Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I also don't own Caleniel, Cadunír, Rodwen, or Thinedhel; they belong to Tador, who has given me permission to use her characters for my own twisted ideas.

Lady Caleniel

By: Mika Saito

Chapter 2- getting to know you

"About what, Prince?" Caleniels voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Why do you hate me?" Legolas looked directly at Caleniel, his blue eyes cold and unflinching.

"Why do I hate you? I never said I hated you. I dislike you, yes, but hate is a strong word considering I have just recently met you. I dislike you because you're an idiot and your archery skills suck!" Legolas' eye twitched, even though it was true, he did misplace arrows sometimes. That was something Gimli made sure he never forgot.

"Ok, so my archery skills need working on, but are those the only reasons why you dislike me?" Legolas raised an elegant eyebrow questioningly. Caleniel stopped. Why exactly did she dislike him, she hardly even knew him.

"Maybe we should start anew, no more misplaced arrows." He took advantage of her hesitation; Caleniel only looked at Legolas skeptically. "Would you like to go for a walk with me, Lady Caleniel?" He held his hand out, hoping that she would accept.

"Allow me to clean up and I will." Caleniel forced a smile as she turned her gaze away from his face.

"Of course. I'll await you outside." Legolas left the room quickly and as quietly as he had entered, leaving Caleniel to figure things out on her own.

It did not take Caleniel long to bathe and clean her wounds once she had figured out where everything was. Upon walking back into the bedroom area she noticed the sky blue dress laid out on the bed for her.

"I thought that you might need a new dress for this evening." Rodwen explained as she moved away from the window.

"It's nothing like Rivendell, is it?" Caleniel whispered, ignoring Rodwens' explanation about the dress, and gazing out the window.

"Come on, you don't want to keep Prince Legolas waiting, do you?" Rodwen picked up the dress and tossed it at the robed figure of Caleniel.

"Yeah, I guess not." Caleniel sighed as she picked up the dress and stepped behind the changing screen to put it on.

"You don't want to go walking with the Prince?" Rodwen asked as she moved behind Caleniel, making sure that she put the dress on correctly. Caleniel was a she-elf, that much was certain, but she never wore dresses unless her father ordered her to, which was the only reason she allowed herself to be wearing a dress in front of the elves of Mirkwood. Once Rodwen was satisfied that Caleniel was dressed appropriately, she pushed her out the door.

"Just relax and have a good time!" Rodwen urged her before she shut the door. Caleniel walked slowly down the hall, her heels clicking softly against the hard ground. She really had no idea where she was going, nothing looked familiar from when they had been led to their rooms, but she kept going, she'd get there eventually.

"There you are." Legolas smiled when Caleniel finally emerged from the palace. He had been talking to the king about something, but that conversation was forgotten as Caleniel approached them. Legolas offered her his arm, looking at her face curiously when she hesitantly accepted it. The king only smiled happily at the couple as Legolas led Caleniel away from him and toward the garden.

The silence between Legolas and Caleniel dragged on, neither knowing what to say to the other.

"This is awkward." Legolas mumbled, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes, it is." Caleniel agreed.

"I really am sorry about the arrow." Legolas said sheepishly, Caleniel chuckled.

"I got the feeling from the King that it wasn't the first time your aim was off." Caleniel watched Legolas from the corner of her eyes and was surprised to see him blushing.

"Yes, my aim has been off before…" Legolas was reluctant to say anything else about it, but he had already caught Caleniels attention.

"Well, what was one of the other times?" She pressured him, wanting to know who else had been victim to his poor archery skills.

"It was when I was traveling with the dwarf Gimli. Some orcs ambushed us, my aim was off and I shot Gimli. Now he won't let me forget it." Legolas looked away, embarrassed. Caleniel laughed openly, her laughter making Legolas smile. Her voice is so beautiful; she should laugh more.

"Sounds like Gimli had the right idea in not letting you forget." Caleniel finally stopped laughing and sighed.

