Author's Note: I have yet to see the new hobbit movie, even though it has been out for months. I will just have to wait for it to come out on DVD…. So you can see why it took a year for the next part of this story to come out. I am a busy bee indeed. I might add a chapter to all my unfinished stories this week.
"You are free to go" The King said. He was free from the burn of the dragon's fire. Though occasionally he would involuntarily shudder from the means he took to get rid of it. Trust me, that is saying something. The Elven King rarely was unsettled.
"If we are on even terms, then may I ask a favor of you?" Vera asked, for she knew that she had to as quickly as possible visit Sir Sycamore.
"If I grant you a favor then we would not be on even terms anymore," The King replied. Though in truth he was not keen on keeping tabs anymore, and was more incline to indulge the girl a favor.
"I need a horse, and perhaps a guide to take me to the White Tree of Gondor," Vera asked.
"Do you not know where the tree is? Did you not plant it yourself?" The King asked rather too playfully for his previous character. His subjects took notice of it though they did not show it.
"The water has cut great valleys into the land. Volcanoes have spewed forth great hills. Time erases all things. Places where there will be no trees to tell me the way. There are great chasms and caves which I know nothing about." Vera replied rather forlorn.
"Indeed, since if you knew, you would have asked for a boat" The King replied, and the barest hint of laughter touched his eyes.
"I will take you" Legolas replied. Speaking quite frankly out of turn.
"I will take you," Tauriel said stepping in front Legolas. Speaking even more out of turn.
"Silence!" The King commanded, his stern demeanor reappearing once more "This is a rather long journey. You must also visit the other trees? I would not send my son or the lead of my guard to aid you. Of course you can see why"
"The path of Willow, I hear, will be safe travels since the Master of Nature keeps the road" Vera replied. "I would go it alone after arriving at Minas Tirith"
"And the Elm of the East in Mordor? It is a foul land once housing the greatest evil in all of history," Thranduil countered. He did not suspect what was to follow
"I will not visit the Elm, for I greatly hope that it is dead," Vera said "It was not my fault; I planted it under great duress"
"What are you saying?" Thranduil asked. He knew there was a story; his interrogator instincts told him so.
And then the two Elves that previously escorted her here remembered something. The trees were planted in places where great kingdoms would rise.
"You planted the Elm of the east for a beacon of evil" Accused the Elf. Everyone was speaking out of turn today, which was starting to miff the King.
"Explain yourself Vera" The King said sternly.
The Brown Wizard had also heard of this in whispers and rushed sentences from Gandalf. He was curious now to hear it from the Girl herself.
Vera burst into tears suddenly, as she told her tale between wretched forlorn cries.
"I planted three trees of my own will, in happiness. One for my friend Tom Bombadil the Master of Nature. When he met Goldberry, I realized I was quite lonely. I decided to travel the land to see what it had in store for me. The Elven were building the beginnings of this great cavern when I arrived. I told them I would plant them a tree. It would bless the land and it would become a beautiful forest. Then I traveled south. There were Men, brutish and poorly mannered but fun loving and wild. I planted them a tree on the mountain, and told them it would hold the rock. They began to build a great fortress"
Then the tale finally turned dark. The room was silent, not even a hushed whisper, only the ragged sobs of the poor girl.
"I went east. There was something there, dark and cruel. It made the Men become vile beast. The Elven turned into dark creatures with sharp fangs. They became Orcs and Goblins. I wouldn't plant them a tree. They captured me, burned me with dragons fire." Vera continued
Thranduil suspected they did other things to her that she didn't mention. Great horrors flashed across her eyes and remained unspoken.
"I planted them a tree, and I sang to it a song which would make it a king's beacon one day. It has always been my greatest regret, that I did not die instead. The great evil would have not taken root in this world." Vera finally finished, and then she collapsed on her knees in quiet regretful sobs.
"My sweet cousin, of course it is not your fault" Radagast said soothingly taking the girl into his tiny arms. They could only reach three quarters way way around her shoulders.
Vera let a final sob out. She wiped her eyes. The expression of ancient sadness that clouded her eyes faded. Her face became blank.
"Leave at day break. Travel the road west to the river. There you will meet Elrond who will take you to Minas Tirith. He along with his family will be traveling there anyway. There is a celebration in three weeks time. Aragon's son Eldarion will be turning two. "
"If you knew all that then why…" Radagast began.
"It is not your place to question a King" Thranduil said acidly. Then he swiftly rose from his throne and walked out the door disappearing from sight.
