Disclaimer: I do NOT own Lord of the Rings

A/N: thank you for the reviews, follows, and favorites, and please feel free to leave a review to tell me how you feel about the story so far :)

I am going out of town for a bit so I won't be able to update again till at least Thursday sorry :(

She awoke late next morning, the sun had already completely risen and the city was alive with the hustle and bustle of the elves' daily lives. She stood out on her chamber's balcony, (seriously this place had like a million of them), and watched them scuttling to and fro. She wondered if what Arwen said about the elves fading was true. Anra found it hard to believe, but the she-elf had had no reason to lie to her about it.

That led her to thinking about what Arwen had said about the "man she cared for", she didn't know for sure, but she had a suspicion about who he was, why else would the two of them had met in the gardens all by themselves and stayed for hours. She wondered if they had ended up having a fight before they had left the garden, why else would she have been so upset. 'It's none of your business Missy, keep your nose out of the nettles and it won't get stung,' a voice reprimanded in her mind sounding suspiciously like her nursemaid Patia, telling her basically to mind her own business or risk the consequences.

She shook her head, trying to clear it of her thoughts, but when it didn't work she decided to go for another run in the surrounding forests. She hurried through the corridors, then out across the pathways without getting stopped once, though she didn't slow down until she was under the cover of the trees.

Once she was there she shifted, grateful to be able to be in her other form. When she had been younger she had been told that her mother had joked that she was more wolf than girl because she was always in that form so much more than her human one, though her father would always just laughed and said that she was a true Nightstalker alpha. The thoughts of her mother made her sad and lonely, she missed her. Her mother, Sage, had been on a border patrol when they had come across a group of Isengard orcs, they had been sorely outnumbered and Sage had taken a mortal blow from one of them meant for one of the pups in training that was with them. The pup had survived, but Sage, her mother, had fallen. Anra had been four years old at the time.

Anra ran harder and harder, shouldering her way through bracken and leaping over streams. Finally, when she had had enough, she slowed to a stop and flopped down onto the ground panting, her trainers would be so proud, she thought wryly. She pushed herself to her feet and trotted back the way she came feeling better now that she had worked that out of her system.

At the edge of the woods she shifted back to human and walked towards the stone city. She decided she was going to find some lunch, 'cause she was pretty hungry from skipping breakfast then going for that run. Though about half way there she ran into Arwen, she said hello in greeting and the other girl did the same.

"How are you this morning, did you come to any decisions?" Anra asked in a friendly manner.

"I'm fine, but no I have yet to come to a final decision," she said in a less than chipper tone.

"Well I hope what I said last night didn't make it any more difficult than it already is."

"No, what you said made a lot of sense, and did help quite a bit actually, so thank you," she said with a sincere voice.

"No problem," she said, and then they fell into an awkward silence. And just to make things even more so guess who walked around the corner, that's right, Aragorn.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Hello," Arwen said at the exact same time Anra squeaked out a, "Hi," Anra turned bright red, while Arwen kept her cool. Anra couldn't help but feel rather self-concussions standing next to Arwen who looked so nice and put together, in her long blue dress with her gentle, calm dark wavy hair. Whereas Anra was wearing yesterday's trousers and tunic, covered in dirt head to toe from her run and her curls must have been fluffed out more than a foot from her head. Not to mention their heights, Arwen must have been at least five seven, and she was only five one, and throw in her face full of freckles; she was a cave troll next to Arwen's- well elf.

Aragorn's eyes shifted between the two of them, "Do you two know each other?"

Anra nodded, and Arwen answered, "Yes, we met last night, she actually gave me some good advice."

"Did she?" he murmured his eyes had settled on the elf woman.

"Jeez, you two make it sound like it's hard to believe," she said only slightly faking the hurt tone.

"We need to talk," the ranger said, and judging by the fact that he was still looking at Arwen he wasn't talking to Anra.

"Yeah, okay, I'm just gonna go," Anra said feeling rather awkward in the middle of what seemed to be a lovers' spat. She hurried away from the two of them, but not towards the kitchens, it was safe to say she had lost her appetite. Feeling the need to be cheered up she knew just where to go. "Let's go find me some hobbits," she muttered.

She was able to find all the hobbits but Frodo, and the others told her that he was seeing his Uncle Bilbo who lived here apparently. She wondered what the hobbit did to live with the elves.

She knew she had made the right choice of coming to see the hobbits; they cheered her up right away. They talked and ran around causing mischief among the elves and ate plenty of food, for once she had been with the hobbits long enough she had regained her appetite. At one point Pippin had wanted to ride on her back when she was shifted, she had been rather offended saying, "Do I look like a pack mule to you?" Though after several hours of listening to him beg and complain she finally agreed to let him try, just to shut him up, and just once for a quick ride as long as he swore never to tell anyone outside of the ones who were with them at the moment. He swore.

Frodo joined them just as she was about to shift so Pippin could get his ride, he looked a little shaken but he insisted that everything was alright. So unable to stall any longer Anra shifted and crouched low so the youngest hobbit could scramble up onto her. She stood up to her full height, he was surprisingly light. She could feel his small hands curling into her fur tightly so that he wouldn't fall off. She heard the others laughing at the sight, she knew it probably looked pretty funny, a hobbit riding a giant white wolf, but that didn't stop it from hurting her pride a little. So she gave them a small snarl, but that only made them laugh harder.

Anra shifted her weight a little, hoping that he understood that she was about to start moving, he did. Not that it would be too bad of a thing if he fell off, it'd probably be also pretty funny, at least to her, as long as he didn't get hurt. She started off at a brisk walk, then started to pick up speed to a jog, then a light run, then a gallop, then a full out sprint. When they slowed back down to a walk she could hear Pippin breathing heavily and shaking a bit. At first she was worried something was wrong, but then he started laughing and fell off onto his bum.

