Cordelia was running as if her life depended on it. Well, in actual fact, she was absolutely fine in all terms of the word, it was her vampire-with-a-soul lover who's undead life depended upon her getting a message to Willow and the gang as soon as frickin' possible!

'Giles! Wesley! I need you!' Cordelia skidded abruptly round the corner of the corridor, sending several Wolfram and Hart executives flying in her wake, showing her with a display of memos. She halted ungracefully at Wes's office and flung open the door. Nope, nothing in here. Next, she pelted it to Giles's office. No one in there either!

'Where are all the nerds when you need them?' She screamed, panic overcoming her. She flung off her now-ruined Jimmy Choos and slide helplessly down the wall.

'Cordy!'

The defeated ex-cheerleader looked up startled as she saw the green demonic Lorne panting and running (yep running) towards her.

'Sugar am I glad I found you!'

'What is it Lorne?' She asked, getting to her feet.

'Giles and Wesley have had me looking all over the place for you, listen hun, they need you in the labs, it's about Angel, and believe me its urgent.'

Cordelia's eyes widened.

'I've just had a vision that he's in trouble,' she screeched. 'Something about some defeated dark bad guy and a really tacky blatantly fake ruby ring that's causing some major problemos in wonderland where the 'B' word insisted on taking MY BOYFRIEND!'

Lorne grimaced, wiping off the spittle.

'Yeah Giles said something about that.'

'Crap!'

And Cordelia was off, running again.

Faith entered the throne room with the usual swagger in her hips, unhappy to admit how unnerved she actually was by this whole counselling shebang. She sure as hell knew that she had her fair share of problems but didn't need some hippy chick elf giving her some mystical variation of therapy.

'Faith, it is good to see you here today.'

Faith whirled around to somehow find the Lady Galadriel behind her. Damn, she thought, slayer senses are way outta wack in this crazy place.

'As if B would have let me play hooky,' Faith smirked. Galadriel smiled gently and Faith was for a moment overcome with all the wisdom and knowledge and sheer kindness that one tiny smile showed her in a fleeting moment.

'If you had really wanted not to be here, you wouldn't be talking to me at present,' the Elvin queen countered. 'I can see already that you are strong-willed and do not suffer commands you do not believe in.'

Faith shrugged, scuffing her shoes on the marble floor, suddenly feeling like an embarrassed girl at school.

'Your name, Faith, conveys your spirit,' Galadriel continued, moving further into the room. 'Faith implies an obligation of fidelity and loyalty to whatever path you choose to follow, a obligation to your oaths and promises and,'

'Whoa there, sorry to interrupt here man, but I've not exactly been loyal in the past, or has your crystal ball not shown you all that shit with B back in the day?'

Galadriel smiled again.

'Yes, I have witnessed the events 'back in the day' as you phrase it. And I stand by my definitions.'

'How?'

'If you did not have loyalty to what is right in the world Angel would have not been able to draw you away from the darkness. You embraced evil and yet have had enough faith in your abilities and strength of character to leave this part of your life behind.'

Faith stood there, listening intently. Galadriel clasped Faith's head in her hands in a mothering gesture and Faith, who usually shied away from intimacy unless it was of the sexual kind, relaxed into the soothing touches.

'I look into your eyes and see no evil there, only a scarred and troubled woman who needs the love and support of a strong and caring man, rather than continuing to give body willingly to anyone and everyone. Only one man will be willing of your soul, your entirety, and I feel Eomer may be the man you give this to.'

'What?' Whispered Faith.

'You and Eomer,' Galadriel repeated, bemused. 'You are both strong-willed and incredibly stubborn and have been hurt in the past. I believe if you can move past this, you will make a great union.'

Faith snatched her head out of the lady's grasp.

'I do not know what you're talking about.' She said, and suddenly she was Faith again. Hard and intimidating. She turned and left the room without looking back and seeing Galadriel's face falling.

'She will be harder to crack than I thought,' the elf mused despondently.

