Title: Little Swan

Pairing: None

Rating: R

Genre: Angst / Drama

WARNING: Violence

Beta: None

Cast: Haldir, Orophin, Rúmil, Celeborn, Galadriel, OCs

Disclaimer: I own no-one from The Lord Of The Rings. All the characters and place names displayed belong to JRR Tolkien except Seòras, Naelie, Bricta and Beleril who are from my own imagination and therefore are the only ones I lay claim to. I do not intend to, nor am I making any financial gain from the writing of this story.

Feedback: Yes please! We "aspiring" authors thrive on the stuff.

Timeline: Before the War of the Ring. Not following movie-verse.

Summary: After her mother's brutal execution, young Naelie and her father are left to piece their lives back together. But the outside world, will not allow this.

Chapter 8

"We cannot possibly need all these berries, Orophin. It's more than enough to feed the whole of Lorien twice over!" Beleril gestured at the three baskets of berries that lay at his feet and sighed as he heard Orophin's laughter.

"It's not funny, Orophin" he frowned, "you have only one basket, and here I am laden down with three!"

Orophin shook his head, grinning and just managed to swallow the laughter that was fighting to get out of him. "I'm sorry, Bel" he replied, still smirking. "But you do exaggerate sometimes".

Naelie watched their exchange and smirked as she caught sight of Beleril, fighting the urge to resign from his position as 'berry collector'. She shook her head and continued searching the undergrowth for suitable fungi for the kitchens. The collection system for the kitchens worked on a four week rota and had been in place ever since the Spring Ball. It had transpired that the cooks in the kitchens only had just enough resources to laden the tables at the Ball after spending most of their free time out in the woods collecting them. And so, a rota to provide the cooks with more time, had been put in place that at the beginning of each week, several groups of three or four would go out in the woods and collect what they could find and bring it back to the kitchens.

This particular week, it was Beleril, Orophin and Naelie's turn to collect the berries and fungi, whilst Galáril, Nadia and Mideth went hunting. Naelie brushed away the leaves that had collected upon her skirt and continued scouring the foliage for fungi and edible mushrooms. On one instance, she thought she heard a low rumbling coming from somewhere in the trees ahead. Looking up for a second or so, she squinted through the thick branches in front of her and finally resolved that she had imagined it.

"Finally" she thought to herself as she uncovered a mushroom. With more effort than usual, she pulled it out of the ground and inspected it for any insects that may have made their home inside it. "Not quite as plump as the others, but right enough" she decided, and deposited it in the basket by her knees. Suddenly, Naelie froze. There was the rumbling again! Only much louder and this time, she knew she hadn't imagined it. She turned round to see both Beleril and Orophin looking wide-eyed in the direction the noise had come from, both of their hands on the hilts of their swords.

"Bel?" she whispered uncertainly, only to receive a 'shush' gesture from Beleril in response. Only moments later, a throaty growl sounded from somewhere behind Orophin and he whipped round, drawing his sword as he did so. Naelie could feel her heartbeat hastening and the beginnings of fear starting to creep up on her.

Whatever was in those trees, there was more than one. Only seconds after Beleril had drawn his sword also, there came two other consecutive growls and four gaunt shapes slunk out of the trees, moving almost silently as they began to circle the trio, their eyes livid and teeth bared. The fur hung limp upon each wolf's body, and Naelie's eyes widened as she saw the horrible state the creatures were in. They were very thin, almost unbelievably so, and their bones could be seen just below the surface of the skin where fur had fallen out, most likely due to fleas, disease or confrontation.

What colour there was in Naelie's face at that moment, left it as she took in the terrifying sight before her. Chancing a glance to her left, she saw that both Orophin and Beleril looked decidedly pale and clenched their fists tighter still around the handles of their swords. The four wolves kept circling menacingly around, and one had begun to salivate at the mouth.

"Do not move until I say" whispered Orophin, barely audibly, waiting for the right moment to strike whilst his eyes tracked the wolves' movements.

Naelie swallowed hard and felt downwards for the dagger she always carried on her person when she was out in the woods. Slowly, she inched her hand to the sheath upon her belt and heard a warning growl from the wolf nearest her as it sensed her movement. She froze, her heart hammering against the inside of her chest as the wolf stood completely still and stared at her. Naelie watched the wolf, her breathing coming in short gasps, and continued to try and reach her dagger, whilst trying her best not to make direct eye contact with the snarling beast only a few feet from her.

