The Fellowship waited outside the Door of Durin whilst Gandalf muttered countless spells in an attempt to open the door so they may trek through the mines. Lihua stood next to Sam whilst they removed the bags and bridles from Bill, Sam's pony and Naher. The mines were no place for a pony and horse.

Lihua's hand continued to glide against the neck of her beautiful black stallion, whilst her eyebrows were furrowed upwards in a curve. It was true that she felt sad, but it was for the best.

"See you around, Naher. Go back to Rivendell, it'll just worry father if you return to him without me. Lord Elrond will take care of you" With a small slap on his behind, Naher trotted off, soon joining Sam's pony up ahead. Lihua turned her head to the hobbit and smiled a little. "They'll be safer this way than going into those mines, Samwise Gamgee" He sighed, trying his best to smile.

"I know. I'm going to miss him"

"Sam, it's not goodbye forever" He looked up at Lihua with a questioning look. Lihua only smiled.

"You'll make it back to the Shire. I promise you"
"But... what makes you so sure?"
"Because, Sam" Lihua crouched down to his height and placed her strong hand on his shoulder. Her eyes shone bright and had actually changed to a dark blue colour thanks to the moonlight. Her smile was bright like crystals in the eyes of the hobbit before her. "We will protect you, Frodo, Merry and Pippin with our lives" The way the elf said her words, they had lifted the big heart beating within young Samwise Gamgee. This gave him hope.

"And I'll protect my friends too... i-if I can"

Lihua laughed very quietly, nodding. "I'm sure you will, Sam" Lihua stood back up and when she did, the door of Durin had finally opened. She sighed with relief, glad that they weren't going to stay out all night. She picked up her bag and satchel, putting them over her shoulders. Lee popped his head out of her satchel, looking up at her and speaking in monkey language. Lihua looked down at him. "Just stay in there, Lee. I don't want you to cause trouble for Gandalf. It's a dangerous place" As if he could understand her, Lee went back into the satchel, just munching on the food that was in there for him to keep himself occupied.

"And they call it a mine. A mine" Gimli announced.

"This is no mine..." Boromir stopped in his tracks, looking around at the dead corpses. "It's a tomb" Lihua's eyes went wide, looking down at her feet to see a skeleton that belonged to a dwarf. Legolas ripped out one of the arrows from a corpse. He frowned with disgust.

"Goblins" The Fellowship drew their swords, looking around with fright whilst Boromir spoke next.

"We make for the gap of Rohan. We should never have come here" Suddenly, Frodo began to yell for help. The Fellowship turned around, only to see a Kraken coming out of the water, trying to drown Frodo. Aragorn, Boromir, Gimli and Legolas rushed out to attack the creature. The two men and the dwarf hacked at the creature's tentacles whilst Legolas shot at the head of it with his elvish arrows. That's when Aragorn turned around and yelled out to Lihua once he caught Frodo in his arms.
"Lihua! Now!" He cried for he knew what the Princess was capable of. Lihua nodded once and ran out to where they were and with both her hands, she grabbed onto a tentacle and used it to try and throw the creature back into the water. The Kraken was strong, but with one huge yell, Lihua managed to swing the creature against the cliff which was a few yards away to give the Fellowship time to run back inside. All thanks to her monster strength. Lihua called out.

"Everyone, back inside!" The Kraken crawled back through the waters to try and attack again but when they got inside, the entrance soon caved in and darkness surrounded everyone. Light then appeared from Gandalf's staff. They had no choice but to walk through the darkness of Moria. Boromir was looking at Lihua in shock however. Lihua noticed this and she frowned.

"What?"

He shook his head but his mouth was still hung open. "Nothing... it's just-" He blinked and Legolas watched him closely from up ahead. "You really do have monster strength"

"Yes, and she saved our lives" Chuckled Aragorn who ruffled Lihua's hair, causing Lihua to playfully hit his arm with a scowl.

"Yes..." Boromir smiled, looking down. He then mumbled something as if he felt too embarrassed to say it. "Thank you, Princess Lihua" Lihua raised her hand.

"Just address me by Lihua. As long as I'm within the Fellowship I don't wish to be known as a Princess" He nodded, laughing nervously.

"R-right, of course." Lihua nodded, looking away and when she did she gave out a frown to herself due to the awkward conversation that had just happened. She found Boromir to be quite odd and more than awkward. Being behind Aragorn, Lihua began to climb a small ladder like everyone else was doing to get up to a higher level. Legolas was in front of Aragorn, but he listened very carefully to Lihua and Boromir's conversation.

"So, Princess- Sorry, I mean Lihua. Where I come from," He smiled proudly to himself, hoping his next few words would impress the Eastern beauty. "I'm considered to be a bit of a Prince myself" She rolled her eyes, just finding it to be amusing at his attempt to impress her.

"Oh?"

"Yes" He laughed. "Women would come up to me and even ask me to be the bears of my children" Legolas ended up cracking part of the ladder with his firm grip of fury the more he continued to listen. He got to the top and helped Aragorn up. "Do you think you would ever ask someone to be the bearer of their children?" Legolas helped Lihua up from the ladder. She smirked down at Boromir, teasing him.

"Maybe" With that, she walked away, following Aragorn. Boromir laughed and held his hand out to Legolas, expecting help also; but the Prince of Mirkwood simply glared at him and followed Lihua, leaving Boromir alone on the ladder.

As more time passed, the Fellowship had ended up in a stone room where there was a tombstone for one of Gimli's cousins; Balin. Gimli grieved over the loss of his cousin whilst drums suddenly began to beat heavily. Noises were heard from outside the room. Legolas glared, stepping in front of Lihua.

