At the end there is a MAJORLY big Author's Note. It's to explain questions, and any questions that might happen. Yepp, I actually know what I'm doing in this story (and I know I spell Yepp differently, too. :D)
"Brenwian—Brenwian, wake up."
"Nu-uh…" Aragorn heard the small bundle inside the covers protest.
He gave a slight smile, remembering all the times this had happened. He forced his face to harden slightly, however, as he remembered.
'She's not real—the memories aren't, either,' he told himself before looking outside where the sun slowly began to rise.
"Brenwian, you must get up," he stated, less gently than he had before. "Now come on, you need to change into your day clothes."
The little girl murmured softly as she slowly sat up, her hair cascading around her in a large, slightly poofy mess.
"Why? It's still night," she yawned, starting to lay down again. This time, however, Aragorn was ready for it. Swiftly, he removed the pillow from behind her.
"Hey," Brenwian mumbled sleepily, looking accusingly at her taller brother…or so she thought…in front of her.
"Hey yourself. Come on, get dressed."
"Where are we going?" she asked uncertainly, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she tried to have a mental debate as to whether or not it was worth getting out of bed.
Aragorn was unsure as to what he should tell her, but settled for giving her a forced smile. He almost felt as though he was lying to her. Certainly, his statement was true. But inside, he knew it wasn't going to be as fun as he made it come across. Perhaps adventure wasn't a correct word…but he had no other that could convince her to leave her bed and make her get up.
"We're going on an adventure. Now come on," he gestured to the door. "Can you get dressed by yourself, or should I help you?"
At his suggestion, he quickly moved to her dresser to pack quickly, but he didn't get much of a chance. Brenwian was apparently not so tired anymore as she ran to the dresser and shook her head.
"I can do it!" she protested, pushing Aragorn away with the little strength she had. "I'm six now…"
"Yes, you are," Aragorn gave her a small, genuine smile. "I know."
No matter how much he tried to force himself to prepare himself for the worst, trying to just think of her as some source of essence, he realized that he couldn't.
The words spoken to him earlier burned in his head. 'She's not real.' They seemed to dance about in mockery. Even so, he managed to shove them away before turning to leave the room. Mainly because Brenwian was trying to push him out the door. Not with much luck, however, seeing as she couldn't even cause his foot to slide an inch.
"Okay, alright. I'm leaving," he held up his hands in surrender, chuckling slightly. Walking through the door, he turned back to finish his statement. "But hurry, we should have left already. Please meet me by the courtyard."
As the door shut after him, he heard her young voice come in a muffled tone through the door.
"I will, I promise."
Beginning the walk out of resignation, knowing she would be upset if he stayed and waited for her, he couldn't help but sigh. She was so real to him, and he knew she was. She had to be. Young Brenwian was like all young children, to the point where even waiting for them outside the bedroom when you said you'd meet them elsewhere made them think you didn't trust them enough to find the place.
Wondering how impatient the other eight members of the Fellowship would be right then, he couldn't help but feel a sinking in his gut. He didn't know where he was going to take her, nor who was strong enough to protect her. And for all he knew, he could ruin his promise to Frodo. And that was one he couldn't break…to protect the hobbit with his life. The ring, in truth, could indeed bring death to them all. Including Brenwian. Helping Frodo needed to be his first priority, including above a family that seemingly didn't truly exist.
As he got closer to the courtyard, mind still buzzing, he was forced to pause as two identical figures approached him.
"Estel, I hope you fair well on this journey," Elladan grasped Aragorn's shoulder firmly, giving him a nod.
"As do I," Elrohir added, flashing a grin towards his foster brother. "Also, you don't even have to ask. We'll keep an eye on Arwen and make sure that Brenwian doesn't fall out of any trees or into the lake again."
Aragorn rolled his eyes in a good natured way before he shook his head at the comment towards Arwen. As he began to inform the two that Arwen could take care of herself and that Brenwian would not need there services, seeing as she would be with him, he paused. Raising an eyebrow, he gave each of the twins a suspicious glance.
"What do you mean about her falling out of a tree and into the lake?
"Those were Elladan's fault!" Elrohir quickly stated, eyes widening. He must have forgotten that these tales were not to reach Aragorn's ears. "He was tickling her in the tree, and he pushed her in the lake!"
"Liar," the older twin muttered, and the ranger shook his head. Perhaps he shouldn't trust the twins around the young child anymore.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that happening. Because she won't be staying here. She's coming with me."
Had the situation not been so serious, Aragorn would have been in hysterics at the look on Elladan and Elrohir's faces.
"You must be kidding, she's only a child. And will be a lady at that."
But Elladan's comment was lost on Aragorn's ear.
'No. She isn't,' he thought to himself before shrugging his shuoulders. "Farewell, my brothers," he nodded, dismissing himself before continuing on his way. He didn't think he could last through any other words on the situation. It was too hard to explain, because even the thoughts on her being lead to possible death were too much to bear for him. He who was apparently supposed to protect her.
Ignoring the two protesting behind him, he hurried through the halls of the Last Lonely Home before exiting outside where the others looked expectantly towards him.
