N/A: Hey folks! I'm back! Life's still a mess but here you go. I hope you like it.

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Rain.

There it was, the same scent again, of rain and leaves and forest.

She wasn't fully awake yet. She was... floating between awareness and darkness. It felt as if she was surrounded by water, the voices all coming muffled and distant, only half words of a conversation she barely registered.

" ... - think she is?"

"I really don't know. Found her like this-..."

Pain.

Her back and arms ached terribly, both awakening and driving her to the point of unconciousness. She just wanted it to stop. Just make it stop.

" ...- father has sent for you! Dale has been attacked and the Dwarves' Kingdom has fallen!"

" What?! How is it possib-..."

Tired.

So, so painfully tired. Her entire body seemed sore and just plainly tired, like all of her energy had been drained. Somewhere in her mind she knew she had been drifting on and off conciousness. She was just too tired to care.

" ...- dragon!"

" It can't be! The scouts must be mistaken!"

" I'm afraid not. There's no doubt, ernilen. The dwarves are gone, since your father denied them both an army and shelter. Whatever is left of the village-..."

Alive.

She was alive. The pain was gone, replaced by a soreness in her limbs and a dry mouth. She briefly wondered what time it was, but soon dismissed the thought, since her previous state made time feel like nothing, stretching it to forever and back to seconds ago.

Her senses came back in waves, her body slowly remembering how to function, bringing sounds and smells together like pieces of a puzzle. But a puzzle could not be completed without the missing pieces, she was still in the dark. She needed to open her eyes.

But suddenly, she wasn't so sure anymore. Fear and slight panic bubbled in her chest. Where was she? Why wasn't she dead? Who brought her there? Why? How long had she slept?

Opening her eyes would mean acknowledging her situation and facing whatever answer she would find, either for the best or for the worse. And she didn't know if she was ready or not.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside her down. The illusion of safety the darkness brought her would be of no use. Ignorancy was sweet and welcoming, but below all those layers there was too much risks. And she couldn't afford any risk. So she swallowed down the bile rising in her throat and ignored the cold feeling of panic washing over her before finally opening her eyes.

A foreign room. That was the first and stupidly obvious conclusion she made. There was little to no light in the wooden place, with mostly torches as source of trembling illumination, giving it an almost scary appearence. It had to be the healer's room, she realized, full of bottles and plants and empty beds. And surrounded by ancient books and dust and nothing, she never felt so alone.

She looked for water, but her eyes were still adjusting to the faint light and a headache clouded her mind.

" You look terrible."

Rain and leaves and forest and blue eyes again.

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This time she woke up with the smell of the rain pouring outside and the salty taste of tears and the bitter feeling of missing. (She may not have woken up in a foreign room, but she did feel utterly alone.)

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The rain had already stopped and Anor was shining brightly in the sky when Raunín emerged from her room, taking a seat at the lower tables. The elleth was pretty satisfied at where she was, at the corner of the room, with her breakfast in front of her. Maybe the day could turn out to be a good one, after all.

" It was about time!" Elrohir's cheerful voice startled her. " You've been asleep for like centuries!"

"Yeah, well, try to travel all the way from the coast until here." She spoke between wolfing down the food. "I could use some naps. "

"Sorry to break this for you, but your captain has been looking for you all morning."

"I guessed this much, there are things to be discussed with your father." She sighed, before his words caught up to her. "Wait, what do you mean 'all morning'? What time is it?"

"It's half before noon. " the young lord laughed. "You slept for quite a good time!"

Raunín swore under her breath. She had promised to meet up with Olochen before he talked to Lord Elrond, but now she was late.

"If it makes you feel better, my father has called off all of his meetings this afternoon and in the next two days."

It didn't. She wasn't sure if it was the hard edge on his voice, the slight clenching of the jaw or the subtle tensing of his shoulders that gave her a sense of unease , and she wondered that there must be more to his casual small talk than it showed. ( Later, she would reach the conclusion that it was his eyes that gave him away. Always the eyes. )

"At least time isn't an issue anymore." She carefully spoke. "But why did your father called them off? Is everything alright?"

