Well, I was going to wait to do this, but I am still caught up in the excitement of having my stories actually be read by people instead of wasting away on my computer (now they are wasting away on everyone else's computers) so I updated again. I hope its ok...well, if its not I'll be sad, very sad (runds and hides in corner to cry) ok, not that sad! (comes out of corner laughing)ah, whatever! No flames please, they burn!

Still don't own it, still wishing I did

Not Exactly Cupid's Arrows

It took everything she had not to shout for joy when he said this, but she managed. She began planning her escape the moment he had uttered those words, and was getting along pretty good with it when she realized as they left her room that the two guards were coming with them. Legolas had quickly explained what they were going to do, and they fell in step, a mere ten feet or so behind them.

They walked down a seemingly endless hallway that, regardless of its length, didn't really bother Eriathwen. No she was to busy trying to think about what she would do with two guards with them, but a full length mirror on her side of the hall brought her thoughts to an abrupt halt as they walked by it. She stopped and backed up a few steps to get a better look. The guards stood at either side of her each with their hands loosely on the hilts of their swords. What did Legolas tell them, that I singly handedly killed a whole army? She had noticed immediately upon waking that her weapons were no longer with her. Nor had she gotten them back to go out side.

But she was no longer thinking about her weapons as she looked in the mirror. Her hair had been brushed and was pulled up on her head, twisted around on the sides and in a neat bun in the back. Her gaze wandered down to her shirt, that was, as she remembered, not hers. It was a loose oversized white peasant style shirt; it contrasted nice to her grey pants. Maybe I should try wearing white more often. She thought as she admired the way it looked on her. I like this loose look too. She sewed her own clothes, so it wouldn't be a problem to make a shirt such as the one she had on.

She had been staring at herself for a few seconds when the prince's voice brought her back to reality. "Eriathwen? Are you ready, or do you wish to stay here and look vainly at yourself all day?"

She blushed at his remark, not realizing how dumb she must have looked, gawking at her reflection. "I am sorry; I just don't really see mirrors all that much. When I want to see my self, I have to go find water for a reflection." She turned away from the mirror and nodded that she was ready, but couldn't help stealing a small glance as they left it behind.

As they stepped outside, she gasped at the beauty around her. Lasgalen was nothing like the surrounding trees in Mirkwood. It was more open, and it didn't have an eerie feeling like the rest of the forest. Like in Rivendell, which she had visited a total of four times so far, the buildings seemed to fit right in with its surroundings. They looked like they too had just grown out of the ground. Legolas watched her face as she took in her surroundings. He smiled a little at the thought of her amusement, but quickly reminded himself of his place, and continued walking.

What was I thinking when I brought her here? Well you heard her, she had been trying to get here, so I guess you just helped her. But why did she want to come here? She didn't exactly give a good explanation as to what she was doing in the woods, with a bow, and knives, let's not forget that. What kind of elf dresses like that? He thought about these things and more as they walked to the archery range. Sure, I have met female elves before that preferred pants to dresses, as much as it is frowned down on, and even one or two that carried a bow and could fight a bit, but not like this one. She seems different, I can't put my finger on it, but it is strange, like her. I must be careful around her; I just don't want to risk it.

He stopped at the line if front of the targets and drew an arrow from his quiver. He smiled slyly at her, and then backed up an additional ten yards. "I will put it on the out side ring, on the high left side." He said before firing. He let go and watched his arrow fly wit amazing speed and stop dead right in his designated area. He smirked at her. He then drew another arrow and proceeded to shoot it in the same spot, splitting his first arrow perfectly down the center.

He grinned at her again, easily saying with his face, 'beat that.' He then shot the center of the target five times, making a perfect circle around the bulls eye before shooting the actual center point. He gave her the same look again, challenging her to try and top it, daring her to just try. One of the guards leaned in close to her and whispered so low it was barely audible. "Legolas is the best archer we have. He is quite good with the knife too, as you now know. He is the best I have ever seen."

Eriathwen stared hard at him, and then looked at Legolas. Without removing her eyes from his body, shooting his arrows in perfect form she replied, "Well then you must walk around with your eyes closed quite often. You shouldn't do that," she turned and smiled at him with the same look Legolas had given her, "you might get hurt." She stepped forward and held out her hand, and waited for the bow. Legolas looked to the guards and nodded. They nodded back in response and unhooked their bows from their backs. They didn't take out any arrows, but were ready if they needed to.

Legolas handed the bow slowly over to Eriathwen. She took his place ten yards behind the designated shooting line, and then backed up five more yards. She looked over at him. "I need your quiver. How am I to shoot with no arrows?" he handed her one arrow. "One?" how was she supposed to work with one arrow. Her thoughts of escape were put on hold suddenly. He clearly didn't trust her, and she dearly wanted to show him up, put him in his place for saying she couldn't shoot. "What am I supposed to do with one arrow?"

"I will hand them to you as you need them." He replied coolly.

"Fine!" she answered back. She turned, and barley even looking, shot her one arrow at the target and successfully split one of the five arrows that formed the circle. She held out her hand for another arrow, catching the slightly impressed look on his face as she did. He quickly masked it and handed her another one. She shot one after another and split each of the arrows in the circle. She held her hand out for one last arrow, the only one he had left. He handed it to her, unable to hide the fact that he thought she was pretty good. For a girl that is. He thought as he looked at her. She smiled at him warmly. No, for anyone, maybe as good as you.

She took the arrow and notched it. She held it up to fire but then lowered it again. "No, I don't think that would impress you anymore than my last shots, will it?" she asked. He shook his head and admitted that it wouldn't, even though he was already deeply impressed by her skills. "I didn't think so. So could you please place your hands over my eyes?"

