A/N: Thoughts will be in italics.

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No winter lasts forever; no spring skips it's turn.
Hal Borland

Chapter 20

And So It Begins

They drove themselves relentlessly, even though their cut-up hands bled and their bodies ached from the effort of picking up and carrying the stones from their source deep inside the quarry to the wains that waited for them outside the mine. Halgar was worried about the Ranger, for though he drove himself onward, step-by-step and stone by stone, it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to do so with the grief he was feeling over the death of his heart-brother steadily eating away at his heart and spirit.

He was falling more frequently, and if the reason for his weakness had not been just physical weakness and despair, it could have been attributed to the cruelty of the Pit Boss and the quarry guards. A foot here, and extra, heavy stone, thrown onto the stones already in the Ranger's arms, all worked against his physical and mental endurance. Aragorn was finding it increasingly difficult to push himself to his feet and there were times when he thought of staying down and letting the guards finish him. It was at this time that he would feel Halgar's arms under his, helping him to his feet.

Aragorn was unaware that his friend had been giving him half of his own share of the water when the rations were given out, and he didn't know that Halgar was lying to him when he poured part of his ration of food into his bowl saying that he was too full to eat any more. Aragorn's existence was beginning to tunnel in on him and he was beginning a downward spiral that could only end up in eternal darkness.

Nights were no better for the Ranger for it seemed that the other quarry slaves sensed the weakness in the human and felt empowered by it. One night, four of the slaves that slept in their hut, walked over to Aragorn and began to torment the man, trying to push him away from the glassless window he insisted on looking out of for most of the night. They couldn't understand how anyone could get anything out of looking at the stars.

The largest of the bullies shoved Aragorn to the wall then frowned at the Ranger's lack of response. All he had done was pick himself up then started walking back to the window and when the other slave again reached for him to torment him further, Halgar stepped in between them.

"Please leave him alone … he is grieving over the loss of a dear friend."

The leader of the bullies stood in front of Halgar and looked down on the smaller man.

"And why should that concern me, little man?" He sneered in Halgar's face.

When the bully again advanced on the two, Halgar forcefully shoved the man backwards where he tripped over his friend and fell to the floor. Angered and embarrassed, he picked himself up and after grabbing Halgar and sinking a fist into his stomach, threw him to two of his friends who were standing apace off and while they held him, he again advanced on Aragorn.

Things may have gone ill for the Ranger and his staunch defender if there hadn't been intervention from another source. The two slaves who had been holding Halgar suddenly found themselves jerked away from the man. They did not get a chance to see much more for shortly thereafter, their heads were forcefully knocked together and they sank to the ground unconscious. Seeing that their numbers had been cut in half, the two remaining bullies backed away then helping their two groggy friends to their feet, quietly went back to their sleeping palettes.

"My sincerest thanks, Lothur." He said to the big man.

"I never did like that little wart." He nodded toward Aragorn. "See to your friend Halgar."

While Halgar worked at getting Aragorn to lay down and rest, Lothur went back to where his sleeping palette lay and picked it up. Walking back to where Aragorn and Halgar were laying and after straightening the blanket, lay down on it and without another word, went to sleep.

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The next day was just another day in the life of the quarry slaves - hot, dusty and repetitive. For Halgar, it was a sad day for he could tell that Aragorn was becoming weaker and it saddened him knowing there was nothing he could do for the grieving Ranger. Halgar kept up a steady stream of conversation as much to reassure himself as to entertain his friend and give him something else to think about. He told him stories of Númenor and stories of the Last Alliance that few knew about - the stories of great warriors who got lost and when found were so embarrassed that they would make up fanciful tales about being kidnapped by faë people. There were stories of the great deeds of the lesser people and even though Halgar knew that Aragorn wasn't really listening to him, he hoped that the man could at least sense the compassion he was feeling for his loss.

He was just about to launch into another story when he suddenly got a dizzy spell and reaching out with a hand grabbed on to Aragorn's shoulder to steady himself. Finally as if noticing him for the first time that day, the Ranger turned his sad eyes on him.

"Halgar? Are you well?"

Seeing the Pit Boss watching them, Halgar reached for the stones that he had dropped.

"Aye, my friend, I am well. I just had a minor dizzy spell … and for a moment I thought …" he looked around the compound, "… I thought I smelled a field of grass in the springtime when the flowers are in bloom. What a bizarre thing to smell in the middle of a stone quarry."

Shaking his head, he went back to work, not noticing the way Aragorn began to cast furtive glances around him and especially at those passing by on the other side of the fence. Finally, he went back to work as well.

