Home is behind

The world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadow

To the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow

Cloud and shade

All shall fail

All shall fade ¹

- - - Aragorn - - -

We were on the ships for half of one day and I watched Gimli grow increasingly agitated. Grace and Legolas stood looking over the water, talking quietly with each other. The more I watched Legolas link and unlink his fingers with Grace's, the more I missed Arwen. Where would she be now? Would she be boarding her last ship?

Once we were in view of the White City, I motioned for everyone to hide so we would not be spotted. Grace looked over at me from behind the deck railing. She winked and grinned at me. I touched my temple and nodded my head in salute. We could hear the orcs grumbling below us and I watched Gimli's fingers twitch on his axe handle.

When I yelled, we stood and jumped off the boat or ran down the plank. Elladan was the first off, screaming elvish war cries and firing arrows off faster than I could see. Legolas looked back once at Grace, then me, before running right into the midst of our enemy. The dead soon passed us and were running through the orcs, killing them instantly.

Grace halted when she saw the oliphants. She shrieked when Legolas started to climb the side of one. An orc headed for her left side as she stood, just watching. Halbarad swung his sword around and decapitated the orc. As its head hit Grace's foot, she seemed to realize she couldn't just stand and watch any longer. With a look of thanks to Halbarad, she joined me.

"Will he be alright, Aragorn?" she questioned.

"Have you ever worried about Legolas in war before?"

"No," she admitted.

"Then don't start now," I advised. "He knows what he is doing."

With a frustrated noise, she went back to slashing at orcs. When Legolas cut the saddle on the oliphant and ran to the top of its back, she screamed again, thinking he would fall. I grabbed her arm after hacking an orc.

"Do not stop!" I cried. "Now is not the time. He is fine."

We watched for a second as Legolas shot the oliphant with several arrows and it fell, him sliding easily off the end of its trunk. He landed in front of Gimli who paused and looked angry.

"That still only counts as one."

- - - Grace - - -

I realized how right Aragorn was, of course, after I watched Legolas take down an oliphant and all the people on it by himself. When he stood in front of Gimli, grinning, I ran forward to him. He embraced me gently.

"You were worried?" he asked. I don't know how he even knew that.

"Yes," I said.

"Never worry. There is no time to stop in battle and ask questions. There is only time to react." He kissed my temple quickly. "We will all be well."

I nodded and this time stood between Legolas and Gimli as we fought. At one point, I thought I saw the ghost that was me and I hit Legolas lightly on the shoulder and pointed. His eyes followed her and then he caught my eyes. A nod let me know he saw her.

I decided not to focus on that and only on what was happening now. I saw a Black Rider land in the middle of the field and I made a mental note not to go that way. When you looked up at Gondor, it no longer looked white. The dead were rushing over it like water so it was a green colour. Ew. I thought maybe I should tell someone that green definitely was not its colour.

I watched the oliphants tramp around and the trolls load rocks onto catapults, and I realized how prepared the enemy had been for this. If not for the dead on our side, we would have been easily swarmed and beaten within minutes.

While we fought, we drifted father apart, pushing the orcs back. I got closer to the Black Rider and whoever he was quarrelling with. His steed was already dead, and lay headless beside him. I watched him swing a spiky looking ball while the man he was fighting ducked and twisted.

Everything seemed to slow down for me as I saw a ball of fire drop off the edge of a platform that made up part of the huge city. The man twisted away from the attack against him and I saw his face. It wasn't a man! It was Éowyn, fighting for her life against the Witch-King. I screamed her name, watched her turn her head to me and the Black Rider bring up his arms for a deathblow. Before he could strike, something hit his leg and he turned to see Merry grasping his arm and howling in pain. Éowyn wasted no time, and sunk her blade into his helmet. She then seized her arm and fell to the ground.

I tried to run to her to see if I could be of help, but my way was barred suddenly by an oliphant, staggering under the weight of the dead on its back. Yelping, I jumped back, feeling someone pull me farther in reverse still. When the oliphant fell, I realized it would have fallen on my saviour and me.

Turning, who else did I see but, of course, Legolas. He leaned down a kissed me gently and quickly before saying, "Keep your eyes open, mela¹¹, " and leaving. I decided to take his advice and use a bit more caution wandering across the battlefield. I hadn't been fighting very well since the boat and it was starting to show again.

My determination only seemed to attract more orcs, I realized, as they swamped me. After parrying shot after shot, and not being able to get in a blow myself, I swallowed what little pride I had left and called out for Aragorn. He started slaughtering the orcs from behind while I finally started to cut them down with wide strokes of my blades.

Then suddenly, within seconds it seemed, the battle ended. There were only a few remaining orcs, running, and being chased down by the citizens of Rohan. I turned to Aragorn and he stood there grinning at me for several moments while we sheathed our weapons, until I launched myself into his arms and he hugged me for a moment, laughing. With a sigh, he let me go and I bent down to catch Gimli in a quick hug also.

Legolas came up behind, looking positively radiant as he watched me, barely covered in blood. I stepped in closer to hug him but he surprised me and turned his head, catching me in a kiss. I heard Gimli let out a loud whistle and Aragorn laughed again as we kissed for a long moment.

When Legolas broke the kiss, leaving me gasping for breath, he said, "See, we are all safe."

I shrugged as best as I could, still in his embrace, before he leaned down to kiss me again. Wow, I had never thought I would get to kiss someone who loved me like that. Never in my whole life, had I believe anyone would love me. Yet, there I was, kissing an elf that loved me as much as life itself.

I bit my lip when he stopped kissing me, looking over at Aragorn and Gimli, who, conveniently, were pretending to have seen nothing.

"Love is not something to be embarrassed about," Legolas told me. "You should be proud."

"I am," I answered. "I just think it might be better saved for a more private place."

A grin came onto Legolas' face when he heard that. "Then later," he said, and nodded.

I let out a half sigh, half laugh, as he left to search the battlefield for survivors with Gimli and Aragorn. I wandered off in my own direction, looking at my feet.

When I came upon a pair of green boots, identical to mine, I looked up. Almost as if I had known she would be there, the ghost that was me, stood in front of me, grinning.

"Hello," she said.

What do you say to a ghost? To your ghost? 'Why are you haunting me?' I just looked at her for a moment and she seemed to get that I had no idea what to do.

"Do not be afraid. Your debt had been paid, your life is your own again."

"Okay, what?" I asked.

"I have repaid your debt, you no longer need fear death. For it is now part of you," she answered, stepping closer to me.

I recoiled. "If you mean you have to go in me, you must be joking. No way."

With a smile, she said, "You have been missing a piece of you, have you not?" Letting me think for only a few seconds, she continued. "I am the missing piece. The dead claimed me in their paths. But no longer. I am coming back to you now, there is nothing to fear."

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, opened my arms, and held my breath. There was no weird sensation. There was just the emptier feeling that I had almost grown used to, disappearing. When I opened my eyes again, my ghost was gone. Walking back towards the Fellowship, I took out my knives and found that manoeuvring them was easier than it had been only minutes ago.

Hmm, go figure.

(A/N: Hi, Dig. Miss me? Wow, almost 300 Reviews. I love you guys. And I never noticed how common a name Grace was, until people started Reviewing, saying that it was their name. They can pretend they're in my story, hahaha. But yeah. I'm tired and sore and maybe still a bit hung over, so I'm going to go and I dunno, do something. Maybe sleep. Until next time my dears!)

¹ The Steward of Gondor, Return of the King Soundtrack

¹¹ Elvish. Translation: love. Also can be used as melamin. Translation: my love