She looked at them, her entire face reflecting her desperation. "I.." she began strongly, but under Elladan's glare, her voice withered. "..just wanted to help."
Elladan's jaw tensed and Legolas's muscles flexed reflexively as he strengthened his hold on the reigns in his fury. "What were you thinking?!" Aragorn growled. "How could you do this?!" Elrohir exclaimed. "What is the matter with you?" Glorifindel snapped, and Krystal kept her head high and her eyes bright, not daring to look over towards the men where she knew Annore was gaping at her. But she had to look away from Legolas's hard gaze. "I knew it," he said coldly. "I knew you couldn't be trusted to do the right thing and accept your place." At these words, her jaw tensed. "I have accepted my place," she said tensely. "I know you think this whole thing is a stupid idea I came up with but--"
"What else would you have us think it is?" Aragorn snapped. "You are a lone, young female inviting yourself on an expedition to a place that you know nothing of, with dangers you wouldn't dream of--"
"I know about the dangers," Krystal argued defiantly. "Gandalf told me."
Elrohir stared. "Mithrandir aided you in this foolishness?!" he exclaimed in shock. "Has the wizard truly lost his senses?!"
"No, he hasn't," Krystal fired defensively. "He just seems to have more faith in me then my own friends do."
"You know very well it has nothing to do with faith and friendship, Krystal." Elladan said, his voice snapping with fury. "It has to do with you accepting that you are not capable--"
"How do you know?" She interrupted boldly, her voice strong. Inside, she was shaking and torn from this confrontation, from her friends expressing so little faith in her, that she felt more alone then she ever had in her life. But she would not show that inside she felt like crying, felt as if she were doubting herself. "How do you know what I can and cannot do when I have never been tested?!"
"Do you not think there is a reason you have not been tested?! Krystal, I am far older then you and am far more experienced then you! I know these things! You do not belong here, do you understand?"
"Yeah," she agreed defiantly, her eyes hard. Her heart beat wildly beneath her chest and Avar was picking up on her mood, prancing, and waving her head about. "Well, maybe I don't have the experience you do. I admit that - it's not like I can deny it or anything. And maybe your right, I don't belong here." She raised her chin a little higher. "But I'm here. And I'm not going home. You said I need to accept my place?" her voice became plaintive. "I have. I accepted the fact that my place is here."
Elladan rolled his eyes. "Do not go all dramatic on us," he snapped and one of the men sniggered, but was quickly silenced by Legolas's piercing look. "The matter here is simple. We are not that far from Rivendell. We'll escort you back."
"No!" Kryrstal burst out. "Please, I don't belong at Rivendell! I belong here! Why can't you just have a little faith?!
No one said anything in the silence that followed. Elladan and Elrohir were looking at each other, and Legolas was still gazing at her, eyes narrowed. She still didn't dare look at the men. Glorifindel was looking West. She bit her lip.
"I can do it."
Her tone rang with conviction but her voice and body was shaking. Legolas slowly raised his eyes to hers in the silence that followed, shaking his head with something akin to sadness and pity. "Krystal, I wish it were safe for you to come into my forest. How I would love to show you the splendor of Greenwood the Great in her better days. But these days are dark and forbidding and it is not safe. I will say this for you - you have the courage to make it. But you do not have the skill. You are not enough of a warrior to survive this mission. You must go back. You must."
Krystal listened to what he had to say, knowing that he only meant it because he cared for her but still they stung that they didn't understand. "You do not understand," she whispered achingly. "Let me prove it to you. Take me with you for a few days at least, then leave me along the way if I prove a nuisance." Aragorn rolled his eyes and his voice was patronizingly condescending as he spoke to her as if he would speak to a five year old. "Krystal, did you not hear a word Legolas has said? Times are becoming darker, more dangerous. There *is* no where to leave you when you prove a nuisance." "There must be somewhere," Krystal argued desperately. "I did not travel all this way to be brought back like a child misbehaved--"
"Though that is what you are," Elladan snapped, and Krystal tore her eyes away from theirs, raising them to the sky to prevent the lump in her throat from spilling into hot tears. She had not expected to get this emotional, this dramatic during the encounter, but then again she had not anticipated their fury. They worries and concerns, yes. But the raw anger she saw frightened her into doubting herself..Maybe I am wrong, she thought fearfully. Maybe I'm just being silly...
