Well, I am overjoyed by the feedback. And I dedicate this chappy to AiH (who can hopefully recognize the abbreviation) in honor of her rotten day!

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Through the tent flap Aragorn saw the almost set sun. The golden rays played over the figure of the woman in front of him, and for an instant he could see her as she was, young, pretty, and full of life and love. But the breeze died down and the tent flap closed and before him stood Caireth, the bitter child, indeed to him she was little more than a child, and if she seemed a child to him…to Legolas she must seem an infant.

"I suppose you wonder why I want you here, ranger?" she asked softly, idly running a hand through Legolas' mangled locks before sharply tugging them. The resulting response was a half gasp half whimper.

"The thought had crossed me mind," he responded with a small, wry, smile.

"You are intelligent, that may be part of the reason master took an interest in you, I think you hold to much love for…well, that will be explained in due time."

"Why do you want me though, that still has not been explained."

"Ah yes, well, wouldn't that be a piece of information you would like to know?" she was enjoying the slight torture and confusion not knowing was causing the human. Perhaps Godéad did know what he was doing…not that she had ever doubted him. No, to doubt him would be stupid, and she had lived too long to be considered stupid.

"Master wanted me to inform you of it when you had a bit more persuasion, what think you of that?"

"Tell me," Aragorn all but growled, shifting in front of Legolas.

"You can not protect him, though I can tell you want to," her voice held malicious glee and her eyes sparkled.

"Tell me," Aragorn repeated.

"Very well, ranger. We are having issues with our newest and older crop of slaves. Recently we have gotten into the business of elves and none of our shipments speak the common tongue and if they do, they refuse to. We need someone who will listen to us and can speak elvish; my lord will die before he treats and elf as one who is an equal. So, that is where you come in."

"What?"

"Let me finish. You would be a slave, as will your friend, you will live with the slaves if you choose, but you will be fed more and beaten less. You would be in charge of giving orders and dealing out punishments. Can you handle that?"

"You do not honestly believe I would do that?" Aragorn practically shouted.

"No, I do not. And that is why we have this elf. If worse comes to worse we kill you, sell off our stock and then ransom him to those elves."

Aragorn's face contorted with fury, how dare she refer to the first born as though they were naught more that a chair, or a pile of grass?

"You have no choice, ranger."

And Aragorn knew, with sickening clarity, that this was true.

He had no choice.

---&---

In the palace of Meduseld, far away from the desolate plain where Aragorn and Legolas now were, stood Steelsheen of Rohan. She smiled at her youngest child as Theodwyn ranted about Thorongil leaving the middle of the night…just last night was it? The queen felt strangely out of place in the flowing pale green cotton dress she wore, simpler than was common in Rohan, but the queen had always preferred the simple. There were many days where she wanted to do nothing more than gallop across the plains on the back of a fast horse.

This was one of those days.

This was one of those days where she wanted to do nothing more than promptly strangle her husband for his stupidity.

Yes. This was one of those days.

"Morwen, I can not believe that captain had the nerve to do that! Sneak off in the middle of the night without the leave of a royal family member, how dare he!" For the first time that morning Morwen lost her temper.

"He had every right to do what he did!"

"He did not, Morwen, it is treason to go without royal leave. I should have him imprisoned."

"You are not his king, you have never been his king and you will never be his king. I do not know why you do not understand it!"

Valar she hoped Théoden would be a more agreeable king.

"I should be his king he is a man of-"

"The north Thengel, he is a man of the north. He is not your subject, he will never be. Though I know you wish him to be." She was getting tired of her husband acting like a temperamental toddler. Her good friend had once told her that 'behind every great man is an even greater woman,' if her husband was said great man, then she would be said greater woman. Unless of course this was her husband at his greatest, then Theodwyn might be a more appropriate greater woman. "What was that darling?" she said, realizing she had missed something.

"This kind young man with the falcon has been trying to get your attention, Morwen my love."

"Sorry, what can I do for you child?"

"I have a letter 'ere from the elves m'am, as well as a real elf who says he must only speak to Steelsheen. Looks a mite like that other elf 'ooh was 'ere a while back, if you pardon my saying so."

"Thank you, send him in please," she replied.

"Yes'm. But the letter m'am, it's for Thorongil…"

"I shall take it for him, thank you child."

The boy nodded quickly and jogged off, leaving the queen of Rohan with an angry husband and a fluttering piece of parchment. From Rivendell. For Thorongil. That was not good, from what she had learned through careful observation and endless questioning of a certain wizard (who barely tolerated the young queen in his appearance but secretly thought she was a promising child) she had come to learn much about the man she knew as Thorongil, but to those he held dear he was Estel. And that was what the letter said.

Dear Estel,

I know you do not wish to speak to me, you made that clear when you and Legolas left, I need to speak to you. I am sorry, terribly sorry for everything we did, I am. But…we need you Estel, Valar, Elladan and Glorfindel have gone missing. We fear the same fate befell them as the missing elves from Lorien and Mirkwood. I am desperate or I would not have bothered you with this news. Please…come home, I beg you. Please.

The letter was enough to make tears spring in the queen's eyes. What had she done? It had been foolish to allow Thorongil to go. It didn't matter that he was 20 years older, he seemed younger and…oh Valar what had she done?

"Lady Steelsheen?" a quiet voice startled her.

"Thengel, leave us, please," she said, authority in her voice that her husband did not ignore. When the door closed behind the king of Rohan Morwen turned to the elf.

"Please, sit down. You are not the prince, but I must know what has become of…"

"I will not sugar coat it, my lady, Estel has walked into danger and done it blindly. I know not why, but he knows that the prince is missing and he knows where he is."

"I must interrupt this tirade to ask how you came to be here, Lord Randir."

"Ah yes, and interesting tale…" the elf began.

---&---

"Now, telling you all this was amusing to say the least, but I myself prefer…more interesting topics. Elf, come over here for a moment…would you?"

"No," the prince answered hotly. Aragorn wondered if he had forgotten the welts all over his back…"No, I will not allow you to hurt me again."

"Oh, I didn't say anything about being allowed to hurt you. Naerdor, grab the human and tie him to that pole, thank you. Actually, let's take them outside…"

"Yes, Caireth," Naerdor didn't really feel like protesting, he knew it would do the elf and ranger no good. His orders were to see the human came back alive; he had nothing to do with the elf. Yet…as he watched Caireth tie the human and then the elf he felt an unfamiliar sensation creeping into his stomach, guilt. Maybe he was human after all; the fact surprised him, so much that he nearly jumped when a cry of pain was drawn from the protesting elf.

Aragorn was getting frantic. The woman stood next to the elf, a sadistic smile on her face. She was going to enjoy this if it was the last thing she did, because this would be fun. It made the ranger nearly sick to see her smile at the elf that way, as if she had been giving a particularly good new toy.

"What do you suppose is more painful, a dislocated shoulder," as she said the is touched Legolas' shoulder, "or perhaps more work with a whip?" she asked. Se grinned in satisfaction when she saw his eyes widen. "But we've done so much with a whip, it won't be any fun. No, I think I shall go with the other option…"

"Don't! Valar woman, don't!"

"Oh, what is the matter, I simply want to," she stopped with a grin. "You know, I am not very interested in sitting here talking, I just want to have a bit of fun." She grinned and moved next to Aragorn. "Watch closely," she murmured.

The ranger's eyes widened in horror as she took a step closer to Legolas and firmly gripped his arm.

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Well that was a fun ending, wasn't it? No? Hmm. Well I thought it was. Next chapter you'll get your torture, it is weird when you get reviews where people are asking when I plan on harming him.