Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get this up. If I don't update within two weeks, bug me about it—the only reason is probably my forgetfulness. Or I'll be carrying it around, thinking I've already done it.
A Monkey's Harp… you're certainly right about it being a different name. I'm not as original—mine is actually part of my name's meaning.
Lady Jade Perendhil: This is actually before The Hobbit. Nenya is one of the main mysteries in this story, so small, short answers will come from time to time. Eirthriel is the princess of Mirkwood, the youngest of Tranduil's three children.
Animir: Well, if you stick around, you'll be seeing more of the wolves. Nenya… has none of Thranduil's blood in her veins… I think that's as far as I'll go unless you decide to review & ask for more. Maybe not even then… : )
~~~^*^~~~
The four elves waiting around the fire had grown increasingly nervous and worried as time passed without any sign of the two she-elves. The sound of wolves singing carried eerily to their intent ears. The song was chilling, forcing even the thought of sleep from their minds.
Suddenly, it stopped. Just stopped, the wolf voices all trailing off on a long, drawn out howl. From the direction they would guess it came—the echoes made it hard to be sure—Argile returned within a few minutes, and a few moments later, Nenya appeared out of the darkness, carrying the limp form of a young she-elf, the slight glow of their own light surrounding them as if the glimmer of a thousand miniscule stars were sewn into the air about them.
The males jumped to their feet at the welcome sight, though their joy for the return was quickly tempered by their concern for Oleydya. Miranol spoke first "Is she—"
"Hush," Nenya ordered, her dark eyes scolding them gently. "She needs to sleep. As do you all," she added, taking in the wide eyes and agitated movements displayed by all.
"How can we rest here?"
"There is no evil, no creatures of darkness here. You have a fire and watchful beings around you who watch for your safety. What more do you need to feel comfortable enough to sleep?" Nenya eased Oleydya's motionless form onto the ground, covering her with another cloak and a blanket. Then Nenya reached to her side and pulled a bit of her way bread out, taking her supper as the elves looked at her in shock. "Rest," she insisted, frowning at them.
Slowly, uneasily, they all returned to their previous posts, laying back one at a time, trying in vain to find any hint of the stars or moon above them through the thick, black canopy.
Nenya never laid down. She was one of their watchers, and until they knew of the others she knew they wouldn't be comfortable if she slept. Which was fine with her. She knew the path well enough, trusted Argile perfectly, so she was able to take the rest she needed as they traveled through the day.
She felt the forest wake, such as it did, before Argile stirred. He had had a bit of a night, after all. Oleydya had strayed rather far from the path, though it had most likely only been a few steps off in the wrong direction when she began. Nenya had been about to track her down from where she had first stumbled, when the wolves found the girl, keeping her warm until Nenya was there.
After Argile was wide awake, she shook the elf closest to her, waiting until he blinked a few times—his eyes focusing on the darkness about them with a frown—to return to her place, carefully dousing the remaining flames of their fire. He woke the others, except Oleydya. With a slight shake of her head Nenya moved to the girl, resting her hand on her shoulder for a shake.
Oleydya startled awake, sitting straight up in the instant consciousness returned. "Wha—" She stopped and looked around as her eyes cleared, seeing the remains of the fire, the four male elves, Nenya, Argile. She frowned and looked down at herself, then up at Nenya. "A dream?"
"What?" Nenya asked, tilting her head at Oleydya. "Take nourishment, Leyda. We have just as far to go today as yesterday."
"You won't leave us to follow Argile again, will you?"
"Had you stayed on the path, you would have reached us with or without his help."
"How am I supposed to see the path when I can't see two feet ahead of me?" Oleydya snapped impatiently, brushing some tangled hair back from her face, pulling a bit of leaf out of the knot roughly.
Nenya blinked. "You truly could not?"
"Of course not. What elf could without more light?"
Nenya glanced at their companions, but no one said anything. "I can. I suppose it comes of living in these woods," she offered as explanation. "But no, I won't leave you to find your own way. I did not realize you were all so slow," she teased softly, only a slight sparkle of her eyes giving it away as a jest.
Oleydya smiled faintly.
"Good. Now, eat."
With a sigh Oleydya reached for her food pouch, only to freeze. She picked up a strand of silvery hair. It was the length of her thumb, and would have been perfectly in place on the wolves she had dreamed… She looked up at Nenya, who glanced back, smiling slightly before the shining dark eyes flickered away, focused again on the task at hand.
