I am apologizing ahead of time for the offensive and sexist comments in the chapter, I just think Middle Earth being in the time period it is would be quite sexist, even with Eowyn proving them wrong.
Legolas had seen quite a few strange anomalies during his (almost) 3000 years on Arda. From orc-goblin crossbreeds to giant spiders the size of trees, he thought he had seen all Middle Earth had to offer. But girls falling from the sky in the middle of a lightning storm that came out of nowhere? That was a new one, even for him.
Now that girl was in a fighting stance, brandishing two bronze knives, glaring at the dwarf next to him. Stepping forward lightly, Legolas reclaimed the girl's attention. After such a display of power, he decided that making enemies of this girl - no matter how young she looked - would not be wise.
He bowed slightly, seeing the tiara perched on her brow, deciding to treat her with respect in case she was some sort of royalty. "Mae govannen (Well met), my lady," he greeted. "I am Legolas, son of Thranduil, Prince of Mirkwood." He gestured towards Gimli. "This is my friend Gimli, son of Gloin, Lord of the Glittering Caves. Might I inquire as to your name and how you arrived in such a manner?"
The girl looked around as if noticing for the first time the destruction around her. "My names Thalia," she said, speaking in the Common Tongue but with an accent he didn't recognize. "And I've got no clue as to how I got here."
Legolas frowned, noticing how she didn't state her parentage. "You arrived in quite a…unique manner. Only one of great power could control the skies." An unpleasant memory struck him-Carhadras, and the snowstorm that had assaulted them as the Fellowship had attempted to climb the mountain pass. "Do you perhaps remember, my lady, meeting a wizard who could have sent you here?"
At the word 'wizard', the girl's eyebrows shot straight up. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, Gimli cut in.
"Legolas, that's impossible," he huffed. "Saruman is dead and Gandalf has sailed."
"There are other wizards in Middle Earth," Legolas commented, briefly ignoring the girl, and how, upon hearing 'Middle Earth', she seemed surprised - again. "There is Radagast the Brown, and the two Blue wizards…although it is true that only a White wizard appears to be able to control the weather," he acknowledged.
The girl - Thalia - coughed, once again reminding them of her presence. Apparently no longer deeming them as a threat, she put her daggers away. "Look," she said, "I don't know how I got here. But I know that I came with my cousins, and now they appear to be missing. So if anyone's seen two boys whose egos are bigger than their heads, now would be a good time to mention it."
Legolas was shocked into silence. In many ways, Thalia reminded him of Lady Eowyn, who believed that a woman could do anything a man could. But her brazenness far exceeded that of the Lady of Rohan.
He was apparently not the only one who thought so, because one of his elven soldiers, Celegorm, choose that moment to talk.
Celegorm, though not Legolas's friend, was a trusted and skilled warrior nonetheless. He was good with a bow and even better with a sword. While an excellent soldier, he and Legolas got into frequent arguments, due to Celegorm's old-fashioned beliefs. He had a hard time adapting to the treaty between Elves and Dwarves and even looked down on Men, despite all they had done during the War of the Ring. Knowing Celegorm's traditional views, Legolas was not surprised when he spoke up.
"It is unheard of for a woman to speak to a man in that manner, especially of the elven race. A female should be at home, minding the children and house, and letting the men do the real work…"
In any other case, it would have been an amusing sight to see. A young girl glaring at an adult elf over 200 times her age. However, the look on her face coupled with the deadly weapon that had flown from her hand to land a hairbreadth away from Celegorm's head, embedding itself in the tree behind him, was anything but funny.
The sky itself seemed to reflect the girl's anger. Blue skies clouded to gray, and clouds obscured the sun. A roll of thunder rumbled ominously, and the girl stood tall and proud, framed against the thunderous backdrop.
"I am the Lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis, daughter of Zeus*" she insisted, and the sky flickered darker than ever. Legolas had no idea what the words meant, but his instincts screamed that whoever this mysterious girl was, she was not to be messed with.
"I bow to no man."
A thunderous bolt of lightning arced across the sky. The wind picked up, and Legolas noticed that Thalia was literally glowing, a silvery color that reflected the moon. The girl glared at Celegorm, who, despite his best efforts at a blank face, could not hide the fear in his eyes.
Slowly, Thalia regained a grip on her emotions. As she calmed down, so did the sky: although the sun peeked out, no bird dared to sing. Thalia threw Celegorm a glare, silently threatening him one last time.
