AN: I received several reviews saying that the translations of the names made no sense, so with the help of Navaer Lalaith, Tador and I have re-written the entire story and changed the names.
Disclaimer: I don't own LOTR. I also don't own Caleniel, Cadunír, Rodwen, or Thinedhel, they belong to Tador, who has given me permission to use her characters for my own twisted ideas.
Lady Caleniel
By: Mika Saito
Chapter 1- Unwanted Rescue
Caleniel looked around, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness. Orcs had been chasing her and as her last option she had fled into the forest. She smiled sadly to herself. She was acting like a coward, scurrying out of danger, even if it put others in danger. Sighing quietly she looked around again and chose the direction that looked the least frightening.
"Why did father have to send me to Mirkwood at this time?" Her voice rang out in the quietness of the forest. A sudden sound behind her caused Caleniel to spin around, her pale green dress billowing out behind her, coming face to face with an orc.
Caleniel took an unconscious step backwards, only to be stopped by the broad chest of an orc. A small gasp escaped her lips when the orc behind her captured her arms, twisting the behind her back slightly to prevent any attempt to escape.
"Let me go!" Caleniel hissed at the orc while trying to pull her arms free of his iron grip, despite the pain shooting up her arms.
The orcs spoke quietly to each other in a language Caleniel could not understand before they started laughing, the sound sent shivers down her spine.
The orcs started walking at a fast pace, dragging Caleniel with them, the orc holding her falling in behind the other one. Soon they reached a clearing where the rest of the orcs who had been chasing her stood waiting, some of them standing over her companions.
The orc tossed her roughly on the ground near her companions. Caleniel lay quietly for a few moments before deciding it was safe to move. She scooted closer to the other elves and looked over them, seeing that only a few of the guards her father had sent along with her were missing, probably dead.
"Are you alright Lady Caleniel?" A soft feminine voice asked from Caleniel's right.
"I'm fine." She whispered back to her servant, who had also been her best friend since they had been younger.
"Are you sure?" Another voice broke into the conversation. It was Haldir this time.
"Yes, Haldir, I'm fine." Caleniel's voice took on an annoyed tone. She was quiet happy that her mentor was still alive, but for him to ask if she was ok when she had already answered the question was just annoying.
"You're bleeding!" A fourth voice cut in; it was the guard, Thinedhel.
"Really?" Caleniel looked confused before touching her hand to her right temple. She pulled her hand away at the stinging sensation and looked at it. Her fingers were covered in blood.
How had she gotten hurt? She hadn't felt any pain, well, maybe a little when her horse had thrown her. But she was sure that she hadn't been injured when she had been fighting the orcs before they knocked her sword away from her. Having hoped to lose them she had fled into the forest, but they still found her.
She shook the question off and looked around her. Orcs surrounded them completely, preventing any escape. Caleniel sighed dejectedly and rubbed her right shoulder to ease the tension created by the orc twisting her arm.
"How are we going to escape?" Caleniel turned her eyes to Haldir. Haldir only shrugged his shoulders, showing that he was clueless.
"Well… We're completely surrounded… so what option do we really have?" Rodwen asked from her position beside Caleniel.
"If we only had our weapons we could fight." Thinedhel's voice was eager, yet disappointed.
"We don't have any weapons, and even if we did there are to many orcs for us to take on at once." Caleniel said in a monotone, clearly pointing out the obvious.
The orcs suddenly cried out and took up their weapons. The ring surrounding the elves tightened as several orcs fell dead, elven arrows sticking out of their bodies.
The orcs broke the ring, most taking off into the forest, while others grabbed their captives and followed. More arrows flew through the air, each one hitting its target.
The orcs ran on mindless of the elves chasing them. As one orc fell that was carrying one of captives another orc would pick up the captive and continue on.
Suddenly the orcs stopped. They were completely surrounded by elves, each elf holding his bow ready, pointing at the soft necks of the orcs.
"Release them." A voice called out, an elf stepped out of the ring around the orcs.
The orcs held their ground, though they knew they would lose to the elves. The elves would kill them no matter what they did.
The orcs looked at each other before dropping the captive elves in the middle of their small group and drawing their weapons again.
The elf that had spoken before raised his arm. The other elves drew their bowstrings taunt, ready to fire. The elf's arm dropped and they released their arrows.
An arrow grazed Caleniel's left cheek as she dodged the fly away elven arrow.
"Watch where you're shooting!" She called angrily at the elf that had shot the arrow. It was the elf who had spoken before. She growled and was about to march over to the elf and slap him for nearly hitting her but Haldir grabbed her shoulder roughly and pulled her back just as an orc fell dead in front of her.
Caleniel looked around; all the orcs were now dead and the fair elf who seemed to be the leader moved toward her.
"You almost hit me!" Caleniels' voice was low in her anger. Haldir tightened his grip on Caleniels' shoulder. He knew who the elf before them was, and although this scene was somewhat funny he knew that it wouldn't be such a good idea for them to argue and get off on the wrong foot.
The elf didn't reply to her comment and turned to face Haldir.
"What brings you to Mirkwood Haldir?" Caleniel calmed slightly at the sound of the elf's melodic voice.
"I am acting as guard to Lady Caleniel and her servant." Haldir motioned toward Caleniel and Rodwen as he spoke.
"Lady Caleniel, this is Prince Legolas of Mirkwood." Haldir spoke quietly to Caleniel.
Caleniel's eyes widened at the realization that her future husband was standing before her, and had almost killed her with his arrow.
"For the Prince of Mirkwood you sure are a poor archer." Caleniels voice was surprisingly calm, and her vibrant green eyes sparkled angrily at the prince.
