AN: Apparently, and much to my eternal surprise, I have to week off. I have no idea why and I don't think I want to ask why anyway. It's always a nice to have a day off or two show up at some point especially since the weather's supposed to be nasty here all week and there's nothing that's worse than having to walk to school in the cold and the rain. Well, there's that and the fact I'm none to happy about my Girl Scout assignment this week. Since the Brownie leader's not around, I have to play double duty with both her troop and my troop and her troop is….well, to put it mildly….huge. Anywho, thanks for all the reviews and please keep them coming. I really appreciate any and all input and let me know what needs to be improved in this story. I like to hear everyone's opinions and will do my best to fix things accordingly.

LJP: Actually, the connection won't go through Shannon. Shannon's there because she was Emma's caretaker and was, sort of, destined to do so. The connection will go through Algernil and who she knew in her past. The only thing Emma's brought to Middle Earth was herself, Shannon, and some unbalance to Thranduil's court.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a handful of made up characters. Tolkien thought up the concept and, as such, it belongs to him. I'm just playing in his world. I'm broke and in Graduate School. All I own are Pointe Shoes.

The plan was simple enough, straightforward enough, strangely perfect enough that Algernil was surprised that she hadn't thought of it herself. Legolas had, though, and Algernil was grateful for that. Apparently, he was either wiser beyond his years or, like her, knew just how to push his father's buttons.

Then again, how could she have really known?

She hadn't known that Thranduil had forbidden anyone from speaking about the elven female that had mothered Emma. The little girl could ask all she wanted but she would never learn a thing about her blood mother. Her father would not give her that valuable piece for information because he felt she did not deserve to know. In Legolas' words- As he repeated his father's words for her benefit- Emma was not "worthy" enough to know about her own mother.

Both mother and son knew what sort of blow that was to Emma, who never spoke about it because that was how she was. She had been eager to learn about her "biological" family when she first came to Middle Earth. Not that she wanted to trade the family she had for the one she had been born into. More like, to her, it was a curiosity. Something to be explored and discovered and something to connect to but not something to abandon the family she had known for.

Now, to be denied such a opportunity, was something more than detrimental to the young elven child. It was almost as if Thranduil was trying to strip her of part of her personality. He was preventing her from getting to know part of herself and Legolas figured that, by allowing Algernil to give Emma that part of herself, it would cement something like a trust between the pair.

There was only one problem with her son's little plan.

Algernil could not see an opportune time to implement it. Every time she and Emma were in close quarters, the young elven child would find a proper and polite excuse to remove herself from the situation. Even if her brother was present- Not the way Algernil want things to happen but she would take it because it was the best she could do- Emma would skitter off. There was no way it would work with Thranduil around either because Emma was too afraid of him and he wasn't allowing her to learn about her mother anyway.

The opportunity didn't seem to want to present itself, much to the dismay of the queen of Mirkwood. Still, she knew that a time would come. It wasn't that the world was working against her or, at least, that's what Algernil hoped.

It was nearly time for the evening meal and Emma had yet to return home from her lessons. The young elven child was not at any of her usual haunts and she no one seemed to know where she had gotten to. Emma, for all intents and purposes, had disappeared from the palace in Mirkwood.

Legolas, almost as soon as Emma failed to show up when she was supposed to, began to worry about the young girl. He was sure that his half sister knew better than to wander into the forest without a guide and she had stopped getting lost a long while ago. She was also not one to go off and do something with out asking for a measure of permission.

Plus, Emma knew that as a member of the royal family- such as she was all things considered- she could not go off without letting someone know where she was going to be. Peace was the norm in Middle Earth but there was always the chance some disgruntled individual might try something. Best to let the guards know where one was, just in case.

The crowned prince of Mirkwood was not just afraid for his young sister, though. No, he was also scared for himself. If something happened to Emma, Shannon would have no qualms about knocking him upside the head. If he were to lose her daughter- By blood or not, Shannon thought of Emma as her own child and everyone knew that. - Shannon would have something to say or do about it.

He was about to go off to start looking for his wayward sibling when a summons came down from his father. It seemed his search would have to wait because Thranduil needed to urgently speak with him.

Sighing, because he really didn't like the idea of not going to look for Emma, Legolas made his way down to his father's private study. The meeting, no matter what it was about, would have to be taken care of quickly. He needed to go looking for his sister.