"So don't test me."
With those final words, the daughter of Zeus turned away from the stunned Dwarves and Elves alike, silently slipping into the undergrowth as if she'd never been there at all. All that remained was the slight smell of ozone in the air.
After Thalia's exit, silence reigned as no one dared to speak up. Then, all at once, Dwarves and Elves alike exploded into a flurry of voices.
No one knew exactly what to do with the girl. Some suggested killing her immediately, while others protested that killing a child - especially a female - was immoral. A few warriors wanted to forcefully take her to King Elessar to await judgment, while others wanted to do so peacefully.
"Silence!" roared one voice above all the others. All eyes turned to face the Dwarf lord, who was red in the face, glaring at his soldiers. "You are warriors, not a bunch of children squabbling over a toy!" At his scolding, several dwarves and elves looked down, abashed. "Now, Prince Legolas and I will decide what to do with the girl. The rest of you will stay here and keep a lookout. Bury the dead and tend to the wounded."
Ashamed, they did as they told. In the wake of Thalia's arrival, the battle seemed like a distant memory.
As the soldiers treated the injured, Legolas and Gimli started off, following Thalia's tracks. Keeping one eye on the ground and the other on his surroundings, the elf waited for Gimli to speak.
"I've got to say laddie, I haven't got the faintest idea what to do with the girl. She may be a woman, yes, but what realm is she from? The way she wields lightning to her will…" he trailed off. "Well, I've never heard of a female wizard before!"
"Don't let her hear you say that," Legolas said, only half-joking. "But I think we should take her to Aragorn. He is a Man, and it is possible she holds a grudge against races that are not her own. Also, he holds great influence in other realms than Gondor. At the very least, we can decide what to do together."
"That's all well and good, but you forget one tiny detail," Gimli announced. "How do we get her to come with us?"
Legolas sighed. "If we can, we should get her to come willingly. I doubt she would take too kindly to being forcefully dragged to Minas Tirith."
"You've got that right," a voice cut in. Both dwarf and elf looked up, where Thalia's voice came from.
"Legolas," Gimli said uneasily. "Is that tree talking to us?"
Legolas was astonished. He hadn't heard the girl, and the tree hadn't even alerted him to her presence. Thalia must be a good friend with the trees for them not to tell him, a Wood-Elf, that she was listening in.
"Lady Thalia, would you mind coming down so we can talk face to face?" Legolas inquired politely.
A second later there was a flash of silver as Thalia fell to the ground. She landed on her feet, light as a cat, right in front of them.
"I meant what I said, you know," she said. "You're not dragging me anywhere without my consent."
"Then how about an arrangement that benefits all of us?" Legolas suggested. "You know that we want to take you to King Elessar and Queen Arwen, to see where you come from. And you evidently have questions as well, not knowing how you arrived. We might find answers if we look together, and having more allies would be unwise."
Upon Thalia's thoughtful frown, Gimli cut in as well. "If anyone knows where your cousins are, it'll be Aragorn. Perhaps, if they arrived in the same way as you, they'll be in the Citadel of Minas Tirith already."
Immediately, Legolas knew Gimli's words had convinced her. She straightened up and nodded, still looking at them suspiciously. "Fine, I'll go with you, and we can go to your King friend together." She paused, staring them grimly in the eyes. "But if you think for one second about betraying me, you'll have an arrow in your throat faster than you can say 'oops.'"
Turning, Thalia strode unerringly away towards the direction of the camp.
Legolas exchanged a look with his friend. "Well," he said quietly, "I feel bad for Celegorm. The next few days are going to feel like torture for him."
Gimli just grinned excitedly. "On the contrary, I feel this is going to be highly, highly amusing."
Rolling his eyes, Legolas let the way back to the group, only to find that Thalia had arrived before them and was cleaning her long knives, unconcerned with the suspicious glances sent her way.
Upon the arrival of the two leaders, the soldiers immediately looked to them for directions.
"Lady Thalia is going to be joining us on our trip to Minas Tirith," Legolas announced calmly. Giving no explanation, he turned and made his way towards the closest female elven warrior, Elwing.
"Watch her," Legolas said quietly in Elvish. Despite the noises from the other soldiers and still being a good fifteen feet from him, Thalia's head immediately shot up and sent a piercing stare at him. She stopped cleaning her blades and stood up, walking over to Legolas, while the other elves and dwarves nervously shifted out of her way.
