A/N:

Jebb – Yes, Gimli will keep an eye on him. I wanted to give a bit more depth to their friendship than you could see in the movie and the "Aragorn Incident" is a perfect opportunity!

Dazzler420 – Well, I believe the two of them have a bit of a "connection" to each other and she senses his despair over Aragorn. But we'll find out. (Can you guess what the crow means?)

Deka had felt Annowe rise late in the night and sat up to watch her as she paced through the trees. Annowe's twitching and murmuring in her sleep had roused her but Deka avoided waking her cousin. Instead, she had kept an eye on the nymph until she woke up on her own.

Now Annowe was pacing and mumbling to herself near the clearing. Quietly, Deka got to her feet and approached her. She stopped pacing when she saw the dryad.

"Is something wrong?" Annowe asked anxiously, her hand automatically moving to where her scimitar should have been.

Deka eyed her shrewdly. "You tell me."

Annowe sighed and relaxed. "I had a bad dream."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Her cousin inquired, moving closer so the two of them would not disturb the others.

"Yes and no," admitted Annowe. "I have a terrible feeling that Legolas is in great danger."

Deka nodded. "Is that what the dream was about? Legolas in danger?"

"Yes," Annowe answered and shivered at the eerie nightmare that still had a hold of her heart.

"We're all in danger, Annowe. Perhaps that is all the dream was telling you," Deka reasoned but her cousin was not convinced.

"It was too real!" She insisted. "I saw him being attacked! Then a giant black crow circled over his head, casting him in shadow." She hugged herself against the memory. "It's a warning, I know it!"

"But he didn't actually die in the dream, did he? He was just in danger," Deka pressed.

Annowe considered this for a few moments before she slowly answered. "No, but that's only because I woke up first!"

Deka raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"I'm telling you that he is in serious trouble and I need to do something!" Annowe nearly shouted.

"I don't doubt that he is in serious trouble but what, exactly, do you plan on doing?" Deka demanded.

Annowe stomped her foot in frustration. "I don't know! But I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

Deka shrugged. "You don't have much of a choice, though, do you? And, let me remind you that we are not 'doing nothing'. We are going to put a stop to Saruman's plans."

Annowe scowled at her cousin. Cursed dryads and their ever-present practicality! She knew he was in Edoras but it would take her nearly a week to get there on foot. By the time she arrived, he could be long gone and then what would she do? She had no idea if he were going to remain in Edoras or go somewhere else.

She paced again. "I hate this!" She finally said, coming to a halt. "I know he's in danger and I cannot do anything about it. And I don't like it!"

"Well, you can run off and try to find him, risking your own life on a wild goose chase or you can stay here with us and stop Saruman," Deka reasoned. "Gandalf knows where you are and he is with Legolas so I would gather that Legolas also knows where you are as well."

Annowe considered this for a moment. In her agitation over the dream, she had forgotten that detail. If he knew where she was and did not come after her then he must be detained for some reason. Or he understood the situation better than she did.

She sighed miserably and flopped down on the ground. Deka came and sat beside her so that their shoulders were touching and nudged her cousin.

"It doesn't mean you don't care," Deka reminded her gently.

Annowe remained quiet for some moments, lost in her own thoughts. "I guess you're right," she finally admitted a bit reluctantly. She hated it when Deka got the best of her.

She thought for a few more moments before adding, "besides, if I found him before you did, you'd never get a chance to scold him for running off with that Ring. And we can't have that!"

Deka snorted. "I'm not going to 'scold' him," she huffed. "Merely remind him of his duties as the Prince of Mirkwood."

Annowe said nothing but raised a sarcastic eyebrow at her cousin.
Eowyn watched the elf for several minutes before deciding to approach him. It was growing quite late and he still had not moved from his vigil. She wondered if all elves were this emotionally intense despite their cool outward appearance.

Cautiously, she approached him and saw his head tilt in her direction but his eyes were veiled beneath his hood. She had brought some bread and water from her personal stores to offer him in the hopes that he would talk to her or at least drink something.

