For Stella, the days seemed to drag. She had not been given anything to do and, while getting lost held some amusement, she often found herself tucked away in some long forgotten corner.
Once Frodo had awoken on their second day here he was immediately dragged away to talk with old friends and Stella was seemingly forgotten. Except she wasn't, she often caught Aragorn's eye and he had motioned for her to follow him once or twice. Stella tried to ignore the looks, and eventual pointed glares; he threw her way preferring to think about the predicament they had landed themselves in without his interference.
She was walking one day, aimlessly meandering through a portion of the garden she had yet to explore, when she ran into Merry and Pippin. They wore matching grins that told her immediately they were up to no good.
"What did you two get into now?" she asked, expecting that they had raided the kitchen again.
"Frodo has been called into a secret meeting and we were just going to see what all the fuss was about. Would you like to come with us?" Merry asked looking proud.
Stella laughed at there antics but agreed to join them.
"It's not like I have anything better to do." She sighed
They quickly made their way to the location of the 'secret meeting' just in time to see a short man with a long beard swing an axe at a table. The axe chipped and the man fell back from the rebound of his own attack. Stella quickly observed the table; she saw that it held the ring that she had only seen once in passing as Frodo slipped it into his pocket. The ring lay there unharmed and everyone began to argue with what to do with it.
A man with dirty blond hair stood looking at the ring with pure desire. He spoke of a city named Gondor and how he could use the ring to help the inhabitants of the city. From out of her line of sight Aragorn rose stating that the ring could never be used for good. The man, Aragorn addressed as Boromir, sneered and made some remake about the status of a ranger. At this comment another man stood with grace and power coming to Aragorn's aide. He called Aragorn 'Isildur's heir' and 'the rightful king of Gondor'.
Stella was shocked; she knew Aragorn was keeping something from her, but king? She thought back to how she had acted while they were traveling together growing more and more anxious. She had slapped a king, she had yelled at a king, and she had kissed a king and then yelled at him again. Her mother was never going to believe this. As Stella slowly forced herself to the situation at hand she heard a small voice she recognised.
"I will take the ring, I will take the ring to Mordor, though I do not know the way." Frodo said, his voice growing as he continued.
Stella then heard the gruff voice of the wizard she had only seen once or twice promise to shoe Frodo the way. It was then that Stella heard another familiar voice vow to protect him, followed swiftly by the blond that defended Aragorn. The short man with the axe also joined them; only seconds later the man Boromir made some ridiculous speech and joined them.
It was then that Sam came rushing out of the surrounding shrubbery, "Mister. Frodo isn't going anywhere without me." He yelled joining the group.
Merry and Pippin looked at each other with looks of indignation "well we certainly won't be left behind" Pippin said to Merry as they rushed to join the eclectic gathering.
Pippin was half way to the group before he realised Stella hadn't followed them, he rushed back to her grabbing her hand dragging her along with him to the rest of the group. She quickly locked eyes with Aragorn before looking away.
"A woman," Boromir yelled "she has no business here!" he finished, looking at her in a way that was all too familiar for Stella. She merely walked up to him smiling sweetly.
"I can take care of myself," she said in her sweetest tone, pushing down the annoyance that bubbled to the surface.
Boromir smirked at her unbelieving.
Stella made to turn away from him but he placed his hand on her upper arm. Stella snapped she quickly used her free hand to punch him in the nose effectively loosening his grasp on her arm. She placed both hands on his shoulders, using his weight as leverage to force her knee into his groin. As he doubled over Stella forced him to the ground placing her foot on his chest, feeling triumphant.
"Never place your hands on me again" she said in a menacing tone.
She looked up everyone was staring at her in a sate of shock, even Aragorn looked amazed by her actions. She slowly allowed Boromir to stand again.
"I told him I could take care of myself," She stated blankly to the room "he shouldn't have touched me." She shrugged slightly out of breath.
Elrond was the first to come to his senses; he nodded and stated, "Very well, the ten of you shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."
They all nodded and the meeting quickly dispersed as they all rushed off to prepare for the journey ahead. Stella as about to follow Pippin, to yell at him about getting her in this mess, when Aragorn cleared his throat.
She looked back at him and forced herself to deal with the matter at hand. He sat back in the chair he had previously occupied, putting his hands in his face, seemingly unsure of where to begin. Stella took a big breath; she had never been one to beat around the bush.
"Are you going to tell me why Arwen has been looking at me like I trod on her cat?" she asked with only a small amount of animosity, and even that sounded forced.
Aragorn looked up confused by the saying but understood her meaning. She wanted answers.
"Arwen and I were together for a very long time, but our relationship would never have worked. I once loved her very much, and I still care about her, but she is destined for another future." He started, hoping that would be enough information.
"Hey you are the one that wanted to talk!" Stella yelled, "So talk, that was a half-ass answer and you know it."
