“Hi.” Legolas didn’t look up from his work. Sure, he had heard the light footsteps tread across the layer of freshly fallen dead leaves, the soft humming, the tinkling giggle every so often. But he couldn’t think that whatever maiden had wandered out of the tunnels had approached him. Not while he was on active guard duty!

However, when the childish voice tried again in a cheerful, sing-song tone, “He-llooo-oo,” he was forced to at least glance upwards. When he did so, his own eyes came into contact with two very round, very bright little gems set in a pretty little face. It was the very child who, along with her guardian, Legolas had led into the city two days before, her cheeks and nose a rosy pink from running around in the cool weather.

“What’re ya doing?” she drawled. She clasped her dainty hands together in front of her and rocked back and forth onto her heels with unspent energy.

Legolas replied shortly, slightly cranky at having to patrol the same area still, “I’m on guard duty, if you don’t mind.”

“Perfect! I’ll help you. Commander Eleina Lalaith, at your service,” she threw her shoulders back, stiffened her body, and saluted like the soldiers at her old home did. Then, remembering her place, she added, “Only I can’t fight, so I’ll just point the bad guys out and you can kill them.”

“That would work except–“

”Except what?”

“This is official business. It’s not to be taken lightly.”

“Oh.” Eleina took a couple steps backwards, nearly tripping over an obtruding root, and froze with her arms crossed in front of her. She waited. Legolas tried to ignore her at first and began pacing around a bit, but his eyes kept returning to her, just standing there, watching.

Finally he turned to her fully and demanded, “What?”

“It doesn’t look very important. Nothing’s happening.”

“It is important! If I let my guard down for even a minute, something could slip by and–“

”All right, I get it. You don’t have to get all . . . impassioned about it,” she muttered, waving her hand for him to stop. She didn’t, however, leave.

“Don’t you have any little friends you can go play with?”

“No. I only just got here!”

“Well then shouldn’t you go make some friends!”

Eleina crossed her arms over her chest and scolded, “You’re being very rude. You weren’t this rude to me when I got here.” He stared back at her for a second, then sighed and allowed his commanding stance to drop somewhat.

“You are right. My apologies. I . . .my apologies, my lady.”

She nodded curtly, “That’s more like it. You were very nice and funny when I got here but now you were being a crab apple.”

“A what?”

“A crab apple! It’s– nevermind. I’ll tell you later. You’re on guard duty right now.”

“That’s right, I am.”

She watched him closely for a minute, then asked, “Can I sit with you? Please? I’ll be really quiet, I promise!”

“Fine,” he relented. “But only this once, because I feel bad for being rude.” She smiled and quickly took a seat on the ground beside the tree. She curled her knees up to her chest and silently stared off into the distance. Legolas inwardly regretted the silence; she was funny, even when she was offended, and such a bossy, talkative little thing! He had to admit, it was quite amusing to have her around. And it wasn’t like there was much of anything going on right now, anyways.

After a couple minutes, she couldn’t help herself and had to ask, “How long do you have to do this?”

“Longer than you’ll be able to sit still, I don’t doubt.”

“Me, either, because I already want to run around.” Legolas chuckled and watched her as she began slowly spinning in circles, waving her arms gracefully in the air in a strange little fairy-like dance. Indeed she looked the part. “Have you ever killed anybody?”

“What?”

“You know, killed somebody,” she repeated, pulling her finger across her throat and then letting her head loll to one side as if she were dead.

Legolas quickly shook his head, “No, only spiders.”

“Spiders?” She held her fingers about an inch apart and looked at him with a great lack of enthusiasm.

“No, spiders,” he returned, pointing from the ground to the top of the trees.

Here eyes got big and she gasped, “Why do they make them that big?” Legolas laughed. “I want to see one.”

His laugh immediately disappeared and he shook his head, “No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you– don’t go looking for one, if that’s what you’re planning. You’ll probably see one soon enough as it is, but not on your own. It wouldn’t be safe,” he warned.

Eleina shrugged, “Then you can come with me. You’ll protect me, right? You’re big and strong.” Legolas grinned but shook his head. “You wouldn’t protect me? Or you aren’t big and strong?”

“I would do my best to protect you, Lady Lalaith,” –she beamed at the nickname– “but what if I were to fail? What then?”