The men had just been observing the scene, entertained and laughing. Worti was not among the men brought with Annore, but needless to say, they were still amused that a wayward female was so smitten with these elves that she stalked them through the wilderness. Annore, however, had a thoughtful expression on her face. "I think she should come."
Silence followed.
"Excuse me?" Elladan said into the tense silence, his head whirled around and staring, mouth open, at the human. Annore stood with his feet spread slightly apart, his arms over his chest. "I think she should come." He repeated, more firmly this time. After toying with the idea in his mind, he liked it. He grudgingly admired the way she stood up for herself when all of her friends had doubted her, doubted her so much she began to doubt herself. She hadn't given in yet, but she would soon, and she would feel like such a fool and her spirit would be broken. From what he knew of her (and he knew very little) he knew she was proud and this sort of embarrassment would cut through her, though she might not show it.
Krystal stared blankly at him, surprised etched in her face. "You--you think I can do it?"
Annore nodded. "I think so," he said smoothly.
Elladan glowered at him. "This really is none of your concern," he snapped, and Elrohir's horse took a step closer to Krystal, the horse's large head blocking some of her veiw of Annore. Krystal's brow furrowed. "He thinks I can do it," she insisted to Elladan, her spirit restored by the vote of confidence, however strange. "That makes four."
"Four?" Elladan questioned. "Where do you get four?"
"I think I can," Krystal said definitively. "One. Gandalf, two. Annore, three. Your father, four."
Glorifindel raised his brow. "Lord Elrond knows of this?"
"Well," Krystal hedged. "I didn't tell him. But there isn't much that he doesn't know. And I'm assuming since no one has been sent after me, he thinks I can do it."
"Krysal, I do not like this." Legolas said firmly. "Not at all."
She raised her eyes to his. "Neither do I, Legolas. I wish we were all back at Rivendell. How's that? But it's not for you to decide--"
"Someone must take responsobility for your actions," Aragorn interrupted. "Someone must be there to make sure you are alright, too cover you in battle, to make sure you stay with the group-- not only are you weak, but you are young as well and need some looking after--"
"I will take responsibility." Annore said suddenly, once again changing the flow of the conversation. Again, heads whirled. "What?" Elladan asked, starlted. "No one is to take responsibility, and if anyone, it would be myself or Legolas!" he objected fierily, his features contorting. "She is going home!"
"I'm not!" Krystal whispered fiercely. "I'm coming with you."
"You do not know what you are trying to get into!" Elladan objected furiously, "I will not allow it! It is for your own good!"
"Elladan, it isn't up to you anymore," she said harshly, her heart and feeling battered and bruised."It doesn't matter if you -- any of you," she added, her gaze sweeping over Aragorn, Elrohir, Legolas, Elladan and Glorifindel--" approve, because you are not in charge of me. You will not allow me to join your party? Fine. I'll join Annore's. He will take responsibility for my actions. He, at least, has faith in me. You need not know I'm even here. Don't speak to me, if you do not want to. But I am here, and I am staying, to prove that whatever faith in me anyone might have will be proven right."
Annore nodded once, swiftly, before glancing up at the sky, not waiting for the silence to settle. "Night has fallen while we talk. I think we should make camp for the night. Krystal, dismount and tie your horse near mine -- the bay with the black forelock. Can you cook?" She obeyed without a word, nodding at his questions. The elves, and Aragorn for that matter, stared. "Good," Annore said briskly. "Then get to it."
Turning to the elves, he raised a brow. "What are you staring at? There's work to be done."