Chapter 3

Legolas raced along the tree line quickly notching an arrow as he did so. He didn't care that Strider thought this would be a bad idea. He could not let the orcs who constantly terrorized his people to get away.

He quickly ducked behind a bush and began picking them off one by one. He had taken out 5 orcs when the spotted him. Once they had, Legolas had to draw out his knives to continue the battle. He felt a pull in his side from his previous injury as he fought. Legolas realized he had underestimated the orcs. He was tiring and his side was beginning to ache, but the orcs kept on coming towards him from every direction.

Suddenly he saw another flash of a silver sword as Strider joined the fight. Legolas was impressed with the man's fighting ability which had not noticed the last time they fought together. With two of them fighting, Legolas soon felt stronger and the orcs numbers began to dwindle. As he cut down the last orc, Legolas turned to face the man. As he turned, he was unable to see the one orc who was still fighting death pick up his dagger to throw.

He heard it before he saw it, but when Legolas looked down expecting to feel pain, instead he saw Strider lying in front of him. He had the dagger in his stomach and was already losing blood. Legolas quickly strung his bow and shot the orc dead before bending over to check on the human.

Strider was clearly in pain as he panted for breath asking Legolas to help him back to the trees. The man then asked for his pack and Legolas found it and some bandages to put on the wound once they pulled the dagger out.

"Just do it," Strider said gritting his teeth. He yelled a little as Legolas pulled it out and quickly covered the wound.

Legolas picked up the dagger and looked closely at the blade. He hissed and then looked at the human sadly, "I think it's poisoned."

"Of course, it is," the man groaned, "Wrap it up and put it in the pack. It will be easier for Lord Elrond to find a cure if we have the poison." As he said this, Strider tried to get up from the ground. He leaned heavily on the closest tree and said, "We must hurry on to Rivendell as soon as possible."

Legolas stared at him momentarily stunned at the man's pure willpower to stand and keep moving. Legolas knew what orc poison felt like, and he knew it was worse for the human's body. He also knew he did not have the knowledge needed to save the man and he was right, they did need to get to Imladris, soon. He put Striders arm around his shoulder and the two began walking.

"You shouldn't have done that," Legolas said quietly to the man beside him who was clearly doing worse. Legolas could hear his raspy breaths and feel the heat of a fever.

"Which part the coming back or the saving your life a second time?" Strider grinned, still trying to make a joke.

"Both. You were safe, you should have continued on to Imladris," Legolas looked at the ground in guilt. Strider would not be hurt if he hadn't been so stubborn.

"Look at me," Strider demanded with as much strength as he could muster, "I would not have left you out there to die. Besides, this is just a scratch. I'm fine."

Legolas rolled his eyes at the attempt at a joke, but he knew it was no laughing matter. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

With the injury, they moved much slower. They were getting very close to Rivendell now, but Strider was doing steadily worse. He was putting more and more weight on Legolas before falling down completely.

"Strider? Strider! Stay with me" Legolas called as he poured some water on his face in an effort to cool the man down as well as keep him awake.

Strider struggled to keep his open, "Aragorn," he corrected wanting his friend to know his true name if it would be the last time he ever would, "My name is Aragorn, son of Arathorn"

Legolas raised his eyebrows in surprise knowing now exactly who he held dying. "Hold on, mellon-nin. You have a destiny greater than this."

Hearing the word friend, Aragorn opened his eyes, "Mellon-nin?" he smiled through the delirium, "I am proud to be your friend, prince of Mirkwood."

Legolas tried a few more times to wake Aragorn up, but with no success. He then lifted the man up as gently as he could and moved quickly over the last distance to Imladris. When arrived at the edge of Imladris' woods, he could sense other elves even though he could not see them yet.

"My name is Prince Legolas from Mirkwood, I have Strider of the Dunedain and he is badly injured," he called out hoping the other elves would believe him. He knew how tough the elves protected the edges of Mirkwood and hoped the Imladris elves would be more understanding.

His hopes were well founded as two identical elves immediately came to help him. One took Aragorn from his arms while the other began asking him questions about what had happened.

Aragorn woke up with a headache and a bad pain in his side. He groaned as he tried to sit up and look around him.

"Stay still mellon-nin," he heard a voice say that sounded familiar. Aragorn laid back down and blinked a few times as his eyes adjusted to the light of the room. He realized he was in his room in Rivendell and the voice speaking was his newfound friend from Mirkwood. He smiled slightly when he realized that it meant Legolas had stayed.

"How do you feel?" Legolas asked.

"Like I've been run over by cart," Aragorn replied with a slight grin. "Did our waterfall mystify you enough to convince you to stay instead of going back to your trees?"

Legolas laughed lightly, "Not the waterfall, but just a friend." He paused and grinned before continuing, "Well I thought it was one friend, but imagine my surprise to show up here and they start calling you Estel. I have now known you by 3 different names in a matter of 3 days!"

"What can I say, I'm a man of mystery," Aragorn joked back.

"Well I understand your elvish name, Estel, but where did the name Strider come from?" Legolas asked suddenly very curious.

"It's from us," said a voice from the doorway.

"When he was younger, he used to follow us around and have to 'stride' in order to keep up with us," the second elf next to him finished with a grin.

Aragorn grinned back, "It is good to see you brothers. Legolas, these are my brothers Elrohir and Elladan."

'We've known Legolas for many years, Estel, you're the one who is late to the party," Elladan teased.

Elrohir put his hand on Aragorn's shoulder, "It's good to see you again, little brother."

"Rest up, I believe I have a horse race to win once you're better," Elladan added as the brothers left the room.

Aragorn turned his attention back to Legolas, "Thank you for staying. Did you get all the medicines you needed from Ada?"

"I did, though I'm not sure how I'll remember what to do with all of them," Legolas laughed.

"Once you're feeling better, maybe you could go to Mirkwood with Legolas and help him teach them about the medicines," suggested Lord Elrond who had just entered.

Aragorn glanced at Legolas, he knew humans weren't always as welcome in elven territories as he was in Rivendell. Legolas looked hopeful.

Aragorn beamed and said, "I've always wanted to see the great Mirkwood."

AN: Hope you enjoyed the story! Wondering if anyone noticed how all of chapter 1 Legolas only thought of Aragorn as "that man" or "that human" then he knows him as "Strider" then finally learns his last 2 names.