""What?" He stepped towards her.

"You heard me, cover my eyes so I can't see." He looked over to the guards who had each drawn an arrow and held their bows poised if needed. He walked up next to her and placed a hand over her eyes. "Now that won't do much good there, you will restrict my movement, and besides, I can still kind of see out of my other eye." He sighed and stepped behind her and brought his arms up around her, covering her eyes with both hands. "Much better." she said with a laugh. "This would be a good deal easier if I had a blind fold, but no matter."

With that she raised her bow again. She held it steady for a moment then shifted it farther up. She held it there for another second or so before moving it to the right the slightest bit. Once again she held it still. Legolas could hear her breathing stop, and noticed that he too was holding his breath. He heard a twang and watched as the arrow flew gracefully through the air, landing perfectly on the target, splitting his bull's eye arrow in two, right down the middle. His jaw dropped. He couldn't even do that. He let his hands drop and didn't even bother to hide the expression on his face as she turned towards him.

"Impressed huh" he nodded his head up and down soundlessly. She looked over to the guards who had lowered their bows and were both wearing the same look on their faces that Legolas sported. "Well, didn't I tell you one shouldn't walk around with their eyes closed? Except for me that is." she laughed gently.

"Careful, your head is getting a bit big." Legolas remarked.

She looked back to him and smiled. "Well if you wish you may help me shrink it back down to size by telling me how it is that you knew what I was going to do back in the woods." He drew his eyebrows close, unsure of what she was talking about. "How did you know about my knife? You knew to dodge left, regardless that I had thrown my body that way?"

"Easy," he said, "I didn't take my eyes off of your knife. Always keep your eyes on their weapon. That is a lesson you should learn. You would have been ok if you had, but you were looking at your own knife instead of mine. That's why you got hurt and not me." his words were simple, but they made sense.

"Now who's head is getting big?" she replied with a tease. She smacked him lightly on the arm.

"The guards." He replied with simplicity. "Because if you do that again, they will kill you, and then they might think that they are actually good at something, although I am sure you would be an easy target." He then turned on his heel, his last sharp words slapping her in the face, and began to walk back to the palace.

She had a smart comment to fire back at him, but in the corner of her eye she saw that the guards had indeed notched their arrows, and easy or not, she didn't think they would miss. She shut her mouth as quickly as she opened it, and followed Legolas back to her room, or as she liked to call it, her prison. As they walked she took, once again, to planning an escape. Why am I even being held captive? He said, until I answer some questions, which I did, and my arm gets better, which it obviously is well enough, well enough to shoot a bow anyhow, so why am I still his prisoner? Why did I ever even come here? She had a tendency to yell at her self even if she couldn't help or hinder the situation.Well, she could hinder. She was so deep in thought, yelling at herself and such, that she didn't even notice that she was about to walk into a tree.

"Eriathwen, watch out for the… never mind." He jogged over to her where she sat on the ground, having snapped her head up just in time to be knocked on her butt. "Are you ok?" He offered her hand up.

She brushed it away and pushed herself up with her arm. "I'm fine…!" she cut her words short as she stood though, having put too much weight on her bad shoulder. How is it I could shoot a bow, but I can't stand up? She supposed it was because she had rotated her arm as she stood, causing movement to the damaged area. "Darn!"

Legolas stepped back, slightly amused. "Are you sure you're ok? You want to further injure yourself anymore before we actually get to your room? Or do you have plans for in there too?

"Wouldn't you like to know…" she mumbled as she gingerly brushed the dirt off herself and continued walking as if nothing had happened.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I said, most likely my… toe."

"Your toe?" he asked slowly a rather perplexed look on his face.

"Yes, my toe. I hurt my shoulder, now my head on the tree, not to mention I got my butt all dirty, I think it is time I did something to my lower extremities, although I don't want anything permanent, that would just be weird." Legolas stared, mouth open for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and laughing musically, and rather loudly too. And he wasn't alone. Hearing more than one voice, she turned to find that the guards likewise found it amusing. "Oh great, now they think I'm funny. And I can't even bloody do anything about it! I hate people!"

Not realizing she had been venting out loud, she stopped when she heard sudden silence. She looked around at the three of them. She hoped she hadn't been yelling loud. "Um, sorry about that…" Why Iluvatar, why?

"No, I, we are sorry. We should not have laughed. After all, one's toe is a very important thing!" and with that they were off laughing again.

Ok, so what was that about trying to make the best of it? Oh yes, that's right, pretend like I'm not going crazy, and then maybe I'll sprout some wings and fly away. Not that that would be a bad thing…but here goes nothing. She pasted the best smile she could manage on her face and forced a little laugh.

"Why yes, I don't' know what I would do without my toe!" she started hopping on one foot. "I might even have to walk like this." She continued to laugh, only now it wasn't forced, she was actually having a good time hopping around on one foot. She lost her balance however after the fourth hop and began to tip to her side and fall over. She expected to land, once again on her butt in the dirt, but was quite surprised that she stopped mid-fall. She looked up to Legolas staring down at her, a smirk on his face. He had caught her under the arms just before she had hit.

"Well I guess that we should get you inside before you really do hurt your toe. Who knows what kind of trouble you would get into then!" he righted her on her feet and smiled. She smiled back at him, laughing slightly at her self as she did. "Right, yes, well let's get you back to your room then." He coughed and turned away, all traces of his smile gone. She frowned and fell in step behind him. I think I have some thinking to do…a lot of thinking to do.

A big thanks to my reviewers, you're really why I posted again, right? Heck if people don't like it, why put it up right?