Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings and I did not write this for profit.
ElvenPrincess 2005
Chapter 20
Updated: Thursday, March 6, 2008

Author's Note: Please read my bio page for any or any extra information. I will also reply to the reviews from the last chapter to each one of you individually; they should be up by the end of Saturday. For those of you who left an unsigned review, please see them in my bio page. Thanks!!

"Melamin," I barely registered Legolas' voice.

"mmm," I groaned.

"Melamin, we are in need of you,"

"watsamatta?" I mumbled.

"Orcs and Uruk-Hai. They've mounted an offensive against the city,"

"They're all dead,"

"Not all," Legolas said. "They will be here by nightfall,"

I opened my eyes just enough to glare at him. "Do you have any idea how much this just bites?" I asked.

"I'm sorry melamin. If there were another way, I would have left you alone. Their numbers are not great, but we have fewer then we had at Helm's Deep,"

"And no cavalry to come rescue us," I said. "Screw it"

I sat up and pushed the covers back. Grabbing my shoes and sword and ran out the door. I hopped down the hallways, pulling my shoes on in the process. I hit the gates and pushed my way through the soldiers.

Aragorn was standing at the wall, a grim look on his face. The look didn't surprise me; he had been wearing it all these past few months, but the look in his eyes is what got me.

"I saw this in the palantir when I tricked Sauron," he said. "I was hoping to avoid it,"

I shook my head. "This is something you cannot avoid I'm afraid. This is something that has to happen,"

"The palantir showed me your fate," he said.

"I've known about that since Lothlórien. I knew it was going to happen and there's nothing I can really do about it,"

"The cost is too great," Aragorn said.

I shook my head. "In war, there is always costs. That's why people avoid it; because they do not want to face the reality of that cost. This is something that I've been preparing for. This is something that I must do. Sometimes the consequences are the least important,"

"It's not only your life, Katherine; Legolas is involved in this as well. You cannot be careless in this fight,"

I snapped my head over to him. "I have never been careless in any fight. I've done stupid things in the past, I won't argue that, but everything has worked out and everything will work out in this end as well. It has to. The alternative is unacceptable,"

"I will hope for your safety," he said.

I nodded. "So do I," I muttered.

I looked at the group of things in front of the city. All of them enemies. All of them deadly. All would kill without a second thought and one of them would be killing me before the night was over.

I sighed. Truthfully, I shouldn't be looking at the world like that, but what could I do? What could I possibly do to protect myself, to make sure that I didn't die? Somewhere along the night tonight, I would screw up. The screw up would not only cost me my life, but Legolas' as well.

I wanted to run back in and curl into the bed, and not worry about it. I shook my head. Regardless of how afraid I may be, I couldn't do that; not to these people; not when my actions during this war may have caused this battle to begin with. This wasn't in the books; this wasn't in the movies. This shouldn't be happening.

I felt a tear slip down my face. I wiped it away without a second thought. This wasn't the place for tears. This wasn't the place to be afraid. Neither had a place in this fight and I had to remember that. I had to keep that in mind. If my emotions started slipping now, they would slip in the middle of the fight and that would be deadly to myself and everyone around me.

"Sir, our scouts tell us of a small cavalry of Elves coming this way," a soldier told Aragorn.

"They know what's happening; the Elves," I said.

"Sent by letter from Galadriel," Gandalf said.

"Who are they?"

He looked at me. I sighed. He knew, but wouldn't tell. "Mirkwood," I guessed.

He smiled. "I've always underestimated you Katherine; in battle and in wit. I should know better by now, shouldn't I? They are from Mirkwood,"

"What did Galadriel say to make Thranduil send warriors?" I asked.

"I do not know,"

"I'm scared. I know what will happen to him if I die. I don't want that,"

"But your urge to protect those you love is overriding that fear. It is doing that with most soldiers now,"

"Not by much, but it's enough to make a difference,"

"If you want to fight, do so with caution. Galadriel said that it will come to pass. Heed those words,"

I nodded, albeit weakly. "I'm not ready,"

"There are none who are," Gandalf said.

"There's no way to stop it?"

