An Elf in Aglarond

A/N: Thanks again to NancyBrooke for beta reading for me!

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  Legolas stared at the mouth to the Glittering Caves in dread. 'Is there any way I can back out of the deal?' he couldn't help but wonder.

  With a small sigh he answered his own question. 'No. A deal's a deal. There's no backing out of it now. Gimli kept his part of the bargain. He willingly went into Fangorn. Now it's my turn to keep my part of the bargain. Now I need to just as willingly go into the Glittering Caves with him.'

  Having finally realized that Legolas hadn't followed him in, Gimli emerged. "Aren't you coming?" he asked impatiently.

  "I was ... I just," Legolas struggled to come up with an explanation.

  Arms crossed, Gimli glared at him. "You were trying to back out of our deal, weren't you?"

  Without intending to, Legolas slowly inched back. "Of course not!" he exclaimed. "I would never do that! You kept your part of the deal and I have every intention of keeping mine!"

  "I'm beginning to truly understand why I was repeatedly told to never trust an Elf! You're distorting the truth!"

  "Fine!" Legolas exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air in defeat. It was just then that an arrow, shot from an unseen archer, went straight through the back of his right hand.

  Without even a glance at his hand, Legolas turned and ran in the direction the arrow had come from. Ducking a second arrow, Gimli followed. Three Orcs leapt from behind a boulder and, in turn, ran at them. Legolas grabbed his white knife with his left hand and fought, shielding his right hand to avoid further injuring it.

  One of the Orcs ran at Gimli, who quickly grabbed his axe. "Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd air-mênu!*" he yelled as, with one potent swing, he chopped off its head.

  The other two Orcs went for Legolas, assuming his wounded hand would make him easy prey. But, with one swift movement, Legolas sliced open the first one's throat and subsequently turned and broke the other one's neck.

  It was then, expecting to find him in trouble, that Gimli turned towards Legolas. That wasn't what he saw.

  "Now, my friend," Gimli commented, quickly recovering from the initial shock, "we must see to your hand."

  "Yes. Now I need to see to my hand," Legolas said as he looked to see how bad his hand was.

  After a moment's inspection he spoke again. "It doesn't look too bad. All I really need to do is pull out the arrow and bandage it."

  Without hesitation he took the end of the arrow and preceded to try and snap it off. Only it didn't break. Instead it merely bent upwards, painfully against the top of the wound.

  Legolas gasped in pain, unable to stop himself. With a look of concern, Gimli took the Elf's hand and examined the arrow.

  "Do you have any idea why it didn't break?" he asked.

  "None," Legolas confessed. "I see no reason why it shouldn't have broken."

  "I'm going to try to do it. Alright?" Gimli inquired. When Legolas nodded, he grasped the end of the arrow with one hand. With the other he grasped the arrow a few inches further down. It took several attempts before it finally broke.

  "There," Gimli said. "Now, how do you intend to remove the arrow from your hand?"

  "Like this," Legolas answered, motioning as though to quickly pull it out.

  "Won't that be painful?" Gimli asked even though he already knew the answer.

  "Yes, but it is the only way." Legolas gave him a weak smile. "You can turn away if it bothers you. Or just close your eyes for a moment."

  "What makes you think I need to?" Gimli muttered furiously.

  "Peace, Gimli. I meant no harm." He hadn't meant anything by it. If he had a choice, he wouldn't watch.

  "That's alright." Gimli sighed. "We will do it however you want to."

  "However I want?" he asked skeptically.

  "Yes."

  "Even if you don't want to?" he asked, still doubtful.

  "Yes!" Gimli exclaimed in frustration. Legolas could be so exasperating sometimes.

  "Then I want you to pull it out while I look away."

  Gimli was unsure if he had correctly heard him and said nothing at first. "Your joking . right?"

  "No," Legolas said quite seriously. "I really do mean it. I want you to pull it out while I look away."

  "I don't believe you. You're an Elf. This kind of thing shouldn't bother you!"

  "Just because I'm Elven doesn't mean I wish to see an arrow being snatched out of my hand!"

  "Then don't look when you pull it out!"

  Without another word, Legolas turned away and quickly yanked the arrow out. Gimli pulled a roll of bandaging out of one of their bags and handed it to Legolas. The Elf wrapped his hand, with a little help from Gimli, and then put back the roll.

  Gimli smiled. "Then we're ready to go into the Glittering Caves."

  "We should . eat dinner first," Legolas said in attempt to delay.

  "Fine," Gimli said, giving in without a fight. He had a feeling Legolas was going to need a bit of convincing to go in. He was right.

  "Now can we go in?" Gimli asked once they'd finished.

  "It's late," Legolas said, still trying to delay. "Why don't we wait until tomorrow?"

  "We can still go in tonight," Gimli insisted. "Then we could sleep inside. It would be safer that way."

  "But-"

  "No. We're going in now."

  Legolas sighed. He knew there was no way he could put it off any longer.

  "Now can we go in?" Gimli asked once more.

  With a gentle nod of his head, Legolas allowed himself to be lead in. At first he was surprised. The hall they were in looked as plain and drab as any other cave. By the time they were nearly to the end of it, he was starting to think that Gimli had taken them to the wrong place.

  "I'm going to blindfold you," Gimli said, suddenly stopping, "and lead you the rest of the way."

  Legolas opened his mouth to object but stopped. "As you wish," he muttered and kneeled to allow Gimli to tie a strip of thick cloth over his eyes.

  The instant he stood up, Gimli grasped him by the arm and guided him. For Legolas it felt like eternity before they finally stopped.

  "Can I take the blindfold off now?" he asked impatiently.

  "You can take it off," Gimli said, his enthusiasm apparent by his tone of voice.

  Legolas took off the blindfold and looked around. It was at that moment that he finally realized why Gimli loved the Glittering Caves so much. Gems of all colors glistened all over the walls. An enormous waterfall cascaded on the far left side, feeding into an underground stream.

  "And this is just the entrance!" Gimli exclaimed, seeing the astonished look on Legolas' face.

  "So that's why they call it the Glittering Caves," Legolas whispered in wonder, incapable to think of anything more suitable to say. And, as he stood in the middle of the cavern, he began to consider that staying there for a while wasn't such an appalling idea after all.

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*Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd air-mênu! = The Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!