A/N: I'm so sorry for the lack of updates. I've just started my first job which is full time so you can imagine that takes up most of my time at the moment as I've only been there a few days.

Thanks to my Beta: Aeryun

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Chapter Ten, Caradhras

"How long have you been up?" Legolas asked Aragorn as he came into the kitchen following the smell of the food Aragorn was cooking. They had all decided to take turns with the cooking so no one was doing the same jobs days on end, but everyone agreed whether they vocalised their opinions or not,that they loved Evelina's cooking the best. "Awhile. I couldn't sleep." Aragon said absently as he cooked the sausages. "I was worried about Eve and I went to check on her when I heard her crying out in her sleep. She was having nightmares again, her sleeps been broken at best. After I calmed her down the third time I decided to start on breakfast."

"She's been having nightmares again?" Legolas asked with a concerned frown on his face his silver eyes dulling till they looked like shards of ice; Aragorn nodded his head with a sigh. "Did she say what it was about?" Aragorn shook his head. "No, but I can guess what it was about. Afterwards I just stayed with her to soothe her if she started having them again." Aragorn said sadly he wished there was some way that he could help her.
"The war." Legolas realised, Aragorn made an agreeing noise in the back of his throat as he dished up the breakfasts with Legolas's help.

It was then they heard soft footfalls behind them and turned to see Evelina standing in the doorway looking all disheveled and sleep deprived with the black circles under her eyes and her paler than normal skin. She had a guilty look on her face as she looked at Aragorn and both he and Legolas knew what it was about.
"You don't need to apologise Eve, it's not your fault and I'll never hold that or anything against you. You can't help having nightmares no more than anyone else can." Aragorn said before she could say anything.

He held her hands gently in his own as he kissed her lovingly on the forehead. "We don't want to hear you apologise Eve for it is not your fault." Legolas told her firmly as he too kissed her on the cheek. "Now, come and sit at the table and eat the breakfast Aragorn made. It's not as good as yours but you need to keep your strength up." Legolas shared a look with Aragorn who huffed at his remark but he had a smile on his face as he heard Evelina giggle as she sat down at the table in between the two of them.

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They'd been travelling for a few hours now with the sun beating down on their necks when they decided to rest for lunch. Evelina was feeling a bit better than she had when she'd woken up after her nightmares and feeling guilty about keeping Aragorn up. She still felt guilty no matter what they said but it wasn't weighing her down as much as before. The time she spent laughing and joking with Aragorn and Legolas while they waited for everyone to get up and helped her tremendously, especially the three of them getting to know each other a bit better. They had decided to stop at a rocky clearing where the large rocks could at least provide a resemblance of shade.

Evelina was sitting on a rock in the middle of Aragorn, who was eating an apple, and Neville, as they watched Boromir give some more training to Pippin and Merry. Sam and Frodo sat on a few rocks behind them cooking their lunch. Gandalf was sitting a little ways away from them smoking on his pipe and listening to Gimli complain about taking the long way round. Legolas was on guard duty looking out over the vast lands that lay ahead of them. Evelina sighed in content as she rested her head on Aragorn's shoulder. Aragorn smiled down at Evelina and wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her closer to him, he kissed her forehead.

"Are you alright Mîr-nîn?" Aragorn asked her. Evelina nodded her head from where it rested on his shoulder. "Yes. Are you alright? After I kept you up half the night." Evelina asked concerned with guilt seeping through into her voice. "Meleth-nîn I've told you there is nothing to be sorry for. So stop apologising." Aragorn said firmly, but the love in his eyes and voice took the bite out of that remark. He kissed her softly but passionately on the lips as he ran his calloused thumb across her cheek. They only separated when the call for air became too much they rested their foreheads against the other and starring lovingly into each other's eyes as they took in this peaceful moment.

They jumped a part ready to fight when they heard Pippin's cry of pain. They looked over to him only to see that Boromir had accidentally nicked him on the hand. They laughed when Pippin kicked Boromir in the shins before he and Merry tackled him to the ground with loud cries of 'For the Shire!' After watching them for a few minutes Aragorn got up to go and separate them when he saw they still weren't letting Boromir get up. Only to end up on his back himself when the two tricksters pulled his legs out from underneath him, his apple rolling away from him. "You think that's funny do you?!" Aragorn growled as he looked over at his love to see her nearly doubled over in laughter.

Evelina was laughing so hard that she couldn't breathe and could only nod her head. Growling but with a smirk on his face, Aragorn wiggled his way out from under the two terrors who were managing to pin both him and Boromir to the ground. He made his way over to Eve and picked her up placing her over his shoulder causing her to scream in surprise, as she didn't notice him with the tears of laughter pouring from her eyes. "Aragorn! Put me down!" Evelina said trying to sound angry but it failed as she couldn't stop giggling. "Legolas! Help! Please?" Evelina called to her other mate.

