Adaline did not sleep well that night; tossing and turning in her bed, she could not settle easily regardless of how hard she tried. After what felt like many hours of trying (and failing) to sleep, she sighed heavily and sat up in her bed, looking around the dark room. A small ray of light shone through the curtained window, trailing across the floor boards and towards the bedroom door.

After Gandalf had departed, Deonynn and Adaline sat silently at the table, lost in their own thoughts. They did not discuss what the wizard had said to them, but simply decided to call it a night and sleep on the matter.

'Sleep on the matter,' Adaline scoffed in her head, 'I would if I could.'

"Adaline?" Deonynn's voice spoke softly from the bed opposite her.

She looked upwards to see him sitting up straight.

"Can't sleep," she mumbled lazily.

"Me either," Deonynn said as he rubbed one eye sleepily.

They fell into a familiar silence, the only sound came from a light breeze flowing through the open window.

"What do we do, Deonynn?" Adaline finally asked.

Deonynn shook his head.

"Why did you not tell me you were unhappy in Rivendell?" he questioned.

"What would have been the point?" Adaline sighed, shrugging one shoulder. "Mother was happy, she felt safe with the elves."

She paused and gazed at her brother's dark silhouette.

"You were happy. We were treated very well –"

"You had no social life," Deonynn argued, thinking back and realising how his sister spent most of her time locked away in her room or in the library.

"That wasn't important," she tried to convince him. "What was important was that mother was happy and well looked after. She had just lost father and did not need me moaning at her and asking to settle somewhere else."

The room fell silent again. Adaline could now here a faint snore coming from the room next door.

"Then why didn't you tell me were unhappy once mother had passed?" Deonynn interrogated further. "You could have suggested moving here to Bree, or to Rohan –"

"- Elrond was convinced Lindon would be the safest place for us to travel," Adaline said. "He was sure there would be more people of our own heritage settling there."

Deonynn sat silently as he took in his sister's words.

"Do you believe the wizard?" he asked her.

Adaline shook her head and shrugged.

"I cannot say," she sighed.

The siblings sat in silence and debated what to do.

"It seems a bit random," Adaline admitted. "Why would father not tell mother to move to Gondor?"

"It all seemed to happen so quickly," Deonynn recalled. "I do not believe we knew where we were headed as our home lay to ruins. Maybe she had intended to continue to Gondor, but once we reached Rivendell she settled."

Adaline nodded slightly in agreement, looking down at her hands that rest in her lap.

Deonynn let out a heavy sigh and stood from his bed, moving over and sitting beside her.

"Do you want to live in Lindon?" he asked her seriously, putting an arm around her shoulder.

Adaline paused and bit her lip in thought.

"I want a new start, Deonynn," she admitted. "I grow tired of living amongst people who look down on us."

Deonynn sighed.

"So you want to move to Gondor?" he then questioned.

"I want to live amongst men," she said honestly. "Gondor, Bree, Rohan...I do not care."

Deonynn paused, then withdrew his arm from around Adaline and began to play with his fingers awkwardly.

"You know, father used to speak of Gondonr," Deonynn told his sister. "He told me that the bravest men fight to protect it, and that one day I would be one of those men."

Adaline looked at her brother's dark figure sat next to her, now her eyes had settled to the darkness, she could begin to make out the disturbed expression upon his face.

"He told me that he'd move the family there one day," he recalled. "He told me that you'd –" he let out a hearty chuckle, "- you'd settle with a nobleman."

Adaline and her brother both shared a small laugh.

"Of course, this changed after he passed," Deonynn said with a small, broken voice.

The siblings fell silent once more, Adaline couldn't help but notice the snoring from next door had finally subsided.

"Why are we going to Lindon, Deonynn?" she finally asked. "Let's move to Gondor. Think how exciting it will be. New people, a new home. You can train amongst the great men of Gondor like father always wanted."

Deonynn looked at his sister through the darkness.

"And whilst I won't marry any nobleman –" they both grinned, "- I will be able to study new, ancient languages and histories. I have grown bored of studying the way of the elves and their tales."

Deonynn smiled and squeezed his sisters hand, but his smile soon shortly faded.

"And what if we do not like it there?" he asked.

This time, Adaline squeezed her brother's hand assuringly.

"Then we return to Rivendell, brother," she said softly, "Lindon will wait."


After her late night conversation with Deonynn, Adaline found she still could not sleep. Not because the wizards words were whirling around in her mind, making her question why her and her brother travelled west, but because she could not help picture her new life in Gondor.

She lay smiling at the ceiling as she imagined it. New people, new libraries, new literature, a whole new life.

Adaline felt she had only just finally dropped off when her brother stood at her side, shaking her from her slumber.

"Come on, Adaline," he said softly. "We need to get going if we want to catch Gandalf in Hobbiton."

Adaline groaned and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"OK, I'm up," she sighed.

They packed their things together and made a short stop for breakfast, before returning to their horses outside.

