The Fellowship walked for hours, until Rivendell and the valley surrounding the city was no longer visible. The sound of waterfalls and rustling leaves were replaced by the gentle whistling of the wind, and Victoria soon found herself lagging behind. She stopped at the top of the hill they were currently climbing, trying to commit the view before her to memory.

The landscape was breathtaking, the sun was held high in the sky, while mountains loomed above the vast sea of hills that lay before the group of travellers. Despite the pounding heartbeat and burning legs, Victoria stood grinning at the incredible view.

"It's beautiful, yes?" Aragorn spoke from behind her. Victoria jumped, startled at the man's sudden appearance, then smiled.

"Yeah," she said quietly, wishing she had time to sketch the mountains in her notebook (which she packed for that very reason).

"Come," he urged, taking her by the arm, "We must continue."

Victoria allowed him to lead her down the hill and walked beside him silently as he let go of her arm. Aragorn was rough, manly, and extremely handsome, he didn't possess the grace and lithe of Legolas, but every move showed his strength.

'And he looks damn good with that light beard,' Victoria thought with a wicked smile.

She stopped to pull some hair that had escaped back into her ponytail. She took a moment to admire her boots yet again, although her legs were aching and tired, her feet felt fine.

"Crap, Crap, CRAP." She muttered, realising she had fallen way behind the others. Jogging to catch up, the group had just come back into view when someone reached out and grabbed her arm. A small gasp escaped her lips before she realised it was Boromir.

Victoria eyed him cautiously; they hadn't said anything to each other, apart from a half-hearted greeting. She knew The Ring would manipulate him, and he would die with three arrows in his chest. Nevertheless, she would have to be very careful around him.

Boromir stared at her as if she had some kind of disease he might catch.

"Who are you?" He demanded shortly, "You do not belong here, are you a spy?"

Victoria tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened on her arm. "Let me go please." She whispered, trying to sound calm. "Your hurting my arm, let go." She repeated louder.

Boromir looked down at her like he had just realised she was there. "I- I apologise," he said, looking off balanced. "I don't know what came over me."

He dropped her arm and Victoria hurried back to the group, taking her place behind the hobbits. She saw Legolas' concerned face for a split second, then quickly turned away and continued to walk. She positioned herself as far away from Boromir as possible.

After another eternity of walking, Gandalf finally decided it was time to camp for the night. They made their way to a flat spot underneath a cluster of trees, just as the sun disappeared under the horizon. At this point Victoria was ready to collapse from exhaustion, she never enjoyed running or hiking, and definitely not for hours upon end. She untied her bedroll from Bill and spread it out on the soft earth a few meters away from the group. She laid down, stretching her tired muscles and pulled her velvet cloak over her as a blanket. Not wanting to disturb anyone or anyone to disturb her, she promptly fell asleep.

Five days passed, they had finally reached the base of the Misty Mountains. They then turned south and made their way down the long path of rock and grass towards the Gap of Rohan. Victoria was surprised at how long it actually took them to reach the snow covered peaks, the movies made it seem like the journey was nothing, just a quick stroll.

Now she understood, this is real life, and real sore muscles. She had to face the truth of Middle Earth: it wasn't a book or a movie, you couldn't just fast forward the parts you didn't like, you had to work through them. "No stop or pause button either," she muttered to herself.

Just then Merry and Pippin approached her, breaking her trail of thoughts. Victoria growled slightly; the two hobbits had done nothing except ask her questions after leaving Rivendell. They were very curious about her home and spent most of the day interrogating her about it.

"What do you miss?" Pippin asked.

"My Dad."

"Is that it?" Merry piped up, disappointed with her short answer.

"Do you want a list?" Victoria asked sarcastically. Both hobbits nodded eagerly.

"Ok," she sighed, then took a minute to think. She missed so much of her home, of her world, so many little things she had taken for granted.

"I miss my Dad, my friends, my phone, my air-con, my internet, my phone, my music, my computer, dim sum, chocolate, pizza, I miss watching Doctor Who and modes of transport that don't involve me moving my feet." Victoria blurted out.

Merry and Pippin looked at her as if she had spoken another language, "I don't know what half those things are," Merry admitted quietly.

Victoria smiled, "And I'm not gonna explain them to you." she said, knowing their next question. She really wasn't in the mood for talking, but was trying to be polite and save her strength.

The hobbits took the hint and hurried to join Frodo and Sam at the front of the group, while Victoria gazed ahead at the never ending path. "How much longer until nightfall…" she asked herself quietly, knowing it was more than five hours away.