Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Blaise, everything else is Tolkiens work.
A/N:Another Authors Note at the bottom, but I would like to introduce to you; Your Future Awaits! Please enjoy!
Chapter 1 Lost and Found
She was lost, and she knew it. She knew she should have listened to her father, but noo she had to stop; she just had to. She couldn't even remember why she stopped, it was so long ago. It shouldn't have taken this long to find him, she had stopped for like two seconds, WHERE WAS HE?
"Ugh, Where am I? I can't believe I'm lost! Who has ever heard of a Ranger getting lost? Not me, but then again it is me were talking about. Wait a minute. Why am I talking to myself out loud! Ugh" Blaise kept on walking.
She looked at the ground trying to find footsteps of any kind to point to a direction of hopefully civilization. But she had absolutely no luck! She was lost, tired, and peeved off!
"I can't believe there are no footprints, nothing, absolutely nothing! Why does this always happen to me?" Blaise now saw footprints and went to check them out.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me, I've been walking in circles. What did Naneth always tell me, was it 'if your ever lost just keep still and it will make it easier for other people to find you,' or was it something else, Ugh" Just then she tripped.
"Ewww, great now I'm dirty and I smell! I want a bath so bad. No wonder there aren't anyother female Rangers, they were the smart ones." Walking with a limp now Blaise made her way to a tree to sit and lean against while she thought of a plan to find her way back to her father.
A couple of minutes later she had a brilliant idea, "Duh, why didn't I think of this before, I swear all of this outdoors stuff is starting to go to my head. Well that and the smoke to Adar's pipe. Why am I talking to myself out loud, again? I am so losing it!" With that comment she made a face filled with horror.
Blaise lifted her self up with help from the tree and put her hands to her mouth, hesitated, looked at her hands, grimaced, whipped her hands first on her outer vest then on her pants, then put them back to her mouth hesitantly and let out a loud but natural sounding bird call. It was a distress call so she knew her father would come when he heard it, if he heard it.
She fell back to the ground with a sigh after making the bird call two more times. She wanted to close her eyes so badly but knew that was it way to dangerous. Anyone could come along and see her, and they would easily see she was a female, and most wanderers did horrible things to lost females.
Getting lost in her thoughts, she jumped and sqeauked when there was a throat cleared in front of her. Looking up she was met with eyes as gray as a storm cloud, but she knew that if you were to look closer you would see speecks of a dark blue as well.
Looking sheepish she put a small smile on her face, which quickly diminished after the look on the other ones face.
"Where in all of Arda have you been Blaise? I can't keep an eye on you at all times but I expect you to stay close and not wonder off. You are not a child anymore, you must act like you know whats right and whats wrong. Why did you wonder off?" Her father stopped at the look on her face and sighed helplessly. "Please, just tell me why you wondered off?"
"Okay, I just stopped. I think I had heard something and stopped to see if I could hear it again. When I turned back around you were gone. Then I tried to find you and got lost, which might I add seems to only happen to me. Anyways so I kept on wondering around looking for your footprints, which I couldn't find. And stop smirking it's not funny, I thought you were mad at me?"
"I am not mad at you, okay so I am a little disappointed in you, but I just can't help how much you remind me of your Naneth sometimes. I know, I know, too mushy. Now come we must keep going, and this time please don't stop without letting me know. We don't want your Naneth to be proven right now do we?"
"Oh Valor no, I don't want to be locked in my room again, it's horrible, hearing all of the activities that I can't join in, and then theres all of the stupid groups she makes me attend to when I'm in trouble. I swear one of these days I'm going to get you in there so you can hear what you make me go through Adar, it's so much torture! Stop laughing! Let us just leave so we can get to the Inn and I can get some good-night sleep."
"All right, but you know I don't really see your Naneth okaying the idea of me going to one of the sewing groups. I think I would distract her too much." Her father told her while starting back on the trail he had walked to find his daughter.
