I was hesitant about what was safe to tell, so the first few minutes were spent in quiet contemplation over where to start.
Eventually I decided to start at the beginning of what I could remember of the books, and pick my way through that for anything that was useful.
They didn't press, simply enjoying cups of tea in companionable silence, waiting for me to speak.
My voice was hesitant starting out, but grew in strength the longer I spoke.
To help prove that I wasn't just making things up, I spoke a bit of the origin of the ring, how Sauron was defeated the first time, telling of how Isildur refused to destroy it, and of how Elrond was there to witness it.
I recalled as much as I could of the histories of Middle Earth, only turning to the more recent and pressing knowledge when I felt sure that I had conveyed enough to foster belief in my words.
I told them of Saruman's betrayal, and Gandalf's subsequent imprisonment at Orthanc.
They seemed alarmed and disbelieving at first, but the more I told them of what had already happened, and would potentially come to pass, the more they seemed to believe me.
I explained how Gollum, and then Bilbo came to have the ring, and that eventually it would be in the hands of his nephew, Frodo, who on his eventual journey here, would be gravely wounded by a ring wraith wielding a morgul blade.
I spoke of his friends, Sam, Merry, and Pippin, who would be paramount in the quest to destroy the Sauron, and the ring.
I let them know that they would have dwarven guests seeking council about messengers from Mordor, and that some Mirkwood elves would also come with the message that Mirkwood was attacked, allowing Gollum to escape.
I recalled what I could of the dreams that Faramir, and then Boromir would have of Isildur's bane, that would end up causing Boromir to travel here for council, taking a terribly long time because of the many troubles and confusions he would have on the journey.
I spoke vaguely of the council of Elrond, where it would be decided that the ring would be destroyed and a fellowship would be formed, made up of the various guests that had all happened to be there at the time of the council, telling them who was chosen, and that it was very important that it be them.
The more I revealed, the more somber their faces became.
Hours passed as I retold what I considered to be the safest of the details of the battles and wars that would take place, of the many thousands of deaths that could potentially be avoided.
Some details remained unspoken.
My words were purposefully vague when speaking of much of the fellowships travels, to be sure that they would not try to change things that I felt were necessary, or attempt to keep things the same where I would prefer to change them.
Only when the rising of the sun lit Elrond's chambers, and I was having difficulty remaining awake, did they send me away to rest, allowing them time to contemplate the information I had given them.
The time it took to return to my bed was a blur, and my sleep was no less troubled than it had been before telling them of the things that would happen.
I awoke only a few hours later, dragging myself out of bed and into my training clothes, for no amount of exhaustion was reason enough to spend more valuable time than was necessary lazing in bed.
Glorfindel greeted me with slight surprise at the training fields, but did not bring up anything of which we had spoken the night before, simply falling into our routine of practice.
Today, though, he introduced another weapon.
He stationed me a good twenty paces from a training dummy, offering me a few long daggers.
"Distance is your friend in combat, for though you gain strength, it will likely never rival that of an orc or man. You have archery, of course, and by far that is the weapon you possess the most talent in wielding. However, unless you become truly gifted at it, you will find that within a certain distance, it is no longer effective. That is where these will come in. They are an effective mid range weapon."
The next few hours were dedicated to learning the proper grip for the knives, withdrawing them from their scabbards, and how to properly hold and extend my arms when throwing.
Arms, plural, because the vicious ray of sunshine made me practice ambidextrously.
We stopped for the day at late afternoon, and he joined our arms to stroll into the halls towards the library.
"Lord Elrond wishes to meet again this evening, so you may continue telling us of what you know. We will have something for you to eat this time, and we shan't keep you from your sleep as long. Erestor will accompany you after your Sindarin lessons."
With that, he offered a shallow bow, leaving me at the door to the library.
Sindarin lessons were quite different this time, for I had barely entered the library before Erestor was herding me over to a table, covered in artistically drawn maps and books filled with beautiful elven scripts.
