A/N:

Hi everyone! Finally! After more than one year, I'm starting to release Part II of my fanfic! (centered on "The Two Towers") I hope you enjoy it! I'm enjoying writing it!

This is a Sequel to Lord of the Rings: Part I, a story that tells how the youngest daughter of Elrond, Elariniel, ended up joining the fellowship! To read the first part, make sure to check my profile! I hope you enjoy.

This is a 10th-Walker. If you don't like, don't read. Flames will be deleted, but constructive criticism will be highly accepted! I hope you like my story!

Chapter 1 – Memories

We have been running for a three days, without resting or sleeping. We were chasing the Uruk-hai who kidnapped our two Hobbit friends – Merry and Pippin. The terrain was steep and dangerous.

I started to think about the day I first went to Isengard and memories of that day filled my head. I was way younger. I was with my father, by the main entrance of Rivendell.

"Elariniel" Father said "Take care, in Isengard. Saruman will take good care of you, I'm sure he will"

My younger self grinned at my father.

"At least, I'll get to know Isengard. And I'll learn new things" I said.

My father smiled and hugged me. After that, an Elf I didn't know by that time approached. He was tall, lean and fair, with long blonde hair and blue eyes.

"This is Haldir of Lórien" Father explained, while looking at the elf "He will take you to Isengard and, every time you visit Rivendell, Haldir will escort you"

"Right" I said, smiling.

I looked at the elf. He seemed serious. Not very talkative at all.

"Now, off you go. Have a safe journey" Father said, as I climbed up my horse. I was ready to face new studies.

The elf named Haldir climbed up his horse as well and we left Rivendell. I waved at father, before losing him from my gaze.

My eyes fell unconsciously on the elf that was riding by my side. Not a single little hint of a smile. I was starting to dislike his serious expression. Also, he looked older than me. Probably he was just thinking I was a child.

"Haldir of Lórien" I called out, after a long silence. We had been riding for almost two hours now, and no one had said a word.

"Yes, Lady Elariniel?" He asked, glancing at me, before looking back to the road once again.

"Is there anything that troubles you?" I asked.

"No, Lady Elariniel" He replied, not going any further.

I sighed. And he seemed to notice it.

"Anything's wrong?" He asked.

"Well, yes" I replied, trying to go straight to my point. Sometimes I should just keep my mouth shut, but this time, I'm happy I didn't "It seems like you don't enjoy my company"

This time, he was the one who sighed.

"It's not like that, Lady Elariniel" he hastened to explain "I just don't know what you'd like to talk about".

"Anything's fine" I replied, smiling openly "I'm sure you know things I don't know about Middle-Earth. I'd like to hear about them. Also, call me just Elariniel. I don't like formalities"

He looked at me with a quizzical expression and then started talking about Lothlórien, the home of my mom, and about a lot of other things.

I smiled to myself while remembering that and hoped that I could get to see Haldir again soon. He had become a special friend to me.

"What are you smiling at, Master Elf?" I heard Gimli's voice asking beside me.

My mind came back to what I was doing and I realized that I had slowed down my pace a bit while I was remembering things from the past.

"It's nothing. Was just thinking about my past" I explained.

Legolas, who was running a bit ahead of us looked back to me and Gimli, after hearing that.

"Elariniel, Gimli, come on!" He said, and kept on running.

I nodded and run to catch up to Legolas and Aragorn, leaving a complaining Gimli behind.

The view of the places we had been running didn't change much and the terrain was still very, very steep.

A bit ahead, Aragorn stopped and inched close to the ground. He made his ear touch the rock where he was laying, so we could listen.

"Their pace has quickened" he announced, as he stood back up, looking at us "They must have caught our scent. Hurry!"

He began to run again and I hastened to follow him, followed by Legolas who caught up to me quickly and Gimli was the last one, trying his best to catch up to us.

"Come on, Gimli!" Legolas encouraged, looking back to him.

I saw Gimli stopping for a little bit, breathing heavily.

"Three days and nights pursuit" I heard him saying "No food. No rest. And no sign of our quarry but what a bare rock can tell!"

