Stella was angry however she found herself at a loss to express that anger; instead she paced around a lot. Frequently at night she would find herself wide awake and start wandering aimlessly through the buildings. Her foot ached but as Legolas had predicted it was not broken. On her second evening of just walking around at night she heard a small noise from the corner of the room she had just walked into.

"Who's there?" she called into the darkness. "Show yourself!" she commanded attempting to cover her terror.

"Stella? It's me, Merry." The voice called.

"Merry? What are you doing here?" she asked still searching for the body that matched the voice. "You are supposed to be on your way to Minas Tirith with Gandalf." She stated the obvious, her brain taking longer to process events that she wished.

"I was, yes, but at the last minute Gandalf told me I should stay here but not to tell anyone that I had stayed. I think he thought someone would be upset if I stayed. I do not really know but I am glad you found me." He explained.

"Right. Okay, so we need to get you a place to sleep and we should tell someone you are here. Right?" Stella was unsure of her actions.

"Right." Merry agreed almost instantly.

The two made their way back out into the main hall and sown a corridor to Stella's room.

"It would probably be best if you were to stay out here." Stella reasoned. "I think I might have some idea as to why Gandalf told you to stay here."

She walked into her room and shut the door behind her.

"Aragorn! Aragorn!" she whispered, leaning over to shake his shoulder. "Aragorn there is something you need to see! Wake up!"

The man jolted from the bed grabbing for his sword that lay on the table near the bed.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked franticly.

"Nothing, nothing. I am sorry I shocked you. It's just, well, it appears that Gandalf did not agree with the agreement you talked about, the one where Pippin and Merry left with him. Yeah, someone is here now that, according to you, shouldn't be. Get dressed." She soothed him rubbing his back gently.

Aragorn swiftly got up and dressed looking pointedly at Stella for her to explain. Instead of speaking Stella simply stood up and opened the door revealing Merry leaning against the opposite wall.

"Hello." Merry waved.

"Well I suppose this explains why he was so eager to do as I asked." Aragorn muttered to himself.

"What's going on?" Stella asked. "What did you ask of Gandalf?"

"I attempted to reason with him that Pippin should not be separated from Merry, that they make a good pair. I thought he agreed with me after her heard my reasoning." Aragorn muttered to himself again.

"Why? That makes absolutely no sense! Pippin can more than handle himself. And while I might like the idea of them traveling together for safety's sake I highly doubt it is necessary if Gandalf is there." Stella was lost.

Aragorn threw her an incredulous look, which she returned.

"I did it for you! For the exact reason you just said! I figured you would feel safer knowing that Gandalf protected them both. I thought it would make you happy." He was angry but he was containing it well.

Stella was shocked. She opened her mouth to say something but found the words lost on her tongue. He must have understood at some level just how nervous she had been for her friends. He wanted to save her worry. Suddenly she broke into a smile.

"Now clearly that plan did not work." Aragorn looked down at the hobbit. "Merry, perhaps it would be best if you found a place to sleep, we do not know what tomorrow holds." Aragorn stated.

Merry nodded his head in agreement and padded back down the hall. Before turning back and rushing over to Stella.

"Thank you." He whispered "For worrying about us, for wanting to protect us."

"You are my friends. I am always going to be there to protect my friends." Stella stated. "You are destined for many things Merry. How can a soul as good as your not be?" She laughed. "And that is how I know I need sleep! When I start talking about destiny and making predictions about the future, that is a pretty good indicator that I am tired."

The hobbit smiled at her joke and turned to leave again. Stella let out a long sigh before turning to Aragorn and smiling again.

"That was very sweet of you, and don't act like it wasn't a big deal because it was." She placed a small kiss on his cheek. "Now I really do need to get to bed. I wasn't kidding when I said that was a good indicator that I was tired. One time I stayed I stayed up all night to finish a paper I was writing for class and by the time class rolled around I was yammering about the destiny and fate of Czar Nicholas II."

"Czar Nicholas? Did you know this man?" Aragorn asked.

"Um, no, he was a bit before my time. Besides, when he was alive, he lived very far away and he was a king so he wasn't going to be talking to me any time soon. Anyways, long story short, no, I didn't know him. I read about him, he is the subject of many books."

Aragorn nodded.

"You know a lot about kings." He stated.

"Well that is what I was going to school for. Not just kings but lots of other things as well. I was going to study politics. Which basically means I was going to understand why kings think the way they do. Only we usually don't call them kings anymore. I'm sorry I'm not making a whole lot of sense right now."

"That is okay I enjoy hearing you speak of your home it is so different from here." Aragorn assured her. "If you don't call your rulers kings what do you call them?"

"Well there are lots of names. Where I am from there are Presidents but in other places there are Prime Ministers and even in places where there is a monarchy it usually isn't just one guy, or gal, calling the shots. Can I go to bed now?" Stella almost whined.

"Yes, yes, I never intended to keep you up." Aragorn apologised.

But his apologies were lost on Stella as she drifted into sleep.

Her dreams were marred with images of a crystal tree that reflected light to make it appear as if it was glowing. It was beautiful, in the dream she became so enthralled with the tree that she stuck her hand out to feel the bark. It was smooth, for some reason it felt wrong. Trees were supposed to be rough, flawed, twisted in some odd direction, this tree was prefect, unnaturally cool to the touch, and carried an inexplicable sadness.

Stella woke with a jolt. She was almost in tears, a cool sweat beading down her forehead. Looking around she saw that she was alone and for one was pleased by that fact. The last thing she needed was Aragorn dogging her about why.

