Aragorn winced as sharp rain hit his cheek. The downpour had lasted days. Eowyn and Faramir were closest to him. They both huddled together and shivered. He wished Arwen were there.

All the hobbits were in a tight little ball, keeping each other warm. The tree was not much shelter for the group. Galadriel, Celeborn, Gandalf and Ledolorn were staying together. Astrida was hiding by the hobbits. Sildion was standing a ways behind Galadriel.

Dawn was all alone, not even under the shabby canopy of the tree. Her hair was over her shoulders. She did not look good. Her cheeks were sunken in. Her eyes were puffy from the rain, and she was paler than normal. Legolas and Gimli were on the other side of Aragorn.

Legolas kept glancing at Dawn. He almost looked like he expected her to leap up and strangle him. His eyes held a deep sadness. Legolas was on edge. Aragorn could tell.

"I hate this downpour." Gimli grunted. "When will we move again?"

"When it clears up." Eowyn said, looking behind her. Merry and Pippin were the two closest hobbits to them. Slowly, they all fell asleep, one by one.

Except for one.

()()()()

In the morning, there was no sign of the rain. They had set out from The Grey Havens two days ago. They were planning on passing around the Misty Mountains, by Helm's Deep. They would make then for Minas Tirith.

Dawn did not want to go by Isengard, even though they all knew Saruman was no longer there. "I do not think we should go there." she had said. Eowyn had glared at her. "No one put you in charge, Dawn. We will pass by Isengard. You have no choice in the matter."

Dawn snorted. "Hail, O Great Queen. You have put a two thousand year old elf, who was already respecting you authority, in her place."

Eowyn huffed away, while Faramir snickered. Eowyn gave him a sharp glare.

A ways behind them, a massive elvish army followed. The hobbits were walking, for once, in silence. But of course, this wouldn't last long. "I'm hungry." Pippin said. "Let's get you some food then!" Sam said. They ran to one of the food wagons. They dug around for a bit, until they found some mushrooms. "Mushrooms!" Pippin cried. The four dug in. As they grabbed the bag of mushrooms, they heard a sharp cry of "Ow!"

Merry reached into the pile, and pulled out two certain hobbits.

"Fifi and Haddy." Merry sighed. Gandalf, hearing the commotion, walked over. He laughed a bit. "Who are these two hobbits?" he asked Frodo. The two girls looked up in fear. "Gandalf the Grey!" Haddy cried in fear. "We're sorry! We're so sorry!" The hobbits were trying, and failing, to keep straight faces. "I see we have an exact replica of Meriadoc and Peregrin here." Gandalf said. Merry and Pippin glared in outrage. "We were never that bad!" Merry said. "At least, I wasn't." Merry said.

The two hobbit girls were still huddled in the burlap sacks, scared of Gandalf. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli all watched, smiling.

"Get out of the wagon!" Merry hissed. "Now!"

The two got out of the wagon, jumping when Gandalf looked at them. "It looks like our trip will not be entirely gloom and death." Legolas said.

()()()()

Galadriel and Celeborn walked at the head of the army. "Will anything good come of this venture?" Elrond asked, walking up to them.

"I do not see why we should give up." Galadriel said. "We came all this way."

"Tho, I do wish evil could stay dormant for once." Celeborn said. "It always seems to come back."

The two other elves nodded. "What a burden Estel bears." Elrond says. "I wish, at least halfway, that I had never seen his future."

"Playing with fate is dangerous, Lord Elrond." said Galadriel. "Do not look too far." There was a slight smile on her face.

The elves tread carefully. They had not been in this land in a very long time. Sildion came rushing up to them. "My Lady!" he said, out of breath. "We are nearing Helm's Deep."

She nodded. "Run back to Ledolorn. Tell them we must make the elves ready." An iron entered her eyes. "I do not intend to make this visit long." She walked off quickly, almost running.

()()()()

Fifi and Haddy were running to keep up with the others. "Well, first ever adventure, busted." Haddy said. "Should we get in the wagon again?"

"No!" Fifi said. "I want to see the elves! And besides, we're almost at Helm's Deep. I've heard stories about it. But my dad was in Fangorn at the time of the battle. I don't know much."

They ran, laughing. "I'm enjoying this!" Fifi said. "My legs burn! You must be crazy!" Haddy shouted back.

They stopped short, next to Faramir and Eowyn. Everyone stood in a straight line, staring at Helm's Deep.

Haddy exhaled. "Wow." Fifi said. "It's so big."

"That's only because of your size." A cold voice said behind them. "I'm Dawn, mate. And I wasn't kidding. Hobbits are tiny." The hobbits thought she looked terrifying. She was tall, had one too many weapons, had messy, wet, lank hair, dirty and ripped clothes, sallow cheeks, and blue eyes that seemed to glow. Due to their short size, the hobbits noticed a scar running from her chin to her left collarbone. They also saw she had pointed ears. An elf!

Fifi snorted. "Yeah. We may be short. But...but...we are smart!" Haddy elbowed her in the gut. "Idiot." she muttered. Fifi sighed. "At least I'm wearing trousers." she said.

Suddenly, everyone walked forward. Dawn froze. She stared at the fortress in what could only be described as absolute horror. Hearing the marching of the elves behind her, she sprinted forward, hair flying. She clutched a knife with a blade the same glowing color as her eyes.

Legolas seemed to be walking towards her. Dawn walked away from him briskly. "Leave me." she said, voice shaking. Legolas watched her sprint off, and he felt like collapsing. He wanted to tell her something, but if she kept running away like that...

()()()()

Once the army was past Helm's Deep completely, Faramir looked back at the sea of grey cloaked elves. His stomach did somersaults. How great a force, a loyalty must they have...

It did make you doubt in men. Aragorn had been right all those years.

Eowyn was at his side. He understood why she hated Dawn, but would not agree with her.

Merry and Pippin were at their feet. Faramir smiled at Pippin, and Eowyn at Merry. Both of them had close ties to there hobbits. Faramir had no real idea what exactly they were fighting, or how strong it was.

But he intended to stop it, no matter the cost,