Chapter 1

Aragorn's eyes widened as he felt the knife pierce his side, he knew immediately that it was poisoned but he didn't waste anymore time. Before the creature could pull the weapon back out it was dead.

The battle went on for a while but soon enough the orcs were all dead.

Captain Teralin jerked his sword out of the last orc and glanced over just in time to see his second in command fall to his knees, attempting to staunch a bad knife wound. He ran over and fell to his knees beside him.

"Thorongil? Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"Poisoned," he gasped and weakly handed the man the blade, "wr-wrap it... don't clea-ean it... must keep it the w-way it is... test p-poison," he frowned at the weakness in his voice.

The captain nodded, "I know Thor..." he examined the blade, "I've never seen this before..."

Aragorn winced, "N-neither have I..."

"Oh no... what do we do?" he asked worriedly.

His slow mind could think of one thing, "A-da..."

The man frowned, "Dad?"

Aragorn shook his head slowly, "G-go to Imladris..."

"Imladris?" the man was confused and becoming more and more worried as the other man slowly slipped away.

"R-Rivendell... g-go past the Misty M-Mountains... the h-high pass... c-continue... west... th-they will see you... don't w-worry about trying to f-find them... 'T will b-be impossible... they will st-op you..." he panted slightly.

The man frowned, "I don't know if you'll make it that far..."

"N-neither do I..." he smiled weakly, "if you don't think so... head to Lothlorien... y-you know where that is... you wont need to go in far... th-they will kn-know you're there..."

Teralin nodded.

"Y-you don't have to do this... we can try your healers..."

"You know more than they do when it comes to poisons... they wont know anything if you don't."

Aragorn didn't reply but just smiled.

........................

Teralin held the man carefully. He'd been riding for days now. He hated that it was taking this long. The man's condition was deteriorating. He was nearly at Lothlorien's borders though. He pushed his horse a little harder, the two that had come with him following his example immediately.

He had been in the trees for only five minutes when they were surrounded.

"Who dares to enter the golden wood?" one of them asked.

Teralin gulped slightly but straightened. But before he could answer the elf had dropped his bow.

"Ai! Estel?"

Teralin blinked, "I'm sorry... my friend here, he has been poisoned, none of know what it is and we came to ask for help."

"Yes of course!" he said, "I am Haldir of Lorien, we know your friend, he is welcome here, please, follow me."

He whistled and a white horse entered the small clearing a moment later and Haldir leaped onto his back gracefully.

The other elves disappeared back into the trees and the men followed the elf.

Haldir glanced back at the men, "There are some there that I have heard you've met before."

Teralin glanced at him, "Who?"

"Legolas, the twins and their father."

The human smiled.

It didn't take them much longer to get there, Elrond was waiting by the gates and accepted his son from the man and immediately turned towards the healing rooms.

Elrond laid his son gently on the bed and began cleaning the wound with the athelas water he'd made up as soon as he heard they were in the woods. He glanced up when the door opened and smiled slightly at the man that walked in. He accepted the blade the human handed him and examined it carefully before placing it down and collecting the herbs he needed.

"Do you know what it is?" Teralin asked quietly, hesitant to break the silence. His men had been taken to a room for them to rest.

"Aye," he answered quickly, "Elladan! Elrohir! I need hot water, and bandages," he glanced at Teralin, "Do you have his healing kit?"

Teralin nodded and handed it to him as soon as he found it.

Elrond took it and the water and bandages from his sons who had already come back.

"Grandmother already had it ready for you," Elladan said with a slight, worried, smile.

Elrond nodded and continued.

He worked for half an hour, carefully placing the stitches and finished by tying off the bandage.

Legolas had entered at some point during this and gave the elf lord a questioning, wide-eyed look.

Elrond smiled, "He'll be fine."

The four in the room gave a sigh of relief.

Teralin frowned slightly, "I do believe we came across this poison before..."

Elrond glanced over at him, and nodded, "Go on..."

"We didn't know how to treat it and they all died..."

"But it is as you said, they were not treated," the elf paused and glanced down at his son, "Although... there are side effects of the drug..."

The twins winced, knowing what this was.

Legolas's gaze shot over to the elf, "What is it Lord Elrond?"

Teralin bit his lip and glanced at the elf worriedly.

