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Chapter Text

‘Lost… so bright… where am I?’

The child hadn’t had a good life. She never knew her Mother. All she knew was hurt and mistreatment, most of which came from her Father. The only relief she had from the constant pain of existence was her books. Any time she could get away from her tormenters, the child threw herself into her stories.

Her favorite was fantasy. Some of the only fond memories she could remember were staying up til the wee hours of the morning, joining great men, tenacious dwarves, or powerful wizards on their adventures. She would defeat dragons, defend mighty kingdoms, and make loyal friends for life.

Every day her routine would be to get back to her house, hide in her room, and read books from the library for hours. Until one fateful afternoon, when everything changed for the child.

She had had an awful day at school, one kid shoved pins in her shoes and now every step was excruciating. After all that, she would have to return home to a man she wasn’t certain that she was safe with.

‘It will be alright” she told herself. ‘Just two more years and I can escape.’

But she wasn’t sure she would be able to make it til then.

Before heading back to his presence, she decided to give herself an hour of respite and visit the waterfront. That was one of the few good things about where she lived, she was only a short bus ride from the water. The first time she ever looked upon the sea she was entranced, it felt like coming home, something she had never known before. There was a strange calling from it and ever since that moment, every time she was stressed or upset and able to get away, she would visit it.

She stepped off of the bus, walked over to the railing, and looked out upon the waves. The ocean had immediately caught her attention, it was dazzling in the light of the setting sun, and she could have gotten lost in those ever-shifting depths. At that moment the child realized something, all that truly mattered at this moment was the fact that she was here, staring at the deep blue, and no one could get to her not even her Father.

She whispered a prayer to the sea. “It feels as though you could save me, please, I beg of you… do.”

All of a sudden she experienced a violent shove behind her and she was flipped over the railings and fell far down, down into the depths. The very depths she had pleaded to rescue her from her plight. In the moment before she hit the water she was struck with a sense of calm.

‘Ah,” She thought in the last seconds before the impact. ‘Of course, how ironic, I was never meant to be saved, it was pitiful of me to even hope.’ She accepted her fate and was consumed by the sea.

Everything was stark white and incredibly bright.

‘Lost… so bright… where am I?’

She was floating in nothing but it was everything at the same time. A second would pass but it might have been a century. Time was not lord here. Nor was space.
“Oh my child,” A voice, light and melodious, called out to her, it felt like the sea, it felt like home. “I’m so sorry, you were never meant to be sent here.”

The child wanted to cry but there were no tears to let flow.

“Fear not little one, I shall return you to your true home, where you were always meant to be.”

The child felt a pulling at her very soul, she panicked for a second, resisting the pull. Her vision came into focus and she saw the image of a tall figure, cloaked in a shining white light.

“Peace child-” The being assured. “Be at peace.”

And she was.

***

The child awoke and she knew not where she was. She was face down upon the sand but it was not unpleasant, it was warm and comfortable and she saw no reason to leave. But after some amount of time, she heard it. A beautiful sound rushing and loud. Propping herself on her elbows, she opened her eyes to stare at the source of her curiosity.
Water twisted and turned, rushing fast. The rapids crashed against the sandbar.

A question was pushed to the forefront of her mind. ‘Is that the sea?’

At that thought she began to wonder. ‘Where am I?’ Then an even more startling thought took her. ‘Who am I?’

She looked down, examining herself. The child was slight, dressed in only a thin white robe. She noticed her hair was black and thin, extending down to her waist. Her body was very small so likely very young as well.

Soon the desire for sustenance took her. Instinctually however she knew that it wasn’t an immediate issue.

She regarded the water and upon further inspection, it was not the sea but rather a large river. Turning around, she saw an expansive forest and, with the only options being either to stay here forever or go forth and live, she decided that the latter was the best option.

The child stooped down and drank deeply from the river. It was cool and almost sweet. She stood back up, took a deep breath, and started off into the deep forest fortified with a new desire to continue on this path of life.

