The group of four hobbits, one Ranger and one Shadowhunter left Bree before dawn.
The the mist still clung to the ground and only a faint light to the east gave any sign that the sun was on its way up. Their early departure was, reflected the Shadowhunter, quite remarkable all considering.
A warm breakfast had been provided by an anxious Butterbur who had been rather flummoxed to see not only Strider at the table, but be asked for another set of dishes when there was only five there. But he knew better to ask questions and he was especially less inclined considering that the room the hobbits had been staying in was completely demolished. The Black Riders had slashed the pillows, overturned the beds and destroyed everything so thoroughly that, when he had opened the door, he was met by a cloud of white feathers. All the horses and ponies had been so frightened that they had gotten loose and not one of the wretched beasts seemed to be anywhere close by. It seemed that the Riders had enjoyed the help of more than one human accomplice for the doors on the stalls had been unlatched and halters snapped.
Neither pony nor horse was to be found for hire and, while one was trying to be found, the hobbits had insisted upon a large, hot breakfast that Butterbur provided with the ease of a host well acquainted with pulling food from seemingly nowhere. The Ranger had rolled his eyes and disappeared with Nob to try and find one. This had left a concealed Aiedale to watch the hobbits. Finally, with a little luck, a pony was dug up from some farmer called 'Bill Ferny.' Aiedale had been less than impressed with the little thing for it was mangy and half-starved. According to Sam the creature was not ready to die yet but Aiedale was not so sure.
At last, with supplies hurriedly found and packed, they took their leave of Butterbur and Nob. The hobbits were anxious and downhearted as they set off with the company of this strange man and even stranger girl. They felt as if they were treading a dangerous line and half-wondered what might set off either Strider or Aiedale. As if all this was not enough to deal with, they were off into the unknown and hobbits did not like the unknown at all. With a girl only they and the Ranger seemed to be able to see, a man whose entire outward presence was exceedingly grim they all felt as nervous and uncomfortable as it was possible to feel.
While the hobbits nursed their dark thoughts, Aiedale was continuing her long standing habit of observing everything from the still dark houses to the countryside that opened up beyond the gates. She was trying to learn as much as she could without actually asking and, one of her favorite things to quietly observe from the corner of her eye, was their new guide. She could see just why the name 'Strider' had settled him. He did not walk through the streets of Bree but rather marched like a commander before his army. Each long stride – worth three or four of the hobbits – was purposeful and radiated a kind of controlled confidence that Aiedale admired a little.
Their early departure had provided a certain amount of secrecy and protection from curious stares or murmured words spoken behind hands. Aiedale was quite relieved that she had avoided both the stares and rude remarks she would have garnered for she had little sleep with which to ease her currently snappy temper. A few brief hours caught the previous night had done little to soothe her fried nerves and, like all Shadowhunters, she hated it when mundanes stared at her for being dressed and armed like she was. To her they should be grateful that she walked among them and not hate or fear her merely because she was Nephilim and they ordinary mundanes.
From what she had been able to understand the ranger wanted to take them into the wild where he could steer a straight course to the elf haven they were traveling to. Aiedale had yet to see an accurate map but, from what Frodo told her, the place they were traveling to was real and the ranger moved with such confidence down the path he had chosen that the young Shadowhunter did not doubt he knew what he was doing.
She shivered, pulling at the sleeves of her Gear. She was not dressed for the chill morning air. Her clothing was not designed for warmth but for battle and so, while padded, it did little to ward off the cold air. Yet, despite her cold fingers, she was feeling a little hopeful and her mood was a little lighter. They had made it through the night and were safely on their way. Despite the Riders who no doubt waited for them somewhere along the road and the hobbits apparent lack of any practical skills. Despite, even, the knowing questions that needed answering.
Yes, despite all this, she thought, things were looking up for her.
Middle Earth was not a place she would ever want to visit again but it wasn't too bad as long as she had a way out of it. Hopefully this warlock did have the answers she sought and, with any luck it, wouldn't be too long before she was once more beside her cousins and brother in the streets of Paris hunting demons and rouge Downworlders.
Besides, hissed a voice in her mind, you are still alive.
