Galadriel

It was a magnificent night. The stars shone in the sky, and they also shone in the Lady Galadriel's eyes as she swept along the forest floor down a path she alone used. When she arrived at the secret clearing, she pushed some leaves away and stepped forth into the light reflected from her magical mirror.

She slowly poured a jug of her enchanted water into the basin and waited.

A face swam murkily for several moments and then became clear.

"Lady Galadriel."

"Lord Elrond."

Elrond peered up at the Lady of Light, looking troubled. "Why have you called me, my Lady?"

"I called to speak to you of your daughter, Lord Elrond."

"What about her?" he asked, sounding slightly defensive.

"As you know, the Ring of Power passed through Lothlorien not long ago. Well done, by the way. I know Celeborn was too polite to say anything to you, so allow me. That had to have been the single worst selection of people to perform an important task that I have ever had the displeasure of seeing."

"They volunteered, Lady Galadriel! What was I supposed to do?"

"Do not bore me with such speculations. You needn't have been involved at all! Middle Earth affairs are no longer the concern of the elves."

"I find myself incapable of being as cold-hearted as you."

"You know what I saw, Elrond. You know very well how this will all end."

Elrond frowned deeply but made no reply other than a prompt. "What about Arwen, my Lady?"

"As I was saying. The One Ring was here, and it tested me. I did not succumb, just like you. We both can go across the sea."

"Yes," Elrond said questioningly.

"You know what else I have seen, Elrond. Concerning your daughter."

"She is also your granddaughter!" Elrond snapped.

"Alas, I have no influence on her. You raised her, and you raised her to be impertinent as well as wilful. I fear for you both."

"Arwen will come with me across the sea. You do not have to trouble yourself any longer." He was livid, and close to walking away. She pressed her luck.

Oh yes. Of this I have no doubt.

She blinked and he had gone.

Arwen

[Some weeks ago…]

Arwen was a girl. Yes, she was an elf, but she was also a girl, and sometimes the girl part of her won out. Like right now, if you wanted a really good example. She was crouched inelegantly in some sort of plant. She was starting to suspect that it was poison ivy. But she really didn't care. Not in this moment. This perfect, perfect moment.

Aragorn was darting about, waving his hands in the air, yelling at three children about Ring Wraith wounds and the like. One child lay on the ground, breathing unsteadily. She had heard the battle screams of the Wraiths, and had also heard the battle cry of her love, Aragorn. The Ranger. So she had crept into hiding.

"We have to get him to Elrond!" shrieked her handsome King, flapping awkwardly. She was positively swooning. Two of the children, she saw fleetingly, had removed their hats, and the third was flapping about even more awkwardly than Aragorn.

But she hardly cared. All she knew was that Aragorn was coming to her home. And if his tiny companion was as grievously wounded as he seemed (and she truly, deeply hoped that he was) then perhaps Aragorn would have to stay in Rivendell for a very long time!

Yonder, directly behind her, in fact, was Rivendell. It was not far at all from where they were now. But Aragorn, she saw, was rather disoriented.

"WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS IT? I KNEW WHERE IT WAS TEN MINUTES AGO! A BIG FAT GONDORIAN POX UPON YOU, FOREST, FOR MAKING ME ALL CONFUSED!"

The two children with removed hats were now running in frenzied circles and ran smack into each other. The third child was sobbing noisily into his hands.

Aragorn stopped screaming, took one shuddering breath, and joined him.

Arwen was moved. Because, surely, if he didn't find the safety of Rivendell soon, the Ring Wraiths would be back and then he'd be killed. And then she'd never get to chaotically pour out her feelings to him.

She stuck her hand in her mouth and whistled, hard.

Aragorn and the three children looked up, startled, and seemed to look right at her. But she knew they were really looking behind her at the beautiful waterfall which thundered at the entrance to the Rivendell path. You couldn't miss it, really.

But he was still so very handsome.

"Come, comrades!" Aragorn declared, and he hoisted the wounded child on to his shoulders and sprinted towards the path. The other children ran after him with their hands in the air, screaming.

