A/N Bonjour, mes amis! (Hello, my friends) I have to say one thing, ENJOY! R&R!
Thanks to:
Shijiko
For reviewing ;)
Special thanks to La Llorona, my beta! ;)
'Anything written like this is the little annoying voice in Sydney's head. That little voice everyone wants to throttle.'
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Chapter 4
The last thing she remembered was a shriek, a pair of the clearest blue eyes and the same beautiful voice calling to her.
"Stay with me. Hold on."
Her world went black.
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Soft. Warm. That was the first thing Sydney felt. She let out a soft moan and then it came back - the memories. Screams, battle, intense pain, the Orcs. On the more pleasant side a set of amazing blue eyes and that mystical voice. Sydney opened her eyes. There were those incredible eyes. Clear, blue, and glowing like… well, she couldn't even describe it.
"Is this heaven?" Sydney's head pounded, more specifically, the side of her face.
"Never mind, I have my answer." He chuckled. Then his voice became serious.
"I will go get Lord Elrond, Lady Sydney."
"No! Please don't go." Pleading, Sydney touched his arm.
"There is no need to." Another elf spoke as he entered the room. "You are in the realm of the elves. I am Lord Elrond. You are safe now."
"Umm, Lord Elrond, sir?" He nodded. "If don't mind my asking, why did those things attack us?"
Lord Elrond's look became grave. "Now is not the time to explain things. You are injured and you need to heal."
"But," Sydney started.
"That is my decision." He took a deep breath. "Now I have another patient to attend to. I'm sure Legolas here can take care of you?" Sydney nodded.
"Very well." Lord Elrond left the room. Once the door was closed, an awkward silence hung on the air. Sydney started chomping her jaw. The sound, she hoped, filled in the silence.
'Start a conversation, start a conversation, start a conversation' this chant continued in her head. 'Aha'
"So, it's Legolas." She spoke to the handsome elf feeling like a bumbling fool.
"Yes."
"Sydney Brittan." She stuck out her hand for him to shake. Instead he took it and placed a feather like kiss on it.
"Legolas Greenleaf, Lady Sydney." More silence.
'…"Lady Sydney"… Odd.'
"Umm, Legolas." He looked at her. "Look, I'm really sorry about my behavior to you… I shouldn't have done that." Legolas looked at her, as if trying to figure out what to say to her.
"I understand completely. Not knowing what is going on… I probably would have acted the same way."
'Yeah right.' Even more awkward silence.
"Lady Sydney-"
"You don't have to keep calling me that." 'That sounded rude ya genius.'
"I mean, um, well." 'I'm an idiot'
"What were you going to say?" Sydney gave up. Legolas chuckled.
"If it makes you uncomfortable, I can stop."
"No! No, it doesn't. I- well…" she thought. "Yeah," she admitted, "it does."
"As you wish, Sydney."
"Right. Um, what were you going to say?"
"I've never heard an accent like yours. Where do you hail from?"
'Where do I hail from? This is going to get complicated.'
"I- well, ya see-um-I- well truthfully" Sydney stammered off. Legolas held up a hand.
"Never mind." Sydney sighed. She started to get a better look at her surroundings. The room was built entirely out of wood full of the most intricate carvings. Sydney was in a bed made up of perfect cool white linen sheets. She looked down at her nightgown. It too was white and had more feminine frills and lace than she was used to. The fabric was soft. It felt like silk but it was tougher that that. The design was very complicated. She unworthy to wear it – wait - she was wearing it.
"Legolas? Who um, changed my clothes?" Sydney looked at him with wide eyes. He let out a chuckle.
"It's alright. Lady Arwen changed you."
'Lady Arwen, Lady. Phew! That takes care of that.' There was a knock on the door. "Come in." Legolas responded.
In came the bushy haired girl, Hermione, with the green eyed boy and the boy with the fiery red hair followed in tow. They walked over to her bed. They all gave her a ludicrous look of amazement, but then wiped it off their faces quickly. Sydney disregarded this when she noticed Hermione held flowers.