A sudden feeling of dread forebolding clenched at her heart at his hesitation. "It's just... the enemy has been creeping closer and closer to our borders, their numbers are growing in a scaring pace and they are stronger than ever. It... " His voice faltered. "... it only happened once before and brought us great sorrow. My father has gone this morning with my brother and Lord Glorfindel to check some new information."

"The enemy is bolder. Something is happening, helping them. " she was slightly disturbed by the news. It was too much for such an hour in the morning. Or afternoon. Whatever. " The question is, who or what?"

"No," he shook his head sadly. "The real question is when?"

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"You know, I should've seen that coming." Olochen said as soon as the elleth literally ran into him in one of the many gardens.

"Seen what?" She panted, trying to catch her breath.

"You not showing up."

"Hm, about that, i'm so sorry, mellon nin." She at least had the decency of looking ashamed. "I meant to wake up earlier but..."

"It's fine. Like I said, I should have seen that coming. " he laughed, " Anyway, the meeting has been canceled."

"Yes, I heard about that." They sat at one of the benches. "What do you think is going on?"

"What do you mean?"

" I mean, the orcs are attacking more and more often. Their number is getting bigger. " Raunín sighed. "Something is happening. Something evil."

"Don't be ridiculous. They are just getting more stupid and showing off. " Olochen smiled softly, " I know you worry, but everything is as it should be. Lord Elrond shall come back soon enough, bearing reassuring news."

"I hope you are right, my friend." I really do, she thought. "So, how do you feel about some training?"

"Well, I feel like kicking your ass."

"Oi! Language!"

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"That was so unfair!"

Raunín was left panting on the hard ground trying to stop laughing. Tickling her was so cheating!

"C'mon loser, you may have had late breakfast, but we, poor peasents, had to wake up with the sun and are starving." Olochen helped her up. Lunch was in one hour and they still had to freshen way, way up. The quick sparing had left them both covered with dust and sweat, definitly in need of a bath, but the huge grins on their faces showed how much it was worth it.

They walked in companiable silence until their rooms, wich were near each other. The elleth stared at his closed door, trying to figure out exactly when and how she had managed to make such a good friend, a brother. Olochen had been the first to welcome her at the Grey Havens, bringing her to Cyrdan and speaking in her favor. He had been just a scout at the time, but somehow managed to find her some space in the patrols. In retrospective, he gave her the opportunite of a new life without ever asking questions. Not even once did he doubt her good will or a thing about her past, he simply took her word in the matter and waited for the time she felt comfortable to tell him the whole story. She kind of felt bad for lying to him, like she was betraying him or something, but she just could not tell himor anyone.

Raunín shook her head, there was no point in dwelling on that matter, the past was dead and gone. Literally.

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Lunch passed over without any news of Lord Elrond, making Elrohir fidget in his armchair in the library. His father had been reluctant to leave, not wanting to believe in the rumors, and the younger twin suspected he only hurried to go check information to delay whatever news Cyrdan had sent.

The young elf turned a page of his book angrily. It drove him mad to think that everyone seemed to be fooling themselves with some sort of illusion of peace. What they were living was most definitly not peace. It was just a break, some time given to mourn their dead and plan another strike. While they were all going with their lives with a blind eye for the enemy, the enemy did not turn a blind eye for them. It was a matter of time until these dark forces decided they had run out of time and the break was over.

He flipped another page.

But he knew better. He and his brother had been fighting orc's hordes since his mother's... passing. True, it had been less of an act of bravery and more out of vengeance, but their hunts had forced them to face the truth, that the number of orcs were growing, they were becoming more organized and less frightened. Elladan had tried arguing with his father and Erestor, but it was proved useless, though the latter's eyes showed more understanding than Elrond's carefully blank face.

He flipped another page.

It was rather frustrating that their ages made them unrelieble sources, too young to work the world out and-...

"What has the book done for you?" Erestor's voice echoed through the shelves.

"Nothing really. "

"And yet you turn its page as if it had attempted to murder you."

"Well, it did almost bore me to death" Elrohir smirked.

"Fair enough."