"Orcs" The Princess put her hand on Legolas's arm and pushed him gently out of her way.

"And I do not need protection" Aragorn, watching their behaviour managed to smile, letting out a small chuckle as he grabbed anything he could find to block the doors. Everyone got into their positions, ready to attack the orcs who were trying to break in along with the cave troll. The cave troll barged in and that was when the battle had begun. The Fellowship attacked many of orcs, killing them with ease and having no weapon, Lihua used her strength to break their necks, crush their skulls and even throw them into their allies. Merry and Pippin would just look at her in awe as this happened. The Eastern Princess pulled back her fist and brought it forth to send another orc flying back into one of his comrades and she smirked, her sadistic side edging through her veins. Sam then called out in fright.

"Princess Lihua! Behind you!" Before she could turn around, she heard an orc from behind her grunt and fall to the ground. She blinked and suddenly Legolas's lips were right beside her ear.

"Consider that as me making it up to you, for knocking you off your horse" Lihua managed to hold back the shiver that would have ran down her spine by turning around, raising her eyebrow.

"I already forgave you for that"

"But I hadn't forgiven myself... until now" Legolas then ran off to the left, in order to assist Aragorn. Lihua's hand went over to where her heart was and clutched the fabric in front of it. It was hurting; her heart. Beating harder than normal. Lihua knew all too well that it was Legolas's doing. She lowered her head, frowning.

"Pe-channas..." ("Idiot...") She whispered to herself.

After the battle was won by the Fellowship, Gandalf ordered everyone to get to the bridge of Khazad-dum. Before they had gotten there, they learnt of the horrific demon which was after them. A Balrog. The Fellowship struggled to get away from it, but they succeeded and they had managed to cross the bridge. Even so, Gandalf stayed behind to fight the demon off, shouting to it that it may not pass.

"Go back to the shadows" Gandalf snarled, glaring at the demon right into its flaming eyes. Everyone watched in fright at this scene, finding Gandalf's courage to be truly amazing. Gandalf raised his staff.

"You. Shall not. PASS!" He roared throughout the place and slammed his staff onto the bridge, causing it to crumble and break once the Balrog stepped onto it. Just as everyone was about to head on, Gandalf was now hanging onto the ledge. Frodo's eyes went wide as he darted forward to help his friend, but Aragorn held him back for he knew the fate in which Gandalf was about to face. "Fly, you fools" Just like that, the wizard let go from ledge and fell into the shadows. Sorrow clouded over the Fellowship as they made their way out from the mines and into the daylight. Many collapsed to the ground from their sadness taking over their limbs. The hobbits wept more than their hearts could allow, Lihua stood along with Legolas in disbelief, whilst Gimli was held back by Boromir. It was not long before the Fellowship had to continue their way and head towards the forest of Lothlórien. They trekked down the white stone mountain, Legolas joining Lihua's side.

"Lle tereva?" ("Are you alright?") The Prince asked the Princess. She nodded once, her eyes being dull and distant. She did not reply, causing Legolas to sense something was wrong. "Lle tyava quel?" ("Do you feel well?") Overcame with exhaustion, Lihua closed her eyes and leant her head against Legolas's shoulder. She was lacking too much sleep to realise what she was actually doing. Her pride would never allow her to do this, but she had been caught off guard.

"Just tired" The Prince of Mirkwood smiled, seeing the Princess let down her protective shield whilst she got minimal rest against his broad shoulder.

"It seems to be that when you use your strength, you also lose a significant amount of your energy" He calmly spoke, tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear delicately so she would not notice. She mumbled.

"I never used to... but then my father began to overwork me when it came to training. It got to a point where he would send me to my room after every agni kai I did so I could rest." Legolas went silent for a moment when Lihua informed him of such a thing.

"Why would he overwork you?"

"Because I'm his "perfect example". He wants me to be the new era of what everyone should be. Perfect. All because I was blessed by the Goddess, Yin. Maybe I was perfect at one point, but now... I'm far from it." Legolas smiled, looking down at her.

"I wouldn't say far from it"

"Oh? What would you say?" Lihua asked, lifting her head from his shoulder and looking at him. The Prince's eyes looked deep into hers as they continued to walk.

"I would say... far beyond it" Her heart banged against her chest, hurting her yet again. She even stammered from his answer, not believing this sudden feeling of warmth and the yearn of wanting him to say more things like that to her.
"N-no. You're lying" Her cheeks were going red, her heart throbbing with want. She touched her cheek with her fingers, feeling the drastic change in temperature. Legolas took her hand away from her face, smirking faintly.

"Is the fair Princess from the East beginning to bloom like a rose within her cheeks?" She frowned in embarrassment.

"Not a chance"

"Your cheeks lie to me, valiant one" He placed his hand on her cheek, his faint smirk now becoming a beautiful smile. "They are warm like the sun's beams" The Princess stared into his eyes but her head was screaming at her to be stubborn to him. She looked away with her eyes, her lips poked out into a childish pout. "It seems I'm so very close" She didn't turn her head back to him but replied.

"Very close to what?" The Prince of the Woodland Realm held the Princess of the East's hand and leant forward to her ear. His lips were almost touching the shell of her ear as he spoke with such romance and emotion in his voice.

"To winning your heart" He turned his head, placing his velvet lips against her rosy cheek. His lips remained there for mere seconds, however in Lihua's mind it felt like a life time because the whole world slowed down in that moment. He pulled his lips away and joined Aragorn up ahead. The fact of the matter was, Lihua knew he was right. He was so close. Maybe he was already there.