'Sister, can you please explain exactly what it is you want us to do?' Ellohir grumbled as he and Elladan hurried to keep up with their sister Arwen as she skipped quickly down the numerous staircases and through several archways and along the twisted pathways that made up Gondor.

'I've already explained my brothers,' she replied brightly, not stopping in her determination to get, well…someplace. To be quite frank, the twins were completely oblivious as to where she was taking them.

'Yes, yes, yes' Elladan said moodily, 'You want us to pursue the young girl Lady Dawn, actively, but only for appearance. Why?'

'To infuriate Master Connor until his breaking point where he will be forced to declare his love for her!' Arwen whirled around in exasperation. 'Now hush and follow me!'

'Now if you'd just said that to begin with we would have been very happy to oblige,' said Ellohir.

'I don't know brother,' countered Elladan with a gleam in his eye. 'I happened to be in bed with a particularly stunning elleth and we were planning on a second round this morning…'

The family suddenly emerged into one of the many hidden away little gardens that were dotted throughout Gondor, splendid in the morning sun, where several of their friends, new and old, reclined in the sunshine. Spike sat in amongst his usual harem of elleths, whom were all giggling at his sarcastic drawl. Gimli and Legolas nearby were both watching the interactions with a mixture of amusement and mild annoyance (although Gimli seemed more frustrated that he was loosing his third game of chess that morning to Legolas). Arwen beamed, for Dawn and Connor sat in amongst these as well as Haldir and his brothers, chatting away quite contently. Perfect.

'My brothers,' she whispered. 'Give me a show.'

'As you wish,' they chorused and slinked towards the party like a pair of predatory snakes. Arwen followed demurely and made a distinct beeline for Legolas, who shifted uncomfortably as he as a hot-blooded male who had not had relations for several months had noticed quite how divine she looked that morning in an ice-blue gown. He could not restrain himself from leaping to his feet to greet her by bowing over her extended delicate hand. As he straightened up and saw Arwen's ecstatic face he mentally scolded himself – Galadriel had specifically told him not to encourage Arwen's flirtatious harlot-like behaviour; their friendship was a deep and profound one that could not be discarded easily for a much less stable relationship, especially with Arwen approaching him like a common slut. He was to ignore her until Arwen returned to her true beautiful self, and then maybe...well. Legolas had buried his love once into the crevices of his heart and it was painful to have them withdrawn in such a manner. Ever since Aragorn and Arwen broke their troth after the Great War Legolas had been steadily unnerved. Arwen had never ever shown him this sort of affection before, except many years ago, so long ago it was now just a faint memory…

'Legolas, my old friend,' Arwen rose gracefully from the bower of the huge willow tree, placing her worn copy of the tale of Beren and Lúthien on the rich grass-carpeted ground. Legolas strode towards hem through the woodland clearing, not failing to notice how she seemed to melt into the fantastical ethereal background of the gardens of Rivendell. Arwen stood there waiting patiently for his soothing, solid embrace, her skin translucently pale in the moonlight in a shimmering sheer ivory gown which moved sensually along with her own subtle movements.

'Arwen, you look amazing, being in love becomes you.'

For Arwen had sent him a note telling him of her engagement to one of his best friends, the adopted son of Elrond, Aragorn, and had asked that he come to her as soon as he could. So here he was three weeks later, exhausted after a hard long ride but suddenly rejuvenated by her gorgeous yet pensive face.

'Does it?' She managed a small smile for him before sinking into his well-muscled arms. 'Thank you so much for coming, I seek your council now more than ever before.'

'What is troubling you?' He asked, concerned, lightly running his hand through her soft locks.

They sunk onto the branch of the tree together, her head heavy on his shoulder, his arms wrapped around her slender waist.

'Father and the twins are furious with the union and I don't even want to talk about the White Lady's reaction.'

'Why?' Enquired Legolas, although he had a feeling that he knew the reason for their anguish.

'Because, through marrying Aragorn, I will become mortal. They will loose me forever.'

'And yet he is beloved by them?'

'Because he is a good man, and yet I am now presented with this horrible choice!' Arwen burst into floods of tears. 'I don't know what to do.'

'What does your heart tell you?' Legolas asked gently, his heart breaking for her.

