Many thanks to the readers who have left a review on the previous chapter. I am so glad to see that you appreciate my new story: Morwen80, Peridot Eyez, Daenerys of Lorien, Glorelwen, Paperlanterns86, purpleXorchid, jubes-zcg, Glory Bee, SleepyHollow 5, KrystylSky, KKK3, ccgnme, Dorothea Blackmoor, iloooveinuyasha1, carmysorena, Cleopatraa, faye50free, Blood in Poison, Aureleis, breneke87, KurandRobgirl, Fi, Angel, Abbyforth, Hirilnin, Estel undomiel.

Many noticed the changes in Valerie's life and career. You will see more of these changes in this chapter.

Some are worried that Legolas is only accepting this role because he feels it is his duty. Do not worry! He will quickly lose his sense of duty when he sees her for real!

And yes, Thranduil and Valerie will have some very interesting moments... You can probably imagine how Valerie will be pleased with her new father-in-law!

Without further ado... Here is the next chapter!

Chapter 2 ended with:

Knowing he was not in immediate danger and that in fact, his arrival would be unnoticed, Legolas completely crossed the portal, and a few seconds later, it disappeared behind him. That was it. Whether he liked it or not, he was now in this world for half a year, unable to communicate or get help from anyone he knew.

Chapter 3 – Adaptation period

The air was slightly cold, his breath visible as he was breathing deeply, trying to calm down. It must be spring, or fall perhaps. He noticed the leaves in the trees were starting to change colors. It was fall then. The air did not smell good, as if it was not clean. He rubbed his nose, hoping he would get used to this filthy feeling. Far away, he could hear noises, strange sounds that he did not recognize. Lady Galadriel had said everything would seem alien to him, and she had been right. Just the air and the noises were difficult to endure, and he quickly climbed in a tree both to hide and find comfort in something that was common between both worlds.

He stayed in the tree for many hours, listening to the sounds far away, and learning to control his reactions when a louder one could be heard. After a while, he started drifting in a light sleep, and only woke when he heard birds chirping right before sunrise. Life started in the houses nearby. He could hear people coming out of their homes and enter some sort of metal carriages that did not need horses. These carriages were circulating on the roads at an uncommon speed, and he wondered how they could control them without hitting all the obstacles around them. He soon realized that the mortals knew exactly how to handle these carriages as he did not see any incident involving them and the trees or other carriages around. Just another thing he would need to get used to.

His stomach rumbled and he hate some fruits and lembas he had brought in his pack. He had known that he would need a few days to get used to this world before interacting with the people, and had brought food in consequence. After a few hours of observing the houses and people, he finally came down his tree and installed a little camp, well hidden in the small forest. He walked in the woods and realized that it was completely surrounding an area where a few houses were located, and that the city started all over again on the other side of the forest wall. This section of the city was hidden from the rest, the people living there enjoying some privacy and quietness the rest of the town did not benefit from. There was a big gate at the entrance of the neighborhood, and the gate was sliding open only when some carriages stopped in front of it and that the human would put something against one of the side. Strange kind of security, he thought, but effective nevertheless. If they could have the same kind at the main gate of the Greenwood fortress, it would ensure that at least no mortals would try to enter without permission. Orcs were another matter, and would certainly not be stopped by such a system.

He came back to his camp and started planning his next move. Mithrandir had accepted to improve his language skills, which he had done with a spell right before Legolas had left, but he still had no idea how to communicate with the mortals. He needed to live with them for a while, learn their language and customs before he looked for Valerie Thompson. He went through his pack and found the gold and the jewels he had brought. With this, in Middle Earth, he could have lived for a decade. Here, he had no idea how long it would last before he ran out of financial resources.

He stayed in the woods another day before he built enough courage to proceed with his plan. He left his weapons at the camp, and slowly walked to the city outside the private neighborhood. He found himself in a busy street, walking on the sidewalk where everybody else was strolling. There were many mortals walking around him, speaking quickly to each other or into small boxes they were holding against their ears. They were completely ignoring him, despite the fact that his clothing was strange and that no man had hair as long as his was. Despite Galadriel's recommendations, he still looked very different. He followed a few people around, and entered in a shop behind a woman and her young daughter. It seemed to be a huge market, inside large one-story construction. There were hundreds of people inside, and Legolas spent many hours walking in the aisles, looking at the objects that were being sold, spying on people and listening to their conversations, already picking up words here and there, thanks to Mithrandir's assistance.

