A child who lost everything sat on the doorstep of a house that is no longer there. Surrounded by the skeletal remains of the buildings and trees that had once been the lifeforce of her small remote village.

Warmth still glowed from the forest around her, even if there were no longer any flames. Those had died out hours earlier. Before the night had come to render the waterhole her Uncle had stashed her in even colder than before, but she didn't care to climb out while the heat from the fires still touched her face.

Getting herself out had been difficult, normally the trees would have sent their roots to help her, but there were no trees left alive to help. She had known even then that she was the last of her village to survive, so there was no point in calling for help.

The sun was climbing higher into the sky when her legs managed to make her stand up and start walking. Without looking back, she plunged headlong into the cinders of the forest that had once loved her. Not knowing which way to go, but hoping she had not chosen the wrong one.

.

It was nearing dark, and the shadows began to cast memories of monsters everywhere she looked. But she was alone, left with no help to combat them. So she did what her mother had always told her to do, just keep going forward.

Even when the world seems set against it, go forward.

But as the night grew darker, colder, and more lonely not even the memory of her mother's encouraging advice could keep her going forward. All it did was remind her that she no longer had a mother. That she was alone.

With fear and hopelessness, she curled up against the biggest trump of a charred tree she could find and tried to hide against it. Aware that her skin could attract unwanted eyes, she wiped the soot from her fallen friend over every piece of exposed skin. And then curled up against the cold and waited for morning.

Or something worse.

Whichever came first

.0.0

A rabbit mourning its burrow and its children slowly made its way through the forest under the cover of night. Inside its mouth was an acorn, an acorn she had been told must be delivered to the elves because it contained an important secret.

She had just not expected to pick up the scent so far from where the elves had fled towards.

The rabbit went towards it and found the smallest elf she had ever seen curled up against the trunk of a tree, shivering. Tentatively, she hopped towards it somehow understanding that this one was a child.

She went closer until she could press herself against and gift her warmth. Eventually, the child stopped shivering.

.0.

Step, hop, step, hop, step, hop. Their entire day consisted of stepping and hopping. This time though, the child held the acorn in her hand. This time, she did not wander alone in a directionless path but followed the guidance of the rabbit.

.0.0.

They both heard the sound of a growl at near the same moment. Both creatures froze, well aware of their position in the food chain.

Before the warg go get a good look at them, the Rabbit took off towards them and darted between their legs. Biting an ankle as she fled, triggering its hunting instincts to follow the chase.

The child's flight instincts made her start running in the other direction before she had even processed a single thought of what was going on around her. She ran until her sides burned with the need for air, and the forest slowly began to turn green and lush around her once more. She just kept running.

It was only when she tripped solidly on something and crashed to the ground, slicing her arm open on a particularly sharp rock embedded in the earth.

It was only then, as she crawled back into a sitting position and felt her blood trickling into the dirt that she finally wept for all she had lost. Finally allowed herself to feel the devastation that had taken the place of her heart.

For the loss of her new and only friend.

.0.

On all fours, she crept closer to the sound of voices.

Voices she thought were elvish, that she wanted to believe with all of her heart were elvish. The bushes allowed her to crawl noiselessly at their roots, even as the voices drew silent. She froze when she heard the sound of footsteps approaching her.

"Come on out now, you don't have to be scared anymore." Slowly, she peeked around the edge of a nearby tree to see who was trying to speak with her. A blond elf smiled with warmth and sincerity when he saw her, another with dark hair stood silent in the background, "It's alright little one, you're safe now. It looks like you hurt your arm, I can help you with that."

Cautiously, she took small steps forward. Ready to spring back into flight mode the moment the situation required it, but it didn't feel like it would. She wanted to believe that she was safe.

"Hello," the blonde elf said, the smile remaining on his face, "Hello, what's your name, little one?"

"Avaleina." She told him, her voice hard to use from disuse and charred from the smoke and ash.

"That is a very pretty name. My name is Thranduil." The blond elf introduced.

"Hello." She whispered in return.

"May I see your arm now?" She nodded so she would not have to speak again, and he reached out and undid the leaves she had managed to secure over the wound to get a better look at it, "Who taught you to do this?"

"The trees. They watched people over here and told me how to do it over there."

"That is very clever of all of you," He wrapped the leaves around her arm again, "But I think we need to go see one of my friends to take care of that, may I pick you up?"

She nodded.

Gentled and careful arms lifted her from the ground and had she had the energy or spare water she might have wept at the sheer relief such a feeling brought her. She relished in it the entire walk to Thranduil's friend, and just as she was passed from one set of arms to another the remembered the Acron.

"The forest gave it to me," she pressed it into his hand and watched as his eyes immediately filled with tears, and his body nearly sprung with energy.

It was not until days later that it was explained to her that the importance of the acorn to everybody else was that it contained the location of the missing prince of Greenwood. The one they had apparently been looking for since the same day her village had been burnt to ruins.

The importance of the acorn to her specifically, though she did not know it yet, was that it allowed the sprout of her new family to begin growing.