"Now, Annica, surely you realize that I did not invite you here simply for the pleasure of your company."
 This didn't surprise Annica.
  
"Nor have I summoned you here as a gesture of false solicitude."
 This did. Annica had thought that her aunt had invited her purely because it was proper and was good for her public image. Apparently not. There was a slight pause, as Lady Eldira peered at her niece with the same bold scrutiny Annica remembered from childhood.
 

 Swept off my feet
Flying past the world
Taken by surprise,
Caught in a wild blur
Pictures and feelings
Pass by on this train
People wave,
Then say goodbye
As quickly as they came 

Taking a map,
To see where I am
I plotted out every course,
Every place, every land,
Yet I feel more lost
Then I think I’ve ever been 

I’ve left something behind
I used to hold inside
It slowly faded
From thought and mind

On my bookshelf, right in front of me as I type, there is my treasured bible from my childhood, worn, bookmarked and doggy-eared, but getting dusty. Next to it is an English interpretation of the Koran (the Koran can’t actually be translated, so instead I have: The Meaning of the Glorious Koran). This is not a very worn text – I’ve opened it a few times but I have never digested it. Next to the translated Koran is: A Simple Guide to Hinduism. This is only slightly more worn than the Koran.

From the Shire
Three is company
Then short cut to mushrooms
Dinner at farmer Maggot’s
Song at the Barrow Downs
To the inn at Bree
Eaten at Midge Water Marshes
Then on to Weathertop
Knife in the dark
Stop at Trollshawe
Flight to the Ford
Healed at Rivendell
Council of Elrond
Then to the passage south
Over Caradhas
Down Caradhas
Through the Mines of Moria
Fight at Balin’s tomb
Over the Bridge of Khazad-Dum
Flight to Lothlorien
Caught by Elves
Greeted by Celeborn