I realized I had dozed off a bit once I started hearing voices. Slowly I opened my eyes and saw I had fallen asleep on the armchair in my room. Feeling a little bit disoriented as I was not used to my surroundings yet, I could not quite place where the voices were coming from. It was either from outside or it came from our common room. I yawned and stretched as I crossed my room to open my door. As soon as I did I was greeted by a lot of different voices, and, of course, different faces. I stopped in my tracks as did everyone else in the room. Then everyone started talking all at once.

'Hi there,' a child said. Wait -

'Hello, miss,' he also looked like a child, but -

'Who are you?' what were these strange little-

'Who is that, Merry?' another childlike-

'Do not put your axe on the table, Gimli, that is not the proper place for weapons,' definitely a man.

'Is she an elf?' a really round sorta-

'She most definitely is not,' he most definitely was.

What had I woken up to? I looked at Ryce who was just sitting in a corner with a smug smile, taking everything in.

'Gentlemen, gentlemen, please, calm down. Let the lady introduce herself,' Boromir said. Nevermind me, I wanted to know who everyone else was and what they were doing in the guest house!

'Hi, my name is Sorrun, and who-'

'I'm Meriadoc Brandybuck, but I go by Merry,' one of the little men said.

'Peregrin Took! But you, Lady Sorrun, can call me Pippin,' another one said.

'Everyone calls you Pippin, Pip,' said Merry.

'Samwise Gamgee, miss, but do call me Sam,' I started laughing.

'What is the point of all your elaborate names if you all go by shorter ones, anyway?' I asked. They all grew silent again and I instantly worried I had said something wrong. Then all the little men started laughing, and so did the rest. Oof.

'Frodo Baggins. Just Frodo will do,' the little man with the curls said.

'And I am Gimli, son of Gloin, at yer service,' the slightly bigger but also rounder man said. He did not look like a child, mostly due to his braided beard.

'Aragorn, son of Arathorn,' the man said. That left the elf.

'Legolas, son of Elvenking Thranduil,' interesting.

'It is nice to meet you all. So-uh, what brings you here?' I asked.

'We were asked to move from our guesthouse…' Merry started.

'... to this one. Lord Elrond's wishes. There were some spare bedrooms here, anyway,' Pippin finished. Well, at least that was a part of an answer.

'We arrived a while ago. Frodo was pretty badly hurt, but Lord Elrond healed him up nicely so now he can sleep where we sleep,' Merry added. I felt like I was not going to get real answers out of them, so I decided it could wait. I had never seen so little a people, and I wasn't entirely convinced they were not children, but I was fascinated.

'What are you? If you don't mind me asking, that is,' I hastily added. I came down to their level as I sat on my knees and at once I saw they were full-grown men, just a whole lot smaller than usual.

'Well, we're hobbits of course!' Pippin said.

'Hobbits?' I repeated, 'like Halflings?' my eyes met Ryce's, then Boromir's and then travelled towards Aragorn. Our eyes met, too, but I could not read his expression. And the Halfling forth shall stand. The hobbits did not see us exchanging looks. I saw Sam in the corner of my eye looking at me. When I faced him, he quickly looked at the ground.

'What is it?' I asked.

'Nothing! I just - just checking to see if you're not really a she-elf,' Sam said. He seemed happy I was not. Stop with the assumptions. Assumptions create prejudices. I put my hair behind my ears and smiled at him.

'I come from another part of Middle-Earth, called the Mark. You might know it as Rohan,'

'Nay, it doesn't ring a bell,' Sam said. The rest of the Hobbits nodded in unison.

'We were about to see what's for dinner,' Frodo began, 'would you want to join?' I looked over at Ryce and he shook his head ever so slightly.

'I will come down later,' I said. The Hobbits walked out of the room, talking about what devine meal the elves would serve tonight.

'Why did you get down on your knees?' Ryce asked after several moments of silence. He had crossed the room to sit on an armchair closer to the rest and I took a seat in a chair beside him.

'The children in the Mark love it when I talk to them on eye-level. They say it is tiring to always have to look up. I thought it might be the same for the Hobbits. Why? Do you think it offended them?' I responded.

'Hobbit's do not easily take offense. Interesting observation you made,' Gandalf said as he entered.

'Just be sure not to do it for me, lass, I am perfectly content looking up,' Gimli said. I smiled at him.

'Noted,' I said.

'You are all expected tomorrow. Rise early. You will be sent for,' and with that, Gandalf left again.

'I propose we get acquainted, but do not speak of our business here. There will be time for that after tomorrow, if all will come to pass,' Aragorn said. So he would not provide me with answers, either. Legolas nodded solemnly and Gimli just shrugged his shoulders. Ryce exchanged looks with Boromir and I was just sat there, observing them all.

'The Hobbits made me quite curious about the Elven dishes that are about to be served. Which is the way to the dining halls?' Ryce asked no one in particular. In unison we decided we would all go to dinner and we set out on a leisurely pace. Ryce and I fell in the same step as we both lingered behind a bit.

'How was your meeting with Lord Elrond?' He asked.

'Interesting,' I said. I could not say any more, fearing our company would overhear us. Luckily, Ryce took the hint. I would tell him later.

