We climbed a winding way among the great trees and kept climbing until night fell around us. The blue glow of the moon combined with hanging lanterns was more than enough to light our way as we climbed the twisting stair that would lead us to Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn. We passed platform after platform until we reached a great white Palace in the trees. It was lit with silvery light and had a curving walkway that led to low stairs which led to an archway. We gathered at the archway and Haldir reluctantly handed me over to Aragorn who did not bother with standing me up and instead held me in his arms as though I was a child. The Fellowship watched as a glowing couple descended the stair hand in hand, surrounded by a light so bright that it was hard to make them out. The Fellowship could not contain their looks of awe as they watched the couple. Aragorn shifted me slightly to touch his head in greeting to the couple, followed by a small bow. The light surrounding the couple lowered until they were clearly visible to us and they halted in front of us. Galadriel's eyes locked on Frodo and I knew she was conversing with him while Celeborn spoke out loud.
"The enemy knows you have entered here. What hope you had in secrecy is now gone." Aragorn flinched and looked away.
"Nine there are here, yet ten there were, set out from Rivendell. Tell me, where is Gandalf?" As he spoke Galadriel's eyes flickered to Aragorn who looked up. "For I much desire to speak with him...I can no longer see him from afar."
"Gandalf the Gray did not pass the borders of this land. He has fallen into shadow." She said slowly. Aragorn nodded as Celeborn turned to look at her and Legolas was the one to add detail to the story she started.
"He was taken by both Shadow and Flame: a Balrog of Morgoth. For we went needlessly into the net of Moria." Gimli did not even seem to notice the insult to his kin.
"Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. We do not yet know his whole purpose." ''What purpose?'' I thought bitterly. ''He is dead, he no longer has a purpose in anything.'' I felt Galadriel's eyes on me and I knew she had heard my thought.
"Do not let the great emptiness of Khazad-dûm fill your heart, Gimli, son of Gloin." Galadriel said gently to Gimli. "For the world has grown full of peril. And in all lands, love is now mingled with grief." Galadriel shifted her focus to someone behind us and soon afterword I heard Boromir weeping quietly.
"What now becomes of this Fellowship? Without Gandalf, hope is lost." Celeborn said. I could feel what little hope the others had shrivel up into nothing at his words.
"The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the company is true." She looked to me now and the smallest of smiles lit her face. Celeborn finally allowed his eyes to drift to me and his eyes grew worried when he saw the amount of blood dripping from me and that had already pooled on the ground.
"Your companion will be tended to for injuries." He told us and Haldir stepped forward to take me from Aragorn. I reached for the blonde haired Elf when Galadriel's voice stopped both of us.
"No, Aragorn will tend the injuries. Haldir will go with them." She said. Anger was the first emotion to break through my numb shell and my eyes fair glowed with it.
What! I shrieked as loudly as possible. Have you lost all sense? He cannot tend to me!
Elseath! This is not the time to hide things from the Fellowship! With Gandalf now gone you are their best chance at successfully completing this quest. You are their only hope. You can no longer afford to conceal yourself away from them. Allow your father to tend to you.
I would rather bleed out! I snapped at her. Her eyes darkened and the aura around her also darkened, both Celeborn and Haldir shifted away from her. I knew that was a low thing to have said. Galadriel and Celeborn both viewed me as one of their children and for me to have said I would rather die would have been a sure way to make her angry. Thinking about how Gandalf had been more of a father to me than the man who was supposed to had rekindled the writhing anger I had for the man.
"You will do no such thing." She told me darkly. I knew that I had really made her angry when she spoke out loud to me. All the Fellowship flinched away from her but I was gazing back at her with determination blazing in my eyes.
Tell Haldir to take me, or I will roll out of Aragorn's arms and down these steps and tend to my own injuries. I threatened.
Do so and I will tell Aragorn exactly who you are in front of everyone. She shot back. She had trapped me and she knew it. I screamed my frustration in my head and she flinched at it.
Damnit! Fine! But Haldir carries me. I will need him no matter what to help heal my wounds. I growled at her. She bowed her head in agreement and gestured for Haldir to take me from Aragorn. I was so eager to be out of Aragorn's arms that I all but rolled into Haldir's. He quickly caught me and gave me a mildly irritated look for my actions.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight you will sleep in peace." Galadriel said and dismissed us. We descended the stairs quickly and when we reached the bottom I had a white knuckled grip on the front of Haldir's cloak and he gestured for Aragorn.
