A/N So Rivendell is entirely made up of a lot of paths. Apparently. Cause that's clearly some of the only places people interact when I write about Rivendell. I swear there's more than just Elrond's study and the library too. I promise. We might even see some of them someday :P

Anybody else ready for a change of scenery though? Cause I'm getting antsy for someplace new. There's still a good chunk of Rivendell on the way but there's also gonna be that lovely little camping trip respite I promised to get us through to the actual quest. You know, the exciting dangerous stuff? Until then, have some random Aragorn POV I guess?

The state in which Aragorn had last seen Josephine weighed on him while he walked the Trollshaws with Elladan and Elrohir. He wished she had told him what was troubling her, the time could have been spared from their journey, but she'd clearly wanted to deal with whatever it was on her own. He'd waited a few moments after she'd run off, until she was out of sight before continuing his walk to the courtyard to leave.

It had left him to wonder what could have happened to bring her to such a state, and in that wondering he kept coming back to her gift, though she wouldn't call it that. Her fate, perhaps, was a better descriptor.

She knew the path of the Ring, or so she'd led them to believe and Aragorn felt little need to doubt her now. If that was the knowledge she possessed, then was her fate tied to it as well? Perhaps that kind of thought was better left to those who had more understanding of the Song, but in the long hours his mind couldn't help but wander back to it. To that, and to the image of her in Rivendell on the balcony, gazing across the valley so intently she'd not even heard him knock. He still wished for her to stay in Rivendell, where she might be safe from whatever darkness was coming for them, but something in his heart told him she would not be so lucky.

By the time they returned to the valley, Aragorn had become acutely aware of how much time had been spent thinking of her. He was old enough by now to be no stranger to where that might lead him and perhaps it was a good thing he would soon leave on the quest to Mordor. She'd come to him first that day in the wilds needing his assistance and protection. Now, in the safety of Rivendell she had his friendship which he was glad to find she reciprocated. But anything further especially now he wouldn't dare cross to, for her sake and for his. He would leave on the quest, she would one day find her own path, and time would dissolve whatever seeds he thought might have been planted in the past weeks.

Elladan and Elrohir took the responsibility of reporting to their father what they'd found in the Trollshaws. The dead horses of the Nazgul, tatters of their cloaks, and maimed animals along a southward path. Enough to know that they'd left the Trollshaws by all accounts, likely allowing the Fellowship a safe enough passage by the time they would depart.

Glad to be able to return immediately to his rooms he bathed, changed, and was leaving again to go and get something to eat when Gandalf crossed his path. He made it seem as if it were an accident but Aragorn knew better than to expect any run in with Gandalf to be coincidence.

"Ah! I see you've returned. Good. I've been needing to speak with you."

"Preparations for the journey?"

"Indeed." The wizard nodded gravely. "Of a manner. Have you seen Lady Josephine yet?"

"No, but I've only just returned." He had thought she would not still be so troubled but perhaps things were worse than he'd anticipated. "Is she not well?"

"She is in good health, but during your absence there have been decisions made that you should be aware of as soon as possible." He paused. "Josephine has joined the Fellowship."

His heart stopped and he frowned. "Does she understand the danger?" She did, of course she did, but it had come out before he realized it.

"Likely better than you or I, and that is why she must go."

"Is that what you told her?" He glared at Gandalf, knowing he likely had something to do with it. "When did this happen?"

"Lord Elrond discussed the matter with her after the council, when her purpose here became more apparent. She has accepted it."

Her state when he left was entirely explained now and it made him sick to know the amount of grief it had caused her to make that decision. "I agree, the timing of her arrival seems to fit, but you must understand the faith she puts in your counsel, she will trust in whatever you say and not without fair reason…but how can you be so certain this is her path?"

Gandalf's mouth tightened to a thin line. "I came into some information many years ago. Beyond that I will say no more and you must speak of it to no one. But trust that Lord Elrond did not make this request of her lightly."

