Summary: Arawin, a seventeen year old girl living in a small village in Rohan, never suspected that the rumored darkness would reach her, but the orcs from the Black Tower near them came, and now her town is all but destroyed. Now she with her eight year old sister behind her must warn the King of the Mark of the impending threat in hopes that he will fight back. The journey is shown to be only the beginning of a much larger world, and the mystery of her heritage is suddenly more complicated than she ever could have guessed.

A/N Hi guys! I know it's been a hot minute since I've been on here, but I was watching Two Towers again and that side story about the two kids whose village got destroyed really caught my interest, and from that spark this idea happened.

I've never done a Lord of the Rings or Hobbit fanfiction before, so please be kind. Review, favorite, and follow! (but mostly review). Feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.

Sorry this author's note is long. It won't be so long again, I promise!

And, without further review, I present: Child of the White Tree.

Flames.

Ashes and smoke drift up from the many houses in the small village of Westfold. Seventeen year old Arawin runs, runs as fast her legs can carry her, because she knows that any slip, any stumble, could lead to her death. But nothing can save her already doomed town.

She hears the screams of the villagers and the abruptly cut off sobs and blinks away tears as she thinks of how things used to be, before the dark times, before the orcs starting testing her villages' already weak defenses.

Isengard, the black tower whose shadow sometimes touches Arawin's house, has never paid them any trouble before. But things have changed.

Everything has changed.

Her breathing now comes through in weak gasps, and she doesn't know if she can run any longer. She trips and tries to struggle to her feet, but orcs surround her. The nearest one grins hideously and lifts a sword over her chest.

Arawin screams.

Arawin's eyes flew open.

She took deep breaths to try and calm herself down. It was only a dream. A dream based in truth, yes, but just a dream. She reached down and clutched her dagger hanging at her side. Somehow it comforted her, even though she knew that if a real enemy came upon them, it wouldn't be much help.

Arawin doubted she could go back to sleep. It wasn't as if she was rested (she doubted that she'd be rested for a very long time) but somehow she knew that if she fell back asleep, the nightmares would return.

She rolled over on her back and stared at the sky. It was black, yet almost grey, signaling that the sun was rising. Tips of sunlight made their way over the mountains behind them. Stars slowly winked out of existence, and sun kissed her face.

Arawin would have been quite happy to just lay there peacefully in the forest. But she couldn't. She had a duty do her family, her village, and most especially her mother.

'Go,' she'd said. 'And don't look back. I could not save the village, but you can save the country.' But then she had been dragged away by the orcs. She'd met Arawin's eyes one last time. 'Go!'

Arawin wrenched herself out of the recollection. There was no point to dwelling on memories.

She turned to look at her sister, Mildred, sleeping peacefully under hers and Arawin's blanket. Her face was smooth, untroubled by nightmares and traumatic experiences. That will soon change, Arawin thought sadly. Even if they both made it out of there alive, neither of them would ever be the same.

It broke Arawin's heart that this had to come to sweet, innocent Mildred. She wasn't meant for fighting, and if Arawin could take the burden by herself, she would.

Determination replaced all other feelings. She would make it to the palace. She would tell the king what had happened and he would finally stop hiding, as her mother had told her. 'Maybe it will goad him into action.', she had said. That is, unless he was as old and feeble as the stories made him sound…

But perhaps if they got there (when they got there, Arawin told herself stubbornly) she would be able to see her brother Edward.

The day he had turned eighteen, which was one year ago, he had told Mother that he was riding to Edoras to try to get work there. Their family was even poorer than most of the families in the village, especially ever since Father had died. Their mother had protested fiercely, but once Edward set his mind to something, he would do it, one of the few traits he had inherited from their mother.

They had gotten only two letters over the past year from him. They said that he was fine, but that the King was deteriorating faster than his doctors had thought possible, and that he was practically doing whatever his adviser told him to do.

Would a king like that listen to two girls? Maybe not, but all Arawin could do was hope.

She rubbed her eyes as the tips of the sun peaked over the mountains. Mildred stirred and yawned. Arawin shook her gently to finish the waking up process.

"Go 'way." She murmured. "Not morning yet."

"The sun's up, Millie!" Arawin did her best to sound cheerful. "Time to get moving! The sun's awake, so I'm awake, so-"

Millie groaned and sat up, silencing her older sister. She rubbed her eyes, but Arawin knew it was mostly to hide the tears glittering in her eyes, rather than fatigue.

"Do we have to go?" She cocked her head at Arawin and Arawin could see the broken look in her sister's eyes.

It took everything Arawin had to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow. She had to be strong. She wanted more than anything in the world to erase the fear in Mildred's gaze, to hug her and say everything was fine, that they could stay here in the woods with no cares.

But she couldn't. Illusions did more harm than good, she knew that firsthand. The journey was long, and the job that was postponed was the one that took the longest to finish. "I'm sorry, Mildred. But we do."

Arawin pulled her sister to her feet and boosted her on to the horse. Arawin mounted it as well with a grace that befitted one raised in the land of the horse lords.

Keeping her gaze firmly away from the smoke behind them, she kicked the horse and didn't look back.

She never did.

A/N And the exposition is (mostly) over! Please tell me what you think, I'm really excited to continue with this story. Sorry it's so short, this is honestly just a starting point. The other chapters will be better. PLEASE review! Just one! Tell me that you think my story is crap, I don't care. I just really would like to know if someone read this.

Anyways, peace out!