"We thought you'd like them." Hermione said as she saw what Sydney was looking at.
"They're… beautiful." Sydney said, breathless. The flowers were golden stars, with little stems sticking out at the bottom of the bouquet.
"Ah, the Lavaralda." Legolas said. He turned and brought a vase forward. He moved gracefully around the bed and placed the exotic flowers on the bedside table.
"They bring peace."
"No kidding." Sydney said, before she could stop herself. She instantly blushed red. She looked at Hermione.
"Thanks." She said.
"How do you feel?" Hermione asked.
"Fine." She looked at the boy with green eyes. She smiled at him. Wait, was he the one?…
"Are you the one that saved me from the, um, wad-da-ya-call-'em?" She tried.
"Dementors?" Hermione filled in helpfully.
"Yeah, those." The boy nodded.
"Yeah." He responded quietly.
"Thanks." Silence.
"Oh, Sydney this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Harry, Ron, Sydney Brittan." They shook hands. Legolas gave them a quick confused look. This shaking of hands - that must be tradition among their people.
"I have a quick question." Sydney asked. Harry nodded.
"Why did I feel the way I did when the Dementors showed up? They made me feel like… like…"
"Like there is no more happiness in the world." The trio finished for her. There was an awkward silence.
"Um…" Legolas smiled. She said that often.
"I believe I owe you guys an apology… for my behavior earlier." Sydney took a deep breath. "It was rash of me… and Hermione I'm really sorry. I mean you were just like, my…," She struggled with the words, "first friend here and I treated you like crap!" Legolas blinked at her use of language. Sydney noticed.
"Oh, excuse my French." Legolas gave her an even more perplexed look.
"It's a phrase." Harry, Hermione, and Sydney said in unison. They all chuckled. Ron's ears turned pink at the word French. Sydney ignored it in puzzlement. Hermione leaned in to whisper in her ear. When she couldn't make it all the way, Sydney leaned over to listen.
"He has a crush on Fleur, the blonde girl." Sydney thought when it struck her. She looked at Hermione. They fell into a lapse of giggles. That was when the door opened. The most beautiful woman, no, another elf, with two twin elves entered the room.
'This must be Lady Arwen.' Sydney thought. She then noticed that the she-elf had a bundle of green and white clothes in her arms along with bottles. The twins were carrying wooden tubs full of water that were steaming.
"We heard you were awake and we thought you'd like a bath, Lady Sydney." Lady Arwen said. Sydney held her tongue and then thought better of it. She didn't want to be rude.
"Thanks. I'd like that very much." Sydney said.
"Well, we should be off then." Hermione said. "Is it alright if we come back after your bath?" She asked.
"Yeah, sure, absolutely!" Sydney said, a bit more eagerly than she wanted to. Hermione laughed. Her, Harry and Ron said good-bye and left the room. Sydney made a move as if to get out of the bed when Legolas rushed to her side and took her arm to help her out. Sydney winced. Her right side still hurt from the fall.
"Easy now, easy," he whispered as she stood up. Sydney's legs wobbled a bit from being in bed for…
"How long was I out for?"
"Today would be your third day." Sydney stopped in her tracks.
"Three days!" She exclaimed. Legolas nodded and continued to help her walk. By now he had his arm around her waist, holding her securely to his right side while his other hand held her left hand. Sydney couldn't help but feel his archer's muscles under his tunic. She instantly blushed at the thought. She entered a room with a large tub taking up a good portion of the room. It was being filled with hot water by the twins. A large vanity mirror was placed at the opposite wall to her right. Arwen then shooed the men out of the room and closed the door. She then turned to Sydney.
"I trust you feel better." She started.
"Well, my head kinda hurts, but I'll live." Sydney stated.
