Chapter 1

Saoirse (SEER-shah) jumped off her horse, Caoimhe (KWEEV-ah). Her twin sister Sari rode to a halt behind her on her horse, Khawla. Sari jumped off Khawla and handed her reins to her sister before going over to Lindir. Saoirse grabbed the reins emotionlessly and guided the 2 beautiful mares to the stables of Imladris, or better known as Rivendell in the common tongue.

"Lindir where be our Uncle?" Sari asked kindly.

"Lord Elrond is in the grand dining hall currently feeding our guests," Lindir answered politely to the outcast of Greenwood.

"What guests?" She was confused. She didn't know Uncle had guests.

"Dwarves, milady, and Mithrandir," he answered her. At the elvish name of the wizard she visibly brightened. Without another word she turned around and hurried off to get her sister. She wasn't even going to bother changing out of her Ranger clothes even though she was covered in blood.

Saoirse was leading the horses to the stable and wondering how exactly she was going to go to the healing room without her sister knowing. On the fight they just returned from she had a pretty bad gash and her sister didn't know and she didn't want her to be worried. Even though she had plenty of wounds before and she always came out alright, her sister was a worry wart. So this was going to be yet another scar to add to what seemed to be a never ending list. She put the horses in their stalls before turning around to go find her sister.

When she turned around, pain shot through her abdomen and she had to hold back a gasp. She continued to walk out when she looked up to see her sister hurrying towards her.

"What is it Sari?" she asked in the common tongue.

"Uncle has guests in the dining hall and you will never guess who one of them is," Sari said excitedly.

"Who?" She asked in a monotone voice.

"Mithrandir!" She practically yelled before grabbing her sister's hand and dragging her towards the dining hall. Even though the way she was being dragged hurt a lot, Saoirse didn't pull away. They entered the dining hall and 16 pairs of eyes turned towards them.

"Ah Sari, Saoirse. I was wondering when you would return." Their Uncle was the first to speak.

"Hello Uncle," Sari made her way over to their Uncle. The dwarves and a lone hobbit were staring at them with curiosity. More importantly they were staring at Sari's exotic beauty and Saoirse' scars that ran the length of her face and her silver eyes. Saoirse slowly made her way over to her Uncle and half hugged him.

"Hello Uncle," her quiet voice rang out. She turned around to leave but a hand grabbed her wrist. She looked behind to see Elrond holding her wrist. She turned forward to see her sister had already left the room.

"You're injured," Elrond spoke worriedly. She tried to tug her wrist away but failed because of how weak she was.

"How?" She refused to show how tired and weak she was.

"How you're moving. You're walking stiffly as if trying to control your body. You only do that when you are wounded. Show me." He demanded.

"No," She refused. She gestured with her eyes to the people around them.

"They have seen wounds before. Now show me," He demanded more powerfully, sounding every bit the Lord he was.

She sighed before shrugging off her cloak to the ground, ignoring the multiple pairs of unfamiliar eyes on her. One pair in particular made her curious. They were a brilliant blue and belonged to a very regal looking black haired dwarf. She lifted her shirt to just below breast band and heard a collective gasp. She heard a dwarf mutter in sympathy, "Lass…" A gash running from middle of her navel ran jaggedly to her back. And the worst part was that it was starting to fester.

"Healing rooms, now. Excuse me Mithrandir, Thorin," He nodded to each person he called off. Saoirse looked at the blue eyed man as she found out his name. He looked at her coolly before turning to Elrond and nodding back. Elrond grabbed her arm and started to tug her along. She struggled to keep up with his fast pace. It was one of the downfalls to being only half elf. She was as tall as a short human. The twins were probably as tall as a tall dwarf. Yeah she hated being short.

After she had gotten a lecture and bandaged up she was told to get dressed and come to dinner. She nodded and left to her room. She chose her ceremonial colors. Hers were black, silver and sometimes purple while her sisters were blue and gold to go with her tan skin. Saoirse had very porcelain pale skin, eyes the color of the moon, and raven black hair. She looked very wild and elvish. Sari on the other hand looked human. She had tan skin, green eyes and blonde hair and was absolutely beautiful. Saoirse was very odd looking and was often thought not even close to attractive.

She chose tight black pants with silver embroidery on the seams, a loose black shirt with silver embroidery on the arms and grabbed an extremely long silver ribbon and wrapped it around her body over and over again unevenly until she had made a makeshift corset. She tied it off on her side. She put on her sleek black leather boots, undid her messy bun of braids, undid the braids and put it back up in the same style, just less messy. She put the circlet into it as well.

She walked down to the dining room with a blank face. Everybody stopped eating to stare at her yet again. She walked to her seat which apparently somebody placed next to Thorin. She took her seat stiffly.

"And may I formally present my other niece, Saoirse," Elrond formally introduced her. Everybody nodded at her. "And Saoirse, this is the company you will be going to be travelling with until they are done with their quest."

She stilled. A moment passed before Thorin and Saoirse reacted at the same time.

"WHAT?!" They yelled in synchronization. They both started yelling and nobody could understand either of them because of the other. Some of the dwarves thought it was funny and had to hold back chuckles.

"I am not going to take a girl with us," Thorin yelled and Saoirse stilled yet again. "I am not going to risk the lives of my company because of a girl."

"Are you saying that I can't defend myself?" Her voice was real quiet.

"Yes I am. That wound you had earlier was proof of that!" He answered with a cold tone. Sari got really confused at the mention of a wound.

"What wound?" They both ignored her.

"That was from a pack of orcs and wargs. I was surrounded. I'm a ranger. I'm used to getting hurt and being in danger. So you don't need to protect me!" Her voice came out louder. She turned to Elrond. "Is Sari going?"

"No."

"Good," She walked out of the room.

"Well, I guess that settles it. She is going with us," Gandalf broke the silence with an amused look.

"Do I need to come up with another contract?" Balin asked.

"No I don't think you do Master Balin. She won't want any of the treasure. She has a disliking for that kind of thing. She will most likely help us for no cost at all," Gandalf replied.

"What kind of person doesn't like treasure?" Ori asked. Most of the dwarves nodded their heads with him.

"The kind of person who has seen what it does to people and the kind of person who does not want power. Saoirse is both. Do not underestimate her..." He trailed off.