/ / /

Dinner would have been strange if it were not for the Hobbits. Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and Boromir were all very stoic as they ate and I guessed it had to do with them being too preoccupied with thoughts of an uncertain tomorrow. I did not want that to spoil the fun and laughter the Hobbits provided, so I enjoyed myself more than I thought I would have. Ryce also joined in the jokes, but also found an opportunity to talk about gardening with Sam. Sam was Frodo's gardener and Ryce had a passion for just about anything that grows from the earth.

'When will you marry?' Pippin asked me. We had previously been talking about the Shire and about some of the mischievous things he and Merry had done in the past. I was not aware he knew of my engagement to Eomer, so I shot Ryce a puzzled look, which he did not notice. Too busy talking about bushes and different types of sticks. What else had Ryce told the others while I was asleep?

'A date has not yet been set,' I responded.

'Pity. I'm sure he's eager to marry you,' Pippin said before stuffing his face with potatoes.

'I certainly hope so,' I said, remembering how hastily I had to go, robbing us of the opportunity to be happy about our engagement together.

'Are you eager to marry him?' He went on. I smiled before I knew it.

'Yes. Overall I would just be happy to see him again,' at this, Pippin stopped chewing and Frodo dropped his knife.

'Wait. You're not marrying him?' Merry said with his mouth full of lettuce, pointing his knife at Ryce. Everyone around us grew silent. Then Boromir burst out laughing.

'See! It is not that strange that I, too, thought you two were to be married,' he said.

'Who are to be married?' Legolas asked. He looked right at me.

'Eomer and I,'

'And yet you chose to come here instead of being with your betrothed?' Frodo asked, even though it did not really sound like a question.

'I think he asked because I chose to go,' I said.

'To make you change your mind and stay with him?' Aragorn then asked.

'Perhaps,' I knew I had made the exact same assumption when Eomer had asked me, but I was trying not to make assumptions about other people's reasons anymore.

'All this talk about marriage makes me think I should have asked Aldin to marry me, too,' Ryce said. I smiled at him.

'You should have,' I said.

'Who's that?' Pippin asked, once again with a mouth full of food.

'My partner in crime,' Ryce said mischievously, 'he is still in Rohan, a part of Eomer's Eored. I reckon he would be happy to see me again, also. Even though we are not betrothed,'

'Well. If Sam had as much courage as Eomer and asked his Rosie to marry him, he, too would be happy in love now,' Pippin said.

'I am happy in lo-' Sam cut himself off.

'Who is Rosie?' I asked. This conversation took so many turns it was hard to keep up. Sam's cheeks turned bright red and he didn't answer. Instead, Merry did.

'Just the woman Sam here wouldn't stop talking about the first weeks of our travels. Weeks! If he went on for much longer we all would have fallen in love with her, the way he talked about her,' Learning that Sam had a sweetheart was heartwarming. They had been travelling for weeks and if his feelings for her were as true as mine for Eomer, I was sure he took a lot of comfort out of the thought of her.

'Why did Eomer not come with you?' Legolas then asked me. The Hobbits continued talking about Rosie as Sam grew redder and redder.

'Or go in your stead?' Legolas added. I wondered why we circled back to this, but his tone was neutral as was his expression.

'Because he knew as well as I did that would not do. He is needed back home,' I said.

'And you are not? If you can be missed there, what purpose do you have-' Legolas was interrupted by Aragorn who spoke to him in Elvish. I looked around the table but was relieved to see the others had lost their interest in this conversation. Only Boromir and Ryce exchanged a look with me, but I tried to keep my face neutral. We were in an Elven city, so it was their fair right to speak in Elvish. Even though they were in a company wherein the majority did not speak the language.

'The conversation steered too close to our true business here, and we agreed not to talk about that,' Aragorn then said. Aragorn was right, but I failed to understand why he had to interrupt Legolas in Elvish. I let it go, but made a mental note to pay more attention to their relationship. It seemed they knew each other longer than any of the others around the table, and that included Ryce and me. Boromir then asked Legolas something about Mirkwood and I finally felt at ease again. I had not realized I had tensed up.

'Did you take offence?' Ryce asked in Rohirric. I sighed. Ironic.

'No,' I replied in Rohirric. I was very aware of everyone around us, but no one seemed to be listening in, for which I was glad. It was a good thing we were seated next to each other.

'He has no business asking you such a thing. Even if he had not interrupted him, you did not have to answer,' he said, once again in Rohirric. He was careful not to say names, which I appreciated. Still, I wondered if some in our company might know how to speak our language.

'It feels rude to talk like this, Ryce. But I appreciate your concern, thank you,' I said and I smiled at him. From the corner of my eye I saw Aragorn look at us for a couple of moments too long for it to be casual. You can learn a lot about someone from observing, Boromir's voice echoed in my head. Was that what Aragorn was doing? Observing me? During the meal I had noticed Aragorn was not really a talker and I had no clue what kind of questions I could have asked him. I was afraid he would think I was imposing and that I forgot we would not talk about our business here. So I kind of let him be, as I let Legolas be, too. But I would observe him from this moment on to see if it was as effective as asking questions.

A/N:

I hope you've had a good time over the holidays! Sorry it took so long to post a new chapter, so here's my new Year's gift to you all: two chapters!

I really enjoyed writing these last two chapters and am excited for what's to come.

Also a memory with Eomer is underway, so stay tuned

Jess