Back to the other guys this chapter. LOTR own don't I. Such a shame. Must bow down to Tolkien though, he wrote an amazing story. A/N: Both myself and TFE now have pages on tumblr! Think you could check them out if you're on there? My username is the same-AndromedaeStarStorm69, and the link to the TFE page is on my primary blog. Quotes, spoilers, pictures, update/progress notices will all be up there, so follow me if you want those, and questions will be taken and answered too. Thanks!

Legolas Greenleaf

Cat mounted up smoothly. "Well, come on, then! There's Hobbits to be found!" she called, impatient. I frowned. I had not known that she had even the slightest amount of equestrian skill.

"You can ride?" I asked, an almost accusatory note in my voice. She rolled her eyes up to the heavens.

"Was it really necessary for you to know? You're acting like a boyfriend who thinks his girlfriend is doing his wingman." I had not the slightest idea what that sentence had meant, but I shrugged and helped Gimli onto Arod, rather than confuse myself attempting to solve the conundrum of that sentence.

It was relatively simple to navigate our way to the site of the nightly battle. All we had to do was keep our eyes fixed upon the thick column of smoke rising in the distance-the Rohirric burned the bodies of their vanquished, and the stench of smouldering Orc flesh was unmistakeable.

Arod's muscles moved, smooth and supple, underneath my legs. A fair amount of time had passed since I had last ridden a horse, and it was a very pleasant feeling to ride one now. Cat also seemed to be taking joy in the ride; for she had a huge grin on her face, her flaming hair whipped fiercely by the wind created by speed, her starlit blue eyes alight with a profound pleasure. It was fascinating to watch-for the first time since I had met her, she seemed Elven in her manner. The image was spoiled, however, when Raeia bucked while jumping a boulder, and she landed face first in a bush. "Um...ouch." I surprised even myself with the speed that I dismounted with, bending down to aid her.

"Are you all right?" I inquired, with more anxiety than I desired tinting my voice. She disentangled herself from the leaves and twigs, a solitary leaf hanging out of her mouth. She spat the offender out, and it took me all of one moment to realise that I was essentially holding her in my arms. She looked up at me, those eyes sparkling, a faint hint of a smile curving her lips.

"My hero," she mock-sighed, raising a hand to rest on her chest. My lips twitched, and I fought to restrain them, but a wide grin broke out over my face anyway. I felt a complete fool, but somehow, it did not seem to matter. "Thank you, Legolas."

"You are very welcome."

Cat Jackson

I was pretty sure when I mounted up again that my pale skin was flushed pink, and that it wasn't from riding.

Okay, Catherine Victoria Jackson, get a grip on yourself. This is a made-up fantasy guy from a made-up fantasy world. You have a lot to figure out right now and a lot to do. You do NOT need further complications, and a relationship would be a huge one! Okay, yes, he's sweet, and kind, and gentle, and...yes, a complete hottie, but that's basically everything you're not. You wanna defile that? He's an innocent! I doubt he's even kissed a girl before. And are you really ready for the level of commitment he would probably expect from you? You're seventeen! You've dated two guys before, both of which dumped you into the dirt, and you've only kissed one of them three times! Plus, he's waaay too old for you, and seriously out of your league, remember? REMEMBER?!

The fact that my head was now a lot roomier wasn't such a good thing...it made a lot more space for my gut to be wrong and my brain to be right. All these thoughts were running through my head as I pushed Raeia on ahead, dying to push her further and see what she could really do. Still, I had to stick with the others-we'd already lost each other once. I sneaked furtive glances at Legolas. He was a pretty amazing guy-rider. Yes, rider. It was like he was a centaur, which was a pretty disturbing thought when you got that image in your head, but he was really caught up in it, and he was really, really good. He'd probably had several thousand years' practice-I'd never actually asked him how old he was, but he definitely wasn't in the early twenties he appeared to be. It was weird that someday, if I lived through this, a thousand years into the future I could look exactly the same as I did now. Well, not exactly the same...I'd probably have scars, and my eyes would be different, because no-one can go through war and come out again without changing. It was something I'd learned-you can't ever really go back to what was before, because nothing is ever really the same. When I'd killed that Orc, something changed inside me. While my adrenaline had been pumping, it hadn't mattered so much, but I felt awful about it afterwards. I had ended someone's life. I had murdered someone, even in self-defense and protection of my friends.

However, after these past few days, something had shifted in me again, and now if an Orc came within five feet of me I would more than happily put it out of its misery and ram my sword through its neck.

