It took only a few days to ride to Rivendale, fortunatly nothing untoward happened. When they arrived they were immediatly shown to the council chamber and seated, Kalay, however had not been an expected member of the party so she chose to stand behind Legolas instead of taking another's chair. Her circumstances of being there had been explained to Lord Elrond by a messanger sent from Legolas upon their arrival so that he would not be surprised by the unexpected guest.
She stood in her place quietly as the other's made their way in, examining each of their faces for her memory should she need to know later. Lord Elrond stood and began his speech saying the ring had been found, and asking what each thought should be done with it. The young Hobbit had alin the ring on a stone table in the center of the room, and returned to his seat. Most said the ring should be destroyed so a very hotheaded Dwarf, named Gimli got up and attempted to smash it with his axe. Kalay flinched as the weapon shattered and thought to herself what a naive fool the Dwarf was. A human man stood up and said that the ring should not be destroyed, but used against the enemy instead. He ranted on for a bit, before another man told him he was basically being an idiot for even assuming he could weild such power. At this Legolas jumped up and showed the first man his error in such speach to the ranger Strider who in reality was Gondor's lost prince, Aragorn. Aragorn told Legolas in elven to sit down, but things just got worse with everyone arguing and shouting at each other. Had Kalay not been standing where she was or as quietly as she was she would not have heard the little Hobbit agree to take the ring. She glanced at him and so soon did everyone else. A fellowship was soon formed to take the ring to Mount Doom and toss it into its burning inside. Aragorn ha pledged his sword, Legolas, his bow, Boromir also agreed to come along as did the Dwarf just to make sure that elves were not going to take over the adventure. Kalay was sworn to protect Legolas so of course she would be going, and before Lord Elrond could assign any other along, three Hobbits popped up from different places, much to everyones surprise.
So the party consisted of two humans,one elf,one half elf, four Hobbits, and a wizard. A stranger combination had never been formed to anyones knoweledge. They were to set out early in the morning after a good meal and plenty of rest. Aragorn said his goodbyes to Arwen and she pledged her life to him. Boromir drank too much and staggered to bed, Gimli did much the same. Legolas wandered around for a while taking in the peaceful scenery until he heard quiet music from nearby. He peeked his head around the next corner just enough to Kalay with her flute playing a soft tune, she stopped and turned her head slightly in his direction.
"I am not so human I cannot tell when someone is watching me,"she told the night quietly.
"I have never accused you of such," Legolas answered, blushing he walked up and sat down on the bench near her.
"It is late and the journey is long, you should be in bed."
"I could say the same of you my Prince," she gave a soft teasing laugh and looked at him.
"Yes...you are right, we should both be off to bed. I'll walk you to your room to make sure you get there." He reached down and this time grabbed her wrist gently and pulled her to her feet. She smiled at him remebering a very similar situation not too long ago. His hand was warm against her skin, she shook her head trying not to think about it as he walked her to her room not taking his hand away until they were at her door. He opened the door and gave her a gentle nudge inside, she turned and was about to thank him when he bent and planted a kiss on her cheek. Kalay blushed bright red, and choked on her words as she simply bayed him a good night and closed the door behind her.
Legolas stood just outside her door for a few minutes after to make sure she didn't sneak back out before heading to his own quarters. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear Aragorn behind him until he put a hand on Legolas' shoulder and he jumped in surprise.
"She has put quite a spell on you for me to be able to sneak up on the elf prince," he said quietly smiling at his friend.
"I...don't know what your talking about.."he stammered in return.
"Oh..really, then my human eyes decieved me when I saw you kissing your guardian on the cheek good night a few moments ago."
"Oh, that...well we have been friends for a long time and I was just telling her good night." He tried to calm the nervousness in his voice over being caught in such a private encounter by a close friend. Aragorn just smiled as they walked on to their own rooms, he bid legolas a good night and went to bed himself. Legolas went to his room and laid down, but was unable to fall asleep for several more minutes. His thought kept roving back to that kiss, next time he told himself it would not be on her cheek but her delicate lips. As he thought about this over and over he drifted off to sleep.
Meanwhile similar thoughts were drifting through Kalay's mind, and she sat on her bed for a long time with them drifting back and forth. Why had he done it, would he do it again, was their friendship turning into something more for him and did she want it to? The questions swam in her head till she was dizzy and fell back onto the soft mattress drifting into a dreamless sleep.