Hey everyone! I worked super late last night to get this up. This is the last chapter to part one! Part two is well underway but I will be taking a break from posting for a few weeks to focus on writing more of part two. I have a small vacation coming up and have plenty of time to put in some good creative hours. I hope you've enjoyed reading so far. I know I've enjoyed writing my first fanfiction. You've all been so wonderful. Thank you, sincerely, to all the readers, followers, and reviewers. You guys make it so worth it. Until next time. Enjoy. xoxox

It was nearly another full day before she woke again and although she ached in body, she felt well rested and strong. Under her mound of blankets and furs she turned to her side to observe her quiet room and was surprised to see Eowyn tending to the fire across the way.

She was dressed casually in a working brown knit dress with a light gray over apron smudged with a variety of different substances Nat could not identify from her position. When she stood her gaze found Nat's almost instantly. A genuine smile blossomed on her face and her eyes brightened at the sight of Natalie as she shifted to sit up. She clasped her hands in happiness as she approached the side of her bed and sat down upon the mattress. Moments later Nat found herself wrapped in her warm embrace, "You're awake!" she sat back to look her over, "And looking much better today." Eowyn tucked her flaming hair behind her ear and examined her bruised face. The swelling was nearly gone but the color was horrendous, dark and purple; it stretched from her brow nearly to her jaw. Her eye had several broken blood vessels but even those had already begun to fade. She ran a light finger over the bone and was even happier when Natalie didn't wince from the pressure.

"How are you feeling?" She inquired as she removed Nat's blankets and checked her shoulder. Natalie brushed her hands aside with a laugh.

"I'm surprisingly good." Her voice was strong and sure. It's previous raspiness had nearly disappeared.

"You gave us all a fright yesterday." Eowyn supplied and took Nat's hands to give them a gentle squeeze. The light reflected off her full wet eyes.

Lightly Nat replied, "My apologies." She squeezed her hands back and gave her a small smile. Eowyn wiped at her own cheek as the moisture in her eyes threatened to spill over. Her emotions were blatantly clear even with the haze of tiredness in her features. Eowyn had clearly been worried for her. She had borne the weight of too much worry for one so young as her country and family were torn apart and thrust into war. The last person she should be worried about was Natalie. Nat hoped that her termination of Grima gave the blond some small amount of peace.

"Thank you, Natalie…." Eowyn said in earnest. They both knew what for. She hoped Eowyn had put a spike through the bastard head and strapped it to the ramparts. When she asked as much, the other woman only laughed and shook her head. The question wouldn't have amused any other women but the two of them.

Eowyn folded her in another soft embrace. Her words from before she had left echoed between them. In her own way, Natalie was kind to those she cared for. She would sacrifice everything for them and defend them.

Whatever the personal cost.

Releasing her with a gentle ease, Eowyn reached far for a jar of salve on the side table. She spread it softly over Nat's cheek.

"For the bruising." She added as she smeared the substance until it was rubbed into her skin. As the smell of mint hit her Nat's thoughts drifted to Haldir. If it hadn't been for the cooling properties of the ointment, she was sure Eowyn would have seen the heat rise into her cheeks as the memories from the day before came forth. She wasn't one to blush but at the thought of him; how he'd held her in his arms. The gentle slide of his hands over hers. The rich timber of his voice against the rim of her ear. It all sent her heart pounding wildly. His warm embrace and heady scent had stirred something deep inside her, awakened her to a need she hadn't thought she still possessed. The want of a man had been an old forgotten feeling until she had met him. He had gotten under her skin.

It was then she realized Eowyn was still talking as she sorted the tonics and salves on the side table, "...Wulfric is still just outside. We took shifts between us to check in on you. The healers are too few to watch over their patents night and day, even ones as severe as you were…" She met Nat's eyes then, sorrow creeping into her features, "I thought you were dead when the Marchwarden rode in with you. You were so bloodied and bruised, at first I didn't recognize you slumped against him." She swiped at her eyes again as she remembered seeing Theodred much the same, "I've never seen a man look as he did with you in his arms." He hadn't been frantic or desperate as she would have expected. He had been furious, angered to the point of barking orders at Theoden and Aragorn who had met him at the gates. Eowyn had watched him harness his rage until he had everyone marching obediently to do his bidding. Retrieving his company's medical supplies, finding a healer, locating a room, finding her clean clothes; No one had dared refuse him. "He was covered in your blood, as was the whither and shoulders of his horse."

Nat knew she had been in rough shape. She'd taken a beating sense she had landed here and been well do for some rest.

