Josephine's head was jerking back and forth from the moment they passed through the southern gate of Bree. There was too much going on at nearly midday in the large town. Women passed them with arms of baskets and goods as they headed towards the market and men went about their jobs at a similar pace.

Aragorn led them through the crowd with little effort, slipping between carts and couriers and heading up the hill towards the Prancing Pony.

If there had been any doubt left in Josephine's mind about where she was, the high tilted building of Bree dispelled it. Skinny alleyways branched off from the main road, narrow by the standards she was used to. With two and three story buildings leaning over the road that in modern times would barely fit two cars, she felt slightly claustrophobic. But the claustrophobia was quickly ignored whenever they passed a new stand or group of people.

The people seemed so different from what she was used to but so much more familiar than she'd anticipated. In books and movies and history, medieval times seemed so distant and the people so foreign. Here they were so real, just going about their day with no idea how strange they were to her. Although, if she hadn't been wrapped in Aragorn's cloak she would've been the strange and alien person with her jeans and sweater. Thankfully Aragorn didn't seem to mind how much the hem of his cloak dragged in the mud and had given it to her without request. The fabric occasionally stuck to the hem of her pant legs and coated them with mud, but she was thankful for the anonymity it gave her.

"Josephine." Aragorn said, grabbing her attention from the town around them. His hand was outstretched and he stood several paces ahead of her, she must have been lagging behind. "Stay close, it is not safe to wander."

She mouthed an apology and caught up to him, feeling like a child once again, trailing behind their parents and being told not to wander off. It wasn't a new feeling, after their first couple of nights in the wild he'd been baffled when she'd asked him to show her how to build a fire. He'd walked her through using a tinderbox, masking the fact that he'd probably never had to instruct anyone except a small child on how to do the same, let alone a grown woman.

The ranger glanced back at her every now and then, he'd started walking a bit slower as well. He definitely didn't need to deal with finding her in the back roads of Bree when he needed to focus on Gandalf and the Hobbits. That was why he was even in Bree after all. Perhaps why she was in Bree as well? Aragorn seemed to think there was a purpose to her arrival and she was starting to wonder if he was right. Then again she also had a slight revulsion towards the concept, it wasn't like the free peoples hadn't done a good enough job all on their own during the war, she was more likely to pop in and screw everything up under the pretext of making their lives easier instead of helping.

So then what if that was the whole plan? The fifteen thousandth theory didn't settle her mind any more than the last fourteen thousand did and it was equally ridiculous. If the baddies had the power to suck people in from other realities and drop them next to important war figures then they probably had better, less convoluted methods to world domination. Or...where she'd landed had been an accident, or she hadn't been picked up by the Nazgul when that had been the plan, or something else crazy and because she knew what was going to happen she would present a huge advantage for the enemy and if Saruman or Sauron found out-

"Josephine." Aragorn said again, a little more weary and this time. He gently took her arm to bring her close and they continued their journey up the hill.

Aragorn couldn't fail to notice Josephine's brightened mood as the Prancing Pony came into sight. He couldn't quite explain her, even after their week of travel. She was just...different, and coming from a man who had travelled to most corners of Middle-Earth that was a difficult sentiment to earn. Her apparent wonderment as she gazed at the inn's swinging wooden sign was one of the many things about her that added to her strangeness. She was looking at it as if it was something to be admired, something she couldn't believe she was seeing. Aragorn couldn't understand.

She'd looked at him very much the same way to which he'd attributed to her situation but then she'd asked to follow him to Rivendell. Not only had she known he would be going there after he found the Hobbit, but she'd asked it with the main request being granted an audience with Lord Elrond. One of the only reasons he agreed was because not many servants of the dark lord would be so eager to seek an audience with the wisest and most powerful Elven lord on the west side of the Misty Mountains. One of the other reasons was that despite her strangeness, he didn't feel she was anything but lost and looking for answers.

Josephine looked upon everything with too much childlike interest. He'd been surprised by her interest in the tradesmen they'd passed just a short way from the gate, it was as if she'd never seen them before in her life. Granted there were many who had never been to a town the size of Bree in their lifetime, but something told Aragorn that was not entirely the case with his new companion.

Josephine knew it might be a few days before the Hobbits got there. She didn't remember the exact date of course, despite how often she'd looked at the timetable back in her…world, but there wasn't any talk among the townsfolk about strange riders or odd folk other than herself and Aragorn. With that in mind, he'd given her leave to wander the town at her leisure, so long as she kept quiet about their business which she was more than happy to do. Essentially she didn't talk to anyone about anything, either she'd potentially let slip what she and Aragorn were doing there or something about her homeland...world? She wasn't too interested in gaining Bill Ferny's attention or being labeled a witch or something. Did they even burn witches in Middle-Earth? She'd have to ask Aragorn when they met back up at the Prancing Pony, where from the darkening sky she'd need to make for soon.