"Oh puh-lease, you put way too much credit on yourself" Blaise muttered almost silently.
"I heard that iell!" Her father called over his shoulder as he moved a branch out of his walkway, which he purposely let go of right before his daughter walked by it, letting it smack her on the knee.
"Oww, you evil person! I will get you back for doing that. Don't think I won't. And you were meant to hear that comment, its the truth, even Daeadar says so!"
"Oh really your Daeadar says that, well that is just so mean of him, how could he?" Her father tried to mock her as he moved another branch out of his way.
"Your really mean Adar you know that?" Blaise was getting slightly irritated at her father.
"Yes I have a lovely iell to keep on telling me that now don't I!" Her father turned his head so he looked over his shoulder at his daughter and put a smirk on his face. He then turned back around and immediatly became serious. "Come, we must hurry now if we want to make it to the Inn before dark. Please be as silent as possible you now represent the Rangers of the North, don't do something stupid. Okay?" He turned around in time to see his daughter stick her tongue out, which quickly went right back to where it belonged when she seen the look on his face.
"Yes Adar!"
A couple of minutes of silence later Blaise was on the ground swearing up a storm at the rock she had tripped on.
"Blaise stop laying around, we must hurry!" Her father said not even turning around.
"I'm trying but it's not my fault the whole of Arda is out to get me now is it?" Blaise got up and slowly starting walking with a bigger limp than before. Trying to keep pace with her father was near impossible when she wasn't limping so she was jogging to keep up after a couple of seconds.
Two hours later they were in front of a big gate like entrance to a town called Bree. Blaise herself hadn't been there before but she knew her father had.
A man opened a peep hole type thing on the gate and practicly demanded, "What do you want in Bree?"
Blaise was shocked, how could he be so demanding? How did he think he was better than them to demand an answer like that. She looked up at her father with a questioning look. Her father seeing the questioning look, gave her a look telling her to keep quiet and he would explain later. Sighing Blaise looked back at the man.
Her father took charge of course, of this situation. "We are here to stay in the Prancing Pony for some rest."
The old man turned a cold glare on Blaise obviously curious as to who it was and if it had the same answer.
Her father stepped in once again saying, "my companion as well would like to stay at the Prancing Pony, now will you let us in or do we have to go back out into the wild?" Her father asked the man with a cold, demanding voice, obviously trying to dominate over the man, which worked when he quickly opened the door for them.
Walking through before her father Blaise looked around amazed at how dingy the town looked. She wasn't all suprised but where she lived even the poor people lived better than this. She turned to look at her father when he grabbed her elbow and helped her through the streets towards the Prancing Pony.
Before they had made it there though, a man knocked into Blaise and she quickly unsheathed a dagger and was clearly ready for an attack.
Strider quickly glared at her and she put it away just as fast as it had come out. She knew what he was thinking, she had done something stupid.
Once inside the Inn Blaise and her father walked to the front desk to get a room.
The big man who walked up to them, obviously the owner quickly helped them out. "How may I help you gentlemen?" He took a good look at them and quickly recognition reigned in. "Oh Strider, I will get you a room right away sir. Do you two mind sharing a room, we are kind of short on them now days." He looked between the two people in front of him and smiled.
Strider quickly agreed to having only one room thanked the man. Turning his back to the counter him and Blaise made their way towards the room they were to be in.
"Adar, do I really have to keep this stupid hood up while I'm here?" Blaise asked her father impatiently.
"Yes, you must. Anyways we should be able to rest at least a day without having to worry about anything so please let us rest for this night and hopefully let it be peaceful." With that he father took off his cloak and started to remove most of his outer tunics and vests. Finally in just his under shirt and breeches he layed on one of the beds and turned to look at his daughter. "Quel kaima iell nin, amin mela lle" And with that he was out.
"Quel kaima Ada, amin mela lle" Blaise slowly took off her outer clothing like her father had and layed down on the other bed when she was only in her under clothing.
