A/N: I am really sorry about the wait. I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. Truth be told, I'm not completely happy with it, particularlly the fight between Valora and Aragorn. However, I think I've made you wait more than long enough. I may come back and re-write it at some point. Lord and Lady, these scenes of my own that I'm adding are what are killing me. I'm tempted to stop writing them and just go with the initial story, but I feel they're important in establishing the bonds between Valora and the Fellowship. So, they stay.

Sweetlittlecherry: As you can see, I did work your idea in. Thank you for that.

fhc: I think we all know how that feels. Why do you think she did that to him? (Evil grin) Thank you.

Booklover03: It's one of my favorite songs and I just thought it worked really well. And hey, there's no law that says we can't both use that song in our fics. Believe me, I'm not the first to use it and I won't be the last. And thanks.

Kaye Thorn: Oh, thank you. Bummer about the homework, but, hey, it's summer now!

Tracy: Ah, one of my most faithful readers and reviewers. Thank you very much. I know exactly how that feels. Computers just suck sometimes, don't they?

Kyandoru: Oh, don't worry, there will be more battles between Valora and Boromir. Everyone seems to be enjoying them. I know I am. :] Thanks.

FunkyDory: Glad you find this amusing. Thanks for the review. But keep your pants on. I'm donig the best I can. (Annoyed look)

Jack Sparrow's Only Love: Thank you.

insanity-is-my-friend: I'm trying. Thank you for being polite.

Hobbitfeatures: (Glares) Do you know how to write a fanfic? Do you know how not to come off as rude? I'm doing the best I can on this. You can't deal with my updates, either stop reading or try writing a fanfic and see just how easy it is at times. And there is life outside of fanfic, whether we like it or not. That tends to be a factor in it as well. Not to mention computer problems.

A/N: Once again, sorry for the wait. At least, to those who have been nice about it. My grandparent's dog, whom I have been entrusted with while they are out of the country, just had puppies. That's been keeping me kind of busy. And sad, since one of the two she had was stillborn. But the surviving pup, Elanor, is doing quite well, especially considering she was premature. Thank you for puting up with my slow writing.

They stopped to make camp about an hour before the sunlight would vanish completely.

Valora was in agony. Not from her aching muscles though. She could deal with that. Besides, she was getting accustomed to the traveling and it was hurting less and less. She was once again feeling guilty for witholding the truth from her friends. She brushed it aside all the time, but every time it came back even stronger.

And to top it off, she had almost had to lie to Legloas about it today. After she had sung another song for them, on the condition that they not bug her about it again until nightfall, he had asked her where she was from. It was the first time any of them had directly asked her about it. She'd had no idea what to say to him. Finally, she'd asked him why he wanted to know. He had said that her songs were strange to him and was curious as to where they came from. She couldn't just shrug the question off. She had eventually settled on telling him she was from a place very far to the west, a place he more than likely had never heard of. There were no Elves in the place she came from. Then she had changed the subject. He had raised one elegant brow at her blatant evasivness, but he had let it go. Though the look on his face assured her that her answer would not pacify him for long.

She'd given it a lot of thought. If these people were really her friends, they would at least try to understand. And if they were really her friends, they would forgive her. Hopefully. The Hobbits, she was fairly certain, would forgive her, though they might get understandablly upset. With Boromir, she really didn't care what he thought. They didn't like each other anyway. Legolas... well, she still wasn't sure about him. True, they got along fine, but they weren't buddies. But he seemed understanding enough. Gimli was another one she wasn't sure about. Sure, he was gruff and crabby, but he seemed to like her. Aragorn... well, she was closest to him and Frodo. While Frodo would more than likely forgive her, Aragorn was likely to get upset. Especially after she had gotten on his case about not telling her and the Hobbits the truth. She just hoped that would be followed by acceptance of her apologies.

The thought of telling them terrified her. But living with the guilt was killing her. She had to tell them. And it should be done soon. She knew she would have to tell them eventually. The longer she waited, the harder it would be. And the longer she waited, the greater the chance they would be angry about it.

When everything important had been taken care of, except dinner, she cleared her throat loudly to get their attention. She had talked to Gandalf a few minutes earlier. He had agreed to help her out if she needed him to. And he had promised to stay by her side while she told them. That made her feel a lot better. When she had their attention, she began to shift nervously. "Um, guys, there's something I need to tell you. All of you."

