirkwood as soon as possible, _before_ the king totally loses it.

Some of you have asked if the twins will be in this story, and I can assure you that they will indeed. *readers jump with joy* Uhm, it just _might_ take a little while though, maybe something along the lines of chapter 7 or 8 or something like that. So, you'll have to have a little patience, but I swear (even on the precious, if you insist! *g*) that they'll be here. Eventually. And, *insert dramatic pause here*, Glorfindel will make an appearance too! *squealing sounds from various female readers* The three of them won't be there as much as the twins in "AEFAE" for example, but it's better than nothing, right? Right?


Very well, here we are, chapter 2 is ready and waiting for you! And because I know how much you like it, it has a little bit of Elf Angst since Legolas is so easy to pick on. Other than that, we see ... reckless rangers ... very annoyed elves ... and a rather depressed Anardir. *evil grin* Who can blame him, really?

Have fun and review, please!

---

Chapter 2


Anardir was staring into the flickering flames of the campfire, hardly daring to believe his luck.

They had left the palace earlier today, and they hadn't been ambushed by orcs, had seen neither hide nor hair of a single warg or wolf, and no spider had shown itself. No dragon, troll, Ringwraith, balrog or other demon had been sighted; they hadn't even met strange men or dwarves or even a lost hobbit.

To top everything off, they had managed to track a small herd of deer in the early evening and had shot several, therefore even achieving their end: To hunt.

All in all, it had been one of the most uneventful hunting trips Anardir had ever participated in, and both Prince Legolas and young Estel were still alive, well and generally unscathed. Right now the two of them were sitting on the other side of the fire, talking amiable with two other young elves.

It should have been a scene that filled him with contentment, but in reality it did anything but. He had been alive – and living in Mirkwood – long enough to know that there were things too good to be true, and if this was not one of them, he would walk on foot to Barad-dûr and tell Sauron that he had really beautiful eyes. Eye. Whatever.

That thought might have been a little bit strange, the golden haired elf admitted after a few seconds, but essentially, it was true: This was too good to be true, or at least too good to last. That nothing, absolutely nothing, had happened was something that sent his senses into a panicked frenzy of dimensions that had been unknown to him until now. It was almost as if someone was ringing a very large bell inside his head and a bright light was flashing at the same time to warn him of the inevitable: Something had to go wrong, and it would go wrong during the next day. It had yet to happen that his prince and his human friend went anywhere together and did indeed come back in one piece.

Besides, he as his captain's second was the one in command since the older elf had wisely elected to stay behind – a choice he was begrudged by every single warrior of the patrol, Anardir was sure – and therefore it was indeed imperative that something happened either to his liege's son, Lord Celythramir's son or Lord Elrond's son, because that would be just his kind of luck.

Anardir gulped, doing his best to concentrate on the fire. He had never really seen it this way, but now that he thought about it, he was in fact responsible not only for the crown prince of Mirkwood, but also for the only remaining child of one of his king's closest and most trusted advisors and for the foster son of Lord Elrond Peredhil of Imladris.

The blonde elf hung his head. He was dead; whatever happened, he was doomed. One of the aforementioned lords would kill him since something would surely happen to one of the aforementioned elves and/or rangers, and he once again began to ask himself what he had done to the Valar or even Ilúvatar himself to deserve this fate.

And he had thought it had been bad when he had had to deliver Legolas' letter a few weeks prior to King Thranduil, he thought despairingly, the letter in which he had stated that he and his friends were not coming home from Lake-town as planned but were tracking an unknown group of humans to Dale, a course of action that had very nearly got all of them killed.

He would almost have snorted. Hah, that had been nothing! This time Lord Thranduil would truly strangle him, and he would even be right to do so…

"Are you alright, mellon nín?" a voice to his left asked, nearly causing him to jump out of his skin. Anardir slowly turned, desperately trying to get his wildly beating heart under control.

"Yes," he answered with forced cheerfulness, looking into the face of his friend Galalith. "Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

"Well," the other elf answered, his eyes gleaming in the firelight like polished emeralds, "It might be because you keep looking at the fire with an expression so dark and forbidding that even the Dark Lord would be impressed."

"Nonsense," Anardir shook his head bravely. "I am fine. Nothing has happened, has it?"

"Ah," Galalith nodded knowingly, "I see. It is too good to be true, isn't it?"

The golden haired smiled at his friend. They were in fact related, rather distantly though, and since their families weren't very close they considered themselves rather as friends than as kin. And still, Anardir thought, Galalith had been his best friend since they had been old enough to talk, and he thought of him more as the brother he had never had than anything else.

"Indeed it is, my friend," he nodded, giving the two laughing beings across the fire – and Captain Celylith for good measure – a dark look. "Something must happen." He dropped his head into his hands, sighing deeply. "And something will happen, and it will be my responsibility. Please kill me now and spare me the anguish of having to explain all this to our liege."

The dark haired elf gave his obviously very distraught friend a long look and carefully reached out to pat his shoulder.
"Now, now, Anardir, it's not that bad, is it?"

Anardir merely snorted.
"Not yet."

Galalith frowned and shrugged slightly.
"Well…"

"Do not try to console me," the other elf warned him. "It is no use, because I know better. I am doomed, and I know it."

"That is a rather bleak outlook on life," Galalith warned him.

"But realistic. Oh, so very realistic."

"What is realistic, mellon nín?" another voice asked, and both of them turned to the right to see that Celylith had abandoned his seat next to the prince and had soundlessly stepped closer.

"The prediction that either Prince Legolas or Strider will get hurt and that the king will kill our dear friend Anardir for it," Galalith explained, ignoring the scowl on the blonde elf's face at this revelation.

"Oh," Celylith simply said and sat down next to the other two elves. "That prediction."

"Yes, sir," Anardir nodded, slightly annoyed now. It was easy for him to see it this dispassionately, it wouldn't be him who the king would kill! "That prediction, only it isn't a mere prediction, but almost sure certainty."

"I agree," the silver haired elf shrugged. "I have some first-hand experience, after all." He resisted the urge to rub the spot on his back where an arrow had hit him not too long ago. The wound had very nearly been lethal, and for a few days Aragorn and Legolas had in fact believed that he had died. Oh yes, he did have quite a lot experience when it came to travelling with these two. He quickly shook his head and gave the others a short look. "How are the odds?"

The three elves looked about themselves, quickly checking if anyone – especially Prince Legolas or Estel – was sitting close enough to overhear their words. That there existed a betting pool among the warriors was a barely kept secret, and that Mirkwood's accident-prone prince and Lord Elrond's equally accident-prone foster son figured most prominently in it was also more or less common knowledge.

"Everyone agrees that they will suffer an accident on this trip," Galalith answered, reciting the odds with the slightly weary voice of a person who had been asked to repeat the same information one too many times. "Three-to-one that it will be wargs or orcs, four-to-one for spiders, five-to-one for wolves, but only if they do not travel with orcs, then it would be four-to-one. Six-to-one for natural causes, including avalanches, and seven-to-one for a simple hunting accident."