It was true. She was not only alive but so where her little charges and, if one of those black shadows did find them…a smirk curled the young warrior's lips as she considered what those Riders might think of a seraph blade planted firmly in their non-existent heart.
So, with a smirk on her face and her feet making no sound on the frosted ground, she followed the hobbits and the Ranger who was leading them into the Wild. According to this 'Strider' they were eighteen days from Rivendell and, for she was pessimistic by nature, Aiedale had no doubt that something would go wrong. Something always did she had found.
The Wild of Arda lay before them now.
Aiedale had, by mid morning, decided that traveling with hobbits was the most trying experience of her entire life.
They were noisy, tiresome and seemed to not understand that you did not have to constantly chat about home or various relatives who all sounded exactly alike. Their peppy little voices reminded her of annoying little pixies and she was tempted, more than once, of pulling out a knife and threatening them with disembowelment. It was only through sheer will power that she reined in her temper and settled for a dark scowl. Her mood, once lit by hope and determination, had fallen to an all time low and she muttered demonic curses. At one point, unable to help herself, she picked a pebble from the ground and throw it hard at a tree to vent her frustration.
To Aiedale the crowning moment of the morning had been when the hobbits pulled out pots and pans, sat down and obviously prepared to make a meal. The Shadowhunter had been so amazed and stunned that she had not been able to find any scathing remark with which to fling at the hobbits. When Aragorn, who appeared as shocked as she was, had asked what the hobbits were doing in an incredulous voice, the answer had been both terribly funny and terribly annoying. According to them they were making their 'second breakfast' and Pippen had been most horrified to find that they would not be able to indulge in such frequent meal times. In fact, to Aiedale's way of thinking, if one ate so much and so frequently one would merely spend all their time traveling from kitchen to table.
Her overall irritation seemed to amuse the ranger and that only served to make Aiedale's optimistic view vanish like fog in direct sunlight all the sooner. His knowing smirk, sent her way during a brief break, had made her clench her teeth and recite, in her mind, all the reasons killing a mundane was wrong. She had wondered if hobbits counted as mundane to and, if the next time Pippen asked her an annoying question, if it would be wrong to throttle him. The previous day the hobbits had been to cowed by her to speak this much but now…now all they seemed to do, excluding the silent Frodo, was talk and talk. In fact, Aiedale doubted that the young, black haired hobbit had slept much at all the previous night for he had the grim look of someone moving on little sleep. The shadows under his eyes were dark and his mouth set in a hard line that looked wrong on his kind, inquisitive face.
A brief lunch was followed by more walking and, as they became tired, the hobbits started to become quieter and, as the silences stretched out for longer periods, Aiedale felt a little more forgiving towards them. As the sun dipped to the horizon and the shadows lengthened her mood lightened a little from the black pit it had fallen into. One day closer and the night was her friend even if it was a strange night and haunted by strange things.
The pattern continued for three days.
They moved steadily eastwards and, at a place called Chetwood, they turned away from the night, without fail, a watch was set with Aiedale and the Ranger splitting it b the night between them. The uncomfortable silence did not go unnoticed by the hobbits and it made them feel very awkward and out of place to be between these two people who so clearly did not trust each other. It did not bother Aiedale for, to her, she was being quite reasonable with the mundane. She was not openly showing her hostility but, to her mind, displaying a remarkable amount of trust in his leadership.
Aragorn was willing to make friends with this girl but had been constantly rebuffed by her cool gaze and short answers. He was frustrated by it and, so, had given up by the second day. It was not that she rude nor did she ever act against him but, rather, that she seemed to be above him, acting on a different level. He had found it amusing to see how she struggled to contain herself when the hobbits irritated her but only because he knew how she felt. How he would much rather be traversing this countryside with a ranger by his side! The hobbits moved so slowly and noisily that Aragorn was afraid the entire countryside knew exactly where they were.
Each morning they woke to dew sprinkled with icy crystals and a temperature drifting around freezing. The chill nights were especially hard for Aiedale and only served to darken her already black mood. Middle Earth seemed to be on a different season and it was just one more thing that irritated Aiedale. She hated, with a passion bordering on obsession, being cold for it made her muscles and joints stiff and that could very well get her killed in a fight.
