Marie: Well here's the next chap. This chapter and then the last chapter are just kind of in-between ones leading up to the next event. Bear with me. Hope you guys are still interested. Enjoy.

Just my luck.

Threwen looked down to see the contents of her bag strewn across the stone floor. She sighed. Of course it would be her good fortune to have left the top open and then to have picked it up the wrong way and have it all fall to the ground with a clatter. She quickly got down on her hands and knees to pick it all up, grumbling all the way. The stones felt hard on her knees and hands and she wondered if everyone else felt what she was feeling- the cold fear of anticipating what was to come.

I suppose not, since I'm the only one who knows what's probably going to happen in the near future. Everyone else thinks they're now safe.

As she was grumbling Threwen suddenly realized maybe it was her duty to tell King Théoden. They needed to be prepared. She pondered how she would go about doing this. It's not like she could just walk up to him and tell him they were going to be overrun by the orcs of Saruman sometime soon. That simply wasn't done. The only person she knew who could be of help in this situation was Rannyn, and she didn't even know if he was still alive. At that moment everything scared her.

She picked up the last scattered possession and thought angrily, Rannyn, why can't you get back here already? That's when she heard a commotion.

"They've returned!"

Threwen's heart started pounding. Now that's what you could call good timing. She leapt to her feet and rushed in the direction of the commotion, near the entrance. A large crowd of people had gathered, wives looking for husbands, friends. She saw King Théoden atop his horse, his face grim. He was saying something about losing many lives but that the people were safe.

What's that mean, 'Lost many lives'?... Threwen felt the familiar emotion of fear welling up in her. She tried to peek over the heads of the people, straining to see the men. She couldn't help thinking that being taller than most still wasn't tall enough. She grunted in frustration and then saw two more mounted soldiers come in towards the end of the procession. One was a man she didn't recognize, whose leg was bandaged. She watched as a young woman cried out and ran to him.

"Caraedry!"

His face brightened and leaned down to kiss her, her face displaying her relief that her husband was safe.

"Ruthiel," she heard him whisper softly.

Threwen swallowed hard. What if Rannyn was back and okay? She had forgotten momentarily that he was angry with her. What if he was back but wouldn't acknowledge her? She started to feel slightly sick. Suddenly her anxiousness at seeing him was lessened and she wondered what she was doing there. Did she actually expect him to welcome her back with open arms if he came back at all? She turned to walk back to her things when she heard something.

"Threwen!"

She turned around, wondering who was calling her name. All of a sudden she wondered if Rannyn had told the king about her and she was going to be imprisoned or something. Of course she pushed this from her mind because this was just jumping to silly conclusions. She searched the crowd and finally, with mixed emotions, located the source.

Rannyn.

He dismounted Isidien and came toward her, a strange and quite indescribable look on his face. She looked around uncomfortably, feeling like everyone was going to witness him lashing into her or accusing her of being a traitor.

Shouldn't I know him better than that, though? She began to doubt her own feelings about everything.

He stopped in front of her and they both kind of looked at each other for moment.

"Hi," he said softly.

She nodded to him and said quietly, "Hi." She looked down at her feet. Well, at least he's not yelling at you. But then another thought struck her with shocking force. But he's not being exactly friendly and personal either, like he used to be… Threwen suddenly felt very small, which she hated.

Since she was looking down she noticed a bandage around his calf. She cleared her throat and said, "Is your leg okay? Because it looks like –"

She was cut off. The most unexpected thing, which, when she thought about it, had happened before, happened again. She suddenly felt herself being wrapped in a warm, relieved hug, all her feelings of fear of rejection, hopeless anticipation of the future, and doubtfulness of where exactly she stood, all disappearing in a moment. She felt safe. She let out a breath that she felt like she had been holding in ever since she had confessed her past actions to him.

He put a hand on the back of her head, smoothing her tangled hair gently. There was no need for words. Just seeing each other again was enough.

Caraedry smiled. His wife was still hanging onto him, and he was glad to see her, but another sight warmed him. He had witnessed an interesting occurrence involving his companion from the trip, the Rider of the Riddermark. He didn't know the man well, nor did he know the woman the young man was now embracing, but he knew that they were going to be okay. He saw relief written all over the woman's face, along with a sense of security that had settled over her features.

His wife pulled away from him. "Are you alright, my dear?" She noticed he was looking at something. She turned and saw the couple, wondering how her husband knew them. She gazed back at his face.

