Yay! Glorfindel! Still making no profit or claiming any ownership from Tolkien...

As he slipped from the gates of Gondolin, Glorfindel Lord of the House of the Golden Flower, contemplated the task his King had given him. Scout the closest wilds and see if the rumors they'd been hearing of great creatures of fire and shadow were actually true.

Well, that was his mission statement anyway. He was pretty sure Turgon was just being a good friend and giving him a chance to get out of the city for a bit and escape from the ladies of the court. Some of them had gotten rather painfully persistent lately.

His lips twitched. Let Ecthelion deal with them for a while. He could play his little flute in front of his fountain and keep them entertained. He smiled at the thought of the dirty looks he'd be getting if his friend was here to hear that. Ah well, he'd owe Turgon anyway.

Maybe he'd repay him by taking his sister on that journey to see their other brother that she kept wanting to go on. He really couldn't blame her for wanting to get out of the city for a while. As nice as it was, it was a little...boring right now.

Being hidden, they didn't get too many visitors, and absolutely no attacks. Which he was grateful for, really. But still, how was a warrior to test himself when the only action he saw was in the training yards?

He wanted...he just wanted to fight the evils Morgoth was unleashing on the world. He wasn't like the sons of Feanor, willing to fight and kill anyone to get what they wanted, he wanted his battles to mean something. He sighed, and urged his horse forward. He shrugged the unpleasant thoughts off, and straightened in his saddle.

He was going to find out what was out there, and he was going to new places he'd never been before. Maybe even to places no one had been to yet! With a smile on his lips, he urged his horse faster. He was going on an adventure!

Several months later, he looked back over his trail and cursed slightly in his head. What had he been thinking? An adventure? That was a rather a childish thought. This was a serious mission. The burned out settlements he'd seen recently were a testament of that.

From what he could see, they hadn't really had a chance to fight. From the tracks, they hadn't even had a chance to flee. Everything had burned, and then a large creature had landed (flying fire breather! Dragons did exist!) and moved around a bit, then taken off. From the lack of ornaments, he'd say it had taken anything valuable it could see.

Looking back over his trail again, he moved deeper into the trees. He had confirmation of Dragons, and he had wanted to confirm the existence of the other creatures they'd heard of, but a rather large group of trolls and orcs had found his trail and ambushed him.

He'd killed the two trolls, and many of the orcs, but they'd cut down his horse and there was just too many of them. As he felt himself start to tire, he'd taken the first chance he had to run into this forest. They had seemed a bit reluctant to follow him at first, which he did NOT take to be a good sign, but he didn't get much of a head start regardless.

He was rather wishing he had a bit more armor at this point. He'd traveled light, to move and blend in easier, but he could feel a few scratches already and knew that if he didn't find something to equalize the fight a little bit those would get a lot more numerous and quite likely a lot deeper.

He needed high ground, and maybe a place to drop some rocks on their heads. With that thought, he was headed towards the mountains he could see over the tops of the trees occasionally.

As he was getting close, his luck finally ran out. He was forced to turn at bay, and he felt his heart drop. Somewhere they'd found a few reinforcements. This was getting absolutely ridiculous!

He felt like he'd been fighting forever. They just kept coming! He was afraid he wasn't going to be able to get Turgon that report...and it looked like it was worse out here than they'd thought. He needed to know!

As he cut the head from yet another opponent, he heard a whistle that made his blood run cold. Archer! He desperately tried to move out of the way, but he was a great deal less graceful than he had been. It missed his throat, but he staggered and fell to one knee as it tore into his shoulder.

The orcs swarmed forward, sensing victory. He did his best, but he was a staggering, graceless parody of his former self. He had lost his sword and fought only with a long dagger in his off hand.

Finally, he felt a blow to the back of his head. From the feel, probably a hammer or a club. It missed just enough that he didn't get his brains smashed in, but he felt himself fall. As he struggled to stay conscious, he saw a blurry shape that had to be an orc approach.

He struggled to find a weapon and focus his gaze, but he could feel himself slipping away. No! He would not die like this! As he prepared to try to roll, he heard a noise such as he had never heard before. A roar of something huge, angry, and most likely predatory.

He thought he saw a glimpse of something blue over the trees, and then he heard the orcs running. As he heard a truly terrifying growl, he heard the one that had been about to kill him flee too. His last thought before he lost consciousness was he hoped whatever it was didn't eat him before he had a chance to thank it.

He was not expecting what he found when he opened his eyes again. He didn't know how long he'd been out, but the first thing he saw was a pair of glorious golden eyes. He had never seen that shade before. They were like golden pools, reflecting the sun from their depths.

Eventually, the fact that he still had an arrow in his shoulder that needed to come out grabbed his attention. He could feel that she had been wrapping some wounds (probably what woke him) and told her he was ready for the arrow to come out, if she was.

He would have asked what she was doing here and if there was help nearby, but he was still rather out of it and the arrow was capturing most of his attention. He was a little put off that she didn't seem to be paying attention to a single word he said. He was about to speak again, a little more rudely this time, when she spoke up herself.

"Are you an elf?"

He stared at her incredulously. He let his gaze wander over her face, noting the beautiful black hair, so dark it almost had blue tint to it and the delicately pointed ears. Between the sight of the ears, (which snapped him out of thoughts of how beautiful she was) and the pain he was already feeling he was a little ruder than he might have been otherwise as he answered her questions.

"Well yes. So are you, obviously. Now could you please help me get this arrow out of my shoulder?"

As she stared at him in surprise, he felt a little badly for his poor manners. He was rather justifiably shocked, then, at her next words.

"Am I?"

How could she not know she was an elf?! Her next words didn't do anything to make him feel better. Asking if he was sure he wanted the arrow out because it looked like taking it out would hurt. How could she think leaving anything in a wound would be a good idea? Just because it would hurt?

He could see it if she was concerned about making the bleeding worse, but...he was getting a sinking feeling that as beautiful as she was, she was an idiot. And she was all he had. This feeling, and the pain he was in, and the growing feeling of urgency that they needed to get out of here before the orcs (or worse, whatever had made those noises) came back made him even more snappish than he'd been a moment previously.

"Of course you're an elf! How could you not know?! And the arrow has to come out so we can clean and wrap the wound so it'll heal. Don't you know anything about wounds?"

As his thoughts raced on what to do now, he failed to notice the rather put out expression on her face. He did notice when she reached out and rather forcefully yanked the arrow out. As he felt himself scream in pain and start to black out again, his last thought was "this girl is going to kill me..."