Gloria ran down to the dungeon, know knowing that her faithful brother was following her. The guard, a young, fresh officer, shakily held out his arm. “I am sorry, you can’t come past this point, your highness. King’s orders.”

Gloria easily pushed aside his hand. “Oh, but I think I can. Pray tell, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you, a handsome youth, at the feast?” Coyly, she batted her long, black eyelashes. The guard gulped visibly, then spoke, quiet and flustered. “But, I- I can’t leave my post, and I can’t – I can’t leave you here alone with him.”

Hiding her smirk, Gloria backed up against the row of cells, then declared, sweetness dripping from her tongue, “But you must be starving – IÂ’ll watch him. Look, IÂ’ll stand back here against these bars and I wonÂ’t move until you get back. I just hate to see such a handsome, intelligible guard go hungry simply because no one had the guts to relieve him from his treacherous duty!”

When his expression displayed his doubt, she smiled disarmingly. Finally he conceded. “I think it might be okay, as long as you stay against the cell door, I don’t want you hurt on my watch.” With one more glance back, he slowly strode away.

However, the moment he was gone, Gloria nearly threw herself at Mortan’s cell door with enthusiasm. “Mortan, we have to go, now! My father won’t believe me, so we have to leave.”

Mortan looked up at the out-of-place girl in a fancy ball gown and nearly laughed, but the gravity of the situation choked that desire. “We? No, I will go, but you? You belong here. This is your home.”

The comment seemed to have silenced Gloria, but only momentarily. A few seconds later she was explaining what she was doing. “It’s my hair pin, I caught my brother reading my diary and so I made him teach me how. We came down here to practice. Ah, here we go.”

A rough hand clamped on her shoulder just as she was about to swing the door open. Jumping slightly, she turned to see who it was. “Legolas!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

He mimicked her tone. “Yes, ‘LegolasÂ’. What do you think you’re doing?”

Sighing, Gloria tried to explain it quickly. “I’m getting my friend out of a here, do you mind? We’re leaving, please don’t try and stop us.” Quickly she tried to swing the door open and duck under his tightening grasp.

With his free hand, Legolas grabbed the black haired boy by his arm while holding tightly to his sister. “Gloria, I don’t know what you’re up to, but may I remind you, he tried to kidnap you at the point of a knife.”

“Legolas, we don’t have time to sit around yakking, the guards will come back soon. Fine, just stop!” gasped Gloria, grimacing as Legolas threatened to twist Mortan’s arm. “Fine, I’ll tell you. I planned it, so the outcasts could save me and now live here without scrutiny. So now, I’m getting Mortan out of this huge mess.”

Legolas let go of both of them, shock written all over his young face. “Go with Eru, sister.” He was too stunned to say anything else.

But it would be too easy for them to just walk out of Mirkwood, our tale would end too quickly. The Captain of the Guard could be heard in the hallway, steadily heading towards them, ranting at the inexperienced guard with much scorn, making Gloria cringe at the language he was choosing to use.

Rapidly, Legolas took action. With a quick shove, Mortan was back in his cell and with a swift kick the door swayed shut. Then Gloria grabbed Legolas and hauled him into the opposite cell, making her breath come in shallow puffs so they would not be found.

Gruffly, the Captain yanked the fresh officer over to the cells, looking around mockingly. “Well, I don’t see any princess, do you see Princess Gloria?”

Bravely, the guard muttered, “She was here, wearing an orange dress.” He then flinched, barely daring to glance at his commanding officer.

“If she was here, then I’m the king of Rivendell. Now, don’t leave your post, while I go back to the feast and think up a suitable punishment for you.”

Gloria couldnÂ’t stand it anymore – every time she tried to help, someone got in trouble. So, she jumped out of the iron bar confinement and spoke loudly, regally. “Captain, I did tell him to go to the feast, because I was watching our prisoner, questioning him. I hid when I heard you coming, simply because you startled me. You can watch Mortan if you please.” She then turned to the shaken young elf. “Your name is Japeth, right? IÂ’ll get a platter sent down to you, also one for our incarcerated guest. ItÂ’s the last meal he will probably eat, I think heÂ’s entitled to it.” With that she marched off, followed by an embarrassed Prince Legolas. While they were walking away from the jail, he grabbed her arm. “ThatÂ’s your secret?! I canÂ’t believe you wanted to pull me into this. I canÂ’t help…”

Gloria turned to her brother, staring pleadingly. “Except for the five, I have no one else that I can turn to for help, and besides me, Mortan has no one else. I can’t sit and watch him die, but I can’t do anything on my own.”

Taking her hand, Legolas continued. “I was going to say, I can’t help unless I know everything. Let’s deliver those platters, then get some for ourselves. We’ll go to my room and sort this out.” Gloria nodded, then said. “I’ll race you! Mark, get set, go!” The two raced to the kitchens, but stopped outside the door, breathless.

“Is my hair still pinned up right?”

