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I looked up sharply as a sound penetrated my concentration on searching for Athelas – hoofbeats. My brow cleared as I recognized them – an Elf-horse would never obey a Black Rider, and was lighter on its feet than any horse ridden by Men. Abandoning my efforts and shifting my grip on what little I'd managed to gather, I headed back toward camp. If I had heard it, it was more than likely Jim and Sam had heard it as well and Jim did seem to be the kind of Man who could tell horses apart just from the sound of their hooves. I also had my suspicions about its rider – with the Nine stalking the land, there were few enough who could ride out singly against them. My suspicions were confirmed shortly after I arrived back at the campsite.

Jim was already there with a wary look on his face and a question in his eyes, but I shook my head before he could open his mouth. He pressed his lips into a grim line, and took a defensive position between the hobbits and the hoofbeats as Sam stumbled out of a bush on the far side of the clearing from said hoofbeats. He hurried over to his "Master Frodo" and began fussing while Jim hefted his impromptu cudgel. Before the hobbits could react further, horse and rider emerged from the trees.

I smiled as I recognized the elf on the horse. "Lord Glorfindel. I am glad to see you, with the Nine about on the land. Frodo is in dire need of your assistance." Glorfindel nodded and dismounted before moving to the blanket that Frodo lay on, moaning and shivering. Glorfindel knelt to examine him, and long seconds passed before he looked up at me. "He is beyond whatever help I could give him here. He needs the help of Elrond, and quickly." He stood and made to pick up Frodo, but Jim stepped forward, his icy eyes boring into the elf-lord. "Strider already said that," he said – he wasn't snarling, but those words weren't the friendliest I'd ever heard and they seemed to have an implied "...So what do we need you for?" tagged on the end. Glorfindel looked Jim up and down sharply "Who is this, Estel? He seems an odd sort of companion – even for you." Glorfindel's tone was cold, almost insulting. Jim narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, but I cut in quickly before a fight could start. "His name is Jim. I thought it wise to take him to see either Elrond or Gandalf. He possesses...unusual qualities." Glorfindel continued staring at Jim coldly for a few moments, before sighing and continuing with earlier aborted move to pick up Frodo. "Frodo will have a better time if he rides. We must move quickly." Suiting word to action, he put Frodo up on his horse and stood by as we hurriedly packed up and distributed the weight. Almost before we had finished, he started off.

I stared at the golden haired...elf? It didn't make sense. Something in my head was denying that such a thing could exist, yet here he was in front of me. Strider had called him Glorfindel – odd name – and he seemed to exude an air of otherworldliness that threw me off. Unlike the hobbits, who I'd mistaken for human children before I'd studied them closer, this person was obviously not human. At all. From the tips of his pointy ears to the soles of his nearly-silent feet. He set a hell of a pace too – even harder than Strider. I added "superhuman stamina" to the list of differences between elves and humans when at the first rest stop he wasn't even breathing hard. I found it irritating – I found it all irritating. I fought it down though, because I knew this wasn't the time or the place. Plus, I'd get an explanation as soon as we reached Rivendell – which we had to do soon.

I haven't been updating as much because I write this all out in a little notebook before I type it up, and I haven't found the time to write for awhile