Celylith nodded slowly, thick silver tresses falling over his shoulders to conceal his face.
"I see. We will have to negotiate something, because I think I wish to bet on … natural causes."

"The weather is good!" Anardir protested, his sullen mood suddenly forgotten. "There will be no snow, and the temperature has been even for quite some time!"

"Still," Celylith shrugged. "I would like to bet on it."

"It is your money," Anardir's dark haired companion said, shrugging as well now. "It is left to you how you want to lose it, my lord."

"We will see about that, Galalith," the fair haired elf grinned. His expression changed swiftly, and he looked darkly at Legolas and the young ranger who either didn't notice that they were being observed or simply did not care. Celylith returned his attention to the elves next to him, his forehead marred with a frown.
"But I think we can agree that it has been too easy. There is nothing this easy when travelling with them. Ever."

"My thoughts exactly, my lord," Anardir grumbled, giving the laughing figure of his prince a look just as dark as Celylith's a second ago. He was not only afraid of his king's reaction should anything happen to either of them, of course; he was equally worried for Legolas whom he had known since their warrior training more than two millennia ago. He would rather cut off one of his own arms than let anyone or anything hurt his prince and friend.

His dark haired friend simply nodded, not as talkative anymore either, and Celylith ran a hand through his hair in a rather untypical gesture of concern.
"Then let us make sure that they don't get themselves killed, at least. That should be a worthy challenge, don't you think?"

Anardir nodded, his eyes once again straying back to the always changing, always moving flames of the campfire.
"It should be, my lord."

The three of them fell silent, listening to the crackling sounds of the fire and the quiet songs, laughter and conversation of their companions. Anardir allowed himself to get lost in the fire, his thoughts returning to the train of thought he had abandoned a few minutes ago.

Oh yes. He was doomed, indeed.




Refusing the urge to turn over for the thirty-seventh time – he had counted – Aragorn finally admitted to himself that he couldn't sleep.

He had been denying it for some time now, ever since he had woken up to the sound of something moving through the treetops above his head. Something rather big, and from the sound of it, multi-legged. The young ranger knew of course that the guards that had been posted the evening before would alarm the rest of them should there be anything amiss, but contrary to his elven companions he was not used to sleeping somewhere where about a thousand hostile things were, sometimes literally, crawling all around you, just waiting for you to let down your guard.

That was the reason why he positively hated sleeping anywhere in Mirkwood with the exception of the palace of course, and this deeply in the woods his feelings of anxiety and mild fear had grown even worse. Somehow the darkness of the forest brought back memories and nightmares he would have preferred to forget, and so it came that he rarely found sleep here.

At least, he thought, trying to find something positive about the situation, there were no elves here that despised humans and let him feel it, too. Despite his friendship with Legolas – or perhaps because of it – there were some elves in Mirkwood who didn't like humans overly much, to use a polite term, and those elves let him know exactly what they felt like whenever they got a chance, and be it only in the form of a contemptuous look. Those encounters never got much worse than that or a few well-chosen snide comments when it was certain that he would hear them, but they still bothered him more than he had ever thought possible.

He knew that Legolas would be beside himself with fury should he ever hear about it and that he would probably personally make sure that none of these elves again ever even looked in his direction the wrong way, but he had of course not told his elven friend. When he had been a child in Rivendell and had had trouble fitting in, he had learned that telling your family or friends made it even worse. It was something he had to deal with on his own, and in the end, the few elven children that had dwelt in Rivendell at that time had accepted him. It had taken some time, of course, but in the end they had accepted that he wasn't that different from them even though his ears were rounded and he couldn't climb a tree as fast as they could.

But that was exactly what was bothering him: It reminded him even now that he would never be an elf's equal, that he would never be as fast or stealthy or graceful as one of the eldar. He had always thought that he had accepted that he was human and had different strength – that was at least what his father had always told him – but, apparently, it was not so.

Sighing deeply, Aragorn sat up and threw his blankets aside, beginning to put on his boots. He took up his sword belt that had been sitting next to him and got to his feet, giving the beige canvas of the tent a dark look. He knew of course that he needed a tent to sleep in at this time of year when there was no other shelter available because he was not nearly as resilient to the cold as the firstborn, but in his current state of mind it only reminded him of his human weaknesses.

It was not fair, he decided darkly as he moved to the tent's entrance, elves neither needed several blankets nor a tent. They simply retreated to the treetops or slept on the ground, not at all bothered by the cold or snow.

At that, a memory swirled before his eyes, and Aragorn couldn't stifle the smile that spread on his solemn features when he exited the tent. A few weeks ago, just after he had been released from the healing wing, Legolas, Celylith and he had somehow got into an argument about this very same topic, and somehow, he didn't really know how, it had ended with them trying to teach him how to "properly" sleep in a tree, since the Noldor allegedly knew nothing about that "art".

Needlessly to say, it did not turn out well, and later that night the two elves had had to drag him back to Hithrawyn, who had of course not been happy to see him again, and bruised and with a sprained wrist at that. He had of course not been able to sleep in a tree without someone very close by, and had succeeded in teaching his elven friends that humans were not made for such activities and that the second born could fall from a branch faster than even elves could react.

The dark haired human slowly began to grin. Elentári, Legolas' face had been priceless when he had jerked awake and promptly fallen off the branch he had been lying on…

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard almost undetectable footsteps behind him, and he turned to look into the politely neutral face of Galalith, who was apparently one of the guards at this hour. It was still nearly pitch-black, and little starlight filtered through the dark, densely packed trees around the little glade they had chosen as a camping place. The other guard was probably somewhere in the trees above the small campfire the elves had lit mainly in order to keep him warm; Aragorn was very much aware of that fact. He didn't even try looking for the other elf. In this darkness, he could look for a Silvan elf in a tree until the end of this age; he would never be able to detect him.

"Is something the matter, Estel?" Galalith asked, arching a reddish-brown eyebrow.

"No," the man shook his head. "No, everything is alright, thank you for your concern. I just couldn't sleep, that is all."

The elf cocked his head to the side, surveying him with interest.
"Is that normal for humans? I always thought you needed a lot of sleep – that is at least what Anardir keeps telling me."

Aragorn smiled and pushed a strand of dark hair out of his eyes. Anardir was one of the elves who journeyed to Lake-town at regular intervals to return the barrels the human traders used to transport their goods, and therefore had more experience than most Mirkwood elves when dealing with men. Now that the Forest River which was used for transportation was frozen, the elves used sledges to reach Esgaroth, but since there were fewer elves needed this way and the journeys weren't undertaken as frequently, Anardir and some of his men had been assigned to other duties.

"It is normal," Aragorn answered, once again mildly surprised at how little their two races knew about each other. "A sleepless night has yet to kill one of my kind."

Galalith nodded, obviously accepting the human's explanation, but he still eyed him somewhat suspiciously. For a moment, Aragorn wondered if Legolas had instructed the elf to make sure that he slept enough. Sometimes, the elven prince could be incredibly over-protective, and Aragorn knew better than to put such an action beneath him.

"Where is Legolas?" he asked before the elf could ask him another question. "Is he still asleep?"

