Disclaimer: I only own Ira, Eleniel, and Ghardaz. The rest belong to Tolkien or Bethesda

A/N: So, this is the final scene of the council. Woohoo! Finally, we can get to the more interesting stuff. This contains a bit more movie script in it, mainly because I couldn't miss out the 'one does not simply' quote.

Big thanks to: werewolf35 and jacob1132 for following/favouriting.

Review Response(s):

Mac Gustah: Yup :)

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rgss: There were Tamrielians (probably not the word, but oh well) there, and I guess you'll find out.


Chapter 9:

"Know also, my friends," Gandalf continued, "that I learned more yet from Gollum. He was loath to speak and his tale was unclear, but it is beyond all doubt that he went to Mordor, and there all that he knew was forced from him. Thus the Enemy knows now that the One is found, that it was long in the Shire; and since his servants have pursued it almost to our door, he soon will know, already he may know, even as I speak, that we have it here."

All sat silent for a while, until at length Boromir spoke. "He is a small thing, you say, this Gollum? Small, but great in mischief. What became of him? To what doom did you put him?"

"He is in prison, but no worse," said Aragorn. "He had suffered much. There is no doubt that he was tormented, and the fear of Sauron lies black on his heart. Still I for one am glad that he is safely kept by the watchful elves of Mirkwood. His malice is great and him a strength hardly to be believed in one so lean and withered. He could work much mischief still, if he were free. And I do not doubt that he was allowed to leave Mordor on some evil errand."

"Alas! alas!" cried Legolas, and in his fair elvish face there was great distress. "The tidings that I was sent to bring must now be told. They are not good, but only here have I learned how evil they may seem to this company. Sméagol, who is now called Gollum, has escaped."

"Escaped?" Cried Aragorn. "That is ill news indeed. We shall all rue it bitterly, I fear. How came the folk of Thranduil to fail in their trust?"

"Not through lack of watchfulness," said Legolas; "but perhaps through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from others, and that more is known of our doings than we could wish. We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf's bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thoughts."

"You were less tender to me," said Gloin with a flash of his eyes as old memories were stirred of his imprisonment in the deep places of the elven King's halls.

"You shouldn't dwell on something that happened almost eight decades ago, Gloin," Ira stated with a hint of a smile. "I do recall that you were in those dungeons no more than a few hours."

Gloin sighed, but nodded his head in acquiescence, and Legolas continued. "In the days of fair weather we led Gollum through the woods; and there was a high tree standing alone far from the others which he liked to climb. Often we let him mount up to the highest branches, until he felt the free wind; but we set a guard at the tree's foot. One day he refused to come down, and the guards had no mind to climb after him: he had learned the trick of clinging to boughs with his feet as well as with his hands; so they sat by the tree far into the night.

"It was that very night of summer, yet moonless and starless, that orcs came on us at unawares. We drove them off after some time; they were many and fierce, but they came from over the mountains, and were unused to the woods. When the battle was over, we found that Gollum was gone, and his guards were slain or taken. It then seemed plain to us that the attack had been made for his rescue, and that he knew of it beforehand. How that was contrived we cannot guess; but Gollum is cunning, and the spies of the Enemy are many. The dark things that were driven out in the year of the dragon's fall have returned in greater numbers, and Mirkwood is again an evil place, save where our realm is maintained.

"We have failed to recapture Gollum. We came on his trail among those of many orcs, and it plunged deep into the forest, going South. But ere long it escaped our skill, and we dared not continue the hunt; for we were drawing nigh to Dol Guldur, and that is still a very evil place; we do not go that way."

"Well, well, he is gone," said Gandalf. "We have no time to seek for him again. He must do what he will. But he may play a part yet that neither he nor Sauron have foreseen."

"There is a stirring in my heart at his mention," Eleniel said, eyes solemn. "I am positive he has a part to play, though for good or evil, I cannot say."

"That is something that only time can answer," said Gandalf. "And now I will answer Galdor's other questions. What of Saruman? What are his counsels to us in this need? This tale I must tell in full, for only Elrond has heard it yet, and that in brief, but it will bear on all that we must resolve. It is the last chapter in the Tale of the Ring, so far as it has yet gone.

