As soon as sunlight touched the earth the next day, Anna sat up, as if she had been waiting for that moment all night. She turned around, speaking to Legolas. 'Are we ready to go?' He looked down ruefully on the sleeping forms of Aragorn and Gimli in response. Anna sprung up and shook them awake.

'It is day. You can follow your trail now,' she told Aragorn.

The continued running, aware of the black smoke rising in the direction they were headed. Anna had an odd feeling, as the others probably observed as well, that they were not alone on the open lands. The others quickened their pace but Anna stayed behind, unwilling to face what was ahead.

The land turned from flat pains to flat plains with mossy boulders decorating the landscape. Further off, Fangorn forest loomed, dark with shadows.

Suddenly, Anna could see the others huddling behind a boulder. She reached the boulder and stopped. With her feet still, she could feel the ground shake with pounding horse hooves.

'They are Riders of Rohan. They are no orc lovers,' Aragorn said under his breath, speaking of a peaceful meeting but still preparing for an attack.

'Gandalf spoke of a rumor that they pay tribute to Mordor,' Gimli said.

Aragorn turned to Anna. 'Quickly, is this true? Do they hold an alliance with Sauron or Saruman?'

Anna was thrown for a loop. 'Uh, no,' she stumbled. 'No, I do not think so, not with the riders,' though how she was supposed to know about Sauron, she did not know.

Without waiting for more, Aragorn left the boulder, calling after the Riders. 'Riders of Rohan. What news from the Mark?'

Gimli and Legolas stood beside Aragorn as the Riders wheeled around. Anna was still behind the boulder amazed at Aragorn's' reaction to her information. She hurriedly joined the others just before the Riders closed their circle. As they surrounded the travelers, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli instinctively put themselves between the girl and the lowering spears, leaving Anna hidden form Eomer.

'What business does an elf, a man and a dwarf have in the Riddermark?' Eomer bellowed. 'Speak quickly!'

'This was not wise,' Anna hissed into Aragorn's ear, tiptoeing to look past him.

Eomer's voice softened, yet still held a commanding tone. 'Hail, young maiden. Step forward.' Aragorn slowly stepped aside, letting Anna move toward Eomer, not comfortable from all the eyes on her. 'Pray, tell me, why do you travel among such company? Are you being forced against you will?' He eyed the others dangerously. The three did not notice, too busy watching Anna and waiting for her response. This was her chance to betray them, though certainly she would not be foolish enough to do so with the Rohirrim.

Anna looked up as Eomer, straightening as a proud maiden would in the presence of a lord. In the fraction o a second it took her to come up with a response, her manner and tone of voice had changed to that of a native to the small villages of Rohan. It became small wonder why Aragorn suspected her of acting innocent for her skills were awesome. 'No dear sir. Truly, they are the best for tracking and hunting orcs.'

Eomer kept his suspicions though. 'You travel light to be hunting orcs.' He looked toward the three standing, though kept speaking with the woman. 'Would you care to enlighten us with their names?'

Anna's mouth was left open, about to respond when Gimli interrupted. 'Give is your name, horse-master, and I will give you mine, and more besides.'

Eomer's eyes blazed and he dismounted his horse, stepping closer to the planted dwarf. 'I would cut off your head, Mater Dwarf, if it stood but a little higher form the ground,' he stated.

Legolas whipped an arrow into his bow and aimed it Eomer's head, his hands quicker than a man's eye. 'You would die before your stroke fell!'

The spears tightened around them and Anna put a hand to her daggers, only able to unsheathe it halfway before the presence of the spears made themselves known as her back. She froze, as did the rest, and only after Aragorn stepped between them did Legolas lower his bow.

Anna sheathed her knife and the sound of the scarping metal made Eomer turn around, realizing her had left his back vulnerable to the girl. And now he found her armed. What had made her seem so innocent that made him think she would not carry weapons when after orcs?

'What use would the lady have with weapons?' Eomer asked and Anna, seeing her position, put her hands behind her back, away from the knives.

'I must be able to defend myself,' she said innocently, giving a mischievous smile.

Eomer smiled, too, his reprimands on himself forgotten. 'Rohirrim women are stout-hearted fiends,' he told Aragorn with humor in his tone.

'I am not-' Anna was about to respond, now proud of her heritage and wanting to prove him wrong, but Aragorn stopped her.

'Her name is Anna,' Aragorn said, laying a hand on Anna, signaling her to back down. She submissively took a step back, letting the captains talk amongst themselves. 'This is Gimli, the dwarf, and Legolas of the elves of Mirkwood. I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn.' This made Eomer hesitate and look carefully at the travelers he had stopped. In his eyes, a white flame licked his brow as from a crown.

'We track a band of Uruk-hai westward across the plain. They have taken two of our friends captive,' Aragorn explained.

'We know of the orcs you speak of. We battled them just last night. We left none alive and burned the carcasses,' Eomer replied, carefully calculating their reactions.

'They were Halflings,' Aragorn said desperately. 'They would look like mere children in your eyes.' Eomer shook his head, his eyes softening. Anna looked up into the sky, the smoke closer now than in the morning. She could picture the hobbits last breathes mingled in the clack clouds.

'Dead? Dead?' Gimli said, each one more panicked. The words echoed in Anna's head and she turned around to escape the circle but horse and speak were I the way. Aragorn could sense her agitation and did not need her to blow up and show her wildness to the Rohirrim.

'Let her through. She just needs space to walk,' Aragorn told Eomer. Only after she lifted hands and threw them at her sides with a girlish scream were Eomer's suspicions totally dashed. He nodded his head to let her go and to have the spears lifted. She escaped the ring and started pacing on the soft, cruel grass.

'You must forgive our doubts. We cannot trust anyone coming form the east or west,' Eomer explained to them, 'for even Saruman walks the plains of Rohan in many guises, mostly as an old man, hooded and cloaked. His servants are many and not all lie within Isengard. Saruman and his servant have fell voices.' At this, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli, one by one, looked over at Anna, only glimpses caught past the horses as she walked back and forth. Had she used what her master taught her to speak with Eomer and reduce his doubts on her? They couldn't help but notice her behavior become more erratic the closer they ran to her master's home. Was his hold on her growing stronger with the distance lessening between the two? 'If you come to Edoras, you will see what I mean.'

As Eomer continued, Anna was listening to her own soft voice. 'All that time, all that energy and still we were too late. It would have been better if Saruman was able to get hold of them. No, I cannot say that. Maybe they are happy now, after days marching with terror to be killed by would-be heroes all because we could not get to them fast enough-' She shook her head. 'You cannot think that way,' she said to herself. 'It's useless. Think, think. Maybe all is not lost.'

'The Uruk-hai are strong,' Anna caught Eomer saying. 'We lost fifteen of our men and twelve of our horses.' The naming both statistics, Anna knew horses were important to the Rohirrim but, after doing a little math, decided to go through with her plan anyway. She stopped her pacing and slinked over to a horse without a rider, petting it while hiding her other hide which played with the leather knot.