A/N: So, here comes my first story-part! As already mentioned, the story ought to go book-verse, but some things had to be changed! And the necklace was not (I repeat: not) inspired by the movie, I had had this idea before it. Please r/r!! Thanks.

By the way: The song is, of course, from Tolkien, and I took one sentence out of one of Dwimordene's stories. "will have to choose between the Sea and the soil, between Eressëa unstained and my grave unmarked" I just loved it and it fitted so very well in my story. Thank you, Dwimordene! If you do not want me to use it, though, please tell me and I'll take it out.

''means thoughts, "" indicate audible words, this will so in each chapter, so I'll mention it only here.

A token in the grass

Only some minutes later Legolas and Gimli returned to the small clearing. They came from the western slopes of the hill, silently, creeping through the trees as if they were hunting. Gimli had his axe in hand, and Legolas his long knife: all his arrows were spent. When they came into the glade they halted in amazement; and then they stood a moment with heads bowed in grief, for it seemed to them plain what had happened.

"Alas!" said Legolas, stepping to Boromir's side. "A great warrior has perished and will not return to his city."

Neither the Dwarf nor the Elf saw any sign of Aragorn. He surely would come back soon, they thought. Maybe he would know where the Orcs had gone.

Suddenly a cry from the way leading down to the river disturbed the silence. "Two of the boats are gone!" Unmistakably it was the voice of a Hobbit. Merry and Pippin came out of the trees and ran towards Legolas and Gimli who were still kneeling next to Boromir.

"The boats are just gone!" Merry repeated.

"Where are Frodo and Sam?" Pippin added questioningly.

Legolas glanced to Gimli but did not say anything. He also seemed to be surprised of this news. He had thought about Frodo and Sam being with Aragorn but it was completely strange to him why the boats were gone.

"I do not know," he finally said. "Maybe Frodo finally made his decision and realized that he had to leave for Mordor at once. Something might have happened that his fear was overcome. Sam might have guessed what his master would be going to do and came down to the river, either. It surely would not have been easy to leave Sam behind and so Frodo decided to take him along. If they are really going into the Dark Land right now, they are brave, indeed. Why two boats are missing, I do not know and cannot guess, though." A short pause followed.

"The only thing I can think of, is, that Aragorn got some urgent news from Minas Tirith and had to leave at once, either. I, however, do not know, why he has gone without even telling us and saying good-bye for it might have been the last time in our lives we have seen him, if he has really left for Minas Tirith. Things are unsure in these times and no one knows how everything will end once."

For some moments no one spoke a word. Legolas himself did not know whether he should believe in what he had said. It did not look like Aragorn just to leave and let his friends behind while they were fighting with Orcs. The tall Man had always worried about them and tried to protect them, since Gandalf's fall in Moria he even had been their leader. Without him it would be difficult to continue their journey. 'Maybe', Legolas thought, 'the Fellowship of the Ring has come to an end now and each member has to go its own way.' Boromir had perished, the Ringbearer and his servant had gone and Aragorn was not with them anymore either.

Legolas straightened himself again. "We will not leave Boromir lying here among the Unnamed's servants. We must honor him for that he has given his life in protecting his friends."

The Elf did not know what had happened on the peak of Amon Hen, some moments ere Frodo had left the company. No one would ever hear about that. This secret would never appear in tales, Frodo would keep it within his mind until the end of his life, but he would never tell anyone.

"We cannot bury Boromir here," Gimli said. "The ground is too stony. We would need many tall and strong men to dig a grave."

The Dwarf was right. Only a thin layer of grass and brown soil was covering the ground. On many places the gray stone could be seen shining through.

Finally Legolas spoke again. "We are going to lay him in the remaining boat and send it with the river. He shall float down the Anduin, if fate allows, until he will come to the Sea. So the Men of Minas Tirith will see one of their greatest warriors return from his journey – not as they wished him to, but nevertheless, he shall come home again."

The others nodded. In this way they would be able to show the honor Boromir had earned in taking the perilous journey to Rivendell and supporting the fellowship ever since they had left. On Caradhras they might have been lost without him. Aragorn was tall and strong for sure, but if he had been able to free their way on his own, no one knew.

Gimli then took his axe and cut down several branches. The four lashed them together with some bowstrings they had taken from the slain Orcs and covered the frame with their cloaks. Upon it they finally laid their fallen friend and slowly carried him down to the riverbank.

It was not very far but nevertheless it was a hard piece of work for the Hobbits. They were not used to weights as great as Boromir´s and felt relieved after they had finally arrived at their remaining boat.