Carefully, she slid her legs out of bed and looked up at Eowyn, "Help me up." She commanded reaching out her hand to the lady and the other to chair at her bedside.

Eowyn stepped carefully to her side and gripped her hand. Nat should not have been getting out of bed at all but Eowyn knew they were well alike, and she would have wanted nothing more than to be on her feet again. Nat stood quite strongly on her own and kept her balance well as she padded to the small wash bowl nearest the fire. Carefully she pulled her bed dress over her head and grabbed the nearest washing cloth. Eowyn stood by patiently as Nat freshened up. Eowyn had helped the healers clean Nat when she had arrived. The sheets and blankets had been blood stained by the time she had finished. Her tattered body looked miraculously better in just the few days she had been resting. It was astounding given her previous condition.

Eowyn stepped closer and examined Nat as she cleaned herself. Her wounds were clean, and some were nearly healed, cleanly at that.

"How…" Her mouth went dry. Her flesh had knit itself together flawlessly. "How is this possible?"

As she came around to Natalie's front with a drying towel Eowyn noticed two small scars on her abdomen just above her hip bones. Both were equal in length and unlike her currently healing wounds the skin there was raised and slightly pink. There were no other scars on her body.

"What was the cause of those?" Nat continued drying herself, knowing perfectly well what she was referring to. When she didn't answer at first Eowyn continued, "It's only you've healed so well everywhere else...what caused those to scar?"

Natalie wrapped the towel snuggle around her body, under her arms, "Where are my clothes?" She kept her tone even; those marks were an unpleasant reminder of what she'd been made into. Eowyn hesitated from the sudden change in subject but quickly righted herself and showed her to the neat stack of clothing on the chair.

"Your clothes were beyond ruined but I found these in your pack. I had them cleaned."

Nat picked up the heaven woolen shirt and shrugged it on.

Eowyn went on, "I didn't mean to cause you offence…"

"You didn't offend me." Nat said as she dropped her towel and began to dress slowly. She sat on the bed and slipped her legs into slim fitted leggings unsure if this was something Eowyn would be able to absorb.

"I didn't grow up like you ...I was made into a weapon and taught early to use my body as such, as a way to get information or whatever was needed." She looked up and caught Eowyn's eye as she lay back on the bed to buttoned herself into her trousers instead of standing up.

"I was created for a single purpose. I wasn't brought up with all these romantic ideals of how life was supposed to be. Of how sex was supposed to be, like normal people." Eowyn's cheeks instantly flamed with a blush as Natalie charged on. Sex was natural, nearly everyone would have it at some point in life. It just happened to be an aspect of her life she'd been conditioned to.

"It was just like every other type of training they put me through. It was unpleasant at first and difficult, but it was a tool, and it proved to be a useful one." She sat up and snagged the hairbrush for Eowyn's out stretch hand and began to work through her short hair. The heat from Eowyn's cheeks had worked its way down her neck.

"When I was sixteen, I graduated fully from their program and was deemed fit for field work after my final exam." She thought how best to carry on with her story in a way Eowyn would understand. "They made me stronger than I should be. Faster, smarter, and my body...it heals differently than yours." She touched the only scars she would ever have. "They told me it was a gift, but it was an insurance policy for the people I worked for. The people that made me what I am." She winced as she tugged through a rather large knot. "They wanted two things. One, to prolong my use as a valuable asset for as long as possible. A return on their investment if you will. And Secondly, they wanted to be sure I would stay focused. That I would never value something more than my job. No strings, no complications, no foolish romantic notions ...those were the rules."

Nat watched as Eowyn began to put her story together. It was easy to surmise that Nat could not bear children and that she had been forced into sex with men as part of her training. Eowyn's expression went from embarrassed to angry to heart broken in a blink of an eye. Yes, Nat thought, I felt those things once too.

She had almost broken those rules once; before she'd received her graduation present. She had been young, only fourteen, and at the time knew just enough to be dangerous. Back then there had been a boy she would have risked it all for but that was before. Before she had really known the extensive reach of the Red Room. Before he'd betrayed her in the hopes of advancing his graduation. Before she'd been forced to kill him.

It had broken her heart. What was left of it had been shattered when she had been ordered to put Marina down for having the one thing Nat had dreamed of having for herself. A home. A life...and someone to share it with. That dream had died a long time ago. She had buried it deep and had satisfied herself with what small connections she'd safely allowed herself. The homeless woman who lived outside her old apartment that said, 'Good morning', even when it wasn't. The barista at her favorite coffee shop with his dark eyes and even darker skin. The security guard on her floor whose instincts had him frowning after her whenever she walked by. They had all been small connections. People she had gotten in the habit of seeing. Then Clint had come into her life and everything had changed.

