Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings, or any characters in it. I only own my OCs…

Note: I have not read the Lord of the Rings, but rather watched the movie. And because of that, please do criticize me if I made some mistakes. They are greatly appreciated. Believe me, I'm still looking all around the bookstores in my city for any of J.R.'s books, except for the Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. I have only that book from Tolkien.

Notice: I might be late updating, as I had quite a busy schedule. Not to mention I got sick in the last few days… ==a

So anyways… Here's a question that I have been wondering for a while: Do Balrogs have wings?

Well, enjoy!

Italics = Sindarin

Ch 4

Dreams she had was always not of her own, she had known. As it was not of her own, it happened during the same time she was dreaming, she could tell just recently. It was not of the future – the foresight that Elrond has – nor was it of the past, the age of Noldo. And at times, those dreams came and went like a vision that Elrond and Galadriel experienced. That's what they told her anyway, when she told them of her dreams.

It had happened during her stay with Aragorn in Lorien, as the Lord and Lady of the forest had been merciful to them – the foster son of Elrond and his guardian – and let the both of them to rest as they were weary when they had arrived from their travels. It had been thirty years after their department from Imraldis. Never had they returned to Imraldis since then, as Aragorn had to fulfill his destiny in the wild – or as Gilraen told him.

It was understandable that both Lord and Lady had taken a special attention to their guest Aragorn, as his line was a hidden line of kings. However, what had confused her more than enough, was the Lady's curiosity and kindness she had not expected to her. Though, she intended no harm to be done, the Lady of light had lead Véredhiel to her mirror and saw the young halfelven dreams replaying on her mind as she showed her the mirror. Of a Halfling in the Shire, of a wizard travelling, of the Evenstar, of an elf archer in the Mirkwood, and of few others. Of Aragorn even, at times when she was away from him, trusting his safety on the hands of Halbarad. And also, at times it was of Mordor, torture, flame, and destruction. Often though, she had dreams of people doing their own daily things, or dreams of the king or the king's herald.

It had made none sense to Véredhiel, however the Lady of Light had given her a light that she might understand of her dreams. As her dreams were not a foresight however, her dreams were to indicate of people she will meet or places she will go, of what happened to them in the same time as she. Not the future, not the past, but the present. Her dreams were not a foresight, but very similar to it.

It was a good rest however, that she and Aragorn was able to stay there for a week and meeting with Arwen – one occasion that Aragorn was really happy about and almost unable to contain it as a mature man, to his guardian's amusement. Véredhiel was also told by the Lady that she knew of her father with a hint that he now resided in Lorien – one of the elves with golden hair – and knew that she was there, but shall not said of it until the time is right and the said elf will not reveal himself until she was ready – which answer did not satisfy the halfelven but did not question further instead. Galadriel always succeeded on making her feel tense, even though she had not intended it.

However now was not of that time, as the two of them were not within the Grey Company with Halbarad nor the other rangers, but within an inn of Bree called the Prancing Pony, one of the places that the ranger-folk had guarded. Strider – a name Aragorn had as a ranger – was sitting on a table, smoking a pipe with Eventide – a name that was given from Halbarad to the young guardian of Aragorn as a ranger – who appeared sleeping to the others. Though, Prancing Pony was hardly a place that was quiet enough to be a place to sleep.

No one dared to disturb the two of them and leave them alone in the corner without inviting them to drink, as they said that the ranger-folk were dangerous. And dangerous they were! More so than the people and Halflings they had guarded.

As merry as the inn was, there were however, people who were not. Quiet, awkward, it was as if they were new people – one that the local people would have studied them for a while until they decided that they were safe to approach and invite to their merriness. And it was true, that it was the first time of them here – four hobbits they were. Hobbits that have never step out from their land, the Shire.

Strider touched Eventide – to which she immediately responded by looking at him, then towards the direction he was looking at – as he saw those hobbits, under the name of Underhill that had opted to stay there in search of someone they might know. Gandalf – he had heard from the owner of the inn – was not here in a long time, which had disappointed the Halflings as they asked his whereabouts. It had been a while after that, that one of them had disappeared completely under the noses of those who were curious of them, creating an uproar.

Eventide nodded at him, and towards the place where the one that became invisible when it happened. He nodded at her in return and set into action, and being careful of course, so that he won't be caught. She left the inn and took watch outside, as what the both of them had searched for had appeared right in front of their eyes. She will not have a Nazgul to know where the Ring-bearer was, so instead, she had looked for another inn – which was, right in front of the Prancing Pony. Even though it was near with the location of where the Nazgul and Sauron had sensed their ring – a big possibility, of course, after all the Nazgul was and still was the slave of the ring, Sauron had desired his ring, and the ring was calling for it's master was it not? – Bree was a small town.