"No," Galalith shook his head. "He left the camp about half an hour ago."

"He left?" Aragorn asked, mildly concerned. "Why? Did he go alone? And where?"

Galalith couldn't quite hide a smile, and he shook his head minutely, trying to reassure the anxious human.
"Nothing is wrong, calm yourself. He was merely restless and wanted to be alone for a few hours. Right now he is practicing his archery, I think, about ten minutes to the east from the sound of it."

Now it was the ranger's turn to shake his head. Didn't these elves know anything?
"You let him go alone? At night? In Mirkwood where there are a multitude of things just lining up to bite his head off?"

The dark haired elf looked at him, his green eyes narrowing to mere slits.
"I will have you know, Master Human, that we did not 'let him go'. We asked him to let one of us accompany him, but he refused. He ordered us to stay behind; he didn't even allow Captain Celylith to come with him."

Aragorn saw the truly hurt expression on the other's face and quickly bowed his head to appease the elf.
"Forgive me, Master Elf. I meant no offence, and I know that you do all you can to protect him." He looked up again, grey eyes sparkling in the fire's sparse light. "It is the prince's fault, and that haughty stubbornness of his will get him killed one day, as I keep telling him."

Galalith did not reply, not wishing to insult his liege's son even in his absence, but it was clear to see that he agreed with the ranger's assessment. The elf blinked quickly when the man simply gave him another nod and turned on his heel, giving the sleeping camp one last look before beginning to make his way over to the eastern edge of the clearing.

"Strider!" Galalith hissed and hurried after the man. "What are you doing?"

The ranger stopped and turned, a dark eyebrow arched in a way that reminded the elf eerily of Lord Elrond.
"Walking?"

The dark haired elf ground his teeth and slowly counted to ten. Elbereth, he had never known that a human could be this irritating!
"I can see that. Walking whereto?"

Estel looked at him with innocent eyes that didn't fool the elf for a second. He knew the man's adoptive brothers, and he had seen that particular look far too often. Most of the time right before they got his prince and any who didn't betake themselves to flight into trouble.

"Why," the man asked, "Just … walking, I guess."

"Of course," Galalith snorted. "And I am an orc. Prince Legolas ordered us not to follow him."

"No," the young ranger protested, giving the elf a small smile, "He ordered you. I am not one of his subjects; he cannot tell me to do anything and he knows it perfectly well."

"He will be most displeased to see you wandering around in the darkness," the elf tried to appeal to the human's conscience.

"Yes," Aragorn merely shrugged.

Galalith hung his head. There was nothing to reply to this. He looked up to see the man grin broadly and had to resist the urge to clout him, reminding himself of what his prince and Lord Elrond would say if they heard about it.

"Do not worry, Galalith," the ranger told him, trying to wipe the grin off his face. "I will be fine."

With that he turned and disappeared between the dark trunks of the trees, quickly passing out of sight, even though his footfall could still be heard by elven ears since there wasn't enough light for him to see clearly where he was stepping.

"You did well," a voice behind him noted dryly, and the dark haired elf turned quickly to come face to face with Celylith, who had apparently jumped down from his perch in the big oak tree next to the fire. "It was a valiant effort, and you must be complimented for your patience."

Galalith bit back a rather rude comment and merely glared at his superior.
"You could have helped me, my lord, instead of watching me argue with an insufferably stubborn adan."

Celylith shrugged, sat down next to the fire and added another log to it, watching how the new fuel was greedily consumed by the flickering flames.
"It would have been pointless. I know this look on Strider's face; there is no reasoning with him when he is like this."

"That is comforting," the other elf grumbled. "Then it was not just my fault."

"Nay, Galalith," the silver haired elf laughed. "It was not your fault at all. He is stubborn, even more so than our dear prince, I sometimes believe."

"Impossible," Galalith shook his head. "That is simply not possible."

Celylith turned, dark blue eyes twinkling.
"Do you really think so?" When the other nodded, a smile began to spread on his face. "Ah, mellon nín, you don't happen to be interested in a small bet? The warriors of my guard have a rather interesting one going…"

Galalith returned the grin, and together the two elves began to talk about the precise odds of the bet, both keeping an eye out for anything that might want to harm their sleeping companions.




The arrow hit the bark of a tree with a dull thud, vibrating violently with the force of the impact. The arrow's dully glistering point had buried itself in a small, roundish spot where the top layer of the bark had been removed, dividing it into two nearly perfect semicircles.

Nearly perfect.

That was not even remotely good enough, Legolas thought with a small scowl and walked up to the tree, stopping in front of it and eyeing it as if it was somehow to blame for his lack of accuracy.
The fair haired elf gave his arrow another dark look before he grasped it and pulled it out of the wood, the anger and frustration that were beginning to well up inside of him making his movement impatient and jerkier than he had intended. Just as he thought that the shaft was finally coming out, the projectile's carved wood splintered and broke, leaving him with the broken, jagged pieces in his hands, the head still firmly imbedded in the tree's dark bark.

Legolas gazed at the splintered wood in his hands, resisting the urge to give a short, desperate laugh. A broken arrow. Oh, it was so very befitting, was it not?

He let himself sink down onto a fallen log a few feet away from his target, still staring blindly at the projectile. A few months ago nothing like this would have happened, but now… The elven prince's hands closed tightly around the shaft, so tightly that the ragged edges dug into his palms and drew blood. But now, now everything was changed, and as much as he tried to deny it, he was beginning to fear that it would never become as it had been before.

Legolas shook his head slowly, hopelessly. It had all been his fault, in a way. He knew of course that he couldn't have done anything differently, that jumping down the rest of that cliff had been the only thing to save himself and, ultimately, Estel, but that was his brain talking, and his heart was in no mood to listen to the voice of reason. He had broken his arm in the process, and it had been a very, very bad break, he had known that from the very point he had regained consciousness, only to be greeted by the sight of the white edges of his left radius that had broken the skin of his left forearm.

Aragorn had set his arm, several hours later, and despite the young human's doubts all those involved, including Legolas himself, agreed that he had done an admirable job, but it had been several hours too late. This was one of the times when elven healing powers were a negative thing, the elf decided with a wry grin that did not reach his eyes. With bad breaks such as these it was not a good thing when the body was starting to try and repair the damage it had suffered before the bones had been set, when nerves and sinews tried to cut the connection to the surrounding tissue to minimise the damage before everything had been done to return the bones to the correct place…

Legolas slowly opened his eyes, staring unseeingly at a place just across the little clearing he was occupying. He should be thankful that he had regained most of his mobility, and not being able to aim perfectly should be a small problem. That, however, made everything even worse. Outwardly he tried to project an air of optimism so his friends and especially his father wouldn't see how he felt, but his stoic façade was beginning to crumble and show small cracks which would not remain unnoticed for long anymore by those who knew him well.

He knew he should be patient, he knew that his arm might still heal properly, but every time he strung an arrow to his bow and felt how his left arm trembled and shook under the strain, his hope died a little more, and with it his heart. He had never thought it possible to feel such fear and frustration, but not being able to shoot properly had allowed both these feelings to grow to incredible proportions in his heart.