Blaise woke the next morning to a bright sun and knew right away it was going to be a long day, she didn't know how but she just had the feeling. Sitting up slowly Blaise breathed in deeply smelling her fathers scent, which always seemed to soothe her. She turned in time to see her father walk back into the room with a tray with food on it.
"Maer aur iell nin" Strider said while walking towards the only table in the room, which barily held the tray on it.
"Maer aur Adar" Blaise still sleepy slowly stood up and walked to one of the two chairs and plunked down on it. "I am so hungry right now Adar I think I could eat a pig," Looking down Blaise mentally kicked herself, right there on her plate was bacon, made from nothing other than a pig. "Adar I don't really think I'm as hungry as I was just a minute ago." Blaise said this while lifting her face to the very amused face of her father. "Oh don't even comment on it."
Strider just shook his head sat down and slowly ate his breakfast.
The rest of the day was spent with Strider sitting by the window and Blaise in the bathing room, bathing no less.
At a little before sun down Blaise guessed, they made their way down to the bar. Where they now sat backs against the wall, facing the crowd of drunk men. Hoods up they were silent, Blaise watching for new comers and Strider smoking his pipe also looking for new comers. The occasional conversation passing between them now and then.
"Please Ada, just one pint? I swear I won't even guzzle it this time. I will savor it. Please?" Blaise was just itching to get a pint of ale to drink.
"No, and I would just love to know when you have drank ale before, hmm?" Strider turned to look at his daughter who now looked sheepish in the shadow of her hood of her cloak, technically its one of his cloaks since hers got all ripped up in the fight with the orcs, when they had entered the forest in the beginning of the journey, but he didn't care.
"Well you see it was Vede Elladan and Vede Elrohirs fault. They let me come with them once when they went partying, I guess you could say, with some of their friends. I didn't actually know what they were going to do when I was bugging them but after I found out I wanted to try it and they encouraged it." Blaise looked at her dad and when she say his face she flinched, "sorry Ada, I won't do it again, I promise."
Grunting Strider turned his gaze back to the room of drunken men and said silently, "it better not happen again, and those uncles of yours are going to be getting a serious talking to when we get back there, by me and your Naneth." Just after Strider had said that they both saw four small men walk into the Inn.
Blaise silently stared, she knew they weren't children fore she had talked to Bilbo many a time, but it was just so wierd to see them in a crowd of men who were twice their size and probably not even half of their age. Turning to her father she realized he wasn't going to make move so she got as comfortable as she could. Which only seemed to last for a couple of minutes.
"Blaise, will you please stop moving around, your making it look like you've got something in your pants." Strider said out of the side of his mouth, keeping his gaze on the four hobbits.
Blaise stopped as fast as she could and bit her lip instead. She was really getting ansy after another half an hour. She thought she was going to go insane if something didn't happen. Right at that thought she just happened to look over and see one of the hobbits, the chubbier one, point at them and asking a question to a server. She strained her ears to hear what they were saying. This is all she heard, "Strider, and I'm not to sure about the other one. I believe it may be a girl but theres no proof" and with that he was gone and Blaise was trying hard not to yell out some bad comment about what the man had said, she dressed as best as she could and they still knew she was a girl, then what the hecks the use?
Getting pulled out of her thoughts Blaise turned to her father when he nudged her in the side. He gave her a pointed look that clearly told her to get back to their room and wait for whatever was going to happen. Getting up slowly Blaise moved towards the stairs to go to their room when a man stopped her and tried to tug her hood off of her head. Turning Blaise glared at the man and said in a low voice, "do you really think you should do that?" and with saying that she pulled a dagger on the man and had it at his throat in a second. He seemed to be dazed for a second and then let go and she walked away smirking.
