Chap. 13
Annoyed Guest # 1: lol, 'nough said
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It's beyond me why I always have to wake up before I'm ready. Every morning is the same story; I wake up and my body tells me to go back to sleep. Why? Seriously, what is the point in tormenting me every single day? I don't get it.
Eventually my ears caught up with my wandering mind and I heard voices.
Oh good, now you've officially lost it. What little you had, that is.
I swear, my mind hates me sometimes.
I turned my head, so I could see who was talking. I was lying on my back on top of the sheets.
"How are you feeling?" Elrond asked. Aragorn stepped forward.
Good, considering my mouth is dry as sand, someone stuffed my head with rocks and I woke up like this in front of royalty.
"Ugh, at the moment I hate my life." I said rubbing my face.
"You are not the only one." Gandalf stormed into the room.
Feeling like crap in front two royalties and a hundred-something year old wizard.
"What were you thinking, using magic for the first time without supervision? Calling forth a wind storm is not something one does lightly!"
"Wind storm?" I asked, sitting up.
"A little slow on the uptake, are we?"
"Yeah, I just woke up and someone thought it would be fun to use my head as a piñata."
Based on their confused looks, I guessed that reference was lost on them.
"Never mind." I muttered.
"That was a very dangerous, foolish thing to do." He said softly, but not without anger.
"I'm sorry." I said softly, I didn't feel like arguing.
"Sorry?" he scoffed. "Do you have any idea what could have happened?"
"No, and I'm sorry, but I don't really know what I did."
"'Of course not, that is why you need supervision before pulling something so difficult. You are a fool!"
"I'm sorry." I murmured hiding my face in my hands. I just wanted to be left alone to sleep. My mind was moving so slow, I couldn't think. "Really, I am. I was just defending myself and I just…reacted, I guess. I wasn't thinking."
"Indeed! Next time you make a wind storm, why don't you complete it with lightning and rid us of your stupidity?"
Now that touched a sore spot; my dad was electrocuted.
"That wasn't funny." I muttered into my hands.
"Indeed, I was not trying to be humorous."
"Believe me, I know. If you were trying there would be a lot of rattling inside your head and stuttering and, I imagine, a little dribble on your beard."
I heard a sharp intake of breath and looked up into the Wizard's eyes, now wide and angrier than before.
"You will show respect to Gandalf, he is one of the greatest men you will ever meet." Elrond said sternly.
"Sorry." I said again, glancing away.
Gandalf sighed.
"Sleep." He commanded. "We will continue this later. You are no good when you can barely keep your eyes open."
"Is anyone?"
"Humph." He left the room.
"He is right." Aragorn said. "You should rest."
"Don't need to tell me twice."
"Sleep well." He said leaving the room.
Needless to say, I slept great that night.
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Yeah, to be honest, I'm not really sure what I did before the council meeting…I just sort of…wandered, I guess. I remember eating breakfast, vaguely remember getting dressed and after that is sort of blank. Basically the whole meeting is a blank because, well, if you read the book you probably know the meeting went for about sixty pages and forty of those pages, Frodo was giving a speech. Not. Worth. It. Believe me. So basically, I was almost comatose throughout everything, right up to when Borimir began walking toward the ring, muttering about a dream he had, the dream that he followed, somehow knowing he had to go to Rivendell, about how in the dream he saw the eastern sky go dark but in the west there was a pale light, and a voice said, "Doom is near at hand. Isildur's bane has been found…" This obviously caught my attention because, if I was right, I knew what was coming next: Gandalf was going to begin speaking in the Black Speech.
"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul."
And even though I knew it was coming, knew what to expect, I wasn't expecting the chill, the cold dread that gripped my heart. It was horrifying, positively petrifying. I was the most scared I've ever been in my life; it was even scarier than the night my dad died. I shut my eyes but fear wasn't working alone. It had a companion, a partner, a feeling I couldn't quite place for the first horrifying seconds: hopelessness. Doubt beyond all rhyme and reason. I felt naked and helpless and utterly alone. Instinctively, I crossed myself; a habit from before the accident that caused my father's death. It wasn't that I'd stopped believing in God, I just…didn't have the time, didn't trust in him enough to give him more than the occasional prayer every now and again.
"Never before has any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris!"
"I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West! The ring is altogether evil."
Things calmed down a bit after that. I couldn't really register what people were saying for a while, as I still felt ready to pee myself. Well, you all saw the movie; I'm sure some of you read the book, so you know what happened basically. Borimir was stubborn because he's clueless, Legolas tried to reason with him, Gimli insulted the elves for no apparent reason and then the yelling began. The whole thing went for about a minute before I finally stood up (I'm still mad at Frodo for not speaking when he should have) and yelled for everyone to shut up. Some people stopped and looked at me, mid-yell, causing the person they were arguing with to stop yelling and look where the other person was looking; right at me. Almost everything was by the book, literally up to now—why did it have to change?
"You're all just blaming each other." I said. "What's the point? Everyone needs each other, every race so we can get through this. It's not going to happen if you keep up these prejudices."
"It is not prejudices that are the problem." Gimli scoffed. "Elves are a self-righteous and stuck up people who would rather hide away in their trees than fight."
"If something is prejudice, it should be called prejudice." I said sitting, as others had already done so. "And yeah, I've half a mind to agree with you. Elves are a bit self-righteous."
"You speak as though you are not an elleth yourself. Do you deny your race so soon?" one of the elves I'd never seen before asked with an air of one who'd given up on someone a long time ago.
"No." I said. "I just don't consider myself so much better and stronger and wiser than anyone else here. And I know I'm not the only one to feel this way; that means I can still get you to listen. Yeah, elves are stuck up. So many of them put all the blame of what happened all those years ago on the race of men, but are they themselves to blame for the misery and pain? Didn't elves let go? Aloud it, let it grow? If we can't restrain the beast that dwells in Mordor, in the ring, it will find its way somehow, somewhere in time."
Within Temptation—best band ever! Well, one of them.
"One of you must do this." Elrond said.
"I will take it." Frodo said. "I will take the ring to Mordor." He glanced around nervously at the people staring at him. "Though," he said. "I do not know the way."
"I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins." Gandalf said placing a hand on Frodo's shoulder. "As long as it is yours to bear."
Aragorn stood up.
"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword."
"And my bow."
"And my ax."
"You carry the fate of us all little one." Borimir said standing.
No pressure.
"If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."
"Mister Frodo is not goin' anywhere without me!"
Everyone turned to see Sam running to Frodo's side.
"No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not." Elrond replied amusedly.
Sam blushed slightly.
"Oi! We're coming too!" Merry and Pippin ran out form their hiding place to join their friends.
"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" Merry said crossing his arms stubbornly.
"Anyway you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission…quest… thing."
"Well that rules you out, Pip." Merry muttered causing a few chuckles from the gathering.
Lord Elrond quirked an eyebrow in my direction.
"Ena?" he said, probably sensing my wanting to say something.
"Uh, I'd like to go too." I said standing. "It wouldn't really be fair to be sucked into a different world and not be able to have an adventure while helping someone, now would it?"
Yeah, that didn't really make any sense, but they knew what I meant.
"Ten companions." Elrond said, eyeing the group. "So be it. You shall be The Fellowship of The Ring."
"Great." Pippin said grinning. "Where are we going?"
Oh, Pippin. Clueless, adorable Pippin.