My first actual story, usually I just write humor stuff..hope you enjoy! R/R Plz!!!!! *begs* I know the first chapter is kinda boring, but if you don't read this chapter, the rest won't really make sense, so, you may as well read on....



It was early Sunday morning. The sky was gray and cloudy, not a break in the clouds as far as the eye could see, save one in the very center of the sky where the sun was peering dimly through. Kerri leaned out the window of the castle, her long red-blonde hair swaying gently in the stiff morning breeze. Her deep-set blue eyes, a rare shade of blue for her pale complexion, almost purple, surveyed the courtyard below.

Kerri lifted her gaze of the quiet, peaceful courtyard at a soft knock on the door. It was her cousin, probably, calling her for another scolding, no less. Arwen was always trying to make Kerri a proper "lady", while everyone knew that she was more like Arwen's new husband, Aragorn. Kerri looked at the intricately decorated ceiling high above her head.

"What have I done this time?" she whispered to the silent plate of stone above her. The painting of the legendary battle showing the end of Gollum and the One Ring on the ceiling was Kerri's only friend, and not a very comforting one, either. It showed Gollum standing at the edge of the fiery cliff in the pit of Mount Doom, the One Ring held triumphantly in his bony fingers, Frodo's finger there as well. Kerri shuddered as she moved her gaze toward the hobbit crouching at the back of the cavern, Frodo, caressing his hand, watching Gollum dance happily, dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. As usual, Kerri's mind drifted off, imagining the thrill and danger Frodo and Sam must have felt, not to mention Frodo's pain. As a reflex, her left hand reached for her right, silently counting the fingers.

The knock came again, more urgent this time, bringing Kerri out of her trance. "Yes, Arwen?" she called, inviting her cousin in as she sat on her large bed.

"Good," Arwen sighed with relief, sitting next to her cousin. "I thought you had snuck out, or something."

"Out a seventh-story window?" Kerri implied, looking again at the tapestry above her head. Arwen laughed.

"No, no, I suppose not," she said, following Kerri's gaze to the ceiling. "Of course, you do have more of Aragorn's traits than mine," Arwen finished daringly. She knew that, in topics concerning adventure, or her lack of it, Kerri had quite a short temper. Kerri glared at the ceiling.

"Still," she sighed, her voice remaining as calm as possible, wondering how Arwen could possibly think, adventurous or no, that she would dare jump out of a seven-story window onto the archery field. Regaining her temper, the young elf looked at her cousin. "Well, I'm sure you had a good reason, or reasons, to come up here, so you may as well get it over with." Arwen smiled sadly, knowing that Kerri expected a punishment for doing something wrong.

"Kerri, this message isn't from me directly, more from Ara.." she began. p "So why didn't he come and tell me himself?" Kerri asked crossly, wishing Arwen would just get on with it.

Arwen ignored her cousin's cheek, and continued. "He wanted me to tell you that he is going to visit his friends, you know, the ones.." The quest was still a testy subject for Arwen, being only a year before and having almost lost her one true love, and Kerri urged her cousin on with a look that she understood. "Well, he was wondering if you would like to go with him."

Kerri gasped. Ever since Aragorn and Arwen had returned to Gondor after the war of the Ring, Kerri had longed more than anything to meet her cousin's fellowship. Eagerly she agreed, and went down to find her cousin, leaving Arwen alone to look up at the ceiling.

"She'll never learn, will she?"

I know this chapter was kinda lame, but it will get better, I promise! Just keep reading..and when you run out of chapters, well, I guess you can...stop reading, I guess....*Stops talking, realizing she's wasting your time.* Hey, did you know by reading this that you have just wasted 15 seconds of your life? Or 8, depending on how fast or slow you read....*Shooes you off*