Strider on the other hand was still watching the hobbits and was waiting for the oppurtune moment to grab them and get them to somewhere where they could talk. A couple of minutes later his thoughts came into action, he heard it as clear as day. "Baggins, I know a Baggins, Frodo Baggins, he's right over there!" Strider didn't even need to hear anything else, he got up slowly not drawing attention to himself and worked his way over. By the time he got there Frodo had already disappeared. Strider though knew where he would try to go, he would try to get to the room he was staying in, so he made his way to the stairs and sure enough Frodo appeared in front of him looking panicked.
Giving him only a second Strider grabbed onto Frodos cloak and dragged him up the stairs and into the room where Blaise sat on one of the beds mending her torn to pieces cloak. She jumped and grabbed her sword and had it half unsheathed in a second and then relaxed and put it back into its sheath when she saw it was only her father. But that didn't stop her from being on edge, she could hear people pounding up the stairs not to far away.
It seemed to her though that the hobbit they had seemed really scared. her father tried to intimidate him and Blaise could tell it was working very well, the hobbit was terrified. She watched her father walk around the room putting out the candles with his fingers talking at the same time. Blaise who had went back to fixing her cloak heard something about disappearing and looked up at her father. She put her attention back onto the torn cloak until she heard her father say quite loudly, "not nearly frightened enough, I know what hunts you." She was even terrified of his voice he only used it when he was dead serious and he wanted his point across without anymore explanation.
She jumped up and grabbed and unsheathed her sword with her father when the door to their room was forced open and three hobbits came in, the first one in saying something about long shanking something. Blaise looked to her father and he nodded his head forward and she sheathed her sword in one movement and sat back on the bed and picked up the cloak again.
A couple of minutes later Blaise was brought out of her concentration by a small voice asking her a question. Looking up she came face to face with a hobbit. "What did you ask, I was concentrating on this?" she said picking up the cloak a little bit and giving it a little shake.
"I asked if you were to be sleeping on the bed your sitting on? I was wondering because Strider just left with Sam and Frodo to go place pillows and stuff into the beds of the room we rented for a diversion." He said that all in one breath and looked at her with big eyes looking like they wanted so badly to sleep on the bed.
"I am fine with sleeping on the floor, let me move my things and then you can lay down and fall asleep. But if I may suggest something, I do believe you should have two people to sleep in each bed so only me and Strider will have to sleep on the floor, if he will even sleep." With that Blaise picked up her things set them on the table and took a seat on one of the chairs.
A half hour later, there were light snores coming from one of the beds, which the two hobbits had fallen asleep on. Blaise was getting bored she needed something to do. Looking around she found her fathers pack and grabbed it and started to empty the contents.
About half way through it Frodo, the hobbit who seemed to follow him everywhere, and her father walked back into the room. Her father went right into the bathing room probably to bath and then change and come out and keep watch out all night long. She kept on looking at things from her fathers pack when she felt a pair of eyes watching her. Lifting her head she met a pair of deep blue eyes sitting across the room. She raised an eyebrow waiting for him to say something, cause he obviously wanted to say something.
"What are you doing in Striders pack, does he know you are doing that, and anyways what is your name? We know Striders yet we don't know yours." Frodo said from across the room, sitting on the bed Strider had slept on the day before.
"Oh, nothing just making sure he has everything we'll need for now. And as for my name, if Strider didn't tell you he may have had a reason but I will tell you, my name is Blaise, and I'm guessing your Frodo, but what are the other hobbits names?" Blaise asked as she started to put most of the things back into the pack, leaving out the dirty clothing to wash after her father got out of the bathing room.
"Your right, my names Frodo, this here is Sam Gamgee, that over there is Merry Brandybuck and Pippin Took, starting on the right to the left. How do you know of hobbits anyways? We did't mention it yet you and Strider both seem to know about us."
"Oh well Frodo, I have a friendship with a very wise hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, if I'm not mistaken that would be your Uncle, am I right?" Blaise asked seemingly more into the conversation.