“Of course, Gloria. Let’s go.”

They snuck in and filled up four trays from the courses that were yet to be brought out, then silently carried them off. Dropping two by Legolas’s room, they carried on to the jail. “Japeth?” Gloria called. Wordlessly he waved them over, then Legolas gave him the tray while Gloria continued. “Could you open the gate so I can give Mortan his food?”

Japeth looked at her doubtfully. “I don’t know about that.”

Smiling disarmingly, Gloria pleaded. “He’ll stay against the back wall, and I’ll only go in enough to put the tray down, then you can lock the door back. No harm will come of it, I promise.”

Groaning, Japeth nodded – he hoped she was telling the truth – and watched until Mortan backed against the far wall before opening the door. Gloria moved in slowly, making eye contact with Mortan. She genuinely smiled and mouthed, “Legolas and I are forming a plan.”

Briefly, Mortan nodded – she almost missed it, should she have blinked a second before – and she backed, her momentary mission accomplished. She turned to Japeth and dropped a curtsy. “Thank you so much, but I must leave now, due to matters of state.”

Japeth merely nodded while locking the gate, his youthful cheeks burning with embarrassment. Gratefully, Gloria grabbed onto her brothers arm and together they walked off to Legolas’s room, Legolas teasing her along the way. “Matters of state? I wouldn’t call this ‘matters of state’.”

Once inside Legolas’s room, Legolas gracefully settled on the floor to pick at his food while Gloria stretched out on the bed, nibbling on a few loose grapes. Looking at his suddenly grown up sister, Legolas spoke with authority. “Gloria, I want to hear this story, the whole thing, the whole truth.”

Sighing, Gloria began her narrative, knowing the futility of lying to her brother – he knew her better than anyone else and could sense when she was lying. She finished with, “Since the plan went astray, Mortan is now going to be killed and itÂ’s all my fault. I could have convinced him it was a bad idea, but I didnÂ’t. What am I going to do?”

With a sad look at Gloria, Legolas doubtfully answered. “I’ll tell Ada everything, maybe if it comes from me, he’ll believe it. If not, we have less than a day to do something.”

Gloria shoved the tray away. “I’m not so hungry anymore.”

Glancing worriedly at his sister, Legolas joined her on the bed. “Not eating won’t help Mortan one bit. Eat something, then we’ll go talk to Ada.”

With a grin, Legolas reached for Gloria’s cake, and she smacked his hand lightly. “Eat your own cake.”

“I was going to – after I finished yours.” Legolas ducked as Gloria swung playfully at him. “Please donÂ’t hit your lovable, handsome, angelic brother!”

Laughing at her brother’s stretched definition of himself, she corrected him. “You mean, teasing, conniving and comic brother.”

Striking a pout pose, Legolas spoke around the first and last mouthful of his cake, “After you finish eating, we’ll go talk to Ada. No hurry.”

Gloria consumed the moist cake in record time, then stood. Legolas noticed she was shaking slightly, so he grabbed her shoulders to support her. “Are you okay, Gloria? You don’t seem to be your typical self.”

“I donÂ’t know. Legolas, I think I might be ill.” Glancing around the room, Gloria refused to let her eyes meet her brother’s.

Following her gaze, Legolas asked, “But how? Elves don’t get sick.”

With anger in her voice, Gloria retorted rather harshly. “And elves don’t cry, but I’ve cried three times.”

Eyes growing wide, Legolas exclaimed in a quiet whisper, “Gloria, do you think that you might become human? You know, lose your immortality?”

Blinking back blinding tears, Gloria whispered, “Who knows? But don’t let Ada know, it will just worry him.”

Nodding numbly, Legolas didnÂ’t even know what he was agreeing to. Inside he was quaking with fear. What if his beloved sister was becoming mortal? What would happen to her then, he questioned. Honestly, Legolas knew if Gloria became mortal she would no longer be accepted among the elves. She would be like Mortan. All the thoughts were running through his head as they were walking down the stone hallway.

Hugging her arms to her chest, Gloria was rubbing them slightly as she walked. Turning to her older brother, her blue eyes showed her hidden fear. “Legolas, I’m cold. I’ve never been cold like this before. What do I do?”

Alarmed, Legolas quickly surrendered his jacket to his little sister, placing on her shoulders. Trying to smile, his words brought comfort just as his jacket brought heat. “Trust me, you will be fine. I wouldn’t lie about something this important. We’ll wait in Ada’s room and send someone to fetch him, maybe you’ll feel better out of these cool halls.”

Holding open the door to King Thranduil’s royal chambers, Legolas made sure Gloria was seated comfortably before sending a servant to fetch his father. Only after that task was done did he sit next to his little sister. Gloria laid her head on his shoulder, letting him smooth her bangs out of her eyes. Between yawns she spoke. “You’re such a good brother, Legolas.”

With that she drifted off, between two worlds.

A/N: Sorry this chapter was so long in the works, what with school starting again and all that jazz. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy it!