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Part 2

Journey To Rivendell

I awoke the next morning to a bright sun and singing birds. The room was filled with the beautiful morning smells, and it gave me a feeling that I was alive, (if that even made any sense). I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I would be forced to wear that dress again, but oh well. The only thing I wanted to know is if I’d be able to ride a horse while wearing it—there’s no way I’m riding sidesaddle.

After dressing, and crossing my purse over my shoulders, I ventured out into the brightly lit building. Luckily, Nyssa was passing by and assisted me to find Legolas.

She showed me the room she saw him going into, and left me in order to do other chores. I walked gingerly down the hall, but came to a stop when I heard raised voices. My own curiosity erupted, causing my feet to bring me to the door where I could almost hear the others clearly on the other side.

“Tefidiul told me he saw you with her last night,” lectured a voice I didn’t recognize.

However, the second voice heard was one that I knew too well now. “Grennecial, it is none of your concern what I do. We are not lovers like you call yourself to be towards me.”

“We would be if she never came,” Grennecial muttered. She must have been standing right next to the door, because her last sentence wasn’t at all loud.

“By Valar’s name, Grennecial. We have been good friends since our childhood years, and although nothing more, I do cherish you in my heart. Why must you act jealous because of Fae?” Legolas said more lightly.

“Because she’s not an Elf! You’d chose to live a mortal life with one born from Men, and she does not even know where she comes from? I do not want to see you get hurt from your journey to find where she belongs.”

“I will not get hurt by merely traveling to Rivendell. It is a protected and sacred place; you know that as well as anyone else. I shall return in a few days—with Fae if it must be. I will not have you lecturing me on my decisions any further.”

When a small rustling came from inside, I quickly bolted back down the hall and made it appear that I was just on my way to seek Legolas. When both Elves emerged from the room, Grennecial gave me a jealous and almost hateful look. Legolas, on the other hand, seemed delighted that I was there.

“I see you’re ready to leave, Fae,” he said to me with a small smile. “We shall leave within the hour.”

“Be careful, my prince,” the other Elf said to him. I tried not to show any facial expression when she kissed him quickly and hard. Legolas remained silent after she departed.

òòò

At ten o’clock, Legolas and I were ready to roll. His white horse and the one given to me was a chestnut brown, and thank the heavens that they had a normal saddle for me. Nyssa had given me, as a matter of fact, my own tunic, the color of the sky above, as she put it. She also gave me a hooded cloak to protect me from the cold.

Legolas was dressed in his usual clothing of a green tunic along with a brownish hooded cloak. I was happy to see that we weren’t leaving without his longbow and Elf-knives.

We mounted the horses, after I prayed for a brief moment that I’d stay on its back this time, and we were off. At my request, we kept the horses at a slow trot, seeing that I wasn’t comfortable with anything faster.

For a few hours, we really didn’t say much. The journey from the Woodland Realm to Rivendell would take at least two days, especially at this pace. I could see that Legolas wanted to go faster, but this time I refused.

Finally, after two hours of nonstop, slow-paced riding of my trusty steed, I had had enough. “Legolas, could we please take a break? My legs are killing me,” I said lazily.

Legolas turned to me with a look of amusement in his eyes. “The horse is doing the walking, why do your legs hurt so?” He noticed that I wasn’t laughing and stopped. “Very well. We’ll take a breather once we reach the river. Agreed?”

“How much farther is that?”

“Another mile or so.”

I let out a deep sigh. “Fine.” We continued on and on, but finally, I saw the end of the trees and the Great River was dead ahead.

For who-knows-what reason, I kicked the sides of my horse and gripped the reins tightly. “I’ll race ya there!” I called over my shoulder to Legolas. The minute I got to the river, I pulled on the reins, bringing the horse to a complete stop. I eagerly jumped off as Legolas’ horse stopped.

“What happened to your slow trot?” He asked me joining me next to the water were I bent down and with the help of my hands took a drink.