He shook his head. "I'm afraid not. Short of barricading yourself in a room and not leaving until all is done,"

I shook my head. "I can't do that. I won't. I won't allow my fear to paralyze me when it's possible that my friends and family are out here, either bleeding or dying,"

"And in the process, you could very well not only kill yourself, but who is tied to you as well,"

I nodded. I knew that. And that's what scared me the most. I had come to terms of my death, but Legolas...

That was something that I couldn't come to terms with. And if the Elves were from Mirkwood, I had a sickening feeling I knew what Galadriel put in that letter to Thranduil. I glared at the fire out in the field. They were bastards, the whole lot of them. I wanted nothing more than to take them all down with one fell swipe, but I didn't have that kind of power. Kinda wish I did at times like this.

But, no one, regardless of the circumstances, should have that kind of power. It was too dangerous. "Our help will not arrive in time," Gimli said.

I nodded in agreement. "They are too far out. But they know what they're going to get into. They're prepared for a fight,"

"Lass..." he began. I looked at him. "You're exhausted. This is no place for you to be at the moment,"

I shook my head. "This is exactly where I need to be. Do not think of trying to tell me differently,"

"And they talk of the stubbornness of dwarves,"

I offered him a small smile. "I cannot leave now Gimli. I started this quest and I plan on finishing it, regardless of the ending,"

"Even if the ending will cost you everything you've worked for?" he asked.

"Sometimes the end justifies the means," I told him.

We waited and waited and waited some more. Without any warning, they advanced. Our archers fired volley after volley at them and we took some down, but it wasn't nearly enough.

They had made it through the walls of the city and it was nothing short of a bloodbath. Bodies, both human and other, strewn around. We needed help, or we wouldn't make it out of this alive. Well, I wasn't destined to. But that's not the point.

I hit the dirt hard after a ducking an attack. I swiped my sword around, cutting off the orc's legs and then his head. There was a sound of a horn, an orc horn. Why did my stomach drop further when I heard that?

I sighed and pushed my way through, cutting down everything that wasn't a good guy. An arrow whizzed by me, nicking my cheek. I just knew I'd be scarred from this. I just knew it.

A roar took my attention to the top of the wall. An Uruk-Hai stood proud, blood covered his sword. The leader. This was promising, in an odd way. He knocked down soldiers that rushed him. Did they not have enough brains? You don't rush the leader of the enemy. You plan, you look for weaknesses. You don't go in with your sword held high. He was too strong to take down alone. We weren't organized this well. They had been planning this, they had...

It hit me like a bolt of lightning. Sauron had a backup plan. If he was going down, then he wanted to make sure there was a contingent ready to attack when we were at our weakest. If he was going down, he wanted to take us with him.

An orc with a dagger came at me and I moved out of the way with only nanoseconds to spare. I hate daggers. Really hated daggers. I killed him and moved on. I found Aragorn with Eomer. "This was planned," I said. "Sauron had this planned. If he wasn't going to make it, he wanted us to fall with him,"

Eomer nodded. "It seems ideal for him, but regardless of how few our numbers are, they shouldn't be cutting us down this quickly,"

"We're all exhausted. We're not made for this. They are. They were created to kill, to continue until there are none left. We don't have the strength for this. They do; they were breed for this purpose and this alone," I told him. "We cannot allow them to make it past the first level,"

"They infiltrated the second level a moments ago," Aragorn said.

I cursed and punched the wall beside me. "We need that help anytime now,"

Eormer nodded again. "And we do not have enough time to set up a barricade for the third level,"

"No, because they're keeping us down here. We need to take the leader down,"

"He too strong," Aragorn said.

"Ya think?" I asked.

Another Orc body fell to Legolas' arrow. "Gimme a boost. I want up there," I said.

Eomer looked at me but shrugged. They pushed me up and I swung around, balancing myself on the broken and battered wall. "And what do you plan on doing?" Eomer asked.

"Whatever is necessary to finish this,"

For the most part, our enemies were all down on the ground. The leader wanted someplace high to view the death and destruction. He wanted to be up top. He saw me coming and rushed me.

I moved out of the way, clinging onto a small ledge. The flashes that I saw in Galadriel's mirror came to the forefront. He was the one. The one who was going to kill me. Well shit.

