booksfoodmusic-minion: I like writing Edana, especially when it's a scene with her and Thranduil.

Guest 1: Correct! Congratulations! The cyber-cookies are yours! I was worried no one was going to take a guess. Tamora Pierce is one of my favorite authors, and, as an animal lover, the Immortals quartet is my favorite out of all the books she's written.

Guest 2: Thank you.

dreamweaver: Correct! Technically it's the whole series, but you got the right one. Cyber-cookies for you as well!

pink bunny: Thank you.

For those of you who couldn't figure it out, the book series is "The Immortals quartet" by Tamora Pierce.

Disclaimer: I do not own "The Hobbit."

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Chapter 11: Starting off to Rivendell

Thranduil wanted an early start for their journey to Rivendell, so everyone, including the servants, woke up earlier than usual.

Edana had spent the night in Sarah's room – the bed was plenty big for the both of them – and had brought her riding outfit so the girls could get dressed together. Their riding outfits were simple: knee-length kirtles, breeches, boots, and a floor-length coat that buttoned all the way down the torso and then opened up. The only difference was the colors. Sarah's was bright purples and greens while Edana's was softer shades of blue and turquoise.

Everything they needed had been packed the day before, so it was only a matter of saddling and loading the horses before the party left. Edana had been placed in the back with the servants, and she was less than happy about that. Her horse, a gentle mare named Lily, was very patient with her rider. Of course, this was mostly due to Sarah, who had been placed up front with Thranduil and Legolas.

Sarah had spoken to Lily about Edana before going over to her own mare, Cheyenne. Lily promised to keep Sarah up-to-date on Edana's mood, while Cheyenne asked if she could take a bite out of Thranduil's backside. The answer, of course, was "no." Sarah would tell her brother and friends about this later, and they would all have a good laugh while imagining Thranduil's reaction to being bitten in the butt by a horse.

Legolas saw that there was a bit of a problem and pulled Sarah aside.

"If you get lonely," he told her, "you can tell Edana to come up front with you, no matter what Ada says."

Sarah thanked him, but couldn't go and tell Edana because Thranduil arrived with Idhrenion. Once all the supplies and riders were up on horses, Thranduil gave the signal to move out.

It was quiet up front. Thranduil faced forward the whole time, only allowing his eyes to move. Legolas glanced in every direction, his years with the Mirkwood guard taking hold as he looked for any signs of danger. Sarah listened for the voices of animals and took in the views around her, though there wasn't much to see and hear until they got out of the forest.

The group headed for the Misty Mountains, where they would cross over before making for Imladris.

Sarah would exchange a few words with any birds and woodland or plains animals that were within her magical range, but, other than that, she was utterly bored out of her mind. She and Edana had always dreamed of traveling these lands together. Now that they were actually here, they were separated. The traveling party had only been out of Mirkwood for an hour before Sarah sent a message to Lily.

It wasn't long before Lily came trotting up to the front and slowed down when she reached Sarah. Edana smiled, not at all bothered by her horse just taking off with her.

"You're surprisingly calm," Sarah observed. "You normally don't like to go any faster than a slow walk."

"I figured you had something to do with it," Edana responded. "Even if you didn't, I hoped you would stop her before it got out of control. I don't know the first thing about riding horses except to hang on when they go too fast for comfort."

Sarah laughed. Was she ever glad that Edana was here. Her cousin-turned-sister always knew how to make her smile.

Thranduil turned in his seat to face the girls.

"Pardon the interruption," he began, "but I believe you were positioned further back, Edana."

"That's 'Lady Edana' to you, Thrandy," Edana threw back at him. Sarah laughed again, then turned to the Elvenking, who looked like he was trying to decide whether to kill Edana himself as punishment for that horrible nickname or get someone else to do it rather than get his own hands dirty.

"I asked her to come up here," Sarah said. "I needed someone to talk to."

"Talk to Legolas then," Thranduil said.

Legolas, who had been looking the other way, listening the entire time while pretending not to hear a word, snapped his head around to face his father and sister, putting on an innocent smile.

"Did someone say my name?"

Thranduil rolled his eyes, Sarah and Edana giggled, and those who were listening either ducked their heads or covered their mouths with their hands to hide their smiles.

"I could talk to him all I wanted," Sarah said when she stopped giggling, "but I'd probably turn blue in the face before he heard a word of it."

"And besides," Edana chimed in, having gotten her own giggles under control, "Sarah needs someone to talk to who actually understands her. We've both wanted to travel around Middle Earth, and, now that we're actually doing just that, we want to be able to share what we think with each other. Plus, being back there was about as exciting as watching grass grow. No offense, but the elves you put me next to are horrible conversationalists."

Sarah laughed once again at Edana's choice of words. Even their audience laughed a bit. Thranduil sighed.

"Fine," he said. "Just try not to be too loud or do anything irritating."

"We're not high on sugar or sleep deprived or anything like that," Edana said, "so that shouldn't be a problem. We can get a bit crazy sometimes if that happens, especially when both of them happen at the same time."

Legolas nearly fell out of his saddle; he was laughing so hard. Thranduil shuddered with horror, remembering the several times his son had gotten hold of one-too-many sweets after already going for several hours and how he had spent that extra energy. Sarah and Edana smiled at each other. They sensed a very interesting story that could quite possible be labeled under "extremely hilarious."

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A bit shorter than I would have liked. How was it? Leave me a review.