He handed me a blank parchment and a small stick of charcoal, and over the course of the afternoon, we went through the information I had spoken of the night before, writing brief notes on the most important parts and marking where they took place on the map.
Throughout this, he had me trying to piece together phrases in Sindarin.
A few hours passed uninterrupted before Erestor deemed that we'd made enough progress, and we gathered up the maps and parchments to take with us to Elrond's chambers.
Over the course of the next few evenings, I told them as much as I was comfortable telling, and they asked questions and clarifications.
They helped me clarify roughly where I was in the story, telling me that Gollum resided in Mirkwood already, but that Saruman had not yet made any outwardly treacherous actions.
The evening meetings became something of a routine, and once they knew everything that I thought safe, we started making plans and discussing the repercussions that could occur from changes we might make.
Planning was, unfortunately, slightly impeded by the fact that I couldn't remember even rough estimates of dates, only the timeline of what events happened before or after others.
Because of this, I pushed for us to act on the information I had, sooner rather than later.
A few days after I first spoke of my knowledge, we decided that a party of elves would ride out for the shire to collect Frodo and the ring, Sam, Merry and Pippin, so as to hopefully avoid, or at least protect against the danger of the Nazgul.
It was also decided that Mirkwood had to be warned of the attack, although I stressed that Gollum's freedom, via escape or release, was vitally important.
That conversation took a while, though in the end we did agree that Elrond would write a letter to Thranduil to warn him.
We debated over who should carry it for a short while, before coming to the agreement that in order to make sure they understood the importance of it, it would be taken by Erestor, accompanied by a small party of warriors to aid in the battle, assuming it had not already happened.
I enjoyed the long moments that it took for Elrond to write the letter, watching the feather quill gracefully caressing the parchment and leave behind the beauty of Sindarin writing.
Of course, I could still hardly puzzle out what it said, especially not reading it upside down as I was, sat across the table from him.
I did try, though, which they all found thoroughly amusing.
In the letter he explained briefly, in a vague sort of way, that he had come upon some new knowledge.
That there would, or perhaps already had been an attack on Mirkwood, for which the purpose was Gollum's escape.
He stressed that if the attack had yet to happen, it was of the utmost importance that they release Gollum before the attack, so as to keep as much harm from coming to Thranduil's people as possible.
He wrote as well that there would be a council held in Imladris, and that they would be honored if Legolas would accompany Erestor and the warriors back to Rivendell to take part in it.
The very next morning the two parties rode out, Glorfindel riding at the head of one, with the last minute request to stop in at Bree to see if Aragorn was there yet, and bring him back to Rivendell with the hobbits if he was.
Erestor was at the head of the other, resplendent, and a rather odd sight, bedecked in light traveling armour, a sword at his hip and a bow on his back, letter tucked safely upon his person with instructions that it be handed to Thranduil directly.
The weeks were long and painful, filled with agonizing thoughts and worries that things would go wrong, and stress at the thought that perhaps something might happen to the hobbits and Glorfindel, or Erestor and the elves sent to help Mirkwood.
I kept track of the days passing almost obsessively once they left.
Halfway through that time, Elladan and Elrohir had to leave on patrol.
The nightmares grew progressively worse, Saruman featuring in them more often than not.
He whispered honeyed words to me as I watched images of horrors that I had caused play out before me.
Elrond opted to halt the evening meetings upon the departure of Glorfindel and Erestor, to give me a small respite from worrying over future events.
The longer it took for them to return, the more I avoided him, fearing the worst.
That I had cost him both of his advisors.
That the hobbits would never arrive.
Arwen and Bilbo ended up taking over my Sindarin lessons while Erestor was gone.
When they proved to be far more lenient than he was, I took to squirreling away books of songs and poems, as well as maps and books of herbs.
In the early and late hours of the morning and night, when I was awoken by nightmares and dreams of failure, I took to reading them by candlelight in an attempt to distract myself from the horrors that attacked me when I slept.
I pored over the maps they had, trying to memorize and plot the routes the fellowship would take, the distances, and dangers that the terrain might hold.