Chapter Text

She wandered aimlessly for days, climbing trees whenever the sun slipped below the horizon and sleeping there until she was awoken by the light bleeding through her eyelids.

The child had yet to find much food in the wilderness, the only morsels she had gathered were a few nuts and a couple of berries. She didn’t know how much she could trust the mushrooms littered all over the forest floor so she never ate them.

After what felt to her like an eternity, there was a break in the woods and she was able at last to see further than the few hundred yards she had been able to make out through the trees.

In the distance, leagues away, stood a towering range of mountains, both majestic and imposing.

It was then that she realized she had to make a plan, she couldn’t stay directionless, and while the woods were beautiful, days of little to eat were beginning to weigh on her. She needed to find a settlement.

‘But that means finding people,’ she thought with a shudder. She didn’t remember much of anything from before waking up on the beach, but she had a strong sense that people only ever hurt her. The few times she had dropped off, her sleep had been riddled with nothing but nightmares of pain, torment, and anxiety.

‘So it's between people, and death at the hands of the elements…’ She assessed her situation. Ever since she had woken up she had had a strong feeling that this life was a great gift and not something to be squandered. Even if they did hurt her she could run away after she got supplies.

She nodded, making her decision, yes, she would make for civilization no matter the dangers.

The child thought her best bet would be to head for the mountains as there might be some sort of village at their base. And, if not, getting a better vantage point would not be unwelcome.

So she started upon her long march toward the mountains, and soon the child realized that unimpeded by the trees, she made quite a fast pace. She thought it strange but also didn’t know why she thought it was so.

During her trek, the child began continuing on through the night. She did this to make a better pace and to test her limits, but another dark reason that she didn’t want to admit to herself was to avoid the nightmares.

She dreaded them and was very upset when she was unable to go on, and had to collapse onto the grass. The child then gazed at the stars, panting softly, before falling into a dream.

This dream was different from the others. Instead of nightmarish monstrosities crowding her slumber. She was greeted with warm smiles and strangely familiar faces. She saw an old man in a grey cloak, staff in hand, but though he was old he did not seem to be frail. In fact, he appeared to be leading a mighty company with wisdom, and a command that came from respect.

With him there was a tall man with hair bright as sunlight, he was fleet of foot and smiled in an almost ethereal way. In addition, he had a pair of ears pointed at the ends!
Before she could contemplate this, however, the dream shifted, and she beheld two powerfully built men both with the bearing of leaders. One had hair dark and bedraggled, but despite his scruffy appearance, his eyes held the look of experience and patience of a man far older than he appeared.

The other had blonde hair and stood as a soldier did, with a face that could have been carved out of stone. But in the dream what looked to be children approached him and his expression melted into an indulgent grin.

The dream shifted to focus on what the child had thought were other children, but who, upon closer inspection, were not children at all! They were little indeed but had the faces and proportions of adults.

Two of them rushed towards the blonde man, they seemed to be a little younger and more rambunctious than their counterparts and made excited conversation with him.
The other two stayed back smiling but, when she looked into the eyes of the slighter one, he seemed to have something heavy weighing on his mind, and his stouter companion must have been aware of this, as he constantly glanced over at him and made little remarks of reassurance.

The dream then came to another short being, who, while similar in size to the ones before him, was different in almost every other way. He was burly rather than stout and grew a great beard upon his chin. But, while he spoke in a low gravelly tone, he had quite a poetic manner of speech and was able to have great command over words.

At last, the dream gave a feeling to the child. It imbued her with the sense that this group was one to be trusted, that they would not hurt her nor allow her to come to harm.

But then the dream cut out, the feelings of love and trust were gone, and her vision was filled with the image of a great red eye.

She awoke screaming and clutched at the grass. She stayed lying there sobbing for almost an hour before she was able to gather herself. And then she began to wonder about the people she had seen.