Whatever information that was it must have been trustworthy for Gandalf to use it now, so Aragorn would have to accept it as well. They walked on without speaking as Aragorn became lost in thought. There was no part of him that looked forward to the day they would leave, in fact he'd been almost wishing they'd set out sooner than December, but now a part of him loathed it.

"I should speak with her, do you know where she is?" He wanted to see for himself how she was now, after their last meeting.

"Indeed you should. I believe she has several requests to make of you as well. I believe by now she'll be on her way back to her room from the river."

Josephine had to admit that Boromir hadn't been wrong, the soreness in her arms and shoulders was abating now after two weeks of training and Gloin's habit of handing her real swords to practice with when he taught her. Boromir might've been a little slap happy with the wooden training swords but at least those weren't sharp.

Her growling stomach had pushed her to take just a quick enough swim to cool down and rinse off and there was no lounging in the grass to dry off. She wrung her hair out as she walked, her tunic was still dripping every now and then, and she held her boots and belt in her free hand. In a couple minutes she'd have to decide between stopping in her room to change first, or going straight to the kitchens for an early dinner.

When she saw Aragorn coming towards her she picked up her pace, excited to see him despite the nervous butterflies she'd come down with, knowing she'd have to tell him she was going on the quest. Nobody had been particularly pleased she was coming, but he was the only one who's opinion of it she actually seemed to care about.

"Hey, I was wondering when you'd be back." Only because he was out two days longer than two weeks and she'd been counting, not that she'd admit to it to anyone.

"I'm relieved to see you are well."

Right, the day he'd left. She looked away and shrugged. "Yeah, sorry about that. I um…I had just…"

"You had just agreed to join the Fellowship." He finished for her. "Gandalf just told me."

"Yeah…" She sighed. "Not the option I wanted, but I think it's the only one when it comes down to it." Still pinned under his concerned expression she reached out to touch his arm. "I'm not collapsing into a puddle of tears over it every day, I promise. You caught me right after I talked with Lord Elrond and made the decision, I've had some time to process it now." She'd leave out the crying herself to sleep sometimes and occasional disjointed nightmares about being crushed under a mountain. Besides, they were happening less and less frequently as time went on.

Looking to be a bit comforted by her explanation he smiled. "Do not think I fault you for your reaction. I was only worried for you."

Josephine smiled back, still warmed in the chest by his concern. Then, rudely interrupting their conversation, her stomach growled again. "So, anyway," she chuckled. "I'm starving, have you eaten?"

"I have not. But perhaps you would like to change first?" He eyed her soaked clothes with amusement.

Food was her top priority, but if she didn't get dried off soon she'd start shivering and then she'd have to backtrack and change anyway so she nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, you might have a point there."

They went back the way Aragorn had come, turning left at the fork, and she hurriedly changed in her room. She gave into a few extra seconds to run a comb through her wet, tangled hair before giving up and deciding food was more important. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her walking around for weeks at a time with tangled unwashed hair, this was hardly on the same level of unkempt. She wasn't even entirely sure, as she met him back outside, why she'd thought it had been important in the moment.

Their walk continued at a quick pace, whether that was set by her or Aragorn in their desire for food she couldn't say. "Are you going to be very busy before we leave?" If he was going to have other obligations she'd rather not pile as many requests on him as had come to mind.

"Likely not. There is little need to scout the wilds again before we depart and as you requested, Narsil is being reforged, a task which I have little part in. Why do you ask?"

"I was hoping you might teach me some things. I've already bullied Boromir into sword fighting lessons and Gloin is filling in where he thinks Boromir's teaching is lacking. But I don't know anything about surviving out there aside from the few things you showed me when we were traveling and I've only ridden a horse once back when I was a kid." She'd already gotten so much from him since September, she hoped it wasn't too much to ask.

"I will be glad to help in any ways that I can. We can begin tomorrow if you wish?"

Relieved to have the request out of the way she looped her arm around his. "The sooner the better."