Elrond sighed, "The elves that were affected... they went mute for a while..."

"Mute?" Teralin's eyes widened, "for how long?"

"The elves were five months... I've known humans that were such for a year... but with him... I'll guess six to eight months."

"Why so much less than a human?" Teralin questioned, obviously confused.

Elrond shook his head, "He's always been stronger than most men."

The Captain blinked but dropped it.

Elrond smiled slightly, "Ah but he'll pick up on it quickly."

"Ah yes!" Legolas laughed slightly, "his first year in Imladris!"

Teralin blinked, "He lived in Imladris?" he paused, -of course!- he remembered what the man had first said when he asked what he should do.

Elrond nodded, "Aye... he did..."

Teralin's eyes widened, "I get it now! It's been so confusing..." he glanced at Elrond, "you adopted him?"

The elven lord smiled and nodded.

Elladan and Elrohir couldn't help but grin, "Ah yes... he was quite a bit of fun!"

Elrond rolled his eyes, "He was a good child... you two were monsters."

Elladan pouted, "Ada you hurt us with your cruel words!"

Elrohir grinned, "But you know its true my brother..."

Elladan smirked, "Of course!"

"How long should it be before he wakes up?" Teralin asked quietly.

"Between three days to three weeks," Elrond sighed, it depends on the person.

Legolas glanced over hesitantly, "Will you tell us of his first year? It may help us understand what to expect..." he paused and grinned, "and it may be an interesting story."

Elrond chuckled quietly, "Aye, that I can do, 't will help pass the time as well."

Legolas smiled.

Teralin cocked his head to the side, "Why would this help?"

"During his first year with us he wouldn't and didn't say a single word," Elrohir supplied, completely serious, "We guess the shock of his father dieing and being brought somewhere completely new with his mother must have been too much for him. Keep in mind, though, that he was only two years old."

Teralin nodded slowly.

Elladan sighed, "We did everything we could think of to make him speak... we knew he could, he was able to before the incident."

The human smiled at them and spoke quietly, "I haven't known you long but I know he's grateful for everything you've done. He doesn't speak of it often... but when he does it's the only time you can see past the mask he puts up."

Elrond glanced at the man, he looked slightly surprised at the statement.

Legolas noted the surprise and was standing by his side in an instant, "You've done a great job raising him Elrond," he said with a smile, "I think he's more grateful than you know."

Elrond smiled and shook his head, "'T is the same the other way around as well."

The twins quickly agreed with this.

"Well! Are you going to let me tell this story or are you going to continue talking?"

Legolas look highly amused by his sudden enthusiasm, "Please, tell."

The elven lord laughed and started the tale.

A/N

Elven Kitten: HILO!!! That's the first chapter! I hope everyone liked it! I figured out how to work around this stupid Word document... by opening my work with WordPad! XP... I can't believe I never thought of that before...

Anonymous voice: Stupid

E.K.: CURSE YOU VOICE!!!!!!! LEAVE ME IN PEACE!!!!!!!!

E.S.: ... you... are... insane... I can't believe you're still freaking over the voice... it's been going on for hours now...

E.K.: But it comes from no where!

H.S.: It comes from... THE WELL!!!!!

E.K.: ... what's with the capps?

H.S.: I dunno... I s'pose I thought it made it seem more dramatic...

E.K.: ... I'm a weirdo but you're pathetic...

E.S.: I'm wondering how I got stuck with you...

E.K.: Because you are me

E.S.: ... I just HAD to be your schizophrenic side...

E.K.: Yup! ...Let's just do the reviews now K?

E.S.: ...

starlit jewel- Glad u liked the ending!

grumpy- Good! And we're gonna see more of him soon! lol Glad u liked.

Anon- lol! Of course! Me stop now? Nebuh! :P

Noldo- Thank you for your help but the link is bad and I'm not too incredibly worried if the Elvish is perfect. Thank you for your help tho and your compliment!

marbienl- Cha! So sad, guess we can be glad they didn't leave him right away! lol, glad you liked the end of the story :P

mascara freak- Lmao, too long now? :P wow... it can talk too?! Shveet... lol. Don't worry, I don't think those two are going to steal Legolas's spotlight... lol

E.S.: arg... but anyway... we have to go... I hope you enjoyed this... Namarie!

Elenmeoi