The boy had never seen an Elf before and was curious. Crouching low in the
bushes just a few feet from the clearing where the Elf and his companions had
camped the night before, the boy watched and was so perfectly still and silent
that even keen Elven ears could not detect his presence.
The boy had approached the camp just before sunrise, drawn by the light of the
campfire. Everyone was lying down seemingly asleep, except for a dwarf who sat
leaning against a tree. It must have been his turn at watch, but he was half-
asleep himself in the pre-dawn hour, his heavy head repeatedly nodding down
toward his chest. He did not hear the boy approach and settle down in the
bushes. Of course, the boy had spent the last three months living in the woods,
and most of his life before then playing in them, so he walked with the quiet step
of a born woodsman.
It was an unusual gathering. In addition to the dwarf and the Elf, who slept with
his eyes wide open (it took several minutes for the boy to realize that he was in
fact asleep), there were four little men who at first glance appeared to be
children until he noticed their huge hairy feet (hobbits then�he had heard of
such beings before), and three full-sized men, one of them much older than the
others with a long gray beard and gray clothing. A small pony was tethered to a
nearby tree.
Shortly after dawn, the nine companions awoke, and moments after that
everyone but the Elf walked off into the trees on the other side of the clearing.
The boy knew there was a small stream there and assumed that that is where
they were headed. The Elf stood up, and the boy was awed to see just how tall
and slender he was. He was certainly taller than any man he had ever known,
but despite his height, he moved with the fluid grace of a cat. His hair was long,
of an unusually silky texture, and was so pale as to appear almost white in the
early morning light. He wore it pulled back from his fair face by three braids,
revealing delicate pointed ears. The ears were what had first alerted the boy that
the tall stranger was an Elf, and not a man.
After his companions left, the Elf picked up the bow and quiver that had been
beside him as he slept, and walked toward the boy�s hiding place. For an instant,
the boy nearly panicked, thinking he had been discovered, but the Elf merely
propped his weapon against the tree trunk just to the boy�s left and turned
away. Returning to the place where he had slept, he picked up a scabbard and
pulled one of two long knives from it, then settled himself onto a small boulder
near the tree, and proceeded to examine it. He was sitting with his back to the
boy.
The boy�s attention was now riveted on the Elven longbow and quiver. He had
never seen a weapon so beautiful and elegant. The wood of the bow and quiver
gleamed in the early morning sun and appeared as smooth as glass. Intricate
gold carvings resembling leaves on a vine decorated them both. Even the shafts
of the arrows�from what he could see of them in the quiver�were carved, and
the arrows ended in a bright array of yellow, green and orange feathers. The
beautiful weapon beckoned to be touched.
Standing up slowly, he warily watched the Elf�s back and took a few silent steps
toward the tree. But just as he reached his quarry and reverently extended a
small hand toward it, a much larger and stronger hand clamped hard around his
fragile wrist. And no sooner did he raise startled green eyes and lock them with
cool, blue ones, than he felt himself propelled hard onto the ground. Just before
landing face down in the dirt, the boy knew a moment of sheer terror as he
thought he saw, from the corner of his eye, the silver glint of a blade in the Elf�s
other hand.
It�s a human child! Legolas the Elf was just as startled as the boy when he looked
down at the small raggedy figure shaking on the ground before him. He got
down on his knees, set aside his long knife, and gently turned the boy around, a
faint frown marring his perfect brow. Not taking his hands off the boy�s
shoulders, Legolas opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a single
word he felt the unmistakable cold edge of a blade pressed against his throat.
�Let go of him�NOW,� spoke a quiet but steely voice. A female voice. The
speaker and wielder of the blade stood behind him and outside of his range of
vision. And as his eyes looked askance to the place where he had set down his
long knife, he was both angered and chagrined to discover that it was no longer
there.
�Let go of him,� she repeated, and pressed the blade harder against the Elf�s
tender skin, this time drawing a thin line of blood. Legolas raised his hands off
the boy�s shoulders and held them up. The boy stared wide-eyed and open-
mouthed at the speaker, then at the Elf, and then at the speaker again, before
crawling crab-like backwards and away. As he got up on feet that were not quite
steady, the female snapped,
�Jamie! What were you thinking?!�
�He�s an Elf, Ellie!� as if that explained everything. He held his hands out
imploringly to the unseen female.
