Sorry for the delay and for this being such a short chapter, I wanted to post and only had half the chapter done. I'll post more tomorrow for you all. Thank you so much for your reviews! They mean the world, and I'm glad you guys like this story. Let me know what you think of this chapter, please! I'm worried that it isn't very good. Let me know!

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Chapter 8: Drawing Stone

Ana felt something warm and wet nudge at her leg as she cried. She sniffed deeply and rubbed at her face before she looked down at her dog. "Oh, Sadie," she whispered before she sat down on her knees and hugged her dog, her hair falling around her face and Sadie. Sadie just sat there and let Ana hug her. After a moment Ana pulled back and sniffed again before she scratched behind Sadie's ears. "Looks like were stuck here, girl, even though I don't want to be." She heard the door close and looked up to see Galadriel standing there holding two towels and a gown was draped over her arm.

"Bathe, Ana, the warm water will rest your soul. When you are finished Haldir will bring you to my talan and we will begin our lessons again," Galadriel told her. Ana sighed and looked away.

"Not today," she said quietly and looked at Galadriel. "I don't want to take lessons today." Her voice was firmer as she stood. "You just tell me that I can never go home again! That I can never see my family again, and everything is supposed to be all hunky dory well, its not!" she shouted before she took the gown from Galadriel. The elf just let the woman go. She did not use her powers that could have easily brought the woman down. Ana walked around the tub and quickly changed into the dark green dress before she tossed her white nightdress onto the bench and walked up to Galadriel. "I'll figure out my own way home. I want to go back to where I was found. I want to go back there so I can leave this place!" Galadriel sighed and nodded her head.

"I will have Haldir lead you at mid-day, but you will not find what you seek." Ana crossed her arms.

"I'm going to try," she said firmly before she walked passed Galadriel and up the stairs to her bedroom. "First I'm going to put on my old clothes," she said not taking head that she had just changed her clothes.

"Ana," a strong voice came from her doorway as she picked up her jeans that Beriadan had folded along with her tank top. She turned and saw Haldir once again looking at her through a glare. That made her laugh and shake her head before she went back to the task at hand. He spoke so quickly she could only catch every other word. Something along the lines of "Never speak that way." She really didn't know what he was saying so she ignored him until he walked over to her and grasped her upper arms forcefully and turned her around to face him. She dropped her jeans and tank top onto the floor and put her hands against his chest. She pushed against him to try and free herself, but as usual she couldn't.

"Let me go!" she said as she pushed against him, but as she did so she felt something in his shirt and her hand rested over it as she pushed. As she did so, a burning heat trailed up her arm and she gasped as she stiffened. No matter how hard she tried to pull her hand from his shirt, she couldn't. Haldir's grip loosened on her arms and she suddenly found her hand clasped in both of his as it rested against his chest. Ana gasped and Haldir did the same.

At hearing his sharp intake of breath Ana opened her eyes and looked at him. As she looked at him their eyes met. Once more a wave of heat rushed up her arm and her back arched towards him. Her hand wretched free and she collapsed against him, his arms wrapping around her.

"Ana!" she heard him exclaim nearly breathless. "Ana!" he said more firmly and she swore there was a slight panic in his voice, but she couldn't respond. She felt her eyes roll back and then darkness once more.

Haldir called her name but she didn't respond. Her eyes just rolled back and her body went completely limp in his arms. He shifted her in his arms and laid her down on the bed. He couldn't explain the feeling he felt as her hand pressed against the stone in his tunic. It was an intense heat, but it felt like she was drawing from him. "What has happened?" Galadriel asked as she quickly moved into the room and to the side of the bed. She put her hand on Ana's forehead and closed her eyes. She frowned and looked at Haldir. "The stone? You used the stone?" Haldir shook his head as he pulled the stone from his tunic.

"Nay, my lady, I did not. The stone rested in my tunic and as she pushed against me, her hand . . . stuck to me and it was as though the stone heated like it was thrown into a flame," he said as he looked down at the stone. Ana's painted image stared back at him, just as it had in the forest.

"The stone must be destroyed." Haldir handed the stone over to Galadriel who looked at it gravely. "I now know the stone's purpose and why the orcs did not strike her down." Haldir just looked at her but when a sharp gasp came from the bed his eyes moved to Ana's form. "The stone was created by dark magic, I should have sensed it the moment you handed it to me, but alas I did not. I know not whose magic created this, but its purpose seems clear to me now. She was brought here for a dark purpose . . ." She trailed off and looked at Haldir once more and he returned his eyes to her. "However, you changed that Marchwarden and once this stone is destroyed, she will not befall that dark purpose."

"I changed her destiny? How so?" Galadriel smiled as another pain filled gasp filled the air. Haldir's eyes moved to Ana whose body was damp with sweat and her skin was pale. Sadie had somehow entered the room without him noticing and sat on the opposite side of the bed watching her master closely. "What is happening? Should we not call a healer?" Galadriel shook her head.

"She was brought to Middle Earth as a servant to the one that rules over the dark land, but she his spell failed, and she was brought here instead of in his land. She was brought to the light instead of darkness and because of that, he sent his minions to retrieve her. The stone . . . the stone is a . . . sponge. It draws from the wearer their knowledge and sometimes the wearer's traits. The one for whom the stone is made, is the only one that has the power to draw from the wearer."

"Can more be made, even if you destroy this one?" Haldir asked still taking in the Lady's words. She shook her head.

"From what I can tell, now that it's magic has been unleashed, it takes at least fifty years for the stone's strength to be powerful enough for the one to draw from." Galadriel looked down at Ana's portrait in her hand. "Why she was taken I know not, but he wanted her for something and I believe the orc you found this on was the one he had chosen to be the one for her to draw from. She would have taken on his traits but would have kept her appearance as a mortal woman." Haldir looked at her and shook his head.

"She would carry the features of an innocent, but the heart of a monster?" he asked and Galadriel nodded. "Then . . . she drew from me?"

"She did and I know not what she has actually gained from you and I will not know until she wakes, which won't be for some time." Haldir nodded and sighed. He knew she would be trouble, and just as he thought . . . she was.