"You seem to be doing the same thing." Legolas narrowed his eyes as he gazed at her pale face.

"It's true though. Your archery skills do need improving." Caleniel started walking again. Legolas watched Caleniels' back as she walked, her dark hair swayed gracefully in time to her smooth stride.

"Are you coming?" Caleniel stopped, turned her head to the side as she spoke to him. "Or am I going to have to find my own way around?" Legolas chuckled lightly as he moved to catch up with her. She can be nice sometimes, almost like the noble elf she is supposed to be, she certainly has the looks for it, but she has a bad temper… They spent the rest of their walk in silence, both content to not say anything. It wasn't long before they arrived back at Caleniel's room.

"Good night Lady Caleniel." Legolas took Caleniel's hand in his and lightly kissed it.

"Caleniel." She corrected; Legolas looked up at her in surprise. "Formality irritates me." She shrugged Legolas nodded.

"Alright. Good night, Caleniel." Legolas tested the name. Caleniel turned and quickly went into her room, feeling slightly embarrassed, although she had no reason to.

Caleniel was sitting on one of the chairs by the window brushing her silky hair when Rodwen came into the room.

"How was your walk with the Prince?" Rodwen moved toward the closet as she spoke. The king had supplied them with some clothing, seeing as everything they had brought with them had been lost when they had been attacked.

"It was ok." Caleniel's voice was soft.

"Just ok?" Rodwen turned toward her in surprise. Surely they hadn't gotten into another argument about Legolas's archery skills.

"Yes, just ok." Caleniel stood and turned to face Rodwen. "It was rather boring, though the scenery was beautiful." Caleniel joined Rodwen at the closet. She hadn't actually been paying attention to the scenery on her walk with Legolas; she had actually been watching Legolas out of the corner of her eye.

"By scenery you mean Legolas." Rodwen giggled.

"You know my mind to well." Caleniel gave in, knowing that she could not hide the truth from her friend. "What did you do with my small pack?"

"It's right here." Rodwen pulled a black bag from the bottom of the large closet. Caleniel smiled as she rummaged through the small bag. One of the horses that had fled when the orcs attacked had returned to them as they followed Legolas to the palace. Most of the small amount of stuff they had brought had been lost, but the horse had carried a couple of small bags with it, one of them being the pack with Caleniel's training clothes in it.

"Here they are!" Caleniel said triumphantly as she pulled the black outfit out of her bag. Rodwen shook her head disapprovingly. Cadunír, Caleniels father, had told her that while she was in Mirkwood she was to act like a lady at all times. However, Caleniel obviously had not listened.

Caleniel started to pull off the light blue dress. She should have been changing into a more formal dress for dinner, but she did not feel like eating. She could always ask Rodwen to explain to the king why she was absent.

"What are you doing Caleniel?" Rodwen hissed at Caleniel when she had started to put on her black training clothes.

"I'm going to go practice, why?" Caleniel finished pulling on her shirt and turned toward her friend.

"You're supposed to go down to dinner now, not practicing!"

"That's where you come in. You can go tell the king that I'm to tired and wish to be excused from dinner so that I might rest." Caleniel looked eagerly at Rodwen.

"No! You promised your father that you'd act like a lady while you're here, which means no training." Rodwen pulled a dress from the closet and handed it to Caleniel.

"Please?" Caleniel set the dress aside and continued trying to talk her friend into helping her.

"… All right. But just this once." Rodwen shook her head and sighed. This was going to be difficult. The king was so happy that Caleniel was finally here that he might not go along with the explanation, thus ending in Caleniel being discovered while she was practicing.

"Thank you Rodwen." Caleniel hugged Rodwen before grabbing her sword from the bag and running out of the room.

Legolas had excused himself from the dinning hall early, saying that he was going to take a walk before going to bed. He walked through the gardens, slowly wandering toward the training grounds. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, he was to deep in thought, wondering why Caleniel had really been absent from dinner. She hadn't seemed that tired when he had left her a few hours before.

