Okay, so before you read-hold on a second. HEY YOU! THE ONE WHO JUST SKIPPED THE INTRO! I PUT IT HERE FOR A REASON! Ahem. As I was saying, this is the second story I've started (no, I'm not done with the first one, and yes, I'm aware this is a bad habit), and like that other one, this one takes place in Middle-Earth; however, unlike the other one (which you should also read, by the way), this one takes place about 3-5 years before The Fellowship of the Ring. Both are in my unique version of Middle-Earth (which means some of the characters from my other story miiiiiiight show up in here), but you don't need to read the other one to understand what's going on here (which doesn't mean you shouldn't read it).

Also, I'd like to apologize if this chapter isn't quite up to the standards I've set in my other story, since I'm not entirely familiar with these characters yet.

The elves, with their keen ears, heard the clip-clop of hooves long before the unexpected visitor came into view, so Elrond had plenty of time to finish his page in the book he was reading, a tome so old the pages seemed about to crumble to dust, and to replace it lovingly in its place on the shelf and then make his way down to the bridge to see who it was. Rivendell did not have too many visitors, but they came often enough that no one was all that surprised; indeed, the horse master was likely filling a manger in the stable already, and Lindir, whose job it was to greet visitors, would be on his way to the bridge, if he was not already there. That was why Elrond was surprised when the perpetually nervous-looking elf almost ran into him on his way out the door.

Lindir quickly got out of his way, then fell into step next to him. "I beg your pardon, my lord, but I thought you should know—one of the Rohirrim approaches."

Elrond raised an eyebrow, but did not stop; actually, he sped up. "A man of Rohan? News that has traveled so far cannot be good."

"That was my thought, as well," Lindir agreed.

. . . . . .

The flaxen-haired human patted his mount's neck. "Easy there, Firefly. It's just a bridge."

The golden stallion laid his ears back, but he was too well-trained to break his steady trot, even if it was taking him onto a narrow band of stone over a drop that horses were not meant to be near, and even if his rider's hold on the reins was too tight—the rider had never been this far from solid ground either, after all. He was annoyed at that; he could not show the skinny elves that he was uncomfortable. He breathed deeply, trying to remember how to be polite despite his exhaustion and all the anger that had built up inside him.

He needn't have worried; the bridge could hold fifty horses without so much as a groan, and the elves were too busy with their own worried expressions to have noticed his if it had been present. In fact, Elrond and Lindir met the human on the bridge instead of on solid ground.

"Hello, good elves," the man of Rohan said politely, discreetly turning his horse's head in case the need to run happened to arise; he was not afraid, but he was out of his element, not knowing what to expect. Luckily, the horses of Rohan were trained to rear and turn in place if necessary, since the bridge was not all that wide. "May I stay in your fair town for a few days? I am in need of rest and supplies." That being because first his people and then warg-riders had chased him and his horse across Middle-Earth.

The elves relaxed visibly. "Your message is not for us, then?" Elrond asked, wondering where the man could be going if it was farther northwest than Rivendell.

"I bear no message," the human corrected, confused.

"Then why..." Elrond trailed off, his eyes looking the tall, bearded, blue-eyed human—whose nose had clearly been broken many times—and his fine horse up and down. The stallion's coat glowed from polishing only and not health, he could see, and his owner did not fare any better. There were also two halves of a spear tied to the saddle. "Of course you are welcome here..." He waited for the human's name.

"Alahn."

"Alahn, you may stay as long as you wish as long as you wish if you respect my people and our home," Elrond promised.

Alahn resisted the urge to groan. He had made such promises many times, and broken them almost as often. Still, surely none of these elves would need punching as much as that slimy excuse for a king's adviser had. Everyone who had met him had wanted to throw him across the room, anyway; Alahn had just never been the most... ahem... forgiving of men; thus, the oft-broken nose and his presence here. "I will do my best," he told Elrond.

"Then welcome to Rivendell, Alahn."

. . . . . .