'That's just it, I don't know,' Arwen looked at him, deep into his eyes. 'I don't know if what I feel is true love or simply a blossoming yet passing fling.'

'Now only you can answer that Arwen, my dear, and I think you are deeply in love with Master Aragorn, and that is a blessed thing.' Unfortunately Arwen was not really focused.

'Father even suggested an arranged marriage with you!' Arwen exclaimed.

'Oh really?' Legolas chuckled to cover the small glimmer of hope he knew was all over his face.

Arwen reached out and caressed his cheek, softly, ever so softly.

'Ridiculous, isn't it?' She murmured. 'I would have leapt at the chance a few decades ago.'

'You would?' Legolas's throat was incredibly dry all of a sudden.

'My beautiful best friend, the Prince of Mirkwood, the flirt, the rogue, always with another stunning woman, and yet I was so in love with you, whether the type of love that comes with any true friendship or something more I didn't know and didn't care.'

'Arwen, I,'

'Ssh,' she interrupted, placing her finger over his full lips. 'I never thought you'd ever look at me twice though, your golden heart only brimmed full of friendship for me and nothing more.'

'Arwen you are the Evenstar, the most beautiful of our people, how could I not be in love with you?' Legolas said fiercely, although he was not even sure where these words were even coming from. He was surprising himself by this abandonment of reason, throwing caution to the wind.

'Would I have known,' Arwen replied. The space between their bodies was slowly, agonisingly closing, their lips barely touching, desire crackling in the air. 'With you, I could be immortal forever.'

'You'll always be immortal in my eyes,' Legolas whispered, and made the hardest decision of his eternal life. He untangled her hands from within his hair and rose to his feet.

'I'll always love you, my best friend,' with that, Legolas placed a kiss upon her forehead and left the glade, not trusting himself to look back. They never spoke of this moment again and Legolas buried any romance away, and had not allowed himself to think of this memory, until now…

Legolas drew himself out of his revere, blinking at the suddenly blinding sunlight.

'Elf-boy! Back to the game!' Gimli demanded, bringing him indefinitely back to reality. 'If I can't beat you in combat, I'll have to make up for it with chess!' Legolas smiled and resumed the board game, not failing to notice, however, the drama slowly unfolding concerning Lady Dawn, Master Connor and the crafty twins.

'Dawn, my ray of light,' Elladan proclaimed taking the girl's hand. 'You would condemn me to death if you refused to walk in the gardens tonight with me. Let your glorious sunny nature make the moonlight shake with jealous rage.'

'Um, gee,' Dawn looked at Arwen in confusion, who smiled and mouthed 'play along.' Dawn, realising what was going on, began to stifle her giggles. 'I will have to see my Lord, I am awfully busy!'

'Ah, an arrow through my heart!' The elf cried, clutching at his chest and falling to the ground in mock agony. Ellohir stepped over his prostate brother and swept Dawn up into his arms.

'It is because, brother, the Lady Dawn wants to walk with me, her one true suitor. Dawn, your beauty makes me quiver with desire, come I must take you away now. Let us elope!'

The elleths in the group were watching this scene with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment; were the brothers being serious? Spike (who had already been informed of the occurring by Arwen to avoid any botched fights) laughed.

'Watch it ponce, or I'll come after you and get my nibblet back!'

Connor was beginning to turn a flushed shade of red and his eyes had narrowed in anger, disapproval and, most crucially, insane jealously.

'Why would anyone want to elope with her?' He muttered, just loud enough for Dawn to hear. Her face fell and the twins, seeing this, decided to step up the pretence a little bit more.

'Unhand her you fiend!' Cried Elladan, drawing his sword. 'The lady is mine!'

'Never!' Retaliated Ellohir, returning Dawn to her feet and pulling her flush against him. 'Dawn is with me.' With that to the surprise of everyone he planted a quick comedic kiss on the surprised teenager's mouth. Elladan groaned as if in deep pain and charged at his brother, who in one quick movement released Dawn and withdrew his sword to meet his siblings. The next thing anyone knew, they were engaged in a semi-vicious dual. Connor, seeing this, let out a cry of rage and stormed off back towards their accommodations. As Dawn made to follow him, Arwen reached out a hand to stop her.

