A/N: Here's the new chapter^^ Sorry it's little late and it's actually not very long or interesting...
Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite/followed the story :) Also thanks to our beta Nardhwentheelf ^^ :)
Okay, I really hate myself for saying this but please review and tell us what you think and what you like/don't like in the story so we would know what to write about more.
Disclaimer: We don't own LOTR or it's characters or the places you see or actually anything except Grace, Nessa, Pam, Easton and Violette :D :D :D
Enjoy^^
Grace's POV
"Out, out, out. OUT!" I yelled pushing my friend towards the door. "And don't make anything stupid today!" I was just sleeping peacefully when Nessa had rushed into my room and jumped on the bed while she was screaming excitedly something about the council today. She wasn't invited but this wasn't killing her enthusiasm and I was a little scared that she might do something stupid like hide somewhere of.. I don't know.
"But today is the council!" she said as we reached the door.
"And that gives you the right to come here and wake me up at this time?!" I asked her nervously.
"It's almost eleven o'clock at the morning, you're going to get late!" she told me. I quickly rushed to the nightstand, near the bed and took my hand clock, one of the few things which I arrived here with me for The Earth, and looked at it. It truly was 10:56 o'clock.
"Oh, no!" I half-said, half-cried. The council was about to start every moment any I wasn't ready yet!
"See? You have to listen to me more often" said Ness.
"Not now! I have to get going!" I told her as I slammed the door in her face. Maybe I wasn't very nice today but this was really important! I couldn't get there late!
Nessa's POV
"That wasn't very nice!" I muttered under my nose after Grace slammed the door in my face. I knew she was in a great rush but it was still rude. However, I also had to hurry up. I really wanted to go to the council but there wasn't any other way except to hide somewhere, but the greatest question was where? I had tried to convince Grace to find a way to help me but she refused to do it and told me not to dare doing such a thing. Well, then I had to find someone else to help me, I guess. But who? The hobbits were probably there already and all the other people, okay… creatures… I knew were invited. Well, almost everyone… But no, no way! I had to find another way to go but I didn't wanted to be alone. Oh, well, maybe it's not such a bad idea…
Grace's POV
I quickly dressed up and sprinted out of the room. I was in such a big rush that I almost hit several elves on my way but thankfully I missed them. Everyone I was running through was turning to see me, probably wondering why I was running in the hallways but I didn't actually cared in that moment. I had only about two minutes to get to the council on time. When I finally reached the hall, barely catching my breath from the running, everyone was already there but, thankfully there wasn't any sign of Easton, which I haven't talk to since the ball, though he often tried to speak to me when I had the bad luck to see him. The other thing that made me a little bit happier was that the council hasn't started yet. I quietly entered, hoping that I would sneak unnoticed through the others but my plans were soon amended by a familiar and stern voice.
"You are late" the voice said to me critically "Again." My heart almost stopped. So many thing started running through my head in this moment, that I forgot to walk and stopped frozen in front of the person, this voice belonged to.
"What didn't expected me here?" asked Violette as she looked at me. She didn't seem really angry but, of course, she wouldn't say anything in front of so many people and in my mind I was thankful for that.
"I knew you'd come" I told her after I find my words again.
"But not so soon?" she asked me and rose an eyebrow.
"Well, actually… " I started but she interrupted me.
"Not now" said Violette "Sit, we will have a lot of time to talk about it later" she told me and pointed the seat next to her. I did as she told me. We were going to talk later. Later. The word was spinning around my head. But what would happen until then? Well, I actually knew the answer but still couldn't believe some things. And when had Violette arrived? How haven't I met her until that moment?!
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old." Started his speech Lord Elrond "You have been summoned here to answer the threat from Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brick of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate –this one doom. Bring forth the ring, Frodo" he said and all the eyes turned to the hobbit.
"So it is true…" said Boromir, as Frodo putted the ring on the pedestal. Everyone stared at the ring quietly when who voices broke the silence.
"Shut up! I can't hear anything from you!" sounded a painfully familiar voice.
"And I can't see anything from your big head!" protested the other.
"Who says it? Well, I'm sorry but not everyone is a 'model' like you…" said Nessa.
Her and Pam's voices were coming from a shrub not far from me and Violette. Everyone got distracted from their hassle. Then most of the eyes, from the ones who knew they're with me, turned to me.
"Oh, I almost forgot they're here, too" she said and the way she did it sounded like I was guilty for that. I just smiled awkwardly.
