If I were rain,

That joins sky and earth that otherwise never touch,

Could I join two hearts as well?"- Tite Kubo

She woke with a start, gasping for breath, forehead sweating. She hunched over her knees, muttering muted curses under her breath. She'd just had the most awful dream- a giant eagle had carried her away while Arsenio looked on, his fur shining in the moonlight. The eagle had flown over many small mountain ranges and forests, and had finally landed in a valley surrounded by mountains so high she couldn't see their peak. As she brought her hands up to rub her eyes, she smiled to herself, planning on telling Torren, Arsenio's pup about it and laughing over it. When she finally opened her amber eyes, she gasped and her right hand flew to the knife that was constantly sheathed at her left hip. The world had gone black. The ground underneath her was not earth, nor grass. It was twigs, covered with a thick layer of straw or hay, of which she could not tell. When she reached up, the fingers of her outstretched right hand connected with feathers, and she snatched her hand back with a small gasp. What was this? Could her dream not have been a dream at all, but a distant memory?

Steeling herself, she reached back up for what she had now assumed to be a wing, and pushed up as she stood. The wing raised surprisingly easily, and she shielded her eyes as the light came flooding past the wing.

The view was incredible. The sun had begun its ascent over the cloudy peak of a mountain to her left, and the golden rays of first light shone onto another crag, and reflecting off the snow at the very top to shine on the small lake that was about half a mile away from the tree she stood in. This brought her back to the issue at hand. She was at the top of a huge tree, in a giant nest, and the Lakota heart tree was nowhere in sight, and at this thought she panicked and swung around to face the owner of the wing that had warmed her during the cold night.

"Your name is Aella, is it not?" it asked her, the words stuttering out of its large beak, suggesting that Westeron was not a language often spoken here, wherever that was. She had to strain her neck to meet its gaze, as her head just reached the bend in its two strong legs. She could now see the true size of the eagle- its incredible wing size mean that the nest was easily 60 metres in diameter, and its immense tawny eyes were roughly the size of her head, and when the eagle tilted its head she remembered the question.

"Yes, it is. I must confess, I do not know why I am here." She replied in equally halted Westeron, which reminded her again of the change of scenery. With the Lakota, she had only ever spoken Vilkas, only very rarely had she ever needed Westeron, if she had needed medicine only humans or hobbits could provide.

"I am honoured to meet you, Aella. May the wind always sing under your wings. My name is Gwaihir, and my father the King sent me to fetch you from the Lakota." Her heart clenched at his words, as they brought images of the pack to the forefront of her mind. "Do they know where I am? I don't even know where I am!" she exclaimed in sudden realisation, trying to resist the urge to put a hand on the hilt of her hunting knife.

"You are in the eastern region of the Misty Mountains, in Ile Si Asa, the valley of the Eagles of Manwë. The pack know where you are and your departure has Arsenio's approval. My father the King suggested that fetching you while you were under the effects of a powerful sleep draught may be less traumatising for you than to have to drag you away from your family. I believe Torren was rather indignant that you were not conscious to say goodbye." He bent down and lowered the wing closest to her. "Climb on my back and I will take you to the King."

Aella took one last look at her surroundings, and moved towards the eagle. Her boot quickly found purchase on Gwaihir's shoulder, and she used her left leg to push her body up and onto his lower neck. Gripping tightly with her knees, she leant forward and grabbed a handful of feathers to steady her body, and took in a deep breath as she felt the muscles in the eagle's back ripple as he prepared for flight. Spreading his vast wings, he turned his head to look questioningly to look at her, and as she nodded, he launched himself off the nest.

The wind whistled in her ears and whipped her dark brown hair off her shoulders as girl and eagle plummeted towards the earth, and she struggled to keep her eyes open as she let out a terrified scream. She leant forward even further so that her chest and stomach were pressed against the feathers that decorated Gwaihir's back, and she knew, even as they continued to fall, that they would not touch the ground. And true to her train of thought, Gwaihir snapped his wings open at the last possible second, and she whooped as they sailed upwards, and banked towards the centre of the valley, where a rock three times taller than any regular tree, and twice as wide as the nest they had just left stood majestically. As they neared the rock, she could make out a lone figure of an eagle, waiting for them.

"Brace yourself, little one, we are about to land." Called Gwaihir, as he spread his wings and angled them so that he could slow their descent. They landed with a muted thud, and Aella took her cue to swing her right leg over Gwaihir's neck and slide to the ground, where she landed in a crouch. As she straightened her body, she looked the second eagle, the King, up and down. He was immensely large, but the way he held himself clearly stated that he was powerful. She could almost feel a sort of aura radiating off of him, and on a whim, she bent at the waist and bowed her head.

"I am Arthmael, the Eagle Lord. You are here at the request of Gandalf the Grey, and you are to stay with us for one year." He said, stepping forward, and speaking better Westeron than her and Gwaihir put together. She wondered where he had had the opportunity to speak the language, but she quickly ended her train of thought as she realised that this was her cue to speak.

Aella stepped forward also, unsure of how to respond. "My name is Aella, your majesty, I am honoured to meet you. If you don't mind me asking, why am I here?" she asked nervously, resting her hands on the small of her back, on the supple leather of her brown tunic.

"Dark times are drawing near, child. An enemy from the north is approaching, surely but slowly. You are destined to help a dwarf reclaim a lost throne, and in order to do so you need the skills we can teach you. With the Lakota you learned to hunt, to heal, to speak their language, but this will not be enough. We must teach you our own language, how to fight an enemy who will fight back, the right plants to eat and so on. You will need all of these things if you are to succeed, and succeed you must, or we are all lost." Arthmael did not break eye contact with her throughout his speech, and Aella found herself growing more and more terrified.

"How long do I have? If what you say is true, then there is no time to waste." She commented, looking around at Gwaihir. "I can hunt, I can fend for myself, but if I am to fight in a war, I don't see how any of you can teach me to fight a man."

"There is a settlement about 50 miles from here, where a small community live in the woods. In a few days we will take you there to see a man who owes us a favour. But for now, you will go with Maysa. She will show you where you will stay for the next year. When the year is up, you will have a day with the Lakota to say goodbye to them. Then you must return to your childhood home, as it is imperative that the dwarf you must help, and his company, do not know of your origins until the time is right. They will not trust a woman straight out of a wolf's den, or an eagle's nest.

"Thank you, your majesty, for your hospitality and generosity. It is an honour to be allowed to live with the eagles of Manwë." She replied. Another eagle she assumed to be Maysa was called over by a short shriek from Arthmael landed swiftly, and knelt so that she could clamber onto her back. Aella nodded to Arthmael, and smiled at Gwaihir, before turning and gripping onto Maysa's neck.

A/N: So I was reading through this again on my laptop, and I realised that I hated the first couple of chapters, so this is the second draft of the chapter. I'd read it if I were you, as there are changes to the plot and the characters have changed. I realise that not everyone will see this, so I'll post an A/N chapter so you know. Thank you to the people who have followed/favourited/reviewed this fic, I have to admit I am disappointed by the 3 reviews yet 1,200 views... Oh well! Please review and tell me what you think of the changes? Light xx