Good day, fair people!

Let me know if there are any scenes you'd really like to see between Alyssa and anyone else, I'd be happy to add them!
As ever, I enjoy constructive criticism, and your reviews are extremely motivating! Keep'em coming!
Enjoy the next bit of the story!

The nightmares did not let up that night, so I rose only a few hours after returning to my room.
The rest of the night went much like any other sleepless night.
I worked on my copy of the map, occasionally got up to do various yoga poses and stretches, and when the sky was finally starting to brighten, I headed out to the forge.

Raithon looked oddly surprised to see me.

I raised an eyebrow at him as I got ready to help him.
"What's that look for?"

He didn't reply for a moment, and when he did he sounded almost...hesitant.
"Elrond's sons returned last night. I had not expected to see you anymore. You only started coming to my forge after they left, I expected you to cease coming when they returned."

I stilled, hesitantly looking at him, items clutched a bit harder than normal in hands that were starting to shake.
A voice whispered in my head that he seemed like he no longer wanted me here, and it had the same slimy tone that I was starting to become familiar with.
I tried to ignore it, but the uncertainty still came through in my voice.
"Do you...I mean..Do you want me to...stop coming…?"

I tried not to let myself feel the hurt of rejection that was already welling up in preparation of him turning me away.
He was tired of me.
Of course.

I wasn't devoting enough time to learning with him, so I wasn't progressing fast enough.
It was fair that he didn't want to teach me anymore.

That didn't make it hurt any less, though.

As always, Raithon watched me for a moment before responding.
"I think you might need the break. You look a bit overworked. Why don't you take a few weeks off to catch up on other things. Erestor is back, you'll be starting up Sindarin lessons again, will you not?"

I nodded, biting the inside of my cheeks, the tiny sting of pain grounding me for the moment.

He continued, already starting to busy himself with other things.
"Then you should take some time for that. Maybe in a few weeks when you've figured out how to balance all of your studies, you can start working in the forge again."

I forced myself to take a deep breath, but my lungs felt like they were being squeezed.
"Thank you. I'll come back in a few weeks, then."

He turned to pick up a different tool, and I quickly exited the forge.

I forced myself to maintain a sedate walk until I was well away from the forge, despite that I wanted to run.

I felt like there were ants under my skin.
I had expected to tire out the restless energy that always came from my nightmares with some physical labor in the forge, now that I wouldn't get that, it was rearing up more than ever.

I started jogging towards the training ground, feeling the need to beat away some aggression on a log.

By the time I had arrived, I was terribly out of breath, and kicking myself for not adding running to my list of things to improve upon.
How was I supposed to match the fellowship if I could hardly run across Rivendell?

So naturally, instead of beating out my restlessness, I decided to run it out.
I only managed an hour of jogging with sprinting interspersed before I had to stop.

My lungs burned.
My legs ached.
This was terrible!

I couldn't imagine having to run across Rohan after Merry and Pippin.
They literally had to run without stopping for most of the day!
How was I supposed to get to that point?!

They'd make it twenty feet and I'd just collapse!
Legolas would end up carrying me the rest of the way, and they'd just leave me with the Riders of Rohan cause they didn't want to carry me anymore!

I ended my terrible jog in the training grounds, intending to go right into my normal training routine, only to be met with four expectant hobbits holding practice swords.

Pippin practically bounced forward, voice far too cheerful for the early morning hour.
"Are you training yet?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I just finished running."
The word 'running' was said with a bit of distaste, along with mildly labored breathing.

I forced myself to straighten, allowing a few moments for basic stretching, and then collecting my weapons from the armory.
Because Raithon had turned me away, it was going to be one of those days where I felt the need to prove myself, to myself, so I pulled out all my weapons.

My short sword got belted onto my left hip, longsword on the other, with the small pouch of throwing knives positioned just in front of the short sword.
My quiver and bow sat comfortably on my back, with my shield strapped over the quiver.
I held the glaive.

They were all still practice grade, so I usually left them in the armory.
I'd been assured by Glorfindel that when I was ready for real battle ready weapons, they would be mine, and therefore be under my care wherever I was staying.

The four hobbits stared at me wide eyed as I strapped weapon after weapon onto myself.
Frodo piped up as we walked back out to the training field.
"Are you going to take most of that off to practice…?"