They almost trampled her, but they still somehow managed not to see her. After they had gone, Arwen, almost bursting with girlish, love-sick happiness and a feeling of self-satisfaction which can only be brought on by a full evening of stalking, climbed the nearest tree to watch the man she loved race towards her city. What she saw when she reached the top almost stopped her heart.

The five Ring Wraiths were sneaking slowly to intersect her love and the children before they could cross the river and reach safety.

Arwen leapt from the tree and called the horse she had stolen from Glorfindel, Asfaloth. Asfaloth had hidden himself in a large bush of poison ivy as well. She hoisted herself astride the proud horse and urged him foreword. They rode at a breakneck speed, making for the river.

"Oh no there's a river oh no what do we do there's a river ahh oh gosh oh golly what are we to do now oh no oh no oh no!" squeaked the most anxious of the children.

"Okay, you three wait here. I'll come back for you as soon as I drop Frodo off," Aragorn was saying.

"No way! I'm not staying here waiting to be stabbed by those Wraith things!" one of the hat-wearing children yelped in response.

Aragorn made an impatient noise in his throat. "Fine then! Climb up on my shoulders, you lot, and try not to suffocate Frodo!"

As the strange group jostled with each other on the shore, trying to get into river-crossing formation, they didn't even notice as Arwen and Asfaloth went dashing into the river and then charging downstream.

This was when the Ring Wraiths appeared. Arwen held Asfaloth steady in the river and stood her ground, placing herself firmly between the wraiths and Aragorn's party and keeping their faceless eyes fixed on her.

"OW! Sam, you're squashing me!"

"Get off out if it! That was your own fault!"

"My pipe-weed! Aragorn, stoop down so I can reach it!"

"I'm slipping, help, no stop, STOP!"

"Oh wow, Frodo, you don't look so good. Hey, Strider, he's really grey, and his eyes are rolling up into his skull. I think he needs a breather, and maybe a nice strong cup of tea."

"When we get to Rivendell I'm going to kill every single one of you."

The Wraiths, unbelievably, hadn't seen them, and indeed, they hadn't seen the Wraiths, or Arwen and Asfaloth for that matter. Arwen straightened her shoulders and glared at the Wraiths.

"Where is the halfling, she-elf?" one of them hissed at her.

"Come across the river and find out!" she spat.

Praying fiercely that her gambit would work, she ever so slowly backed Asfaloth out of the river and performed some elf enchanting that her evil old grandmother had tried not to teach her.

She spoke to the river itself, and as Aragorn toddled unsuccessfully towards the river and as the Ring Wraiths charged in enthusiastically, the water magically rose and swept the wraiths away. The waters left in its wake barely a puddle, and Aragorn unceremoniously dropped the three hobbits and let them cross by themselves, wondering aloud why the river was suddenly so shallow.

None saw Arwen. She grinned and rode Asfaloth around in circles and over nearby cliffs for a while to rid herself and the horse of excess adrenaline.

She finally returned to Rivendell, and her father was waiting for her. She rolled her eyes as she approached him, seeing his enormous frown. He always looked into her future when she went out so that he could be waiting for her precisely when she returned to frown at her.

"What, father?"

"You've been playing with the river again, haven't you, Arwen?"

"Has someone said something?" she asked innocently.

"No," he said, glaring at her.

"Well then how could you possibly have come to the conclusion that -"

"But your grandmother called."

Arwen was furious. "How am I supposed to have any privacy with the two of you spying on me all of the time?"

"Arwen, why you think you deserve privacy is beyond me. I mean, take Glorfindel." At this, the forest elf emerged - with a couple of black eyes and more than a few bruises - from one of the garden paths and seized Asfaloth's reins angrily. He strode off. "You beat him senseless and stole his horse. And you want us to leave you alone."

"Father, I had to! I had to help Aragorn! You said he'd be passing through this way, and I just knew that he'd need help!"

"Ha!" Elrond scoffed. "You got lucky. You didn't know that he'd need any help, you just wanted to stalk him, to follow him around like a little lovesick puppy. I have news for you, Arwen. He doesn't care about anything other than his own stupid ranger way of life. He has no room in it for a high-maintenance elf girl like you."

