Disclaimer: I own nothing in the story except for…Ireth and Nessime. The rest, Tolkien owns.

Summary: After the death of his friend, Aragorn falls into depression and there may only be one person who can draw him out of it.

~*Author's Notes*~ Thanks to everyone who is still reading my story. You guys give me the confidence to continue my tale.

How Can I Survive

Chapter 27

"Open the door, I know you're in there" Ireth said in a very irritated voice as she knocked on Nessime's door. The sylvan elf really knew how to annoy the dark haired beauty. "Go away" she shouted from inside. "Do not toy with me, I swear I will not hesitate to tell everyone what you did. Then there would be no chance that Elrohir would even look at you ever again" Ireth threatened. Much like she predicted, the wooden door hurled open and Nessime was standing in the doorway.

"What do you want?" she asked. "I just came so we could revise my plan" Ireth said as she pushed the other maiden out of the way and came into the room. She sat down on red comforted bed and held a pillow on her lap. Nessime stumbled a little bit when she was shoved but she quickly regained her composure.

"Please, just leave me out of this. I don't want to hurt anybody" "It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Ireth hissed and then cackled nastily. "Besides, I never said there wasn't anything in it for you" Ireth continued as her expression became serious. "I know everything about you, which is why I was overjoyed when I learned that you were coming to visit. Look at you, you are not even close in beauty to match that of me or any Rivendell maiden for that matter. Do you think Elrohir even knows you exist? I don't. I can help you, I made a discovery a couple years back that would aid you very much" she finished and Nessime looked awfully confused.

"What do you mean you know everything about me?" she questioned, glaring icicles at her companion. "I didn't just make my plan overnight, I had to do a lot of research and talk to a lot of very interesting people, which is how I learned of you in the first place. You have led an extremely fascinating life, do you know that?" Ireth explained which only perplexed the other even more.

Ireth groaned before continuing her story. "I met a man named Jarden a couple of hundred years back. A truly brilliant man, unfortunately he was killed, and I have a good idea of who did it and why. The name sounds familiar to you doesn't it? He told me all about you, all about what you two did. He said you were in love, but I knew better, you led him on so he could do your dirty work."

Nessime was shaking and she was fidgeting with her hands and goose-bumps covered her arms. In her head she was cursing herself for letting this insane elf find out her past.

"Anyway, if lord Elrond and his family find out, I do not think they will delay in your execution. If they ever found out that it was indeed you who sent the group of orcs to ambush lady Celebrian's party, they will probably kill you themselves."

*****

Aragorn and Arwen were sitting in the dining hall, still laughing at one another's appearance, for both of them had yet to change out of their dripping attires. Estel had never seen a time when the Evenstar had looked less than perfect, but she still looked beautiful to him.

"You two a little old to be playing with water, don't you agree?" Pityon commented as he came across the pair. "He started it" Arwen said as she pointed towards Aragorn, who in return good-naturedly poked her arm. "You are as immature as you look" Pityon laughed as he walked away from them.

"Do you want to join me for a walk this evening?" Aragorn asked. "I would love too" she answered. "Then it's a plan, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to excuse myself, for I feel very uncomfortable in these soggy clothes" he said, causing a smile to form on his beloved's face. "That's a good idea, I think I will also alter what I am wearing" she responded, and they parted ways at her words.

*****

"Listen, I know that it is important that we find out what is going on for Arwen's sake, but so far we have gotten nowhere" Elrohir complained. He was extraordinarily upset at their situation because it was he who started them on this wild goose chase. "Maybe we are looking in all the wrong places. We have been searching Ireth's past, why don't we look up Nessime's history" Elladan proposed.

"I don't see…oh" he said as his brother's idea clued in. "There you go" Elladan jested. The two were sitting at a table in the library.

"But she is from Mirkwood, I don't comprehend how we will find anything" Elrohir said, conveniently finding another problem. "We will not look in books and such no, what we will do is, sneak around, talk to different people" Elladan concluded.

"You don't think that, that seems…oh I don't know devious and underhanded?" Elrohir asked. "Well it's the same thing we were going to do to Ireth" Elladan replied bewildered at his brother's question. "I know but…Nessime is not trying to rip out our sister's heart." "It is for the best, do not feel bad" Elladan said as he placed a hand on his sibling's shoulder from across the round table.

Elrohir nodded in response, he knew they had to find a way to stop Ireth from breaking Arwen and Aragorn up just for the fun of it. It was just completely ill-fated that they had to go through someone so innocent to do so.

*****

"You wouldn't dare tell anybody about that" Nessime said. "That was many hundreds of years ago" she protested. "But her family will still be tremendously furious with you. The fact that you had no reason to do it even makes it all the more hilarious" Ireth said as she threw the pillow into the air. "But you know there is one thing that I am still unclear about. How did you come in contact with Jarden in the first place?"

