There and Back Again: A Girl's Tale

Chapter 12 Thunder Battle

Chapter 12 Thunder Battle

The stars were just beginning to wink out like dying candles when the company set out for the Misty Mountains. Elwen's heart was heavy as she stood next to Bilbo Baggins and watched as the sun bathed Rivendell with the gold of first light.

"Do you think we'll ever come back?" asked the hobbit.

Bilbo was once again shouldering his heavy gear, which made him appear as if he were going to topple over any second. Elwen had thought perhaps he would not continue on and choose to stay with the elves. No one would have been surprised, and she, at least, would not have thought less of him. She, too, felt the pull of the valley below.

Even if it was only a bit, enough light had been shed on her past to give her the barest sliver of hope. At least now she knew her name, what race she belonged to, and where she'd lived for the first five years of life. I even know how old I am , she thought wryly. Twenty-five wasn't too bad considering she might have been one hundred years old and not known it. That would have been awkward.

"I think so, yeah," Elwen replied, looking down fondly at her small friend. Bilbo looked up at her with watery blue eyes and when he smiled, she felt the truth of her words in her heart.

The hobbit seemed to change before her eyes. His hair grew grey, then stringy and white. His shoulders stooped, his fingers gnarled like tree roots and withered with age. She saw him sitting in a large, comfortable chair next to a roaring fire, and he was reading aloud to a man she did not know. His light brown hair brushed his shoulders and he had a kind smile ready for the old hobbit as he listened. The man looked up as if he'd sensed another presence in the room. For a moment, his light, sky blue eyes met hers.

"Hello, wanderer," he said.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

He responded only with a smile.

She took in his entire person. His clothes were not the simple clothes of a traveler. He wore leather armor and weapons on his person and a heavy cloak with a hood made for hiding.

Ranger, a voice whispered inside of her. Dunedain.

She almost asked him again who he was when something silver at the base of his throat caught her eye. A pendant around his neck that shined far too brightly, as if it were made of starlight. The Evenstar.

Elwen blinked, the light of the star fading before her eyes. She was back on the narrow ledge etched into the side of a mountain, overlooking Imladris. The pendant she had seen, the Evanstar. How had she known that? And who was that man listening to Bilbo tell his tales? The old hobbit had been Bilbo, she was sure of that much. Had it been a vision? Her foresight giving her a glimpse into a possible future? Elwen didn't know, and decided to put it out of her mind for the time being.

"Be on your guard," Thorin warned the company. "We're about to step over the edge of the wild. Balin, you know these paths. Lead on."

"Aye," Balin assented, taking his position at the lead of the company.

Elwen and Bilbo both took one last longing look at Rivendell, each saying their silent goodbyes to its burbling waterfalls and golden light.

"Master Baggins, Miss Greenleaf," Thorin called to them gruffly. "I suggest you keep up."

Elwen whipped around and gave him a look so filthy it could have peeled paint from walls. She flashed him a rude hand gesture and then patted Bilbo on the shoulder.