I thought I'll treat you to a new chapter soon. Lucy you eh? Truthfully I'm going back to uni and who knows when I'll be able to update but I can rest assure you that I already have the next few chapters ready. And I can also assure you that things regarding this story will start picking up pace as we draw nearer to the event that shakes Middle Earth, that is the resurrection of Sauron and the fight over the ring of power causing the fellowship to be formed. Isil's role will not directly effect the original Tolkien stories, with the intention to keep his work pure. But this story will wrap around that time line loosely. All will be unravelled in the future and I hope I will be able to please you insatiable lot!

I don't owe anything to do with Tolkien or LOTR, neither Peter Jackson's films.

Servant Rule Number Five:- Servants are expected to keep their appearances smart at all time.

The next two days, Isil didn't see or hear from the prince. She went to his rooms early in the mornings but he was gone. She drew his bath but he came late. the only sign of his occupying the rooms was an unmade bed in the morning with damp towels and dirty clothes, curiously stained with mortar and mud.

Isil's mundane routine of chores was broken when there was a huge party held in honour of Legolas's birth year. A birth year was like a birthday but due to the quick passing of time to elves, unless they wanted to be celebrating their birthdays everyday, they decided to have one once in every hundred years.

And that year was Legolas's birth year.

Isil was called down to the kitchen at the break of dawn to help the cooks prepare for the feast by peeling potatoes. Nearly all members of staff were there, bantering and gossiping as they prepared vegetables, fruits and sauces, before being disbanded to continue their day but doubling their work load.

And if anyone was to have a hard day's work, it would be Isil and she knew that when she walked into the prince's bedroom to find him quite reluctant to get up.

Grabbing the corner of the bed sheet, she yanked it away to expose his bare torso to the cool air, hearing his curse and burrowing his head under his pillow, she frowned and carried on her chores of opening the curtains and ushering Arkle to iron the prince's clothes he was to wear that night and Keay to run the prince's bath. Turning to see the prince lying on his stomach with his head under the pillow made her smile but no sympathy stirred within her as she knew he had already slept in later than usual.

"Get up!" she scolded him, but he made no move except a grunt and his arms tightened round his pillow as if in defiance.

"I just got to sleep." he moaned and Isil looked around his room to see the state it was in, papers were everywhere and his clothes were thrown where they see fit.

Seeing no other alternative as to how to wake him, she reached over and tickled him on his exposed sides, causing him to squirm and a muffled sound that seemed to Isil to be like giggles rose to her ears.

"Rise sweet prince." Isil yanked the pillow from his head to see his sleepy eyes, "Valar! You have got to bed late haven't you?"

Legolas groggily rose to his feet and looked at Isil, "Yes, things have kept me from my sleep."

"Like what?"

"Like the construction of a new market place?" he shrugged and walked towards the bathroom from where Keay hurried out to give the prince his privacy.

Isil looked at a nearby piece of paper to see a blueprint of a wall-less roofed complex that looked to be the market. She smiled as she remembered his sudden concern of his father's lack of urgency concerning his own kind.

"Isil?" came Arkle's moan and she walked into the dressing room to find Arkle holding up a ripped shirt that the prince was to wear.

"How did that happen?" Isil exclaimed as she took the shirt and looked at its ragged rip.

"It got caught on a belt buckle." Arkle replied somewhat coyly and Isil saw enough sense to piece together the evidence that it was Arkle who had ripped the shirt.

"Take it to the tailor and explain the urgency of it." Isil groaned and Arkle took the shirt and left the room quickly to avoid any confrontation that hasn't happened.

Isil called for the prince's breakfast to be brought up to him and opened the balcony door to let the cool mid morning air wash into the bedroom. Sighing, she turned her attention to the piles of paper everywhere and sorted them into piles and emptied the rubbish into a bag that would be taken away. A quick dust later and the room was perfectly tidy.

Isil rolled up her sleeves as she bent down by the fire to start emptying the hearth of the previous night's fire and scooped the ashes up with a pan and emptied it into a bucket. She rolled some of the bigger pieces of firewood into place and arranged the kinderling ready to be lit for the evening. With black hands, she looked about the room for a way to clean then realised she had to use the bathroom where it was presently occupied by the prince. She knocked on the door and called, "Legolas? Can I come in and wash my hands?"