In the following days, he entered in each and every shop on the main street, carefully staying far from the road to avoid the carriages that he had learned by now were called cars. At the end of the fourth day, when he followed a man that seemed richly dressed as compared to the other men he had seen, he finally entered a shop where jewelry was being sold. He took a good look around and decided to come back the following day. His food and water supplies were running low and he needed money now. He had witnessed many transactions take place in the past four days, and now that he had an idea of the value of food and clothing, and comparing it to the price of gold and jewelry, he knew what he could buy if he sold some of his gold coins.

The next day, he came back to the jewelry shop, and in a very hesitant English, showed the clerk standing behind the counter two of his gold coins. The clerk looked at him with wide eyes, and called for someone in the back of the store. An older man came to the counter and looked at Legolas with suspicious eyes.

"Where did you find those?" he asked Legolas, taking one coin in his hand and bringing it closer to his eyes. It was obviously a very old, heavy gold coin. He observed the uneven shape and the fact that there were no country name or king image on it, and this fact only raised more questions. All very old gold coins had the effigy of the king that had been ruling when the coin had been minted. Where did these coins come from?

"Where did you find those?" he inquired again, but Legolas did not understand his meaning. He looked at the man and said: "Money."

"I hope you did not steal these, young man!"

"No steal. Mine."

"You want me to buy these coins?" the jeweler asked, looking at the two coins again. Their value was probably around $2,000, just by their weight. But the young man in front of him, obviously from another country, certainly did not know that.

"I offer you $1,000."

Legolas had no idea what that amount was, but he knew human merchants. The ones that lived in Lake-town were hard negotiators. They would always bid low on their first offer. "No," he said. "More."

"$1,200."

"No."

"$1,500. That is my last offer."

Legolas nodded his acceptance, and the man went in the back, coming back with a stack of little papers he knew was the money in this world. He looked at the jeweler with his most serious look, making him uncomfortable under his gaze while the man counted the money, hesitating while depositing the last bill on the pile on the counter. When Legolas raised an eyebrow, the man added two more bills and pushed to pile towards Legolas.

"It was nice doing business with you. Come back if you find more of these."

"Yes. Will come back," Legolas promised.

Legolas walked back to his camp in the woods, proud of himself. Now, he needed to find new clothes, food and maybe lodging. After a few days in the forest, he was in dire need of a bath. He thought of an old lady that was working in the market, who was always greeting him with kindness. He had decided to ask her for help. She had been the only mortal that had been making contact with him, other than the jeweler, and she had done it in a selfless way.

He put his precious belongings in his pack and walked to the market where he saw the lady in question greeting people in the entrance.

"Hello," he said awkwardly, stopping beside her.

"Hey there! How are you today?"

"Am good. You?"

"Very good, today is pay day, and I will go see a movie with my grandchildren tonight. Life cannot get any better and - " The woman stopped when she saw the panic in his face. "Do you speak English? I have noticed you do not talk much."

"Little English. New here."

"Ha! A tourist! I knew it! Can I help you with something?"

"Lodging?"

"You are looking for a place to stay? Where have you been sleeping in the past few days?" Seeing his questioning face, she decided to stop asking questions and give him the information he was looking for. "Do you have money?"

"Yes. I have little bit money."

"Well, there is a hotel a few miles down the road, but if you do not have much money, you will run out quickly. Your other option is to find a room in a house, it is cheaper. I have a friend of mine who rents rooms in her house. Maybe she has a room available right now, and it would definitely be less expensive for you. What do you think?"

Seeing his blank face again, she took her cell phone and dialed the phone number of her friend. This poor young man would really need help in this city, she thought, and he looked trustworthy. If she could find a temporary tenant for her friend, she was killing two birds with one stone.