Frodo nodded his head. "Yes your right, Bilbo is my Uncle, he took me in when I was young after my parents died." Frodo looked away wistfully, then shook his head and gave a shaky smile, "I think I should probably go to bed now." he then turned to Sam and said to him, "Sam you can rest tonight as well, I'm sure Strider and Blaise will watch over us." Frodo looked at Blaise after that comment and she nodded her head.
Once they were all laying down Blaise added, "Good night Frodo, Sam, please rest easy. Nothing can get through Strider and me."
Finally her father emerged from the bathing room and took one look around, gave her a smile and walked towards the chair closest to the window. He took a beeline quickly though walked up to his daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead before making it back towards the chair, and actually sat down and made himself comfortable.
After Blaise had finally gotten everything washed and as dried as she could she hung the clothes in the bathing room. Making it back into the main/sleeping room she walked towards her father sat down by his chair and put her head on his leg. He absently stroked her hair while watching the outside for any dangers.
Blaise right before she went to sleep heard her father say again, as their normal ritual, "Quel kaima iell nin, amin mela lle" and then she was out.
Blaise didn't know how long she had been out, but jumped awake and had to quickly cover her ears from the screaching that was coming from the Ringwraiths that were trying to find Frodo. Blaise then realized what he had but wasn't really all that suprised, she had heard her Grandfather talk about it a little while ago.
The hobbits woke up also and looked at Strider and Blaise with scared looks. Blaise wasn't sure which one but she heard one of the hobbits, either Merry or Pippin, ask what they were and her father went into the tail of The One Ring.
Blaise was still holding her ears and was silently crying because of all of the screaching coming from the hobbits old room. Her father quickly put her in between her legs and helped her cover her ears with his own hands over hers and saying in a low voice by her ear comforting words in elvish to help soothe her.
Frodo seeing this going on, looked at Strider and then at Blaise it slowly made a good connection. "Is she okay, whats wrong with her?" Then thinking again he added, "what is she to you, you two seem so close yet distant, but it seems like the distant is an act."
Strider looked at Frodo and silently answered, "she has very sensitive ears and the screaching was making them hurt, do you believe you could go get me the gauze in the bathing room, her ears may start to bleed." Frodo quickly got up at the request and fetched the gauze then made himself comfortable and watched Strider wrap the girls ears, but not before Frodo could see the tips, the pointed tips.
"Is she an elf?" Frodo almost looked ashamed for asking then looked up and added, "I'm sorry I have no right to know."
Strider smiled slightly and Frodo felt at ease, somewhat anyway. "Yes she is an elf, and for your other question she is my daughter. She's a Half-Elven or Peredhil if you must call her anything, but please refrain from using that, unless its neccessary, the less people who know the better." He smiled slightly and then with a far more serious voice put in, "I want all of you asleep, we have a very long day ahead and you will need the strength." and with that the hobbits went back to sleep, but not before Frodo gave one last look towards Blaise, that was of total concern. "She is going to be just fine master hobbit, now get to sleep." Strider assured Frodo as he put a hand on his daughters head. "She just needs the sleep like the rest of you do, tomorrow she will be as good as new, and that sometimes can be a bad thing, but go to sleep."
Frodo went to sleep but not before hearing the obviously private moment between father and daughter.
Blaise lifted her head slightly and gave her father a small smile and said, "amin mela lle Ada" and then went right back to sleep. Leaving only Strider awake, which was okay with him, he knew he would get some light sleep but right now he had to make sure everything was safe with the Ringwraiths.
Translations:
Adar: Father
Ada: Daddy
Naneth: Mother
Daeadar: Grandfather (I think)
Vede: Uncle
Quel kaima: Sleep Well
Iell nin: My Daughter
Amin mel lle: I Love You
Maer aur: Good Morning
A/N: I hope you like this new story. It just popped into my head so I had to use it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think, I'd greatly appreciate it. Also I know that somethings are off in this story, but I figured since its my fanfic, I can do what I want with it, hope you don't mind.
Thanx,
Orangeblossom