"Come with me, the rest of your companions will be shown to their sleeping spaces." With that he was off through the trees with Aragorn behind him.
"I do not like this." I said only loud enough for Haldir to hear.
"What you like does not matter, this is Lady Galadriel's will and you would do well to not anger her further." Haldir responded.
"Her will or not I would rather bleed out than have him know." I spat the words out and Haldir actually stopped and looked down at me with wide eyes. Behind us Aragorn stopped and spoke worriedly.
"What is it? Is he alright?"
"Is that what you told her, that angered her so?" Haldir asked ignoring Aragorn as he continued walking.
"And if it is?" I snapped. Haldir just shook his head in disbelief.
"Haldir? I do not understand why we cannot tend to Cain with the others?" Aragorn asked.
"You still go by that awful name?" Haldir asked with disapproval strong in his voice.
"What do you mean? Is Cainmar not his real name?" Aragorn demanded.
"Of course it is-" My hand on Haldir's neck stopped his words he looked down and saw the promise in my eyes that while I might be weak at the moment I was still close enough to prove damaging to him if he finished those words. We stopped in a secluded part of the woods and Haldir sat me as gently on the ground as possible. I still grunted in pain at the movement and Haldir knelt next to me and began divesting me of my weapons and placing them in a steadily growing pile beside me and yet out of arms reach.
"You seem to be better armed than some armies I have seen." Aragorn commented dryly. I said nothing as Haldir pulled the last knife from my person. Haldir moved in front of me so that Aragorn couldn't see me as he moved my cloak aside to better look at me. He sucked in a breath at the sheer amount of blood covering my side and I saw a hint of fear in his eyes.
"Dilthen Frost, why did you not say something to your companions?" (Little Frost.) He demanded as he looked at the slashed open side of my outer vest and tunic. He cut the bindings that were holding my breasts, not that the cloth strips were holding on by much. The blow that the Orc had dealt me had nearly cut them through and then the arrow the goblin had hit me with had not helped much. He pulled my mask down and noted my cut lip as well as the dried blood that covered the side of my face and the various bruises on my face. He motioned Aragorn over to look at the wounds on my side and I turned my head so that he could not see my face. Aragorn gasped as he saw the amount of blood and then the wound itself. He used his hand to prod the length of the wound until his hand reached the side of my breast and he froze. There was a beat of complete silence before Aragorn removed his hand and stared at it in confusion which moments later morphed into horrified realization. I sighed and used my hand to pull my hood down and then pushed the cloak off my shoulders, allowing my long hair to tumble around me. I turned my head to look at Aragorn and saw that he looked utterly shocked and horrified. I could tell that he was thinking back through our journey till this point. About all the things we had been through and how I had done the same if not more amount of labor than the rest of them.
"Haldir?" He choked out. The look on his face turned to one that was hoping that Haldir was going to tell him that I was just a very pretty boy and not in fact a woman. I answered for him.
"Yes. I am a girl." I snapped at the stunned man. Aragorn flinched at the very female sound of my voice.
"I cannot tend to her. You must send for one of the female healers." Aragorn stated.
"The Lady Galadriel has said that you will tend to her wounds." Was Haldir's response.
"I cannot. It would not be proper for me to do so."
"There is not time to debate this. She cannot afford to lose anymore blood." Haldir snapped.
"He cannot help me and you know this Haldir. You know exactly why Lady Galadriel sent you with us. To serve the same purpose Legolas did in Moria." I said. That caught Aragorn's attention.
"Your wound, the one you received from the troll? Legolas healed it?"
"So that was what I sensed when I saw you. It was not only your life force inside you, but the Mirkwood Prince's." Haldir mused as though I had solved a puzzle for him.
"Legolas knew?" Aragorn asked.
"No. He thought I was a man, same as everyone else." I told him. "Haldir, if you would not mind?"
"I am not to heal them all the way, only enough to bring you out of danger and then allow the Ranger to tend to them." Haldir told me.
"Rather leave them be. They would not kill me anyway." I griped.
"No, but Lady Galadriel would rather you not spend the next many months sleeping to regain what you have lost." Haldir answered and before Aragorn could speak he leaned down and pressed his lips to mine, having done this for me before he immediately opened his mouth and I pulled back a little so that I could draw his life force from him. I felt the bleeding stop and the wounds begin to grow smaller, all too soon Haldir pulled away, breaking the connection with a faint smile on his lips.
