To the Reviewers:

TC - Glad you liked it, and hope you get the peanut butter off your hands soon...i hear soap and water works wonders, but that could just be me...

Sparx - Hehehe...thought having Elladan sitting on her would get a laugh from some people. And as for the slaves and Selinde, well I guess you'll just have to wait and see now won't you...

Chapter 19

Selinde was scouting the area, wondering how she was going to kill Noor in the most painful way when she saw something that finally made her snap. There was a younger Elfling in Noor's company, and from the looks of it she had been captured only recently. The she-Elf watched as the Elfling was called to her foe's side, and stumbled on the way. It was a simple mistake, granted one an Elf did not usually make, but there was nothing that warranted punishment. By the time she reached Noor, the man was angered, and slapped her to the ground. Watching as her 'master' hauled back to kick his slave, Selinde lost control and went running into the town, barreling into the man. This was her first mistake.

The group reached Rhun just moments after Noor stood and grabbed their friend by the hair, and Kaolith broke forward, only to be stopped by both Aragorn and Legolas. Holding her fast against her pulls and jerks, they only hoped she wouldn't turn and bite them again.

"Kaolith," the Lord hissed, "remember what I told you." He watched as the girl relaxed, glaring at him, and pondering what prank would serve to even the score for this. She watched as Selinde was captured once more. Then the she-Elf made her second mistake; she acted very much like her human counterpart and spit in Noor's face. Aragorn and Legolas felt their 'captive' jerk as Selinde's lip was split open. Noor led his prize to the whipping post on the edge of the town, with the help of his guards, and reached for his whip.

Kaolith saw what was happening and turned on her friends. Pounding her fists down on their wrists, she broke free and bolted. Before they could catch her, she too had barreled into her enemy, knocking him down to the ground and they flipped over each other, trying to pin the other. Kaolith was running on so much adrenaline that she was matched in strength to the man, but neither could manage to get an edge for long, so they tumbled closer and closer to the crest of the hill the town was perched on.

"KAO!" Selinde knew what lay on the bottom of the hill, and even her one-track mind, bent on killing her nightmare, had a small spot of reason for her sister, and she remembered that they still could barely get the Ranger within twenty feet of water, unless it was absolutely necessary. She watched in horror, then, as the two dropped from sight, rolling painfully down the rock-covered hill.

Everyone in and around the town heard the splash, and Selinde's rescuers burst into action. Running in, the humans and Legolas were covered by bow fire, and quickly dispatched most of the men, the Elven slaves watching in awe; most had lost all hope. They finally reached Selinde and cut her down, not sure of what to say to her.

Elrond reached them, and sensed the need to find the young Ranger whom he was going to lecture until he lost his voice. First, however, he needed to break the standoff. "You are as impulsive as Kao, Selinde, remember that, won't you?"

Selinde turned to the Lord, and at the mention of Kaolith, broke over the hill, sliding easily down the embankment. What she saw shocked her.

Kaolith had landed painfully when they had finally splashed to a stop in the water, and quickly pushed the Man off of her, coming up for air and turning all of her hatred at him, anger at Lord Elrond, and fear for and of Selinde, tackled Noor, beating him as he had done her and so many others. He had flipped her off after a while, driving them both more deeply into the water. Remembering Selinde's wish for the child to stay away from her finally surfaced, and she found the strength to flip the man and hold him under the water.

Staring down at his face, she saw Hagley and Gaenry in her hands, and tightened her hold on his neck until he was forced to breathe in the water and died. It was here that the group found her, dizzy beyond belief and up to her chest in water, still holding on to the Man's limp form.

When they waded into the water to her side and pried her fingers off of his neck, she looked only briefly at the she-Elf, and then echoed the words that she had heard two years before. "Are you done being angry, or do I need to wait a few more weeks?" She then slipped back into her mind, not noticing what was going on.

Selinde just stood there, looking at the limp form of her nightmare. She then realized that Kao had done for her, what she had done for her sister. As her adrenaline level dropped, she did also. And as her mind turned inward to safer places, she could feel protective arms wrap around her. She felt herself being carried to a warm dry bed, then nothing else.

