- - - Legolas - - -

Pippin approached the camp, pulling along a girl which I assumed to be the "silent one" that Haldir had told me about. He said she had not told them her name nor said a word since she had been found.

I examined her closely. Her hair was a black or extremely dark brown and straight. All the way to her shoulders. Her eyes caught my attention. Haldir had mentioned them being a weird colour. A grey. But with green and gold. She was not too skinny. Certainly not starved! There was a slight amount of fat around her waist. That alone told me she hadn't been living on her own out in the wild.

"Legolas, Merry. Come here!" Pippin called to us. "I want you to meet someone."

Merry wandered over and I cautiously approached the odd looking girl. After looking at me for a few seconds, she examined Merry. She was probably quite bored at looking at elves after being in Lothórien for several days.

I had let my mind wander while Pippin had been talking.

"... is Grace. She's the girl that Haldir told you about!"

"Vedui' little one," I said, greeting her in my own language but not expecting her to reply. She surprised me by saying something back.

"Hi."

"Speak common tongue!" Merry complained. The hobbits knew nothing of elvish.

"I have just greeted the lady in elvish," I told Merry. I looked back to Grace. "Welcome to the Golden Wood, though I am sure you're tired of hearing it."

I reached out to take the lady's hand a kiss it, as is proper. When I took her hand, I noticed several long, deep gashes on both of her wrists. Haldir had not mentioned these to me. Without hesitation, I lightly kissed her hand while investigating her wrists with my eyes. They had been cleaned, most likely by Haldir. It was a clean cut, done with a knife by the looks of it. She noticed my eyes on her wrists and watched me.

"My Lady," I said, and left to find Haldir and speak with him.

- - - Boromir - - -

I heard someone call my name. Looking over, I saw several people gathered in one spot, talking.

Walking over, I saw Merry, Pippin, and Aragorn talking to a young girl that I didn't recognise. At first glance, I thought she was very beautiful. There was an untamed look in her eyes. I had always liked a woman that had a mind of her own.

"Boromir! This is Lady Grace. She is a guest in these woods. Will you not welcome her?"

Of course, always like Aragorn to be the perfect gentleman. I didn't want to be shown up by what I had once thought to be a "mere ranger."

"Greetings my Lady Grace," I said, bowing, "I am Lord Boromir. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

She bowed her head slightly for a second. "Nothing, sir."

At that moment, Aragorn snatched up Grace's hand. Well, snatched is too strong a word. Aragorn never snatches; he reached out and grabbed onto her hand and pulled it towards him, wrist up.

I could see her trying to pull her arm away from him. Honestly, I never thought Aragorn would do anything like that to a lady. I was about to step in and take her arm gently away from his grip, but he cut me off.

"These need to be cleaned," he said, referring to the cuts on her wrists, "They will be infected if not. Come with me Grace."

I saw Grace blink in surprise. She obviously wasn't expecting concern. Her eyes looked back at me. There was something in that look. Fear? Yes, but not fear of Aragorn. Fear of being discovered. What did this strange girl have to hide?

- - - Grace - - -

I had trouble keeping track of all these guys. Just as I met Legolas and Merry, Legolas left and then we were joined by the nice looking man I had seen before. Aragorn. Then he called over another man who could have been his brother, they looked so similar. His name was Boromir.

I have to say, I was quite startled when Aragorn grabbed my hand. I thought he was going to demand what had happened to me. Instead, he told me they needed to be cleaned again. No questions asked. I liked this Aragorn guy already.

So, there I was, trailing behind him. He led me to a pond of water, not unlike the one I had bathed in that morning. Out of his pocket he produced some kind of weed.

Now I thought this guy was out of his mind. How was getting high going to help my cuts? I almost laughed when he started to wash my wrists and then put the weeds on them. I had thought he wanted me to smoke them!

He must have sensed my laughter but he didn't understand it. Instead, he just looked up from my arms and smiled. This guy was so awesome. I swear, he was my new idol.

But I knew there was going to be questions coming eventually, so I started to think up something I could say. There was no logical excuse but the truth and I sure as hell wasn't going to tell him that. As expected, as soon as my cuts were cleaned, he asked questions.

"Lady Grace, what happened to your wrists? Were these done with a knife?"

I opened my mouth to lie to him. You know, the whole I don't know, I was unconscious thing, or the I'm not telling you, it was too horrible charade.

Aragorn must have known I was going to lie because he reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. My gaze went from his arm up to his face. I had to admit, this guy was pretty good looking for someone so much older than I was.

"I... I can't tell you."

He looked right at me, searching my face to see if I was lying. I could see that he believed me.

"Then tell me, what did this to you? Were you attacked?" he asked.

Damn him and his concerned attitude. It made me what to tell him everything. There was no doubt that I could trust him, but I barely knew the guy! This guy was good. I wish I knew his tricks to get someone to tell me something.

"No one did this to me... I can't tell you," I repeated my answer, adding in that no one had did it so he didn't go all ballistic on me and force me to tell him. Although I doubt that Aragorn knows how to go ballistic on innocent young girls such as myself.

Again, he examined me. He looked so deeply into my eyes that I felt like he was looking right into my soul. That was scary. I had never been looked at like that. He seemed satisfied after that.

"But," he added, "you know you can tell me if you need to?"

Of course I knew this! I had already sensed that he was a guy with a lot of secrets. Let me rephrase that: keeping other people's secrets from everyone. He wouldn't tell anyone if I asked him not to, right?

I opened my mouth to tell him everything. Well, not everything. Just enough to get him off my back. No doubt he'd think I was totally crazy after this.

"I did it."

"What? You did what?"

"I did this," I said, waving my wrists in the air, "Where I come from, this happens a lot. People are unhappy. They cut themselves as a way out. To commit suicide."

"You cut yourself? To kill yourself? It didn't work?" He seemed confused. Obviously people don't try to kill themselves here a lot.

"Yes, I tried. One moment I was at home and when I woke up I was here. I don't know what happened. Please," I added, almost as an afterthought, "don't tell anyone about this."

He nodded his understanding and motioned for me to follow him back to where everyone was.

- - - Aragorn - - -

She had done it herself. "As a way out," she had said. I couldn't believe it. But I wasn't going to tell anyone. I would keep my promise and keep this to myself. It was her story to tell. In fact, I was surprised she had even told me.

We walked back to our camp. Legolas was there at this time, having come back from talking to Haldir, I presumed.

"Aragorn," Legolas called to me, "Where have you been?"

"I have been tending to Lady Grace's cuts, Legolas." Legolas accepted this answer.

"Estel," he said to me, in elvish, "There is something to this girl that no one has guessed. Those cuts on her arms are not natural! We need to know if she will help or hinder the Fellowship."

I answered him in elvish, while Grace looked on. "I know, my friend. The cuts are unnatural. She has explained some of it to me. I will not repeat it to you now."

I am fortunate to have a friend like Legolas that will stop asking questions when the time is right. If I had said any of that to Boromir, he would have pestered me until I told him the reason for Grace's wounds. Thank the Valar for the elves.

(A/N: Woohoo, Legolas is here!! Everyone cheer for him! Do the wave! You like? I hope so. REVIEW!!! And read some other stories I've written. Well, only some of them are written by me. Some are co-written or written by my friend. Anyways, just read them!