Sniffling, Quwen raised her head up and whipped the traitorous tears from her cheeks. He shouldn't have died. If anything, she should have died in his place. He was her lord and her family was bound to work under his will but now he was gone. She should have taken his place in death.

Hearing a nicker from behind her, she slowly turned around and saw Del waiting for her, his head low to the ground as if mourning himself. In the distance, she could see the rest of the Rohirrum riding off to Helm's Deep.

But one lone horse waited atop the hill. Its fur shone white in the sun and she knew it to be Arod, Legolas's horse. Deep in her heart, she was appreciative that he waited for her and as she turned back to the sword, she whipped her nose and then pulled it from the ground. She slowly mounted her horse and with one last glance at the cliff, she eased Del into a quick walk and eventually joined Legolas and Gimli at the top of the hill.

"I can't believe he's gone..." She said quietly and more tears threatened to spill.

"No one can lass..."

Numb. That was all she felt. An empty feeling that wouldn't seem to go away. It felt as if all the happiness would never return. Her worst nightmare just came true. And she had seen it coming but was unable to do anything about it.

Eventually the two horses made it to the top of the hill looking out a cross Helm's Deep but Quwen did not stop to look. Gimli and Legolas took only a moment to bask in its greatness before proceeding behind her. They were welcomed into the gates and before she knew what was happening, she stumbled off Del's back and was being escorted further inside the fort. Her movements were no longer graceful but choppy and weakened.

She carried Aragorn's sword tightly in her hand and caused anyone to look at her cringe in fear. Hearing a familiar voice a head of her, Quwen rose her weary head and her eyes landed on Gimli talking with Éowyn.

"Lord Aragorn, where is he?" Quwen's cut wrenched and she resisted the urge to break down into tears once more.

"H-He fell..." Gimli himself only managed to choke out the disurbing news. The White Lady's eyes found the sorrowful form of the Lady of the North and she knew that the news was not a lie. Her eyes rested on the sword in my hand and she swore she saw tears in her eyes. Éowyn stumbled back out of shock.

The lady ranger, the woman before her, had been in love with Aragorn.

Looking into her eyes, she saw the mischievous spark had been distinguished and was replaced by a cold, hard wall. Her reserves were placed back and the only time the Lady Quwen looked relatively human was when she was with Lord Aragorn and his companions. Any other time, she seemed to be rather thoughtful and her eyes would hide all there secrets back within them at a moments notice. The ranger was good at keeping secrets.

Quwen felt someone grab her wrist and she looked up to see Boromir. His face was grim but she followed him anyway. She wanted to be hidden away from all the prying and pitying eyes of the soldiers around her. They no longer saw her as the woman who stood alone to fight against the wargs. They saw her as the woman who had a weakness for Isildur's heir.

He led her inside the keep and walked down many the winding paths of hallways and into a room high above the ground. Walking over to the only window in the room, Quwen sighed but her grip tightened on the sword hilt.

"Do you wish to speak about what happened?" Her eyes shifted from the window to the Gondorian. A small bit of light was streaming in from the sun which was hidden behind the cloud covered sky. He was thoroughly worried about her. He had never seen her break down like that. It was a little horrifying to watch such a strong woman be reduced to little for than a snivelling maiden in a matter of seconds.

"No... His death changes nothing between us..."

"I am slightly confused my lady..."

"I know that you have strong feelings for me but I cannot return them... Boromir, I am sorry but I love you but not the way I love Aragorn... I just want you to accept the fact that we will never be able to be together. There is another woman out their for you, and I am not her..." the Gondorian was silent and he watched her silhouette for a moment. Maybe Quwen was right, she was a rather wise woman and always trusted her feelings and instincts.

"But he is gone..."

Maybe he should just give up his relentless hunt for her heart and move on, but did he really want to? He loved her but she did not return his feelings. Seeing her in this much distress caused his heart to melt but he knew that she wished to not be bothered. Sighing, he watched her sit down in the high backed chair in the room. Taking a few cautious steps forward, he slowly knelt down in front of her. Resting his hand on her knee, her eyes finally met his and he saw how different she looked. This was not the same woman as before. He released a shaky breath, and his eyes darted around the room for a moment while he tried to find his words.

"Quwen, I know that you do not feel the same for me, and you probably never will but... For the short time we were alone together, in the cave... When we kissed, I know that I felt a spark. A spark of something I am unaware of... But, I would like to test the waters once more before I make my final decision..." He was finally able to meet her eyes and he knew that he had to do this. Even in her mourning state, he had to try or this may be his last chance.