They walked from waking until they had to take physical rest again, pausing only briefly for the next several days. Oleydya had lost track, feeling miserable enough without knowing how long they had traveled and without knowing how many more days they had left. If she didn't know, she figured, it would seem closer.
Not everyone shared her ideas, though. Dareklien sighed when they halted yet again without any sign of their journey ending. "When are we going to get there?"
"In a few weeks," Nenya murmured softly.
"Weeks?" Legolas asked, blinking. "You said two weeks. We've almost walked that."
"I said it would be two weeks for almost anyone entering or leaving. I did not say two weeks to get there from the elven king's home, nor by foot."
He looked at her, a frown drawing his brows together. "So where, exactly, are we going?"
She looked south, the general direction they had been heading since they started, once they were in the heart of the wood. "We have nearly reached the mountains. Beyond them is the old forest road. Past that is an old spider den. It is there we now go."
"We're going to spiders?" Oleydya asked, her voice rising into a very unbecoming squeak.
"No. An old spider den. No evil lives there any longer." She smiled slightly as she continued. "If you would trust me when I say no evil will befall you, things will be much simpler for all."
As she continued, the group of elves—still paused to digest her words and try to convince themselves to continue—looked at Legolas. "You have to talk to her, Leaf," Ertelen murmured, shaking his head.
"Me?" Legolas asked, his voice rising nearly as Oleydya's had. He caught himself and lowered his voice. "Why me?"
"Because you're the prince."
Legolas snorted at Dareklien's response. "As if she cares," he muttered. That shut them up for a while as they began walking once more, because her choosing Legolas still surprised and astounded most of them.
Miranol shook his head. "She has a responsibility to your father, doesn't she?"
"If you think I know what it is, you are sorely mistaken."
"But she promised to look after you."
"She promised to look after all of us, Ertelen."
They sent him annoyed looks. "Leaf—"
He sighed and brought a hand to his temple, rubbing lightly. "Oh, very well," he finally grumbled. He glared at them all. "Stay out of earshot, or I swear you'll be dodging arrows before this is done."
They sent him cheeky grins that reminded him he wasn't totally against being their chosen spokesmen, clapped him on the back and sent him after her, surreptitiously fading into the background, staying just close enough they could be seen by Argile where he flew in wide circles above them as he always did.
Legolas jogged up to their leader, falling into step beside her for a moment before launching into speech. "What if there's been a spider attack while we're traveling so far?"
"There hasn't."
He blinked several times, trying to take in the words, the assuredness with which they were spoken, and the calm way she spoke them. "How do you know?" he asked curiously.
She didn't look away from the path, and for a long while said nothing. When he was almost sure she wouldn't say anything she sighed. "It is complicated, and a story you don't really need to know now. Suffice it to say I know when the spiders are on the move. I don't yet know why they began the attacks, but I know since it became known I was coming, they have ceased their movements. Temporarily, at least."
"But you're leading us away from them. Won't they just continue once we're too far away to find?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so." If she did, she wouldn't be leading them away from the known spider dwellings.
He sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair. "But how can you be so certain?"
"Very few things in life are certain beyond any doubt, Legolas. But should I be wrong, I can return to your father's realm much more quickly than we have left it. In time, you all shall be able to quicken your pace."
"But we were sent to help you." She lifted a brow and glanced up at him. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How can we help if you won't tell us what to do, or even where we're going unless we practically beg you for information?"
"I did not wish for any help."
Legolas frowned and came to a stop. She ignored that, still walking. "Then why did you accept it?"
She didn't insult him by saying because his father commanded it. She cared not at all for his father's words as law, and they both knew it. "Because numbers can come in handy," she answered absently, not commenting when he caught up to her again. "As for why I keep you ill-informed… Did your father never do so?"
"All the time. And it was almost as annoying."
"Only almost?" she murmured, and he caught a flicker of amusement in the tone.
"His secrecy didn't endanger my life, nor the lives of my friends."
"Would you have known if it had?" she countered, tilting her head towards a soft sound.
Legolas studied the land in the direction the noise had come from, and thought, just for an instant, that he saw something. But it was gone, and he uneasily dismissed it. "I suppose not. But here and now I know there is more you could be telling me than you are."
"Of course," she agreed blithely.