“You wouldn’t fail.”

“But if I did?”

“You can’t fail because you’re all grown up and grown ups aren’t suppose to fail.”

“But they do.”

“I know they do, but they aren’t supposed to.”

“And what makes you say I’m all grown up?”

“Well, you are aren’t you? How old are you?”

“562.”

Eleina fell dramatically backwards to lay sprawled out on the ground and choked out, “That’s old!!”

“No it’s not. It’s actually very young for an Elf.”

“They didn’t get that old where I come from.”

“They didn’t? But Elves are immortal. They would not–“

”But you can kill Elves,” she pointed out very matter-of-fact, sitting back up to stare down his confused expression. “Elves were always getting killed. That’s why I had to leave. The people there didn’t like Elves at all.” He looked at her closely. She said this very simply, but looking at the ground, as if hard memories were stirring up. She shook her head to clear it, though, making her blonde ringlets bouncing. “Well, I’m here now, though, helping you with your guard duty. You need my help.”

“I do, do I?”

“Yes,” Eleina nodded most decidedly. “Here’s the plan.” She motioned with her hand for him to closer and his curiosity got the better of him, so he did, and crouched down to watch as she drew in the dirt. “See, if any bad guy comes here, I’ll run up this tree and start shrieking bloody murder to distract them and I’ll throw rocks at their head. Then you take one of those things–“

”Arrows?”

“Fine, let’s be all pacific: arrows. And you shoot it so it dies. There, we won!”

“How are you going to throw rocks from the tree if the rocks are on the ground?”

“Um...”

“And what if my arrows don’t kill it?”

“Well...”

“And what if your screaming merely makes it decide to eat you first just to make you quiet?”

“Oh, hush up!” she finally yelled, and wiped smooth her battle plan. “If it’s someone nice who wanders into here, you had better let me talk to them, because you’re so mean and no-fun that you would scare them off.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yes, you would.”

“No, I–“

”Yes you would; yes you would; yes you would!” she quickly interrupted.

He just glared at her a minute, then commented, “You’re behaving very immaturely.”

“Well, I am only eight.”

“Ah, just a baby.”

Eleina gasped, her eyes widened, and she jumped up to stand before him with her hands on her hips. He looked up as she insisted very sternly, “I am not a baby.”

“Well I’m not old.” She glared at him a moment longer, then her face suddenly erupted into a grin and a peal of childish giggles streamed from her mouth.

“You are, though, so I guess that does mean I’m a baby –at least to you,” she conceded, and sat back down beside him. “So then what’s your plan?”

“How about if something evil comes around, you run up the tree and keep absolutely quiet and hide while I take care of it?”

“I guess that will work.”

“Good. The last thing I need is you getting yourself killed in my area.”

Eleina rolled her eyes, but hadn’t anything to say back, for once, so she just leaned back against the tree and stared off into the forest.

She eventually sighed, “This guard-work is awfully boring.”

“I know.”

“Then why do you do it?”

“It’s my duty.”

“That’s a bad answer.”

“What?” Legolas looked over his shoulder at her.

“That’s a bad answer,” she repeated. “You should never, ever do something just because it’s your duty.”

Legolas let this roll around a bit, then shook his head, “I know what you mean by that, but sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes you have to just do your duty.”

“Fine, then you can have fun with your duty, and I’ll have fun with my life of freedom.”

“You’re a bit young to be talking about things like that, aren’t you?”

She frowned and retorted, “You’re awfully old to be talking about things like that, aren’t you?”

“I’ll live forever. There’s no final date for me.”

“Well...how do you know?”

“What?”

“How do you know you won’t die? It happens, you know. You should never put things off.”

“You talk like an old woman.”

“You’re mean.”

Legolas laughed, then shook his head, “My apologies, Lady Lalaith. I merely assumed you preferred being called an old woman to a baby.”

“No, I’m a lady, and ladies prefer to be called Lady.”

“Oh, right.” They looked at each other, and both laughed.

“How much longer do you have to do this?”

“A long time.”

“Ugh...” Eleina groaned and threw her arms out to her sides. “How do you stand this? And you usually have to do it without me to entertain you!” Legolas laughed. “It’s okay, though. We can make it through this. Here, I’ll sing you a song and then you can sing me a song...”