"At the end of June I was in the Shire, but a cloud of anxiety was on my mind, and I rode to the Southern borders of the little land; for I had a foreboding of some danger, still hidden from me but drawing near. There messages reached me telling me of war and defeat in Gondor, and when I heard of the Black Shadow a chill smote my heart. But I found nothing save a few fugitives from the South; yet it seemed to me that on them sat a fear of which they would not speak. I turned then East and North and journeyed along the Greenway; and not far from Bree I came upon a traveller sitting on a bank beside the road with his grazing horse beside him. It was Radagast the Brown, who at one time dwelt at Rhosgobel, near the borders of Mirkwood. He is one of my order, but I had not seen him for many a year." Ira smiled briefly at her amusing memory of Radagast, with a pack of orcs trailing after his sled, which was being led by giant rabbits. "'Gandalf!' he cried. 'I was seeking you. But I am a stranger in these parts. All I knew was that you might be found in a wild region with the uncouth name of Shire.'

"'Your information was correct,' I said. 'But do not put it that way, if you meet any of the inhabitants. You are near the borders of the Shire now. And what do you want with me? It must be pressing. You were never a traveller, unless driven by great need.'

"'I have an urgent errand,' he said. 'My news is evil.' Then he looked about him, as if the hedges might have ears. 'Nazgûl,' he whispered. 'The Nine are abroad again. They have crossed the river secretly and are moving Westward. They have taken the guise of riders in black.'

"I knew then what I had dreaded without knowing it."

Around this time, Ira lost interest in the conversation. She, after all, knew what was coming - some long-winded tale of how the wizard had betrayed Gandalf. She'd heard many before, and they never interested her.

So instead, her mind focused more on her own problem. While she knew it was far worse for Alduin, having a trapped dragoness inside her was hardly a walk in the park. She was becoming dangerous; not just to others, but to herself as well. What would happen if she didn't find a way to control her temper? Would she lose all sense of humanity? Would her dragon finally force its way free of its restraints? She didn't want to imagine.

And what of the people of Nirn? This world was not theirs by birth, and yet they had lived in it long enough for it to become their home. Would they do anything to help save this world, or allow it to fall? Ira thought it unlikely. There were some cold people who had come across from Skyrim, but they were not cruel.

"What did you do to him?" Cried Frodo in alarm, breaking Ira from her thoughts. She briefly wondered what they were now talking about, and how long she was musing. "He was really very kind to us and did all that he could."

Gandalf laughed. "Don't be afraid," he said. "I did not bite, and I barked very little. So overjoyed was I by the news I got out of him, when he stopped quaking, that I embraced the old fellow. How it happened I could not guess, but I learned that you had been in Bree the night before, and you had gone off that morning with Strider."

Then Ira lost interest again, and instead started mindlessly humming a song in her mind, eyes slightly glazed over as she focused on the song and the song alone. It was one her sister had written when they were little. It was strangely close to the Ira of this day; over 600 years later.

This life that we call our own
Is neither strong nor free;
A flame in the wind of death,
It trembles ceaselessly.

And this all we can do
To use our little light
Before, in the piercing wind,
It flickers into night:

To yield the heat of the flame,
To grudge not, but to give
Whatever we have of strength,
That one more flame may live.

Ira jerked almost violently when she came back to reality, causing a few of the more sharp-eyed to glance her way for a moment. Gandalf had finished speaking, it seemed, and now Elrond got to his feet, slowly, drawing all eyes to him. Ira unconsciously sat a little bit straighter, and she wasn't the only one.

"The news of Saruman's betrayal is ill news," the elvish Lord said, his eyes sombre. "But during Gandalf's tale it became clear to me that we have but one choice. The Ring must be destroyed."

"Well," Gimli grunted, hefting his axe into his hands. "What are we waiting for?"

Ira jumped off her seat and dashed forward, catching the handle of Gimli's axe just before it hit the Ring. He glowered slightly at her. "Do not waste a perfectly good blade, Gimli," she said. "If the Ring could be destroyed so simply, I'm sure it would have been by now."

Elrond smiled slightly at Ira, who returned to her seat. "The Dragonborn is right, Gimli, son of Gloin," Elrond said calmly. "The Ring cannot be destroyed by any craft that we here possess. It was made in the fires of Mount Doom, and only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."