I reached out for a rope and when I had a tight grip, I pushed myself off of the wall and around. The rope jerked down and I realized it had been frayed. Just my luck. I touched the ledge, away from the leader and looked around. In the distance, I saw the Elves, rushing to get here in time. God, I hope they did. This was going on for too long.

A roar from the leader set everyone to a stop. I looked at him, his sword was pointed at me. It was a clear and direct challenge, even if I didn't understand what he was yelling at. I nodded and readied myself. They were known not to play fair.

An arrow whizzed by his face and I saw Legolas standing there, a grim look on his face. He knew what this meant. He knew what would happen if I went after him. But this was something I had to do. I could force myself to be afraid of this. Everyone dies, and truthfully, I had lived far longer than I thought.

I let out a long breath and looked at the Uruk again. He was ready to kill, ready to slaughter. He needed to be taken down, at all costs, no matter what.

I took a step back and hit the corner where there was no rock. This was going to be very difficult. Everyone was paying attention to us. The fighting had stopped. "You will die," he said.

I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You speak? I wasn't aware that you were smart enough to form speech. Huh, I guess you learn something everyday,"

I took comfort in that I had a few hidden weapons on my body. It was too small of an area to keep a sword, too much flailing, too little balance. I swung my blade around, so that the blade ran parallel to my arm. I hated close combat with an Uruk. They were stronger than me.

"Come on, ass. Make a move," I muttered.

If I could wait, if I could make him make the first move, then I would be decently okay. He took a first step forward and I took a step back. If I kept doing this, he would back me into the fucking wall. I took a quick glance behind me and took notice of the wall. It was a good thirty feet behind me, which gave me some maneuvering room, but I would have preferred to be on the ground.

He came at me, full force, sword out. I groaned and jumped off the ledge, hitting the ground with another thud. I heard something crack and cussed when I went to stand. Something had gotten fractured. And it hurt like a bitch. I tested it before moving. So this meant no fast moving, this meant absolute attention to him. If I screwed up...

He followed. Good. More space, more availability. "How long?" I asked.

"Not soon enough," Legoals said.

I nodded. "okay,"

The leader and I stood, staring at each other, waiting for the other's move. But no matter what, I wasn't not moving first, I just wasn't!

And he knew that. Luckily for me, Uruk's were never known for their patience. He made the first move, coming at me. I parried his movement, but when he pushed down, I had no other way to go, except down. My leg was too well fractured to put any excessive weight on it.

I swung around on my knee, swiping at his feet. He went down and I moved back. An arrow hit his armor and it shattered. I looked and saw two dozen elves standing in the entrance.

About damn time. "A woman?" I heard one speak.

I groaned. I hated that. "Amael," Legolas slightly greeted.

"My Prince," Amael said.

"Can we move on? We sorta have a fight here," I snapped.

"You are too badly hurt to continue this," one stated.

I looked at him. "Not that badly,"

But if this continued, then I would be. I threw my sword behind me and took out my two daggers. Close combat it was. Gimli let out a string of curses, but I needed that armor gone and this was the only way.

The Uruk stood and rushed me again. I moved to the side, cutting the leather away, smiling when I drew enough blood that it sprayed. I went behind him, slicing his back, along his spinal cord.

He roared. Good. It hurt. Now, where was the tip of that arrow? I saw it on the ground and I moved quickly, grabbing it and turning.

The Uruk had thrown down his sword in rage. I sighed and looked around. "Do we have quick access to oil?" I asked.

"The storeroom is behind you," Boromir said.

"I need a lot of oil. Enough to douse him,"

Boromir nodded and moved with Eomer to get it. The leader moved to Boromir and Eomer and I threw a dagger, the weapon piercing his skin. "I'm still here," I said.

He reached around and tore it out. I grimaced. "My own dagger. Just great," I said.

He stood there, not moving. He knew what would happen if those two got to the storeroom. But he knew better not to turn his back on me. "She will get killed," an elf stated.

"Give her time King Thranduil," Aragorn said.

Just great, Legolas' dad was here. That was a spectator I could have done without. Another arrow released and grazed the other side of the armor. I nodded. Good. At least someone knew what I was planning on doing. I hoped.