Nat proceeded to braid her own hair, "It's not a life I would have chosen for myself if I'd had any choice at all but given the circumstances…." She trailed off and let Eowyn fill in the blanks. She had no right to be a mother not when she had taken the lives of sons and daughters for decades. She had been lucky enough in her life, she supposed, just to have Clint, his wife, and their children as her nuclear family.

She tied her hair off and tucked the braided end up under itself.

Eowyn's mind was reeling from Nat's confession. She had not expected such openness from the woman who had previously been so guarded. Arduous times had the tendency to change people and relationships. Often catapulting them on the fast track to failure or forging the relationship into an unbreakable bond strong enough to withstand the tests of time. With that in mind Eowyn steeled herself for her friend. A woman she had grown to admire in strength and resilience. A woman who did not want Eowyn's pity or anyone else's. She wasn't looking for sympathy, she was looking for strength. She was exposing herself to Eowyn as if to say, 'this is me as I am, you can take me or leave me'.

Natalie's stomach growled loudly suggesting that a visit to the kitchens was in order.

Decidedly, Eowyn took Nat's arm, "Let us pay Berta a visit. She's been hard at work preparing for the journey back to Edoras tomorrow." She tugged her toward the door. "We will break bread together..."

Nat gripped Eowyn's arm firmly, relieved at the idea of getting out of the stuffy room she had been enclosed in for days. With an efficient hand Eowyn released the door that opened into the hall, "All of us." she finished.

Fresh air hit Nat instantly. She breathed it in deeply and refreshed the stale air in her lungs. And there sitting in a chair much too small for his hulking body was Wulfric. A mixture of feelings rose up at the sight of him tired and frowning as they stared at one another in momentary silence. He looked surprised to see her out of bed and on her own feet. He grimaced at what he had done to her face. Even with the swelling reduced, half of the porcelain skin of her face was purple with deep bruises. He followed the line of bruises down her cheek, jaw and past her neck where it disappeared at the low collar of her shirt. He knew that she suffered more injuries beneath the finely tailored clothes.

He rose slowly, the chair creaking in relief as it was released from the burden of his weight. Wulfric moved slowly, stepping forward with an outstretched hand. With a heavy heart he gripped her uninjured shoulder. When she didn't shy away or shrug him off, he stepped closer and gave her a gentle squeeze. They locked eyes.

Her face was as serious as ever. It wasn't quite trust between them, but he had a feeling a tentative friendship had rekindled between them.

"If you even think about apologizing... I'll gut you." Nat slipped her hand over the top of his and patted him gently, assuring him that everything was alright between them again. For once, completely unguarded, he could tell she actually meant it. "Now feed me and for the love of God keep me away from the dwarf." She grimaced and gave a small pained chuckle, "I don't think I'm stable enough to handle his attention."

Nat's belly was painfully full. She had filled herself to the brim with Berta's roasted chicken, potatoes, and some semi sweet biscuits dipped in honey. She groaned as she sat back in her chair. The four of them had entertained themselves in the kitchens for half the day. All Nat had done was watch Wulfric tirelessly haul sack after sack of grain and flower out of the stores to take back with them to Edoras.

Wulfric was a man worth looking at twice. He was attractive in the typical sense with his strong jaw and muscled frame. He did nothing for Nat personally but that didn't mean she wasn't going to look or watch Eowyn look and blush every five minutes. It was rather amusing really, how easily Eowyn's cheeks flamed red when it came to that man. Aragorn had a similar effect on Eowyn. Nat supposed women here weren't typically comfortable with their sexuality and most fell into the conservative category, especially a woman of nobility.

Wulfric walked past again with two sacks of grain tossed over one shoulder. Nat ignored him and followed Eowyn's gaze as it homed in on the tight line of his muscled shoulders until he rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. He'd be back in just a few moments.

"Does he know how you feel about him?" Nat asked as she skimmed her thumb into the jar of honey and gave it a lick. Eowyn's gaze shot to hers and her cheeks flamed even more. "You surprise me with the coy behavior. I always thought you'd be more assertive in that regard…" Nat reached again for the honey only to have her knuckles whipped by a wooden spoon clutched in Berta's hands. She was quick as a viper with that thing.

