The hike to Moria was much more suited to Stella's desires. The path was devoid of snow and it was all down hill. She almost jumped for joy when she had discovered this fact.

"This way is much easier," She commented, "why didn't we come this way to begin with? Would have saved us a hell of a lot of trouble." She asked innocently.

"You should ask Gandalf!" Gimli exclaimed looking delighted at the girl's enthusiasm "Just wait until you experience the hospitality of the dwarves, you will never want to leave."

Stella looked over at Gandalf noticing that he looked disturbed by the mere mention of the mines they were about to enter.

"I wouldn't say that so quickly, Gimli, back home I could not stand being indoors all day. I craved the outdoors, when I was with my family we would go to the ocean and I would revel in the sun and sand. Not to mention the waves, I could watch them for hours. I remember when I was little I had gone too far in the water and couldn't touch the ocean floor, I just let the waves push me back to shore." She smiled wistfully at the mention of home.

"You have seen the sea?" Legolas questioned looking rather jealous.

"Yes, many times. I grew up in a place called Malibu; it sits right on the ocean. My parents have a beach home that looks out on the water. Why?" now Stella was curious.

"I have never seen the sea, I can only imagine its great beauty." Legolas answered.

"You're joking! Never seen the ocean? The rest of you have, right?" She asked looking at each traveller.

She watched as each one of them shook their heads.

"Wow, a life without the ocean. I'm sorry! None of you have ever experienced the bikini season!" She joked before realizing that they would have no idea what that was.

"What's a 'bikni'?" Boromir asked.

Stella grinned, pleased that she would have a chance to shock all of them.

"Well it's an article of clothing, well actually it's two, and people swim in them." She grinned, "The top is made out of two small triangles," She made a triangle with her hands, "about this size, and they are connected with straps. The bottom is another piece that covers from here to here." She indicated where a bikini bottom covered.

Everyone looked shocked by her description before Boromir spoke again.

"I cannot fathom a lady electively wearing such disgraceful amount clothing." Boromir blushed thinking about Stella's description.

"You are somewhat right, some people cover their stomachs. Most don't in fact they work hard for the bodies to show off." She giggled as she saw Aragorn's face.

He looked torn somewhere between longing and confusion. Stella let the conversation drop as Boromir gave a disgusted snort and made a rude comment about my home's moral standard.

Stella snorted, "he wouldn't be saying that if he saw what I was talking about." She commented to Aragorn.

He just chuckled and nodded. She grinned pleased that he hadn't had the same reaction as Boromir.

The group followed a wall of rock that ran next to a stream that ended in a small lake. It was then made clear to Stella that dwarf doors are invisible when closed.

"Yes, because that makes perfect sense!" she grumbled under her breath earning a proud smile from Legolas.

Gandalf stopped suddenly, 'maybe he can see something I can't' Stella thought as she saw him dust of the rock wall. Suddenly he was chanting things holding his staff to the wall. It light up and Stella had to take a small step back, shocked by the sudden appearance of a door.

"Wow, that is beautiful." She commented breathlessly.

The beauty of the doors and the strange writing that surrounded them entranced her. She looked carefully at the inscription, back home she could speak several languages but she had never seen anything so beautiful. She went to sit by Legolas, who was sitting on a rock looking in the complete opposite direction.

"What language is that? It looks far more complex than French some of those marks look almost German but I can't read any of it." She explained

He smiled though she could see a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"It is one of the languages of the elves." He stated, "There are many things written on that door, though the line I suspect means the most is 'speak friend and enter'" He finished.

"What does that mean?" Stella asked.

"It is quite simple, if you are a friend simply speak the password to enter." Gandalf explained as he chanted words at the door.

Nothing happened.

"Rather anti-climactic" Stella commented lightly "I think you might be loosing your touch, old man." She laughed

"I assure you Miss. Stella, I have not lost anything!" he responded with a mild glare and a chuckle in his voice.

She looked over at Aragorn, as he was reprimanded Merry and Pippin for throwing stones into the water. She sighed catching Legolas' eye.

"Don't start with me! She exclaimed he is nice to look at." She chuckled

Legolas laughed.

"You know he told me about what you said to him." He looked at her waiting for her response "about me." He clarified.

"Oh, you mean that whole thing about your eyes?" She asked with a laugh. He nodded "Well I hate to disappoint you but I only said it to get a rise out of him, I mean I suppose your eyes are nice enough but everything about you reminds me of my brother. Except the hair, his was shorter, it was blond like yours though." She stated absently playing with the end of his long hair. "As beautiful as your eyes may be I can assure you I'm not getting lost in them." She laughed

He laughed along with her.

"I only bring it up because he seemed rather angry when he told me. You should know he cares about you, perhaps a bit more than is healthy."

He laughed again, "I remind you of your brother?"

"Yes, Will looked just like you. He even acted the same, always so serious." She giggled.

The sound caught Aragorn's eye and he looked up to see Stella and Legolas in a deep conversation, he felt a sharp pang of jealousy run through him. He was about to go over and demand to know what the two were talking about but he was interrupted.