Josephine was all the way down near the southern gate, a place full of muddy puddles and unexplainable aromas, but also held a small courtyard with a tree and stone walks that looked far older than the town around them. She found it interesting, like a depth of time and life she could almost touch. It made the world around her feel clearer and clearer as the days passed.

She looked up at the sky again as the courtyard was swept into shadows, the sun had ducked behind the hill and suddenly darkness overtook the town. Josephine was usually back at the Pony by now, she hadn't realized how quickly night would fall. It made her nervous, jumpy as she hurried out of the courtyard and back onto the road. Her second hand boots (brought back for her by Aragorn before their first day in Bree had drawn to a close) were caked with mud and whatever else had worked into the cracks of the cobblestone street but they did their job far better than her tennis shoes had. The day after they'd arrived in Bree she'd offered them to Aragorn as something he could sell for some coin, reimbursement for whatever it was costing him to keep her around. He'd come back empty handed so she assumed he'd found someone who was interested in the rubber soles and strange bright green fabric.

Around her the air cooled, almost as quickly as the sunlight had disappeared but this felt unnatural. It felt like she'd walked into an air conditioned building. Her steps quickened and then in a split second decision that had to have been more instinct than rational thought, she ducked into an alley and pressed back against the wall, staying in the shadows. A chill fell over her and at the same moment, bone rattling fear so irrational and poignant she sank to her knees in a cower. Josephine couldn't explain it, couldn't describe the reason tears stung her eyes and rolled down her cheeks while her body shook and begged her to become smaller and smaller until not even Aragorn could've seen her hiding.

Then the moment passed, leaving her feeling weak and unbelievably tired, like she'd just run for miles with something deeply evil in pursuit. She rose to her feet on shaky legs, but they were strong enough that she sprinted from her hiding place, back out on the road and up the hill till she reached the Prancing Pony. Outside, standing cloaked by the door was Strider who watched her as she ran up. She took him by the sleeve and pulled him inside after her, too breathless at the moment to speak and not daring to try where other people might hear.

He closed the door of their room behind them and she pressed her hand to her chest while she caught her breath both from the scare and the run. She must have looked shaken to hell because he hooked his finger under her chin and tipped her face up so he could see her better in the dim candlelight, worry showing plainly in his eyes.

"What has happened, Josephine?"

She took another deep, gasping breath, just enough to get a few words out. "The Nazgul," another gasp, "they're here."

His worry deepened and he turned and made sure the door was secure, then peered out the window before looking back at her. "You've seen them?"

Josephine shook her head, hand still pressed to her chest as if she could force her heart to stop pounding. "No, but I felt it. Something made me duck into an alley and then I felt..." She rotated her free hand around in a circle a few times while she tried to come up with the right term, a dark enough description of fear to do it justice. Nothing came to mind.

"This does not bode well, but if they are here it also means they have not captured Frodo." There was a spark of hope in his eyes but it quickly disappeared back into worry.

Aragorn motioned to the chair by their fire and she sank into it, thankful for the rest because her legs were like jelly. She would've liked to think it was just from the run. He drew her cloak around her tightly, pressing it's edges into her fists so she'd hold it in place. Josephine still felt cold, though the room was comfortably warm. If she felt like this just from them being near, what was she going to do when they were in the wilds, hunted and hearing their screams in the night?

"It will pass." He assured her, as if he'd read her mind.

His hand brushed across her forehead lightly and some of the chill seemed to vanish. The hands of the king were the hands of a healer indeed, she thought wryly. Apparently there was more to his gift than just Athelas and Elrond's teachings, or maybe it was just her own trust in him that had made such a simple gesture so comforting.

Suddenly he stood, seemingly pleased enough with her health.

"I must see to something, but I will send Nob with tea for you. If you feel well enough when you are finished, meet me in the common room. Drink and company may do more good after your encounter than you think."

When she nodded he laid a hand on her shoulder before leaving. The fire crackled as the door closed behind him and she pulled tighter at the edges of her cloak. Anticipation churned her stomach, the few days of peace (if she could call them that) were clearly over. From here on out things would become harder and harder until they reached Rivendell. But she just had to remember she knew what was going to happen. That in mind, she would be fine...right?

Josephine looked at the door Aragorn had just left through. He'd promised to see her to Rivendell, with that in mind, she would most definitely be fine.