Story notes:

The last chapter, Heather was slightly hysterical because she was low on sleep. This one is slightly low on descriptions and impressions on first meetings because Heather is close to dropping.

Like I said, I accept pairing suggestions but this is too soon to tell. Draco pairings will be more welcomed since I have none planned for him.

"Because there was only one thing worse than dying. And that was knowing you were going to die. And where. And how."

-Richard Matheson, Collected Stories, Vol. 1-

Exhaustion and lack of sleep was held back by sheer will. She was also suffering from potions addiction. Kreacher did not notice because the other three people he was anchored to were healthy. Heather hid it with the same expertise she hid the blood quill and "I must not tell lies."

But Heather chafed and jumped at the chance when Luna asked to be accompanied to the best Healer in all of Arda (That was actually the name of the continent, who knew?).

It was easier to hide things, but near impossible to keep it really secret when you're travelling with Luna. Glamour's only partially solved things so she scouted and did everything else, treating Luna like a princess. When they eventually met a perimeter guard of Rivendell, Heather left everything to Luna. She had been shoring up her flagging strength by drinking pepper-up every hour.

"What!" she gasped when she saw their ears. They were elves. Merlin, she really was tired if she didn't notice that immediately. Even after all of Aragorn's stories, she didn't realize they were headed towards the Rivendell.

The guard agreed to escort them towards Rivendell and Heather fell back to one of the younger looking elves. "Sir, is Lord Aragorn in Rivendell?" she asked.

The elf looked delighted. "Lord Estel does not stop often in Rivendell. But the Lords Elladan and Elrohir brought news that they left him recently near Weathertop," he answered.

A small bit of anticipation entered Heathers tired mind. "Lord Elrond's twin sons! I have heard stories about them from Lord Aragorn."

The perimeter guard, whose name was Lindel, and Heather chatted towards Rivendell. The first sight of it rendered her speechless.

"Godric's ghost," she muttered under her breath. Somewhere ahead, she heard Luna's exclamation of, "Oh my! How aesthetically designed." It made a bubble of amusement well up in her. What an understatement.

They were ushered inside the large, airy building and into Lord Elrond's study. It was a formal looking place. If he was looking to intimidate people, it was working.

"The messenger said you wished to make a request of me, Lady Eilys?" he asked in his deep and kind voice.

Heather did not listen to him but only watched his every move. He moved like a man who knew his place in the world and was comfortable with it. It made Heather so jealous.

She must have zoned out in-between watching and observing him, because the next thing Elrond was saying was, "There is a sentry outside my door to lead you to your room. I would like to have a moment with your companion."

Wasn't that alarming! And Luna, the traitor, agreed to it quickly.

"What?" Heather gasped.

Elrond pinned her to her seat with his stern eyes. It was nothing like Snape's glares, or Voldemorts glares but it was somewhere in that league too. All he lacked was a manic hatred for her and he would be set.

"I received a letter from my son, Estel," he said calmly. "You might know him as Aragorn, or Strider. He wrote to tell me that you have a gift that you are controlling with difficulty."

He could have phrased it better. The way he said it implied she was incompetent and made her automatically defensive.

"What exactly did Aragorn write?" she asked.

He must have realized what he'd unintentionally done because he actually humored her and quoted from an open letter on his desk. "It is a family gift, she says, but she is frightened of it. Her gift is powerful and if she comes your way, can you advise her on it?"

Bugger!

Heather hunched in on herself, feeling like the worst bitch in the world. A gentle hand touched her shoulder and it took all of her will not to flinch.

"Child, please. He did not tell me what your gift is. And your sister knows something is wrong with you, but she does not know what," he said softly.

Oh Merlin. In a burst, she confessed to him her gift, which was feeling like a curse at the moment. She wasn't aware she was weeping until his gentle, calloused hands caught her tears. The awareness of it brought her to a halt and he covered the awkwardness of it by pouring her a glass of water.

Eventually, she wound up with, "But none of my siblings ever asked for help when their time came. Am I so weak that this happens?"

Elrond must have faced a variation of that question when Aragorn was growing up. A wry grin flitted across his face before it returned to its somber mask. "No, child. Your gift is just so powerful that it needs practice."

Heather composed herself while Elrond studied her. She knew what he was seeing. Extremely colorful hair, red rimmed eyes that streaked dust trails down her cheeks. She was probably a mess.

Elrond saw a different image. He saw a child that was carrying a burden of a gift she did not know to use. By the way she moved, he saw a noble and regal spirit. He also knew that she had a difficult upbringing by the way she craved his touch.

"Your sister has asked to be taught healing," Elrond continued. "And it seems that I will have to teach you how to control your gift as well."

Oh, right. Aragorn did mention that Elrond had the gift of foresight too.

