As Aragorn tracked the Hobbit's footsteps in the front the rest of the company followed behind. Legolas seemed to be listening to something; "The trees here are old, very old."

Kali looked around in the gloom smiling to herself; glad to be back in a forest.

"They are full of memories… and anger," Legolas told his companions. The trees groaned and shook, Gimli raised his axe into a defensive position.

"Gimli, lower your axe." Aragorn said, motioning for the dwarf to put away his weapon. The dwarf did so reluctantly and slowly. The trees groaned once more and louder.

Legolas observed Kali drink in the hidden beauty of this ancient place, if she likes it here, she would love my home… I want to take her there one day. He thought with a small smile, maybe when this is all over I can travel with her to her homeland, wherever that is…

Kali giggled again when the trees moaned and Gimli raised his axe slightly; Legolas came up next to her and helped her over a large tree root.

"The trees are speaking to each other. The elves began it long ago…" They both looked in awe at the leaves that had started to fall from above.

"What would they have to talk about? Except for the consistency of squirrel droppings!..." Gimli grumbled. The trees roared in annoyance, Kali thought she was hearing things; but she could have sworn that the trees were saying, 'We have plenty to talk about! The nasty Orcs that come with fire and axes, biting, scratching axes! Evil doers who plague these woods! And leaf patterns!...'

Kali turned to the dwarf, "I think they don't like your axe, they hate it when people come in and chop them you know."

Legolas looked surprised, "You understand them? How?"

Aragorn joined the conversation, sharing his theory "I think it might be the elf blood…"

"Mine?" Legolas asked,

"Did I miss something?!" Gimli queried as he banged his axe on a tree root. The tree did not like that. The root came up from the ground and wrapped around the dwarf's short figure and shook him up and down. Eventually the tree put the dazed dwarf down, and Gimli staggered about and bumped into the elf.

It was about midday when the Fellowship was lost in the forest, without tracks or any sign of the Hobbits to follow. They were walking around sort of aimlessly when Legolas sensed something off, he strode quickly to Aragorn, "Aragorn, something's out there," He warned.

Kali looked worried immediately, coming up to their side, "What is it?" she asked. Again, Aragorn and Legolas were startled by her understanding of the elder-tongue.

Legolas listened closely, using his senses to pinpoint exactly what they were facing, "The White Wizard approaches." He revealed softly. Kali panicked in her mind, Sarumon?! I don't want to die! Can a really powerful Wizard kill me? Probably. Her hands shaking, she reached for her bow.

"Do not him speak, he will put a spell on us. We must be swift." Aragorn whispered to the companions. Gimli nodded slightly and readied his axe. Legolas strung an arrow in his bow, I feel immense power and a bright light, this must be Sarumon. He glanced over at Kali, she was shaking slightly as she too strung an arrow in her bow and waited. If the Wizard tries to take her I will protect her as best as I can, but this is a Wizard, I don't think even I could take down one so powerful. Aragon nodded and charged forward, the rest followed him and struck out immediately. But Gimli's axe shattered, Legolas' and Kali's arrows broke, and Aragorn's sword grew red-hot in his grasp and he was forced to drop it. They all squinted into the bright light and flinched at the booming voice,

"You are tracking the footsteps of two young Hobbits,"

"Where are they?" Aragorn shouted, stepping forward.

"They passed this way, and they met with someone they did not expect, does that comfort you?"

"Where are you, show yourself!" The bright light faded slowly and Kali began to see who it was behind the light. By her friends expressions of amazement and elation she realized that it must not be Sarumon, and when Legolas and Gimli knelt she began to wonder who this really was. Aragorn whispered in almost disbelief, "But you fell,"

"Through fire, and water. Then I fought my enemy at the tallest tower on the highest peak and when all hope would have faded, I smote it and cast the body down the mountainside. Darkness overcame me, and I slipped out of all knowledge of the passing of time. Stars wheeled above me, but then I was called back to complete what must be done. So I return to you now, at the turn of the tide,"

"Gandalf," Aragorn whispered in reverence as he gazed at his companion in wonder. Oh, so that's who this is… I completely forgot about him…

"Gandalf?" The Wizard asked, "Oh yes. That was what they used to call me… Gandalf the Grey." He smiled, "I am Gandalf the White."

The moved quickly through the woods being led by Gandalf, "We must move on to Rohan, war will come there and they need our aid."

Aragorn moved forward and motioned for Kali to follow him, they approached Gandalf while walking. "Gandalf, while you were away Kali joined our Fellowship, she is-"

"One of the Dead, I know." Gandalf finished before the Ranger could. "The Lady Galadriel told me all about her and how she will affect this quest." A playful glint came to his eye, "And also how this young lady is afraid of horses." Kali paled and Gandalf chuckled.

Gimli roared with laughter, "That's the Gandalf we know! Teasing people to no end of their weaknesses!"