Other nights, when the lines of the maps danced before my eyes, I turned to books detailing various plants and herbs, learning what was and was not edible, what was medicinal, and how to find, prepare, and use them with less than optimal resources.
It was slow going. Most of the books were written in beautiful Sindarin scripts, so my time was primarily spent puzzling out the translations.
Maeben and a few other elves took over sparring with me occasionally once Elladan and Elrohir left, though I ended up training on my own for the most part.
I was merciless with myself, pushing long past what would have been allowed with Glorfindel.
The soreness that had faded after the first few weeks of training started coming back as I overexerted myself, trying to exhaust myself in the hopes of avoiding the dreams that plagued me, and the worries that they had not yet returned.
One night, when the nightmares were particularly bad, I went wandering and somehow ended up at the forges. It was vacant, the forge cold.
The next few hours were spent inspecting the forge listlessly, until an unfamiliar elf interrupted me, just before dawn.
He seemed mildly surprised and perplexed to see me.
"Are you in need of something, Milady?"
His voice, soft and inquisitive, disturbed me from my thoughts and my examination of the forges.
"Oh..Ah...No? I..I'm sorry..I didn't mean to intrude."
"Perhaps you should return to your bed? The forge is not the safest place, you might do harm to yourself."
There was that concern again.
They always looked at me like they thought I was going to break.
Suddenly, the need to prove that I was strong, that I was capable, overwhelmed me.
"Can I help..? I mean, I don't know anything about this….I just...Is there anything I can do..? Anything I can learn..?"
He paused in his movements, having started to gather the things he would need in the day, and gave me a long, searching look, seeming to see my need to feel useful.
"Tis not a normal skill for a woman to know..You will likely not be physically strong enough for many of the things I could teach you. You certainly are not strong enough currently."
Seeing that I was still watching him with an almost desperate hope, he gave a mild sigh.
"I suppose I can find something you're capable of. I will not teach for a passing fancy, though. If you truly wish to learn, you will have to dedicate some of your time."
I froze for a moment, having expected to be turned away, almost not knowing how to react.
Then a smile lit up my features.
"Thank you! Thank you. You have no idea..how much..Sorry, I'm Alyssa, by the way."
He glanced at me for a moment, before nodding.
"I know. I doubt there's anyone here who doesn't know of you. You may call me Raithon."
He started about setting up again, this time showing me where things were kept, and what they were used for.
"Nice to meet you, Raithon."
The name felt foreign on my tongue, especially as I always ended up trying, and usually failing, to mimic the way their accents affected the way their names sounded
"Thank you. For teaching me...I understand that it's weird and random of me to be here, and to ask...and I'm sure you have better things to be doing…"
He glanced at me with a raised brow.
"I certainly was not expecting to find you here at all, let alone so long before the sun. There is nothing wrong with having the desire to learn a variety of skills. I understand you're learning Sindarin, as well as a few forms of combat?"
At my nod, he continued.
"Having the ability to use weapons to defend yourself is a useful skill, one that can allow you to save yourself, and others around you. However, having the knowledge and proficiency to create weapons can save many more than yourself, as once they are in the hands of others, no matter where they are, it is in essence, you offering your hand to save them."
I stared at him for a moment, unsure of what I was supposed to say to that.
I ended up nodding a bit nervously, still watching him as he continued speaking.
"I do not ask that you devote all your time to your teachings here. Lord Elrond has informed us that your training has an important purpose, and I will not stand in the way of it. Nevertheless, I would appreciate if you endeavor to allow at least an hour a day to your learning here, preferably more. If you cannot commit to such time, I feel it fair for me to turn down your request to learn."
I nodded again, voice colored by apprehensive excitement at the opportunity to learn yet another thing I'd always dreamed of learning.
"I'll come here first thing every morning. I'm up fairly early, so it shouldn't interfere with the other things I'm learning."
He gave a nod of approval, and continued, softly explaining things to me as he worked.