"Come Vera, we will leave in the morning at first light" Radagast said pulling along the limp doll that was Vera.
The Elves worked silently through the night, since they required little sleep. They packed two ponies for the travelers. They filled the sacks with lembas and mead by orders of the King. Vera had little rest as well. She tossed fervently through the night. She didn't expect to tell her sad story to everyone. She knew that story was not as sad as she explained. Was she not rescued in the end by the Valar, her body repaired, her heart restored? Did they not take her across the vale, and cure her sorrows with the wonders of magic? Did they not return her child like state, innocent and carefree?
Vera finally fell asleep to the lull of her own singing. The elves outside her room, strictly there to guard her (lest she escape in the night), became quite enchanted at her singing. She dreamed of the Willow, and how it had become a grumpy old stump of a tree, long to hear her voice again.
Radagast gently shook Vera awake. It was still dark.
"Hurry, breakfast is cooking, and then we'll have to be on our way," He said rather in a rush but he seemed quite cheerful.
The rest had restored Vera's humor as well. She quickly got dressed in her silky white floral clothing and ran downstairs. There was a small meal at the head of a long carved table. Radagast beckoned Vera to sit next to him. Legolas sat beside Tauriel, the seat to the left of him empty. Thranduil was not present, and it looked as no one was expecting him. Everyone had already begun eating
Suddenly a burst of laughter erupted in the hall. It was a booming gruff laugh. Vera turned her head towards the source of it. A hairy furry dwarf peeked in. Legolas broke into a beaming smile.
"It is good to see you again Gimli," Legolas said first.
"Aye, tis been too long indeed" Gimli heartily replied. His beady eyes that seemed to be hidden in his monstrous beard scanned the room.
"And who is the lass?" Gimli asked, eyeing Vera suspiciously.
"I am Vera the Green of the order Wise," Vera said politely. Gimli simply laughed and took a seat next to Legolas.
"Oh I suspect that we were short on your kind. It's good then" Gimli said taking a mouthful of food.
"It will be good to visit Aragon, the lot of us together again" Gimli said cheerfully "Except Frodo of course, I was sad to see him go"
"Oh no, did your friend…" Vera asked, her voice full of concern but Gimli cut her off quickly.
"Nay, he took off for the undying lands, he and Gandalf." Gimli said with sadness, well as much sadness as one can convey with two cheeks full of buttered bread.
"We best be going soon" Legolas said, when everyone had their fill. Radagast took some bread and reached up to his hair. Two blue jays quickly snatched it up.
"Good" Radagast simply said.
Three ponies and two horses awaited them at the gate. Two blond ponies packed by the elves, and third grey one that belonged to Gimli.
"It will be three days travel through the forest. We will meet Elrond by the river," Legolas explained as he took the lead. The path of the forest was well kept now that the sinister elements had since receded. They traveled comfortably until the sunset and they stopped to make camp by the side of the road.
"What is this?" Vera asked curiously as she unloaded the things in her pack. There were tiny packages wrapped in green leaves.
"Lembas, er… waybread. Precautionary, I doubt our travels will be quite that long. The gesture was nice," Legolas said rather awkwardly. He wondered why his father would ask such a thing to be packed.
"So it's food," Vera said cautiously. She opened the package and took a small nibble of it. It was sweet and pleasant. She felt instantly full. "That is rather interesting"
Gimli laughed at her Vera's perplexed expression. Radagast joined in when her expression did not change.
"What is in this?" Vera finally asked looked at the bread with an intensity that could cook an egg.
"Secret" Tauriel simply replied with a smirk.
"I'd rather have some apples to be honest," Radagast said while tending to the blue jays. He sighed, there seemed to be none twittering about these days.
Tauriel swiftly stood up and walked to a nearby tree to grab some apples for Radagast.
"Poisoned, the ones on the right, the ones to left should be okay" Vera called after her.
"Magical Elven bread might be a mystery, but trees are my strength" Vera shrugged after Tauriel gave her a quizzical look.
Though mostly purged of evil, it was still quite gloomy in the forest. It was wet and moldy. Wherever the ponies trotted, there seemed to be sound of wet mud. As the time progressed, Vera seemed to develop a layer of muck on her skin that would not be removed. The Elves seemed impervious to it. Tauriel and Legolas both looked impeccable to a fault.