"This will be your room while you stay here," Elrond told Alahn a while later, after Firefly had settled into the stable—the human had insisted that his horse's needs be cared for first.

Alahn would have been more comfortable in the stable than in the spacious and lavishly decorated room, but he thanked Elrond anyway, just glad that he would be sleeping in a bed for the first time in weeks.

"Do you require anything else?"

To be able to go home, Alahn thought, but he shook his head. He did not want to talk to this elf anymore.

"Then you are free to explore the city, and I will see you later," Elrond said, and left. After dumping his things on the floor, so did Alahn.

He wandered up and down the streets—or rather, the paths—for a while, absorbing the peacefulness of the place. He felt like a fish out of water here, but it was better than running from orcs in the wilderness. He visited the stables again and was glad to find that Firefly, at least, seemed content. He patted the other horses and found that, while all were friendly and healthy, few looked like a match for even an average horse of Rohan. He swelled with pride at that thought, but then his shoulders sagged as he remembered that Rohan was no longer his home. He turned and walked out of the stable, not wanting any more reminders, and tripped over the elf-child sitting in the middle of the path, watching the birds in the tree above.

"Is it an elvish custom to sit right where visitors are walking?" Alahn growled, picking himself up off the ground. He had not been in the best of moods to begin with, but falling on his face had not helped anything.

The elf ignored him. Alahn looked more closely at him and realized that he was not young, just small—but then again, who could tell with these pointy-eared creatures? Anyway, he seemed to be... what was the word? Medi-something? Eomer had joked that he should do it after he'd started yet another bar fight. "I'm talking to you, tiny."

The elf's light blue-gray eyes stayed trained on the trees; his face was so utterly blank that Alahn found it rather eerie. It was like the human wasn't even there. Alahn prodded him, and finally got a reaction when the elf scooted away just the tiniest bit. "Hey, look at me." He poked him over and over until finally the elf got up, moved a few steps away, and sat down again, crossing his legs and staring upward.

"Rude," Alahn huffed. He followed the elf and ruffled his black hair, tugged on his cloak, and clapped his hands in front of the elf's face; this last one made the elf jerk back, and he swatted Alahn's hands—and then the rest of Alahn—away, but once again, his face remained expressionless. Alahn was starting to wonder if... but elves were supposed to be all perfect, weren't they? "C'mon, elf, talk to me."

"He cannot speak," someone—his clothing was dusted with horse hair and straw, so Alahn assumed he was the horse master—said from the stable door.

"'Cannot'?" Alahn echoed. "Are you saying...?" He pointed to his head, and the horse master nodded. "But I thought... that... didn't happen with elves."

"It does not," the horse master responded, walking past him. "Dínen, will you never learn not to sit on the ground?" He pulled the little elf to his feet. "I apologize; he is not supposed to be here. I suppose I will just have to go find someone to watch him."

"I could do it." Alahn surprised himself with his offer, but he felt sorry for the little guy.

The horse master considered him for a moment, but only that. "Very well, but you are wasting your time, human. Lord Elrond worked with him for forty years and failed."

Failed at what? Alahn wondered, but he shrugged. The horse master unceremoniously deposited the small elf on a bench and turned to leave. "Wait," Alahn called after him. "Dínen. Is that his name?"

The horse master glanced back over his shoulder. "No, 'Dínen' means 'silent'. His name is Jaylan."

"Jaylan?" Alahn asked the little elf, but if he hoped to get a reaction, he was disappointed, because all Jaylan did was return to his spot on the ground—the birds were still above it—as soon as the horse master was out of sight. Aha, Alahn thought, So you do know we're here. "You should've told me you couldn't talk," he told Jaylan, sitting next to him—he thought he noticed the elf leaning away a little. "Would have saved me a lot of trouble."

If the elf heard, he gave no sign of it.