And that night, when Legolas and I had almost kissed...I had a sneaking feeling that after that our friendship wasn't going to be like it had been before. I cursed myself to every hell going for that. I had been confused, muddled up, and he had been there...God, I really was a heartless bitch. Did this count as leading him on? I mean, yeah, I had a touch of the warm blue fuzzies for him, but it was just a crush. Just a stupid crush I'd get over in time, brought on by the fact that he was ridiculously handsome. Right? I didn't know what he was thinking, and surely he couldn't be in love with me-I mean, come on, think about it-but there was a big chance that if he really did want to kiss me, it went a lot deeper for him. And that really wasn't good.

Right?!

By the time we came to the pile of incinerated Orcs, I was trying not to openly retch. You could almost TASTE the stink! It pervaded every single sensory organ. I was going to have to wash later if I could find a river and it wasn't because I had blood and sweat and dirt caking my body. Nah, I was used to that at this point, like I said. It was because I was certain that that smell, nearly as bad as the monster in the pond outside Moria, was going to linger around me unless I did.

I patted Raeia's neck before slipping out of the saddle, marvelling at the grace with which my body moved now. In fact, I was so busy with that that I managed to fall over onto my ass. See? I'm the epitome of grace and dignity. I scrambled up hastily, brushing the dust off my butt.

Now...what had happened the night before?

I closed my eyes. They had separated me from the Hobbits, out of spite or necessity, I had no idea. It had been a huge blur...but I had to remember. Let's see...I had been on the right side of the campfire, so, by the powers of deduction, they would have been on the left, because Orcs weren't the smartest or the most enthusiastic about effort out of the races of people I had met. I had to think. So, I'd gotten up, grabbed the guy who'd tried to get his leg over's sword, I'd almost passed out from smoke inhalation...what else had happened? Éomer had come over. I'd picked up my cloak and put it back on...and I thought I'd seen the Hobbits disappear into the woods, but I couldn't be sure.

I opened my eyes again, my hair falling all over the place. Fantastic. I had to make do with tucking what I could of it inside my cloak. My left hand immediately sought the hilt of my sword, as it always did when I was stressed or thinking, but I realised that the Orcs must have taken my weapon at the Anduin, because I couldn't remember having it for the past week or so and it wasn't on my hip now. Aragorn looked over. "I believe you are missing something?" he asked. Legolas removed the sheathe from his belt, blade and all, and passed it to me.

"Here. This belongs to you," he murmured. I closed my hands around the brown leather, and drew it, the steel gleaming dangerously in the sunlight.

"Thanks," I told him, fixing it to my own belt, and was rewarded with a slight smile. "I owe you."

"I believe that this also belongs to you. An Uruk must have torn it from your neck, for I found it in the grass." He held out a pendant on a chain, a pale green leaf, and it took me a moment to make the connection. The necklace that Lady Galadriel had given me! I guess I hadn't worn it long enough to miss it when it was gone.

"Oh...my necklace..." I sounded stupid. Well, no change there. "Thanks, Legolas. You make a habit of cleaning up after dumb redhead girls?" Yep, real smile this time.

"I only know one of them." I grinned and accepted the pendant back, reaching up to fasten it around my neck, failing spectacularly. I sighed in frustration, but suddenly, I felt large, strong hands replace mine. "May I?"

I was taken slightly aback, but I nodded, and the necklace hung from my neck once more. I touched it, and a weird sense of calm filled me. I felt...a sense of peace, almost. What was it she'd said to me? This will remind you of who you are, and aid you in times when you feel at your most hopeless...well. Let's test that one out.

I began to think. I was a dancer and not a detective, but the human mind was as good as any supercomputer and I wasn't dumb. If what I thought I saw was right...and Merry and Pippin had escaped like they had in the movie and book with Kim in the mix...

"So. The Hobbits are alive," I stated.

Legolas frowned. "How do you know?"

