This is my first attempt at writing in the Lord of the Rings universe, so if you see any extreme problems with the facts of Tolkien's world, notes would be welcome. Also, I'm a nitpick, but I don't always catch all of my own mistakes. If you see something wrong, please tell me in a review. Also, I am following Cassia and Siobhan's lead about how Aragorn grew up in Rivendell as an adopted son of Elrond, with the twins as his brothers and no knowledge of Arwen. Anyway, comments are welcome, just be constructive. J This is mostly movie-verse, meaning no, I have not finished the books. Working on it though!

Ooo! One more thing. I refer to Aragorn by his rightful name, but if I read the appendixes correctly, he doesn't know his real name or destiny until he's somewhere around twenty. So when he introduces himself, it will be as Estel, his Elvish name.

Aragorn watched the men with interest, his silver eyes following them in their rather clumsy trek through the borders of Imladris. They were so much louder than his family. How did they ever catch anything? It was no small wonder in the twelve-year-old's mind. They had not noticed they were being followed, nor could they feel his eyes watching them with interest from the treetops. It was the first time he had seen humans, his own kind, this close to Rivendell's borders.

Aragorn stepped lightly across two large overlapping branches and scurried to the next tree, as silent as a shadow. After watching his twin brothers, Elladan and Elrohir, Aragorn had become admiringly well adept at tree climbing. Of course, he still couldn't walk on top of the snow unless it was coated in ice, it was his next goal. He was determined to be like his brothers.  Except the ears of course. Aragorn could never really figure out how to attain the delicate points that marked the Elven race.

He used the bulk of the large tree's trunk to hide himself from the hunters while they suddenly stopped in the middle of their trek. He wasn't supposed to be out here, not without his brothers or at least another adult. His father, Lord Elrond, had warned him many times not to venture out too far on his own. A wise decision, considering Elrond's youngest ability to get into trouble. Aragorn argued repeatedly he didn't look for trouble, but trouble looked for him. It wasn't his fault. An impish grin stole over his face: just because the rules existed, it did not necessarily mean he followed them.

The men were speaking loudly to one another, and Aragorn could follow their conversation well enough, though he spoke better Sindarin than Common.

"Think we'll have any problems with the Elves, Kendak?" one of the younger hunters asked. They were setting up camp near the borders of Rivendell, one of the last three realms of the Elves. While it looked inviting enough, the young man couldn't shake the feeling they were being watched.

"Elrond's people are nice enough to humans, just don't do something stupid, and you'll be fine," the older man replied. He was busy scouting around for dry wood for the fire.

Several others, totaling the number of the party at five, were setting up the tents away from the large roots of the trees.

"Yeah, Tyn, only ones we have to worry about are Orcs," another man remarked.

"Orcs are around here?" Tyn said, his eyes growing large.

Aragorn had to smother his snickering with his hand at the youth's naivety.

"Ignore them Tyn," Kendak answered, throwing a warning glare at the others. "Orcs don't come anywhere near Lord Elrond's borders. They know better."

"I didn't think orcs were scared of Elves," Tyn said, raising an eyebrow. He rolled out his bedroll near to the fire so he could keep an eye on the flames during the night.

"Not usually, no. But Elrond's sons ride with the rangers," another, middle-aged man answered. He pounded the last stake into the ground, looping the rope from top of the tent to it.

"Scary bunch, them rangers. Ain't human if you ask me," another older, grizzled hunter replied.

"Well, no one did, now did they, Dabryn?" the other man replied.

"Whelp," Dabryn accused.

"True," the other admitted.

"Dabryn, Corbin, knock it off," the last man said. This man struck Aragorn as out of place amongst the other hunters, who seemed genial and bickered amongst each other like he and his brothers at home. This one had sharp edged features, and dark, dangerous eyes. He seemed like the true predator out of the other four.

"Lighten up, Rhoran. Just playing," Dabryn placated.

"I'll lighten up when we're out of here. This forest has eyes. It's watching us." Rhoran looked to the treetops as though to prove to himself the forest really did have eyes watching the back of his head.

Aragorn immediately ducked behind the tree trunk before the cruel looking man spotted him.

"You're imagining things. Tomorrow we'll be out of reach of the forest, so stop worrying. Rest while you can," the older man, and apparently the leader, Kendak said. He threw bedroll at Rhoran, who deftly caught it without even looking.

Aragorn had made up his mind that he didn't want to be seen by these men. If the one named Rhoran hadn't been with them, he wouldn't have minded introducing himself. His father would have a fit if he knew, but what Lord Elrond didn't know, didn't hurt him. Aragorn settled down in the crook of a large branch where he would not have to worry about falling out should he fall asleep as he waited for the hunters to nod off.

What seemed like hours later, all the hunters seemed to have fallen into a true, deep sleep. For awhile, every few minutes or so Rhoran would suddenly shift in his sleep and crack an eye open, before rolling over and falling back asleep.

Aragorn watched him carefully for a few minutes, making sure he was truly asleep. When he didn't move again, Aragorn began climbing down the large tree, not willing to risk a broken neck trying to leave the same way he had followed the men.