"How long to The Shire?" she asked as they saddled their horses.

"A couple of days," Deonynn guessed. "We shall not have much time to stop if we want to make it in time."

They set off together, the sun happily beaming down on them. Adaline smiled as they left Bree, excitement filling her as she continued to think of Gondor. She had seen many illustrations of the great city, but half expected it would look more magnificent in person.

"I do have one question," Adaline said as she frowned. "Why are we travelling with Gandalf -?" she paused and thought of what he had previously said, "- and not to mention with thirteen dwarves."

"Gandalf was certain the road there would be dangerous," Deonynn shrugged. "I cannot say I disagree. Not only that, I do not know the way from Rivendell, neither do I know the way if we travelled to Rohan passed Isengard."

Deonynn looked over his shoulder at his sister who rode behind him.

"I do not wish to risk getting us lost as winter approaches, dear sister," he paused and grinned, "or kidnapped."

Adaline smirked at her brother as he turned back to face before him as they continued to trot through the outskirts of Bree.

"He was very serious about not telling the dwarves that we will be travelling east to Rivendell," Adaline pointed out, recalling the wizard's seriousness in not feeding any information on their directions of travel to the thirteen dwarves.

"Come on, Adaline," Deonynn laughed from before her. "You're smart; you should know dwarves and elves aren't the greatest of friends."


They had travelled throughout the day, only stopping briefly to let their horses have a rest and a drink. By nightfall, they came across a slope in the woodlands they travelled within. In part of the hilly slope sat a rocky edge, which ever so slightly hung over the lower ground, looking like a small cave.

"We shall stop here for the night," Deonynn told Adaline as he jumped from his horse and walking towards the rocky groove. "This'll be a great spot to rest."

Adaline nodded and jumped down from her horse, untying the bags she had strapped to it earlier that morning.

"I shall get some firewood, how about you start on some food?" Deonynn suggested as he crossed past her and made his way further into the woodland, axe in hand.

Adaline turned to one of the bags and pulled out a dead rabbit they had bought that morning before departing from Bree. She sat on the floor with her back against the rocky slope, pulling a small dagger from her boot (the only sort of weapon Deonynn would let her carry) and began to work on skinning the rabbit.

Deonynn returned shortly after Adaline had finished skinning the rabbit with a handful of wood. Once he had a warm fire going, Adaline began to cook for them both, making as best she could, a rabbit stew.

"This is excellent," Deonynn complimented as they finally ate.

"Thank you," Adaline smiled.

From a young age, Deonynn had been taught to fight and train in swordsmanship and warfare. He was very good with a sword and axe and had gained great skills from the elves over the last eighteen years in Rivendell.

Adaline on the other hand had never been taught such things, neither had she ever cared to learn it. Adaline's curiosity lied within a book, not at the hilt of a sword. There was however, only so much Adaline could learn over the last eighteen years. She had spent most of her days in the library, reading upon the elvish history, languages and old geography. But that was only as far as she ever got. She never read upon the tales of men, dwarves and orcs, or learnt their languages. She partly blamed this on the fact her mother grew ill, and Adaline found herself becoming a full time carer. Which is where she learnt probably the most practical skill she knew, cooking.

"It's nice to eat meat again," Deonynn grinned happily as he finished his bowl.

They had never eaten meat within Rivendell, but this never stopped Adaline and Deonynn, to their mother's pure hatred and worry, going out into the wild to hunt and enjoy whatever animal they could find in the outskirts of their home.

"I better wash up," Adaline said as she took her brother's empty bowl.

"There's a stream down there," he pointed towards the south, "not too far. You should be safe; I feel we're the only people out here tonight."

Adaline couldn't help but smile at her brother, knowing full well he had scouted the area as best he could to check for danger.

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

Deonynn nodded and Adaline turned to head towards where he had pointed.

Less than a quarter of a mile away, Adaline found the stream Deonynn had mentioned. Getting down on her knees and leaning over, she set about cleaning the two bowls and spoons they had used as best she could.

She smiled softly as she did so, once again, thinking of what awaited for her and her brother in Gondor. She pictured their new house, decorated how she wanted, where she could happily sit with a book and forget all the grief she had been struck with over the last few years of her mother's illness.

Once the bowls were clean, Adaline rose to her feet and began to walk back towards the camp, carefully balancing the wet bowls and spoons in her hand.

She had only taken a few steps forward when she heard a small cracking noise, like a twig breaking under someone's weight.

She instantly froze, her eyes darting around the dark forest. Ahead, she could just see the orange glare of their fire. Had Deonynn followed her to make sure she was OK?

She moved towards a nearby tree and stood behind it, peering out into the darkness, trying to look for any signs of movement.

But none came.

She swallowed hard and bent down, grabbing the knife from her boot. Slowly and cautiously, Adaline took a step around the tree and began to walk back to the campsite, knife at the ready as the bowls and spoons balanced unevenly in her other hand.

She had managed to walk a good few yards forward, before she heard another snap of a breaking branch.