"That was so awesome!" he cried in excitement, still laughing his head off, the other hobbits joined in. Soon much to the she-wolf's protest she had given all four of them multiple rides around the garden where they were.

"How many of us do you think you can carry at once?" Merry asked.

"Well we'd all fit, but do you think you would be able to lift us all?" Pippin cut in.

She huffed, "What do you think I'm not strong enough to lift you all?" And but a few moments later she was running around with four little hobbits seated upon her back. 'I really need to work on my pride,' she thought shaking her head.

She walked through the gardens with them on her back; even all four of them together wasn't too heavy, though she wasn't sure if she'd be able to carry them all in her human form. Anra supposed it could be useful to know that she could carry them like this if need be, though if she did she felt like she'd never be able to live it down.

Anra spun around, practically knocking the hobbits off their perch, when she heard somebody clear their throat behind her. It was Aragorn, and he was smirking, the nerve of that man!

"Gentlemen," he said still smirking, "I need to speak with the Lady," when none of them moved he added "now if you would not mind."

She gave a small growl, but lowered down so they could climb off easily, then she shifted. The hobbits said goodbye and scampered off to who knows where to probably eat some more. She reluctantly turned to look at the man in front of her, having no doubt in her mind that he was the one that Arwen had been talking about. She could see why the elf felt that way about him, he was tall, dark, handsome, caring, smart, a natural leader… 'Okay now you're drabbling,' she mentally chided herself. 'So what he has a few good qualities, that's all there is to it, you don't really feel any real attraction.'

"So how did your conversation with Arwen go?" as soon as she said this she wanted to smack herself, in the face, hard, possible with a chair. What was wrong with her, why on earth would she ask that?

Aragorn also looked at her like she was crazy, but only for a second, then he looked at her like normal, "It went fine."

The silence that followed his reply was dreadful; eventually she broke it by saying, "You wanted to speak with me?"

He looked grateful for her prompt and said, "Yes, I need to inquire something."

"What?"

"Do you know how to fight?"

"Yes, of course I know how to fight!" she snapped, feeling extremely offended.

He held up his hands in surrender, "I figured you would, I just had to make sure, most women don't." This was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Nightstalker women are not as feeble bodied or minded as your women are! We can fight and hunt just as well as any male can!" she was practically snarling when she got to the last part. "Though I'm sure that if given the chance many of your women would be able to fight and do "a man's job" as well!"

Aragorn continued to hold his hands up in submission, "I never said they couldn't."

Anra sighed, "No, I suppose you didn't. I'm just tired of people thinking I can't do things because I'm a female," 'and a Nightstalker,' she added silently to herself.

"So, I see that you met the hobbits," he said changing the subject, his smirk returning.

"Yes, I did. And if you ever mention what you just saw to anyone I'll—I'll—I'll eat you," she couldn't think of a better threat at the moment.

He laughed. "Oh boy, I'd better not then," his voice full of mirth.

"No you'd better not!" she agreed with a playfully growl.

"So tell me, what are you doing giving hobbits piggyback rides anyways?"

"Well, they said I wouldn't be able to lift them all at once so…" she decided to leave out the part where she gave them all individual rides first, wanting to be able to keep a little of her pride.

He shook his head chuckling, "Did it ever occur to you that they did that on purpose so that'd you'd try to prove them wrong?"

"Try and succeed," she corrected, "and yes, but they were already on top of me." Half a moment later she joined in on his laughter.

After a moment his mood sobered, "You should probably go eat soon, so you can go to sleep. We leave tomorrow, just after sunrise."

Anra sighed and nodded, she was pretty tired from running around today, first by herself in the forest, then with the hobbits through the gardens. Then combined that with her late night last night with Arwen, it didn't matter that she had slept in late that morning, she was one tired she-wolf.

So happy with an excuse to leave she bade him a goodnight and did exactly that.

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The next morning Anra woke early, her stomach turning with so many nerves that she had a bellyache. She quickly bathed and got dressed, pulling her still damp hair back into a French braid. She put on a pair of dark green leggings with an off white blouse and a sturdy brown leather belt that would hold her two silver blades, along with her comfortable dark brown leather boots. She pulled on her grey cloak and picked up her already packed bag, ready to leave. She went through the kitchens, grabbing something to eat before she headed outside to the city's entrance where she would meet the others.

She arrived there just at sunrise; it looked like she was the last to arrive. Boromir leered at her, while the hobbits and Gandalf smiled. Legolas and Gimli were too busy glaring at each other to take note of her arrival and Aragorn was speaking quietly to Arwen. So she returned Gandalf and the hobbits' smiles and then shot Boromir a nasty look, this morning was already shaping into a great one.

Elrond then came out along with a bunch of other elves and an extremely old hobbit, who she assumed must be Frodo's uncle, Bilbo. Lord Elrond started giving what she assumed was a farewell speech of sorts, but truthfully she wasn't listening at all. She was too busy nervously eyeing the horse, or excuse me, pony they were bringing with them, Bill.

She was about to start edging further away from it when the rest of the Fellowship started turning towards the gateway about to leave. She hurried towards the front where Gandalf and Frodo were, because it looked like Sam was going to lead the pony in back. Just before they headed out she head Frodo whisper to Gandalf, "Mordor, Gandalf. Which way is it?"

He responded, "Left."

She threw a glance over her shoulder to make sure she was out of reach of Bill and saw Aragorn give Arwen a smile and nodded before he followed them. She tried not to think about it.