In hindsight, climbing a tree while wearing a dress wasn't exactly the smartest decision I had ever made. But I'm sure there had been worse ones made over the course of history. While I was thus musing about all the stupid decisions that others had made (my brother had a talent for making some truly spectacular ones in his boyhood), I was interrupted.

"Addie, what are you doing in a tree?" I looked down to see my dad watching me with amusement.

"It's a bit of a long story." I muttered from my perch.

"Why don't you tell it then?" He spoke as he too climbed up the tree to sit on a neighbouring branch.

"Well," I began. "I was bored and decided to go exploring. Somehow I ended up by a river; which by itself wasn't a bad thing. But this particular river seems to be where the ellyn go to wash their clothes." He was chuckling now, easily seeing where I was going with my story.

"As you can imagine I didn't exactly mean to be there. So I was slightly embarrassed and turned around and picked what I thought was the right direction. It wasn't apparently. So I climbed this tree to see if I could find any familiar landmarks; I got up here and realized that I was hopelessly lost. I had started to climb down when I realized that I had climbed a tree while wearing a dress and that this area seems to see a lot of heavy traffic at this time of day. I didn't think that far ahead when I originally decided to climb the tree which leaves me with a quite a dilemma. Any suggestions?" I asked dryly.

"Perhaps you should just climb down."

"And hope for the best?" I eyed the ground with consideration. "I wonder if I could jump down. I am less than twenty feet from the ground." I peered down, leaning my body forward slightly.

"I probably could." I added thoughtfully. I stood up on the branch to have better control of my jump.

"Addie, are you sure that is wise?" By the time he said that I was already in mid jump. I landed on the ground with the skirt of my dress bunched up in one hand by my knee to avoid flashing anyone passing below. The jump jarred my knees a little but I was otherwise unhurt.

My father was less than a minute behind me. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped. Looking at my bare feet with a puzzled expression he glanced back up at my face.

"No shoes were provided with the dress and I didn't want to wear my boots with them. Besides, I enjoy going barefoot." I released the fabric of my dress and it fell back around my legs.

He gave a nod of understanding before his expression became stern.

"You should be more careful, you could have easily twisted an ankle."

"I've jumped a similar difference before and been fine. Though, admittedly, I wasn't in a dress then." I shot him a small teasing smile. "Worrying about me already?"

"Of course. No matter how you came to be here you are still my daughter, and I will protect you." That last part was said with such determination and steel that I didn't doubt him. I was surprised that he was this protective of me already. He always had been in my time, but he knew me then; he had raised me and trained me.

I didn't say anything in reply. What could I say to that?

"I believe that you wanted to meet the rest of the fellowship?"

"Oh yes." I said with an eager smile. I was excited. I had heard so many stories about all of them, and I particularly wanted to meet Frodo and Sam. Frodo had sailed with Gandalf to Valinor long before my birth and the last time I had seen Sam was when I was a small child. Sam's bravery and determination to stay with Frodo had impressed me.

I was also slightly leery as well because I would be in close quarters with the Ring, something that I did not want. But everything had a price and this was a small one to pay to be able to meet the Fellowship.

"We have to hurry then before the hobbits eat all of the food."

"It never fails to amaze me how much food they can manage to consume; it's a wonder that it all fits."

He gave me a sideways glance. "Their appetites have not changed then?"

"Oh no." I paused. "How are you going to introduce me?"

"As a traveller passing through. I have discussed this with the Lady Galadriel."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes. "We are here. Prepare yourself."

I nodded in answer and then we were in a clearing. Food was already laid out and as expected the hobbits were consuming most of it. The mood was quiet, reflective. There was a melancholy atmosphere that hung about the group. Just on the edge of my hearing I could hear the sound of several elves singing. I paused slightly to make out the words, then I understood. A lament for Gandalf the Grey. I wished I could tell them that their mourning was pointless, that he would come back, but I knew I could not. I let out a small breath and continued on into the clearing behind my father. I was unnoticed at first before I began to get curious stares. The hobbits made no effort to hide them. The others were a little more subtle.

"This is Lady Addie, she is a traveller passing through. She was curious and wished to meet the hobbits as she has never seen one before."

Hmm, well that seemed plausible.

"Well my Lady, you are in luck. I'm Pipin and that's Merry." He spoke gesturing to another curly haired hobbit who sat to the left of him. "That over there is Frodo and the one right next to him is Sam." They gave me polite nods as I greeted then.

"Just Addie is fine, Lady Addie is a mouthful." I said with a smile in the general direction of all the hobbits. "I've heard about the Shire from others, but what is it really like?"

That seemed to be the question to ask. With matching grins they began to regale me with tales of the Shire. Frodo and Sam had edged closer as the stories had gone on so that we were sitting in a small circle. I had taken a seat soon after I had asked my question. Many of their stories had me laughing out loud. Slowly the conversation dwindled and the light seemed to be fading. I looked around and noticed that Legolas was staring at me with curiosity. Probably trying to figure out who exactly I was. Boromir was nowhere to be found and Gimli was at the other end of the clearing. I couldn't tell what he was doing.

"I should go back before it becomes too dark for me to see. I have a hard enough time finding my way around as it is." I stood up and gently shook my dress out a little.

"Come back anytime! Maybe next time you could tell us stories of your home?"

"Perhaps." I was a little startled by the light touch at my elbow. Dad.

"I will escort you back. It wouldn't do to have you wandering around in the dark."

"Thank you."

We walked in silence at first before my dad broke it.

"We should be out of range of Legolas' hearing by now." He fixed me with a direct look. "Tomorrow we will meet two hours after dawn. I want to see just how good you really are. Besides, you need to spar regularly anyway. The practice courts are very close by where you are staying." He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "They are there." He said while pointing. "You think you can find your way there?"

I gave him a sideways glance. "My sense of direction is not that terrible. I'll be there." We stopped at the base of a tree. This one was much bigger than the tree that I had climbed earlier. I eyed the staircase with distaste but with a sigh began the climb. It was much easier to climb down than to go up. But I persevered and eventually got to the top. I made my way to my rooms to get ready for the night. Stepping through the doorway, I found another nightgown folded neatly on the foot of the bed. I changed, feeling much more comfortable. I settled into the bed with a quiet sigh.

Tomorrow was going to be very hard. I knew my father and knew that he would push me to my breaking point to see how much I could take. I knew that I was going to have bruises decorating my whole body and probably would acquire some scrapes and cuts. Tomorrow was not going to be fun. I drifted off to sleep wondering what my sisters were doing now…

A/N Yay, another chapter! I am in the process of writing chapter four right now. This was really just a set up chapter so that the rest of the story makes sense. The pace will pick up soon I promise. On a completely unrelated note, snow blew off a tree and hit me in the eye. That has never happened to me before.