Hello! Hope all of you are doing well! This has been a long two weeks for me with our crazy weather, below freezing and a foot of snow. joy! Sometimes I wonder why I live where the air hurts my face but here I stay. In the last chapter, our main characters reunited and so begins their personal journey. I promised adult content and it's coming :) just buckle in and enjoy the next few chapters. In the meantime enjoy the violence. A big thank you to my reviewers fairylover2004, Cruden, Siri, and guests! Thank you my new followers I hope you all continue to enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy the writing. Much love xoxo

Haldir settled uncomfortably behind his desk. Of all he'd anticipated in his life, he had never thought he would find himself in his current position. War was breathing down his neck. He could feel the heat of it creep over his flesh. Battle was coming for him, a sense of dread curdled low in his stomach. How many more would he lose? How much more would the elves sacrifice for peace? His people were evacuating to the Havens in droves. In the past five years, only two-thirds of those who had resided in Lothlorien still remained. Elvendoms across the mountains and plains had suffered the same population losses. That alone made him wonder why they fought and died for the future of man when clearly their futures were to be found across the sea.

He caught the eye of the one sitting across from him as she thoughtfully cut into the dinner he had brought in for her. Admittingly, he enjoyed her particular company and sharing his space with her. He liked seeing her amongst some of his things and he had even relished selecting her meal for the evening. But she was not an example of an average human; she was far beyond the under-evolved wild men of the planes and far more intelligent than even the brightest nobles of Gondor. Perhaps if she were an example of the human evolution to come, he could understand more his own people's sacrifices. He wasn't under the delusion that she was an exemplary human. On the contrary, he knew her nature and history were as complex and twisted as the root systems of the great mallorn trees he protected but she had evolved and formed herself into something more. She was always changing, always adapting. Natasha was capable of great and terrible things but those capabilities, those characteristics, also meant she and others like her could be something more, something good, something better.

The silence between them was comfortable but they had a great many things to discuss. As much as he enjoyed watching her consume the rabbit he'd snared, he knew better than to delay.

"You're thinking so hard I can practically see your thoughts floating above your head." Nat wiped her mouth on a small napkin and set her plate aside.

He grinned and rubbed a hand over his jaw thoughtfully. Typical of her to be so blatantly direct. She had that way about her, assertive and borderline rude.

"Business or personal?" She wasn't getting anything from him at the moment. He'd closed himself off to her after her initial probe and she hadn't pushed for more. He'd wanted this space wedged between them and she would do her best to let him keep it.

Those two topics were rather intimately intertwined for him at the moment. He would have liked to have unraveled before she arrived. They would be much easier to properly assess as separate entities but he knew better than to think he'd have the time or luxury of processing them so thoroughly.

"Both, as it were." He couldn't help himself and let his eyes drift over her form again. "You've brought the stone with you. I admit I hadn't expected you to seek refuge here so quickly after our last meeting. The magic of my people has begun to fade and it will fade further still when war descends upon us."

"I hadn't thought to come so soon or I would have followed you from Helm's Deep. My coming is twofold; Theoden will send his armies to aid Gondor, he hesitates but he will, Gandalf and Aragorn will make sure of it. As the hobbits who carry the ring grow ever closer to Mordor, Gandalf means to draw Sauron's attention by gathering the armies of men. I came to you because I could not, responsibly, put so much power so close to Sauron...not after Pippin got a glimpse of Sauron's plans. I've brought the stone here to protect it and I've come to help you defend your people and destroy Dol Guldur."

"Pippin?" Incredulously, how had the hobbit been privy to such knowledge? When… "The Palantir?" The curious nature of hobbits never ceased to amaze him.

"Yes, he claimed to only want a look at it." A childish notion. "Unfortunately for him, the dark lord was waiting on the other end and now he thinks that Pippin carries the ring. Sauron tried and surprisingly failed in scaring the truth from Pippin and in doing so showed Pippin a small bit of his plans."

