I've been informed that my story is very AU since there were no parties riding towards Helm's Deep at the time of the Fellowship. Sorry to all of you who thought this was painfully obvious. I shall make sure to put it in the summary so that people are forewarned.

In any case, I'm not sure whether I'm going to go off the books or movie verse. It really depends. For this part, I'm going to stick to the movie. I think.

For all you people who though this was going to be a Helm's Deep fic, sorry. Onlyone small portion takes place there a.k.a. the first two chapters. I decided it wouldn't be good to try to combine my fic with the story of the Fellowship. Tolkien is just too awesome.

In this chapter, we discover more of what's happened to the twins' brother and Eowyn meets an elf who takes after her own heart.

Chapter 3

They left Helm's Deep in the morning. Keri had held her brother throughout the night, just as she had for him when they were children. Their older brother, Esgalmar, was a sore point for both of them. A year ago, Esgalmar had been the perfect older brother. He was a fine, strong warrior and everyone knew he would make a wonderful king.

During a hunting trip, the party had been ambushed by orcs. He alone survived. He had been tortured for days and when a wraith appeared, his mind was tortured as well as his body. When the search parties found him, the orcs had left him for dead. His back was in tatters and the wraith had given him some sort of poison. It clouded his vision, making him unable to see. Even worse, on his way home, Esgalmar had fallen from the horse which was carrying him and broken a wrist and ankle, as well as dislocating his shoulder.

The healers had done what they could. Kerinya had heard the news as she had been traveling through southern Gondor. Even had she wanted to, she could not have traveled to Mirkwood fast enough to make any difference. She had wanted to speak to her brother and comfort him, but she was in an ongoing fight with Thranduil over her 'womanliness'. Not even for her twin would she return home to face their father. She had stayed away from Mirkwood for overthree decadesand if she had her way, she wouldn't be returning for another one. She was determined that their father treat her with respect and acknowledge her right to be a warrior. In Legolas' opinion, it was going to take a lot more thanthirty years to change Thranduil's opinions on what a woman's 'place' was.

As the large party of people traveled towards the Halls of Edoras, Kerinya moved towards the back. She did not wish to be so noticeable, as she was at the front of the column. She could talk to former acquaintances later. As she let her horse's gait fall from a trot to a walk, she noticed a fair haired lady at the back of the party. She grinned and sidled over to the young one.

The lady glanced at her, then swiftly looked down at her horse's ears. Kerinya merely laughed. It wasn't often she met potential human woman warriors, and when she did, she always talked to them. If she wasn't being assaulted by orc hoards at the time, she thought dryly. She sighed and began to speak.

"I do not intend to bite off your nose, child. I only wish to speak to you."

The woman gave her a suspicious glare then asked, "And what do you wish to speak to me of? If my uncle…"

Keri laughed again and said, "Ah…a blunt one. No child, your uncle did not ask me to try to persuade you against the life of a woman warrior and to tell you that you are reckless and foolhardy. But first…introductions must be made. I am Kerinya Thranduiliel, an envoy, of sorts, from Mirkwood, and my brother is the elf with the big nasty bow. Now its your turn."

The woman smiled cautiously and said, "My name is Eowyn and my brother is the one on the nasty large horse. You are Legolas' sister?"

"Oh, aye!" Kerinya replied laughing. "The two scoundrels are we, and we live in a tree. Our father is merry, but we must not tarry. For his temper is great, and his brain small. We would not want him to take a big fall." The merry wood elf winked at Eowyn. "A song my twin and I came up with at the age of 20. It's now so stuck in the minds of the occupants of Mirkwood, a chisel could not extract it. Of course, our father has banned people from singing it." And the wood elf laughed merrily once more.

Eowyn laughed long and hard. After she had calmed down, she straightened up in her saddle and asked, "May I ask you a very personal question?

Kerinya blinked and smiled. "I think I know what you wish to ask. My brother had spoken some little amount to me on the subject, but I will not spoil your questioning. Ask away," she said and negligently waved a hand at Eowyn.

Eowyn bit her lip, glanced at the front of the column and whispered quietly, "Who is Aragorn's pledged lady? He has spoken of her several times, but never has he told me his elven love's name."

Kerinya looked at Eowyn carefully, "You have fallen hard, young one," she stated slowly, "but I will tell you what you wish to know." She took a deep breath. "Aragorn has always loved one woman. He has known her for a large part of his life. In fact, you could even say that she is his…sister."

Eowyn looked incredulously at Keri. "What? How is that possible? Aragorn told me his lady was elvish and from what I have heard, they do not interbreed. Plus," she continued, "Aragorn is not elvish, so how is it at all possible that he has an elvish sister who he is in love with."

Kerinya made shushing motions. "Do not speak so loudly. Arwen Undomiel, the woman of which we speak, is the daughter of Elrond. Aragorn was adopted into the House of Elrond when he was very young. He became Elrond's adoptive son and therefore Arwen's brother. They fell in love a long time ago. We do not speak of it. Elrond basically banished Aragorn for a time when he found out about this love. Arwen would have to give up her immortality in order to stay here with Aragorn, and that is something Elrond does not want to happen. The pendant you see Aragorn wear is the Evenstar. It belonged to Arwen. It is her token of her love. Both know it would be better for her to leave, but it breaks both their hearts. For Arwen will live forever in the Undying Lands without her beloved, and Aragorn will live a long life here on Middle Earth without her. They will both be unhappy for the rest of their days."

Eowyn stared at Kerinya in the ensuing silence. "How do you know all that?"

Kerinya smiled. "Connections from within. My brother has been Aragorn's best friend for a very long time now. Most of Aragorn's life. They met when Aragorn was 20. Two people could not know more about each other. Legolas spends much of his time in Imladris," she smile sadly. "Him and father get into even more fights, now that I am gone. We used to fight about me, and now Legolas and father fight about me, my other brother, my mother, the weather, anything…," she said, a tear creeping out of the corner of her eye. "So he just stays away, and father becomes even angrier. Soon, our family will be torn apart unto the four corners of the wind," she whispered and then sighed. " But why am I moping? You are sure to have many more questions for me."

Eowyn did. She wanted to know all there was to being a woman warrior who made her own way in the world. As the large party of warriors and villagers made their way back to Edoras, the two woman were never far apart, though Kerinya could always spare a moment for anyone else, be it her brother, a small dog, or a lost child looking forhis or hermother. She spent some time visiting a small village which had hosted her on one previous occasion when a terrible storm had struck while she was traveling.

Eowyn admired her deeply. Here was a woman unafraid to travel in what was thought of as a man's world. Here was a woman who had to deal with the difficulty of being very beautiful and an elf as wellas a father who did not approve at all of what she was doing. Keri was very willing to teach Eowyn some new sword techniques and much of their traveling time was spent discussing their lives.

And so, when the party arrived at Edoras, two new friends had been made and a party still awaited.

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