Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Review Responses:

Karone Evertree: To them she is like a little sister. And on top of that she had fought by their sides many times, which also makes her sort of one of the guys. They don't ever feel uncomfortable around her, like men do around the opposite sex usually, at least not until she reminds them that she is a full-grown woman. Then of course they are all embarrassed, except lord Elrond, who is way above that.

Sorry I confused you there. I meant their connection as friends, and if you remember from the first few chapters of Blood he felt cold around her all the time. That eventually wore off as she got away from Mordor. Her orc blood was more prominent the closer to Mordor she was, because of the evil that was there. Read on in this chapter. You're getting close to why she is turning into an orc. Lets say it's all in the blood.

manveri mirkiel: Yes Atavus is very mixed up right now. But there is still hope for her. And I never thought I'd have to protect an orc, but leave Uglúk alone. Maybe I need to give you a distraction. Hmmm. I haven't gotten to torture anyone in several chapters. I'm going through withdrawals. Oh Pippin. Now where is that hobbit?

Oh and by the way my nephew really ate my homework once. The teacher didn't believe me. So I doubt the warg thing will work. Sorry.

Slayer3: My gosh, I've made everybody cry today. And yes I definitely agree. Orlando is much more than just a hot guy. Especially when holding a sword, bow, dagger, you name it.

Author's Note: Well that last chapter was very tearful, so I decided to lighten the mood a little on this chapter. Not completely. Just a little.

Sindarin Translations:

Gwathel-nin –my sworn sister, not of blood.

"Hannon le, Gwador nin" – "Thank you, my brother." – sworn brother, not of blood.

Truth and Consequences

"Did she have a fever?" Lord Elrond asked Legolas as he entered Atavus' room

"Yes, but not bad. As soon as she wakes I want to check her arm." Legolas answered standing stiffly from the chair he had occupied for a few hours.

Elrond noticed that his youngest son was curled into a chair in the corner asleep. "He wouldn't go back to his room?" He asked.

"No when I came to take my turn he refused to go to bed. He fell asleep a short time ago." Legolas answered staring at his human friend. "I worry about him."

"What worries you?" Elrond asked.

"I think he feels more guilt over leaving her there than he is willing to admit. It drives him too hard." Legolas said moving across the room and placing a blanket over his friend.

"I think he is not the only one who let's their guilt drive them too far." Elrond commented. "Did you sleep at all before you came in here?"

"I had a lot to think about." Legolas answered quietly.

"I can see the only way I'm going to get you two to stop blaming yourselves is to figure out what has caused this and fix it. Isn't it?" Elrond said pushing Legolas back to his chair.

"I would have to agree with you Ada. These two don't know when to accept that things happen that are beyond our control." A soft voice spoke up from the bed. Elrond turned quickly, surprised to see Atavus sitting up behind him.

Legolas smiled to see Elrond startled. It wasn't something that was seen often. "I should have warned you about that. She always knows when we are speaking about her, even if she's asleep." Legolas explained.

"I'll have to remember that. Well child, since you are awake, I need to check your wounds." He said smiling at the uncomfortable look on her face. "Come its not that bad." He could also see the teasing smile on Legolas' face. "Don't worry your next. I haven't forgotten that I have two patients." He said pointing to him.

Luckily the nightgown she had chosen buttoned in the back so she was able to stay where she was while he checked them. "The salve is working nicely on these. Another day and you won't even have to have the bandages." Then it was time to check her arm. She could see immediately that the bite wound was worse not better. "This should have started to heal. I must think on it. Maybe there is something I am missing."

Atavus just nodded. Elrond then checked Legolas' wounds. "Yours are healing, but they were much worse to begin with. It will be a couple of days until the bandages can stay off."

The twins had entered the room and were doing there best to try to wake Estel without anyone noticing. "You know how your brother is if you wake him without enough sleep. I would not suggest that." But it was too late. Both brothers had been each sitting on an arm of the overstuffed chair that their brother slept in. Unfortunately at Lord Elrond's words Elrohir stood too quickly which caused Elladan's side of the chair to tilt over, leaving both he and Estel sprawled on the floor.