Legolas did not understand what the lady had said to him, but he knew she was taking care of his problem when she started using her phone to speak to someone. He could hear the voice of another lady on the line, and tried without success to follow the conversation. The pleased smile of the lady did tell him that he would get help.

"What is your name?" she asked after a moment.

"Legolas."

The lady continued talking for a little while, and thanked the person she had been speaking to.

"You are in luck, young man. She has a room available. She is living just a couple of blocks from here. Did you need a map?"

"Map?"

"A drawing with the directions."

"Yes. Directions." Finally a word he recognized. She took a piece of paper and started drawing streets and an arrow for him to follow.

"Can I do something else for you? I need to get back to work before my boss sees me speaking to you instead of greeting the other customers."

"Food?"

"You want to buy food? You are at the right place!" she said, pointing at the aisle in the left side of the building.

"Thank you," Legolas said, bowing with respect. This was the first mortal who had helped him without expecting anything in return. He would make sure to reward her later on. He went into the food aisles and bought some fruits that he recognized and left there the ones that looked too strange. He bought bread, a bottle of water in strange transparent container and a bag of cookies, a word he had learned while watching children begging their parents to buy each time he had watched families buying food. He took the most popular bag, the cookies on the bag were very dark brown and he wondered what chocolate tasted like.

He paid for his purchase and received a lot of paper in return, but he realized the numbers were different on the bills. He suddenly understood that he needed to learn about the numbering system, or else, he would run out of money quickly as people could try to take advantage of him.

He walked in the streets, following the map he had been given, and eventually arrived in front of a two-story red house with a little flower garden in the front. It would be his first time entering a true home, and he hesitated. He knew he would seem awkward once he entered. There were probably many common things in there he would not understand, even more so than in a store. All around him would be every day life object he would have no idea how to use. Even a stranger from a different country would know these, making it obvious he was coming from a strange land.

"Legolas?" asked a woman coming out of the house and calling him from the porch. She was thin and small, but held herself like she was much taller. Her eyes were sparkling with interest as she studied him. She examined his long golden hair and his strange clothing for a moment, before directing her gaze to his blue eyes, and they stared at each other for a long while. She must have liked what she read there because she invited him in next. "Come on in, young man!"

Legolas walked to the porch, climbed the five stairs and putting his bag of food in his other hand, he extended his right hand for her to shake like he had seen many people do to greet people.

"Hello Kate," he said, remembering her name.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I understand you are a tourist looking for accommodations for a few days?"

"Many days."

"How many?"

"Many. Do not know."

"Okay. I can work with that. Where are you from? Your English is... basic, I would say."

"Greenwood." He had thought to name his realm if people asked questions, since no one would know where it was located. Hopefully, people would stop asking questions. Furthermore, he knew of no other regions in this new world, and it was better to at least say something than not say anything.

"In what country?"

"Earth."

Kate burst out laughing. "Seriously? You were born on earth?" she chuckled. "Where on earth are you coming from, Legolas?"

"Middle Earth."

"Never heard of that. Is that far?"

"Very far."

"Okay, let's keep this discussion for when your English will have improved. The rate is 30 dollars per night. If you want me to cook your meals, and I mean three delicious meals every day, you need to add 15 dollars per day."

"Yes."

"Yes, you will take the room, or yes, you will take the food and the room?"

"Food and lodging."

"Can you please give me a deposit for the week?" she asked, eying him suspiciously. Kate had already had tenants who didn't pay their rent on time, and she wanted to make sure that this strange young man had sufficient funds to stay at her place.

Legolas opened his bag and took out his money, giving her one bill that the jeweler had given him earlier. She kept waiting, her hand opened and he gave her another one, then another one.

"That will be enough," she decided. Legolas took a mental note that living with Kate for a week cost three papers marked 100. At that rate, he could stay with her a month before he needed to sell more gold coins. But he needed clothes too. He had noticed that people found his clothing strange and desperately needed to fit in the crowd better than this. He had no idea how much clothes were costing in this city, but it was obvious that a visit to the jeweler would need to be organized in much less than a month.

