A/N YEAH BABY. ANOTHER CHAPTER. BOOM.

This is our last bit of Rivendell and then...

ADVENTURES

and...like a lot of dark shit cause goblins and spiders and dragons

BUT ALSO ADVENTURES

and...like still sad stuff cause feelz

BUT WE'VE MADE IT THROUGH RIVENDELL, THE LAND WHERE PEOPLE HAVE A LOT OF CONVERSATIONS ON A LOT OF PATHS. Or at least that's how it goes when I'm writing for it.

Also all the reviews you've been sending in are honestly giving me life right now and I can't even with the warm fuzzies so thank you SO MUCH. Heart eye still don't know if this is how kids these days do their text hearts but we're rolling with it.

Also in the saga of the portable washer's broken spin cycle, I have messaged the seller so we'll see what they say about fixing it. Because I know you were all on the edge of your seats with worry. I am apparently keeping you updated on my washer drama as a comedy bit now...for some reason.

Anyway, read on!

HAVE FUN

That looks vaguely threatening. Sorry.

Have fun! (When you use extra exclamation marks it makes everything less threatening...right?)

Midsummer's Eve dawned and Josephine decided, upon waking, that she was ready for this. Her bag was packed, her gear ready and waiting for her. Having not wanted to deal with Thorin before she had to, she'd avoided mentioning the map and moon runes that he needed to see Elrond about, hoping he'd come around on his own.

According to Gandalf, he hadn't. Having two people in his party (Three if you counted Bilbo) cohorting with the elves had made him even more stubborn than she'd expected. She had work to do and his pride was getting in her way.

The dwarves were how she expected to find them come morning after a long night of shenanigans. Mostly asleep, bleary eyed if they were awake. All except for Thorin, who was always stoic and put together almost as a rule.

Josephine had considered the pros and cons of speaking to him privately or calling him out in front of everyone. One was likely to be easier but was a lot more like brute force and would just rub him the wrong way. Having an audience wasn't going to go over well even if it got the job done. So she relented to the better, more diplomatic option which was privacy and asked to speak with him alone, out of earshot but just within view of the others.

He crossed his arms like he was waiting. "I imagine Gandalf has spoken with you and that is why you have finally come."

"I was hoping you'd see the wisdom in his suggestion before I had to get involved." She put her hands on her hips, resisting the urge to copy his crossed arms. "I mean out of all the elves we could be asking for help from, Lord Elrond is the least pretentious of all of them." Maybe she could slowly convince him, make him feel less like she was giving him an order. She really didn't want to fight Thorin every step of the way but when it came down to it, she was a stranger walking around telling Thorin Oakenshield what to do, and in front of twelve of his subordinates on top of it. That wasn't going to go over that well.

"We do not need his help."

"So what's the map say?" She countered.

"I'm not certain." He said pointedly. "So why don't you tell me? Would you have me believe you don't know what is on that map?"

"I'm your insurance, not your shortcut." Almost as an afterthought she added, "And no, not exactly, it's been awhile." She could remember potentially enough, but the exact wording of the verse on that map was not something her brain had decided to hold onto when she became the leader of a damn country two years prior.

"Oh well that does give me comfort for the rest of our journey." He said sarcastically.

"I thought you trusted me?"

"Yes, but not blindly so."

"Show the map to Elrond."

"Tell me what you know."

"The damn thing is covered in moon runes that can only be ready by the light of tonight's moon specifically and if you don't we'll never get to the mountain on time and the whole world will be fucked over!" She pointed her finger at him forcefully. "And I'm not exaggerating when I say that."

Begrudgingly Thorin softened slightly. "You trust this elf?"

"With my whole damn life." And the lives of just about everyone she ever cared about now that she thought about it.

He was silent for a long time, but she could see him relenting. He wasn't stupid, just stubborn. If she was patient enough through all of this, she might be able to get him to trust her with less arguments involved.

"Very well. He will read them tonight and we will leave at first light.

Once she was in the company of the dwarves, she wasn't going to get away from their company so easily. She'd spent most of their time in Rivendell avoiding them, hiding in her rooms or spending time with Gilraen and Bilbo. All in all, she was realizing she'd missed them. After Thorin had gotten them all awake and told them their itinerary, they decided they'd take advantage of their last day of elven hospitality. Kegs (what may have been the last in all of Rivendell) we sent for, food came by the tray full, and they (including herself) were drunk by noon and soon joined by Bilbo.