If the cold mornings were not appreciated by the Shadowhunter they were also not appreciated by the hobbits. While they were dressed quite appropriately they did not appreciate being woken before dawn by the ranger or the lack of a hot breakfast. When Pippen complained to Aiedale, she had raised an eyebrow and told him coldly that 'losing a few pounds would be a good thing for all four hobbits.' The comment had rather stung Pippen, Merry and Same but Frodo had seen the quiet humor in it and chuckled while Strider looked on with an amused grin on his face.
The ranger did know that none of those he was leading, from Darklighter to the pony, would like him any more then they already did for leading them into the Midge-water Marshes. They had dipped down from the Old Road and the ground was getting damp, and in places boggy and here and there the group would come across pools, and wide stretches of reeds and rushes. The ranger, despite all his skill, had to be careful on the path he led the hobbits and the pony for they were not as light of foot as he was. Angling them through and around while keeping their proper course took all his attention.
Over the course of the third day, their progress was dramatically slowed as there was no permanent trail for even a Ranger to find through the shifting quagmires. The flies began to torment the party, and clouds of midges hung about them as they made their miserable way through the lonely and unpleasant country.
"I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippen. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"
The night was cold and miserable. Neither the ranger nor Aiedale slept and spent the night in silence that was broken only by the occasional irritated groan from Aiedale as she killed another bug or Strider relighting his pipe now and again. The hobbits slept fitfully, for the biting insects were not subdued in their attempt at carrying all living creatures off.
By morning the air around Aiedale practically crackled with her anger and all avoided her as if to postpone an inevitable explosion. The force of the glare on her face could have repelled midges, decided Frodo. She retreated, to the hobbits relief, to her place at the back of the company where she could simmer in private.
The young Shadowhunter longed for a bath, a change of clothes, some company of her own choosing and a one way ticket out of this infuriating world with its infuriating inhabitants. She knew her irritation was irrational and that glaring at the hobbits anytime they so much as glanced at her was unfair but she did not care. She was lonely and homesick. Hobbits and Rangers were not Nephilim or Downworlder. She just wanted someone who knew who she was, what she was. Someone, be it Nephilim or not, who just knew and could help her.
Even as the ground drew drier and the midges were left behind, her mood still verged on thunderstorm and she was unable to take joy in the improvement of the landscape around them. In fact, she rather felt that the marshes had matched her current outlook on life quite perfectly. Even as they came to a stop and camp was made, she kept brooding over all the events that had occurred as if, by examining them obsessively, she could find the answer to all of her persistent questions that no ranger or hobbit was able to answer.
The fire flickered before her gaze, the flames dancing brightly. The hobbits, exhausted, had quickly fallen asleep and the rhythmic sound of their breathing was mixed with the crackle of the fire and the chirping of insects. Aragorn smoked his foul smelling pipe across from her, his grey eyes as distant as the Shadowhunter's green ones. Each saw something different. To Aiedale the flames showed the faces she missed most and the various places that she called home from the manor house in Idris to the large, grim Institute in also saw things that he missed. He saw the breathtaking face of Arwen Evenstar mixed in with the images of many others who he had called friend and brother. Glancing away from the mesmerizing fire he glanced up at his silent companion and examined her discreetly.
She was weary with dark circles beneath her eyes but she had made no complaint when she took her turn at watch and neither had she seemed to falter with weariness. Darklighter seemed to be made of very stern stuff and yet he had not learned anything more about her. She had a temper, her dark irritation with the world around these past days had confirmed that. Where was she from? By the Valar there were few people like this girl and he longed to know where exactly she had sprung up from.
"Do you find me interesting to stare at?" asked his young companion with a pointed glare that could have singed his eyebrows had he sat any closer.
Aragorn had little practice soothing teenaged girls and so he floundered for a moment as he tried to find something – anything – that would help ease the tension between them. "I am curious," he said carefully, "and the night is long. I have never met someone like you."
"Neither will you," said the young woman as she raised her pale face to the sky. "We are few."
"We?" he asked as he looked down at the fire between them.