She knew the next part would come as no surprise to him and yet confirming his fears did something painful to her. Helping him defeat them would be the only remedy. "Sauron will set the army of Dol Guldur against you. He means to burn Lothlorien off the face of Middle Earth and all the elves with it. Already you've seen small war parties attacking your borders. Weakening you little by little, driving you back and deeper into your woodland. Instilling fear into your people until most leave these shores all together and then he'll slaughter what's left of you."

She shook her head sadly as she clenched her hands into frustrated fists. "I've come to destroy them before they destroy us. He will not expect an attack. Not when you're people have suffered the loss of so many at Helms Deep."

Frustrated himself, he rose to his feet. He'd expected something like this. His thoughts, when not occupied with her, were haunted by the vision of his dreams. His homeland burning around him. The blood of his people, hot and wet on his hands. They'd lost so many...too many at Helm's Deep..and for what? So that now they were too weak and too few to defend themselves.

He paced his way to the small balcony at the side of the outpost office he'd commandeered. Haldir looked out over the radiant canopy that gleamed even in the darkest of nights. He didn't speak for a long moment but when he did his doubt struck her fiercely in the heart.

"We sent an army to Rohan." He gripped the railing. "I marched hundreds of elves to their deaths and the rulers of men, in all their collective wisdom, sent us you, one woman."

With his back to her she chose to rise and stand at his side as he had done for her the other night.

"I am the army." And she believed that with every fiber of her being. She believed it with a fierceness she couldn't verbalize but she hoped he could feel it burning inside her.

She covered his hand with her own. When he didn't withdraw; she laced their fingers. The contact reverberated strongly between them and she realized suddenly how much more intense it was in person than it had been when they'd dreamed together.

He gripped her hand tightly before releasing it to stand alone at the railing. "This is terribly unwise." But saying it didn't stop him from wanting.

She stiffened in defense. Nat recalled his words from the camp in Rohan. How could he expect her to not want to comprehend what was happening between them? Surely he found it disconcerting. She would hold his line but she needed something more from him than what he'd given. Nat wanted, needed, to understand.

"You can't blame me for wanting to understand you. You know more about me than some of my closest friends. Do you have any idea how difficult it is, knowing that my private life, my secrets, could be exposed to you without my consent? I have no way of controlling it because this…" she motioned between them. "Is impossible with humans and I don't even know where to begin on how to manage it. I've tried. At times when I could focus, to control what flows between us, but I have had very little success. I feel you. All the time. Even now when you've closed me out, I know, and I know it's an effort for you to do it."

"You couldn't possibly begin to understand the complexities…"

She forged ahead interrupting him, "You haven't exactly taken the time to enlighten me! How do you expect me to live with…"

"Expect you to live?" He barked, jealousy flaring as he thought of what he'd experienced just three days prior. How could he be resentful of the man who'd touched her in ways he couldn't imagine? In ways, he had no right to think of.

"Everything you feel...every experience you have bombards me at all hours of the day. There have been moments where your conduct has been nearly unbearable." He swallowed hard and narrowed his eyes as an uncharacteristic headache began to throb in his skull.

"My conduct?" She stuttered out surprised by the attack. He couldn't possibly have known about her and Ingrid. She remembered the evening and morning with vivid clarity. The moments in between when her thoughts had drifted to him but she refused to be ashamed of her actions, for all he knew she could have very well been alone.

"You don't get to judge me on how I chose to conduct myself. You made your level of interest in my life perfectly clear." He'd been the one to erect the barriers between them. He'd been the one to write her off.

"Your level of impropriety knows no bounds." He carried on heatedly. "You are well aware of the bridge between us and yet you are completely inconsiderate to the ramifications of your behavior! More hangs in the balance than what you or I would choose for ourselves!" Because he wanted her and he shouldn't.

"Explain it to me then!" Did he expect her to draw answers from thin air? "The solution isn't to close me out and push me away! Help me understand why I feel like this! Show me! You're clearly as..."

He rounded on her, his temper overwhelming the shame of his errors, the frigid ice of his eyes met her infuriated green down the long line of his nose. "Did you think I would rejoice in our circumstance? That my duties, the threat of impending war, and the differences in the very nature of our species don't weigh on me day and night?"