"Yes." Was the replied, dimmed by the heavy wooden door, with her elbow, she pushed down on the door handle and opened it to reveal the prince reclining in the circular bathtub with his eyes closed.

One eye lazily opened then closed as he acknowledged her presence, Isil headed to the wash basin and washed her hands clean of the black dirt, drying herself she reached into her pocket and pulled out the emerald leaf necklace and spoke, "You've forgotten this again."

Legolas, now curious opened both eyes and saw the necklace, smiled a grateful smile and took it from her, "Many thanks, once again. Hand me my robe will you?"

Isil did so and averted her eyes as he got out the tub and shrugged himself into the black robe and secured the tie round his waist.

"I got you a little something if you permit me to give it to you for your birth year, just that you keep leaving your mother's necklace around to be lost, I thought you might need a place to keep it knowing it'll be safe." Isil reached into her pocket and drew out a small, rosewood box with a silver lock on the front with it's key and upon it's lid was silver inlaid in a pattern of leaves. She handed it to the prince who took it and slowly admired it, his eyes took in the skilled craftsmanship of the clever combination of silver and wood and knew it must have cost Isil a few gold pieces.

"If you don't like it, I can have it exchanged for one of your liking and......" Isil blurted as she took the prince's silence for one of dislike.

"Nay, I am stunned by the thoughtfulness of this gift you bestow upon me. In all my years as a prince I have been given the greatest and beautifulness of things an elf can ever see, but none has been given to me by a being who hasn't much to give. Your gift.....means much to me. Thank you." Legolas smiled and turned his attention from admiring the little box to Isil who face showed relief that the prince liked her gift.

"Thank you." He said more firmly and bent his head down to press a kiss upon her cheek. He watched her avert her eyes to the floor as her lips quirked into a timid smile, "My parents have instructed me to give you a small gift of their own, I've left a bottle of my father's brew on the table by the fire along with a pot of Medina dumplings. You tell me when you want them warmed up."

The prince's face broke out into a grin, "My heartfelt thanks to your family on this day." He pulled out the necklace from his robe pocket which he knew would have been lost once again if it wasn't for Isil's gift. He unlocked the box and placed the necklace inside. "Perfect." He mused as he took one long look at the necklace on its bed of black velvet and locked it.

A knock on the door interrupted them as Thranduil's voice came from the other side of the door, "Son, it's me."

Legolas gave Isil one last smile and opened the door to reveal his father before him with a long wooden box in his hand. "Here." Thranduil handed his son the box and watched him open it to reveal a great bow, which Legolas took out of the box and ran his fingers over the simple but grand etchings and engravings in the wood. He deftly pulled back the string to test its tension and smiled when it gave a firm, musical resonance.

"Thank you ada." His son grinned.

"I'm proud of you, more so of late especially when you helped me on my workload. I've seen the new market place that just been built and I have to say its majestic. And the new town hall's roof? I hadn't known it caved in. how did you know of these things? I haven't told you as I hadn't read the petitions." Thranduil asked as he watched his son get changed, Legolas looked up from buttoning his shirt and smiled, "I got it from a reliable and close source."

"Who might I ask?"

"Ah! Now that's my secret." Legolas grinned as he teased his father.

"Well whoever it was, keep them close to you son, this change in you is good." His father smiled and headed to the door. He halted and turned back once more to his only son, "Your mother would have been proud."

"Thank you ada." Legolas replied in a somewhat strangled voice, his emotions of his deceased mother will always cause a conflict within him but his memories of her are everlasting and pure.

"Your friends are waiting downstairs for you." Thranduil smiled and departed through the door, leaving Legolas to look upon his mother's portrait above the fireplace. Turning he picked up the box that contained the necklace and placed it on top of the fireplace, directly beneath the portrait so he'll always know where it is. He heard Isil leave the room quietly followed by a more noisy Keay and turned to get ready to greet his friends, his mind mulling over things in his mind concerning his mother, father and Isil to his irony.