‘I wonder,’ she pondered. ‘If there really are such people in this world who would protect me,’ She shook herself out of the thought. ‘Of course not, it was only a dream, what am I even thinking, who would ever want to protect me?’

She was able to continue on until dusk was almost upon her, and she decided to settle down again for the night.

Before she could lay down, however, her ears pricked with recognition of sound. There seemed to be…voices… voices! In the distance.

Her heart raced with both excitement and fear as her feet carried her toward the sound she had heard. She might have attempted to be stealthy but children are not the best at thinking ahead.

The child was soon able to make out a campfire with nine forms around it. Her heart caught in her throat. The people from her dream! She quickly hid behind some shrubbery so as not to be seen.

Unfortunately for her, she had been heard, and, before she was able to properly process the information that they were not figments of her imagination, every being around the fire had been alerted to her presence.

A sword was drawn and the man with the nice smile from her dream was no longer smiling.

“Stop!” He yelled. “Who goes there?”

Chapter Text

Aragorn was concerned for the fellowship. It had been a few weeks since they departed from Rivendell and a certain amount of tension still existed in the air.

Gandalf was worried about the road ahead, if they were unable to travel the southern passage they would have to take the mountain of Caradhras or failing that attempt a treacherous trek through the mines of Moria. Aragorn shivered, there was danger in there. Though Gimli claimed it had been retaken, Aragorn didn’t know if that was possible, there are some evils in this world so great it would be folly to face them.

Boromir was fairing rather well though, despite his words at the council. After some initial misgivings, he had grown very fond of the hobbits, and they, he. Boromir had a younger brother he was very proud of and talked much about, so it was only natural that he had come to care for the little people, though most of them were of greater years than him. However some days he would look at Frodo with a strange look in his eyes that made Aragorn's heart grow cold.

One could not say that the hobbits had grown fond, but had grown accustomed to the habits needed on such an adventure. Though Aragorn would still hear Pippin mutter, “Two meals a day indeed! Why the indecency of it all.”, whenever the fellowship sat down to eat.

Legolas and Gimli were entertaining all with their near-constant bickering but it worried Gandalf. He had confided in Aragorn that, to keep the fellowship’s bond strong, some way had to be found to settle their differences.

Aragorn continued to think about this problem and settled down onto a rock. The rest of the company began setting up camp.

Gimli leant down to start a fire, making a snide remark about how the only use Legolas’s twig-like body could have was as kindling for the fire. Legolas shot back that Gimli and his head would make very poor kindling as they were much too thick to burn.

Gandalf tried to mediate before they ended up killing each other. Aragorn let out a long sigh and leant back.

Legolas suddenly stopped arguing and looked up.

‘He must have heard something.’ Thought Aragorn and he signed to Boromir that there might be danger.

“Something approaches!” Cried Legolas pointing toward some nearby shrubbery.

Boromir drew his sword and approached the bushes. “Stop!” He shouted. “Who goes there?”

Most of the company surrounded the bush, while the hobbits stayed back swords and frying pan drawn.

“Come out,” Boromir continued. “If you value your life.”

The bush began to shake and they readied their weapons. Boromir thrust his arm into the greenery and what he pulled out shocked them all.

Out from the bush emerged a small child, shivering like a rabbit. Tears streamed down her face, plastering her tangled dark hair to her cheeks.

Boromir instantly let go of his iron grip on her arm, leaving behind marks. His face fell and he hurriedly sheathed his sword. As soon as she was free the child curled into a fetal position and clutched her forearm.

“What is a child doing in the middle of the wilderness?” Gimli said incredulously. “These lands are treacherous and barren.”

Legolas approached the child who flinched away but, as she looked into his eyes Aragorn could see a flicker of recognition and she allowed the elf to come closer. He knelt down in front of her.

“Are you hurt young one?” The Mirkwood elf queried, a gentle smile on his usually cold face.

