Hey guys, I'm back! Just moved house and only had the net connected today :) I think this chapter is longer than the others, it looks like it is. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and please review. I love hearing from you about this story :D Sorry about the paragraphs, if someone could tell me how to make them STAY in the paragraphs I put them in I'll love you forever!

'Can you understand me?' Aragorn asked incredulously. I nodded again, there was no point pretending. 'If I put you down, will you fly away?'

No, you have my rabbit.

I shook my head this time, he still looked rather shocked when I answered him again. He seemed to believe me for he set me down. Great, now my feathers were all ruffled. Preening feathers was very tedious and probably one of the biggest downsides of being a bird. This would take ages to fix!

'How is this possible?' He asked me, kneeling in front of me. I shrugged my wings as best as I could, I can't explain it to him. 'Are you male or female?'

Idiot.

'Sorry, are you male?' Aragorn realised his mistake. I shook my head firmly, making him laugh. 'Alright, you are female, then.'

He took the rabbit from the snare and stood up.

Oh, no you don't. Mine!

I latched onto it with my claws, he held the rabbit up, with me still attached. 'I meant what I said, I will share it with you. Come.'

He held his forearm up to me, wanting me to get on. Well, I guess it would be more comfortable than swinging from a dead rabbit. Besides, I wanted to go with him, he must be going to Bree.

I hopped onto his arm, it was lucky his sleeve was thick enough to protect him from my talons. With the rabbit in one hand and me on his other forearm, we set off.

'My name is Strider…' He began but was interrupted when I let out a noise that sounded somewhat like a disbelieving snort. 'Alright, it is not my real name. But it is what I am known as in these parts. I assume you have a name, but I am not up to playing guessing games right now.'

He had set up a small camp nearby, a fire was already burning. I preferred my food raw, so I was pleased when Aragorn gave me my own piece before preparing the rest of it to cook for himself. Of course, I finished eating long before him and set about fixing my messed up feathers.

Vaguely, I wondered why he risked a fire if he was trying to avoid being seen. It was daylight though, which would make it harder to see. Somehow, there was little smoke and the way he cooked the rabbit suppressed the smell of the meat. Aragorn clearly knew what he was doing.

'You are a very unusual falcon.' Aragorn said suddenly. 'For all I know, you could be a spy.'

I huffed at him and turned my back on him with my beak in the air, very insulted.

'When you puff your feathers like that, does it mean you are angry?'

Angry. Cross. Irritated. Downright pissed. Pick any one you want, Rangerboy.

I glanced back at him, still keeping my body facing away to make my displeasure at being called a spy clear. My antics only served to amuse Aragorn, who decided I was alright for now and even apologised to me. I would have to convince him I was trustworthy.

He packed up camp as the sun went down, I watched him from my perch in a tree. How in the world can he get so much into that backpack? Once he was all done, I swooped down and landed on it.

'Are you coming with me, then?' Aragorn asked, I wonder if he feels silly talking to a bird? I nodded at him, as if I would leave now!

If he was surprised, he didn't show it. I jumped onto his shoulder when he bent to pick up his pack. Apart from a brief glance at me, he didn't object. The sun was going down, my sight wasn't as good at night. If the moon was out, I could see pretty well. But tonight was cloudy with no moon. Once the sun set, I was basically blind. But Aragorn moved through the forest with ease, making my ability to navigate my house with no lights look like child's play.

The gate was shut once we reached Bree, but Aragorn simply climbed over it. I wasn't sure if the hobbits were here on not yet. My dreams didn't always play exactly to the book, movie or television show. The main aspects were there, but the minor details often changed. It made it more interesting, I guess.

Bree looked a little different at night and at ground level, it took longer to get to the Pony on foot than by air. There were very few people on the streets now. The curtains at the Pony were drawn, but some light showed through. Strider opened the door, revealing a lot more activity inside. It was quite busy, most of the occupants were men. Some glanced at Aragorn when he entered but quickly looked away once they saw him. Aragorn ignored them and went to the stairs, sparing a glance for a short fat man carrying drinks. It wasn't until we reached the stairs did I realise that was Butterbur.

Aragorn didn't stay in his room, just set his pack down and went back downstairs, me still perched on his shoulder. It wasn't until he had sat down at a free table near the back did he actually talk to me.

'Now we wait.' He said softly, stretching his legs out and lighting a pipe. Without a word, Butterbur placed a tankard of some sort of alcohol in front of him. Inwardly, I cringed. I hated the smell of alcohol, my father always reeked of it.

It was warm in here, I was tempted to doze off. I kept shaking myself awake though, I didn't want to wake up in my bed yet. Firstly, I wanted to at least wait until the hobbits arrived. Secondly, I wasn't sure what I would wake up to. I never was.

When the hobbits arrived, I knew it was them right away. I could pick out Sam easily, sticking close to Frodo who looked a little nervous. Pippin and Merry were a little hard to tell apart, I couldn't see their faces right now as they were party hidden by the two hobbits standing in front of them..

Aragorn was watching them closely as they spoke to Butterbur and were seated at a table nearby. They were clearly very pleased when their food arrived. I almost groaned when I saw the blackberry tart, it was my favourite food. Well, blackberries were. I didn't care in what form they came.

You know, for the small group trying to avoid unwanted attention, they were doing a great job of drawing a lot of it. It was mainly Merry and Pippin having a little too much fun. It seemed ages before Frodo finally noticed Strider watching him.

