A/N: well i live on. I apologise profusely for being so slack and slow. I also apologise if my writing isn't as good as it used to be. But i AM trying.

I hope all of my lovely readers are well... i am... just busy.

Disclaimer: you know the drill...

Chapter Fifteen

Three days had now passed since Serafina joined the group, and it was evident that she was not at ease in their presence. The thief had attempted to find easy company with the hobbits – yet they had become wary of the girl, Frodo especially. His reactions to her stated his obvious desire to be far from her person. Sam attempted to be slightly more courteous but stuck to his friend. The remaining two hobbits seemed caught between curiosity and duty to their kinsman.

Her days consisted of rising, eating sparsely, walking, eating, walking, eating, arm attending and finally sleep. Serafina was never called upon to watch – part of her badly wanted to contest this exclusion, then she promptly remembered that she didn't want to be part of the company in the first place and held her tongue. These were not a pleasant few days for the girl, she would have preferred to have no companions and the ones she now had to deal with would have been the last she would have selected for a pointless journey through the wilderness.

Her wrist was healing so slowly that it may have been getting worse – Serafina found it difficult to tell. Yet the wizard and ranger seemed pleased enough. Every evening Aragorn would clean it and dress it, Serafina used this time to try and prize information from him which was, in itself, an exercise in futility. The ranger found her company to be a frustrating mix of pride, wit and stubbornness though somehow he sensed and underlying current of vulnerability and sadness or regret - however he frequently doubted its existence.

He feared for her safety at times, Boromir was hardly happy for her to be accompanying them - Aragorn had watched earlier that day as Merry and Pippin's curiosity had taken hold and cringed outwardly at the memory –

"Serafina, are you really a thief?" Merry asked as he, Pippin and the girl were packing away the remainders of their midday meal. Serafina merely smiled and nodded in reply.

"Well," interjected Pippin, "if you're a thief doesn't that make you a bad person? I mean good people don't steal."

But before Serafina could even attempt to defend her questionable profession Merry cut in, "Generally Pip. Generally good people don't steal – I mean I wouldn't call what we was doing stealing but sometimes I got the impression that farmer Maggot has a different opinion."

"Well we are good people and we wasn't stealing we just pinched some... well he had plenty anyway. What difference is a couple o' potatoes and carrots and cabbages and such going to make to his crop" refuted Pippin.

"Ah, you see that's just it!" exclaimed the thief, "This Farmer Maggot, he was probably a mean sort, wasn't he?"

"Well he was never very pleasant to us," agreed Pippin.

"And that's because you always stole from him," interrupted Frodo "How could he be expected to be hospitable to young hobbits that steal?"

"But we wasn't stealing!" cried Merry, "Not strictly speaking anyway, Pip said it right – we just pinched stuff, that's all. Therefore he has no reason to begrudge us." He finished triumphantly, sticking his hands in his braces and standing as tall as his small frame would allow.

Serafina looked at the small hobbits standing near her and gave a small smile. "I agree with you Merry, he has no reason to begrudge you, and if he does it is his problem to deal with. You are no thief. I am, and I am proud. I do what I do well." The girl looked sideways at Merry and Pippin and grinned cheekily.

"Yes, but why-"began Pippin but he was cut off before he could finish his question. Unfortunately another member of the company who did not take the subject of theft so lightly was also listening.

"You still think this is a game don't you?" he said quietly, addressing the thief but he was loud enough for the company to fall silent immediately "Well this is no game. I care not if you bring harm on yourself – well deserved as that would be – but I have sworn an oath to protect Frodo and this company and I-"

"Boromir!" warned the wizard, "Do you forget the purpose of our secrecy?"

Boromir nodded submissively and turned his addresses to the hobbits, "You would do well to pay the thief no mind. She does not deserve your time."

"Oh please! Just because they are smaller than you doesn't mean they are young and incapable of deciding who they may or may not have a conversation with." came Serafina's hot retort.

"I still do not understand why we did not leave you to the wolves." cried the son of the steward.

"Wargs." She corrected

"What?"

"Wargs, not wolves."

"You wretched, ungrateful li-"but Boromir stopped himself short he had been interrupted by laughter from Aragorn. He looked between the ranger and the thief and she was grinning in return, glad that he appreciated her correction, just as Aragorn had corrected her three nights before. Boromir was livid – the girl had no respect, no sense of responsibility.

"What was his name thief?"he asked quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The little boy that was beheaded on the day of your execution. Instead of you."

Serafina's head snapped back. The company was dead silent, no one knew of the connection the son of the Steward of Gondor had with the thief from Bree. Aragorn and the Hobbits knew she was originally from the lands of Gondor, but nothing more. What the wizard knew was anyone's guess. Yet what Boromir was saying made perfect sense to the girl. Her face had lost all traces of joy and cheek. Only anger and hatred remained. The hobbits took some steps away, the elf and dwarf that had been uninterested in this conversation we're suddenly transfixed. Aragorn was wary, he didn't know what either of them would do next. Then Boromir spoke.

"He begged and pleaded and cried until he no longer had a head to cry with."

With that comment the thief sprang towards him, yelling curses. She hit him square in the nose with her left hand. Boromir recovered quick enough to give her a black eye before Aragorn pulled him away, Legolas was left to pull the maddened thief away to safety.

...

The ranger sighed as the memory faded, and began to look for an appropriate place to set up camp for the night. Serafina had been flanked by Gimli for the remainder of the day – Gandalf had assigned him the duty of keeping her away from the other travellers. Boromir, whose nose had only recently stopped bleeding, had not said a word since the fight. Aragorn had a few things to ask the thief that night when he dressed her Warg bite – her period of grace was over.

...

a/n

P.S. Im sorry... but at least im still working on it. Even if I am extremely slow. I just hope it lives up to expectations, but be gentle with your reviews if it doesn't...