Chapter 4

Yes, it's another update. I just could not wait another day to upload it! So here we go! Two Chapters in one day! Yay

Pirate Girls: Sure I have a whole bottle of rum!

Little me: Thanks, I will try and give longer chapters. This one I already wrote before your review, but the coming ones should be better!

Disclaimer: My birthday is this month, so maybe I'll get ownership of Tolkien's work, but at this stage I still own nothing. Makes me feel kinda broke and useless….

"Haldir, Meet Lady Ava Fairlin." Vadinar introduced, Ava smiled and out of habit held out her hand for him to shake. Haldir looked down at her hand, and then awkwardly reached for it. He brought her hand to his lips and placed a quick soft kiss on the back. Ava's face turned flame red and she felt very embarrassed by the action. Stupid, of course the elf would not know about shaking hands! He must think her silly!

"Welcome to Lorien. I'm Haldir and I will accompany you to our Lady Galadriel" he said in a smooth, even voice. His features were pleasant to look at and the relaxed atmosphere he produced made Ava feel comfortable in his presence. Ava liked this elf and soon she bid goodbye to Vadinar and the other unknown elves.

The forest was quiet, except for Orion's big hooves hitting the ground in a rhythmic way. Sometimes an unfamiliar bird would chipper or call and Ava would excitedly glance in the direction of the noise, hoping to spot the elusive bird. She was quite fond of birds and was excited to see if Middle – Earth had different species than her home did. On her previous occasions to Gondor she only spotted crows, sparrows and hawks…nothing impressive.

Haldir next to her was also very quiet and sometimes she would glance over to him, just to check if he was still there. Ava always thought that the big, loud, brawny men was the ones that emits the most fear from opponents, but there was something about the elves silent, calculated ways that was a bit more frightening. Ava was not afraid of Haldir, but an image of Legolas suddenly flashed before her eyes. The way is face hardened when she spoke about the grey Havens.

Haldir walked a little bit behind Ava and she wondered why he did that. Usually the leader would walk in front to show the way, but in this case Ava just walked blindly along the forest with Haldir trailing her. She tried different directions, but he would never correct her or lead them into a different direction.

The deeper they walked into the wood, the more the scenery changed. The trees got higher and stranger with thick, swirling roots sticking from the soil, golden leaf flowers sprouted from the ground and small, clear streams crossed their path. The place was absolutely breath taking and Ava was mesmerised by its beauty. She wished that she had her camera with her, but that would only label her as a strange witch and be burned at the stake.

"Haldir, what are these golden flowers called?" Ava asked when they reached a clearing with hundreds of them. They stretched out like a golden see before them.

"It is called Elanor" Haldir smiled and picked one "It's a reference to the sun"

He tucked the little flower in one of his button holes. "You may pick some if you like"

Ava bent down to also pick one and brought it up close. She has never seen anything more beautiful. It smelled like summer if that was possible. Ava pushed the flower behind her ear and Haldir motioned for her to continue walking. Ava just aimlessly walked into another direction with the elf trailing. She thought that this might be a way of getting her lost so that she won't know the direction of the city.

It was working.

Haldir would sometimes randomly comment on plants and shrubs they found along the way. He would give her the elvish name and the common name for the plant and explain if they had any worthy attributes. Ava like these bits of information and actually paid attention to what the gentle elf had to say. Orion was also very peaceful as Ava led him along. Sometimes he would nibble at a passing plant or stop to sniff a flower. The first time he did that, both Haldir and Ava watched him astonished. Did horses ever smell flowers?

After they walked without direction for about an hour and a half, Haldir suddenly diverted their course and took the lead. Ava and Orion followed him until they reached a cliff looking down into a wide river. Ava could see that the current was tremendously strong and she wondered how they would cross it without being swept away. The noise of the white, rapids below her was slightly frightening to her due to a previous bad encounter with something similar.

When she was younger Ava once went river rafting with her parents on the Orange River. The current got too rough for her dad to handle the little kayak and in one big splash wave; Ava was swept from the boat and emerged into the rough water. How she got out alive was a mystery to her, because she blacked out after a while from swallowing too much water. Since then she always had a fear of water.

Ava was scanning the area, looking for a bridge when out of nowhere an arrow attached to a rope shot over the river from the opposite bank and neatly struck the end of a big tree. Haldir walked over to the tree, pulled the silver arrow out and started tying the cord around the worn trunk. He made a couple of difficult looking knots and then pulled the rope to check if it was secure.