Aragorn frowned at the look on her face. And she refused to look any of them square in the face.

"Well, what is it lass?" asked Gimli.

She let out a long, controlled breath. "You better sit down. This is going to take a while."

They all looked at each other. What was going on? Well, there was only one way to find out. They all sat and looked curiously at her.

After taking a seat herself, making sure that Gandalf was close by, Valora fought the urge to get up and run as far away as she could. How was she supposed to explain this to them? Well, she thought, the best way would probably be to explain it as best she could as far as she could understand it. Which wasn't much. But she had to try. She owed it to them.

"Look," she said finally, "I know what I'm about to tell you will sound... dubious at best. But promise me that you won't say anything until I'm finished. Please." She looked up only long enough to see them all nod. "Well, it's like this," she began.

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"And Gandalf brought me with him to Hobbiton. I'm still not really sure why." She glanced at the old wizard. "When he left, he told me to stay with Frodo. And that's where I stayed. You know the rest of the story from there." She kept her eyes glued to her feet, afraid to look up and see their reactions.

The Hobbits looked to Gandalf. He nodded slightly, confirming at least part of her story.

"In answer to your question," said Gandalf, "I brought you with me because I did not think it right to leave a girl alone in the wild. Especially with such delusions, which I thought them at the time. And I could tell that you would present no danger to the Hobbits."

Speak for yourself, thought Merry, remembering the numerous death threats he had recieved from Valora in the time he had known her.

The stunned silence lasted for a few minutes. But it seemed like years to Valora. She waited anxiously for her friends to let the reality sink in. And possibly to judge her.

It was Sam Who finally broke the silence. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Frodo.

Valora looked ashamedly at her friend, who was looking very hurt at the moment. "Because I didn't have anywhere else to go," she said softly. "And I didn't know you very well yet. I didn't know how you would react."

"And after that?" he asked.

"I was afraid that you wouldn't believe me. And that if you did... Frodo, I am so sorry. Please forgive me."

Frodo said nothing. He would need time to think about it. Time to decide if her deception was really grounds to end their friendship.

"Surely, you can't expect us to believe all this," said Boromir.

"I know it sounds crazy," Valora said, "but it's the truth. One I should have told you a long time ago." She ran her hands over her face and through her hair. "And I'm not exactly done."

Everyone braced themselves for whatever was coming next.

"I've been seeing things. Visions. I can't explain it. But I saw one of the Wraiths long before we ever encountered them. And I saw Gandalf get captured by Saruman. And I think I saw it at the same time that it actually happened. I'm not a seer, so I don't know why I'm getting these visions."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" asked Merry. "If you knew that something happened to Gandalf-"

"Because I didn't know," she cut in. "I didn't know what I was seeing was real. If I had, I would have done something. But as far as I knew, I was just losing my mind. What's left of it, anyway. I was sucked into a book. What did you expect? Complete understanding of what the hell is going on?"

"Did you know anything else that you should have told us?"

Valora looked at Aragorn. His stiff tone of voice let her know that he was not happy with her at the moment. Wincing inwardly under his gaze, she hesitated. "I knew that the Ring was evil, but dormant. But the only reason I didn't say anything is because I didn't know if I should say anything. For all I knew, I could have been changing things that were supposed to happen," she defended herself. "As far as I know, things were supposed to happen a certain way. Me being here in Middle-Earth might have changed that, but I don't exactly have a choice in the matter."

"Well," said Boromir slowly, "what exactly was the book about?"

She gave him a wry look. "Considering this is the book I was sucked into, I should think that would be fairly obvious."

He gave her an equally wry look. "What I meant was, was it about our success or defeat in our quest?"

Valora sighed. Yup, I definately should have seen that one coming, she thought to herself. Surely, she couldn't tell them that they were made up characters. "The book is about things that happened long, long before my time," she began. "Things that are considered a myth."

"Yes, but are we victorious or defeated? How does it end?"

"I don't know how it ends!" she said loudly in frustration, standing up and shoving her hands through her hair. "I was brought here before I even got through the first part of the first volume of the story. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know anything that's going to happen. I don't know if you succeed or if someone else defeats Sauron later. Anything could happen. I can't tell you anything."

