•●•●•●•

Every time Hailen took a breath in the forest, it felt as though it were her first breath of her life - to fill her lungs with such crisp coolness, the scent of pine needles and damp grass and wildflowers. It truly was paradise.

It was like this now. Cooped up for months in her room, stuffy and dark, panicking from not being able to breathe properly and surrounded by healers and surgeons and concerned parents, her brother trying to sneak in by any means possible and being sent away with tears in his eyes - finally, for the first time in what seemed like a century, she had been allowed to travel. Her father had brought her to the south, to meet with people of her age, socialise with people of her status. She was so excited - this spell of illness had been longer than usual, and it had been years since her parents had given consent for her to travel so far. They had been travelling for some weeks, and were nearly at their destination.

Hailen took another deep breath of pure, fresh air. Their camp was only a clearing away, and soon her father would be calling to join him, her brother, and their companions for their meal. She could faintly smell roasting meat in the air - of which she would only have some small pieces, having the appetite of a bird at the best of times from her life of convalescing. But something kept her from slipping away from this beautiful forest and back to the cheery company of her brothers - even though she was shivering already from the cool evening air.

Maybe it was the faint vibrations in the ground that signalled an approaching rider.

Curious, she hurried along the tiny forest path - more of an animal trail than a proper path - in the direction of the sound of hooves on the forest floor.

All of a sudden it halted, as though the rider had stopped and had dismounted. Hailen tiptoed close, seeing the horse behind a thicket of trees. It snorted loudly, pawing the ground, as though sensing the girl's presence - it was a huge animal, with chestnut colouring and an unusually long tail. There was no sign of the rider, though, so the girl approached the horse without fear.

"You are so beautiful," she whispered, running a frail hand along its soft muzzle, looking into its deep black eyes - she loved animals, especially horses - but never got around to riding much, as she was always so weak and often ill.

"All right, then, ready for home, Isa?"

Hailen hid her jump of surprise and pounding heart very well and slipped silently behind a tree. The rider came up - he was younger than expected, much younger, about her own age - a little older, perhaps. The horse neighed loudly, and jerked its head as the rider took hold of its reins.

"What's the matter, old girl? Something spook you?"

The girl swallowed, knowing she would be instantly found out if she tried to run away. It would be tremendously embarrassing to be found out in her hiding place. So she summoned all her courage and stepped out from behind the thick pine branches that concealed her, and cleared her throat timidly.

"I'm afraid it was I that upset your horse."

The boy concealed his surprise rather well, though Hailen noticed his eyes widen - eyes that were surprisingly grey and soulful. He brushed his long blond hair from his forehead, as though out of habit, and bowed politely.

"Don't worry, my lady. She's just a little excited, aren't you, Isa? This is the longest ride we've been on together, and we were just about to turn around and go home - I'll be far too late for supper as it is, and Naneth does not like me to be out so long. Who might you be?"

Hailen swallowed again, and drew her eyes away from his strangely piercing gaze. It would not do to have spent months fighting for this chance at seeing the world, only to have it spoiled by the first handsome boy that crossed her path.

"My name is of no importance."

"No, please! I mean no harm. And why are you here, alone and far from any towns or villages?"

The girl looked at the ground, shy. She wasn't used to talking to strangers at all - usually, her main companion was her mother or her father. Busy as they were, they always made time for her - and she loved them for it. If they didn't, she would probably have no friend in the world - she knew nobody else, as she was so often cooped up in her room.

"I am travelling from Dale, with my father, to watch the Harvest Tournament."

"Oh, that's good! I will see you there, then." He bound the horse back to its tree, and went to stand beside her in a friendly manner. "My father is taking part in the Harvest Tournament too. But how is it I have not seen you before, if your father comes annually for the tournament?"

"I am often very ill, ever since I was a small baby. I have never been well enough to travel as far as Minas Tirith before. And we will stop off in Minas Ithil on the way there."

The boy nodded. "Oh yes, I know King Hakon has been invited to pay a visit to my - that is, Lord Elboron and Lady Eruthiawen. I hope to see you there too - I hail from the Vale of the Moon myself." He stuck out his hand - but this was enough for poor Hailen. She stepped back awkwardly, nearly tripping over the hem of her dress, wet from the evening dew.

"Oh, I do apologise - I hear my father calling me. Goodnight," she said, speaking much more quickly than usual. She turned and ran, leaving the boy with the blond hair and startling grey eyes rather crestfallen.

•●•●•●•

"My goodness, father! Look at this place!"

Hailen's eyes nearly fell out of her head in astonishment as her carriage rolled through the town of Minas Ithil. Her brother, on horseback in front of the carriage, sniggered, but her father fell back to talk to her

"I know, my darling, isn't it beautiful - Elboron has done a wonderful job with it, ever since the Battle of Minas Ithil some years before you were born. It was almost razed to the ground then for the second time, I'm told - but it's grown marvellously now. Look at the dome on the citadel!"

The girl put the entire top half of her body out of the tiny carriage window, to take in the view of the Vale of the Moon. Though she was used to tall buildings in her hometown of Dale, these seemed more elegant and new, the white stone still shining and the glass in the windows polished. The carriage listed dangerously to one side, and she sat down properly, content to look out the window.

They arrived at the citadel,and her father dismounted to open her carriage door. He made to help her out, but the girl was so excited she leapt out of her own accord. He held out his arm, and she took hold of it gratefully - the Lord and Lady of the Vale were waiting for them in the gateway.

