A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews! I'm really happy with the feedback that I've gotten off of this fic. ; )

Reviews:

-The Elvish Pirate And The Hobbit Ninja: Thanks for reviewing! Don't we all hate Bashgash... : )

-windstar: Thanks for the review: )

-Lothiriel: Glad you liked the Eowyn/Leggie thing, hey maybe you might get your wish about Faramir killing Bashgash...who knows? Thanks for the review: )

Uncertain Fates

Eowyn and Legolas rode side by side as their horses galloped towards the Elven land of Rivendell. She wished that Theodred could have stayed in Mirkwood long enough to come to Rivendell, but he had to return to Rohan, due to King Théoden's waning health.

Legolas had come to Rivendell to speak with Aragorn about someone who was on the loose at least that was all that he had told Eowyn; but yet it was enough for her to beg him to take her with him. Besides, she had never been to Rivendell, and he thought that she would love it.

Eowyn had many reasons for wanting to go, and meeting Arwen was one of them, and she was also overjoyed that she would see Aragorn again.

She had not seen him since the incident in which she had slammed the door in his face after he had come to say goodbye. She hoped that things would still be normal between them.

0-0

When they arrived in Rivendell, Elrond and Aragorn were expecting them; their horses were taken to the stables, and they joined the Elven-king and Aragorn.

When Eowyn first saw Aragorn again, she averted his gaze for she felt a sudden shame for the way that she had acted during their last meeting, and since the look on his face was unreadable, she automatically figured that he had neither forgotten nor forgiven her.

Nevertheless, she regained her composure, and greeted him and Elrond formally; she then quickly excused herself and left them to talk.

An Elven servant showed her to her beautiful chambers, and there she remained until Legolas came to find her.

"Are you alright, Eowyn?" he asked, once she had let him in.

"Yes, I'm alright," she answered. "You need not worry about me."

"You seemed to be acting a little…strange around Aragorn—maybe it was just me."

Eowyn got up and walked to the window. "Perhaps."

"If something is wrong, you can feel free to talk to me anytime," said a concerned Legolas.

"Thank you, Legolas."

"Perhaps you would like to take a walk in the gardens; I know that that would surely make you feel better," suggested the elf.

"Thank you, I think I will; are you going to join me?" she asked, turning away from the window.

"As much as I would love to, I can't; the twins and I are going on a short hunting trip."

Legolas had told her of Elladan and Elrohir, and that he knew them well, so it was no surprise to her that they were going to have a lot of catching up to do.

"Well, I hope you enjoy it," she said, smiling and hugging her Elven friend.

Once he had left, she set out for the gardens, they were beautiful, and it was impossible to decide which ones were better: the gardens of Mirkwood, or the gardens of Rivendell.

Suddenly, she heard voices, she continued walking, but when she realized that the words were becoming clearer, she was going to turn around and leave—but it was too late; to her right was Aragorn and a beautiful dark haired Elven woman.

"It is rightfully yours by birth; I know in my heart that you will not do as he did. It is yours—your people need you."

Eowyn didn't understand what she had just heard. But as she turned to leave, they spotted her.

"I…I'm sorry; I did not mean to interrupt—" stuttered Eowyn.

"It's alright," Aragorn replied. "Arwen, this is lady Eowyn."

Eowyn stood stiff as stone. "It is nice to meet you lady Arwen, I have heard many things about you," she said.

"I have heard many things about you also, lady Eowyn; it is wonderful to finally meet you in person."

There was a terrible silence, in which Eowyn soon broke; "Well it was wonderful to finally meet you, lady Arwen; I did not mean to interrupt anything."

"No, I must be going," said Arwen, who, with one last look at Aragorn, walked away.

"I really should be going," said Eowyn, but Aragorn gently took her by her right arm.

"Eowyn, you seem to be avoiding me—is something wrong?" he asked as his eyes bored into hers.

"No—of course there isn't, and I am sorry if it seemed like I was avoiding you; Legolas came to talk with you about something very important, and I thought that you would want your privacy."

"Our meeting is long over; perhaps we could take a walk through the rest of the gardens—but if you are busy—"

"I am not busy," Eowyn said. "So I accept your proposal," she smiled after she said those four words, and so they walked to their hearts content, through the beautiful gardens of Rivendell.

That had all happened four months ago; Eowyn had now been in Mirkwood for about eight months; she remembered later meeting with Arwen again under better circumstances, and saying a proper goodbye to Aragorn, who had stayed true to his promise, for he had just left again for Rivendell yester eve.

Eowyn was thinking on this as she and Arial walked through the forest which had provided them with protection from their past.

Arial had a lot to be grateful for also; his brother was now completely better, and they were both engaged to Elven women: Arial to Avalyn, and Aranel to Hyacinth.

"I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had decided to ignore my dreams and stay in Minas Tirith…" Arial cut himself off; it was too sad to think about.

"I am glad that I came with you—as much as I would love to see my loved ones, and return to Rohan, I would gladly accept Mirkwood as my final dwelling place, and not only--" she cut herself off when she realized that Arial was not listening to her.

Arial seemed to be listening to something else—he suddenly looked troubled.

"What is it, Arial?" Eowyn asked, for she knew that it couldn't be good.

"Gondorians!" he hissed; "They are near."

Eowyn's eyes widened; she thought that they had given up the search for them long ago. How did they find them?

"We must try to run back to safety; it is our only hope, for they are approaching," he whispered.