"That's your opinion of me?" She pushed forward off the railing. Her temper went molten, she stood toe to toe, chest heaving. The urge to throttle him rose high in her throat and layered in her words. If he wanted to be pissed off she could stay right there with him. "What could an ignorant, self-indulgent human possibly understand about your pretentious immortal egotistical ass!"

Their breath mingled in the same heated space. Flaming heat swept through her like a tidal wave. She grabbed the front of his shirt in both hands and shoved him without releasing him. He was fucking infuriating.

"Careful." His voice was dangerously quiet. It only heated the air between them to stifling.

Regret hammered with every beat of his heart. She seemed to bring out the worst of his temper. Why did he always misstep when it came to her? "Natasha…."

"Sir!" An elf came careening through the entryway at full speed.

Nat released him and turned away to grasp the railing and catch her breath.

"Our scouts have reported incoming Orc and Uruk-hai on the Northern fences. Seventy at least, fast approaching. Warg riders at the head numbering fifteen."

"Gather our warriors. Squadron eight shall remain here. Send the rest of the company north. We leave in ten minutes."

"Sir, yes sir." He hurried out and she heard his light steps rush up the stairs overhead. Once there, he vigorously began ringing a warning bell in a series of chimes that told her he was using it as something similar to morse code. When he finished the chimes echoed through the trees. Elves on every level began to ready themselves.

Her attention turned back to Haldir. His irritation and regret were palpable.

"Would it be too much if I asked you to stay?"

In that moment Nat would have given anything to strike at him. He'd done this to them both and would now seemingly abandon her with the consequences, his good intentions be damned. She'd never asked for this. She'd never asked to be what she was. She'd never asked to come here. She'd never asked for the responsibilities that seemed to be continually thrust upon her. The only thing she truly and unequivocally wanted was a hopeless endeavor. Her friends and family were gone. She was alone and the sooner she stopped trying to be otherwise the better off she would be.

She stared him down with a look so cold and numb his skin pebbled from her gaze alone.

"You have no right to ask me for anything."

They flew through the woodland from both the treetops and the forest floor. The ground crew Nat had attached herself to had been at Helm's Deep, a small squadron of warriors that knew some of her capabilities and her weapons. They would be much easier to work around as they wouldn't be surprised or hesitant with her. They knew her as a warrior and would treat her as such. The darkness, although inconvenient, didn't hamper their campaign. She followed their footfalls and the slight glow of moonlight that filtered through the lush canopy.

Suddenly they slowed and in the silence that followed she could hear the faint grunts and growls of their enemy. The wargs were restless. They barked and snarled in irritation.

A faint bird call sounded overhead, a series of vibrating tones she knew were from Haldir as he commanded his warriors in their own code.

The elf to her left ducked close and whispered quietly in her ear. "We are to split in half. One group to the flank the other to take the head of the column."

The fury from earlier still burned hot in her blood. She was hungry for battle, anything to take the edge off her mood.

"I'll follow you." He was so close she felt him nod his response. The 'stay close' was implied as he nudged her elbow. He called back to his commander high up in the trees and then they were moving. Slower and more carefully they maneuvered in and out of the trees. They were down wind of their enemy and soon their stench, carried on a light breeze, reached them. Nat winced at the foul smell with clear recollected of their wretched black blood. Disgusting filth. Even if they'd tried for stealth their smell would have given them away.

Her group halted and seamlessly blended into the veil of the trees. The elves around her had practically disappeared. How they managed to vanish so thoroughly she didn't understand. It was as if the trees had willingly agreed to shelter them from enemy eyes. They were little more than shadows.

Over the grunting voices of the Orc and Uruk, another bird call sounded from the other side of the distant clearing. The elves were moving over the top of their enemy while the ground forces corralled the orc tightly, cutting them off from retreat or advancement. The warriors overhead, mounted high in the canopy, would be shooting fish in a barrel.

She had to admire the efficiency of the tactic.

The elf nearest her gave a hand signal and she crouched low, moving forward side to side with him in silence. Hood drawn low, he kept his silver hair covered lest its gleam reveal their position.

"Dirty rotten elves! We know you're out there! Come on then! Come on!" A guttural voice shouted over the snarling wargs. It was no wonder they hadn't heard the elves approaching over the cacophony of noise their own troops produced.

