Chapter Text
You awaken in the forest, it feels like any other day... Except for the minor fact that it is dark. You look around at your surroundings, all of it unfamiliar. You sit up and realize you feel a little off balance and that there is a slight throbbing in your right temple. You touch the point where the throbbing is coming from, it feels... crusty and perhaps a little sticky. Bringing your hand down from the side of your head, you realize that it is blood and that this is a long yet not major cut going from above your right eyebrow and across ending at your cheekbone near your ear.
Ugh what happened? You wonder as you bring yourself to your feet. Where am I? Despite being unfamiliar with your surroundings, you manage to find your way to a path. You were thankful to have found it, surely it would lead you to somewhere.
Fate was not going to make your journey an easy one, you feel like you’re being watched the whole time you follow that path and decide maybe it is safest to stay off it so you veer back into the uncharted woods, trying to stay near to the path. You hear a rustling in the trees above your head. Looking upward, you see a large black object descending upon you. Actually, you see more than one... Their appearance strikes fear into the core of your being. They have glinting fangs and shining eyes. Worst of all... they all have eight legs... They’re spiders and rather large ones at that!
Quickly, you draw your blade from its sheath. ‘ Ah, great,’ you thought, looking around. ‘ I'm surrounded by spiders. I HATE spiders.’ You feel tears welling up but blink them back. Your odds of survival against a ring of giant spiders seems low but you’re not going to let the battle be over before it begins by giving up now.
A few of the spiders come charging at you and you fight them skillfully with your sword. During the fight, you noticed another person has joined you in your battle. All you get during the battle was a glimpse, the fighter is certainly a man and a very seasoned swordsman.
"That was some good fighting back there, I'm impressed," the man says, smiling softly.
"Thank you. Your fighting wasn't so bad either," you respond, blushing slightly at the compliment. For an awkward moment, the two of you stare at each other, taking in the other's features. The swordsman had brown hair and some facial hair that was more than stubble but less than a beard. His eyes were grey.
"You're not hurt, are you? Those spiders have poison venom," the swordsman said, breaking the silence again. You could see he was looking at the cut going over your temple, he looks worried.
"No, I'm not. Not from them at least," you feel self conscious in this moment and try to hide the cut more with your hair.
"I'm Aragorn," says the swordsman, "who are you? Are you from around here?"
"I'm...-" You try to start, thinking about it now, you don't know who you are or where you were from. "I-I don't know." Fear floods into you, you can feel it coursing through your veins. Now, you were afraid.
Aragorn must have noticed the terror in your voice and doesn’t question you further on the subject. He frowns. "Follow me," he says. He walks just a step ahead of you, making sure you aren’t about to get lost. If he lost you, he might never find you again in these dense woods. It isn’t terribly far until you come to his horse.
"Do you know how to ride?" he asks.
"I-I think so," you nod, not feeling too confident with your answer. It felt like something you had done before and had possibly been very good at, but at this point you couldn't be too certain of anything.
"Good," he said, getting on the horse. "I just have the one, you're going to have to ride behind me." He helps pull you up onto the animal. He takes both of your arms and fastens your hands around his waist to be sure you weren't going to fall off. "Hold on tight."
With that, the two of you take off through the forest.
God, I hope he isn't going to kill me... Was all you thought.
You make sure to take in your surroundings to the best of your abilities while you hold on to Aragorn on his fast moving horse. The forest is dark and feels endless around you. The sky was not visible through all the branches above your heads. In a way, it has a suffocating feeling. You feel certain you have never been in a forest as dense as this. You can hear various animals in the tree branches overhead, at times you could have sworn you had seen the eyes of something quickly chasing you through the trees.
Aragorn rides to a fancy looking gate that is guarded by two elves and gets off the horse. After getting himself onto the ground, he helps you down.
'My, how gentlemanly ,' you think. The elves approach Aragorn and start speaking in hushed murmurs. You could catch a few words here and there and from their glances in your direction you can tell they’re talking about you. It wasn't unexpected, you'd be talking about yourself too if you could remember anything solid. All your memories now consisted of vague feelings and knowledge about just about everything except for yourself and other people.
"Well, m'lady," Aragorn says cheerily, "we are going to see the king!" It was false cheer, you could tell. He was trying to lift your spirits despite feeling suspicious of you.
One of the guards leads the way beyond the gate and into the cave system. It is very elaborate and you look in awe at the architecture. Sadly, you don't have much time to take it all in as you are whisked away with Aragorn to see the Elvenking.
