I do not own anything written by J.R.R. Tolkien, and anything Araceil came up with in Fate be Changed belongs to her.

Sakura crouched low behind the bushes that ran along the driveway, watching the hilltop mansion twenty yards away as the sun slowly sank toward the horizon. She'd drawn the Veil about herself and the crunch of the gravel that covered the driveway signaling the approach of a sentry walking his rounds didn't worry her. The Red offensive over the past few weeks had been a smashing success in this sector, and the Red troops were both flush with success and worn to the bone. She rather doubted the thought would occur to them that their success was deliberate, allowed in order to convince General Rodchenko to shift his headquarters forward — Rodchenko was the best general the Reds had, but he did like his comforts and there weren't that many mansions that both met his high standards and were strategically placed on the road network behind his army. And every one of those mansions had been booby-trapped before the U.S. Army had slowly fallen back, resisting all the way. Just please, God, let him choose another one. Let the staff officers swarming around be for a corps or brigade commander.

Then she heard the engine roar of approaching vehicles and the crunch of tires on gravel. In less than a minute several of the Russian version of Hummers came up and around the turn in the long driveway, followed by a stretch limo then several captured U.S. Hummers painted with the crossed hammer and sickle. The limo stopped in front of the mansion, an officer too cleanly dressed to have been in the fighting hurried down the steps from the entrance way to open the back passenger door, and her shoulders slumped as an elderly man in a general's uniform with a face she'd memorized from photographs stepped out. It seemed her prayer hadn't been answered. She watched as he returned the salute of the officer that had opened his door, then strode up the steps toward the front door and through with his staff behind him. Her thumb caressed the button on the small metal square in her hand that would set off the explosives in the secret room in the mansion's basement. Now. Now! Do it NOW!

Her thumb pressed down.

/\

Thorin broke off his quiet conversation with his counselor when the Hobbit in the bed beside them began shifting about, murmuring something in a language the king-in-exile didn't recognize.

The shifting grew stronger, almost to the point of thrashing, and Thorin and Balin exchanged glances just as the bedroom door swung open and an Elf maiden dressed in an open robe over a light gown hurried through, an Elf that even in the near-dark lightened only by the moonlight leaking through and around the windows' curtains the pair recognized as the one that had been in the room when Sakura told them his story. She paused for a moment on seeing the two Dwarves seated in their chairs, then rushed over to the bed.

She was just reaching down to shake Sakura's shoulder when Balin rose from his chair to catch her wrist. "Watch it, lass, you can never be too careful when waking up a warrior that isn't sleeping well. I'll do it."

She nodded and stepped back.

Balin let go of her wrist, then reached over to shake Sakura by the shoulder. Like a striking snake, Sakura grabbed his wrist with one hand and tried to pull him down on top of him even as the other hand shot under his pillow. But Balin was a Dwarf with a Dwarf's mass and low height, and all Sakura managed to do was pull himself along the bed toward him while feeling around uselessly under the pillow for what Thorin suspected was supposed to be the knife that had been snapped in half by the Troll, before Balin caught hold of his other wrist. Yes, definitely a warrior.

"Easy, laddie, easy, you're safe," Balin soothed until the struggling Hobbit abruptly went limp, then let go of his wrists and stepped back to again sit down.

Sakura sat up in the bed and hunched over, rubbing at his face. "Almost thirteen years, and I still dream about that first kill," he murmured to himself, then looked up as the Elf maiden settled down beside him. "Arwen, what are you doing here? I wasn't yelling, was I?"

"No, little one, I sensed your distress."

"You 'sensed' my distress? That goodnight kiss wasn't just a kiss, was it?"

Thorin's eyebrows rose. Sakura had a fiancée, what was he doing — ? Careful, don't forget again that Sakura isn't a Dwarf. He isn't even really a Hobbit, and you've seen how ... exuberant Men can be, throwing out their deepest feelings for all the world to see. Or perhaps kissing near-strangers is an Elvish thing.

Oblivious to Thorin's shock, the Elf maiden — Arwen — replied, "No, it wasn't. My father's Peace on the Valley and all who dwell here should preclude such dreams, but I suspected you would be one of those stubborn enough to reject it."

"Oh." Sakura rubbed at his face again, ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, thanks for that. Good thing you weren't the one to wake me up, though. More nightmares shouldn't be a problem, but you might want to stash a pole in a corner just in case." Shifting his focus to the room's other two occupants, Thorin saw his eyes widen when he recognized them. "And what are you two doing here at this time of night? Please don't tell me you've decided to guard me from the people that saved my life."

"No, Master Hobbit," Thorin replied, accompanied by Balin's rumbling chuckle. He didn't mention that Balin had had to talk him out of doing just that. Still, that didn't mean the Dwarves couldn't use their burglar's bedroom as a place to relax as they recovered from their travels. "No, we've just met with Gandalf and Lord Elrond about the map, and needed a quiet place to discuss it."

"Right, the map!" Sakura perked up. "You said it had come up in Hobbiton before I arrived."