The monster turned to the elves, but didn't think enough of them to charge them. I guess he really did know better.

So, I was one dagger down and one sword down. I've been in worse situations. I think. I tore my shirt, take a small amount and flipped my zippo open. "Around, not on," I called.

The oil was dumped behind the Uruk and I watched as a small stream came towards me. I lit the cloth and dropped it in the oil. The oil exploded and the fire stretched toward him.

"Why do that?" Gimli asked.

"Fire will burn leather. It can also melt metal. And I like fire," I shrugged. So I was a pyro. It wasn't my fault. I blamed my high school chemistry teacher.

Why did I have to explain myself to them? I was the one fighting this dude. My vision blurred suddenly and I was barely able to force myself to stand on my own two feet. The Uruk didn't look happy. He took a step forward and then another.

I had no weapons to speak of and I was running out of time, breath, and energy. I glanced behind and me and my eye caught my sword. I looked at Aragorn and he went to pick it up.

I performed a back hand-spring to get closer to my sword. The moment it was in my hand, it felt good. I felt safer knowing that I had my weapon back.

He took one step forward and snarled. The grip on my sword tightened and I found myself wanting to fall over. My vision blurred and only when he started moving did I realize I was put on the defensive and I found myself not caring.

I swiveled on my feet and twisted with my sword in hand, bringing it down on his shoulder. The blade cut into leather and then flesh. One arm down, one to go. He hit me and I flew across the courtyard, hitting the stone wall. I distinctly heard something snap or crack, but didn't have time to try and figure out what. When I saw my dagger in his hand, my adrenaline stopped pumping. I fell to one knee and I watched him get closer and closer.

I swiped at his knees, slicing his shins open. He pushed me down to the ground, his foot on my chest. He bent over, the dagger slightly embedding itself into my stomach when I took my sword and swung up.

I watched his head roll several feet and his body fall back. I pushed myself up in a sitting position and took in several deep breaths. I looked at my stomach wound and it didn't look too bad.

He finally fell. Finally. And I was just too tired to care. I fell back, breathing hard. How? How did I survive? It was set in stone; my death. And yet, here I am, alive, while the guy who was supposed to kill me, lay there, head and body separated.

I went to push myself back up, but a hand held me down. "Do not. You are much too injured to move and continue fighting,"

The voice I recognized. Amael. I shrugged his hand off and stood. I reached for my sword and touched my stomach wound. It wasn't bad, but it was still bleeding.

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to regain my bearings. "How is it, a woman could do what no male could?" Amael asked.

"Dina!" Legolas said.

I glared at the new elf. "This female has been through the entire fight. Moria, Amon Hen, Helm's Deep, Pelennor Fields, The Black Gates, and now this. This woman has fought in it all. Where were you? Hidden away in Mirkwood? On the sidelines? Protecting your king while your prince was out fighting. I may very well be a woman, but I'm also a fighter. Doing what very few even considered," I snapped

"Amael, perhaps you should look closer at someone before you open your mouth. She's not human, she's elf-kind," Thranduil stated.

"And looks far too much like Aviva,"

So he knew my mother. And the tone...

"You loved her," I said. "And she didn't love you,"

He snarled. "Haldir stole her!"

"You can steal anyone. She loved him. Loved him enough to have a child,"

"And how would you know that? You, I doubt, are not old enough to know of such things,"

I smiled. "Because I am that child. Palenwen," I said.

As bad as I left, I believed that I had a right to stab and twist the dagger just a little bit. I just had to. Call me evil, call me sadistic, but I needed to release some steam, and dammit, he was pushing my buttons in every wrong way.

"Piece of advice Amael, do not ever pick a fight with anyone you do not know. I've been known to be a complete witch if needed. I can and I will take your egotistical self down a few pegs,"

He glared at me. "You've gotten away with too much from those around you, little girl,"

I raised an eyebrow. "Away with too much? And what, pray tell, would that be? Fighting? Protecting those I love and care about? Protecting those who are far too innocent to fight? Those who cannot? Look around you Amael, we are in a war. We have been for centuries, for a few millennium. And we're finally winning. We've destroyed the big-bad,"

"For whatever happened between you, my mother and father, I'm sorry. I'm sorry it happened the way it did, I truly am. And I know you're still bitter over it. I know you're still in pain, I know your heart still aches. I know what heartache is, I've experienced it. And I'm sorry that you haven't moved on from it, but to an extent, have you even tried to move on?"