He grinned. "Yes, and I'm willing to bet Rannyn is too."

Ruthiel looked at him oddly, wondering what on earth he was talking about but he just hugged her again and the two hobbled away.

So this is what its like to feel loved.

Threwen wished she just be held forever because maybe that would prevent her from facing what was most likely coming. But she forced herself to pull away from Rannyn. She was glad he wasn't angry with her and most of all that he was alive, but she had to tell him, to warn him.

"Rannyn, we need to warn the King."

He looked at her with a perplexed expression. "Warn him about what?" He looked down at her.

"About them! They're coming!"

He chuckled nervously. "Threwen, you're not making sense. Who? Who's coming?"

She just sighed in aggravation and shook her head, obviously exasperated that Rannyn didn't know what she was talking about.

He put his hands out as if to say, 'What do you want me to do?' She rolled her eyes and was silent for a moment. "Okay, now tell me rationally, please, who is coming and why do we have to tell Théoden about it?"

Urgh. "Rannyn, Saruman has a giant army of Uruk-hai and they are no doubt starting mobilize to come here and annihilate us all." There, I said it in a calm manner. Maybe now we can go do something about it…

His eyes widened but he said, "I figured he would send people but you have to remember that no one has ever breeched Helm's Deep. It's a fortress and we'll be fine."

Threwen shook her head violently. "No, no, no, you don't understand. I've seen them. They're…big….and…"

Rannyn put a hand on her shoulder. "Sshh…don't worry about it. You worry too much." He smiled at her and took her by the hand. "Come on, I want you to meet a friend of mine. His name is Caraedry."

But Rannyn wasn't as calm as he seemed. Deep down he knew she was right. Saruman was powerful and they were weak. And he began to wonder if they would ever leave Helm's Deep.

Well, Caraedry and his wife were nice, thought Threwen. Really that's all she had to say about their little visit. But then, she had never been much of a social butterfly or people person. Caraedry seemed to know her, which made her uncomfortable. She suspected Rannyn had told him about her. She wondered if Rannyn talked about her a lot to his friends.

She looked at Rannyn, who was striding along next to her, the two of them heading toward where she and Cadoc had been staying. He caught her looking at him.

"What did you think of Caraedry and his wife?" he asked her.

She shrugged. "They're nice people."

He frowned. Threwen wondered if she had offended him or something. "What?" she asked.

"Is that all you got out of it? They're nice?"

Oh great. He finally understands about my past and seems to care about me more than before and now I've gone and made him mad again! Threwen, you moron! "I'm sorry. I'm just worried."

"About Caraedry?" He was baffled, clearly having no idea what she was talking about.

She sighed. "No, about Saruman's army."

"Threwen, there's nothing we can do about it."

She frowned. "We could warn Théoden so he could start getting ready."

"What are we going to tell him?" He looked at her and she honestly had no answer. He ran a hand through his hair. "Threwen, if we tell him that they're coming he'll want to know how we know. It's not like we can tell him you were working for Saruman and therefore know all about it. Then we'd have to deal with you being a traitor."

Hmm…hadn't thought of that one… They had reached their destination and Cadoc was tending to the horses. Threwen sank down onto the floor, frustration etched on her face. She didn't want Saruman taking away her new life when it had just barely begun to take shape. Rannyn sat down next to her and put an arm around her. She leaned her head on his shoulder. They sat there for a while, what they were feeling about the events of the past few days going unspoken between them. Finally Rannyn stirred.

"I have to go talk with the King soon."

Threwen brightened. "Then you can tell him. We'll figure something out."

Rannyn smiled slightly. "You seem very eager to save a city full of people whom a few days ago you never wanted to see again." It was a bit ironic. "How about you sleep on it tonight and we'll see about it in the morning? What do you think? Things always look better in the morning."

Threwen said nothing, only nodded reluctantly. She wasn't sure but it seemed to satisfy Rannyn. He got up and was about to head toward where the King was stationed at that moment but she stopped him.

"You need to clean out your leg."

He looked down and shrugged. "Just a cut."

She rolled her eyes, having been over this before with his arm after that orc attack. Which I caused… "It could get infected. Now sit back down and let me clean it."

He grinned. 'Yes, ma'am."

Rannyn had to admit he liked being taken care of by this young woman. She was good at it. He only hoped that she would be able to take care of him after they left this place.

If we leave this place…

End Note: Well there we are. Now stay tuned because it'll get more interesting in the next chapter. Ciao for now.