The moment went long. A deep breath before the plunge. The beat of her heart thumped loud and steady in her chest. She breathed deeply through her nose and met the eyes of the elf at her side.

There was wickedness in her, coursing through her eagerly. She grinned the smile of a large feral cat; one that knew its own prowess.

There was a subtle whoosh and then the dull thud of arrows as they buried themselves deep into weakly armored bodies. When the first surprised cry rose from their enemy she lunged forward, moving in for the kill.

Nat clashed violently with her first Orc. She gutted him in one fell swoop and took his small battle-ax from his hands before he'd even realized he was dead. She heaved the ax immediately into the skull of warg that made the mistake of turning her way. Another whoosh as arrows rained down over her. The superior skill of the elves ensured that none of their own fell by friendly fire. Their arrows only found purchase in enemy flesh.

Their enemy surged against the warriors at her flank but she was already well within their numbers. She'd broken the line and plunged forward in vicious fury. She had no regard for those she'd left behind all she knew in those moments was violence. All she saw was blood, blackened by their tainted rotten souls gleaming like oil in the moonlight. Foul beasts born and bred for darkness and destruction.

She killed by the dozen but there simply weren't enough for her to kill. She wanted their blood. She wanted their lives. She craved their destruction. All the cruelty she'd ever been subjected to was a result of evil. Evil men. Evil dictators. Evil scientists. These pitiful lives would never be enough repayment for her suffering. There would never be enough dead to clear the hate and destruction the innocents of the world had endured in the name of darkness.

She would never be enough to equalize it.

An arrow whizzed impossibly close to her head. Close enough she felt the feathered end brush her cheek. It dropped the Orc she had been a second away from dispatching. It brought her attention to what was left of her surroundings.

There were very few left. The dead littered the ground. Heaping bodies of Orc, Uruk, and Warg in a tangled pile of limbs that resembled pin cushions more than flesh and bone. Those that remained attempted to flee into the woodland but were quickly shot down.

A large dark shadow rushed past her, instinct had her striking out, her training made her focused. She cushioned the blow and knocked the Uruk unconscious with a single well-placed strike. Its hulking body crumbled beneath its own dead weight.

She toed its bleeding skull. "You're all really quite terrible fighters."

Carefully she cut loose its armor and took the crude leather strapping from it. Rudimentary but sturdy. She rolled it over onto its stomach and used her foraged supplies to bind its hands. When she'd finished, she methodically stripped it of everything it carried. The 'it' turned out to be a 'he' as it were.

She heard Haldir speak to his company as she leveraged the heavy beast upright. The Galadrhrim gathered themselves and dragged the remains of their enemy from the forest. The elves had been immensely fortunate to lose no one during the skirmish.

Ignoring him she moved between two trees one of which she knew had a ladder built delicately along its trunk. Unceremoniously, she dropped her payload onto the forest floor and scaled the tree to its lowest branches. She watched the elves work for a moment before cutting the ladder down. She dropped to the forest floor alongside it with a well placed roll.

She felt his eyes on her. Following her every move as she disassembled the rungs and neatly wound the remaining rope around her arm.

"What are you doing?" His voice was strained. The tension in her squeezed at his throat, clipping his words.

Tightly but considerate of circulation she wound the rope around the Uruks wrists. Her knots were immaculate and well made. There would be no escaping her. Still riding her battle rage; she quickly circled the nearest tree and then the one opposite. Nat grunted and heaved a voracious pull to string her prey between the two trees.

She met Haldir's eyes as she tied off the Uruk with a jerking tug of the knot.

Her face was blood splattered and furious.

"I'm keeping this one."

Carefully, Haldir approached her and grimaced at the sight of her nude victim. By the gods Uruk were ugly, twisted, deformities of nature.

"It's unlikely that it knows much of anything that will be useful to us." He circled it. It was large for its kind.

"On the off chance that it does know something, anything useful, I'll find out."

He caught her eye, "It will prefer death over providing us with information."

"By the time I'm finished." She looked the Uruk over herself. "He'll be begging for it."