"Katherine, in case you haven't noticed, we still have a small orc army surrounding us," Aragorn said.

I looked around and snorted. Damn, he was right. Well, with the leader down and out, finally and thank god, maybe these guys would fall a little easier. Maybe, hopefully...fat chance.

I swung my sword around and looked at the Uruks. "Katherine, find a safe spot. Go rest. You cannot fight now. You are close to falling over," Boromir stated.

I shook my head. "How many broken bones do you have?" Boromir asked. "You will kill yourself if you do not stop now,"

Legolas touched the small of my back. "Mela, please, listen to reason. I need you to rest. You are exhausted, bleeding, and hurt beyond all measure. I will beg and plead, knock you unconscious if needed to keep you safe," he said.

I moved away from his touch. I knew what would happen if there was too much contact. He would win, he would get his way, he always did and I was determined not to let him win this one.

"I will be fine Legolas. You worry too much," I told him.

"He has every right to worry, girl," Thranduil stated.

I turned to the king. "Maybe so, but this girl can take care of herself,"

I ran my fingers through my hair and grimaced when I realized I had lost my hair scrunchie. And that was my favorite one too. I sighed and reached for another. Pathetic how petty I was becoming in this place; how unbelievably materialistic I had become.

I pulled my hair back in a bun and turned to see how many we still had. It was odd; they were just standing there, weapon in hand, ready to fight, but not moving. Was it shock? Fear? I didn't know.

"What's going on?" I asked.

My answer came in a loud roar from and Uruk. With little warning, the fighting came again. They started falling easier this time, falling quicker even. Which I'm sure no one on my side would complain about.

When the fighting was finally over at dawn, I fell over in complete exhaustion and pain. The adrenaline had faded hours ago and I was running on pure mental willpower. I slouched against the wall, away from the Orcs and Uruk-Hai.

"Katherine?" I heard Boromir ask.

I looked at him. He bent over to pick me up. "We need to get you to the Healing House," he said and pulled me into his arms.

My sword dropped from my grip and I allowed myself to close my eyes. I forgot everything else after that.

It was hard to wake up. I felt groggy, drugged, and I suppose I had been. I probably looked like hell. I tried to push myself up into a sitting position, but the pain in my ribs stopped me from doing as such. "About time," Gimli stated.

I looked over at him. "You gave us all a scare lass,"

"How bad?" I asked.

"You had stopped breathing a few hours after we had brought you here. You're heart had stopped beating for a little while as well," he said.

I grimaced. So it was that bad. "You gave the Elf the scare of his life," he continued.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"I'm not entirely sure," Gimli responded. "Your friend from Lothlórien said you were sleeping, that you're body had gone through so much trauma that it had shut down,"

"It's called a coma. It you're body's way of saying that it gives up, saying that it needs to shut down in order to survive,"

Up until this point in my life, I had never been in one. I suppose I never needed to be in one. But the issue was this: how badly was I still hurt? Comas could last for hours, weeks, even years, but judging from what was still outside my window, it hadn't been years.

I reached for my watch and looked for the date. We engaged the Black Gates on March 25th. We were attacked on March 26th into the 27th. But this date would mean that I had been sleeping for two and a half weeks. April 20th? I had lost two and a half weeks of my granted, now very long life.

I pulled myself to my feet and made my way to the window. "We contacted Lord Elrond to see if he could help you. He could not. He had not even heard of what kind of sickness you had. We had to wait and see if you would awaken,"

"Where's Legolas?" I asked.

"The Elf is helping clean up the roads and help the survivors. He's trying to keep his mind off of you,"

I nodded. That's what I had expected. I rested my head against the window pane. "You should be in bed," I turned to see Thranduil standing in the doorway.

He looked far from happy and I couldn't blame him. Because of my stubbornness, it almost cost him his son. I know what my health issues over the last few weeks have done to Legolas.

