Summary: Three friends scattered to the wind, but then brought back together by fate, during one of the most dangerous times imaginable. Can their friendship withstand the changes brought on by time and old wounds not quite healed? Will one of them go to far with their sense of duty, bringing about a final end to the friendship that should have withstood the test of time? Or will true friendship withstand all adversity?

Disclaimer: Nothing in the Tolkien universe belongs to me. I am making no money from this. There is only one character in this fic that belongs to me. That is Atavus. Please do not borrow her, unless you ask first.

Author's Note: This story is the third in a series I am writing. If you do not read the first two you will probably be confused. The first story is Blood For The Taking, the second is The Long Journey Home. This fic is partially set in Rivendell, and then moves on to Rohan sixty-two years later. The Rohan portion occurs during The Two Towers. This story is based on book verse mainly, but there may be some parts that are closer to the movie verse, and I will do my best not to disturb any facts already set down by the master Tolkien. Please do not shoot me if I don't get it exactly right.

You may notice that the scenes skip most of the parts already set down by Tolkien. I am writing fill in scenes adding a character. If you've read the first two in my series you will know whom. I will try to make things as clear as possible without repeating history that we already know. If I have confused you I am sorry, I will try not to do so while telling the story. Heck I'm confused enough for all of us.

Sindarin Translations:

Gwador-nin: my brother– sworn brother, not of blood

Gwathel-nin: my sworn sister, not of blood

Decisions Made

Third age, year 2957, Rivendell

Atavus had climbed the steps leading from the gardens and stood on the balcony outside Lord Elrond's study. It had been three years since Dol Guldur. During that time Estel had spent much of his time with the Rangers from the North, and royal duties had kept Legolas in Mirkwood for the most part. That left Atavus spending most of her time with the twins, which did not bother her, but still it was not the same as spending time with her closest friends. Atavus took a seat in one of the chairs on the balcony situated in a corner that was not easily seen by those in the garden or from within the study. She did not want to be disturbed that sunny afternoon. She just wanted to relax. The tranquil peace was disturbed though when she heard the door to Lord Elrond's study open. She thought maybe she should leave the balcony to give the Lord his privacy, but she was just too comfortable to move.

"We received a correspondence from Gondor today, Lord Elrond." She knew the voice. It was Lord Glorfindel. "Ecthelion has asked if we could send him a healer who has experience with Morgul poisoning, that could train his own healers. They have lost their chief healer, and he did not teach the other healers enough about the poison. They are losing many soldiers do to the foul poison."

"Hmmm. The fighting in Gondor is becoming so much worse. I of course will send aid. I just do not enjoy asking any of our healers to make that long and dangerous journey. There are many that will go if I ask, but I know none of them will truly want to." Elrond sighed, wondering which of his people would accept. "They all have families. No matter who I send if something were to happen they would leave many grieving ones behind." He himself would grieve for anyone he sent.

"It's too bad…" Glorfindel began to say something, but thought better of it.

"What my friend?" Elrond asked knowing it was unlike his longtime friend to hold back his opinion.

"I'm sorry. I was about to say something very foolish." Glorfindel answered shaking his head.

"No, you had an idea." Elrond urged.

"I was about to say it was too bad Atavus wasn't healing Morgul poisoning anymore, since she had no family, but then I remembered that she very much does have a family." Glorfindel was the only elf outside of her friends and family that knew her secret. And she had always felt as if he was an adopted uncle of sorts. He had never judged her because of what she was.

But she felt a cold chill when she heard Glorfindel say she had no family. No she had no blood family in Rivendell, that was true, but she had thought she had been accepted by Lord Elrond's family as one of there own. She knew he meant no harm by his words, but still the pain of knowing you really didn't fit in was still acute in her.

"Yes if anything were to happen to her there are many here that would grieve just as much as if one of their own blood had gone to the Halls, including my sons and I." Elrond corrected his friend.

"I know that. I was not thinking before I spoke, it's just with her special gifts; she would be perfect for the task. Even if she was wounded she would heal, much faster than any elf you could send." Glorfindel was being realistic, and Elrond understood that, but still he was not so quick to let go of one he thought of as a daughter.

"But you forget my friend, I have been running blood tests on her for the last few years. Her blood is not the same anymore. Since she has spent all this time among the elves, and has not faced the fire of combat in that time, her orc blood has receded. She is more elf than orc now. Her gifts don't even work anymore. She couldn't heal Morgul poisoning if she wanted." Elrond pointed out.

She had consciously made an effort to control her blood production, and had managed in the last three years to become more elflike than she had ever been. She knew if she wanted she could turn the process the other way, but not while she was still in Rivendell. Being around the elves and their tranquil ways had tamed her blood. But she had never planned to leave the elves, so it hadn't mattered as much to her to lose her gifts.

But there was always that nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she was not doing what she was meant to do. The Ilúvatar had created her the way she was for a reason, she knew that, but she had not yet decided exactly why. She somehow knew though that she was not living up to her destiny where she was, but she had never wanted anything more than to be accepted and cared for by the elves. She had received exactly what she wanted, but was it fair to accept what she was given, but not give anything back? She silently left the balcony, leaving the two Lords to continue their talk. She herself had a lot to think of.

Almost everyday for a week she sat on a stone bench in the garden staring off in the distance. The members of Lord Elrond's house knew she sometimes needed time to herself to think, but the Lord himself had seen that look on her face before. She was searching for an answer that her mind did not know how to give her. It seemed almost as if she was waiting for something.

