Wow, its been a long time since I've updated... and there are no excuses for the wait. But I will explain what has been going on in my crazy life. For anyone who doesnt already know, I'm a junior in college attempting to earn my degree in Elementary Education. For any of you who think this is easy and teaching is a breeze... well I dare you to go into a classroom for just one day and see exactly what we teachers put up with... EVERYDAY. School work comes first (and let me tell you there's been a lot of it) BUT summer is almost here and I will be able to devote more time to Hopes, Dreams, and Destiny. SO PLEASE stick with me. I know it's hard and my updates and few and far between, but I promise I am not abadoning this story!

So I'm done with my rant and I'll let you get to reading. I'm sorry this is so short, but I wanted to post something for you wonderful readers. If there are any errors(which I'm SURE there are) please forgive me and check out the note at the bottom.

Chapter 26 –

Valia sat between Ancanar's shoulder blades. She looked down below her as she came up to the place where Lord Elrond was sitting. She pointed to the ground.

"There. Can you land there, but have them stay a flight?" She pointed to the other dragons behind them.

"Yes, My Lady." He spoke to Valia and roared something to the other dragons. Going in circles, he soared down to the ground as Lord Elrond walked out onto the balcony.

Valia slid off Ancanar's back and rushed over to Lord Elrond.

"You have proven to me today, Valia, that you can do anything you set your mind to. You are a strong elf. Now go and save Legolas."

"Yes but before I go I want you to meet someone." She took his hand and led him over to where Ancanar sat. "Lord Elrond, this is Ancanar. He brought me here and has promised to help me."

"Thank you Ancanar. I owe you much for sparing this young elf in order to help her."

"You owe me nothing this young elf has proved that elves and dragons can live together and not work against each other. I am honored that she has come to us to find help. But I am afraid you are right we must be going Valia, if you wish to reach wherever you are going in time."

"Valia before you go I have something for you." Valia turned back and Lord Elrond pulled out a ring and slipped in onto Valia's finger. It was silver with a blue jewel, the color of her eyes, in the middle. Engraved in the ring were the words, 'The Lady of Magic. Her light holds her power. Her blue eyes of glass, yields the knowledge. She is the Lady of Magic'.

"It was your mother ring. The ring gave her the ultimate power to control the wind around her. It is what allowed her to become what He knew you would follow in your mother's footsteps. Valia, it is a powerful thing; the gift you possess. Know that, and know this, as long as you wear this ring you are connected to your mother in a bond nothing can break. You mother can protect you through this ring. She can speak to you through this ring. She created the ring to make sure of that Valia. To wield its power say the words 'Arwen en' Templamin', when you are finished with the power at a time say 'Ta na telae'."(I am the Lady of Magic. It is finished.)

Valia whispered the words and she rose up in the air, wind circling around her. Her hair blew around, but never fell in her face. She came back down to the ground surrounded by a pool of blue light.

"You have a gift Valia. Nothing can touch you while you are covered in the light. I will tell you more when you return but for now Ancanar is right you must leave."

Valia ended the spell and spoke to Lord Elrond. "Goodbye, Lord Elrond and thank you." Valia hugged him before climbing onto Ancanar's back. She waved goodbye as they rose into the air.

The group of dragons flew quickly and covered a vast distance in a short period of time. On the horizon Valia saw the darkness that was Mordor.

"There it is Valia. That is Mordor. Are you sure this is where you want to be taken? We can easily turn back," Ancanar said.

"No, no this is it. Just give me a minute." She saw the sight before her. She saw the elves and men surrounded by orcs. The nazgul where flying over them. Without her and the dragons, Legolas and the others didn't have any hope of surviving.

"Keep them away from the soldiers." Valia pointed to the nazgul. "Don't attack the Eagles!" she added when Valia saw the eagles flying in from the opposite direction.

Ancanar flew up over the Nazgul and the others followed. He roared and fire flew up into the air. The others did the same.

Valia pulled out her sword and looked for Legolas. She saw him and sat straight up between Ancanar's shoulders. Valia whispered the words Lord Elrond had told her and the light formed around her and her hair began to blow in the wind that surrounded her. She held her sword high in the air causing it to reflect what little sunlight there was. The beam of light shown down on the soldiers that stood below her. The soldiers looked up to see where the light had come from and saw the dragons above them.