No matter how dire her situation was, Atavus could not hold back the laughter that threatened to break through. Legolas discreetly covered his mouth hoping his friend wouldn't see his own laughter.

Estel rolled to his back looking around the room trying to decide whom to strangle first. His eyes lighted on Elrohir standing near the door trying to look innocent. But Elladan was closer. Then he looked to his father, and his friends. When he heard Atavus' laughter he decided he would fall on the floor a million times to see her face without tears. "I don't exactly know who is responsible for me being dumped on the floor, but I'm sure I will find out." This brought more howls of laughter from his friends.

"Estel, Elladan get up and sit in your chairs properly." Elrond admonished, but when he looked back to Legolas and Atavus they could see he could hardly hold his own laughter at bay.

"Now that everyone is awake and present, we need to speak of more serious matters. Atavus." Elrond commented taking a seat at the end of her bed, masking his own humor with a serious look.

She breathed deeply, looking around at the family she had come to love so dearly. Then she thought of the family she never really knew. She had a mother who treated her kind like pets. She had a brother very much like herself, whose life was cut off before he truly had a chance to live. Then there was Uglúk. He was the only member of her real family that she had ever met, and the two of them had spent the last few months trying to kill each other. How could her life be so messed up?

She began to slowly tell them what had happened in the caves. She started the tale when they had entered the caves, knowing that Estel hadn't had the chance to tell them anything. When she told them of the orc killing his own brother, there were many gasps heard around the room.

"How could anyone kill their own brother?" Elladan asked imagining what it would be like just to lose Elrohir. He could not even think of hurting him himself. With the anger she had felt towards the orc she herself knew exactly what could drive someone to try to kill his or her own brother. She had tried herself.

"Jealousy breeds hatred. I guess the orcs mother doted on his brother. And besides the way orcs treat my kind, can you imagine how they would treat the family of one of us. It is not hard to hate for an orc. It is drummed into them from birth." She said then continued her story until she came to the part where she was backed into the tunnel with nowhere left to go.

She did not know how to tell them of what happened, and what was said. She looked around to them starting to speak, but stopping. "It's okay Atavus. We understand this is hard for you." Legolas said sitting beside her on the bed wrapping an arm around her waist. "We're not here to judge you."

She looked to him then looked at her hands in her lap continuing her story, but not looking up again. "He used a club to knock the breath from me, then he started in with the lash. He had me beat down to the ground before he stopped. I had no more strength in me. But then he started talking to me. He told me something that changed everything." She stopped again closing her eyes. She felt cold shivers run down her back as she remembered the orc's words.

"It's okay Atavus. You can tell us anything." Lord Elrond knew that they were getting close to the cause of the problem.

The tears had started coursing down her cheeks again. "In his own round about way he told me that his mother had another throwback child, and that, that child was me."

You could have heard a pin drop in the room as they each thought of the implications of her words. Legolas' arm tightened around her, as his anger rose even higher at the orc.

"Are you sure he spoke the truth?" Estel asked.

"Yes, Lord Elrond worked with me many long hours on discerning the truth from a lie. There was no lie in his voice." She still would not look up at them. "What happened next surprised both of us I think. His words saying that he had killed his brother, who was like me kept flashing through my mind. He had killed the one person who could truly understand what it was like to be me. And he gloated about it. He had tortured my friends, and it had pleased him. And he tortured me, and enjoyed it. It mattered not to me that he too was my brother. All that mattered to me at that moment was revenge. It felt as if my entire soul was burning from within. He was wearing my dagger on his belt. I jumped on him knocking him down, and then plunged the dagger in his ribs. I know I pierced his lung. There is no doubt in my mind."

