Hi you all!

Sorry for the extraordinarilty long delay. First of all, thank you, my lovely readers, for the continual support of my fanfiction. I am forever indebt to you because there would be no story without audience (which means you!). Second, comments are always welcome so feel free to make them :) And lastly, enjoy!

km

Chapter 10

The Fellowship stepped into the Golden Woods softly and warily. The hobbits looked around nervously, but they weren't the only ones.

"Stay close to me, young hobbits, for they say a witch dwell in these woods. And anyone who lay eyes on her falls under her spell." Gimli said hoarsely. "However, have no fear hobbits. Yet this is one dwarf she won't snare so easily, for I have the eyes of a hawk..."

Before Gimli could finish his sentence he found himself at the pointy end of an arrow, "the dwarf breathed so loud, we could have shot him in the dark." A cold but familiar voice said.

A circle of elves appeared and the Fellowship found themselves surrounded.

"You've brought great dangers with you; we cannot allow you to enter." The leader said stiffly.

"And we've had not dealings with the dwarves since the Dark Days."

(Haldir.) Aragorn greeted in Sindarin.

(Estel.) the elf nodded. At this point Legolas turned to look for Skyler; she was no where in sight.

He continued his search discreetly, yet he could find no sight of her.

"Follow me, the Lady is waiting." Haldir said.

"Thank you…" here Aragorn broke off as he too discovered the disappearance of Skyler.

"Legolas, where's the Guardian?"

"The Guardian of Fangorn?" Haldir asked.

"Yes, she's gone, Aragorn." Legolas said.

Aragorn sighed, "Mithrandir told me she spoke of a reluctance to enter elven kingdom, yet I did not think…"

"Do not worry, Marchwarden, she is of no danger to Lothlorien. However…"

"I will send my brothers to look for her and track the orcs' movement, meanwhile you will follow me." Haldir said stiffly.

That night they stayed high up in the trees to rest. Yet towards the middle of the night Frodo was awaken by the sound of movement. Under the dim moon light he could see Aragorn and Boromir getting up. Legolas and the Lothlorien elves were already at the edge of talan, kneeling in alert.

"What's going on?" Frodo asked softly.

Aragorn turned around, "orcs, do not worry, the Lothlorien guards will stop them."

Even though Frodo trust Aragorn he still sat up and looked out into the forest uneasily.

Within seconds a band of orcs came running into the little clearing below them; they seemed to be scared.

Frodo saw the Marchwarden frowned, he crawled closer to the edge.

The orcs had stopped and they were looking around fearfully.

Suddenly out of the trees arrows begin flying quickly as if fired by an army and the orcs fell in hordes. Finally there was only one left.

The lone orc cursed and yelled.

A black shadow stepped out of the trees and faced the orc. The monster rushed at it, a metal clunk sounded as the shadow's fist connected with its chest. It was quickly followed by a rapid succession of more vicious blows. The orc tried to fight back, but the attacker had the grace of a cat, escaping all of the orc's futile efforts.

The orc soon fell down gasping and struggling to stand up. When it was half-way up the shadow figure send a kick to its stomach. The orc went flying, it hit the tree with a sicken thud. The orc stood up shakily as the figure started to walk away, then without warning, the shadow turned and send a horizontal kick across the orc's face. A loud crunch indicated the orc's neck was broken.

Just as the orc crumpled the guards arrived. Haldir and the Fellowship came down the talan.

"You are the Guardian of Fangorn?" Haldir asked. The figure shrink back into the shadows.

(Don't run away, you need to face this.) Legolas said urgently but gently.

The shadow inhaled sharply then stepped under the moonlight.

Many of the guards gasped in surprise however Haldir's face was inscrutable.

Rumil was the first to speak, "Sky…"

Skyler turned toward him and gave a weak smile, "yeah?"

Finally Haldir spoke, "Nice of you to return, Lady Skyler." He said coldly.

Skyler laughed sarcastically, "yes, it is nice, isn't it." It hurted her that he was so cold, but she fought hard not to show it. Her face blanked and turned to stone even as she bled inside. She turned away from them and started to leave.

"And where do you think you're going?" Haldir said in an almost deadly voice.

"Lothlorien, I know when I'm not welcomed, however I need to rest. I will leave after that." Skyler said indifferently.

(Stop. I am the Marchwarden of Lothlorien, you will follow me.)

(Fine.) Skyler hissed and stopped.

"Gather your items, we will leave now." Haldir said to the others, "Dimril you and the others will deal with the bodies, Rumil, Orophin, you will come with me to escort the Fellowship."

