All I ask is that you all do not hate me for taking so long to update. My days have been crazy with work and family issues that have drained me of my inspiration. But, I'm back in action! I hope you all like this chapter, please let me know what you think! Thank you for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I own nothing associated with Lord of the Rings.

Chapter 31

A new dawn came upon the city and after a limited breakfast, Carita was following behind a briskly walking Gandalf and a nearly stumbling Pippin who was trying to keep up with the white wizard. "Peregrin Took my lad, there is a task now to be done; another opportunity for one of the Shire-folk to prove their great worth," Gandalf said as they walked and came to a stop. Gandalf looked up at the beacon, along with Pippin, and Carita followed his eyes before it dawned on her what he was about to have Pippin do. "You must not fail me," Gandalf said as he looked down at Pippin. Carita looked at Gandalf.

"You are sending him up there?" Carita asked and Gandalf gave a curt nod. "I'm quicker, I could get up there and be down before the guards catch a glimpse of me. I should go." Gandalf shook his head.

"You may be quicker, but Pippin is smaller," Gandalf told her. "You would not be able to use your speed to climb the rock and wood." Carita sighed but nodded her head. She did not want Pippin to get hurt, but it seemed as though they had no other choice.

Carita held her breath as Pippin climbed up to the top of the wood pile, and her eyes flickered to the guards that were supposed to be guarding the beacon. They were laughing and talking, paying no heed to the small hobbit that now stood on top the pile, spilling oil onto the wood as he reached for the lamp to light the wood. However, judging by the look upon his face he had not planned on spilling the oil as he had.

"Oh, do be careful," she whispered quietly to herself. Gandalf glanced at her before he turned his eyes back to the hobbit who threw the lantern onto the wood, which ignited quickly. Carita smiled as she watched him scamper down and then she turned her eyes to the beacon of Amon Din on the next hill. Fire filled her vision and her smile grew.

"Amon Din," Gandalf said quietly.

"The beacon! The beacon of Amon Dîn is lit!" a solider shouted and Gandalf took a deep breath.

"Hope is kindled," Gandalf said and looked at Carita.

"Aid will come, I do not believe King Theoden will suffer Gondor's destruction for it would mean the same fate for Rohan," Carita said as she turned her eyes to him. "The question is, will it come in time?" she asked and Gandalf put his hand on her shoulder as Pippin joined them once again.

"We shall have hope, Carita." She smiled and nodded her head.

"It is all we have for now," she whispered as she turned her eyes to the Amon Din beacon.

Legolas stood in the Golden Hall, standing near where Gimli sat describing a tale to a Rohan man that sat at the table with him. His thoughts were many places, and when Aragorn charged into the hall shouting, his posture stiffened and followed the man with his eyes as he ran to the King.

"The beacons of Minas Tirith! The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid," Aragorn finished in a rush of breath. All eyes turned to Theoden who stood fully from the table he was leaning on. He kept his eyes on Aragorn before he glanced around at his people and then settled on Aragorn once more.

"And Rohan will answer," Theoden said and Legolas let out a heavy breath. "Muster the Rohirrim!" Theoden shouted and Éomer nodded before he placed a hand on Éowyn's shoulder and then moved on along with Gamling and several other men. Legolas moved to Aragorn and the man looked at him.

"Let us ready," Aragorn said and Legolas nodded his head before he turned and went down the corridor. He had things to gather before they made the journey.

Carita, Gandalf, and Pippin were making their way back to the Citadel in silence when Carita frowned and looked off in the distance when a shadow covered her heart. She gasped and shook her head. "Gandalf," she breathed as she grasped the white wizard's robes. Gandalf looked at her and then off into the distance. Gondorian soldiers were on horseback and charging away from Osgiliath towards Minas Tirith, with Nazgul on their tales.

"Remain here, Carita," Gandalf said before he roughly grabbed Pippin and the two of them were gone with a flash.

"Gandalf-," she started but stopped when he was already gone. Carita took a deep breath and walked towards the wall and looked out once more. The Nazgul were on their winged beasts.

Her heart raced, but her eyes only narrowed. She would no longer let her fear of them rule over her. The only thing she had ever feared was the Nazgul, and there they were once again. She had many more reasons now to fight. She was fighting for more than revenge as she had long ago. Now, she was fighting for her friends, the peoples of the world, and for love; and that along gave her more strength and will than anything else in the world.

Gandalf's staff filled the sky with a blinding light scattering the Nazgul and their beasts. Carita sighed and ran down to the lowest level and the courtyard of Minas Tirith with all her speed. She entered the courtyard just as the riders flooded in.

"Mithrandir!" a man shouted as he turned his horse to face Gandalf and Pippin. Carita moved over to where Gandalf stood on top Shadowfax, but stayed back enough to stay out of the way. "They broke through our defenses. They've taken the bridge and the west bank. Battalions of orcs are crossing the river."

"It is as Lord Denethor predicted! Long has he foreseen this doom!" another rider shouted, but Caritas's eyes flickered between Gandalf and the first man that spoke.