I could only imagine what happened to him when I stopped breathing and my heart stopped. Come to think of it...

"Gimli, how did they revive me?" I asked.

The dwarf shook his head. "I do not know. All I was told was that you had stopped breathing and then started again of your own free will. It was the same case with your heart,"

I groaned. What happened? I know I was hurt and exhausted, but I didn't think I was that bad off. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"Fractured leg, broken ribs, probably a concussion as well. Along with my other injuries and my exhaustion. I should be dead," I muttered. "So why aren't I?"

"A question we would all like an answer to," Thranduil said.

"Galadriel sent you. What did her letter say?" I asked.

"That my son was in danger. That he was in need of help,"

I nodded. "He was, wasn't he?" Thranduil asked. "Because of you?"

I scoffed. "No more so than the Orcs that he was fighting," I muttered.

"You were out there fighting as well. That will distract any warrior out on the fields of battle!"

I turned to him. "Your son wasn't the only one with people out there fighting. My friends, my family, they were out there fighting too. Do you think I wasn't as distracted? Trying to keep an eye on them to make sure they were safe and at the same thing trying to keep myself alive. I knew what the dangers were. I knew what could happen if I had died. I knew that. I knew before I left Lothlórien. I saw what would happen in the Mirror. Do not think for one moment Your Highness that I wasn't distracted as well,"

"And look what happened? You caused my son more grief than was necessary,"

"He was the only who woke me up. He was the one to came to get me to inform me of the Orcs. I would like you to know that he was the one who involved me. He was the one who decided I should know. I would have slept the fight away and afterwards I would have been pissed,"

"He should have left you to sleep,"

I shrugged. "I'm not in disagreement on that. Personally, I would have liked that, but who I am to argue with him. They needed people. You and your people didn't get there until it was late in the game. You wouldn't have arrived in time to stop the Orcs from reaching the fourth level. They almost overran the city. They almost won. We needed every able fighter out on the field; that included me,"

I sat down on the bed and took in a deep breath. Just by standing up, moving, and arguing with Thranduil, I was exhausted. "I see you now. You are in no condition to do anything, but rest,"

"And you need to mind your own business. What I do does not concern yourself,"

"It concerns me because my son was distraught over your condition. I am not pleased with this, not please at all,"

"I see that," was all I said.

"What are you doing to do?" Thranduil asked.

"To see Legolas," I replied.

"You are in no condition to search for him,"

"Care to come with me then? To make sure this weak woman doesn't fall over?" the comment came out with sarcasm.

"Yes, I would. I have a feeling that no matter what, Legolas would like to see you. He's been working himself to keep his mind off of you,"

Guilt rose up in me. I never meant for it to be as bad as it did. But I was supposed to die. I looked out the window. "Gimli you said I stopped breathing and my heart stopped?" I asked.

"Aye,"

I smiled. "Huh, go figure,"

"What lass?" Gimli asked.

"Well, technically, Galadriel's mirror showed me dying. That I was supposed to die. Technically, I did die. My heart stopped. For all intense and purposes, I died. Her mirror was correct,"

"But you came back," the dwarf stated.

"Yeah. The mirror just showed me dying. It didn't show me coming back,"

"The Valar?" Gimli asked.

I shrugged to the best of my ability. "I wouldn't put it past them. I learned a long time ago that the God, or Gods in this case, work in unusual ways,"

I reached the front gate without Thranduil by my side and looked out. There were bodies, Orc and Uruk-Hai, still in piles, still burning. A hand went to my side to hold myself up. While my leg wasn't hurting, I was still favoring it. But by limping, I was hurting my ribs. It was a no-win situation. In some ways, a lot of ways, I still couldn't believe it was over.

I suppose I had been fighting the war for so long that I think I had forgotten what "normalcy" was.

Not that my life had been normal since I landed here. I turned and looked around at the ruble and the disaster area that was Minas Tirith.

"Katherine?" I turned my head and saw Boromir. "You should be resting. You were very will when you went to the Healing House,"

I nodded. "So I head," I sighed. "I'm looking for Legolas,"

Boromir frowned. "He's been working with Aragorn. I would imagine that he's been trying to keep his mind off of the fact that you almost died. The last I saw of him, he was on level two,'

I nodded. "Thanks,"

I took my first step when Boromir grabbed my shoulder. "I'll go with you. I do not want you to harm yourself further,"

I smiled. He walked up beside me, making sure I didn't trip. I was grateful and it was nice to know that chivalry wasn't dead (in this world anyway).

