Aster looked on stoically as the last of the pires burned.

It had been a small town, all right. Unfortunately, it looked like a large amount of orcs had gotten there before her. There were very few structures even partially standing and the rest...She shuddered, trying not to remember.

She could feel the tear tracks that streaked her ash covered face, and she grimaced. She looked to the horizon, where a forest was barely visible, her eyes almost unseeing.

Was this what she had dreamed of as a child? Outside the borders of the Shire, things were even worse than she had ever thought they could be.

Her eyes sharpened. Somewhere out here was a hobbit she'd encouraged to travel and have adventures, and she'd let nothing keep her from fixing that mistake. She looked to the container slung on her hip. This hadn't been a total loss.

She winced slightly at the thought and sent a mental apology to the villages former inhabitants. She had managed to scrounge a few provisions, though, and a few other treasures. Like the map in it's container on her hip. It showed quite a bit of area east of the Misty Mountains, and the former owner had starred his village with a bit of pride.

She blessed that owner, even as she prepared to take his prized possession.

She resolutely faced the trees, leaving without looking back. She'd seen far too much of this place.

/

Before the afternoon was over, Aster fell gratefully into the stream she'd found. She knew she should be more cautious, but at this point she really didn't care. She had to get the ashes of that small hamlet off her skin and the smell off her clothes.

It took over an hour and several washes, but she finally put her damp and wrinkled clothes back on and prepared to face whatever came next. She really was fortunate no enemies had stumbled across her.

She took another look at her map, keeping an eye on the sun to determine where she was. Thankfully, she was fairly certain she knew where she was going at this point. The mountain with dwarf runes blocked out with the picture of a dragon pretty much said it all.

The only place any nearer that in any way depicted her bad luck with her cousin's journey was the elven kingdom somewhere in the trees in front of her.

It was a good secondary place to look, anyway, but her money was on the dragon infested mountain. (Just from her previous experiences with this cursed trip. Why hadn't she encouraged Bilbo in his hermit ways?)

Either way, she needed to somehow successfully navigate through the forest to the village of Men the map said rested on the lake. If it was still there, of course.

At any rate, that was her course. She'd take this 'Forest Road' which would allow her to avoid the elven route and make her way from there to the lake, where she could make inquiries and decide which course to take first: elves or Dragon.

She sighed, then squared her shoulders.

Canteen and extra canteen she'd scrounged full? Check. All the provisions she'd managed to gather? Check. Weapons and armor? Check. Courage and strength of will? Well, stubbornness and pride, anyway.

/

Aster burst out of the trees, jumping roots and boulders in her rush to get somewhere, anywhere, else away from that forest.

Anyone watching could have been forgiven for thinking that she was running for her life from pursuers both strong and numerous, but as the minutes ticked by nothing happened. Other than the grace she showed as she tripped over a rock and fell into a semi hysterical heap, of course.

When she finally managed to calm her breathing, Aster glared at the trees over her shoulder. That place had been...well, words didn't really describe it, but she was pretty sure she'd be having nightmares for years.

Besides the constant patrols of orcs, there had been humongous spiders that kept trying to eat her, weird creatures that lunged out of hidden burrows in the ground, and a suspicious lack of anything even resembling proper food and water.

She was sure that if the path had been any longer she'd have died. At least it had been fairly straight, wide, and easy to follow. If she hadn't had to travel next to it (instead of on it) with all the horrors that kept trying to confuse or eat her, it might have been barely memorable.

Her ears pricked. That sounded like water...hopefully it would actually be drinkable.

As she heaved her tired body upright she spared one last glare over her shoulder, then set about finding a place to drink, eat, and sleep. Preferably in that order.

/

Aster was ecstatic to see that the town was still there.

She wasn't just going to go barging in though. No, if this trip had taught her anything it was that nothing could be trusted to be as it seemed and the Valar had decided somewhere along the way that her life would make an amusing plaything.

So she would do what any sane, non-paranoid person would do: stealthily creep around the outskirts, maybe even on the roofs at night, and see what she could find out from eavesdropping and snooping.

It was the only sensible course, really.

With luck, the dwarves and Bilbo would all ready be here and she could join them. Whether they liked it or not. With slightly less luck, they would have left for the mountain and she'd have to hurry to catch up so they could face the Dragon together, as family should. With absolutely horrible luck, they'd still be somewhere in the evil forest and she'd have to go in and enlist the elves aid in finding them.

She shuddered and frantically put that last thought behind her. They'd be here. They had to be.

/

Of course no one would have heard of them.

She was fairly certain they hadn't been here either, because Mrs. Blitter was still gossiping with the honorable Widow Mayweather about the last caravan of Men that had come through six months before and Mrs. Jopplin's rather premature baby.

She was pretty sure a bunch of dwarves that wanted to go fight a Dragon at least trumped that.

She lay on Mrs. Jopplin's roof (fairly sweet lady, from what she could tell) as the hour turned towards midnight. She scowled at the stars.

The Valar really did hate her, didn't they? She was having a hard time deciding what to do at this point, honestly.

On the one hand, she could follow the river up until she found elves as she'd heard the villagers did and try to enlist their aid, which she really didn't want to do.

Or, she could head to the mountain and hope that the dwarves had simply decided to avoid the settlement as they had almost every other one and gone on themselves. And hadn't gotten eaten or killed.

She tossed that thought from her mind with a sharp shake of her head.

No thoughts like that! Besides, that would likely have caused some sign that the villagers would have seen.

She sighed once again. She was doing that far too often lately.

She really didn't want to go into the forest, but if there was still no sign of them in a couple of days she'd have to...She brightened up suddenly.

There was a third option. Those orcs had been following the group pretty closely, so she could just make a quick check around the lake and see if she saw any signs that indicated dwarves, hobbits, or orcs.

Perfect!

She shoved down the sensible portion of her mind that kept telling her to go see the elves. If she had to do it, she would. But she'd make very sure there was no other course first.

She sent a quick glare in the direction of the trees, and prepared for a quick nap. Despite the chance one of the Men would see her, it was still safer than sleeping in the trees.

She'd probably never look at a forest the same way again.