The Company were about to set off so Anna was forced to come along to the ceremony. She stepped back surprised as an elf wrapped a cloak around her like the others had done to them. She stayed still as the elf clasped it with a lead brooch.

'Never before have we clad strangers in the garb of our people. These will protect you from enemy's eyes,' Celeborn said and Anna looked up in fright, not catching Boromir take a tentative glance.

She did not know why she was here or why she decided to continue with them. Even Galadriel's choices had not made where she chose to go any clearer. She would not be much help. She was just going through phases. The choices came down to two things: a long life away from any more pain or a short life, with an unforgettable death. Anna did not know what made her continue except for an odd fluttering in her stomach when she would think about her death. Not a scary feeling; more like some stirring, waiting within her.

As Galadriel went down the line, handing out gifts, Anna tried to skulk away but her feet seemed frozen. Down the line, Galadriel spoke to each of them, on by one. As she left Boromir with his gift of a gold belt, Anna thought to herself, 'I do not need a gift.' All her life she had not received anything Even with Men, she was known to take what she wanted.

'Long have we waited for this moment, Oirebian, the Giver and Taker.' Galadriel glanced at Legolas. 'Let all elves remember this day when we are finally able to give you a gift, the one who was left by her elven family as a gift to this earth.' Anna shot her eyes up at this sudden knowledge and then glanced down at Galadriel's extended hand. On a gold chain lay a simple, small gold thunderbolt. 'Wear this upon your head when you decide your true path.'

Anna kept her gaze on the gold in her hand. Never before was she given a gift. Now she had two.

Anna found a seat in the elven boat with Legolas and Gimli. They were all quiet as they road the river, thinking of the Lady Galadriel, her lands, her gifts, and her counsel. Anna's thoughts even went to Frodo's gift of the light from a star. They slept on the western banks when they had tired of the boats. The first night out from under the boughs of Lorien, the Company went into groups and talked about their chosen paths, though more was thought than was said out loud..

Aragorn had been released from Boromir's grasp just in time to catch Anna's conversation. Legolas and Gimli were tutoring her on using and handling her knives from Moria and some elven blades from Lothlorien she had borrowed. Gimli commented, 'I'm not sure I trust her skill or grace to let her throw those things.'

'But you should tell me where you are going. I could help you with you path,' she said as she sent a dagger flying a little too close to where Gimli was sitting.

'We will need none of your input on our path,' Aragorn said, entering the conversation. A look to Legolas told Aragorn the elf had not said anything though Anna had asked him more than once. 'That was the agreement with Gandalf: to let you follow on the account you know not our destination, unless you have already forgotten. Maybe it is as well. We should have left you at Lothlorien where the elves could watch you.'

Anna gripped the daggers she had in both hands and then threw one into the tree that had been the target. She turned back to Aragorn. 'I am tired of you suspicions! I have told you time and again, I no longer serve my master. I owe my allegiance to no one!'

'Yet everything you do proves otherwise,' Aragorn said. 'You do not fight and expect others to save you yet you do not gag at the sight of corpses. You would have left us at Moria and you have no conscience when it comes to stealing. I would not doubt lying is below you either.'

'How could I lie?' she asked. 'I have told you much about my past.'

'Yes, and those with much to say have much to hide,' Aragorn responded. 'I have heard you want to redeem yourself. Who will you kill to put yourself once again in you master's favor?' Anna grimaced at Legolas for confiding in Aragorn their conversation. 'You may have clouded the eyes of the others but you have not wholly blinded me.'

'Truly,' she said simply, bitterness on her tongue. 'You're eyes cannot be covered. You saw I was an elf. I am who you see me as and not what your mind conceives.' Anna's rage was already boiling down.

Aragorn was silent for a moment. By now, the others had heard the shouting and were listening for the end. Decisively, Aragorn ended it. 'You have the same serpent lips as you master,' he said and turned his back on her.

Anna's eyes grew wide as her body trembled with rage. She changed her grip on the last dagger in her hand and raised it above her head, lurching at Aragorn. Instantaneously, she was thrown to the ground by Legolas as Boromir ripped the dagger out of her hands. She still struggled when her voice grew deep and full. 'No longer will your travels run as smoothly as the current. Quit dawdling!' Her struggles ceased and Legolas released her. She blinked, just realizing what she had said bit not wholly comprehending it.

Looking up, she seemed back to normal. She caught sight of the dagger in Boromir's hand and then looked back at Aragorn. 'Do not upset me and you will not feel the points of my daggers.' She slinked away to gather the daggers on the ground and the one in the tree and then went further off to get some sleep. Unbeknownst to the rest, a butterfly came visiting her, speaking of eyes along the river.

'What sorcery controlled her voice?' Boromir asked, giving Legolas the dagger that would have been tipped in Aragorn's blood. 'Do you think the white wizard spoke through her?'

'Sorcery,' Aragorn said, 'or a part of her she has been hiding.'

'Though, it did sound like something Gandalf would have said,' Frodo spoke.

Aragorn shook his head. 'Whichever the case, I do not like the omen it may yet represent.'