Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material written by Tolkien or Peter Jackson.

A:N/ Please review and tell me what you think, and if anyone has any ideas then I would love to hear them! Just PM me or leave an idea in a review! This may be a sloppy chapter because it is an awkward place in the story, but as my grandad would say, 'it's a filler'.

Many thanks to users...

(There is one reader who posted a review involving fruit *wink*wink* but the computer is acting goofy and will not let me put your name in for some reason. But I wanted to thank you! You made my day!)

SkywardPrincessofTime15 (Aww! Thank you! And I will most definitely be posting more chapters!)

Immac (So far you are my most consistent reviewer! Thank you so much for that!)

The two greatest days of your life is the day you were born, and the day you finally find out why.

—Mark Twain

Today is my eighteenth birthday. Yet I'm missing five whole months of my life because it was July back home and here it's November. And I was wrong about the fellowship, too. They were to leave in two months, not one. So that means we will leave on December 25th... The fellowship leaves on Christmas? You have got to be kidding me. How come I didn't know that?

It was early in the afternoon and I was sitting in the flower gardens with Duke curled at my feet.

"Why the long face, gwathel?" Elrohir asked as he sat on the bench beside me.

"Horses have long faces, and I am no horse."

He nodded solemnly. "True. But mules have long faces also."

I turned to face him too quickly, and I lost my balance and fell off of the stone bench. Glaring at him, I slowly got up and dusted off my tunic.

"Did you just call me a—"

"Nay." Elrohir laughed. "I was only stating a fact."

"Yeah, right. I know you too well to think that you were only 'stating a fact'."

He grinned at me. "What are brothers for?"

"I don't know, but if I ever meet the Valar that will be the first thing I ask them." I mumbled under my breath.

"Could you repeat that? I could not understand you, Rielásse."

"You weren't supposed to.', I replied as I looked up at him with a grin. "So, why are you here again?"

He sighed. "Adar asked that I teach you how to ride a horse."

It is a sad thing to watch your brother lose his mind.

Elrohir slowly lead his horse out of the stables. The animal bobbed its head at me and nickered.

"Easy, Aglar. She's never been around your kind before."

I gave the eldest twin of Elrond a questioning look.

"What does Aglar mean?" I asked as I studied the black animal.

"Champion of Glory. He is the one who bore you to Rivendell when you fell ill in Estel's company. Adar said that had he been a little slower you would not have made it to healing in time. "

Wow. Didn't know I was that close to dying.

Slowly approaching, I watched as Aglar's ears pricked forward and he nudged my hand when I came a little closer.

"So you're the one who got me here in time, huh?" I cautiously reached my hand up to scratch the horse's forelock. "Suppose you can help me learn to ride, too?" Aglar bobbed his head again. "So that's a yes?" I turned to my brother.

"Elrohir, how do you get up?"

"I leap."

I look back at Aglar, whose head reaches an inch above my own.

That shouldn't be too bad. Right? I mean I did take ballet...

Taking a deep breath I spring off of the ground and leap onto the horse's back. Elrohir blinked in surprise before he grinned and showed me the stirrup in his hands.

"I was going to offer this to you, but I see that you have no need of it."

Not now anyway. But a few minutes ago... it would have been nice of you to pull it out of your magic hat then.

"Try not to depend on the saddle too much. Grip with your knees instead." Elrohir instructed me. "Pull the reins gently in the direction you want to go... Good. Now try to turn Aglar with your whole body instead of using the reins again; squeeze his sides gently with your legs to trot."

Following his instructions, I led Aglar around the stable yard and back to where the lesson had begun, only to do the same thing over and over again at Elrohir's insistence.

My body hurts in places that I didn't even know existed. I did not expect to spend my birthday quoting to myself 'no pain, no gain'.

"How was the riding lesson?" Arwen asked as she sat beside me at dinner. Tonight Elrond and his family has decided to have a small family gathering instead of dining with everyone else in the Great Hall.

"Apparently I need to work on my pain tolerance." I mumbled as I rubbed my sore legs.

She laughed.

"It will feel better when it stops hurting, gwathel."

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Is there anything you would care to tell us, ielleg? Something that you may have neglected to mention to anyone?"

Elrond is fishing for something... But what?

"Did you truly think you could get away with it?', Elladan asked sternly as he seized my hands from his seat beside me.

Why are they ganging up on you? Quick, tell them. They can probably smell fear.

"Okay, fine. I'm the one who dared Pippin to put pepper in Erestor's wine last night. But I was bored!"

Elrond's children stared at me before bursting into laughter.

"We were speaking of your birthday, though I did find myself wondering why Erestor had tears in his eyes." Elrohir's eyes were dancing with mischief.

"Oh. Did Duke tell you that it was my birthday? That dog is more of a blabber mouth than I am!"

Just what every girl wants for her eighteenth birthday.

I stared at the haphazard pile of metal, wood, and leather that is sitting on my bed. Elrond and the twins had decided to give me something I could use in the near future— weapons. Isn't that a comforting thought? My voice is dripping with sarcasm for those of you who could not tell.

Picking up the weapons one by one, I carefully sorted them out so I could view them all at once. The first thing I picked up was a bow made out of dark wood. It weighed so little that it's strength surprised me, and beside it lay a quiver of arrows. Near the top of the pile sat a sheathed sword and I smiled as I saw that it was Glandúr, the blade I had practiced with the other day. The twin knives were there too, lying in their matching sheaths.

Arwen had taken the time to show me how to fasten the weapons to my body, and it was more comfortable than some would have thought but it would still take some time to get used to.

I had another lesson with Aragorn and Legolas this afternoon, and I quickly gathered the new gifts and carried them to the field where the practice was held.

A:N/ Yay! As I said this was a filler chapter and it is not very good because I did not put much effort into it. *Sheepish Grin* Hopefully the fellowship will leave in the next chapter! Can't wait!