"And next time you aim for me again, I shall give you a firm kick up the backside." Horthe roar good temperedly at Legolas as they walked through the forests after an archery contest amongst the trees, testing Legolas's bow which proved deadly accurate.

Yousil and Cleborn, two more of Legolas's good friends laughed as the prince ducked a swipe at his head by Horthe.

For a couple of minutes this banter flowed till Yousil asked where they were heading to which Horthe replied with a grin, "Down to the river."

This was met by a chorus of groans and feeble excuses as to why they should avoid that part of the river again. "I'm not getting chucked in again." Legolas moaned but Horthe shook his head, "I have heard that if you head further up, you'll come across a bathing area for the palace maids. I stumbled across it the other day and pwoar! What a sight to rival the valar!"

This was now met with a chorus of approval and Hortha who won over his fellow friends, lead the way to the bathing hotspot. They settled on the banks of the river where they were sheltered by bushes that allowed them to see the river clearly. After a while and no bathers, Legolas laid back and closed his eyes and let the steady flow of conversations of his friends wash over him till suddenly it got silent and Legolas received a kick in his leg. Sitting up, he saw Horthe franticly indicate to the river and pulled the prince next to him to see what they could see. By the river stood a blonde haired maid with a basket of washing. They watched her rolled up her sleeves and began washing a few sheets.

"Come on my pretty, the water looks great." Horthe whispered and Legolas, in any other circumstance would have told him to shut up but he found himself watching with baited breath as the maid stood up and tested the water with her bare foot.

"Go on...." Horthe's voice sounding hoarse as he whispered the maid to bathe.

The maid looked around and when she looked in the direction where the four elves laid hiding, Legolas stomach jolted as he recognised her.

It was Isil!

He watched her, oblivious to his friends urging her on in tight, restrained whispers.

She undid the ties on her back and shrugged out of the dress to leave her in her flimsy undergarments. Then to his growing arousal, she pulled the undershirt over her head to expose her breasts in the sunshine with their pink, pert nipples.

"Valar!" Yousil groaned somewhere to the prince's left as Isil stepped out of her under skirt, leaving her as naked as the day she was born. She tilted her head to one side and undid the plait that held her hair restrain, where it fell into a curtain of golden waves that shone in the sun he watched her step into the cold water, hearing her surprised gasp as the water suddenly swept over her legs.

"What a sight!" Cleborn ribbed the prince but Legolas was too enthralled by Isil swimming in the river before him, teasing him by exposing a tantalising amount of bare flesh before the water washed over her. His groin was so swollen he was verging on the threshold of pain but his eyes never left her as she leaned her head back into the water exposing her breasts to the sky.

His mouth grew wet as the thoughts of taking one of those pert nipples into his mouth preoccupied his thoughts.

He bit his lip as he thought of being in the water with her, running his hands over her bare skin, wet and cold with the water till she burned under his touches and caresses.

He fought the urge of reaching downwards with his hand and taking himself to heaven as Isil stepped out of the river, standing before him fully naked.

He heard the gasps and groans of his friends beside him but he didn't care as his eyes greedily took in her long, lithe body before him.

The slight indentation of her navel increased his desire and his eyes fell upon the triangular apex of her womanhood which he wished more than anything was beneath him right now under his control and need. They watched silently as Isil dried herself off and got dressed then headed back to the palace, unaware she had left behind four stunned elves lying on their stomachs.

It was Horthe who broke the silence saying what Horthe would say with no shame, "My prong is weeping for attention. let's head back."

"That's all very well Horthe for you have a wife but what about us who haven't?"

Cleborn whined as he stiffly stood up, he stretched uncomfortably and adjusted his trousers which were evidently too small for him at this moment in time.

"There are elleths who would be more than pleased to bed a lord, ask Legolas." Horthe grinned, at his name, Legolas looked up at his friends who stood above him.

"I'm sure I'll be able to introduce you to a few acquaintances of mine to you.", Legolas rolled his eyes and sorely stood up.

"I'm going to find me a maid of my own." Yousil declared as they walked back awkwardly, all impaired by their arousal.

Silently Legolas wagered he'll do one better, he'll bed the very maid that inflicted this lust upon them sooner or later.