His sensitive ears picked up the sound of someone moving, and then the heavy thud of a sword hitting wood. Unconsciously he picked up his pace, now being curious about the sounds. Finally he reached the training grounds and what he saw surprised him.

Caleniel jumped away from the wooded dummy, her movements fluid. She was breathing hard and her long hair looked windblown. She rushed at the dummy again. Twisting her body slightly, as if to dodge the immobile weapon, she brought her sword down, slicing diagonally down the battered dummy. Stepping away from the dummy she sheathed her sword and turned toward him, evidently done with what had seemingly been a training session of some sort. She froze, her eyes landing on Legolas.

"Good evening, Prince." Caleniel spoke uncertainly, suddenly becoming conscious of the way she was dressed. Her black pants and shirt were from fitting, showing every curve of her lithe body, yet also blending her into the night.

"What are you doing out here Caleniel?" Legolas moved to stand in front of Caleniel, ignoring the formality she used.

"Nothing." She answered quickly, not knowing that he had been watching her for a little and knew that she had been training.

"It didn't look like nothing." Legolas smiled. "It looked to me like you were training." Caleniel sighed, it looked like she had been caught.

"So what if I was training?" She looked boldly into his eyes.

"She-elves don't normally have a reason to train." Legolas stepped closer to Caleniel, fighting the urge to pull her into his arms.

"So, that's normally. And besides I couldn't get to sleep, even though I was tired, so I decided to train a little." Caleniel made to move around Legolas, but he moved with her, staying in front of her.

"If you'll excuse me, I'll be heading back to my room now." Caleniel tried again to move past Legolas, and again Legolas moved with her, staying in her way.

"Could you please let me through?" Caleniel stood still this time, her breath catching in her throat as Legolas closed the distance between them.

"Why should I?" The urge to pull her against him resurfaced and Legolas tried again to repress it. Finally he gave up trying to repress it and gave in. His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her tight against his chest. Caleniel stiffened at his touch before she relaxed, forgetting who was holding her, and wrapped her arms around his neck. Legolas smiled as he brought his head down closer to Caleniels' before he captured her lips with his own. Caleniels' mind screamed at her to pull away, but her heart told her that this is where she was supposed to be.

Caleniels' eyes flew open when Legolas pulled away, breaking off the wonderful kiss. She pulled away from Legolas and ran past him, mortified that she had actually let him kiss her, and at the way she had melted in his embrace.

Rodwen had just left Caleniels' room after laying out a nightgown and running a bath, Caleniel would surely want both when she returned from training. As she walked down the hall she saw Caleniel sitting with her back resting against the wall, her knees tucked up close to her body.

"Lady Caleniel? Are you alright?" Rodwen rushed to Caleniel's side.

"Yes."

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Then why are you sitting here?"

"Resting."

"Can you give me more than one word answers?"

"No." Rodwen was exasperated. Something had to have happened to cause Caleniel to be acting as she was.

"Come on." She grabbed Caleniels arm and helped to her feet. Rodwen headed back in the direction that she had just come from, walking beside Caleniel, who was starting to worry her.

"What's wrong Caleniel?" Rodwen asked quietly.

"Nothing."

"It's not nothing! You're not like this. For as long as I have been your friend you have never been this withdrawn. Now please tell me what happened." Rodwen closed the door behind them as they entered the room.

"The Prince caught me training….." Caleniels voice trailed off.

"And?" Rodwen squeezed Caleniels hand comfortingly.

"He kissed me." Rodwen smiled.

"That's what you're so depressed about?"

"Yes." Caleniel looked down at Rodwens hand entwined with her own. Rodwen had always been there for her when she needed it the most, but right now, she was afraid to tell her why she was so depressed about the kiss. "Can we talk about this some other time? Right now I think I'm going to take a nice long bath and go to sleep."

"Of course, good night." Rodwen left the room quietly knowing that Caleniel had to work things through on her own.

Caleniel sighed as she lay on large bed. What is this that I'm feeling? The thought ran through her mind as she drifted off to sleep.