Then unbelievingly Ava watched as a blond elf quickly ran across the rope like it was a broad bridge. The elf even did it with so much grace that Ava felt a pang of jealousy sweep through her. Why can't she have that type of elegance and stability? And to make matters worse as soon as she realised who she was jealous of the feeling was soon replaced by annoyance. Ava watched as Legolas neatly crossed the river and lightly jumped from the cord to the ground in front of them.

As Legolas approached the two on the other side back he could clearly see that Ava was not very happy to see him. Her face was set like she ate something foul. Her hair was still windblown like earlier, but an Elanor flower was now stuck in the tangles. Legolas lightly jumped from the rope and faced Haldir. He lifted a quizzical brow when he spotted the same little golden flower in his buttonhole.

Legolas did not even look at Ava and quickly addressed Haldir in Elvish. Their lips moved rapidly and by their speed talking Ava could sense that they had some sort of disagreement. Why was it that Legolas seemed to bring the worst out of every one? First her, then Elior, not to mention Orion and now poor Haldir! The elf she actually liked!

Orion's gaze was also fixed upon the two elves and by his snorting; Ava could almost imagine he had the same thoughts as she did. The conversation went on for a while and occasionally the two elves looked over to the woman and her horse. Ava tapped her foot impatiently.

Orion's name was mentioned a couple of times and she wondered what heated debate was going on that concerned her horse. Orion however seemed to understand what the argument was about and neighed quite loudly at a certain point, startling Ava out of her reverie. She regarded the beast next to her and noticed that he looked kind of….comical? His neigh almost sounded like a laugh, if that was even possible, and Ava was somewhat taken aback by this strange incidence. Legolas however did not appreciate the snickering of the horse and gave Haldir a "You see what I mean?" look. The argument was settled and the elves turned towards them.

"Ava, you must go with Legolas to see Lady Galadriel. She is looking forward in meeting you." Haldir spoke, his voice friendly, but Ava could detect a lingering displeasure from before "I will take your steed to the stables and tend to him there"

"I thought you were taking me to your Lady?" Ava almost pleaded "And why can't Orion go with me? I would like to see to him myself"

"It is still quite a journey by horse to reach the city and we cannot keep our Lady waiting. Legolas does not wish to lead your horse to the palace. Your beast seemed to have caught a… disliking in him" Ava snorted at this comment, but Haldir continued talking "You will follow Legolas over the rope and take the short cut to the palace. I will follow with Orion and meet you there"

Ava did not hear the end of the sentence. Her mind was stuck by the 'follow Legolas over the rope' section and she could feel slipping into panic mode. Haldir gave a short whistle and Orion obediently followed the elf. He also seemed to prefer Haldir over Legolas. Ava stood rooted to the ground, unable to move. She kept thinking of slipping from the rope and dropping down into the current below. She would probably drown, because sure as hell, Legolas would not save her.

"I…I… Cannot do that!" she freaked. Her palms got clammy and her breathing hitched a bit. She would rather fight an Orc than to venture over that thin silver cord.

Legolas regarded the woman beside him and shook his head in disbelief. He was not sure if Ava intended to say the sentence out loud, but he definitely could not imagine her fighting an Orc.

"Do you even know how to fight one?" he asked and looked her over to see if she had any weapons on her. He could only detect a long silver knife attached to her hip. Ava blushed a little as his eyes roamed over her, but then she straightened her posture in self-defence. In all reality she has never seen an Orc before, but there was no way she would reveal that to him.

"No, but still even then I would choose to fight it than crossing a raging river on a rope!"

"There is no other way. We are delayed as we speak and need to hasten" Legolas motioned for her to join him as he lightly leaped up onto the rope. He walked a short distance forward, turned around and walked back "See, there is nothing to it. Come"

"I am no elf! I do not possess that kind of balance and stability!" Ava nearly whimpered "Humans, especially me, need a much… much wider, more firm crossing over a river…you know, like a bridge" she added the last part sarcastically.

"Previously you claimed to be immortal and now you say you are human. What being are you, woman?"

Legolas could not help sensing that Ava was hiding something. He already had big trust issues and could not help being suspicious of this woman. He could clearly see that she was no elf, but when he looked closer, she looked nothing like the other humans he met before. She was too…too well groomed? Not that other woman were not, but for someone that travel for weeks to be this well presented just seemed odd. She had long, shiny, dark brown hair, curling down to just below her shoulder blades. Other human hair was usually dull and frizzy. They hide it under bonnets or pin it up to conceal it. Her big blue eyes had very unusually long black lashes and her oddly smooth skin was a natural sun kissed bronze. Not the pale, covered skin that the other women had.

