This story is based on a mix of the Hobbit book and movies. All the credit for them and anything related goes to J.R. and Peter Jackson. Note: Arwen in this story is not Elrond's daughter. It is just the same name, not the same character.

If you have critiques towards the story and/or the way I write the characters, I would be happy to hear them and try to improve. Thanks for opening this story!

Sitting on a tree branch in the middle of the night was no fun. Especially when it started raining. Arwen growled quietly and pulled the hood of her cloak to cover as much of her head as possible. Not that it was of any use. She was already soaking wet.

The party of Thorin Oakenshield, together with the wizard Gandalf and prince Legolas had settled under the tree she was currently sitting on, since its thick branches provided enough cover for them all to hide under. The sparkling fire and the smell of cooked meat were quite tempting, but Arwen knew that she wasn't supposed to show herself, at least not yet. She could imagine Legolas's reaction if she just casually showed up after she was strictly forbidden to even come on this adventure, and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

The whole problem had started when Gandalf had come in Greenwood a few months ago, asking for Legolas to join a quest to reclaim a distant kingdom named Erebor. Arwen had of course immediately asked if she could come too, and the wizard hadn't really seemed to mind that, but Thranduil's answer was, of course, no. And when she had asked for a reason not to go, it had always been the same answer: "You are too young."

Not that he was wrong. Elves were considered adults after they turned around two-hundred and something. Arwen was fifteen. Well, almost fifteen. There were still four months left to her birthday. But she was sure that her age was not the only reason, and that Thranduil was hiding something he didn't want her to know. Something about the other side of her family. Because Arwen was actually only half elf, and her father had been a dwarf. She had always found that fact quite hilarious-the princess of Greenwood, the niece of the elven king Thranduil, was half part of a race he utterly despised.

She didn't know much of the story about how her mother, Thranduil's sister, and her father had met. She only knew that they had been killed in an orc attack a little after she had been born. She was raised by her uncle in the giant palace in Greenwood, spending her days reading books, learning how to hunt and fight and exploring and getting in trouble in the giant forest. She had even fought orc parties together with her cousin and other elves a few times.

When Legolas had accepted Gandalf's offer for the adventure after the wizard had promised returning some necklace to her uncle when they claimed the kingdom back, Arwen had started making plans how to sneak out of the forest and go with him. At the end, she had used one of the oldest tricks in the book and snuck out of the palace at night. She would have probably needed a few days to get out of the forest on foot, so she had taken her elk, a present from Thranduil for one of her birthdays, and reached the forest borders before the sun was up. She left the animal there and told him to go home, because riding it any farther would have drawn way too much attention to her, and that was the last thing she needed.

It started raining harder and Arwen cursed under her breath. She heard some of the dwarves complaining about the rain and couldn't help but feel annoyed. Up in the tree was the rain was ten times worse, it was dark, and on top of all it was freezing. And they were complaining about a few raindrops while eating warm food around a hot fire.

Arwen had been so deep into her thoughts about warmth and food that she didn't notice the dagger she had been holding just in case slipping from her hand. Before she could catch it, it fell, hit a branch and broke it off, and then hit the ground right in the middle of the little camp with a loud thump.

For a second there was no sound except the rain falling and the fire cracking. Then Legolas went and picked up the dagger. And at that moment Arwen knew she was screwed.

That dagger was from the royal armoire back in Greenwood, and only the royal family had access to it, which meant that he was going to immediately know who exactly had disobeyed orders, taken a dangerous journey alone and hadn't even been smart enough to hide better.

Before she could consider what to do next, an arrow flew right past her head and hit the tree trunk behind her. Arwen wasn't so lucky with the second one-it struck her right shoulder, which, thankfully, was covered by a piece of armor, and made her lose her balance. The next few seconds were a blur of falling, hitting branches, more falling and finally landing, by some miracle, on her feet in the dry leaves beneath the tree.

Arwen looked up. There were at least seven different weapons pointed at her, one terrified hobbit standing at the other side of the camp, and Legolas, with a murderous look on his face, staring right at her. So she did the first and probably stupidest thing that came to her mind. She turned on her heel and broke into a run, zigzagging through the trees and trying not to trip on anything. She could hear somebody running after her, and by the fact that he could keep her pace she knew that it sure as hell was not a dwarf.

The chase went on for maybe five minutes, right until Arwen tripped. She was probably going to fall and break her nose if it wasn't for someone to grab her hand and keep her upright. She turned around and faced her extremely furious cousin.

-"What are you doing here?"-he hissed, keeping his voice down.

-"Coming to help you."-Arwen whispered back. It looked like there was nothing around them, but she knew that there were things lurking in the shadows, and they didn't like being bothered, especially by light and noise.

-"More likely coming to get yourself killed! I told you to stay in Greenwood!"

-"And you thought that I would listen?"

-"I hoped that you would listen! This journey is way too dangerous, and you have neither the skills nor the experience to really help with something! What would happen if you got hurt?"

-"I made it here without getting hurt, right?"

-"That is not…What would father think when he finds out you are missing?"

-"Calm down. First, he probably already found out, and second, I left a note."

-"That doesn't help one bit."

Arwen sighted.

-"I am not a kid anymore. I can take care of myself. Except for that…I know that my age was not the only reason uncle wouldn't let me come to this journey. He is hiding something from me, something for the other side of my family, and I want to know what. I made it that far-you can't send me back now."

-"Yes I can."

-"No you can't. There is no way I am going back to Greenwood, and you can't make me."

Legolas was quiet for a few seconds, then he looked at her and sighted in defeat.

-"I am going to find a way to take you back to Greenwood, but until then, I guess it is going to be safer for you to stay with me."-He turned around and starting walking back in the direction of the camp, Arwen following close behind.-"Now I will have to find a way to explain this whole mess."

The closer to the camp they got, the more nervous Arwen became. She realized how stupid she was probably going to look, a young girl trying to present herself as a warrior in front of dwarves who did not like elves one bit, and had fought in wars long before she was even born. She suddenly felt very, very small.

Then suddenly the camp was right in front of them, and Arwen decided that there was no going back now. She had chosen to take this journey and she was going to get through it.

Arwen took a deep breath and stepped out in the light.