A/N I pooped out another chapter, it isn't my favorite. I think I'm just rushing to finish the Fellowship Of The Ring...

By the first rays of the following morning, the fellowship was again on the road of their journey, rowing down on to the remaining of the Anduin, Legolas could feel the tension between the two men, even tho they were so far apart he still felt the glares that Boromir once in a while sent to Aragorn. They didn't speak to each other since the argument of the previous night, and he didn't blame them, they said harsh things to each other.

It was a quiet and awkward morning, he very wished that Nìniel was awake to see her smile and to give him company and keep his mind away from the situation, but he knew she wasn't a morning waker so he just needed to wait just a little longer.

He glanced down at his feet to a pile of clothes, his daughter was covered by her own cloak, sleeping in full darkness beneath it. Legolas tried to wake her up at dawn before they embarked on the boats, but it was unsuccessful, and he decided to lay the sleeping child on the boat and rowed silently without waking her up.

Gimli and Legolas rarely had long conversations between them, most of their communications were small talks, but that morning, other than discussing the weather, they haven't spoken at all, and the elf was sure it was because even the dwarf could feel the tension of the men in the air.

Gimli had cut loose a small dispute they had earlier on the boat, to avoid any other stress to the group. They conflicted because Gimli was acting so stubborn and affirming that later that day it was going to rain, and he was denying Legolas to inform him that elves were good weather predictors and in fact, it was going to be a sultry day.

The elf noticed the little bundle moving between the wooden planks of the boat, as he looked down he saw her turning on her back and revealing her tired face to him, he simply smiled at her, Nìniel squinted her eyes adjusting to the light of the day, and turning her head to realised where she was woken to, confused that wasn't the same place she had fallen asleep, she turned back to face the dwarf, who looked at her when he heard her move, she quickly turned away from him and stared at the sky, getting attracted by two massive statues of men on the sides of the river.

"Mani na- i? " *what is that?* she asked softly as she pointed at the sky.

"I Argonath. Mui mel" *The Argonath. my love* he simply explained her, a smile escaped his lips when he saw her mouth dropping in awe.

"Núr hain? " *Who are they?* she asked softly curios of the magnify art in front of her.

"Elendil a Isildur" he smiled looking at the statue "Cin lór? Im na ped cin" *you remember? I told you*

"I Dunedain?"

Legolas smiled proudly, he wasn't sure that in that age she would remember pieces of story so well and asked to wait till she was a bit older to learn, but Thranduil insisted that she needed to learn those stuff early to be an educated young princess.

"lim man" *very good* he said before turning back and concentrating on the row

Finally, they had reached the riverbank, Legolas picked up Nìniel and placed on her feet on the rocky shore.

Slowly one after the other, the fellowship unpacked the necessary from the boats and place them on the ground forming a small temporary camp before they start their march.

Aragorn reached his hands to grab everything they would need to rest, food, water, and blankets. Pippin was the first one to eat. Sam decided to take a nap under the shadow of a large rock, finding it ideal for a nice nap without the sharp light of the day disturbing his eyes, while Gimli just sat proudly on a fallen trunk for regaining his energy turning on his pipe, on his right there was Nìniel, sitting on the ground accumulating bundles of rocks on a large pile.

"We cross the lake at nightfall." Aragorn interrupted the silence, gathering the attention of every each member present "Hide the boats and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the north."

"Oh, yes?" Gimli barked replied "It's just a simple matter of finding our way through Emyn Muil? An impassable labyrinth of razor-sharp rocks! And after that, it gets even better!" Pippin looked up, alarmed "Festering, stinking marshlands far as the eye can see."

"That is our road. I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf." Aragorn replied.

"Recover my…?! Grrrrrr." he said angrily and then turning to Pippin " Pay no heed to that, young Hobbit." Gimli smiled as he saw Pippin nod. and then turned to Nìniel "and you!" he felt the need to excuse himself to her even though he knew she didn't know a single word he spoke, "do not believe him elf, dwarves are more strong than every other being" but he noticed that something was odd with her, at first he thought she was just ignoring him and was concentrating on the construction of whatever she was trying to do with the rocks, but when he had a closer look of her face he noticed that she was staring blankly at the floor in a horrid face, Gimli tried to shake the child's shoulder but it seemed like she didn't even feel his touch.

"kiddo?"

Legolas wasn't really paying attention of what was going on behind him, an obscure feeling was making him very uneasy at that moment, he didn't quite understand what was it, but he was sure it didn't make him feel safe, and he feared for the protection of his daughter. He looked into the forest around them, then turned to Aragorn "We should leave now"

"No," Aragorn stated as he shook his head. "Orcs patrol the eastern shore." Both ranger and Prince looked at the forest in front of them. "We must wait for the cover of darkness." The ranger then looked back around the camp.

"It is not the eastern shore that worries me." he looked deeper into the forest "A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near" He then quickly faced his friend beside him "I can feel it."

Merry walked back to the shore with hands full of twigs and branches. He dropped them and then swatted his hands together to get rid of the small pieces of wood and leaves that had fallen of the woodpile he carried and looked around the small camp for find a new task to keep him occupied to realize that his cousin was missing.

"Where's Frodo?"

Sam, who was half-dozing, roused with a start. Aragorn scanned the camp. His gaze stopped on Boromir's shield, lying with the baggage and he understood that also he was gone.

"Frodo" he whispered worried what the Gondorian could possible do to the halfling "I will go find him" he stated as he rushed over to grab his sword "Do not move unless of danger" those were his last words before he disappeared in the woods sprinting for the ring barrier.