"Oh, why am I even talking to you?" she asked, attempting a look of nonchalance but only managing uneasy irritation. "I'll be in my chambers if you need me."

She ambled off, and managed to hold in her grumblings about Galadriel until she was out of her father's earshot. She caught up to Glorfindel and apologized profusely, and after a moment of glaring moodily at her he was his merry self accepting her apology and asking her jauntily what she thought about riding Asfaloth. She left him smiling and felt a tad better herself.

She found her way inside and took the shortcut, which as always had her cutting through the Arms Room. She would usually slow and peer curiously at the shattered blade of the king. Today would be no different, except that Aragorn was already doing so.

Her heart almost jumped out of her mouth.

He hadn't heard or seen her, or at least he did not acknowledge her presence. Arwen could just sneak off without being spotted. She decided that yes, that's what she would do… but first she'd just hunker down behind a column and watch him for a while.

All was going swimmingly until Boromir showed up.

"Hello, Lady Arwen! What are you doing on the floor? Let me help you up!" All of this he boomed out so loudly that it was impossible for anyone to not hear, and Aragorn looked around. Arwen's face had gone a brilliantly un-elflike beet red. Boromir pulled her up by her shoulders and grinned at Aragorn.

"Hello there, sir! Admiring the sword of Elendil, eh? Pretty shattered, is it not? Yeah, too bad about that. But my father is a capable steward. We can keep Gondor safe without it."

"Yes," Aragorn said quietly, and Arwen could just feel the angst seeping from the one word. "Hello, Lady Arwen."

"Hi," she all but whispered in her embarrassment.

Boromir stood gaily in their midst for a moment, and then said, "Well, I better go train or something! See you later, stranger, and good day to you, Lady Arwen." And he bounded off.

Arwen shuffled awkwardly. Aragorn was still staring at the broken Narsil. "So, that was Boromir, huh?" he asked glumly.

"Yes it was," she agreed.

She stood there awkwardly, waiting for him to say something else, but when he did, what he said was, "Um, Arwen, I don't mean to be rude, but I kind of wanted to have some alone time in which to angst a bit. If you don't mind."

"Oh, no, that's fine, Aragorn. I'll just, um, go, then."

And she turned to leave, but froze.

"Oh Narsil, why do you have to be so broken? You are just like my soul. I only wish I could fix you!"

She turned around in surprise.

Aragorn was now cradling some of Narsil's shards, crooning to them as if they were babies, or fluffy kittens. "You and I are like two peas in a pod. Nobody understands us. They stick us on a viewing platform and expect great things from us, when all we're good for is lying there, broken and useless. I feel your pain."

He hugged the shards close and then gasped irritably when one of the pieces cut his arm. Nevertheless, he began singing.

"Hush little Narsil, don't say a word. Aragorn's gonna buy you a messenger bird. And if that messenger bird won't sing, Aragorn's gonna buy you a Dunedein ring. If that Dunedein ring does break, Aragorn's gonna buy you a lembas cake, and if that lembas cake goes bad, Aragorn's gonna get really mad, and if that -"

He turned, still cradling the broken sword, and saw her staring at him. He leapt three feet into the air in surprise and the shards of Narsil fell all over the floor.

"I thought I asked you for some privacy!" he yelped, turning a shade of red that rivalled hers from earlier.

"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed. "But I didn't know you were going to start singing to the sword! I was surprised, is all."

"Well, that's my business if I sing to the sword. My business, not yours, and you had no right!" He started angrily gathering up shards of Narsil and replacing them violently on their table.

"I didn't mean to – I'm sorry that – oh, let me help you!" she said breathlessly, and stooped to pick up some shards herself.

"Be careful," Aragorn snapped.

"Ugh, look, I'll be gentle with your precious Narsil," Arwen said; she thought that he'd gone on about the blasted sword long enough.

"I meant you. You should be careful that the pieces don't cut you," he said, not as harshly this time.

