Mornie was not, as she had claimed, creating a gift; instead, she was sharpening her weapons as if for a battle or long journey.
"If I didn't know better," Legolas interrupted her, "I'd say you were preparing to follow the Fellowship."
"And what if I was?" she challenged, surprised. "This is my world too. Why can't I also fight for it?"
"When you put it in that manner, no reason at all, as long as you know precisely what you're getting yourself into. This is our one chance. A single mistake-"
"There won't be any mistakes."
"It'll be dangerous."
"Everything has a cost. But my father can't know my plans."
"He won't learn it from me. In fact, we'd better leave soon before he realizes that something is up."
"You're right. Let's go."
December 25th was a chilly day, certainly not the best for starting a journey, unless that journey was to be a complete secret. Mornie refused to come down to see the Fellowship off, pretending to be angry and sad. Arwen came up to check on her, and Mornie knew she would have only done so once they were gone. She ordered Arwen away, keeping up her pretense as she lowered a rope out the window. She made sure to hear Arwen's retreating footsteps before climbing down and carefully slipping over the wall to find the Fellowship's trail. Aragorn had disguised it well, but a trained Ranger could find it, though with difficulty. She followed them for a few days before walking into their camp at nightfall with a fresh kill for dinner. The hobbits started in surprise; Boromir put himself on guard, only recognizing an Elf; Gimli stared in confusion, possibly recognizing the fabled Elf daughter of a Man; Gandalf and Legolas greeted her nonverbally; Aragorn simply glanced up momentarily from the fire he was building.
"Ah, you're finally here," he said.
She looked to Legolas questioningly and accusingly, but he shook his head and pulled his hands up.
"You were so silent behind us, that I thought that you really weren't there."
"Wait, you were expecting me to follow?"
"I wouldn't say expecting. It's more like testing you to see if you would."
"Can we start the cooking now?" Pippin asked.
"Or maybe some simple introductions first?" Boromir suggested.
"Right, sorry. I'm Mornie, daughter of Aragorn. You must be Boromir."
"So how about now?" Pippin continued.
The days passed smoothly as the Fellowship progressed. Mornie helped as much as she could to prove her ability to join it. She grew deeper in what she thought was friendship with Legolas. While she was out hunting one night, Gandalf pulled him aside. Their conversation turned to Mornie.
"You find her attractive," Gandalf confirmed.
"It takes an incredible girl to be able to do what she can: her kindness, her loyalty, her fighting skills."
"Go slowly," Gandalf warned. "She is not quite ready yet."
As Boromir taught the younger hobbits fighting maneuvers, Mornie and Legolas would perform them; however, they would occasionally they would take the combat further. Once, they were presenting the Elvish megil-sigil combination when the fight continued. Legolas locked their swords together and pulled her close: close enough that she could feel his ensuing hesitation. She kneed him in the stomach, then kicked him further, sending him flying backwards and down.
"That is why," she concluded, "you never hesitate. You hesitate, you give you opponent a chance to – oof!"
Her sword flew out of her hand, and the same blow caused her to fall to her knees. She turned to see Legolas standing over her, sword-point down.
"That is why," he joked, "you never leave your opponent armed. You leave your opponent armed, you give your opponent a chance to oomph."
"It wasn't oomph," she explained, "it was oof." She pushed his arm awaysuddenly, his sword flew up in the air, and she caught it. He landed near her sword with"oof."
"See, you got it right that time," she said.
"All right," he replied, picking up her sword, "you want to duel that way, we can do that."
She raised his sword to defend herself as he attacked. She had never seen anyone move a blade so quickly, but she was able to counter. Unfortunately, that was all she was able to do; blow by blow, she countered but was unable to attack. She was unused to the shortness and lightness of this sword, so Legolas quickly had both swords in a V around her neck.
"The lesson I just learned, friends," she addressed the hobbits, "is to know your weapons. However, they aren't always necessary: for instance, right now I could force Legolas into hand to hand combat. Seeing as that isn't what you're learning, though, we'll save it for later. It's your turn now."
As the hobbits began to practice with each other and Boromir, Legolas returned her sword to her, and they went to get water. She heard Gimli griping about something, the hobbits battling hard, and her father getting involved only to get floored.
"What is that?" someone asked, directing all their attention to the sky.
"Nothing, just a bit of cloud," Gimli answered gruffly.
"It's moving fast," Boromir countered, "against the wind."
"Birds?" Mornie questioned.
"Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas exclaimed.
"Hide!" Aragorn ordered. Mornie dove beneath a shrub next to Legolas. The camp was silent in moments before the hoarse calls broke in. She was sure she had never seen or heard them before, but it sounded so familiar. Finally, they left, and the Company rose from shrubs and various rocks.
"Saruman's spies," Gandalf explained to the hobbits. "The passage south is being watched." He turned his eyes to the mountains. "We must take the pass of Caradras."
She had never truly known cold until that part of the journey. The depth of the snow forced them to crawl along at a snail's pace. Mornie mostly stayed on top of the snow, but in a few places she sank down, even where Legolas did not. The path was tricky and treacherously thin at places. They were at one of these when Legolas stopped.