Kate showed him the house, the common areas, the kitchen, the room where people bathed although she called it showering. Everywhere he looked, he recognized items he had seen in the stores although he had no idea how they worked. Legolas tried to keep a straight face not to raise her suspicions. She eventually showed him his own room, a small place with some furniture and a decent bed with a flowery comforter. When she asked if it was meeting his requirements, he nodded. The accommodations were much better than the inns in Middle Earth, although he would sorely miss his apartment in the fortress. Kate left him alone to unpack. Legolas put his bag on the floor and lied on the bed, savoring this comfort for the first time in many days. He fell asleep immediately and only woke up when Kate called him for dinner. He ate his first hot meal, and liked the taste of the food. He recognized beef, carrots and potatoes, and ate the chocolate cookies he had bought for dessert. He shared them with Kate.

"I will like you, Legolas, I can tell it already," she told him with a smile.

Later that night, after having struggled to understand how the faucets worked for a few minutes, he took his very first hot shower. He would never forget that first experience.

OoOoO

Legolas had been living with Kate and her other tenants for three weeks now, and after a few difficult days in this environment, he was now completely used to the technology and he spoke an average English that allowed him to communicate with people around him. He had been able to live inconspicuously by hiding his pointy ears with his hair, which he was now wearing attached on the back of his head in a loose ponytail. Kate had helped him buy clothes that were considered classic and chic. When he had met the jeweler again to get some more cash, he had been able to negotiate better and had obtained more money than the first time around. He now knew his way around the neighborhood, he also understood the basic customs and polite behaviors and he now felt ready to look for the woman who could become his future mate.

He started by asking Kate how he could locate a former acquaintance that he suspected lived in the city. When she expressed surprise that he had not tried to contact his friend before, he told her that he wanted to surprise his friend with his knowledge of English, and Kate believed him. He had quickly discovered that mortals were easily trusting him, and that with very little effort he could made them do as he wished. They submitted to his elven charm without even realizing it. He only had to look at them straight in the eyes and speak convincingly. It worked even better with ladies.

Kate made a few searches on her computer, an object he had yet to master, and quickly found references about a Valerie Thompson, editor-in-chief of the magazine Y&S – Young & Stylish.

"It cannot be her," Kate mumbled. "I have heard this name before. You would have known if your friend was a celebrity."

"What is a magazine?" Legolas asked.

"It's a kind of book being published every month and that is targeting a specific readership."

"Readership?"

"Readers. The magazines are always for specific people. It can be fashionable women, or for men, or teenagers, or even for old ladies like me. I have a few in my room if you want to see what a magazine is."

Legolas went into Kate's room and found a few large books on her night table. There had not many pages, but they were glossy and full of pictures with very little text. He personally thought that these were not books, but he remembered that Lady Galadriel had compared Valerie's work as some sort of book creation, and he had to admit it was probably the best description someone from Middle Earth could come up with. He came back to the living room where Kate was still doing researches, and he told her that his friend Valerie did work in the industry of magazine publishing.

"Really?" Kate asked, surprised. "Maybe if I can find a picture of her, you will be able to recognize her."

She typed a few more words, and the computer screen was suddenly filled with small pictures of a red-haired woman in various circumstances. She was always smiling, wearing gorgeous, revealing dresses and was always standing with other people who were smiling as much as she was.

"Is it her?" Kate asked. She waited as he studied the woman in question. She had red hair, a dark shade of red that was flashing a lot more on the pictures where she was under the sun. She had the flawless skin and emerald eyes Lady Galadriel had spoken of. And he had to admit, she was an outstanding specimen for a mortal. No human in Middle Earth looked like this woman. On the pictures, she was sometimes with women that were more beautiful than her, tall, haughty women, but Valerie always stood out with her smile and her demeanor. She just attracted the eye. There were also many pictures of a younger Valerie, bow in hand, receiving flowers and medals. She was an archer, he realized, something Lady Galadriel had omitted to mention.

He was instantly enthralled.

"It is her!" he said, faking recognition of a long lost friend. "She changed a lot since our childhood, but I do recognize her!"

"I do not know much about her. Let's keep searching," Kate said, and proceeding to type a few more words until she found the website of Y&S, but other than seeing her name as editor-in-chief, they found very little information. Kate made further inquiries, and eventually found a website where the history of the Thompson family was described.

