The Hobbit / LOTR -oneshots

Free-fallen - Lindir

Warnings: arrow wounds
Word count: 1051
Other: Fairy-ish!reader
Requested: by Vesta2020

You crash down near Rivendell when your wing is injured by an arrow of the orcs. Lindir investigates.

You grumbled angrily, pushing yourself up from the bramble bush you had fallen into. Your skin was filled with scrapes and they stung, but you ignored them. Spreading your wings as open as they would go, you inspected the arrow that was piercing your flesh. Made out of dark wood with black, greasy-looking feathers, it was nasty looking, the metal of the tip was scraped and filled with barbs, varying in size. It was deeply embedded into your flying muscle, just at the base of your left wing.
"Perfect. Just perfect." You couldn't reach it on your own. You tried, but your hands didn't turn enough and your wings were always in the way, no matter which way you tried reaching around. You ran your hand through your hair, feeling the small nubs of your horns in your hair, curving slightly backward, the sharp tip of them protected by the coil they were wrapped in. They had just started growing, as you had reached the age of majority not long ago. Until now, they remained hidden under your hair, only visible when your hair was wet. It would take some time before they grew so tall that others would be able to see them.

You heard a twig snap in the forest, causing you to tense as you forced your wings against each other, despite the pain of your injury. You looked around, hoping to find something to defend yourself, a branch or a rock, anything. You usually carried a bunch of daggers with you, but this was supposed to be a quick flight to cheer you up, and the daggers would have just weighed you down. So you had left them at home, which you were now heavily regretting.

To your surprise, the figure that appeared out of the trees was not an orc coming to finish you off, but an elf with brown hair. His steps made no sound on the soft forest floor, the moss and pine needles covering the ground soft under one's step. you didn't understand what he was doing out here. To your knowledge, elves usually stayed inside their nice little cities and emerged only when they deemed it necessary. As he approached, you opened your wings in a flash, attempting to scare him away. He did jump back at the sigh to them, but they didn't send them running away as you had hoped. It was actually quite the opposite, his eyes got a glow of curiosity in them, and you huffed, crossing your arms.
"What do you want?" The elf didn't answer, just took a few steps closer. You wanted to stop him, but unarmed and alone, you didn't really have a lot of say in the matter.

He walked around you, eyes sliding over your figure with the air of the curiosity you had sensed earlier. There was also something you couldn't quite recognize in his eyes.
"You are hurt." He observed as he saw the hilt of the arrow sticking out of your back.
Lindir wrapped his fingers around the arrow, correcting his hold so he would be able to pull it right off the wound.
"This is going to hurt," Lindir warned you, and you rolled your eyes. As if you didn't already know that.
"I know."
"On three. One, two-" He yanked the arrow out, and you let out a yelp, jumping out of his reach, your healthy wing beating the air.
"Ow." You muttered, slowly moving the injured wing. The pain had dulled to a constant throb, but it was a vast improvement from the sharp flashes of pain you had endured as the arrow was till inside you.

- -

It took you a while to trust him, even after he pulled the arrow out, but you ended up following him into Rivendell. Normally, you would have just ventured straight home, even with your injured wing, but it was getting dark. And the promise of a warm meal and a warm bed for the night made you slowly change your mind, and you followed Lindir (as he had introduced himself) through small worn paths to the city of elves. It was beautiful, you had to admit, and everyone was very nice to you, despite the fact that you were clearly different. You were assigned a room, to which Lindir walked you, still wearing the expression you could not quite get a read on. It wasn't anything malicious, you were sure of that, but it bothered you greatly that you couldn't quite grasp what it meant.

The door closed behind you with a small thud, leaving you alone in the room. There was a small dresser with a mirror, a chair, and a desk stuffed into the corner. The bed took out most of the room, but you were grateful for it, as you probably wouldn't be able to sleep in it otherwise. Sleeping wasn't exactly easy, as your wings were in the way in most positions, but you had learned to deal with them. They weren't like birds, as they didn't fold neatly against one's back, they were much more stiff and required room. They reminded you more of a butterfly or a dragonfly, as when you didn't use them, you just lifted them up and pressed them against each other, hoping that they were out of the way. The dusty, almost grey of them allowed light to pass, but they weren't fully transparent. Looking through them was almost like trying to peer through the smoke. Everything was there but it was muddled and disoriented.

Sighing, you lay on your back on the bed, wings splaying out to your sides. It had been a curious day. But you could admit to yourself that you were curious about what tomorrow would bring. Maybe crashing down into the forest wasn't such a bad thing, maybe it was the adventure you had been waiting for.

I know, the summary sucks but what can you do when I can't come up with anything else. This request was a little harder for me to get out, but hey, I did it!