I rode Earendil out of Rivendell two days after the Fellowship had left. It took us four days to reach Bree because I was in no hurry. Nob was glad to see me and told me that nothing really important had happened since I had last been in Bree. He told me how to get to Hobbiton, which I had heard a lot about from Bilbo, and I hurried on my way. I meet few people going into the Shire and none once I entered. I went on over the Brandywine and I entrusted Earendil to a Hobbit named Maggot who lived by the Bucklebury Ferry. I then made my way up to Hobbiton by the backcountry so to speak and arrived in Hobbiton a few days after leaving Farmer Maggot's house. I was eyed by many Hobbits who didn't trust outsiders and it was hard for me to find a place to stay the night. I slept outside the first few nights, which suited me just fine, until an elderly Hobbit named Rory Brandybuck gave me a place to sleep at night. I meet the "Gaffer" as everyone in Hobbiton called him and was surprised to find out that this was Samwise Gamgee's father. He was a nice Hobbit who was respected and had connections with many of the Hobbits in the Shire. I became quite fond of Sam's youngest sister, Marigold, and learned many things of Hobbits and that sort from her. After spending about a month in the Shire, which really I found quite dull other than its beautiful gardens, adorable inhabitance and countryside, I decided that it was time for me to leave and at least go back to Bree, if not all the way to Rivendell. Marigold cut me a rose from their garden and gave it to me for good luck. I smiled and after kissing her goodbye, left to go get Earendil. He had been properly taken care of and I offered my greatest thanks to the Maggot family. As I left the Shire, I felt a shadow fall over my mind. I felt that I would never see that place quite as it had been that month I had stayed there. I shook my head, trying to get rid of that sad feeling and rode towards Bree. Nothing really had happened in Bree while I was gone and so I traveled on to Rivendell. As I crossed the Ford, I saw that the Gates of Rivendell were shut fast and that startled me. I could never remember a time that the Gates had been locked. As I approached the big, forbidding doors, a guard called out, requesting my name. 'Anodien.' I called up to the Elf, which I could barely make out in the falling dusk. 'State why you wish to enter.' Came the reply. I was shocked. 'I am the daughter of Ithildin, the friend of the Evenstar of her people. I have come home from visiting the Shire. Are you so dull that you don't recognize me, Lindir?' 'Well, you know my name but I must ask the master of this place.' 'Lindir, you fool, if you do not let me in this minute, I shall make you sorry you didn't open it sooner once I'm inside!' I screamed. 'Hold your temper down, for Earendil's sake at least! I'll be back in a minute.' Lindir disappeared and returned a moment later. 'Sorry, Anodien.' He said with a sheepish smile. I glared at him and then went up to my room to change. I put on a pale lavender dress and then I made my way to Arwen's room. I knocked softly at her door and when she opened it and saw me, she hugged me, said she'd missed me and to never leave her like that again. I smiled. 'Wanna hear about the Shire?' 'Yes,' she replied. We talked for about an hour and then I asked her why the Gates had been bared. She fidgeted with her dress and then looked up at me. 'Can't you feel it?' I nodded. 'Yes, I have felt it for a long time now.' 'Then you already know why.' Arwen said. 'But, but. how can it be true? I thought the Darkness was defeated. They were, weren't they? But wait. How could the Black Riders be back if the evil Lord was defeated?' Arwen looked at me and sighed. 'Anodien, why must you always ask a question, figure it out and leave me with nothing to tell?' 'But I still don't understand it all.' I replied, still halfway confused. 'Never mind, Anodien, just forget it! Here, come help me pack.' I looked at her thinking where in the world is she going in this hour? She glanced up at me from where she crouched. 'Come, you will know later. Help me now. You can go too, if you like.' 'But I don't even know where we're going!' 'Guess.' 'No!' 'Yes.' 'NO!' 'Fine, we're going to see my grandmother but it will take a few months to get ready. Since it's already January, we leave around February or March. My father's coming too and my brothers and few others.' 'Why are we leaving?' I asked. I was still confused with the whole thing. 'Andoien, I don't know why; I don't ask why. I simply go.' I nodded although I still didn't get it. I think Pippin really got to me. I started to fold one of Arwen's many beautiful dresses. This one was made of the softest silk in Middle Earth and an icy pale colour of yellow and shimmered constantly. I rubbed the material against my cheek and then slowly put it into Arwen's bag. Around high moon, I left Arwen's room and returned to my own. I lied down on my bed. As I did so, my mother's necklace brushed my skin. I took it off and looked at it. 'You never really knew your real mother.' I leapt to my feet, surprised to hear Elrond's voice coming from my balcony. He smiled. 'Do not be afraid. I'm sorry I frightened you.' He drew up a chair and sat down. I was still standing and I was nervous. 'I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner.' 'Tell me what, Elrond?' He gazed at me. 'That I didn't tell you about your real mother sooner.' 'What do you mean my real mother?' I said in shock. Was he saying that the mother I had always known wasn't my birth mother? 'That the mother you knew wasn't really your mother. Your real mother was, well, how can I put this. She wasn't.well, she was not an Elf.' I gawked at him in disbelief. My mother wasn't an Elf? How could that be? 'Your father fell in love with a human, just like my daughter has, hum, just like it was with my own parents. Her name was Elentari (which in Elvish means Star- queen though she had no connections with Elves at her birth) She was beautiful, no doubt, but by the time you were only about fifty years old, she became ill, and then she died. Well, you may remember her yet. She was shorter than your father and had golden hair. All you inherited from her were those things. You and your father could have chosen a mortal life, but he chose for you to be immoral and live forever with him even if that meant that he would lose your mother.' 'So that is why I am so much shorter than all the others.' I whispered. 'Yes.' Elrond said. I looked up at him. 'Why didn't you tell me sooner? Why? Who was the other mother I knew?' I cried in bitterness. Elrond rose from his chair and put his hand on my shoulder as I cried 'Anodien, stop! You are still an Elf and you could die from sorrow! Look at me, child.' I looked at him, no longer bitter, just sort of dazed. 'Cheer up and be glad you knew your father. The other mother, as you called her, was Earelen. You are peredhil. (Which in Elvish means Half-elven)' I nodded. I had begun to calm myself and I breathed more easily now. 'I am sorry to have kept it from you so long and I regret having to tell you now. Good night, Anodien.' Were Elrond's last words to me that night. After he had left the room, I sank down on my bed, but I didn't weep. I fingered the locket and I tried to picture what my mother looked like. Elrond had said I was like her, that I had her hair and her height. I had heard many things about peredhil but I hadn't thought they were real; but Elrond was one, and so was I. I tossed and turned all night, trying to figure out things that I didn't know. Elentari, my mother, Earelen, my other mother. Ithildin, my father. Why hadn't he told me? I was worn out from that day so I just drew my knees to my breast, encircled my arms around them, closed my eyes to rest and rocked back and forth and I felt a peace come over me and I understood. I had loved and trusted my father and . Earelen. She had been my second mother, and had loved me like her own. No, I do not blame them for not having told me sooner. It is better this way, that I was told when I was old enough to understand. I sighed to myself and said, 'Well, I suppose I should start to pack. But I will wait till dawn.' I then went out onto my balcony and stayed there the rest of the night.