Evil had came near, she can sense it in the air. She was not as ancient as Elrond or Galadriel, nor as powerful. However the small amount of animals roaming within Bree such as rats has grown restless and ran away as if being chased by a bird of prey, aside from that, the visions she had was certainly helpful in many things. And of the elven blood that ran within her body - half of it at least - , she could easily see the change in nature, though not many of them were near here, the trees were whispering of foul coming. And it was not within a storm that she was standing in, but as bodily creatures, Ring-wraiths.

With wet clothes that did not seem to concern her at the very least, she re-entered the Prancing pony after a few minutes of confirming what she had felt and went towards a room upstairs that she had heard a hushed talking and some panicking tone on some of the speakers with her less-than-sharper hearing than elves. She walked towards the door – which was locked, probably from Strider's reason of safety for the moment – and knocked. "My friend, are you finished?" She said.

"Enter." Her friend replied.

She entered quietly, her steps leave only a quiet sound that was barely heard. She surveyed the room swiftly, only seeing four hobbits – including the one that had became invisible earlier, Strider, with his hood down, and the hobbit's cloaks which was near the fire. "You won't need those fires very soon, Master Hobbits." She said by using the Common Tongue, looking at the hobbits one by one before turning her attention to the Man, looking at him straight in the eyes with intensive eyes. Her eyes almost seemed to glow, even though her eyes were actually dark and her face covered with her own hood with the exception of mouth. "Nazgul. Four of them are coming. It won't be long until they reach here." She said, switching into Sindarin.

He inclined his head, showing that he was listening. "Do you have any ideas?"

She looked at the hobbits then. One of them seemed to understand what they were talking about while the others looked at both her and Strider with disbelieving stares and protective gestures. "We move to the other side and hide, or disguise ourselves as one of the civilians – separately of course, as 6 people together as a civilian within this place will be suspicious; as civilians within this hour should have not up and around in a group. I suspected that it will be in a few that the streets will be emptier than when we came earlier. If we move outside of Bree, we will be seen by them, and Nazgul were not merciful as I had heard. However, the Nazgul did not know that as far as I know at least. They may have thought that the Ring-bearer was still in the inn or ran away, but they can still call the ring if they can't found it. This decision however, lies on your hands."

He paused, and then nodded. "Then this is what we should do…"

She watched as four Nazgul, as she had heard the trees were saying came inside the Prancing Pony, and moments later, had entered the room they used earlier and stabbed the decoys she had neatly set as Strider helped the hobbits to pack their things swiftly and quietly. An unpleasant screech was heard all over the town.

Strider on the other side of the window, spying at the scene as well before he turned his attention to the hobbits near him – who started at the screech, after all, they had been sleeping while the rangers kept being cautious – while Eventide kept on watching the four Nazgul. He knew that she will be his eyes and ears – she had told him of her oath in that very same day when Elrond had told him of his heritage, and he trusted her completely for this task of watching the Nazgul.

Eventide tore her eyes away from the place she was watching; the Nazgul had gone away with their dark steeds and horrible screeches, few moments later. And she had made sure that they were out of her sight. "They're gone."

Strider nodded at her. "We will go in the first light." He said, looking back at his charges.

"How could we know that they won't come back?" One of the hobbits asked, eyes were wide with fear.

"They won't." Eventide answered. Looking at the hobbit who asked, she answered, "They will not know of the whereabouts of what they are looking for unless," she tilted her head towards the hobbit she saw disappear earlier, "Master 'Underhill' here responded to the ring's temptation. They will hunt for the ring-bearer and won't stop until they had the ring."

Strider almost blinked in surprise at the mention of Underhill, he had almost forgotten that he had not introduced them to each other. "She is called Eventide." He said, after a while he had seen the hobbits still looking at the lady with suspicious eyes. "She is with me." She inclined her head to the hobbits, and raised both her hands, indicating that she had no means to harm them. There was only one hobbit – the one who had become invisible earlier – who believed in her. Possibly that they were suspicious of her because of her hood was still covering her face.

"Put that hood down so that we can see your face!" One of the still unbelieving hobbits said. "That way, we can know – and decide – that you are safe to trust!"

She looked at Strider and saw him nod his head to her. She tilted her head before using her both hands to put the hood down. As a ranger, she would cover her face, as it was necessary to do so.

Even after all these years they had been together – as rangers of course, and that she was his guardian – she was the same as always. Her face was ever-youthful, never getting old. Her choice was not as a mortal; she had chose to live as an elf – much like what Elrond had done – as she met Gandalf for the first time. When he asked her why she chose that, she only gave him one of her rare smiles.

The hobbits gaped at her, to his amusement. "Is it better this way, master hobbits?" She asked smoothly, noting their reactions and observing them. There were times she dreamt of them, she had remembered.

"Imagine that, Pippin! A she-elf!" One of them said.