So no one's reading? It doesn't matter, I'm going to continue anyway.

Part 3

I know it's hard to believe, but I got lost. She was further ahead of me than I had hoped for, but she still only left a barely traceable track to follow. I slowly made my way to a small room, where the door was slightly ajar. I will iterate that I was not eavesdropping; I was only attempting to find out whether she was in the room. But while standing at the door, tilting my head and attempting to her the conversation within, it opened. I was left standing face to face with a small mortal female with a quizzical look on her face. As I stared at her she blushed and pushed past me.

Another figure came to the door. It was the woman from the hall. Schooling myself to request her help in the Westron tongue, the woman quietly inquired my appearance at the door and why I had scared the girl away. What intrigued me was that she spoke in fluent Sindarin. "Well?" She quipped, peeved by my silence.

I clear my throat. This could end up being harder than it appeared. "I wish to ask a favour of you, Lady. If you are who I presume you are?" The question seemed to please her, though the doubt of her identity was very small.

She eyes me steadily and I experience an unnerving sensation of uneasiness. She herself stands at ease, leaning against the door and holding her arms crossed across her chest. I have a notion that she is staring at my face and figure closely, taking in every detail. She signals for me to enter the room and gestures to an empty chair sitting by a desk. She takes one more inquisitive look at me before sitting on top of a wooden chest a few metres from me. I note that it is close enough for her to observe, but not close enough to put her in any danger. Not that I would be of any to her, but she does not know that.

She continues to stare and I move my gaze up to meet hers. We stay locked in that stance before she smiles slightly, apparently sated. "What favour do you wish to ask for, Prince?" she asks. "I have many who come to me for help, and many who come to me for other things, but leave disappointed."

I note the double meaning to her words and a smile twists at my lips before I can still it. She is an observant, smart and slightly vulgar female. I can still see why many desire her. She is already blatantly humorous, seemingly not paying attention to my request, but yet holding her attention focussed on me. "As you know who I am, I will move on to my reasons for being here. I wished to find you to request a favour; we are attempting to track a gang of thieves. They did not bother us until a couple of weeks hence, when they escalated from petty theft to murder, rape and pillaging of the territories of Mirkwood." I watched as she winced at the actions of the group. She at least has a heart, I think happily. She opens her mouth and I think that she wants to say something, so I stop. She shakes her head and signals for me to continue. "They left many dead and many hoping for revenge. What worried us more was that they were assisted by orcs. We don't know how many there were exactly, but the white council agreed that an agreement between this group and the orcs would prove a great problem if things escalated. So we were sent out from Mirkwood."

She nods her head, her face clear and expressionless. "Do you know who I am?" she asks.

The question surprises me. I pause a moment, wondering her reasons behind the question. She probably wants to find out how much I know about her. "You are - or I have been told you are - a mercenary, someone who could be hired for work. I have been told that you are skilled, skills we were hoping for in help to our company. I admit that I am shocked to find you are female, I expected a man. But if you have done these deeds, it will not matter."

She observes me steadily, a quiet look of triumph on her face. "You have been seeking me for weeks, and this is all you know of me?" She shakes her head. "I would have expected more from the hunters of the great wood."

I smile demurely as she is obviously pleased be our actions. "There has been very little to tell of you. Neither hide nor hair of you and your actions in some places." A thought occurs to me. "How did you know we have been searching for you?" I ask and watch as her smile widens into a malicious grin.

"You underestimate me." She states, as if it is the simplest thing in the world.

Intrigued now, I want to know more. "How?"

"You think of the people in this area, of mortals, in the minimalist of ways. They are even beneath your contempt." I note that she cannot hold the contempt out of her voice. She is right, I realise. Respect is given to all, but not recognition or regard for their work. "They are, after all only mortals." She finishes.

This last statement piques my interest. "Are you not mortal, Lady?" I ask, with a small smile, wondering at her answer. Are we seeking the help of a madwoman?

