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It called to him now. Never before standing upon the decks of an ancient ship had the sea called to Legolas the way it called him now and there was little he could do but heed it. The armies of Gondor and Rohan camped now along the great field called Pelennor, preparing for a final stand against Sauron, and while his head should have been in strategy, instead it was lost at sea. This was madness.

Legolas understood now why the Elves had flocked from Middle Earth in droves. No longer were they tethered to this land and concerned with the perils of it. No longer did the matters of Men and Dwarves and Halflings cross their minds on a regular basis. Instead, it was Valinor and her white ships that called them and they answered it, marching without cease into the west.

Legolas knew there were many things left to be done before he could join them. He had made a pact with the company of the Ring and intended to keep it, intended to see Aragorn, son of Arathorn, installed as king of all Men. Sauron's grip in the east was too strong yet to give in to temptation and he tried to use that to guard his mind and serve as focus for the days to come. Still, as it had never been difficult before now, it was a strange shift in the way he thought and it almost seemed he was dreaming awake.

He pushed open the flap of his tent, intending to take in the night air on this eve of battle. Elves did not need to sleep in the traditional sense of Men and Dwarves and Legolas had already had his fill of rest this evening. Tonight, he sought the stars and their company and thought to commune with those long past. But as he stepped through the opening in the tent, a curious thing happened - there were no stars above him.

Instead, he was in a hall of some sort, closed in and carpeted without view of the night sky. There was a doorway there too, plain and unassuming, and Legolas wondered how this was possible. Was this some Elven magic or was it something older, something of wizards who trod the earth long before Elves came to prominence. Was this something of Numenor, now twisted to do Sauron's will? He knew not.

With a hand at the hilt of his knife, he turned his head a bit, listening for any signs of danger. Hearing nothing obvious, he pressed on, trying to make sense of this mad, new world.

[[Find an Elf wandering the halls at night!]]

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"Oh no! I just wasn't paying attention and I didn't hear you. I didn't hear you at all!"

A light flush hits her pale cheeks and she tries to breathe out. "I'm sorry. My name is Elsa."

"Legolas," he offered in kind, dipping his head a bit in reverence. He hoped to make amends for startling the young woman because he would need allies in this strange place if he hoped to return to the field of battle.

"Where have I stumbled upon? I do not recognize this place."

Elsa frowns, trying to think of a good explanation. "It's a hotel. Doors open and close and you end up...here. Sometimes you can go home. Sometimes you can't."

She's seen doors that blow with cold air, but doesn't dare open them. She can never return to Arendelle.

"You might have a door that takes you home."

"A hotel? I am not familiar with the word." Legolas had never experienced a place quite like this, a waystation with doors that may or may not lead home. It reminded him of a human version of his own Mirkwood, only that forest was well known to him and he found it impossible to get lost there. Other travellers might, and often did, but not an Elf raised beneath those boughs.

"Why would this place bar my safe return to Middle Earth?"

Oh dear. She's not sure how to begin, though Elsa's mind tries to tick through the options. "It's...well. If it were normal, this would be a place for travelers to come and go. An inn? Do you know that word?"

"Yes, I am familiar," Legolas said, smiling now that they had found common ground. An inn was something he could understand, even if he still did not understand the magic that brought him to this particular one.

"But this inn isn't exactly the same as those frequented by Men, I take it, given it can allow or bar entry at will?"

Generally, Elsa thinks of herself as cool-hearted and cool-headed, but even she can see that his smile is dazzling. He looks sort of...more than human.

"Yes, that's basically it."

"Some strange magic is at work here," Legolas mused. It was not what he was used to from Elves and didn't seem sinister the way necromancy was; there was no ill-will beneath this roof. Instead, it was something he merely did not understand and that stimulated a desire for further exploration.

"Forgive me, my lady Elsa, but is there somewhere I could rest for a moment? I do not need sleep, exactly, but I do need somewhere quiet to organize my thoughts."