"They need some time to understand…" I said.
Nessa's POV
"What are you doing here?!" asked Sam shocked to see me and Pam, unfortunately, not very far from him, hiding in between the branches.
"Who asks." I answered him "Same as you, of course!" I had no other choice except to ask Pam for help. One of my biggest mistakes. Ever. And Ever. And ever. And… you get it. She quickly agreed to come with me, though we were in a little bad relations after the ball. She knew that she had hurt me, or at least tried to, and she was very pleased for that after I had told her a little harsh things. However, we had quickly sneaked behind some big shrubs, which would manage to hide us. That's when we saw Sam.
"You won't tell anyone right?" asked Pam. I rolled my eyes.
"Of course he won't. He's also hiding, right? I asked her. She just gave me an odd look and then turned her eyes to the others in the council.
"What's going to happen now?" asked Pam after a while "What are they going to do? What is this 'council' for anyway? Is it in the book or the movie?" she stared with her endless questions. "And what has to do with all this the short guy?" she asked when Frodo carried the ring to the pedestal.
"Shut up! I can't hear anything from you!" I almost yelled her at the end.
"And I can't see anything from your big head!" she teased me.
"Who says it? Well, I'm sorry but not everyone is a 'model' like you." I teased back.
"Like it's my problem. I'm sorry that you probably have some great problems with me but they are yours problems, not mine, so… wait, it become too quiet." Indeed there were no voices. Then someone cleared his throat.
"It is not very good to sneak when no one had invited you" we heard Lord Elrond's voice and with fear, realized that they had heard us. What a shame. "Come now, you had heard enough already" he said and we both awkwardly step outside our 'hiding spot'. I was almost sure my face had became red. All the eyes were on us but I was looking at my feet.
"Ness.." I heard Grace's voice and spotted her next to… was that her grandmother!?
"Sorry" I said as I reached her and sit. "I didn't wanted to made such a scene." Pam also came and sit next to me but she was now smiling widely, pretending that nothing had happened or just being herself, I don't know.
"Now we can go on with more important things like the ring, shall we?" said Lord Elrond and I took this for a sign to stop talking.
"The doom of men…" said Boromir "In a dream, I saw eastern sky grow dark. But in the West a pale light lightered. A voice was crying 'Your doom is near at hand'. Isildur's Bane is found." He slowly approached the pedestal but then Lord Elrond spoke.
"Boromir!" he warned him. The Gandalf rose and spoke on the Black Speech. It felt strange, like the sky had darkened.
"Never before had any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris!" said Lord Elrond and he seemed to be more than offended.
"I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner in the West. The ring is altogether evil." Said Gandalf.
"He is right" said Violette, or I should say Lady Violette, but how did she got here? Did Grace knew it? "The evil is rising and we must do something or soon we all would fade into the growing dark"
"It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor." Said Boromir again. "Why not use the ring? Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept saved?! Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let's use it against him!" Oh, how annoyed I was.
"You cannot wield it! None of us can! The One ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master." Said Aragorn.
"Don't know what are you all talking about but he's probably right" said Pam as she pointed the Ranger. Everyone ignored her.
"And what would a Ranger know of this matter?" asked the Gondorian and then Legolas stood up.
"This is no mere ranger! He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance." He angrily said.
"Aragorn? This… is Isildur's heir?" asked the red-haired man.
"Wow, I knew something's not right with him" said Pam. I just poked her in the ribs.
"Keep quiet!" I hissed.
"And heir to the throne of Gondor" added Legolas.
"Havo dad, Legolas" /Sit down, Legolas/ said Aragorn.
"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king" said Boromir. That was it, I got completely angry now.
"And who says that? You? Or your father.." I said as I jumped up
"Excuse me, but who are you to talk me like that?!" asked the red-haired man, obviously very offended. I was about to say some not-very-nice things about his father and him but then I felt Grace's hand pulling me down.
"Nessa, I do not think you are in a position to say anything right now. It is between him and Aragorn and it is not wise to mess in other's jobs." Said my friend.
"But Grace you know…" she knew what he did, or almost did, later. Why didn't she supported me?
"It is not our job, Ness" she said quietly.
"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." Said Gandalf.
"You had only one chance." Said Lord Elrond. "The ring must be destroyed."
"Then what are we waiting for?" asked Gimli as he rose his axe and hit the ring but it didn't broke. There was a loud crack and the dwarf fell on his back as his axe went into pieces.