Elrohir sighed as the older elf sat in the armchair in front of him, it wasn't that he didn't like Erestor, he just wasn't in the mood for talking.

"You've been here since lunch."

"Yes, you know, there was this book I wanted to read, so..." he trailed off.

"The very same book you just complained?"

"Aye?"

"I see." The counsellor flipped through a random book with a perfect calculated casualness. "You know, I was wondering how long are you and your brother planning to stay this time?"

"I don't know. We didn't really think about it." Elrohir was suspicious of the change of subjec, he felt like a trap was being set. "Are you sending us away?"

"Far from it, penneth." Erestor actually smiled. Wich, if you know the elf, means you should be scared. "I only assumed you would leave shortly, as the two of you have been doing for the past years."

"Fine, I'm sorry. I know Elladan and I have been a bit absent lately, but-..."

"That's a rough understatement, mellon nin."

"...- I am actually thinking of settling down for a while."

"Your father will be pleased to hear this." Wich was Erestor for 'I'm glad you're staying'

"My brother and I shall decide it after they come back."

"Elrohir, please, enlighten me on this. You and your brother have been hunting down orcs and constantly trying to convince your father that something is happening, but how comes that when the situation arises that Elrond agrees in investigating it you are here, holed up in the library?"

"Well, someone had to stay back and you know, take care of things, do the stuff my father usually does and all."

"Oh, please." Erestor scoffed. "Don't take me for a fool. I've known you since you were born. You are hardly the one to engage in the matters of politics and rulership. You always prefered the sword rather than the crown. It was Elladan who would always shadow your father while you would be sparing with Glorfindel. And must I point out that you barely touched any paperwork this morning and deliberately avoided Elrond's study?"

"I know, but..." Elrohir sighed. How could he explain something neither he could understand? "It's just... something held me here last night. Still are. I mean, what if something happened? No offense, but without Glorfindel our defenses are pretty weak."

"But strong enough to hold on until you all make it back here."

"I know, I just.. i guess i just didn't want to fail here like.. like I failed Nana."

"You didn't fail her, penneth. None of it was your fault. You and your brother did your better. We all made what we could to heal her."

"Our better clearly wasn't enough. But I don't want to discuss this now. Let the dead rest where it belongs, in the past gone."

"One can only hope its ghosts will not come back to haunt him at night. Hide here from the councellors if you want, but remember that you cannot hide from your demons forever. They are all waiting, lurking in the shadows at the corner of your eyes, at the back of your mind. It's the real monster in the closet, the real thing underneath the bed. But in the dead of the night, when it is all silent, when it is all dark, then, there is no where to hide."

The chief councellor looked at the youg elf with deep sadness while rising from his armchair and walking to the great wooden doors. He was already reaching for the doorknob when Elrohír spoke up again.

"Erestor?"

"Aye?"

"How old are you?"

"Old enough to have more regrets than I would've liked. You have your ghosts, penneth. You don't want to meet mine."

And with that Erestor was gone. The younger twin could almost see him turning a corner and blending with the crowd of elves, that glimpse of sadness and pain that danced behind his dark irises already gone and forgotten, the sense of duty and the daylight erasing whatever memories that might have surfaced.

But not in the library. The faint light that passed through the dark curtains merged with the trembling brightness of the fireplaces, casting shadows that seemed to be thretening to engulf him. Elrohir felt his chest tighten at the thickness of the air, breathing suddenly becoming a painful task, he felt as if a bubble of deep sorrow had swallowed him and was now proceeding to englobe the whole room.

There, inside the library, with that unsettling feeling of being watched and so utterly vulnerable, Elrohir thought that maybe Erestor was right. It doesn't matter how fast you run or how far you go, in the end, whatever you are hiding from will always catch up on you. Maybe you have never left them at all.

"When you feel my heat, look into my eyes, it's where my demons hide. Don't get too close, it's dark inside, it's where my demons hide."

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N/A: Hey everybody! Hope you all liked it! Thank you all for the follows and revies and for reading this. It makes my day and makes me write faster.

Please reviews and suggestions are always welcomed.

Xoxo