Torn Between

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters besides Amariel and Addy. All rights, quotes, and plot go to J.R.R Tolkien, Peter Jackson, and New Line Cinema

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I could feel my heart beating in my throat.

I could feel the stickiness of the blood on my fingers as I tried to staunch the flow.

I could feel my consciousness ebbing.

I looked up and saw one single, bright star in the black sky.

"So this is death," I thought.

And then, blackness engulfed me.

Chapter 1

60 years earlier

"Come on, Bilbo! Hurry up! We can't be late for the party!"

"I'm coming, Amariel," Bilbo puffed, "somehow you have much more energy than me."

I laughed, but slowed to a walk to wait for Bilbo. My yellow dress fluttered around my feet and tickled my ankles, and my auburn hair swished the back of my neck. I grinned at Bilbo, who smiled back.

"What's got you into such a good mood?" Bilbo asked. "I don't know," I replied, "I just feel like something great is going to happen tonight." And with that I turned and skipped down the road, humming to myself as I headed to the Green Dragon.

"Amariel! You're finally here!" my best friend, Addy squealed. "Bilbo was being a slow-poke," I said, playfully elbowing him. He only rolled his eyes.

"Let's get a drink," Addy suggested, "and then we can find Robin and you can convince him to ask me for a dance!" I smiled and rolled my eyes, telling her she would have to ask him herself if she ever wanted to get anywhere with him. We fiddled around for a while longer, sitting at the bar and talking with our friends.

Suddenly Bilbo was at my side. "There, right there, that's the wizard that came by today and asked me to accompany him on an adventure."

"Accompany him on an adventure?"

I watched the wizard order an ale and sit at the bar, oblivious to the party raging around him. "And what did you say to him?" I asked Bilbo, not taking my eyes of the the man. "I told him no, of course," Bilbo whispered.

Suddenly the wizard turned toward us, and both of us jumped in surprise. Bilbo grabbed my hand and dragged me away before I could react, and then shooed me away to go find Addy. I did so, not mentioning to her the wizard, though she asked me why I looked so shaken.

I forced myself to forget the wizard and have a good time. Addy still hadn't worked up the courage to talk to Robin, so we sat at a table and drank ale. Soon the music turned slow, though, and I shoved Addy toward where Robin was standing. I watched her nervously approach him, and smiled when he took her hand and they began to dance. I noticed a few others eyeing me, but no one asked me to do anything other than stay seated. I was rather glad, I wasn't in the mood for dancing tonight. Besides, I was waiting for the one who seemed right to me.

Addy came back right after the band stopped playing, dragging Robin along, the smile in her eyes giving her bliss away.

"Come on, Amariel, come sit with us!" she said excitedly, but I shook my head. I could tell that she was just being nice, and that she really wanted some time alone with Robin.

"I think I'll take my leave," I said, sipping down the last of my ale and standing. Addy gave me a pouty face, and told me she must walk me to the door. I agreed, listening but not hearing as she ranted on about Robin. At the door she whispered a thank you for letting them be alone, and bade me goodnight.

I hummed quietly to my myself, and looked up at the stars as I made my way home, the constellations reflecting in my green eyes. Suddenly I felt someone grab my arm and pull me towards the woods. I gasped loudly, about to call for Addy or Bilbo, only to have my mouth silenced by a large hand. Once in the cover of the trees, my captor released me, and I got a look at who it was.

The wizard.

"Who are you?" I struggled.

"I am Gandalf," the man said gently, and I relaxed, as his tone was kind and wise.

"What do you want?" I asked, though not as rudely as before.

"Amariel, I am not here to harm you. I'm here to help you." I didn't reply, waiting for his answer. I somewhat remembered Gandalf from the Old Took's parties, even though I had been very young. His gravely voice, his tall figure, his fireworks.

"I am here to explain your lineage. No doubt you have wondered why you have no hair on your feet, why you are taller than most hobbits, and why you tire less easily." I listened now, as I had never properly heard of my past. I had been outcast when I was young, since at our age, we didn't understand that it didn't matter what you looked like as long as you didn't carry around weapons and weren't six feet tall. But as I grew closer to the hobbits, my oddities were forgotten; the fact that I had no hair on my feet, the fact that I was inches taller than the rest of us, the fact that I could seemingly work forever and never tire, just like Gandalf had suggested. All I had ever been told is that my mother died during my birth, and my father had succumbed to grief. I was forced to believe these stories, though in my heart I had never truly believed.

"Please, tell me!" I pleaded, my voice desperate.

"To start off, your mother and father are alive. The reason you have not seen them is because they are not here. You were told the story of your parents' deaths to stop arousing suspicion."

"Suspicion?" I questioned. My parents were alive? Why wasn't I told? "Suspicion of what?"

"Suspicion of what you truly are. Hobbits are kind folk, yet they are wary of big folk and creatures other than themselves. Your mother would have caused a stir among the peace."

"What do you mean? What was wrong with my mother? Is something wrong with me?"

What does he mean, arouse suspicion? What is special about me that no one else has? What have I not been told?

"You are not fully hobbit," Gandalf replied,

"your mother was an elf."

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Amariel - (Ah-mahr-ee-ell)

Hey guys! Thanks for reading! Sorry this is a short chapter!

please read on it gets better ;)
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