Middle Earth

Constance-

I kept my bow firm, but the stranger lifted up a metal rod. Suddenly my bow quivered and blew up in front of me, slivers of wood embedding themselves in my arms. I screamed in pain and dropped to my knees. The dark figure stepped forward.

"Who are you?" I hissed, though the pain choked my words. I saw him lift his rod, ready to strike and closed my eyes.

"Stop!"

Meer

Meer's eyes widened in horror at the sight of the bow exploding into nothingness. His heart started to beat wildly within his chest. Her voice was so strong even though she was standing before a killer, eyes filled with an intense strength that he couldnt possibly understand.

Meer never entered into situations as this for he was barely social. He would be to frightened of whatever was to happen afterwards (aka actually talking to the person he helped).

But at that moment, it didnt matter so much, as he grabbed his bow that had been tied to his back and charged out. No it was not that at all. She was defenseless and the person trying to kill her was mercilious. The odds were too unfair.

"Stop!" he yelled angrily, knocking his bow. The stranger merely looked at him for a few seconds then turned and disappear into the forest. Meer looked at the place where the man once stood, confused, eyebrows cocked in shock.

"Thank you," the voice was almost carefree in that sense, as if that matter didnt happen, or maybe it just wasnt enough of an amount of heroics to deserve anything more then a light wave off. He turned around to see the girl sitting by the water, eyes staring off towards it airly.

(Lol, Ballow WOULD never usually act like that. Don't change it, I like a challenge ^^. It's going to be hilarious trying to somehow reason out why Ballow would do something like that.)

Ballow

My hands began to shake and I could feel the sharp sting of where the arrow had hit me. Blood trickled down my side, drenching my pants crimsom. I had never like the colour red, for some reason as my hands began to shake that was the only thought going through my head.

I hated red. My father's favourite colour, coincidentally.

And I hated my father, so maybe that was the reason.

Realisation of the situation dawned on me. I was bleeding out litres of life while thinking about the colour red, a sword in my hands and a stranger gripped tightly in my arms. That's what my father had been to me.

A stranger.

The arrow in my side seemed to diappear from my mind. The pain all but forgotten. Something was wrong with me. I had guessed it after I had begun to follow Hoody. Without me noticing it, something was very wrong.

It had begun after I had escaped. Thinking that I gazed at the scars on my wrists, they seemed vibrantly red. I hated red. My eyes widened, my thoughts were swimming in circles. Nothing was flowing like it should. Coherent thought all, but impossible.

The one I had threatened a second ago to kill his companion, spoke, "If you kill him, you'll die without me really caring because that there is a friend of mine."

It echoed around my head. Kill, kill, kill.

Something wanted me to kill. I realised then that I was caught. Caught by something that couldn't be right. I couldn't let go of the sword in my hand. My hand was tight around the hilt, making my hands scarily white.

I attempted to loosen my grip on the stranger that I was holding. The only thing that happened was that I drew my arms in tighter. It was like I was observing, like watching a play. I had no control over what I was doing.

My brain began to overload as I rapidly thought through everything. My mind zoomed in on the meal that I had been fed before the village had been set alight by Hoody. The taste came back to life and lingered on my tongue.

Poison.

It had not been fast acting poison, but slow poison. I knew what it was, I should never have consumed that meal, I should've known. The taste was like no other, the taste was . . . so unique it was indescribable. The poison slowly turned your mind upside down and inside out.

Stripping you of all action, making you watch - third wheel, as your body returned to basic drive. Aggression and hate, and after it had taken you that far and was diluted into your blood, all your organs failed. Those two emotions were the only thing I knew that I had lived on, no, I had been raised on. The only thing I knew.

And as such, well, here we were standing. A drop of blood hit my boot, sending a tiny vibration to my foot. It awoke me from my trance. If I was bleeding, then it was possible that if I lost enough blood my organs wouldn't fail.

I turned my attention to the person I held in my grip. It was almost as if I could feel the poison pumping through my veins. I didn't know why my base emotion had hesitating before slashing this person's throat and as my gaze grew dim from the loss of blood, with great effort I gained control momentarily. I leant over the person's shoulder, placing my mouth near his and whsipered one word.