As expected, Frodo stopped Butterbur to ask him who Aragorn was but I couldn't hear the reply from where I was perched. It was far too noisy to hear whispered conversations.

'That hobbit has consumed far too much drink.' Aragorn muttered to me, his attention on Pippin at the bar. 'It has loosened his tongue and he appeared to be a chatterbox before he got drunk.'

Frodo's gaze followed Aragorn's, I could see the hobbit's face pale when he heard Pippin regaling some keen listeners at the bar about Bilbo's birthday party, almost to the part where the old hobbit vanished in front of everyone.

I tell you what, those little hobbits can move when they want to. Frodo sped across the room and grabbed Pippin by the shoulder.

'Pippin!' Frodo cried as Pippin spilled some of drink down his front.

I didn't see exactly what happened next, my view of the hobbits obscured by the larger men surrounding them. But I did see Frodo disappear, so did Aragorn for he sat up straighter when the hobbit vanished into thin air.

Chaos erupted, Aragorn seemed to be the only one who kept calm. He stood up, grabbed Frodo who had reappeared under a table and hauled him up the stairs. Damn, Aragorn's eyesight was better than mine, I hadn't seen Frodo reappear.

Aragorn was not happy with him, judging by the way he shoved the hobbit into his room. I flitted over to a bedpost to watch. Frodo stood facing Aragorn, realising he was cornered.

'What do you want?' Frodo asked, he sounded scared.

'Are you frightened?' Aragorn asked him. I hated that part of the story, as if being dragged off alone by a man much bigger than you is going to leave you feeling happy.

'Yes.' Frodo replied.

'Not nearly frightened enough, I know what hunts you.' Aragorn's tone was short as he snuffed out candles with his fingers, I tried that once and burnt myself.

'What do you want?'

'A little more caution from you.' Aragorn pulled his hood down and looked at him. 'That is no trinket you carry.'

'I carry nothing.'

'Indeed.' Aragorn countered, the two glaring at eachother, neither of them noticed me gleefully mouthing their confrontation in silence to myself.

I could hear shuffling outside the door. If I could hear it, Aragorn definitely could. And fair enough, he opened the door as three ridiculously armed hobbits charged though and bailed him up. Sam was especially upset. Frodo's companions had a wooden stool and a candle holder against Aragorn's sword but they were fiercely determined to protect their friend.

Aragorn put the sword away and ushered them inside, checking the hall before shutting the door. Again, I was fighting off sleep while Aragorn convinced them to allow him to guide them to Rivendell. I assured myself I would go to sleep after the Ringwraiths came.

The hobbits moved their things into Aragorn's room and settled down to sleep. Aragorn sat by the window. Once the hobbits fell asleep, Aragorn noticed I was still awake and called me over. I landed on the back of his chair.

'Some very dark creatures will most likely come after them tonight.' He told me, looking back out the window. 'Can I trust you to be silent? We cannot draw attention to ourselves.'

To be honest, I don't know how I will react. I hoped I would be brave enough, but Ringwraiths were supposed to be terrifying. I nodded, assuring both him and myself I would not make a sound.

For another hour, we waited, neither of us moving. I could sort of feel when the Nazgûl drew near, everything felt very quiet and still. A horrible feeling of dread made my feathers stand on end.

When they came galloping up the road, I am proud to say that I didn't make a peep. Instead, I dived under a cloak on the floor, it belonged to one of the hobbits. The Nazgûl were even worse than I expected! If I could cry, I would be bawling my eyes out.

Under the cloak, most sounds were muffled but I could hear the screeches when the ruse in the hobbits' room was discovered. The noise woke the hobbits up and I heard Aragorn explain to them what the Ringwraiths actually were. I didn't care enough to listen, I just wanted them gone.

It seemed like forever that I was hiding under the cloak with my wings over my head and my eyes shut tight. I felt the cloak lifted off me to see Aragorn peeking under it.

'You can come out now.'

I wriggled out, feeling rather ashamed of myself for being a pansy. Aragorn held his forearm out and I hopped on.

'The Nazgûl bring terror to even the bravest of soldiers.' He assured me. 'You stayed quiet, that is all that mattered.'

'Uh, Strider?' Pippin spoke up. 'Why are you talking it?'

'Because she can understand me.'

The hobbits managed to calm down enough to go back to sleep, except for Frodo who looked to be deep in thought. I was once again perched on the back of Aragorn's chair. By now, I was exhausted, I had to go to sleep.

Yawning widely, I fluffed my feathers and tucked my head under a wing.

'STELLA!' I jerked awake when Mom screamed up the stairs. 'ARE YOU UP?'

Yikes, it was 6am! What the Hell was she doing up already? I bet she run out of vodka.

'STELLA?'

'I'M UP!'

I groaned and crawled out of bed, it was a school day. After I was dressed and ready, I headed down to the kitchen, hoping to get some breakfast. Emma was down there, going through Mom's purse. She looked up as I entered.

'The old hag passed out.' My sister explained. 'Here, lunch money. We'll grab breakfast on the way to school.'

She handed me $15 and pocketed the other 15. Neither of us felt the slightest bit of remorse taking money out of Mom's purse, we had to survive somehow. Emma and I always shared money or food we managed to scrounge up. Tala had kept everything to herself.

We rushed out the door as soon as we could. The only thing worse than our mother when she was drunk was when she had a hangover.

I couldn't wait to go back to Middle Earth, Nazgûl and all