"Yes." Thorin glanced over at Arwen, and Sakura huffed, rolling his eyes.

"Honestly, Thorin... She's Elrond's daughter, is there anything important she'd hear that he doesn't already know? And thanks for the courtesy, but please call me Sakura."

"My thanks for the honor, and no, there isn't," Thorin agreed, happy that the faint moonlight leaking into the room was too dim to reveal his blush. He briefly related how Gandalf had given him the map of the exterior of Lonely Mountain and key to the secret entrance the map revealed; how the map and key had been given to Gandalf by Thorin's father Thráin when the Wizard encountered him in the depths of the Necromancer's dungeons at Dol Guldur, Thror so far gone that he had been unable to remember his own name much less that of his son. (Caught up in the horror of his story, Thorin missed Sakura's start at the mention of that dark fortress, as well as Balin's surmising frown.) He then went on to tell of his meeting earlier that night with Gandalf and Elrond.

" ... and then the moon came out from behind the clouds, and the entire crystal I'd laid the map on lit up under the moonlight and fresh runes appeared: 'Stand by the gray stone when the thrush knocks under the setting sun, and the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole'."

"Huh. I'd like to've seen that." Sakura lay back down under Arwen's urging, and he frowned thoughtfully, before yawning as she tucked the blanket around him. Before Arwen could finish scolding him, he interrupted her to say, "Yeah, yeah, I'll go back to sleep. Anyway, it'll be nice to have a place to stash you all when I go in. I wasn't looking forward to trying to convince you to wait for me in Laketown."

Balin exclaimed, "What, la ... ddie, you were just going to go in through the Front Gate?"

The blanket shifted as Sakura shrugged before yawning again. "Why not? Sneaky, remember? If Smaug is sleeping, the Front Gate is as good a way in as any. If he isn't asleep, it doesn't matter what entrance I use." His eyes had been drifting closed as he spoke, and his breathing soon evened out in sleep.

Thorin rose to his feet and stood for a moment gazing down at the sleeping Hobbit. Sakura was actually shorter than Arlais was now, but sleeping in an Elf-sized bed the redhead reminded Thorin so much of his niece when she'd been little that he smiled wistfully before allowing Arwen to shoo the two Dwarves out of the room.

For a time the two walked along through moonlit corridors in silence, until Thorin finally murmured, "Thirteen years, and she ... he still dreams about his first kill. At only fifteen years."

" 'She'?" Balin repeated,

Thorin shrugged. "He reminds me of Arlais."

"Ah ... yes, I can see it." After a moment Balin sighed. "I wouldn't say anything about his dreaming, to Sakura or any of the others. He has his pride, that one, he wouldn't thank you for it. And while he wouldn't last long on a battlefield, not as small as he is, he might have more experience in war than the rest of us put together. Certain, he's the last person I'd want hunting me out in the Wilds. He'll be fine. Yes, he's young for it, then and now, but you know how fast children can grow up in such times."

"Yes, those that survive." Thorin sighed, then smiled wryly at his oldest friend. "You will permit me to worry about it in silence?"

"Like I could stop you from taking the burden all our fates onto your own shoulders," Balin replied with a deep chuckle. "Let's hurry it up a bit, you know the rest will be waiting up to hear what the map had to tell us, and I hate to think how much damage Fili and Kili do in frustration, what Nori doesn't steal. And us here for another six days."

/oOo\

Earlier that evening:

Gandalf glanced at Elrond as they walked away from the open platform where his longtime friend had revealed and translated the moon runes on Thorin's map. No, from Elrond's tightly controlled expression his friend was not happy. Suppressing a sigh, the Wizard checked that the leather-covered bundle thrust through his belt was still there and said, "Really, I think you can trust that I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?" Elrond demanded, his voice just as tightly controlled. "That dragon has slept for sixty years! What will happen if your plan should fail? If you should wake the beast?"

"But what if we succeed?" Gandalf rebutted. "If the Dwarves should take back the Mountain, our defenses in the East will be strengthened."

But Elrond shook his head. "Have you forgotten? The strain of madness runs deep in that family — Thorin's grandfather lost his mind, and gravely insulted Thranduil. His father succumbed to the same sickness and abandoned his people in their need for a hopeless solitary quest to recover the Arkenstone himself. Can you swear Thorin Oakenshield will not also fall? That he will not bring more division when he does? Gandalf, these decisions do not rest with us alone. It is not up to you, or me, to redraw the map of Middle Earth."

"It is not you or I that would be doing the redrawing. With or without our help, the Dwarves will march on the Mountain. They are determined to reclaim their homeland, and I do not believe Thorin Oakenshield believes he is answerable to anyone. Nor, for that matter, am I."

Now Elrond did smile, a knowing smile that rang alarm bells in the Wizard's mind. "It is not me you must answer to."