“I was eager to get off,” I said as I slurped up the water from my hands. I ran my moist hands over my hot face as I stood back up. “How much further now? We have to be close, right?”

“Alas, we’re still many miles from Rivendell. We’ve yet to come to the Misty Mountains, which we must cross.”

“Seriously?” I almost lost my balance.

“Look on the bright side,” he told me, now kneeling on the rocks and getting his own drink. “The adventure is exciting.”

“Oh yeah, real exciting.” I watched as his back was towards me. Where we were was at a little bit of a deeper end of the river. The rocks were about a foot from the water, but it was visible that it wasn’t that all shallow.

Seeing Legolas hunched over like that was just too easy. I couldn’t help it. I just had too. I moved up behind him, placed my hands on his back and gave him a small shove. He easily fell forward and into the water.

I laughed for a moment and anticipated his head bursting out of the water. Then after a while of nothing, I leaned over to look in. I couldn’t see him anywhere. “Legolas?” I started to get scared. Maybe the water wasn’t as deep as I thought…maybe he hit his head on something and was knocked out. What would I do without him!?

“Legolas!” I yelled. “Legolas!”

Then without warning, the water exploded in front me and I was taken under the surface of it. I struggled to free myself from my holder’s grasp, and finally I did. I swam to the top and gasped for air the moment I felt the sun beating down on me.

Soon to follow was Legolas, laughing hysterically. “That’ll teach you to play such a dirty trick.”

“Jerk! You scared me half to death!” I yelled at him, splashing water at his face.

His arms embraced me and held me close. “So serious. Can you not take a joke after you play one?”

“No.” I looked away. “I’m mad at you now.”

“Are you?” He said and then kissed me quickly. “Perhaps I should just go home and let you find your own way.”

“You wouldn’t…”

“Of course…I wouldn’t.” He smiled and carried me out of the water to a tree that was nearby.

We took the top layers of clothing off to dry in the warm sun as we each lay in the grass looking at the sky. I had taken out my camera from my purse. It fascinated the prince to no end to see such a “magical object.” After I explained to him what it was and did, I got a picture before returning it to its spot in my bag.

We talked for a bit, mostly about our homes and childhoods. I didn’t have much to say, but I was content on listening to Legolas’ stories. I had just started to explain why I didn’t like horses so much when Legolas leaned up and put a hand over my mouth. I thought he was playing after first and kissed his hand. But the serious look on his face told me otherwise. I too sat up and watched his face, which looked and listened very carefully.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. He made a “shush” sound and got to his feet and looked around.

“Evil is nearby. We must go. Now.”

As we started to put our tunics back on, and Legolas was strapping his quiver to his back, a flock of crows screamed overhead.

“We must hurry,” he said as he picked up his bow and ran towards the horses. I followed, but struggled to get up on the horse. My foot slid out of the stirrup and I almost fell completely back down.

“Fae, orcs are coming closer. They must not catch up any closer.” Legolas held the reins of my horse until I was finally on. “We must ride quickly!” He said over his shoulder.

I held on with dear life. The last thing I wanted was to fall off and be captured or even killed by those monsters. However, it seemed that my body got the hang of riding horses by now and I was right behind Legolas.

“There’s a bridge not far from here, we must get to it!” I heard the Elven prince call.

After his words, I made the mistake of looking over my shoulder. I saw the orcs on horseback coming quickly. Again, they had their weapons raised above their heads as they chased us.

“Legolas! They’re right behind us!” I yelled up to him. He too looked back and saw what I had.

“Don’t look at them, Fae,” he told me.

But how couldn’t I? We were being chased by hideous freaks on beasts! And somehow, those freaks caught up to me. I bet because I was becoming so frightened, I lost concentration on riding my own horse and I fell behind Legolas.

I heard the chants and cries of the orcs right next to me. I pulled the reins from side to side, trying to veer my horse away. But it was no use. One of the orcs had taken its sword and slashed at my horses rear side. And at the same moment, one on the other side leaned over and grabbed me. I tried my best to hold onto the saddle with my legs, but my efforts were futile.