He reached his shaking hands up to hold her face. He rubbed his thumb along her cheek and she did not flinch. She just looked up at him with those weakened brown eyes. The green was no longer visible in their murky depths. Leaning in, he hesitantly placed his lips against hers. His moved gently and to his dismay, hers moved back but only slightly and he was able to recognize the feelings that were present the first time that had shared a kiss. Guilt. It knotted up his stomach painfully and he knew that her words were correct. She was not his woman, she was never going to be his woman.

"Perhaps you are right, my lady. There is another out their for me, I have only just not found her yet. Forgive me for all the terrible feelings you must have felt when I forced you to try and love me..." He smiled weakly and found relief in his own words. It felt as if a great burden had been lifted from his shoulders and it was almost easier to breathe. "But, always know, I will be here if you are ever in the need for a warm embrace or reassuring words..." He rose and straightened out. Placing a soft kiss on her forehead, he gave her one last look before leaving her room.

So, he left her in the unforgivable silence, with only her thoughts around her, and a broken heart feeling like a pound of lead in her chest.

The only sound that filled Aragorn's ears was rushing water. He grumbled and tried to move but couldn't. He felt weightless in the water but then his back pressed upon something hard and he knew that he must have washed ashore. Something stirred upon the cool wind around him and it suddenly became a warm breeze. The warmth kissed his cold skin and a weak smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He knew Breeze was watching over him, waiting for his return and this was his way of telling him to go in search of her.

"Aragorn... Wake up..." Her soft voice met his ears and his lips twitched into a smile once more.

"I do not wish to wake. It is bright out..."

"I believe that it is called the sun..." He chuckled loudly and watched as the wind tossed her hair about her figure. She turned to him and smiled, stepping forward and pressing her lips to his. He smiled into the kiss and closed his eyes before placing his hand on her waist, the other rubbing her neck in the process. Pulling back, he stoked her cheek, tracing a very faded white scar along her jaw line.

"I love you..."

"I love you too..."

Her lips felt so real, Aragorn awoke from his rather pleasant dream and could almost feel her lips against his. He felt something nudge his side and he allowed his eyes to roll out from the back of his head. A loud snort came from the tall brown horse above him, warming his face once again.

"Umm... Brego..." The ranger said as the horse lay down next to him and he grasped a handful of mane and pulled himself up onto its back. The horse rose from the ground and Aragorn only used what remaining strength he had to hold onto the mane of the horse and wait until they reached Helm's Deep and his lady.

"The world is changed, I can feel it in the water, I can feel it in the earth, I can smell it in the air... The power of the enemy is growing. Sauron will use his puppet Saruman to destroy the people of Rohan... Isengard has been unleashed."

"If Men loose the coming battles, and Frodo fails his quest, Sauron will have dominion over all life on this Earth, even unto the ending of the world... The time of the Elves is over, you know this. Do the Elves leave Middle-Earth to its fate? Will we let you stand alone?" She woke with a startling jerk, dagger in hand, eyes wide, and sweat coating her brow. Looking around she searched for the familiar voice, but Lady Galadriel could not be found. Once her heart rate was under control, she slumped back onto the bed and whipped her brow. She hoped that they would not be left to stand alone against the wrath of Isengard.

"Quwen?" She turned her head to the side and saw Legolas sitting in her chair, his blue eyes watching her intently. "Are you alright?" Mopping a hand over her face she groaned and remembered him.

"I don't know..."

It was odd that the lady ranger fell asleep in the night. She had fallen asleep in her chair by the window and for a moment, she wondered how she had reached the bed. She only figured it could be Legolas who so easily moved her without gossling about. Sitting up, she rose from the bed and approached the window once more.

"It will take time but your wounds will close eventually. In time, all comes to pass..." He reassured her and she slowly nodded. She felt something odd stir in the belly of her stomach. Today, something was going to happen. Her ranger instincts told her that everything was suddenly going to change again. Looking out below, something exciting stirred in the people below but she could not see the cause.

The elf saw that she was not in the mood to talk and rose from the chair. He opened the thick wooden door to her room and watched he sat back down in the chair. She brought Aragorn's sword across her lap and ran her fingers over it. With one last mournful sigh, Legolas shut the door and left her to mourn.

"He's alive!" A woman cried and his ears were met by similar ones. Aragorn smiled as he looked down at the people around him. Their faces were all paled considerably and they looked as if they had seen a ghost. Upon looking himself over, he saw the reason for their distress and he did indeed look like a corpse that had washed ashore. His hair hung matted in his face, he had a large cut across his upper arm, his clothes hung off him, heavy with the ever present water from the river.

"Where is he?! Where is he?! Get out of the way! I'm gonna kill him!" Aragorn heard Gimli's familiar gruff voice as he dismounted his horse. Once the dwarf burst into view, a wide smile broke across the dwarf's wrinkled face.