Orophin waited until the wolves had slowed down their circling and seeing his chance, he whispered again. "Okay. Don't attack, back away slowly" he instructed Naelie and Beleril, who immediately did as he said whilst watching the wolves.

The wolves continued to glare at them with their hackles raised and soon, they began to advance further upon the trio, their tails held high and showing absolutely no signs of retreating. Next to her, Naelie saw that Orophin's breathing had quickened and he too was having difficulty not making eye contact with the wolves nearest him. Quick as a flash, Orophin bent down and scooped up two large handfuls of rocks from the ground. The wolf close by him suddenly began to howl, the eerie noise reverberating off the trees.

Orophin quickly passed some rocks to both Naelie and Beleril, whilst whispering, slightly louder to be heard over the howls of the wolves. "Throw them and yell as loud as you can and keep backing away".

Naelie blinked disbelieving at Orophin. Throw the rocks at the wolves and yell? He must be mad! They'd be attacked for sure. But right now, she wasn't in a position to argue, so taking a deep breath, she threw a rock at the wolf nearest her and yelled at the top of her voice, backing away as she did so. The wolf walked forward a few steps, its teeth bared and glistening with saliva, but spurred on by the yells from Orophin and Beleril close to her, Naelie continued to throw rocks at the wolf, finally striking it a blow on the peak of its head.

The wolf let out a strangled yelp and backed away slightly, looking quite dazed. Naelie took the opportunity as it was handed to her and kept throwing and yelling at the top of her lungs. Eventually, the wolf backed away considerably and chancing a glance around her, Naelie noticed that the elves were having good success as well. Suddenly, just as the wolves were beginning to show signs of turning tail, Naelie backed away a little too far and overbalanced backwards. With a small cry, she fell to the ground.

This was exactly the chance the wolves had been waiting for. With one of their victims on the floor, defenceless and startled for the moment, they began their attack. The wolf in front of the other three bounded forward with a bark and sunk his teeth into Naelie's leg. Naelie let out a piercing shriek of pain and tears began to fall from her eyes as she scrabbled against the wolf's iron grip. Seeing their fellow's success, the other wolves were spurred on with both the idea of success and the smell of blood.

Howling, the other three made their advances upon Beleril and Orophin, both who were trying their hardest to get the wolf off Naelie. With a growl, the straggliest of the four wolves leapt straight upon Beleril's back, knocking both the elf and his weapon to the floor. The wolf dug his claws into the back of Beleril's tunic, drawing a little blood and began to snap at Beleril's head. Straining his neck to look round, Beleril managed to dodge the wolf's lunges at his head, but still he knew he could not hold out against the weight upon his back for much longer, not without a weapon. Unfortunately, Beleril's sword was lying over four feet away and try as he might, Beleril could not move an inch because of the dead weight upon his back.

A little way away, Naelie watched with horror as Beleril was attacked, and for a brief instance, she forgot about her own predicament. She came back to earth with a bump though as the wolf bit fresh into a new part of her leg. Screaming blue murder, she kicked out against the wolf, trying to force it to let go, but it would not budge.

Suddenly, she felt something hard knock against her thigh and looking down, she noticed her dagger still in its sheath. Without saving a moment to think, Naelie whipped the dagger from its tough leather pouch and in one instinctive blow, she sent the blade deep into the wolf's neck. Its eyes stayed wide open in shock and it keeled over onto its side, twitching, its teeth still embedded in her leg, even in death. Shivering all over with pain and terror, Naelie prised the jaws of the creature from her and suddenly felt a fresh stab of white hot pain as she released the pressure upon her leg. She felt herself going light-headed as the warm liquid issued from the wound, staining her pale skirt a livid, poisonous scarlet.

Gazing blearily into the distance, Naelie saw Beleril still trying to fight off the wolf and struggling to reach his sword. Naelie tried to get to feet and try and reach her friend, but she collapsed in anguish. The wolf was showing no signs of remorse but however, once made a slight error. It released the pressure upon Beleril's back for only a brief moment, but enough to allow the elf to get upon all fours and crawl as fast as he could towards his sword. However, the wolf had other ideas, and seeing its prey trying to make a getaway, it pounced again upon Beleril's back with even more force, causing Beleril to collapse once more to the leaf strewn ground. Unfortunately for Beleril, the power of the wolf's jump made him fall a little to the right and strike his head upon a rock with a resounding crack, thus causing him to fall completely unconscious.