I responded with a shake of my head.
"No. I doubt I'll take this many weapons with me when I leave, but I need to be used to moving with them."
I made a note to myself to bring the practice weapons back with me and just start wearing them everywhere.
Why hadn't I done that to start out…?

Pippin trotted along next to me, swinging his sword around as if stabbing invisible enemies, and eagerly asked, "When are you leaving? Where are you going?"

I glanced down, batting at his sword with the staff end of my glaive and instigating a small play fight as we walked, which the other three soon joined in on, with much laughter.

"I'm not sure when I'm leaving. It'll probably be around the same time as you four. We could go on an adventure together."
Unless they decided not to come on the quest to destroy the ring.

Then we were screwed, and I would have to see how I was at resisting ring-temptation.
While I was pretty sure I'd rank above Boromir in the 'able to resist it' category, I didn't really want to bet on the entire world.

Pippin perked up more than he'd already been, excitement thinly veiled in his voice.
"Really? That sounds like fun! What kind of adventure?"

I shrugged, trying to keep my voice steady.
"I don't know, we'll have to figure out closer to when we leave, I guess."

I set the four hobbits to practicing blocks and defenses with one another, and I started practicing with my glaive.
I started with a series of slow warm up movements, switching between blocks, guards, and attacks, and held each position for at least half a minute before switching to a different one.

The remaining hour that the hobbits managed to focus was spent on sword work, with me switching between longsword and short sword plus shield.
After working with each of them individually, I had them all gang up on me so that I could try to practice fighting multiple enemies.
They jumped into that with a vigor, and I ascertained many bruises.
It ended with much laughter as they overpowered me and chased me around, waving their swords about dramatically and giving victorious battle cries.

They tired only a few hours after starting, well before midday, and once they left, I switched to archery.

One round of shooting later as I was walking to retrieve my arrows, I felt the sting of eyes on me.
I turned, looking for the source, but after a few minutes of careful searching, was unable to find it.

I turned back to the target, shaking my head a little bit.
Clearly the lack of sleep was making me paranoid.
I added that to my mental list of things that no one else could find out, and pulled the last of my arrows from the target, returning to my place to continue shooting.

I had knocked, drawn, and was just about to release the arrow when a voice off to my side spoke up.
"Might I make an adjustment, Milady?"

I jumped, tensing and fighting the desire to turn and aim my drawn bow at the speaker.
I was safe here, I didn't need to be on my guard anymore, I could relax.
I repeated these thoughts to myself for a moment as I slowly relaxed the string of the bow, pointing my still knocked arrow at the ground as I turned to the speaker.

Legolas stood next to me, resplendent in a dark green robe, hair unbraided and shining silver in the morning sun.

I stared at him for a long moment.
I thought I'd gotten over how pretty the elves were.

This was just ridiculous!

I abruptly turned back to my target, biting the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from either crying over how pretty his hair was, or throwing my bow at him because of how outrageously pretty his entire everything was.

The silence was dragging on, but I couldn't bring myself to respond.
The only options I could think of for a reply were a sullen 'no, go away, your hair is too shiny', or a petty 'I can't look at you! You're too beautiful!'.

Obviously neither of those were suitable, so I stayed silent, drawing my bow again and aiming it at the target.

A pair of elegant, long fingered hands came into my field of vision, pausing next to my left wrist, silently waiting for some form of permission.
I could feel that he was looking at me, probably to make sure I wasn't going to be offended or anything, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the target. Not when he was right there.

I forced a jerky nod, and the hands moved, gently tilting my wrist the slightest bit, altering my grip on the bow, and putting a slight bend in my elbow.

His voice sounded again, much closer this time, ridiculous silk that it was.
"There. That will suit you better."

Finally I managed to make my voice work again.
"Glorfindel and Elladan taught me archery. Are you saying their methods are wrong?"

He chuckled, nudging my arm up slightly and then withdrawing his hands.
"No, certain methods are more effective for certain people. They are quite skilled archers, but they do show a preference for sword work. Release your arrow when you're ready."

I took another moment to aim before loosing the arrow.
It hit to the right of where I'd been aiming, instead of to the left, which was the normal direction I was off by.