"You are the luckiest, the canniest and the most reckless man I ever knew!" He rushed forward and strongly embraced the ranger. "Bless you, laddie!" Aragorn took a few steps back when Gimli tackled him but he smiled none the less.

"Gimli, where is the king?" He asked and looked around. Gimli nodded his head in a direction, and he quickly turned and left him and Brego behind. Aragorn needed to warn the king, and Quwen would most likely be where Théoden was. After all, she was in his protection and would remain under his protection until Aragorn had returned and now was that time.

Looking up, Aragorn was only able to stop short before he ran into his tall elf friend who stood among the people of Rohan, motionless, as he looked him over.

"You're late." They both share a sly smile before Legolas looked over his other wounds. The elf was rather furious that his friend had returned but he was still rather relieved to see him. "You look terrible..." But he continued on.

"We thought you were dead. She has been lost without you..." His eyes flashed up to look at the keep behind him to a window. "Find her..." Legolas ordered with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes. "Find her before one of you dies, again..."

"But I must warn the king of the upcoming threat..."

"It will only take a minute I assure you..." with a devious grin, Legolas led the ranger away into the keep and down winding hallways and through multiple rooms. They stopped outside a door and Aragorn could hear the scraping of a stone upon a blade and he could see the sunlight streaming in under the door. Well, one would not call it sunlight but it was the light coming through the clouds. There was also a voice echoing throughout the room and he could easily recognize the voice as Boromir's.

Legolas knocked swiftly before someone opened the door. Boromir's face was hard with emotion but when he saw Aragorn, a wide grin broke across his face. They glasped arms quietly before murmuring pleasantries. Looking up, Aragorn's eyes were drawn to the only chair in the room. Her shoulders were the only thing visible and they were slumped.

"Breeze..."

"Do not call me that name. Do not call me it ever again..." Her voice was hard with emotion and Aragorn finally realised what had happened. Legolas was not lying when he said that she was lost without him. She did not even want to be called the last endearing name he had called her before he fell. She no longer wanted to be Breeze because the memories that came with it were to painful to bear.

"All my life, I have only known loss. My parents, my entire village, my bloodline, and now I have to add Aragorn to my list of casualties... All I have loved in my life has been lost and I have been left alone... Did I do something to anger the Valar? Or do they not wish me any speck of happiness?" Her voice was rather hard and surprised everyone in the room, even herself.

Aragorn held a finger up to his lips with a sly grin on his features. He took a few steps forward until he stood behind the back of the chair. She looked up into the window to see both their reflections in it.

"His face, it haunts me. It haunts me just like the Nazgul's ear shattering call chills my bones and makes my blood run cold..."

"Quwen, you have nothing to fear about me..."

"And I can hear his voice..." She whispered, her voice quaking with emotion and unshed tears.

"What if you were not imagining my voice? What if I was truly here?"

"Boromir, that is..." She grew silent and she realized that it was not Boromir's voice but another's. She placed the sword she was sharpening back onto the table. His sword. She slowly looked back up at him and she took in his face for a moment before she ungracefully fell from her chair and onto the floor. She stumbled back away from him and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Breeze..."

"This is unreal. You are unreal..." She stammered and he smiled but shook his head. Slowly, she stood up from the ground, her hazel eyes wide. Reaching a hand out, he copied her actions and their fingers inched closer together. As his calloused hand touched hers, she pulled back suddenly and looked up into his eyes.

"No, Breeze. I am very real..." He whispered and she whimpered before he pulled her to his chest. Boromir and Legolas watched quietly from near the doorway, wide smiles upon their features.

"I am real whether you choose me to be or not. I stand before you a real man and my love for you is real..." He lightly touched her face, his dirtied fingers gracefully skimming her sun kissed skin.

Looking down into her eyes, the green flecks, his favorite part, appeared before him and shimmered in the low light. Aragorn was rather taken aback when he saw an angry spark flare inside their multicolored depths and she stepped out of his arms. Her lips turned down in a frown and her eyebrows pulled together into a knot.

"You... you stupid, inconsiderate... ass!" She suddenly reached back onto the small bed in the corner and threw the pillow at him. It hit him in the face was a soft thump before falling to the floor. "Urgh! And to actually think that I grieved for you!" He had to dodge out of the way of a boot. He smiled at her short tempered antics and dodged more flying projectiles.

"This was not the welcome I was expecting..." Aragorn teased and she hurled a thick book at him. Being too slow, he was unable to dodge in time and it hit him square in the gut.