Then they placed Boromir gently in it. The gray hood and the Elven-cloak from Lothlórien they folded and placed beneath his head. They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders. The golden belt of Lothlórien gleamed about his waist. His helm they set beside him and across his lap they laid the cloven horn and the hilts and shards of his sword.

"A great warrior is coming home", Gimli quietly said. He was about to send the boat into the river when Legolas put a hand on his shoulder.

"Something is missing," the Elf murmured. "I will bring some swords of the Orcs slain by his hand as a token of his great courage and sacrifice."

The Dwarf nodded. Legolas turned and made his way back to the clearing they had found Boromir dead. About forty to fifty Orcs were lying there, most of them had swords in their hands but some were also armed with bows.

The Elf gathered four swords, one for each of the remaining members of the fellowship, and then collected the Orcish arrows for he had none anymore and without arrows the best archer would be useless. However, he tried to be fast, for he wanted to leave for Minas Tirith as soon as possible. They were only four left but in the fight against Sauron every hand that could wield a weapon would be needed. Legolas felt that the fate of Middle Earth would be decided soon. He did not dare thinking about losing this final fight, about Sauron covering the lands with shadow and darkness. This would be the end for all the free people who had dwelt so long under the bright sun.

Just as Legolas was thinking about going back again, he saw something lying in the grass, just next to the tree Boromir had leaned against. It was sparkling in the sun, otherwise the Elf would have missed it completely. Curiously he stepped closer and bent down.

It was a necklace, a simple leathern necklace with a silver pendant which Legolas had seen reflecting the light of the sun. Somewhere, he thought, he had seen this thing before. But only as he lifted it from the grass, he realized where: It was Aragorn´s, easily to recognize by the silver 'A' in Elvish runes.

The leather was frayed in one place, it looked like someone had brutally torn it from Aragorn´s neck, not as if he had lost it because of some weak spot within the leather. Legolas knew exactly that Aragorn had nothing more precious to him than this necklace. He would not just throw it away.

***

Only some nights ago, while traveling down the Anduin, Legolas had not been able to rest and he had decided to keep Aragorn company. The Man had been having that time's watch but instead of sitting just next to his sleeping friends, Legolas had found him at the riverbank. Aragorn had been gazing at the stars and the Elf's first thought was that he had been utterly lonely. Aragorn had looked completely lost and Legolas sat down next to him.

Aragorn did not even move. Either he had not heard the Elf or he had taken notice of him before.

"You are missing Gandalf, aren't you?" Legolas asked after some moments of silence. He knew that the two had been sharing a long friendship.

Aragorn did not reply at once. "I am," he eventually answered slowly.

The Elf at once knew that this could not be the only thing tormenting the Man's mind but he did not question him further. If Aragorn did not tell him, he would not ask. Nevertheless he saw his friend holding a small thing of silver in his hand. It reflected the light of the moon shining brightly this night. He wondered about it since it seemed to have great value for Aragorn. Legolas, however, still said nothing, he was just sitting there, trying to comfort his friend by his presence.

"I am not only missing Gandalf," Aragorn finally said. "I am missing my love. I have left her and I do not know whether I will see her again. This may be my last journey, I fear. If Sauron will not be defeated, my love will have to choose between the Sea and the soil, between Eressëa unstained and my grave unmarked…" His voice trailed away.

Legolas now realized that Aragorn's 'love' had to be an Elven girl, no other people in Middle Earth would 'have to choose between the Sea and the soil' as his friend hat put it.

"The only thing I have to have her with me on my journeys is this small token that she gave me once when I had to leave her again."

It was the silver thing Legolas had noticed before. A small pendant of the Elvish rune 'A', dangling from a simple leathern string.

" 'Shall it remember you of me when you are far away and your heart is longing to see me', she said as she gave it to me."

" 'A' stands for Aragorn and Arwen", the Man suddenly added.

"Arwen?" Legolas asked, "Arwen? The daughter of Elrond?" He still had her picture in his mind. A woman of great beauty but also of great wisdom. He glanced at Aragorn. 'A nice couple', he decided.

A shy smile played around Aragorn's lips. "Yes, that is her. My love, the only one I am still fighting for. There have already been many occasions I had given up if she would not give me the strength to stay alive."

***

It was completely clear to Legolas that Aragorn would not just have left his necklace without missing it. After that night he had not spoken to him anymore about Arwen but he had seen that Aragorn longed for her. In moments when he had thought himself not being watched, he often had touched the place on his cloak where keen eyes could see the outlines of the pendant.

But suddenly a horrible thought popped up in Legolas´ mind: 'The Orcs! The Orcs must have taken Aragorn!' The Elf tried to dismiss this but he found that he was not able to. He again tried to recall the situation when Gimli and he had come back to be shocked by the sight of the dead Boromir. The Man had leaned against the tree, the Orcs been lying around him. Nothing that indicated the capture of Aragorn but also nothing that he had left for Minas Tirith.

