Fever hit well before she could arrive in Imladris' Halls of Healing, stomach rolling as she slumped back against Lendor and she groaned all the while. Why had she thought it a good idea to charge into a pack of forty orcs, she couldn't quite recall. Probably her pride as a warrior and the reckless streak she'd somehow managed to survive with – well, mostly, in any case. She had always been called reckless whenever she had charged into things in that brash manner of hers… never thinking about what would happen to her at the end. Sure, she thought about what would happen to others, but rarely had she ever concerned herself with her own health. She had always gotten injured one way or another, and it seemed a part of her no longer cared for that. It was why her lord had always called her a reckless fool… and told her she should value her own life more. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she thought about him, the fever making it harder for her to hide the evidence of her emotions. Her body alternated between feeling horribly warm and dreadfully cold, small moans escaping her even when she found herself collapsing forwards. Sweaty fingers could barely maintain their grasp on Lossenloth's proud mane. Anna wound up attempting to hug her beloved horse to stay on, all the while trusting Lendor to do something should she be about to fall.

Her silvery hair mixed with Lossenloth's white locks, sticking to her forehead and cheeks as sweat rolled down from her face. Time stopped having much meaning, and Anna was only lucid for long enough to realise they were being attacked by a smaller group of orcs on the route home before she went back to her blissful world of ignorance as Lossenloth sped up to a gallop. Her trusty horse would see her home – she always had.

The clatter of hoofbeats against solid paving stirred her from her fever-induced delirium, bringing the thought of her sickness to the forefront of her mind. Never had she wanted to throw up as badly as she did, but she kept it down. She refused to be sick in front of a bunch of people. That was the extent of her pride.

The clattering of another horse's hooves against the paving did nothing to help. She still wanted to find a quiet corner in which to throw up.

"Carvon?" an unfamiliar voice sounded.

Lendor dismounted behind her, and Anna only groaned weakly. She really would have preferred it if she had passed out. That way she wouldn't have to feel the horrible sickness as well as her fluctuating temperature.

"Summon Lord Elrond," Carvon ordered, no doubt aiding Therion off his horse as Lendor helped her down – though really it was less him helping and more him carrying her off her precious horse. "We bring news from his sons."

"And injuries too!" Lendor called, and Anna grunted at the loud sound which pierced her ears and made her feel that much worse than before.

"' can walk," she muttered, wishing Lendor would put her down on her feet, no matter how unsteady they might have been – but it seemed Lendor was not listening to her, though that may have been because she was half-delirious and occasionally rambling about random things. "Down?" Anna pleaded, grumbling as she felt herself rocked with the pace of his walking. No matter how smooth the elven gait was, she was ill, and she only felt everything that much more clearly. Corridors went by in a flurry of activity, and Anna soon found herself being placed on an oddly familiar bed which she patted happily. "Missed you," she mumbled, snuggling into the fluffy soft mattress of one of the rooms inside the halls of healing. It was a private room too – just like the one she'd been in before. Briefly, she wondered if it were the same before the rolling of her stomach took up the rest of her attention.

She hadn't experienced the effects of poison much before – the first age had contained more of the flaming and unpoisoned weapons variety. She missed that. Unpoisoned wounds hadn't made her feel as horribly sick, though they'd hurt far more.

Voices outside her door made her stir from her thoughts, and Anna peered over at the door just in time to see it open and catch a brief flash of gold outside before a familiar elf entered the room to aid in her treatment.

"Lady Anna." Lord Elrond stared down at her, and Anna tilted her head as she stared up at him – remembering why his appearance had niggled at her memory. She'd read the books in the library, and she knew whom Elrond descended from. His eyes were the same colour that little Eärendil's had been, though it seemed he'd inherited more of his mother's looks and colouring.

"You can drop the lady already," she slurred, slightly fed up of elven etiquette compared to the mortal customs she had been living by for the past thirty-odd years. Being constantly called lady by those unfamiliar with her only made her feel that much stranger. Imladris was going to be her home. They just needed to call her by that name, lacking any titles beforehand. The name she'd forgotten. "What is it?" she asked after a few moments, blinking in confusion when Arwen was suddenly there in her peripheral. A cup was pressed to her lips, the strong scent of the herbs within making the nausea she felt fade ever so slightly.

