Chapter 23:

It had only been a day.

It had been only a day since Legolas had left, Bilbo had abandoned me, and a couple female elves had come to give me my first meal. That was all they did. They came, gave me food, and left.

It had literally been twenty-four hours since I had come to this room. I had cleaned my clothes, cleaned myself, and I was taking advantage of being able to wash. I had nothing to do, though. They didn't bring me books, scrolls, even a piece of wood to throw around the room.

The bed was on a pedestal in a far corner of the room. There was a heavy carpet covering the floor between its stairs and the door, which was always locked. There was a different door leading into a washroom. There was also a a window above the bed, and I realised just how high up this room was. I could see a beautiful garden and a courtyard with a fountain, as if we weren't still in Mirkwood. If I craned my neck a bit, I could see a silvery-looking river curving away from whatever this place was. At night, I could see the stars, which was more than I could say for most of this journey through the woods.

Bilbo still hadn't been back. I was so frustrated, I began bouncing around my room in bare feet, screaming.

By the second day, I took out my knife and began to carve on the wall. I began to use magic to conceal it when the elves came calling with food.

That was one of the things that perplexed me. I could use my magic to trick the elves, even though they were elves. However, the one thing I couldn't do was escape. The door was locked with magic, and so far I had been unsuccessful with the window.

On the third day, I gave up being polite to the elves and began glaring at them and refusing to speak to them. Who cares what they think? I thought to myself as I pulled out my knife for another carving. I examined the wall. I had stick figures, the Lonely Mountain, and lots of drawings depicting this whole adventure. I pressed the knife against the wall and began to write words.

Eventually, by the fifth day, I ended up composing a poem. It was mostly nonsense, but a few lines poked out clearly:

Once in Bree I met a man, a man with yellow eyes.

To me, he said, beware the whispers, for they whisper lies.

Deal not with demons of the dark, for on your mind they'll leave a mark.

Stay not with creatures of the deep, else they'll haunt you when you sleep.

I didn't know why I liked it. I also scratched down something I remembered from home:

"Stop" says the red light, "Go" says the green,

"Wait" says the yellow light, twinkling in between.

"KNEEL" says the demon light, with its eye of coal,

Sauron knows your licence plate and stares into your soul.

I figured it particularly apt for the Sauron thing, and above it I drew a picture of a flaming traffic light. It was something I'd seen on Tumblr once.

On the seventh day, I finally ran out of wall room. So I began to sing. Most of it was utter insane ramblings, such as the ones of a lunatic in solitary confinement – wait, that's me. Ha ha. Anyway, I was singing at the top of my lungs and all the elves stayed away. When the elf-women (who I had come to view as demons from Mordor because they never spoke or let me go or gave me something to do) came to give me food, I sat on the bed, hugged my knees, and rocked back and forth, muttering to myself.

They left as quickly as they came.

The eighth day came. I finally got sick of playing along with the lonely confinement, so I erased all the marks from the walls but the tally marks for the days and began squirrelling away food.

On the tenth day, I managed to convince myself that escape was possible. I clambered up on the bed to stand in front of the window. The courtyard was always deserted now, due to my lovely singing and yelling abilities. I took my knife and slid it under the window, prying the stupid thing up. It came free, and I could open it. I smiled happily.

Then I closed the window and sat on the bed with my eyes closed. If an elf came in, they'd just assume that this was a new phase of my insanity, leave the food, and escape. But they weren't due for three hours, because that was when they gave me dinner.

I was actually composing a spell that would leave a note for Bilbo on the door. I had a feeling that he was coming, but I wasn't waiting until he did. I wasn't waiting any longer. I'd had enough.

Five hours later, after dinner had arrived, I snuck to my window. I pulled it open, then turned around and released the spell I had composed. Over the hours, I had also pulled a tree branch towards my window, and was preparing to climb down. I had taken a final bath, luxuriating in it, sad at least that I wasn't going to get another one. When I felt the grass beneath my boots, I took off running.

Sort of Bilbo's POV:

Bilbo came scurrying down the hallway on his hobbit feet. The dwarves were all in barrels, waiting for him to retrieve Freya. When he'd left, Kili had offered to come with him, but Bilbo had ferociously insisted that they would be able to see him. So he'd left the young dwarf pacing agitatedly, refusing to get into his barrel just yet.

Bilbo felt terrible about not visiting Freya. He'd left her on her own for ten days, and he'd heard the elves talking about how insane she was getting. He just hoped that she hadn't gone and done something stupid.

As he approached her door, he noticed that he didn't hear anything coming from inside. Praying that she hadn't done something ridiculous, he touched his hand to the door, intending to push it open. Instantly, words appeared on it as if scratched in by a knife. Bilbo recoiled, and then leaned forward as he read with increasing disbelief:

Hello, Bilbo.

Yes, I know you're reading this. I designed this spell so that once your hand touched the door, these'd appear. You should probably know that I am incredibly angry at every single person here – including you – except the dwarves. I have been practically left in solitary confinement for ten straight days. You can imagine how insane I am. It's actually kind of scary. I'm sure you overheard from the elves that I was singing, screaming, yelling, muttering, scratching poems on the walls. Actually, they don't know about my drawings or poems. I didn't want them to take away my knife. -giggles maniacally-

So, anyway – I have managed to escape (you'd be surprised how stupid elves can be) and I'm on my way to the barrels right now. Don't ask how I know. I'm sure I'll explain to the whole group later.

Go tell Kili I'll be there soon. But don't give him a kiss for me. That'd be awkward.

Much love and insanity,

Freya.

Bilbo sighed. So she had gone and done something stupid. With a stifled groan of knowing that he had to go and tell Kili now, he turned and went back the way he came.

So, due to popular demand, I have created another Freya/Legolas exchange a teensy bit later (as those of you who already read know) and yeah. Also, wrote some other fics: if you like Star Trek or Loki from Thor, The Avengers, etc, please check out the other fics I've written. I have created a Loki/OC which is much fun if you're into that.

So, yeah! Please review!