One word which made the person in my grasp go rigid with shock. More blood ebbed down my leg and then suddenly it stopped. I knew what was happening before I felt it. My organs were beginning to fail. Beginning at the top.

My heart had stopped pumping. Lack of oxygen hit me with a wave of panic and I knew that I couldn't do anything. The last thing in my slowly blackening world was the person pulling out his sword.

I heard my blade slip from my hands, it hissed as it landed on the ground and the person I had been holding hostage darted from my arms. I saw nothing, but felt my decent to the ground.

I hoped that the stranger had a kind heart. I hoped that this one would listen to the one word I had said. My one plea, that I had managed to let out into the stranger's ear.

"Help."

*heheheh, yeah, so. Ballow's heart has stopped, but his bled out the poison. So, all that he needs to make him come alive again is some to perform CPR on him. ^^)

Constance-

"Thank you." I wasn't good at thanking people since there was little to thank others for. I thanked the trees for a home and the ents for their care, but people were different. It must just be because these times are different.

I sat down and looked at my torn up arms, the wood severed deeply into my skin.

"You're hurt," the one who saved me stated. He was definately uncomfortable. I started pulling the splinters out.

"What are you doing?" he asked. He narrowed my eyes at him.

"If I don't get these splinters out then they will become infected and I will either die or lose my arms. You can help by bringing some water."

"In what?"

"There's a bucket by the spring. You can bring some water from there." He left and I continued to pull the splinters out, the pain sprinting up and down my arms as each piece of wood was removed.

Meer

He quickly did as was asked, filling the bucket full of water, but as usual his clumsy self took over and his feet slipped off the edge of the rock in which he had been standing to land face first into the spring. He gasped surprised, eyes wide in shock.

"Damn it," he cursed quietly to himself when he heard gently chuckles that soon turned into a hiss of pain. He turned to see the girl struggling between pain and laughter which twas something he wasnt used to seeing in the least. He pulled himself out of the spring, shaking himself off as he did so. "I... I seem to have lost my footing.." His cheeks filled with colour at this statement.

"I see that," she chuckled before wincing. He grabbed the bucket again and walked it to her side curiously, crouching down on all fours as to see what she would do next.

He wasnt used to bandaging wounds and infectious diseases for he was an elf. His immune system far surpassed that of any regular human being, but it was still interesting to see. She looked at Meer's jacket curious before turning her eyes up to meet his. "Would you mind tearing me some of that fabric?"

"Oh," Meer jumped up in surprise before feebly tearing a shred of fabric off his already worn jacket. he handed it to her and she dunked it into the water silently. When she had completed her ministrations, she quickly pulled out the shards, placing the wet clothing to the wound as quick as she could manage.

"What's your name?" she asked suddenly, her nose scunched in pain.

Meer felt his cheeks turn scarlet again before turning his head to the side embarrassed. "It's Meer... Meer Willow. Most just call me Willow... but you could call me whatever you wish..." He gulped lightly before looking back at her again, flushed. "And... do you think I could possibly know yours?"

*I'm going to be gone for 3 or 4 days, because I'm going out of town again. Sorry, but I might not post for awhile.*

Contance-

I grimaced from the pain. "Constance."

"What are you doing here?"

"Do you really need to know that?"

"Um..."

I sighed. "I'm sorry, there's no time to talk. I have a lot to do and I need to accomplish it alone."

I stood up, but my arms were still on fire. I gave up and walked over to the spring and soaked my arms. The cool water felt good. (**Does the Fangorn water have healing properties or does it just get you drunk and make you grow tall?**)

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

I looked down and watched my arms. I shouldn't have been so stupid.

"I guess you can come. But only as far as I tell you. You will need to leave at a certain point."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

***Oh, sorry Light_devil! I didn't mean to play Ballow out of character. Whoops! ***

Rey:

Chills ran down Rey's spine at the sound of the word, help, and instantly, he knew something had been wrong. Rey and Kaida went over to the collapsed man and flipped him onto his back. Kaida took over from there. "Rey, I need strips from your tunic," she said as she examined the wound. Quickly, Rey complied and began to rip the bottom of his long tunic. Wrapping them around the victim, Kaida finished her work and looked up at them. "His heart is beating only faintly," she said to them.