"Well you should feel a lot better after your bath." She said. "Now, let me help you with your clothes." Arwen started bustling around Sydney. With Arwen's help the light dress was off and all she had on was her under pants. Sydney didn't feel awkward at all. She got undressed in front of girls all the time at track meets and practices in the locker room. And it wasn't like Arwen didn't have anything Sydney didn't. Well, Arwen had pointed ears, was a heck of a lot prettier than Sydney (in Sydney's mind), and moved with grace. Questions popped into Sydney's mind.
"Hey, I don't want to sound rude at all, but I have question about elves?" Arwen paused, and then nodded.
"Do elves always move with such grace?" Arwen let out of a laugh. "And sound so melodic- prettyish-…yeah." Arwen nodded.
"It's true that elves move with more grace than your people. But I believe it's more of an opinion that we sound better." Arwen turned around as Sydney stripped off her last piece of clothing, giving her more privacy. She turned back around when she heard Sydney sink into the water.
"Ahh." Sydney felt her muscles relax. Arwen walked over and poured the contents in one of the bottles into the bath water. It smelt of peppermint. Sydney breathed in deep as the aroma took control of her senses. She sighed again peacefully.
"Thank you so much." Sydney whispered. Arwen laughed. She turned around and started working on something on the counter in front of the mirror. Soon an odd aroma filled the air, slightly overpowering the peppermint.
"What's that?" Sydney asked. Arwen turned around with a bowl full of a yellowish paste. Sydney tried to hold back a look of disgust.
"It's salve for that bruise on your face. You took quite a blow. It's a wonder none of your teeth were broken."
"Oh, it's one of those weird things that run in the family. I got it from my mom's side of…" Sydney broke off at the thought of her mother. Instead she put her right foot up on the edge of the tub, took a bar of soap and started to wash off her leg. Arwen didn't want to press the matter. She decided to change the subject.
"So I see you getting along with Prince Legolas very well." She said as she placed the salve on the counter for later use. The bar of soap slipped out of Sydney's hand as her foot went crashing back down into the hot water.
"PRINCE?" Sydney's thoughts suddenly turned to how she had spoken to him in the glade, how she had spoken to him in her room, as though he was just like anyone else. Arwen nodded, hiding her shock from the teenager's response.
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Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir were talking outside in Sydney's bedroom, hearing the mumbling behind the door but not paying much attention to it. There was a thud of something hitting the floor and a great splash of water.
"PRINCE?" Came a young girl's voice. The twins smiled.
"You've been found out, Legolas," they said in unison with identical smirks on their faces. Legolas got up and walked over to the door. Hesitating a moment he lifted his hand and knocked.
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"Lady Arwen, Sydney, is everything alright?" Legolas' voice came through the door.
"Yes," came the response from the two females. Sydney was about to say something when Arwen held up her hand. Legolas hadn't backed away from the door. When Arwen didn't hear anything she nodded her head. Not quite convinced Legolas or the other elves wouldn't eavesdrop, Arwen added,"Whisper," she commanded.
"Why?"
"Elves have hearing that is much more sensitive than that of a human."
"Oh," There was silence as Sydney proceeded to rinse herself off.
"What were you going to say?" Sydney took a deep breath and started to speak.
"What do you mean prince?"
"Legolas is the prince of the Woodland Realm." At Sydney's perplexed look she continued. "There are other elves in Middle Earth, not just us."
"Well, why didn't he tell me he was a prince?" Sydney asked as she draped both arms over the edge of the tub and let them hang there, a look of wonder, confusion and curiosity on her partially wet face.
Arwen contemplated what the answer could be. "I don't know what the answer is," said Arwen. "You should finish washing soon. My father will want to check your wounds soon."
All Sydney could do was nod. She took a deep breath and sank her head under the water. The warm water eased the soreness from the bruise on the left side of her face. When she resurfaced Arwen was nowhere to be seen in the room. All that was there was a strange bottle of something - Sydney wasn't sure what.
