I'm really glad that that there is more follows and favorites adding to this story. The adventure had just about began and there is going to be an array of emotions. Also, flashbacks chopped up for some chapters. It's like telling two stories at once, of the past and present. Mostly from the family's story, from the moment Talion first met Ioreth to the night the Black Gate was overrun. Some of them actually reveal in the game.

23 years ago...

The first time Talion ever met Ioreth was when he heard her singing near the markets of Minas Tirith.

He had been off duty from tracking the borders of Osgiliath with the other patrol, wandering the city's boundaries when he heard her beautiful voice amongst the crowds of other voices. He concentrated on following that voice until it led him to a young woman in a pretty violet dress and a long, loose braid. Around her neck, she wore a star-shaped pendant made of pure gold with a singular topaz jewel in the center that glittered in the sunlight.

She had been walking near the flower booth and was smelling white Niphrendil flowers with a relaxed expression, smiling slightly as she placed them in her basket, still humming to herself. She looked young, perhaps in her late teens (making her a couple decades his junior), and seemed to be wandering the markets by herself that day. Talion just hid around the wall nearby a bakery with his arms crossed and his head down, peering up from beneath his black hair strands. He just watched and listened to her with a peaceful expression, cherishing the sight of her and the sound of her voice, though he had never met her before.

Talion was born outside of the city, but grew up in Minas Tirith with his uncle after his parents died when he was a small boy. Talion never really had an easy life growing up, was often viewed as short-tempered, sly, and gritty, but smart, noble-hearted and compassionate. At a young age, after getting into some trouble, he became a Ranger's apprentice and spent the second half of his life wandering the wilds of Gondor, serving the City of Kings in the hopes of proving his worthiness. His uncle had perished only a year ago in their house in Osgilath and Talion had returned from the northeast with his men to rearrange the place, having missed the funeral due to his long-distant absence.

There were few days Talion could find some peace around other people, but somehow this young woman granted him that luxury. He did not know her name, or speak to her yet, but he was already drawn to her in a way that took his breath away. He didn't want to leave, or her to leave, but at the same time, the very thought of approaching her made his mouth dry. He could face a horde of beasts, orcs, and raiders during his missions, but he felt afraid of doing this.

What would he say to her? There were plenty of things in his mind he wished to say to her: that he thought she was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. That her voice instantly hypnotized him. That he wished to know her name and everything else about her. About whether or not she was a Dunedain, like him. That if she had any suitors...He winced at that last part and instantly scratched it off.

All these thoughts were too forward, too fast. Laughable. He instantly felt like a fool, even though he hadn't done anything yet. He remembered all the times in his life when he made fun of men for trying to woo women with their masculine tactics that Talion thought was ridiculous and a waste of time. And even all the times other women in his life tried to flirt with Talion, though he had never shown any particular interest. But now, he practically laughed at himself, realizing that he was coming close to eating his own words.

It wasn't until he watched her try to search her pockets and mutter under her breath that he realized that the girl had no money for the flowers. Pick-pocketed, he instantly guessed with anger. Of course. The city had more of those than he cared to count. As a part of Gondor's military, he would make a note of searching them through.

Seeing the young woman apologize to the flourist and start to place the flowers back with some disappointment in her eyes, Talion immediately found himself crossing the road until he breezed by her side while fishing out a few silver coins. "For the Niphredil," he told the flourist.

The girl watched him in surprise. "Oh, no, sir! Please..." she protested, watching as Talion exchanged the coins for the white flowers.

He nodded to the flourist with a smile, "Thank you," before turning to the woman, her brown eyes wide as she stared up at him speechlessly. "Here you are, my lady," he said gently, holding the flowers out to her.

The woman shook her head, still flustered. "Oh, no, I couldn't...This is very generous of you, Ranger, but I am not one for having strangers buy things for me. You didn't have to..."

Trying not to seem nervous, hoping he didn't just mess up his chance, Talion just smiled down at her warmly. She had to be at least a foot shorter than him. "I wanted to. Believe me. It is not every day that such rare flowers are delivered to the city."

The woman paused, tilting her head at him curiously. "Do you carry an interest in flowers?"

Talion shrugged. "I usually see them as healing remedies," he answered honestly, "but there was something right about seeing you with these in your hands. It gives me a new perspective in their beauty, especially when picked by a beautiful woman."

The girl blushed when meeting his gaze, a lovely smile growing on her face, before she slowly took the flowers, not looking away. Talion tried not to notice his hand trembling slightly as her soft fingers brushed his own, small and petite compared to his. Talion cleared his throat and added, "They...They seemed to be your favorite. The way you were looking at them, I mean."

The woman chuckled, her beautiful brown eyes twinkling, and nodded. "They are. One of two."

