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Hours had now passed since Faroth was 'captured' by the two Elves. They were going along at a slow pace, and the sky was starting to get dark. While Faroth gloomily marched alongside Thalion and Rumil, the Elves talked to one another.

"So why is your brother at Caras Galadhon?" Thalion asked Rumil. "Haldir rarely misses a day on guard duty!"

Rumil shrugged. "There was a group of strangers that came to the border last night. I think that they came to seek refuge and talk to the lord and Lady, so Haldir had to lead the strangers to them, since he's the only one that could speak in their language."

Thalion's eyes widened in surprise. "Not many strangers have ever been given permission to talk to the lord and lady, let alone cross the border! Tell me, did you see what they looked like?"

"I sure did!" Rumil laughed. "It was the strangest group I've ever seen! There were eight of them in all. Two were men, One Boromir from Gondor, and the other, Aragorn…"

"Aragorn?" Thalion gasped, interrupting Rumil. "It's been nearly forty years since he's been here!"

"Yes, I know that…" Rumil muttered, but then he continued. "The next one was an Elf, Prince Legolas of the Woodland realm…"

"Legolas?!" Thalion exclaimed in shock, interrupting Rumil again. "None of his people have ever been here before!"

"Will you let me finish first?" Rumil growled through gritted teeth. Thalion shut his mouth, and after a few moments, Rumil continued.

"And then the next four were really unusual. They were HALFLINGS!"

Thalion sucked in his breath and nodded, but remained silent.

"I think that the last one was the most unusual. I didn't believe it when my brother Orophin told me who it was, until I saw him myself…"

"Who was it!?" Thalion demanded, growing impatient.

"It was…" Rumil said slowly, but he was trying hard to contain himself from laughing. "It was…"

"TELL ME WHO IT WAS!" Thalion screeched. He grabbed Rumil's shoulders and began to shake him violently. "TELL ME!"

"OK, OK!" Rumil yelled. "IT WAS A DWARF!"

Thalion stood still for a few moments. "Are you sure?" he asked slowly. Rumil nodded.

A few moments of silence passed. But then, the two Elves fell to the ground, laughing hysterically.

"WHY WOULD A *Elvish curse-word* DWARF WALK INTO LOTHLORIEN?!" Thalion cried out with laughter.

"I CAN JUST IMAGINE LORD CELEBORN'S FACE WHEN HE FINDS OUT!" Rumil choked.

That made the Elves laugh harder, so all Faroth could do was stand by them as they rolled on the grass, trying to breath. Faroth sighed and shook his head. Elves he thought to himself disdainfully.

"Oh!" Thalion said sitting up. "I think we're here."

Faroth saw the Elf point, so he turned his head to where he was pointing. Some distance away, Faroth saw a large green wall that surrounded a large hill, hidden behind many tall trees. Within the branches of the trees were gleaming lights, some gold, some silver, and some that were even green. For a moment, Faroth stood still in awe. This place was unlike anything he had seen before…

"We better move on then," Rumil said, standing up. He picked up Faroth's rope and nudged him forward. "C'mon Anca!"

"Anca?" Thalion asked, confused.

"That's the name I gave him," Rumil replied. "'Anca' is Sindarin for 'jaws'."

Thalion frowned. "But I wanted for his name to be 'Carch', which is Sindarin for 'fang'!"

"Carch? That's a terrible name!"

"At least it's not as bad as Anca! That sounds like a female name!"

Rumil glared at Thalion. "We can have Haldir judge this matter when we get there," he said gravely.

The two Elves began to move quickly towards the wall, almost dragging Faroth until he caught up to their pace. They eventually led Faroth towards a path covered with white stones that went right next to the wall. They followed the path only for a few minutes until Faroth saw a small white bridge in the distance that arched over a small stream.

When they approached the bridge, Rumil handed Faroth's rope to Thalion and crossed over the bridge. He knocked on the door and whispered what appeared to be a secret password, and stepped back. The door swung open silently, and they all walked through. When Faroth turned around to watch the doors close behind them, he realized that no one was there, and that the doors had opened and closed on their own.

Looking ahead, Faroth saw many trees with shinning lights, but he could hear voices all around them, including voices that were singing. For a while, Faroth walked by the two Elves in an enchantment, stunned by the lands brilliance. They walked by many fountains, climbed some stairs, and passed through many lawns covered with golden flowers.

After they climbed over a long flight of stairs, the two Elves stopped, and Faroth snapped out of his trance. Before them was a large courtyard, and at one corner stood the mightiest tree that Faroth had ever seen. Next to that was a large white ladder that was guarded by three Elves.

"The Lord and Lady are up there," Thalion said. "So where's Haldir?"

"RUMIIIL!" an angry voice bellowed from behind. Faroth nearly jumped out of his own skin.

"That must be him!" Rumil grinned.

The two Elves turned around, and Faroth saw a tall Elf stomping up the stairs in a rage. He had his hood thrown back, so they could all see that he had his eyes fixed on his younger brother.

"Hello brother!" Rumil waved to him as he reached the top of the stairs. "We need to ask you an important question…"

"Which would be a better name for it? Anca or Carch?" Thalion said, pointing at Faroth.

Haldir ignored them and stormed towards Rumil. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be at your guard posts!"

"I know, but we found this in the woods!" Rumil said, pointing in Faroth's direction.

"We thought that it was lost because it was tame, so we decided to bring him to you in case you might know what it is, and where it came from…" Thalion said, trying to back up his friend.

"Because we can't tell whether it's a wolf or a dog…" Rumil added.

Haldir stood silent for a few moments and calmed down a little. "So… That's the ONLY reason you left your guard posts?"

Both of the Elves nodded.

Haldir sighed. "Alright. I'll try to figure out what it is and where it came from, but after I do that, you must report back to your guard posts IMMEDIATELY. Understand?"