I found Legolas and he was indeed with Estel. I watched his face; his eyes brighten, and watched a smile grow. "You haven't one idea how much you scared me," he said.

"I didn't mean to," I admitted. "But sometimes the future can't be changed. I'm just grateful that I got a second chance,"

"You knew?" he asked.

I nodded. "Galadriel's mirror showed me that I was going to die. Technically, I did. My heart stopped and I stopped breathing. The mirror just showed me dying, nothing else,"

He cupped my face and kissed my forehead. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I somewhat nodded, somewhat shrugged. "Sore, extremely tired, but I'm okay,"

"Go rest," he said.

"I needed to stretch," I told him. "I'll go rest in a little while,"

He nodded. "I just want you better. I felt you die, melamin [my love. I felt it in my heart and soul and I nearly followed,"

"Which explains why your dad is in a pissy mood about it all," I remarked.

"Ada [father is worried. He viewed my deterioration and it frightened him. Do not blame him because of his fear,"

I looked at him before nodded. If his father was that fearful, I could only imagine what my father was going to say. I mentally cringed. That wasn't going to go over well and I doubted I could keep that from him.

And if Galadriel or Celeborn sent the letter Thranduil, then he was going to ask what the hell was going on, in so many words. I went over to a rock and sat down. "My dad's going to freak,"

Legolas gave me a friendly look. "Haldir will take it in stride,"

I shook my head. "He'll freak. He didn't want me to leave Lorien. He feared that something would happen to me and it did! I died! He's never going to let me go anywhere," I groaned.

Legolas knelt down in front of me. "But you are still alive. You are still breathing and are in front of me at this very moment. That's all that matters. Nothing else,"

I bent my dead and sighed. "Does it?" I asked.

"What is wrong mela [love,"

"What happens now? What do I do? Where do I go? I came here knowing what was going to happen and I focused on that, but now, I know nothing. And that terrifies me,"

"You worked hard; you survived and saved numerous lives. What we do now is rebuild. We work and fix everything that's broken,"

"I'm lost,"

Aragorn walked up to us. "As are many other people. You shouldn't fear this,"

"But I do," I said. "I'm so used to knowing and now I don't,"

"Your gift that Galadriel gave you. What did it say?" Aragorn asked.

"Fear not the past that was left behind; fear the future that is unknown,"

A realization dawned on me. She knew. She knew that I would survive. If I had had a clear mind then, I would have like to think I would have known what she was talking about; what she meant.

"I will admit Katherine; I did not think of it until you mentioned it; The Lady is smarter than people would think. She gave you a clue against what the mirror had shown you. That should have given you hope," Estel stated.

"Then why the letter to Thranduil?" I asked.

"That's a question for her,"

I trusted her, I just didn't trust myself. I bid farewell to them, promising that I would rest…I just didn't tell them when. I sat on top of the citadel for the rest of the day. I watched the sun set and found myself surprised to see Legolas standing behind me before the last rays disappeared. He sat with me through the night. He never said anything. I don't think he needed to. Conversation was minimum through the dark and still of night. And truthfully, I was grateful.

As the sun peaked over the mountains, I realized that this was my life. That this was me. Part of me was never lost, just yearning to get the past that I never had back where is belonged. In my future.

I couldn't force myself to hate my adoptive parents for leaving me the way they did; it made it easier to leave.

I had brought knowledge to the battlefield and really, that's all that was needed. I had brought a new future to at least two people, my father and Boromir; three if one would count Legolas.

I never turned the tables in the war, they would have won without me, but the cost would have been greater. And I'm okay with that. I was okay spilling little bits here and there, just to keep morale up; to keep the Fellowship hoping that soon it would get better; that this nightmare would end.

I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it was finally over. And I was okay with that too. I was just terrified to see what now. But I was alive. I was fine and now my future was safe. I no longer had to worry about the next day or the next attack. I was home.