They sat in silence, Jaylan watching the birds, Alahn thinking. "I don't think you're a lost cause," the human decided after a few minutes. "My best friend can't talk, either. He's a horse, you know. Fastest you'll ever ride." Another pause. Alahn reflected that it was hard to have a conversation when only one of you talked. "You like the birds, huh? Did you know there's a bird called a jay? Like your name, get it? And they have blue on their wings, like your eyes." He grinned. "Can I call you Jay?" Alahn took the elf's lack of response as a yes and turned his own face up to watch the birds. Rohan had few songbirds, and these ones' music reminded him again just how far away from home he was, but at least his new friend (a friend who ignored him, but beggars couldn't be choosers) seemed to appreciate them. Alahn found himself trying to whistle the bird's songs back at them; it took him a few tries, but he managed to match the one he thought was prettiest. He leaned back smugly and, at a thought, glanced over to make sure Jay was still there—and, to his great surprise, found the elf watching him, although he still could not fathom his expression.

"Hello," Alahn said. The elf started to look away, but when Alahn repeated the birdcall, his head turned back again, although Alahn noticed that Jay seemed to be examining all of him, only glancing at his face once and not meeting his eyes even for an instant. He wondered if the little elf thought he might be hiding a bird under his coat. Maybe if he tried another call...

. . . . . .

"You know, Jay, no one understands us," Alahn told the elf, who was a great listener; not once had he interrupted the human that day. He did move every so often, following the birds, but Alahn just went with him. "That horse master seemed to think you didn't know what the bench was for, the way he dumped you onto it," he continued, "but you just think the ground's better, don't you? I know how it is. My people thought I didn't know how to be nice, see, just because I tried to break someone's face, but I'm telling you, it would've made him nicer. And I don't think they ever thought I was very smart, either." He patted Jay's shoulder. "But you know what I've learned today? We don't need them. They can go do all the normal stuff they want, but we're going to sit here and watch birds all day if we want to, and they can't stop us." He slapped his knee to emphasize his point, and Jay flinched at the sound. "Oops. Sorry, buddy."

Jay just kept his eyes on the birds, and Alahn decided to do the same—until his stomach growled, that is. "Are you hungry?" No response, of course. "No? Well, I'm going to go find something to eat, so..." He stood and stretched. "See you tomorrow."

He looked back before he turned the corner, and found that Jay was watching him. "You sure you don't want to come?" When the elf stayed put, he beckoned him forward. "C'mon."

Jay shifted a little.

"I could use the company."

The elf hesitated—or at least, Alahn assumed that was what his lack of movement meant.

"You know you want to," Alahn told him.

Maybe the elf knew he was right, or maybe he'd been about to come anyway, but Jay slowly got up and joined Alahn, who grinned. "Don't worry; I won't tell," the human promised.

Jay only watched him.

. . . . . .

Alahn yanked on the girth, then kneed Firefly's side hard. With a huff, the stallion let out the breath he'd been holding, and Alahn finished securing the saddle. "He was making himself bigger," the man explained to Jay, who was petting the horse. "It's a trick he learned to make the girth looser, but then the saddle would slide and I'd fall off."

Firefly lowered his head to sniff Jay. It was obvious to Alahn that the little elf had never been let near a horse from the way he'd approached the stallion—timidly at first, but as soon as Firefly had looked at him, it had been as if he'd spent years around horses. Firefly was much friendlier to the elf than to most strangers, too.

Alahn was going to miss Jay. Besides Firefly, the elf was the only friend he had right now. He'd have to visit soon, but after getting into a fight with one of the other elves that morning, he'd gotten the impression that he'd worn out his welcome. "You could come with me, you know. I'd treat you better than they do." It was his impression that all the other elves ever did was put him in a chair (which Jay did not like any more than the bench, and he refused to sit in them the way he was supposed to) and hand him something shiny to play with in the hope that he'd stay there.

