Making friends and influencing people

CHAPTER 7

Flames, smoke, shadows, a fight in the deep, fleeting images of a group of people fleeing into the light, two women fighting in the middle of a battle in her golden forest, these are the thoughts that travel through her mind as Galadriel wakes up from her fitful sleep. She glances over at her husband, who is sleeping peacefully as a babe put in bed after suckling.

"Sometimes I just want to knock him upside his head, when he can sleep like that and I cannot," thought Galadriel, as she restrains her hand from striking Celeborn.

She rises from bed, and goes to look out of her window upon her forest bathed in the morning light beneath her home. Her thoughts of the message about the fellowship, which she had received from Elrond, still weighed heavily upon her mind.

"Where is Laura," Pippin asked Merry, as they sat, beside the fire, covered in the dew of the morn.

The fellowship has been on the road, one day, and night since fleeing Moria and crossing Nimrodel. They ran from the orcs and made camp just outside of the Lórien forest. Aragorn wanted to give the hobbits a nights rest before continuing on the long road that lay before them.

"I don't know Pip, I'll ask," whispered Merry, who didn't want to wake anybody else up. Merry got up and tiptoed over to Aragorn, who was already up, keeping watch, sharpening his sword. Merry sat next to Aragorn and watched him for a moment before interrupting his work.

"Aragorn, where's Laura," asked Merry?

"Laura woke me for my turn of the watch, and told me that she had heard some strange noises in the forest and was going to scout ahead of us as we go into the forest. She said that if we encounter any orcs that she would have our backs if needed," Aragorn assured Merry, as he kept whetting his sword.

"Pity the orc that pissed her off," Merry said with a grin.

Later that day, the fellowship got the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the forest. Silver and gold, the Mallorn-trees were a remarkable sight. The Forest was beautiful, but they were on a quest not vacation, so the company was trying to be quiet as they traveled through it.

"Men, it's a wonder that they survive out in the wilds at all, with all of the noise they make," thought Haldir, as he and his two fellow border guards watched a small troop of people stumble thru the forest. "I think it's time to end this charade of stealth on their part, by capturing them now before they get themselves into trouble," whispered Haldir to his comrades. They separated to surround the group.

"I don't like this plan of going thru this forest," reminded Boromir once again, "my people have heard too many bad things about this area."

"I too have heard things about this forest," breathed Gimli, "that a sorceress lives in this forest, who enchants the unwary. Well, this is one dwarf, who will not be caught unawares by anybody. I have the eyes of an eagle and the ears of an…"

Just then three elves appeared out of nowhere with arrows poised to be loosed at the group.

"It's just a shame that you make the noise of a walking cave troll, otherwise you just might be a threat," chuckled Haldir. As he was about to ask them to identify themselves, someone came up behind him, grabbed his hair, pulled his head back and placed a blade at his neck.

"How about you and your comrades lose the bows and arrows, so we can talk reasonably to each other," Laura whispered into Haldir's ear.

The three Silvan elves jumped at Laura's sudden appearance, for they had not heard her approach them. Rumil and Orophin marveled at the sight of a blade emanating from her right hand.

"Good job getting the drop on three elves," Gimli chuckled with glee, "I thought they were better than that."

"No sense in antagonizing the situation," replied Aragorn, as he waited for the elves to make their decision.

Haldir nodded to the two other guards and they all lowered their weapons and put away their arrows at the same time.

"Thank you," Laura said, as she returned her blade to its place, and walked over to stand next to Aragorn.

Aragorn introduced the company to Haldir and explained that they were just passing thru. Haldir would not have it and insisted that the fellowship accompany him to the proper authorities and that they would decide the fellowship's fate. They walked the rest of the day 'til evening and stopped at the base of a large tree.

"We will stop here tonight, there is a platform in the tree above us where the hobbits can rest for the night," stated Haldir. So, the three elves assisted the hobbits up onto the flet and got them and their gear settled before leaving them in the tree.

It was late at night, and almost everyone was asleep in the flet. Merry heard movement below. He did not know where anybody was, or even what he or she might be doing below on the ground, but he knew something was happening. Merry heard a lot of movement below, a scurrying to and fro. Eventually, things died down and became boring once again. Merry grew tired of waiting to hear what had occurred and fell back asleep.

The next morning, while everyone was getting ready for another days march, Merry approached Legolas and asked him about what had transpired last night.

"A troop of orcs past us, marching south on the road by Silverlode, we lured them into the forest and killed most of them," replied Legolas. Hearing them discussing the night's events, Haldir approached them.