"Can't, or won't?" asked Aragron.

Valora almost flinched at the coldness in his voice. Coldness that was directed soley at her. This definately did not seem to be going as well as she'd hoped. Not that it was a surprise, really. Best case scenarios rarely happened to her. "Can't," she clarified. "I just told you, I never finished the story, so I don't know what happens."

"And how do we know that you are telling the truth?"

She blinked. "Why would I lie to you about this?"

"Well, you've been lying to us so far. How do we know that you can be trusted?"

"I have never lied to you about who I am or where I am from," she said. To her dismay, some of her hurt came out in her voice, despite her efforts to hide it. And she was certain it was showing on her face as well.

"But you've never really been honest with us either," he retorted. He knew that wasn't really true. So much of what she had said to Boromir that day she had lost her temper made sense now. Still, that hadn't been intentional.

Rather than let her hurt surface completely, she suppressed it. Summoning anger to her aid, she glared at Aragorn. "And I suppose you're one to talk about being completely honest about who you are?"

"What?"

"You weren't exactly Mr. Open about who you are, either."

He gave her a glare. "I don't see how that is important."

"As I recall, I asked you what your real name was. You didn't want to tell me. Did you, Strider?"

Part of him winced. She had not called him Strider since she had found out his true identity, insisting that she call him by his real name. And she was right. He recalled her tentativly asking for his name that day they had left Bree. He had refused to answer and she had let it drop, which had surprised him. Most females he knew would have pestered him on the matter. "You didn't seem overly interested, since you didn't pursue the matter."

She glowered down at him. "I was trying to respect your privacy."

The rest of the Fellowship watched and listened with growing unease as the two continued to argue. They looked back and forth between the Ranger and the girl as they tossed arguments at each other. None, however, did anything to break the argument up. The fight lasted for less than ten minutes. Though it seemed to last much longer to the uncomfortable companions. Eventually, Aragorn turned and stormed off.

"Fine, have it your way, you stubborn ass!" Valora turned and stormed in the opposite direction.

The rest of the Fellowship was silent for a moment.

"Well," said Merry finally. "That was, er, interesting."

The rest silently agreed.

Gandalf sighed. As if it wasn't bad enough that Valora and Boromir were barely civil to each other, now Valora and Aragorn were fighting. "Would one of you please follow her and make sure she doesn't get into any trouble while I have a word with Aragorn."

Frodo nodded and started after her. He was surprised when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to find Legolas gently restraining him.

"I will go," he said. "It is safer for you here."

Reluctantly, Frodo nodded. If Valora got into trouble, Legolas was better equipped to protect her. Still, if Valora was in a vile mood, he wasn't sure how she would respond to the Elf.

Legolas easily followed the trail Valora had left. Until it dissapeared, that is. At first, he felt a sliver of fear. Had she been carried off by something? No, she couldn't have been. There were no tracks at all, not hers and not anything else's tracks. So where had she gone?

A soft rustle from somewhere above him drew his attention. Surprise showed clearly on his face when he spotted her. She was sitting on a large branch with her legs stretched out in front of her and her back against the tree trunk. He hadn't even known she could climb. He frowned and reexamined the place wher her tracks stopped. Right next to the tree he was standing next to. But she was in the next tree. That would mean she had to have climbed this tree and jumped from it into the tree she was now sitting in.

Valora didn't seem to have noticed him yet and he wondered if he should give her a moment or two before revealing himself.

Her soft, musical voice reached his Elven ears. He had listened to her sing often enough to know that the songs she sang often reflected her moods or what she was feeling, though she sometimes sang any old song. He suspected it was just for the love of song and music. But the song she sang now clearly was not for the pleasure of singing.

It wasn't my intention to mislead you It never should have been this way What can I say It's true, I did extend the invitation I never knew how long you'd stay When you hear temptation call It's your heart that takes Takes the fall

Legolas remained silent and listened to her sad singing.

Uh-oh, the first big fight between friends. That always sucks. Then again, if your friendship can survive the big fights, it grows stronger. That's all I'm saying about it. Please, leave a contribution in the little box. (The review box, for those who didn't get that.)