A/N: I guess my mind works in unusual (insert weird there if you prefer) ways. This little scenario was inspired by Marigold’s Challenge #28. Now, I know it doesn’t fit the rules she laid down, but as I said, it was only inspired by it, as I began to ponder what could possibly be a way of expanding it to include a non-hobbit member of the Fellowship. Lo, and behold, this scene just popped into my head and demanded to be written. My thanks, as usual, to my daughter for her laughter and encouragement, as well as her helpful comments which improved this little piece.

SUMMARY: Legolas learns a useful lesson when he experiences a small interruption during a quiet moment. Set sometime pre-Quest.

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: The Lord of the Rings in all its formats belongs officially to Professor Tolkien's estate and New Line Cinemas. This work of fiction was produced for the love of the characters and enjoyment only, not for sale or profit.

Unexpected Danger

Birdsong filled the air as sunbeams flickered and played over the surface of the pool, broken by small waves as the elf came up for air.  He sighed with pleasure at the feel of the cool water against his skin. It felt good to be able to get clean.

He shook his head slightly to clear the water from his delicately pointed ears, and checked automatically for sounds of danger. His eyes scanned the trees and brush surrounding the forest pool. Wary as a wild thing, checking his surroundings came as naturally as breathing to him. Everything seemed as it should be, and he stroked leisurely across the pool to a shallower spot, and began again to scrub his arms, and across his chest and belly. It had been so long since he had been truly clean.

Suddenly his head came up, and his eyes scanned his surroundings once more. The sudden silence of the birds in the trees had warned him. Without a moment’s hesitation he slipped out of the pool, water sheeting off his body unheeded as he swept up his bow and quiver of arrows with one hand and his belt with its two deadly knives in the other.

Stepping as lightly and swiftly as only elves can, he crossed the small open verge around the pool’s edge and slipped silently into the brush surrounding it. Hardly a leaf rustled as he slipped between the branches and bushes and came to a halt in the center. Once there, he slipped the quiver into its place against his back, fitted an arrow to his bowstring, and froze, searching with all his senses for the source of the disturbance that silenced the birds.

The sunshine dappled his skin now as he remained on the alert for any danger. He stood as still and graceful as a stag, and as potentially deadly. His breathing slowed as his instincts told him an intruder was coming closer, even as his ears continued to tell him nothing. Suddenly he whirled around, then checked the arrow’s release just before letting it fly on its deadly mission.

Aragorn stood in front of him, arms folded across his chest and a lazy grin on his face.

“Aragorn! I almost killed you!” Legolas’ voice was sharp with his release of tension.

“I knew you wouldn’t shoot without first seeing your attacker,” Aragorn replied with a trace of humour.  His eyes roved over his friend’s form as his grin widened almost imperceptibly.

“And Legolas? Next time you’re interrupted while bathing….” Aragorn stepped slightly to one side, and his eyes flicked slightly behind him, “… you might want to take just a second to rinse off.”

Legolas’ eyes followed where his friend indicated, and widened as color washed his cheeks slightly. There on the forest floor, leading directly to his hiding place, a trail of iridescent bubbles gleamed brightly among the dancing sunbeams.

My attempt at a few drabbles, which I didn't quite make.

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Part 1

Rosie sighed with happiness. She was completely unaware of the sweat rolling down her face, of the people bustling around her. All she saw was the small bundle in her arms, the little face scrunched up in protest at all the new sensations. She was also aware of Sam kneeling next to the bed, his arms encircling her and their new little baby girl. Rosie glanced at him briefly. She’d never seen him look so happy, except once, on their wedding day. Looking back at their beautiful baby girl, Rose reflected that this is what her faith in him had brought her. All those months of stubbornly believing he would return to her, paid off in these first moments of being a new family.

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Part 2

The difficulties of the past hours forgotten, Arwen smiled as she watched Aragorn cradle their newborn son to his chest as she lay exhausted on their bed. Aragorn’s face was alight with a radiant joy, and he kept looking around as if to find someone new to tell – this is my son! Watching them, her thoughts turned to her father, and the heartbreak on his face as he said farewell to his only daughter. She missed him somuch, and understood now better than ever how he must have felt that night. Her heart constricted with sorrow for his pain, but then expanded again to near bursting as Aragorn brought her son – their son! – back and laid him in her arms. She looked up into her husband’s face, saw his love for them both shining from his eyes, and suddenly knew what her father had understood, that such great love overshadowed the pain that inevitably came with it.

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Part 3

Contentment washed through Eowyn as she held her newly born infant to her breast. She had struggled desperately in taking the lives of enemies, but never harder than she had in creating and bringing forth this life. She had despaired in trying to sustain her uncle as he fell under the evil spell of the sorcerer, but rejoiced at the sustenance she was able to give her son. She had demanded the right to stand with the warriors with a sword in her hand. Now she gladly gave over the role of protector to her husband, who was kneeling by the bed with a look of dazed wonder on his face. In this moment, Eowyn fully embraced the nobility and glory of being a woman, wife and mother, and feared cages no more.