Just a note: This was the second fanfiction I ever started (probably 5 or 6 years ago). I apologize for how these first few chapters turned out, but they are needed. I promise that the characters get better and more rounded as they approach the events of the book. I'll try to post 2 or 3 chapters a day until I get up to what I've finished writing thus far. I have 18 chapters done with another in the works. Happy reading... I hope you can all suffer through these first dismal chapters without permanant damage. :)

Chapter 3
Waking Up

I heard many voices quietly chattering upon my awakening. I felt something soft under me and warm on top. I squinted my eyes open and saw that I was in an enclosed room. I lay on a bed with a mattress, like the master had.

I moaned in pain as I tried to move. The voices stopped.

"Man mathach?" (How do you feel?) A familiar voice asked.

"Im maer." (I'm well) I answered back in the same language.

"So you can speak the grey tounge too!" Another said sarcastically.

"Oh, stop it." A third ordered. A door slammed.

I felt the bed sink a little on my left. "You are also a liar. You aren't well at all." The first voice said softly.

I opened my eyes again to stare into the eyes of Legolas. "Where am I?" I asked quietly.

"You are safe." The third voice said. It was the human.

"I am sorry that we treated you so badly in the wood, but we didn't know if you worked with orcs." Legolas explained.

"Who hurt you so badly?" A voice I didn't know asked.

The elf stepped into view. He looked similar to Legolas, but older. He wore a crown on his head, but it was not pointy and scary like the master's was.

I looked up confused. How could they have known?

Legolas seemed to read my mind. "You were bleeding. We brought you up to this room and Aragorn tried to clean all your cuts up." He explained.

"Oh." I said embarrassed.

"He is a very skilled healer. Lord Elrond taught him." Legolas said proudly.

I could only look at him confused. "Lord Elrond? Who is he?"

The two elves in the room, as well as the human stared at me.

I started shifting uncomfortably under their scrutinizing eyes. "Where are you from?" The human asked.

"I-I was a slave in the north. I don't know what it's called..." I started.

Legolas silenced me. "Alright. Calm down. We don't need a full explanation now." He placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Do you know this wood."

"No. Mama never said anything about where we used to live. Just that she, my brother, and I were taken." She said that my father and baby sister weren't there. She doesn't think they got them because they never showed up at our camp. She taught us the grey tounge, and one of the other elves taught us Quenya. They never told us about where we used to be. Amil said it would be too painful." I said.

"Well child, you are in Mirkwood." The older elf said.