Washed up - A Hobbit story

XV

I awake to the coldness around me and I realize pretty quickly that I am in the water. I paddle toward the light above me and my head breaks the surface of the water. An unexpected gush of warm air hits my face and I blink the water off of my eyes as I swim quickly to the shore. My head feels groggy and I struggle to swim to the shore, which is surprising, considering that I have won a few prizes in swimming. I reach to grab a branch and pull myself up from the river. The exhaustion fades away as soon as I am off of the water and I shake on the ground, trying to think what the hell is happening. The last thing I can remember is being at the swimming pool with my teammates and then... Darkness. I shake my head as I try and make sense of it all. How I got here, in the middle of the forest from a swimming I turn to look down and realize that I am still in my wetsuit, that has short sleeves and legs. I shiver as a gust of wind hits my wet body and decide it's better to get moving as soon as possible. I push myself up and start walking along a sort of a path, it's broken and has a lot of leaves and branches on it, but if there is a path, there must be people nearby. Or at least there has been. 

I don't know how long I have walked, all I know that my bare feet hurt and they were starting to lose feeling as the air grew colder. I walked and stopped at the roots of an old tree and rubbed my feet with my hands, trying to warm them. A crack made my head shoot up and I grabbed the nearest thick branch I could find. I lifted it up at my shoulder as another, louder crack sounded. Before I could think anything to explain it or think of a horrifying explanation for it, the cause of the sounds came into my line of sight. And it was worse than anything I could have imagined. 

A giant black spider. With eight eyes and the whole lot. Anyone that knew me at all, was aware of my huge phobia of spiders. I couldn't stand them. Now, I was frozen in place and I could not move as it walked past me. I realized that much that I had to stay absolutely still if I wanted to go unseen. It walked slowly past me, snapping its pincers and the eight legs making snapping sounds as they hit the ground. I was about to vomit from fear as it walked past me, I must say no further than a meter away. I shivered and begged that it could not see me. Eaten alive by a spider was the ultimate nightmare to me. I've literally seen that one. 

This is something on a whole new level. I was about to cry and the appearance of another one didn't help the fact and the tears started falling. The fight or flight instinct had me holding the branch tight as the two spiders walked past me. 

Arrow hits the first one straight to the head and it falls to the ground, dead. I shriek and the other spider notices me and grabs me by my leg, even if I am smashing it with the branch. Another arrow flies past me and straight between the biggest eyes of it. I get up on my shaking feet and as something touches my shoulder, I swing my branch towards it as hard as I can. A crunch and a word in a language that I can't understand are heard and I turn around to mee the eyes of a man that is holding his jaw. The realization hits me, "
I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to! I thought you were a spider and I just ... reacted!" I drop the branch and as I calm down, I take another look at him. And pass out. 

- - -

I wake up in a room decorated with white. The spider bite on my leg has been treated, judging by the bandage, but I have no idea where I am. I have no idea how I got here. All I know is that the elf from second and third Hobbit movie is here and I have no idea how. My ex-boyfriend made me watch them with him and they weren't exactly my kind of movies but some of the characters were quite handsome, so that was a plus. The door opened and the elf, Legolas, steps in.
"I see you have woken up." His voice is exactly the same as in the movies and his hair is just as long and luxurious as well. I just nod and tilt my head.
"Why were you in the forest on our lands?" His voice is stern but has a hint of warmness in it. I shake my head,
"I have no idea. I remember swimming at home and then I woke up in a river here, in this forest. I wandered around and then the spiders came..." My voice trailed off and I shivered at the image of a spider that jumped into my head.
"I really don't like spiders." I muttered and he nodded,
"I noticed. How did you end up in the river?" I shake my head as panic starts to take me over. I am in a foreign world (or that is what it seems) and I have nowhere to go, no other clothes than my wetsuit and this world has spiders as big as horses in it!
"I have no idea! I just remember swimming and then I went under and I woke up in the green water and swam to the surface before all my strength was gone." I cry out and cover my face with my hands.
"I have no idea how I got here. I have nowhere to go and there are spiders as big as horses in the forest!" I wail out and a warm hand lands on my shoulder,
"Don't think about it now. Rest. We will talk about it in the morning." He walks to the door and is about to leave before he stops and turns around to face me,
"You never told me your name, I would like to hear it." I push myself up from the sheets a little bit before I answer, looking at him.
"It's Olivia." I manage to smile a little bit to him as I speak the word. He bows his head slightly before nodding,
"Nice to meet you. I am Legolas."

- - -

That was almost a year ago. Now, I live among the elves and life here is pretty great. I get along with Tauriel and the other female elves pretty well. Legolas and I have grown quite close and there has been some flirting going here and there, much to his father's displeasure. He allowed me to stay, a little hesitantly at first but he has grown more polite as time has passed. Now, I am walking towards the training yard, Legolas promised to teach me some archery. If I learned anything about movies, it's that teaching archery can get quite intimate, as the teacher has to be quite close to the one he is teaching. Another catch is, I have been taking lessons from Tauriel about archery from day one, so I know something already. She knows my feelings towards him and promised to keep the archery training as a secret. 

Legolas arrives, carrying two bows, his own and another one, that is apparently meant for me. He hands it to me, smiling,
"Here. This is for you." I nod and slide my fingers across the smooth wooden surface. He hands me an arrow and I take it and place it on the bow.
"So you know something already." I just nod and pull the bow tight, with the wrong tactic, on purpose.
"No, not like that. Use your middle and forefinger to hold it. That's better. Now, pull it with your hand so you elbow stays up. Keep your elbow up." I hold in a giggle and wail out,
"I don't know how!" He walks behind me and gently guides my hands to the right places. I bite my lip, the plan is working.
"Now, pull back. And release." I do as he says and I hit the target on the left side.
"I did it!" I let out a delighted squeal and turn around to hug him and he laughs and hugs me back. His smile fades a little and I tilt my head,
"What's wrong?" He shakes his head and out of nowhere, kisses me. I let out a surprised hum but don't pull away. As cliche as it may sound, his lips fit on mine perfectly and they move in perfect unison until we pull away for breath.
"Wow," I whisper and give him a short kiss on his lips as he smiles. I can't hold the smirk in anymore, it spreads across my face. He looks at me, puzzled,
"What is it?" Giggling, I lean closer to him and whisper into his pointed ear,
"I already knew how to shoot with a bow, Tauriel taught me." And after that, I sprint away, laughing and he chases after me, laughing as well.

Here it is, the introduction of the new character. The next one will be a normal one, I just wanted to introduce her to you a bit before Bea meets her. So, here she is! I am still thinking about the name of Bea's sword, I am open to suggestions! 

-TheSpottedCreature

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