Míriel walked in the lead of the group with Legolas as they made their way through the snow toward the Caradhras pass. The others in the fellowship were not able to walk on top of the snow as the two Elves could; it wasn't a very fast paced journey for the company.

"How come you can walk on snow?" Merry asked Míriel and his voice was trembling from the icy cold. She smiled sympathetically at poor Merry. .

"We walk very lightly my friend," she answered him, feeling sorry that he was so cold. She too felt that it was quite chilly in the air, but she was not near as cold as the Hobbits. "And we don't wear heavy boots like Men or Dwarves. It's just yet another ability that Elves have."

"Would come in handy now," said Merry and chuckled.

Suddenly Míriel heard a small gasp and watched as Frodo lost his balance and fell. He tumbled down the mountain but Aragorn caught him quickly before he could get very far. The fellowship all stopped as soon as the ringbearer did and watched as Frodo desperately searched for the ring. It was no longer around his neck. Boromir spotted it and picked it up from the ground hesitantly, held it in front of his face to look at it. He stared at it just as he had done back in Rivendell during the council, as if the ring was speaking to him.

"It is a strange fate," Boromir mumbled to himself, but Míriel could hear him clearly. "That we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing..."

Aragorn had put his hand on his sword for he was preparing to fight Boromir if he became too entranced by the ring yet again. Boromir was the weakest of them all to the ring's power and to have him so near it was dangerous.

"Boromir!" Aragorn snapped to wake him from his trance. Boromir blinked and stared startled at Aragorn and then at Frodo, not wanting to tear his eyes away from the beautiful ring. "Give the ring to Frodo."

Míriel feared he wouldn't do as Aragorn said and that they would have to fight their own companion this early on in the journey. Fortunately, Boromir seemed to come to his senses and gave the ring to Frodo after a moment of hesitating. The rest of the fellowship had been holding their breaths in fear and anticipation of what Boromir would do, and they all sighed in relief as Frodo snapped the ring back from Boromir's hand and placed it around his neck once more.

"Sure, I care not," Boromir said and chuckled, ruffled Frodo's hair as he passed him to continue to walk.

But he did care, Míriel knew so. Boromir would try to mask how much he cared for the ring and how much it twisted his mind. They all felt the ring's power, at least Míriel did so, but she did not allow herself to even look at it for too long in case it would try to ensnare her mind. Boromir would have to learn to do the same, for otherwise it would not be long before their friend was lost to its power.

*

At sundown, Gandalf made the fellowship stop their march to their great relief. They were to rest in a cave for the night - just big enough to fit them all and for them to have a place to sleep and escape the cold. Míriel made a fire to keep them warm for it was freezing cold even inside the cave. Outside the wind was howling and a storm was forming from up the mountains. They would not be able to continue their march as long as the weather betrayed them.

"You should all rest," Gandalf said and sighed. "We will take turns to take watch - Legolas, Aragorn, Míriel, Boromir and myself." Even the Wizard seemed rather exhausted which was quite a rare sight. Míriel sometimes wondered how Gandalf had the strength to go on such tiring missions, he was a rather old Wizard after all.

"I will take the first watch," Legolas said and stood up from the ground where he had been sitting. "I have no need to rest."

"Neither do I," said Míriel quickly and stood as well.

"I can manage myself," Legolas said quite harshly.

A silence fell in between them and Míriel glanced at Aragorn who looked back at her. The tension between the two Elves was obvious and it made the entire fellowship uncomfortable. Aragorn stood up and cleared his throat as he moved to stand in between Míriel and Legolas.

"Legolas can take the first watch, you walked in the lead the whole way," said Aragorn to Míriel. "There is no need to worry about not having your turn, Míriel."

Míriel was quiet for a moment but then nodded slowly, walked away. Legolas just glanced at her and walked away from the others to stand at the entrance of the cave. Aragorn glanced at Míriel with a pleading look in his eyes as a way to ask her to talk to him alone. Míriel wasn't very keen on it, though, not after the way he had treated her. Míriel decided that Legolas would have to cool off before she attempted to have a conversation with him.

The fellowship soon fell into sleep - even Míriel was exhausted and rested her head on her cloak that she had folded into a small pillow for herself. She watched the others as they rested around the fire - everyone was deeply asleep. Míriel turned around and looked at Legolas although she could only glimpse his hair through the rocks that guarded the entrance. She told herself not to be such a coward before standing up to walk over to him.

"Do you want company?" she asked quietly in an attempt to make peace.

