Angel: Sorry for the late update. Been really busy. I think somewhere I said this left off at the end of the Fellowship. I watch Two Towers awhile ago and I think I can push it up to a bit into it. I'm going to go into the stuff of the Two Towers. I suggest, if you haven't seen it, you don't read this unless you want some spoilers, though I don't want anyone to quite reading! Please keep reading.

Sage: Whatever.

Angel: I might add another muse.

Duo: Another one?

Yaten: Who?

Angel: hm... Legolas might be a good addition.

Sage: An elf?

Angel: Maybe. Oh ya.. I use and elfish word in here as Taru's nicknames, it means morning child. And please forgive me if I get the events and order and stuff out of whack it's been awhile since I've seen it and the stupid people don't have the Two Towers of video out yet! *hiss*
2 days later.......

Hotaru felt something soft rub against her cheek. Slowing she opened her eyes. The sun was bright, but she didn't blink the blessed light away. 'Where am I?' Memories started to flood back to her and she shut her eyes tight. 'No. I'm not here. I'm safe at home.'

Hotaru let her eyes drift open again and she looked around slowly. Three men, or what looked like men, where sitting around a fire. They wore strange clothes, like her's.

'Where are my clothes?' Hotaru looked down, all she wore was a brown shirt that reached her knees.

Aragon glanced over at the girl and turned his gaze away. After a moment he blinked and spun to face her. "She's awake." He murmured to his companions. Gimli and Legolas looked over at the fragile woman.

Hotaru attentively sat up. The pains that flared through her chest made her wince, but she managed to stay up.

"Are you alright, miss?" A voice asked.

Hotaru's eyes flew to the three men who were now watching her. "I think so." Her own voice was raspy, she realized, and her throat was dry.

"Here." The blonde one with pointy ears got up and handed her some sort of green pod like thing. She looked at him for a second then took the object from him.

Assuming it was safe, and that, hopefully, she could trust these men; she moved it to her lips, her eyes still on the men, she drank.

"I'm Legolas." He pointy eared man said.

"Gimli." The short dwarf, she supposed, said. He grunted and gave a half smile, Hotaru thought he looked like a frumpy little Scottish man who's just woken up. A smile spread to her lips and she tried very hard to keep a giggle from escape. It was after all absurd that she feel like laughing in the middle of a strange world with three strange men.

"And I'm Aragon."

"I'm Lyric, though I am also called Hotaru." She murmured. "I suppose I should thank you for rescuing me. I feel so foolish for running into that camp like that."

"Don't worry." Legolas said, "I would run too if someone came up and grabbed me from behind."

"My foolish friend here didn't give any warning he was a friend." Aragon said. "You'll have to excuse him."

Legolas shot his friend a glance but turned his attention to the girl.

"Why were you out in the woods alone?" Gimli asked.

"I.. I was looking for the Fellowship." She finally said, deciding she could trust her three rescuers, though she did move her eyes down to the supplies looking for a weapon if she needed one. "I wanted to see if I could help."

The three men passed looks between one another and Aragon sighed, "You've found part of them."

"I do not know why a meager elfin woman would want to find us though." Gimli grumbled giving her an odd look.

Hotaru flushed in furry, who was this guy to call her meager and act like she couldn't do a thing. She'd show him! 'But I can't.' Hotaru scolded herself. 'I'm here to help them, not show a short guy up.'

"Well, I thought maybe I could."

"I highly doubt.."

"Gimli." Legolas said stopping the dwarf. "I think we ought to let miss Hotaru rest. She still must be tired and a bit pained."

"Alright." Gimli muttered casting a glance at the woman, "Rest then elfin."

He turned away and walked back towards the fire. Aragorn sighed and turned to finish mixing the soup that was bubbling nicely over the fire.

"Don't mind Gimli." Legolas murmured as he took a seat next to Hotaru. "He's just sore cause I beat him again."

"Beat him? At what?"

"Killing Orcs."

"O-k." Hotaru said not sure why they'd make a contest out of it.

Legolas smiled, "You're not elfin are you?" Hotaru's eyes flew to his in surprise. "I saw you're wings." Legolas murmured in explanation. "At the river."

"It was you watching me?"

"I was going for water, I saw you, and was sort of surprised. You're fae?"

"Yes."

"The fae are supposed to be mostly extinct. A few live scattered in forests. Is this your forest?"

