Disclaimer: Though I hate to say this, I don't own any of the the characters in LoTR. Not Aragorn, Gandalf, Elrond, and sadly not Leggy. If I owned even one little spec of LoTR, I would probably be in Hawaii right now, not in wet rainy Northwest Washington. Oh and this is just rated to be safe.

Authors Note There may be some Leggy angst in latter chapters. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

' ' thought " " said aloud

Now, on with the story!

The Passing of The Moon

Chapter One

Path of Danger

Leneya ran through the woods as fast as her elfin legs would allow. The warg that had been chasing her did not let up speed. 'That's strange,' she thought 'Why is there a warg in these parts?' Even as she thought, the filthy creature seemed to gain more momentum every second, when really, the elf was losing hers.

"Where is that filthy excuse for an elf?" she mumbled to herself "Never here when I need him." She spoke to soon, for at that exact moment, the warg who had been so relentlessly chasing her fell dead with an elfin arrow in his throat.

"Am I still a 'filthy excuse for a elf'?" Leneya laughed slightly as Legolas dropped down from a tree.

"Well you could've helped sooner. Unless you think I enjoy getting eaten by a mutated wolf?"

"It sure looked like you were having fun!" Leneya glared daggers at the man popping out from behind a rather large bush.

"Aragorn to! Honestly, one of you could have killed it ages ago!"

"That would not be fun my dear Ithil!" said Legolas "We wouldn't have been able to see you run! It's quite funny looking really." A large clod of dirt hit his stomach moments after. "I was just joking!" The three companions laughed and started to make their way back to Imladris. They had all been on a hunting trip for two weeks, and had only come up with the unusual amount of two deer which were long gone by now. Leneya was the daughter of Staragith, who had held a high honor in he court of Thranduil until his death by orcs, and was a very close friend to Legolas. As the three rode on, Aragorn spoke to Legolas in such a quiet manner, an elf could not even hear (which right now was a good thing).

"You two would make a fine couple mellon nin," Legolas only smiled.

"I'm going to propose to her tomorrow, on the full moon." At these words Aragorn was shocked and overjoyed at the same time. He knew that Leneya and Legolas were very close, but he never expected this!

"Best of luck to you!" He said in the most cheerful voice ever to be heard from him (or so he thought).

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Night seemed to fall quicker than usual and the temperature was dropping at an incredible rate. This did not seem to bother the elves much, but their young human companion was noticeably shivering.

"Let us stop to make a fire for our friend." Leneya said stopping to examine the ground to see if it was dry enough to make camp. Seeing that it was, the company dismounted their horses and started to make camp. The air around them was unusually thick, but it did not seem to bother the three. Within moments there was a roaring fire.

"How I wish I was back in Imladris in the Hall of Fire!" Aragorn sighed as he munched a piece of deer jerky. "It is much more pleasant there than in this forbidding forest."

"To that I agree," came Legolas' reply "But the halls of MirkWood are far greater than those of Imladris."

"Off coarse they are," the mortal chortled "and I'm a dwarf!" Aragorn got a hard cuff on the shoulder for that remark. But through all the commotion, Leneya remained silent. Something troubled her greatly. Legolas knew this and was troubled.

"Leneya?" he asked worriedly "Leneya is something wrong?"

"Its nothing Legolas, I'm just tired thats all." Leneya saw that Legolas was not convinced and gave in. "Actually, I've been sensing it for days now."

"What is it?"

"Yrch." Legolas was not surprised. He had seen signs of the orcs for days now. It started with the warg that chased Leneya. They had never come that close to the realms of Imladris and MirkWood. Never, that is, unless there were orc close by. He hadn't wanted to say anything around his young companion for fear he might frighten him.

"What do you think we should do?" He asked.

"Do about what?" The two elves looked over at Aragorn who had started to listen in on their conversation. They both decided that it would do no good to lie, so Leneya told him.

"We are being tracked by orcs and have been for the past three days." Aragorn froze. He was very afraid. He hadn't had much experience fighting orcs, and the last time he ran into them, he and Legolas were nearly killed.

"What are we going to do!" he asked Legolas franticly.

"Calm down me friend. We will think of something in the morning." This answer just made Aragorn panic even more. The morning! They could be attacked over night! Why were they waiting till morning?

"If we don't stop and rest, they could catch up and we would be overtaken from lack of sleep." Both Aragorn and Leneya turned their heads towards the male elf. How did he read Aragorns' thoughts? Legolas spoke again. "We have fought orcs before and have survived."

"Barely," Aragorn did not mumble quiet enough, for just after he said that, Legolas shot is harp blue eyes towards that of the human.

"Unless you want to die at the hands of the orcs, I suggest you do not doubt your skills! I am much older and wiser than you are, so I would also recommend not doubting my authority either!" Aragorn stepped back from the enraged elf. Partly because he was frightened, and partly because he was shocked. Legolas had never used his age to prove his authority before. True, he was nearly 3,000 years older than him, but he never said that gave him more power. The foreboding fire in his friends eyes made him not want to talk to Legolas for the rest of the night.

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Morning came slowly it seemed. Aragorn had laid awake for most of the night listening for sounds, signs, anything to signify the coming of other life. It was not a peaceful night for Leneya either. She was not worried by Legolas like Aragorn, but worried for him. Something was wrong besides the orcs. She could feel it. The look in his eyes scared her in a different way. To her they looked glassy, like he was sick, and filled with worry. But at the same time they looked... clouded over like he was in some deep unknown thought that caused him great pain. Aragorn sensed Leneyas' worry.

"Does something trouble you?"

"I'm worried"

"About what?"

"About Legolas. Have you looked into his eyes? Something is terribly wrong, he's just not telling us."

"Its the orcs. They are only a day away. They did not rest over night. Come, we must ride. We cannot rest any more."

The trio rode non-stop for 48 hours and their destination of Imladris was still three days off. If they even stopped for 30 minutes the orcs could catch up. Leneya, despite the fact that the orcs were right on their tail, was still worried about her elfin companion. He still wasn't telling her something. Legolas rode up beside her.

"I'm fine my little Ithil, do not worry about me." Legolas could sense her pain filled worry every time he got near her. He desperately wanted to propose to her, but it did not seem like the right time to do so. Suddenly, Legolas's horse reared up. He was an elfin horse and carried many of the same qualities as the elves, including their acute hearing abilities.

"Man ha Ithiltinu? (What is it MoonStar)" His question was soon self answered. Being the oldest, his ears picked it up first. Then he saw it. 'Orcs'.

"Legolas?" Aragorn saw the worried expression on his friends face. "Legolas what do you see?"

"They're here."

Sooooo... what do ya think? Please pardon me for saying "What it" when I wrote it in elvish. Their wasn't a word for is. Read and Review!