"Some of them escaped, to try their luck further into the forest," Haldir said as he grimly smiled, "other border guards will take care of them, so no worries. Orophin went back to warn our people, so Rumil and I will take you the rest of the way."

The group set forth on their journey, without stop until they came to the Silverlode River. Sam was worrying about how they were going to cross until he heard Haldir whistle for an elf's attention on the other side of the river. The elves created a makeshift bridge out of a rope. Haldir crossed the bridge quite easily, as if he was still walking on land. Legolas and Laura quickly followed.

"Don't worry about the bridge, we know not all of you can cross such a bridge, so we will make it easier for you," yelled Haldir.

Two more ropes were extended across the river, one at waist high and another at shoulder height, to aid in the crossing. Aragorn and the rest crossed when this was done. When the company was on the other side of Silverlode, the elves released and coiled two of the ropes on one side, and Rumil, who had stayed behind, released and coiled the last one on the other. Haldir and Rumil waved farewell to each other, each elf going about his duty. Rumil returned to Nimrodel to resume his border watch and Haldir to accompany the fellowship to Caras Galadhon.

The company was about to get started walking when they noticed their guide just standing there with his arms crossed.

"Shouldn't we get started," Gimli asked?

"There is a problem with security, we need to resolve first," remarked Haldir, "There has not been a dwarf in the Naith in a long time, and I will have to blindfold you."

To say that Gimli was unhappy about the suggestion would be an understatement. He looked like he was giving birth to a full-grown orc; he sputtered, complained, and ranted about the injustice of having to be blindfolded, when nobody else was suffering such an outrage. Aragorn tried to calm the situation by suggesting blindfolding the entire fellowship, thereby sharing the burden. The only problem with that is now there were two prima donnas, Legolas and Gimli, complaining about how unfair it was for them to have to wear a blindfold.

"If you both don't shut up and just put the bloody blindfolds on," growled Laura, "I swear by all that is holy that I will personally knock you both out myself, then gag, and hog-tie you!"

It was after Gimli and Legolas look at each other, then at Laura, who looked angry enough to wear certain body parts of theirs for garters that they decided that their best option was to cooperate.

When the group reached Cerin Amroth, word had arrived from Galadriel that she was expecting them as guests and that she was confident that Haldir would treat them accordingly. The fellowship was very happy to return the blindfolds to Haldir. Fortunately, there were no other problems for the rest of the journey to Caras Galadhon.

"It's dark… so dark," thought the orc, as a hand suddenly came out of the darkness and seized him. "Aaaaaaaaaaah…," screamed the orc.

"Another one bites the dust… when he hits bottom that is," thought Suk, as the orc fell to his death in the chasm of Khazad-dûm. If the orcs thought their situation was grim with Saruman, then they soon realized that it was grimmer with his agent in their midst. Suk was not very happy; after hearing that her target not only got away, but that the bridge was out and she would have to find an alternate route to find the trail of her prey, she decided to take her anger out on those on hand. Suk grabbed one more of the smaller orcs to see just how far down this chasm goes. "Hmm… Well just one more for the road," Suk chuckled to her self.

"Is that my spidey sense tingling," thought Laura? Laura looked around and noticed that something had changed. As they were walking thru the Naith, everything began to acquire a dreamlike quality about it. Everything still looked the same, but different at the same time. Things were coming into focus, looking crisper and yet diffused. Well, one thing hasn't changed… the looks that Haldir has been giving her since she caught him with his guard down, "Yeah, right… like he wasn't prepared to be surprised on a potential battlefield," Laura thought to herself.

"We are going to have to go around to the south side of Caras Galadhon. We will find the only entrance there," said Haldir as he was trying not to be obvious about giving Laura the evil eye for making him look bad in front of his brothers. This odd menagerie of tourists and guides were making their way around the city of the trees on a road paved with white stone, the only road that encircled it.

As the group was entering the city, Aragorn noticed that some of the elves that were accompanying them kept whispering something to each other as they gave Haldir, Legolas, and Laura strange looks and occasionally he caught some of them chuckling.

"What's with these strange looks," Aragorn whispered to Legolas as they followed the main group.

"I think word is getting around about the exhibition of skill that Laura displayed in the forest near Nimrodel," Legolas replied with a whisper, "I think we should try not to talk much about it since we're guests in their city and we wouldn't want to start any trouble."

"Good luck with that," Aragorn noted with a whisper, as he noticed Haldir looking back at them.

Once escorted into the reception area, the fellowship awaited the arrival of Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel.