"No. I'm a wanderer."

"Ah.. Here." He said softly moving the shirt up slightly. Hotaru gasped as his hands touched her skin.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Checking you're wounds."

"Oh."

**************************************************************************** ****

After an hour of the three men's company, Hotaru found she liked them all very much. Even Gimli whose cynical whit was actually quite funny when it came right down to it. They told her of their quest to find the two small hobbits that had been taken prisoner and how close they felt to finding them. They were near to Rohan, Aragorn had explained, showing her a map of the Middle Earth.

"Wow." Hotaru murmured. "I didn't know my travels had brought me this far."

"And I don't understand why you came anywase." Gimli remarked for the thousand time that day. "You're just a tiny girl with no muscle to ya. And you're hurt."

"Gimli." Legolas said quietly.

"And you elfin, you're to taken with the girl to keep your eyes ahead of you."

Hotaru blushed, and glanced at Legolas who smirked slightly at Gimli. "If she were a dwarf I suppose you wouldn't be distracted?"

"That's a whole other matter all together."

And the bickering would continue as the four walked along the woodland path. But after a few minutes more, Aragorn signaled for quiet. "Look," he murmured.

Down below them was Rohan, the endless fields and wonders of the Rohan. "The Riders will be about. We must treed lightly."

"The Riders?" Hotaru asked.

"Sometime I wonder if you've never seen the light of day." Gimli sighed.

"Don't mind him, Aurhen, he's always like that." Legolas muttered with a quick grin.

Hotaru smiled; life here wasn't going to be that bad, just as long as she got to stay with Legolas, Aragorn and Gimli. They were funny. Well, Aragorn was a bit quiet, but he was nice and he told her lots of information she'd need to help in this world.

"Hurry." Aragorn scolded the elf and dwarf, "You two are slowing us down. Lyric is the one hurt, not you two."

Gimli grinned, "It was the elfins fault."

**************************************************************************** ***

They were surrounded. Hotaru shuttered and moved closer to Legolas. "What are we going to do?" She whispered to him as the Riders of Rohan looked down upon them.

Aragorn gave her look to silence her and talked with a man who seemed to be the leader. With a few words the Riders undid the circle and started off again. From what she'd heard, they creators that had taken the hobbits were slain. But that did not mean they were, did it?

Aragorn and the others approached the battle torn area where the hobbits would have been around, but they were not there. Sober looks passed onto the men's faces as they looked around for their friends. But to no avail, they could not be found.

But Hotaru spotted something, "Does that look like tracks?"

Legolas glanced to where she was looking and smiled slightly, "Come." He murmured and talked aloud as he went, the others following behind. "They were tied. came here... fell.. Went..." And so on, short murmurs of thought passed from his lips.

"They went into the woods." Aragorn said.

'So are we.' Hotaru thought, 'if the hobbits went off a cliff we'd probably jump too.' It wasn't usually in her nature to be so cruel in thinking, but everyone needs to get it out sometime.

The forest was dark and cold. Deprived of life, almost. Legolas looked worried, his eyes darted from here to there. And to Hotaru's bafflement, she could feel the peculiarity in the air was well. Maybe it was the new powers and such that that she'd gotten when she'd stepped into Middle Earth.

As it went, they walked quietly through the wood. Treed lightly, Aragorn kept saying. What did treading lightly have to do with the unfilled dreams that inhabited the wood in which they were now?

"It's late." Gimli said. "And that light does not look like the sun."

"No." Hotaru said, and slid behind Aragorn.

"What is it?"

**************************************************************************** *

The light turned out to be Gandof the White. Hotaru had heard of him thanks to Aragon's stories and tales. He explained what had happened in their journey so far and the sorrowful things that were happening as they spoke.

"We mount up and ride." Gandof said, motioning to horses that appeared from the horizon. Aragorn mounted up and helped Gimli with him. Gandof smiled slightly at her and tipped his hat, as if he knew some secret that only they shared.

Hotaru began to think he knew who she was; really, who she was. And from where. But she had no time to ponder the subject because Legolas had wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up onto the horse. She blushed, and then scolded herself for the blush. So she had a crush on Legolas, did that matter? 'Yes.' She thought, 'oh yes.'

"To Rohan." Gandof shouted and took off. Aragorn and Legolas reined the horses into gallops and they were off.