The two Elves nodded vigorously, and stepped out of the way to let Haldir have a look at Faroth. He knelt down until they were both at eye-level, and Haldir studied him closely. Faroth looked right back at him, but began to feel afraid.

"Hmmm… Even though he's large he's actually very young," Haldir said. "I don't think he's even full grown yet."

"Not full grown?!" the two Elves gasped at the same time.

Even though Faroth couldn't understand them, he could tell that they were talking about him. He looked down at his paws and squirmed uncomfortably.

"Thalion and I think that he might have been raised by the men down south," Rumil said. "But yet, he showed up from the NORTH, so that's why we're not sure where it came from…"

"I wonder if it knows a few words in the common language…" Haldir said out loud to himself. He stood up and stepped back from Faroth.

"Roll over!" he said in a commanding tone. Faroth jerked his head up, surprised to hear his own language for the first time coming from an Elf, but did as he was ordered immediately.

Rumil and Thalion cried out in surprise. "I didn't know that it could do that!" Rumil gasped.

"Tell it to do something else!" Thalion said with excitement.

"Sit!" Haldir ordered again. Faroth did exactly what he said. He even began to wag his tail, happy that he was finally able to communicate to someone around here.

"Ooooh, I know a word in common speech that he might understand!" Rumil said. He knelt in front of Faroth and held out his hand. "Shake!"

Faroth could barely understand him because of his thick accent, but he began to shake his fur like he had just jumped out of a lake.

All three of the Elves laughed. "He's so smart!" Thalion said.

"Ask it a question!" Rumil said. Thalion and Haldir stopped laughing. "Rumil, there's no way that it can fully understand every word in the common language!" Thalion said. "It was only trained to understand a few words!"

Haldir made no reply, but turned towards Faroth. "Can you… Understand everything I just said?" he asked him in the Common language.

To everyone's shock, Faroth smiled and nodded happily. Thalion stepped back. "There's no way…" he said slowly.

"Ask it something else!" Rumil said in anticipation.

Haldir sighed, and knelt in front of Faroth again. "I'm sorry that you've had to deal with these two for such a long period of time. You're lucky that you only had to deal with them for a few hours, for I've put up with them for a thousand years now…" Faroth nodded and gave him a look of understanding.

"What did Haldir just tell it?" Thalion whispered to Rumil. Rumil shrugged.

"Were you lost in the woods when they found you?" Haldir asked Faroth. Faroth nodded.

Haldir thought for a moment, and then asked, "Do you remember where you came from?" Faroth looked around and pointed his nose to the northwest.

"You came from the mountains?" Haldir asked. Faroth nodded vigorously.

Haldir stood up and faced Rumil and Thalion. "He came from the Misty Mountains," he told them. "Ask him what it is!" Rumil said. "We still don't know if it's a dog or a wolf!"

Haldir knelt in front of Faroth and looked at him directly in the eye. "I want for you to be honest with me," he said in a stern tone. "They want to know if you're a dog or a wolf, but I don't think that you're either. Tell me, are you a Warg?"

Faroth's blood nearly froze, and he didn't move. If he told them that he was a Warg, wouldn't they kill him then? Faroth looked down and whimpered.

Haldir seemed to read Faroth's mind. Slowly, he reached out and patted him on the head. "We are not enemies here, I promise you. You are young, and yet I can see in you a great kindness that I have never seen in any other Warg before. In Lothlorien, my people would never judge a gentle heart."

Faroth looked up at him in surprise. He had always known for Elves to attack his pack, which meant that he thought that Elves were wicked. But right then, his view of Elves changed quickly.

Haldir stood up and turned to his brother. "He's a Wolf," He said. Rumil turned to Thalion. "I told you!" he yelled in his ear.

Haldir sighed. "Now go back to you're posts right now."

"But who will take care of him while we're gone?" Rumil asked.

"I will, unless he wishes to leave," Haldir replied. "I'll be here for a few days, so if he's still here by the time I'm gone, THEN you can take care of him. NOW GO!"

Rumil and Thalion patted Faroth on the head in farewell, and then disappeared down the stairs while Thalion rubbed his ear.

Haldir waited until they were gone before turning towards Faroth. "You can wonder freely throughout Lothlorien, but you can leave anytime you wish, if you do not want to stay." Haldir turned and walked away, but Faroth ran after him and trotted alongside him. Right now, he was so happy…. That he completely forgot about Gorluk...

Meanwhile near the northern border…

During the time that Faroth was with the two Elves, Gorluk had patiently waited for him to return. But after he had been gone for thirty minutes, Gorluk had become worried. Knowing that he had to look for him, Gorluk had come out of his hiding spot. But right before he took a step towards the border, he became lucky; for he saw five Elves walk by on patrol. That was when Gorluk understood that this place WAS the mythical land of Elves, and that Faroth had probably been captured.

Gorluk had dashed back to his hiding spot and began to think up a plan (even though most of his plans in the past never worked out too well).

It was nightfall (around the same time that Faroth had passed the gate into Caras Galadhon), that Gorluk decided to take his plan into action. He stood up out of his hiding spot, and slowly walked towards the border. When he was five feet away from the border, he pulled out his sword and threw it to the ground.

"I surrender!" he called out, holding his hands up.

Immediately after he said this, an Arrow shot out from the branches and missed his head by two inches. He didn't know if the Guards had missed him, or if it was a warning shot, but he still got the message.

"OK, OK!" he cried out in fear, fleeing away. "I'M LEAVING!"

He sprinted away as far as he could go, and then stopped to catch his breath. That plan didn't work at all!, he thought to himself. How was he possibly going to save Faroth now?

To be continued…

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ANY IDEAS?

~Tatharwen