Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's and the plot, everything else belongs to Tolkien and those who currently own the rights to his work.

Chapter 5-The hunter

Third Age 2551

Eruanna walked along the woodland path that led to the lake. Her grandmother asked her to catch a fish for their evening meal so Eruanna had a small bucket of supplies and her fishing pole in hand. There was a time she enjoyed fishing, a time she relished wandering the woods near her home, but no more. The open air would call to her as she sat on her bed, staring out the window, but something more powerful kept her indoors.

Eruanna dreaded coming across Feredir. In the past year he'd made it a point to humiliate her whenever the opportunity arose, making cruel comments about her to the other wardens just within earshot. Some of them would ignore his words but others would laugh along with him. And though those moments were terrible, the groups of laughing ellyn were preferable to encountering Feredir alone. The ellon would appear in her path unexpectedly, dropping out of trees to frighten her and sometimes worse.

Eruanna sat on a tree trunk overlooking the lake. There was a gentle breeze blowing across the water and the sun's rays smiled down upon her. Eruanna was pulling the hook out of her first catch's mouth when she heard a loud chuckle from the trees behind her. Eruanna dropped the fish and it fell back into the water.

"Looks like you lost your catch," came a familiar male voice. Feredir appeared from the tree line followed by Sadron.

"You've been hiding from us, haven't you?" Feredir asked as he sat down on the log beside Eruanna.

Eruanna continued baiting her hook attempting to push down the anger Feredir stirred within her.

Feredir smiled at the elleth, watching her trembling hands work the hook. "Did you think we'd be unable to find you? You are the only elf in this land that leaves tracks." He laughed then, looking back at his brother. "We can find you anywhere."

"How fortunate," Eruanna muttered, casting the line back into the water. What she wanted to do was get up from her place on the log and run. She'd learned the hard way it was better to stay put than to try and escape Feredir's harassment. That was how she'd broken her ankle…tripping over another root.

"Sadron and I have been talking," Feredir acknowledged his brother with a nod, "and we've decided you're really not as ugly as we first thought."

Eruanna looked up at Feredir and back at Sadron who stood a few feet away. Eruanna tried not to let the ellon's words affect her but she could not help but find them upsetting. Somehow the ellon was able to make her feel so small with merely a few well chosen words.

Feredir continued, watching the elleth's face carefully for her reaction. "Your face is quite unique. I wonder what your mother looked like." He lifted his hand to her face and ran his fingers along her jaw.

"Don't touch me!" Eruanna shouted at the warden, dropping her pole. She stood and tried to put more distance between herself and the ellon but his hand clamped down on her arm, keeping her in place.

"Why? Don't you like me?" Feredir raised an eyebrow at the elleth struggling in his grip.

"No. I don't. Let go of me!" Eruanna's voice rose in panic. She pulled with all her might to break the warden's grip but there was no need. He released her and she fell backward and would have hit the ground if Sadron had not been standing behind her. Sadron caught Eruanna as she fell. He lifted her by her upper arms but did not release her.

"Careful, little one," he spoke into her ear, "you wouldn't want to injure yourself again."

Eruanna's anger at the ellyn was slowly being drowned by fear. "Let go of me." She could not keep the desperation out of her voice.

Feredir glanced at his brother and then returned his attention to Eruanna. "We'll let you go, but first," he lifted a hand to touch her lips, "I want a kiss."

Third Age 2552

Eruanna cried out in her sleep. A calm voice was at her side in moments, coaxing her out of the nightmare and back to the warm safety of her bed.

"It's alright child. It was only a dream. You are safe." Arwen brushed the elleth's forehead with a cool towel.

Eruanna opened her eyes, taking in the room and Arwen's presence. She fought to suppress the tears threatening to overflow and calm her trembling form.

Arwen sang to Eruanna as Celebrían had done for her when she'd had bad dreams. After some time, the sound of Arwen's voice soothed the troubled elleth and her breathing slowed to normal.

A shaky voice came from the huddled form. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Do not worry yourself," Arwen put the cloth aside. "Will you tell me about the dream?"

Eruanna shook her head, she could not tell Arwen. She didn't want her to know about Feredir or the other ellyn. She wanted to forget them all.

"Sometimes it is best to speak of things instead of keeping them locked up inside," the Lady whispered.

Eruanna turned her face into the pillow. "I'm alright now. You can go."

Arwen was unsure if she should push the child further. With a sigh, she tucked the elleth back into bed. "If you are certain."

"Yes," was the child's quiet reply.

"Very well," Arwen placed a kiss on the elleth's forehead. "I will be near, should you need me."

Arwen wandered the moonlit halls unable to sleep. It was the fourth night in a row that Eruanna awoke in a panic. The first night, she cried out so loudly Arwen heard her from down the hall. She was at Eruanna's side in moments, but the child would not tell her what frightened her so. Arwen sang her back to sleep and returned to bed. The Lady was not overly concerned about the nightmare Eruanna had, after all, her grandfather had just left her and she was a stranger in this land. By the third night, Arwen knew something was terribly wrong but Eruanna refused to confide in her. Arwen was at a loss for how to help the young elleth and she decided it was time to seek aide from someone with more experience.