Jay's head twitched once, then again—something the other elves assumed he just did randomly. Over his weeks in Rivendell, though, Alahn had noticed it happened more when his friend was excited, so he was smiling when he moved to Firefly's head and took the reins. "I'm thinking I'll visit the Shire," he remarked to both of them as he led the horse forward. "Where the halflings live, you know? My mother used to tell me stories about them. I've always wanted to meet a real one." He kept chattering as they made their way down to the bridge. He didn't need to check to know that the elf was shadowing him.

Elrond was waiting for them at the bridge. "Good morning," he said to Alahn, his eyes flickering over the smaller elf who was, as had become his habit, shadowing the human.

"The same to you, good elf," Alahn replied. "We thank you for your hospitality, but we must be on our way now." He made for the bridge, but Elrond stepped in his way.

"And so you shall," the elf-lord agreed, "but I cannot allow you to take him with you."

Alahn bristled.

"Hear me out," Elrond asked. "Four hundred years ago, sixteen elves traveled from Rivendell to the Gray Havens to leave Middle-Earth. Among them were Jaylan and his parents. His father was to captain the ship."

The human frowned, but in truth, he was interested to hear why his friend had returned to Rivendell.

"Many weeks later, they returned. He had refused to board the boat. They had tried everything and failed." Here Elrond paused. "You must understand, in that time there were few elves with knowledge of sailing or the ability to navigate by the stars. His father's presence was absolutely necessary if the ship was to sail. His older brother had been killed in an orc raid shortly before, and his mother nearly faded."

In the human's opinion, that still did not justify what would surely come next. Sure enough, Elrond continued, "They made me promise he would be safe, and that if I ever sailed, I would find some way to take him with me. I plan to keep my promise."

Alahn's face was flushed with anger. "You plan to keep him imprisoned here."

"He does not know the difference," Elrond corrected calmly. "You assume an understanding that he does not have. I am amazed at the bond you have formed with him, but I assure you, he will die if you take him into the wilds."

Elrond would have been much more amazed if he had looked at Jay and seen the tear that trickled from his eye at the mention of his parents and slid down his face; only Alahn thought the little elf was capable of such emotion.

Jay was capable of a lot more than that. As Alahn shouted at Elrond, who took a few steps back, looking unhappy but determined—and clearing the way to the bridge—Jay went around behind Firefly, trailing his hand along the stallion's flanks, which, whether Jay knew it or not, kept him from getting kicked, and, with some difficulty because of his height, scrambled into the saddle unnoticed. Once up there, he thought for a bit, then reached down and pressed his palm into Firefly's side. The horse sidestepped, but horses did that sometimes, so Alahn did not notice something was going on until Jay did that on both sides and Firefly went forward, pulling the reins out of Alahn's hand. The human stared for a second, then turned to Elrond to say something, but only until Jay, deciding the man needed a bit of help figuring out what was happening, grabbed the hood of his coat and yanked with surprising strength.

Alahn climbed onto his horse's back behind Jay and handed his friend the reins—which were promptly discarded. Alahn shrugged and kicked Firefly into a gallop anyway, figuring the horse knew better than to run off the side of the bridge, but it turned out Jay had his own way of steering—pressing on the side of Firefly's neck until the horse turned away from the pressure. Alahn looked back once, to see Elrond still standing there, watching their flight. If he hadn't known better, he would have said the elf-lord was smiling.

I'm still planning to mostly work on my other story; this one doesn't have a definite end, so I'll just add to it whenever I get an idea, I guess. That being said, the more reviews I get, the more likely I am to update soon. Also, if you have an account so that I can respond to you, please ask questions. I can think of at least one that at least half of you should have. Now I just need to say that again for the people who don't read the end comments either: REVIEW. ASK QUESTIONS. I KNOW YOU HAVE THEM. YOU'RE JUST PRETENDING YOU DON'T. ALSO, WE WRITERS SPEND ACTUAL TIME WRITING THESE COMMENTS INSTEAD OF OUR STORIES, SO READ THEM.

For those of you who are wondering why I'm yelling at people about skipping the comments, it's because I noticed myself doing it the other day. :P