The Journey Home

Disclaimer: J.R.R. Tolkein owns all this stuff.

Notes: I made this chapter longer and changed the format a little.  This is long so I'll split them up into different parts.

Aragorn sits on the ground, thinking what they should do next. Beside him sits Adrowin knees drawn to his chest, rocking back and forth. Helena is kneeling behind the two of them, also thinking of what to do. Aragron finally has an idea.

"Come with me to Rivendell", he proposes. Adrowin's eyes light up at the thought of getting the chance to see Elves for the first time in his life, he turns to Helena. "Oh can we, Helena", he asks her.

"I do not know", Helena replies reluctantly, "this is our home, I do not want to leave it."

"There is no other choice. There is no telling what Kaywin will do to you or Adrowin for helping me. Also I may not last long with this ankle", Aragorn tells her. Helena sighs, contemplating what she should decide.

"Okay, me and Adrowin will accompany you to Rivendell." Aragorn smiles and thinks of what Elrond and his brothers will think of Helena and Adrowin.

Adrowin gets up from the ground and goes over to carefully help Aragorn get up. He extends a hand and pulls the older man up from the ground. He moves to the side of Aragorn's hurt ankle and Aragorn drapes an arm around his neck. Since Adrowin is almost Aragorn's height already he easily supports him as he wraps one arm around Aragorn's waist and the other holds onto his wrist.

Helena gets up and goes inside the house quickly to grab two more sacks and fills them with Adrowin and her clothes and some food. She quickly walks out of the house to meet up with the others.

Helena gives Adrowin his sack, which he places around his shoulder. Helena goes over and grabs Aragorn's sack. It was not heavy, so it is not a problem for her to carry both Aragorn's and her sack at the same time.

The three of them head off into the direction of Rivendell. They leave the still comatose Kaywin on the ground.

[One hour later…]

The group decides to rest for a while and try to make a splint for Aragorn's leg. Aragorn leands against a fallen log with his hurt leg extended. Adrowin decides to go out and try to find two twigs. "They have to be straight and roughly the same length", Helena tells him as he heads to a small nearby wooded area.

Once he had left, Helena tries to think of what could be used to secure the twigs to Aragorn's leg. "Now what can I use to hold them in place. Think. Think…", she thinks out loud.

"I have an old shirt in my sack you can rip into strips". Helena did not realize that Aragorn had heard her and jumps slightly.

"I am sorry if I frightened you, ma'am."

Helena settles down, "that is alright, I have been a little jumpy lately." She rummages through Aragorn's sack and pulls out an old shirt of his. She tore three long strips from it and puts the rest back into the sack.

Adrowin returns shortly with two long, straight, and rather thick sticks.

"These will be perfect", Helena states as she glances at the sticks. She takes them from Adrowin. 

Both Helena and Adrowin kneel close to Aragorn's injured ankle.

"Now, hold Aragorn's leg down so that it does not move", Helena tells Adrowin. He does so. She places the sticks on either side of Aragorn's leg from his ankle to just the top of his knee; the perfect size. She takes one of the strips and ties it as genteelly as she could above his ankle, but he slightly winces in pain.

Helena stops and looks concernedly at him. "I am alright", he reassures her and she continues to work on him.

Helena double-knots the strip. She then places one just below his knee. The third she ties in the middle of the previous two.

They decided to rest for the rest of the day and continue the journey in the mourning.

Aragorn digs out his torn shirt from the sack and uses it as a pillow. He rolls it up into a ball and puts it on the fallen log, placing his head on top of it. He rests his hands on his chest and closes his eyes. Sighing, he closes his eyes he thinks of Legolas and what may have been.

Adrowin lies on the grassy ground a couple of feet from Aragorn. He does not mind sleeping on the ground. He is on his back with his hands under his head. He looks up at the stars for a long while before weariness takes hold of him and he finally closes his eyes. His last thought was that of his father and his relationship with him. His father had never given him much attention and when he did it was to usually yell at him.

Helena takes out the only bedroll they have between the three of them and spreads it out on the ground close to Adrowin. She lies down on her side. She looks over at Adrowin caringly. Although Adrowin was not her own flesh and blood, she felt as though he was her own son. She had never told anyone that she could never have a child of her own. A single tear falls down her cheek.

They all fell asleep thinking about their troubled pasts and their unpredictable future. 

TBC…

Hope you liked this one. Thanks for the reviews!! Sorry I don't have a lot of dialogue in this one.