She gave an exasperated sigh and started edging her way around the Elf, the
long knife never leaving his throat. As he got his first glimpse of her, he received
his second surprise of the morning. His assailant�who had sneaked up behind
him so stealthily that he did not sense her and who had further added insult to
injury by stealing his knife and threatening him with it�was not much bigger and
apparently not much older than the boy.
She was pretty in a way that Elves found appealing�with a broad forehead and
delicate features set in porcelain face�but she had a neglected look about her,
much like the boy. Her dark dress, although obviously made of a fine flowing
fabric, was torn in places and frayed all along the edges. It barely covered her
knees and it looked as if someone had taken a hasty knife to the skirt and cut
the lower half off. Her legs were bare and her soft ankle boots were well-worn.
Her black hair was pulled back from her face in a seemingly endless number of
small braids that hung down her back and gave her a slightly savage
appearance. As she came around to face him, the hand with the long knife never
wavered, while her other hand gently pushed the boy behind her.
For a long moment no one spoke. The girl stared wide-eyed at the Elf kneeling
before her. Fear and wonder and grim determination battled in her beautiful
eyes. Legolas stared back with a stony face.
It would be so easy to disarm her now. But right when he was about to do just
that, the girl stepped back. Still holding the knife before her, she spoke again to
the Elf, this time in a soft, persuasive voice, her eyes now unconsciously pleading
with him, while she and the boy began to back away toward the forest.
�The boy meant no harm. He was only curious. I will put your knife down now
and we will go back into the forest and all will be as it was before.�
And perhaps they might have been able to do just that if the Elf�s companions
had not started to return. So fixed was her attention on the Elf that she did not
notice them until the boy muttered, �uh oh,� under his breath. The girl visibly
started, knife still in her hand, as she saw the three men now standing in the
clearing, hands reaching for the hilts of their swords.
It was a strange site that greeted the men: Legolas kneeling on the ground�
blood trickling down his throat�with two ragged and, from the looks of them,
half-starved children pointing a long knife�the Elf�s own no less!�at him. It
would have been comical, had the situation not seemed so grave.
�Legolas, what is happening here?� the oldest of the three asked in a quiet but
commanding voice. He looked to be quite old�to Elllie he seemed ancient�with
his weathered face, long gray beard, long gray robes, and strange-looking hat on
his head. An aura of great power and wisdom surrounded the old man, and the
girl instinctively recognized him for what he was: no mere mortal�but an Istari
wizard. He, in turn, seemed to recognize something in her for his eyes took on a
speculative gleam, one that no one else but Ellie would have noticed, not even
the Elf with his heightened senses. Her attention now focused on the Istari, the
girl barely noticed when Legolas quietly rose from the ground. With his hand he
gestured to his companions to stay back, but did not speak up.
They were in BIG trouble and Ellie knew it. There was no way she and Jamie
could fight two armed men, an Istari and an Elf; they might not even be able to
outrun them if it came to that. So she tried to persuade again, this time
addressing the Istari directly, while still pointing the long knife at the Elf who
now stood but a few feet away.
�We meant no harm. We are not thieves. The boy was only curious as boys often
are. We are leaving now.� And she and Jamie started to back away again. This
time the Elf took a step forward with each step backward that the boy and girl
took. Still, she refused to give up the hope that they might actually be allowed to
leave unchallenged.
But she hadn�t counted on the arrival of the other five companions.
They were no taller than Jamie, but they were much stockier. Such was her state
of mind by now that Ellie was hardly surprised to recognize four hobbits and a
dwarf, even though this was the first time she had ever actually laid eyes on
such people. Nothing can surprise me now, she thought half-hysterically. But as
quickly as the humor came it went, for the girl noticed something about the
smallest hobbit�something that filled every fiber of her being�indeed, her very
soul�with dark, mind-numbing terror.
The little hobbit carried with him the very essence of evil.
CHAPTER TWO: Flight and Confrontation
The Eye... As surely as if she were standing before him in the black halls of
Barad-Dur, she could �see� the Dark Lord Sauron�s Eye staring out at her from a
gold ring hanging on a chain, hidden beneath the hobbit�s shirt. Abject terror
clawed at her insides, shredding her composure. And with the lightning speed
born of the mindless panic that overwhelmed her, Ellie threw the long knife at
Legolas, not really wanting to hurt him, but not really caring if she did. Right
now the only thing she cared about was getting Jamie and herself as far away
from that Eye as quickly as possible.