When they came to the end of the forest both Kali and Legolas looked back with longing, Maybe we could have stayed longer and listened to the trees, then slept in the comfort of a forest once more together… Kali looked back and wished that they could have spent more time in there, listening to Legolas' understanding of the way things grew. I love it when he talks about the forests where he has been, I want to one day see all of the forests here in Middle Earth. Assuming I don't die permanently on this quest… Gandalf whistled loudly and waited for his ride. That was the most epic taxicab whistle I have ever heard… Kali thought with a little snort of laughter. She stayed amused until a whiny answered, and a beautiful (And terrifying) white horse came galloping to them. Kali was about to jump and hide behind Legolas but she stopped when she saw that his face held admiration and something else that she couldn't quite understand. "That is one of the Meras, unless my eyes are cheated by some spell…" he said in wonder as the horse trotted up to Gandalf and let the Wizard stroke his nose,

"Shadowfax, he has been my friend through many dangers," The two other horses that had accompanied them came trotting up as well, but they didn't look happy when they saw Kali again. Aw, great! I thought we ditched this chick! They seemed to say as they shuffled backwards, she scooted away from them with a terrified expression. The rest of the Fellowship saw her horror and chuckled, she turned to them with hurt in her eyes,

"You aren't going to make me ride one again, are you?" She pleaded with puppy-eyes. The others felt their will bend but Gandalf, who had had thousands of years of practice saying no to people, smiled and said,

"I'm afraid you are going to have to do just that, come on, get on the horse." Kali was about to protest when Legolas stated,

"You can ride with me for the day, as long as Gimli doesn't mind riding with Aragorn."

Gimli shrugged, "Fine by me."

Riding with Legolas wasn't as bad. She rode in front of him so his arms were around her waist so he could handle the reins. She blushed and mumbled at first but gradually got used to it and found it quite nice. Ever since she had first tasted his blood she knew that he wasn't going to push her away and let her die if it came to that. He had been supportive and kind to her, and she felt a pang in her chest when she realized that she might be falling for him. To her Legolas seemed perfect, so alluring and tantalizing. Legolas noticed a change in her breathing and murmured, "Are you alright?" She made a little noise and shuddered, which he translated as fear of being on the horse. "I-I'm fine…" She stuttered when she had found her voice. He smiled, she is so adorable when flustered… but I like her smile more.

"Could you smile?" He asked, and then realized he had said that out loud, "It might make the fear go away," He added quickly. Kali turned her head to face him and gave him a small wavering smile with a cute blush spread across her cheeks. He smiled back and his eyes shone bright blue; Oh God, he's gorgeous! Kali whipped her head back around and covered her face, wanting to hide her subtle rosiness. One of his hands reached up and took her hands away from her face; she looked back up at him, taken by surprise. He smiled, "You shouldn't hide yourself, you are lovely," He whispered in her ear. She shivered and wished that he could say that to her for every day of the rest of eternity.

That night they stopped to give the horses a rest and to catch up on all the sleep they missed. Legolas carried Kali, who had fallen asleep on the horse, to a flat area where he set her down. Aragorn and Gimli stretched their saddle-sore legs and sat down on the rough ground. Gandalf got off Shadowfax and the horse galloped off away from the group, wanting to roam elsewhere. Gandalf sat down on the rock next to Gimli and Aragorn and gazed off into the distance, "I will take the night watch, get some rest-" Loud snores interrupted him mid-sentence and everyone looked at the dwarf, who was snoring away at this point, in silence.

"How does he do it?" Wondered Aragorn; Gandalf and Legolas chuckled and turned away from the dwarf.

"You are sure you are fine staying up Gandalf?" The elf asked once more, the Wizard waved him off and continued to stare into the west. Legolas went over to where Kali slept, he wished he could sleep with her in his arms, but he felt too shy to show that much affection in front of the others. So instead he lie down not that far from her and his eyes glazed over into elvish sleep. As he slipped into dreams he thought; when I can get her alone, I will try to tell her what I feel for her…

Aragorn couldn't sleep that night, he felt like there was something's he needed to discuss with Gandalf. So he just got up and sat down next to the Wizard, "Gandalf?" The Wizard looked sideways at him and cocked an eyebrow. "Can Kali die again, and for good?"

Gandalf blew some air out of his mouth in thought. "Yes, but I doubt it will happen."

Aragorn looked curiously at him, "Why?"

"Her kind are only venerable in only one place, do you know where that is?"

Aragorn thought but he came up with nothing. "I don't know."

"Of course you don't, her weakness isn't physical, it has to do with why the elves succeeded in that one battle and almost killed all of the Dead for good."

Aragorn thought back to his lessons with Elrond, "All I remember learning is the entire battle lasted an hour and before the battle a few elves snuck into the Dead's camp for a few days…"

Gandalf snorted, "As you'd expect from Lord Elrond; he tells few of the Dead's weakness. It is the heart; the dead can only be killed by those they love. It renders them defenseless to protect themselves, it brings out the humanity in them so much that a few had converted back to being alive. Those elves made the dead fall for them, and hard; later they slaughtered them. No elves were proud of that, so they kept the details quiet and they tried to forget about it." Aragorn's eyes widened and he glanced back at Kali; she slept soundly a few feet from Legolas with a little smile on her lips. Gandalf saw him looking and chuckled, "That is why I don't worry; Legolas will take care of her. But there are two other ways the Dead can die, but it isn't as easy. By blood loss, but you would have to wait because bleeding them to death won't work, they heal remarkably fast. And the other way is for them to return to the place they were killed."

Aragorn felt relieved that Kali was in no danger of becoming deader. Gimli snorted loudly in his sleep and Aragorn grinned; maybe there was hope for the Fellowship yet.