'Thoughts and flashbacks'
"Language"
" 'Enemy' "
Legolas felt a shock of electricity run through his body the moment his lips met Alice's. They continued to stare into each others eyes, even when they pulled away from the sudden kiss and continued to lie on the floor. A nervous cough was heard and the two elves looked up to see everyone staring at them, a certain dark haired elf staring murderously at the woodland prince. Lance was trying not to smile but failed when Elladan and Elrohir sent him wider smiles, making the three of them laugh quietly. "Finally!" The three young elves muttered as they watched Legolas help Alice stand, Arbellason's hand inching towards his sword slowly as he spoke "Legolas, what are you doing here?" "Arbellason, two of our friends were captured. We are merely here to help them, then leave." "Really? Well then you can't leave so soon. The mayor has announced that the hobbits will participate in the upcoming competition." "WHAT!?" "I do believe that Thenidiel is supposed to deal with a marriage proposal in Autumn Wood."
That shocked them into silence. Alice stared at Arbellason in horror, Lance was enraged, Hérion, Glorfindel, and Erestor looked at him unimpressed and angry, and the fellowship, the twins and Aragorn were shocked. Dean and Sam were confused, then they became worried when Legolas stepped in front of Alice as if challenging the dark haired elf to a fight, making her panic once more and step in between her two friends. "You-" Alice hissed at Arbellason "are out of line. Do not decide when I still have an answer to give. And you-" she pointed at Legolas "are being reckless. Do not except a challenge so quickly or it will be your undoing!" "Thenidiel, you have been engaged for the past five hundred years-" "And because of a certain advisor I am missing and have been proclaimed dead for the past eight hundred I have not been home! There may be preparations for my return but I would rather hear it coming from my father in person, not you!" Alice snapped angrily back at Arbellason, cutting him off and not caring if anyone heard her right now or not.
Alice stormed out of the inn and ran to the jail, surprising the townspeople. "Frodo! Sam!" She called desperately "Alice?" A voice called from her left and she ran towards the voice. Frodo and Sam were standing in a cell, watching with hopeful eyes and curiosity as Alice knelt before them and started using peices of metal to unlock it. "What are you doing Alice?" Sam whispered as a metallic click sounded throughout the room, the cell door sliding open noisily. "I picked the lock. I'm breaking you out and if they have a problem with this arrangement, they will talk me. Our friends are waiting at the inn, let's go!" Alice rushed and dragged the hobbits by the hand outside and lead them to the inn. "Sam! Frodo!" Merry and Pippin exclaimed happily and ran to their friends while Gandalf looked at her suspiciously.
"Alice, how did you get them out?" He asked slowly. "I picked the lock." She stated bluntly. "You what?" Boromir and Gimli asked, shocked "I. Picked. The. Lock. Is it really that hard to understand?" Lance sighed and Hérion pinched the bridge of his nose while Erestor and Glorfindel laughed. "I believe that is enough excitement for one day. Let us all go to bed first, then decide what to do." Gandalf suggested "You will have to leave tomorrow morning then. I can still explain this but you have to be far enough away." Alice said nervously as Arbellason stared at her in disbelief. "I can't believe you did that." He whispered, earning a room full of glares as he left. Once Frodo and Sam had eaten everyone went to bed for the night.
~The next day~
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE GONE!?" Sheriff Trent screamed angrily at the guards as he stood outside the jail. "A thousand pardons sheriff, but Dawn has returned, and the halflings were friends of her's, we didn't want to invoke the wrath of the Eldar for imprisoning the innocent." One of the guards explained calmly as his partner looked around nervously, spotting a certain elleth walking towards them and signaled the sheriff to turn around. "Good morning Sheriff. How are you this fine morning?" Dawn asked the enraged man cheerily. "You released my prisoners!" He snarled angrily.
By now a crowd had formed by the inn down the street to settle some distance until their conversation ended. "How do you know I did it if you never saw them leave?" Dawn asked amusedly, turning and walking back to the inn with such confidence that Trent screamed at her again, the mayor, having seen this, had the guards lock him in jail for disturbing the peace. Arrangements had been made earlier that morning about bringing Dean and Sam with her on her travels. Their father had just passed away, having fallen in battle during a hunting trip, their mother passed away when they were still children. Hearing of John's passing hurt Dawn terribly, but she couldn't allow her grief to show now as she met up with Lance, Elladan, Elrohir, Glorfindel, Erestor, Hérion, Dean, and Sam by the forest. Dean and Sam had revealed to the elves that they were also from the Dúnedain, giving them enough reason to travel with the elves, their next destination being Eryn Glad-Dannas. "One problem done. Three more to go." Dawn muttered bitterly as she approached the group of elves and humans.
