A/N: Hi. Long update. Enjoy. Please comment and vote! And tell me if anything is wrong... :) And thanks for the reads guys! Almost 1K! I know that's not very many for most Wattpad authors, but... it is for me! 

I woke up shivering violently. Though they quickly flew open, my eyelids were swollen from crying. Upon rolling over, I found a package wrapped in brown paper, along with a note.

Luinil,

Enclosed in this paper is a gift of food and water. There is also a blanket. I am so sorry about everything that has happened to you lately. I will do my best to help put it right.

Maglor

My heart swelled with thankfulness as I hungrily ripped open the package, tugging out the blanket and wrapping it around my shivering shoulders. I looked down at my hands, which were cold and oddly discolored. A shadow loomed above me, but my gaze didn't leave my hands. It was probably just someone coming to mock me.

"Lady Luinil," a strong, deep voice said. "Would you like to come over to where my people are camped? It may make you feel a little better."

I glanced upwards without moving my head. Fingolfin's kind eyes met my cold ones, and he smiled. I didn't smile back. The events of the night before rendered me rather incapable of smiling.

"It may do you good to get away from my brother and his sons for a while."

"Well..." I didn't stop glaring upwards, but my eyes became unfocused. I could go with Fingolfin. People on his side of the camp had heard about me, no doubt, but not all of them would hate me for a rumor they'd heard. Fingolfin certainly didn't. However, Feanor had no great love for his brother, and I was already on his bad side. I didn't exactly want to make him loathe my any more than he already did.

"I will be fine, here. Thank you for the kind offer, Fingolfin."

A distressed young couple of Elves came to the prince. One had hair black as a crow's feather and carried himself like Fingolfin, while the other strayed a few paces behind, her fiery red hair hanging down around her face. She was really quite beautiful. Her eyes were green like the flourishing trees outside my home back in Valinor, her full lips the color of fresh, ripe cherries, and her tanned face had no blemish upon it.

"Father," called the first Elf as they drew nearer. "Father, I think we should leave," he said nervously, glancing around. Fingolfin turned to his son, a look of concern passing over his regal features. "Why, Fingon? What's the matter?"

The girl stepped up and stated, "Uncle Feanor hates us, Father. We don't like to be here because no one wants us here. The things they say to us are...not good."

"And what do they say, Aredhel, my dear?"

Fingon answered for her, "Rude things, Father. They do not respect Aredhel in the way they should." He gave my friend a meaningful look, and Fingolfin's features darkened. "Well," he began, "it would seem that we should be on our way, then, back to the comfort of our followers."Turning to me, he extended his arm in a friendly gesture and said, "Luinil, no matter what your background may be, you are always welcomed by the house of Fingolfin."

Agreeing with their father's statement, Fingon nodded, and Aredhel smiled warmly. Though they were both still young, I was surprised at how fast they were becoming like Fingolfin in their ways. As they started to walk in the direction of their tents, I called, "Wait! Fingolfin! May..." I hesitated as he turned around. I didn't want to betray Feanor's trust any more, but then again....I wasn't sure that he even trusted me at all anyways.

"May I please come with you?"

He grinned. "Of course. Aredhel, Fingon, assist Luinil with transporting her possessions."

The two were glad to help, and as I threw my blanket over my shoulder, I smiled. Of course, as we walked, people stared at me like I had two heads or some other physical malformation, but I didn't mind. I wasn't just wandering anymore; I had a purpose, which was to show Feanor and his sons that I didn't depend on them for everything, and that they didn't control me. Closing my eyes for a moment, I soaked in the small feeling of triumph. Unfortunately, it didn't last very long, as I bumped into something--no, someone.

"Excuse me! Oh, I'm sorry; I wasn't properly watching where I was going."

The Elf slowly faced me. I should have recognized him; I only knew one person that small with hair that red...though, he did have a twin brother.

"Amrod!" I greeted, then faltered as doubt crept into my mind. "Or are you Amras?"

He laughed. "No, you were correct with your first guess, Aunt Luinil."

I stared at him blankly for a moment. Since I hadn't seen him in a while (the sons of Feanor were always making themselves busy), I forgot that he still called me "Aunt Luinil". It made me a bit sad to hear that. Amrod was too young to be making vows of revenge and following his father across Arda, as was Amras. True, I wasn't as close to them as I was to Maglor, but I cared for them deeply, as I used to care for all the sons of Feanor.

His cloak and robes were red and black like his brother's. I smiled to myself. If they were offended by being confused with each other, they would at least make an effort to dress differently. But Amras and Amrod had inherited their mother's lightheartedness, and they had always been the quickest to laugh.

"Where are you going?" he asked, drawing his eyebrows close together. "I thought your tent was in the other direction."