"Foreseen and done nothing!" Gandalf exclaimed and turned his horse to face the first man. However, Carita noticed that when the man's eyes laid on Pippin he stared, not in wonder but in surprise as if he had seen a hobbit before.

"You have seen a Halfling before?" Carita asked him as she stepped next to Gandalf's horse. The man's eyes moved to her before Gandalf spoke.

"Faramir? This is not the first Halfling to have crossed your path?" Gandalf asked and the man, Faramir turned his eyes to Gandalf.

"Faramir?" Carita asked herself and gasped quietly thinking of a conversation she had shared with Boromir.

"You have a brother, am I right?" Carita asked Boromir as they walked in Lothlorien together. She had been spending some of her time with the man in order to forget her moment with Legolas.

"Aye, I have a younger brother, Faramir," Boromir said with a small smile. "He had wished to make this journey but our father would not allow it." Carita nodded and took a deep breath.

"I do not know much of your realm for the last time my eyes were upon it was there was a king upon the thrown, but what I remember of it; it was beautiful."

"It is, but our peoples hope wanes in the shadow of Mordor," Boromir said sadly.

"But I am certain with you and your brother as their captains, they fight for what is good until the bitter end," she said and Boromir took a deep breath and nodded his head.

"My brother is just as good a Captain as I, but our father fails to see it."

"He shall see it," Carita said as she took his elbow and he stiffened, but looked at her. "With you away, he will see it." Boromir smiled and patted her hand as they continued on their walk.

"No," Faramir said bringing her thoughts back to the matter at hand and hope kindled in her heart.

"You've seen Frodo and Sam?" Pippin asked excitedly and Carita looked at Pippin before she turned her eyes to her fallen friend's brother. Faramir nodded as he looked at Pippin.

"Where? When?" Gandalf asked quickly.

"In Ithilien, not two days ago," Faramir said quickly. "Gandalf, they've taken the road to the Morgul Vale." Carita raised her hand to her forehead and sighed.

"And then the Pass of Cirith Ungol," Gandalf said.

"The Pass of Cirith Ungol," Carita repeated in a whisper as she lowered her hand and looked up at Gandalf.

"What does that mean? What's wrong?" Pippin asked and Carita shook her head as she looked to Faramir.

"Are you certain that that is their path?" Carita asked Faramir. "Are you sure that you did not hear one of their path choices they were deciding upon?"

"My lady, I assure you that is their path," Faramir told her sadly and Carita sighed as she looked up at Gandalf.

"Faramir, tell me everything," Gandalf said. "Tell me all you know."

Later that day, Carita found Pippin sitting upon a bench in a corridor of the Citadel. "Why so down, my friend?" she asked him as she settled in a seat next to her.

"What service can a Hobbit offer such a great lord of Men?" Pippin asked as he looked at her and she gave him a small smile and was about to answer when another voice beat her to it.

"It was well-done," a deep voice, and now familiar voice, said. Carita and Pippin looked up at Faramir who was now standing in the hall, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "A generous deed should not be checked with cold counsel. You are to join the tower guard." Pippin stood and Faramir moved closer to the hobbit.

"I didn't think they would find any livery that would fit me," Pippin said with a smile and Faramir chuckled and nodded his head.

"Once belonged to a young boy of the city. A very foolish one, who wasted many hours slaying dragons instead of attending to his studies," Faramir said.

"This was yours?" Pippin asked.

"Yes, it was mine. My father had it made for me."

"Well, I'm taller than you were then. Though, I'm not likely to grow anymore, except sideways," Pippin added with a shrug and the pair laughed, Carita joined in their laughter and she stood, drawing the man's and the hobbit's attention to her.

"Indeed Peregrin Took, that is your fate as a hobbit," she teased and Pippin smiled at her as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"Never fitted me either. Boromir was always the soldier. They were so alike, he and my father. Proud, stubborn even. But strong," Faramir said and Pippin and Carita looked at him. Carita lowered her hand from Pippin's shoulder and smiled at the other man.

"I think you have strength of a different kind. And one day your father will see it," Pippin told Faramir before he took a deep breath and walked away. Faramir sighed and watched Pippin walk away before his eyes settled on Carita, whose eyes had not left him.

"As absent minded as Pippin can be, he is telling the truth, Faramir," she told him.

"Were you close to my brother?" Faramir asked and Carita looked down at the stone floor before she looked up at him. And for the first time since she met him, she recognized his eyes. He carried the same storm blue and gray eyes as Boromir, but his were softer.

"Your brother did not like me following along on their journey," Carita told him honestly. "However, in time your brother became my friend. He died nobly," she finished quietly and Faramir tilted his head before she continued. "He died protecting Merry and Pippin, and he died at my side. Had I not been injured I would have helped him," she said her voice shaking with an emotion she had long pushed away.

"It was not your doing," Faramir told her. "I do not know you or your tale, my lady," he breathed, "but I know that if my brother thought of you as a friend and allowed you to fight at his side then you must be someone special." Faramir's own voice shook, but he smiled all the same.

"I am not special, but it was an honor to fight at Boromir's side," she said before she patted his shoulder and walked past him. She needed a moment to clear her thoughts and if she stood too much longer with Faramir, she would miss her fallen friend even more.