Then, suddenly, Naelie saw another figure, Orophin, dart forward and in one swift movement, he sliced the wolf's head clean off where it rolled several metres before finally coming to rest in a hollow. She could see that Orophin had also felled the wolf that had attacked him, which meant that there was only one more wol-

"OROPHIN!" Naelie screamed as she saw the foul creature advancing from behind.

Orophin whipped round and saw the wolf just a second too late to act. As the wolf reared, snapping its long jaws and trying to get a-hold of Orophin's neck, Orophin struck repeatedly with his sword, but the wolf proved remarkably agile and evaded each and every one of Orophin's blows. Suddenly, the wolf set both its huge paws upon Orophin's chest and with a push, bowled the elf over onto the ground below.

As had been with Beleril, Orophin accidentally dropped his weapon, but thankfully, Orophin still had it within reach. Darting out a hand, Orophin made to grab his sword, but the wolf let out a loud bark that startled the elf. Shifting its weight slightly, the wolf managed to place one paw in the way of Orophin's arm, preventing the elf from reaching his weapon.

Naelie, although she was quite a way away from Orophin, knew that she had to try and save him, or at least enable him to reach his weapon. She picked up a rock from the ground and threw it with all the strength she had at the wolf's head. The wolf howled in pain, but its desire for its prey overrode the earnest instinct to attack its attacker. When the wolf did not budge, Naelie threw more stones, desperate in her attempts to force the wolf from Orophin. The wolf, seeing that its internal struggle was about to be lost, made a snap decision and lowered its head towards Orophin's jugular.

Seeing what was about to happen, Naelie gritted her teeth against the blinding pain in her leg, staggered to her feet and ran forward towards Beleril's fallen sword. She grabbed it from the ground as she ran, and upon reaching the wolf praying that her aim would not miss, she raised the sword and plunged it deep into the wolf's thin frame. With a gasp, Orophin rolled sideward thanks to the sudden release of pressure upon his chest just as the sword blade pieced the wolf's stomach and impaled it to the ground, exactly where the elf had been lying moments before.

Summoning the last of her strength, Naelie wrenched the blade from the wolf and kicked it aside with her good leg, before collapsing with combined pain and exhaustion next to Orophin.

"Are you….alright?" he panted, clearly in deep shock.

Naelie nodded. "Yes I think so, mostly. But my leg hurts terribly".

Orophin managed to get onto his knees to inspect the wound. His eyes fell upon the tattered remains of one side of her skirt where the wolf had bitten her and he gasped.

"Alright" he said softly. "I won't pretend this won't hurt, but grit your teeth, ok?"

Naelie nodded and prepared herself for whatever he was going to do. Reaching into his tunic pocket, Orophin, brought out a small pouch and produced a small bottle of clear liquid and a roll of thick cloth. He rolled up what he needed to of Naelie's skirt and tried not to make his shock evident upon his face. From the bottom of her knee to just below the top of her thigh, Naelie's left leg was covered in bite marks. From what Orophin could see, there were only one or two that looked deep, but he knew he needed to ease both her pain and the flow of blood, otherwise it could become serious.

The elf uncorked the tiny bottle and repeated what he had just told her. "Now I need you to keep still for me, ok and remember, grit your teeth".

Again, Naelie nodded to show she had heard and at her response, Orophin poured several drops of the transparent liquid onto her wounds, and flinched slightly as she cried out in anguish as the great stinging in her leg took on new fire. Taking the thick cloth, Orophin wound it around Naelie's leg until all the wounds were covered and then quickly tied it off, producing a make-shift bandage.

"I am sorry for causing you pain, Naelie" he said, "but trust me, what I give you will ease it. Now, can you walk?"

Naelie nodded. "Yes, I think so". Putting out a hand, Orophin helped her to her feet, where she swayed slightly, shifting what she could of her weight to the undamaged leg, and finally, her eyes fell on Orophin's midsection. His tunic was completely torn from the wolf attack and there was a bloody gash across his chest which was bleeding steadily.