I smiled sadly. "Oh, Amrod, haven't you heard? Your father and most of your brothers loathe me now. Did you really think they would leave me alone?"

Amrod looked confused, tilting his head to the side. "They took your things?" Forcing a laugh, I replied, "Of course they took them. They took everything from me. And Feanor..." I stopped. Saying anything rude about Feanor in the company of his son was wrong and incredibly disresepectful. "I'm going to stay with Fingolfin for a little while."

"Oh," he said, his eyes falling to the ground. "Goodbye, then. I'm sorry about my brothers."

"Goodbye, Amrod." After giving him a quick hug, I hurried to catch up with Fingolfin and his children, who seemed to not have noticed my absence. They seemed to be arguing, so, not wanting to intrude, I fell behind them, alone with my thoughts.

For some reason, ever since I'd started thinking about Angband, one thing in particular bothered me: Would I have to interact with Sauron? We hadn't seen each other in so long, and since I was child when we last met, I never discovered if he truly liked me or not. Yes, he watched over me when he happened to be around and my mother was busy, but was it all an act?

Shaking my head and taking a deep breath, I looked around. Elves were no longer glaring at Fingolfin, so we must have passed into his territory sometime along the way. Aredhel let her brother and father keep walking. She put her hand on my shoulder, smiled, and said softly, "Come with me Luinil. My tent is large enough for two. We can stay together."

I nodded as she turned, following her through the maze of tents and encampments. Everyone stared, but only a few looked at me with anything other than curiosity. When we reached Aredhel's tent, she held up the flap for me with her free hand. In her other hand, she held my package of food from Maglor. I took my blanket off my shoulder and tossed it into the tent ahead of me, crawling in after.

Aredhel followed me. She pushed some stuff around, making some more room, and handed me my provisions, saying, "Here." I nodded again and took them. Pausing from shifting her possessions around, she looked at me oddly, biting her lip.

"That amount of provisions won't keep you alive very long," she stated. I had to try very hard not to roll my eyes. It seemed a bit obvious to me. "I'll get you some more later. And...well, you'll need some more to get to Angband, I suppose." She looked down at her hands. I sighed.

"This isn't what I want, Aredhel. You know that, right? When I was your age, I dreamed of marrying a prince and living out my life peacefully in Valinor, not returning to my father on his dark throne."

She was quiet for a moment, but then said, "I used to dream something like that too Luinil. I wanted to find a noble and valiant Elf that loved me more than anything in the world. I always imagined him bright, like Uncle Finarfin, with joy dancing constanty in eyes the color of the sea. I wanted him to take me to a small house near the water where we could live forever together."

I laughed. "Well, you might still reach that dream, Aredhel...I mean, finding someone like you described. Do you not find any valiant among the Elves here?"

"Few," she replied, unsmiling. "And some of them are my cousins."

"Which ones?" I questioned, curious as to whom she thought of.

"Maglor," she started, without hesitation, "and Amras and Amrod and Maedhros." My nodding, which has begun when the name "Maglor" left her lips, faltered at "Maedhros". "Why Maedhros?" I asked.

"I'm not entirley sure. But he is very close with Fingon, and I have a feeling that Maedhros will endure much pain and suffering only to come to a bad end. Maybe it is not that I think he is valiant; I think he is brave and bold."

All I could do was stare. I was not expecting her thoughts to be so deep. There was a moment of silence before she continued, "And Finrod. Finrod is the most valiant seeming out of them all. I hope he will go far in life."

"I do not know Finrod very well," I admitted, "but from what I've heard, I believe you may be right."

We made idle conversation until it was time to eat. Taking out some provisions, we prepared a nice dinner of dried meat and greens. She grinned at our little dinner.

"You seem so optimistic," I observed. "These are rations. Why are you happy?"

Aredhle looked up at me and said, "Because I am thankful for what I have. While it may not be as glamorous or filling as the feasts we had back home in Valinor, it is food."

* * *

The next morning, I helped Aredhel pack up the tent. She carried it on her back, though I offered many times to do it for her as payment for the lovely night. We walked together, chatting about as many topics as we could think of. She revealed that many of the girls she'd been friends with simply adored Feanor before he was exiled, though she didn't like him very much herself, mostly because he was her unlce. I laughed at the thought of a bunch of young female Elves fawning over him.

As we traveled, it steadily got colder. We tried to ignore the frigid air, but it demanded to be felt, finding it's way through holes in our cloaks and turning our cheeks bright pink. The only thing that kept us warm was walking, but we eventually stopped for some reason. Everyone muttered to their companions, wondering why the procession had faltered. We weren't supposed to stop until much later into the night; however, because of the pause, we had a chance to notice the light snow falling. 