Laura could not believe the beauty of the Lord and Lady of Lórien. She had noticed the beauty of elves before, but they seemed untouched by time and blemish. Laura noticed that as Celeborn was greeting each person by name, the recipients of the greeting seemed subdued and preoccupied by other thoughts.

"Laura Kinney, I have been told that you are called by many names, and that even the eagles are referring to you as their talon, I greet you and hope you find rest in Lórien while you…"

Laura's ears were listening to Lord Celeborn speak, but her mind seemed to hear another speak as well. "I have seen you before little one; I have seen what you have done. Eru has broken his silence because of you, and his hopes of what you will choose to do. I will speak more on this later, I will send word to you of when we will meet," Galadriel intoned in her mind.

"…revive your spirits and regain a peace of mind," Celeborn finished as he and Lady Galadriel nodded to each other as if sharing a thought with each other.

Immediately, servants came, divided the fellowship up by gender and took them to separate areas to bathe. Laura didn't mind the privacy, but missed Merry's company. She was growing fond of him, hoping that he would return her feelings and she was not misinterpreting his feelings for her. After her long overdue bath, Laura was lead to an area where the fellowship was to sleep. Laura walked over to her bed of moss, ignoring the conversations around her, went to bed and soon fell to sleep with the sound of elves singing an elegy for Gandalf.

Laura was awakened by the morning light and the sound of elves bringing trays of food for the sleeping fellowship. One of the elves noticing that Laura was now awake turned to her.

"Lady Galadriel left word that I was to take you to her when you awakened," the female elf whispered.

"Very well, then lead me," replied Laura as she got up from bed.

The female elf lead Laura to a beautiful fountain that fed a stream that flowed downhill to a deep hollow. Lady Galadriel was standing next to the fountain gazing into its waters. As Laura approached, Lady Galadriel looked up and stared at Laura with deep soulful eyes that seemed to pierce Laura's soul.

"I hope you have slept well Laura."

"Yes, thank you, I think I fell asleep even before my head hit the bed."

"I am glad to hear that, I believe you have some questions for me?"

"Yes, why am I here and what did you mean about you seeing me before, knowing what I had done, and the choice I have to make?"

"I have seen you thru my mirror; in it I saw glimpses of your former world and your life there. First, I need to tell you that you may have been created to be a weapon, but that is not what you have to be. Second, Ilúvatar, the creator of this world, may have left this world alone to its own devices after the betrayal of the race of men of Númenor, but when he saw you come into the veil, he chose to bring you here to help his children. Finally, I see in you great pain caused by others and yourself. You are full of love and are surrounded by it, but there is this darkness , created by your great pain, that you allowed to be created within you and only you have the power to either subdue it or allow it to grow until it envelopes your soul. The choice for your life is yours to make," stated Galadriel then she turned and walked away, leaving a stunned and silent Mutant to her own thoughts.

A month went by and the fellowship was ready to leave. Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel met one last time with the fellowship at the Hythe before the company left on the boats that Lord Celeborn gave them. After the group lined up, Lady Galadriel gave each person a present, besides the cloak and pin that she had already given them. As Laura watched as Lady Galadriel went down the line to say good-bye to each member of her party, she pondered the warning that Galadriel had given her and pondered if she had the strength or wisdom to make the right choice.

"Laura…" Lady Galadriel said, trying to get Laura's attention. Laura looked up, rather embarrassed that she had not noticed the Lady approach. "Laura, I hope I have been of some comfort to you."

"You have my Lady and you have given me much to think about as well."

"Before you leave I have a present for you and a request… I saw a great evil coming this way in my dreams last night and I was hoping that if I ever have a need for your assistance that you would come to my people's aid."

"Of course, I would be glad to come if you need me, just send word by one of the great eagles and I can be back as quick as possible."

"Thank you Laura…," answered Lady Galadriel as she reached into her sleeve and brought out an amulet with a deep red stone inlaid upon it. When you look at the stone, you can see a bright star deep within its center. "…I hope you will accept this simple gift, it was found long ago, and I hope it will remind you of the gifts you have deep within yourself."

Laura thanked her for the gift and after Lady Galadriel placed the necklace upon Laura's neck, Laura turned it over, noticed a strange symbol inscribed upon its back and asked about its meaning.

"That is an old rune, 'silme', which means 'starlight'," answered Lady Galadriel, "the crafter must have named the amulet, silme. It is my desire that this gift will bring you hope in dark places and work for you just as well as the gift I gave Frodo."

After exchanging brief farewells and other pleasantries, the fellowship continued their quest, going downstream on the Anduin.