I stuck my right index finger into the air in that awesome way like I'd always wanted to. "Well, I'm no Sherlock Holmes, but 'tis indeed elementary, my dear blond Watson," I thought out loud. "So. Let's think this out logically. I didn't see the Hobbits anywhere, except when I thought that I saw them run into the forest. This would probably be their best option of survival-they couldn't exactly run out onto the hills. No cover, any idiot with a bow or spear could probably just aim and fire. Enough shots, stands a pretty fair chance of hitting and killing them. If they ran anywhere, it was into the forest. Because, let's face it-the Orcs or Uruk-hai or whatever, yes, whatever, are cowards. They're cowards because they ran with the smallest and most vulnerable people, one of them a girl, and then me, also a girl. It's sexist but true. They didn't stick around to try and kill you guys off. It's either pretty good strategy or cowardice. I'm gonna shoot with the latter because these guys aren't the smartest, so they wouldn't exactly run into a creepy, weird forest late at night-ergo, not much of a chance of being followed, plus the cover too." I breathed deeply. Aragorn opened his mouth. "Wait, I'm not finished. Give a girl a chance. So, they ran into the forest, what then? What happened to them after that? THAT'S what we need to figure out. So we, need to go in there." I pointed to the forest.

"Fangorn...what madness drove them in there?" Gimli whispered.

I raised my left eyebrow. "Well? We're not waiting for the grass to grow here, guys. Move it!" I wasn't sure why Smart Cat had come out then when we could probably have done with her before, but I was happy she'd finally made an appearance. I sprinted off into the forest. "Come on! Make sure the horses stay where they are and follow the random redhead girl into the enchanted forest!"

I was just going with it. Why the fuck not?

You know how forests are usually light, pretty, happy places? Fangorn was the exact opposite. It was dark, twisted, menacing-basically think of a tonne of adjectives to describe a bad place and there you have it. I wasn't scared (this was a cakewalk after Moria), but I wasn't exactly thrilled to be there either. Just ahead of me, Gimli put his fingers to his mouth. "Ugh! Orc blood!" he spat.

"It's really not a good idea to lick random liquids you find on plants," I pointed out. "That could have been poisonous." Aragorn was looking at some huge imprints in the dirt.

"These are strange tracks," he mused. I gulped. How could those be tracks?! They were massive! What could possibly have made them?! Bigfoot?! Gimli didn't seem too happy either.

"The air is so close in here," he complained uneasily.

"This forest is old," said Legolas softly. His blue eyes traversed our surroundings, respectful, sorrowful. "Very old. Full of memory...and anger." I regarded him quietly. He seemed so wise, as if he'd seen so many forests grow and mature and fall. He probably had. I felt like a child in comparison.

Suddenly, a creaking, groaning sound startled me out of my reverie. "The trees are speaking to each other!" Legolas cried, his eyes widening.

"Eh, what?" I asked, sounding like a moron. Aragorn's eyes locked onto Gimli, who had his axe in the air and was looking around apprehensively.

"Gimli! Lower your axe," he advised. I burst out laughing. Of course! Axe=living trees probably no likey. The Dwarf glared at me.

"They have feelings, my friend. The Elves began it. Waking up the trees, teaching them to speak." Huh. Okay. Elves had taught inanimate objects to speak. Pointless thing to do, but oaky dokey. Bad pun intended, by the way. Gimli seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Talking trees. What do trees have to talk about, hmm? Except the consistency of squirrel droppings." Good point. Legolas ignored him, however. He was staring off into the distance. As usual. I turned my attention to the trees around us, hoping nothing was going to come and eat us.

"Aragorn, nad no ennas!"

I'd kind of given up on questioning things by now. a) Elvish was not my strong point because my lessons had been cut short for various reasons and b) we were in Middle-earth. That was weirder than anything else that had ever happened to me; anything else that happened was peaches and cream. Either way, Legolas was making me nervous.

"Man cenich?" whispered Aragorn, following. I hung back a little. I wasn't exactly keen to see whatever it was that was going to jump out and attack us.

"The White Wizard approaches."

An alarm went off in my head. "Saruman?" I hissed. Two months ago, this would have been a very good reason to panic. Now? I kept one hand on the hilt of my sword and hoped I remembered how to do a proper back parry.

"Do not let him speak. He will put a spell on us," Aragorn warned. Well, that was a given. Evil wizards tended to do that in fairytales. Although-I couldn't really think of this as a story anymore. This wasn't a dream I was going to wake up from. It was my stone-cold reality, and the sooner I really accepted that, the better. Fate wasn't about to baby me through all this. I still had a very long way to go. "We must be quick." I nodded, and drew my blade out of its sheathe. My hand wrapped around it in the same way Aragorn had shown me, and my arm immediately adjusted to the weight of the steel longsword. It gleamed dully in the half-light of the forest.

Somehow a cue wasn't needed as we simultaneously turned to fight.