The father, John R. Thompson, had founded a publishing company that had quickly become a major player in many entertainment fields, from magazines to television shows. Y&S was a popular magazine owned by Thompson Publishing Corp. John Junior, his only son, was his second-in-command in the corporation. John R. Thompson also had two daughters, Dr. Allison Thompson, renowned surgeon, and Valerie Thompson, editor-in-chief of Y&S. Under her direction, the magazine had made a complete turnaround and had become the most popular magazine for young professional women. She was very well known and respected in the fashion and publishing worlds.

A few sports articles also mentioned that John Thompson's youngest daughter had been the country's junior champion in archery for many years in a row, and that he had been known for his excessive negative reactions when his daughter's performances were not absolutely impeccable. Her competitive archery career had brutally ended after she had finished in fourth place at her first Olympic games. For many weeks, the press had been talking about the pressure that some fathers were putting on their athletes daughters, such as in tennis, and John Thompson had lost a significant amount of credibility when a journalist reported the harsh words he had had for his daughter right after the competition.

"Well, your friend had a hard time with her father when she was younger, but now seems to be very successful," Kate commented. "Now let's find where she lives. She must live in the big city…"

"The big city?"

"Yes! We are in a quiet neighborhood, half-an-hour away from a much bigger town, didn't you know that?"

"I never realized the city is small." In fact, he had found it quite big as compared to towns in Middle Earth.

"Yes, it is small. She must be living in the city. In this area, we only have one neighborhood where wealthy people live. It is a gated community on the mountain, behind the small forest. There are rich people living there, none of us could afford these homes. It would be quite a coincidence if she were living close by."

Legolas didn't believe in coincidences. If the portal had been opened in the forest near the mountain, it was because Valerie Thompson was living there. He only had to find in which house.

"I cannot find that information," Kate admitted after half-an-hour. "Her address is most probably confidential. She wouldn't want people to locate her home and harass her."

"Who are you talking about?" Robert asked, entering the living room. He was one of the tenants, the only one Legolas did not really get along well with.

"Valerie Thompson, from Y&S, the magaz-"

"I know who she is! Did you know that she lives nearby? The other day, I was at the gas station, and I saw her. She was putting gas in her car, speaking in her cell phone and trying to control the three kids on the back seat of the car. That woman definitely knows how to multitask!"

"What car was she driving?" Legolas asked.

Robert, mistaking Legolas' interest for Valerie with his own interest for her car, started describing her burgundy Audi Q7 with all the extras and options that had been apparent. The only thing Legolas registered was that she was driving a burgundy truck. Since there were not that many houses in the gated community, he would be able to quickly locate the house she lived in.

That afternoon, he was able to avoid being seen by the guards when he jumped above the fences that delimited the small gated community. Walking around in the forest, he counted around 50 big houses, mansions was a better word, but he saw no burgundy truck. He hid in a tree and started waiting for the end of the afternoon, the moment when mortals were coming back from their work. Two hours later, a big yellow bus passed the gate and dropped many children in the middle of the neighborhood. Three children with red hair and big schoolbags, two boys and a girl, talked together for a few minutes until the door of a nearby house opened and an old woman called for the children. The boys wished good night to the girl and went to the house, while the girl walked further away to another house down the road. Legolas was puzzled. The old woman could not be Valerie Thompson. And the children were living in different homes. He would have to wait and observe both houses before identifying which one belonged to the woman he was looking for.

He was hungry and started wondering if he should come back the next day, when a little after sundown, he eventually saw at the end of the street a burgundy truck pass the gate and park in front of the house where the two boys and the old woman were living. As soon as the car stopped, a back door opened and a small girl with curly red hair jumped out and ran to the house, leaving her door open. Her mother came out, gathering many bags while speaking in her cell phone, and closed her daughter's door with a soft kick, her hands being full. She looked very much like the woman he had seen in the pictures Kate had shown him, except that she was wearing a more casual dark blue dress and wore less makeup. Her hair was attached in a bun, making her look more serious than in the pictures he had seen before.