Talion tilted his head with amusement. "Oh? What is the other, if I may ask?"

The woman's hand touched the golden star pendant dangling from her neck. "Elanor," she whispered fondly. "The flower of the morning star...but I have only seen them once in my lifetime, the first time I have seen elves in Gondor. I was only a child, but even then, I remember how beautiful they were."

Not nearly as beautiful as I see you, dear lady. Talion nodded, loving how she blushed pink when she hugged the flowers to her chest. "Thank you, Ranger," she said. "I...I do not even know your name, as you do not know mine."

"Well, then, what is your name, my lady?" he asked softly, feeling his heart pump as her warm brown eyes met his hazel.

"Ioreth," she said, almost breathlessly with her smile. "And you, Ranger?"

"I am Talion. I am truly pleased to meet you, Ioreth."

Ioreth. Just having an excuse to say her name from his own tongue made his heart soar.

He fell in love with her right then, and he knew she would be the only woman he will ever love, until the end of his days.

Maybe even after that...

(Elanor)

When Father led me to Mother and Dirahel, I had thought I spent all my tears when it finally came to my mind that they were dead. I was so wrong. Their bodies were laid together on the wall of a high white tower, safe from the reaches of Uruks. The stone was stained with their blood. Mother and son, white in pallor, so still and cold, but when my eyes found the large wound across Dirhael's chest and the red line across Ioreth's throat, I broke down in tears and anguish again.

As I lay in between them, my father knelt beside us with his face pale with grief, his hand running across my hair as I wept.

First studying Dirhael's face, pale and unmoving, an empty shell of what had once been my kind, strong, and loving big brother, my guardian, and my best friend, my tear-blurred eyes roamed toward the terrible wound torn across his chest, imagining the blade cutting through my brother-my brother who protected me!-like the way Cook would gut a fish clean through with a kitchen knife…..Bile rose to my throat at the very thought and wrenched through my stomach, but I swallowed my sick, hot tears spilling out. My hand brushing his hair aside, fingers running across the bristles of his jaw in silence, I could not help but think of how peaceful he looked. Yet, it felt so wrong. He was not asleep. He was gone. A whimper escaped me as I whispered Dirhael's name pleadingly, even though it was likely that he couldn't hear me. My tears wet his face as I thought once again on our last moments together, which had been half-conscious while he held me in his arms for the last time, before forcing me down the chute.

His face had been the last thing I saw before everything went dark.

I love you, little sister. So much. Na lu e-govaned vin.

"I love you, too, big brother," I whispered so quietly, remembering the sadness and love in his eyes before he forced me down the chute. He had known what he was doing. It had to have been the hardest thing he had ever done…..but much to my grief and guilt, I realized now that he had given his life to me. As he had promised before, both as a Ranger and my brother. I would never again argue with him to come travel from the Black Gate. Never to race across the rocks and walls, sneaking out for adventure, or stealing goodies from the kitchen. Never to spar with him, or comfort each other when we have a nightmare or a bad day. Never would Dirhael have the opportunity to become a fully-pronounced Ranger, or meet a beautiful lady from afar that would one day be his wife.

My heart was ripping in pieces, but I sniffed and tried to compose myself, my mouth trembling. Stroking his face with shaking hands, I leaned over and kissed his cheeks, his eyes, and his forehead, my tears soaking his unmoving face. How I wished my kisses would bring him back!

My hand would then feel my mother's face for any warmth that was no longer there. I had called out to her in whimpers, "Mama," over and over without realizing it. Her face was framed with her her streams of long, brown hair, loose from its usual braid, her strands brushed aside. If it weren't for the red line that bled across her neck, it would have seemed like she was sleeping. She was beautiful. My mother had always been the most beautiful lady in the world. It didn't matter if I saw very few females in my lifetime, living in the rough environment of the Black Gate; Mother would always be the prettiest in my eyes.

I pulled out her sun-star pendant from my pocket, gripping it in my hand above her chest as if it would make her heart beat again. "What happened?" I whispered through my tears. "What happened?" I looked up at my father, shaking with a burning emotion I couldn't recognize.

Talion shook his head helplessly. "Elanor...don't..."

"What happened, Father?" I practically screamed as I sat up abruptively. Angry tears ran down my face, my body shaking with rage and mad grief. My eyes met his, hard and red. "What happened? Was it the Uruks? Was it? I'll tear them apart! I'll make them pay! I'll-"

"Elanor, look at me!" Talion took my face in his hands and pressed his forehead to mine. His touch was so cold, but my breathing shuddered and slowed as his paternally contact calmed me, my anger dimming slightly. When I opened my eyes, Talion's hard blue met mine. Blue...it was like looking into the eyes of a stranger, yet I saw my father behind them. My confusion overwhelmed my anger.