The second I felt the insanely bright white light start to carbonize my retinas, I also felt a weird...burning sensation in my right hand. THAT WAS BECAUSE MY GODDAMN SWORD WAS HEATING UP IN MY HAND! "Oh, shit!" I exclaimed, dropping it faster than a hot potato. I looked down at my hand to see how badly burned it was-but somehow there wasn't a mark on the smooth, white skin of my palm, much less an angry red burn. "What the...?"

Everyone else was staring at the white light, but mercifully I knew better. I looked down and to the right, shielding my eyes, not particularly wanting to go blind. It would have been like staring into the sun, for goodness' sake! A voice that sounded...oddly familiar...came to my ears. "You are tracking the footsteps of three young Hobbits." It was a statement, not a question.

"Where are they?" Oh, nice one, Aragorn. Confirm to an enemy what we're doing. Smart move.

"They passed this way the day before yesterday. They met someone they...did not expect. Does that comfort you?"

"Who are you? Show yourself!" The light died down, so much so that I dared to look up and see...Gandalf?

Oh, I'd been so stupid.

It seemed like I'd forgotten everything even remotely significant from the story. I mean, come on! Okay, so I hadn't been the craziest, most enthusiastic fan of Lord of the Rings in the world, but you'd think I could remember something. I blinked and remembered where I was. I was in the dark, leafy deepness of Fangorn Forest. Focus again, Cat. Come on.

"It cannot be," Aragorn breathed, in total amazement, stunned by the dramatic turn of events. Legolas was in complete, unbending awe.

"Forgive me," he said, abashed, as he got down on his knees. Gimli bowed. "I mistook you for Saruman." Hit by sudden inspiration, I placed my hand on my heart, bowed my head, and swept my hand out. I'd done it!

"I am Saruman. Or rather Saruman as he should have been," Gandalf corrected, his voice slow and deep, like an old river.

"You fell..." Aragorn was at a loss for words. You have to admit that it's a pretty astonishing thing for someone you thought was dead to come back to life. But here he was, alive and whole, safe and sound.

"Through fire-and water. From the lowest dungeon to the highest peak, I fought him, the Balrog of Morgoth." The wizard's eyes were far away, remembering, though they looked straight at us. "Until at last I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Darkness took me...and I strayed out of thought and time. Stars wheeled overhead, and every day was as long as a life age of the earth." As he spoke, my mind began to form a picture, and I closed my eyes. I was amongst the stars I loved so much, their light warming my heart. "But it was not the end. I felt life in me again. I've been sent back, until my task is done."

"Gandalf," murmured Aragorn. The former looked confused for a moment.

"Gandalf? Yes, that was what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. That was my name."

"Gandalf!" Gimli beamed. The wizard looked at him, smiled back.

"I am Gandalf the White. And I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide."

TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE

We had to traipse back the way we had come. Gandalf had more or less established himself as leader of the group again, so we basically followed his lead. I carefully stepped over a large tree root I was almost certain hadn't been there before. "One stage of your journey is over, another begins. We must ride to Edoras with all speed," Gandalf told us, walking on faster than I'd ever seen him. Gimli looked surprised and also faintly irritated.

"Edoras? That is no short distance!" he exclaimed.

"We hear of trouble in Rohan. It goes ill with the king," relayed Aragorn.

"Yes, and it will not be easily cured."

"So, we have run all this way for nothing?" Gimli persisted. He wasn't best pleased. "Are we to leave those poor Hobbits here in this dark, dank, tree-infested-" I raised an eyebrow as groans and angry snarl-ish sounds came from all around us.

"Really tactful, Gimli. I take it you like being flattened by 'accidental' falling trees," I noted, with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Just a hint. "Stop being a wimp and man up. You're basically the only hope of us not looking like a Middle-earth boyband, myself included as the stupid backing singer."

"It was more than mere chance that brought the Hobbits to Fangorn. A great power has been sleeping here for many long years. The coming of Merry, Pippin and Kimberley will be like the falling of small stones that starts an avalanche in the mountains," Gandalf mused.

