But it's impossible to forget. Emerald was reminded of this terrible truth when, after she had effectively blocked several blows from Gildas, he cautiously praised, "Good, but attackers don't come one at a time. You're going to need to be able to block several at once..." and then trailed off, everyone suddenly growing still and quiet as his words hung awkwardly in the air. Emerald suddenly wondered just who had suggested she work on her swords skills and why, and a nagging fear that somebody here thought she would soon be in a position to need to be able to defend herself frightened her more than she had ever been frightened before. What, she was suddenly risking her life just because of a few dreams and a couple odd happenings around her? The desire to run home welled up even greater in her greater than ever before. It was like everyone here had already agreed that she would soon be venturing far beyond their protection but nobody was ready to speak it yet, and Emerald wondered just when all this had been decided and why she hadn't been let in on any of it. Who said she was going head-first into danger? At the moment, she was inclined to just run and spill everything to Elrond and then beg Beven and Gildas to take her home, far away from these out-of-control problems.
"Right," Alagedh nodded, breaking the silence awkwardly –but no word would have fit smoothly in that fragile atmosphere. "Well, it's always good to have more skills than less, right? So if he's coming at you from behind and I'm right here, then–"
Emerald was about to throw down the sword that suddenly felt even more clumsy in her hand when the distant sound of pounding hooves once again brought silence to everyone in the clearing. Instinctively, the men stood and hands went to sword or dagger hilts and Alagedh and Gildas both slowly crept to stand between Emerald and Arwen and whatever friend or foe might be racing towards them at such speed. Emerald shared a nervous glance with Arwen, then clutched the sword to her chest –though it wouldn't do her much good there!
Fortunately, the rider presented no threat. When he, a young Elf garbed in dark greens and browns, broke through the tree line at the far end of the clearing, Beven raised his arm and called out, "Hey there! Woah!" Emerald didn't think the rider was going to stop, but he did, reigning his horse in only a few feet away from her and Alagedh. His hair was windblown, but otherwise he didn't look at all like he had just been riding so hard.
"Hello! Do you need help?" Beven asked, taking a step forward to address the rider.
The rider glanced at each member of the party closely as if trying to decide whether to trust them or not, whether he should take off, and this brought a smile to Emerald's face. Letting the sword fall so that the tip rested against the ground, she answered for him before he had yet gotten around to noticing her, "You're here to see Lord Elrond." His blue eyes darted to her and narrowed suspiciously after a momentary surprise.
"Is Lord Elrond expecting me?" he ventured carefully.
Her smile widened as she turned to Beven and simply stated, "It's started."
"What's started?" Hergest asked, standing up now that the threat was proven non-existent.
Emerald didn't answer and Beven didn't answer, but Arwen took it upon herself to address the traveler, "What is your business with Lord Elrond?"
"My respects, lady, but I am to speak to Lord Elrond alone."
Arwen raised herself slightly taller and replied serenely, "I am Arwen, daughter of Lord Elrond. If you have come with urgency, I have no doubt my father would concede a meeting. I will take you to him, if you'll give me leave, Lady Emerald?" Emerald thought Arwen was probably just teasing her, since earlier that morning Arwen had teasingly asked Emerald's permission to join them on their little outing. However, the traveler looked at Emerald with a sense of admiration that the daughter of Lord Elrond would be asking her permission.
Emerald turned to Gildas and asked, "Actually, might we be finished for now? I can practice on my own back in the city and we can work more tomorrow."
"Are you exhausted already?" Alagedh teased, attention quickly turning from the traveler to Emerald.
Emerald laughed, "Entirely! I'm afraid I wasn't born to fight. I'm finished making war for the day." She could feel the rider's eyes on her as she gathered the cast-aside sheath from beside Hergest and slid the sword in, then handed it to Alagedh and waited for Beven to bring her and Arwen's horses over to them, but she was too busy mentally considering whether it would be better to spy on the rider's conversation with Elrond or just ask afterwards and trust Elrond to tell her everything.
Once she was atop Occamy, she waited impatiently for the rest of the party to do the same, laughing as Alagedh pretended to be exhausted from trying to teach her. The party returned to the House of Elrond without much chatter since the stranger added a shade of awkwardness to the atmosphere. Emerald felt like her giggles were out of place, but trying to stifle them only made the need to laugh even stronger until finally, as everyone entered the stables, Emerald leaned forward and released.