"That wasn't English," she demanded as she reached him. "What language was that?"
Upon hearing the unfamiliar word, Legolas's head cocked in confusion. "English?" The word felt strange on his tongue. "I was speaking the Common Tongue. I do not know how to speak 'English.'"
Thalia paused briefly, staring at him. Evidently deciding that he was not lying to her, she nodded. "It's just what my cousins and I call the Common Tongue," she explained.
Legolas frowned in confusion. "I have heard of many languages, but never before 'English.' Do you speak any Dwarvish or Elvish?"
For some reason, Thalia just shook her head and stomped away, muttering something about 'boys' and 'idiotic.' Deciding that some things were best left alone, Legolas started to call for his soldiers to pack up and move on.
Over the next few days, Legolas learned two things about Thalia: one, anyone who mentioned, hinted at, or even thought about males being superior to females would end up with an arrow in his forehead; two, despite her initial description of her cousins being "stupid moronic idiotic imbeciles," she would do anything for them.
2 days, 5 (nearly) deadly food fights, and about 1,000 deadly glared later, they had finally reached Minas Tirith. Legolas couldn't say he wasn't glad to reach the Citadel. It would be good to see his friends again, and hopefully, they (and Gimli) could shed some light on the mystery that was Thalia. Legolas was thankful the trip from Ithilien and Minas Tirith was so short because if they had to spend another day on the road he couldn't guarantee everyone's safety.
Upon joining his and Gimli's group, Thalia had immediately gravitated towards the only two females in the group, two elves named Elwing and Idril, and the three had spent the majority of their days practicing swordplay and archery. Thalia was quick to pick up on archery tips and gave helpful ones of her own. Strangely enough, Thalia had a completely different style of sword fighting than any Legolas had seen in Middle Earth, and, in two days of travel managed to both teach and learn some new techniques. Once or twice Legolas had seen her polishing a golden spear, though he had no idea where she kept it. She was handy with her weapons, which came into play sooner than expected.
The night after announcing Thalia was joining their group, they had been ambushed; not by Haradrim soldiers, but by Easterlings from Rhun. The Easterlings had a history of being allies with the Haradrin, but Legolas hadn't heard any news of the Easterling's amassing. The last time the Easterlings had allied with the Haradrim had been during the War of the Ring. Another alliance between the two did not bode well for the Free People of Middle Earth.
Hoping that the latest developments would not cumulate into another war (especially so soon after their last one), Legolas was eager to talk to Aragon about recent events. Together, he, Gimli, and the Lady Thalia walked towards the Citadel on the highest level of Minas Tirith while the other soldiers went about getting them settled in their various accommodations, leaving servants to scramble around taking care of horses.
Evidently, news of their arrival had spread, because the Queen was waiting for them when they approached, the King notably absent from her side. As Arwen strode forward to greet her old friends, Thalia slowed, allowing Legolas and Gimli to reach her first.
"My lady," Legolas greeted, smoothly bowing and kissing her hand in a traditional elvish form of respect.
"Queen Arwen," Gimli acknowledged, giving a short bow according to his customs.
"Come, there is no need for such formality among friends, is there," Arwen said with a smile. Legolas and Gimli both grinned as well, although theirs were notably edged with exhaustion and anxiety.
"We'd love to stay and charm really," said Gimli sincerely "but, unfortunately, there are pressing matters at hand that we need to discuss with both you and Aragorn immediately."
Arwen's joyful expression faltered. "Then I am afraid you are too late. Aragorn left just this morning. We received word of a strange incident about the Haradrim and a new enemy. A-a necromancer."
"Necromancer?"
The three friends turned upon hearing Thalia's voice, apparently having forgotten about her. Even Arwen seemed surprised, not having seen Thalia's slight frame behind Legolas's taller one. Now Thalia reminded them of her presence, leaning forward eagerly.
"Perhaps it is better if you stay here," Legolas suggested, knowing his efforts were futile. "Gimli and I will go after Aragorn and find the Necromancer. Then we can come back and help you find your cousins." He had thought that the argument about her cousins might convince her, but he was wrong.
"Oh no," Thalia said, to the surprise of all. "There's no way you can dump me off now." Her eyes lit up with a strange glimmer. "I'm coming with you."
*I think that Thalia would value being a hunter of Artemis over being a child of Zeus because she hates him and has good reason to, so that's why I think she would say her status as a hunter of Artemis before a child of Zeus.