The sun was shining brightly and the weather was glorious. None of the dwarves could resist the temptation to strip down and jump into the huge fountain on the edge of Rivendell. While everyone else stripped to nothing, THorin made sure that his nephews kept their breaches on, considering that since they were royalty, it was considered proper.

"Come on uncle!" FIli yelled, doing a cannon ball into the fountain.

THorin smiled and removed all his clothing except his breaches. He was just pulling off his shirt when he heard Kili's voice.

"Hey Sepha!"

Thorin felt his face go red and his heart froze, glad that his shirt was still concealing his face. He ripped it off and turned to see that said girl was a good distance away, too far to see any details but she had her back facing them and was holding up a hand.

"I'm just going to leave!" the girl called. "Continue.... whatever you're doing!"

With that, she walked off and THorin felt sweat dripping down his forehead from embarrassment. He watched the girl walk off, dressed once again in her black attire. Now he noticed that before, he had never realized how well the outfit brought out the shape of her slender body.

"You okay laddie?" Dwalin asked, pulling on his clothes.

Thorin nodded, faking innocence but Dwalin just smirked.

"Funny thing, she actually didn't even look at us for a split second. She was looking you till she turned."

With that, the large dwarf grabbed his coat and weapons and walked off. Thorin turned and looked down at his shirt in his hands. Persephone had been watching him?

LATER

Persephone had wandered away from the dwarves and was now walking around the gardens, enjoying the sunlight and sweet smelling air. Her fingers ran over the flowers that grew. Just then, she heard a loud snort behind her and turned just as a pure white horse came trotting over to her.

"SHadowfax!" the girl squealed.

The huge horse walked over to the girl and nuzzled his head against her chest in greeting. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

"He gets restless whenever you're not around," Valarin said, appearing from around the corner. "he stops here in Rivendell every week to see if you or Gandalf have paid a visit."

Sepha smiled and stroked the horse's head, "I'm sorry I've been away for so long. I promise I will try to visit more often."

The horse nodded and nuzzled her face with his snout.

"Would you like to ride for a while?" Valarin invited.

Sepha looked at him and a sad smile crossed her face. Riding with Valarin had always been a favorite activity of hers when living in Rivendell but the last time they did it together, Valarin asked her to court him and from then on, riding together had never happened for it always seemed like a painful reminder.

Valarin sensed her uneasiness and smiled, obviously not pained by the memory, "DOnt worry Seph. I'm over that. We're just riding as brother and sister."

A smile spread across her face and she nodded, "Well then you're on! I'm sure you still cannot do that sharp turn without slipping!"

When the dwarves had finished changing and had wandered off to find an occupation, the whole company, minus Gandalf, soon found themselves near a giant waterfall. The waterfall poured over an arch that stood in the center of a large grassy field full of flowers and small grassy paths, obviously a more open part of the gardens.

The dwarves weren't paying attention to the dark haired elven man who rode a brown chestnut horse but rather the brown haired young girl who sat upon a noble pure white horse, a huge smile on her face and her hair whipping around.

"Hey Bilbo," Fili and Kili greeted, noticing the Hobbit who was seated on a stump, watching the riders. "How long have they been here?'

"Oh about five minutes," Bilbo replied. "They're trying to see who can do that sharp turn perfectly."

The routine that Valarin and Sepha always competed on was that you had to start on one end of the garden, run across, jumping over all the rows of bushes along the way (Three to be exact) before going underneath the arch, and rounding the corner and going under the waterfall. the corner was incredibly tight and almost a complete U shape.

"You go first!" Sepha told Valarin.

The elf obeyed and jumped over the bushes perfectly but when he rounded the corner, he missed the water fall, only getting half wet. This gained some laughs from the dwarves but not too loud for him to hear.

"Nice try pal," Sepha teased, grabbing a handful of Shadowfax's mane.

With that, she drove her heels into his side and the horse surged off. Thorin felt his breathing hitch as her hair billowed behind her as she charged across the garden, leaping gracefully over each bush. She rounded the corner and for a half second disappeared from sight.... before she came surging out from beneath the waterfall. The water drenched her and the horse but a huge grin was on her face.

Bilbo jumped to his feet and cheered and soon all the dwarves were cheering. Sepha smiled and even though she was wet, her face glowed with happiness. THorin found himself smiling as well, but he couldn't help but be annoyed at how Valerin hugged the girl when she dismounted.

"Still got it in you Seph," the elf complimented before heading off with the horses.

Sepha sighed as she dismounted, breathing heavily. She walked over and gave Kili a hug, drenching the front of him. When the young dwarf yelped, everyone laughed and Sepha grinned, ruffling his hair playfully.

FIli walked over behind the girl and wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind, picking her up off her feet, gaining a squeal from the girl. Thorin was about to chuckle at his nephew's antics when something caught this eye. The girl's hair had fallen behind her ears when FIli had hugged her and now her ears were in plain sight... and they were pointed!

THorin knew full well that wizards and dwarves didn't have pointed ears... that could only mean one thing.

"PERSEPHONE!" Arwen's voice called from the balcony above, "I need your help in the healing room! Canya wont let me help her unless you're here!"

Persephone nodded and did a mock salute before ruffling Kili's hair again before running off. The dwarves soon split up to go explore, leaving Thorin alone in the garden. Or at least he thought he was alone. What he didn't know was that Balin and Dwalin were watching him with worried expressions. They had noticed Persephone's ears a while back but had kept their mouths closed about it. They had sensed that there was a lot about the lass they didn't know but they knew it was only right to let her tell them in her own time.

They knew however, that when the time came for Thorin to confront SEpha... it wasn't going to be good.