“Legolas!”

He was already on his way to me when I screamed his name. “Hold on!” He called. He had his bow and arrows ready and was firing at the orcs around me, while he rode still as fast on Artami.

“Please don’t miss and get me,” I was saying under my breath.

Then something happened and the next thing I knew I was rolling on the ground with the orc still holding onto me. I kicked back and must have hit a sensitive spot because it yelled in my ear. His grip loosened just enough and I was able to jump away and run towards Legolas.

It was amazing, actually, how he got us out of there. After shooting my capturer’s horse with an arrow and I freed myself from its grasp, Legolas rode towards me with his arm outstretched. I grabbed it and he quickly pulled me up and into the saddle with him.

“Lean over to my right,” he told me and I did so. He turned around towards his left and continued to shoot arrows at the following orcs.

After a few minutes of this, we reached the bridge and were able to cross without a problem. The orcs gave up on their pursuit and turned away. For the rest of the time, I kept my arms tightly around Legolas as we rode towards the snowcapped Misty Mountains.

òòò

For some reason, sitting behind Legolas on his horse wasn’t as bad as it was the first time. Maybe because I didn’t mind being close to him. I was also dead tired from what just happened, so I wasn’t paying much attention.

Not wanting to be charged by more orcs before we arrived, Artami was at a small gallop as Legolas kept his bow ready in his left hand. I sat behind him, my arms around his waist, waiting until we could finally stop and walk around.

That time came when we reached the base of the Misty Mountains. I could see that the journey up and over the mountain wasn’t going to be a pleasant one, seeing that it was covered in snow, which meant it was probably below freezing up there. Wonderful.

“We’ll stop here for the night,” Legolas said as he hopped off and led Artami over to a tree.

“For the whole night? Out in the open?” I asked in surprise. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“This spot is safe,” he assured me. “This is were I normally stop when I’m going to Rivendell. We should be fine.”

I sat on the large rocks under the tree as Legolas started a fire. I couldn’t have been happier when he took one of the bags off the saddle and I learned that it had food inside.

We ate quietly as the sun was completely out of site now. I watched him eat, and he seemed to be in a deep train of thought. He must be thinking about what happened and then the ride over the mountain.

He was doing a lot just for me. I knew that I was falling in love with him, but I still wasn’t sure about his affections towards me. We really never spent another time like we did the first night we met.

I played with the end of my tunic, trying to figure out the right words. “Legolas…” I began. He cocked his head to look at me. “If I didn’t, or forget to mention this, I really appreciate what you’re doing for me. Thank you.”

He stared at me for a moment and then smiled. “You’re welcome.”

It wasn’t easy sleeping with a fire crackling, the cold wind sweeping by, and strange noises throughout the trees. I was right next to Legolas, who seemed to be fast asleep. I felt safe, yet I didn’t. I mean if something happened then I was sure that Legolas would be awake in a heartbeat.

Another cool breeze hit my face. I already had my cloak on and a blanket over my legs, but it wasn’t enough. What I needed was something to hold, really. And the closest thing to me was in a dreamland. He lay on his back with his arms under his head. What the heck, though, right? I rolled over and waited to see if he stirred. When he didn’t I put my arm on his stomach. I was very surprised, actually, when he put his arm around my shoulders. I was warmer with this situation, whether it was the way I intended or not.

It was barely dawn when Legolas woke me. I struggled to open my eyes, but the sun wasn’t there to blind me. In fact, although it was light out, the sky was cloudy and gray. The Elf prince was already on his feet, breakfast already cooked, and ready to ride once again.

“Rise and shine,” he told me. “You’ve slept long enough.”

“Just to let you know, I’m not responsible for anything I do before eight o’clock.” Which was true; I’m not a morning person at all.

“Then you have some time yet. Its only five-thirty.” He gave me a half smile as he handed me the fried eggs. “Eat up. Looks like a storm is coming, and I don’t think you want to get wet.”