'Not yet Dawn, he is not ready yet.' Turning her attention to her brothers with a laugh she cried, 'Thank you brothers but you can stop now.' The twins thankfully sheathed their weapons and clapped each other on the back in appreciation of a job well-done.

'On a serious note Lady Dawn,' Ellohir said. 'We would both be privileged if you'd take a walk with us tonight.'

'It'll help drive Master Connor insane too,' Elladan offered helpfully. Dawn beamed with sadistic glee.

'In that case, I accept!'

'Wesley! Giles! I've had a vision about Angel!' Cordelia burst through the doors into the laboratories, sliding all over the linoleum floor in a very ungainly manners, followed closely by Lorne. The Watchers didn't even glance up from some aged scriptures, Fred, Gunn and Xander all huddled around with deadly serious faces.

'We know,' all five of them said in unison. A look of complete bewilderment flashed over Cordelia's face.

'What do you mean you know?'

'As in, we already know the exact ins and outs of your vision,' elaborated Giles, rubbing his forehead and taking off his glasses.

'How?' Cordelia asked.

'Because we all saw it,' said Fred quietly. 'Which means its not a divination from the Powers, its an imitation.'

Cordelia sat down on a stool.

'I'm so confused right now.'

'We all are Cordelia,' said Wesley. 'What we have all seen is that there is an immediate threat towards the safety of the group, in particular Angel himself.'

'I know,' agreed Cordelia. 'There was fire, brimstone, all that usual hellish crap, and dark armoured scary guy, Angel and a glittering tacky ring with a red stone. Plus I was there,' she hesitated. 'In a lot of pain.'

'The ring is called Narya,' explained Gunn. 'It was given to the Elvin race in Middle Earth by the Dark Lord Sauron before he betrayed their asses. It's very powerful if in the wrong hands.'

'So what's going on? Is Angel in trouble?' Asked Lorne.

'Not at the moment, but he will be,' said Giles gravely. 'Something is tricking Angel with painful visions of dreams of Cordelia dying or being in serious danger and he has now been told to seize this ring to keep his love from harm.'

'The problem is working out which big bad wants the ring,' added Xander.

'And why,' Fred nodded.

'We have to get a message to him then,' said Cordelia. 'Before he does something very noble but very, very stupid.'

Buffy and Aragorn had spent the entire morning together, giving Buffy a riding lesson. Now, she'd tried it out once before in her pre-slayer days, at the tender age of thirteen. She'd been appalling/ Aragorn had found this story so amusing that he endeavoured to rectify the situation there in Middle Earth, which had resulted in peels of laughter and bruises to both Buffy's behind and her ego. Nevertheless they'd had a very pleasant morning in each other's company, sharing more stories and tales of adventure. The only downside to this, mused Aragorn, was that Buffy had now decided on renaming him 'Ranger-Boy,' apparently it made him more approachable and less royal. He found it mildly irritating, but the smile that graced her fair features when she said it melted his heart.

'Faith's a fan of this whole horse riding thing, but I personally think it sucks!' Buffy was still adamant that horse riding was in fact useless and only served for embarrassment purposes. 'I mean can't you guys hurry up and invent the motor car? It's not that hard!'

'Well then Buffy, how does one invent the motor car?'

'Like hell I know,' she shrugged trying to stifle a smile.

'I thought so.'

'Oh shut up!' Buffy said punching him on the chest. Aragorn felt the wind go out of him and bent over to try and recuperate. Buffy mouthed an expletive and patted him gingerly on the shoulder. 'Come on stop being a baby that couldn't have hurt that much.'

'I assure you it did,' Aragorn wheezed. By Valor this woman was strong! She could easily have survived the Great War and have been a huge asset in battle. Aragorn promptly straightened himself, his thoughts escaping him yet again.

'I'm sorry,' she said meekly, looking down at her feet, suddenly shy and vulnerable.