There is a long silence, though Ira wasn't surprised - no one would willingly step forward and walk towards certain death with the Enemy looking for the one thing you carry. Well, almost no one...

"One does not simply walk into Mordor," Boromir said, with the tired exasperation of someone who'd had to explain the same thing a dozen times already. "Its Black Gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is an 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 could you do this." He shook his head. "It is folly."

"Numbers do not win a battle," Ira said, "strategy does. Do you think the dwarves would have made it within fifty leagues of the Lonely Mountain if they had an army? Definitely not. But they did make it, and it is because there were so few of them. An army may be able to force its way into Mordor, though I agree you would likely need more than ten thousand, however, one or two could probably find a way to enter the Black Lands unseen, and therefore unchallenged."

"And if we fail?" Boromir questioned aggressively, standing up. Ira glowered at him. "What happens when Sauron gets his hands on what is his?"

Almost instantly, everyone was on their feet, shouting out either insults or just random gibberish that sounded completely blurred together. Ira pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. Never again, she thought, will I attend such a council.

Losing all patience, Ira jumped to her feet and used her Thu'um to strengthen her voice, yelling, "Zu'u vaat waan hi dreh ni pah vuth tinvaak daar ziist Zu'u fen Zaan hi vau grindol! (I swear if you don't stop talking this second I will Shout you off a cliff!)" Eleniel, who had a little knowledge of the dragon language, having been taught occasionally by Ira and/or Alduin, smirked.

Before Ira could speak again, however, little Frodo Baggins got to his feet. "I will take it," he said, his voice surprisingly strong. Everyone looked at him in surprise, though a smile twitched at Ira's lips. "I will take the Ring to Mordor." Then his confidence wavered. "Though... I do not know the way."

"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo," Gandalf said with a gentle smile, though Ira could see there was anguish in his eyes, "as long as it is yours to bear."

"If by my life, or death, I can protect you, I will." Aragorn made his way calmly towards the hobbit and bowed before him. "I give you my sword."

"And my bow," Legolas said.

"And my axe," added Gimli, who, when moving to stand behind the dark haired halfling, sent the elf Prince a smug look. Said elf just grimaced slightly.

"You carry the fate of us all, little one," Boromir said softly, and there was a great deal of respect in his grey eyes. "If this is the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done."

Ira sent her goddaughter a glare when she, too, stood up, along with a strong orc from Skyrim, whose name, if Ira remembered right, was Ghardaz. "You have my service, as well, Master Frodo," Eleniel said with a bow, sending him a cheeky grin, before moving to stand next to Gimli.

The orc seemed to unnerve many people, but Ira found comfort in his presence. It was a faint reminder of her first home. "This was not our home," he said gruffly. "I was brought here when I was just a wee lad. But it puts my people in danger, and so you have my axes, as well, young halfling."

Ira sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustrations. "I swear," she said, drawing eyes her way, though she was looking smilingly down at Frodo, and Bilbo, too. "You Bagginses are the most troublesome hobbits about. Forget the Tooks, it's you we should keep an eye on." She winked at the slightly abashed older hobbit, before saying, "I've spent a long time exploring this world, without much purpose. I think I'm quite ready for that to change. You have my blades and Voice for as long as you have need of it."

"Hey!" Ira wasn't even surprised when Sam came charging out from the nearby undergrowth. "Mr Frodo's not going nowhere without me," he said, folding his arms stubbornly over his chest.

"No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is invited to a secret council and you are not," Elrond said, more amused than annoyed.

"Wait, we're coming too!" Ira put her face in her hands as Merry and Pippin charged into the room. "You'd have to send us home tied in a sack to stop us!" Merry said proudly.

"I've been there before, so I recommend you retract that statement before he agrees to take you up on that offer," Ira said with a smirk down at the halfling.

Elrond chuckled, before them looking them over. "Twelve companions," he mused aloud. "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."

"Not twelve," said a familiar voice from over the Lord's shoulder. "Thirteen."


For those of you who get the Doctor Who reference, I take my hat (even though I don't have one) off to you.

Until next time, my preciouses