Eowyn cleared her throat and patted her chest in an attempt to gather her wits but before she had a chance to speak Berta did for her, "Leave her be Nat. She doesn't need you harpin' on her."

"I wouldn't call it harping...just a casual inquiry." Nat said as she took another bite of her biscuit. Her already full belly protested at the addition, but she didn't care. It all tasted so incredibly good. "Blithe curiosity." She added.

Eowyn opened her mouth to speak just as Wulfric walked in again. The first few ties of his shirt had come loose, and the tree woman got a small peak at the muscled chest behind it. He'd worked up a subtle sheen of sweat. "How many more are down there?" Nat asked casually, absorbing Eowyn's flushed face and wide eyes. With Wulfric at Eowyn's back he was unlikely to see her reaction.

His deep baritone replied, "Fewer than when I started." He gave a small smirk, "Fifteen or so...maybe twenty." He lifted the hem of his loose shirt and swiped the sweat off his brow. His abdominal muscles flexed as he did so, "Should be done soon." Unaffected Nat nibbled at her biscuit and watched this time as Berta's face tinged pink. Ha. He went back down the storage stairs.

Nat smiled at Berta. her cheeks were bright, and she clutched her wooden spoon with both hands. Eowyn cleared her throat again.

"There could never be anything between us." She said quietly, picking up her mug of tea and sipping quietly. Eowyn met Nat's eyes over the top of her mug. They both heard the shuffling footfalls as he made his way back up the stairs. He heaved both sacks of grain up higher unto his shoulder as he carried his load through the doorway. He didn't pause as he exited the kitchen with his cargo.

Nat shot Eowyn a questioning look once he was out of ear shot, "I'm mortal and he is not." Eowyn set down her mug with a thud, looking sheepish from her unintentional display of frustration.

"What hope could there ever be for a relationship between us? I will one day wither and die and he will remain young… and beautiful for all the days of his life."

"One day?" Nat asked, "I don't give a rats ass about one day. You could die a year from now, next week, or tomorrow. Why waste your time on the what ifs of the future when all you could have left is today?" Nat insisted encouragingly, if only she lived as she preached. Nat had denied herself many times during her long life. She had always gone without. It was easier not to need anything or anyone then to want and have it to be ripped away.

Eowyn shook her head in denial, "Perhaps if I had been born a man or a woman of common birth I would be free to be with whom I chose, when I chose, but as it stands I will only ever know the man I am to marry." She took a small bite of one of Berta's sweet biscuits but the expression on her face was bitter. "I only hope I get some say in whom that might be."

Berta took a seat beside Eowyn and took her hands into her own aged ones. "Any man would be a lucky one to 'ave a woman such as you at his side." She patted her affectionately. A mother hen with no children of her own Berta was not in short supply of sage advice and wise words.

Nat chimed in, "I highly doubt your brother would tolerate anyone other than the best of men as a potential spouse for you." She grinned, "In the mean-time there are ways to pursue men and still remain…" Nat lifted her fingers in parenthetical emphasis, "intact."

"Natalie!" Berta scolded as Eowyn's blush went back to full blaze. Eowyn threw her remaining biscuit at Nat, who slowed by tiredness and injury simply let it collide with her chest. Laughing, Nat leaned back in her chair, propped her feet up and picked at said remaining biscuit.

"You've been spendin' too much time with them girls at Ingrid's place you 'ave!" Nat's laugh died in her throat.

"I saw you headed there a time or two...two too many if you ask me." Nat slipped her feet off the chair casually and reached for her drink in an effort to hide the surprise she felt at Berta's declaration. "And in the wee hours of the mornin' no less! Who goes to a whore house first thing in the mornin'?" Nat sipped her drink lightly eyeing Berta who continued on her mindless tirade. If Eowyn noticed Nat's change in demeanor she didn't show it. Not good.

Nat interrupted Berta with a dismissive wave. "The Madam has offered me coin for removing guests who have overstayed their welcome." The lie left her mouth as smoothly as turth. "She has a business to run just as you do Berta."

She gave Berta a smooth parallel to transition her thoughts to a new topic. With any luck she would jump to making arrangements for her own affairs. The woman did have an inn to run when they returned to Rohan.

On steady but tired feet Nat stood with the full intention of returning to her rooms for the remainder of the evening hours, hopefully the morning would find her well rested and healed.

"Ladies, it's been a pleasure but I'd very much like to rest before we depart in the morning." Eowyn roused to her feet but Nat motioned for her to remain seated.