"I come from a distant land. We are called Shadowhunters, Nephilim and many other things – some less complimentary." Her lips quirked in a small smirk as if some of these other 'names' were amusing to her as well as insulting.
"How did you come this far then?" he asked curiously and, half expecting, for her to get defensive and irritated with him. But she didn't. He did not know that Aiedale actually wanted to speak of her it was the cool night air or the stars or merely that she was weary of being on the defense with this man. Regardless of what it was, despite her commitment to secrecy, she allowed herself to talk to him as if they were friends and not relucant allies.
"I do not know," she shrugged helplessly. "I have my suspicions but they are just that: suspicions. I think I came here by magic and so I have decided to accompany the hobbits both to assist them and to find the wizard, Gandalf, that they spoke of." Aiedale frowned slightly at the glittering stars and then said, "I hope to return to my own land as soon as possible. I am needed there." Her heart beat painfully as she thought of exactly what she was missing and those who would be missing her as she sat here, so far away with hobbits and ranger on the rough ground.
For some reason the Ranger was not surprised to hear that she was from a distant land that could not be reached by ordinary means. She was so different – so alien – and unlike anything of Middle Earth. How different was this land? What kind of things happened there to take any strip this girl of youth and innocence until she was left much older then seventeen?
With a swift nod he said calmly, "I will help you anyway I can…" he trailed off suggestively and looked at her intently hoping she picked up the hint. Her green eyes glittered with firelight as she regarded him and her lips twisted with a small, acknowledging smirk.
"Aiedale," she said the name with that lilting accent that rolled the letters in an almost elvish way. "My name is Aiedale…" she to let her voice trail off suggestively and he understood even as he quailed at the thought of speaking of his family in such a way. His name was something he guarded jealously but so had this girl. Perhaps, if they were to move forward at all, he would have to share it. She had given hers and it was a fair name and suited to the young woman who sat, dirty but proud, on the other side of the flames.
"Aragorn son of Arathorn." His words were so soft that they were nearly drowned out by the fire and the sounds of the hobbits and insects but, from the brief gleam of satisfaction in those green eyes, he knew she had heard. A little of the tension, the unease, lifted from the air between them as both acknowledged each other without the barrier of not knowing what to call the other.
"What is our destination for tomorrow?" asked the young woman and she raised her face a little to gaze at him with that proud, cold face that was so much older then she really was.
The change of subject was almost a relief for the Ranger and he swiftly calculated how much farther they had to walk. "Weathertop," he told her, "an old outpost when this land was inhabited and called the Northern Kingdom." He tapped his pipe and then turned his gaze back to the silent young woman who seemed lost in thought.
"I see," she said with an uneasy glance around and they both returned to the silence as they both considered what was slowly closing in on them. Her blood, her instincts, thrummed at the prospect and she felt herself tense slightly as her hand tightened around the kindjal hidden her gear.
The Riders would not be fooled for long and both warriors knew that all to well. A gentle breeze stirred the marsh grass and seemed to whisper a soft warning on the cool fall air…They are coming…
another chapter...sorry it is soooo late and rather short but at least it is here and I am working on another one to. Hope you enjoy this one!
Review Replies:
AnimeVamp1997: hahaha no there is no OC pairing in this story. Aiedale has a boyfriend back home *wink wink and she will start to talk about him in the next few chapters...Aragorn and her are just working out their natural impulse to mistrust dark strangers who are carrying large knives and have differing opinions on how do to things! I am glad you liked it :) Shadowhunters are a pile of fun to write!
silverhawk88: Mary-Sues are ridiculously perfect characters that are used again and again by authors until we see 'girl' 'Middle Earth' 'Fellowship' and run the other way. They are usually girls and around sixteen and are just...well they manage to do everything easily and somehow end up falling in love with a major character like Legolas or Aragorn. Yes Zoe is a funny story...never planned on that one going as far as it has! I am glad you like it...we will see how far it goes and where! Hope you like this chapter to!
Ifbookswerefood-i'dbefat: I am glad you like it! Hope you like this chapter to!
Dennisthepinkgoldfish: haha thank you :) Hope you don't mind how short it is and I shall update soon...I PROMISE!