The girl’s tense muscles appeared to loosen and her knees began to buckle. Boromir let out a surprised cry lurching forward, but the elf had already scooped her up before she could collapse.

The company broke out into chaotic conversation, each member with varying opinions about how a child could be here, what they could even do about it, and how it would affect their quest.

“Quiet!” Gandalf bellowed. “We cannot possibly come to any conclusion if we continue to bicker like children.”

The rest of the fellowship were thoroughly cowed and prepared to listen to whatever the old wizard had to say.

“Legolas,” The wizard called to the elf who was still cradling the girl in his arms. “How is the child, any injuries or imminent issues needing to be solved?”

‘Of course’ thought Aragorn. ‘Addressing immediate problems and delegating, this is why he is our guide, what would we do without him.’

Legolas nodded and examined the young girl. “No serious wounds,” the elf reported. “Although she is quite malnourished.”

“What can we do Gandalf?” Frodo asked clutching the chain around his neck and sheathing sting. “We cannot leave a child alone in the wilderness nor bring her with us on our dangerous path.”

Gandalf stroked his long grey beard. “We must drop her off at a settlement,” then turning to Boromir he asked, “Is there one near?”

This question snapped the soldier out of whatever thoughts he had been drowning in, and he quickly schooled his horror-filled features. “Yes-” he stammered out before continuing in a stronger voice. “Yes, Gandalf, there is a village of men some leagues away, only a few day's travel.”

“Then we must take a deviation from our path-” Gandalf stated.

“But Gandalf!” Aragorn interjected, “That will delay us greatly and we are already behind schedule.”

“We could make up time by going through the mines instead when we get back.” Gimli put in.

This began yet another argument between members of the company. All but Legolas who was still holding the child. She was passed out but, at all the noise from the fellowship, she began to whine and curled in on herself. The elf whispered words of comfort to her as he carded his fingers through her hair. As he combed through the locks his fingers brushed something unexpected. The prince carefully parted the hair.

All commotion from the company ceased as loud yells in Sindarin emanated from the elven member of the fellowship.

“Whats the emergency Legolas?” Shouted Aragorn running over to the pair.

“This child-” Legolas said voice quivering as he revealed the girl's ears. “This child is an Elfling!”

Chapter Text

The rest of the company stood there in silence, staring at the ears indisputably pointed in an elven manner.

“But, that's impossible!” Aragorn gasped.

“So she’s an elf,” grumbled Gimli. “What difference does it make?”

Legolas glared daggers at the dwarf, “There hasn’t been an elfling born for nigh on a thousand years. But of course, an ignorant dwarf such as yourself wouldn’t be aware of that.”

“The fact that elves stay in their forests never interacting with normal folk is no fault of the dwarves.” Gimli retorted, meeting the elf’s glower with one of his own, equally hostile.

“Peace friends, there are more important matters at hand.” Aragorn reminded them, and Gandalf gave him a light nod in approval.

Legolas tore his gaze from the member of the fellowship least tolerable to him and continued. “Even if it could happen, what elf would leave her out here in the middle of the wilderness.”

“That is concerning,” replied Gandalf. “Why don’t we ask her ourselves.”

The fellowship all turned back toward the child. Aragorn walked over to the young elf still in Legolas's arms. He bent down and gently nudged her. She squirmed, slowly opening her eyes. The soft grey eyes met those of the heir of Isildur.

“Aragorn?” The elfling whispered in a small voice.

Aragorn recoiled, drawing his hand away. “How?” he questioned. No one had mentioned his name, so how on earth could she know? He thought furiously of any possibilities for her to have this knowledge.

The young elf shrank back as well. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you, please forgive me.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
Aragorn quickly realized his mistake as Legolas gave him a sharp look. “No child,” he approached her once again but did not touch her. “You did nothing wrong, my apologies, I have frightened you.”

“It’s alright,” the young girl gave him a small, tentative smile. “Sorry for assuming your name.”