Arwen knocked quietly on the door of her father's study. It was late, but everyone knew that the Lord of Imladris could be found in his study deep into the night. Arwen heard her father's voice call to her from the other side of the door.

"Enter."

Arwen opened the door and saw her father sitting in his chair by the fire, book in hand. "Good evening, ada."

"Arwen," the elf Lord looked upon his daughter with surprise, "what can I do for you, my child?"

"There is a problem. I…," Arwen rang her hands in frustration. "I don't know what to do ada."

Elrond took in his daughter's rattled demeanor. "Tell me what's wrong and we'll see if we can't figure something out."

Arwen sat beside her father. "It's Eruanna, she keeps having nightmares. The first night I assumed it was because of her grandfather's departure but it has been many days and still the dreams do not pass." Arwen took a deep breath. She hadn't wished to admit defeat so easily but for the child's sake, Arwen needed her father's wisdom.

"Nightmares," Elrond's face showed his concern. "Haldor did not mention his granddaughter having nightmares. Have you any idea what could have caused them?"

Arwen looked down at her hands. She remembered Glorfindel's words to her in the garden and how she'd dismissed them. Arwen thought the older elf was overreacting but now, she was not so sure. "The day Haldor left, Eruanna fell asleep in the garden. I had Glorfindel help me find her."

Elrond chuckled, thinking of his friend once again searching the garden for missing elflings. "That must have brought back memories."

Arwen smiled at that, "Yes, I do seem to remember him pulling me out of a tree once or twice when I was hiding from everyone." Arwen's mirth dissipated as her thoughts returned to Eruanna. "Glorfindel found her sleeping in a glade. He woke her."

There was a long pause in Arwen's words and Elrond waited patiently for his daughter to collect her thoughts.

"I didn't believe him," Arwen blurted out. "He was concerned. He said when he woke Eruanna that she was afraid, that she thought he was someone else and was afraid. I thought it was just her grandfather departing, being in a strange land, or being woken by a strange ellon but now," Arwen shook her head, "I think he may have been right."

Elrond felt a great deal of guilt for not having told Arwen about Eruanna's past. He had hoped to avoid it, but it seemed doing so would not be in the child's best interests. Eruanna would need to speak about what happened with the Mirkwood warden if she was to put it behind her.

Elrond was an experienced healer of both hroa and fae, but the elf Lord knew that he alone could not heal her spirit; if he was to succeed he would need Arwen's help as well. And if Arwen was to truly help the elleth, she would have to hear the entire story.

"Glorfindel is a very observant elf Arwen," Elrond began. The elf Lord stood and walked to a table where a pitcher of wine stood and poured two large glasses. He handed the second glass to Arwen who looked at it curiously before returning her attention to her father. "I should have told you this before you consented to be Eruanna's guardian. Forgive me. I wished to spare you this tale, but for Eruanna's sake, you need to know."

Arwen sat silently, taking larger and larger sips of her wine as her father related the story. Arwen had a difficult time believing it. How could any elf harm a child? It was difficult for Arwen to comprehend and yet she could not push from her memory the fate of her grand uncles Eluréd and Elurín- abandoned to die in the wilderness by the sons of Fëanor. Arwen had always found the kinslayings difficult to imagine. If it were not for the stories of her father, of Glorfindel and Erestor -she would never have believed an elf could bring harm to one of their own kind.

But she is not their kind. A tiny voice whispered. She is ada's kind. It was the first time that particular thought had entered Arwen's mind and it was followed in quick succession by a dozen other thoughts. Were ada and Eruanna the only peredhel in Middle Earth? Were there more out there somewhere, wandering the wilds? Arwen looked to her father who had the bearing of a mighty elf Lord, but whose face showed the slightest hints of imperfection, of mortality.

There were other oddities about her father that went unnoticed by those who knew him well. Elrond was the only member of the house whose footfalls Arwen could hear coming down the hall. When Arwen was a child, she and her father would take long walks in the garden. It was always Arwen's job to listen for her mother calling them in to dinner. It was many years before Arwen realized that the task fell to her because Elrond could not hear Celebrían calling to them from such a great distance.

What was it like to live among a people and be constantly reminded that you are not one of them? For the first time in her life, Arwen imagined the lonliness her father must feel, especially now that her mother had departed. Arwen knew that there were many that had not approved of the marriage of Celebrían and Elrond. Some thought Celebrían too fair to wed the son of Eärendil and Elwing. Arwen knew that there had been much love between her parents, but she could not help but wonder if her father would have been happier if he'd found an Elwing of his own.

Arwen shook her head, bringing herself back to the matter at hand. "How can we help her ada? How will she heal from this?"

Elrond exhaled slowly. "The pain will lessen in time, but she must confront it first. She must speak of it so it does not consume her."

Arwen shook her head. "She will not speak of it, ada."

Elrond nodded in understanding. "It will not be easy." He took another sip of his drink and studied the glass for a moment. "Why don't you and Eruanna have lunch with me tomorrow? Together, we will speak to her of her nightmares."