The difference came where she stopped drinking at noon and almost all of them didn't. She excused herself with Thorin to take the map to Elrond as the sun started to dip below the hills and met Gandalf along the way. Taking a backseat to the proceedings she was more there as a babysitter to make sure Thorin didn't back out on anything important. Hovering in the archway as Elrond brought the map to the crystal pedestal she watched and waited, catching glances from Gandalf who spent as much time observing her as he did the reading.

With the verses read Thorin took his leave and she stayed behind, listening to the crashing of the waterfall and feeling the wind of it bring a damp chill into her arms.

"Thank you for your assistance, Josephine." Gandalf said with relief.

She shrugged. "It's what I'm here for…sort of. I never quite know if I'm the one causing all these issues that I run around fixing but it is what it is. We're on track so that's what matters."

"That is comforting to hear." Elrond added. "Normally I would not place so much concern on the outcome of this task but your involvement adds a degree of importance, though I cannot do more than speculate on the specifics. I trust my armorers have provided you all you might need for your journey?"

As much as the next leg of it would let her keep anyway, but he didn't need to know that. "As usual, they don't disappoint. And neither does your hospitality, and your discretion." The number of requests she'd made of him, the tokens and packages she'd ask to be delivered so far away, it was more than this era's Elrond had reason to grant her. But he'd done it without question and if she got back to her own time, she'd make sure she thanked him again. "I'll take my leave, I know you have a council to go to and I have someone I need to see before we go."

Elrond bowed his head as a farewell and she left the cavern. Her time in Rivendell was over, the last peace she'd hope for until the end. Five more months. Two had been hard enough to bear and all they'd had to deal with were trolls. But she couldn't dwell too long on what was coming up, she'd have to deal with it no matter what.

She was headed for Gilraen's rooms, she knew where they were but hadn't ever been there for her own sake. Aragorn wouldn't come to the guest rooms on his mother's order but there would've been no keeping him from his own. But she wasn't going to waste time having her sent for when they were on her way back from the cavern.

Then a voice began to rise from a branching path, still a ways off but entirely unmistakable. She'd know it anywhere, exactly the same as when it had come down from the top of Isengard. Saruman was conversing with Galadriel, probably on their way to the council.

Josephine, heart racing, bunched her skirt up in her hand and took off running, hoping to get out of sight before they reached the crossroad. She didn't slow down until she'd made two unnecessary detours and stared up the path for a solid two minutes while peering from behind a tree to make sure, even though they'd been going the opposite direction.

Saruman was already falling, though the others didn't seem to notice. If he'd found out about her that early in the game, she'd be in a lot more danger by the War. She was suddenly very glad they'd be leaving in a matter of hours.

She'd collected herself by the time she reached Gilraen's door, but that came with a whole new wash of unease. She could hear his voice from outside, echoing off the open balcony as she knocked shakily.

He was the one to open the door, looking up at her with curious eyes. When he saw who it was he bowed to her again, his stiff motion curated and not yet second nature. "My lady."

"Is-" Her voice caught and she cleared her throat, taking a deep breath and collecting herself. "Is your mother here?"

He stepped to the side, holding the door still so she could come in. Once she'd gotten past he closed it behind her and skirted past her to go around the corner to another room in an almost run. Josephine fought a smirk as the taught manners slipped and the ten year old boy shined through.

Gilraen looked worried when she came into the room, clearly surprised that Josephine had come and probably assuming something horrible had happened for her to take that step.

"I leave tomorrow at first light. I was hoping we could take a walk maybe?" Just a little bit more time, one more minute together, and then another, because when they finally said goodbye it would be for good.

Gilraen quickly instructed Aragorn to go to bed, collected her sewing basket, and slipped her free arm through Josephine's as they went out into the night.

"Are you alright?" She asked Josephine first. "I know seeing him brings you pain."

But never to the degree that she'd anticipated and dreaded when they got to Rivendell. "Each time it's a little bit better. Seeing Estel now doesn't remind me of him as much as I was afraid it would. I thought there'd be more…I don't know. Mannerisms I guess. Like how he would say certain things or act in certain ways. Honestly I think you remind me of him more than Estel does."

Gilraen smiled. "Do I indeed? I always imagined he'd carry himself much like his father when he got older."

Maybe he was, but she couldn't help but see in Gilraen where a lot of his gentleness had been born. "Oh there's a ranger in there, through and through, don't get me wrong." Josephine laughed. "But he's got the hands of a healer, so the poems say. I wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for that."

