Aragorn: 17 years old

He found his horse in the normal corral area. His horse was the only horse left in the stables. It was his mother's horse from the last village of the Dunedain. His name was Tarish.

"Hey, Tarish. We are going to go for a long ride," Aragorn whispered and stroked his horses face.

Tarish neighed and walked out of his enclosed area as Aragorn opened the door. Then he climbed aboard Tarish, without a saddle needed, and told him to leave Rivendell. Tarish did as he was told, and as Aragorn went through Rivendell, there was no Elf in sight anywhere. It was strange not seeing anybody during the day.

They rode together through the forest of Rivendell and stopped once they got out of the woods. Aragorn looked around to see any dust kicked up from the Elf riders that had left a little sooner than he had. He couldn't see anything, so he jumped off Tarish and struck the ground with his knife. He put his ear to the handle of the blade and listened.

This was a trick he had learned from Lagorion and it worked. Through his blade, he could hear the ground rumbling from what he expected to be horses running. He turned the blade in the direction of south and he could hear the tracks much better. The Elves had headed south, so he would too.

Aragorn quickly got back onto Tarish and pointed south. Tarish obeyed and took off as fast as he could. They rode through the day and into the night without stopping. Once they had climbed over a mountain, Aragorn spotted dust in the distance.

That must be the Rivendell Elves!

They went down the mountain slowly and Aragorn got off Tarish so that he could take a break from carrying him. Aragorn led Tarish a little off course so that they could drink from a nearby river. Once Tarish saw the water, he immediately ran to it and drank gallons.

Aragorn looked around in all directions. It was dark now and anyone or anything could be watching him and his horse. He figured he should save his water jugs for the upcoming days, so he bent down on his hands and knees and drank the river water. He cupped his hands into the water and then brought it to his face.

Tarish finished drinking after what seemed like a long time and Aragorn joined his side again. They walked for about three hours until Aragorn was too tired to continue on foot. He climbed back onto Tarish, which continued to stay in a walk and not a run so Aragorn wouldn't fall off.

Aragorn knew he shouldn't fall asleep while Tarish walked through the night alone, it was simply too dangerous. He directed Tarish to a small cave that was in the mountains they were walking beside. They entered the cave and it didn't go back far at all. It was about twenty feet back and ten feet tall. It was a perfect resting spot for Aragorn and Tarish.

Tarish lay down in a pile of sand textured dirt and Aragorn lay next to him, using Tarishes body as a pillow. He easily fell asleep as Tarish stayed awake watching the entrance of the small cave.

-----

As the sun rose the next morning, Aragorn was already up and on Tarish riding across the valley. That morning Aragorn had fed Tarish some of his food and ate some himself. They rode fast across the bottom of the mountains that was next to them.

The Elves must have been really far ahead because Aragorn could not see them, or hear the horses as he put his blade to the ground and listened. They continued to follow the base of the mountain knowing that they were lost.

Aragorn had never been outside of Rivendell except the one time he had gone to Lothlorien and that had been a long time ago. Because of that, he had no idea where he was. He wished he had brought a map, but he didn't even know if Elrond owned a map of Middle Earth. He surely had never seen one before.

-----

They continued trekking on for three more days. Aragorn had run out of food and water and both man and horse were getting weary of the journey. They both had no idea where they were. Aragorn fell off Tarish once and decided they needed to find water. He was too dehydrated and couldn't go any farther. Tarish pulled on Aragorn's shirt and somehow when Aragorn woke up they were next to a river.

Tarish was remarkable in that way. He would never leave Aragorn and would help him at any cost. Aragorn reached out to the water weakly and pulled himself to the edge. Tarish was taking in gallons of water with his huge mouth as Aragorn glanced over at him.

"Thank you, mellonin," ( My friend) Aragorn mumbled his voice sounding dry and unlike his normal voice.

Tarish snorted in response and continued lapping up water from the river. Aragorn took in lots of water until he thought he might burst from the inside. He stopped and wiped his lips with his sleeve which was covered in grime and rips. He filled up his water jug with water from the river and stood up again unsure of how long he had slept.

It was night again and the sun was down thankfully. There was a cold breeze in the air and it felt good. Tarish crouched down and offered Aragorn to get upon him sensing that his rider was weakening. Aragorn patted his horses back gently and climbed on top. Then they continued through the night again.

-----

"It's a forest," Aragorn said through squinted eyes, "A forest, Tarish. Is that Mirkwood?"

Aragorn had past Lothlorien woods as he remembered from years past when he ventured there with Hokel. He wasn't sure what was telling him so, but inside he felt as if he were going the right way. Tarish stopped at the entrance of the forest. Aragorn noticed his horse was smelling the ground and after he did so, he looked up to his owner and neighed.

The others were inside the woods and Aragorn knew it. Mirkwood.

A/N: The picture above is acually from a movie called "Hidlago". Yes, that is acually Viggo Mortensen (the actor of Aragorn). I thought it would be cool to have that picture in there since that was what was going on in that scene. :D