"I can find my own way well enough Eowyn, thank you." Nat was pleased that she had diverted their attention with little more than a white lie. They were good women and better off not knowing the things she was willing to do in the dark.

She dismissed herself and gave them both a fond farewell with a promise to Eowyn to find her in the early hours of the morning so that the pair of them might travel with one another. With a full stomach and a lighter heart Nat found her room and entered it's inviting warmth. The fire still burned merrily in its hearth after the numerous hours it had been without an attendant. She tossed what was left of the split wood into flames to last her the night. The smoky scent of fire mingled with cedar, the clean fresh hint of herbs and something warmer that made her want to close her eyes and breath it into her lungs. The combination warmed her to her very bones. Haldir had been here and not long ago if his lingering scent was any indication.

Her skin tingled as she thought of him. She slipped between the warm furs that lined her simple bed. She inhaled deeply. His scent lingered here too, where he had held her to him and comforted her in ways, she hadn't known she needed. Content, for the first time in a long time, she drifted peacefully to sleep.

The Golden Wood burned.

Haldir struggled to draw breath through the smoke and ash that overwhelmed the air. His homeland was a blazing inferno. Great mallorn trees snapped and splintered. Their once magnificent trunks, hollowed and weakened by flames, collapsed around him under the weight of their own canopies. The metallic leaves that he loved so, were nothing more than ashes. He could feel them, screaming as they burned. For millennia he had lived within these trees; he had long ago considered their branches and leaves his home. He had guarded them with his life and his reward had been their song, a melody of nature that had brought his hardened war-torn heart some small amount of peace.

His breath stalled in his lungs and his heartbeat wildly in his chest in horror.

"Nei!" He breathed as he stepped forward and laid his hand upon a smoldering mallorn its once proud branches lay in broken fragments at its roots. It was silent at his touch. Its hollowed emptiness echoed into the furthest reaches of his heart.

"Nei!" He cried again as he recoiled his hand, it too was now burnt. Sickened, his stomach turned, bile rose in his throat and he wretched upon the ground. Blood there was so much blood. It flowed from him and pooled across the forest floor. He reached to wipe his face and his hands were covered in it, dripping in heated crimson. His stomach dropped again, and he fell to his knees crying out in despair. He knew without inquiry that it was his blood and the blood of his people that covered him. He lifted his head, there was nothing he could do but watch as Lothlorien burned and died.

The time of the elves was over.

He saw her then, between what had once been two mighty mallorn. Even amongst the flames and smoke he recognized her. He would know her anywhere. Her eyes were wide with confusion when her searching gaze finally met his. Her brilliant green to his blue. His soul shuttered, chest aching he could not find the words to call to her. She stepped forward hesitantly, once, and then twice. Her black sleek uniform was dusted with ash and it clung heavily to her vibrant hair. Her eyes were fixated on him, furrowed in confusion and worry. She reached out and touched the ash that had fallen into her hair watching as it fell to dust in her hand. Thoughtfully she looked back to him and with purpose set her path to his.

He could feel the heat of flames on his face now, searing his flesh with its intensity.

Steadfast and surefooted she leapt over a fallen tree to his side. Without hesitation she cupped his face in her cool hands and knelt beside him. His eyes fell shut. He sighed in relief at the contact and leaned into her touch. With desperate blood-stained hands, he gripped her slender wrists.

"Haldir." She said softly and gently coaxed his face around to her.

He felt her hands leave his face and travel down his jaw and neck. Their coolness left goose-flesh in their wake. Down over his shoulders and further still until she clasped his bloodied hands in her own.

"Look at me." Her voice soothed as she rested her brow against his. Her breath ghosted over the corner of his mouth as she nudged his nose with hers.

"Haldir." She murmured again. He opened his eyes to stare intently at hers. She offered him a comforting gaze and raised his bloodied hands between them to her lips. With a gentleness that surprised him she kissed his burnt and bloodied hands.

Eyes locked.

"It's only a dream." She whispered as she clutched his hands. The blood faded as she turned his hands over in her own.

She gripped them tightly, "Only a dream." She slipped one of his hands up to her cheek and grazed the sensitive skin of his palm with her lips.

Their world fell away around them. Lothlorien drifted from view in a haze of smoke and ash. She remained. She was all there was. She was everything.

His heart clenched with the immense weight of his grief. His home was gone. His family was dead. The time of the elves was over.

As if she felt his despair, she drew him into her tightly. Her arms wrapped around him, firm and comforting. He folded into her and breathed her in.

Her lips floated over the rim of his ear.

"Wake up."