Chapter 6

The fellowship sat quietly in the area that had been given to them to rest in. They had separated into different corners, so that they would all be able to grieve for the loss of Gandalf.

The clearing was silent till elvish voices filled the air.

A Olorin i yaresse ( Olorin, who once was...)
Mentaner i Numeherui... (sent by the Lords of the West...)

"A lament for Gandalf," Legolas told them, keeping her back to the group so they wouldn't see her cry.

"What do they say about him?" Merry asked

"I have not the heart to tell you. For me the grief is still too near." She replied walking further from the group.

Tirien i Romenori (to guard the lands of the East...)
Maiarion i Oiosaila...(wisest of all Maiar...)
Mana elye etevanne...(what drove you to leave...)
Norie i melanelye? (that which you loved?)

"I bet they don't mention his fireworks. There should be a verse about them. The finest rockets ever seen. They burst in stars of blue and green. Or after thunder, silver showers came falling like a rain of flowers. Oh, that doesn't do them justice by a long road." She hear Sam mutter as she walked away to find some comfort in the trees.

Legolas walked through the trees till she found a small lake. She debated with herself whether she should risk bathing or if it was to risky so close to the fellowship, she wasn't worried about the elves nearby, if they came to close he could pretend to be a visitor from Mirkwood.

Her need to be clean quickly won over and she striped off her travelling cloths and wadded into the water. She took her hair out of the warrior braids which she had copied from her brother and ducked under the water.

She used some oil which she kept in her belt, to wash herself and then her hair, before just relaxing in the lake for awhile. She had just relaxed enough in the pool that she was almost falling asleep when she heard footsteps approaching.

She knew that they couldn't be an elf's or Aragorn's as they were too loud, and they couldn't be one of the hobbits as they were too heavy. So that left Boromir and Gimli.

Both one spelt disaster for her and she was about to run out of the water to grab her cloak when Gimli came within line of sight and spotted her.

She turned her back in the hope that he hadn't seen her face.

"There you are Legolas, I wanted to talk to you," Gimli said as he approached the lake.

Hoping that she could fool the dwarf she changed the tone of her voice so that it couldn't be taken for anything but a females'.

"My lord, you mistake me my name is Larwen, not Legolas."

"Oh, I apologise M'lady, I mistook you for someone else."

She heard him turn to leave but he paused and turned back.

"Have you seen the owner of these cloths and weapons?"

Legolas cursed herself, she had forgotten about the distinct weapons which she had left on the side of the lake. There was no way that she could get out of this now.

"Did it ever occur to you Master Dwarf that I may want some privacy?" she said in the voice which she used with the fellowship. She stayed low in the water so that her breasts where below the waterline and turned so that Gimli could see her face.

The dwarf looked shocked for a moment the quickly covered it up with an indifferent look.

"Well then maybe if you want some privacy then you should have told us where you were going you have been gone for hours."

"For one Dwarf, you and no other person in this fellowship needs to know my every move, secondly, this is Lórien, nothing is going to harm me here and finally why should you care?"

"It doesn't matter whether I care or not, now come out of there and let us return to the fellowship, before Aragorn starts pulling his hair out." Gimli demanded.

"Here's another idea, How about you go and tell Aragorn that I am fine and I'll join you when I'm ready to join you." With that comment said, she turned her back on the dwarf and hoped that he would get the idea.

"Are you hiding something, Elf?"

"And what would give you that idea?"

"Ah so you don't deny it."

Legolas turned around to face him again, "I does not matter whether I deny it or not, I would like to know why you think such a thing. What do you think I am hiding?"

"Well," Gimli paused as he walked over to Legolas's pile of clothing next to the lake, "it could be that you have a corset with you clothing," he said holding up the offending piece of clothing, "and that you are making special care to stay under water. I think that you aren't male."

"Well maybe I'm not but I fail to see how that would have anything to do with you." The Dwarf knew practically nothing about elvish culture so hopefully he could be convinced not tell Aragorn or maybe she should just leave now and hope that her father hadn't realised the person with him wasn't her.

"Aragorn doesn't know does he," Gimli stated.

"No he doesn't and I would keep it that way. Please turn around I am getting out."

Gimli did as he was asked and she left the water, drying herself with her cloak before putting her leggings, she decided to ditch the corset as it only made it hard for her to move and instead took a strip of material she had retrieved earlier to wrap around her breasts to try and reduce their size and movement, before pulling on her undershirt and tunic.

"Why is it a problem that you are female?" Gimli asked.

"Gimli, I am a Princess, I am expected to look pretty and marry some person I've never met so that Mirkwood can strengthen its alliances. All I wanted was to see Rivendell, to have some adventure before I am forced to have children, so I tricked my father and ran away. I should never have come on this quest. Maybe I should go tell Frodo that I am leaving." She gathered up her weapons and headed back to the Fellowship.

"You can't leave!" Gimli said suddenly.

"Oh and why is that?" She asked, not bothering to face the dwarf.

"Well..." Gimli paused, looking embarrassed, "your sort of...the calming essence in the Fellowship. You see, Aragorn and Boromir have tension between them because of Gondor, Merry and Pippin are always running around with endless energy, Sam is so careful around Frodo it's annoying and although I may not like to admit it I do enjoy your company, you seem to be the only person in the group who can calm everyone down with no effort."

She turned back to face him, "You really think so?"

He nodded, "Were taking the river as far as possible then we are continuing on foot. Why don't you wait till we get to the end of the river before you decide to stay or not? That's takes you closer to home anyway if memory serves me."

"Very well," she agreed reluctantly.

Gimli nodded once then started back towards the clearing where the Fellowship was staying.

"Oh and Gimli, when were in private, use my real name, Larwen."