This caught Aragorn’s attention and he carefully began, “Oh? it was a guess.”

Her cheeks flushed and she looked down fiddling with the ends of her now untangled hair. “You see, you remind me of someone I saw in a dream.”

Aragorn gave her a big smile but he was internally conflicted. ‘A dream? Could it be…”

“Don’t crowd the child,” Gandalf said, interrupting Aragorn’s flow of thought. “This must have been very distressing for such a young girl,” He turned to the girl with a twinkle in his eye. “Now, you seem hungry, would you like a bowl of Samwise’s famous stew?”

The elfling’s face lit up at the mention of food but her eyes darted over to the pot, a look of suspicion crossing her face.

Pippin seemed to notice this as he let out a chortle and walked over to the stew ladling a scoopful right into his mouth. “Don’t worry, “ The hobbit assured, beaming. “No one would dare tamper with Sam’s stew.” He glanced meaningfully at the said hobbit.

Sam, seeming to realize the undertones of Pippin’s words, told her. “That’s right, they’d have to face my frying pan first.” He brandished his pan dramatically.

This made the girl giggle, which, to Aragorn, was definitely a relief. She seemed to be handling this well despite the rocky start. He looked over at Boromir who was staring at the child’s arm, his eyes full of pain.

The girl finally left Legolas’s arms picking her way toward the hobbits pointedly avoiding going anywhere near the tall soldier. Sam filled up a bowl and handed it to the child.
“Careful,” he warned. “It’s piping hot!”

She stared at the stew for a bit. Tears slowly dripped from her eyes and fell into the stew. But before any of the fellowship could react, she brought the bowl up and began gulping down the hearty stew.

She looked up again grinning from ear to pointy ear, tears still streaming down her face. “Thanks so much, it’s, it’s-” she choked out. “It's so good.”

‘I wonder how long it's been,’ Aragorn pondered. ‘Since she’s had a hot meal.’

He looked on as the hobbits tried to comfort her. Sam patted her head. “No need to thank us, little lady.” He reassured the young elf. “Everyone deserves a good meal, especially youngins such as yourself.”

Gandalf gestured to the rest of the company to follow him and they walked a little ways away.

“This is a problem Gandalf,” Aragorn said once they were out of earshot of the little elf. “What can we do with her?”

“I would suggest sending her back to Imladris.” Legalos put in. “The wilds are dangerous for one so young, and no elf could bear risking the life of an elfling here.”

Gandalf shook his head solemnly. “I am afraid that there is no possibility of sending her back now, the Enemy has already blocked our path back and even if we somehow could make it to Rivendell the delay would surely doom our expedition.”

“Then what should we do with the child?” Boromir asked, agitated . “We couldn’t possibly take her with us all the way to Mount Doom and it would be almost as dangerous on the path to Gondor as well.”

“Be at peace Captain, I have a plan,” Gandalf said, calming the man down. “Although it does involve going through the mines.”

Gimli broke into a smile while at the same time Aragorn tried to protest.

“But Gandalf, the mines are filled with darkness and evil why can we not go
over the mountains as we had planned before.”

“I’m sorry Aragorn but we likely would not be able to make it over Caradras anyway,” The wizard gently told him. “And the only way to get to this place is through them.”

“What is this place you speak of?” Gimli asked, curious but dubious.”

“It is the forest of Lorien, where resides the great Lady of the Woods, she should have a solution to our little conundrum.”

Gimli reeled back, incredulous. “The witch? She would steal our souls before she gave us aid.”

Legolas bent down and smacked his head. “Do not dare to besmirch the good name of the Lady with your words of filth dirt eater.”

“Dirt eater!” exclaimed the dwarf. “You wish to insult my honor O twig, why don’t you put your bow behind your words.”

“Gladly,” He agreed, “ Though it would give me a cramp in my neck to have to aim at so short a target.”

“Please!” Gandalf thundered. “Control yourselves, you are both a part of this fellowship, and quarreling is both pointless and a waste of the precious time we have left.”

