Things passed quickly after that and all Kendra could really remember was watching the greasy man, Grima Wormtongue, being thrown down the steps. Theoden had almost killed him but Aragorn had stopped that. Kendra had watched as Grima stood and pushed his way through the assembled crowd. Now, they had been given rooms to rest in for a little while. Kendra had quickly taken advantage of that and laid down to sleep.

Now, she was being awakened by a gentle hand shaking her shoulder. She rolled over, away from the hand.

"Kendra, you have to get up," a voice said.

"Go away, Legolas. I just got to sleep," Kendra muttered into the pillows.

"But, we have to go to the funeral."

Kendra sat up, "What funeral?"

"The funeral of the king's son, Theodred. Our presence is requested right now."

"All right. I'm coming," Kendra said, forcing herself off the bed.

She really didn't want to go. Funerals brought back too many memories. As the squad leader, she had been required to go to all the funerals for her men. Each group of family and friends stared at her the entire time, blame and anger evident in their eyes. People she had once considered friends were now her enemies. People who had once stopped to speak to her now gave her the cold shoulder. It was like that everywhere.

Kendra followed Legolas out of her room and out to the main hall. Gandalf was standing there talking to Aragorn while Gimli sat off to the side, smoking his pipe. They looked over when Legolas and Kendra walked in.

"We thought that you two might have gotten lost," Gimli said.

"Someone was just having a hard time waking up," Legolas said, starting to laugh.

"Watch it, elf boy. You and the ranger are getting your comeuppance later," Kendra warned, ice in her voice.

"For what?"

"Think back, Aragorn. That's all I'm going to say."

The look that crossed Aragorn's face seemed to be one of dread but it didn't last long because he suddenly straightened up. Kendra turned and saw why. Theoden had just walked in. He still moved like he truly was still an old man. He had regained his true age but once he had been told the news about his son's death, he seemed to have aged again.

"Let us be going, Theoden King," Gandalf said.

The funeral was unlike anything that Kendra had ever seen. They had carried the body of the prince on a stretcher, as she called it, all the way through the city. Then, they had placed the body in a stone tomb that had been built and then allowed to grow over with grass. When Theodred's body had started to go into the tomb, Eowyn had started up a song that was apparently a part of the ceremony. Her voice had broken several times but still she sang on.

After the funeral, Kendra had walked back up to the city with Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. Gandalf had insisted that he stay behind with the grieving king.

"I have never seen a funeral like that before," Kendra commented as they were walking.

"It is not uncommon to do something like that," Aragorn said. "Gondor is different, as well."

"Different? How?"

"The royal families, and the stewards, are buried in giant blocks of stone. On top of the coffins are statutes of the dead king or queen. A likeness is made so that everyone will remember who that person was."

"That seems kind of silly, really," Kendra said, looking at Aragorn. "I mean, the only people who will truly remember the dead king will be the ones who lived under his rule. Future generations could probably care less what the king looked like. All they might care about is how he ruled."

"I never thought of it that way."

"Kendra," Legolas said, suddenly, "at the funeral today. You seemed upset. Why?"

"Funerals bring back bad memories. I was the squad leader for a group of Hunters. It was the same squad that had died, leaving me as the only survivor. I had to go to all the funerals. At each and every one, I was blamed for their deaths. It was even worse at my brother's funeral. 'You should have died' and 'it's all your fault that he's dead' were all that was really said to me."

"But, it wasn't really your fault that everyone died," Gimli started. "I mean, you have told us a little about your fights and what you had to do. If your entire group died, and you had nothing to do with it, why did they blame you?"

Kendra looked down at the ground. "Because they needed someone to blame. I made it out because my brother had pushed me down an alley just as the bomb went off. That saved my life and ended his. They blamed me because I was a Mage and they told me that I should have sensed the bomb going off."

"Not even Gandalf can sense things like that," Legolas said. "He can feel when something is wrong but he can't stop it from happening, which is probably what they were saying you should have done."

Kendra laughed a little, a sad kind of laugh. "My powers mostly deal with natural things. I can create wind gusts and water spouts. I can cause lightning to fall from a clear sky and hail to catch fire. I can do all these things and they knew that. But, like I said, they needed someone to blame. And I was the perfect target."

They had reached the palace by now and they were quickly allowed inside. Just as they passed the threshold, Kendra dropped. Aragorn and Legolas quickly knelt beside her. Aragorn's cool hand touched her forehead and drew back quickly.

"She's burning with fever. It's amazing that she made it this far."

Legolas suddenly looked up, "How long has it been since the battle at Amon Hen?"

"A couple of days. Why?" Aragorn said, looking at the elf.

"Do you remember when she got us off of Caradhras? It took a couple of days but just before we reached Moria, she was having cramps. It came several days after she had used her powers."

"You're right." Aragorn knelt down and lifted Kendra's limp body. "We need to get her to her room and then we have to try and bring her fever down."

Gimli slowly moved out of the way as Aragorn quickly moved to Kendra's room. Legolas watched him go before slowly placing a hand on the dwarf's shoulder.

"Who would ever think that someone who acts so strong as Kendra could be taken down so quickly by something like that?" Gimli asked quietly.

Legolas looked at the doorway that Aragorn had disappeared into. "She is strong, so I know she'll make it through. But, like she told us, she brought this upon herself by making her body reject her use of magic. I think that maybe, just maybe, if she used her powers more, she might soon be immune to this as well."

"You're right, lad. I guess all we can do right now is just make sure she is comfortable."