"What do we do?" asked Rey. For a moment, Kaida was silent, a troubled look on her face.

"Trace," she said finally, "I need some water from the camp." With hurried steps, Trace headed back to the camp. Kaida sighed, then looked up at Rey.
"Rey, listen. I've kept a secret from you the entire time I've known you. I need to tell you now, for the sake of this man's life, but you must swear never to tell anyone you come in contact with."

Solemnly, Rey swore and Kaida said, "I'm part elf, Rey." She shook the hair off her ears to reveal that they were pointed. Slowly, Rey nodded and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I know Kaida." She looked at him in bewilderment.
"I'll explain later. This man is about to die." She nodded and placed her hand on the stranger's chest. Suddenly, her hand began to glow. The man's chest began to rise and fall and his breathing became stronger. Kaida removed her hand and stood.

So her gift was healing, Rey realized. Suddenly, guilt began to plague him. For she had shared with him one of her deepest secrets, and still he withheld his. He grimaced. She wouldn't have told him if it hadn't been to save a life, he argued with himself. But she did tell. Rey sighed. He couldn't tell. No matter what happened, he couldn't reveal that half of his blood was hobbit blood.

His mind made up, Rey focused again on the stranger. Slowly his eyes opened and focused on Rey. He looked confused and Rey went over to him to help him sit up.

"What happened?" asked the stranger.

~Kaida~

Looking at the stranger, I smiled. Everything was changing; the guy I had just shot was now the person I had just healed. And now my secret was out. My life now rested in the hands of an old friend, who had somehow known about my secret before I told him.

Trace came back, a pale full of water. Taking the strips of cloth Rey had given me and dipped it in the water. It would have been better if he'd warmed it up, but since the stranger was mostly healed but I started to clean the blood off of his skin.

Ignoring his question, I wrapped another strip of cloth around his supposed wound. For now, there would be a small amount of pain do to some bruising.

"Stay still, you still lost a lot of blood." I told him.

Meer

"I-if that is what you wish of me," he turned his eyes down towards his hands, embarrassed. He was sort of used to the secretiveness around him and the fact that she spoke so little of it was showing him that he must speak of this sort of deal, but still. He feared being alone once again.

But that wasnt going to stop him from going with her. In fact, it didnt matter much if he felt this way or not, because being with someone even for a little while was better then being alone.

He looked at her arms again then reached in his pocket absentmindedly, pulling out a little tub of healing balm in which he passed to her.

"It's not much," he smiled weakly. "But it's something to take the burning pain away, and it's made by my elders so it's good... if you want it."

She looked at it for a few seconds before taking it from his fingers and unscrewing the cap silently before rubbing some of the balm onto the cuts.

"Thats a little better," she smirked.

"I'm glad I could be of some help," he smiled wider, feeling suddenly useful.

Constance-

The balm soothed my arms and abated much of the stinging. He was smiling and it made me feel wierd.

"We should go. I need to make a new bow and then meet with someone."

"There are other people in the forest?" he asked. How was I took answer that? I couldn't betray the ents' location. They fled from the humans for safety toward the mountain. But then again, he was an elf. I just kept quiet and walked away. At first he didn't follow me and I had to come back.

"Are you coming?"

I looked surprised for a minute, but then nodded and followed. Now, how to convince the trees I needed some wood... hmm.

I looked and found a tall and proud oak tree. This was going to be hard. I walked up to it and placed a hand on his trunk. The tree moved its branches and I talked very basic treeish.

"You speak their language?"

"Only bits and pieces. Speaking tree is difficult."

The tree groaned and twisted back and I sighed. No you cannot have a branch. How dare you ask such a thing?

Need branch for bow

You're on your own human. Stop bothering me

"What did it say?" Meer asked.

"He said no." I really needed a branch, but he wasn't going to give. "C'mon, I'll ask a different one."

An old yew tree wasn't far away and he had nice branches. May I have branch?[i/]

[i] Ask politely

don't know how.

say please.

I struggled with the sound in my throat, but was able to grind it out. The tree twisted.