"Let me through!" a voice yelled from the back of the group. "Please! I need to speak with Feanor"

Fingolfin wound his way through the sea of Elves, and I could see Feanor slowly walking in his direction from up ahead. There was a gap between the followers of Feanor and the followers of Fingolfin, as if they were afraid to touch each other. 

As Fingolfin passed by, he grabbed my shoulder roughly and said quietly, "Come with me." I looked at Aredhel apologetically and followed the son of Finwe. 

"What's happening?" I whispered. His blue eyes flicked to mine for a moment before he answered, "I'm not entirely sure, though I presume we have reached the Helcaraxe. To be honest, I didn't expect us to reach it this soon."

I followed him through the mob to meet Feanor. It was even colder where he was standing, and up at the front of his group, ice covered most of the ground.  He greeted Fingolfin with a cold glare, and me with a cold smile. I returned it. 

"We must decide what we're going to do," Feanor said. Confused, I looked at him. "Decide? What do we need to decide? All we need to do is take the boats we have and sail around."

He snorted. "But half of our ships sank, remember? We don't have enough to carry all of us at once." 

Fingolfin shook his head. "I say we camp for now. I'll talk to my children and advisors, and if you do the same, Feanor, we must be able to think of something. We cannot have come all this way to be stopped by too much ice."

Feanor nodded, but there was something odd glistening behind his grey eyes. The snow started to fall heavier as night approached, and Fingolfin left after a few moments of awkward silence. Feanor glanced at me.

"Are you coming with me?" he asked carefully. I glared. Despite Fingolfin being the nicer of the two recently, Feanor and I had always been loyal to each other. I felt obliged to go with him.

"Do you want me?"

He looked at the ground. "Luinil, I...ah...I need you. No matter how hard I try to convince myself that I hate you, I can't. Two nights ago...when everything happened...I saw a side of you that I'd always known was there, but I didn't want to believe it. Do you know why? Because you keep me sane. You keep me from being too fiery. When you get agressive, I don't know how to react. That feeds my anger, and then..."

Instead of feeling relieved like I should have, I felt angry. "The only reason you need me is because you're weak. You're too weak to control yourself, so you need someone to help you stay calm. Your wife Nerdanel did that in Valinor, and do you know what? You left her, Feanor. If you feel alone, it's your fault. What you did to me was unforgivable. Do not expect me to pretend it never happened," I practically shouted. Bumping his shoulder, I pushed past him.

"Where are you going?" he called after me, looking shocked.

"I'm going to find Celegorm," I answered over my shoulder. "He had something to speak with me about before I left."

Finding my way through the crowds, I asked almost every person where Celegorm was. No one seemed to know. Finally, I spotted his blonde hair standing in a circle with Curufin, Caranthir, and Maedhros. 

"Celegorm," I called, picking up my pace as I drew nearer. "Celegorm, we must talk." They all turned around.

"Why are you here?" asked Maedhros, looking slightly repulsed at the sight of my face. I rolled my eyes. "I need to speak with Celegorm."

Celegorm took a step towwards me, and I gave him a meaningful look. He nodded, and said to his brothers, "I will return shortly."

While it was almost impossible to find privacy in our situation, we tried to seclude ourselves as much as possible before beginning the conversation.

"The deal," I began, "from before. What was it?"

He took a deep breath before replying, "I will assist you in any way possible on your way to Angband..."

"But?" Why would he want to help me get into Angband?

"...But you will not tell Morgoth any of our plans, the names of my brothers, the whereabouts of my father or mother, and you will give me anything that I ask of you in the future."

I thought for a moment. It didn't sound too complicated, but Celegorm had a way with twisting words to mean things they didn't. It was more a matter of trust than logic. Did I trust Celegorm? At the moment, I trusted him more than most people.

"You have yourself a deal," I said, extending my hand for a shake. He grinned. The snow fell around us as we walked back to the spot where Caranthir, Curufin, and Maedhros were. I shivered violently, In all the excitement, I'd somewhat forgotten how cold I was. Celegorm glanced at me with concern.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"Only a little bit. They took my cloak when they took my tent, so...I am a little cold."

He paused, taking off his own cloak and putting it over my shoulders. "Take this as a sign of thanks for our deal," he said, smiling. I saw Maedhros look up at us, and I froze in my tracks.

"Goodbye, Celegorm," I said, stiffening. His smile disappeared. "Goodbye. Make sure that no one knows about this deal, Luinil."

"I will," I promised.

We parted ways, he going back to his brothers and I heading back in the direction of Fingolfin's camp to say farewell to Aredhel, for now, and to retrieve my blanket and provisions. A young Elf threw a ball of snow at my face, but I ignored them, wiping it off with the edge of my cloak. Pausing, I inhaled. Celegorm's cloak actually smelled quite nice, like...well, like Celegorm. Perhaps making a deal with this particual son of Feanor wasn't as bad as it seemed.