"In one thing you have not changed, dear friend," Aragorn observed wryly. The wizard inclined his head, quizzical, waiting for an answer. "You still speak in riddles." They laughed together, in the way only two really good friends could. Reminded me of being with Kim. I remembered this one time when we were at Boston Arts' Sports Day. What? We'd still had to do regular lessons, including Phys-Ed, though if I'd had my way I'd have taken another dancing class instead. Anyway, I was on the baseball team (being picked was a complete fluke, I was terrible at baseball) and she was doing as little as humanly possible-AKA she'd entered the 100m sprint and nothing else. And only that because our teacher had asked her and she had the hugest crush on him that I had ever seen. Mr Cartwright was actually quite ripped; I had to say, though I hated him because he always nagged at me for not taking part in any sports. What? I was pretty ripped myself back then anyway with all the dancing I did. Nothing compared to now, obviously. All the running and fighting and swordplay practice had stripped me of any puppy fat I had to my name, leaving me with basically muscle and sinew.

"A thing is about to happen that has not happened since the Elder Days...the Ents are going to wake up, and find that they are strong."

"Strong?!" The Dwarf looked completely thrilled with this new development. It prompted another attack of irritated tree-creaks. "Oh, that's good." I bit my lip to avoid laughing.

"So stop your fretting, Master Dwarf. The others are quite safe. In fact they are far safer than you are about to be!"

"This new Gandalf's more grumpy than the old one."

As we came back out of the forest, we were greeted by the horses. Raeia nudged me crossly, as if to demand where I'd been while she shifted about in front of the scary trees, and I rubbed her nose in a peace offering. Arod plodded slightly closer, beginning to nip her tail gently. The mare snapped her teeth shut an inch away from his fetlock, annoyed with his attention, neighing angrily to get him to back off. Legolas grabbed his reins as I snatched Raeia's. "Bad girl! That's rude. Don't be mean to the guy, he's just a little curious," I glared. She shook her mane as if to say, 'Who? Little old me?' I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry, Legolas. Guess she's a little high-strung." I patted the big white horse's forehead. "Take no notice, gorgeous." His owner (if temporarily) watched me with interest.

"You have never mentioned that you love horses so much, or that you could ride," he commented.

"You're really bringing that up again? Well, I grew up on a-" I stopped myself abruptly. "Never mind. But yeah, I do, a lot. I was on one before I could walk and then some. I had a black pony called Bobby and I used to braid his mane when I was a little girl. I have to say, I've missed being around them."

"What happened that made you leave your pony behind?"

"It's a story for another time. We'll leave it at I haven't been on a horse since I was a kid, okay?"

Gandalf whistled then, a sharp, clear, ringing sound I was pretty sure they could hear in Mordor. Off in the distance, a horse whinnied proudly in answer, and within five seconds, the most beautiful stallion I had ever laid eyes on galloped towards us, muscles moving fluidly. I gasped in awe. "Oh...wow..." I whispered.

"That is one of the Mearas, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell," I heard Legolas say in amazement. The horse trotted closer, shaking his lovely head.

"Hi there, handsome boy. You're a looker, aren't you?" I murmured, only just stopping myself from stroking the smooth, snow-white fur of his flank. Gandalf laughed at me.

"His name is Shadowfax," he introduced. "He is the lord of all horses-and has been my friend through many dangers."

We rode on for the rest of the day over dusty plains, Raeia seemingly trying to race with the others, Shadowfax outpacing her by miles. I grinned and urged her on, loving that I was riding again after so long. I'd forgotten just how much I loved it. "Come on, girl. Let's set the standard for speed and show these guys what-for."

TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE TFE

I remembered something from Grey's Anatomy later that night. Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? So Meredith Grey had said. Because it feels so good when I stop. The full truth of that statement was realised as I lay, full stretch, underneath the black velvet sky, and groaned. "Oh, thank you, Jesus!" Nothing, nothing could have felt better than that. Nothing in the world. The food in my stomach was just a bonus. I hadn't even realised how tired and hungry I was, until someone had handed me an apple and some bread and suddenly they weren't there and the others had amused expressions on their faces, or until I had flopped down in the grass to catch some shuteye.

Another person suddenly stood above me. "May I join you?" I had to bite back a groan. It was impossible to avoid this guy. Legolas was everywhere, all the time, and it was making it really hard for me to have a crush on him from afar.

"Sure. You even have to ask anymore? Rules and boundaries have kind of taken a flying leap out of the window." He lay down beside me, and I resisted shortening the foot-wide gap between us. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Must there be something bothering me for me to wish to be in your company?" I shrugged.

"You tell me. My patience is running thinner as the amount of time I get to sleep grows smaller and smaller. I'm tired, Legolas. You might not understand that, but I am, and I'd like to sleep for the next six hours." He sighed.

"All right. Sleep."

"Thank you."

Nothing could have prepared me for waking up on his chest the next morning for the second time.