"You should rest Míriel," he said without even giving as much as a smile in return. "The presence of the ring is weakening you as well as everyone else, I have felt it."

"You barely know me," Míriel spoke. "How are you so certain?"

"I don't know," Legolas answered. "I just do." He looked her in the eye and she glimpsed genuine concern in his look. "Míriel I understand that we don't go well together, but I believe it would be best for the fellowship if we made peace with each other."

"I don't dislike you, Legolas," Míriel insisted. "And I agree, we should be friends."

Legolas nodded slowly before offering her the first true smile he had given anyone since the start of the journey.

*

The fellowship moved on as soon as morning came, but unfortunately the storm had not let go of its fierce grip. Gandalf told them that they had to move on or they would be discovered, so after a quick breakfast they were off once more. As they walked over the Caradhras pass during the day the weather did not seem to clear up. The cold was almost excruciating and they knew that if they continued for much longer, they would all freeze to death.

Legolas was in the lead as he always were and he made sure the fellowship stayed behind him in case something happened. Míriel was walking not too far behind him and as Legolas glanced back at her a strange feeling hit him. Legolas did not understand her at all, and he feared he never would. Míriel was the most beautiful Elf Legolas had seen yet all he had heard about her before meeting her had told him the complete opposite. Sure, no one denied that she was a beauty but Legolas would have assumed that the malice within her would reflect on the outside.

From what Legolas had witnessed, though, Míriel was not a bad person at all. The way she took care of and spoke to the others in the fellowship was beautiful and they all seemed to like her so. Legolas had started to doubt his father's words about her. Thranduil was not wrong about Míriel's power, though, for Legolas had seen what she could do in battle. What he could never imagine, though, was her intentionally harming anyone she cared about. It was simply very confusing.

Legolas heard the wind howl and a voice was carried from afar through it. He frowned and turned toward Gandalf who used his staff to make a narrow path for himself and the others behind him. Legolas wondered what the voice came from, who it was and what it wanted. Surely Saruman could not have followed them there as well?

"There is a foul voice in the air," he said to the others.

"It's Saruman!" Gandalf shouted just as the mountain above them collapsed, almost falling over them.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain," Aragorn yelled to be heard over the loud wind. Saruman wanted to kill them all. "Gandalf, we must go back!"

"No!" Gandalf protested and started casting a spell against Saruman and his dark magic.

Gandalf's voice travelled in the wind from the Caradhras all the way to Isengard to meet Saruman's voice and try to defeat him. It was a battle of the two Wizards. Unfortunately, it seemed that the White Wizard won against the Grey, for tonnes of snow fell from the mountain and covered them all underneath it when Saruman stuck for the last time. Moments passed by and nothing happened, they were all buried and some had troubles to come up. Legolas managed to crawl up quite quickly from the snow and not long after Míriel's head popped up.

"This was a bad idea," Boromir said after emerging from the snow. The ones who were out helped the smaller ones - the Hobbits and Gimli - to get out since they were not tall enough to crawl out by themselves.

Boromir said to go through Rohan's gap instead and then to his city Gondor, but Aragorn disagreed because of Rohan's position near Isengard now that they knew that Saruman was on the watch all the time. No one wanted the Ring close to the grip of Saruman who seemed to do just about anything to stop them from succeeding. They needed to get away from him. Gimli once again insisted on going underground through Moria.

Legolas knew why Gandalf feared the mines of Moria and why he wished to not go through it. He knew much about what the Dwarves had done in Moria, they were great at digging mines, that he had to admit. The Dwarves of Moria had dug too deep and too greedily when they constructed it, there was more than just stones in those mines but what it was, Legolas did not know for sure. Something terrible for sure though, something that even Elves feared.

"We must leave now, this will be the death of the Hobbits!" Boromir said loudly, urging Gandalf to make a decision faster. He was right, the Hobbits were too small to even walk in the snow without being covered from their feet to their head. They would freeze to death, as would they all if they stayed too long. Gandalf needed to make a decision, they all looked to him and would do whatever he said was best.

"Let the ringbearer decide," said Gandalf finally after moments of silence and turned to Frodo. Either Gandalf did not want to have this life-threatening decision upon him, or he did not know what to do anymore. Why would Frodo know better though? The Hobbit didn't know what could wait for them in either the Gap of Rohan or in Moria. Legolas would not want to be Frodo at that moment.

"Frodo?"

Frodo hesitated for a moment, thinking about the decision carefully before opening his mouth. His voice was shaky when he spoke, but he did sound very determined about his decision. "We will go through the mines."

"So be it," Gandalf muttered.