The clanging of a pot woke me the next morning and I slowly opened my eyes. I sat up and looked around the clearing to see that the rest of the Fellowship were already awake and cooking breakfast. The Elves of Lorien would have gladly provided us with food, but I figured that it was habit at this point to wake up and immediately begin making breakfast. Sam was the first to notice that I was awake and gave me a huge smile.

"Rhew! You are awake." I got to my feet and glided over to the others. Frodo gestured for me to sit next to him and I did.

"Thank you for singing to me. It was beautiful."

"Aye. That it was." Gimli said from the other side of the small fire.

"I did not know you were still awake to hear it." I said softly.

"I was having troubled dreams when I heard a voice so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes and my dreams troubled me no longer." Boromir said dreamily. My father caught my eye and nodded at me with a small smile on his face.

"Indeed. Rhew has always has a beautiful voice. Even when she was a child." A familiar voice said behind me with a hint of amusement. I shot to my feet and the air around us went frigid. Behind me the Fellowship also jumped to their feet, both Boromir and my father immediately moved to my side, hands on their weapons. I could feel my father's need to pull me behind me, but appeared to think better of touching me. Legolas was the only one of the Fellowship who had not moved into a fighting stance, instead he had bowed. The man in front of us bowed back to Legolas.

"Ah, you must be King Thranduil's son. You look very much like him, but please there is no need to bow. We are all friends here." Fax said smiling holding his arms out in a welcoming gesture. He took a step forward only to be tossed back by and explosion of steam when I slashed my arm at him, sending a sharp line of ice at him. He reacted instinctively with a line of fire. Once the steam cleared the smile was gone from his face and he was glaring at me.

"That was not very nice Rhew." He said lowly.

"Stay away from them." I snarled.

"What do you think I am going to do Rhew?" He asked carefully as he dusted himself off.

"You would have not ave come down here unless you were planning something. I know that Galadriel and Celeborn would have asked you to stay away from the Fellowship. So I am sure that this is some plan of Algarum's." Fax shrugged his shoulders.

"Perhaps, or perhaps I simply wanted to see what it was you were protecting." He said eying both Aragorn and Boromir, as though he was trying to figure out which one was my father. I was a sheer stroke of luck that Boromir and Aragorn looked enough alike that Fax was not sure.

"I know you better than that. You never have been one to sit back and let things happen. What do you want?" I snapped. Fax sighed.

"After you left last night we reconvened and a decision was reached. We know that is the highest dishonor to the Frost people to kill ones parents. We knew that you would never willingly do it, or even unwillingly."

"So you took the decision out of my hands?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes. You know our laws Rhew. There is no choice in this matter, you know that. I am sorry." Fax told me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before moving slightly closer to Boromir. Fax's eyes focused on Boromir and he entirely disregarded Aragorn as I hoped he would.

"Ah so you are the one? Yes I see it now." He looked back at me. "Rhew it would be best for everyone if just allowed us to take him." Fax said quietly.

"His life is mine to do with as I will. My claim supersedes the law in this case. You know this Fax." I said.

"Normally yes, Beira was the oldest of us, our High Queen. She was Pure." Fax said and stepped forward until he was standing nearly chest to chest with me. The air around us was turning into steam when the waves of blistering heat rolling off him collided with the frigid air I was giving off. He raised his hand and gently caressed my cheek. Neither if us flinched at the contact, nor at the loud hiss that resulted from the contact. "As are you dilectus." (Beloved) He whispered. Boromir jerked forward as though he was going to attack Fax. Legolas jumped forward and jerked him back.

"Legolas, mapa i exë ar auta." (Take the others and leave.) I told him calmly in Quenya. Legolas gestured for Aragorn to grab the hobbits while he grabbed Gimli. Aragorn was hesitant to leave and finally Legolas grabbed his arm.

"Ah, actually the Ranger will need to remain behind. You can have the Gondorian man. It was a valiant effort Rhew." Fax said.

"Boromir. Go with the others." I told him not looking away from Fax.

"Rhew..."

"Go!" I ordered and he flinched away from me.

"Do you think I would hurt the others? They are precious to you, and I would never hurt you Rhew." He said looking hurt.

"You have held your Throne the longest out of anyone but my mother. Why do you do this? Why not let my claim stand?" I asked. Fax looked away from me and focused his gaze on Aragorn behind me. His eyes turned to flame in his rage.

"Because his actions hurt you, and that is something I cannot allow to stand."

"So this has nothing at all to do with our laws, it has to do with me? That is why you persist in this?" I demanded. Fax was taller than me by a head and a half and he leaned down so that his face was level with mine.