On their next trip to drop off a load of stone, Halgar could have sworn that he felt eyes on him and looked around. For a moment, he thought he saw a dark-cloaked figure standing in the shade of a tree on the other side of the quarry fence. He blinked and shook his head and when he looked again - the figure was no longer there.

"I am starting to hallucinate!" Halgar thought to himself.

He was brought back to the present when Lothur nudged him with one of his big shoulders while reaching for Aragorn and jerking the man to his feet by the back of his tunic.

"Watch your friend!" Lothur hissed quietly at Halgar.

The human turned to the big man who was picking up most of Aragorn's stones and adding them to his own.

"I thought I saw …" He began.

"A figure, cloaked in black and almost seeming to be a part of the shadow of a tree."

Halgar looked at the tall slave. Lothur spoke one last time before turning his back and walking toward the wain to drop off his armload of stones.

"I've seen them three times. It looks like your help has arrived - don't draw attention."

Without another word between them, the three went back to work.

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As the sun set that evening, the seven elves gathered around the campfire to discuss what information each of them had obtained during their covert trip through Hoth. Every bit of information that Anayah had asked for had been obtained - except for the belching and the garbage - and every one of them was satisfied with the outcome of their day.

"Anayah?" Rahan asked while looking at his charge with concern. "What is it?"

She looked at them with the saddest look on her face that any of them could remember seeing in a long time - in fact, since the last time that the twins had put raw eggs in her boots and she had been forced to throw them away - the boots, that is. She looked at the silent faces in front of her then taking a deep breath, spoke of what she had seen.

"I found Estel."

When those who had become excited at the news discovered she did not seem as excited as they did, they quieted and waited for her to continue.

"He is in the southwest quarry with the human from Hope and is being championed by a rather large slave. His condition is not good for I sensed a soul-eating sadness about him, almost as if he had given up. I cannot tell you what is wrong with him although I must tell you that he will not last much longer so it is imperative that we extract him as soon as possible." She paused and looked down at her hands. "It is extremely hard for me to be objective when I see my kin in such need."

Rahan put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Then let us start planning on what we are going to do. How do you wish to proceed, Anayah?"

She sighed one last time before turning from worried sister and friend back into the Commander who would lead the action to get both her brother as well as her friend back.

"We are going to have to pick at this problem a little at a time and since Legolas's location is still hypothetical, we will start there, for we must make absolutely sure of where he is before we take any kind of action to free him."

She picked up a stick, drew a facsimile of the palace, and from the input of the others drew all possible entrances and exits that could be seen from the outside.

"We don't know anything about the inside of this place and so we must start with an initial recon to check on internal entrances and exits, what kind of security they have and the exact location of where Legolas is being held. We must have both sets of information before we finally go in after him. Does anybody have any ideas?"

Semoro, her Second-in-command, threw a small twig at her to get her attention and after raising an eyebrow in true "Peredhel" fashion, acknowledged the elf.

"Does Mommy's little elfling have something to say? Hmm?"

Semoro smiled in return.

"There is talk on the street about a large feast to be held in the palace tomorrow night starting at sundown. It seems that the High Chieftain recently won a large battle with a rival Chieftain and she wishes to celebrate the victory with food and entertainment. I would like to suggest that this would be a good time for someone to sneak into the palace and check things out."

Anayah looked at the faces around her.

"Ok, which one of you is going to volunteer for this?"

There was dead silence. Finally, her Silvan Guard spoke up.

"Did we mention that there was going to be entertainment?" He smiled at her devilishly.

She glared at the elf.

"Súrion, your dimple is showing - I don't like it when your dimple is showing - it means you are up to something."

Anayah suddenly found that Súrion, Semoro and Saeros were pointing their fingers at her and nodding their heads. When it dawned on her what they were trying to hint at she shook her head and stood.

"Huh-uh! No, no, no. I am a warrior - I don't do the sneaky stuff - that's up to you elleths to do."

Rahan sighed as the others stood and began to argue, just watching and ready to break things up before anybody got hurt. Both twins went to stand next to the Captain.

"Doesn't she look kind of small next to those elves?" Elrohir asked jokingly.

Rahan rolled his eyes at the antics. "Yes, Lord Elrohir, that she does although if you wish to retain your immortal grace, I suggest that you refrain from saying that to her."

They watched as Anayah debated with the other elves as they tried to convince her to be the one to sneak into the palace. As the twins and Rahan watched her talking to Súrion, Elladan chuckled.

