As what the elders would call "royalty," I was allowed virtually everywhere I wanted to go in Rivendell. Sometimes such privileges paid off. I remember the first time I saw him, I was riding through the outer acres of the Rivendell forest. It was cloudy and the sun was only just touching the sky. As a strayed into territory in which I seldom ride, I saw signs of a battle that had taken place not too long ago.
My curiosity got the best of me as I stopped to examine the rough road on which something had happened. I climbed off my horse and looked around, and to my surprise leaning against a tree I saw him. He looked beat, as if he had waged difficult battle, his leg, from what I could gather was broken, or bruised so badly that he was unable to walk or travel. By the clothes he wore and the weapons that he carried, I knew at once that he was a ranger, a wandering rouge, having no home. I glanced around the scene to find that no horse was visible so it looked as he was alone, stranded. He was in need of a healer and in a great deal of pain.
I looked at him curiously, it wasn't that I've never seen a man before, they always stop in Rivendell, there was something strange about this one, strange and wonderful. Not knowing what had come over me, I made my way to the tree that was holding the ranger up. He looked at me with amazement, I didn't know whether he was amazed at the fact that I wasn't scared of him or if he had never seen an elf before. Whatever it was it didn't matter, I wasn't about to leave anyone stranded like he was.
"What happened here?" I asked filling the awkward silence that was between us. He looked up, did I see a half smile?
"Umm…there were two men that tried to rob me last night…I'm on my way to Rivendell," he answered sounded a little amused.
"Rivendell?" I asked him surprised that he was going to my own home. I was starting to doubt my interfering. Why would he be going to Rivendell? What business did he have there? As all of these questions flowed through my head, I saw a sparkle on his hand. A ring, a crest of some kind. Out of all the knowledge that I gained from my people, I search my mind for the meaning of his ring. Something drew me to it, familiar. Then it hit me. Starting to be amused myself I spoke, "Why would Aragorn, son of Arathorn travel alone and without horses?"
A smile spread across his face, he tried to ignore the evident pain in his leg. "My horses were taken, Lady Arwen, and I always travel alone." I return the smile.
"Let me help you onto my horse, I can take you to Rivendell from here," Half-excepting refusal, the pain must have been too unbearable. He made a serious effort to do all that he could by himself. He stood up leaning against the tree. I then went over to him, put my arm around his waist. I felt his hand grasp mine as he tried to walk. When we reached my horse, he richoietted himself around the animal with his good leg. I jumped on the horse in front of him, grabbed the reigns and spoke to the horse in elvish, my native language. I carry an injured man, hurry to Rivendell, we must get him to a healer. The horse was gaining a good gallop as Aragorn spoke.
How did you know that my name was Aragorn? The elvish surprised me, not many men could speak the language. I did not hear of any man who spoke elvish so well.
There was a great deal of silence before I answered. An amazement, and a frightening bout of emotion came over me.
The crest that you wear on your ring, I recognized it. Just then the horse, tripped on an exposed root of a tree. It catapulted me into his mane and Aragorn to my back. Root or not, the conversation continued, the first of many. That first meeting changed both of our lives forever.
It was five years later that I gave my immortality to this man. A man that would become a great king, and I watched him play his part in the destruction of the One Ring.