Rays of gentle sunlight peeking through the thick curtains of Ariza's room, caused the young elfling to stir awake.
Stretching her arms above her head, Ariza threw open the curtains to her window, breathed in the damp morning air, sighing to herself before going to wake Arwen.
The elfling snickered to herself as she approached Arwen's bed.
'They consider her the evenstar of the elven people?! Oh if they saw her now!' Ariza thought as she saw her sister's disheveled state. Her hair was strewn and tangled across her pillow, and Ariza swore she could see drops of saliva dripping from her mouth.
Ariza leaned towards Arwen's ear, and hissed
" Get up, you great slug." Arwen automatically shot up in her bed, causing her forehead to collide with her sister's. Ariza let out a pained cry before tumbling backwards and onto the ground.
"What is your head made of? Stone?" The elfling cried, clutching her injured forehead.
Ignoring the whining of her sister, Arwen immediately shot out of her bed and scrambled to her dresser. She quickly pulled on a loose fitting dress, then turned to face her younger sibling.
" Hurry young one, I suspect we are already late for breakfast." Arwen rushed out, before picking out Ariza's dress, and motioning for her to use the dressing screen. The elfling simply glared at her sister, before reluctantly taking the light blue dress from her hands.
As soon as Ariza was done dressing herself, she popped out from behind the screen, seeing Arwen waiting for her.
"Ariza, come we mustn't delay." With that, Arwen bolted out of the room. Ariza quickly pulled on her slippers, before sprinting (as fast as she could in a dress) after her sister.
"Arwen!" Ariza called, chasing after the swirling skirts ahead of her.
Not turning to face her sister, Arwen opened the door to the royal dining room, before patiently waiting for the elfling behind her. The ellith hurried into the room and took their seats beside Elladan and Elrohir.
Soon enough, the Lothlorien elves filed into the room, making Ariza straighten in her seat. She made shy eye contact with her grandmother and grandfather, before turning her attention back to her feet.
" Excuse me..." A shy voice said to Ariza's right. The elfling's head shot up in surprise of being talked to. To her surprise, it was another elfling.
The elfling in question had pale blonde hair that fell to his shoulders, and bright blue eyes, and a furiously red face.
"Is this seat taken?" He asked quietly. Ariza quickly shook her head, and turned away as hearty laughter filled the room at the elflings' display.
The little ellon hopped up on the seat next to Ariza, he sat quietly for a few minutes as they were still waiting on the royals of Greenwood.
"May I ask your name?" The young ellon questioned lowly. Ariza blinked at him in astonishment before answering with her head downcast.
" Ariza Elrondian." The other elfling immediately started a flurry of words.
"I'm so sorry my lady, I knew not of your heritage. I ask for your forgiveness, my lady." He cried before taking her hand and placing a chaste kiss to it. She was, to say the least surprised.
"Are you not also from a high ranking family?" She questioned, thinking that only nobles from the other kingdoms were allowed to attend the feast in Greenwood.
"Nay, I'm but the Marchwarden's son." He argued softly, still searching for forgiveness for his mistake.
"That is a honorable title." She complimented.
He opened his mouth once again and asked for her pardon.
" There is nothing to forgive, and please drop the ' my lady' titles such as that should be reserved for beings such as my sister."
"May I ask your name?" She asked right after, in case the elfling decided to protest once more.
"Haldir..." He was interrupted as the ruling family of Greenwood arrived. The queen sat down with a merry laugh, and the smiling king stood beside her, the reason, a blonde elfling sat in his chair. Ariza moved her eyes towards the floor once more as the elves started talking.
xXx
Through all the commotion in the room, Legolas spied on the only other elflings in the room. The male had long pale blonde hair, much like his own and dark blue eyes. The other one, the female seemed to have fiery golden hair, and light blue eyes.
"Welcome, eat and relax for you have all traveled far." The Queen of Greenwood urged the guests. Legolas happily obliged, hopping off his father's chair, and taking his seat to the right of his mother. He immediately piled his plate with fruits, and as many other sweets as he could find.