He held his breath for a moment. Lady Galadriel had been right. This woman was beautiful, and was radiating energy and confidence. She was nothing like the mortals that lived in Middle Earth, and could not be compared to Kate or any woman he had met so far in this town.

Legolas swiftly ran around the forest and found another hiding spot behind Valerie Thompson's house. It was very big by his standards. Many families would have been able to live in this house if it had been built in Middle Earth. It definitely was not a castle, but a very comfortable home, at least three times as big as Kate's house. There were lights in almost every room, and people did not bother to close the curtains, believing that the protection offered by the gates was sufficient not to worry about stalkers and observers. In the kitchen, the older woman was greeting the young girl with kisses. Even Valerie gave the woman a kiss on the cheek before continuing to speak in her cell phone.

Legolas could hear some strange music being played in the house, and it suddenly stopped when the older woman called the boys. They both arrived in the dining room in a hurry, shoving their little sister out of their way in the process. The girl retaliated by throwing toys with quite a precise aim right at their heads. Valerie put her hand on the phone and said something that must have been a threat as the children immediately quieted down. The older woman helped the children around the table and served them a meal while Valerie kept arguing over the phone. Her phone call lasted many more minutes, and he admired her as she walked back and forth, clearly upset by her conversation. A few times, he heard words she was saying louder, like Christmas, competition, timing and models. He had no idea what she was talking about. She eventually closed her phone, put it in her purse and went back to the dining room where the second woman was still watching the children as they ate. The woman gave Valerie a plate and she started eating it standing, talking to the woman and the children at the same time. Eventually, a car parked in front of the house, and the old woman put her coat on and gave a kiss to the children before she went in the car, greeted by the man who was driving.

Legolas realized that the second woman, the older one, was probably some servant who helped the family and went back home every night. He observed the nightly routine of the family, how the two oldest boys took out books from their bags and started reading and writing, and they awfully looked like himself when he was an elfling working under the supervision of his preceptor. Valerie was helping the children when they had questions while keeping an eye on her daughter who was watching a program on the television.

They eventually all watched television together, and after a while, Valerie made them go to bed. He watched her as she helped them get ready, and spent some time in bed with each of her children. She obviously loved them very much, hugging them and kissing them many times before closing their lights. Once they were all in bed, he saw her go in another section of the house where this time the curtains were closed. Thinking she was going to bed, he almost left when he saw her come out of the room and go to the first floor, where she started running on some machine that allowed her to run without actually moving on the ground. Legolas had never seen such a machine, but it seemed very practical if you wanted to run without going outside. He could not fathom why Valerie wanted to run like this, in her own house. Running was certainly not a necessity nor a pleasure for her, as she seemed to put much effort in running as fast as she could for the longest period of time as she could. Valerie Thompson was a strange woman.

Once she was done, she went back to the room with the closed curtains, and he thought she was going to bed for good when she came out once again, her hair wet, and went on the first floor again, in a room that was obviously an office. She started working on her computer for almost two hours, and for all that time, he could not let his eyes leave her form. He was learning all about her, her smiles, her expressions, her bad habits, like that nail biting or how she constantly played with her right slipper, who always fell on the floor. She would put it back on, and it was falling again after a few minutes. The woman was very nervous, it was an obvious thing. At that point in time, he knew it was the middle of the night, and that she was supposed to be sleeping. She eventually walked to a couch in a corner of the room, where she started looking at pictures. She fell asleep there, on the couch, with the lights still on.

Legolas decided to get back home. If Kate woke up in the morning and did not find him, she would be very worried. He would come back early in the morning to observe the family again. He went back home and fell asleep quickly, and woke up a little before dawn. He quickly ate toasts with peanut butter, his favorite, and left Kate's house, leaving her a note not to worry about him. When he finally reached Valerie's home, the burgundy truck was already gone, and only the old woman was in the house. The maid was doing some laundry and changing the bed sheets in the children's rooms. He had missed them. How could they have spent so little time at home? And how could Valerie Thompson have slept so little hours in the night? She was not even an elf!

In the next chapter, you will meet the new Valerie... It is almost ready, I should publish it soon.

Please review and let me know if you preferred Haldir's approch or Legolas' approach when it comes to meeting Valerie!

Annielle