I frowned, relaxing my stance and glancing at Legolas without thinking.
As fucking dazzling as ever, and he looked far too pleased with himself.
"You were off to the left before. Now you simply need to stop overcompensating."

I looked at him then, mild suspicion in my gaze.
"How did you know I was off to the left before?"

He tilted his head the slightest bit, smiling.
"I watched your first volley."

I frowned, turning back to my target and muttering to myself as I loosed another arrow, "Not paranoia, then."

Out of the corner of my eye I caught him inspecting the collection of weapons I had currently attached to my body with a quizzical expression.
"How long have you practiced archery?"

"I started when I was young, but didn't really get serious until I arrived here."
I didn't miss the eyebrow he raised at me.
Damned immortal being was probably thinking 'You're still young'.
Though, technically I was still fairly young by normal human standards too, even if I didn't feel like it with what I'd experienced and my current sleep issues.

"And the rest of the weapons you carry?"

"...I took those up when I arrived here as well."
What was with the interrogation?
I knew I was bad, but he didn't have to rub it in.
It's not like we all got a couple thousand years to practice!

He offered a genial smile.
"You're doing remarkably well for such a short time."

….Compliments..I'd never been good at accepting compliments..
I could never tell when they were real...
"..Thank you?"

He bowed his head slightly in response to my thanks, eyes remaining on me the entire time.
"Please, don't let me keep you from your practice."

I watched him for another moment, trying to figure out what he was here for, since all the other elves that were usually training had gone off for the midday meal.

His expression grew a touch more amused at my continued stare.
I realized after about half a minute, that he hadn't blinked the entire time, his eyes unwavering in their connection to mine.
Of course that realization made me blink, and his lips twitched up at the corners.
I had to stifle a gasp of mixed shock and outrage.
Elves had staring contests?!

I took a step back, pointing at him accusingly with one end of my bow.
"You are ridiculous."

His smile stretched a little wider.
"I haven't the slightest idea what you're referring to, Milady."

I stared at him for another moment, not sure what to make of him, then shook my head and turned back to my target to continue shooting, sure that he'd leave soon.

A few hours later, my arms were starting to tremble, and my wrist ached from the altered position Legolas had shown me.

Of course, I was trying very hard not to show my discomfort, because he had settled himself comfortably on the ground next to where I was shooting, and was joined by Elladan and Elrohir.

The three conversed cheerfully in Sindarin, broken occasionally with bits in Common for my benefit, though they seemed to realize that I was trying to focus more on archery than on them.

Elladan seemed to have decided that the best time to practice Sindarin was while I was focusing on something else, so every now and then he'd nudge me, oftentimes right as I went to let off a shot, which caused my aim to be off.
He'd say something in Sindarin for me to repeat and fail at translating, and I'd have to restrain myself from growling at him for messing with my aim.

I was very close to deciding that his arm had a void that only a very sharp arrow could fill.

The thought crossed my mind that it was so much more peaceful while they were gone, because I could practice for as long as I wanted without them commenting on how I overworked myself, but I dismissed it quickly.
It was less lonely with them here.

I drew another arrow, trying to still the tremble in my hand and arm.
I ended up fumbling and dropping the arrow.

I crouched to pick it up, and when I rose again, my vision blurred a bit, reminding me that the last time I'd eaten had been the previous afternoon.
My stomach had stopped gnawing at me to eat after the starvation from the beginning of my trip.
It was simply a hole inside me now that never seemed to go away.
I still couldn't manage large portions.
I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision and keep myself from swaying.

"Are you alright?"
Legolas's voice sounded, and when I glanced over it was to see matching expressions of mild concern from all three of them.

"Of course. I think I'm going to take a break, though. I need to find Erestor."
I also needed to not collapse in front of them, cause they definitely wouldn't let me go on the quest if they thought I was just going to drop randomly.
I also still needed to find out how the trip to Mirkwood had gone.
Obviously, not too badly, since Legolas was here.

All three rose, like a pack of very social cats with their absurdly elegant grace.
Elladan and Elrohir reached for my plethora of weapons, looking as if they intended to take them from me.

It was a nice gesture, but I still backed up a step, frowning at them.
"What are you doing?"

They both paused, Legolas simply watching from a few steps away as Elladan responded.
"We're going to help you return your weapons. Why did you bring them all out today?"