That something arrived early the next morning. She was again in the garden when she heard familiar footsteps behind her. She whirled around the smile spreading across her face. "Estel, you are home." She rushed him embracing him in a large hug.

"Did you miss me, mellon-nin?" He laughed swinging her around in the air.

"More than you know." She said pulling back and looking at him. She could see that his experience with the Rangers was making him more of the man he was to become one day. He looked but a little older than when she first met him. But in the six years she had known him he had become much wiser. "How long do you stay?" She asked hoping it would be longer than his usual week.

"I am not sure." He answered. This was not a normal answer for him. She looked quizzically at him. She could tell there was something he hid from her. But she was so glad to have him back that she did not question further.

She came across him sitting on a stone bench, in an atrium of sorts. The bench was positioned close to a statue. The statue held the broken shards of Narsil, and before it was a mural depicting the fall of Sauron at the hands of Isildur. She already knew Estel's secret, that he was the heir of Isildur. He had brought her there once two years before, and told her of his heritage, that he did not want. At the time she had not understood his unwillingness to accept his destiny. But in the last few days she very much understood. She had decided before he ever came home that she was not fulfilling her own destiny staying in Rivendell, and must one day leave, but still she lingered. She did not want to leave.

She could see that he was deep in thought, and the frown on his face said that he did not enjoy the thoughts.

"What upsets you so my friend?" She asked sitting beside him.

He knew she had entered. Like the elves she made almost no sound, but his senses had always been more acute.

"I have made a decision, that I don't necessarily like." He answered not looking at her.

"What kind of decision, Estel?" She knew this was what had been bothering him ever since coming home.

"I leave tomorrow." He answered.

For some reason she sensed that he wasn't talking about going out with the Rangers any more. "Where do you go?"

"There is much of this land I have seen little of, and there is much I must learn about my kind." He said looking at his hands.

"You mean humans." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes." He finally looked at her. He had expected to have an argument with her, but instead he could see understanding and acceptance there. "I go to Rohan first."

She had known this day was coming. No matter how hard he tried to fight it his destiny called him ever stronger as the days went by. "I will miss you, Gwador-nin."

"And I you, Gwathel-nin." He answered taking her hand. "Thank you, for understanding."

"Yes I understand." She said, but did not tell him of her own decision to leave. He was going to Rohan, not Gondor, and if he knew she was leaving he would insist upon going with her. She understood all too well that to become the human he had to be he would have to travel his road alone.

This is what she had been waiting for. Somehow she knew something was going to occur that would change her very life. She just had to wait a short while for it to happen. The absence of Estel in Rivendell would make it easier to leave. It never was quite the same when he was not there. And now she knew he would be gone for many long years.

Atavus knocked on the study door, and waited to hear the familiar voice ask her in. She heard nothing. It was quite late at night. She wondered if maybe Lord Elrond had already retired for the evening. She decided to peek inside just in case he had fallen asleep at his desk again. There had been many a night that she had found him fast asleep where he had been working.

She crept slowly into the room, which was lit by many candles, and yes he was asleep at the desk. He always worked too long and too hard, and when he did sleep it was the deep sleep of exhaustion. She made her way silently to the desk and was about to wake him to send him off to his own bed, but something on his desk caught her eye. It was a letter addressed to the Steward of Gondor. She knew she shouldn't read it. But she found her eyes scanning the contents anyway. It was an introduction letter for the elf that he meant to send to help their healers. The name of the elf had not been filled in yet. She wondered if he still wasn't sure whom to send.

She wondered if she should dare to do what had entered her mind. She had meant to approach the Lord and ask for his permission to be sent, but with the letter right before her, if she dared she could leave without anyone even knowing. She took the quill he had been righting with, and with shaky fingers tried to copy his flowing script. She filled her own name in the blank that he had left, and then picked up his signet ring which would be used to seal the letter. She folded the letter as quietly as possible then added a dab of wax from a candle and sealed it herself. It was ready. All she had to do was make her way out of Rivendell now. She looked at the sleeping form of the man she considered to be her father, and decided she could not leave him without any clue of her whereabouts.

She took a piece of parchment and began to write.

Dear Ada,

I'm sorry to be leaving like this without a word of goodbye to those I love, but I knew you would not want me to go if I told you. I have gone to Gondor to help the healers there. Don't worry my healing ability will be back before I even reach the White City. I have learned much thanks to you about how to control my gift. For this I thank you. Tell the twins that I love them and some day I will return to cause trouble with them again, but for now I have a purpose to fulfill. The Ilúvatar created me the way I was for a reason. I know this, and I have been selfishly ignoring that fact for many years now. It is time I do what I was meant to do all along.

If you see Estel before I see you again tell him that I understand why he had to leave, because I had to leave for a very similar reason. He has a grand destiny to fulfill, and though mine may not be so grand it is my own destiny, and I can't forsake it forever.

And Legolas, he will not understand this, but there is no way I can stop what is to come. Tell him that I wish I could have seen him before I left, but I think it would just be harder on us both. And please I know it is wrong, but don't tell him where I went. He will only try to follow me. He can't do that. I must face my duty alone, and he has his own duties to attend to in Mirkwood.

You have been better to me than any father I could have ever asked for, and for that I will always be grateful. I will miss you.

Atavus

She replaced the letter she had taken with her own and crept silently out of the room again. Her things were ready. As she left the Last Homely House she felt a great sadness on her soul, knowing it might be many years before she saw it again.

Author's note: I know, I know. I have not forgotten Legolas, before anyone asks, it's just that in the last three years he has visited rarely because of his own royal duties, so she is not considering him in her decision to leave. Which as we all know may cause trouble in the future.