Vera was sleeping as soundly as one could, in a damp cold uninviting forest. The trees covered her for the most part from any wet dripping things. She was awoken by a rasping gasping sound. Her eyes reluctantly peeled open. Legolas was standing over Gimli. He was laying flat on the ground gagging at something. Vera shot up and dashed to the scene. Beside Gimli lay a small apple with a single bite in it.
"Oh no, he ate one of the poisoned ones!" Vera said with intense alarm.
"I told him not to, but he didn't hear me," The tree in question said. "It's a sleeping apple, once he's stops gagging…"
Gimli finished gagging and immediately started snoring.
"I suppose it's for the best, I'm not particularly fond of dwarfs. In fact, it was dwarves that chopped down my uncle. He made a fine dresser but still," The tree finally said.
"How are we to wake him up" Vera said.
"Only a drink of water from the great river can awaken him of course, silly girl" The young tree said. Then and older tree, a broad and twisted Birch reprimanded him
"Do not speak to the Emerald Sower this way" He said to the young apple tree.
"Forgive him my lady, he is only fifty. He's just a wee sapling by all accounts" The Birch said to Vera with reverence. "That's why he makes all these sleeping apples. He's going through a rebellious phase"
"We are still a day's ride from the River" Vera sighed. "I suppose there is nothing to be done"
Vera saw Tauriel take a few of the sleeping apples and tuck them into her pack. Vera wondered why, but decided against asking.
Legolas took care of the sleeping passenger. He combed out his beard and braided it into a fine tapestry during the night. Vera thought it strange how Legolas doted on the Dwarf but did not say anything about it. Tauriel seemed not to mind it either, in fact she found it quite amusing. All the time there was the sound of soft snoring, which put a hazy feeling in the air.
Vera was longing for some sunlight desperately after three days. When the light finally broke into view signaling the end of the forest, Vera found herself galloping at great speed towards it.
Open fields, glorious. It was now early fall, the fields were covered in amber wheat and tall yellow grass.
"It's only half a day's walk to the river, perhaps we should stop for some lunch and be on our way" Legolas suggested.
"He's missed two meals" Vera said nodding to the sleeping dwarf "I wonder if he'll be upset by it"
"Dwarves are a bit touchy on the subject of meals, best not mention it to him I suppose" Tauriel said with a smile, but her eyes seemed wistful and sad.
Vera noted her sadness but seemed again reluctant to bring it up. She instead plucked the yellow grass and golden blades of wheat and fashioned a glorious crown. Truly, it was though she weaved sunlight into it. It was fit for a queen. Then she placed it on Tauriel's head.
"I am but a lowly Silvan elf, I am not worthy of a crown as fine as this" Tauriel said blushing. She did not remove the crown.
"Nay, you are indeed worthy of it" Vera said cheerfully. Then she took more wheat from the field and as though by magic produced a frilly airy golden frock. Vera's previous dress that she fashioned from the lilies growing by Dale had become soiled and ragged in the forest. Tauriel noted that Vera still had her original green clothing with her. She wondered why Vera did not wear that instead.
"Ah I feel so much better now" Vera said after she discarded the Lily dress.
They begun to pack their things up to a make the last legs of the journey when Radagast sighed a melancholy sigh..
"Vera…. I cannot leave the forest, something is wrong, I must stay behind with the Blue Jays for now" Radagast suddenly said solemnly. Vera nodded as though she knew he would say it.
"I know Cousin, you must turn around and tend this forest a bit longer, and I know the trees will help you in lieu of me" Vera said sadly. Radagast gave Vera a hug and scuttled off into the forest. I know it might seem a bit callus to leave with so little a word. Though you should have suspected as much. The Istari were notorious for leaving travelers at the edges of forests.
They made it to River at last. Along the edge was a string of nine small boats (Each could fit about five men comfortably). Elves seemed to be waiting along the banks, singing merry songs. Silver tents of strange gossamer material were dotting the shore suggesting that they had been there for at least a night.
"I will revive my sleeping friend, Tauriel perhaps you should introduce Vera to Elrond" Legolas suggested. Tauriel nodded
"This way Vera" Tauriel gestured with her hands. They made their way through the camp. Elven chatter died as all eyes followed the Girl. A stern looking elf sat upon a log, flanking his sides a pair of twins.
"Lord Elrond, It is good to see you again. This is Vera the Green of the Order Wise" Tauriel said formally gesturing to the girl.
"Why do they not call you the Golden?" Elrond mused noting her clothing. Vera had suddenly become frightfully shy at the sight of them. They were not like the Elves that she was used to. They seemed different somehow, less ethereal and yet lovelier to behold. She stepped behind Tauriel's leg, hiding as a small child might.