She wore strange attire, none of what he has seen before and she seemed not to care to reveal her figure with the tight fitting clothes. For a human she was rather attractive, but she was nothing compared to elven women in beauty.

"I am human… with a different type of immortality than the elves" Ava carefully answered. She was hoping that Legolas would just drop the subject and continue on their journey, but taking a different, safer path, of course.

Legolas regarded her in silence for a moment. Where does a human girl get immortality from? Did she use some typed of dark magic to steal the immortality from someone else?

"Gin ú-velin" Legolas mutter to himself and then said in a louder voice "Come, we must go" and started walking to the other bank again.

"Darn you, elf. I said I'm not going over that river using a rope!" annoyance filled her words and she turned in the direction she last saw Haldir walk. She furiously stomped off in that direction looking for the other elf. Brown and matted gold leaves fluttered up from the ground as she treaded through the forest's leafy floor.

Legolas could not believe that someone could be this stubborn, well apart from him of course. There was nothing to it. The cord was almost a foot wide and she seemed more than capable in crossing it!

He lightly jumped from the rope again and followed Ava. He reached out to touch her shoulder, but she suddenly spun around and poked him on the chest. Her finger pressed hard against him and the anger in her eyes startle him.

"You know, it's chauvinists like you that make our women to stand up for themselves!" she seethed.

Legolas however had no idea what a chauvinists was, but he did not want to contradict her. He was not afraid of her, but rather distracted by the intensity of her spirit. She had a fire in her that most elven woman did not possess. The cool, reserved appearances they always enveloped themselves in were somewhat lacklustre and predictable. Not that this rampant way of Ava was any better, though.

Ava was rambling on about stuff Legolas had no knowledge on, but he stood rooted in the ground listening to her ranting. At some point he came to the conclusion that Ava was a very difficult person and could do much damage to the male ego. She was beautiful and could probably sway many men (not elves) to follow her if she wanted. He wondered how many men she has left heartbroken before. She was also dangerous. Something about her was not right. She was too strange and claiming to bring a message from the Grey Havens! What was she up to? Legolas felt it best to escort her to Galadriel. He convinced Ellior to leave her with him; the young elf was not experienced enough for this. Haldir was older than he was and probably more capable, but Legolas really did not want to be the one to escort that horse to the city. The thing will most defiantly make the task too difficult. But considering the fight Ava is putting up, the horse might have proven easier.

"You talk too much" Legolas interrupted Ava and watched as her mouth pressed into a thin, white line.

At first he was quickly annoyed by this girl, but now that he studied her ways, he could easily see himself enjoy taunting her instead. She was angered easily and that was quite amusing to Legolas. He could at least control his anger and displeasure, but it seemed too difficult for her to reign in her fiery spirit.

"If we take Haldir's rout, we would only reach the city by nightfall. You have no choice, but to cross the river over the chord." He stated smoothly and then added "If you do not comply, I will just have to force you" he shrugged and gave a daring, mug smirk. Yes, he could definitely get used to taunting her.

"What? Are you going to threaten to kill me if I do not cross?" Ava sneered. She was getting angrier by the moment and Legolas enjoyed every bit of it.

"No, I have other….methods" he smiled "So what's it going to be? Cooperation or by force?"

Ava observed the elf, looking for signs of bluffing. How could he force her to cross a rope? He could not push her over it, because she would definitely fall and would drag him along with her. What other ways were there?

The confidence radiating from the elf was either having complete faith in his bull-shit or he really had a way to force her over. She looked back at the river. Could she make it over? Did she have the guts to cross her greatest fear?

Ava swallowed hard and turned back towards the elf. She hated the smug expression on his face. Like he was so superior to her. Idiot.

"Fine, I will cross your stupid rope, but be warned, elf! If I fall off and drown, I swear I will come back and haunt you for the rest of your miserable life! Which is probably forever!"

Legolas' eyes flashed at her comment. He was not sure what she meant by 'his miserable life', but did not appreciate it none the less. Did she know his life was miserable? Could she see it? Did she sense his constant morbid mood? Does she know what happened? Or was that just a saying of her kind?

"Rhaich" he breathed to himself again.

Elvish translations:

Gin ú-velin – I don't like you

Rhaich - Curse

So, Legolas is a bit temperamental, but shame I think he's got the right to be! Will reveal in later chapter why…

Anywhoo, I'm not sure what elvish Legolas and the Lorien wood elves speaks. Sindarin or Quenya?

Maybe one of you guys can help me out. The elvish used so far is Sindarin, I think?

Thanks!

Love,

The Poet!