The instant she let go of the knife, Ellie turned and grabbed Jamie�s arm,
spurring him on into the forest. Something of her panic communicated itself to
the boy and, although he did not understand the reason for it, he did not
question it. He ran faster than he had ever run before, as if his very life
depended on it, which, in the back of his mind, he somehow suspected it did. He
paused for a split second only when he heard Ellie stumble and fall behind him,
but she hissed, �Keep on running!� And so he did.
Legolas had been too caught up watching the girl�s lovely face transform itself
into a mask of profound horror, without understanding the cause of it. He had
not anticipated the knife, or the children�s lightning-quick flight into the forest.
But he was an Elf and a warrior, with extraordinarily honed reflexes, and he
managed to raise his forearm just in time as the long knife came flying at him.
The blade hit his leather bracer�hard enough to bruise, but not cut�and then
fell harmlessly to the ground. A cold fury filled him, one he was not accustomed
to and did not particularly welcome.
For their part, Legolas� companions had also watched in fascination as the girl�s
terror grew. Standing behind Legolas, at the edge of the clearing, they knew she
stared at Frodo and suspected that somehow she had detected the presence of
the One Ring. But Gandalf the Grey knew for sure, for in his mind he had seen
the Eye stare back at the girl.
�Get them!� he commanded of the two younger men with him. �We must bring
that girl back!� Aragorn and Boromir ran toward the trees, but the dwarf and
hobbits stayed behind with Gandalf, for they would never be able to match the
speed of the others.
Legolas, blue eyes glittering with anger, was already poised to pursue the girl. At
Gandalf�s prompting, he ran into the forest ahead of his other companions and
easily picked up the children�s trail�for in their rush to flee, they had made no
attempts to hide it. Nor were they making any attempt to muffle their footsteps.
This time, the Elf�s keen hearing did not fail him, and he could hear the two up
ahead. He was rapidly catching up to them. Moments later, he heard the girl fall
down and urge the boy to keep on running. It�s only a matter of time now, he
thought and the Elf allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.
Ellie stared at her shattered ankle and groaned, as much from the pain as from
the dismay of knowing that she would have to waste precious time mending it.
Gingerly she lifted her leg up onto her lap and embraced the ankle with her two
hands. As she closed her eyes in concentration, an almost-searing, yet not
unpleasant, heat flowed from her small hands into her broken ankle. And as the
seconds passed, cell by cell her fragile bones, tendons and tissues healed
themselves. For Ellie had many gifts, and one of them was the gift of touch-
healing.
Legolas saw the girl through a break in the trees as she stood up and resumed
her headlong flight. Without slowing his pace, he called back to Aragorn and
Boromir, �I�ve got the girl! Look for the boy!� and continued to give chase. Fast
as she was, the girl could not compete with the Elf�s greater speed and longer
gait. Until she had heard him call to his companions, she had had no idea that he
was that close behind. In the next instant, he was upon her.
Grabbing a handful of her braids, Legolas roughly pulled the girl backwards. As
the back of her head slammed into his chest he wrapped a powerful arm around
her waist, imprisoning both her arms at her sides and pulling her flush against
his hard body.
For a brief moment Ellie knew despair, but then she remembered Jamie. As long
as there was a chance that Jamie might get away, she would not give up without
a fight.
Imprisoned as they were, her arms and hands and upper body were useless to
her, but her legs and feet were not. So she began to kick the Elf every which
way she could and stomp on his feet. One well-placed kick drew a small grunt
from him and caused him to loosen his grip on her hair long enough for her to
move her face close to the arm holding her captive. She bit him viciously. In fact,
her teeth clamped down on his arm and would not let go. He finally relaxed his
hold ever so slightly�her sharp little teeth were starting to take their toll�and
Ellie was able to free one arm. She reached back and up toward his face and
savagely clawed him across one cheek. (After months of living in the wild, her
once lovely nails were broken and jagged�and made an ideal weapon.) The Elf
cursed�at least it sounded like a curse�in a language Ellie did not understand.
Letting go of her hair, he trapped her free hand in a cruel vise, but not before
she had grabbed a fistful of pale blonde hair and pulled with all her might. And
all the while she kept on kicking him.
