Aragorn steered her to the inn where he talked to a man named Butterbur about a room. Stella was more than happy to remain quiet as the eyes of every man followed her. Aragorn must have noticed Stella anxiety and pulled her closer to him, it was the closest they had ever been, usually they stayed several feet from each other. She found that she was not nervous because of their proximity, as she usually was around men; rather that she appreciated his protective nature. She moved closer to his side resting her head on his shoulder giving the rest of the men in the room a clear indication 'she was with him'. She felt him tense beside her and she wondered vaguely if it had something to do with her actions but quickly dismissed the errant thought. She heard him thank Butterbur and followed him up the stairs.

Once they had made it to the room they were given she saw a slight dilemma, one bed. She looked at him as he moved to the small table and sat in the wooden chair next to the window. He looked uncomfortable and stiff. Stella moved to the chair on the opposite side and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly "Is this because of what I did downstairs? I swear I was just trying to get those men to stop looking at me like a piece of meat. I thought if they thought I was with you they would leave me alone." She finished with a sigh "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He looked at her almost unbelievingly and to her surprise he laughed.

"You need not worry about me, I was simply worried about you, I could tell that you were uncomfortable and then Butterbur's comment I assumed would make you upset," he looked at her now and had to laugh she looked confused beyond words "you weren't paying any attention were you?" he asked with another chuckle, she shook her head "he asked if you were my wife, I had to give him a response and I assumed that things would be worse for you if I said no, so I told him we were." She looked at him with sudden comprehension.

"The bed," she started.

Aragorn looked at her shaking his head roughly.

"Of course the bed is yours, and yours alone" he assured her "but I could not find a way to get two rooms if I am traveling with my wife" he said with a small smile.

She looked at him with her own smile and stood to hug him.

"You are a good man," she whispered in his ear "there are many men who would have taken advantage of this situation." She pulled back and she looked at him again and then said in a normal voice "You may be a good man, but you need a bath" she declared dramatically pinching her nose, laughing.

He laughed along with her.

Somehow Aragorn managed to convince Butterbur to have bath water drawn for the two of them and they took turns using the room to bathe in. Stella was starting to believe that Aragorn, or Strider as he wished to be called, had much more authority than he had originally led her to believe.

When Aragorn emerged from the room again he looked much better although his clothes were still filthy. Stella smiled; she was suddenly very sleepy and could barely suppress the yawn that forced its way past her lips.

"You should catch up on some rest," Aragorn said quietly "once I have met with the hobbits we will leave for Rivendell."

Nodding again Stella moved to the bed slowly letting her hair down from the vice-like braid it was in.

"Thank you" she mumbled sleepily as she saw Aragorn leave the room.

It must have been hours though it felt like only minutes when Stella awoke again, Aragorn was there with another, he could have only been a child, they were having an intense conversation as Aragorn looked out of the window. "That is no trinket you carry" he was saying, the boy's words were lost in a sea of knocking

"Let him out or I'll have you longshanks!" came the call of a man from behind the door. Aragorn looked in Stella's direction and caught her eye, there was a glimmer of humour there, before he pulled the door open commending the little one for his courage.

There was a shriek that echoed throughout the inn that forced the little men at the door to come rushing in. they waited with bated breath as the shrieking continued and then it went silent. It was then that Stella took in the rather comical picture; she was on the bed, while Aragorn sat at the window, and the four little men looked at one another seemingly at a loss for what to do. She couldn't help but let out a low chuckle causing all five men to look at her.

Aragorn looked away sighing as he explained the Nazgul, the ringwraiths, the story sounded horrid and also caused Stella to feel a great pity for the men that fell to their power. Stella got up off of the bed and moved closer to Aragorn. He was talking about leaving at first light and told the little men, Stella now understood to be hobbits, to get some sleep.

It was then that Stella spoke up insisting that the hobbits take the bed she would not be able to sleep after listening to the story of the nine riders. After some protest from the one named Merry, who deemed it inappropriate to take the bed from a lady, she was able to convince them all to lay down and get some sleep. She joined Aragorn at the table and watched as he looked out the window. He looked haunted, as though the dream held more for him than the fear of a ringwraith.

His gaze out of the window was interrupted as he noticed Stella start to braid her hair again. He looked over at her as she watched him concerned for the look in his eye.

"Will you be alright?" she asked in a whisper afraid to wake the now sleeping hobbits. There was a subtle change in her choice of words and it did not go unnoticed, he opened his mouth to say something and found he was lacking the words he just nodded his head. She gave him an encouraging smile and moved her hand, as if to hold onto his that rested on the table, but thought better of it. The night passed slowly as Stella waited for the Nazgul to reappear and kill them all.

When dawn came Aragorn and Stella roused the hobbits from their sleep. Stella was excited to be leaving Bree and now that she had confirmed Aragorn's story about the existence of hobbits perhaps his tale of elves would be true as well. They ate a quick breakfast and moved on from the inn. They were walking for only ten minutes before the one named Pippin came up to her, "what is your name?" he asked not entirely impolitely.

"Stella," she responded "and you are Pippin?" although she already knew the answer because the one named Sam had already yelled at him 3 times for being too loud.

He nodded in response and they were silent for a while.

"So," he started "why are you traveling with Strider?"

Stella giggled

"Because before this I lived a frightfully boring life and craved an adventure, as soon as he told me that he was going someplace I had never heard of I insisted I tag along." She answered hoping she hadn't made herself sound like an idiot.

Pippin just smiled and nodded his head though she could see he was still confused. She laughed and ruffled his hair as he slowed down to walk with the other hobbits while she sped up to walk with Aragorn.

Not twenty minutes had passed before she could no longer see the curly hair of the closest hobbit. Stella gently tugged on Aragorn's sleeve and motioned behind her, he looked around and headed back. We came across the hobbits sitting down preparing a fire and sitting down to eat. "And just what do y'all think your doing?" Stella asked looking at each of the hobbits

"Breakfast!" one of them replied, now it was Aragorn's turn to role his eyes.

"You have already had it." He stated and made to turn away. Pippin looked genuinely lost.

"We've had one breakfast, yes, but what about second breakfast" he mentioned looking triumphant.

By this Aragorn was truly shocked instead of responding he simply turned away, throwing an apple at Pippin. She smirked and turned to continue walking, hearing Pippin complain about the lack of food and all of the meals he would be missing.

They stopped for the night and everyone was looking sad, she took it upon herself to cheer everyone up remembering the laughter her music had gotten, Stella moved closer to the hobbits. "Would you like to hear some music from my home?" she asked trying to be sweet.

One by one they all nodded. She took her iPod out of her pocket and asked "A slow song or a fast song?" Stella asked trying to find something that would not offend but would still lift the mood.

"Fast" Merry and Pippen both said at the same time.

She laughed but obliged as she picked out a fast song. Stella watched with delight as their eyes widened as the music started to play. It was a goofy song spoken mostly in Italian where a lady Mary was told she was too lazy. Merry and Pippin began tapping their feet to the beat laughing at the nonsensical words, Sam began to bob his head in time to the music, she even saw a small smile cross Frodo's face. As the music came to an end she quickly put the music on pause and their laughter died down. Sam looked at her shyly.

"Could you please play a slow song?" he asked

She smiled and nodded finding a slow song he would like. It was a love song about being content and creating happy memories. Sam looked as if he was on another planet; he had a goofy smile spread across his face. Until Frodo nudged him back to this world. "Thank you," he murmured. She was just glad that she could make the four happy before they fell asleep. Stella moved away again and looked at Aragorn, he was looking at her with a strange look that she couldn't place but she stared back unwilling to break eye contact with him.