Chapter 3, Roots of a Problem

"Eeek, this is disgusting!"

Meren gagged as he tasted his stew with a wobbly-looking wooden spoon and immediately spat it out, his face wrinkling up in disgust. Then he dumped his bowl away unto the grass when their guide wasn't looking. He and Than had come to their fire, after receiving their share, and Legolas had hesitantly followed them. He knew it would be best if he didn't sit alone for now, even if it was with complete strangers. They didn't seem to snap at him when he sat in a log he'd dragged across from them, so he figured out it would be all right if he stayed with them for just the night. They were friendly anyways.

Thangurion rolled his eyes. He, unlike Meren, sipped his stew vigorously. "We aren't going to get any seconds, Meren, so I think you should appreciate what you have...or had."

"No seconds?" said Meren with a horrified expression. His spiky red hair bounced in front of his shocked, horrified green eyes. "What is their problem?! Do they want us to starve? Because they are going to do a mighty good job of doing that to me, it seems!"

"Meren usually eats four bowls of food...or more," explained Than to Legolas in front of him as the tall youth carefully put his empty bowl next to the log he sat on. "So you can see why he is so distressed."

Legolas nodded politely, finally understanding Meren's disgust after tasting his food. He'd managed a couple of forced gulps but watching the strange green, yellow and white substances swirl in his bowl was already making him sick. He would probably never finish half the bowl he had left. Still, he didn't want to look like a spoiled palace child or a soft-handed prince, so he said nothing about it and didn't open his mouth to agree or complain, when he really just wanted to dump this bowl off somewhere in the woods to never be eaten again.

"Distressed? No, I'm infuriated! It should be a legal offense, I think. Child abuse!" Then, Meren turned sharply and looked at Legolas. "Could you mention it to your father some time soon? I think he ought to know about the well-being of his people."

His father. Legolas gulped, terrible memories swirling inside of him, ignoring the humorous tone the red-head had used. He shook them off though and then looked at Meren. "I-I'll see what I can do."

Suddenly, Legolas felt something sticky and moist trail from his head to his entire body. Standing up and hissing angrily, his eyes flared as he realized what had just happened, bits of meats and chopped vegetables tangled up in his hair, inside his clothes, and a slimy concoction running down his face, chin and uniform.

Someone had dumped stew on him.

Growling, he turned back and found a buff-looking elf laughing back. Two cronies stood at both of his sides, grinning with sick expressions but with wobbly legs, knowing that he was a prince. The larger elf, or the leader, didn't seem to know this though. Tossing his empty stew bowl aside carelessly, he smirked at the young prince.

"Oops! My bad!" he stated with mock shock, obviously intentional. He then turned maliciously to look at him. "What are you going to do about it then? Will you...see what you can do and run off and tell Daddy-boo, crying?"

They laughed and turning on their heels, left. Legolas burned. Not only was he angry for having stew dumped on him, but if you insulted his father, the King...you passed the line. He was about to run back and give the idiot a nice taste of his medicine with his fist when suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder, the slender one of tall, ever peaceful Thangurion.

"No, don't," said Than. "It will only be worse."

Legolas grumbled and sighed, shooting one last glare at the elf's direction.

O-O-O

"Don't judge Turen, he has had a large grudge against your family."

Legolas scowled as he shook off his dirty shirt and dumped it next to the riverside, where Than and Meren had accompanied him and were helping him scrub the remains off. Also, they'd forced Legolas into the river (which was icy cold at this time of the night) and the blond was chattering and hissing like a madman. When it came to water, he was very much like a cat...he hated it to its deepest cores.

His voice was bitterly sarcastic. "Oh dear, I couldn't tell."

Than, the one who'd spoken earlier, frowned. "If it makes you feel better though, he's bullied all of us. He's done some nasty things to me and I even recall one time he buried half of Meren in the middle of the woods, which had him crying and having accidents in his bed for months. He's completely nasty. But he particularly hates your family."

"Wonderful! Always good to know your family is hated," said Legolas rolling his eyes with even more sarcasm, washing his dirtied face that stunk of squirrel remains...and tasted the same.

"I wasn't even in school yet!" snapped Meren indignantly, his cheeks burning with embarrassment.

"Yes, yes," rolled his eyes Thangurion. "Anyways, it's a long story, but from I've heard from Meren's nana, who always seems to know these kinds of things, it's just a long series of misunderstandings. You see...Turen's older sister, Myra apparently used to date your brother, but your brother...I guess he didn't find much interest in her. And-"

"And you can tell why. Ugh, even an olyphaunt has better curves and brains," snorted Meren, shaking his head as he threw Legolas' cloak at him. Legolas scowled, but the red-haired novice paid him no heed.