Gilraen squeezed her close and sighed. "I will miss you, my daughter. But I would rather bear such pain than have never known you at all."

Josephine stopped and wrapped her arms around Gilraen, sinking into her as she cradled Josephine's head in her hand and held her tightly. When they pulled away Gilraen looked sad, but smiled at her anyway.

"I have also brought a gift for you." She set her basket down and reached inside, pulling out of a length of fabric Josephine started to recognize.

Gilraen held the brown cloak she'd been making for Aragorn, opening it to show the finished and embroidered edges along the sides and the hood.

"I can't accept that, it's for-"

"It was never for Estel, and even if it was, I could make him another." She draped it over Josephine's shoulders and clasped it at her neck with a silver pin. "Consider it my gift to you."

Thoughts of them being stripped of their gear not once, but twice before the end of the journey flooded her mind and each time she could lose it. The idea made her stomach hurt. "What if I lose it? You should give it to Lord Elrond, he could give it to me in the future-"

With a firm, maternal voice Gilraen stopped her. "You will take it with you now. Whether it makes it home with you or not, you will have a piece of your family's love with you for as far as it lasts."

Her family.

Her mother.

For the second time that night, Josephine threw her arms around Gilraen, this time trying not to cry. "Thank you."

Gilraen held her composure with a lot more ease than Josephine was managing and she wiped a stray tear from Josephine's face before putting her arm around her shoulder and leading her down the path towards her room.

"Come now, if you are to leave tomorrow I would have you rest as much tonight as you can. I will see you off in the morning so there's no need for us to say our goodbyes right now."

Gilraen sent her right to bed and left only once she was satisfied Josephine wasn't going to stay up. But sleep wasn't the same as going to bed and just like before the Fellowship departed, Josephine barely slept at all. When morning was on its way there was a soft knock at the door and Josephine was already up, lighting the candles in her room for the last time.

Gilraen hummed to herself as she set down a tray of food Josephine took as an order to eat and then she took Josephine's gear from the stand and laid it out on the bed.

Josephine hadn't had company before a journey like this, not a trip so important and frightening anyway. She was far more at ease than she'd expected.

Still singing to herself, Gilraen began to help her into her traveling clothes and armor, finally ending with the pin on her cloak.

When she was dressed and ready and it was almost time, Gilraen took her face in her hands with a sigh. "If you remember nothing else I have said, remember this. Do not give into despair, though it calls to your heart like the gulls call the elves to the sea. You have strength enough to bear this task and so you must. And once it is done you will return to him again, you must hold that hope without surrender."

Where Galadriel's counsel had been vague and open ended because of her knowledge, Gilraen's came clear and assured because of her own grief and hope. Josephine found herself equally grateful for the blunt truth of the elves and the firm idealism of men. Mix it with a little devil-may-care from the dwarves and she might have half a chance after all.

"I'll make it home again." Josephine told Gilraen. "I will."

"Yes." Gilraen agreed softly, giving her gloved hands a tight squeeze. "Yes you will."

Sword at her hip and knife along her back, Josephine was ready and they made for the courtyard to depart. The company was bulky with well stocked packs and seemed anxious to leave, no one to see them off but Gilraen and Lord Elrond.

The same archway waited for them that the Fellowship would leave through decades from that morning. It left Josephine with an odd sort of feeling she couldn't place. Not quite nostalgia, and not quite yearning, but not necessarily a lack of either of those.

There were no speeches this time, Thorin simply turned and began walking, each dwarf falling in line. Gandalf took up the end with Bilbo who paused for one last, longing look around the courtyard. Josephine followed with a light push from Gilraen, also pausing like Bilbo to look back.

She gave Elrond a nod of thanks and took one final look at Gilraen, saying a quiet, single goodbye before sucking a deep breath into her chest and turning away from them. Biting her lip and holding back tears she pulled her hood low over her eyes and fell into step behind Gandalf.

Only once they ascended the path out of the valley did she look up again, taking a moment to remember it like she had with Aragorn. Their rides through the valley and stories shared in the Hall of Fire. From there on out, not one step she'd take would be familiar. Maybe it was for the best, but she'd almost miss the ghosts of him that had been following her since Bree.

"I said goodbye to your mom today." She whispered to the ghosts. "And happy anniversary."

And with that, the valley was behind her.