She stopped speaking for a moment. The hardest part was actually the next part. "The thing that I did not realize when I stabbed him was the fact that he had dropped the lash as he spoke to me. He was unarmed. He said I was more like an orc than I realized. He called me a murderer. Then I ran." She finished speaking. She knew she would have to face them eventually. But it was difficult. She wasn't sure if she should be more ashamed of stabbing the orc or of not finishing him off when she had the chance.

"So he is dead?" Estel asked.

"I'm not sure. The last time I saw him he was in bad shape, but after his words, I didn't have the heart to finish it. I just wanted to come home." She answered wondering if they would think her week for not finishing the orc.

"Good. That means I still have a chance to kill him myself." Was Estel's only response. Atavus was shocked at the hatred she heard. "I don't care if that creature was born as your brother, if I ever see it again, I will kill it."

"I think that's a sentiment that all of us share Estel. Atavus I don't want to ever give him the chance to hurt you again." Legolas said. "And I can see the guilty look in your eyes. You are not a murderer. And I don't blame you for not finishing him. You'd had more than enough. Just the fact that you were able to break away and escape, shows me how strong you truly are."

"What I would like to know is where the warg came into this story." Elrond asked.

"That was my own foolishness, I'm afraid. After I left the caves I fell asleep. I was so exhausted. It was able to sneak up on me while I slept. I'm lucky to be alive now." She did not tell the others about the orc killing the warg. She did not really understand why he had done it, and that was something she would have to figure out for herself.

"Ada have Atavus' words given you any idea how to cure this affliction, or even at least given you the reason why this would happen to her?" Elladan asked.

"As for how this happened, yes I am sure I know why." Elrond answered. "Atavus when you were in the tunnel you lost quite a lot of blood, correct?"

"Yes Ada." She answered.

"With all the blood tests I have performed I think I have discovered something. For your blood to have the healing ability that it has, you need to have equal parts orc blood, and equal parts elf blood. You said in the tunnel your blood seemed to be on fire, and you were full of rage. And on many occasions I have heard you say that you get your temper from your orc blood. I know when you said that you were jesting, but you don't know how right you might have been. I believe that in the tunnel your body was furiously trying to replace the blood you lost, but since you were in a rage, your body only produced the orc half of the blood. So now you have an imbalance of the two parts. More orc than elf, which has hampered your healing abilities." He paused waiting for them to absorb the information.

"So what must I do to change this?" Atavus asked. Elrond had made it sound as if it was just a simple mistake that her body had unwittingly caused.

"In normal cases I would tell you to wait, and your own body would eventually correct the imbalance. Your body strives to be it's best. And it sees that balance to be perfect." Elrond said, but Atavus knew it could not be that simple.

"In normal cases, but….." She started waiting for him to finish.

"But you are wounded, and nothing I have tried seems to heal that bite. I believe that if we don't do something soon to correct your blood imbalance that there could be dire circumstances." Elrond did not want to tell them what the consequences could be, but he could see that they would not let it go at that. "Atavus I don't know anything about treating orcs. And by all rights, with your blood the way it is you are an orc. That bite will get worse, and you will become very sick, until you either lose the arm or your life." The shocked look on Atavus' face was exactly what he had expected. She didn't feel at all sick at that moment, with those she cared for surrounding her.

"Ada what do we have to do?" Estel asked willing to try anything.

"There is something I have heard of. It is a human treatment. I never thought it would be necessary for the elves, but in this case it might work. But I will need to send someone to Lake Town to see the healers there. I need something very special for this treatment, and that is the only place I know of to get them." Elrond said standing to go find someone to send on the journey. It would take a rider on horseback at least eight days to get there and return with the items, and he did not want to lose a moment.

"Ada, let Elladan and I go." Elrohir asked.

"Are you sure Elrohir?" He asked.

"Yes. I would not trust such an important journey to anyone else. We are the fastest riders in all Imladris." Elrohir said looking at Atavus. "We won't let you down Gwathel-nin."

"Hannon le, Gwador-nin." She answered taking his hand and squeezing it. "I trust you both with my life."