Author notes and references, copyrights, dedication, parallels to the author.

All places and characters except Tolwyn copyrighted to Tolkien and the Saul Zaentz company.

First printed May 22, 2004. (Finished May 21st around midnight)

Dedicated to all those at chatroom who helped me develop my character, especially Melty and Mattheapar… love you guys :-)

(First Chapter) Return of the King, Appendix A, II (The House of Eorl): "In the last year of the Third Age he Eomer wedded Lothiriel, daughter of Imrahil. Their son Elfwine the Fair ruled after him." same place "For though Sauron had passed, the hatreds and evils that he bred had not died…"

(Seventh Chapter) The Two Towers, book three, King of the Golden Hall. The 'Song of Eorl' is this:

"Where now the horse and the Rider?

Where is the horn that was blowing?

Where is the helm and the hauberk,

And the bright hair flowing?

Where is the hand on the harpstring,

And the red fire glowing?

They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;

The days have gone down in the West, behind the hills into shadow.

Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,

Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"

Parallels to my life…

I have the same color eyes and hair :-)

Her birthday is exactly one month and one week after mine.

The part where she's 5 and her brother leaves… I was 5 years old when my own little sister was born.

Her schooling from 8 years old onward, I left public school when I was that age and began homeschooling. (I left after I turned 11 but that's not a parallel.)

The winter she was ten, she lost her mother. The winter I was ten, I hit puberty.

I read Lord of the Rings when I was 13, she began sneaking out at nights when she was 13. Also, I stumbled in chatroom in late winter at the same age.

Her 14th birthday was the beginning of new lessons. My 14th birthday was the beginning of high school. High school was way different in the arrangement and flexibility of classes, so to me it was very much "new lessons".

I have necklace, gold and green, that my grandmother gave me. There's no diamond horse but still, it is close to Tolwyn's mother's necklace.

Over the course of my own freshman year I grew into a Lady myself. I became less shy, got my permit and learned to drive, became happier and made many friends.

I had a goal of finishing the story on my 15th birthday and met it well enough (a few days after). I had a party for my birthday, and though I never got a horse or sword it was still wonderful ;-) Right after my birthday (the very next day in fact) I traveled different places. And now as I go through the next three years I bet I will grow in knowledge and skill, have many adventures and such, just as my character did.