"Meren!" admonished Than. "Anyways, to make matters even worse, your brother and Turen's older one, Amtheron, went to the same novice camp together...and your brother outranked him in the final testing, coming out as-"

"The first place candidate," sighed Legolas. "I would know."

Thalos, Legolas' brother, was Legolas' main idol. As the eldest and crown prince, he had always excelled at everything...but that was also where Legolas' unrightful jealousy came from. Thalos' old tutors had nothing but praises for him, the minstrels and fellow warriors nothing but songs of his bravery and strength and all of his father's Council members loved him, siding with him almost anytime. Thalos should have been given an award for taking a step on Middle-Earth and gracing it with his presence!

Him? Legolas thought of himself as just an extra, an extra prince.

"Yes, and Turen's brother came as third," said Than. "Then...came the final blow. Turen's mother was some grand captain patrol and in one of Turen's namedays, which made it all even worse, it was said that your father sent her South somewhere to fight some incoming spiders...and her corpse was found several months later: severed, mutilated and with only half of the torso left, rotten and crawling with bugs."

Legolas froze.

Meren shuddered, glaring at Thangurion. "Valar Younger, that's disgusting! You could've just said, 'Something terrible happened. She died while fighting spiders.' BAM! Do you really need to be so graphic? This is why we never get new friends." He turned to Legolas, who looked pale and sick all of a sudden. "Hey, you all right?"

"I'm fine," lied Legolas swiftly, swallowing another wave of bile about to come out of his throat, his head throbbing and his vision becoming more blurry.

"A-All right," said Meren hesitantly. "If you'll excuse me." Then, he went next to Thangurion and started a heated discussion with him, full of hissing and secret whispering.

And in that moment, as he continued scrubbing behind his ears and at his stew-stenching limbs, Legolas remembered. He remembered the day his own naneth had died...or well, rather fragments of it.

Her anguished begs as she pushed him into a tree, hiding him from upcoming trouble.

Her sad smile at Legolas as the orcs find her, not him.

Her cries of pain as she was whipped and tortured.

Her begging and hot tears as they found Legolas, cut her and dumped salty water on her.

Her guttural screams as the orcs burned her already unrecognizable body.

Her silent expression as they dragged her away, just when his father's battalion came.

"Legolas? We're back. We just need to dry the clothes and you'll be...all right," said Meren, trying not to look too disgusted or look below Legolas' face. Other than a cloak and shorts, Legolas was completely nude. And while most females (except Caranith that was) would squeal with excitement from this accomplishment, Meren didn't look too comfortable knowing that.

"Ah...I see," said Legolas nodding. "Really, I must thank you two. You've been too kind. You two are even breaking curfew for me, and that is often punishable by getting expelled out of the novice training."

"Well," sighed Meren. "It's worth the risk. No one should get over Turen alone."

"That's right. He eventually stops when the victims don't become as easy to bully...although I think you'll be an exception, with the grudge and all. I'll continue my story," said Than and with Legolas' sharp nod, continued. "So anyways, Turen's mother dies and his father goes a bit insane. So he starts ingesting some illegal weeds and gets himself locked up, leaving the three remaining members of the family orphaned to a degree. Turen's brother became a general somewhere, his sister became a drill sergeant, and Turen...Turen is here, with us."

"Which is wonderful news."

"Incredibly," said Than, rolling his eyes with as much sarcasm as Legolas. The three of them then burst into grins until suddenly...they all froze, the sarcasm and humour fading from their eyes as their spines chilled and their eyes widened.

They heard twigs cracking.

"Bloody bullocks, what in Mandos was that?" hissed Meren looking frantic.

"I've no idea, but I don't like it," grumbled Thangurion nervously. Then, he went into action, wisdom and tactics flowing through his eyes. "Does everyone have a weapon?"

Legolas was suddenly thankful for his brother's small blabberings in the days before his novice training departure. His brother had warned him that nothing goes as expected during this training and that he would often times need it...especially at the most unexpected of times. ("You might even meet a bear or two! *insert hearty brotherly maniacal laugh inside* I needed to kill a couple back in my time, so don't surprise if you do too!") Legolas took out his brother's present from one of the bags he'd brought with him, the two beautiful knives that had once been made for him by his mother.