"There's a fell voice on the wind," he said.
She listened, and could hear what he meant. The voice sounded familiar, almost out of a dream.
"It's Saruman," she thought she heard her father say. "He's trying to bring down the mountain."
She tried to say that it couldn't be Saruman, but a huge rumble drowned her out. Suddenly, she was buried in snow, fighting to breathe, working her way up and out. The others soon followed and began to debate whether to go through the mines of Moria, but they were losing time quickly as the temperature continued to drop. Finally, Frodo made his decision.
"We will go through the mines," he stated.
They were back down on solid ground by that evening, January 12th. Just before they went to sleep, however, Legolas approached her.
"Up on the mountain," he asked, "Why did you think that it wasn't Saruman?"
"I don't know," she replied. "I would have sworn I've heard that voice before, but I don't know where. Why doesn't Gandalf want to go into the mines?"
"There are rumors of something down there. Some sort of demon, I don't what," he said. "Hopefully we won't meet it. We'll just have to deal with the dwarves."
"Oh dear," she said, stars glittering.
They reached the gate the next afternoon, though it did them little good: they were unable to open them. The company sat around, waiting.
"Shouldn't a dwarf come out soon?" Mornie asked Legolas.
"Not likely," he shook his head. "Dwarves won't come out unless they have a very good reason."
They watched Aragorn speaking to Boromir and then turning to Merry and Pippin.
"Do you think he'll ever do it?" Legolas asked.
"Do what?"
"Become King of Gondor."
Suddenly, the gates opened, and the company entered. Gimli was boasting about the "hospitality of Dwarves." She felt a coldness and strong smell steal over her, which she first thought was simply because of being underground before she saw the bodies surrounding them. Legolas went over to one and pulled out an arrow.
"Goblins," he said, and they drew their swords, ready to fight.
She heard the screams before she could turn and see what was happening. Something was dragging Frodo backwards out of the gateway. Sam called for her father to help, but she knew he could not face this alone, so she immediately followed him out. She took his lead as he slashed the tentacles of the monster. She heard the arrows of Legolas cutting through air and flesh above her as Boromir joined them. At last it dropped Frodo, and they ran back into the mines as Legolas covered them, the last one inside. The monster collapsed the entrance, and it became utterly dark, with the sound of panting the only sign of life. Gandalf broke the silence, as he illuminated his staff.
"We now have only one choice," he said grimly. "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world. It is three days' journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed."
As they drew down deeper into the dark, the silence began to press in around them. It was almost too quiet: there was no sight or sound of the goblins that had wrecked havoc on the Dwarves. On the second night, it was Mornie's watch. She sat alone with the flickering torch, but within an hour she realized that it was not the only light. Frodo's sword, Sting, was shining blue, warning the proximity of orcs. She doused the torch; now she could hear the echoing footsteps coming nearer. She awakened Legolas, who immediately recognized the orcs approach and motioned for her to remain behind as he went out. Sting's light faded, so, when only the tiniest inkling of light gleamed, she relit the torch. Shortly afterward, Legolas entered.
"Dead?" she whispered, but he shook his head.
"Only led away."
The next day, the Company reached Dwarrowdelf. The greatness of the city could easily be seen, even without its people. The columns reached as high as the oldest trees. Indeed, it seemed like a forest without water or sunlight. Then what was that dot of light in the distance? It seemed like sunlight, but that was impossible. And yet, that is what it was. Who living knew through how many rooms that beam had passed to reach this chamber? There it was, shining upon the tomb of Balin, lord of Moria. The room was filled with skeletons, one holding an ancient, huge book.
"We must move on. We cannot linger," she heard Legolas say.
Gandalf gave his things to Pippin and picked up the book as Gimli mourned.
"They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes. Drums, drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out. They are coming."
At that precise moment, Pippin knocked a skeleton and its armor down a well. It echoed and echoed and echoed as it dropped deeper and deeper and deeper. Finally, there was silence.
"Fool of a Took!" Gandalf said. "Why don't you through yourself down next time and rid us of your stupidity!"
Pippin looked sorry, but there was no time to tell. The clattering that had echoed down was now followed by drums echoing up. This was what the dwarf had meant by the "drums in the deep." Mornie could feel it. The cries of orcs drew closer with the drumming, and Sting shone blue. Boromir ran to the door. Two arrows came whizzing out of the darkness, trying to hit him. Mornie followed Legolas and Aragorn to Boromir as he closed the door, and they barred it with the fallen spears and axes of the dwarves.
"They have a cave troll," Boromir observed.
They prepared for battle. The hobbits stayed behind Gandalf, Gimli mounted Balin's tomb, Boromir drew his sword, and Mornie, Legolas and Aragorn drew their bows to shoot down the first wave of the enemy. Orc axes sliced holes in the door, just big enough for an Elf to shoot an arrow through, which both did. The cave troll, however, was just behind them; it broke down the door, and the true fighting began.