SORRY! I have been caught up with school and the like, and I really am very sorry I haven't updated – but here, I promise I'll update again today and maybe tomorrow.

A half-conscious Legolas soon found himself tumbling down a waterfall. Desperately he tried to grab onto any little ledge that he could. Getting a grip on a little protrusion that was swiftly being worn away by the relentless fall of the water, he gained a brief respite from the feeling of helplessness, if not the cold and the pain.

Suddenly, the little bit of rock left wore away and Legolas fell down to the whirlpool below.

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Pippin moaned. The lights were altogether far too bright in his opinion, especially since he had just been running outside in the dark. He had also landed on something very sharp and presumably pointy. He lifted himself up on his arms and then maneuvered himself in to a kneeling position. Looking down, he saw that he had landed on a mirror. Odd, he thought. Should there be a mirror here?

He heard a voice come form somewhere to his left. "Pippin?" it queried anxiously. He turned his head, which had inexplicably developed a throbbing ache, toward the source of the voice. He blinked a few times, and then saw Merry. "Merry! What are you doing here? I've been looking for you all night!"

Merry frowned. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here! You were supposed to wait for me, not come running after me! I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

Pippin frowned back. "Why are you tied up?" Then his jaw dropped. "Why are you tied up? Is it – orcs!"

Merry shook his head. "Don't let them hear you calling them that, Pip. They don't take very kindly to – "

"Orcs!" came a shrill, altogether too loud voice from right near his head. "Orcs! That is a worse insult than can be imagined! Orcs are class zero intelligence, only above rabbits, pigeons, and hedgehogs! And even they are smarter in some ways. We are not orcs, little half-size excuse for a human!"

Pippin turned toward the voice, quite angrily. "What did you call me?"

"Half size excuse for a human! Or perhaps a beardless, fat, ugly, short excuse for dwarves who are all those things except for the beard part!"

Now Gimli, who had already been fuming, was about ready to – well, you really don't want to know. His face turned even redder and he started shaking. Estel looked at his friend nervously. Uh oh, he thought.

The hobbits weren't quite as bad as Gimli, but they were close. "We are not half size excuses for humans – have you ever really seen a human who isn't either terribly heroic or terribly not? And dwarves have far too short tempers. You're just – what are you, anyway?" he asked, having just noticed the stature of his insulter.

The elf drew himself up proudly. "We are elves!"

Pippin frowned. "Aren't elves about the same size as humans? Pointy ears, really graceful – "

"Yes, yes, the Kwuh-end-ee. We've heard about them, and really, I'm quite tired of hearing about them. Those are not elves. We are."

"Um – "

"Speak no more! Will you go with these others to defeat the Lorelei?"

"You know," Aragorn noted, "That name sounds a bit like Lorien." Everyone ignored him.

"What?"

"The Lorelei. Will you go and defeat her?"

"Who is the Lorelei?"

"She has an enchanting voice. Do not by any means listen to it."

"Why not? I would think it would be rather nice, if her voice is enchanting."

"Not a good type, you fool of a Took!"

"I'm not a Took. And how do you know about the Tooks, anyway?"

"What? What is a Took?"

"It's a family! And why would you call me one if you don't know what one was?"

"Well – um, see, we saw someone use that phrase a lot in a little mirror basin thingy – "

"A basin thingy?" Strider interrupted. "What sort of basin thingy?" Not Galadriel's Mirror, not Galadriel's Mirror, he prayed.

"It was filled with water, and we just took a quick peek – "

Galadriel's Mirror! Oh no, oh no. How?

"How?"

"What do you mean?"

"Weren't there – people around?"

"What? Oh, yes. You mean those silvery things. Several – but they never saw us. No one could ever see and certainly not catch us if we didn't want them to. We are the best thieves around!"

"Ah – I see." Galadriel's Mirror. Well, she had to have known somehow. Right? It's her magic, after all - unless they stole the ring. Don't tell me they stole the ring.

"There were some quite valuable things in that area, too – but never mind that." He turned back to Pippin. "Do you accept our offer?"

"What offer?"

The elf rolled his eyes. "Will you go and defeat the Lorelei or not?"

"Um – "

"They – " he tipped his head in the direction of the hobbit, the dwarf, and the human who were tied up on the wall. " – Have already accepted."

"What's the alternative?"

"You stay here and we drive you mad. If you accept, we will let you go freely."

"Um – I think I'll go."

"Very well. The easiest way to get to her favorite haunt, besides falling off the cliff, would be – that way." He pointed to solid – well, dirt wall that was covered with gold. "There should be a tunnel somewhere here – ah, here it is!"

The gold slid to the sides, revealing a long, dark passageway. The elven warriors clambered up the wall and untied the three prisoners. Aragorn, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin – the latter two were quite close together as if seeking protection from the elves and these nasty adventures – started down the passageway followed by the glares of the elves.

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Frodo and Sam rushed to the spot where Pippin had disappeared into the earth. "Pip! Pippin!" Frodo cried out, quite distressed. He peered down into the little pit in the ground. "Pippin? Pip, are you down there?"

There was no answer. "Pippin!" Sam joined the frantic call. "Can you hear us? Are you all right?" Still no answer.

Frodo began to get angry. "Pippin, this isn't funny! Come out now!" No one answered.

Sam tapped Frodo's shoulder. "Um, master Frodo?"

"What is it, Sam?"

"Um – there's something over there – "

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Legolas washed up onto the hard stone ground. The small waves brushed up against his side, but the elf didn't move. A tall, ghostly figure came out from behind a boulder and gently shook the limp body. When she got no response, she frowned and shook him harder.

Suddenly, the elf awoke. He started coughing almost immediately, coughing up water with traces of blood in it. She stood up and stepped back, watching him carefully. When he ceased coughing (which took a while), she spoke.

"Hello," she said, as sweetly as a greeting can be spoken.

He lifted his head gingerly, wincing as his numerous wounds made themselves known. "Who – who are you?"

"My name is Caen. Who are you?"

"Legolas – where are we?"

"Well – are you claustrophobic?"

"No – why?"

"Because we are quite a ways underground at the moment."

"Under ground? How far undergroun – " he suddenly dissolved into another hacking fit. The lady gasped and sank down to her knees.

"Are you all right?"

He gasped for air. "For the moment – is there a healer anywhere near?"

She smiled. "Why of course, I am one myself!"

"Well – can you heal me?"

"I don't see anything wrong, other than you keep coughing."

He stared at her. "Blood. I am coughing up blood."

She shook her head warily. "I see none."

TheAmazingTechnoColorRingwraith: Oh my gods. You actually put me on your favorites list! Thank You! As for your reviews – no, he is not having a good day. In fact, in the story I'm going to write after this, (I am incapable of writing two at once) he going to have much, much worse days. His reaction to the 'elves' – well, that might be hard, but hey! Lots of strange confusing stuff coming up. ;)