“Not really.” I quickly ate the three eggs and we were off. “So, how long will it take to get over the mountain?”

“We’re not going over it. We’re going through it.”

“Ah, I see. Where’s this passage then?”

“A mile south of here. We’ll be there in no time if you let Artami run.” I could tell that he wanted to get to Rivendell that day, not a month from now. I told him do whatever he wanted, which he did without hesitation. My words barely left my mouth when the horse was already in a gallop. At least he was compromising with the speed—not slow, yet not too fast.

We finally reached Rivendell in the late afternoon. The passage through the mountain was only a few miles long, and Rivendell was a little ways north, but as Legolas said, right at the base of the mountain.

It was a beautiful city indeed. The outer walls were covered in ivy and vines, and two rivers ran on both sides. It was settled in a valley, with a few streams running through it. The buildings were gorgeous; they were all built of wood and stone, with similar architecture as the Woodland Realm was.

We dismounted Artami and headed up a large flight of stairs to a stone building. Before we even reached the doors, three Elves came out to greet us. The ones on each end seemed to be some sort of guards, and the one in the middle must be the Lord Elrond that I heard about.

“Prince Legolas,” he said to us while holding out both hands in welcome. “I had heard that you were on your way here. And you’ve brought a friend.”

Legolas turned to me. “This is Fae Smith, Lord Elrond. I’ve brought her here seeking your wisdom.”

“And I shall be most happy to help. Come inside and have a drink. You must be tired from your journey, I’m sure. Especially having to ride one horse.”

We followed him inside, all the while Legolas explaining about what happened to my horse and how I was seized by orcs.

The expression on Elrond’s ageless face seemed to fade into a less happy one when the word “orcs” came up. “Yes,” he said. “They have been multiplying lately, and I fear they’ll invade the nearby villages. I can only hope they don’t try to come to Rivendell.”

Elrond seemed to be a great man, err Elf, from what I’ve already heard and seen of him. He wore a long dark red velvet robe. His long brown hair fanned over his shoulders, and his face seemed to say he was only forty or so. Legolas had told me that he was thousands of years old, seeing that he fought in some battle back in the second age of Middle-earth. He was the founder of Rivendell, which was set up to be a refuge for all Elves, or anyone worthy of the Elves friendship.

We sat down in a room with candles all around, although the light from outside seemed to do a decent job of lighting the area. I really did like those tall candleholders—they were black iron and twisted several holders at the top. Really neat I thought.

“Now,” Elrond said pouring us a glass of whatever it was and then sitting down in his fancy wooden chair. “What do you need my help with? Did King Thranduil not help with your situation?”

“My father tried, along with many of his counselors, yet no one could come up with a solution,” Legolas told him.

Elrond turned his gaze to me. “What is it that you need, young Fae?”

I felt as if was being judge the way they both looked at me. “It’s really complicated. I found myself the other day in the woods and being attacked by those orcs. I have no idea how I got there. You see I’m not from this world. I’m from a place that’s much different than this. Your world is what my world would have looked like almost two thousand years ago.”

“So you’re saying you’re from a different dimension?” Elrond suggested.

“I guess so.”

He studied my face for the longest time, and then asked, “You don’t remember how you might have gotten here?” I shook my head. “What was the last thing you remember from your world?”

I thought for a second. “I was driving my car, which is our way of transportation, downtown. I was going to this exhibit they were having at a museum. I remember it was dark and raining really hard. The very last thing I remember is turning onto a different street.”

There was silence. “Do you know how she can go back, Elrond?” Legolas asked innocently.

He looked at me, then at the prince, then back at me. I could see the regret in his face. “I’m sorry, but I do not know myself how such things could happen. I have never heard of any such thing occurring around here.” He saw my disappointment. He smiled and stood up. “Do not worry. I’m sure all will work out, Fae. And you are welcome to stay here at Rivendell until you know what’s right for you.”

I forced a smile. “Sorry that this was a waste of time. Thank you, Elrond.”