"The Woodland King sent us word of you, he wrote that you were bold and full of fire" Elrond teased "You do not seem that way to me, a prison escapee, a song peddler, and a skilled trickster, hardly?"
Vera looked at the Elrond then to the ground then to Elrond again, and then her eyes flickered between the twins.
"These are my sons, Elrohir and Elladan" Elrond said nodding first his left then to his right. Vera wanted to say something but her mouth suddenly felt very dry, and her tongue as heavy as stone.
"Greetings Wise one, It is an honor to meet you" Elrohir said respectfully. Vera blushed, and her rosy cheeks offset her startled green eyes.
"Likewise Vera the Green of the order Wise" Elladan continued. He paused hoping Vera would say something at last. She opened her mouth then closed it again. Then barely a whisper.
"Hello" She said rather curtly. Then she paused for a long while. They all looked at her perplexed. It was oddly rude to say so little. Then she broke the silence with a long ramble
"What I mean to say is… you all seem different. Oh no… I didn't mean it like that, I mean you seem quite strange" Vera stumbled through her words. Her face had turned tomato red at this point. It was oddly rude to say so much.
"I don't mean strange strange, but a pleasant and lovely strange. I mean you are all so beautiful... well all elves are but not like you. You're different, like how emperor and monarch butterflies are so different"
At this point Elladan and Elrohir exchanged smirked glances. Elrond seemed on the verge of smiling, although no physical changes appeared on his solemn face. He knew what she was hinting at.
"We are half-elven" Elrond finally said, cutting into Vera's long-winded speech. She was in the middle of comparing them to a warm autumn day and other elves to a crisp brisk winter morning, much to Tauriel's chagrin.
Vera stopped and looked at them all again, realization touching her eyes.
"I have seen none like you before" Vera finally said in a hushed voice. Vera had crossed the vale before such things had happened. The Eldar did not like Men at first.
"I feel as though I can say the same of you" Elrohir said with an inviting smile.
"Bah, I am just a girl really, a botanist more than anything else" Vera said shrugging.
"Can I have some of your hair" Vera said with enthusiasm. I suppose you should excuse Vera. The giving of one's hair is a most private affair among elves, more private than sleeve pulling and resting one's cheek to another's back. In all fairness, it is a rather private affair among men as well. Vera again, was new to the world. The trading of hair was not uncommon among the Wise.
Elrohir turned red from such a shocking statement. Even a moment of surprise crossed Elrond's face. Tauriel had been foolish enough to take a sip of water at that point only to choke on it.
"Sorry, was that a strange request? It is only because I do not own such a thing" Vera clarified. Although it was not really a clarification to anyone.
"You have some sort of hair collection" Elladan said slowly, his face dubious.
"Sure" Vera said cheerfully. She took her scepter from out of her frock. It had a pocket-like flap on it near the left side of her ribs.
The scepter was set with a lovely white stone. Elves are quite fond of white starlit gems and so they did not immediate notice the hair wrapped around the handle just shy of the setting.
A single strand of red hair was the first.
"From the Master of Nature, Tom Bombadil" Vera explained. Elrond's eyes widened.
Then a silver blond strand, long enough to be wrapped around several times.
"From the Moon light Queen, Enelyë" Vera said quickly, she was already on to the next strand but stopped due to the gasps.
"This hair is from the first awakened elves" Elrond said astonished.
"Yes indeed, though she did not seems keen to give it to me" Vera explained. Elrond hand shaking reached out to brush his fingertips against it. Vera did not mind
A midnight black hair, gleaming like the ink of the sky.
"From the Second Born Sun King, Heleth. I remember it very clearly, t'was the first time I met mortals"
Vera said jubilantly.
Then a thick straw colored hair.
"From Leybl, skin changer, turned into all manner of friendly beasts" Vera continued. There were eight more hairs down the line. However, Legolas had returned with a newly revived Gimli
"Lord Elrond, It is good to see you again" Legolas said with a respectful bow.
"Eh Elrond, Long time no see" Gimli said, then a curt bow as an afterthought.
After a moment, Elrohir plucked a singular strand of his long Raven hair and handed it to Vera. She gleefully with an excited yip, wrapped the hair around her scepter.
Legolas exchanged quizzical looks with everyone. Then everyone burst into open laugher, even Elrond managed a light chuckle.