Legolas felt as if he were caught in the middle of a maelstrom. By now, he was
so furious with the girl that he was sorely tempted to snap her neck in two just
to end his misery. Instead he hit her in the jaw�hard enough to knock her out,
but not hard enough to seriously injure her. The girl slumped, and the Elf
breathed a small sigh of relief. Now that she was barely conscious, he gently
turned her over in his arms to examine her. Her jaw would have an ugly bruise,
no doubt about that, and he felt a small pang of regret. But it was only a small
pang. He was not feeling kindly disposed toward the girl, for she had caused him
a great deal of aggravation from the moment she had sneaked up behind him
with his long knife in her hand.
Boromir and Aragorn still had not returned with the boy, although he could hear
all three of them somewhere up ahead in the forest. Legolas lifted the girl and
dumped her unceremoniously over his shoulder, and started back to camp.
Ellie awoke to a throbbing jaw and a world turned curiously upside down. When
her mind finally cleared, she was both alarmed and outraged to realize that she
was being carried like a sack of grain over the Elf�s shoulder. She knew it was
the Elf, of course, because his silky blonde hair lay beneath her cheek. And she
decided to fight back once again.
Legolas felt the girl stir and braced himself. He spoke soothing words to her, but
she did not hear them or chose to ignore them. For just as he was about to set
her down on her feet, the girl grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and yanked his
head back, while kicking her legs back and forth. Legolas cursed in Elvish once
again and tightened his hold on her thighs and buttocks. This only enraged the
girl further, for the next thing he knew, she had latched on to his left ear and
seemed determined to rip it off of his head.
�ENOUGH!� he hissed between clenched teeth. He lunged forward, meaning to
drop the girl at his feet. But at the same time he lunged, the girl threw herself
back in an apparent attempt to free herself, and Legolas could not keep his
balance. The girl fell down hard, flat on her back, her dress bunched up above
her waist. The Elf fell down on top of her, his face pressed against the hot flesh
of her belly. And as he slowly raised his head and stared at the girl�s middle, he
discovered several things. The girl wore no undergarments and, while she was
undeniably small, she was NO child. Then he noticed that his hands, where they
cradled her slender hips, burned as if he had just touched smoldering embers.
(Indeed, he now recalled that every time he had touched her bare skin, he had
felt the same burning sensation.) The feeling was not unpleasant�in fact it was
decidedly pleasant�and the Elf found himself unexpectedly aroused. Finally, and
perhaps the most shocking of all, Legolas discovered that the girl�s navel was
pierced�and nestled within it was a small ring sparkling with diamonds. Almost
reluctantly, Legolas let go of the girl�s hips and gently lowered her dress to cover
her nudity. Then he raised his eyes to her face and flinched when he saw the
delicate jaw now swollen and discolored. The girl lay perfectly still with her eyes
tightly shut, but he could see the tears wetting her lashes.
Ellie had been winded by the fall. But she quickly recovered and became aware
of the heavy weight on the lower half of her body. Opening her eyes, she was
shocked to see her dress pulled up almost to her chest and the Elf�s fair head
face down near her private parts. Tears of mortification sprang unbidden to her
eyes and she screwed her eyes shut. After what seemed like an eternity but
could only have been a few minutes, she opened them, only to find the Elf�s
bright blue gaze fixed upon her face. His _expression was unreadable, but to
Ellie, he seemed strangely subdued, just as she now was. And as he continued to
stare into her dark eyes without moving or saying a word, a bright pink blush
crept up Ellie�s neck and spread across her face. Legolas, fascinated by her
heightened color, couldn�t resist reaching out to caress her cheek with his
fingertips.
�I know your jaw is injured, but are you hurt anywhere else?� he finally asked.
Ellie shook her head, as the sound of someone fast approaching brought the Elf
to his feet. His eyes never left her face. Ellie sat up and folded her knees against
her chest, wrapping her arms tightly around them. She lowered her eyes. The
confrontation with the Elf had left her feeling oddly vulnerable.
CHAPTER THREE: The Fellowship of Eleven
Boromir walked up to them shortly thereafter, followed by Aragorn who was
holding the boy in front of him. The men gaped at Legolas, for the usually
pristine Elf was a mess. The large braid at the back of his head had come
undone and the loose strands of long blonde hair had rearranged themselves in
a most unbecoming way. One side braid was sticking out at an awkward angle
and his ear was bright red. His clothes, which normally fit him like a second skin,
were quite rumpled; one sleeve was almost completely pulled out of his arm
bracer and his suede jerkin had twisted off to one side and was partly unhooked
at the front. And most impressive of all, his perfect face now sported what
appeared to be claw marks�four bloody, jagged lines running from just below
one eye all the way to his chin.
