Chapter Three

Past

When they got to the clearing, Faramir looked around to make sure no one was there.

He then started their conversation where he had left off. "Are you really her? The elven princess who put herself into exile?" Aranel looked down at her feet as she thought, after a moment she finally looked Faramir in the eye. "Yes, I am she."

Releasing a breath he didn't realize he was holding; Faramir ran a hand over his chin, stunned at the fact that he was indeed standing in front of an elven princess. Aranel noticed that he was still stunned but continued anyway. "I am Aranel ó Lorien, granddaughter of Gil-galad the bearer of Vilya, and heir to the throne of Lothlorien."

Aranel drew in a ragged breath, she did not mean for all of this to surface so soon. It was too soon indeed for her hands began to tremble as she quickly looked away from Faramir and down to the ground. As soon as she did this, Faramir's thoughts were cut off. "My lady, are you alright?"

Faramir's concerned statement threw Aranel over the edge as the tears began to fall; aghast by the fact that she was crying in front of someone, she spun around and tried to run away. Faramir, thinking that he'd done something wrong, grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him. "What's wrong?" He asked as she tried to pull away.

When Aranel looked up at him, she saw a type of concern in his eyes that she had not seen since Haldir was alive. As the grief over took her once more, she ultimately gave up and crumpled into Faramir's grip. Leaning on his chest for support, she began to quietly cry.

In response to her sudden outburst, for whatever reason, Faramir gently put his arms around Aranel and held her close. "Any man, who does nothing when a woman cries, is not a man at all." Faramir thought to himself, "And though I do not know why she cries, I will do all in my power to ease her pain."

"Tell me," said Faramir. "Why do you cry when you speak of your past?" Aranel spoke quietly though a mixture of sobs, but in the end she was able to answer his question.

"My past has not been glorious, Son of Gondor. My whole life has been surrounded by shadow, a shadow that will never leave and never die." Aranel cringed when Faramir asked about the "shadow." She knew that he would find out eventually since she had opened her mouth and told him what was wrong, so she gathered her courage and began to tell him the story of her past.

"When I was young, my mother brought me to Lothlorien; there I met the Lady Galadriel, who happens to be my cousin three times removed." As she spoke of her past, her mind drifted back to the memory of her mother, Anira, bringing her to Lothlorien that fateful day. "My mother knew that she was being hunted, and that she needed to take me somewhere I would be safe. There is no safer place in all of Middle-Earth then the Golden Wood, where the Lady of Light resides."

"My mother left the next day, leaving me in the care of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn." Aranel sighed as she pulled away from Faramir's grip; walking through the clearing with Faramir at her side. "Everyday I would get up and climb the tallest tree in all of Lorien, to see if my mother was coming. Each day I looked, and still each day I saw nothing."

"A month went by and my mother still had not come. I began to worry but still I looked for her in vain. Then one day news had come to Lord Celeborn, I was summoned, and was told that my mother had been attacked by a band of orcs." Aranel paused for a moment and took a deep breath.

"When Lord Celeborn first told me that my mother was dead…I didn't believe him. It was only after he showed me my mother's necklace, which she never took off, that I believed him." As she mentioned the necklace, Aranel fingered her necklace which hung right below the brooch on her cloak.

It was sliver and looked like a miniature elven circlet, similar to the one that was on Gil-galad's head in the paintings of the Last Alliance. In it was set three diamonds encircling a midnight blue sapphire; Aranel held her hand above her necklace for a moment before she went on. "This is that same necklace; it was given to my grandmother by Gil-galad himself, and has been passed down from generation until it reached me."

Faramir looked from the necklace to Aranel, intently listening to her story. "When I finally realized my mother was dead, I ran. I ran as far away as I could before the grief, and a certain elf, caught up to me." Suddenly, Aranel's mind flashed back to that day when she tried to run away from grief.

The forest flew by her as she ran as fast as her legs would carry her, out of Caras Galadhon, and away from everything that ever reminded her of her mother. As she ran, she closed her eyes and tried to forget; but try as she may, she could not forget who she was, who her mother was, and all of those times when her mother told her that she had to be strong. Aranel was to busy trying to forget that she didn't see the tree root in front of her, and in one step her foot was caught and she fell flat on her face. With a cry, Aranel sat up to examine her ankle which had been twisted around the tree root. Giving up all hope, and succumbing to grief, she let herself fall back to the ground and began to weep. Little did she know that she was not alone. Silent footsteps quickly approached her as she wept, and soon she felt something loosen her ankle from its prison in the root. A soothing voice reached her ears as a hand was placed gently on her back. "An mana casta ceri le nini aranel?" Aranel froze; she recognized the voice as one of the guards that patrolled the wood. "He was probably sent after me," she thought. Thinking that he was, Aranel tried to get up and run. But try as she may, her ankle gave out as soon as she put too much weight on it. Falling once again, she scraped her arm on a nearby rock. With a cry of frustration, she gave up once more and let herself lay face down in the dirt, crying her heart out.

