I would like to express my thanks to all of those who reviewed the last two chapters. It brightens up my day when I open up my e-mail and find reviews from people who like my story. In fact, it makes me want to update even quicker because I know that other people are enjoying it. Thanks again!

Chapter 13: Meetings

We were most certainly screwed, I decided, as we stood there for what seemed like hours while arrows were pointed at out chests. It was quite nerve-wrecking. I was just glad that I hadn't fallen when I had turned around so quickly. I made a note to myself to not make any sudden movements in fear that I would fall on to the arrows in the process.

I shifted my eyes to look over at Emily. Her eyes were frozen on the people in front of us and she didn't move a muscle. It even somewhat looked like she wasn't breathing and I knew she was trying hard not to get herself any closer to the arrows. When I looked back at the others, my eyes met those of person who had the arrow at my chest. I offered a small grin in hopes that he would realize that I meant no harm. He only continued to glare.

"Man le? Man le carel si?" he asked. Emily and I did look at each other this time and I knew confusion was written on my face as it was hers. A sudden, sharp jab in my stomach forced me to look back.

"Le si am man theled?" he said.

"Sir, we don't underst-" Emily tried to say, but another cut her off sharply.

"No dhnien!" Emily shrunk back from the forcefulness of the voice.

"Please," I begged, "we don't mean any harm!" The one who had cut off Emily moved closer to me, walking with a threatening stance. But before he could get to close to me, the one with the arrow at my chest held out his arm and stopped him.

"Ava bedir i lam edhellen. Ava cheniar," he said quietly. A look of understanding crossed the other's face before he nodded and took a few steps back. The person who had stopped him turned back to us.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a strangely accented voice. Emily and I looked at each other in relief.

"Thank God you speak English," Emily mumbled more to herself than to anyone else.

"English?" the man asked, clearly confused. "I do not know of a language called 'English.'"

"You're speaking it now," I insisted. He shook his head.

"What we are speaking is called Westron, the common tongue," the man told us. Emily opened her mouth to speak.

"But-"

"Listen," the person snapped unexpectedly. "We do not have the time to waste on a subject such as this. Would you please simply tell us why you are here so we may move on to more pressing matters?"

"Sir," I sighed. "We do not even know where 'here' is. We woke up in this forest yesterday morning without so much as a clue to where we are. We have been walking for the past few days looking for someone to help us."

"Don't lie!" the stranger hissed. I looked at him, offended.

"I'm not!"

"Then explain why you were hiding up in the tree earlier this morning."

"We were hiding from those…those creatures!" Emily exclaimed. "And plus, we didn't know if you guys would hurt us or not. We were just being cautious."

"I admit that most elves are too fond of humans, but not one of us would have turned our backs on someone who needed help," he said. I stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Elves?" I laughed. "What the hell are you guys smoking?"

"I'm afraid that I do not understand what you are implying about us," the stranger replied. I grew even more shocked.

"Elves don't exist, buddy. It's as simple as that," I told him, incredulous. His eyes flashed dangerously.

"Never before have I met more ignorant girls than yourselves!"

"Ignorant?" Emily repeated. "It's a hell of a lot better than being so friggin' high that you can't tell the difference between reality and Santa's little helpers!" The stranger suddenly un-notched his arrow and moved it back from my chest before motioning for the others to follow his example. I looked at him, even more bewildered than before.

"Very well," he began. "We are leaving. Our questions have been answered; you are nothing but foolish young girls who cannot possibly even be a minor threat to anyone. Therefore, we will rid you of our horrible and inconvenient presences." They then turned and proceeded to walk away. Emily and I stared after them in surprise.

"Wait!" Emily cried out. No one stopped. "Please, aren't you guys going to help us?" The dark-haired leader faced us.

"You seem to have everything under control," he stated. "You have done fine by yourselves for the past few days. You will eventually find some others to help you with your predicament. However, I would suggest being more courteous with them than you have been with us. Others will not be so kind."

"But we'll probably die out here!" Emily shouted. "Can't you at least give us some food for the rest of our walk?"

"Miss," he growled, "You have been rude to us and have done nothing but insult us. Why should I, or anyone for that matter, want to help you?" He turned on his heel, bow grasped tightly in his hand, and began walking to catch up with the rest of his company that had gone on without him.

"So sticking arrows in our faces and demanding us to answer questions without so much as a 'please' is considered polite, is it?" I shouted out. Once again, we were only faced with the picture of their retreating backs.

"Please," Emily pleaded one last time, her voice a great deal softer. "My friend is hurt. Could you at least give us some bandages and disinfectant cream so it doesn't become even more infected?" I watched as the stranger hesitated for a split second before he turned back around. His eyes rested on my left arm, which was beginning to throb horribly as I had forgotten about it for the time. The way his eyes seemed to study my arm and the way his brow furrowed in thought led me to believe that he hadn't noticed it before. I didn't blame him though; he had been too busy trying to scare the hell out of us.

"How badly are you injured?" he asked, his eyes searching mine before they dropped back to the blood-soaked rag that covered my wound.

"I don't know," I replied honestly. "There was too much blood at the time to see how deep the cut was." He stood completely still for a minute, as if he was deciding to believe my response or not, before he accepted my answer and nodded.

"Then you will follow us back to our camp and one of us shall tend to your wound. We will provide both of you with food and blankets for the night, but when dawn comes, we will head our separate ways. Understood?" he finished. Emily and I both nodded our heads in understanding. He then turned back a round and we both hurried after him.