"So much trickery! Was this a plan? Hm, was this a plan between the three of you?" Legolas and Boromir exchanged a look before quickly exiting the room. They shut the door just as a dagger sank itself deeply into the wood.

The pair listened intently to what was going on. More throwing of objects. I few painful hits and slaps. More yelling. It was all rather comical really but they feared for Aragorn's safety. It grew quiet suddenly and they exchanged another look before throwing open the heavy door. The sight before them was rather different but inspiring at the same time. The two rangers were locked together, their lips moving in a rather graceful way. They seemed to not notice the two men standing in the doorway so they quietly left the two with each other. Shutting the door, a fit of laughter came from the both of them, seeing as how quickly the situation changed.

"Those two are rather odd together..."

"Yes, but that is the best part... They fit together as a whole..." Legolas said and Boromir laughed once more before the left the door behind them.

(Only a few moments after Quwen threw the dagger at the door)

"Ugh! I should kill you again just for the pleasure of doing it myself! Do you know what I went through? I cried like a little girl in front of a bunch of grown men!" She yelled as she threw more books at him and her second boot. She punched him in the arm and he rubbed the now sore spot and watched her pace about the room.

"Breeze! Stop! I did not die but I fell from the cliff to save you!"

"But, I saw you and the rocks, and the water!" Cautiously closing the distance between them, he placed a finger over her lips and silenced her.

"Fate did not want us to be apart..." He whispered and removed the finger. Cupping her face in his hands, he touched his lips with hers, and it was ever so light, one might almost call it a whispering wind. After the much needed contact, she shut her eyes tightly and ran her hands over his face, memorizing every line, every mark upon his features.

For a moment, there was a brief thought that entered his mind that she might strike him again at such a close range but that thought was easily disposed of when he saw her shut her eyes.

Her hands trailed down his face to run across his stubble lined jaw to his neck. The warm skin present felt bare and she realized he was missing something.

Pulling back, she reached behind her onto the table and fumbled with something. She undid the clasp and was about to put it back around his neck when he stopped her.

"Breeze, it is your necklace..."

"Yes, but I want it to belong to you. It provided protection to the wearer... Now, hurry and put it back on. You took it off for two seconds and you fell off a cliff..." She smirked before reaching behind his neck to fasten it. "There all better..." Her fingers ran over the cool steel and she smiled.

They stayed locked in each other's grasp for what seemed like an eternity before they broke apart. He brushed his hand through her soft hair. He then entangled his fingers in their soft threads and then gave a small yank. She smiled but followed suit, she gave a more forceful yank and he let out a small noise of pain and she laughed.

He loved the tinkling noise and wished it would happen more often. They're relationship was more playful and open then most others were and they seemed to like to tease one another, even going as far as to inflict a small amount of pain. Aragorn jumped again like he did before and reached inside his pocket. He fished out the same piece of parchment as before, but it was a bit wet from the river. He unfolded it and cleared his throat.

"I missed you like a horse misses his hay on this fine, warm summer day. A rider his horse but this is only natural of course. I missed you like a elf misses his bow and how they like to give a little show, you know. A dwarf his malt beer, this is only plain as day here! A warrior his sword but not on his own accord..." He sighed and continued down the list. "And finally, I missed you like a ranger misses his favorite blade as he sits beneath the cool, tree's shade..." She smiled widely and he stowed the paper away. Reaching behind his back, he brought her short sword and her eyes brightened.

"My short sword... I left it at the battle grounds..."

"And I brought it back to you, just as I brought myself back to you..." He kissed her forehead and her skin tingled with a new warmth.

"But, a poem? I did not know you to be such a poet, Aragorn..."

"It was Gimli's idea..." She laughed quiet loudly before her eyes looked down to her loyal blade in her hands.

"Well, Gimli is a very charming man then. Maybe I should start kissing on Gimli now..." She teased. Aragorn raised his eyebrows playfully and he shook his head. "I'm afraid I can't let you..." He teased and she raised her own eyebrows. "Why not?" She laughed but he only shook his head. "Because you're mine..."

"Excuse me? But, how do you own me?"

"Well, I do not own you... I just... I, well it's a matter of..." He grew silent and she laughed quietly again. She only patted his cheek before his eyes flashed to the window, worry evident in his gaze.

"I must speak with the king..."

Alright, I know, for the most part that any Aragorn/OCs have them having a romantic ruinion but I thought it would be funny if Quwen was royal pissed at our beloved ranger! Well, she was angry for a short time but they made up pretty easily. Well, I got rid of the problem with Boromir so that won't be a problem anymore... Aragorn's poem. Alright I admit, it was rather cheesy but I wrote it in like ten minutes. Anyway... Review! You make me smile when you do and I don't smile often!