She immediately spun around, just in time to see someone squat down by a tree she had only just walked by.

"Stay back!" she yelled before she could stop herself, cringing as she realised her stupidity.

"What the -!" the person cried as they stumbled, almost toppling over as they tried to stand and pull their trousers back up.

"Oh my, I am so sorry," Adaline blushed, looking away.

"What do you think you're doing sneaking up on people like that?" the person cried angrily, tying his trousers back up. "I didn't even see you!"

"Really, I'm terribly sorry –"

"Can a dwarf not take care of business out in the middle of nowhere in peace?" they continued to yell, clearly disgruntled.

"I didn't mean to -" Adaline stumbled, feeling horribly embarrassed. "- I'll just get back to my camp."

Adaline made to walk back to Deonynn, when the person called out and strode forwards.

"Woah, wait one moment," they said, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. "What's a woman doing out here alone?"

"I'm travelling –" she stopped just short of telling him where to, "- with my brother."

Adaline finally looked at the person – well, dwarf – stood before her. He had very long blonde hair with intricate braiding, and wore thick, brown clothes, made of expensive looking furs.

"It is not safe out here," he told her. "He should not have let you come alone."

Adaline retracted her arm from the dwarf's hand and frowned at him. He stood maybe just an inch or two shorter than herself.

"I do not think he expected me to walk into a gentleman's public toilet," Adaline humoured him, to her surprise, the dwarf laughed loudly.

"I am sorry about that," he said, "I was sure I was alone. Lucky you caught me...well just before...you know." He awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"Adaline!" a voice suddenly yelled from behind them.

Both Adaline and the dwarf turned to see Deonynn running towards her, his sword in hand.

"Deonynn," she called, waving so he could see her.

He ran faster than Adaline had ever seen him run. Once he had finally approached them, he grabbed Adaline roughly and pushed her behind him, standing between her and the dwarf with his sword pointed directly at the side of the dwarf's neck.

"Deonynn, no!" Adaline cried as the dwarf put his hands up slightly in surrender.

"Who are you and what are you doing with my sister?" Deonynn asked furiously.

"He's doing nothing with me!" Adaline argued as Deonynn held her back.

"Do not think I won't cut your head off, dwarf," Deonynn hissed.

Suddenly, a loud 'CLANG' rang through the air as an arrow landed short of Deonynn's hand and bounced off of the sword. Deonynn hissed and dropped the sword in seconds of it landing mere inches from his hand.

"Do not threaten my brother!" someone called from the trees.

Adaline turned to see another figure slowly walking towards them, their bow and arrow aimed threateningly towards the twins.

Deonynn pushed Adaline backwards.

"It's rude to threaten," the blonde dwarf sarcastically said, picking Deonynn's sword off of the floor and studying it.

"Run, Adaline," Deonynn yelled.

Adaline however, remained very still.

"Run!" Deonynn repeated, glaring at her with both a mixture of fear and anger.

"Oh, please," the blonde dwarf laughed. "We are not going to hurt you."

"We're not?" the second dwarf spoke again, lowering his bow.

"No, Kili, we are not," the blonde dwarf said shortly, throwing Deonynn's sword before his feet.

Deonynn quickly bent down and retrieved his sword.

"That's no fun," the second dwarf muttered, placing his arrow back into his quiver.

"Who are you?" Deonynn asked with a heavy frown, his sword now lay limply at his side, no longer threatening.

"Fili."

"And Kili," they said one after the other.

"At your service," they chimed together with a short bow.

"I am Deonynn, son of Gúr, and this is my sister, Adaline," Deonynn introduced. "We travel west to Hobbiton."

"No kidding," Kili said with a grin. "We ride to the Shire."

Fili glared quickly at his brother, clearly annoyed at how openly he had been to share their information with the two strangers stood before them.

Adaline and Deonynn did not take long to put two and two together.

"You head to meet with Gandalf the Grey," Deonynn spoke sternly.

Fili and Kili both frowned.

"How do you know that?" Fili asked.

"Because we head to see the wizard too," Deonynn said, looking around the dark woods.

"To see Gandalf?" Kili said confused. "Why?"

"Our business is our own," Deonynn said, "as I am sure yours is."

Fili bowed his head shortly at Deonynn in some sort of agreement, whilst Kili and Adaline looked between the dwarf and man, keen to share more information.

"Will you come back to our camp?" Fili invited. "We have just cooked more than enough food to share."

"No, thank you," Deonynn said, grabbing Adaline's wrist. "We have already eaten."

Fili nodded his head again.

"Come on, Adaline," Deonynn ordered. "We need to get some sleep."

Deonynn began to pull Adaline from the dwarves. She couldn't resist looking back at Fili and Kili over her shoulder as her brother dragged her back to their camp.

"Try knocking before entering our bathroom next time," Fili called after her, laughing heartily with Kili.

Adaline turned away immediately, blushing violently as her brother glared angrily before him.