He still had his knives, of course, but he was an archer at heart, and what was an archer without a bow?

A very sorry figure, that much was sure…

Suddenly, his ears detected a sound, a sound that resembled footsteps now that he thought about it. Footsteps he would and should have noticed a long time earlier had he not been so focused on feeling sorry for himself, a small voice inside his head noted wryly, making the elf frown deeply. Now even his own mind was beginning to give him trouble, that was just wonderful, wasn't it?

Even despite his previous thoughts Legolas gripped his bow tightly with his left hand, his right lingering close to the quiver that was strapped onto his back. He thought it highly unlikely that there were any orcs or goblins near their camp, but one never could be too careful. The fair haired elf tensed even further when he detected movement between the trees to his left, and he stealthily moved closer the tree line.

He had to wait only for a few seconds before a dark figure neared his position, and without thinking twice Legolas reached out to grab whoever was wandering around here in the night by the cloak. His grip was blocked though and someone grabbed his wrist tightly, trying to force him around. Growling inwardly, Legolas let go of his bow and twisted out of the being's grasp, and, aided by his sharp eyes that had no trouble discerning the hooded stranger in the night, he slammed him against a tree trunk, pressing one of his knives against the other's throat before he could even make a single move.

For several moments, there was nothing to be heard than the other's slightly laboured breathing before he finally spoke up, still sounding rather out of breath.
"Ouch."

Legolas blinked and relaxed his grip slightly, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets when he heard the familiar voice. The other took another deep breath and minutely shook his head, his hood falling back a little to reveal several disarrayed strands of dark hair.
"That was entirely unnecessary."

The elven prince stared at the being he was still pinning to the tree before he blinked again and jerked his hands back as if he had burnt himself, the knife disappearing as quickly as it had been drawn.
"Estel? What are you doing here? Are you insane? Do you have a death wish? What – are – you – doing – here?"

Aragorn allowed his shoulders to sag slightly and removed the hood he had drawn around his head in an attempt to protect himself against the cold air of the night, something that had been rather foolish as he realised now. He gingerly touched his throat where a very faint red line could be seen and glared at the shocked elf.
"I am walking! What did it look like to you when you decided that it would be amusing to slam me into trees and to nearly cut my throat?"

"I thought you were an orc!" Legolas hissed back, the realisation that he had nearly slit his best friend's throat hitting him like a blow to the stomach and leaving him weak and shaking. He quickly bent forward and took up his bow, straightening up with a dark scowl on his face. "I nearly killed you! Elbereth, you really are trying to get yourself killed, aren't you?"

Aragorn narrowed his eyes at his friend.
"I do not even remotely sound like an orc. I do not smell like an orc – don't say anything now if you want to keep your head where it currently is – I do not look like an orc, I am nothing like an orc!"

Legolas all but staggered back to the tree trunk he had been sitting on earlier, letting himself sink down onto the wood with a small gasp.
"Valar! You do not sneak up on an elf and then try to reason yourself out of it when you get caught!" He didn't give his human friend who was slowly following him the time to protest but simply continued, giving the man a disapproving look. "What are you doing here, Aragorn? You should be asleep!"

"As should you be," the man retorted, sitting down next to the elf. "And even if the firstborn need little rest, you should definitely know better than wandering around Mirkwood at night alone!"

"You did the exact same thing," Legolas pointed out, trying to distract the ranger.

"No," Aragorn protested, looking very pleased with his reasoning. "I did not 'wander around'. I was looking for you, that's a difference."

Legolas didn't return the small smile his friend was giving him and merely continued looking at him darkly, an expression that just didn't seem to fit his usually so merry face.
"If you knew where to find me, you must have talked to Galalith or one of the others. And they will have told you that I do not wish for company tonight."

"They did," the young ranger admitted.

"But? So? Therefore?" Legolas shot back, his frustration and worry turning into irrational anger all of the sudden. "I do not think I stated that wish in any way ambiguously, nor that it was too much to ask for!"

Aragorn drew back a little, somewhat shocked by his elven friend's outburst. It was so unlike Legolas to behave like this, and the worry that had been growing inside of him redoubled.
"Peace, my friend," he tried to calm the other. "If I am indeed intruding and you want to be alone, I will heed your wishes, of course. I shall leave you, you need not become angry."

The elven prince's expression changed immediately from anger to remorse, and he hastily reached out and placed a hand on Aragorn's arm who was just about to get back to his feet.
"Forgive me, mellon nín," he pleaded softly, refusing to meet the other's eyes. "I spoke in anger and my words were uncalled for. Please stay, if you wish."

The man gave him a long look before he sat back down, concern and a little fear swirling in his silver eyes. After a few moments during which none of them spoke, he finally opened his mouth, unable to contain the mounting anxiety he felt any longer.
"What is it, my friend? What drove you here in the middle of the night?"

For a moment, Legolas felt the strong urge to lie to his friend, to tell him that everything was alright and he was merely feeling tired, but he knew that Aragorn would never believe him. That human was just like his father, he decided with a small, inward smile, he always knew when something was wrong with him, and nothing he ever did could fool him.

He took a deep breath and nodded into the direction of the tree where the stub of the arrow was still protruding from the dark bark.
"That."

The human shot him a puzzled look before he got to his feet and walked over to the tree, nearly falling down once for it was essentially still far too dark for a man to see anything. Finally he reached the tree and bent his dark head over the broken shaft, a pale beam of moonlight illuminating the scene.

"I can see nothing out of the ordinary," he told his elven friend who was staring intently at his hands now. "If this tree tried to attack you, you stopped it just in time."

Under any other circumstances, Legolas might at least have rolled his eyes at his friend's attempt at humour, but now he merely closed them.
"Look closer," he advised the man softly.

Aragorn did as he was told.
"Well … you hit it nearly perfectly in the middle," he said after a few seconds, understanding slowly beginning to dawn on him.

"Precisely," Legolas nodded with a hollow laugh. "'Nearly perfectly'." He opened his eyes again, silver-blue eyes fixing on the man's face. "That is not good enough."

"Legolas," the ranger began, sympathy on his face, "You know that it has merely been a month. There is still a fair chance that everything will return to normal, especially if you continue practising as you do now. I know it is hard and…"

"I do not need your pity!" the elf snapped, averting his eyes. "I neither want yours nor anyone else's!"

Aragorn looked at his friend, grey eyes darkening in anger and hurt. He quickly pushed these feeling to the back of his mind, knowing how hard it was for Legolas to cope with this. Rarely did an elf give any thought whatsoever to the possibility of lasting physical harm, and to find himself in a situation such as this one had to be nothing short of terrifying for the elven prince.

"I do not pity you," he told him softly, slowly walking back to where his friend was sitting on the fallen log. "If there is one person in this world who does not call for pity, it is certainly you."

The elf still refused to meet his eyes, and so Aragorn kneeled down in front of him, reaching out with one hand to take his chin and gently turn his face around until the prince's eyes looked at him.

