Disclaimer: Don't own it, probably never will.

Vasha woke up early, fear gripping her. Dawn was beginning to paint the sky, but it was still dark and cool in her room. Memories came, unbidden, and with them a pain and a terror so great that she almost began screaming aloud. She buried her face in her pillow, trying to muffle her screams. Mother would wake up if she didn't cover her mouth, and if Vasha woke Mother up again with her screaming, she would get hurt again. Badly.

Then, someone hurried into the room, bearing a candle, trying to dispel the darkness and some of Vasha's terror with it. The candle was set on the bedside table and someone sat beside her on the bed, placing a comforting hand on her back, trying to soothe her.

"Vasha... Vasha... Shh... It will be all right, mellon nin." A husky voice tried to soothe her. Slowly, Vasha's screams ceased, and turned into a continuous plea as she sobbed into her pillow, then into Estel's shoulder as he gently lifted her and cradled her as he had seen Gandalf do.

"Please don't make me go back! I don't want to go back, Mother will kill me! I didn't do anything bad, honest! I just went home! I didn't do anything bad, why did she hurt me? Please don't make me go back, please, please, please..." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"You remember then, little one?"

"Please don't send me back to Mother... I'll be good, I'll do anything, please..."

That was all the answer Estel needed. She remembered, or remembered enough. Perhaps too much. "You will not be forced to go back. The door was already removed from ada's study. Ada even says you can stay here forever, he will call you daughter if you call him father." He paused, "Or ada." Then he smiled, "Which will make you my little sister."

She sniffled, her sobs subsiding as she sat up a bit and pulled away to wipe away her tears. "Never had a brother afore."

"You shall have three of us, what with Elladan, Elrohir, and myself." He ruffled her hair fondly, a gesture he could vaguely remember one of his brothers using on him when he was younger. "I suppose there is no going back to bed for you, hm?"

"Not seepy any more. Hungry, though."

Estel laughed. "Then let us go to the kitchens and see if we can find something to hold us until breakfast. And I am sure ada will want to know you are awake as soon as possible, as will everyone else."

Her large eyes widened. "Who's everyone else?"

He chuckled. "You will see..."

Years passed, and Vasha was accepted as one of Elrond's children in Imladris. She was taught many things under the tutelage of her foster father and foster brothers, as well as by all the other inhabitants of the beautiful elf haven in which they lived, and learned with an eagerness that surprised them all. She stopped her drawing of doors unless asked by Gandalf, and even then it took some coaxing. He learned early on why she used certain colors for her doors, and why she refused adamantly to use red or black. After seeing what had happened with the red and black door to her home, he couldn't blame her, really.

Yet, as the years passed, there was one thing that puzzled everyone, even Vasha herself.

She did not grow.

After nearly ten years of living in Middle-Earth, she had grown little, appearing to be only about five years old. It wasn't that she was merely the size of a five year old child and proportioned like an adult; it was that her body was still that of a child. Oh, her hair grew, and her fingernails grew, but that was about the extent of it.

However, to other eyes, the keen eyes of the elves, she did grow, but so slowly it was as if they were watching a tree. They never breathed a word of it to her, keeping their own counsel on the matter.

When it was finally revealed that Estel was really Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and heir to the crown of Gondor, Vasha felt a little dismayed. Not only was she loosing her foster brother, in a sense, but it seemed that he had fallen in love with their foster-sister, an elf woman they hadn't even known about until her arrival in Imladris.

To the seven year old girl, it seemed as though her comfortable, orderly life among the elves was falling apart. Estel was the only one in Imladris who would really play with her and talk to her in more than a serious, intellectual tone. Oh, Elladan and Elrohir were good companions... But they were twenty eight hundred years old, and couldn't understand her at all. The fact that they were boys didn't help them much. Gilraen, Aragorn's mother, wasn't a good companion either, despite being one of the Dunedain and closer to mortal than anyone else in Imladris. The woman was always so sad, and Vasha knew to keep well clear of her unless it would be deemed rude to do so, or she had no other choice.

It was on one of Gandalf's visits, some years after her arrival, that he noticed her feeling so low.

"Vasha? Is there something the matter?" He asked her kindly as they sat on a balcony overlooking the river and the endless expanse of trees. It was a serene beauty that never faded for either of them.

"Not really." She sighed, then looked up at Gandalf. "I miss Bilbo. It wasn't so quiet there."

Gandalf understood. Even the beauty and wonder of the elves paled after a time. "You wish to be among people more like yourself, those who haven't lived thousands of years."

She sighed, frustrated. "I know you've lived a long time too, but you're not so... So..." Her face screwed up in frustration. "I can't think of any words."

"Boring? Stoic? Sedate?" He laughed, removing his pipe from his mouth. "How would you like to go on a journey with me, little imp? I travel to Rohan soon, and other places as well."

Her eyes lit up. "Rohan? Where you got Falda?" The pony had long since been retired from service as Vasha's riding animal, but her youngest foal, two years old and as frisky yet as gentle as her mother, was more than happy to take her mother's place.

"Yes, where I found Falda for you. And where your foster brother is currently serving Thengel King."

"Estel? Estel will be there?" Vasha jumped up excitedly.

"Yes, he will, but you must call him by the name he goes by there and not reveal that you know him." Gandalf cautioned, "Not unless he says otherwise."

She nodded her agreement, and Gandalf stood. "Then I must go ask Master Elrond if you may accompany me. Have they taught you some combat, between all your lessons of history, languages, and other things a lady needs to know?"

"They have."

"Good. Very good..." He murmured, shuffling out, sucking on the end of his pipe once more.

Author's Note: Thanks to my one reviewer! Thanks so much, Ann!

TBC... Please please please please review...