"You are precious to us all, to me. You always have been. I am sorry to have to do this, but it must be done." Fax said as he stood upright once again. He went to step around me and I slammed my hand flat into his chest sending him flying backwards. He cried out at the contact and lay sprawled in the grass as his chest heaved. I could see steam curling off his chest where I had struck him and if his gasping was anything to go by, he was also in a lot of pain.

"You will not touch him." I told him darkly. "I have forgiven him for what was done to me, and if you were able to see past your own desires then you would be able to see how deeply he regrets what happened."

"Rhew move. Do not make me have to force you." He said tightly. He got to his feet and pulled his sword from its sheath at his side. It was much like the sword that the Balrog had wielded in the Mines of Moria.

"Rhew!" My father called from behind me. In one fluid move I spun, grabbed the sword he tossed to me and completed the circuit so that I was facing Fax once again. I gripped the sheath of my sword in one hand and with the other I drew the sword.

"Do you truly wish to test me Fax? I am stronger than you, even with all your many years behind you. I was able to beat you as a child and the same holds more true now than it did then." I could see Fax waver for a moment before he lunged at me. The sound our swords colliding shrieked throughout Lorien as we jabbed and parried each other. I could feel a grin spreading across my face as we fought. There was no one in all of Middle-earth that could match me in combat, be it sword or hand. The only person who ever came close was Fax and it had been far too long since I had had a true challenge in someone. I noted that over the years Fax had gotten better, but he was still not equal to my own ability. I could see that Fax was also smiling and looking at me with a look that I only now recognized. I startled so badly that Fax very nearly grazed my side with his sword. He had always looked at me with that look, but I had never known what it was until now. Fax was looking at me like Arwen looked at my father, like he was the only thing in Arda that mattered. I twisted in a move that would have made Legolas envious and knocked Fax to his knees and his sword from his hand. I stared down at him an unreadable look on my face.

"How long?" I breathed the words to him.

"Always." He answered. He made no motion to move from his place before me and seemed content to just kneel there and gaze at me.

"I defeated you in combat. I have won his life from you. Along with my claim on him, he is untouchable to you and the others." I said turning and beginning to walk away.

"Is that it?" Fax demanded from behind me. I tossed my sword to my father who caught it and sheathed it with wide eyes. I spun back around to glare at Fax, my hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"What do you want from me?!" I yelled at him. Fax stood and crossed the distance between us in a single stride before crashing his lips against mine. I was so shocked that I just stood there for a moment, completely still, before my senses returned to me and I placed a hand on his chest and allowed some of my cold to seep into him. Not enough to hurt him, but enough to give him a warning. He broke the kiss and stepped back from me.

"Nothing. I want nothing you are not willing to give." Fax said bowing his head.

"What did my mother say to you?" I demanded. It was the only thing that made sense to me. She must have said something to him, known something that she did not share with me.

"Why do you think she said something to me?" He asked.

"It has been only forty years you have known me, not enough time for you to have developed feelings of that wealth for me."

"She said nothing to me. I knew it the moment I saw you laying swaddled in your mothers arms. You opened your eyes the moment you sensed me and did not take them from me while I visited with your mother. When I came again to see you as a child, you were so beautiful already. I could scarcely believe it when you bested me in a sword fight at such a young age. That was the moment when you became my world, my everything." He told me. I just stood there staring at him. It was like I was unable to comprehend the words he was speaking to me and Fax seemed to realize it too.

"You have won the Ranger's life. I will leave you now. The other rulers have already departed from Lothlorien." Fax turned and began to walk away before pausing. "If you should ever need me, call and I will come. No matter what." And with that he was gone. I stared after him before I felt my knees give out and I slid toward the ground only to be caught in my fathers arms. He didn't flinch or make any sound as he held me. That was what finally broke through to my shocked mind. He should have been screaming in pain, but he was making no sound at all and I turned my head to see that there was no look of pain on his face, not even a look of uncomfortableness. There was not even a patch of frost growing where he was touching me and I blinked.

"Blood." I said softly.

"What?" My father asked.

"You should be writhing on the ground in agony at touching me, but you do not look to be in any pain. It means that you are partly immune to me. My cold does not affect you as much as it would anyone else. It means that you can freely touch me where others cannot." I explained.

"That other man. What did he speak of?"

"Fax. The Fire King. He and the other three came last night to pay homage to me. They discussed what to do with you, and they had left the decision with me, though I know they did not want to. From what Fax said to me, he has been in love with me for a very long time. It took me until now to recognize the look in his eyes when he gazed at me. Or perhaps I just did not want to know what the look meant. I do not know what to do." I said softly. My father did not have an answer to give me as he held me close.