“Come. I’ll have fresh clothes brought down for you and you’ll feel better.”

When I came back after changing, Elrond and Legolas were outside talking. I was just about to join them when I heard my name. I stopped short and listened.

“I’m sorry that you came all this way for nothing, Legolas.”

“So am I. I had hoped to help her, although I’ll be honest that my heart was being selfish. I had hoped there was someway she would stay longer.”

“I see. You hold a spot for her in your heart.” There was a moment of silence. “I believe that if it’s meant to be, things will work out for you. Remember, though, she’s not from our world. She wouldn’t know how to survive.”

“I’ll protect her,” Legolas quickly blurted out.

“Can you truly stay by her side every minute, Legolas? You must remember your responsibility to the Woodland Elves.”

After that, I was sick of hearing things. But at least now, I know that Legolas does like me. I really hate being a spy sometimes, because now I feel that I was disappointing him because I wanted to go home so badly.

I cleared my throat, startling both of them. “Do you feel better now that you’ve gotten out of those muddy clothes?” Elrond asked me. I told him yes. “I’m glad to hear it. I’ll meet you two later, then.”

He left, leaving Legolas and me by ourselves. I looked over the wall of the balcony and saw the beautiful landscaping below. It was breathtaking, to say the least. There were fountains, trees, and flowers; basically anything you could think of that would make a scene perfect.

After a while, the two of us started walking around the place. We followed a path that led us to a railing-less bridge in the center of a wooded area. It was like out of a perfect dream. I was about to continue on when I heard Legolas’ voice.

When I turned around he was still standing in the middle of the bridge looking at the small fish that were swimming by. “What?” I asked kindly.

He didn’t look up. “I apologize for bringing you here. You were right. It was just a waste of time.”

I remember my words that I had told them earlier. I regretted saying them. I went over to the prince and tried to catch eye contact. When I touched his arm, he quickly looked at me. I’m sure it was just the reflection of the water, but his eyes almost looked like they were ready to shed tears.

“It wasn’t a waste of time. I shouldn’t have said that. You’ve helped me more than anyone has my entire life. You’ve done this out of the goodness of your own heart. Most people that I’ve met did something because it was their job or duty.”

“I almost got you killed,” he argued back. “You can’t overlook that.”

“It wasn’t your fault. The important thing was that you were able to save me. That’s all that matters, right?” He didn’t answer. “Legolas…I’m not mad at you. And I’m not upset in the least that I have to stay here.”

“You’re not?”

“No. Now I can stay here with you.”

He smiled but then turned and took a few steps away from me. With his back to me, he said, “You can’t possibly mean that. You heard Elrond and I talking. You’re words are merely trying to satisfy me.”

“Like hell!” I practically shouted. He turned around stunned that I used such language. “Sorry about that.” He turned away again.

How in the world do you get the truth to sink through this guy’s head? “I’m not lying. And if you don’t believe me…well, then that’s your problem.” I turned to walk away.

I could tell that Legolas was thinking about what I just said. I shouldn’t have put it quite the way I did, but I figured it would get the basic point across.

“Fae,” he said barely loud enough for me to hear.

When I turned, he was coming towards me. He rested his hands on my arms and knelt down before me. At first I thought he was going to propose, but he didn’t.

“Forgive my actions. I acted like a child just now. But I want you to know that I only look out for your well-being. I understand that we just met by fate, but I feel that I’ve known you for so many years already.”

“Just say it.” I told him.

“Say what?”

I knew what he wanted to say. I knew he knew what he wanted to say. But was it right for me to force it out of him? At this point, yes it was.

“Just say that you love me.” There. I said it, and I won’t regret it.

He gave me the oddest look, like I had no right to say that to him. But I was wrong in my judgment. “I love you,” he said.

I don’t really understand what came over me, but I was so happy at that moment that my legs just collapsed and I fell up against him. He held my head into his chest as my hands held his sleeves. When we both stood up, he gave me a kiss that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life.

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