He sighed, "Arwen pledged to me her hand in marriage, I could not accept. Not only does she have another destiny, but recently I have found that my heart does not belong to her anymore." He said in a quiet voice.
"Marriage?" Stella asked, "Oh, Stella Noel Maddox, what have you gotten yourself into now?" she slumped in her chair. "I'm just trying to get this straight, she said she would marry you and you turned her down? For reasons that include me? Are you crazy?" this wasn't happening.
"If you do not return my affections that is fine, I just wanted you to know" he stated looking at her.
Stella rolled her eyes
"Oh fuck, you don't even know me! How can you like me? And of course I think you are attractive but that doesn't mean I want you to go around ending engagements" She looked at him, the last part was a lie and she could tell by looking at him that he knew it too. She was so relieved that he had ended his relationship with Arwen especially now that she would be traveling with him for the foreseeable future. She looked down at her hands.
"I sort of thought I was handling this all with a lot of grace. I mean I get dragged into this world where men with swords are the norm not to mention elves are real and dwarfs aren't living with Snow White." She rambled on losing the meaning of her anger and simply stating all of the things she had thought since waking up that evening in her meadow.
He tentatively grasped her hand; unsure if it would result in the same treatment she had given Boromir. Stella looked at their joined hands and allowed it to centre her bringing her back to the real issue. Rather than pushing him away she clung to him realizing how much he had helped her.
"I truly do not understand you, but I enjoy your presence and you fight rather than run away from your problems, a trait not seen in most." He justified
Nodding, she looked into his eyes.
"You are a good man, and while I cannot promise that you anything I will think about what you have said." Stella said trying to keep her voice level but with the amount of adrenaline pumping through her veins she was finding it an incredibly challenging task.
"But first you must endure several more of my questions," She was smirking now wanting to see him fidget as he came up with some story to explain to her why he didn't mention his lineage. "Frist, should I be addressing you as king?"
He explained to her about Isildur and the great fall of man. Stella could see the fear in his eyes; he was afraid of his past, afraid of his future, and hiding from it all with the guise of a ranger. Once he had finished his story she looked at him again.
"So you are hiding out of fear? You ran away from your problems because they were too much to handle?" her words were harsh but her voice carried a smirk. "It seems it was not me we had to worry about at Amon Sul." She couldn't help that she was still bitter about his cold words. "It's okay, I understand, if you had met me only a year ago I would have run. I never used to face my fears, running seemed safer for everyone involved." She looked up at him seeing the curiosity in his eyes.
"What changed?" he asked.
Stella grimaced, she really didn't want to tell him but felt it was only fair he had told her his past now it was time for her to share.
"Almost eight months ago I went out to a bar with one of my friends, she had just turned twenty-one, and insisted that she take me out so that I could experience 'real college life'. I was wasted by the third hour and she was worse neither of us should have been anywhere near a car so I called for someone to come pick us up." Her voice was shaking now her hands fumbled looking for a cigarette.
"But I suppose I was too drunk to have done it correctly because we waited there until the bar was closing and nobody came for us. A man came up to us, he said he could take us back to our dorm and we were so far gone we thought that this guy was our best option." A tear had formed in the corner of her eye, "So we got in his car I was in the front giving him instructions back to the dorm. Once we got there I got out of the car but Liz was passed out in the back, he said he could carry her up to her room and I just agreed. I let him in and showed him to her room. I thought he had gone but I heard screaming," she was crying now her voice shaking "I didn't do anything, I just went to sleep. I didn't help her. In the morning I went to her room she was laying there, awake but not moving, she wouldn't say anything. It was all my fault." She couldn't look at Aragorn, afraid to see the disgust in his eyes.
He moved his hand under her chin, forcing her to look at him.
"You are young, nobody expects you to carry that guilt. As for that man, there is no honour in that act and he deserves a painful death." The fire in his eyes gave Stella hope that eventually she could forgive herself.
He moved his face closer, using his other hand to wipe away her tears.
"I don't like to see you cry," he whispered
She nodded at a complete loss for words; he was so caring and protective. Stella realised that it was the first time she had felt safe since that night. She moved her face closer into his hand that now cupped her face.
"Thank you." She murmured.
She watched as his face move closer to hers. She knew she had made up her mind she would follow him absolutely anywhere. She closed the gap pressing her lips to his. This kiss was different from the first; the first was soft and cautious. This kiss was full of desire; she tried to put all of her emotions towards him into that singular action.
When they broke apart she looked up at him again.
"You are a good man, and a natural leader. It is time for you to stop fearing your past and know that you are different, stronger than those that came before you," she whispered "you should also know that I will follow you anywhere."
She finally got up from the seat she had occupied and moved away from the courtyard content with the way she had left things. She set off in search for Pippin not forgetting the mess he had created for her, although she now realized she was not as upset as she once was.