Eowyn was surprised that he had kept his composure; despite the fact that they were facing recapture…well at least they saw it as recapture.

And so without further hesitation, they ran as fast as their legs could carry them. The Gondorians were easily alerted to their presence, and began to chase after them.

It seemed as though Arial and Eowyn were going to be able to return to Thranduil's palace safely, until and arrow whizzed by Eowyn, just missing her head, but she was not the target: Arial was. The arrow pierced him in his shoulder; he tripped over a large rock, and fell into the river below.

Eowyn screamed as she saw him fall helplessly into the river. She ran to the edge, but could do nothing as the water carried him away. As she prepared to jump, strong arms grabbed her and forced her away from the now bloody river. She fought with all of her strength, but to no avail; Eowyn, lady of Rohan had been recaptured.

000

While Eowyn had been eluding the soldiers of Gondor for eight months, Boromir and Norah and gotten closer, much to Denethor's displeasure.

The more she got to know him, the more it angered her to know that Eowyn had run away from what could have been a wonderful life. Eomer had had to leave two months ago, but before he left, he had said these words to her:

"I have seen you and him, and now I know why you're so angry that Eowyn has run away; you will only have your heart broken, for he is a married man—he does not love you in that sense, for your own good I am telling you to return to Rohan with me so that you can love and marry a man under the right circumstances."

Of course she had refused, although she knew that it was the right thing to do.

Denethor made sure that he kept her away from his son at all costs; there were even rumors amongst the servants that he intended to send her away.

Meanwhile, Boromir and Denethor's relationship had all but broken; for Faramir should have been back in Minas Tirith by then, and the only explanation was that he had been captured, but Denethor would do nothing about it, and he still had not told his son of the accusations of desertion—even though he was still sending soldiers to find Faramir and bring him back so that 'justice' could be served upon him.

Now, to the present day, Boromir had just reentered Minas Tirith, for he and his men had been fighting the orcs in Osgiliath; Denethor had been the first to meet him, but Boromir hadn't even wanted to speak to the steward, for he was angry that nothing was being done about his missing brother. He did not tell Denethor, but he secretly intended to set out and find him, along with some of his fellow soldiers. He did intend to tell Denethor, but only at the last minute.

After he had left the Steward, he stood outside and looked out across the Pelennor; he now did that almost every day, for he seemed to be expecting her to return; 'her' as in, his wife, Eowyn.

"I had not expected you to be back so soon, my lord!" exclaimed a voice from behind.

The muddy soldier turned around. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you, Norah!" said Boromir, getting ready to embrace her, but soon remembered that he was dirty with mud and orc blood, so he would have to do without one.

"How was Osgiliath?" the maiden asked.

"We have made great progress; we have been able to drive the enemy back."

"That is good," Norah said quietly. Ever since Eomer had last spoken to her, she had been having mind battles, and had made her decision just recently; she had not expected Boromir to return so soon, so she had planned to leave for Rohan before he returned, and she knew that it would be easy, seeing that Denethor would not try to stop her. She intended to leave that night.

000

But over in the dark land, there was no escape; Faramir worked four it seemed twenty three hours a day, although he still didn't know when a day passed in Mordor, for the sky never changed, it always remained dark.

Earlier, the remaining scouting elves had returned, and had not been able to find them. Selwyn was furious, for he had never thought that Morwen had it in her to run away from the only family that she had left.

Now to the present day, Faramir had remained patient, waiting, and hoping for his time of escape to come; but was he waiting in vain?

"Get a move on!" shouted Bashgash, who was their self-appointed task master.

Faramir was not the only human slave, he was often with other men and women, but they had no time to exchange stories or get to know each other.

Faramir's main task as a slave was to make weapons for the enemy; he had now forged too many swords to count.

As he just set down a newly-made sword, he saw someone who he never thought he would see again: Selwyn. The elf walked over to Bashgash, and they were soon engaged in a conversation. Faramir was not far from them, so he was able to hear bits and pieces of the conversation.

"When do you set out?" Selwyn asked.

"Tomorrow; they need aid, if we wait any longer, than Osgiliath will be taken. We will take the slave boy, you say that he was a Ranger, we will use him against them."

Selwyn's eyes darted to Faramir, who met his gaze immediately.

"So be it; if he can be of aid to you, then by all means take him. But he must be returned alive; he should not die—not yet."

The suddenly looked at Selwyn; "We could use your aid too."

"That I will have to think on," said Selwyn, walking away.

Faramir was suddenly stricken with an idea: he could escape when he was going to Osgiliath with the orcs.

Suddenly, he was punched in the nose. He looked up to see Bashgash the cruel looking at him evilly. "Get back to work!" he grunted, kicking him to the ground, and then kicking mud in his face.

"I won't have you lazing around!"

000

That night, Norah had to cancel her plans to escape, for she and Boromir were walking in the small garden on the seventh level.

They had talked for a long while, and time had just seemed to fly by, they were now talking of lady Eowyn.

"Now, I do not know if she will ever be found," said Boromir with a sigh.

"I still do not think that she should have run away, for she does not know what she is missing."

Boromir smiled faintly; "I just hope that she is safe."

"But she would not be in this predicament if she would have stayed and tried; she does not know you like I do, for if she did then…then she would not have run away. For I know you, and…and, I…"

Boromir arched an eyebrow; he had not expected her to get so passionate about it, but after she had allowed her voice to trail off, he was curious about what she was going to say.

"What is it, Norah?"

"I…I love you."