I shook my head slightly in rejection of their help.
"I need to be used to carrying them if I intend to travel with them."

They all gave me looks of surprise mixed with incredulity, the twins having more surprise, and Legolas having more of an incredulous expression.

"You're leaving? Why didn't you tell us sooner?"
Elrohir's voice was a touch hesitant.
Elladan jumped in before I could respond, "Where are you going? When are you leaving?"

"I don't think I'll be leaving for a while, but I need to be prepared to leave. Preparation doesn't happen overnight. It's going to take time for me to adjust."
I shook my head a little bit, intentionally not giving an answer to the question of where I was going as I started to walk from the training meadow.

They fell in on either side of me, making trivial small talk as we walked back, primarily to one another over my head.
We parted ways at the entrance to the main house, where I turned to head towards my room, and they headed off to do whatever elves did in their extensive free time.

After a quick stop in at my room to change clothes and clean myself off with the ever present cloth and basin of fresh water, I commenced my search for Erestor.
I had an apology to make for squirreling.
Hopefully he wouldn't stop my lessons, like Raithon had.

My search attempt through the Library proved unsuccessful, as did my brief exploration of his study, and for once, it was a good thing I couldn't read Sindarin, as I would have gotten stuck in each of the book filled rooms to read through all the elven literature I could get my hands on.

I turned my search to Elrond's study next, and was mildly dismayed to find neither him nor Erestor there.

As a last resort, I went to Elrond's room, hesitating outside his door.

He had said I could go talk to him no matter the hour, but it still didn't feel right knocking.
What if he was doing something important that would be bad to be distracted from?

What if he and Erestor were discussing important, world changing things without me…?
That spurred me on to knock.
Quietly.
A bit timidly.

Elves had good hearing, I reasoned, if there was no response to a quiet knock, there probably wasn't anyone in there.

The door opened a few moments later to show Erestor smiling on the other side.
"Ah, Alyssa. Tis good to see you well. I was about to go looking for you so that I could tell of my journey to Mirkwood. Will you join us?"

Behind him, Elrond was standing by one of the many desks he had, this one laden with the maps and notes we were using to chart the things I'd told them.
Elrond briefly looked up from one of the maps, offering me a warm smile.

The next few hours were spent going over everything that happened on the trip to Mirkwood, at Mirkwood, and on the trip back.

They'd had no setbacks on the journey there, save a brief run in with some spiders in Mirkwood.

Gollum had still been captive by the time they arrived, and though Thranduil had been reluctant to simply release him, after reading Elrond's letter and having a very in depth conversation with Erestor, he had acquiesced.

He even went so far as to create a small pack of freshly caught fish for Gollum to take with him, hoping that a show of goodwill would ease the creatures cruel tendencies.
Erestor explained that Thranduil had asked a great many questions in regards to the knowledge that Elrond had come into, and about the need for Legolas to be part of the council.

Thranduil had not been satisfied with the limited answers provided, and had requested more details before he was willing to send Legolas for the council.
Though, apparently at that point Legolas had barged into the close-door meeting and expressed that he would go to Rivendell whether his father wanted him to or not, much to the exasperation of Thranduil and the amusement of Erestor.

At that point, to cool a developing argument between Thranduil and Legolas, Erestor had told them a few more details, vague things about a woman who knew past and future events, whose only desire was to use her knowledge to save as many people as she could.

Thranduil had been quite skeptical, but after being assured repeatedly that not only Elrond, but Glorfindel, Gandalf, and Erestor himself trusted me and my knowledge, he had given Legolas permission to travel back to Rivendell with Erestor.

I was rather astonished to hear this.
He sounded far more reasonable than he had in the books.
Maybe he mellowed out after the Hobbit books?

The trip back had been just as smooth as the trip there, though they had traveled constantly for the first few days out of Mirkwood, hence their stopping to rest at the edge of the patrol area around Rivendell, where Elladan and Elrohir had found them the previous morning.

That spurred me into my apology.
"About that, Erestor..I'm sorry we dropped things on you."

He simply chuckled, "Tis not the first time that I have had leaves fall upon me, nor will it be the last. I am pleased to see you enjoying yourself more."