A sudden thought occurred to her and she wondered how long she had been closeted with Elrond. Maybe six hours? The longest she had ever gone without pepper up. And she knew she started shaking if it went for even longer. Her fingers had started to shake two hours ago.

A morbid grin came to Heather's face. "Eilys' first lesson may be a practical one," she said. "I am quite ill."

Elrond did not look alarmed and Heather gave him a point for keeping calm.

"I have felt that," he stated simply. "If you know what is wrong with yourself, the cure may come faster."

Heather tried to stop a laugh, even as the onslaught of the need came over her. The need to drink pepper-up. Merlin, she was really an addict. Draco was never going to trust her with potions again.

"I have not been sleeping for nearly three months," she said bluntly. "Hodur, Eilys' twin, brews potions. He made one that keeps you awake even if you lack sleep. And another one that keeps you from dreaming." She stifled a chuckle as the pull strengthened to a painful stab. "I have been drinking it for as long as I've had no sleep, so my body needs to be weaned from them. The process is quite painful."

Elrond was suddenly all business as he asked for a sample of the potion and its ingredients. Heather gave it to him since it was the few potions that they could make in Arda, with all of its ingredients being a local herb. When it passed the seventh hour, she doubled over coughing and nearly asphyxiated.

What followed was a haze of fever and coughing. In between that was a lot of vomiting. And someone also kept insisting about letting her drink water when all Heather wanted was to roll over and sleep.

Oh but wait, even in sleep, there was no proper rest.

She was plagued by dreams of moonlight on stone doors, arrows that were held by a blonde elf, dragon fire and a great eye surrounded by a ring of fire.

Heather hated that last bit since it kept returning. And every time she saw it, she broke out screaming.

Distantly, she was aware she was probably worrying a lot of people. She wanted to stop the dreams too but sleeping meant she had no control over it. So she continued to dream and be frightened. Bugger. And she so hated being frightened, right next to being caged.

Someone eventually touched her and took away the dreams. Only then did Heather feel rest for the first time in three months.

When she opened her eyes, an unfamiliar elf was by her bedside, singing a song softly under his breath.

"You have a beautiful voice," she croaked softly.

The elf looked at her so quickly that it was a surprise he did not get a whiplash, or a crick in the neck. He poured her a cup of water and supported her as she drank it down greedily.

"You've been quite ill," he remarked. "My name is Glorfindel."

She nodded. "Why is my throat bandaged? And my hands tied?" it would have alarmed her to have her hands tied to a bed but she recognized the knots and could have slipped free easily if she was lucid. Luna's doing, she thought.

"Lord Elrond and Lady Eilys said that you were suffering from your visions of the future. It must have been very horrible, because you clawed at your throat and tried to take out your eyes many times," he said. This was stated with a completely clinical curiosity and held not censure, or judgment.

At his words, Heather remembered the lidless eye that had haunted her dreams. She started to get restless and wanted to hold something pointy, preferably her sword but that was out of the question.

"Lord Glorfindel," she said softly since her throat still felt scratchy. "Can you take me outside?"

The elf looked like he wanted to protest but he must have seen the mulish tilt to her chin and he relented. He helped brush out her long hair and tied it with a simple ribbon. His touch was brisk and impersonal but wasn't enough to stop a sudden vision that came to her when his fingers touched her temple.

There was a horse, an evil man and an army that followed him. Heather saw him on board a white boat at sea.

She shuddered as he pulled away. "Lord Glorfindel, please don't touch my skin. That is mostly how my visions come."

"Your pardon, Lady Gryffon," he said. He sounded like he meant it.

He led her outside with her gloved hand on his arm to keep her from falling. She steered them to the practice court where several elves were practicing their sword and their archery. Her legs felt like it couldn't support a marshmallow so anything heavy so she settled for knives since she could still throw. She gravitated towards an elf polishing a set of them.

"May I borrow that?" she asked.

The elf looked to Lord Glorfindel for confirmation and pushed it towards her. She tested its weight in her palm and found it familiar enough that an experimental twirl did not make it fall, or make her wrist twinge with pain.

Spying a target board a couple of yards away, she hefted it and threw. It hit dead center. A surge of accomplishment went over her, even as determination to try another one came.

As she bent to pick up another one, Glorfindel took it away with a stubborn set to his shoulders.

"No, you've just woken up from your illness. Your sister will have my head if I allow you to continue."

The elf that had been listening and watching nearby blanched at that and looked to the target board with awe.

This time, it was Glorfindel that led her to the Dining hall, where Luna and Elrond were having a late lunch. Luna saw her first and stood up with a small, muted scream. The chair she had been sitting on fell backwards with a bang!

That made Heather worried and alarmed. "Just out of curiosity, how long have I been sick?"

A smile appeared on his youthful face. "Half a month, my lady."

Oh Merlin! This meant lectures, even possible howlers if Hermione got carried away by her anger and went for it.