Their parting with the fellowship had been brief to avoid the sheriff, as they were going to Moria and not Autumn Wood. However, there was a chance that their paths wold cross once more, as they had to pass through Lothlorien to continue. "Before we say anything else, has Alice taught you how to pick a lock?" Elrohir asked seriously. "Yes." The siblings answered curiously, eliciting cheers from Lance and the twins and mumbling from the advisors and Balrog slayer. As they made camp that night, a strange yet familiar presence appeared, seeing Alice made the stranger smile brightly and engulf her in a bone crushing hug. "Alice! You have no idea how much I've missed you! How've you been?" "Ali!" "Skitty! Natalie! I'm well, we were just on our way to Autumn Wood." "Would you like to join us?" Lance asked with a smile as Skitty released Alice and nodded enthusiastically and Natalie cheered happily.
Seeing Dean and Sam made Natalie even more curious as to what they were doing. "Hahaha. Dean, Sam, this is Skitty the Aqua wizard and Natalie the Purple wizard. Skitty, Natalie, this Dean and his younger brother Sam. Sons of John and Mary of the Dúnedain." Alice introduced and Skitty jumped up and down excitedly. "This means you're coming too right? This is so awesome! You are going to love Autumn Wood, I swear. They don't call it silver for nothing either." Skitty exclaimed and magically started the camp fire and set everything up, impressing the young rangers. "Oh, watch this!" Natalie whispered to the two and waved her wand at the ground, making a patch of purple lilies appear and sparkle then burst into purple flames and become a pale purple colored cat. "What? No! I wanted lilies, not a purple cat!" Natalie exclaimed and was about to get rid of the cat until it meowed innocently at her.
"Awwwww. You're so cute! I'm gonna call you Lily!" She said and cuddled the cat. "Wow. Wizards are truly amazing." Sam commented, making Natalie smile brightly and sit down beside them, talking about magic and adventures. Elladan and Elrohir, being the great friends they are, brought up the incident that almost caused a fight and possible the death of someone "What will you do when your father finds out you kissed Legolas?" The conversations stopped at that, the two newly arrived wizards looking at Alice in shock "You kissed Legolas?!" They exclaimed and demanded what happened and about how her father would react. "It was an accident. Arbellason startled me and bumped into Legolas, causing us to fall." "Making the kiss unavoidable." Skitty laughed as her elven friend began to blush, muttering in elvish that made them all laugh.
~Gates of Moria~
"What are you going to do then?" Pippin asked "Knock your head against these doors, Peregrin Took! And if that does not shatter them, and I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions, I will try to find the opening words." Gandalf replied, frustrated. After a minutes passed, Pippin and Merry then tried to keep themselves entertained by throwing rocks into the lake. Aragorn rushed over and stopped them, whispering quietly "Do not disturb the water." Frodo repeated the words on the gate quietly and realization overtook his features. "It's a riddle! Speak "friend" and enter. What's the elvish word for friend?" "Mellon." Gandalf answered, everyone watching in amazement as the doors slowly opened. Gandalf lead the fellowship into the mines with Frodo brining up the rear.
"Soon, Master elf, you will witness the fabled hospitality of the dwarves! Roaring fires, malt beers, ripe meat off the bone. This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin. And they call it a mine, a mine!" Gimli exclaimed. Boromir looked around and saw a skeleton "This is no mine, it's a tomb!" He realized and backed up, Legolas walking closer to a skeleton and taking an arrow that protruded from its chest. "Goblins!" He hissed, drawing his bow and notching an arrow into the darkness. "We should have never here. Now get out of here, get out!" Boromir yelled as the hobbits backed away towards the door, a tentacle slithering up behind Frodo and wrapping around his ankle, making him yell in surprise. Sam turned around quickly to help him, yelling for Aragorn by his name as a ranger, Strider. Aragorn, Legolas, and Boromir proceeded to fight off the monster and managed to get Frodo down before running back into the mines. The e trance to the mines collapsed when the monster pursued them, leaving them only one real choice of where to go. "Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs, in the darkness of the world." Gandalf warned and lead the group further into Moria.