The Elvenking is sitting upon a very kingly and majestic looking throne. His crown iss elegant and pointy. His face is fair, you think he looks very handsome. Except for one thing... his eyebrows. They are too thick for your liking. He gazes at you keenly, he had been told about you briefly before you arrived.
"So... they say you can't remember a thing. Is that correct miss...?" he inquires.
"That is correct," you answer, frowning slightly at the fact his question was pointed towards getting you to reveal your name. He asks many questions of you like how you could remember how to fight, how you were able to understand the elvish tongues, which even you had been mildly surprised at when you realized it. You answer his questions honestly, hoping that he won’t think you a spy. But since you have no explanation for anything, you do not have much hope.
The Elvenking asks Aragorn about how he found you and what he knows about you. Aragorn vouches for you. Then the king sat silent for a bit, considering all that was said. He gazed at you and there were a few moments of uncomfortable eye contact. You want to look away but you feel as though you can’t. It lasts for what feels like several very long minutes, though it was only about 10 seconds.
"Legolas, take her to her quarters," the king utters in his monotone. You are scared as a young fair elf leads you away down several long corridors. You think you are certainly heading for the dungeons and whatever horrors lay down there, horrors of which you felt were most likely large spiders like those you had fought in the forest.
"Here we are," says Legolas with a slight smile as he opens the door. You are surprised to see it isn't a cell but a well furnished room!
"You mean you aren't going to throw me in a cell?" you ask in shock.
"Lady, we would never throw an ailing person in a cell," he replies, his smile growing slightly. "You will find a water basin in there so you can clean that wound of yours. Since it doesn’t appear to be poisoned, we will have a healer look at it in the morning after you get some rest." Legolas gently touches the cut on your head, you'd almost forgotten it was there. His touch was light and gentle. "If you need anything, just ask for it." He turns suddenly and starts walking away.
"A name..." you whisper, thinking maybe he won’t hear it but half hoping he will and that somehow he will have an answer for you. Legolas paused and turned back around, frowning slightly. You feel embarrassed and suddenly wish you hadn't said anything at all. ‘ Why did I have to say it!? What kind of fool am I?’
"A name..." he repeats. "That I'm not certain I can help you with." He sees the downcast look on your face. "But perhaps I can find someone to help you with that. Or maybe we can have someone come up with a name for you in the meantime. Would you like that?"
You nod.
"I'm ashamed to tell you, I've never been great at naming things," says Legolas, turning slightly red. "You may need to ask someone else to help you pick a name." Legolas gazes into your eyes. He suddenly seemed rather interested in them. "Your eyes... they are a most wonderful shade of blue," he breathed, "like the color of the darkening sky..."
"Wait, maybe that could be my name for now," you say, gazing back into his eyes.
"Aiweneth," Legolas paused for a moment, considering the name. "It seems to fit."
"Not bad for a man who was never great at naming things," you smirk.
"I did name my first horse 'Horse'," says Legolas, smiling back. "I'll leave you alone now so you can get some rest." Legolas leaves the room.
You look around your room a little bit and find that the water basin is located in front of a mirror on a dresser. It is the first time you have seen your own face since whatever had happened to you. You have dark hair and your eyes are a dark blue, exactly as Legolas had described them. You feel somewhat proud of this. Then your eyes wander up to the cut on your head. It looks nasty and in need of cleaning. You feel ashamed of it and think it makes you look ugly and undesirable.
After washing your face, you find some nice garments laid out on the bed. The clothes were for sleeping in yet they look so beautiful and best of all, they are clean. You put them on and went to sleep. You sleep deeply and undisturbed.
In the morning, you are woken up by the healer. The healer was a young and beautiful elf maiden. Since the wound was not poisoned and you had not been harmed by the spiders, she places a simple salve on it to prevent scaring.
A little later in the morning, Aragorn stops by your quarters. You tell him of the name that you and Legolas had chosen for yourself.
"Aiweneth is indeed a suitable name for you for now. It matches with the color of your eyes," Aragorn comments. His eyes wandered to where the wound was on your head. "I take it that the wound was nothing serious?"
"The healer said it wasn't poisoned, infected, or from spiders. She seemed to think it was just from a bad fall, which would also explain my memory loss."
"I'm glad of that..." Aragorn trailed off. He looks a little remorseful.
"What? Is something wrong?"
"No, no. I just hate to leave you here like this."
"What do you mean?"
"I must be going away for a little while on business. I'll be back in four days though, I promise."
At these words, you feel fear run through your veins. While these elves are nice, you aren't sure that you can trust them like you can Aragorn. After all, Aragorn was the one who helped rescue you from the forest and bring you to the safety of Mirkwood. But would the elves treat you so well without the ranger present?