"The ring cannot be destroyed Gimli, son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there it can be unmade." Said Lord Elrond again. "It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."
"One does not simply walk into Mordor" said Boromir and I hold back a giggle, though I was still a little nervous. "It's black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. And the Great eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland. Riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men you could do this. It's a folly!"
"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said? The ring must be destroyed!" said Legolas as he got up again.
"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it? Now Gimli rose.
"Why do you act so mean!? He haven't done anything to you!" I also got up, ignoring Grace's unhappy look.
"And if we fail, what then?! What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?" asked Boromir.
"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf" said Gimli. Then everyone started arguing with one another loudly.
"Wait, now I got totally lost" I heard Pam's confused voice. "…and I'm ignored. Again." She added with a sigh after nobody else except me seemed like he had heard her.
"I would take it" said Frodo suddenly but no one heard him either. "I would take the Ring to Mordor!" he repeated, this time louder, as he rose. Everyone turned to him then. "…though I do not know the way" he added.
Grace's POV
Everyone seemed to had forgot about the argument as Frodo said he will take the Ring.
"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear" told him Gandalf then. I looked at Nessa. She was looking very serious, maybe more than I had ever seen her look before. Then Aragorn rose.
"If by my life and death, I can protect you, I will" he told the little hobbit. "You have my sword." He added and went to stand next to the wizard behind Frodo.
"And my bow" said Legolas as he went next to the Ranger.
"And my axe!" said the dwarf as he went next to the elf.
I slowly placed my hand on my friends shoulder.
"Don't do it, Ness." I whispered so low that I was surprised she actually heard me but she did.
"I want to help. Even if it's the last thing I would do." She told me. I sighed. Maybe it was the last thing she would do. I knew she would want to join them. That's why I didn't want her to come. I looked at Violette for help but she just shook her head. 'You can't stop her if she wants to' I heard her voice in my head.
"You carry the fate of us all little one" said Boromir to Frodo. "If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."
"I also would come" said Nessa then.
"Why would you do this?" asked Pam. "You can't fight, you can't do anything to help them."
"Because it is something I always wanted to do and because I don't have another place to go." She said.
I was about to say that I would also go but Violette's voice spoke in my head again 'You can't go. It is her choice to join them and you cannot stop her. Even if you also go you would not help her much.'
'She might die because of this' I answered her in my head, too.
'You had to think about this earlier. I need you now, we have a lot of things to do' she said and this was the end of the conversation. I would talk with Nessa later.
"Mr. Frodo is not going anywhere without me!" yelled Sam after he ran out of his hiding spot not far from where were Nessa and Pam earlier.
"No indeed, it is hard to separate you even if he is summoned to a secret council and you are not" said Lord Elrond a little amused but still serious as ever.
"Wait! We're coming, too!" Merry and Pippin yelled as they also ran out of their hiding places.
"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" said Merry.
"Anyway you need people on intelligence on this mission… quest… thing" said Pippin.
"Well, that rules you out Pip" commented Merry.
"Ten companions" said Lord Elrond "So be it! You shall be the Fellowship of theRing"
"Great!' exclaimed Pippin "Where are we going?" he added.
Nessa's POV
I was going to be a part of the Fellowship of the Ring. It was really great for me because this was something I had dreamed of for many years and now it was going to happen. Grace wasn't very happy about it and I thought she would try to stop me somehow but she didn't. But she also didn't spoke to me after the council and it's been a month since then. I sighed. Was she angry? I knew she didn't wanted me to join them because I was going to change the plot twist, I was risking my life and so on but we were friends and I hoped she understand me.
A knock on the door distracted me from my thoughts.
"Come in" I said. The door opened slowly. It was Grace. "Hey, I'm glad you're here, I thought you're upset with me and I wanted to talk with you about so many things. What is your grandmother doing here? And I actually thought you would join, too" I said but then realized what was my last sentence "I meant I…" I tried to add something else but she cut me.
"I would come too just because you're there?" she asked me.
"Well, when you say it like that it sounds a little rude but I thought we're good friends and you would do it for me" I said.
"You know what's sad? I also thought we're good friends and when I asked you to stay, I hoped that you would listen to me" she then told me.
"That's all I dreamed for" I answered "I've never had a real family or anything and my life isn't the best. It's one of the things I always wanted to be a part of." She looked at me and her eyes were sad "And I thought you would want to join me" I added with lower voice.
