Your reviews have given me such a fluffy, warm feeling that I've decided to churn out another chapter before I leave. And I've just noticed that 3 of you have made me one of your favourite authors, and 5 of you have put this story on your story alerts! Wow! I feel incredibly loved. I am also beginning to suspect that I will end up devoting more of my time than I really should to writing fanfiction… Eh. I get the impression it's a common problem.

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It was another day in Mirkwood, a day like any other. There were no interesting petitions waiting to be looked at (although there were plenty of boring ones) and no one new to meet. Understandably, Legolas was slightly bored. It wasn't that he disliked his position as heir to the throne so much as that he just needed to get out once in a while. For that reason, when Aragorn's urgent letter had arrived, warning him not to make his proposed visit to Rivendell, Legolas had been disappointed, along with amused.

Honestly, he mused to himself over and over, what could be so terrifying about a maiden? She may be crazy, but to provoke such a reaction in Estel, who is normally very level-headed, what could be wrong with her? Legolas sighed. He had been looking forward to seeing all of his Rivendell friends again, and to have the trip cancelled for such an odd reason was puzzling.

Legolas shook his head, and tried to forget the matter. Aragorn had suggested that instead of Legolas coming to Rivendell, he could come to Mirkwood, and that would work just as well as far as the prince was concerned. In the meantime, Legolas had to amuse himself as best he could. That is the only problem with being immortal, he thought amusedly. Everything tends to stay the same, and when nothing changes, everything gets so boring!

Legolas abruptly decided to go wandering through the forest he called home instead of remaining within the city all day. Thankfully, he was past the point where his father insisted that he be accompanied by guards whenever he so much as poked his nose outside of the gates, so he simply requested a servant to inform his father of his intentions when the king had a free moment. Legolas felt like spending time alone today, just to wander peacefully through the forest and relax. He made sure his quiver was full and his long knives were in place, though. As much as he might wish it, this was no longer Greenwood the Great, and only a fool wandered through Mirkwood completely unarmed.

Leaving the confines of his city did give Legolas a sense of peace. He had snagged some food from the kitchens on the way out and he fully intended to spend the better part of the day wandering through the forest. There were places that were not as gloomy and dark as the forest's name promised, and Legolas, having lived there for nearly 3000 years, knew all of them. He set off for one of his favourite glens, half hoping for a chance to relax, and half hoping for something out of the out of the ordinary, an adventure.

It was evening and Legolas was making his way back to the palace when he heard the screams.

Even though he was always on alert when he was in the forest, Legolas was startled at first. This was not an extremely dangerous part of Mirkwood, although it was far from the lone path leading through the forest. Legolas could only assume that some foolish traveler had strayed extremely far from the path. Not so long ago, such a foolish human would have been left to fend for himself, but times had changed in Mirkwood.

Legolas immediately ran toward the direction of the screams, stopping partway there to take to the treetops. He resumed his movement toward the source of the trouble, but more slowly and carefully, with his bow ready to come up in a second and an arrow held in his hand. The screams were very loud now, and Legolas prepared himself to encounter whatever awaited him. He had slightly revised his opinion of the human he was about to rescue, though: very few men had voices that high and shrill. Although what a woman who seemed to be so helpless was doing in the middle of Mirkwood… Legolas gave an internal sigh and slightly parted some tree branches.

It was indeed a woman. Her hair was long and flowing, and a very vivid red. It looked entirely untangled, although it was not bound up in any way. The ridiculous woman was dressed in a flowing gold and white dress with violet trimming… What in the name of the Valar was she thinking to wear something like that into a forest? Legolas wondered in disbelief. But questions had to wait, for the woman was being advanced on by two of Mirkwood's infamous spiders while a third waited in a tree across from Legolas.

Although he had some doubts as to the woman's sanity, Legolas was not about to allow her to be eaten by spiders. He quickly fitted the arrow to his bow and let fly, striking the spider closest to the woman in one of its eyes. It shrieked and reared up, exposing itself for several more shots, and Legolas took the opportunity, striking the spider with deadly accuracy. It was soon dead, and its fellows had backed away somewhat, unsure how to meet the new threat facing them.

And, thank Illuvatar, Legolas noted in relief, the screaming had ceased. The woman was now looking wide-eyed up into the trees. Legolas ignored her for the moment, focusing all of his attention on the two remaining spiders. This was fortunate, because with very little warning, they proceeded to charge. Legolas shot another arrow into a spider's eye, then swung down from the trees, twin knives unsheathed and at the ready. He made quick work of the partially blinded spider, and the last one, wounded itself and not about to suffer the same fate as its companions, turned and fled back into the depths of the forest. Legolas remained alert for another minute, waiting for a possible trick, before wiping and sheathing his knives and turning to the woman behind him.

She stared up at him, and Legolas noted her eye-colour: violet, to match the trimming on her gown. Taking a closer look at her, he realised that everything was a little too perfect. Her eyes were too wide and too purple, her hair too perfectly arranged, her skin too creamy. This was ringing a faint bell in Legolas' head, but before he could place it, she gracefully raised a hand to her forehead, gave a little sigh, and fainted into Legolas' arms. The prince had reached out to catch her automatically. Now he stood very awkwardly. What exactly was the proper protocol when a complete stranger fainted in one's arms? His tutors had missed that one, somehow.

Making a decision, Legolas gently set the woman against a rock on the ground and turned back to the bodies of the spiders he had slain. Several of the arrows were salvageable, so he carefully removed them from the bodies of the spiders and replaced them back in his quiver. The bodies themselves he left alone. Scavengers would dispose of them quickly enough.