His booted feet hit the ground with a muted thud, and he froze, making sure that no one had heard the soft sound. He almost laughed to himself. He was used to sneaking around Imladris, home of the super-hearing powered Elves. He would be fine. He stood and turned to go when he found himself turning back to watch the hunters. This was the first time since his mother and father had been murdered he had seen humans up close. A sudden pang of loneliness struck his heart. Aragorn was used to be different…and very much alone. He couldn't help but want to see them up close.

Silently, he crept up to the fire ring, swearing mentally to himself that this was most likely one of the dumbest things he had ever done, but he wanted to be reminded that there was someone else out there like him.

The older man, Dabryn, snorted as he shifted in his sleep. Aragorn froze, holding his breath. If the man woke, the boy was sure he could make it back into the safety of the dark forest. But the man simply shifted positions and rolled facing the fire.

When he had stopped moving and his breathing returned to normal, Aragorn crept closer. The one he most wanted to see was the youngest hunter, the one named Tyn. He couldn't have been much older than Aragorn himself, judging by the roundness of his features associated with youth. With Elves, no matter how much they looked like him in age, they were always decades his senior and for a twelve-year-old boy, it was infuriating to no end.

He was now only a few inches away from the older boy, and he could see the likenesses between them clearly now. Both their features were more rounded, mostly owing to age rather than race, and their faces had similar dimensions. What fascinated him most were the boy's rounded ears. His own hand traced the rounded edge of his own ear, a trace of a smile gracing his small face. He lifted his other hand to ghost over the boy's ear, almost touching but not quite. Aragorn knew how not to get caught.

However, though he might know how not to get caught, he was amongst predators, whose job it was to prey upon others.

***

Tyn's eyes suddenly shot open, something causing him to wake, but not entirely sure what. He heard a small gasp and blinked the sleep from his eyes, only to come face to face with a small boy not a foot from him.

"Hey, what are-" Tyn started, but the boy had already leapt to his feet, jumping back a step only to trod on Corbin's sleeping form.

"Hey, what the hell is wrong with…you?" Corbin grumbled, rubbing his eyes. His complaint trailed off when he saw a terrified young stranger backing hastily away from him.

"Wait, we're not going to hurt you!" Tyn protested, throwing off his blankets.

The boy apparently didn't hear him or didn't understand. He turned to run towards the trees but found himself running smack into the enormous Rhoran.

"Well, what do we have here?" Rhoran sneered. "A thief? Come to steal our money while we were asleep? Or maybe you planned on slitting our throats?"

The boy's eyes widened, stumbling back but tripping over the blankets that caught around his feet and fell on his back.

"Saes!" he shouted, drawing his legs up and covering his head with his hands.

"Rhoran!" Corbin commanded. "Knock it off."

"Yeah, he's just a kid," Tyn said defensively.

"Even small ones can be dangerous," Rhoran hissed. He reached down and grabbed the boy by his collar, lifting him off the ground until they were face to face. Well, almost. The boy still had his hands held protectively around himself. "Hey, runt. Look at me when I'm talking to you. Who are you?" When the boy didn't immediately respond, Rhoran gave him a rough shake that rattled the poor child's teeth.

"Who are you?" Rhoran demanded again.

This time, the boy responded, but with a swift kick to the man's unprotected groin.

The man dropped the boy, doubling over in pain as he gasped for air.

With a smug grin of victory, the boy made a mad dash for woods, almost making the tree line before Kendak grabbed him, his arm snaking its way around the boy's neck in a submission hold.

"Now then, kid, we're not going to hurt you," Kendak said slowly and carefully. The boy continued to struggle in the hunter's arm. When the hold around his neck didn't loosen, the boy started to panic, clawing at the arm that was cutting off his air supply.

"Just calm down!" Kendak ordered when he realized his prisoner was just thrashing more wildly. He tightened his grip.

The boy's movements were slowing down, his attempts to free himself weakening. His silver eyes rolled to the back of his head, and his arms dropped limply to his sides.

"You killed him!" Tyn exclaimed, rushing to the boy's side as Kendak laid the boy out on the ground.

"No, I didn't. See? He's still breathing. Just made sure he would stay put. I want to know what the hell he was doing in our camp," Kendak said.

"Maybe he's just lost," Corbin suggested.

"Maybe. Maybe not. How's Rhoran?"

"Nothing damaged but his pride," Dabryn answered, having woken in the middle of the struggle and was now seeing to the large hunter.

Kendak looked back down at the unconscious boy. "Tie him up. We'll question him when he wakes up. I don't want him running off before then."

"But…" Tyn started to protest.

"But nothing. Move him closer to the fire, if you want. But see that he's not going anywhere," Kendak ordered. He moved back to his bedroll and pulled the blanket up over himself. Soon, he was fast asleep.

Tyn glared at the older hunter, but held his tongue and did as he was told. Corbin helped him move the stranger closer to the fire so that they could keep an eye on him.

As the others slowly drifted off again, Tyn found himself unable to sleep. The only thing that stuck out clearly in his mind was the look on the boy's face when he had woken up. It looked so sad, as though something precious or important had suddenly been lost to him.

Ok, end part one. Like? Hate? Drop me a line to let me no. And please, if you're going flame me, spell all your words correctly. Don't use techno-abbreviations. Also, let me know if Aragorn seems horribly out of character.