"Aragorn, what took you so long?" Legolas questioned, and the heir of Gondor noted that Gandalf's eyes alone seemed to understand. So the rest were yet to discover the truth. He'd definitely have to talk to his long-time friend that evening.
"There is another," the wizard stated for Aragorn, so that he didn't have to explain.
And while seven members of the Fellowship exchanged looks, a small figure began hopping towards them all on one foot.
"Aragorn," the voice called before they could make out the small figure in a dress that reached her tiny ankles and one shoeless foot.
"Aragorn, my lace broke," Brenwian told him, and he gave a small sigh, yet smiled towards her in a kind way.
"Come. I'll carry you while someone fixes it," he offered before pausing. "But if I tell you to run and hide, I want you to do that. Even if it means without a shoe. But we cannot linger, we must go now."
"Okay," came her small voice before Aragorn lifted her up. Handing the shoe to Gimli, who had offered quickly to fix it, he groaned. Legolas and Gimli were currently bickering about who had better techniques with mending things.
As Gimli sent out a stream of Dwarvish curses, however, he quickly covered Brenwian's ears. The sooner he found a safe village for her, the better…
LONG Author's Note:
WHOOT! Yes, someone figured out it was from Buffy Nods That was the unmentioned television show I got the idea from in the Disclaimer.
Alright, now...to answer some questions and to explain some things. Not all will be said here, though, because it will be met later in the story. (Yes. This time, I actually wrote down everything I wanted to happen.)
First off, I'll start with this one:
If Sauron could gain so much power by getting ahold of this kid, why would they send her with the Fellowship?
The reason behind this is that, because Saruman had a hand in "creating" her, all sources of evil knew who she was--hence her 'identity' no longer being secret--they also knew where she was. That was why she had to be moved to a different location. You see, I didn't put everything in the conversation between Gandalf, Elrond, and Aragorn. I just 'ended' off at one point. But really, they discussed everything. The point of taking her is to bring her to a new location, thus stopping a risk at Rivendell as well. I'm not going to mention anything about where they plan to take her because it's sort of key...in a way...not really, but I love keeping secrets.
Also, along with that, he can't actually gain power with her. This wasn't described either, but I guess I'll explain it. All he can gain from her is by using her blood (the essence) to once again become flesh again. Only the ring can bring him back to power, but him becoming a physical being once more can help him get the ring back more.
It makes no logical sense to ship her off to where he could more easily get his hands on her, rather then keeping her (relatively) secure in Rivendell in the care of multiple elf lords.
If she was left there, as stated above, they knew where she was. That would have ended up to the point where a possible destruction of Rivendell could happen. So she had to go to a different place where, hopefully, they would not discover where she was going so that she could be kept safe.
Aragorn's being awful bratty about this. He's a fully grown Ranger who has been all over Middle-earth by this time -- he wouldn't be acting like an angsty teenager.
Believe it or not, there's a sort of reason for this as well. While many may THINK this is an excuse, it's the truth. It was originally intended for this to be a seperate journey...Aragorn's first, in fact. One where Aragorn would be forced to take her alone to this place, but then I realized it wouldn't work. It'd cause too many problems. But I had gotten the chapter done and stuff, and I was too lazy to do anything but edit in the facts about this being the Fellowship. Eventually I'll edit it, but I want to get most of my stuff written out, first. Also, he will eventually sort of start up like this again with Brenwian, only differently. Like he won't talk to her or anything. And this is because he's trying to eventually convince himself that it's best for her to go somewhere that she won't be in risk and also if he has to make the choice between helping Frodo with the Ring and Brenwian, he could do what was best for Middle Earth. Give up his "sister" to help Frodo and destroy the complete evil that is the ring.
OTHER STUFF
Brenwian being more important than anything on this quest.
It's as simple as this: She's not. The only reason it may come across as this is that Aragorn feels the responsibility of an older brother, and so the sort of reason I came up with this idea is because it's sort of a test of his own strength. To keep himself to do what he's supposed to do, or let the love of family cloud his judement. Because you see, even if Brenwian's blood was used to bring Sauron back, you all know now that he didn't have the power the ring could provide. So in other words, it would be better for him to give up her life in exchange for getting the ring into Mount Doom. It's all mainly an inner battle for him, and unless I can help it on occasion, most of the time it will be from Aragorn's point of view. However, it is subject to change.
WHY did I use the plot from Buffy and why, since I did, did I make Brenwian 6 rather than a teenager like Dawn?
Because honestly, I hate angsty teen girls going along with the Fellowship. If I did that, I'd have to have her drawn to one of the male character, blah blah blah...stuff like that. It just gets annoying. And I needed someone who couldn't take care of themselves very well, so yes. That's why she's so little. And I used the plot from Buffy because how else would it be possible for Aragorn to get a sibling unless Gilraen was pregnant when she took Aragorn to Rivendell (which we know she wasn't).
If you have ANY MORE questions at ALL. Please ask! Also, if I seem to make her TOO Mary Sue ish, someone do something. I'm trying my best to develop her character and stuff...because to me, everything about the Ring and such is the most important. But this STORY is about her, so it will be hard. Just give me some pointers on how to change something and whatnot.