This silenced the quarreling and they had the decency to look abashed.

Aragorn looked on, something wistful in his expression. ‘This, this is why he is the leader, he calmed these two in seconds, probably from his centuries of experience. I wonder if I-‘

His thought was cut off, however, as Boromir put in. “Gandalf I too have heard rumors of a Lady of evil in these woods and would caution against approaching her for the company’s safety.”

Legolas looked as though he would yell at the man but Gandalf raised a hand to stop him and sighed. “Listen all of you, I have great trust in the Lady of the Woods, she is wise and kind as well as a friend of mine, so I would warn you not to continue to speak ill of her unfounded.”

The ones still against the idea were cowed but Boromir still ventured to put forth a final argument.

“The Ringbearer should have the final say, it is concerning his path which we are speaking of.”

Gandalf nodded solemnly in agreement. “Yes I agree, come Frodo, you have been silent thus far and this does concern your burden.”

Frodo turned back to the young elfling still talking and laughing with the other Hobbits. “Gandalf, you said that bringing the little one to this Lady of the woods could help her.”

Gandalf looked as well in the child’s direction. “Yes my boy, I believe it is her only good option.”

He smiled wryly. “Then I suppose we will be going through the mines of Moria and meeting this Lady.”

Chapter Text

Safe. The child finally had a feeling of safety, these people wouldn’t hurt her. For the first time since she could remember there were no imminent threats terrorizing her mind.

“So what’s your name then youngster?” The nice blonde one asked, as they sat around the campfire.

‘Merry.’ her mind supplied his name unbidden.

But the child only looked down at her stew, brows scrunched in frustration.

The funny one, Pippin, shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Don’t worry, what’s in a name anyhow, you can be known as anything really,” he brandished his stew spoon raising it to the sky. “For example, thence forth I shall only respond to Oh Great Lord of Mushrooms.”

Merry threw his spoon at the other in annoyance. “No one’s calling you that you ass.”

Pippin looked at the other in mock confusion, barely dodging the spoon. “Who are you talking to? I only go by Oh Great Lord Of Mushrooms.” In response Merry tackled the other and rolled around, wrestling in the grass.

“Don’t mind them Miss,” Sam told her, refilling her bowl of stew and handing it back to her. “Not all hobbits are quite as strange as they are.” She could no longer stifle her giggles and they streamed out like water from a babbling brook.

Soon the others returned to the fireside and said that they wished to talk with her about a matter of great importance.

She was still a bit wary of the tall blonde man but she thought the others were kind enough. As she approached them however the blonde man came forward, before she could panic he gently knelt down before her and gazed into her eyes. The sincere look in his own was unmistakable.

“Young Lady, as a man of honour I owe you an apology. I hurt you and though it was not my intention, that is no excuse for what I did. A child should never come to harm by a man’s hand. I do not ask your forgiveness, but please allow me to offer my apologies.”

She couldn’t think, what should she say? Someone was apologising to her? Someone cared about her feelings? He didn’t blame it all on her. He didn’t call her worthless. He didn’t call her trash. Even if he looked like him, he was nothing like-

Who? Nothing like who?

She couldn’t remember what she was thinking. It didn’t matter, she looked back at the man and stood her ground, voice quavering a touch. “I- I forgive you.”

Then to the surprise of all the company she surged forward and wrapped her little arms around him in a hug. “Thank you for apologising.”

The man stood stock still for a moment before tentatively patting her on the back. “I do not deserve your forgiveness, but I will receive it thankfully.”

Gandalf cleared his throat and Boromir broke away.

“This isn’t the only thing we wanted to speak to you about,” the wizard continued stepping towards her. “We spoke of it earlier but we would like to formally ask you to accompany us for a small span of our journey.”

The elfling looked around at all the company. They were nice, they had made her laugh, and even the one who she had been most afraid of had turned out to be good, above all they made her feel safe.