'Do not be,' he ordered, lifting her face up by the chin so he could look her in the eye. 'It was an accident.'

Buffy could have kicked herself for being so damn idiotic! It was an accident, they both knew it. With any other guy she would have been able to laugh it off (if it was Spike, she'd probably do it again just for fun), yet with this gorgeous medieval hunk she melted, resorting back to timid Buffy, a person she was loath to show to barely anyone. This was mortifying; at her age she should be able to deal with a silly little crush. But for some reason, everything felt…strange. She was hot when he touched her, cold when he was not by her side, her head pounded just from meeting his powerful gaze, her heart felt like it wanted to break out of her chest and leap into his hand, where it now belonged. Maybe she was sick? Get a grip Buffy, she demanded of herself, shaking her head and stepping out of Aragorn's grasp.

'Yeah yeah, you deserved it anyway!' With that she lightly tapped him on the shoulder before skipping off in a random direction, her face bright crimson.

'I swear you are the most confusing woman I have ever met,' Aragorn muttered lightly under his breath before following her deeper into the city.

Angel was in a foul mood, something that seemed to be happening far too much in this crazy place; he couldn't understand why the others didn't feel that something bad was going on. Something was not right in this city; there was an uncontrollable feeling of evil lurking around every corner that made the ensouled vampire extremely nervous and uncomfortable. His dreams weren't helping either; he was even starting to get visions in the day and they were terrifying him. He was hearing voices too, damning him and his love to the darkest corners of hell if he did not bring it, whatever it was, this ring, Narya. Cordelia was in trouble and there was absolutely nothing he could do, he couldn't leave without it and he had no idea where to find it or what it even did. He could feel himself being driven slowly insane by this evil; he was constantly on edge, looking for anything that could help him get what he was after. He was snapping at the others, not sleeping, verging on exhaustion, so concerned about Cordelia's safety; to have finally cemented their love as something true, strong and endearing and then have her snatched away by some demon…NO. It would not happen. She was his and he would protect her to the ends of the earth, whatever dimension he happened to be in at the time.

'Angel?'

'Mmm what?' The vampire was shaken out of his musings by Willow, concern etched upon her face. The two of them were sitting in the girl's living quarters, and it seemed as though she'd been trying to get his attention for sometime.

'Oh nothing,' Willow said quickly with a rushed smile. 'Just making conversation really, no biggie.'

'I'm sorry Willow,' Angel said rubbing his temples. 'I was thinking and I guess I kinda got distracted.'

'You seem to be doing that a lot recently.' She mused. 'Is everything ok?'

'Yes, of course, why wouldn't it be?' He replied a little too quickly. He could tell that the intuitive Wicca didn't believe him.

'Are you sure? Not missing Cordy or anything?'

'Well obviously, but it's fine, she's fine, we're fine, I'm fine, got it?' He couldn't quite keep the aggression from his voice and the air between them became noticeably thick with tension.

'Ok I got it, everything's fine.' Willow said calmly, looking back down at her book, the words swimming before her eyes as she pretended to read.

'I need some fresh air,' Angel said, getting to his feet and stalking from the room.

Willow waited until she was sure he was out of vampiric hearing range before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

'Lady Galadriel.'

Suddenly she was in a golden wood, leaves falling gently from the branches of ancient trees, although her physical body remained reclined upon the sofa in Minas Tirith. The Elvin Queen stood in the middle of the glade, or clearing, in which Willow had found herself.

'Yes, young Wicca?' Her youthful face was concerned, patient and also full of pride. This development of Willow's ability to transcend the physical through telepathy was very encouraging after only a few sessions working to keep her magic rooted firmly in the light. Nevertheless she could tell that the young witch was troubled.

'All is not well with Angel; I sense uneasiness and fear around him, he reeks of it.'

'I have sensed this too,' replied Galadriel sagely. 'I will do what I can in our meeting. Do not fear, we can rectify this situation.'

'How can you be so sure?' Questioned Willow. The Lady gently stroked a ring with a deep red jewel that she always wore upon her left hand.

'With Narya as my guide, I shall never falter.'