"Lady Arwen?" Sydney whispered. "Lady Arwen?" She tried a little louder.
"She left to get her father." Came Legolas' voice. Sydney, at the sound of his voice, quite foolishly put her head back in the water so that only her eyes were above the surface. "Are you in need of assistance?"
"You're not going to come in are you?" Sydney sputtered. There was a chuckle.
"Nay, not if you don't want me to."
"I- I'm fine… really." Sydney said. 'That didn't sound convincing.'"Just… let me finish" she finished the last part in a hoarse whisper. Sydney opened the bottle and gave it a precautionary sniff. It smelled like flowers. Convinced it was shampoo, she began to wash the sweat and dirt out of her hair.
When she finished she looked over the edge of the tub to see a nice olive colored towel waiting for her. Sydney leaned over to get it. It was just out of reach.
"Damn it." Sydney cursed. She put her foot up against the side of the tub that was against the wall. 'Yes' she thought triumphantly as she snatched the towel from its resting place. As she stood up her legs wobbled dangerously beneath her. That's when someone at the door decided to knock briefly and then just open it. Sydney gasped. She quickly covered the essentials to discover it was Arwen.
"Sorry to have left you like that. My father called me."
"I didn't hear him." Sydney stated.
"Elves have-"
"Oh, yeah, hypersensitive hearing," finished Sydney. She stepped over the edge of the tub and started drying herself off. Arwen pulled out the white bundle to see there was clean underwear, which Sydney slipped on with an under dress. Carefully Arwen helped Sydney into the under dress and pulled out a comb. Arwen then pulled out a chair, which Sydney sat in, and started to detangle Sydney's hair. After a few moments it was tangle free and dried to the point where it wasn't dripping, Arwen told her to stand up and go over to the mirror. For the first time since the battle Sydney saw the results of what the Orc had inflicted upon her. She gasped.
"Oh my God!" She nearly shrieked. There was an insistent rapping on the door.
"Is everything alright?" Came an unknown voice sounding very concerned.
"Yes everything's fine," replied Arwen.
"What do you mean? Look at my face." This is the reason Harry, Ron and Hermione had given her those looks. There was a deep purplish-blue bruise on her face that covered her whole cheek and some of her mouth. It was a close hit to her eye, but not quite there. Sydney was even luckier it didn't hit her temple. In some areas where the blow hadn't come in direct contact her skin had turned a light brown.
"The salve will take away the pain." Arwen said reassuringly.
"Will it cover the bruise?"
"No, I'm afraid not. Come, let's apply the salve." She picked up the bowl, put two fingers in and started to apply it to Sydney's face. Sure enough, the pain eased. After a few minutes Arwen set the bowl down.
"Let's get you dressed. My father would like to speak to all of you." She went to an ornate armoir on the other side of the room and pulled out a pale green dress for Sydney to look at.
"I thought it would bring out the color of your eyes." She said. They slipped the dress on, more carefully when it was going over her face. After it was all pulled into place Sydney got a good look at herself in the vanity mirror. Arwen was right. It did bring out the green in her eyes. Sydney was then steered into her bedroom. Legolas stood and gave her a long appraising look.
"You look lovely Sydney."
"Thanks." 'I guess.'
"Well, my father is waiting. So let us go to him." Arwen said, leading them from the room. Legolas offered his arm. Sydney took his arm by the elbow and was guided out of the room.
'Okay.' What she saw next left her breathless. The city was amazing. It drew all thought of why, how, and other numerous questions from her mind. Even the small chuckle emitted from Legolas wasn't enough to draw her mind from the gardens, or the colorful leaves, or even from the luscious waterfalls that gave off such a peaceful sound that people were instantly enchanted by their song. But the event that was to become the future, changing Sydney Brittan's perspective of everything, was not far away.
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Okay this was sort of blah, leading you into other stuff. Hope you enjoyed it. I would like more REVIEWS, opinions and other stuff, not just reading and saying nothing. Gets my hopes down.