"Drink," Arwen ordered, the rest of her words lost to the haze as she swallowed the oddly tasty liquid in her mouth. Really her taste buds must have been skewed because the medicine she normally had tasted subpar more often than not. It was just more proof of how out of it she really was.

Though she didn't have to contemplate that fact for long – seeing as how she was blissfully unconscious soon after.

Groaning, Anna lifted a hand to cover her eyes as they cracked open. The light was bright. Too bright. It hurt her eyes, though thankfully her bandaged arm provided more than enough shade for her to open her eyes more than a little crack.

"You finally wake up…"

Blinking, she dropped her arm, eyes having adjusted rather quickly to the light streaming in through the silky curtains of the Halls of Healing.

"Elladan?" she mumbled, pulling herself up to a seated position with some difficulty.

"Correct," he said, sitting back only once she'd finished pulling herself up till she could rest back against the headboard of the sinfully comfy bed she lay on.

Her body was stiff, partly because some of her was wrapped in bandages, the larger part being due to the disuse from simply lying there in bed – clearly she'd been unconscious for a while if Elladan had returned from patrol safe and sound.

"How long?"

"Three days," he replied succinctly. "I only arrived back this morning, and I think you will be pleased to note we had no other encounters on our patrol after you left – though I hear you and Lendor were not so lucky on the route before," he said, and Anna felt her shoulders sink. "I must say, you are really rather unlucky…"

Anna didn't need the reminder.

Her luck had always been weird, and that curse was still set upon her. She still had her strange strength, so of course her luck had remained the same way.

Pulling herself over to the edge of the bed, Anna swung her legs over to the side, ignoring how Elladan fretted. "I need to get up," she declared, pushing herself up to her feet, grateful when the world didn't begin to spin. "Clearly I have been in bed for far too long – and I have no desire to remain that way."

"I will fetch my sister then," Elladan said, rising to his own feet, hurrying out to track down his sister.

Surprisingly enough though, her next visitor wasn't Elladan's sister. Instead, Lendor hung about in the doorway. "La—"

"Anna," she corrected. "Just Anna, if you please. You carried me here, and we ventured on patrol together. I think we can be more familiar than strangers."

"Anna, then," Lendor said, smiling at her. "I am glad to see you have finally regained consciousness. The rest of the patrol was fairly worried when they heard you were still unconscious in the Halls of Healing."

"They were?" She blinked, a small smile growing on her face at his words. Imladris really was going to be her home from now on, and she was already making headway for making new friends.

"I know I speak for all of them when I say I hope you decide to join us again, despite this mishap which occurred on your first patrol with us."

A bright grin pulled at her lips. "I look forward to it."

"Then I will be on my way," Lendor said, pausing only to say. "We will be in the Halls of Fire later, should you wish to join us for the evening meal." He left then, and she was only alone for another moment or two before Arwen joined her – just Arwen, Elladan having vanished off to complete some other task.

"Anna, I am glad to see you awake," she said, looking as utterly flawless as ever. Just sitting next to her, Anna felt completely and utterly inferior. Though she was used to it by now – in Gondolin those who outshone her in looks had been numerous. It was part of the reason why she never had many ellith as friends. That and the fact she had been busy working up a sweat for most hours of the day. Gwestriel had been nice though, and Anna was looking forwards to seeing her again – even if that meant heading into a hall named after one of the things she feared the most.

"I daresay I am too," she began with a low chuckle. "I have probably been in here a bit too often considering my short stay so far."

"That you have," Arwen said, smiling down at her. "My father sent me over to show you this," she continued, pulling out a rather dinged and dented gauntlet. "After the scuffle, Renion managed to find this – and my father hopes it will at least give some indication of where all these orcs are coming from."

"Unlikely," Anna mumbled. "That is elven armour…"

"Which begs the question of why it was in the hands of these orcs," she continued, handing the battered gauntlet to her for inspection.

"Perchance they stumbled upon an abandoned troll ho—" Anna blinked, staring at the gauntlet as she caught sight of the crest emblazoned on the dirtied metal. She recognised some of those scratch marks. There had not been many warriors in the House of the Golden Flower who had such small hands either. It was slightly more battered than before, but it was undoubtedly her gauntlet. Which begged the question of what exactly it was doing right there and then.