Do you promise? (ARALAS)

The Adventure Begins

Legolas stood there. The battle had ended, but he could sense the greif that was being felt all around him. He turned a corner and saw Tauriel, his best friend of many years, leaning over the dead body of a dwarf he knew to be called Kili.

He didn't say anything, and swiftly stalked away. He was overidden with emotion. Victory, sadness, grief, resentment. He shook his head. The battle was won. He should be happy. But he didn't, and he had no idea why.

He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and almost ran straight into his father. His relationship with him was not the best. And he assumed that he wouldn't care if his son were to leave, and Legolas felt he could not return to Mirkwood and pretend nothing had ever happened.

"I... cannot go back." He said, not meeting his Fathers eyes.

"Where will you go?"

Legolas was surprised that he hadn't tried to stop him, but quickly regathered his composure and said, truthfully, "I do not know."

His father gave him a look and Legolas was afraid that he might try to convince him to come back to Mirkwood, but instead he said something that Legolas did not excpect.

"Go north. Find the Dunedain. There is a young ranger amongst them you should meet. His father Arathorn was a good man, and his son might grow to be a great one."

The Dunedain. Legolas had only heard of them. A race of men gifted with long life.

Many questions raced through Legolas' head at once. Why did his father suggest this? How did he know Arathorn? Why wasn't he trying to convince him to come home? But he settled for the most useful question, because if Thranduil suggested someone do something, it was probably a good idea.

"What is his name?" Legolas asked.

"He is known in the wild as Strider. His true name, you must find out for yourself."

Legolas didn't deem that as very helpful, but it was something. He turned around, so his back was facing his father and thought for a second. Then, he started to walk away. He didn't know why, instincts must have taken over in that moment.

"Legolas."

He turned around. Had he done the wrong thing in walking away?

"Your mother loved you, more than anyone, more than life."

Legolas was shocked, but put his hand to his chest and dipped his head slightly in the elven gesture, as his father did the same, then turned and walked away quickly, desperate to hide the tears that had jumped to his face.

Find a ranger. Shouldn't be to hard. Legolas was thinking hard as he departed the battle feild. He felt bad for leaving Tauriel, but felt it was a necessity. He couldn't find any horses anywhere, and he didn't want to ride one of the dwarves strange battle goats, he didn't know if those could be trusted, so he set out on foot.

It wasn't to much of an inconvenience, because he had hardly gotten any scratches during battle. Those orcs really need to strengthen their battle tactics.

He headed north as instructed, and was met by the grey mountains. He easily climbed over them and made his way north.

The region still had hills, but it wasn't as bad as the mountains. Legolas had no problem with climbing mountains, it was easy, but he didn't like it very much.

He walked for a while, until he saw a forest, he was already well out of the area mapped in his map of middle-earth, but the sight of forest was comforting, even if it was an unfamiliar and potentially dangerous forest. Potentially dangerous. The forest stretched out in front of him and he knew it would take very long to go around it. There was also something about the forest he felt he could trust, like a childhood friend.

Childhiod friend. No, I will not think about Tauriel, she will be fine, she is strong.

Legolas bit his lip and made his decision. He would go into the forest.

He entered the forest and felt no regret. It was truly beautiful. The trees stretched above him and created a thick canope of branches, that little light could penetrate. He walked on, it must have been hours. He heard nothing, and assumed that this forest wasn't inhabited by anything that could be a threat. He relaxed against a tree and ran his fingers over his bow.

He decided it was safe to build a fire, and made it within 10 minutes. He sat against the tree, fire crackling in front of him and sighed. Elves did not feel cold, but that didn't mean that they did not enjoy warmth. He wrapped his cloak around himself and drifted off to sleep.

He dreamt of a shadow drawing near, not something threatening, but a friend, or something else.

The shadow came into focus slightly, but he couldn't quite make out a face. It made slight rustling sounds as it walked toward him, which seemed strange, seeing as this dream was in a white abyss. Then he realized. That rustle was not from his dream.

He woke with a start and shot to his feet, nocking an arrow and pulling the bowstring to his cheek. The rustling hadn't stopped.

"Who's there?" He asked, though he was sure that he would recieve no answer.

"That is none of your concern."

A figure stepped out from the shadows, and to Legolas' suprise, there stood a man, not an elf, but he spoke perfect elvish. The man leaned against a tree lazily, but Legolas remained sharp, still holding up his bow.

"Lower your weapon, I will not hurt you if I have no reason to." he said.

"Who are you?" Legolas asked again, slightly loosening his grip on his bow.

"People call me Strider" He replied, and Legolas dropped his bow in shock. So Strider had found him, not him finding Strider.

"You are son of Arathorn." Said Legolas, quietly, "but how do you speak elvish?"

Strider looked shocked at what Legolas knew about him, but then answered, "I was brought up in Rivendell. Lord Elrond adopted me."

Lord Elrond. Finally a name that Legolas knew. Lord Elrond of Rivendell was an ally to Mirkwood, but thought that they were quite over-dramatic.

"I am Legolas, Prince of the Woodland Realm," said Legolas, he wasn't quite sure if it was the right thing to say, but Strider smirked and said,

"And son of Thranduil, biggest drama queen in middle-earth."

At first Legolas was annoyed that Strider spoke ill of his father, but then relaxed and chuckled, "don't let him hear you say that."

Legolas didn't know why Strider didn't make him feel suspicious, but he had to trust him now.

"I suppose I better introduce myself better, my name is Aragorn, son of Arathorn."

Aragorn. That's a nice name. For the first time, Legolas really looked at the mans face. His hair was greasy and his clothes travel-worn. His eyes were a grey storm, and looked so kind.

Legolas caught himself staring and looked away.

"Now that we know eachothers names and family trees," said Aragorn jokingly, "we might as well learn a thing or two about each other."

Legolas considered him for a moment, and then he agreed. This alleigence could work.

A/N: Hi! So that was the first chapter, sorry that it was short, towards the end the writing got a bit lazy but I hope you liked it! I'm really bad at charecter introduction scenes, so I might do a time skip to when they know each other better.