They left five minutes later with Skyler walking stiffly beside Legolas in the back.

The awkward silence lasted throughout the trip to Lothlorien, even the normally peppery hobbits were quiet; that is not to say that the death of Mithrandir did not play a large part in the uneasiness either.

When Skyler first saw Galadriel she thought she would burst out into tears. The prolong years of guilt just doesn't vanish easily.

Be at peace child, you must let go. Galadriel said in Skyler's mind as she greeted the Fellowship out loud. Skyler raised her head and looked into the bright blue eyes of the Lady. Then the surrounding faded as Galadriel focused on her.

You don't understand, I should have stayed there, thenArwen would still have her mother. My life was worthless as it is now, compared to Celebrian's

Do not ever say that my dear child, your life is more precious than you know, every life is.

Yes, I know what you speak of, however I fear you're wrong, Haldir does not love me. His action demonstrated so.

That was not his heart which dictated the previous act, it was his pride.

Isn't that what they always say.Skyler said cynically.

I see you've grew bitter.

I've been through hell, who wouldn't.

So have I child.

To this comment, Skyler had nothing to say.

Why can't you step out of your shell and let fate decide your path? Why do you intend on self-centering and blame everything, even events that are out of your path, on yourself. Why can't you face your past, present, and future? It is very selfish of you to run away and leave the others broken. Galadriel chided her gently.

I…I don't know, stop it, stop doing this to me! Skyler gave an anguished cry.

You've spend years in the FangornForest nursing a guilt that should have never existed, why can you not let go? You wallow in this constant remorse that threatens to engulf all that you ever was

Stop it!

You fear you gave up all those years in self-pity for naught? You have. The greatest and yet the most horrid trait a human have is guilt. It can give them a conscience, yet it can also bring the proudest of them down to the lowest of low. Galadriel sighed, I do not say that one should not have a guilty conscience, but you, my dear, are over doing it. Your foolishness nearly brought a premature end to another thread in this space of time. The world does not revolve around you, my child. It is a piece of fabric interwoven with many threads. You need to stop running away. Face your guilt and vanquish it. The guilt that should have never been.

STOP IT!

Is that all you have to say? After all these years of grief and torment you've brought to Haldir, is that all you have to say?

"STOP IT!" Skyler screamed out loud. Suddenly she was back in the talan, except there were only three other people left: Galadriel, Celeborn, and Haldir. She, herself, was on the ground her head between her hands.

She felt a warm pair of arms embracing her, it was Haldir.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't want to leave you, I'm so sorry!" she sobbed into his chest.

"Shh, you have nothing to be sorry for." Haldir said soothingly even though his eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"Yes I have, I've been so selfish,…" she gulped, "I'm so sorry."

"Bring her to the infirmary, Haldir, we need to take a look at her hands." Galadriel said softly.

Haldir lifted Skyler carefully and carried her. Skyler placed her arm tiredly around Haldir's neck and looked down at her other hand. She could see dark wet spots seeping through the fabric around the metal which she had sewn to the knuckle of her glove.

As they walk Skyler could feel herself becoming increasingly drowsy, yet before she fell asleep she whispered, (I missed you Haldir.)

I remembered that when I first heard this story I was angry at Lady Galadriel. I could not understand why she could not be more compassionate towards Skyler. I was a child then. I thought that Skyler should not have to apologize because she's suffered so much.

Then a few years later, after I grew up a little, I saw that Galadriel was right. Skyler was running away from her fear, her guilt, her life. When I saw this I asked my mother why was Skyler remembered then? She had so many faults, faults that a legendary person should never have.

My mother said it was because Skyler saw her faults and overcame them; that makes her worth remembering. She said that a person is great, not because he/she is perfect, but because he can stand up again after his downfalls. I could not understand the concept, and told her so. She patiently told me that, a perfect person or someone who pretends to be perfect would have nothing to learn (or would wish to learn nothing) from this world, and thus, he would not respect or love it. On the contrary, a person riddled with faults and can admit he have faults can be refired and be remade by this world, and therefore, cherish every inch of the earth that made him who he is.

I scoffed at her explanation and ran off to play. For the subsequent years I left the story buried in the depths of my mind and forgot about it. Because to me, a hero should be perfect, he should be flawless and wonderful. A perfect god.

Yet as I stumbled into adulthood I realized that no one can be perfect, a lot of people tried to be, but they all end up failing and disappointing those who love them. They've became the fallen gods. Thus I finally understood the reason why Skyler's story was preserved. It took me many years, but in the end I understood it.