'It seems as if all I do is explain myself, explain my home.' She thought. Stella considered herself an incredibly tolerant woman. She had taken the time to answer everyone's questions even though her own were frequently left unanswered. She had a conversation with Legolas only two days ago where he had asked about a car's purpose five times. She had finally given up after he remained confused by her description of a cart made to move without a horse.

"Fine!" She had exclaimed. "You are not going to understand it from now on I promise not to use that word I will say something you are familiar with, I promise. No more talk of cars or television or Britney Spears I promise."

"I just do not understand, what did she do again?" he had laughed at her obvious annoyance.

She laughed now at her annoyance by the conversation. She had resigned herself never to talk about things that only confused people. She had a feeling that instead of her dream simply being a nightmare caused by Pippin's vision it would become a sign of something incredibly ominous.

Shaking off the last memories of the dream she decided to focus on other things. She wandered off to find someone, just as she walked out of the door she ran into Eowyn.

"Oh thank goodness I found you! I wanted to ask if I could borrow a dress from you. I need to wash these," She plucked at the dirty clothes. "Not to mention I need a bath."

"Hello Stella. Yes, I have something you can borrow. You take a lot of baths." She smiled at her friend.

"You try traveling for five months without a bath and see how many you take. I feel like once we leave here I may not get another for a while." She explained with a laugh.

Eowyn came back twenty minutes later with the dress and Stella dragged her into the room.

"We need to have a girl's day. Tell me, all about you and my brother. What's happened? Come on spill." Stella early squealed as she disrobed and stepped into the bath.

"Stella it would never work. We are two very different people from two very different worlds." Eowyn protested.

"So? I mean look at Aragorn and I. I am literally from another world and we have made it work. Now that's not to say that we don't have our issues but that's what makes us work." Stella encouraged her.

"Stella, the age difference alone is far to great. Besides he would far out live me, I cannot ask that of him."

"Of course you can! Do you know how old Aragorn is? I asked him when I first met him, he's eighty-seven! I mean talk about an age difference. I'm twenty years old! That makes almost a sixty-year difference. And from everything he has told me he is going to way out live me. I know it's not the same but still we talked about it and came to the conclusion that our love was worth it. Besides it's not like you love him, right?"

Eowyn looked shocked by Stella's harsh words.

"How can you speak so casually of death?" She whispered.

"Don't change the subject. You don't love him, right?" She asked again.

Eowyn looked down messing with something in her hand.

"Answer me right now! Do you love my brother?" She demanded.

"Yes." She whispered finally. "I think I do and I shouldn't." Eowyn finally looked up with her face see in determination. "There are other things that I need to think about. I cannot fall in love with someone I only just met."

"It sounds like you don't really have a choice, you are just along for the ride here. Eowyn, falling in love isn't a bad thing, it's a great thing, and it makes us stronger. It gives us something to fight for! If that's how you feel you have to tell him. You know how all men can be so incredibly hard headed; he is probably oblivious to your feelings." Stella was determined to have this relationship work. The both of them deserved something for all of this turmoil.

Stella rose quickly from the bath and dressed in the dress Eowyn had brought her. It was still itchy however it was looser than some of the garments she had seen on some of the women here.

The women had just settled back down to continue talking of nothing when they heard a yell coming down the hallway. They rushed to see the commotion and saw a breathless Aragorn explaining that some beacon had been lit.

'Shit, this is what Gandalf was talking about. I can't believe this guy is just going to sit on his ass and not help them.' She thought to herself. The words out of Théoden's mouth shocked her to her core. Rohan was going to answer the call for help. Her eyes bugged half way out of her head.

"Hang on a moment! What happened to 'why should we aide those that do not aide us'?" she called out.

"Ask not what your country can do for you but rather what you can do for your county, Lady Stella. It is time to make a stand" He smiled at her.

She grinned back at him triumphantly.

"Wise words."

Suddenly everyone was moving there was chaos and Stella was left with nothing to do. She looked down and groaned. 'I would pick today to wear a dress and I am absolutely positive my clothes will not dry in time.' She worried but moved back to her room looking for things to take with her. 'Wet pants and a few daggers.' She sighed.

Getting ready took all of five minutes. Her wet clothes were stuffed at the bottom of her bag with her knife and lighter resting on the top. She was milling around the stables looking for someone to help when she ran into Eowyn saddling a horse.

"Here let me help." Stella leaned over taking the blanket from Eowyn's hands. "Hang on, is this your horse?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Well than what is this?" Stella asked grabbing the sword strapped to the horse's side. "It's a pretty large envelope opener."

"For very large letters." Her friend quipped earning a chuckle from Stella. "I told you once before, I am going to protect my people."

"Well than I will help you. I will not stop you; I only ask that you keep yourself safe. Please?" She begged.

Eowyn only nodded with a small smile before turning back to her horse. The two women walked out together with their horses traveling behind them. Aragorn came up behind them as they were talking.

"Are you traveling with us?" he asked not unkindly.

"Yes, it is tradition." Eowyn explained refusing to make eye contact with him.

Stella saw Aragorn's hand reach in the direction of the concealed sword.

"Sweetheart? Honey, Can you help my up on this horse? I seem to have hurt my foot rather badly." Stella blurted unable to think of another excuse to stop her husband from finding the weapon.

Aragorn looked confused but assisted her onto her horse. Stella shot a warning look at Eowyn.

"I know you are not telling me something." He whispered into her ear.

Stella smiled and nodded unable to keep a secret from him.

"If it becomes pertinent you will be the first I inform." She assured him. "Until then it is best to let sleeping dogs lie."

As they left the city Stella could only hope that her newest friend would be safe as she fought to protect her people.