In the dark of night, she looked like a wrath. Cast in shadow, the faint moonlight reflected off her blood-splattered skin. She was unscathed except for her bottom lip where a glancing blow and split the plump flesh.

He didn't need the benefit of their connection to know what she was feeling. It was written all over her face. It showed in the lines of her body as she spread her victim's legs and tied them off accordingly. She was the embodiment of furious intention. Her confidence implied an intimate knowledge of extracting information. The steadiness of her hands made him swallow thickly. She knew exactly what she was doing and she was highly skilled at it.

Elves seldom tortured their enemy. They much preferred a clean and well-executed kill. When it came to gathering information their natural abilities of stealth, long-range vision and enhanced hearing were more commonly employed. In the dark days, it had been done but only by the most powerful among them. Those that had the mental fortitude to remain unbent by evil intent. He'd done what had been required of him then. He would do the same now for his people, their home, and their future.

She saw him hesitate but felt his determination as it sank deep.

"You don't have to stay for this. I don't need you."

He winced. She had made that perfectly clear hadn't she. She didn't need him or anyone else. The regret he'd felt earlier churned hard in his stomach. Her very presence had set him on edge. Was it any wonder with all the emotions stirring between them that his temper had gotten the best of him? She had successfully fractured his infamous composure, a skill he had honed for centuries.

"I'm a warrior, at times an executioner. I deal in death, Haldir, and I'm not accustomed to making excuses to anyone for my actions." She didn't like the way he was watching her with blatant contemplation.

"I'm not asking for excuses." And he wasn't. He wanted honesty between them and would try his best to make it so. He would make right with her.

"What then? The truth?" She gestured to the Uruk she'd strung up and then flung a wild arm to the dead that littered the forest floor. Some mangled so violently they were nearly unrecognizable. "That's the truth. That is who I am." She said in genuine acceptance of herself. The woman she was now was the successful balancing act between who she'd been forced to be and the woman she wanted to be.

"What you do, what you have done, you've done for my people." Haldir knew who she was, deep down his soul, his heart, knew hers. "I'm asking you to trust me enough to disclose what you're doing and when. To offer me the truth when you can. I'm not asking for change nor excuses."

He stepped close determined to clear the air before they began.

"Earlier, what I said...I did not mean it. Not in the ways you think." Haldir grimaced as the words left his mouth. He never could find the right words when it came to her. The last few days had been difficult for him and his emotional connection with her had left him feeling unstable. "I'm not well versed in discussing...delicate matters but...there are things you need to know."

To say she was surprised by his words would have been the understatement of the century.

Regret simmered low in her heart, "Admittedly, I could have been more tactful. My timing was less than ideal." She'd bombarded him nearly as soon as she'd seen him.

She held his gaze. This situation was difficult for both of them. In a very short time, they had learned more about each other than many others had in a lifetime. They were both private individuals. Reserved in their duties and responsibilities. It was unnerving being so inexplicably bare in front of someone. Navigating the rocky terrain of personal intimacy was a facet of normal life that neither of them had experience in doing.

He wanted very much to brush the stray russet wave of hair from her face but kept his hands at his sides. Knowing all that stood between them brought great sadness to him. He wanted to know her but would she give him the chance once she knew what being with him would entail?

"When we return to the city we will find the time to sit down together." Haldir held himself together carefully and hoped he had reassured her enough that she would speak with him and allow him to fully explain. In the way only they could communicate he let her feel him instead.

He was a potent combination of turbulent emotions she couldn't begin to sort through from the brief glimpse he'd had the control to give her.

Floored, her look to him was wide-eyed, "You can control it?"

He cleared his throat and shifted his stance, "Some, yes." or so the constant low headache he'd been suffering from the last several hours told him.

She nodded, that was a very good sign.

The Uruk she'd tied off gave a low groan as consciousness slowly returned.

"I was tempted to string you up next to him." She thumbed toward the Uruk with just a hint of a teasing grin that lifted the corner of her mouth. He was nearly as stubborn as an Orc and about as willing to communicate with her.

"You wouldn't dare." Haldir replied dryly with a sidelong look.

