Finding Love in the Lord of the Rings

°°°°Chapter Two°°°°

Chapter Two

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"I'm fine, thank you though." she sniffled. She collected herself together and stood up smoothing out her dress.

"I'm Cody Proudfoot." she introduced herself and held out her right hand. Legolas grasped her arm right above the wrist and she did the same to him as well.

"Nice to meet you Cody since you were not at the meeting."

"And that I truly apologize but there was no point in me going since I will not be leaving Rivendell."

"And why is that?" He asked.

"It's a long story."

"I'm sure it is but I'm an elf, I have time for a long story." He sat down in front of her and motioned for her to do the same. Cody began her tale from the very start, Bilbo and Frodo's birthday party. She started off slow but as the story progressed she became more and more confident. Legolas never interrupted her but just sat there and listened intently to her story. When she was done Legolas stayed where he was for several heartbeats and processed what she had told him.

"It sounds like Frodo truly cares about you and that is why he is doing this. He thinks he is protecting you even though you can clearly do that yourself." He said pointing down to her sword. "May I?" He asked.

Cody looked down at her sword and was puzzled at what he was asking for but soon relized that he wanted her sword. "Certainly." She replied drawing her sword. She passed the hilt of her sword to him so he could grasp it. Legolas balanced it in his hands, gave it a few turns and began to play out an invisible battle. He swung the short sword through the air stabbing invisible enemies. He danced through lines of orcs and flew through ranks of goblins. His feet, it seemed, never touched the ground as he spun around attacking things that only he could see.

When he was finished his breathing was heavy and small beads of sweat lined his brow.

"Where did you get this Cody?" he asked handing it back to her.

"The Nazgūl." she replied a little ashamed of herself for possessing a weapon crafted by the enemy.

"Do not be ashamed of such a beautiful sword. It will protect you from your foes even though they are the ones who welled it together." he reasured her.

All she could do was smile at him and sheathed her sword.

"Now, about you joining the Fellowship." he said.

"What is there to talk about? I'm not going and Frodo will make sure of that."

"Yes but what if you don't leave with the Fellowship? Do you know how to ride a horse?"

Cody looked up at him with a puzzled expression but soon a smile crept across her face. Legolas explained his plan to her as he escorted her to her room. The way he told it to her made it sound so simple.

"Are you sure you're up to the challenge?" He asked when they made it to her door.

"I'm positive. Goodnight Legolas, thank you for taking me to my room."

"The pleasure was all mine." He said with a small bow.

She went inside and immediately kicked herself. She paced back and forth, running her fingers through her hair as she did so.

"What was I think?! I've never ridden a horse, much less riding one bare back! The only one I've been on was Sundance and Bill. Bill doesn't even count because I was unconscious!"

"But I really want to go and Legolas said he would teach me how to ride."

"But what if I get lost? Then what? I could end up in the hands of the enemy or go in the complete opposite direction."

"Legolas said he would leave signs for me to follow and I'll be able to tell where they had made a camp."

Cody went back and forth with herself, talking about about what could go wrong and then why she should go. Finally, she just decided she would think about it in the morning. She undressed and put on some night clothes, she placed her sword and sheath on the night stand that stood next to her bed. She crawled under the covers and laid there for several hours before she fell asleep.

'Why would Frodo say that to me? He told me he loved me, but if he really cared for me he would let me go with him right? But Merry said the same thing to me. Why must love be so difficult sometimes?'

Those were her last thought before she drifted into dreams.

-------------Sorry this one was shorter I ran out of ideas on what to put in it.---------------------