Disclaimer: I own nothing and nobody you recognize.

* I'm sorry it's short. I just want to make sure this sounds like a story that someone would be interested in reading. So let me know. This is my first fan-fic ever so please be gentle if you leave a review.

It had been 2 years since she'd stumbled into Aragorn's life. He had found her out in the wilds, utterly confused, hopelessly lost, and completely alone. She had come from another place in time, or another plane of existence, perhaps. She did not know; he did not know. Nobody knew. To this day he still can't explain why he had done it, but he had taken her under his wing; he had made her his charge. He became responsible for her in the way a father would be responsible for a daughter. He taught her how to survive in Middle Earth, how to fish, how to hunt, how to track, and how to fight. But he was still uneasy about the prospect of having her along as part of the fellowship.

Though she had become proficient enough in the tasks of survival in Middle Earth, she was still just a tiny thing. She stood barely higher than 5 ft., and weighed little more than 100 pounds. Her long blonde hair was pin straight, and so frustratingly silky that nothing would hold it for long, so she was forced to wear it down most of the time. But it suited her. It framed her round face beautifully, and complimented her fair skin, which seemed only to enhance her green eyes and rosy colored lips. Her name was Elsie.

Aragorn watched her as she did a final inspection of her room, making sure she hadn't left anything important. She would never see Rivendell again. Elrond had asked him to stay behind after the counsel had been dismissed. That's when he'd told Aragorn that Elsie could not stay in Rivendell.

"She is not elf kind." he had said, "The elves are sailing to Valinor, and we cannot take her with us. Aragorn, she must leave. Take her with you on this journey to Mordor."

Aragorn had given Elrond the dirtiest look he had been able to muster. To ask that she leave is one thing, he had thought, but how could he suggest I take her to her death?

As if Elrond had read his thoughts, he'd continued, "I do not mean that you take her all the way to Mordor. Take her along, and then leave her in Gondor, or Rohan, should you go there. Take her somewhere she can start a life, for she cannot start one here."

Aragorn had told Elsie that night that she would have to leave Rivendell. She had taken it stoically, he had thought, considering Rivendell had been the only home she had known these past 2 years.

Satisfied that she had everything she would need, Elsie grabbed her pack and slung it onto her shoulders. The fellowship was leaving within minutes Aragorn had told her. She stopped at her door, turned, and looked at Aragorn. "Well, here goes nothing." And with that she promptly turned around, threw open her door and began her way to the borders of Rivendell, where the fellowship would be meeting. Aragorn followed closely behind, pausing only long enough to close what was no longer her door behind him.