"I have my knives," he said firmly, trying not to sound afraid.

Thangurion nodded, his light green eyes looking serious. He went to the bark of a tree, kicked it open, and revealed a spear he'd hidden there. He grabbed it and held it comfortably in his hand, stepping next to Legolas, who had one knife in each hand. It was not one of those big ones used in the army, but rather a small one, like one of those kinds which the local, cheap fishermen would buy to protect themselves. Still, it was a weapon and Legolas knew not everybody was as fortunate as he was when it came to riches.

"I have my spear."

They both turned and looked at Meren expectantly, who was sitting in a rock next to the river looking as scared as they were, perhaps more. His spiky red hair fell into his green eyes once more as he looked at them with a childish-like expression, two dimples shining even in the slightly starry night.

"I have a sock!" grinned Meren sheepishly, waving Legolas' sock around.

They glared at him.

He shrugged.

Anyways, they awaited whatever was coming for them. Legolas trying but failing miserably, to obtain a proper hand-to-hand combat stance with his knives, Thangurion trying to stop his arm from trembling, while his spear was pointed upwards in a throwing position, and Meren...was armed with his sock, ready to launch it like a deadly projectile when needed (which would be really effective, Legolas reckoned).

Then came the thing.

Hissing from the foliage of the trees, a humongous spider jumped out. It was far bigger than anything Legolas had seen, both in real life and from descriptions in books. It hissed and lashed out its large sting, ready to attack them at any time. Its beady dark eyes and furry legs made shivers and goosebumps run through Legolas' skin. It was as black as death. The blond gulped, panicking as sweat ran through the side of his forehead. Sure, there were three of them...but the spider was big. Bigger than anything before. And besides, the three of them had absolutely no training in fighting these filths other than basic survival skills.

And one of them was armed with a sock.

So then, the three of them did the most logical thing in Middle-Earth.

They screamed.

The spider came forward as their shrill voices hit its sensitive senses, and tried to sting Than, but Meren pushed him away and they both rolled across the grass, landing chest-first on top of some rocks. Legolas winced for them, but was cut off when the spider lashed out at him. In bare instinct, he flashed out of the way and threw a knife. It bounced off the spider harmlessly though, hitting one of its harder areas. Gaping in disbelief, Legolas tried climbing a tree for better view but was pushed unto the floor, the spider's massive body nearly crushing him and his air supply. However, with a growl, Meren had jumped on top of the spider, trying to...stuff the sock into the spider. Still, his efforts were admired and Legolas quickly got this chance to retrieve his fallen knife and with his weapons reclaimed, jumped on top of the spider as well, stabbing his knives into its hard flesh to hold on. Than also jumped on top, sticking the spear at a part beneath the neck and that is how the three of them stayed, screaming and holding on for dear life.

"Why in Mandos does this always happen to us Yoooouunnggeer?" screamed Meren, often sounding like a little elleth as his eyes turned to his cousin.

"I've no idea! But I think I'm going to be sick!" said Than, looking indeed quite pale, much to Meren and Legolas' worry. However, Legolas himself was feeling quite queasy, so he didn't judge him. Suddenly, the three of them were thrown back by a huge shove by the spider and the three of them landed face-first into a tree, sliding off it with a couple of groans and moans. Soon, they regained balanced and huddled with each other, watching as their imminent death came towards them.

Or not.

Out of nowhere, a dark figure plunged out. In the pale moonlight, you could only see some of the rough features. A pale-skinned sharp face with an even sharper jaw and set of cheekbones, the elf flew into the sky from the foliage of trees and made an impressive backflip, leaving the three of them stupefied. Backwards in the air, he put himself into an arrow-style formation and aimed his black sword downwards, and as gravity pulled him down, he plunged the sword through the spider, jumping back and easily decapitating it. The spider hissed, moaned, and without a second glance or breath, fell dead unto the ground.

Gracefully, the dark figure, or elf, cleaned his sword with the edge of his sleeve, put it back into his sheath and kicked the decapitated spider corpse away with disgust, snorting and muttering something slurred. But then, he took a sharp turn to glare straight at the three novices, who were trembling by both fear and admiration for this extraordinarily agile stranger who could 1. be a genuinely good person or 2. an illegal elfling trafficant or 3. some sort of drunk/insane/not normal warrior.

Still, they waited for their verdict...and got it.

"You little weasels were screaming at that?" the dark voice snorted disgustedly with a hiss. "Well, that's what you get for breaking curfew you miserable scums."

