Disclaimer: They shall never be mine no matter how hard I try, but try I shall.

Review Responses:

manveri mirkiel: In the Merriam Webster Online dictionary when you type in leach it says it is a variant of leech, so they both are correct. But I like the way you remember that. For you I have made it leeches.

No update in six months, man I wonder how far you'd go to find me if I didn't update that long. Hmmmm.

Well Pippin is not immune to them either, so don't be so quick to give him a box of the slimy creatures. Remember the accident in Moria.

Yes our dear Atavus has green eyes. Mine are very light blue. Then again when I'm mad they are dark blue, and when I'm exited they are teal. It sucks to have mood rings for eyes. My husband always knows when to duck.

Well about Uglúk. You might not see him in the next story. He'll be back in the future. But that's in the fourth story. The third one is a shorter one, unless plot bunnies swamp me again (Yeah like that isn't gonna happen). The fourth one will be longer and we get to see what happens to the evil orc then. Sorry. Atavus needs a break from her dear brother. I want to focus on other things in the third one.

But then again I might take you up on your offer to kill the orc. I haven't completely decided how to get rid of him.

Slayer3: For someone with the name Slayer you sure are good at that happy dance.

Deana and Karone Evertree: I have to admit your guesses were half way right. (But that's only because after I read them I decided to steal them and put them in my story. Mrhahaha.) I love reviewers who double as plot bunnies. And yes Karone it is the lowly humans who get the dirty work. Humans and Hobbits that is. I mean you didn't see Lord Elrond lugging that ring up to Mt. Doom now did you?

Finally Home

It had been a fortnight since the treatment that Lord Elrond had administered to Atavus had worked. She was immensely glad that she was back to normal. Her body had completely healed, and the effects of the excess orc blood had worn off completely.

But not everything was right in her mind and heart. It was impossible for her to completely feel the same as before. She had seen what her rage, was capable of making her become, and she was frightened of it. She knew that her friends did not understand why she was pulling away from them. It was not intentional. It just seemed as if she had too much on her mind. From the moment she woke in the morning until the next time she would sleep her mind was going over ever thing that had occurred. And her thoughts left little room for time to spend with her friends.

"Lord Elrond what can we do?" Legolas asked standing on the Lord's balcony watching her sit alone in the garden below.

"Two weeks ago I would have told you that she just needed time, now I am not sure. She seems to be searching for an answer, that does not exist." Elrond said with a large sigh. "I am not sure what you can do for her."

Estel was sitting in one of the chairs silently watching and listening to his father and best friend discuss what they should do for Atavus. "We must do something." He said standing, and making his way to the set of steps that would lead him down to the garden.

"What are you doing Estel?" Legolas asked following him.

"I'm keeping a promise." Was his reply.

Atavus could hear her friends approaching. She smiled, but did not leave the spot she was sitting in by a large oak tree. "What kind of mischief are you two up to today?" She asked once they were right behind her.

"Mellon-nin you mistake us for my brothers." Estel said sitting beside her. Legolas followed suit sitting on the other side of her.

"Estel you can cause more mischief than both of your brothers put together." She said giving him a teasing smile.

"I used to think that about you also." He answered in a more serious tone.

"Yes well maybe I'm not quite the same as I used to be." She answered looking forward, but not really seeing the beautiful flowers and trees in that direction. She was seeing her image in the stream.

"You are the same person, Atavus. You just are more experienced now. With knowledge comes experience as my Ada always says. But that knowledge does not have to change who you are." Estel said laying one hand on her shoulder.

"Estel I don't know how to go back to being that lighthearted person I used to be. My heart feels so heavy with worry." She admitted.

Legolas had expected her to say something like that. "You are worried that something might happen again to change you into what you hate the most."

She turned to him. She hadn't expected anyone to understand what she was feeling, but he knew exactly. She just nodded.

"Atavus Lord Elrond said that in time you might be able to control your blood production. The more you know about it the more you can control it. And anyway no matter what happens we will be there to help you with it. You won't ever have to face this alone." Legolas tried to reassure her.

She thought for a moment, and then said something that surprised them. "I had thought that when Uglúk killed his brother, that he had killed the only person who could possibly understand me, and what it was like to be this half-orc, half-elf thing that I am. But I was wrong. You two understand me better than I do sometimes. No matter what worries I have, you are there for me. I thank you both."

"How could we not be?" Estel said what they were both thinking.

They all three stood to enter Elrond's home. It was nearing nightfall and the evening meal would be ready soon. After dinner they all sat in comfortable chairs around the fireplace listening to music, and laughing. Atavus stayed with her friends instead of retreating to her own room as she usually did.

"Wait a minute. I just thought of something." Atavus said interrupting the conversation.

"What is it?" Legolas asked.

"Ada said that he would tell me later how I came to be low on blood volume. He never told me." She said looking around at her friends. Lord Elrond had been standing at the door listening to them talk when he heard her statement. He conveniently backed away before anyone noticed he was there, making a hasty retreat to his study. He decided he would leave it to the young ones to answer that question.

Elrohir looked to Elladan, who looked to Legolas, who looked to Estel. They all burst into laughter.

"Have you all gone mad?" She asked looking very serious.

"Estel why don't you tell Atavus about your knew pets." Elladan teased. Estel shot him a dark look.

"I kept them, you know." He shot back at Elladan who grimaced.

Estel then turned to Atavus remembering what he had, had to do with the creatures. "Atavus have you ever heard of leeches." He didn't expect that she had.

She looked surprised at his words. "Yes I have. Those vile things invaded every part of Minas Morgul. How they got there to begin with I don't know. But they found the torture pits to be quite a wonderful home, drinking the blood of all the slaves……." She then realized what she was saying. "Oh you didn't."

She looked to her friends and could see quiet mirth shining from all eyes except Estel's.

"We weren't sure it would work. The human healers Ada got them from said that they didn't work on elves. But once they smelled your blood, they latched on immediately." Estel tried to explain.

"That doesn't surprise me. Even though the orcs used them to feed on the slaves, their favorite meal was always orc blood. It seems the fouler the blood was, the more the monsters enjoyed it. So naturally the elves blood was not to their liking. To pure. I understand now why Elrond decided to go that direction. At least he could be certain that the creatures would only take the orc blood." She said shivering. She remembered the mark on her arm then that had taken longer to heal than the warg bite. She rubbed the place imagining Estel placing the leeches there.

"Sorry, it was necessary." He said smiling at her.

"You didn't really keep them did you?" She asked imagining the creepy, crawly things in her bed.

"Yes I did, but don't worry they are just for Elladan and Elrohir." He said smiling evilly at his brothers, which brought a great round of laughter from Legolas and Atavus.

Later as the embers had started to die down in the fireplace Atavus leaned over to Estel whispering for his ears only. "Estel thank you for keeping your promise."

"I would never let the void have you mellon-nin." He whispered back. "Besides we are home in Rivendell, and you are sitting near a fire laughing with your family and friends. That makes you the Atavus I know, does it not?"

"Yes it does. It is so good to finally be home."

The End For Now


Author's Note: Well that brings a nice fluffy end to the second story in my series. Well I'm tired of fluff for now. The next story will be anything but fluffy, or most of it anyways.

The next story is called Healer of Rohan, and takes place during The Two Towers time frame, in guess where. Rohan. As I said before I will attempt to write this story without upsetting anything that the great master Tolkien has already written. It will pretty much be a filler for the time that they are in Edoras and Helm's Deep.

I hope that you all will enjoy it as much as you have seemed to enjoy my other two fics.