"You do not have my pity," he repeated seriously. "What you have is my empathy, and my understanding. I do know what you feel like, for something like this is much more common among my kind." He paused for a moment, grimacing slightly. "When I was about fifteen years old, I fell out of a tree, as I have done many times. But that time, I broke my leg, and it took me more than three months to be able to walk properly again. I know that sometimes even my father doubted that I would recover, even though he never showed it, and many times during these three months I was close to despairing, for I was sure that I would forever be crippled and would never become a warrior like Elladan and Elrohir."

Legolas carefully freed his chin from the human's grasp and cocked his head slightly to the side.
"And what stopped you from falling into despair?"

Aragorn smiled fondly, obviously deep in memory.
"My family and my friends, of course. They believed that I would walk again, no matter how long it would take, and, in the end, I believed it too. And when the bones had healed and I was hale again, I was very glad that I had trusted their judgement." The ranger looked at his elven friend seriously. "You have already much improved, mellon nín. You only have to give it more time, and I am confident that your arm will heal completely. Be patient."

Legolas frowned, looking at his hands again.
"You do not understand, Aragorn," he shook his head. "I am helpless as it is now."

"Helpless?" the man exclaimed, studying his friend's face in the slowly increasing light that began to filter through the trees. "You are far from that, Legolas! You still shoot more accurately than I ever will!"

"But, if you will forgive me saying so, that is not good enough for me," the fair haired elf explained, a pained expression on his face. "I am not used to having to allow scope for the case that my arrow does not fly true. I am not used to taking into account that I might not hit exactly where I had meant to hit. I cannot go into battle like this, Aragorn. I could not stand at your back with the knowledge that the slightest, very possible lack of accuracy will not take an enemy's life, but yours. I cannot protect myself or anyone else when I know that I might as well kill my friends. I cannot."

Aragorn shook his head in dismay, not really knowing what to tell the elf. He was right, and that made the entire thing even more painful. It was in situations like these that he longed to be at home, where he could ask his father or even his brothers for advice.

"I am sorry," he whispered brokenly. "I should have been more careful when I set your arm; had my father or another healer been there, this would probably never have happened. It is my fault, and nothing I can ever say or do will ever be able to make up for it."

"No, Estel," the prince shook his head, his own problems forgotten for the moment. "It was not your fault; you saved my life that day, and the mobility I do have I owe to you. If not for you I would probably have lost far more than just my accuracy."

"But…" the young man began again, eyes guilt-filled and dark in his face.

"No," Legolas repeated firmly. "I do not want to hear another word about this. It was not your fault, and nothing would have been different had Lord Elrond been there. Do not blame yourself."

Aragorn bit down on his bottom lip, eyes still troubled. But he didn't retort anything to his friend's words and simply nodded his head.
"As you wish."

He paused for a moment and studied the elf closely, noting the way his shoulders slumped in frustration and hopelessness.
"You are not helpless," he told him again. "We just won't get ourselves involved in a battle until you are fully well again, my friend. And even if we do, you will simply forget about that stupid bow and take your daggers instead, alright?"

As he had anticipated, the elf's eyes lit up angrily when he heard the derogatory words about his beloved weapon.
"If your brothers weren't coming in a few days, I would kill you here and now for this and make it look like an accident."

"An accident?" Aragorn asked, an eyebrow arched high.

Legolas grinned, feeling how some of the stress and frustration dissipated like a bad dream.
"Yes, something that involves you stumbling and falling into your own sword."

"Let me guess," the ranger interjected in mock seriousness. "Repeatedly. And after that I mysteriously manage to shoot myself several times in the back."

"How did you know that?" the elf asked, apparently greatly surprised. "I would be inconsolable, of course…"

"Of course you would be," Aragorn grinned, slowly getting to his feet. He brushed the melting snow from his clothing and offered Legolas a hand up. "I think we should return to the others, or Celylith and Anardir will come looking for us. You worried them greatly when you insisted on going alone."

The elf let himself be pulled to his feet and ducked his head a little sheepishly.
"I know. I just couldn't bear the thought of company; I needed to be alone for a while."

"Solitude can be a faithful friend, but just as easily it can be your worst enemy," the man reminded his companion. "It is easy to lose oneself in hopelessness and despair when one is alone in the night." He looked at the prince, serious grey eyes boring into silver-blue ones. "This is temporary, Legolas. I believe that you will fully recover, and so must you. You will overcome this, my friend, I know you will. If you do not think so yourself, then trust me."

Legolas looked at the young ranger, once again marvelling at how much he sometimes sounded like his foster father, something that should not even be possible for one of the second born.
"I do trust you," he said quietly. "I believe I will also trust your judgement, mellon nín." He gave his human friend a long, unreadable look before bowing his head slightly. "And while I might nearly have fallen into despair, I shall never fall into hopelessness, Estel."

Aragorn inclined his head as well, smiling brightly at the blonde elf's slightly ambiguous words.
"You shall indeed not, my friend, and I am glad for it."

Both began to walk back into the direction of the camp site, the small patches of the sky that could be seen through the dark, leafless canopies of the trees lighting up slowly as the sun began to make her way across the heavens. The sounds of birds began to fill the air as the small creatures awoke to the sun's rays, and Aragorn once again thought sadly what a beautiful place Mirkwood had to have been once, before the coming of the Necromancer.

When they reached the trees, he turned back to his elven friend, an impish grin on his face.
"Well, I advise you to try and come up with an explanation that will satisfy our dear friend Celylith and the rest of our companions. I truly do not think he is very happy with you right now."

"I imagine not," Legolas shrugged. "But I already know what to tell him."

"Oh? And what would that be?"

Legolas turned his head and grinned at the man.
"The obvious, of course: That it was all your fault."

Aragorn stopped dead in his tracks, mock outrage on his face.
"My fault? My fault? You nearly broke every single one of my ribs today, strangled me, threatened me with a dagger and then it is my…"

"Oh, do be quiet, reckless human."

"As you wish, stubborn elf. And I am not reckless."

Legolas didn't even grace that statement with an answer as they made their way through the thick undergrowth back to their campsite. And that, Aragorn thought with a small smile, was probably quite a good thing, too.





TBC...





mellon nín - my friend
eldar - 'People of the Stars', elves
adan - human, man




See? *points at chapter ending* This is not a cliffy! I don't _always_ write cliffies! *tries to look offended* Okay, so I'll probably update every four or five days as always, right now probably the latter since college is rather busy at the moment. In the next chapter we'll see just how much Anardir was right, who ultimately wins the bets and that my alter ego's back to play. *g* That and much more, the more reviews I get the sooner! Never underestimate the power of reviews, for they make authors very happy and hyper! Really!