"Where are your horses?" Emily asked.

"They are back at the camp already," he answered. "Along with the rest of the soldiers."

"Is it a long walk?" The stranger shook his head curtly. Emily and I quickly took it as a sign that he wished for us to stop talking; so we did.

We walked for about ten minutes before we came upon a relatively large camp full of many others. A few were making some sort of a meal over a fire, some were tending to the horses, and others were simply relaxing while talking with others.

"Elladan!" a voice suddenly called out from behind us. The stranger in front of us stopped and turned around, focusing on something behind us. Emily and I turned around as well and we were both shocked to see a man identical to the first walking towards us.

"Elladan," the other said again. "Who have you brought back with you?"

"They are of no consequence, Elrohir," the person now named 'Elladan' answered. "One of them is merely injured and I could not bring myself to let her go unattended to." Elrohir nodded his head in understanding, but he closely regarded us with mistrust.

"Very well," he replied stiffly. "Shall I get your supplies?"

"If you could," came Elladan's answer. Elrohir nodded and walked off. Elladan then turned to me with a stoic expression on his face. "If you would follow me, I will take care of your wound." Then, turning to Emily, he said, "You may go sit next to the fire. I will have one of my soldiers bring you a meal." He turned swiftly on his heel and walked over to a nearby tree where Elrohir was standing. I looked at Emily but she simply shrugged with a frown on her face and walked over to the fire. Sighing, I strode over to Elladan.

"Should I sit?" I asked timidly, not wishing to be as rude as I had been before. While walking to the camp, I had decided to be as quiet and polite as I could because I had realized that these people were helping us and it was the least I could do.

"Yes," Elladan said shortly. I sat down carefully, mindful of my arm. I leaned my back against the tree and avoided looking at both Elladan and Elrohir.

"Thank you, Elrohir," Elladan said to his companion. "Will you please get a meal for the other girl?" Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Elrohir nodded and began making his way to the fire. I heard Elladan opening a pack in which I assumed contained his supplies. I then watched as he began to un-wrap my wound. I grimaced as it came into my sight. The blood had dried and now that I could see the cut, I noticed that it was very deep.

"How did you get this wound?" he asked suddenly.

"An arrow."

"How?" he repeated.

"While we were hiding in the trees from those creatures-" I started.

"Orcs," Elladan interrupted.

"What?" I questioned.

"The creatures are called orcs," he answered. I looked up and met his eye before quickly looking away.

"Oh," I said. "Anyways, they were shooting arrows up into trees; I think they were probably looking for people who could be up there. Well, the leader shot one up into our tree and it cut my arm on its way."

"Is it sore?"

"What do you think?" I snapped suddenly. Elladan gave me a warning glance. "Sorry." He nodded.

"Very well; I believe you," he said. He then turned his attention from my face and instead began looking through his bag. He pulled out a canteen of some sort and a few white cloths. "This will burn."

"Just do it," I told him. Elladan nodded and poured some of the liquid from the canteen on to the cloth. He then slowly brought the cloth to the wound. I gasped and closed my eyes as he began to wipe away the blood and clean the wound. After a few moments, he lifted the cloth from my arm and I re-opened my eyes. My eyes widened as he pulled out what appeared to be a needle and some thread.

"What is that for?" I asked him, fearfully. Elladan looked up at me and slight look of sympathy crossed his face.

"It will need to be stitched up," he answered.

"Why?" I questioned, panicking. "It's already stopped bleeding. There's no danger of me dying from blood loss!"

"With a cut this deep, it is likely to get infected. It will need to be sown up to prevent infection from getting in and making it hurt even worse."

"Do you have to?"

"I'm afraid so," Elladan replied. I met his eyes and slowly nodded my head. I turned my face from the sight of the needle as it approached my arm. I gritted my teeth and suppressed my screams as the stinging sensation came back again, even worse then before. I felt the needle biting into my skin and I forced myself to think of happier images. By the time he had announced he was finished, tears heavily clouded my vision. I swallowed tightly and glanced at the wound. Elladan had already applied a soothing cream on to the cut as well as wrapping it up with cleaner bandages. He then had instructed me to clean it a couple times a day when we were back on our own. Once he was finished instructing me on how to take care of it properly, he told me to join Emily and told me that I would be fed soon.

I joined Emily at the fire. Neither of us talked and it was only five minutes before I was able to eat. I didn't know what the food was, but I devoured it quickly and someone was even so courteous to ask if I wanted seconds. I quickly answered with a 'yes' and once I was full, Emily and I were led to two matching bed rolls. It had turned dark as I had been eating and I found myself ready to fall on to the bed and sleep a whole day away. My eyes closed quickly and the last thing I heard was Emily whispering a quite 'good night' to me. I repeated the phrase and fell into a deep slumber; the best night pf sleep I had had in two days.

Thank you all so much for reading this chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait for an update, but I have been very busy this week. Hopefully, things will settle down next week and I will be able to update sooner. Anyways, I know that there is a language barrier, but for the purpose of my story, it will all be explained later. I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter and I hope that it isn't too Mary-sue; I've really been trying to make it as real as possible as far as their reactions to the Elves and Middle-earth go.

On a final note, please review. I definitely accept constructive criticism but I will not tolerate flames. Thank you!