It was then that Gandalf was able to open the doors with a fair amount of help from Frodo. The group quickly made to head into the mine with Gimli boasting about all of the wonderful attributes that the dwarf dwelling had to offer.

Stella smiled, glad that he was willing and eager to share this part of him. Distracted by his description of the food they would eat, which Stella thought sounded absolutely repulsive, she did not see the pile in front of her. She tripped sprawling onto the cold stone floor face to face with a skull, an arrow still lodged in it. She reacted on instinct drawing herself away from the ugly thing and letting out an ear-shattering scream.

Aragorn was by her side in an instant, he looked at the skull and motioned over for the rest of the group to look.

"This is no mine, this is a tomb." Boromir whispered.

Legolas dislodged the arrow from the skull, "Goblins!" He stated to the group.

"We need to get out of here, now!" someone shouted.

Stella didn't need to be told twice, she sprinted for the door as fast as her feet would carry her. She made it to the entrance before the rest of the group made their way back she noticed the water rippling. She stared at it curious as to what might cause such a movement without any breeze to cause it. Frodo, who had been in the back, was the first to catch up with her.

He made a move to continue further out into the light he was suddenly dragged to the ground a large tentacle wrapped around his ankle. Stella watched shocked by what had just happened. The others were still a few feet away and whatever had grabbed Frodo was pulling him further into the black water. Stella sprang into action, not knowing exactly what she was doing only that she had to save her friend.

She pulled the two daggers she had been given by Aragorn out, quickly using blunt force to hack away at the tentacle that had a hold of Frodo. She managed to free him from the monster's grasp only to be attacked by yet another tentacle. Frodo grabbed up again along with Stella, the two were suspended over the monsters head that was now raised above the water. Stella shrieked swinging wildly as she dangled by her foot, using her momentum to enter a sitting position on the giant octopus type animal. She ran her dagger through the tentacle that held her, only realizing the mistake she made after it was to late. By relinquishing the monsters hold on her foot there was nothing keeping her suspended in mid-air, she suddenly found herself falling into the creatures head. Stella narrowly missed entering the creatures waiting mouth by jabbing a dagger into one of the thing's eyes. She looked around her; she saw both Boromir and Aragorn in the water attacking the multiple tentacles that had risen from the water. Frodo was propped up against the wall looking wet and small. Legolas was standing on a rock attempting to get a clean shot of the monster. She wondered briefly why he hadn't taken the shot already before she realized she was in his way.

She hoisted herself up, using the firmly lodged dagger as leverage, onto the thing's head before using her other dagger to pierce through the top of the creature's head effectively halting its movements. Stella could tell it was not dead but it was too injured to fight back.

She jumped down into the icy water and trudged back to the shore when suddenly the beast started moving again.

"Quick back into the mines!" there was a shout.

Stella winced she had no desire to willing walk back into death but understood that staying here would mean certain death. This creature was strong they could not hope to survive another attack. The group ran to the cave in one last attempt to get at Frodo the monster wrapped its tentacles around the doorframe. There was a loud crumbling sound as the doors caved in and the world, once again, became dark.

"What now?" one of the hobbits inquired.

Stella could see in the dark as Gandalf produced a small light from his staff.

"We have no choice, we must travel through the depths of Moria" Gandalf whispered, looking around appraisingly.

Stella heard that it was going to be a four-day journey and internally winced, four days in the dark, four days in a place littered with the dead. She was going to go mental.

They began the long trek through the dark in silence. This was one thousand times worse than climbing the mountain, not only was she cold from her previous dip in the ice water but she could now no longer feel the fresh air on her face or see the sky.

When they paused for the night, although it could very well have been day it was impossible to tell due to the lack of natural light, Stella immediately curled into a ball leaning against the wall. Aragorn approached her with a pitiful look in his eye.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

Stella did not want to be snarky and she did not have the energy to by witty, instead she simply whimpered and nodded a 'yes'.

"Here take this." He handed her a cloak similar to the one he wore. Stella looked at it before she realized that this cloak was not similar to his, it was his. She shook her head.

"I can not take the clothes of your back." She whispered, her voice hoarse from all of the screaming she had done.

"If I willingly give it to you, you are simply accepting a gift." He stated, looking at her shivering form.

"We will share it, how does that sound?" she asked, oddly nervous for his response.

He looked at her questioningly, "and how do you propose we do that?" he asked softly.

Stella motioned for him to sit down, he sat next to her, and she revelled in his proximity. Regardless of how many times she found herself next to him she could not help but enjoy the warmth he provided. Stella opened the cloak placing it over the two of them. She sleepily made herself comfortable against his shoulder loving the feeling as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Thank you." She mumbled as fatigue set across her body, "for protecting me."

"I will always protect you." He murmured quietly.

She allowed herself to fall asleep bet not before she checked to make sure that the two daggers she carried were secure one strapped to her forearm, the other tucked into her boot. She may have felt safe with Aragorn next to her but she had lived through too much to ever fully let her guard down.

AN: Hi guys! So I have a huge favour to ask all of you! I can se that a lot of people are reading this story, and that's good it tells me I'm at least getting the basics down, but I really want to hear from you. Tell me what I'm doing right, or wrong; it will help me improve the story. So in the end this benefits you! Thanks!