We conversed for a short while longer, discussing when it would be best to speak to Frodo and the other hobbits, as well as Legolas, about the quest to destroy the ring.
Elrond felt that it would be better to explain minor things to the hobbits once they were a bit more comfortable with me.
That I knew things and they should listen if I asked or told them to do something, that it was imperative that they go on the journey.
He also felt that I should explain everything that I had told him, not only to Legolas, but Aragorn as well, so that, assuming they both agreed to go on the journey, they could help me make decisions on the road if necessary.

I was a little iffy about the idea.
What if they thought I was a crazy person and decided not to go on the trip?
What if them knowing that I knew things made them second guess all their actions and end up ruining everything?
What if, knowing the same things that Elrond, Glorfindel, and Erestor knew caused them to make decisions on the trip for themselves, instead of discussing them with me first?
What if they destroyed the world?!

I took a deep breath, trying to banish those thoughts.
Besides, logically, if they did destroy the world, at that point it was no longer my problem, no matter how hard I tried before the point of world destruction.

Oddly, that weird reasoning helped me to put those anxieties aside for the moment.

We conversed for a few more moments before they ended the discussion for the night, and I went off to my room to struggle through a few hours of sleep.

The next week went by somehow both slowly and quickly.
Nights were unbearable as always, and without the forge in the morning, my daily routine changed.
Every morning, I strapped all my weapons on while it was still dark, and as soon as it was light enough for me to run without tripping I spent the early hours of the day running around Rivendell trying to build up my stamina.

After my couple hour run, I went to the training ground, often met there by the Maeben, or the twins, who occasionally were occasionally joined by Legolas.
With them, I spent the hours until midday working all of the different combat styles that I was learning.
Maeben typically helped me with sword work, and the twins switched between all my weapons.

It only took a few days before Legolas was regularly joining our daily training, and he had ousted them from my archery practice, taking over in that area.

It took a little while for me to get comfortable with that particular change, but it didn't take long for me to realize that he was a fairly good teacher.

I found that I almost worked better with him than I did with the twins, as he tended to be more straightforward than any of the other elves teaching me.
More direct.
He was no less patient or kind, but if he thought something was wrong or needed fixing, he said so immediately, as well as how he thought it should be fixed or changed.
Whereas most of the other elves would gently prod me in whatever direction they thought I needed to go, but not outright say they wanted me to go in that direction.

He had a tendency of poking at me, either verbally or physically, in a way that brought out a spark of challenge in me.
He was never malicious, simply teasing and joking, but I found that I pushed back much more with him because of it, falling slowly back into the person I was before I'd arrived in Middle Earth.

At midday the four hobbits often joined us with a veritable feast worth of food, nudging me to eat, now with the help of the twins and Legolas.

After everyone had eaten, the hobbits joined our training for an hour or two, and we all mainly focused on helping them.
We taught them basic sword work and defense, and started teaching them how to throw knives as well so they'd have something for distance.
After the first few days of knife throwing with them, I went to Athae and we put together a small bunch of fabric knives stuffed with leaves and small pebbles to give them a similar weight as actual knives.
They weren't balanced at all, but when I introduced them to our training the next day, we all had a fantastic time throwing fabric knives at one another.

Once the hobbits got tired, they'd wander off to lounge in the Hall of Fire, or chat with Bilbo.

After that I cleaned up from training, and hurried off to Sindarin lessons with Erestor.
Usually I could only manage an hour or two of struggling with Sindarin before I started to get frustrated at my lack of progress, no matter how patient Erestor was.
I could memorize a word fine, but I couldn't quite get how to change the tense of it or place it in a sentence.

Whenever I decided to stop, we either joined Elrond in his chambers to discuss things over a private dinner, or Erestor handed me off to the twins, often joined by Legolas, for dinner in the kitchen or the dining hall.
After dinner, I was handed off to Arwen, and we either walked around the gardens, or we withdraw to my room where we usually talked quietly while brushing one another's hair out.
She told me about Aragorn, or how it was growing up part of the time in Lothlorien with Galadriel.
Typically it was her brushing my hair, as it was soothing for her to do the action of brushing, and relaxing for me to have my hair brushed.
She always braided my hair into one long rope before she left, and the rest of my night was spent with nightmares and study.

The only time I was alone was at night, or briefly between training when I cleaned off before Sindarin lessons.