„Strangers of distant lands, friends of old."

Lord Elrond of Rivendell began explaining the cause for the council to the assembled elves, men and dwarves. Mira however tuned him out. She could not believe she was sitting here, in Rivendell, next to Gandalf the grey, listening to some damned council that would decide the fate of middle earth. Well, that was great and all of course, but it had nothing to do with her. She was tricked into being here. She glared first at Aragorn, who sat opposite her, then at Gandalf. She could swear she caught both of them grin!

As soon as she had entered the elven city she had demanded her reward from the wizard. He had only chuckled and told her to take part in the council. She sure hoped she would be paid after that!

"He is no mere ranger! He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance."

That shout startled her out of her thoughts. She sent an annoyed look to the blonde elf who was standing in front of his seat and looked around as if he wanted some sort of reward. Well he was not the only one there…

"So this is Isildur´s heir?"

A tall and muscular man with a huge horn on his belt asked. Apparently he had been the one to question Aragorn.

"And the heir to the throne of Gondor!"

"Havo dad, Legolas."

Aragorn commanded. And like an overgrown puppy, the elf whose name was apparently Legolas complied.

"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king."

The man sat down glaring angrily at the ranger. It definitely had not taken long for this council to turn into a battle of pride. Men. Mira spaced out again until everyone jumped to their feet and was screaming at each other. Gandalf was running around between them telling them of their doom like some preacher. Legolas was fighting with a dwarf, about matters that did not even affect the council. How typical. Mira glanced over at the hobbit, Frodo Baggins, who was one of the few still sitting. He looked very troubled. Suddenly he too stood up.

"I will take it! I will take the ring to Mordor! Even though…I don´t know the way."

So it was about the one ring! Well what the hell. Who cares as long as she got her reward, all was good. For her that is.

"You have my sword."

"And my bow."

"And my ax!"

The Gondorian joined as well before the rest of the hobbits left their hiding places. They would not leave their friend alone.

"Mira."

"What?" She looked at Gandalf. "I do hope you plan to pay up before you leave."

Everyone was staring at her disbelievingly. Mira sighed. Great now she was the disobedient female. But she did not really care what they thought about her anyway. She was in a horrible mood.

"You will receive your reward, do not worry about that. However you will get it as soon as we have removed the ring from the enemies field of vision, which considering the fact that his servants followed us right to the borders, is not here. So I suggest you either wait, though it is indeed not set in stone that we will come back at all, or come with us. What do you say?"

"I say you are fucking bastard, wizard. Fine! I will come with you. And I will get my money even if I have to annoy you to death to get it!"

The stares had grown even more disbelieving. Elrond was laughing silently. Great, one more who was in on this…

Mira could not believe to what she had just agreed. Gandalf, knowing full well that she had not listened to the council at all, had just finished explaining to her what was going on and Boromir of Gondor had just finished complaining to Elrond.

"You cannot send a female with us! It is a perilous journey!"

"Honestly my lord? I would much prefer to sit at home and sew a dress, myself. Only, I do not have a home and I hate staying long in places I do not feel at home at. Plus, I can wield a sword so you do not have to go out of your way to protect me. I thank you for being considerate, though."

Mira liked the man. He was the first to actually realize that she was not some unfeminine, battlethirsty, manwoman. Even though the fact that most men did not treat her as an equal annoyed her, she still enjoyed being treated as a lady.

"But my lady!"

"As much as I want to stay behind, I know I will not be able to stay here. Rivendell is beautiful but in a week or two I will get very twitchy, and my desire for a real home will become overwhelming. The only thing I can do than is leave and wander the wild, which is very dangerous at the moment. So seeing as it is far safer to travel in a group, and that the old man over there owes me some money, I believe I might as well travel with you."

Boromir looked surprised at her respectful tone. Before she had only snapped at Gandalf and she still did not seem very happy with the wizard, but now she had proved to him that she was indeed a lady. Willful, yes and also quite harsh if you got on her bad side. But he could not bring himself to dislike those qualities. They proved she had character, something he had sorely missed in the ladies of the court at home in Minas Tirith.

"May the blessings of elves, men and all free folk go with you."

Mira bowed her head with the rest of them.

"The fellowship awaits the ring bearer."

Frodo turned around slowly and made to leave. He whispered something to Gandalf that made Legolas and Aragorn smile a little, then he turned left. Mira followed without another glance back. She had liked Rivendell and if there had been something to tie her there she would have gladly called it her home. But there was nothing for her there. No one.