Yay, another chapter! Joy and harpiness!

Sorry it took so long. I was working on submissions to a writing program. I'll find out if I was accepted in May. Yuck. That means when it's my birthday I may have a big disappointment on my hands. *Sigh* Oh well.

I like this chapter. I like it almost as much as I like making Elrond annoying. Tee hee hee. Hee hee hee.

The disclaimer was on the last chapter. Read that one.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nori woke slowly for once. She gradually became aware that she was in a soft, comfortable, cozy, warm bed, with lots of fluffy pillows. {Well,} she thought drowsily. {This is a change of pace.} After a few more minutes, she became aware of more things other than just the overall comfyness of the bed. Rain was falling outside, making a comforting sound, which isn't so comforting if you're trying to sleep in it. There was a murmur of voices somewhere around her, but they were comforting too, so she continued the pretense of sleep. Eventually the voices went away, but she still didn't even think of moving. Then she became aware of the thick bandage on her shoulder, and she sat up suddenly.

"What's going on? Where's Rhone? Is Aragorn dead? Why am I so comfy?" she said. "Ow," she added as an after thought and laid back down.

"You were shot in the back by an orc," Master Elrond said, looking a little shaken by her outburst. "It's lucky Teleron sent others back for you, or you would be dead."

"Teleron?"

"The scout who brought Aragorn here." Elrond smiled. "He was actually better off than you were."

"Well that figures." Nori muttered under her breath. "What better way to top off the worst day of your life than by nearly dying?" She looked up at Elrond. "Aragorn is all right then?"

"He is fine," Elrond said.

"Good," said Nori. "Where's Rhone?"

Elrond took a deep breath. {Oh, this can't be good.} Nori thought. "We don't really know where she is," he said gravely. "The orcs and the Wargs were taken care of with little trouble, and scouts are out searching for her."

"How long have I been here?" Nori asked.

"Four days."

"Four days?! Rhone's been missing for four days, and you didn't wake me up?!" Nori yelled, causing Elrond to step back slightly.

"I didn't wake you because I couldn't," he said quietly. "Meneostiel, you nearly died. Your heart stopped for about fifteen minutes before I was able to resuscitate you, and you've been in a coma for the last three days. I honestly am amazed that you're talking to me."

Nori was stunned. "I nearly died?" she said looking down at the comforter.

"Yes." Elrond said. "I promise you that we are doing everything we can to find Rhone, but until then, Meneostiel, you need to rest."

"My name is Nori," she muttered into the sheets.

"I do _not_ care what name you've given yourself. Meneostiel is your given name." Elrond said.

"I did not give myself that name!" Nori yelled, eyes blazing. "The name Nori Rockfist was given to me by the Dwarves of the Lonely Mountain. I am recognized as kin to them. As is Rhone."

"You are elf-kind, Meneostiel. You cannot change that." He said.

"WELL I CAN TRY, CAN'T I?"

"We can discuss this another time," Elrond said. "I am afraid I am overtaxing you."

Nori let out a muffled scream as he walked out, and a pillow hit the wall where he had been standing a moment before.

"Stupid half-elven I-have-foresight-so-I-know-best jerk. Grr..." Nori muttered as she rolled herself up in her blankets.

Elrond paused outside Nori's door to compose himself. "Stupid annoying psychotic elf-maiden. Grr..." he muttered as he walked down the hall.

* * * * *

Aragorn stood on a high terrace that overlooked the valley in which Rivendell was hidden. A waterfall, small only because of it's distance, flowed down in an icy blue ribbon into the blue-gray waters of the Bruinen. He looked like he was merely admiring the view, but his jaw was clenched tightly, so that a muscle in his temple twitched.

"Aragorn?"

He turned from the balcony to face Elrond, who was standing just in the doorway. He unclenched his teeth and gave the elf a slight bow.

"How is she?" He asked.

Elrond closed his eyes briefly with an annoyed expression on his face. "Aside from a horrible attitude and a psychological complex...she's fine."

"Any sign of Rhone?" Aragorn asked.

"No," Elrond said. Aragorn clenched his hands at his sides and bit his lip, then walked back to the balcony, putting his hands on the railing and breathing out slowly.

"Aragorn, we will find her-" Elrond started to say.

"We don't know that." Aragorn said quietly. "We don't know where she is, or if she's even alive." He glanced up at Elrond with a totally unreadable expression on his face. "But you won't let me go look for her."