Legolas did not know what to believe. He desperately hoped that his first guess had been right, that Aragorn had taken the second boat since some urgent tidings had arrived that he was needed in the Minas Tirith at once. If Aragorn really had been captured by the Orcs,… the Elf did not want to think about that possibility. He just knew that if that had happened, an uncertain fate would await Aragorn.

After some moments of thinking Legolas decided against telling Gimli and the Hobbits of finding Aragorn's necklace. 'They do not need to worry even more than they are doing right now,' he thought. ´The Hobbits surely have their minds on Frodo and Sam and I will not be able to tell Gimli without them getting to know. And after all, I do not know whether he really had been taken by the Orcs of if he just lost his necklace – the leather might have been weak or worn out…`

Finally after having searched the whole clearing once again for another sign of Aragorn, the Elf turned to go back to the river. He had stayed far longer that he had thought to. 'The others will be worried right now, I guess.'

He was right. Gimli and the Hobbits had even talked about going back again to see whether the Orcs had returned and Legolas had been killed either. Gimli had just begun to walk the few meters from the river to the first trees as Legolas stepped out from the shadows. In his hand he held the four Orcish scimitars he had left for.

"You've taken your time, my friend," Gimli said. "We've started to worry."

"I am sorry, but there were not many swords lying around suitable for such a great warrior as Boromir was. I had to look around for some time."

With these words Legolas put the swords beneath Boromir's feet and then pushed the boat into the Anduin, the Great River. The four standing on the bank watched as the funeral boat glided upon the flowing water, the stream taking it, first floating slowly, then picking up speed, until it departed, waning to a dark spot against the golden light of the late afternoon sun. And then it suddenly vanished. Rauros roared on unchanging. The river had taken Boromir son of Denethor, and he was not seen again in Minas Tirith, standing as he used to stand upon the White Tower in the morning. But in Gondor in the after-days it long was said that the Elven-boat rode the falls and the foaming pool, and bore him down through Osgiliath, and past the many mouths of Anduin, out into the Great Sea at night under the stars.

For a while the four companions remained silent, gazing after him. Then Legolas spoke. "They will look for him from the White Tower," he said, "but he will not return from mountain or from sea." Then slowly he began to sing in his clear Elven voice.

Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows

The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes.

'What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring me tonight?

Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon or by starlight'`

'I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and gray;

I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away

Into the shadows of the North. I saw him then no more.

The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor.'

'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar,

But you came not form the empty lands where no men are.'

From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sandhills and the stones;

The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans.

'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring me at eve?

Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'

'Ask not of me where he doth dwell – so many bones there lie

On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky;

So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea.

Ask the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!'

From the Gate of Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls;

And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls.

'What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring to me today?

What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'

'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry. There many foes he fought.

His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought.

His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest;

And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'

'O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze

To Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.'

So he ended. For a moment they all stood still, remembering the short time Boromir had been with them.

After some minutes, though, Merry wanted to know what they would be doing now. "Will we try to make for Minas Tirith or will we follow Frodo and Sam?"

It was absolutely obvious that he wanted to do the latter but Legolas did not reply at once. Now, after he seemed to have become their leader on a silent agreement, he had to think twice before doing something. He himself wanted to go to Minas Tirith but he also had to care for the other ones. If Aragorn really had been taken by the Orcs the four of them would not be strong enough to free him, the only help he could expect would be some men from Minas Tirith. On the other side, however, Frodo and Sam might need more support than the experienced ranger Aragorn.

Gimli looked at him. "We might be of no help to Frodo and Sam. They can only fulfill their quest by being secret and silent. If we follow them, we might be seen by Sauron's servants and that would lead to concentrating his forces on Mordor. Maybe it is better as it is right now – they going on their own. Further on, we would have difficulty to cross the Anduin to make for Mordor, the boats are gone, we cannot swim across the river. It's too perilous that far down from its spring."

The Dwarf was right. Even the Hobbits had to accept his point of view. "So we will try to reach Minas Tirith and join their host?" Merry asked then.

"Yes, that we will do." Legolas answered. Without Gimli's interjection it would have been a difficult debate – he truly even now did not know whether their decision was the right one.

"Get your things ready, we still will have a long journey before we will have reached the gates of Minas Tirith. Many leagues through unknown lands. But first we have to make west for Fangorn, the Old Forest, where the Entwash can still be crossed without boats. Only then we can head south to the Tower of Guard."

To be continued

A/N: Did you like it? Hopefully! But leave a review, even if not!! Please!