Disclaimer: I don't own Lord of the Rings.

Summary: See Previous Chapters

CHAPTER THREE

Mairi supposed that she should be glad that the council that would result in the formation of the Fellowship would be at Imladris, and that the Dwarves would probably rather avoid Mirkwood, and not just for the lack of poisonous and hostile creatures that flooded the home of Middle-Earth's Most Lusted.

King Thranduil would most likely have thrown the unfortunate fiction travellers straight into the dungeons, which would be unpleasant no matter how well prisoners were (from what Mairi had picked up and recalled from The Hobbit) treated.

Sam had been filled in on the details of the Trilogy by Mairi, who didn't want him to land all of them in trouble they couldn't explain by saying the wrong thing, and was actually very good with languages, as they had discovered when the Dwarves, sick of having to mime or write everything, had tried to teach them the basics of Westron. As the one with the best chance of being understood, he had taken point when they encountered the elves who guarded the borders of Rivendell.

Before either of them could stop her, Suzi-Maria, having suddenly become fluent in elvish, which she either hadn't known or hadn't thought to use before now, had pushed forward and tried to take over. Mairi had not moved fast enough to gag her, and Suzi-Maria had dodged, announcing that they (meaning her, Sam, Rowan and Mairi, the Dwarves having issued apologies to Mairi and Rowan and sped up to get away from Sam and Suzi-Maria once they were within a day's travel of Imladris. While inconvenient, Mairi wouldn't have held it against them if they had chosen to sneak away during the night, rather than bother with fair warning) had come to attend the Council of Elrond and to aid Frodo Baggins. That was bad enough, before she made it worse by saying that there should be no argument over this, because Suzi-Maria had been born with the anguish of always knowing that it was part of their destiny to help in the quest to destroy Sauron's Ring.

Precisely how they had expected the elves to react to this, especially the open knowledge of what was supposed to be a secret, was unclear, but Mairi took a certain amount of vindictive pleasure in that they probably hadn't expected to be quickly escorted to a plain and windowless but at least comfortable room, and locked in. Listening at the keyhole indicated that a guard had been posted, as well.

Mairi stopped being so pleased when she and Rowan were escorted in after them.

Sam was not amused with the situation, or taking it nearly as calmly as the other two - three, once Suzi-Maria had stopped throwing a tantrum. "What do they think they are doing, locking us in like this? They should be welcoming us! This is the last Homely House, supposed to be a sanctuary!"

Oh, so he had been paying attention when Mairi had given him a run-down on the books while journeying to Rivendell with the Dwarves. Mairi didn't know if she should be happy or depressed about that. Luckily Rowan saved her from being forced to reply. "Suzi over there blurted out sensitive information that most of Elrond's people probably don't even know. Of course they're going to be suspicious! They probably think we're spies for the Enemy."

Sam looked indignant. "I just said that we had been abducted from our home and would help them if they helped us."

Oh, so that was the protest in shaky Westron as the Elven guards marched them off. Natasha rolled her eyes. "And from what you told us you said to them, it sounded like a very bad, on-the-spot cover story that you hoped they would be foolish enough to accept. I suppose we should be glad that we're in a locked room, rather than a dungeon."

Food was delivered periodically, but that still left them with very little to do. Throwing riddles from the Hobbit and, when they ran out, from Brian Jaques' Tales of Redwall series at Sam and Suzi-Maria and seeing how long it took them to figure it out was entertaining, but quickly grew old. With a lack of windows and very little in the way of furniture, 'I Spy' also very quickly lost any of its meager entertainment value.

The elves had confiscated her novels and notebooks, probably to see if there were any plans by the enemy hidden in there, but had at least left her A & S kit alone, as there was very little that could be done with two needles, a few balls of wool, a sewing kit, some cloth and some embroidery thread. Mairi knew it had become Really Bad when Rowan, bored out of his skull, had actually asked if there was anything in her A & S bag that he could do. Most A & S projects included calligraphy, artwork, or some kind of needlework, and he knew it. He also knew that textiles and art were very much not his strong point. Luckily, Mairi's bag of many, many tricks included the hemmed pieces of a tunic she had been sewing for the next time she managed to guilt/drag/beg one of her male friends or relatives to accompanying her to an Event. Picking out some sewing thread, pins, and a needle, she handed it over.

Now Rowan had managed to sew one side of the tunic together, and was carefully starting to pin the other, and Mairi was busy with luceting a ball of wool into a long cord, which would then be used as an armor or face-guard tie by a fencer or heavy fighter when whatever they were using broke. Mairi and the other A & S people often did a roaring trade in little things like that, during or shortly after one a war or Crown Tourney, where equipment went through hard use.

Both were ignoring their unwilling companions, who had nothing to entertain their minds. Mairi would be quite willing to dispute that either of them had enough of a brain capacity to have any thought to spare for boredom in the first place, but that was a problem that had yet to come up.

As a result, they were the last to notice when the door opened, letting in light and a few elven guards.

Looking up from where she was carefully untangling her thread, Mairi scrambled to her feet and curtsied politely. She hoped that Suzi-Maria still spoke Sindarin, because the guards probably wouldn't take to well to what verbal Dwarvish she had picked up on (mostly swear-words), and she had nothing to write on.

The talk with Lord Elrond was a bit of an experience.

Mairi thought that perhaps it was the fact that Suzi-Maria was used to people automatically believing whatever she had to say and falling at her feet that shocked the girl so much, since Lord Elrond did neither. In fact, he stared at all of them with outright suspicion, which Mairi and Rowan found reasonable, but Sam and Suzi-Maria did not.

Finally, Mairi got fed up. "Look, Suzi, just stop being fancy and repeat what I say. We'll finish much faster and then you can go look at the pretty elves. Otherwise, let one of the boys do the talking."

Suzi-Maria shot her a nasty look, but agreed. Mairi gave thanks for small blessings. "Repeat after me: We are sorry to have caused you trouble, My Lord. We were abducted and found ourselves abandoned in the plains between here and the Misty Mountains, where we encountered Master Gloin and his company. They were kind enough to allow us to travel with them in the hopes that you might be able to offer your wisdom."

Suzi-Maria repeated that, looking sulky, and conveyed Lord Elrond's response. "He asked how we came to know of the ring, and why I thought I should be part of any quest whatsoever."

Mairi let out a breath. At least they weren't being thrown back into the room or tossed out of Rivendell entirely. Rowan provided the answer this time. "You and Sam come from a different village to me and Mairi. Some of your captors mentioned it before they took us, which explains our ignorance. You have a fanciful sense of adventure and have long dreamed of traveling and helping to save the world from darkness."

Suzi-Maria shot him an even nastier look than she had Mairi. Rowan had been on the wrong end of nastier looks from scarier girls, several of whom could wield blunt but heavy weapons, however, and remained unruffled. Scowling, Suzi-Maria did as she was told.

Lord Elrond still looked skeptical, and said something in return. Suzi-Maria translated. "He says that he will have to discuss this with a council, and in the meantime, we will be taken back to our rooms."

Mairi curtsied and Rowan bowed, elbowing Sam before he could say something rude, and the two SCA visitors dragged their companions with them as they were escorted out of the study.

At least this time she had her books back.

sca

lotr

sca

lotr

A/N: Hello, everyone! How was your [Insert December Holiday Here]? It's one of my rare moments in possession of Internet access, so I'm posting while I can.

Love to hear what you all think!

Nat