"Fear not, I have been asked to keep you company while Aragorn is gone." Just then Legolas steps into the room. He had been waiting outside for this moment. You then feel a little better about staying in this place.
You stay in Mirkwood for a couple months and mostly hang around with Legolas. Aragorn came and went as he pleased, saying that he was on business whenever you pressed him for details. It doesn’t matter much to you, Legolas was turning out to be excellent company. You practiced your sword fighting, which you were already pretty great at. Each time you fought with a sword, you grew more confident that it was something that you had done a lot previously in the times before you had lost your memory.
Legolas also helped you practice with a bow, which was something you were far less skilled at. You tended to fumble with the arrows, making it a slow and inefficient weapon for you to use. Though perhaps it was nerves because you were catching some slight feelings for the Elven Prince. Whenever those thoughts came into your head you shrugged them off, whoever you had been, you probably weren't good enough to be with royalty. You hoped soon Aragorn would take you away to a place where you could find out more about who you were. It was obvious that none of the elves in Mirkwood had any idea of your identity. Aragorn had mentioned that some man named Elrond might be able to help you and that if he couldn't, perhaps there was something in the extensive libraries in Rivendell. It sounded as though you would be leaving this place soon.
With not much time left of your stay in Mirkwood, you grow sadder as you realize you don't wish to leave Legolas behind. He is so interesting and he treats you well. Most of the elves in Mirkwood seemed to be a little afraid of you, though they could not put the reason why in words. You feel rather hurt and like perhaps you had a curse placed on you. Legolas seems to sense your sadness and tries to help you make the most of your remaining time in Mirkwood. He seems to be a little mournful at the thought of your impending departure as well.
On your last full day in Mirkwood, he takes you out into the forest for what he said was a final archery lesson.
"Here we are!" Legolas announces, leading you into a clearing. Legolas is examining your face, looking for a reaction. It's a rather beautiful place, lit by elven magic. At the center of the clearing is a picnic basket.
Suddenly, you break into a large smile. You're awestruck. "Its beautiful," you barely manage to utter. A tear leaks from your eye. This unexpected kindness is truly something you had never experienced before.
Legolas smiles softly and gently wipes the tear off your cheek. "Come, let's eat and enjoy this final day rather than mourning it." He leads you to the picnic basket and pulls out a blanket for the two of you to sit on. He places the food out. It's all fine elven delicacies that are traditional in Mirkwood. "Are you excited about traveling to Rivendell?" he asks.
"I have rather mixed feelings on it," you say. "What if it's all for nothing? What if there is no information there on who I am?" You frown slightly. "That… and I'll miss you." You look away, blinking back tears.
"I'll miss you too Aiweneth," he says sincerely. "Something tells me we will meet again in the near future." He places his hand under your chin, gently turning your head to look at him. "Even if they don't know who you are, you're always welcome back here." At those words, you actually start to cry a little. Legolas looked concerned, "What's the matter? Did I say something wrong?"
"No, you didn't. It just- I don't think anyone has ever been so kind to me."
"Perhaps it's a good thing you can't remember who you are then." You look at Legolas, offended. "Which, I know, sounds insensitive to say. But I mean if no one in your previous life was ever kind to you, what kind of life could it have been?" This statement doesn't make you feel much better, though you know there is some merit to it.
"It was my life, Legolas."
"It certainly was, but maybe you are better off this way. Maybe it is by the will of Iluvatar that you cannot remember your past."
"I doubt that. I feel cursed. Surely it is not by the will of Iluvatar that most seem to be inexplicably afraid of me. You and Aragorn are the only friends I've made here. Children stare at me when I walk by, I see the fear more clearly in their eyes than anyone else's."
"Maybe it is that you're cursed. Maybe you're not. It's not often that we get visitors in Mirkwood, particularly ones who know nothing about themselves. Look, don't put too much stock in it. People who know you aren't afraid of you."
The two of you sit in silence for a while and eat, contemplating all that was said. After the picnic, the mood turns lighter again. You decide that maybe Legolas is right, maybe the fear from the other elves is due to your memory loss.
After the picnic, Legolas does follow through on his final bow lesson. As usual, he has to make minor corrections to your form. Though you sometimes make yourself have bad form just so you can feel Legolas's gentle touch. In the end, you are able to get off a few good shots. Legolas comments on your immense improvements from when he first started teaching you, though it still should not be a weapon of choice for you. It’s not hopeless, maybe you could kill a few enemies with one if you absolutely had to.