A/N: This story is sort of a crossover between Lord of the Rings and my favorite Taiwanese television series, Meteor Garden, which is basically the same thing as the Japanese anime, Hana Yori Dango. So those of you that have read stories with a 'suspiciously similar' storyline to this, it's probably because that writer is doing a crossover with either Meteor Garden or Hana Yori Dango, as well.
Okay? Alright. Now, ON WITH THE SHOW!! =)
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CHAPTER 4: HALDIR, DRUNK?
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Damn, that girl packs a mean punch. Haldir fingered his nose gingerly, as he sank down into a hot bath. Perhaps the heat would allow him to come up with a way to deal with this… Five hours later, he suddenly jumped out. I'm a genius.
- - - -
It was a rest day from school, and Andiél was to be found in the middle of the woods. She had been bored out of her mind, so she decided to do some exploring.
Finding a small, hidden path along the edge of the tree, she followed it, and it led her to the base of a giant tree. High in the branches she spotted a small, well-constructed platform, like a tree house without walls or a ceiling.
Twenty minutes, seven splinters, and a lot of cursing later, she reached the platform, gasping at the sight before her.
Spectacular.
From where she was, Andiél had a clear picture of the school, the forests on the other side, and the plains that rolled past that. Beyond it all was the breathtaking horizon.
The spot had an ethereal ambiance – peaceful, quiet, tranquil. Andiél felt relaxed for the first time since arriving at the school. She sighed. Why couldn't the rest of her life be so calm and undemanding?
On top of everyone acting like she was some sort of plague, Andiél also had another problem. Her family was almost broke.
Her parents were good people, but lacked business minds, and were rather clumsy and awkward in certain situations. In the last letter, Andiél was informed that her father had recently become fired for accidentally starting a fire in the library, and she knew that just her mother's wages alone was not enough.
Andiél needed to find a job.
She was interrupted from her reverie by the sound of someone's feet scraping bark, ascending up the tree. Andiél froze. Could she be trespassing someone's private place? She didn't have time to react – this person was obviously used to mounting the branches, and already almost there. She waited apprehensively.
When the familiar blonde head appeared, she almost gasped. Legolas.
"Hi," she said shyly, once he hoisted himself up onto the landing.
He looked at her in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly, frowning.
She bit her lip, "I found the path… and I was curious. I'm sorry."
Legolas studied her for a moment, and then shrugged. "You don't need to apologize. You didn't know." He walked past her to the side facing the school. He sat down, letting his long legs dangle over the edge. He stared intently at the scene before him.
Unsure as to what she should do, Andiél hesitantly walked over to him. Without a word, she sat down next to him, and also gazed at the view. The sun was beginning to set, and the sky was filled with a magnificent splash of colors. A minute passed…
And then ten more…
She asked quietly, "Am I bothering you?"
Legolas continued to stare straight ahead. "No. You don't speak much. Not annoying."
"Oh. Thanks." She wasn't quite sure if it was a compliment, but at the moment she didn't really care. It was nice up there, and if Legolas was letting her stay, then who was she to argue?
- - - -
A couple hours later, Andiél was walking slowly back to her dorm, smiling happily. No matter what others did or thought, Legolas Greenleaf never seemed to care. He wasn't exactly 'kind' to her, but at least he accepted her, in his own way.
A voice interrupted her thoughts, "Just the elleth I wanted to speak to."
Andiél look up, to see Haldir, leader of H4, the king of arrogance himself, leaning against her door. She wrinkled her nose in dislike, "What do you want?"
He gave a tight-lipped smile. "I have a preposition for you."
Andiél arched her eyebrow, and said sarcastically, "Really? The mighty Haldir is going to honor me with a preposition? What did I do to deserve this?"
Haldir chose to ignore this, and stood up straight, taking a step towards her. "I have decided to allow you to become my girlfriend." Andiél blinked. Did he just say what I think he said? Taking her silence as an invitation to continue, Haldir did just that, "I give you permission to walk behind me around the school." He paused. "And if there's no one around, maybe even at my side." For some reason, he looked quite proud of himself.
Andiél continued to stare at his blankly. Knowing that Haldir wouldn't recognize a joke even if it whacked him on the head with Gandalf's staff, she decided that either he was insanely drunk or had gone temporarily insane. "What are you talking about?"
Haldir frowned, "Have you been listening to what I've been saying?"
"Actually, yes. And none of it is making a whole lot of sense," she said matter-of-factly. It was late, and she was definitely not in the mood to deal with a drunk Elf. With that, she walked past him, and started to unlock her door.
If Haldir was expecting any sort of reaction – honored, flustered, thrilled, the like – this is definitely not it. He frowned and pulled her back. "Are you sure you're listening to me? I'm offering you the chance of a lifetime here! What elleth would not want to be my elleth?" He rambled on, "You would live in luxury; there's nothing in this world that riches cannot buy."
Andiél stared at him in anger, not believing that someone could actually be arrogant enough to say those words. She was furious. First he tries everything he can to make my life a living hell. Then suddenly, when he decides that he's had enough, randomly decides he needs a girlfriend, he just expects me to all of sudden welcome him with open arms?
She pried his fingers off her arm, and seethed, "Haldir. I realize this may be quiet a shock to you, but I don't like you. There are things that you will never be able to buy, and I am one of them!" With those last words, she whipped around, entered her dorm, and slammed the door.
- - - -
The next day, Andiél was on a job hunt. For the first time, she realized how incredibly huge the school grounds were. The campus was divided into four sections.