Legolas couldn't help but smile when his precious called out to him. He so wished he could go to her so she wouldn't get the wrong idea, but there was something odd about that black mass in the air that he was trying to identify. Before he could answer her Sam called out stopping everyone's rough housing. "What's that?" He asked curiously, but nervously.
"Nothing!" Gimli dismissed but he didn't sound so sure. "Just a wisp of cloud."
"That's no cloud." Neville said as he stood up pulling out his wand. "It's moving too fast and against the wind." Unknowingly Neville's comment helped Legolas finally identify it and his eyes widened in horror as he cried out. "Crebain from Dunland."

"Hide! Quick take cover!" Aragorn shouted to the others as he put Evelina down and picked up their bags. He took her hand and they ran for the cover the overhanging rocks provided. Before he dived in himself he looked around making sure everyone had taken cover and saw Legolas was doing the same. Legolas had a strange look on his face as he looked around them. Aragorn signaled that Evelina was safe with a twitch to his head. Sighing in relief Legolas dove into the bushes closest to him as Aragorn dived under the rock covering Evelina's petite form with his larger one. Just in time as the birds flew overhead, squawking loudly as they circled the clearing twice before flying off to the north.

The Fellowship waited for a few moments wanting to see if those abnormally large crows would return. When five minutes has past and they had not returned, the Fellowship slowly crawled out from their hiding places, looking around them cautiously. "Spies of Saruman." Gandalf said angrily. "The passage south is being watched. That means there is only one option open to us now. We must take the path over Caradhras." He continued as he turned to look behind him at the large snowy mountain that stood ominously in the distance. "Wait Gandalf!" Evelina called as everyone started rushing around getting ready to leave for what would be a frozen journey.

"Saruman will expect us to head straight there. We'll be walking into a trap." Evelina tried to reason with him but from the look on his face he wasn't listening to a word she was saying. "No. We will head for Caradhras straight away it is the only way, for the other paths I will not take." Gandalf said stubbornly. "Come." He said as he started walking towards the mountain. "You tried gwathel!" Neville said with a sigh as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I know gwador, but I fear Gandalf is walking into one of Saruman's trap." Evelina said with a sigh.

"Why do you think that, Miss Evelina?" Sam asked politely but with a frown mixed with concern and confusion upon his face. "Because Sam, it's what happened to me." Evelina said with a sad sigh as she readied herself for another storytelling. "It was when I and my two other friends Ron and Hermione were on the run looking for the rest of the objects to destroy Voldemort. We already had one in our possession. Neville and Luna were at the school looking after the others that still resided there. Around November Ron left us after being possessed the locket leaving Hermione and I alone.

A month after he'd left it was Christmas Eve and Hermione and I journeyed to the village where I was born and where my parents died as I wanted to see their graves. I stubbornly refused Hermione's suggestion of disguises, I didn't want to return as someone else. Voldemort had sent someone to wait for us and to contact him as soon as we arrived. Reluctantly, Hermione agreed to come with me. She knew I'd just go on my own, shortly after I saw my parent's graves and what was left of their house, we were attacked and Hermione barely got me out of there alive." Evelina said her voice distant and her eyes glassed over in remembered pain as she absentmindedly rubbed the scar on her arm where Nagini bit her and the scar over her heart where the locket had embedded itself into her skin.

"...lina, ...lina. Evelina!" The two worried voices of Aragorn and Legolas shouted as they brought her out of her morbid memories. "Are you okay, ind-nîn?" Legolas asked at the same time as Aragorn asked the same question but with a different endearment on the end. "Meleth-nîn?" Aragorn asked when there was still no answer from Evelina until a few minutes later. "I'm fine, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Is that alright?" Evelina asked them insecurely.
"That's fine ind-nîn." Legolas asked her as he bestowed a kissupon her forehead.

"You can tell us whenever you're ready, no matter the time we'll always be there to listen to you." Aragorn told her as he too kissed her forehead. Smiling happily at her mates, Evelina couldn't get over how lucky she is to have two wonderful mates. She could only hope her third mate would love and care for her just as much. With that thought in mind Evelina climbed the steep slope of Caradhras with a slight spring in her step.

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Neville grabbed Boromir's hand and pulled him out of the bank of snow he'd gotten his leg stuck in. "Thank you, Neville." He said with a nod of his head.
"Don't mention it." Neville returned with his own nod of the head, before he turned to look behind him at Evelina who was walking in between Aragorn and Legolas. They were listening to her attentively, but that they were talking about Neville had no clue, for he could not hear them over the whistling wind. Which seemed to be getting faster and louder the higher they climbed.