"We will find the ones responsible," he whispered, low and full of promise. "We will find the ones who led this attack on our people. On our family. Your mother, your brother, and your grandfather will not be left unavenged. This I swear to you."

"Grandfather?" I choked. Though not surprised, hearing of his death was a blow nonetheless.

Talion nodded, his eyes filled with remorse, clearly recalling that he had watched Hallas fall long before Ioreth and Dirhael did. He and Grandfather had never really got along for reasons that were hard to miss, regarding Father's past and his marriage to Hallas' only child Ioreth, but the old Dunedain had still been something of a mentor to my father, being a Captain of the Black Gate, before his son-in-law stepped up. Duty was what kept them from grabbing at each other's throats. That, along with me, Dirhael, and Ioreth. I remembered that the worst thing I can ever think of happening was that both Hallas and Talion would go out on a mission with the patrol in Mordor and then some incident would cause them to never return.

There were so many things that I have misjudged until now. My whole family was gone, except Father. And for what? For a dreary, iron-stone wall that acted as nothing but a cage and a barricade?

Something in Talion's voice made me pause in question. He said "the ones responsible," as if they weren't just a bunch of orcs nobody in this world would recognize unless it be their murderers. But it was the pure malice trembling in his soft tone that made me realize. "The monsters that hurt you in the tower...you and Mother..." The memory of those two monsters who had held Mother and Father captive still imprinted in my mind, causing chills to shudder right through me. "It was them, wasn't it?"

Talion's jaw clenched as his face darkened at the mention of them. His body visibly tensed as though he could recall their sight and touch as clearly as he could see and touch me. The look on his face scared me. "They were involved," he said slowly, his voice hoarse. "Them and another."

"Another?" I whispered, horrified. My thoughts instantly went back to the Black Gate from last night, and I remembered the third monster. The one who blocked Dirhael and I's path of escape. The cloaked Numorean with the golden eyes and soft voice, beckoning to us with a mentally sadistic lure that seemed equally as frightening as the physicality of the other two. If not more.

There is nowhere to run.

"You will know him as the Black Hand of Sauron."

Looking up from the new voice that was clearly not my father's, my eyes widened at the glowing white light of the wraith standing over us and gasped, about to scream as I backed away, but my screams were blocked as Talion's hand clasped over my mouth. He pulled me against him as I struggled, my screams muffled under his hand, still staring at the wraith. "Elanor, stop! It's alright! He's with me!" he said to me quickly. I froze at the last part, breathing rapidly under his hand, and Talion repeated in my ear more gently, "He's with me. He will not harm you. He is harmless."

The wraith seemed to scoff at that, but turned to pace the around the my mother and brother's bodies.

I broke away from my father's hand, gasping as I turned to face him in shock. "Harmless?! He tried to possess me!" I hissed in panic and confusion.

The wraith turned toward us, his mutilated face grimacing. "Hardly a possession, but was necessary, for if I hadn't, you would have carelessly run straight into the arms of the Uruk." He loomed over me as he spoke, but I scattered to my feet away from him. Somehow the reality of having a ghost-a wraith-speak to me was mind-numbing. That, and he still scared me.

But now that I wasn't trying to escape him, my eyes observed his reanimated figure and I realized for the first time that he was an elf, his long straight hair and pointy ears apparent, as well as his tall, sleek body and the elvish armor he still wore (though slightly battered and scratched), along with a design circlet crowning his forehead that seemed to represent his nobility. An Elf Lord, most likely. His feline facials contained gruesome tears and scars that decayed his skin (or the ghost of his skin), whereas I could practically see the white of his bone and the brief transparency of his teeth, his dead eyes ring-wrimmed but still glowing a shiny silver from his gaze, sharp and clear. Whether they were sharp enough to gaze through the windows of my soul, I dared not meet his eyes directly.

Still in shock, I pointed at the elf wraith and then at Talion, struggling with my words. "What-how-Father, it's a wraith! H-How-How is he with you? I don't understand! Who is he?"

Talion stood up, sighing heavily. "We don't know," he said slowly. "He appeared before me after the deaths of your mother and brother. After...After I failed to save them. All I know is that the Black Hand had summoned him….and he is stuck with me."

(Talion)

Talion was very aware that he was not telling his daughter the entire truth. Yes, the wraith was stuck with him, summoned and banished from the afterlife…..but so was Talion. The only reason he was here was because the wraith was possessing him. But she didn't know that.

He could feel the questioning glare of the elf wraith enflame within him, but Talion only thought harshly as he approached his frightened daughter, Say not a word!

Elanor looked at him with wide, teary eyes. "What do you mean?" she said quietly. "The Black Hand….what has he done? What does he want the wraith for?"