"For the daughter of Cadunír you dodged the arrow rather skillfully." Legolas' voice was cold, a challenge hidden in his words.
"Lady Caleniel, I highly recommend that you stop before you dishonor yourself." Thinedhel stepped in.
Some of the other elves chuckled, only causing Caleniel to become even more enraged.
"Be quiet Thinedhel. If I dishonor myself then so be it! I will not bow down to another elf, even if it is my future husband." Caleniels voice hardened sharply and Thinedhel stepped aside, afraid to face the she-elf's wraith.
Legolas looked at Caleniel with interest. This she-elf was supposed to marry him, yet it seemed that she despised him over something so trivial as a misplaced arrow. He had to admit to himself though that she was gorgeous. Her almost black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail with several strands having strayed, only to frame her pale face. The flowing light green dress only seemed to set off her perfect figure and her emerald green eyes.
Without another word Legolas turned away and motioned for them to follow as he skillfully led them back to the palace through the dark forest.
Soon they arrived at the palace, where King Thranduil stood awaiting his sons return.
The King smiled broadly, his blue eyes sparkling merrily, when Legolas came into view. His smile grew wider when he saw Haldir and the two young she-elves.
"Welcome back Legolas, my son. Welcome Haldir, I did not expect you so soon, my friend." The King chuckled lightly until his eyes landed on Caleniel. Her appearance startled him. Dried blood covered a trail down the right side of her face, fresh blood still falling in slow trickles from the head wound, across her left cheek was a single line of blood, with slight droplets smeared back toward her ear, like she had tried to wipe the blood away. Her dress was torn in places and dirt had been smudged across it in many places, as well as her pale skin.
The King turned to Haldir for an answer, but it was a female voice that answered the unspoken question.
"We were attacked by orcs." It was Caleniel. The King looked at Caleniel in surprise. It was rare for a she-elf to speak so boldly to the King.
"Your son was kind enough to lend a hand." Haldir cut in, trying to keep Caleniel quiet.
"Yes, he did save us, but he nearly killed me!" Caleniel pulled away from Haldir's grasp and pointed to her left cheek. "I believe he needs to be trained better." Caleniel tried to make her voice light, to conceal her anger, but she failed miserably, her voice coming out as a growl. The King turned questioningly toward Legolas.
"Is that true Legolas? You almost hit Lady Caleniel with an arrow?" He didn't seem to be surprised.
"Purely by mistake father. Though she dodged it easily enough." Legolas looked at Caleniel, who glared back.
The king shook his head, seeing the exchange between Legolas and Caleniel. They are to be married, and yet they can't even get along.
King Thranduil turned to one of the servants.
"Show our guests to their rooms." His voice rising over the argument going on between Legolas and Caleniel.
"If you would learn how to shoot straight the first time you would not even need retraining."
"I did learn how to shoot straight!"
"Really! It doesn't seem like it. Even I could shoot better than you!"
"I'd like to see you try it!"
"I would love to."
"That's enough! Lady Caleniel." Haldir roughly grabbed Caleniels arm and dragged her away from Legolas, who stood there glaring at Caleniel, who glared back.
"Rodwen, take her, please." Haldir pushed Caleniel out the door behind Rodwen.
Rodwen finally let go of Caleniels wrist when she thought they were far enough away from where Legolas was.
Blocking out her friend's chatter with the servant, Caleniel lost herself in thought. Why did father have to chose him? Even I'm a better archer than him. And the king didn't seem to surprised about the 'misplaced' arrow, so he's probably done something similar, though he is gorgeous. Caleniel shook her head and tried to push the thought away. Well… he is handsome. His eyes remind me of the sea.
"Caleniel… Lady Caleniel?" Rodwen's voice broke into Caleniel's thoughts. "What were you thinking about?" Rodwen teased Caleniel.
"What do you mean?" Caleniel asked suspiciously.
"You had a dreamy look on your face." Rodwen smiled slyly. "Were you thinking of Prince Legolas?"
"Never! I would never waste my time thinking about such an idiot!" Caleniel quickly denied the question, a blush rising to her cheeks.
"You were!" Rodwen cried gleefully. Caleniel only growled.
"Ok, so I was. But I still hate the creep." Caleniel grumbled, her face now beat red. Rodwen laughed lightly at Caleviel.
"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Though I think if you do that around them that they'll figure it out themselves." Rodwen took off running down the hall, partly to catch up the servant, but also to keep away from Caleniel as she realized what she had meant.
"Why you..." Caleniel didn't bother to finish the thought as she ran to catch up.
The room the servant led them to was fairly large.
"This is Lady Caleniel's room." She motioned for Rodwen to follow her as she left the room and walked down the hall. Rodwen closed the door behind her, leaving Caleniel standing alone in the middle of the room.
Caleniel looked around her. The room was a pale pink color with a pattern of faded roses as the boarder. The bed was big, bigger than a single person needed, and was covered with a white comforter, once again with the pattern of faded roses upon it. There were three tables in the room, one table on each side of the large bed and one in the center of the room. The table in the center of the room had a vase with an assortment of roses in it, mainly pale pink. The two smaller tables held similar vases with similar roses.
As Caleniel looked around the room the door opened quietly. It was Legolas.
"Lady Caleniel, we need to talk." Legolas' voice was serious.
AN: Ok, I hope I did not miss anything else that needed to be changed, or worked on. I never realized that the first chapter was so long!
Caleniel- Green Maiden
Cadunír- Shaped Man
Rodwen- Virtuous Maiden
Thinedhel- Grey Elf