"Oh. I will."

There was silence for a moment as they knelt on the stone floor, searching for all of the shards, and finally they both seized the last one at the same time.

They looked at each other.

"Um, Lady Arwen," Aragorn began softly, "I heard about what you did today." Arwen wanted to look away, but couldn't quite make herself. "Your father was really mad," he went on, more gruffly this time. "You shouldn't do that to him."

"Well, next time I'll let you get killed," she retorted.

He grinned, looking pained. "Obviously I'm glad that you saved us. But… it's a dangerous world, Arwen."

She glared.

"Don't be like that. I just mean that it's dangerous out there for anyone, me included, so you should be more careful. What I'm saying is, essentially, I see your father's point of view."

Arwen pulled the shard out of his grasp and plonked it hard on the table. She whipped around to face Aragorn. He had stood up while she was turned away, and now found herself looking up at him.

"Look, Aragorn. I was the one who got rid of the Ring Wraiths. You were the one who would have been killed if not for me because you weren't even paying enough attention to see that they were there. Ifanyone here needs to be more careful -"

He kissed her. Which shut her up. Unfortunately, his initial shock at himself and her initial shock in general, combined with their consequential fervour, resulted in their falling and knocking over the entire Narsil display with a colossal crash, and when they both stood up again, rather mortified, Narsil was little more than millions of tiny grains of metal.

"Um, I'll see you," Arwen spluttered, and rushed off. Aragorn was left to face the wrath of Elrond.

She caught sight of it as she hurried away. Aragorn had his hands raised in a defensive, quasi-soothing gesture, as Elrond shrieked, "YOU REALLY DON'T WANT TO BE KING THAT BADLY?" But Arwen saw, even as she ran, that Aragorn was smiling a little bit.

Eowyn

"But where will you go?" she was asking, over and over again, as Eomer furiously stuffed things into his saddle bag.

"What does it matter, little sister? I might as well ride off a cliff, going by how much I've been able to help Rohan lately." He was enraged. She thought steam might rise from his head and from out of his ears at any moment.

"But Eomer!" She was swiftly getting to that point too. "Be reasonable!"

"Reasonable?" he yelled. "REASONABLE? Are you serious, Eowyn? You want me to be reasonable?"

"FOR MY SAKE, YES!" she all but screamed. He took a step back from her and frowned. "Eomer, you have to talk to me. Where are you going to go?"

Eomer sighed and threw himself on to his straw bed. "I don't know."

She sat down beside him. "You'll have to figure it out sooner or later. And you need to tell me, because I might have to come and join you."

"Don't even think that!" Eomer yelped, sitting up. "You're not nearly a woman yet, Eowyn -" At this she scoffed a bit. He frowned at her. "Are you of age yet? No. So then, you're not a woman yet. Do you think I want you leaving Rohan, especially in these dark times?"

"First of all, you're only one year older than me. And what about if Grima Wormtongue keeps his stalker routine up? And if Uncle doesn't get better? How much worse is the outside world, Eomer, than Rohan is today?"

Eomer sighed. "I'll return. As soon as I have the forces, I will return to Rohan and I'll take it from Wormtongue. It won't take long, little sister. You needn't worry about anything. And I'll… speak… to Wormtongue before I go."

Eowyn glared at him. "Why did you have to go and get banished?"

"Believe me, sister," he snarled good-naturedly, "I didn't do it on purpose. Have I got everything?"

"Could you fit your enormous ego in there?" she snapped, and then gave him a hug. "Be careful, brother. Come back safely."

"Take care of cousin while I'm gone." He pecked her on the cheek. "I'll see you soon."

She stood atop the tallest castle tower, ignoring Wormtongue who, despite the rather wholehearted warning he had received from Eomer just moments ago, was breathing heavily in the shadows not far behind her. She watched Eomer and his riders until she could see them no longer.

How the hell old are all of these characters supposed to be? Apparently Eomer and Eowyn are teenagers according to this. Oh well, it's more fun that way. It's like a Disney movie.

Also how come when the three women in Middle Earth show up everything gets uber serious?