“If you would let me, I do really want to come with you, I don’t have any other place to go.”

“That’s another thing,” interjected Aragorn. “Where are your parents or guardians? Why were you out here all alone in the wilds.”

“No elf would ever dare to leave an elfling unattended in the middle of the forest,” Legolas put in. “It is also strange that I haven’t heard of her before, news of her birth would have been spread and celebrated from the depths of Mirkwood to the halls of Imladris.”

The child’s eyes fell to the ground. “I’m sorry, I don’t know, I can’t remember anything since before…”

“You have amnesia,” Gasped Pippin and he ran up to her, grasping her head and checking for any injuries. “Did you bash your head?”

Gimli set down his axe carefully onto the ground and grabbed the young hobbit by the scruff of his neck and shook him a little. “Don’t crowd the poor lass, and keep your foolery to yourself.”

He then promptly dumped the young Took onto the ground and faced the elfling, eyes softening. “If you don’t mind a question,” He asked. “What can you remember? It may give us some clues.”

She screwed up her face in concentration. Thinking long and hard. “I don’t really remember anything.” She revealed. “I can’t even remember my name, or if I even have one,” She muttered this last part softly.

“But there have been no guardians looking out for me since I woke up, I- I don’t think I have any.”

Gandalf raised a hand and patted her head “Thanks for telling us.”

Her gaze stayed turned to the ground.

Legolas then piped up. “Are there any details you could tell us about the forest you woke up in.”

The elfling focused again on the older elf nodding her head. “Yes, when I woke up I was lying just beside a river, it flowed very fast, I remember watching it for a time.”

Legolas’ eyebrows knit together, “How far away was this river.”

“About 4 days' journey from here but I may have wandered around in the twists and turns of the woods.”

Legolas turned to the other members of the fellowship. “It sounds like the Bruinen. But there are very few settlements near there other than Imladris, so it is still a mystery how she may have ended up there.”

“It doesn’t matter how she got here,” Gimli said. “What matters is that she’s here now and we’ll take her to a safe place with her own people, even if they are elves.” He added this last part grumbling.

She looked at Aragorn who still had an expression of consternation on his face. ‘I wonder if he is still angry with me.’ She hoped not, she was so stupid to have said what she saw in her dream. ‘What if they left me alone when they learned I knew of them, or worse.’

The fellowship, new member in tow, started on their trek toward the mines of Moria. They were not more than 3 days walk away from it.

Travelling with a group took the young elf some getting used to. It wasn’t just the regular meals, or the din of conversation, but the fact that there were always eyes on her. As she fell asleep that night she caught a glance of Gandalf staring at her, as he sat by the fire, it felt almost as if he was trying to look inside her very soul and parse all the secrets within.

She slept poorly that night, memories of cold, staring eyes plaguing her dreams.

There were positive aspects to all these people being around her though.

On the second night she had shown interest in helping Sam forage for mushrooms and other herbs to add to the night's stew. As they wandered, not straying too far from the camp, Sam told her some stories from his home of the Shire.

“When I was a much younger hobbit, barely old enough to help the old gaffer around the garden,” Sam told her as he scrutinised a lightly bruised mushroom. “I would hear stories from master Bilbo. He was a more adventurous hobbit than any other you’d meet, he would tell tales of dwarves and dragons and of course great treasures. But my favourite stories would be the ones of elves with their flowing hair and ethereal beauty-” He blushed in embarrassment. ”Begging your pardon little Miss.”

“No, it's fine.” She said eyes wide with curiosity, “But please tell me more about the dragons.”

So Sam told her about the hobbit thief’s clever evasion of the dragon and discovery of its weakest spot. The girl listened with rapt attention, gasping when the party was trapped by the avalanche, and cheered when the Man managed to kill the dragon. Though the story was harrowing it filled her with a sense of comfort and familiarity.

That night she had pleasant dreams, filled with fun and adventure.