---

Additional A/N:

Sirithiliel - Really? Great, then we're both equally insane - that's always a comforting thought... *g* I'm very happy to hear that you liked the beginning, and I'll admit that Sirithiliel is really not _that_ easy a name to spell. But it's doable, so stick to it!
Kathira - *g* So I should include lots of Aragorn and Legolas torture and angst? Well, I think I just MIGHT be able to do something about that! Never fear, I don't think I could write anything but... I'm very flattered to hear that you liked my previous stories so much, it's always great to hear that someone actually enjoys the weirdness I seem to be unable to stop! Thanks for reviewing!
Coreinha - *hangs head* I'm sorry too, but I swear it wasn't my fault! I tried, but the phone company is always the one ruining all my plans... They're pure evil, that's what they are! *shakes fist* We hatesss them, evil nassty humansss! And I resent that last comment. I don't know why, since you are perfectly right, but I resent it nonetheless. Whatever. *shakes head at her ramblings* Just ignore me, will you? Thanks.
Helen T - It was not a cliffy! For cryin' out loud, it was NOT - A - CLIFFY! I mean, that wasn't one! It was a tiny little bit of foreboding, yes, but not a cliffy. The next chapter's a cliffy, I'll admit that, but ... oops, I shouldn't have said that, huh? *evil grin* Probably not... I'll think about the Elrond/Glorfindel reunion (the "/" is absolutely coincidental!), but I have to stress that I didn't promise anything, and if I did, I lied. I don't know if it will be in here since there will be no Elrond in it, and it wouldn't do from Glorfindel's point of view. So, maybe. I'll think about it, okay?
Critternut - Yup, I'm back. *g* Great to hear that you've been looking forward to this weird little story so much, it's very flattering. "Straight Paths" is a little five-chapter-story I promised Kaeera as a birthday present (so it will be posted on the 23rd), and it's about _her_ favourite character who just happens to be Elrohir. It turned out to be a twin story with lots of Glorfindel and Elrond, taking place about five hundred years before Aragorn's birth. So, no Estel, and no Legolas either, sorry. *g* Well, in this case it would rather be the calm before the storm before the storm, but you'll see. In a few chapters, that is... *evil grin* No, English is definitely not my first language, that would be German. *sighs* I know, it's an ugly language, most of the time. Ancient Greek is much nicer. I know, I'm insane, don't tell me. *g*
Kirsten - Jeez, I'm one of your favourite authors? *blushes* That's a very nice thing to say, even though my sister would tell you to read more - she might even be right there.. *g* She's evil though, so I ignore her most of the time. No, it's not too late yet to request lots of elf torture, I'm sure I'll be be able to do something about that. Yup, definitely... *very evil grin*
Alisha B - *huggles* OF COURSE I remember you! How could I ever forget!? *haunted look* No, J/k, it's GREAT to 'see' you! Aww, you were worried about me? How sweet... (Voice in Nili's head: She only wants your story, idiot! Nili: Lalalala, not listening, not listening!!) I will definitely try to update on time, otherwise I know that you would be more than happy to do a bit of nagging! Don't look so innocent, I _know_ you! *huggles again* Thanks a lot for reviewing again!
CrazyLOTRfan - Yes, I think they've finally done it. It's a miracle Thranduil remained sane as long as he did anyway! *pats her back carefully* As I said, yes, the twins will be in this story, not that much, but yes, they'll be here. Now be a star and stop bouncing, you'll fall off and break a wrist, and then who would review? *g* Thanks for your review, it's great to 'see' familiar 'faces'!
Deana - *looks at her rolling on the floor* Okay, you seem to be enjoying yourself - which is great! I'm very happy to hear that you like it, so here's more! Hope this was soon enough - but then again, it never is, is it? *g*
Nikara - You're really watching my page? Uhm, okay, it's here, don't worry... As mentioned above, my update rhythm is every four or five days. I would like to post every four, but I think it will be five for the next few weeks since that horrible place called college demands my attention, and it has nasty ways of making sure that it gets it too... *g*
Ellyrianna - *hangs head* I'm very sorry for letting you wait, I really do. I had no say in the whole thing, unfortunately... I updated the very day I could go online again, I swear! *wide-eyed look* Will you forgive me? Pretty please? *looks offended* Well, you should know me better by now to know that I would never write a just-Aragorn or just-Legolas fic. I couldn't, it wouldn't be fair. So never fear, I'll make sure that both of them get their equal share of owies and mental torture and Valar-know-what-else. Okay? Okay.
Marbienl - You did it! You conquered the evil FF.net - for once, at least! *g* Well, what Galion meant was that his injuries weren't life-threatening when he got to Mirkwood, I guess. They weren't then, you have to admit that. *shakes head* You. Always looking for some possible hidden injury. I'm not saying that there aren't any, but you're obsessed, that's what you are. *g* Many people have pointed the Thranduil-Gollum-parallel out, but I have to admit that I didn't even think of it once when writing it. Really, I didn't, but you're all right, of course. The twins were planning to come to Mirkwood and stay for a week or two and then leave again when the passes had some time to de-freeze - or whatever mountain passes might do. That wouldn't have been too much, and Estel's not made out of glass either. He would manage. *innocent look* No, I have no idea what you like? No, wait, wasn't it romance? Or something like that? Yes, I think that was it... *g*
TrinityTheSheDevil - What exactly is the Sméagol dance? Do I even want to know? *Aragorn shakes his head fervently* Ah, apparently not... And I really think that they need something much more stronger than peroxide, mate. Try a crash cart and an emergency room. *evil cackle* And lots and lots of doctors. About a dozen should do. *g* Thanks for reviewing again! It's great to 'see' you again!
Joee the Drunken Elf - Then I was really lucky, wasn't I? That I did post on Thursday I mean... Great you like this already, I hope you'll enjoy the rest as well! Thanks a lot for your review!
Dha-Gal - You read THOM in two-four hours? Wow, you're a fast reader then. I have no idea how much it would take me, I have never read all of it. *shrugs* It's not that funny when you know what happens, is it? As I said, this is NOT a cliffy, but I have to admit that my alter ego's already back and more than impatient. She enjoys other people's misery, she does... I don't of course! Never! *g* Yeah, I always try to put in lots of details, otherwise reading is no fun at all. Great you like it! Thanks for your compliments and your review! Both is very much appreciated! *g*
Gwyn - *g* Do not kill Celylith, hm? Well, then I'll have to kill Legolas and/or Aragorn, won't I? I mean, I have to kill someone here! *g* I'm very glad to hear that you've been enjoying the first chapter, and I really hope you'll like the rest as well. I'm always a bit self-conscious about new stories... *shrugs*
Firnsarnien - *watches her backflip* Wow, that was really nice! I mean, I couldn't do that! I would try and land flat on my face, which wouldn't be very graceful, I guess. Yeah, I kinda remembered that you liked elf angst, and since I did, I put this little scene in this chapter. Plus, Legolas is such an easy victim, nearly as good as Aragorn. *evil grin* Oh, and I am SURE you would give them lots of 'tender loving care', but they might try to escape and we can't have that. I might give them to you for a little while after the story. Deal? *huggles* Thanks for reviewing again! I truly hope you'll enjoy this story as well!