Gimli, who was still trying to understand what was going on with the child, bent to have a look at her face, her iris color was drastically changed, from her ocean blue eyes, now were coated in a fiery red color.

"Legolas!" he heard Gimli calling him urgently, the elf turned and quickly his eyes fell on his daughter, he immediately understood something was terribly wrong with her. He jumped on his knees in front of her, he gently grabbed her chin and pulled it upwards, making her face visible to him.

His heart crushed when he saw the fiery eyes, hundreds of questions and doubts infested his mind, but he quickly cleared them out and fried to focus on the situation. the first thing he noticed that she wasn't looking back at him like she used to, it seemed like they were focusing on something that wasn't really there, Legolas frowned confused and turned on his back to understand what she was so interested about.

"Lad?" Gimli asked as he looked around to find the thing the elf was searching for.

"Nìniel!" He called desperately to have her attention.

"Ada?" Her face brightened up at the recognizable sound of her father voice. her eyes rapidly moved on the search of him "Mi van lle?" *where are you?*

Legolas frowned in confusion, fear, and worry. she couldn't see him standing in front of her, a great fear of her went blind froze him, he didn't know what to do, and he was scared to do something because he didn't understand why and what had happened.

The child looked up at her eyes turned her natural blue color, suddenly after she burst into tears and jumping on her father's chest wrapping her small fragile arms around his waist.

Legolas hugged her back, feeling completely guilty of what had just happened, but he was glad that that nightmare was over and she was back. He hated when these episodes occurred because they were times where he felt the most useless, he hated that he didn't know what was happening with his daughter and that he couldn't possibly even imagine what she was experiencing.

"Manke Frodo nifred -o nin? Im ceri? " *why is Frodo afraid of me? what did I do?* she said between sobs. The rest of the fellowship that was assisting at the scene straight up alerted at the familiar name, they looked Legolas curiously in hope to get some explanation.

Legolas felt another punch in his chest, once again he felt like he had been sucked in an unknown and scaring situation, He removed her from his chest to see her in the eyes "Mani? Nay!" *What? No!" he quickly said "Mani cin lór i?" *why would you think that?*

She whipped one tear from her eye with a hand "Im dir- hon" * I've seen him* she admitted.

For a moment Legolas had forgotten how to breathe, he didn't know how to process that information, and of course, he didn't know what to do as a father or as himself if someone else told him those words.

"Ho esgal o nin" *he was hiding from me* she added.

Legolas just wanted to repeat her that everything she was telling him wasn't true, and he knew it wasn't, Frodo wouldn't be frightened of her at all, but he didn't understand what had happened, why she has seen him and why the hobbit was hiding from her, if everything wasn't this way he would have believed that it was a dream, but he knew something had happened, she was with Frodo in a way and something had pushed Frodo to run from her.

Numbers of disturbing thoughts scrolled in Legolas's mind, theories and explanations but none of them calm him down.

"Ada?" she called him.

He focused again his attention on his daughter in front of him, he quickly noticed that her big eyes were hiding him something and by the movement to her wobbly bottom lip, he guessed that she was scared to tell him something. "Man cin Uruk-Hai?" *what are the Uruk-Hai?* she changed the conversation drastically.

"Uruk-Hai?!" Gimli's strong voice seemed to boom the air "she said Uruk-hai?"

The rush in Gimli's voice alarmed the hobbits, "What is Uruk-hai?" Pippin asked confused for all of them.

Legolas studied her face concerned "Manna cin vedui- i?" *where did you hear that?*

She shrugged her shoulders fearful of the anxious voice of her father, she quickly regretted asking him that question.

"ho treneri- cin?" *did he told you?*

She shooked her head, now scared "nay"

"Man treneri- cin?" *who told you?*

"Baw er" *no one*

He stopped asking questions, he realized that his fear and confusion was affecting his daughter, "tin foeg núr, tin ú- man" * they are bad people, they are not good* he finally replied to her question.

"Ada" she grabbed his attention, she gulped, for a moment she thought back, but then she decided that she need to tell him "Tin foeg anglenno" *they are coming*

Without even hesitating, he believed her words, he quickly got up from his knees and shouted to the group "take cover!"

He shifted his hands under Nìniel's armpits and picked her up, rushing to the boats.

He rested his child on the boat and grabbed some clothes to cover her body beneath it "Ceri- ú-" *No not move* he commanded her turned to check in his friends, they watched him puzzled and confused, Legolas' agitation grew "now!" He shouted again.

Quickly with a jump they all rushed to grab whatever they found on the floor to hide it, no one really knew what it was happening, there was no sign of ambush.

"Meriadoc, Peregrin!" Legolas called them closer and pushed them in some boats frenetically trying to cover them as fast as he could.

"For the love of Durin's sons! what's happening?" Gimli raised his voice angry demanding answers.

"They are coming" he simply said with panic in his voice "the Uruk-Hai are coming"

Gimli's mouth dropped, he knew the strength and power of the Uruk-Hai, he knew they always move in an army, and they were only four fighters, he gulped, he knew they couldn't make it.

The adults knew it was going to be a hard fight but looking at the innocente hobbits and the child alone in the boats gave them a reason to fight for. They couldn't surrender without a fight for them, they needed them.

Gimli found the strength to move his legs and grabbed his beloved ax, they give a last look to the young ones, making sure they were well hidden by the enemies before they left to find the rest of the fellowship in the woods.

NEXT CHAPTER: Im Gar-Estel In Vin (I Have Faith In You)