"You have family and life somewhere else. It might be your dream but you don't really know what it is. It's not like in the movie or the book. It's a real war and there are people dying here, people we love and I don't want to lose you" she told me "Please don't go, we'll find a way to return to our old lives and.." I interrupted her.
"But this is your old life, right? You've been through a lot of things and your family is here, your real friends, why would you want to leave them?" I asked.
"If to leave again mean that you'll be save, I would" she told me but it sounded as there was another reason, too. "Please Ness, I mean come on, you can't really fight and you know how dangerous the road is. Your mother is probably freaking out right now. We have to return."
"But I don't want to return" I said "I want to stay here and go with the others. I've already decided it. You can't stop me now." She was quiet for a moment.
"So this is our last goodbye?" she asked at last.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"I told you – I can't come and since you want to go then I can't stop you. After you believe that this life is better than your real one, then go on." She answered me. "But forget you ever knew me" with this she went out and slammed the door behind her.
Grace's POV
I quickly went out of the room so Nessa wouldn't see the tears, falling from my eyes. I hated crying a feeling weak and she knew it. She knew so much things about me and I felt awful about being so rude but I was really afraid that she might get hurt or even die during this 'journey' and I hated the fact that she wanted to go. There were so many things I wanted to tell her, so many things she needed to know but they were departing tomorrow morning and now she was probably upset with me. I hated myself, too. I would go with them just because of her, but I really couldn't. After the council I spoke with Violette about a lot of things. It seems that there really wasn't a way to turn back to Earth. However, this was the smallest problem. She was very worried about something and was always telling me that I must be prepared for leaving. The question was where are we going? But she never told me anyway. From what I knew about her she wouldn't tell me until 'the time is right' so I wasn't asking too much questions about that, though I was really curious. She was really angry that I hadn't listened to her but didn't had the time to shout at me because she was always busy talking with Lord Elrond or Gandalf for the past month. I didn't know what's going on and I felt like I've been skipping something in front of my eyes and I didn't like it for sure but there wasn't much I can do while I was trying to avoid seeing Nessa because I was trying to put off the conversation we had had that evening.
While I was thinking and trying not to let the tears fall from my eyes at the same time, I hit someone.
"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I'm going…" I started but then I saw it's Easton and my words froze. He was again smiling from ear to ear. Seriously, this was a part of his face.
"No problem Grace" he answered and smiled even more, if it was possible. "I haven't seen you since the ball, where have you been?"
"Around…" I said. "Look, it's late and you're probably still mad at me for that night…" I said as I remembered the night of the ball.
"Not at all." He said. "You were nervous, I got it, it just wasn't your day. We all have those moments when we do things we don't really mean" 'I actually mean it' I thought but didn't said it out loud. "Hey, have you cried?" he asked.
"No, no I wasn't" I answered. The last thing I wanted now was to be asked what's the matter. "Everything is okay but I really need to get some sleep."
"Okay… just know I'm always here to listen you" he said.
"Thank you…. I guess" I said "Well, have a good night then"
"You, too" he said. "Hey, do you want me to walk you to your room?"
"No!" I quickly said 'You're probably tired and need rest, I don't want to bother you."
"Don't worry, I'm always free for this" he said smiling.
"Great…" I muttered as I tried not to roll my eyes. For a moment we walked in silence but then he asked something.
"So you fight?" he asked.
"Yes, I do" I answered.
"That's…" he couldn't find the right words. "You're the first woman that I know which fights" he finally said. "Why?" he asked then.
"I like it. The feeling that I'm useful and I can defend myself and fight to save everything I love so much"
"But if you stay home you can also help your family. And you'll be safe then" he said.
"If to stay home, not doing anything means to be safe then I don't want to be" I told him coldly.
"But one day you'll have a family and you won't fight, right?" he asked.
"I won't" I told him. One of the things I was sure about was that I won't have husband and children in my life. And I didn't felt bad about it, it's just not for me.
"Why do you think so?" he asked.
"I don't want, I don't have the nerves and the time for that"
"Okay then. But one day you would feel alone like this" he said. I wouldn't. I've had a lot of periods when I was completely alone and I really didn't mind it but I decided to keep this to myself again because I didn't wanted to start an argument like the last time.
"We'll see about that…" I said. "Well, my room is here" I said pointing at the door. "It was a… nice walk" I said.
"Yeah, we should do it more often" yeah, right, when Nessa and Pam become best friends.
"Maybe" I answered as I got into the room and closed the door behind me. What an awful evening!