Silvertoekee - Aha, so I've found a lurker! *about to press the button with the insciption 'Rabid warg-horde'* No, j/k, it's great to see someone de-lurk! I really love to hear what people think about my weird little stories. LOL, yeah, one kinda wonders how they managed to survive till the end of the Third Age - God knows I don't. Pure dumb luck, I guess. *g* Thanks for de-lurking and reviewing! Reviews encourage me immensely!
Jenny - Hey! Great to 'see' you again! Well, this chapter has no cliffy, but I guess I would lie if I promised it would stay that way, sorry. You know me, I'm too evil and have too sadistic an alter ego not to write cliffies. *sniffs* Sorry, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonentheless!
Mouse5 - Well, if that's not Mouse! I was very happy to see that you had reviewed again - thanks a lot! *shrugs* You know me, I'm evil, besides, I need the chapters I've already finished in case I don't have time to write - which, considering the way college is going, will come true rather soon. Great to hear that you like it so far, thanks again for the review! *huggles*
Cestari - *nods* I know lots of people made the Gollum-Thranduil connection, though I have to admit that I didn't. The thought never entered my mind when I wrote it - I guess I'm a bit slow on the uptake... *g* Thanks a lot for reviewing!
Tychen - *shakes head helplessly* I know, they SHOULD have learned that, after a light-hearted beginning, something terrible MUST befall them, right? Well, I guess they're a little stupid ... or very naive... *evil grin* I'll do my best to put a bit of all of the above into the story, but it's starting slowly, I guess. I always need some time to come up with enough evil thing to do to our favourite elf and ranger...
Grumpy - I survive only because I could go online at college, sometimes. It's always rather hard to find an unoccupied computer, so I only had time to check my emails - it was horrible! *sobs at mere recollection* LOL, I can just imagine Thranduil forcing Aragorn to pack his bags and stay at the gates till his brothers arrived! He is three sandwiches short of a picknick at the moment, I'll admit that... *g*
Firniswin - Hmm, Wilwarin ... I don't know. I'm thinking about it, and if an opportunity presents itself, I just might. These stories are just in the habit of doing what they want anyway, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. *shrugs* Great to 'see' you, thanks for reviewing! Hope your reviewers didn't threaten you too badly!
ThE iNsAnE oNe - Miki! You're back! Squeeee! *huggles* Uhm, sorry. I usually don't do that. I'm just happy to see that you're back. That's all. *clears throat* Okay then... Well, I'm sorry, but as I said, the twins won't be here in the near future. They will be here, of course, *watches with amusement how Elladan and Elrohir shriek and try to escape*, but a few chapters later. So you're not tall? Really? How tall are you, or is that a secret? I mean, I'm not that tall either, I'm 1.75 m, I don't really know what that's in feet. Not tall, by any means. LOL, indeed, I am a very special person, I survived 13 days without internet. And _of course_ Estel and Legolas attacked the phone company! You could have read it in the papers! "Mysterious lunatics attack Telekom! Two obviously deranged individuals disguised as famous fantasy characters killed more than 235 people and severely injure..." *shrugs* They never figured out I was behind it though! LOL, you're looking for a bew king? What about Hithrawyn? I'm sure he'd make an _excellent_ king... *evil grin* Thanks so much for your huge review! *huggles* Thanks a lot!
Suzi9 - *sheepish smile* Well, I DO study history, or classics as you would say I guess, and I HAD this course about Homer last term. It even was about the Odyssey, so you just might be right... *g* And I know what you mean, the metaphors sound very nice in Greek, but translated they can begin to severely annoy you... *g* So you're one of Eva's friends? I think I remember her, has she moved already? I've moved a lot myself, and it does get a little but old after some time... It's nice to know that you liked my weird stories, and lots of luck with your essays! I never liked Ajax, somehow, I don't know why either, but I always loved Medea! Especially the bit in the end with the dragons - I mean, that's cool, isn't it? Iason was an idiot and deserved it anyway... *g*
Cicci - *g* Well, I hope you'll do it and review every single chapter! It's not a problem if you don't, but since I'm addicted to reviews I would be rather happy about it, of course... Thank you for your very nice compliments, I'm very happy to hear that you enjoyed THOM. I had lots of fun writing it myself, especially the cliffies, yes, I admit it. *evil grin* Yes, I always need some time before torturing them within an inch of their lives, I don't know why either. I probably need to get into the 'flow' of the story. *shrugs* Whatever, it might also be that I need to silence the remnants of my conscience. Thanks a lot for your very flattering review, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well!
Vampy2k - Yup, as I said in the A/N, there will be Elladan, Elrohir and Glorfindel in this story, even though they'll appear a bit later. About the torture: Let's just say that they still have a little time before it gets really bad, okay? Not long, but a few days... *evil grin*
Jazmin3 Firewing - See? I didn't huggle you, I do remember such things... And don't laugh too hard, I really would hate to lose a reviewer like that. Nope, we can't have that, so no laughing, understood? *threatening look* Good... Well, I hope this was soon enough, and thanks for the review!
Mystic Girl1 - Wohoo! Eine review von Mystic Girl! Na, wenn das nichts ist! *g* Ich fuehle mich sehr geehrt, dass du dich entschlossen hast zu de-lurken, das ist doch immer schoen! Und, genaugenommen, schuldest du mir 48 reviews fuer die letzten beiden stories, glaube ich auf jeden Fall, aber ich werde mal nicht so sein. Die hier war ja so gigantisch dass ich mir geradezu schlecht vorkomme, wenn ich in irgendeiner Weise meckere... *g* LOL, ich glaube fuer Thranduil's Wahnsinn braucht man ueberhaupt keine Beweise, die sind zur Genuege vorhanden. Man kann's ihm ja auch nicht unbedingt verdenken, oder? *G* Ich kann mit Elrond richtog gut vorstellen, wie er nach Barad-dûr reist und Sauron anfleht, in eine Weile zur Erholung aufzunehmen... *knuddelt* Vielen Dank fuer deine ueberaus amuesante, ewig lange review! Ist immer wunderbar, so was zu lesen, wie du ja sicher auch weisst!
Amelie - Sure I remeber who you are! *watches her run into walls* How could I ever forget? *g* I didn't only threaten to send Legolas and Aragorn after them, I really did. You would have read about it in the papers, but the bas**** are covering it up. *grrrr* What do you mean, no cliffies in this story? You can't be serious! I mean, come on, no cliffies means no fun! You can't expect me to write something like that! As glad as I would be about another al-purpose-stick, I have to refuse. No cliffies, really... *shakes head* The update was Tuesday after all, but I hope it was still okay. Hmm? Thanks for the review! I'm glad to be back, too!
Aratfeniel - To my shame I have to admit that I thought about Starwars when you said 'everybody's favourite trilogy'. Hmm, to be perfectly honest, I still think that Starwars is my favourite trilogy. LOTR might be a close second though... *shrugs* I'm really not that obsessed with LOTR, not that anyone will believe me, of course... Oh, you broke your wrist? Poor you! I really hope it gets better soon - how can you type with a cast? Is that even possible? *puzzled*
Asha Dreamweaver - LOL, I have to admit that you're quite right. The twins, Estel and Legolas in one place are a certain guarantee for disaster! I really think that Thranduil remained sane for an amazingly long amount of time! I would have gone insane a long time ago! And I don't think that I will reveal too much when I say that no, they don't get to Rivendell. Not that that surprises anyone, right? That would have been far too easy! And about the wouldn't-it-be-easier-to-snatch-Aragorn-thing: First, it just might be - and I don't say that it will *g* - that they're not even together when it happens, and second: Who says that they want Aragorn? With that not so mysterious remark I will leave you now... *fades mysteriously* Thanks for the review!