I waved to Gimli, making him a signal to hurry up. He nodded and kept running. We started getting along better since the boat's accident, but we still tease each other quite a bit. Well, Dwarves don't like Elves and Elves don't like Dwarves.

We kept on running through rocks and plains, tirelessly. My mind went back to my taught and I let myself slowly get lost in them once again.

My younger self was riding an horse, back home from Isengard. I would go home for two weeks every year. While I was home, my father, Lord Elrond, made sure I was learning new things and growing up and getting wiser. I was never very wise. Haldir was riding beside me. I was teaching him to sing the lullaby my mom, Celebrían, used to sing.

"Haldir, come on, your turn to sing" I said, laughing, with my long dark hair, like my sister's, flying to the wind freely, behind me.

He looked at me and giggled. Then, he started singing quietly, the song I had just taught him.

"Now make sure to sing it to my grandparents, once you get back to Lothlórien" I suggested, when he finished.

"I wouldn't dare, Elariniel" he replied, looking to the ground.

I sighed and looked back at him, and tried to make my horse stop for a bit, but, instead, it got out of control and started running, like if it was scared of something. I lost balance, on top of it and fell off.

"Elariniel!" I heard Haldir's worried voice, and saw him running to me, after jumping off his horse "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

I looked up and sat up. I had my hands bleeding and my head bleeding a bit too.

"I'm fine, don't worry, it was just a little fall, I'm not pushed out of 'battle' like that!" I exclaimed trying to smile a bit.

He smiled at me, but still looked concerned. Either way, he gave me his hand, to pull me back on my feet, before healing the small cuts on my hands and on my head.

I tried to get up but I lost balance and fell again. My right foot was hurting too much.

"What's wrong?" he asked again, kneeling beside me.

I looked into his eyes before telling him.

"I can't stand up" I said, finally, after a long silence "My ankle hurts".

He took my boot off and got a way to heal it fast. He said some words in elvish and then put a bit of his cloak as a bandage. He did the same for my hands and my head. Then, he picked me up on his arms and pulled me to his horse. My horse had ran off and was nowhere to be seen. He hastened to ride to Rivendell, where my Father and my siblings would be waiting. I sighed, feeling the pain on my foot still filling my whole body. Suddenly, I heard Haldir's voice starting singing the Lullaby.

"Haldir?" I started.

"Yes?" He asked, looking down at me.

"You must treasure that Lullaby. I don't usually teach it to others. Besides you, and my family, of course, there's just one more that knows that lullaby, but, there's something preventing me from remembering who that person is".

I came back to reality with Gimli shouting behind me something about the rocks. I looked to Legolas, he was running a bit ahead of me, just behind Aragorn. Could he be the one I taught the Lullaby before? He said he felt young when he was with me, that time, in Lothlórien, when I was half-asleep. I decided to keep that to myself and quickened my pace, trying not to get lost in thoughts again. I caught up to Aragorn and, as I did so, I saw something on the ground, shining. I hastened to pick it. It was one of the brooches from our cloaks. It should belong either to Merry or Pippin. I missed their good spirits so much. I hoped our quest to find them and rescue them wouldn't fail.

"A leaf of Lórien" I said.

Legolas who was still running joined us.

"Not idly do the leaves of Lórien Fall" Aragorn said.

"They may yet be alive" Legolas concluded.

"We need to hurry, then!" I exclaimed, hoping shining in my eyes once again. I was not about to lose two other friends.

"Less than a day ahead from us! Come!" Aragorn exclaimed, and ran off again.

I hastened to follow him, and so did Legolas. I heard a noise behind us and saw Gimli stumbling from behind some rocks and rolling to the ground.

"Gimli! Hurry up! We're catching up!" I called out to him.

"Come on Gimli!" Legolas joining me, cheering for the dwarf "We're gaining on them!"

Gimli got up again and tried to run as fast as he could, panting heavily. And complaining.

"I am wasted on cross-country" I heard his voice saying, with a funny tone "We dwarves, are natural sprinters! Very dangerous over short distances!"

I tried to picture Gimli being faster than Aragorn or Legolas running a short distance. Somehow, that was impossible for me to imagine and I let out a giggle. And Gimli seemed to notice.