"Ah, Emmy, you never could handle forced silence," Beven chuckled, jumping down from his horse and taking the reigns of hers to lead it a little further in.
Emerald shook her head, "Not on such a beautiful day as this," and her laughter made Beven glad. While others might think that her situation called for seriousness, he felt that the deeper she got involved, the lighter her heart need be if she was going to be all right at the end of things.
Arwen motioned to the traveler who had continued to silently observe them all with an amused half-grin, "Come, I will take you to my father."
Emerald watched with the others as they left the stables, then she grinned mischievously and announced, "I'm going to go wash up for supper," and ran out before anyone could question that supper wasn't for several hours still.
Obviously Emerald wasn't headed to her room. Instead she ran ahead of Arwen and the traveler to find Elrond on her own –as she had guessed, he stood gazing out a window in library.
"Ah, Lady Emerald, returned from your swordsmanship lesson?" he asked, not turning around.
She replied, "Yes... actually, we cut it short because someone's come to see you."
"Oh? Who?" he inquired, turning to look at her this time.
She shrugged, "I don't know. But I think he's just the first one to come here like I told you. Remember?"
"Of course I remember."
"Well, good. Will you tell me if he says anything important?" she asked. Elrond's face didn't falter as he assured her he would, then she quickly made her exit. When the traveler had come and gone, ushered to a guest room by one of the servants, Emerald crept back in and inquired, "Well? Did he have anything important to say?"
Lord Elrond gave her a small grin, "No, Lady Emerald, nothing of importance. He came as a messenger from Mirkwood. Just kingdom affairs. You understand that, don't you?"
"Of course I do," she nodded and, since he had nothing to tell her, she turned and left. However, what he hadn't shared with her made what she had overheard as she admired flowers outside the window interesting. A creature, Gollum, had been entrusted to the guards in Mirkwood to keep captive. He had escaped –during the very attack Emerald had watched in her ring, it seemed– and after a long but futile pursuit, the traveler had been dispatched to carry this message to Elrond. Elrond didn't seem too concerned, and the traveler seemed disturbed only by the fact that they had failed in their assignment –Gollum didn't appear to be of much importance to anyone, which begged the question why they had been ordered to hold it captive in the first place. If this news wasn't important, why hadn't Elrond shared it with her? Perhaps because he didn't view it as worth mentioning, but what else did he not think worth mentioning?
Emerald sighed and shook her head. Any hopes she had for not getting involved had been dashed as renewed curiosity and determination welled up inside her. She turned and was wandering along one of the terraces, her mind turning over what she had heard, dissecting it to find any important whatsoever, when who should she stumble across but one very relaxed Bilbo Baggins lounging on a bench, his eyes staring distantly at the sky as if focused on some far reaching dream. He didn't notice her until she had sat down beside her and clasped her hands in her lap with a weary sigh.
"My dear Lady Emerald, why the sighs? Surely one as sweet as yourself isn't making herself entertain any sad thoughts," he smiled, reaching out to pat her arm.
Emerald smiled back and shook her head, "No, I'm only frustrated, Father Bilbo." The title she had bestowed upon him shortly after meeting him always made the old hobbit grin proudly.
"And what are you frustrated with?"
"I have heard a name of a creature just now and I don't know where to place it, nor where to look, nor if it's even of any importance."
"You heard a name just now? And just where did you hear a name? I do believe, my dear, that you have been listening in on conversations –not that I can blame anyone for that, for I myself was quite an eavesdropper in my day. You hear quite interesting things, I must say, I must say. And what name have you just heard?"
"Gollum," Emerald answered. "Should that be familiar to me?" As soon as the name was on her lips, Bilbo's face took on a strange appearance, a mixture of surprise and nostalgia and longing followed immediately by a sorrowful moan. "Oh, Bilbo! Have I said something?" Emerald cried with alarm, putting her arm around Bilbo's shoulders.
Bilbo waved his hand in the air, "It is only that the name stirs up thoughts I try not to think, memories I've tried to forget."
"That name is familiar to you? Well tell me that I might help you forget!" Emerald begged, turning to face him better and moving her arm down to hold his hand.
