[Rinfanawen]

As the bright, glistening stars hung overhead in the blackened sky, quiet sounds of a striding horse began to echo down the dusty road. The land was quiet. The shadows had long overtook what was once a sunlit town in the Shire. All visible life had settled in for the night, and yet Anabell rode on. She had heard of the well-favored Green Dragon Inn of Bywater, and for this she was searching. Her tired eyes wandered to the coming hill. Clouds of smoke seemed to ascend from the very road upon which she was riding. With every stop of her calico-colored horse over the hill, however, appeared more and more of the smoke-filled chimney and the lovely inn at its base.

Flickering lights from the inn's windows shone down onto the road as she approached. The land was indeed quiet no more, for voices of humans and horses in the stables filled the air. Ana quickly decided to leave her steed with the others in the stables. The small building was dark, hidden behind shadows. She alighted from the horse slowly, lowering the hood of her green cloak from her head as she touched the ground. Her steps cracked pieces of straw that were strewn atop the ground. Ana moved fast around the inn until she came once again in front of the small, wooden door. With a deep breath and a quick movement of her hand to the doorknob, she opened the door and stepped into the bright, fire-lit room.

Ana blinked twice at the light. Her bright, green eyes quickly adjusted while she searched the room for an unoccupied table. Instead of a table, however, she chose to take a seat at the counter, which she found to be somewhat occupied, but not entirely full. She moved silently through the room. Her long, curly, red hair hung over her fair skin and slightly pointed ears as she walked. She kept her eyes to the ground, seldomly raising them and only to peer upon her destination. Ah, I've arrived her pounding heart seemed to tell her as she sat upon a stool at the bar. She closed her eyes. She was tired. Her weary eyes had seen far too great a sorrow and torture to bother with sleep at this time, though. A trip to the Gray Havens was not a friendly sight for one who did not board the ship. She could not keep her mind off of the heartache her beloved Elven people saw as they sailed away while she still stood upon the shores of Middle Earth. But it was not her choice. She had no way of taking the ship...not one of her kind, at least. In fact, she began to wonder whether there were any of her kind in the first place. Part Elven, Man, and Hobbit, oh such a cursed and mixed up family I come from, she thought.

However, those thoughts were all in the past now. Her eyes opened once again to see a smiling face in front of her.

"Ruby Brown's the name," the Hobbit woman said. "Will you be having something to drink, miss, or to eat, maybe?"

Ana stuttered for a moment as her thoughts turned back to reality. "Uh, if you have any drink that will keep me awake, then by all mean, bring it," replied Ana with a slight smile. Within minutes the Hobbit had returned with a hot cup of tea.

"This is the finest tea in all of Bywater. It's steamy aroma will keep you up for a while," Ruby commented as she placed the drink in front of the her.

"Thank you, miss brown," Ana replied, and took a sip of the warm beverage.