A dark haired elf walked over to her slowly, and she pressed her back to the wall. What looked suspiciously like a pointed ear was framed by long dark hair, and an angular face, with well defined features. His eyes were filled with compassion, and he slowly reached his hand out to her.

"My lady, welcome to Caer Loera, the final home of the eldar. I will not hurt you. I am Elrond Halfelven, and it does you no good to be standing, you have been very unwell."

She looked from his hand to his eyes, before speaking quietly, "why am I here?"

He dropped his hand, before taking a seat upon the bed. There was something vaguely familiar about this young woman.

"We were hoping you could tell us. Only those with eldar blood can pass the borders in to Caer Loera. Your assailant was peppered with arrows. You were rescued by one of our kind on their way home."

She tried to absorb all that she had been told.

"Then why was I not also slain?"

"The answer is in the question. You have elven blood."

"But…I can't! I was to find my father. My mother died with this request upon her lips."

Elrond nodded. "Then it is without doubt the source of your eldar heritage. You may find him here." He helped her up, and she walked over to the window, placing her back to him.

"I am in pain Lord Elrond. I did not wish to be saved. I had accepted my death."

"You may think this way now, but you will see that you were spared for a reason. Do not throw away this second chance." He reached for her wrists. "I have been caring for you, but could not remove these until you awoke. They cannot be comfortable. I have reason to believe that you are injured beneath them. I found blood trailing from one of them. They should be removed"

She clutched her wrist to her. "they will stay were they are!" she commanded, this place new and unfamiliar to her, and it scared her. And these beings could not be allowed to see her scars. No one could. It was her own personal pain. Her weakness. Determined to change the subject, she looked up at him.

"you never should have saved me, I died!"

"You did not die, and it was not I who saved you. Your elven blood kept you alive once you were in the borders of our people."

"No."

"You have eldar blood arwenamin, and you will have to come to terms with that in your own time. You were supposed to find this place, and you were meant to be saved."

"And I suppose I was supposed to be raped over the course of the last six years, and abused as well? Was that a part of my destiny too?" she spat, her voice dangerously quiet.

"It is not my place to question the Valar, but yours has been a hard lot in life. You are welcome to stay here as long as you need, or until you find what you are looking for. You will not be turned away from the home of your people." he got up to leave. She called after him, the loudest her voice had been since he had entered.

"One more thing. Who was my savior?"

"Erestor, the keeper of the scrolls and knowledge of Caer Loera. If you should wish to thank him, he is in the library."

"So." she whispered, as he left. "He was the one who kept me from my death."

&&&

As the days wore on, she met a seemingly endless litany of eldar royalty. An elleth and her silver lord, who haunted her thoughts until she closed her mind off from them and her probing thoughts. A fiercely regal golden king, who had spoken little, but to inquire after her well being before leaving his son, who spoke to her gently, trying to get her to talk about what had happened to her. A fiery and arrogant Captain, who had tried to take what information he could from her about the tavern that inhabited the border to the woods, all the while his eyes roaming her body, before coming to rest upon the white scar that one wrist cuff revealed. When he questioned her about it, she ordered him from the room, and he left, a look of pure shock upon his face.

(A/N ; Sorry couldn't help myself: That's right. Haldir is alive. As if he died at Helms Deep. HALDIR LIVES!)

And finally, a white wizard, who she never made eye contact with, for fear he could see behind her eyes in to her tortured soul. Her pain she nursed in silence, awaiting an opportunity to finish a job a stranger started. But to her frustration, she was never for a moment left alone. Often, a golden haired warrior came to speak to her, and he told her a tale of a mysterious demon, and his defeat, at the cost of his own life, but he too was given a second chance at life. His counsel fell upon deaf ears. She had heard the story before, her mother had told her the story of the brave elf who had fought a mighty Balrog many times. She thought it naught but a tale even now. She told none her name. She searched the room for anything she could use to end this nameless faceless existence, but found nothing. Never alone, even at night, no opportunities presented themselves. On the rare occasion she would sleep, she would occasionally wake to see a strangers face watching over her, reading from his place at her bed side. But she always feel asleep again too quickly to find out who this stranger was. She barely ate, and after a week, she had grown even thinner than when she had first arrived. Slowly, she was wasting away in to death, fading from sight. And the eldar around her recognized this, and tried to call her back.

&&9

"Walk with me in the gardens, lady." She looked up to see the golden haired Lord who offered her council often about his second chance. Glorfindel, he had said his name was. She sighed, and turned away from his prying gaze, before answering softly, Ï do not wish to leave my room, lord. Please. Leave me in peace."

"Nay." He said, coming around to face her. "you have been left 'in peace' for too long now. It is time to rejoin the world arwenamin."

"What if I do not wish to?" she said, looking up at him, a little of her torment showing through her faceless mask. He helped her in rising from the bed. She was barely strong enough to stand unaided. He led her from the room, the first time she had ever left it, in to the beauty that was Caer Loera. Even in her near death state, the beauty did not go unnoticed by her. It was almost enough to make her want to dance again, for herself if no one else, and to breathe freely once again. How she had loved to dance, before… She turned away, her face fixed firmly on the floor. She tensed at Glorfindels hands upon her, but she did not move away. She could not. She would fall. He continued to lead her through the halls. A figure exited a door ahead, and Glorfindel called out to him.

"My friend! Come and join us. I was showing our small one around Caer Loera." The dark haired ellon frowned.

"She should not be out of bed Glorfindel. She is swaying on her feet. Bring her in to the library. Let her sit down."

Glorfindel led her in to the door that the ellon had just vacated. The dark elf followed them in. She looked around her at all the books and scrolls, that covered every inch in the large room, the wisdom of three kingdoms, of thousands of ages, filling the room. The very air welcomed her, as though the tomes whispered to her.

"Can you read my lady?" the question shook her out of her reverie. She nodded her head slowly, before turning to look at the dark elf that had spoken. There was something vaguely familiar about him. She focused upon his angular features, trying to recall where she had seen him before.

"You are welcome to stay here if you would like to, for the afternoon my lady." Glorfindel said. The dark elf frowned again, but said nothing, leading the golden lord away.

"Glorfindel, I have much work to do. I was leaving only to seek sustenance before I continued. And she is not strong enough to even lift a tome, let alone read one."

Glorfindel led him further away. "Erestor, old friend, look at her. It is not weakness that keeps her so wan. She is fading, what little light she had leaving her. Elrond has insisted that we try and rekindle her will to live. We must find a way to waken her from her repose. There is much that Elrond hopes to learn from her. This was a final attempt to awaken her to herself."

Erestor looked over to the maid, who, for the first time he could recall, since the tavern when he had watched her dance, had some light in her eyes, her hands, still bound at the wrists with their metal cuffs, reaching for a small book beside her. He approached her, picking up the small red book, handing it to her.

"You can stay here as long as you need." He said gruffly, before returning to his work.