[LúthienTinúviel]

Tinuiel let out a sigh when she heard Thranduil tear down Micanar. "Thank Elbereth," she said in a low voice, but it was not low enough. A guard standing not far away, but with his back to her, heard Tinuiel's words.

"Hey! You there. This is a private questioning. Get out of here!"

Tinuiel bit back a sharp reply and left her listening post. She started to make her way toward her rooms, but she needed to think, and the stone walls of the corridors seemed to bear down on her. She turned right and made her way through a maze of corridors to the outside. She breathed deeply. The smell of Green Wood always helped to clear her mind. She set off on her usual walk, though it was marked by no path. Tinuiel did not need paths to tell her where she was in the great forest. She walked beneath the trees for a long while, thinking over the events that seemed to her to be more grave than any yet let on. She was deep in the woods when the gentle woodland noise was interrupted harshly. Tinuiel froze in her tracks and listened. She could hear a voice in the woods. She crept closer to the sound and peered through the leaves of a great tree. In a little glade she spied an elf. He was sitting with his back to her, muttering under his breath. Tinuiel tried to make out what he was saying, but she heard naught but babble. She thought she picked out the words, "Never!... I won't tell you...Please don't hurt them..." But she couldn't be sure. No matter, she thought. Trespassers are trespassers. With that she sprang out from behind the trees, an arrow already notched to the string. She fast and silently did she move that the elf did not even hear her until she spoke--her arrow only inches from the back of his head. "Stand up, slowly," she commanded. The elf stiffened, but obeyed. "Now turn around." The elf did so, and as he did, Tinuiel gasped. The elf's face was haggard, and full of pain. So great was the anguish on his face that she almost lowered her bow, but pity did not triumph. "Declare yourself," she said. "Who are you and what business do you have in Thranduil's realm?"