Chapter 8: The Lady of Light

I stared. It was inevitable. It was not simply that she was beautiful. She was beautiful; there was no doubt of that. But there was something more than beauty that emanated from her, that made her so much more fabled than the Evenstar or Lúthien Tinúviel. Under her beauty, she was power and potency. She was kindness and cruelty.

I snapped out of my reverie when her eyes locked with mine. I suddenly became very aware. Aware that everyone else had bowed their heads with reverence. That it was suddenly very quiet. As she held my gaze, I felt her leisurely going through all my feelings, all my memories. And I tore my eyes away.

'The Brotherhood,' her treacherous eyes drifted over my companions, 'and the Lady.' Needless to say, I kept my eyes trained on my feet. 'Welcome to Caras Galdhon. You must be weary. Lothlórien bids you stay here, for as long as you wish.' She turned around, with Celeborn, and walked away as easily as she had walked forth. That was all she did. From the stories I have heard of the Fellowship, I am aware that Galadriel spoke much more with them then she did with us. I have long wondered why. After much thought on the matter, I realized that she did not need to give the Brotherhood guidance. The Brotherhood did not contain a Hobbit that held the fate of the world around his neck. It did not have three Hobbits who knew nothing of the world outside the Shire. The Brotherhood did not hold two Men who could destroy Middle-Earth, depending upon their resistance and determination. The only thing the Brotherhood had to worry about was me.

I noticed that all the Woodland Elves had left leaving only the Brotherhood, Haldir, and me. We descended down the same steep staircase that we had gone up and were lead away farther into the forest, to a similar house built among the high branches of the trees, with rooms where I judged that we would sleep. I immediately pounced on the closest bed and slept heavily. I had not slept since the night before we entered the Mines. None of the Brotherhood though, it seemed, was tired, for when I awakened, none were in the beds set out for us. I know not how long I slept, for as I stepped outside, onto a platform supported by two sturdy branches, I realized that the canopy above the wood was so thick, no sunlight seemed to penetrate, stopping me from seeing what time it was.

As I studied the thick leaves above, I noticed a pain, and laughed. Of course, I was hungry. How could I not be? The last time I had eaten was the last time I had slept-that is, before entering Lothlórien. My mouth was parched as well. I descended down the stairs as swiftly as I dared and walked briskly upon the soft ground, in search of a stream. The wood, and the Lady that commands it, has a funny way of working though. It led me straight to her, although I did not know it. I simply thought I was walking aimlessly. But on this walk with no direction, I chanced to stroll by a bench, suspiciously in the middle of nowhere. Or so it seemed. And on it, who else would be sitting, but the Lady of Light.

I had no idea what to do. To walk by, and not acknowledge her, for fear of disrupting her, or to stop and give her my thanks for allowing me to stay in Caras Galdhon? As it happened, I did not have to make a choice, for she called me to her. I walked apprehensively towards the bench, not forgetting what happened the last time she looked into my eyes.

She looked into them again. This time, I didn't feel her rifling through my emotions. I knew that she had gotten all she needed. 'Meneluin,' she began, and I felt a distinct feeling of apprehension. 'Why are you here?' Ah, there it was. That tough question. One of those introspective ones that you didn't want to know the answer to. That question that the smartest person asked, because you would be to bewildered in considering your answer to shoot one back at one. Not that I could have, in Galadriel's case. I knew nothing about her.

'...because...I was sent?' I mumbled questioningly.

'But you were not. You asked to come on this quest, did you not?' Of course she knew that, I thought with irony.

I bobbed my head slightly. Thinking about what she wanted to hear. Of course, that is never the right way to go about answering questions like these. When I looked back up at the Lady, she looked as placid as always, with a tinge of impatience. I had irritated the Lady of Light! Ugh, I was truly pathetic. Aragorn would never have done this. I think that Galdriel finally was tired of my bumbling. 'Think on it, Meneluin,' she replied as elegantly as ever, and seemed anxious to get away as she quickly stood up in one flowing movement and quietly walked away, leaving me utterly bewildered.

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