Three days she slept. Lord Elrond was not too concerned yet, for riding off had aggravated many of the wounds that Noor had inflicted and Elrond had had to treat her again. When she awoke, she felt the body of Kao lying next to her on the bed, and when she turned, she met the eyes of Gandalf.

"We could not keep her from your side. She tried to stay awake, but even her stubbornness could not prevent sleep."

Selinde then smiled, and Gandalf could not remember ever seeing the Elf so free. The she-Elf reached to the young girl who meant everything to her, and stroked her hair. Gandalf excused himself to fetch Lord Elrond and left Selinde to her thoughts. She didn't get the chance to consider all that had happened, for when she turned to Kao again, the young rangers eyes were open, and were searching Selinde expectantly.

"Seems we get ourselves in quite a lot of trouble. Doesn't it my friend," Selinde smiled at Kao. She watched as the young girl yawned and stretched and then sat up in the bed facing her friend.

"Thank you Kao." Selinde said the words, and couldn't prevent the tears as they flowed freely down her cheeks. "I could not have made it without you. I would not have survived these past years without you by my side. You freed me from my nightmares Kao, and I can never repay you for that."

"There is nothing to repay," Kao responded to her friend. "For I only did for you, what you did for me."

"The love I have for you in my heart Kao, shines brighter then Earendil itself."

When the others returned with Gandalf, they were happy to find the two friends wrapped in each other's arms.

Aragorn broke the silence after a few minutes. "Well this is good, and we thought for sure we were going to have to lock you in a room together for a few days to get you to talk to each other." He watched as Kaolith stuck her tongue out, and heard the sound of Elvish laughter like he had never heard from Selinde.

Kaolith turned as Elrond cleared his throat and without another thought, jumped from the bed and tried to bolt out the door before he could send her home or something more fitting. Unfortunately, he was faster than that, and the Ranger found her feet leaving the floor. "Not so fast little one."

"Uh-oh. Some help, guys?"

"Oh no you don't, you're on your own for this one." Elrond smiled grimly as she gulped.

"I didn't mean it, honest!" The group could hear her pleading her case as Elrond half-dragged her to another room.

"I wouldn't want to be in her shoes right now," Aragorn mentioned.

"Only because you have before Estel."

"Not like you haven't."

In the other room, Elrond sat the child on a bed and looked sternly at her. "You know what I'm going to say?"

"Yes sir."

"You know I should send you back to Mirkwood for this?"

"Yes sir."

"Kaolith, I'm not mad at you for what you did, but you have to learn. You've gotten lucky for the most part so far, but what happens when that luck runs out? What will happen to Selinde if something happens to you? You need to learn to think about what you are doing before you run off and do it. Running only on your reflexes will get you hurt, or worse." He softened his tone as he saw the fear in her eyes. "None of us want to see that little one. We are your family now, and we don't want to lose you before your time. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir. I try, but…"

"I know you do, Kao. Estel went through the same thing remember. Trust me, he gave me more than my fair share of gray hairs. Something that not many Elves have to deal with let me tell you." He eased at the genuine smile brightening the child's face. "Now…" he trailed off, as did the smile.

"Lord Elrond, sir. Where is Selinde? Is she hurt?"

Elrond sighed deeply, wondering if they were ever going to fix her memory jumps.

"She will be fine Kao. Do you wish me to take you to her?"

Kao nodded and they headed back to the bedroom. When they entered, Elrond pointed to his head and then to Kao. Letting them know that her memory had once again slipped.

"Let us leave them to catch up shall we?" The others nodded and headed back out to finish their dealings with the town before they headed out.

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

They had freed all the slaves, and had sent them on their way. Letting them know that they would be welcome in Lothlorien, Rivendell or Mirkwood should they choose to return to an Elven realm. Elrond had questioned them all and had found no Bethunian Elves among them.

After the slaves were freed, Gandalf put the fear of the Valar into the people, and they could only hope that this would not happen again. They then prepared to leave in the morning. Selinde still wanted to find Bethune and they did not know how long that would take.

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

As the others left, Kao winked at Selinde. The she-Elf looked in shock at her friend, and then roared in laughter.