Talion stood before her, his reanimated heart pounding in his ears. Elanor. She looked so much like her mother, her jewel-colored eyes shining with worry behind the loose strands of her brown hair, but with more lively color from the body that was his wife. Still so young, vulnerable...His hands cupped her soft, wet cheeks, thumbs tracing her chin. Her skin was so warm, so alive.

The sacrifice ritual still repeated in his mind, the Black Hands voice haunting his broken mind like poison...the blade running across his son's chest...across Ioreth's throat...

I love you, Father. Ellie...

We will be together, my love. Soon! Forever!

Their faces looking toward him, full of fear and love as they spoke their final words, flashed before his eyes and Talion closed them, shivering. He pulled his daughter close, keeping his arms wrapped around her and her head tucked safely under his chin as he pressed his lips there, reassuring himself that she was alive. All the blood, Dirhael's choking breaths, Ioreth's screams, his own anguish, still fresh and searing like a blazing knife continuing to twist deep within his heart and soul...deeper than the knife that sliced his own throat, draining his life as he bled within his anguish...

And yet Elanor was still here. His youngest child and only daughter, alive and frightened.

An orphan.

No! Horrified by this truth, Talion tightened his arms around her, stroking her hair. If it hadn't been for this curse and he had truly passed on, his daughter would have been alone to fend for herself. His beautiful, sweet little Elanor, who lost her entire family in one night, as well as all she had grown up knowing...If she had been slaughtered before his eyes with Dirahel and Ioreth, perhaps to have been the first brought forward for the cursed Black Hand to draw his blade, Talion knew without a doubt that he would have lost his mind. He had never been more thankful that Elanor had somehow gotten away, that she would have never have witnessed her family's deaths right before her eyes like he did. That was at least a mercy.

He then made his decision.

When Talion opened his eyes, he felt his resolve harden and his eyes burned. Feeling her heartbeat and warm breathing against him for a long moment, he led her over to the pillars of the tower supporting the fort, sitting her down, before taking her face in his hands. "Elanor…I need you wait up here, where it is safe. Do not leave these fort until I return. Keep yourself hidden."

"Where are you going?" Elanor sounded panicked. Her teary eyes studied him, looking wary and concerned for her father, who had suddenly gone cold and emotionless, like the steel of a blade immune to the hardness of stone. But as much as it unnerved her, she recognized some of this behavior before. He was not just her father now. He was a Ranger Captain of the Black Gate. The last one. And one who had lost his friends and family, with only one of his children left to protect, making him more dangerous than ever.

"To find your grandfather." Talion's voice sounded dead, and Elanor stilled in his arms. His eyes burned like blue fire that steeled like the surface of hard, cold ice when meeting hers. The eyes of a stranger with supernatural being. Cold, sharp, and fierce, yet gentle and determined for only her sake.

"We are all that remains of the Rangers of Gondor, Elanor," he told her. "There will more time to explain where our path lies...but for now, let us bury our family."

Then he got up and walked away toward the ledge of the fort, leaving Elanor leaning against the fort's wall, her knees up to her chest, shaken by the severity of her father's demeanor. Then she crawled over to Ioreth and Dirhael. Talion looked briefly over his shoulder to see her lean over Dirhael once again and lay across his chest, burying her head into his neck, her body shaking as she wept again, clutching her brother's body. His heart broke further at the sight. Not too long ago, he had been in her position when waking up to find his wife and son.

Why did you do that? The elf wraith's voice questioned him. Why not tell her the truth?

Because I am all that she has now, said Talion tiredly, before turning around and leaping off the wall while his daughter wasn't looking. He landed with a shudder on the ground and started toward the Black Gate, where he knew he will likely have to fight through a few Uruks to reach Hallas' body, if they hadn't mutilated it yet. She does not need to know. She already lost her mother, brother, and grandfather, and she is heartbroken enough. She needs me.

You are dead, Talion. Or as good as. You no longer belong in her world, nor does she belong in ours. She will find out the truth eventually, and then she will have to go.

"No!" snapped Talion aloud. The wraith appeared in front of him and Talon snarled, "I do not care what this brings for both of us! I will not abandon her! Not now, not ever! Alive or not, I am her father, and while I still walk this earth, I will protect her with everything I have! No matter the cost." He clenched his jaw and unsheathed his sword, passing through the wraith who disappeared back into his being wordlessly as Talion approached the Uruks.

Whatever thing the Black Hand has turned me into, he has made a grave mistake. I will hunt down the ones who have destroyed my family…..my entire life. If not just for vengeance or for our release from this curse…..then to protect my child.

A short mourning scene. Not much has happened, except for Talion and Elanor's thoughts, but I hope you liked the flashback.

Please review and tell me what you think!