Very well. Pick the lowest branch on my trunk.

I nodded and broke the branch off from the bottom. It was flexible and good for a bow.

"We need to find a more private place where I can carve this into a bow."

Meer nodded and we went back towards the spring.

Meer

Watching her carve the bow was definitly an interesting site indeed. He had made many a bows in his very short elven life, but never had he seen them made in such a primitive way. She was slinging her blade through wood in a quick matter, her fingers grasping the hilt with a strong grip, wood being peeled away shard by shard revealing a more shapely structure. His eyes followed along the blade as it stroked, watched the wood chip and fall away, before finally he rested his head against the tree closing his eyes.

"What are you doing?" she asked easily.

"Taking a nap," he stated although quickly opened his eyes as if he had done something wrong. "I'm sorry if I did anything to annoy you!"

"No, not at all," she chuckled, her eyes never leaving the wood as she carved. "I just thought it kind of funny that you suddenly collapsed like that. It's a little more easing when your eyes are closed, not staring me down as I carve. A lot less distracting."

"I am sorry," he bowed his head to her respectfully. "I did not wish to mean milady harm."

"Milady?" she felt her cheeks redden at the word. "Thats a little too honorific for someone as myself."

"But it is what you are to me," he smiled widely, almost like a loyal dog. "I was lonely and you said I could follow you so your are milady." He bowed again.

"Still," she turned her head, embarrassed. "It's a little much."

"You dont like it?"

"Not really."

"Then do you wish me to just call you Constance?"

"That would be prefered," she looked up again just to see the same goofy smile across his face.

"Then Constance it is!" And with that he fell asleep against the tree as if he hadnt spoken a word.

Constance-

I was startled when he called me milady. I once had to address high ladies in the castle like that when I was a servant. It was unerving, but I also felt like I didn't deserve the title. I had done nothing for that high of a title.

Meer looked peaceful as he slept and it was much easier to carve the bow. Something inside of me was thumping, and it was scary. I quickly dowsed the feeling with thoughts on how I was going to leave Meer so I could talk with the entmoot. Hmm...

**I'm on spring break so I probably won't be posting very much. Sorry all!**

Meer

When Meer finally awoke, the bow that Constance had been making was now quite the detailed bit. The wood in which it was carved from was a beautiful shade, the bow itself looking smooth to the touch. She herself was no stringing the bow tightly, testing it as she went. Her eyes were peering at it with an indifference that he himself could not understand, but it was interesting to ponder, nonetheless.

"You're awake," Constance murmured lightly, her eyes moving towards him quickly then back down towards the bow as if she hadnt even looked in the first place.

"How long was I out?" he asked, embarrassed. Although he was an elf, he was still growing, and was still a youngin. As all teenagers love their sleep, so did he, and although he wouldnt classify himself as a teenager, he did feel the weight of sleep deprivation on his shoulders wherever he went.

"3 hours." She smirked. "I kicked you a few times to wake you but you seemed to be out cold so I let you be."

"Three hours," he said with an awe. "I cant believe I slept that long..."

"It's about time we get going," she said finally, standing up from where she sat, slinging the bow over her shoulder now with an ease far beyond a normal human girl. She was obviously skilled with a bow if that was how she handed it.

"Where too?" He couldnt mask his curiousity.

Mikael

After i had blown that womans bow apart, i ran into the forest before doubling back to track this strange duo. I watched as they sat toghether and removed the splinters of bow and as the man, Meer, had spoken mangled treeish. Now the pair of them were about to travel and i thought it time to apologise.

I stepped from behind a tree with my hands held above my head and called "Excuse me but are you the young lady whose bow i destroyed?" Barely a milisecond later i was staring at the buisness end of two drawn bows.
"Who are you and what do you want with us sourceror?" spat Meer
"I am Mikael, an enemy of the King and i am looking to gather another fellowship of sorts to bring this king down. Namely a certain Beorning and Grimalkin, the legendary elf assassin." I looked at them waiting for some sign of a reaction. After a few moments their bow strings relaxed slightly.
"If you are an enemy of the king then why attack me?" Asked Constance warily.
"I am not accustomed to being threatened at arrow point by angry young women." I replied calmly.