Legolas' Found Treasure

Narya awoke early the next morning, having been disturbed from sleep
by a terrible nightmare, the kind that usually made her scream in her
sleep. Thankfully though she hadn't been loud this time, which
usually brought immediate punishment. Her stomach rumbled, and she
decided to look for something for her and Legolas to eat, not wanting
to take his food without helping. She wondered off quite a ways and
found a few wild onions and, having spotted an apple tree, climbed up
it and spent some time gathering apples, then continued looking. She
scurried up another tree, searching for more fruit.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, Legolas woke with a start, his mind
troubled somehow. He sat up, blinking the sleep out of his eyes, and
turned to where Narya lied sleeping,endiending to wake her with a
gentle kiss. He froze when he eyes came upon nothing but dirt. She
was gone. His heart leaped in his throat and he sprung up, wondering
where she had gone off to and why she had left. He glanced at the
ground and caught sight of her small footprints and he followed
them. They led into the forest, and he wondered if she had run away
from him in the night. He looked at the footprints again, studying
them carefully. He saw that they were very recent, so she couldn't
have been gone long. He went further in the woods, and the soon the
prints were lost in the many leaves that littered the ground. He
looked around, trying not to become frantic. He had to be calm and
remember his tracking skills. He paused under a tree for a moment,
scanning the area around him. Propping his hands on his hips, he
muttered, "Where are you, Narya?"

All of a sudden the girls' head appeared, upside down from the tree
in which she was hanging, and gave him a slight smile. "Morning."
She said before dumping her finding on him, letting out a snicker as
she did. Legolas jumped about a mile when the little imp popped out
at him like that, and for a moment he just stared at her. Narya hung
there grinning at him, her eyes twinkling.

"What are you doing?!" He finally asked, his voice laced with
annoyance. "Why did you wander off?" He demanded sternly.

Instantly all the merriment disappeared from her face and twinkling
eyes, to be replaced by a blank unreadable expression, her eyes
empty. "Getting food." Narya said very softly. "I wanted to help."

Legolas sighed deeply. "Get out of the tree." He ordered, trying
not to sound so angry. But he was. She had scared him to death! He
watched as Narya disappeared up into the tree.....and didn't come
down.

"Narya, what are you g?! g?! Come down here!" Legolas called to
her, shocked that she remained in the tree. He stood there waiting
for a few moments, and he heard nothing but silence. "Narya?" He
called again. "Come down here now, please." She didn't make a
sound. She was scared to come down. She had messed up badly, she
could tell. There was no way she was leaving that tree!

"Narya!" He said again, and stepped closer to the tree and looked
up. Legolas could see her perchn a n a high branch, her eyes wide
and her lips trembling. She flinched when she saw him. "Narya, what
are you doing? Come down here, please."

She shook her head no very quickly. "Not gonna." Narya whimpered
out.

Legolas blinked at her, surprised by that response. "Why not?" He
asked. He glanced at all the apples piled by the tree that she had
gathered. "You have enough apples, I think." He looked at her
again. "Come down, baby. What's wrong? Why are you frightened? I--
-." Suddenly he stopped, remembering the angry tone he had used on
her when she popped out at him. He had scared her, obviously.
Idiot! He thought. His sighed and smiled at the girl. "Come down
love, I'm not mad at you."

Narya shook her head no again, and several tears trailed silently
down her ashen cheeks as she watched his every move. Shaking, she
began to bite her lower lip as she watched him. No way in hell was
she moving from where she was! She'd become a squirrel if she had to!

Legolas watched her for a moment. She seemed so very scared. How
was he going to get her down from there? He sighed. "Narya, I know
I sounded angry when I found you, and I am sorry, but you scared me,
wandering off like you did. You should not do that. It isn't safe
for you to be alone. I know you were just trying to help by getting
food. But you do not need to worry about that. I will take care of
you. I told you that last night, did I not?"


She continued to watch him, biting her lower lip, until she bit it so
hard that she drew blood. His eyes went wide when he saw the blood,
but he tried to stay calm so as not to frighten her more. "What are
you going to do, live in that tree?" He asked her gently, as he
began studying the tree and looking for the quickest way to get up to
her. She nodded, deadly serious, biting down harder. Little
droplets of blood trickled from Narya's lip. Legolas couldn't
believe what he was seeing. He had to get up there, and fast. "Okay
then. If you want to live in a tree, that's fine. But I want to be
with you, so I am coming up. Where ever you live, I will live
also." He took another step towards the tree and she wiggled a
little, looking panicked. Legolas paused. "Narya, listen to me. I
am not going to hurt you in any way, all right? I am not even going
to spank you, okay? I know you were just trying to help, and I
appreciate it. I just don't want you to wander off alone, okay? I'm
coming up now. Do not be scared, Inot not going to hurt you, okay?"
He started for the tree again, watching her.