She smirks, and I watch in wonder as she moves her hands up to her cap that traps her hair to her head. She pulls at and it come off. There is a tumble of locks of brown hair down her back, but that doesn't catch my notice. What does is the point of her ears and an unlikely addition on her right ear. "You see why I asked you the question. You have no idea who I am; I have been within your reach several times and more yet you have missed meeting me for lack of knowledge and lack of notice. I was wondering if you would catch up to me here."

My eyes are still on her ear, yet I pull my eyes back to address her again. "You knew we were searching for you, yet you didn't come and find us?"

She smiles and nods. "Certainly. I entertained the thought of sneaking up on you when you made camp a couple of weeks ago, but I was need here. After some thought, I decided that I wasn't actually wanting to meet you."

I know this news shocks me, yet I manage to avoid showing it before she notices. We had not noticed anyone following. "Yet we found you."

"I wouldn't be hard to do. I didn't exactly hide my tracks to here. But you weren't looking for me then." She gave a smug look before regarding me again. "Which leaves me with a decision to make. To help you or not?"

So she still holds the idea to help us in contest in her mind? To sway her shouldn't be hard. "Precisely. I hope you will. Despite our tracking skills, we do not know how to find where they hide. We have been told you hold skill around this area, knowing this and the lands surrounding this in great detail."

She moves back on the chest and crosses her legs, perching completely still on the top. "I am a mercenary, you know. I do not work unpaid."

The sly look she gives me suggests that this is a pivotal point to her decision. I expected this. I reach to my side to find the woven purse in a belt pouch. I hold it in my hands before throwing it over the short distance between us. She catches it, giving me an unreadable look and weighs it in her hand. I know it is rather heavy and she notes this with a look of pleasant surprise. She opens it and takes out a coin and examines it. "All silver." I say. "My father was unhappy to part with such an amount." She raises a questioning eyebrow. "One hundred coins." I answer.

She eyes me with suspicion. "Prince, this is a lot. Far too much just for leading your party to where the gang hides. What else am I expected to do?"

It is my turn to smile shrewdly. "We seek your services. We hope for you to use your fighting skills for us and, if it comes to it, you healing skill."

She seems undisturbed by this admission and stands from her seat on the chest. I quickly follow her action and stand a few paces from her. She observes me and then holds out her hand, palm up. I grip it, knowing the custom, and she looks to my face. "I swear to serve and protect as bound." She states.

"I hold you to your bond." I answer.

"I hold this bond of service true and hold it dear until my release." She finishes. The oath of service is complete, I think. Thank the Valar; it could have been a lot harder than this. We stand in that stance for a minute, unmoving, despite us both. "What is your name, Prince?" She asks to my silence.

"Legolas." I say, without a thought. "Did you not know that?" I say softly, "You know enough about my company and our movements and tasks, but not my name?"

She nods her head to me and relinquishes my hand. Before she can turn away, I catch her shoulder. She visible flinches as I move her hair from her right ear. At closer inspection, my first observation is proved to be true. The outer ridge of her ear has been sliced twice, leaving a sliver of skin between the two cuts. The wound is healed over, but the ugly scar remains.

"When you are quite finished examining my ears." She remarks. I blush, not noticing the rude gesture of my scrutiny before. I look to her and find her green eyes observing me silently. "Do you know what this mark means, Prince?" I shake my head, unable to form words in embarrassment. "Then I will not tell you. You have no need of knowing."

I open my mouth to say something, but she cuts me off. "I hope to leave at first light tomorrow. I will see you at the gates." She pulls my hand from her shoulder and gestures to the door. I do not leave straight away and am still staring at her face. This definitely disturbs her and she responds with the quickening of her anger. "If you leave voluntarily, Prince, I will make you leave."

I kick my legs into motion and exit the room, to find the door closing swiftly behind me. I bark my heels again. Twice in one day. No matter, she is working with us. What we hoped for has came true, thing will be a lot easier now.