On the southernmost side was Primary Education, which was for elflings ranging from 100 to 999 years of age. In all, it only took fifteen years to complete this program, and elflings could start at the beginning at any age. After that, elflings were sent home until they were old enough to go on.
That next part of the school was for any Elf that had past their millennium birthday. Because there were so many students, this section was divided into two parts, Gwynieth and Tarbor. The classes here were more specialized, similar to our universities.
In the center were the dorms, as well as a giant healing building, restaurants, and a wide variety of stores. And finally, north of all this was a section set aside for purely entertainment purposes. There were lakes for swimming, archery fields, horse stables, dances floors, and stages where plays that were put on regularly.
Andiél was walking along a road full of shops when she set her sights upon a small bakery.
At the counter of said store was a petite elleth with dark brown hair, like Andiél's, but shorter. She smiled, "Hi. May I help you with anything?"
Andiél exclaimed, "Morwin, is that you?!"
The short elleth looked surprised, studied the elleth before her, and cried, "Andiél! I didn't even recognize you!"
Andiél ran forward to give her old friend a hug. "It's been so long! I didn't know you went here! How have you been? How is your family? Have you been here for long? Why haven't I seen you around? Did you know that the – "
"Whoa! Slow down!" Morwin laughed, "At least it's good to see that you haven't changed a bit." She continued, "We're all doing great. This is my first year at Tarbor."
"Dear Valar, we have so much to catch up on! Are you busy later?"
Morwin smiled, "Nope! We can do something as soon as I get off work!"
Andiél bit her lip, and said shyly, "Speaking of work, I'm kind of looking for a job right now. Do you think I could help out here?"
Her friend's eyes brightened, "I hope so! I'll go ask my boss." She disappeared behind the back curtain. Only half a minute later, an older elleth appeared. "Andiél, eh?" she boomed in a deep voice. "Where do you go to school?"
"Gwynieth."
"What year?"
"First."
"You're hired." Andiél blinked. Whoa. Wha-? The elder elleth threw her an apron. "Well, don't just stand there, girl. Get to work!" She smiled at her new employee, then disappeared behind the curtain again.
Morwin smiled, "Welcome to A Piece of Cake!"
- - - -
The next day, school was actually relatively calm for Andiél. Most of the students were tired of picking on her, since she obviously was not going anywhere.
Deciding that Lord Agelair was a hypocrite and a fool, she decided to skip that class, and headed towards the woods instead – to the platform that was fast becoming her favorite spot within the whole campus.
Legolas was already there, sitting in the same position.
"Hi," she greeted pleasantly.
Legolas turned his head to look at her, "Hello."
She left her bag on the side, and went to sit next to him. "Don't you have classes now?"
Legolas gazed at the sky, "Don't you?"
Andiél shrugged, "I don't like the teacher."
He looked at her, "You don't strike me as the sort of person that would skip classes."
That has got to be the longest sentence he has ever said to me. "You think you know me?"
"I'm observant," he said simply.
- - - -
An hour later, on the way back to the school building, Andiél was stopped by two rather nasty looking ellith.
"Well, well, if it isn't our favorite violent-tempered trash," said Cylleth cattily.
Thradilia wasn't as patient. "Who do you think you are, leeching of Legolas all the time?" she asked viciously.
Andiél raised her eyebrows, "Leeching? I don't leech, Thradilia. That's your job."
Thradilia's eyes flashed. "You had better learn a little more respect, you little wench." she glared at her.
Before Andiél could react, Cylleth said, "It would be wise to learn your place, Andiél." Pausing, the elleth suddenly smirked, "You know who the Evenstar is, I assume?"
Andiél didn't fancy this suddenly change of subject. "Who doesn't?" she asked suspiciously.
"Then you must know that she's Legolas' girlfriend, as well, right?"
Andiél felt as if a bucket of cold water had just fallen on her. Quietly, she asked, "The Evenstar is Legolas' girlfriend?"
Smiling, Thradilia said, "Good thing you know who she is. Then you should understand that not only is she gorgeous, she's also the precious daughter of the lord of Rivendell."
Cylleth smirked, "Unlike you, she has the power, the money, and the looks to be good enough for the prince." She paused, then, "She's coming back to the Institute…next week."
Seeing Andiél's eyes widen, Thradilia placed a dainty hand on her mouth mockingly, "Don't tell me you actually thought Prince Legolas was actually interested in someone like you." She took a step closer to Andiél.
Cylleth closed in from the other side, "He probably just felt sorry for you, you poor, pathetic little thing." She pushed Andiél – hard.
Andiél wasn't even listening to them, but suddenly felt herself being pushed – right into something solid… that spoke.
"What's going on here?" asked an angry voice.
"Haldir!" greeted Thradilia coyly, "We were just teaching this little bitch a lesson for you…"
Haldir said icily, "Did I say I wanted to teach her a lesson?"
She faltered, "N-no, but we were… I just…"
He interrupted, "Get out of here. Now! Both of you!"
It wasn't until both had scampered away when Andiél realized that she was still collapsed in his arms. She immediately jumped out and turned on him. "What did you do that for?" she asked angrily.
Haldir was confused, "What?! I just helped you!"
Andiél said coldly, "I don't need your help. I can manage my own battles fine enough, thank you very much."
Haldir was mad now. "What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you tell when someone is trying to me nice here?!"
She glared at him, "What is wrong with me is none of your damn business!" She spat at his feet, and stalked away from him, for the second time in three days.
- - - -
A/N: I believe someone ordered an ally for Andiél? You ask; I deliver! whistles This was definitely my longest chapter to date!
PLEASE don't forget to review!