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CHAPTER TWO- Menel-Ithil is found

Aragorn walked restlessly about the camp, surveying those who were wounded, and looking for those he had not yet seen. He noticed that Atara's sister, Menel-Ithil, had not been found as of yet. She was the last missing. He immediately sent three other Rangers out to look for her, worrying all the time that she would be another casualty of the war.

The rescuers came back in less than thirty minutes' time. The one who had checked the western part of the field carried with him a lifeless body. It was Menel. Aragorn turned away and wept. By the clean lines from their eyes on their dirty faces, the scouts had done so also. Menel-Ithil was laid on a cot and looked over. She had an arrow in her stomach and a small orcish blade in her chest. Aragorn sighed and then blessed her. Her cot was then placed with the others those who had fallen. Aragorn then went to Elrohir's cot. Seeing that he had wakened, he said, "Elrohir...Menel-Ithil has fallen. As if Atara's day has not been horrible enough...now she must be told that her sister is dead."

"Menel? But she was as good a fighter as any of us...how could she have..." his words broke off, his expression clouded, and he wept. He had been close to both girls, and he had loved them like his own sisters. "She cannot be told yet. She must sleep now. But when she wakes, I will tell her, as I too was close to Menel. Where is she, so that I may see her?"

"She is in the tent with the rest of the fallen. She lies under a blanket bearing the crest of her house."

"Hannon le, Aragorn." He walked slowly to the tent, knowing the horrors that lay there. All of the Dunadan were very close, and he wished that not so many had fallen. Only a small portion of their forces had been felled, but even that many was very hard to bear. He looked for the blanket with the crest, and when he saw it, he bent over it and wept. He prayed for her and then he left, overcome by the grief. Supposing that Atara would awaken soon, he went back to sit by her.

Atara slowly opened her eyes. She felt slightly refreshed, and she felt that she could probably move her body. She turned her head to look around and was startled by Elrohir's face.

"Ah, you're awake!" He said, trying to smile, but it was overpowered by the look of grief in his face.

"Yes...what is wrong? Something is very wrong, I can see it in your face!" She was suddenly overcome by fear and foreboding.

He felt it best to get it out as quickly as possible. "Atara," he said, a tear forming in his eye, "Menel-Ithil is...dead." The last words he choked out, because the sorrow was unbearable.

Atara's eyes watered and she hid her face in her hands. All of her sadness dissolved into tears, and her body was fiercely wracked by sobs from the bottom of her soul. Through her tears she began muttering unintelligible things in Elvish, prayers, curses, and various words of sorrow and remorse. Somewhere in this Elrohir discerned "If I was there...if I had stayed with her...oh..." He could not stop crying himself, but he moved to embrace her, to comfort her, to know that he shared in her sorrow. The other Rangers in the tent left them alone, grieving alone in their hearts, knowing better than to interfere in the soothing session.

"Shhhhhh, Atara...it was not your fault. The weapons that killed her were laid next to her cot, and one of them was an arrow. There was also a dagger. You may not have been able to save her even if you were there."

"Do not say that! I could have...she would be alive if I had been there."

"Atara, you were fighting too! You were injured. It is not your fault."

The two sat weeping into each others' arms for a long while after. Elladan walked in on the two weeping, and he wondered what had happened. He found out from another Ranger that Menel had died. He went to join the embrace of his brother and friend, because he and his brother had grown up with the sisters, and they all had been very close friends. The three stayed in this healing embrace for some time, until Atara's body stopped shaking and all three had finished crying. Then they all stood up. The brothers walked Atara over to her cot so that she could rest more, and then they walked around aiding the other wounded.

Atara lay in her bed, still feeling remorseful, feeling that she could have saved her sister. She also knew that Elrohir's words were true- she may not have been able to help anyway. So she turned her head and silently wept until she fell asleep.