"Evelina is a strange being is she not?" Boromir's asked suddenly, causing Neville to whip around to glare at the man, a spell forming on his lips. "I meant no offence," Boromir said quickly raising his hands in surrender. "I just meant that she does not look like a warrior and yet she and you have the baring and the look in your eyes that say different. I don't normally trust easily, but I find myself trusting you and Evelina more than I normally would. Though that maybe because of the help you two have given all of us with keeping the Ring from corrupting our minds and hearts." Boromir said thoughtfully.

"Trust me, Eve may seem like she wouldn't hurt a fly but, she will do all she can to protect those she cares about. As will I." Neville said firmly, the hidden threat not spoken, but both knew it was there. "Do you not have any problems with the Ring then?" Neville asked curiously after a few minutes of walking in silence. Thankful for the clearing of the somewhat tense silence they'd fallen into, Boromir shook his head. "No. Not for a few days." Boromir answered honestly. "Though I have to admit that earlier when Frodo fell and I picked it up, it did call to me more than usual but I was able to fight it off more easily then what I had been."

"Well that's good." Neville said proud of his new friend. "The more you resist the Ring's manipulations the stronger your shields will be. As we've told you they are based off of your will. If your will is strong your shields will be strong and if your will is weak your shields will be weak." He assured him. Neville couldn't help but to grumble when he saw Legolas walk on top of the snow drift where the rest of them had to struggle through it. Seeing the Hobbits shivering Neville picked up Pippin and, Boromir picked up Sam and Merry and Aragorn picked up Frodo, as they didn't want the Hobbits to suffocate under the mounds of snow.

Neville, Aragorn and Boromir smiled in thanks to Evelina as she made the Hobbits weightless so it would be easier for them to carry the Hobbits through all this snow. "Are you sure you don't want any help Gimli?" Evelina asked as she saw that Gimli was struggling through the snow even with Gandalf having parted it with his staff. "I'm sure Lassie." Gimli said his voice hoarse from the cold. "Nobody carries a Dwarf. Though thank you Lassie." He said smiling thankfully at her.

Legolas frowned as he made his way to the front of the group scrunching up his eyes at the snow and the wind that seemed to becoming faster towards them. "There is a fell voice on the air." He said as he turned back to look at Gandalf only to see horrified recognition in the old Wizard's eyes. "It's Saruman!" Gandalf called to the others, Legolas rushed back over to Evelina and wrapped one arm around her as Aragorn did the same pulling her closer to them as everyone moved close to the rock wall as rocks started to fall.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn shouted as he pulled Frodo and Evelina even closer to himself. "Gandalf! We must turn back!"
"No!" Gandalf yelled back as he raised his staff in the air and began to chant. "Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i ruith." But Saruman's Magic was more powerful than Gandalf's, snow tumbled off the mountainside on to the Fellowship. Evelina and Neville used nonverbal vanishing and blasting charms to get the snow off of them do they didn't suffocate.

"Where's Gimli?" Pippin asked through chattering teeth.
"I'm here Laddie." Gimli said gruffly as he shook the snow off his head causing most of them to bite back their laughter as large clumps of snow still clung to his beard. "We must get of the mountain! Make for the Gap of Rohan and take the West road to my City!" Boromir called to them over the still roaring wind, but thankfully no more snow or rocks were falling off of the mountain. "The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard." Aragorn argued.

"If we cannot pass over the mountain," Gimli grunted. "Let us go under it. Let us pass through the mines of Moria." Evelina noticed the worried look appear on Gandalf's face as yet again Moria was mentioned, she shared a worried look with Neville for they knew nothing good could happen there if Gandalf was this worried. She snuggled closer to her mates trying to keep warm as even with a warming charm and having dried their clothes there was only so much they could do against the bitterly cold wind and the snow surrounding them from all sides. "Let the Ring Bearer decide." Gandalf spoke gravelly, Evelina shot him a glare for putting that kind of pressure on Frodo.

"We cannot stay here!" Boromir shouted as he held Sam and Merry closer to himself. "It will be the death of the Hobbits!"
"Frodo?" Gandalf asked ignoring Boromir's words and Evelina's glare much to their ire. Frodo looked back at his friends curled up in the arms of Neville and Boromir and made his decision, even as he worried that he hadn't made the right choice. "We will go through the mines." Frodo declared.
"So be it." Gandalf said solemnly.

End of chap 10!

Translation:

*Elvish: gwathel. English: sister not of blood.
*Elvish: gwador. English: brother not of blood.
*Elvish: ind-nîn. English: my heart.
*Elvish: Meleth-nîn. English: my love.
*Elvish: Losto Caradhras, sedho, hodo, nuitho i ruith! English: sleep Caradhras, be still, lie still, hold hold wrath.