After a moment of choking on tears and sobs, Aranel felt a gentle hand on her back once more; and before she knew it, she was pulled up to a sitting position. When she looked at who had pulled her up, she saw before her the Marchwarden of Lorien. "Haldir!" She said in astonishment. She had always heard stories of the Marchwarden, and how he and his men always protected the Golden Wood but she had never met him.

"Nalyë hyan." He said as he examined her arm. Aranel looked away from him and down at the ground. "Ha na eressë ráw haru." Haldir pulled a piece of cloth from his satchel and tied it around Aranel's arm as a makeshift bandage. "'Ha na eressë ráw haru' na ha?" Haldir swiftly put his hand on top of Aranel's ankle as he said this, causing Aranel to cry out in pain. "That's what I thought." He said.

Aranel was angered by his mockery, so much that she slapped him in the face. Haldir, who was stunned by her actions, turned around swiftly to see that the tears had welded up in her eyes again. "Do not mock me Haldir, for I am grieving for the loss of one dear to me." Haldir looked at her intensely, disbelief in his eyes, he had not known that she was grieving or that anything had happened. All he knew was that she was here, on the ground because of a sprained ankle, and that he had heard something running through the forest like a pack of Balrogs.

"Man?" he asked quietly, concern spreading through every inch of his voice. Aranel looked him straight in the eye and answered him as calm as possible. "Naneth nin. Naneth nin na gwand." As she said this, her voice began to falter and immediately after she finished speaking, she burst into tears. As she cried, Haldir pulled her close to him and held her in his arms, afraid that if he let her go, she would fall and break into a thousand pieces.

"Im uva col le mar." he said, and with that, he swept her up in his strong arms and started to walk back to Caras Galadhon. "Le tur idh, nalyë varna hi Aranel." Haldir looked down at Aranel when he spoke her name. She had laid her head on his shoulder, and closed her eyes, her bandaged arm cradled on her chest.

The flashback faded as Faramir called her, "Aranel?" Aranel looked up at Faramir; he seemed to be worried that she had slipped away from the conversation for a moment and thought that she might have started to cry again. But he was relieved to see that she was alright when she responded to him. "Yes?" She replied, her voice seemed to waver only a little, but it went unnoticed by Faramir.

Faramir, glad that she was alright, and wanting to start the conversation up again tried to get her to start where she left off. "You were saying that you ran away from grief." Aranel nodded as she remembered that they had been talking about her past before she had a flashback from all those years ago. "Yes I did, but I was found by another elf who then became my best friend and eventually…my love." Aranel's voice became quite, and by the time she had finished her sentence, the last part of it was a whisper.

"Who was he?" Faramir asked, cautious not to pry too far. "He was Haldir, the Marchwarden of Lothlorien. He was one of the best warriors the Golden Wood had ever seen." Faramir could hear a quiver in Aranel's voice, and took it as a sign to stop talking about this warrior for now. "When did you become a ranger?" He asked eager to continue the conversation. "When I was still recovering, Lord Celeborn would not have me grieving all my life. When Haldir died, the princess died with him, all that is left is the shell of a ranger that I am. And no one can change that, not even Lord Celeborn."

Aranel closed her eyes and mentally winced. She wanted to stop talking of her past and find out what was going on in Minas Morgul. But she knew that it may take time and trust before any information was given at all. "I may not get back to Lothlorien as soon as I'd hoped." Faramir, catching onto her reluctance to speak, silently moved towards her; stopping in front of her, he gently reached back and pulled up the hood of her cloak.

"I believe it is getting colder," he said as she looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "We should probably be getting back to camp ourselves; would you do me the honor of accompanying me?" Aranel eyed him for a while, thinking about things when she finally decided that she would accompany him for she was not planning on spending the night in the woods or as their prisoner. "Yes, you are most gracious, son of Gondor."

And with that, they walked through the clearing back towards the camp. Further away, much further, a lady was looking in a mirror. She was soon accompanied by another person, silently walking in the shadows. "How is she?" the voice unseen asked. "She is well…she has met the young Faramir, captain of Gondor. Aranel does her duty well." The silence was so thick at that moment that it could be cut with a knife. Finally the one in the shadows spoke. "Does she still…." "Grieve?" The lady answered. "Yes, she will never fully recover, but her heart is strong. Come, see how she fairs."

At that moment the figure in the shadows came forth and walked towards the mirror. His blonde hair shimmering in the moonlight, his blue eyes ever searching until he found the one thing he was looking for; her. As he saw her, he tried to reach out and touch her, until he remembered that he was just looking into a mirror. With a sigh, he pulled away from the image and hung his head. "Do not fear for her, she is in good company." Lady Galadriel said.

The figure walked away from the mirror, "I do not fear for her my lady." He said. "I fear for what she will do when she finds out I am still alive." For the first time that evening, he looked directly into the eyes of Galadriel; for there before her was not merely an elf, he was Haldir Marchwarden of Lothlorien.

AN: WAHOO!! Chapter three!! *happy author dance* And did I mention that my characters have taken over already?! Well you see what I mean in the next chapter!!! More to come soon after that!