Chapter 1

141(ish) years later…

A dove's call echoed through the Old Forest. And the answering call came from the edge of the forest, near the mountains bordering Buckland. The dove flew toward his answer and was met by a gloved hand reaching out for the dove to perch on. The owner of the hand waited patiently as the dove landed on her hand. The elleth brought the dove to her chest and started to descend from her perch in a tree. Her twin, Elithraniel, waited with their horses as she walked up.

"So what does our old friend Gandelf say?" Elithraniel asked, a bit impatient to move on.

"Patience, Eli. I have not opened the letter yet." the elleth scolded her sister. She took the folded parchment out of the dove's beak, opened it and read it aloud.

Dear Elithraniel and Celebrindal,

I am writing to you to tell you that we have our burglar and are heading in the direction of Imladris. Thorin does not like the idea of letting you two joining us as our trackers, but I have shown him reason and he, though reluctantly, agrees.

But you must remember that he does not know of your type of race, for he does not take kindly to elves. We will meet you in five nights at the northern edge of the South Downs. You know the place.

Your loving and wise friend,

Gandelf the Grey

"Well, we best be heading that way, Cele. This poor dove has been traveling for about two days, if he came from Bag End."

"Yes, Eli. Let us move on, for I sense an evil coming from the mountains." Celebrindal replied, tensing as she glanced toward the mountains. Elithraniel nodded and mounted her small bay gelding. Celebrindal mounted her dapple grey mare and they raced south toward the place where Gandelf said they would camp.

As he watched the sun set, he pondered as to why he didn't hear from the two ellyths. Could they be in danger? Could they have found an evil too great to handle and either died fighting or got captured and tortured? Did the dove not make it to them in time? So many questions raced through his head as Balin told the story of why Thorin had a grudge against orcs.

"And the Pale Orc? What happened to him?" Bilbo asked

"He slunk back into the hole from whence he came. The filth died of his wounds long ago," Thorin answered, disgust and sorrow clear in his tone. Balin looked at me, for we both knew different.

Then, he heard it! A nightingale's song! He smiled, he only knew of two people who could imitate the little bird's song so perfectly. As he turned toward the woods, two cloaked figures emerged from the trees leading a bay gelding and a grey mare along behind them. Gandelf stood up, put a hand on his chest, and bowed his head in greeting to them.

"Mae Govennen, Elithraniel a Celebrindal," he greeted.

"Mae Govennen, Mithrandir," they greeted, in unison; in return.

"I trust your journey was free of troubles?"

"The only thing that attacked us was the brambles, Gandelf," Elithraniel replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. Gandelf chuckled, he always liked Elithraniel for her dry sense of humor. Celebrindal glared at her twin, whom paid her no heed, then turned her attention to the dwarves around them.

"Well, Gandelf. Are you not going to introduce us to these dwarves, or are we going to have to guess their names ourselves?" Elithraniel asked, trying to keep the tension to a minimum.

"Yes, Elithraniel, you are correct. Let me introduce you to Nori, Dori, Ori, Bifur, Bomber, Bofur, Oin, Gloin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Bilbo is the hobbit, Balin, and Thorin…" As Gandelf called out their names the each either said 'hello', grunted, or nodded and smiled in turn. Bilbo came up and shook their hands. But just as Gandelf was about to spout Thorin's full name, Celebrindal interrupted.

"Thorin Oakensheild, son of Thrain, son of Thror, King under the Mountain. It is an honour and pleasure to finally meet you," Celebrindal said as she drew back her hood and bowed to him. Elithraniel's eyes widened at her sister's boldness, as she too pulled her hood back so all could see her face. All of the dwarves, with the exception of Balin, Fili, Kili and Bofur, tensed upon seeing their pointed ears and long red hair of the Sylvan elves.

"Have you two had your evening meal?" Gandelf coughed, interrupting the untrusting glares aimed at the two ellyths.

"We have not eaten since we ran out of food, and that was nearly two weeks ago. We have not been able to even snare or kill any game since then," Elithraniel admitted, sheepishly.

"Well, it looks like you have some fattenin' up to do," Bofur said, "Here, have some rabbit stew." He offered them each a bowl, which they took gratefully. When they had found a place to sit and had finished their supper, Bilbo piped up with a request.

"Do you have songs of your homeland?" he asked shyly

"Why yes, Master Hobbit. Would you like to hear one?" Celebrindal confirmed.

"That would be nice." Cele turned to her sister and they discussed amongst themselves. They nodded in agreement, Eli pulled out her lap harp, and Cele her violin. Elithraniel and Celebrindal started to sing in their high soprano voice.

"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay

"Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
"Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
"And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
"Bless you with love for the road that you go

"May you sail far to the far fields of fortune
"With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
"And may you need never to banish misfortune
"May you find kindness in all that you meet

"May there always be angels to watch over you
"To guide you each step of the way
"To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
"Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

Cele began a violin solo that left no one with a dry eye. Eli glanced at Thorin that, though he tried to hold it in and hide it, he did not have a dry eye either.