Maranwe1 - In fact it has been even a month and a half. I've been lazy... *hangs head* Sorry. LOL, their "brilliantly eccentric ways lead them into situations normal people would never dare venture into"? Well, most people would call their behaviour simply stupid! *g* Hmm, I think if they were ignoring the danger they would be stupider, even if they realised it sooner. But they haven't realised anything yet, it's only a hunting trip now - but things can always get worse! And since this is my story, they also will go worse! Mhahahaha! *g* Well, the main difference between the Tengwar of Fëanor and the Mode of Beleriand is basically that the first is the older writing system in which the vowels, the tehtar, were placed above the tengwar letters. There are differences between writing Sindarin and writing Quenya, but they're not really important. So, you can use this system for both the languages, while the Mode of Beleriand was developed for Sindarin. Here the vowels are (mostly, all with exceptions of course) represented by tengwar letters. This is what we can see above the gates of Moria, and I think also on the maps in "The Hobit". As you can see, it's not so important. Elrond could use very well either, the first since he's old enough to remember the time when Quenya was being replaced with Sindarin as the main elven tongue, but the second as well since it's essentially a writing system for Sindarin. It's one of the things only freaks like myself would even notice. *shrugs*
Maerz - Schon klar dass du One15 bist, DEN Auftritt haette ich ueberall wiedererkannt... *g* Und nein, sich mal melden kann nicht schaden, denn damit zeigt man dem Autor, dass man ihn (oder sie) mag und ermutigt ihn (oder sie *g*) weiterzuschreiben und... *dunkler Blick* War das deutlich genug? LOL, J/k, schoen, dich mal wiederzusehen. Ich mag den neuen sn, und keine Angst, Legolas' Pferd gibt's auch noch. Er kommt sogar noch mal vor. *g* Danke fuer's sich-melden!
Strider's Girl - Uh, your GCSEs? Poor you - most people I know weren't too happy when they had to take them - you people have WAY too many exams if you ask me... *g* I wish you all the luck there is in the world (except mine since it's always bad), and I understand of course that you have other things to do than review weird things as this one. Once again, good luck and I hope you'll enjoy the coming chapters as well! Thanks for reviewing, it's great to 'see' you again!
Seveawen - You could say so, I am indeed back. *g* I'm happy to 'see' you too. And I totally see what you mean, my friends and I are just the same. Which is really rather bad, since we're supposed to be adults. *g* It's great to see that you're back to your usual, insane self, thanks a lot for the review!
Zam - Zam! Orc horde! I missed you! *huggles all of them* It's so great to have you back! Once again, I'm sorry that I missed Lina's birthday. I really hope she's not angry, and I hope she got that email I sent her as soon as I read your review!? If not, tell her Happy Birthday, will you? Thanks. *giggles* No, it's not blood, what you people think, really... *sighs and grabs her shirt* Here we go again! Stop it! Will you stop shocking my characters, for crying out loud! They may be elves, but that just can't be healthy! *huggles Zam* I really missed you and Snikdul and all the others! Great to 'see' you again!
Fantasia3 - Yeah, I admit it. I am addicted to reviews. They should have a warning on the homepage or something - it happened quicker than I thought possible! It's worse than cocaine, I'm telling you! *g* Well, you are right, the first chapter was probably a little bit not-straight-to-the-point. I guess one excuse would be that I needed to repeat and explain a lot of things, but I guess the truth that that's just my writing style. Mostly, I can't get to the point easily, I'm trying to work on it, but I don't think I'm making any progress. *shrugs* Whatever. Thanks for telling me though!
Leggylover03 - Great you liked the first chapter! Unfortunately, you will have to wait for Aragorn-pain and all the other things you crave (and don't try to deny it) till chapter 3/4. Sorry. I hope this update was fast enough -I doubt it though!
Port - Yeah, the poor statue. They're vandals, aren't they? *blushes* Thanks for your compliments! It's nice to hear that you liked my previous stories - even despite their weirdness - and I truly hope you'll enjoy this one as well. I'm always rather self-conscious when posting new stories, I'm always afraid they're not as good as the others... *shrugs* We'll have to wait and see, I guess. Thanks a lot for your very flattering review!
Elenora - Well, first thank you for your wonderful long email! It's always nice to get such long and wonderful feedback... And I have to admit that one never gets tired of hearing such things, trust me! *g* You can just keep saying them, I really don't mind... Hmm, no, English is not my first language. That would be German, which is an ugly language, don't tell me. I started Latin when I was ten, then English when I was twelve, and then Ancient Greek with fifteen. I could have chosen French instead, but I love Latin and so I didn't. Besides, I get in a car, drive six hours and am in France anyway, so if I want to learn French I'll just go and live there for a while. *shrugs* I never regretted my choice. And yes, I am absolutely sure I don't mind if you point out flaws and mistakes and poor grammar and other things like that, because I really think it's worse if I write something which is horribly wrong and no-one tells me. And if no-one tells me, I'll just keep doing it, and then one day somebody will laugh me in the face for saying something terribly stupid. *stops to read what she's just written* I'm ranting, great... See, that cynic/cynical thing is a wonderful example! I knew it was wrong, and I looked it up in the dictionary, and that stupid book said it was alright! Of course it is not, and I knew it was not, but I would have continued using it since the dictionary said it and who am I to challenge the dictionary? If I ever decide to get a beta, I will most certainly think of you, but somehow I never feel comfortable with letting people read what I've written before I post it. I'm weird, don't tell me, but I am. *huggles her* Thanks so much for your wonderful email, it's such an ego-booster! Really, it is! I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story as well!
ShortRedHead28 - Well, you just _might_ be right. About the cliffies, I mean. There isn't one in this chapter, but I won't say anything about the next chapter! *evil cackle* It's very nice to hear that my stories keep you guessing - I always try not to make them too predictable. Thanks for telling me that they're not!
TrustingFriendship - I think so too! I mean, I don't understand why Legolas doesn't like his nickname - it could be worse after all! I'm sure the twins would be able to come up with something much worse if asked... *g* As I said in the A/N, the twins will be here, not as much as in AEFAE, but they will be here. Promise. *huggles* Great to have you back!
Jack Sparrow87 - *blushes* Well, thank you! I tried to update as soon as possible, but from my own experience I know that that is never soon enough. *g* Well, I tried. Thanks for reviewing!
Aurienia - Hey! You! Nice to 'see' you again! I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, and I'm sure Thranduil will calm down again. *reads next few chapters* Hmm, then again, he might not. *evil grin* No need to apologise at all, I know how busy life can become all of the sudden. And never fear, I would never stop a story in the middle - I'm too much of a perfectionist to do that! It's very nice to see that you still like my insane little stories - thanks for reviewing again!

Jeez, I had forgotten how long you need to reply to all the reviews... *hastily* I don't mind though, really! Thanks a lot for all the wonderful support!