Just then a shiver raced through Gandalf's body as he passed through familiar magic, set to discourage others from paying attention to those within the warding's boundaries (much like Sakura's Veil, now that he thought on it). Within the warding was an open-air pavilion with a single stone table and four chairs, and a magnificent view out over the valley — a pavilion used perhaps once in a century: the site for meetings of the White Council. Even as he watched, the moonlight illuminating the scene seemed to collected itself, take shape, and then the translucent image of a tall Elf Lady with shimmering golden hair shot through with silver and draped in flowing sea-blue robes stood before them. Gandalf bowed his head with a respect he gave to no other mortal being. "Lady Galadriel!"

Galadriel smiled to see him. "Mithrandir, it has been a long time."

"Time may have changed me, but not so the Lady of Lorien," Gandalf replied with exaggerated courtesy, and smiled at Galadriel's soft laughter.

"No, time has not changed you in the slightest degree," she asserted, "you are as gallant as ever you were." Smiling, she shifted her attention to their host as Elrond and Gandalf took seats and she shifted her sending to appear to sit with them. "Lord Elrond, how is the daughter of my heart? Has she yet made plans to seek out the Man turned Halfling that the Rangers have spoke of?"

Elrond sighed and with a rueful smile said, "No, as it turned out she had no need. Sakura arrived in Rivendell this day ... along with Gandalf and twelve Dwarves led by Thorin."

"Truly. So the Dwarves are moving against Smaug." She gazed thoughtfully at Gandalf. "And you pushed them into motion. Was that wise, Mithrandir? Smaug has grown as great as he ever will, every decade that passes allows the Dwarves to recover more of the strength they lost when Erebor fell and then in their failed attempt to retake Moria from the Orcs."

With Elrond Gandalf had attempted to obfuscate and redirect. With Galadriel, he simply sighed as his shoulder slumped. "Your words are true, my lady, and it may well be that I have set in motion forces that shall destroy us all. But the fear has been growing in me that we no longer have the luxury to wait on events — that the Enemy is gathering his strength faster than we are, that if we do not act quickly, all will be lost."

At this Elrond straightened in his seat. "Have you any proof of this?" he demanded.

"None until today, when Radagast sought me out just before we were attacked by Warg riders." Gandalf quickly related what his fellow Wizard had reported of Orcs gathering in Dol Guldur, and being attacked by a Wraith. "And with his report he brought this." He pulled the leather-wrapped bundle from his belt and untied the bindings before laying it on the table. Pulling open the leather, he revealed a long, thin cloudy-gray dagger.

Elrond sucked in his breath. "The Morgul-blade of the Witch-King of Angmar, the First of the Nine!" he breathed.

"And buried with him," added a Galadriel turned pale. She gazed at the blade for a time, then slowly said, "This will not be enough for Saruman. He sees only Radagast's eccentricities, and has long asserted that the Enemy is naught but a shadow clinging to his last refuge as he seeks to gather what scraps of influence he may."

"Agreed, my lady," Gandalf replied. "I fear Saruman has grown arrogant in his learning and power, and no longer listens to any counsel but his own. That is why I asked Radagast to bypass Isengard on his return around the southern end of the Misty Mountains and to make for where the Gladden River exits the Mountain Pass. I will meet him there after seeing the Dwarves to Mirkwood."

Elrond slowly nodded. "So you will seek out the prison tombs of the Nine for yourself, to verify that they have risen?"

"Yes."

Galadriel pondered for a time, then sighed. "It would seem that in this you have been wiser then we, my friend, you did well to encourage the Dwarves to take back what is theirs. Let it be as you say. My Lord Elrond, join me in Lorien and I shall send word to Saruman as well. We will there await Gandalf's word, and as the full White Council discuss how next to act."

Elrond agreed and he and Gandalf rose to make their farewells to the Lady of Lorien, only to pause when she lifted a hand and asked, "Mithrandir, why the Halfling?"

"I ..." He shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I was guided to Bag End by a Dream, and knew nothing of Sakura's existence before she joined us there. Before today I knew nothing of her history other than that she had friends among the Rangers. She certainly is what the Dwarves will need to acquire the Arkenstone, but she is no great Warrior and has no desire to be so ... and I think perhaps that is why she was brought here. Saruman believes that only great power can hold Evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small things that keep the Darkness at bay, simple acts of kindness and love, the common courage of common folk. Why Sakura Piper? Because I was sent to her by my Dream, and she gives me hope."

The chapter title is a first for me, taken from the Tarot card the Nine of Swords. (I don't use Tarot decks for fortune telling but have picked up a number of them for the art, and they're handy for random character backgrounds and plots.) In this case there's Sakura that can't entirely let go of the horrors of her past; Thorin the same and obsessively worrying about the future and welfare of his Company and people; and Gandalf, Elrond and Galadriel terrified that they may have made a catastrophic error of judgment but with no choice but to bull their way through the situation they've allowed to mature.

Also, yeah, no Saruman at the meeting. In the "Lord of the Rings" movies Jackson mostly avoided having anyone teleporting around Middle Earth (except for Elrond bouncing from Rivendell to Rohan), not so much in "The Hobbit" movies. I'm shifting things around a bit to make travel times for Orcs, Elves and Wizards a little more reasonable.