Legolas looked up to see the light, too, but he saw what others could not. He saw Valia. He knew it was her. Her long dark hair spun around her in dark wisps. To everyone else they only saw a figure shadowed in a blue light holding a sword high in the air. She had brought the dragons to Mordor to help.

Legolas heard an arrow stretched across the bow. He looked to his side and saw the archer preparing to shoot her.

Quickly, Legolas put his hand on the arrow. "No. She is a friend. She is here to help."

The archer put the arrow down and Legolas pushed through the small group of men between him and Aragorn.

"Why have all these dragons come and who is up there Legolas, what do you see?" Aragorn asked.

"It is Valia. She has brought them here to help us. She's up there. Do not let them shoot her."

Aragorn nodded. Legolas looked up at Valia and nodded to her. He smiled, knowin she had come to help because of him.

Valia saw Legolas' smile and smiled back. Her eyes were brimmed with tears.

Valia could not focus on Legolas any longer, because from the corner of her eye she saw a nazgul focus on her. It began to fly towards her. Ancanar looked at Valia for what to do.

"Fly towards him. Then go under him," she ordered.

Ancanar did as he was told and flew towards him and then ducked under him at the very last moment. Valia held up her sword and stabbed the nazgul's soft underbelly. Ancanar continued flying forward and Valia's blade cut through the nazgul's skin. She cut his belly open causing him to writhe in pain. Its wings flailed violently as it fell to the ground, killing the orcs that were beneath it.

Ancanar flew towards the ground. He extended his claws, picking up the orcs, and threw them back into the air, letting them fall to their death. Valia fought alongside the eagles and dragons.

Time seemed to freeze as Mount Doom began to erupt. Valia began looking around for someone, anyone that would know what to do. She saw Mithrandir, and Ancanar flew down to hover just above him.

"Frodo! Tell the eagles to go find Frodo, he's in Mount Doom, but tell Gwaihir to come find me," Mithrandir spoke to her as Ancanar kept them both safe from orcs as he swept them away with his claws and powerful tail.

Valia nodded and they flew back into the air with one great thrust of Ancanar's wings. She yelled Gwaihir's name, and soon an eagle came to her side. "Find Frodo, you must find Frodo, he's in there," Valia shouted while pointing to Mount Doom. "But Gandalf wants you." Valia spoke in a rushed but calm voice. She didn't know who Frodo was but she knew if he was in Mount Doom he was in trouble. She knew he had been the ring bearer.

The ground began to rumble below them and Gwaihir flew off to tell the other Eagles. The earth cracked and opened, sending the orcs and other foul creatures to the abyss. Valia's heart sunk in her chest as she searched the crowd of men frantically for Legolas. When she spotted him, relief flooded her senses, he was fine.

She leaned down to Ancanar's ear. "Is everyone still with us?"

He paused for a moment and nodded to her. She nodded back. "Then let's go home."

Valia whispered to the ring, "Ta na telae."

The light around her disappeared and she looked up as the wind blew around her. She smiled as she remembered the words Lord Elrond had told her, 'Know that, and know this, as long as you wear this ring you are connected to your mother in a bond nothing can break. You mother can protect you through this ring. She can speak to you through this ring.'

Valia smiled. Her mother could see her, her mother could hear her, and protect her. She knew she would be safe forever and that made her heart heal just a little, but thoughts drifted to Legolas.

He had left her. She had been dying, slowly, everyday she had been away from him. She was dying because of Legolas, or at least, she had been. King Thranduil hadn't let her leave Legolas. She had seen him and knew he was alive. He would come back to her soon. But would he still be the same as he was? Would she? Would they ever be able to go back to the way things were?

So again, I have no excuses for the late updates and poor grammer and punctuation. BUT once this story is finished I will be going back and reworking, tweaking, adding, deleting, and just overall fixing up this story. I began Hopes,Dreams, and Destiny when I was in middle school... I'm a junior in college... (yikes) so a lot has changed and I've learned a lot more about the writing process and my own personal style of writing. My goal at the present moment is just to finish this story, because I know all of you are anxious to see what will happen. After that, it may be a while, but this story will be revamped entirely. It will still be the same story with the same plot and the same events, but I hope to make the story larger and more too it,, make it more mature if you will.

Since I have grown up, I decided it would be a good idea to have my story grow up as well. Thanks so much for all of those who have read this story. I appreciate each and every one of you and hope you love this story as much as I do. It's my baby... :)