His odd behavior was unnerving but the dwarf had assured her that it was perfectly normal for Legolas to go for periods without eating or sleeping. That's just the way elven folk are he had told her.

Nevertheless, she found it disturbing and could not sleep herself until she knew he wasn't a danger to himself or others. She slowly made her way beside him and he lowered his hood to gaze at her.

"I brought you some bread and water," she said softly and held the hand basket out to him.

His grey eyes moved from hers to the basket and he inclined his head to her in a slight bow.

"You are most kind, m'lady," he murmured softly but did not take the basket from her. Instead, he turned his eyes back to the horizon.

Eowyn studied him for several moments and her common sense finally overrode her courtesy. She sat the basket down and removed a hunk of the bread and the skin of water. Gently, she turned over his empty hand and placed the bread in it. He blinked and looked down at his hand, seemingly surprised by the bread's appearance. Then he looked at her and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly in a smile.

He behaves as if he is not even here! She thought as she watched him slowly raise the bread to his mouth and take a bite. It seems that his body is here but he is not. He reminded her of her uncle when he was under that evil spell and she shivered. He was behaving in the same detached and disconnected manner. But he was under no evil spell. His grief had taken control of his senses, overwhelming him.

Legolas swallowed the bread and Eowyn patiently replaced the rest of the bread in his hand with the water skin. Like a man in a trance, he slowly raised the water to his lips and drank.

The water seemed to bring him around a bit and he looked at Eowyn as if for the first time since their conversation on the road to the fortress.

"Water," he said, pouring some over the Evenstar and watching the droplets twinkle on the delicate mithril leaves.

"Yes, water," Eowyn agreed, her eyes dazzled by the beautiful pendant in his pale elegant hand.

"She could find him," Legolas whispered almost to himself.

"The water nymph?" Eowyn asked.

They looked at each other for a few moments in silence before Legolas slowly turned back toward the horizon.

"Yes," he said finally, a frown creasing his brow. "But I do not know where she is, exactly."

"Oh," Eowyn replied trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. She would have braved an army of Uruk-hai herself to find the ranger but she could not swim.

"She could find him but she is not here, either," he sighed remorsefully.

Eowyn felt terrible for his loss. "I'm sure she come if she knew what happened or that you needed her so desperately," she said quietly.

Legolas said nothing for a few moments. Then he turned to her again and his dark eyes searched her face.

"How do men comprehend their mortality?" He asked her in all seriousness.

The question startled her but she could understand his pain and reasoning. She had asked herself much the same thing when her cousin, the prince, had been killed earlier. He was like a brother to her but somehow she managed to survive his loss and go on.

The shield maiden tensely clasped her hands in front of her as she tried to put her feelings into words. How did they manage to cope and to go on with life? She asked herself.

"I apologize," Legolas began but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"No, there is no need. I was simply trying to find the words," she said.

They remained silent until Eowyn finally spoke.

"I don't believe that we comprehend it so much as we just learn to live with it," she said slowly.

He looked at her and raised a dark eyebrow questioningly, urging her to explain.

"When my cousin was killed recently, I did not think I could go on," she wiped away a tear and cleared her throat. "But I did. I did not have a choice, actually." She shrugged. "What else could I do? Other people needed me. The more time that passed, the easier it was to remember him without all of the pain." She smiled weakly at him.

"But the pain never goes completely away, does it?" He asked her softly.

"No, it doesn't. But if you live, there will be pain and if you love there will be pain. There is just no escaping it," Eowyn said philosophically.

Legolas closed his eyes against her words. There was too much pain! He wanted it to stop! How could anyone bear it?

Eowyn reached out and touched him lightly on the arm and he opened his eyes to her.

"But if you don't live or love you will never know true joy, either," she reminded him gently. "And once the pain subsides – and it will – you will remember the joy. Perhaps that is what makes it bearable."

A smile flickered over his face. "You are a very wise lady, I think," he said solemnly. "And I thank you for your counsel."

Eowyn patted his arm reassuringly as he returned his gaze toward the rising sun.