Hi! Here's chapter 5. Finally! I'm sorry it took so long! As always I own nothing except Liam
and I admit I'm ripping off Wheel Of Time just a little and I'm sorry I just realized it. Please r/r
thanks! On to the story!



Ch. 5 And then the morning comes... and the night.

Sam and Frodo woke the next morning feeling the better for it. The wolf they had seen
some how seemed comforting in memory, and the food had helped a great deal. They began to
pack up for their journey up the mountain. Finally Frodo spoke what was on both their minds.
"You think we'll see that wolf again Sam?" he asked.
And then, before Sam could answer, as if on cue, the self same wolf from the night
before stepped out of the forest. She gave what the hobbits supposed to be a smile and trotted
forward. She glanced at Frodo and then Sam and then back to Frodo again and cocked her head
to the side, as if to say, jokingly 'What? Still here?'
Both hobbits were a little apprehensive but seeing as they hadn't been attacked yet they
shrugged on their packs and started out, the strange wolf trodding behind. As they walked she
occasionally disappeared but she always came back, either in front of them or a ways behind.
She didn't seem sure enough, or maybe brave enough, yet to walk abreast with them. As it was
by nightfall they were a mile or two up the mountain and had yet to run into the sharp, hard
rocks Frodo and Sam remembered Gimli talking about.
____

Liam was ecstatic! This was great! They trusted her! They really trusted her! She felt like
dancing or something, she didn't understand why but she was so happy! It wasn't like it was a
really monumental occasion was it? After all, she knew she couldn't get attached to this, as soon
as she had done her job and gotten Frodo home, safe and sound, whatever his burden was, she
would be human again right? And she would be sent back home, back to where she belonged.
But in her mind she couldn't help but wonder, when this all over, what did she have to go back
to?

And so night began to fall and Liam turned her eyes towards the east, praying for
something she knew she could not have.
____

Sam studied their new canine companion, who in her turn, seemed to be studying the
horizon to the east, like she half expected the sun to start rising the minute it set. She was a ways
in front of them when suddenly she gave an odd little hop and threw her head back and howled
with all her might. She seemed to scan the whole sky for a minute and then turning away from
them ran off.
Sam scratched his head "What do you suppose that was all about?"
____

He shrugged 'I suppose she deserves a reward.'
____

'I don't see the moon! I can't see the moon! I'll get to be human for a little while!' Liam
skipped away threw the trees, as well as anything on four legs can skip, and waited merrily for ...
being human. She turned back to the east and watched as the last bit of the sun sank.


And then she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

'Well this is disAHHHH!' a sudden pain hit her stomach and she screamed as it spread out to her
legs and the tips her ears and her muzzle and everywhere. To the rest of the forest and truly all
listening the sound the was one of hurt and pain, a ragged howl with a too human element to it.

On the forest floor Liam shook and convulsed as the change came over her, in her mind
she screamed again and again until the howl the forest heard turned into the sound she heard in
her mind: a long sharp scream. Her bones broke and regrew and her origins rearranged
themselves, a cut she had received on her muzzle disappeared as she relearned the agony of her
first change. Finally it was over and she sat up, still shaking a bit from fear and other things. She
looked out at the gloom and wondered how long twilight would last. Gathering herself she stood
and studied herself. 'Two legs, two arms, two hands, two feet. All seems to be in order.' she
found that she was wearing a simple sleeveless dress of wolf's skin, a dark black, very much like
her coat. The hair on her head was still black, has it had been on Earth, and she longed for a
mirror to make sure her eyes were still blue. She felt strange, but she imagined so many days in a
different body would do that to a person. And so after awhile she began to walk, studying her
new world with new human eyes.
_____

All three of the Companion's eyes snapped up as they heard a scream. "What could that
be?" Gimli wondered.
The three looked at each other. 'What now?' each one wondered.
"It sounded like a woman." Legolas pointed out.
"Then we have a duty to help her." Aragon said simply, sounding a little tired. "Split up
and meet back here when the moon rises."
_____

Liam sat on a rock, 'In, out, in, out.' she repeated over and over in her mind, focusing on
her breathing. She was still a little shook up from changing and to her chagrin had almost
collapsed. But it was worth it though, it was worth every scream to be human again. She was so
focused on her breathing and taking in the beauty of twilight she didn't see the man near her
until he spoke.
"Are you well Lady?" he asked "We heard a scream and were worried"
Liam turned to look at the man confused. Lady? We? She studied him and her eyes
widened and she grinned as realization struck . "First Brother!" she gasped not thinking "Oh it
has been along time since a member of the First chose to speak to one of us!"

Legalos blinked, now as confused as the maiden had been before. She was beautiful but
when she turned to look at him her eyes were shimmering gold, like amber and her words
confused him. "Us?" he finely asked, managing to grasp on to something.
She looked confused again and then something seemed to dawn on her and even in the
dark he could of swore she was blushing. she turned away from him looking back at the sky. "It
is good to look at the world through human eyes again." she said simply if not a little sadly, "My
apologies if I confused you First Brother."
"Why do you call me First Brother?" Legolas asked.
"When the Elves first came across the Sea they saw us and knew us for kindred. They
knew all the animals as kindred, Brother and Sister they called us. They were the first among
those to come which did and we remember this even though they do not. You are an elf and so
you are among the First." she smiled then, "Unless of course you are not an elf," she teased "and
just charlatan in disguise."
Legolas chuckled at the joke "I am indeed an Elf, my Lady. But tell me, who is the 'we'
you speak of?"
The maiden sighed and looked down at her hands, almost seeming ashamed, "I am losing
myself." she whispered and he knew it had not been meant for his ears. She glanced at the sky
and suddenly jumped up. "I must go." she announced and began walking away.
"Wait!" Legolas shouted. "Will I ever see you again?" It seemed important somehow.
The maiden turned back to look at him, in that moment her gold eyes spoke of such a
sadness as the make Legolas's heart want to break, "For your sake First." she told him, "I pray
we do not." and then she turned and ran and was gone.
_______

'Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid Girl!' Liam admonished herself later, after the moon had
risen. 'You are human! Not wolf! No matter what you look like! That's why your on this idiot
quest! To become human again!' she lay down of the ground, head between her paws and
watched Frodo the Ringbearer sleep. He seemed so small and helpless laying there, shivering
under his blankets 'Conner used to look a little like that when he slept.' she thought to herself.
'Like a great weight was lifted and he could rest for a little while.' she sighed a wolfish sigh.
'Will I even see my baby brother again?' she wondered 'Do I want to go back to that place a ruin
his new found happiness? Oh but I don't want to be a wolf forever, and my mind is becoming
more and more wolfish by the hour. What will I do? What will I do?'
_______
"Did anyone find anything?" Aragon asked, after they had all meet up again. Gimli shook
his head, "Nothing but trees."
"And what of you Legolas?" Aragon asked, "Did you find anything?"
Legalos looked at his two friends, remembering the strange beautiful maiden and odd
way she talked. "Nothing of consequence" he answered.