Boromir�s initial shock was quickly replaced by amusement. �Well, Legolas, it
seems that our little she-cat has gotten the better of you,� he grinned. �Who
would ever think that an Elf could be bested by a scrawny child?�
�She is not a child,� the Elf muttered under his breath and gave Boromir a cold
look, as he straightened out his clothes and smoothed his hair. Boromir laughed.
Meanwhile, the boy had spotted Ellie and, breaking the other man�s hold on his
arms, he ran to where she was and kneeled beside her. They hugged one
another tightly and Jamie buried his face in her neck.
�It�ll be all right, Jamie,� she tried to comfort him. Jamie solemnly looked up at
her.
�What happened to your chin, Ellie? Why don�t you fix it?�
�Ssssh�don�t worry about that now.� And the girl turned her attention to the
dark-haired man who had come and crouched down before them.
�Well�you two have led us on a merry chase,� he said not unkindly. �I am
Aragorn, and I give you my word that we will not harm you.� Then he added a
bit more sternly, �But we do need to talk.� He stood up, holding his hand out to
the girl. �Come.�
Elllie could feel her apprehension grow as the party of five neared the campsite.
No longer caught in the grips of that mindless panic, she clearly knew that the
Elf Legolas and his companions were not wicked beings even though they
possessed the wicked ring. Nevertheless she was terrified of seeing Sauron�s Eye
again. And she was also afraid of meeting the Istari�s penetrating gaze. Just
because these people were not evil did not mean that they could be trusted. So
Ellie did the only thing she knew how to do to protect herself�she withdrew.
Turning her gaze inward, she gathered up all her special gifts and powers and
hid them deep within her as, one by one, impenetrable barriers went up around
her mind and heart and soul.
Walking hand-in-hand beside her, Jamie immediately sensed Ellie�s change, for
her skin grew unnaturally cool. The boy looked worriedly up at her. Seeking to
reassure him, she gave his hand a small squeeze and smiled down at him, but
the smile did not reach her veiled eyes. Only a couple of steps behind them,
Legolas also sensed the girl�s cold withdrawal. And he frowned.
The hobbits were in the middle of cooking breakfast when they arrived, while the
Istari was sitting with the dwarf off to one side, smoking a strange-looking pipe.
Ellie watched warily as she entered the clearing, and she let go of Jamie�s hand
to wrap her arm around his waist instead. Legolas stepped up close behind her
and put his hands on her shoulders, whether to prevent her from bolting or to
offer comfort she did not know. For a moment all eyes were riveted on the Elf.
Ellie knew they were shocked by the ugly gashes marring his beautiful face, and
she felt a twinge of guilt deep inside her.
�The little one is quite the fighter,� offered Aragorn, as he motioned to Ellie. Now
all eyes fixed on her and Ellie lowered her gaze to the ground. She heard
someone approach and presently grey robes came to a stop in front of her feet.
And now it begins�she sighed.
Elllie whispered a warning to Jamie beside her, �Say nothing,� and lifted resolute
eyes to the Istari�s.
Even though he was quite old, Gandalf the Grey was a powerful and imposing
figure. Second only to the Istari Saruman in ability, he was fairly confident of
being able to successfully question the girl. So it came as quite a shock to him
when he reached into the girl�s mind and found�nothing. What is this? She is
blocking me completely!
�Who are you? Where did you come from?� The girl did not reply, but continued
to stare at him in stony silence. Channeling all of his powers of persuasion into
his voice, he questioned her again and again and again. But the girl never
opened her mouth to speak; indeed, she appeared as if she had even ceased to
breathe, as still as she was. One hour, two hours passed, and Gandalf was not
only troubled, but also increasingly frustrated. It was crucial that he find out
exactly what the girl had been able to discern about the ring and the Fellowship�s
mission. He needed to know who or what she was, and how extensive were her
powers. And he needed to find out where she and the boy were headed. Without
these answers he would not be able to determine what threat if any they posed
to the Fellowship. And he would not be able to let them go.
The boy had long since tired of standing and was sitting silently at the girl�s feet.
