Ten enquier after my brother's failure to prove my research to Father, we received a being that made him begin to realize how correct we were. A court was called for the one carrying the being-a court in which I, a female, could not take part in and so had to eavesdrop where I knew the walls were thin. One of the Istari brought this being. His title was Gandalf the Grey; he called the creature, hideous as it was in the one glimpse I managed to steal, the rather cruel name of Gollum. (It did not take me long to discover the reason behind this name. It comes from an odd swallowing noise made in the back of one's throat. Gollum did this incessantly.) It was, he said, a product of the One Ring. This was his example, for us to keep and protect, of what that single ring, filed with malice and hate and power of the blackest kind, could do to one. As he said this, a hushed sea of voices swept around the court. Although many knew as I did what ring he spoke of, just as many did not, and while I knew the tale from my research, I was curious as to what the Istari might know that I did not. My brother asked Father to request explanation. Here I will recount his words as clearly as my mind remembers:

'In the Second Age, Sauron began gaining power and, alarmed at the growing power of the Númenoreans, he chose to begin building his stronghold in Mordor. Soon, the most skilled of his Elven-smiths began to create the Rings of Power. Unbeknownst to the rest of Middle-Earth, he also created his own ring, the One Ring, with this inscription:

Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky

    Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

    One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them,

    One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie'

At this point, the whispers once more rose up, only to be shot down again by what I imagined to be the piercing stare of my father.

'However, Sauron's plans were discovered by Celebrimbor, who made the Three. During the war that followed, those rings were hidden, restraining Saurons power, although not as much as the world would have liked. The One Ring still offered power enough to destroy much of what was once good and pure. Of course, even his dark power could not be limitless, and during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men, Sauron was overthrown by Elendil and Gil-galad, although they died as well. The One Ring was taken by Isildur, the king of Gondor, who would have fared better if he had thrown that Ring into the depths of Mount Doom. Unfortunately, being a Man, he fell to the Ring's lure. He carried it with him, and eventually it brought about his downfall. Thus the Ring passed out of history until close to the closing of the Third Age. (This was obviously not in his presentation, as he did not know yet when the Third Age would end.) Now, events go into pure speculation, but this speculation is probably very close to the truth. A sort of river-dwelling Halfling named Sméagol is thought to have been with his friend Déagol on his birthday. Déagol found the Ring, and Sméagol murdered his friend for the Ring. He began using the Ring's unique power to make the wearer invisible in order to dicover secrets and to hurt all others. He became known as Gollum, and of course was shunned from his home and set out until he came to hide at the root of the Misty Mountains.  Then the Ring was hidden, and might have remained so forever had a close relative in species, a Hobbit come along. This Hobbit was called Bilbo Baggins.'

Now all present began to laugh, for they knew the Halfling, and of his adventures. Gandalf finished his story with many more interruptions, covering the tale of how Baggins found the Ring and how Gollum had revealed Hobbits to the Dark Lord.

Now even my father had a surprise for me. It seemed he had long ago sent out aids to pursue Gollum for Gandalf, although at the time he knew not what the corrupted Halfling's importance was. Being told that, I was not astonished to find Father agreeing to hold Gollum in the prisons, safely out of the way of curious eyes. All peoples with us in court that day swore to reveal none of the words that had been spoken that day to anyone, even those closest to them. I was not under this oath for obvious reasons.

Long after the council was ended my mind continued to return to what Gandalf had said. The words on the rind rang through my mind until I thought I had gone mad, but still they did not stop until I came upon them once more during the research I had thrust myself into. They were different, yet in my limited understanding of the Black Language, the same. I dared not read them aloud, yet the sound in my mind rolled out so I feared my Father would hear and know what I was doing.

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul

Even so, the language fascinated me. I searched it out in books and learned it. I needed to hear it. I began to fear others, allowing myself to be consumed by the language. My brother worried, but when he asked I would tell him it was nothing, just a troublesome part of my research. In this way I learned the language all foul and dark creatures must know, and hated myself for the feelings the consumption had left me longing for when my study was through. It was because of this that I began to train with my brother even more rigorously, as I needed something to put my energies into. Still, I always returned to my room filled with an energy that would not leave. Even now I don't believe I ever overcame that particular addiction, and am glad I never thought to take up the dark magicks during those times.

Throughout all this my life did not alter greatly until one day. One day was the one that finally pushed the chain of events over the top along with my brother, father, kingdom, and me. Gollum escaped.