O-O-O

They weren't kicked out, but they had to scrub the stables in camp for the next seven months.

The dark elf, much to their embarrassment, had turned out to be their new swordsmaster, a young ellon called Daedhel. He had dragged them back to the temporary camp, which had already noticed their disappearance and were already dividing into search teams. Daedhel argued with their guide (whose name they discovered was Irithror) for a couple of minutes and then just grunted in annoyance, ignoring Irithror and turning his back on him. Then, with a dark glare and a last hiss at the novices to-be, he summoned a black horse out of nowhere with a sharp whistle of his mouth!

He was creepy indeed.

Then, after he'd mysteriously left, they were left at the mercy of their guide. The three of them had been in deep trouble, even as they tried to explain what had happened, and the three of them were met secretly with Turen's smug grin after the whole lecture and punishment giving. Legolas and the other two glared back, but secretly the blond was pretty relieved about the punishment. They could've been met with worse. He would never have been able to come home, expelled from being a novicce.

The three of them glared back at Turen...but they really had no choice left, so they just decided to ignore him altogether and try to go on with their training without his malign influence.

Now, however, their misery almost peeled off as the three of them rode together and finally saw some colorful specks in the distance. Than just frowned, his eyes squinting to get a better view, but Meren and Legolas already knew what it was. Morning was already rising, a dawn-like palette settling in the sky and with peels of laughter, Meren and Legolas dragged Than along with them, riding far ahead of their guide, who was barking angrily at them and yelling colorful threats. But they didn't really care, as they reached a steep inclination and grinned at the sight below, at the vast valley concealed in the foliage of thick trees where tiny fires were lit and delightful specks moved around busily.

The novice camp.

O-O-O

AN: Haha! I'm sure you guys are grinning that our so-heroic Legolas was scared on his first night as a novice by a spider and screamed like a little girl! ;) Oh, and Legolas has now found himself with a bully. Thoughts on the characters, old and new?

Reviews!

Masked Man 2: Thank you! As always, your review was a delight to read. You should be a real book critic in the future. Your compliments and observations are all so well-placed! Anyways, Tauriel, according to Peter Jackson, is only 600 in the Hobbit, while Legolas is like more than 2,000 for him, so I don't think she'd be around his novice training. And Caranith is supposed to be annoying and chauvinistic...but she really is a strong character, and I guess you'll get a slight idea why she's always so tough. And yay, you remembered Meren and Than! :) You're actually right. I had them in a slight flashback during "Brothers By Heart." Hehe...you know, the one where Legolas gets shot with the poisoned arrow...and both of them...you know...

WoodElfJedi: Thanks! Always appreciate your support!

Maupe: Thanks a lot! The plot will go on as well, so you'll expect plenty of interesting ideas. Along with the occasional sprinkle of plot twists. And you will see more characters, especially once you actually get to the camp, which is here. And thanks for the birthday wishes too! :D

Horsegirl01: Thanks! I totally appreciate it! :) And I sort of do too. It's interesting to compare how Legolas speaks when he was young, to when he's much older.

Bettsam0731: Yay, thank you! New stories are always so EXCITING! This is only a side project though, because my other fanfictions are much bigger than this one, which is why the chapters are much shorter. And Legolas will DEFINITELY get the hurt and comfort you want! Haha...you've no idea what I have planned! Plus, you're totally right about the archery thing! Just don't tell anyone and take a guess of how it'll happen! :) You are one smart reader!

Schattenjagd: I'm so sorry, I will in the future! All the updates also go to one of my e-mails (I only really use the school one), and I only have a bunch of trash there, for a lack of a better word, so I don't get them either. But I will make sure to tell you whenever I make new stories! I'm actually open to all new suggestions for new story ideas, so you're free to tell me anything you want! And I feel so guilty for not reviewing too! Hopefully my recent review for "War of Elves" fills that up!

And haha, no, I'm sure I'm my age! I'm just really good at speech-making. Like, seriously good at it. That's the only reason why I was ever elected to be class representative in elementary school...everyone was so impressed with my speech! Haha! And yes, I love Thalos too...he's my favorite OC! I wish I had an older brother like him. But in all, thanks so much for your review! It really means a lot. Plus, it's fun to see Legolas not being heroic and brave for once. He's young here, so he doesn't have experience, skills or confidence...and that's something really different from what we're used to seeing.

Guest/Mae: Dang, that happens to me too SO MANY TIMES! That's terrible, I hope you find your password again. And thank you so much! I appreciate your support and reviews so much!