Bilbo sighed, "You know not what you ask of me, but I shall tell you, my dear. But just once, so glean what you can." He settled back on the bench and Emerald did likewise, though leaning forward, as Bilbo recounted for her some adventure of his she had not yet heard –that of his happening upon a ring in a cave, his battle of riddles with the very creature Emerald has just heard discussed so that Bilbo might steal the ring away from him, even how he had disappeared from his most recent birthday party to escape here. Emerald listened to all this with incredulous excitement. It was right here! Connecting the dots to the most logical points, the ring Bilbo had taken from Gollum (who he explained used to be called Smeagol) was obviously the One Ring. It had to be. The timing was perfect, and why else would Gollum suddenly be of importance? Only because Sauron was threatening Middle Earth again and wanted his ring back. And here it was, right here under her very nose all along!
Emerald smiled and asked, "Do you have it with you? Can I see it?"
Bilbo looked up at her with surprise and warned, "You sound as eager as I to see it, but no, alas, I've left it to my nephew Frodo along with all my other things."
"What do you mean you've left it to him?"
"When I left, I gave everything to him."
Emerald's eyes widened as she asked anxiously, "So your nephew Frodo has your ring? Where is he?"
"Why, in Hobbiton, of course, in the Shire."
Emerald's breath caught in her throat as she leapt up, "Oh, thank you, Father Bilbo! I've got to go... go talk to someone!" She turned and sprinted away as he called a farewell after her and seconds later arrived in the library where Elrond was still standing, staring out the window as if he had nothing better to do.
When she burst in, he looked over at her with part concern, part surprise and inquired, "Has a fire started?"
"No," she replied, shaking her head. "No, worse, or better, I don't know which. I know where Sauron's ring is."
"Do you?" he asked calmly.
"Yes! Bilbo's nephew has it in the Shire. He's... he's not safe with it! I'm sure Sauron will find it there, and–"
"I thought you told me the ring was on its way here?" Elrond cut her off. He wasn't being rude or critical, though, but rather trying to remind herself of something she had already established.
Emerald sighed, "I know, but it's not, I don't think. I mean, Bilbo didn't know what it was, so his nephew probably doesn't, and... but it is, isn't it? Bilbo's ring is the One Ring."
Elrond looked at her closely for a moment, as if unsure whether to take her into confidence or not, then, with a quick shake of his head, replied, "Do not speak of this with anyone, do you understand? Not Arwen, not Beven, not anyone. The time will come for it to be revealed, but that is not right now."
"Okay, I promise."
"Gandalf believes the rings are one in the same, yes."
"Then we need to get it here, right? Or somewhere... I don't know... we need to destroy it. How do you destroy it? Throw it into the volcano Sauron made it in or something?"
Lord Elrond mused, "That is the only way to destroy it, yes. But relax, Lady Emerald. You are worried over nothing. You were right when you said the ring is on its way here."
"I was? How long have you known that?"
"Gandalf shared these things with me before you arrived here. Frodo should be arriving with the ring soon."
Emerald sighed and collapsed into a nearby chair, "Well that's a relief. Then we can take it to that mountain it was made in, toss it in, and be done with it."
"You make it sound quite simple, Lady Emerald."
"Well that's just my idea," she shrugged. "Of course, there's probably a lot you still aren't telling me, such as why Gollum was being held captive."
"That is a question for you to pose to Gandalf, who too shall be here soon and will be quite interested to see you again. It has been many years, I believe?"
"Gandalf? Yes, a long, long time. Is he wrapped up in all of this too?"
"Who isn't?" Elrond replied, and that made Emerald laugh.
She sighed, "Well, if none of this is news to you, then I feel a little better. The ring will get here soon, we decide who takes it to throw it in the mountain, and then we can just put all this behind us and I'll have learned how to use a sword for nothing." Her optimistic grin wasn't totally convinced –she, too, knew things were never as simple as the plan.
Elrond thought a moment, or perhaps gave her a moment to think, then posed, "And who do you think should take on such a task? Who can be trusted to destroy such temptation?"
The answer to that was easy, though, as she replied simply, "There are good people in the world still, Lord Elrond. I'm sure the Valar will be sending several of them here soon."