"What is so funny, Master Elf?" he asked me.

"Oh nothing, nothing, I was just lost in thoughts again" I explained, trying to cover the real reason of my giggling.

We came over a hill and we stopped to gaze across the plains below.

"Rohan" Aragorn declared "Home of the horse-lords"

I looked around. The plains were so green and beautiful, just under us.

"There's something strange at work here" he continued "Some evil gives speed to these creatures, sets its will against us"

I saw Legolas running ahead and looking at the horizon. I joined him fast, in quick and light steps.

"Legolas!" Aragorn called out "What do your elf-eyes see?"

Legolas looked at the horizon for a second longer, before replying.

"The Uruks turn northeast! They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"

That word hit me hard.

"Saruman!" I heard Aragorn's quiet voice muttering.

All of it was still hard to believe, for me. After all, I lived with Saruman for many years. And now, he was just destroying his city, taking two of my friends captive, killing people, poisoning minds, making enemies. That wasn't the Saruman I knew. And in this quest of ours, if I could, I wanted to save him too, and bring him back to the good side. Even though I doubted if it was possible or not to do it. Legolas must have noticed the pain in my eyes because he approached me and put his hand on my shoulder, in a comforting way, gently rubbing his thumb against my clothes.

"It must be hard for you" he said "Knowing that someone you lived with for many years is now someone evil, that has no mercy"

I looked at him, trying to keep myself from crying. I had already cried too much since I joined the fellowship. And I didn't want to keep on being weak. Even so, tears filled my eyes.

"There, there, no crying" Legolas said, drying up my tears right away "You have to be strong"

I tried to smile a bit. And he grinned back. His smile was just so stunning. For a moment, I felt like that all evil in this world had vanished and that he was the only thing that I actually cared for. I blushed at the thought, looked away from Legolas, and tried to keep the thought away from my mind, because I needed to focus on the quest.

Aragorn made us signal to restart running again. We could not waste time. We restarted running. Everyone was quiet. I couldn't help myself but drowning myself in my memories.

Saruman. He was there. Welcoming my younger self to my new home, Orthanc. He gently put his hand on my shoulder and helped me carrying my bags, even though he's a bit old to carry heavy things. Then, I thanked Haldir for taking and guiding me there, and he left.

"So, Elariniel, right?" Saruman asked.

"Yes" I replied "What should I call you?"

"Just Saruman is fine" he said, as we went inside the Tower.

He took me to my new room, showed me the different places of Orthanc, where I could find him, and then said I would accompany him on his daily tasks. That sounded fine to me.

"Saruman" I called out "When will I get to go back home?"

"What do you mean? Back home to stay there?" He asked.

"Yes" I replied "I'm going to miss sister, and the twins. And my father, of course"

He grinned at me, leaning on his staff.

"When your father thinks the task of making you a stronger elf-maiden is complete" he replied "I'll be like your father from now on"

I looked up, trying to get the thought of getting a "new father" inside my head. It felt weird but I would have to get used to it. Probably it wouldn't be as bad as I thought at first. I would learn new things and create bonds with other people who could help me and make me a better person.

I smiled and Saruman smiled back.

I was wondering about that meeting when I heard Legolas's voice next to me.

"Thinking about what happened to Saruman?" he asked.

I nodded and didn't say a thing. I felt his hand gently touching mine, like if he wanted to share his hope with me. I smiled lightly, trying to hide my inside-pain. If I could, I would not only help saving Middle-Earth, but also save the one who was like a second father to me.

Greetings from Cattie, once again!

I hope you liked this first chapter of Lord of the Rings: Part II! I tried to add some of Elariniel's memories, so you could understand her point of view towards Saruman, Haldir, her Father, Celebrían, and the people she met in her past better! I hope you enjoyed! I'm doing my best to keep this fanfic interesting and nice to read. Sorry if you find some typos/little grammar errors. English is not my first language! (Also, I'll try to correct some mistakes in Part I when i have enough time!)

Look forward to the next chapter, please! Some nice events will happen! (I'll try to update fast, by the way!) And review please! Each time you review, you save an elf ;D