"Aragorn, we have had this discussion before. You are still weak from your injury. You cannot go running around the countryside now without risking your injury getting infected." Elrond had a steely look in his eyes. "And I will not risk that."

"She's my sister!" Aragorn said, eyes glittering with anger and tears as he turned to face Elrond. "More than that, she's my best friend. I can't leave her out there alone. I have to find her." He turned back to the balcony and leaned on it, scowling and slouching heavily.

"We are looking for her." Elrond said, moving to stand next to Aragorn. "And I know you hate it when I say things like this, but elves could probably find her better than you could."

Aragorn straightened and looked up at Elrond, the anger gone from his face. "I hate it even more when you're right." He took a deep breath. "I trust your judgment. Even when I don't like it." He nodded his head in acquiescence. "I will do as you say."

Elrond smiled. "You will be informed if we learn anything new." He started to walk out, then turned back. "You should talk to Meneostiel. I think she is a little lonely."

"Her name's Nori." Aragorn said as Elrond walked out.

"So I've heard." Elrond muttered.

* * * * *

The next day Aragorn went to visit Nori. When he walked in, she was sitting up in her bed, looking out the open window with her head resting against her knees, which she had brought up against her chest. She looked up when she heard his soft footfalls, and smiled at him.

"What were you looking at?" he asked as he sat down.

"A spider building it's web in the windowsill." She said, glancing at the windowsill. Aragorn couldn't see a spiderweb, but he took her word for it. She looked back at him. "Any sign of Rhone?" she asked, hope barely touching her features.

Aragorn had expected this, and hated the answer he had to give her. "No."

Nori took a deep shuddering breath, and put her forehead on her knees. "This is all my fault," she said quietly.

"It's not your fault-"

"Yes it is. If I hadn't have stabbed you, I wouldn't have had to ride ahead with you, and I wouldn't have gotten hurt. I'm more trouble than I'm worth."

"No you're not." Aragorn said. "At least not to Rhone. You're really important to her. She needs you. She needs your support. Because despite her strength, she is a very insecure person." He paused for a moment, then continued. "Do you know why she left Rivendell?"

"No," Nori said, looking up with interest. "Rhone never told me, so I had always assumed that she had left because of an argument, like me."

"She left because there were too many bad memories, too much hurt here to stay." Aragorn looked down. "A few months after Rhone's 17th birthday, a ranger came to Rivendell. His name was Dorian. He was in his twenty-first year, with the dark hair and light eyes of the Dunedain. He and Rhone first met when she was wandering the woods of Rivendell alone." Aragorn smiled slightly. "She went out alone, and came back hand in hand with Dorian, both of them with stars in their eyes. They were deeply in love, but Elrond would not let them get married, because that might have caused a fight over the throne of Gondor. Not that it really mattered to those two. They were just happy to be merely in each other's company."

Aragorn sighed. "One day, Dorian was assigned border patrol. He never came back. His body was found downstream the next day, shot full of orc arrows." He bit his lip and looked down before continuing. "Rhone was devastated. She tried to commit suicide, but I found her and stopped her. She cried for weeks and weeks till she couldn't cry anymore. She was like a shadow, flitting through the halls of Imladris like a ghost. For months she couldn't look at me, because I reminded her too much of him. Then, on her 18th birthday, she packed up her things and left Rivendell. I tried to convince her to stay, but she said there was too much pain here for her to stay. She came back every once in a while after that, but there was always a kind of pain in her eyes."

He looked up at Nori and smiled. "But when I saw her with you, there was no pain. You make her happy, Nori, and that should be assurance enough that she needs you."

"Wow." Nori said. "I always wondered why she hated orcs so much. I mean, even I don't hate them as much as she does, and I'm an elf."

"Yeah, Rhone holds grudges." Aragorn said, nodding to himself.

"Don't I know it." Nori said gloomily. They both sighed at the same time, and then they burst out laughing.

"Good to know you guys have kept yourselves amused while I was gone." Said a familiar voice from the window. They both turned to the window to see Rhone lounging on the window sill, looking tired and dirty. Nori and Aragorn just stared for the longest time, till a thought popped into Nori's head.

"Your head's in a spiderweb."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I just felt like bringing Rhone back. And you have to remember that if you hear about a spiderweb in one part of the story, it's going to be used eventually.

Rhone's kinda screwed up huh?

Review please, so I can feel secure about myself.

*Smile*