"May you bring love and may you bring happiness
"Be loved in return to the end of your days
"Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
"I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay

"May there always be angels to watch over you
"To guide you each step of the way
"To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
"Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay

"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay
"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay
"Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay
"Loo-li, lai-lay"

As the last note faded into the dark canyon, there was a dumbfounded silence preceded it. Gandelf smiled and clapped quietly in approval, and soon a few others followed. He looked over at Elithraniel and saw that she was uneasy.

"What is wrong, little one?" Gandelf asked telepathically. She looked at him, her eyes filled with anxiety and worry.

"I sense a foul presence out there, Gandelf. It is not the same as it was in the Old Forest on the outskirts of Buckland. This one is even more horrible than that one," she said unease filling her voice. Gandelf nodded as he scratched his chin.

"We will talk about this at another time. Right now, Fili, Kili, Bilbo, Bofur, and Balin are showering you and your sister with compliments," he said as he smiled and motioned over to the four dwarves and one hobbit that were talking about how beautiful their voices were. She turned her head to look and she smiled. He knew that she loved compliments, even though she was a very modest elf.

"Enough!" Thorin's voice boomed across the camp, "I think it is time that we all went to sleep. Dwalin, you take the first watch." Everyone fell silent and went about getting ready for bed. Gandelf shook his head at the dwarf. He had more cause than most to hate elves, but his hatred should not be aimed solely on these two small ellyths, who were small even by elven standards.

"Gandelf, may I speak with you for a moment?" Thorin asked as he headed over to the ponies for a little privacy.

"Of course, Thorin. What is on your mind?"

"Why did you not tell me that they were elves?" Thorin hissed when Gandelf caught up with him.

"I did not tell you because I knew you would react like this."

"I do not want elves! You know more than most as to why I do not want them. They just stood by and watched while the Lonely Mountain was taken by Smaug," Thorin argued.

"There is more to these two particular elves than meets the eye. Elves can see farther, hear better, and sense things that could put all of us in potential danger. You will need them more than you know," Gandelf reasoned, "Even now the younger of the two senses something. An evil roams free through these lands. She sensed something similar in the Old Forest."

Thorin turned and looked toward the fire and saw Elithraniel's gaze locked intently on them. He saw in her eyes pain, anxiety, worry, and tension that came from years of carrying a burden.

"Do you know what kind of evil?" Gandelf turned and looked at the dwarven king. He was about to answer when he heard a howl of a warg echoing through the canyon and looked at Elithraniel and saw that she was tenser than she was before as she looked around for the source of the howl.

"Sleep little one. We will watch 'til dawn," Gandelf assured. Elithraniel's eyes locked with his.

"I cannot, Gandelf. There is too much evil out there to even think of sleep." He nodded in understanding.

"To answer question Thorin, not even Eli knows what evil lies around us. She cannot sleep because she does not know what sleeps in the shadows," Gandelf said as he turned to Thorin.

"She is not alone." And went to go lay down for the night.

As she stared at the fire, her twin stirred and looked at her.

"Eli, you need to rest. You have not slept in weeks. Not since The Old Forest," Celebrindal whispered as she sat up.

"You know I cannot, Cele. I have sensed a great evil stirring and I cannot sleep because of it," Eli hissed. Cele sighed. She knew it was going to be hard to get through to her sister when she was acting like this.

As he took his night watch from Balin and brooded over what Gandelf had told him. Until he heard someone mumble in their sleep about food and someone should go hang Smaug over an ice-cold bucket of water. He smirked. Ah! The things you hear coming from your friends mouths in their sleep. Suddenly, a very feminine scream rang through the night. He spun around; pulling his sword out at the same time. His eyes darted around trying to see what caused her distress. When his eyes finally landed on the elleth that the scream had emanated from, he saw that his nephews, Bofur, and Gandelf were running over to her. He could see tears streamed down her face as he approached in hopes to calm her a little. The dwarves parted the waters as he walked closer to the younger of the elves that slept amongst them.

"Are you alright, Eli?" Kili asked as Thorin knelt in front of her. Eli shook her head vigorously. And started mumbling something in what sounded like elvish.

"I cannot quite understand her, but I think she said something about smelling smoke, seeing flames, and hearing screams of agony," Gandelf translated, "I cannot tell much more than that." Thorin nodded and placed his hand under her chin and lifted it so she would meet his gaze. When she finally did, he saw that her silver-blue eyes were clouded. Not in any physical pain, not in sickness as he had seen often in his grandfather, but in memory and emotional pain. The same pain only a choice few saw in his own eyes.

"Oh lass," Bofur comforted, "It's alright. We're all here to protect from the horrors of the night." They all nodded in response, except Dwalin and Thorin.

"Why don't you sleep between my brother and I? It might help," Fili offered. Eli turned her gaze away from Thorin, for he still held her chin, and set it on his blonde nephew. She nodded shyly in affirmation, and followed the brothers to their sleeping spot. She looked back briefly at Thorin, and nodded in thanks before laying down between them and snuggling up to Fili. Fili froze momentarily, before smiling, wrapping his arms around her, and falling asleep. And for the rest of the night, all was still