"Legolas, why do you not eat something that is green?" His mother chided.
He looked up at her with a mouthful of jam, which he promptly swallowed.
"I don't like vegetables." He pouted as his mother piled greens onto his plate.
"If you do not eat your vegetables, you will not grow to be a great Archer."
He gasped in horror, but his mother was not finished.
"Perhaps, if you like sweets so much you should become a chef."
His eyes grew impossibly large, and he promptly shoved the vegetables into his mouth as all of the elves at the table began to laugh.
He smiled to himself. ' I will be the greatest archer in Greenwood... No in all of Middle Earth.'
xXx
After the morning meal, Ariza had made her way out into the the woods with her new friend Haldir. They walked in relative silence, asking each other simple questions, and commenting on their surroundings. What they didn't notice was Legolas watching the pair.
" Hi!"
She screamed as she heard the voice, and saw a figure drop from the tree before them.
The elfling in front of her looked slightly taken aback.
"I'm Legolas, who are you?" He said, looking awkward.
Haldir spoke up first " My name is Haldir of Loríen."
Legolas then turned to her.
"And you are?" He asked arrogantly.
She immediately bristled. " I am Ariza Elrondian." She then muttered quietly under her breath " And I expected more from a prince."
Legolas glared at her " I heard that!" He exclaimed before turning back to Haldir.
"Would you like to come with me to the mountain?" He asked good naturedly. Legolas turned to her before adding " You can come too, I guess, but I doubt that you would like it. It's not something ellith would enjoy."
' Why you little snobbish...' Her thoughts were cut off by Haldir's question.
"What is 'the mountain'?"
"A tall pile of large rocks deep in the woods. Most of the Ellyn challenge each other, to see who can get to the top first." He exclaimed excitedly.
" That sounds foolish." Ariza, rolled her eyes.
"Of course an elleth would say that." Legolas spat before turning back to Haldir.
"Would you like to come?" Haldir glanced nervously at Ariza, who just rolled her eyes once more.
Haldir nodded at Legolas who smirked before they took off into the woods.
'Might as well make sure they do not do anything idiotic.' She thought before racing off after them.
xXx
Soon enough, Legolas and Haldir stopped their sprinting and stood before the mountain, hands on their knees panting.
She stopped a few yards behind them, gawking at the huge mountain of rocks, and ignoring all of Legolas' passive aggressive remarks.
'They want to race up that?! Now I understand why Nana says that females tend to live longer than males...' She was lost in her thoughts when Legolas interrupted them.
"Are you going to race us, or stand there like a typical elleth?" He complained as he finally caught his breath.
Fury rose inside her at the completely uncalled for remark.
She smiled sweetly at Legolas before answering.
" I would love to race you my prince!" She said mockingly before lining up next to Legolas and Haldir.
She noticed that Legolas' eyes darkened slightly before turning his head forward once more
"1...2...3!" All three of them took off.
She reached the base of the mountain first, being the smallest and fastest of the trio. She immediately jumped up, landing on a boulder, before growing more confident and leaping from rock to rock.
She noticed Legolas was behind her, however he was closing in fast.
' I will not lose to him... I would sooner kiss an orc before losing to him.' She thought as her brow furrowed in concentration and she began jumping once more. Before she knew it, she was nearing the top.
' I can do it, I can win this stupid race, and prove to him that...' Her inner ranting was cut off as a hand grasped her wrist tightly, and harshly pulled her back.
Her vision swirled, and the next thing she knew, she was tumbling down the mountain, a searing pain ripping through her head as well as her leg, as she screamed in pain.
She must have finally reached the bottom of the pile of large stones, as the world had stopped spinning.
The last thing she saw as her sight tunneled was the bone protruding from her leg.
A/N How did I do! Let me know by a review, or a favorite and a thank you to Stofbergstephan for a review!