Indeed, the next morning, I ate a quick breakfast, and went to saddle Porridge. He had grown a bit plump over the winter, for I had not much chance to exercise him. He seemed pleased at the thought of a jaunt however.

Thorn was most unhappy, and I fear he would have indulged in a storm of tears and anger at the thought of our leaving. However, his mother took him firmly in hand, and his father reminded him to "be a big boy", so that one day he could also go with us and be a Ranger. He still seemed angry, however, and averted his face when I proffered a good-bye kiss, but then ran to embrace me when I was ready to mount. As we rode off, I looked back to see him waving sadly from his grandmother Meldis' arms.

In addition to Arador, we also had in our patrol Dirhael, who was a bit subdued at the thought of leaving his bride; Avor, who was called "Lefty", obviously because he was left-handed; Baranir, called "Red", for he had reddish hair-- highly unusual among these generally dark-haired people, but his mother had been a foreigner; and Duinir, who had picked up the unfortunate nickname "Beanpole" on his travels--he was exceptionally tall and thin.

We rode out and met Elladan and Elrohir a few days later. That spring and summer was exhausting, and yet exhilarating. I saw mountains and barren lands to the North, and made the unwelcome discovery that those Wargs did indeed exist. Our encounter with them was frightening, but my stones accounted for at least one of the creatures, and I have to admit, I felt a bit proud and heroic afterwards.

The waystation for those patrolling in the North was not like the one we had used in the West. It was instead, a large cavern. Sometimes I was entrusted to keep it on my own for a few days at a time-- I did not like that duty; I missed the others, and could not find enough to keep me busy, although I did use one such opportunity to bake a few biscuits for the others to give them as my birthday gift. And I was quite surprised when I was gifted with a new bow-- made for me by Elladan!

It was growing cold by the time we returned to Two Rivers. Dirhael was delighted to discover that Ivorwen was far gone with child-- she was due to deliver only a week after our return. Oriel had two teeth, and young Thorn was in minor disgrace for having ventured up to the watchtower on his own, and had to be brought down by one of the guards to his distraught mother and grandmother who had been searching for him. He appealed his punishment of confinement to the house for a week to his father, on the grounds that the watchtower was part of the house!

Needless to say, Arador was unimpressed. However, I was amazed to realize that he was now as tall as I was!

This set the pattern for the next few years. I am saddened to realise how seldom I thought of my own parents and family or the Shire during that time-- I kept telling myself I would return sometime, but not quite yet.

Most years I accompanied Arador's patrol, though one year when Dirhael led a patrol to the South I went with his group, and another year I went to the Western waystation with Archer.

I found that I was useful not only as a cook, but that my ability to move even more quietly than the most careful of Rangers made me a good scout. And on more than one occasion, I took part in small battles, using my bow or throwing my stones-- for it seemed clear that I would be at a great disadvantage at any hand-to-hand fighting that might occur. But it served the others well to have me at a distance with my own chosen weapons. And once, about five years after I had become one of the Rangers, while scouting I came upon an encampment of four ruffians we knew had been troubling the area with stealing sheep. I was able to knock all of them out with my stones and tie them up, before returning to fetch the others. I must confess that I had a bit of a swollen head over that episode! My comrades' praise was music to my ears, and I truly felt like a warrior for a while.

The year Thorn was seven, Moriel asked me to remain in Two Rivers. He was to start school, and was not happy about it. Arador consented to my staying, and it was arranged that I would assist the schoolmaster, a retired Ranger named Master Hensael. He had lost a leg to goblins ( something I had yet to encounter, though I knew enough now to realise they were real. The Rangers called them "orcs" as well as other names less pleasant, and they had often fought them.) and now he was the schoolmaster for the children of Two Rivers.

My presence there made things much easier for him. He sometimes had one of the older girls of the town to help as well, but the little boys did not obey them as well as they obeyed me. I enjoyed teaching them-- it was something I'd done for my own younger sibs, and I had a number of tricks to keep them entertained as they learned.

Still, the following year I was very glad to go back on patrol with the other Rangers!

I had been among them for eight years. That year, the sons of Elrond did not go out with any of us on patrol-- some years they did, and some years they did not-- but shortly after we had returned to Two Rivers for the winter, they came.

Thorn was now twelve, and it was time for him to go away with them to their father's house. There he would stay and be fostered and learn until he turned twenty. This, I was told, had long been the custom of the Chieftain's family: to foster the heir among the Elves for a time. Elladan and Elrohir had come to escort him to Rivendell.

And with them was someone I had not seen since leaving the Shire.

Gandalf.