Narya just sat there, biting even harder now, creating a little more
blood, her face grew even more ashen and she shivered, even though
there wasn't a breeze. "Please, I'm sorry!" She shouted, her voice
full of panic and anxiety.

"Baby, please don't get upset." Legolas told her gently as he began
to climb. "I am not going to hurt you. I promise! Do you remember
me from last night? The guy that was so nice to you because you're
sweet and charming? The guy you told you think you like? Do you not
remember how gentle and loving I was?" He was half way up the tree
by now, and she was still biting her lip. "Baby, please stop doing
that. You're hurting yourself. Please."

She hung her head, and a feeling of total naughtiness swept over
her. "I'm sorry." She whispered, not bothering to dry the blood,
but at least had stopped biting her poor abused lip.

"It's okay, my little one." Legolas assured her as he finally got to
where she was. Narya watched as he pulled himself up and sat beside
her. She scooted away from him as much as she could. He looked
around the tree, then at her. "So this is your new home, huh?
Nice. Very breezy." He grinned at her.

Narya ignored his commentary. "I'm in a lot of trouble aren't I?"
She whispered, praying he wouldn't take advantage of the tree and its
resources.

"No, you're not in trouble. It's just that when I woke up and found
you gone, I got scared. I was afraid you ran away during the night.
I do not want to lose you, baby. Okay? Please do not do that again,
please. You must stay with me." He smiled and slowly reached out to
touch her face. She let him, which surprised and delighted him.

Then Narya said something that shocked them both, and that shock was
written all over her face. "I was very naughty." She
whispered. "You need to punish me or I'll be very wicked." It was a
quote from her uncle, that she would be wicked if he did
not 'discipline' her as he called it.

For a very long moment all he could do was stare at her, his mouth
hanging open. It sounded like she was reciting something that had
been pounded into her pretty head. By her uncle, no doubt. Anger
rose in him, but he fought it back so he wouldn't scare her. "No
baby, no." Legolas said softly, moving close tr. Sr. She
winced. "You have not been naughty. I will not punish you. And you
are not evil. You never have been, and you never will be. Your
uncle is the one that is evil."

Narya shivered and then melted against him, feeling incredibly
guilty, which was not a new feeling. Her head hung, making her
dirty curls spill over her face. Legolas sighed deeply and held her
tight, happy that she let him hold her. He did just that for a
while, rubbing her back and whispering soft words to her. Finally
after about a half hour he spoke.

"Do you really want to live in this tree, little one?" He
asked. "There is not much food here, and there is not much to do.
There's so much to see in this world. Would you not rather come down
with me and share in all the wonderful views?"

She nodded. "But you don't have to feed me." Narya offered.

Legolas laughed loudly, startling the girl. "I don't have to feed
you? You are very funny, Narya. Of course I have to feed you! You
must eat, right?"

She jumped at his loud laugh and nearly fell out of the tree. "I
like food." She told him.

Legolas laughed again. "I kind of figured you did. I rather like
it myself." He grinned at her and winked.

She smiled nervously. "I found food. I am sorry I raf, If, I didn't
mean to make you worry. I didn't think you would." She admitted.

"Now why would you think that?" Legolas asked, puzzled.

She gulped and ducked her head again, feeling stupid. "Never mind."
She whispered.

"No, do not do that, baby." He said, catching her chin and gently
forcing her to look at him. "Tell me why you didn't think I would
worry about you." He studied her. "You are not use to someone
worrying about you?"

She nodded, then gently fingered her abused lower lip and flinched as
a little more blood oozed from her touch. "That hurts." She
whispered, shocked by the blood on her finger.

"Yes, I imagine it does." Legolas replied as he looked at her
lip. "You did try to bite it off. Well, how about we get down from
this tree and get it cleaned up, and then we'll have some breakfast?
How does that sound?"

Narya nodded. "Alright." She consenting and jumped right out of the
tree, landing on her feet with the grace of a cat.

"Be careful Narya!" Legolas called to her, ae jue jumped down as
well. He looked at her, shocked but amused. "Are you okay?"

"Of course." She said, an eyebrow raised at him.

He stared at her for a moment, then laughed. "You are something
else, girl." He said as he stooped and picked up some
apples. "Come, let us go back to the camp." He told her, and they
began to walk back.