Legolas was now off to one side watching, while the others were packing and
quietly talking among themselves. Gandalf started to pace in front of the girl,
occasionally stopping to look at her, as she followed him with her eyes. She
roused only when he threw the boy a speculative glance, and then only long
enough to repeat, �Say nothing.� Then silence and stillness again. The boy was
obviously under her influence, and the wizard did not think he could get all the
answers he needed from him, anyway.
Left with no other choice, Gandalf announced, �They go with us.� And that is
how Ellie and Jamie came to join the Fellowship of the Ring.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Led by Gandalf, the eleven travelers
journeyed southward, stopping periodically for short breaks so that the hobbits�
whose appetite for food seemingly knew no bounds�could have a bite to eat.
During one of these breaks, Ellie and Jamie were offered a proper luncheon, but
she found chewing difficult with her injured jaw. She would have to do
something about that later, when it was dark and the others could not see.
Ellie spoke little during their trek, and, except for an occasional inquiry from
Legolas and Aragorn as to her well-being, her captors were content to leave her
alone. But she could often feel Gandalf�s pensive gaze on her.
Jamie, on the other hand, was a virtual chatterbox. While volunteering little
information about himself and Ellie�much to her relief�he scarcely seemed to
stop talking the entire day. He moved with boyish enthusiasm from elf to hobbit
to dwarf to man to wizard to elf again, and so forth, asking question after
question.
From Jamie�s conversation, Ellie learned much about her new companions. She
now knew that Aragorn was no mere ranger�as his clothing and reserved
manner would imply�but rather the heir to the throne of Gondor�a king! While
on the other hand, Boromir, who had the bearing of a prince, was the son of the
Steward. She learned that Legolas was himself a Prince of Mirkwood, and, much
to her amusement, that he and Gimli found each other very irritating. The
hobbits Merry and Pippin were an inseparable pair, and quite a happy and
mischievous duo. Sam was humble and serious, and looked after Frodo, as a
devoted servant would his master. Although she avoided looking at Frodo as
much as possible (even with her defenses up she was terrified of the ring), she
could tell that he was greatly troubled by the burden he carried. She still did not
know the reason why he carried the ring, nor where the group was headed, but
she was able to surmise that they had set out from the Elven city of Rivendell on
a mission of some importance and that the ring was at the center of it. Gandalf
was the undisputed leader of the group, much respected and much loved, but
Frodo and the ring were the reason the Fellowship existed in the first place. Ellie
was still not ready to talk, but her worries had greatly eased to see such a
diverse group of people come together for, what she now instinctively knew to
be, some noble purpose.
The sun was low in the sky when they made camp and had all but disappeared
by the time dinner was cooked and passed around. Ellie knew she could not eat
with the pain her jaw. Fortunately, the encroaching darkness provided excellent
cover for her to heal herself. While the others were busy eating and drinking,
Ellie set to work. She closed her eyes, cupped her aching jaw with her hands,
and called upon the healing gift hidden deep within her. Just like a small spark
ignites into a flame and then the flame grows into a brilliant fire, so did her
power of healing ignite and grow inside of her until a familiar heat consumed
her.
Sitting close to her on her left, Jamie startled, then smiled. Ellie is back. And the
boy snuggled up to her warmth. Meanwhile, sitting a few feet away on the girl�s
other side, the Elf Legolas also noticed the change. One moment he was sitting
in cool shadow; the next moment he felt as if he was being bathed in warm
sunshine.
Puzzled, Legolas rose to his feet and walked quietly to where the girl and boy
sat. Crouching down before them he stared wide-eyed at Ellie�s glowing face.
When he had first looked her way, he had thought that the glow was a reflection
from the campfire, but now that he blocked the fire with his body, he realized
that the light came from within the girl herself. He longed to touch her skin.
Ellie sensed Legolas� presence just as she finished healing herself, and she slowly
opened her eyes to find his face inches from her own. Although it was dark, she
could see him clearly and was once again struck by his heartbreaking beauty�
which made the ugly gashes on his cheek seem all the more grotesque to her.
Without thinking about the consequences, Ellie raised a healing hand to Legolas�
face, and whispered, �A face as beautiful as yours should not be marred in this
way.�
The girl�s touch took his breath away. He could actually feel his skin heal
beneath her gentle caress, as an exquisite heat spread from his face throughout
his entire body.
�You�re a touch-healer,� he said. And his blue eyes filled with wonder.