"Oh! Of course!" Like it or not, even a queen of isolation needs to eat, to walk around, to see the sun now and then. In that time she's gotten well-acquainted with the hotel, all while avoiding any doors that look as though they might lead to Arendelle.

"Follow me but...watch your step." As she turns down the hall, her footprints leave a faint trail of ice.

Legolas found the ice to be strange but made no comment. Perhaps it was something that would become more evident in time and, as it was, there was no harm committed. He walked carefully behind her and took note of the rooms and doors they passed along the way. It would be important to note this path in case he needed to retread it soon.

"I cannot thank you enough for your help. You are very kind and I owe you a boon."

"It's nothing." Really it isn't. Elsa doesn't help; nothing she ever does is helpful. "You don't owe me anything."

There's a lounge not far off, blessedly empty despite being near a set of elevators and Elsa gestures. "Have a seat."

Legolas chose a chair and eased into it, allowing himself a moment's respite after the confusing events of the last several hours. It would not take long to acclimate, he did not think, but for the time being he was still a little out of sorts.

"I think you are more helpful than you believe yourself to be, Elsa. Truly."

She wishes she could only have been more helpful when it counted. When she hit Anna with ice. When her parents went on that journey. When they were alone.

But Elsa stays mum on those thoughts as she settles carefully into a seat.

"I know it can be hard, when you first show up."

"Experiencing a new place and new people is always difficult," Legolas agreed. "Especially when one prefers one's own company. I have never disliked being on my own."

It was difficult to be alone in Middle-Earth - the stars, the moon, even the trees and blades of grass were company in and of themselves.

"I grew up alone," Elsa replies, not thinking to stop herself. More than ever, she misses Anna for all that Elsa knows that it's safer like this, separated by worlds. She still expects to hear a knock at her door sometimes and a soft, lisping voice asking if she wants to build a snowman.

"You get used to it."

"Perhaps," Legolas said gently. "But perhaps we aren't meant to grow too used to it. Among Elves, while solitude is occasionally sought out, it isn't how one is meant to spend the entire span of his years. I am sorry you grew up alone, though. May I ask what happened? Forgive me if the question is rude. I mean no offense."

"An elf? I've never met an elf," Elsa's sadness draws back for a moment, outweighed by interest and curiosity.

Then he asks the question and she breathes out, uncertain. "I have...abilities with ice. It makes me dangerous."

"An Elf," Legolas confirmed, tapping one of his ears. It was pointed, subtly so, but enough that those in Middle Earth knew he was Sindarin and not human.

"My people were the first to walk Middle Earth and to speak to the forests and hear them back in return. How does ice make you dangerous? Ice is beautiful, especially when it coats the trees and rimes the glass."

"And it freezes the heart, makes people sick. Hurts them." Elsa can only think of the negative things she's done, forgetting entirely the moment that she'd believed she was free and able to let her power spiral free.

"But that is not all that it can be," Legolas said softly.

"I think it is a disservice to deny the beauty of something solely because it has some danger in it. Ice is elegant. Snow is beautiful and makes the whole wide world seem soft and clean. There is good in it, I think."

"You really think that?" Her voice is soft. Elsa has seen the beauty in ice, but has never known how to do anything good for others with her powers.

"I have never been happier than when experiencing the beauty of the world. Some of my happiest days were atop snow, white as far as the eye could see."

Legolas would not deny that it was harsh, at times, but ice could be stunningly beautiful. "The moon and stars glinting off a field of snow...it's beautiful."

When he calls the ice beautiful, Elsa leans for and presses her fingertips from the floor. Ice furls out from her touch, spirally up a few feet to create a sculpture of a reindeer in motion. It's perfectly clear, gleaming in the light while a few extra flurries clear through the air.

"Anything I've been able to imagine, I can make."

Legolas touched the ice lightly, tracing the curves of the sculpture. "This is true talent," he said, somewhat awed by the display.

"This is not something to hide away. Great skill and artistry went into this."

It had been a long time since Elsa had heard it called that. A talent. A gift.

"I just wish I knew how to make it stop when I needed to."