"It is a long story" "And I have all night" Ireth proclaimed.

Nessime moved about the room uneasily as she prepared to tell her story, the whole story. She knew that there was no sense in leaving anything out because Ireth already knew enough to destroy her life.

"Okay, well it is true that my parents were from Mirkwood and I moved my life there many years ago. However before I was born, my mother met an elf that she immediately fell in love with, but he was a dark and mysterious elf. He killed for fun along side other elves, orcs and evil men. Nevertheless my mother couldn't change the feelings she had for him, so they married. I was born into a family that never stayed in one place for to long. Years later when I was about 1000, my mother realized what a mistake she had made, and she tried to leave with me. To get as far away from my father as possible. We were caught and my mother was killed."

It hurt Nessime so much to recall the events but it also helped to get it off her chest. She had never told a soul her story.

"I loved my father so much and with all my heart, that I listened to every word he said to me. I believed him when he said that my mother was trying to turn me against him. His ways became my ways. I develop into the monster that he was. I killed for fun just like he did, and we had fun and for so many years" Nessime was choking on her words, she was so humiliated and mortified of her former self. She ran a hand though her golden tresses and wiped the sweat the had clustered on her brow.

"Around a century ago we made camp on the borders of Imladris. All that was running through my head is what it would be like to plan an attack, to be the one responsible for countless deaths all at once but to get no blood on my hands. It was then that I met Jarden, a man who had recently joined our company. So you're right, I led him on into thinking that I would give up my immortality for him when I really had no intention of doing so. About a month after that, I learned of the lady Celebrian's journey and that they would be coming near enough for my to set my plan into action. I kept thinking about all the praise and admiration I would get from my fellow travellers. So I told Jarden of it, and I asked him to lead the party of orcs to ambush her" she said and she was breathing really fast as the events were replayed in her mind.

"When he returned and told me that the job was a success, instead of feeling proud, I felt horrible and guilt-ridden. Something that I had never experienced before in my life. People kept telling me what a great job I did and that I should be gleaming with satisfaction, but I couldn't listen to them, all I saw in them were tyrants and people that should be confined for the rest of eternity. My shame was finally catching up with me, I couldn't live on the dark side any longer so I left. But after a few years I felt as if my past was soon going to be discovered. I couldn't take that chance, I had made a real life for myself in Mirkwood. I tracked Jarden's party for days, and the days turned into months until I finally found their settlement."

"When he saw me, his face was filled with joy, but I sensed that he had opened his mouth to somebody and told them my secret, and as it turns out I was right. I always carry a small dagger with me that can fit in my boot, so I asked him if he wanted to take a walk with me and as I suspected he agreed. Nobody else knew of my arrival and as far as I know nobody still does. But now I'm not quite sure" she said hinting an insult at Ireth.

"Anyway, as we were walking, I told him that I saw something in the bush so he went to go check it out. While he was doing so I climbed into a tree. So when he returned he could not find my location. When he was about a metre in front of my hiding spot I jumped down and I wasn't trying to be quiet so he turned around. He laughed thinking I was trying to scare him. I moved closer as if to kiss him, but instead I stabbed him in the stomach and I twisted the blade farther in to his body so it came out his back. His last words to me were 'why.' When I saw him laying there in a pool of his own blood, his sandy hair covered with sweat and his green eyes looking so hurt, I broke down. I collapsed on my knees beside him and I started crying. But despite my tries to rescue him, he died. I didn't know what to do, so instead of doing anything to help him and let his companions know, I fled back to Mirkwood. I have been there ever since and I know not of my father's fate" Nessime finally finished her story and she fell back into a wooden rocking chair.

Ireth applauded her which made Nessime look up at her. "Wow, you know I never realized how right I actually am. If lord Elrond ever finds out, you will definitely be put to death. And there is no way Elrohir could ever love you. I see the way you look at him, and that's all I need to do to know how you feel. You're in between a rock and a hard place here. You have to help me" Ireth stated happily.

"And believe me, even if Elrohir and his kin never find out, he could never love you. With all the beautiful maidens that throw themselves at him and his brother, you would be the last on his list. Don't deny it, look at yourself" Ireth chuckled offensively. "Sleep well" she said as she left Nessime's quarters. "Wait" the fair haired elf called and Ireth turned around to look at her. "You said something about a discovery" Nessime said. "Tomorrow, my dear, tomorrow."

Do you still like? This chapter didn't revolve around the main characters but it still explained a lot…I hope. Review!

~*Judy Greenleaf*~