"Orophin!" she said suddenly, "What about you?"

Orophin looked down at where she was gesturing and shook his head. "It looks worse than it is" but still quickly dabbed on some of the same liquid he had given Naelie then covered it up with the remains of his tunic, and moved to tend to Beleril.

As Naelie approached and her eyes fell upon Beleril's unmoving form, fear once again gripped her and she clamped a hand to her mouth in shock. "Is he-"

Orophin shook his head after checking Beleril's pulse. "No, he is only unconscious"

"How can we get him back?" Naelie asked. "Should I go back for help?"

Orophin shook his head. "Nay, that would only delay getting Bel to the healers. I shall take him myself, he is no lightweight, but I think I can support him".

With that, Orophin picked up Beleril's form and draping his legs over one arm, Orophin slowly made his way back to Lorien, Naelie picking her way carefully behind him.

As soon as Orophin and Naelie got back into Lorien, they made a beeline for the healer's quarters where all three were admitted immediately. It turned out that of the three, Orophin's injury was the most serious and so the healer insisted upon his overnight stay. She patched Naelie up efficiently and quickly and laid Beleril down in a spare bed where he was still unconscious.

Naelie sat by Beleril's bedside, watching as her friend lay unmoving and constantly fighting off tears.

"He'll be alright come the morning, my dear" said the healer kindly, "he's not too terribly injured, but I'd still like to keep him in here overnight"

A snort sounded from Orophin's bed and both turned to see that the elf had fallen fast asleep.

"Sleeping pills. They work miracles they do! Anyway, your injuries were not too desperate either, my dear" smiled the healer, "not too deep and patched up nicely now, so I reckon you can go home tonight"

Naelie nodded to show she had heard, though her eyes never strayed from Beleril's silent form. The healer bustled away to tend to an elf in the far bed, but minutes later, two elves skidded into the room, both stark white.

"We came as soon as we heard" exclaimed Haldir to Naelie, then turning to the healer, he continued. "How fares my brother?"

"He'll live" replied the healer, "but I shall need to keep him in overnight. I have patched up his wounds as best I can and he is showing good signs of a complete recovery".

Rumil let out a low sigh of relief and made to thank her, but the healer held up a hand and spoke quietly. "I am only doing my job" she said simply. "It is the young one here, whom you should be thanking, for if it had not been for her actions, your brother may most likely have been killed".

She nodded towards where Naelie's attention was focused back upon Beleril and Haldir's eyes widened in astonishment.

"She saved him?"

"It certainly seems so" smiled the healer.

Haldir nodded and slowly made with way over to Naelie and sat beside her. She noticed his presence, though she did not acknowledge it.

"How is Bel faring?" he asked softly.

"The healer says he will be alright" Naelie replied, this time facing Haldir, "but he will have to stay in overnight",

Haldir nodded. "I surmised as much. And how about you?"

"I am much better now than I was" she replied truthfully.

"That is excellent news" smiled Haldir. "Naelie, I want to thank you. If you had not been there, I honestly do not know what would have happened to Orophin, indeed I do not wish to even think about it. I wish I could repay your for what you did today, but I do not know how I could".

Naelie blinked away the tears that her fighting to get out of her, turned her head towards Haldir and smiled. "It was only what any of you would have done for me" she replied. "And if you really want to repay me in anyway, I can tell you honestly you have already done so by my knowing that."

As the night wore on, the healer eventually came again to Naelie. "I think it is time for you to go home" she suggested. "You look very tired, and no good will come of you staying here all night".

"But what if Bel wakes?" asked Naelie.

"If he wakes during the night, I will make you are told first thing in the morning. Go, my child. He will be well cared for here, I promise you".

Swallowing hard, Naelie finally agreed and left the healer's quarters, also accompanied by Rumil who had been practically forced to go and get some rest by his elder brother.

"I apologise for not saying this to you earlier, Naelie" he said as they walked back through the city, "but I want to tell you just how much I thank you for being where you were today. As Haldir said to you, I do not want to even begin to think about what would have happened otherwise".

"And as I told Haldir" replied Naelie. "I only did what you would have done for me."

As soon as both Naelie and Rumil reached their own talans, they found that sleep crept up upon them with immense hast. Haldir however, stayed wide awake, and kept a constant vigil by Orophin's bed throughout the night.