"You tricked him." She was laughing so hard; her injuries were starting to hurt. "You actually tricked him to get out of a lecture. Oh, sweet Elbereth. I will definitely hold that one over your head."

"I got part of the lecture, enough to understand what he was getting at, but I thought you wanted to find Bethune. The way he was going, we'd still be here three days from now. I did it for you, that's it."

"Are you going to take heed of what he said?" She too was worried for her sister's future.

"I'm going to try, but no promises." Kaolith knew well enough not to make promises that you couldn't keep.

"Oh Elbereth, Kao, you are going to be the death of us all. No, thel nin, I'm joking, don't look at me like that."

Within a few days they were ready to travel once again, and waited for Selinde to take the lead, as the others had very little idea where they were going. Selinde rode the pathways as if she had never left, and the others were hard pressed to keep up. It was because of this, that she reached the ruins of her home with time to take it all in before she had to be in the presence of another.

And as she viewed what was once her home, she no longer saw the ruins. She saw the splendor of Bethune. For beautiful it had once been. The main 'palace' had been a large building, built to flow with the landscape. The outside walls shimmered with the changing of the leaves, so the realm would blend with nature around it. It was a very deceptive look, and unless you knew what you were looking for, you would most likely miss it.

Selinde sat on her horse, with memories swirling around her. She looked to the clearing where the children always played their games. She could just make out the shadows of former friends taunting her into climbing a tree. Knowing she would not be able to stay in them. She actually laughed at the hours of amusement her friends got from this. The pain she had received from the laughs, drifting away into the wind.

She pushed her horse forward, to the area of the palace that had been her home. She was then hit with memories that she had not thought of in a long time. When the humans had first come, they had resisted, but their numbers had been decreasing, and it wasn't long before the humans had control. While they still lived in the palace in captivity, her parents had stressed to her the importance of never giving the evil ones her true identity.

Her friends had just ridden up behind her as she gasped in shock.

"Selinde?" Kao questioned.

"How could I not remember that?" Selinde spoke, the others could hear, but she was speaking mostly to herself.

She dismounted her horse and started walking towards the ruins.

"Selinde," Lord Elrond called. "Please be careful. That does not look very safe."

"Don't you see?" She turned to her friends. "My parents programmed me not to remember who I was, to protect me."

They watched as joy spread across the she-Elf's face. None could ever recall such a look from her before. As she approached what was left of the building, she continued to speak.

"My rooms were somewhere in here, but on a higher floor. My cousins and I would play for hours, running in and out of the secret passages that were prevalent throughout. Don't you see this is what has been missing. What my parents made me forget."

Kao dismounted and approached her friend. "What did they make you forget Selinde?"

"What the humans could never know." She paused as the tears once again streaked down her face. "That after my father, the Lord and Lady's only child. I was the last heir of this realm."

They all were shocked except Elrond. Galadriel had said that this "tainted" line had mixed with the royals. But before he could say anything, Kao spoke first.

"So does that make you, like, a princess or something?"

Selinde looked at her friend. "I suppose it did, then. But this is no longer my life, so now I am just me."

The she-Elf caught sight of something to her left and started walking that way. The others dismounted and followed, making sure the horses were secure first. When they caught up to her, she was once again gripped with emotions.

"The is where Gileon proposed to me." She had spoken so softly, they almost didn't hear. "It was a beautiful night, the stars were brightly shining in the sky. We thought we had all of eternity to declare our love for one another." She shook her head violently; she did not want to get caught up in the sadness right now. She could deal with those emotions later.

"Wait," she turned to her friends. "Didn't Galadriel also say, that no one but a Bethunian Elf could enter here." She paused and looked around. "If you can see all of this, then.....," she abruptly stopped and took off running.

As she ran down a path that led to the lake, and to the other side of the palace, her friends followed. They were all hit with the splendor once again, as the lake came into view. She approached what appeared to be symbols of some sort in a circle on the ground. She was somewhat ahead of them again, and had stopped to read the symbols. Before anyone could give a warning, Selinde stepped into the circle and disappeared.