"What was that?" Aragorn asked with a small note of awe in his voice.
"Elseath is unique in in the regard that she in the only person in all of Arda able to take the life force from a person or creature and use it to heal herself." Haldir explained. "Now you should be able to tend to her wounds."
"I cannot. It is not proper." Aragorn repeated.
"There would be no impropriety for you to tend to her. A father always has-"
"Haldir!" I raised my voice in warning, he ignored me and kept speaking.
"The right to tend to his daughter." He finished. I closed my eyes to try and control the anger surging through me. Had I been strong enough the very air around us would have surpassed the frigid temperature that had been present during our attempt to cross the mountain pass. I opened my eyes to see Aragorn staring at me in complete disbelief. Now that I was no longer going to bleed out I stumbled to my feet and quickly gathered my weapons and replaced them before pulling my cloak back around my shoulders and stumbling away. I heard a scramble and the sound of footsteps too heavy to belong to Haldir following behind me. I quickened my pace and listened for the sound of the rest of the Fellowship. They were not far and I changed direction so that I was heading toward them. Aragorn was jogging to try and catch up with me and we broke through the trees into the clearing where the others were waiting.
"Elseath!" Aragorn called and grabbed my wrist. "Did you know this whole time? Did you know who I was?" He demanded. I whirled around and punched him in the jaw as hard as I could, which was not as hard as I would have liked. He fell to the ground looking shocked.
"How dare you call me by that name!" I yelled at him. Around us the Fellowship were watching us with confused looks. "You lost that right a long time ago!" I growled the last part at him.
"Aragorn?" Legolas asked. "Who is this girl?"
"This is-" He started and I cut him off.
"Finish those words and there will be one less member of this Fellowship." I snarled. I wrapped one arm around my chest to put pressure on the wounds, while they might not have been bleeding any longer they still needed cleaning and binding.
"Cainmar?" Boromir asked. I turned to look at him and saw that he was focused on my cloak. He looked up and met my eyes, his own were wide with the realization he had come to. "You are Cainmar, are you not?"
"Yes." My answer unfroze the Fellowship who burst into conversation. The most vocal being Gimli about having had a girl accompanying them so far on this journey. I ignored them in favor of watching Legolas who was looking between me and Aragorn before he went nearly as white as snow and carefully backed out of Aragorn's sight and reach. I gathered he had figured out the relationship between the two of us considering I did have a few of my father's features. I locked eyes with Legolas and spoke.
"Legolas. I need help tending to my wounds." I said. Aragorn got to his feet and moved toward me.
"No. He will not be tending to your wounds." I turned my blazing eyes on him and he did not back down nor even flinch.
"Sit down before I make you." I told him.
"No."
"Let me make this abundantly clear to you. I am far more deadly than any one person here could possibly be. Let there be no mistake when I tell you that I do not need both arms to follow through my threat. If you do not move and allow Legolas to help me then he will do so over your unconscious body." I said darkly. Aragorn must have seen there was no bluff in my eyes because he quickly backed down and moved aside so that Legolas could join me. I walked away from the group and to another clearing for some privacy. I had no problem stripping down in front of the others, but Aragorn would probably die of shock and no matter how angry I was with him I knew that with Gandalf gone this Fellowship could not afford to lose Aragorn. Though I was loathe to admit it he was a great healer having studied under Elrond and a good fighter, as well as a good leader. I used my free hand to rip my cloak off and tossed it to the ground. I made short work of my vest before tossing that with my cloak as well and pulled my bloodstained tunic off. Legolas was looking anywhere but at my naked torso and I snapped at him.
"For Valar's sake Legolas. I know you have seen a woman's breasts before!" He jerked and his mouth dropped open in shock at my crude language. I sat on a nearby tree root and waited for Legolas to collect himself before he came over to me and went to work tending my wounds. Galadriel must have known where I was going to end up because there were bowls of clean water and bandages as well as a fresh tunic and vest.
"You knew all this time did you not?" Legolas asked softly.
"Yes." I told him and winced as he dabbed at the sword gash with some herb that the Elves had left for us. "I have always known who my father was. My mother never kept it a secret from me."
"Aragorn did not know of you. If he had he would have spoken of it to me, he would never have left your mother, he would never have left you. You should not hate him for what he did not know." I startled at his words.
"You think I hate him because he was never in my life?" I asked incredulously.
"Don't you?"
"No. I hate him because he killed my mother." I said.