It turned out that she was Luna's first hands-on patient. And the subject of a lot of visitors since she actually managed to let Draco and Hermione visit Rivendell while unconscious. One of her more surprising visitors was Aragorn. "Truly surprising," Elrond muttered. "Since that child does not like deviating from patrols and duty."

Luna had known she was a trying patient and must have collaborated with Elrond since her bedside was never empty. There was always an elf sitting on the chair, ready to entertain her with songs or stories of epic battles. Having seen her scars and her weapons, the epic battles were the ones told more often. The favorite visitor was Lord Glorfindel since he actually discussed battle tactics with her.

Eventually, the duty roster, as she jokingly called it to Luna's amusement, brought the twins of Rivendell. They looked a lot like their father, with only hints of their mother in the shape of their eyes and the sweep of their hair.

"You got swept in too?" she asked with amusement.

"What do you mean?" one of them asked.

"Eilys knows that if I get bores, I'd probably make my way to the practice court and train. So she probably has a schedule somewhere, a list of visitors to keep me from tearing my hair out," she explained.

They both laughed. "Sounds familiar," Elladan said. "Ada does the same thing for Estel when he gets sick."

"Aha! So it does exist!" she exclaimed, to their laughter.

When she finally got clearance to train, she tracked down her weapons, borrowed a loose shirt and bound her breasts. It was dawn when she started and the practice court was empty. That was better since being watched would make her falter.

She started with bare-handed fighting to better gauge how weak she had gotten during her convalescence. The results had her dismayed, but she pushed through regardless and was soaking by the time she was done. Clearly, a sword would be too much, even for her. So she settled for knife fighting. The end of it had all of her knives dead center in all of the targets.

Even with that, she had a long way to go before she would clear herself for active duty. See, she did have sense, no matter what anybody said!

Heather ended up staying in Rivendell longer than planned and as such, met the dwarves that Gandalf the Grey was leading on a quest.

"I thought you said there were no wizards?" Heather asked Luna in their home tongue.

"He is not a wizard," Luna said. Her large eyes were watching Gandalf like a hawk. "Their kinds are called Istari. They were sent by the gods of this world to fulfill a mission."

Well that was comforting. A large range of chosen ones.

Then she saw him, a hobbit. He was the size of the dwarves and looked less hardy. There was also a bewildered look in his eyes that meant he kept wondering what he was doing with them.

A familiar pull pressed her and she gritted her teeth against the instinct to push it back. The threads of Destiny were around Bilbo Baggins.

A clattering of hooves broke the spell and the patrol came back. Heather left Luna at nearly a run. Luna followed. Ever since her illness, Luna was loathe to leave her alone.

"Lord Elrond," she interrupted him. "It's there again."

Annoyance drained away from his face and sympathy crossed it. They had discussed her gift and agreed that she would always come to him for help if the need would press her.

"Who does it concern, Lady Gryffon?" he asked.

"The small one. A Halfling," she said.

He nodded. "Then you will dine with us tonight."

The dwarves were rude guests. Even without the gift of foresight, Heather knew the dinner would degenerate into something else rowdy so she took the hobbit away from the main group.

"You're not an elf!" he remarked.

"No, I am not," she said. "But I have to tell you something. You must never trust power when it is offered because power gained by evil means will lead to destruction. Power gained because of hard work will lead to prosperity."

The power of foresight left her for a moment and she swayed. A hand at her elbow steadied her and she found a worried Luna looking at her.

Behind the Halfling, a dwarf was there. He looked towards the both of them with guarded eyes and gestured for Bilbo to return to the dining table.

"You are so full of hatred and distrust," Luna said. Her eyes were sorrowful. "If you do not face that, you will be consumed by it and not live to rule over your vast gold."

"What do you mean?" the dwarf asked in a deep, rough voice.

"Lady Eilys always speaks the truth and Lady Gryffon has the gift of foresight even stronger than mine," Elrond cut in. "If you allow her to touch your skin, she can see your future."

The dwarf promptly took a step away from her.

The Halflings gentle and small voice said, "Can you see my future?" he asked.

Luna gave a sound of distress but Heather had to agree since it was asked in such an innocent manner. Luna relented only if Heather did it sitting down.

A touch and she was plunged into a series of pictures that involves dragons, goblins and golden rings.

When she broke the contact the Halfling was watching her expectantly. She managed a smile. "Yours will never be a dull life."

Heather did not tell anyone that Bilbo would be the catalyst for the eventual recovery of the Dark Lord. Some things happened even if you interfered.

When the passages cleared up from winter, Heather left Rivendell and Luna.

Author notes:

In case you're wondering, that dwarf there was Thorin Oakenshield.

I really enjoyed the reviews this chapter garnered. Two people mentioned something twice, so I am adding it as an additional chapter.

I am also sorry for disappointing the elvish chapter. You lot have too much expectations of me. Its frankly unnerving.

~Hallen