His shoulders drooped and he let out an exasperated breath, not caring that it hissed around his teeth in a very unprincely manner that would have had his nana wringing her hands. "Why do you refuse to tell us anything?" he asked, his voice rising.
"I will tell you this. As long as you are with me you are safe. If you step outside my protection, you will be in grave danger, should you travel to an evil place in the forest."
"You say that, and you ask us to trust you, but you give us no reason to do so. Mirkwood is known for being suspicious of strangers," he muttered crossly, "and you are the strangest I have met."
To his surprise and utter confusion, she laughed. Softly, and without breaking her stride, but it was a laugh. "Your father trusts me," she murmured after a time. "Isn't that enough?" she asked, slanting a look up at him from dark eyes which twinkled with the light of the stars none of them had seen since entering the woods.
"If it weren't none of us would have left," he grumbled.
She smiled faintly, but let silence slip between them for the longest time. "Tell me, Legolas," she murmured at last, "do you ever feel you are being watched?"
"Annoyingly often. After all, I am a prince. It seems someone is always…" at the irritated look she sent him from the corner of her eye, he couldn't help but grin. "Oh, you mean out here!" he faked surprise. Slowly he turned solemn as he studied the land around them again. He always felt he was being watched, that there were eyes just out of elven eye-sight that were watching, waiting. It was an uneasy feeling, which was why it was so hard for him to convince himself the times when he had almost seen something in the shadows was really nothing but his imagination trying to take a hold of him. After all, how often could he—or anyone else, especially an elf—shrug it off as a trick of light and shadows? "Yes."
She nodded. "You should."
He frowned and looked down at her, absently wondering why she sounded satisfied by his answer. "What is that to mean?"
"You are being watched. I don't mean just by the friends who put you up to attempting to extract information from me."
"Then by who? Or what?" he added, conjuring up a picture of an eight-legged creature with big, bulbous black eyes that seemed to glow pale yellow at night. He shivered slightly, tightening his grip on his weapon.
"There are friendly watchers, Legolas. They watch over your safety and for any evil that might approach. They do not wish to be seen by you at this time, however, so they allow Argile to keep the closest, and therefore less far-seeing, watch."
"Then I suppose you knew all along where Oleydya was the night she lost her way?"
"I didn't. They did. They merely waited for me to ask to direct me to her." She looked up at him then, her dark gaze so solemn and penetrating that he found he believed her, no matter how mysterious she seemed to enjoy being. "You have nothing to fear as long as they are near, and they will be near as long as you are in my protection."
"Your protection, not theirs?"
"It is one and the same. They protect me, I protect them. We help each other, and live peacefully and safely away from the evil this forest is known for." She smiled softly. "They have agreed to accept you all into their circle. You would feel honored, if you knew the truth, but at the very least you should feel safe. Or have your feelings of being watched not included the fact that that which is always near is not malicious?"
She kicked up her pace a bit, and it was only then he realized she had slowed for him, matching her stride to his more relaxed one. He took the hint and dropped back to where his friends, and Oleydya, were waiting for a report.
He looked around them, caught a flicker of something just beyond his gaze before it was gone, and knew that she was at least right that they were being watched. Despite questions from all corners, he focused his attention internally, letting the nagging little nudge at the back of his mind take over for a moment, let it look for what was wrong. It searched out the things watching them, and returned appeased, assuring him it felt no evil coming from them.
Nor from her. Nenya may be different, may have the same darkness to her eyes that Teraien did and thus that Legolas had always equated with not purely good, but she was not evil, and he did not think that she intended them harm. Though if she had wanted to put the king into a bit of a sticky spot, this was the way to do it. Take his son and a group of young elves off into the woods, where they would have a long and hard time to return…
But the thought hadn't crossed her mind. She was here to repay whatever debt Thranduil having the medallion stood for, and she would do it, no matter what she had to do.
Fingers snapped in front of his face, bringing him out of his contemplation. He blinked and looked at them. "We have a long ways to go," he murmured, fastening his bow to his back so he no longer had to carry it.
The two armed elves looked at each other, and slowly, hesitantly secured their weapons as well. Then they all turned and sped up to catch up with their leader, whose long stride had already drawn her away from them in the darkness of day in the woods. Argile circled above them, crying occasionally in a voice that suddenly seemed much more informative to Legolas than it had a few minutes before.