"Oh, I very much would." She said with a half-smile and turned to the matter at hand. "Do you want to do this your way or mine?"

He reached out with his long elegant hands and sharply patted the taught flesh of the Uruks cheek as it came cognizant. Haldir was willing to bet despite their age difference that she had far more experience in this matter. Her efficiencies in other areas were well proven; he had no reason to override her expertise.

"I think your way."

The Uruk shook its head loosely on its shoulders as it came around. Fully awake, his almond-shaped yellow eyes glowed with hideous disdain as he snarled viciously at them. Like an animal in a snare, he struggled wildly but the elegant elven ropes held true and tight.

"Give me your belt." Nat held her hand out to Haldir and watched the Uruk carefully as he moved. Haldir's eyes went to Natasha but she only had eyes for her prey. She made a grabbing motion with her hand, opening and closing it in the air. Dutifully, he complied and handed over the wide well-made leather of his belt. Blindly she doubled it over and snapped it together with a loud snapping crack. She grinned wickedly at the perfectly kept oiled leather. She rotated her shoulder and rolled her neck and with no further ado sent a staggering blow cracking across the Uruks flesh on the inside of his thigh just above his knee.

He howled in pain. "Good morning!" She shouted enthusiastically. The Uruk ceased its withering. "Glad to have your attention."

"I know who you are." He growled and flexed a thick arm against his restraint. Despite his animal-like features, there was a spark of intelligence behind his eyes.

She bowed mockingly with a swirling motion of her arm. "My reputation precedes me."

He cursed at her in foul black speech.

She looked to Haldir, "Did he just tell me to go fuck myself?"

He cleared his throat of the surprise he felt at watching her like this. "More or less."

"That was not so courteous." She wagged a long finger at him. Quick as lightning she snapped out and struck the opposite thigh in the same spot.

The Uruk barked out at the stinging pain.

"I do not fear death...and I do not fear you, golog kurv."

She struck him again, twice, three times more each welting blow inching higher and higher.

"There's no need to be rude. You haven't even introduced yourself properly."

The Uruk breathed hard in and out of his mouth as he swallowed down the pain from the blows she'd rained down on him.

"You see, we," She motioned between herself and the Uruk. "Are about to get to know each other...very...very intimately." Winding up she dealt him another staggering blow to the inside of his thigh. The skin was red and welted, primed now for the real pain to begin. The Uruk howled long and keened as the sensitive skin between his legs was ravaged.

"Tell me what I want to know." Nat strode forward aggressively and grabbed the Uruk by his wretched face. "And I'll kill you sooner rather than later because the only way you're leaving here is in pieces. Your only choice is how many I carve out of you before I put you out of your misery."

The Uruk growled low in his throat, his thin lips snarling tightly over his teeth. With a practiced hand, Natasha slipped her thumb up the side of his skull and with a precision that came with a thorough study of anatomy dug the thin length of her nail into the nerve endings that resided just under the skin. The Uruks lungs emptied of air in a wild rush as pain flared brutally through its skull.

"This." She hissed as she dug in harder, "is called the trigeminal nerve. It controls the pain receptors in your brain." In tandem she dropped her other hand to the swollen skin of his thighs and with a cruel grip that had sheared rock and bent iron she dug into the flesh just above the sciatic nerve. The Uruks body went rigid with pain. "And this is the sciatic nerve. It controls the feeling in your legs." She cranked hard on it and watched as his feet danced on their own accord. There was nowhere to go, no way to resist. He couldn't even scream because of the pressure she had on his jaw.

She released him and stepped back. Heavy sweat perspired on his brow. He shuttered in place, his nerve endings still firing in the aftermath of the brief but intense trauma she put them through. When finally his body calmed he made eye contact with Nat and held it.

"I don't need to draw blood or mutilate you but I will if I have to. Answer my questions and I'll kill you in a method of your choosing. Refuse me, lie to me, and we find out exactly what you're made of."

He growled his words in a halted stutter, his body refusing to fully cooperate with his efforts. "Fuck...you….bitch."

She smiled and snapped the belt over her opposite palm. "I was hoping you'd say that."