"She has this thing about poking people when she talks to them - and she pays no mind to whether they are bigger than her or not. Sometimes it kind of reminds me of a house cat hissing and spitting at a warg."

Rahan shook his head.

"I wouldn't quite say that, Lord Elladan, more like a badger - very fierce creatures, very sharp teeth - size means nothing to them."

The twins nodded in agreement with the Captain as all three continued to watch the "drama" unfold. Anayah was poking Súrion in the chest to emphasize what she was saying and the Silvan guard was biting his lower lip and trying so hard not to laugh that there were tears coming out of his eyes.

"All right. I will do this but I'm going to tell you one thing, Súrion. If I so much as get a hangnail doing this, you are going to wish you were back there in that field sitting in that pile of warg crap you landed in because it is going to be a lot nicer and a lot softer than having my foot stuck up your …"

"ANAYAH!" Everybody yelled in unison.

Without breaking stride, she leaned a little closer to her Guard then squinted her eyes in puzzlement before asking, "Why are you crying?"

That was the last straw. Everybody started roaring in laughter and kept laughing until most of them were sitting on the ground, holding their sides and trying to catch their breaths. Finally, during a lull in the laughter, Semoro turned to his Commander.

"By-the-way … did I mention that most of those who will be attending the feast as well as the entertainment people will be blonde?"

Where the small glade had rung with laughter but moments before, there was now dead silence. It took a moment before Anayah finally realized what Semoro had said, then her eyes widened and with her hands placed protectively over her beautiful raven hair, she began to back away from the advancing elves. Then she turned and ran, followed closely by her Guards and after they decided to join in the fun, from the twins as well. Rahan shook his head as he watched his "children" chase his Commander. When the group finally caught up with her and was pulling her out of the tree by her foot, all he did was chuckle and tell them all to play nice.

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At dawn the next day, while the other elves were doing some additional reconnaissance, Rahan, Súrion and Anayah left camp to go check on how she was going to enter the palace that evening and also to get a look at the leader of the Wainriders. They had heard that each morning just after dawn the High Chieftain would inspect her warriors in front of the palace. Now the three elves lay on their stomachs on a small knoll on the palace grounds watching the inspection of the Wainrider warriors. Rahan and Súrion with Anayah between them were looking out over the assembled humans when Rahan pointed to the High Chieftain.

"That is her."

Anayah looked at the assembled humans.

"Where? Which one? Rahan I don't see her."

Rahan and Súrion both looked at Anayah but seeing that she was serious, Súrion pointed.

"Over there by the fountain."

"I still don't see her! Where is she Súrion?"

"There." The Guard pointed. "She just hit that soldier in the mouth."

There was a short pause before Anayah spoke.

"Oh go on - that's no woman! That guy is at least six feet tall and weighs … like a whole lot"

Rahan looked at Anayah seriously.

"I promise you, Anayah, that is her. That is High Chieftain Ostara."

There was another small pause. Then Anayah started to get the giggles.

"Oh my gosh … Rahan … that's not a woman, … that's a man … with … breasts!"

She then laughed quietly while kicking the soil with her feet and pounding it with her hands. Rahan and Súrion looked at each other, then without another word, both placed a hand on Anayah's head and shoved it down to the ground.

Having seen what they had gone there to see, the three rose and covertly made their way out of the city and back to their little hidden camp.

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In the darkness of a tiny room, deep beneath the main floors of the Palace, there could be heard the faint sounds of crying followed by a weak, frightened voice.

"Ada, I need you!"

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kukumalu: Yes, our little Lady can think quickly. A similar experience with horses happened to me when I was younger although I did not get hurt. I was 7 years old (I have been riding since I was 4 years old) and had a horse that my father had to rope from a jeep to catch. I was walking down the field to deliver a telephone message to my father and the horse was running right at me. Unlike Anayah however, I froze with fright. Try and imagine a 7 year old, only standing about 4'6" who looks up and sees this huge animal running right at her. At a dead run, the horse passed by me only about 6" from where I was standing.

The point to what happened in the story was that stuff happens whether we plan for it or not and sometimes it happens without respect for who we are or what we are trying to do. I have worked with horses for over 45 years and it is a fact that most horses will do everything in their power to keep from stepping on a downed rider or anyone else in their vicinity. But, if they can't see them, then accidents happen. Anayah was lucky and now, she and the others can start looking for Estel and Legolas! Thanks so much for your review!

CapriceAnn Hedican-Kocur: Thank you for your review. I am so glad you are enjoying the story. Things are going to start happening now and I hope you will continue to be entertained.