"How lovely to see you, Hakon! Welcome, you and your folk, to Minas Ithil." Lord Elboron bowed, and Lady Eruthiawen curtseyed. She caught the girl's eye, and smiled - she had such a beautiful smile - a beautiful face too, with shining copper-coloured hair wound about her head. Hailen was starstruck. It reminded her of how painfully pinched and pale her face always was, how her black hair hung straight and limp even when spruced up by plaits or curling papers, how her blue eyes were so large and scared, like those of a shying horse. She did not take after her father, who was tall and strong, in the slightest. However, she was wearing her favourite dress, though - pale blue silk to suit her eyes, a gift from her mother on her most recent birthday, that made her feel beautiful and confident no matter the circumstances. Hailen's father bowed also, and made to introduce her.

"Might I introduce my youngest, Hailen."

Hakon couldn't help but grin as Hailen shook herself out of her awe and bobbed a curtsey herself.

"Welcome to Minas Ithil, Princess Hailen," Lady Eruthiawen smiled again, and this prompted Hailen to smile back shyly. "This is my son, Barahir."

The boy stepped out from his father's shadow and bowed politely.

Hailen almost gasped - he was the boy from the forest! It was almost comical how much Lord Barahir resembled his father - fine handsome features with golden hair, but his piercing grey eyes he had evidently inherited from his mother. These same eyes widened in recognition - the same surprise she had witnessed yesterday, as she stepped out from behind the tree.

They blinked, and the moment of surprised recognition had passed. Lord Barahir held out his arm, and she took it gratefully as they went inside.

In the citadel, Hailen rather got the impression Lord Elboron had told his son about this poor friendless princess and to take her under his wing for a bit during her stay in Gondor. She was slightly irritated at this thought, but gratitude overwhelmed any resentment she felt toward Barahir of Minas Ithil. He had never met her before in his life, but when the adults went inside, chatting like old friends, he turned to her and started chatting like she was an old friend.

"Wait until we go to Minas Tirith. You'll love the view from the Tower of Ecthelion - on a very clear day you can see as far as the Misty Mountains. And you'll meet my cousins too - Lalaith is about your age, you'll get along well with her. Naneth had a letter from my aunt Almárëa this morning, and they'll bring baby Idis down too for the first time - we'll all be together for once, apart from Myriam and Arthas, of course."

Hailen could hardly get a word in edgeways, but she chanced an interruption at this.

"I hope you don't mind my being here," she whispered shyly.

"Good gracious, no! The more the merrier, of course. You made a great impression on Isa yesterday, by the way. Do you ride?"

"No," Hailen admitted, "But I do love horses. I wish I could learn, but Father is always afraid I'll break my neck or something dramatic like that."

"Why don't we go now?"

Hailen frowned, not understanding.

"I mean, they won't look for us until supper. I could take you riding. Sweep the cobwebs away, if you will."

"Would you really?" Hailen's eyes grew, seeing the handsome boy in an entirely different light.

"Of course! We'll just have to make sure nobody sees us," he winked, and Hailen found herself smiling properly.

•●•●•●•

Hailen remembered the final stretch of the journey to Minas Ithil. Cooped up in her carriage, only able to see the magnificent mountains and rivers and forests through the tiny windows to her right and left, surrounded by the faded black velvet of the interior of the carriage. Granted, she could not keep her eyes from the window - but it was nothing compared to this.

Barahir had swung effortlessly up onto Isa, who suddenly seemed much taller and intimidating, and with the help of a high stool and several stable boys sworn to secrecy she managed to get up behind him rather uncomfortably. She grabbed his aaist in alarm, but Isa stood firm.

Surrounding the Vale there were of course the forests, but also fields and plains as far as the eye could see. As soon as they were on sufficiently level ground and Hailen had taken her face out of Barahir's back long enough to take in the view, without warning, he loosened the reins - and Isa put her head down and took off like an arrow from a bow.

Hailen screamed in a most unladylike manner at first, barely able to hear Barahir's laughter over the wind in her ears.

But then, as she looked around to see the fields and pastures around her, she gradually shut up and enjoyed the thrill of riding at what seemed like the speed of sound. The only sound for miles around was the regular alarming thumping of Isa's hooves on the hard, grassy earth. The sun shone, and Hailen's hair - that she had so carefully done up that morning - flew out behind her. The terror of some kind of serious injury stayed at the pit of her stomach instead of spreading through her body. Her eyes watered as Barahir's blond hair flew into her face. Hailen enjoyed every second of the thrill of flight, though she clung onto Barahir's waist as though her life depended on it. Which it probably did.

Barahir eventually tugged at the reins again, and Isa slowed to a walk, shaking her mane and snorting - it was clear she'd enjoyed herself tremendously.

"Er, princess? You can let go of me now."

"Oh, sorry!" Hailen couldn't help but laugh.

She put her hand to her chest, and felt her heart hammering wildly. From excitement, from the thrill of speed, from abject terror, from anxiety they would be found out - either one seemed like a perfectly reasonable explanation. She suddenly realised she was breathing heavily, steadily, clearly - something her father's surgeon had once said would never happen.

•●•●•●•

"Where did that boy take you?" King Hakon asked suspiciously that evening. He'd rarely - if ever - seen his daughter with such flushed cheeks, with such a sparkle in her usually dreamy blue eyes. "I feared for a moment you'd been taken off the face of the earth."

"Nowhere special," Hailen said demurely, seeing Barahir grin out of the corner of her eye.