Finished with that, he turned back to the fainted woman. Her breathing was slow and even, Legolas saw, so she had most likely just fainted from stress and fear. He now took the time to wonder why in Illuvatar's name she had chosen to come wandering through Mirkwood so ill prepared.

She would not have been out of place at the finest court in Middle Earth, Legolas decided, seeing the emerald earrings, golden bracelets, and necklace she wore. The necklace clasped a fine ruby which matched her hair almost perfectly. He had never seen anything like her before… which confused him even more as he tried to place the feeling that he had heard of someone like this somewhere before. He stared at her prone form accusingly, willing it to wake up and answer his questions. Also, it was growing dark and he did not wish to return to the palace late, as that would undoubtedly worry his father.

Finally, to Legolas' slightly exasperated relief, the woman stirred and gave a slight moan. Courteously, he moved to her head and held his waterskin to her lips. She drank as her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, seeing Legolas kneeling right next to her. "Forgive me, my lord, but…" she suddenly fell silent, staring deep into Legolas' eyes. Legolas waited for her to continue, unnerved by her close scrutiny. When she did nothing but stare at him, her features radiating surprise and… something else that Legolas did not want to identify, he stood, extending a hand to the strange woman to help her to her feet. She accepted his assistance and rose gracefully, still not breaking eye contact. She did not let go, though, but stepped closer to him, still clasping his hand.

Legolas hurriedly stepped back and freed his hand from her grasp. "My lady?" he said hesitantly, prepared to step farther back if she advanced on him again. "Are you all right?"

She blinked and immediately cast her eyes downward. "Yes, my lord, and thank you ever so much for fighting off those horrid spiders… But may I trouble you to request information of my location? I fear that I do not remember anything but that fight… My memory is completely blank before that."

Legolas wasn't sure which of his feelings was predominant at the moment: suspicion, annoyance, or just a general sense of being completely freaked out by the unnatural woman. He was beginning to regret his earlier wishes for excitement.

"You are in Mirkwood forest, my lady, and far from the path too. And it is growing late…" Legolas searched wildly for an alternative to what he was about to do, but could find none. As much as he would have appreciated it, he couldn't just run away from the poor woman, as eerie as she was. It was not her fault she could not remember anything, he supposed. "If you cannot remember where you were going, perhaps you should stay the night in my father's palace. We can help you find your way home, or to your destination, in the morning." And they would be well rid of this woman, he thought to himself.

"Oh, kind sir, you are far too generous!" Does that mean I can withdraw my offer? Legolas thought wishfully, becoming even more uncomfortable with the situation. She continued. "I accept your generous proposal with more gratitude than you can imagine… I do not remember it, but I seem to have lost my packs, and so I have no food or clothes or anything but the meager possessions I carry on my body at the moment." She spread her arms and looked up with a sad smile. "I fear I will be a burden upon you and your father… Your father's palace, did you say? Then you are a prince! Your highness!" She immediately dipped into a very low curtsey.

If there was one thing Legolas hated, it was people going all formal on him when they realised that he was royalty. He cursed himself for that slip of his tongue, and gently grabbed the woman's elbow to bring her to her feet. He regretted the action immediately, as she gasped and began gazing into his eyes again. He quickly let go of her elbow.

"Please, Lady, there is no need to be formal. My name is Legolas; you can call me that. No titles." He wondered if he would be forced to offer her his arm for the way back. He very much hoped not, because he never wanted to come into physical contact with this… person again.

"You are so good to me, your hi- I mean, Legolas," she said, smiling shyly at him. "And if I am a Lady, I do not remember it. My name is Scarlaneniaflorana, but please just call me Florana. I hope that we can get to know each other well. And I promise I shall repay you for the services you have already done for me! But you are right; it is quite dark here! Oh, please let us hurry to your palace, for I am greatly afraid that more spiders shall attack if we linger a moment longer!"

When Legolas heard the name, he nearly choked. And then he realised why this… Florana was seeming so familiar to him. What was the ridiculous name of that woman Estel wrote about? Tiala… Tialend… Well, it was something with as many syllables as Scarla… whatever. Oh my… Perhaps I was too quick to laugh at Estel…

With these grim thoughts chasing each other through his head, Legolas and Florana made their way back towards Legolas' home. He tried very hard not to think about the reactions his friends would have when they saw him return home with this woman…

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The end of another charming chapter! As you can see, Legolas is definitely regretting not taking Aragorn seriously… And he'll regret it even more before the end… (Insert evil laughter here.)

Hmmm… A couple more things. I'm too lazy to go look up Legolas' exact age, but I'm pretty certain he's just under 3000. If I'm wrong, please yell at me, whack me over the head with something hard, and make me fix it. Also, I'm not sure whether or not earrings existed in Middle Earth, but it seems like it doesn't take too much technology to figure out how to poke holes in your ears and stick jewelry in. In any case, she's a Mary-Sue, so she's free to break rules.

And last but not least: HBP. Yeah, it made me sad too, but the fact that a certain person was responsible for the death of another certain person bothers me as much as the death itself, because both of the aforementioned people were favourite characters of mine… And the last relationship totally came out of the blue. Which also annoys me. It's difficult to talk about this without creating spoilers, so I think I'd better stop here. Oh, and I hadn't noticed those similarities to Tolkien… They might have been coincidence, but that is interesting…

Review and I will love you forever!