Disclaimer: I do not own the Lord of the Rings, only my OC, Freya.

Author's note: Hello everyone! I'm back. Finally. After all this time. I know. I know. It's been a year and I'm really sorry. There are no excuses. I have none. Forgive me. I might have changed and so might have my writing style. To be honest I feel a bit rusty so help me please. Here's a new chapter for you all. Enjoy.

Love you.

Mira

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Focus. Focus. Come on. You can do it Freya. Just a little spark will be fine. Come on. Feel the energy and control it. Just like Gandalf said.

I kept chanting these to myself as I stared intently at the little pieces of firewood on the ground, trying to force them to catch fire. Today we were stopping earlier for the night since there would be no shelter further ahead and Gandalf thought we might want to rest before we change our way towards the Gates of Moria. That was totally fine with me. I still had not prepared myself for the underground, probably bug infested, adventure in Moria. Not to mention, dwarves or not, these guys have no electricity to light up the place. I've been avoiding the topic so far and I planned to not think about it till I actually have to walk past those gates.

"Lass, are ye trying to light a fire or stare a hole in the wood?" Gimli asked me jokingly, laying his heavy axe on the ground and settling beside me.

"Shhhh. She's concentrating. Don't distract her." I heard Pippin whispering excitedly.

"She can do it. I think I saw a bit of a spark in there a moment ago, honest." Sam said in a hushed tone. My hobbit friends all believed in me and kept on encouraging me, even though I was yet to achieve anything special. Even Frodo seemed to break his usual silence and cheered for me along with his friends. Gandalf told me it will take more time to get the handle of it, specially without a staff of some sort and ever since then the rest of the fellowship think it's endearing that I'm trying so hard. Legolas actually said it's cute that I'm expecting results this soon. I'll show him what's cute. Just wait. I got more determined when I thought of that and focused even harder. I could feel something on the tip of my fingers, buzzing. Just a bit more and…

"We need that fire sometime tonight Freya. Let me just…" Aragorn stopped midsentence when we all saw a few sparks and then the crackling sounds of a small fire filled the cave.

"YES. YES. I DID IT." I gasped and hugged the closest person on my left, who happened to be Boromir. He froze for a few seconds and then laughed, patting my back and relaxing a bit. "It appears you have surprised us again my lady."

I laughed happily and pulled back before he could give me another one of his speeches regarding proper behavior for an unmarried Lady accompanied by nine men. Well men, elf, dwarf, hobbits, wizard, whatever.

"That is an amazing development my dear. You exceed my expectations. Looks like I can teach you a thing or two before we reach Lothlorien after all." Gandalf said kindly and sat close to the fire to smoke his beloved pipe. I grinned wide, got up and went over to Sam and Aragorn who were preparing a simple stew for dinner. I picked up the knife and started peeling and chopping whatever Sam handed over to me. We chatted excitedly over my achievement as everyone else settled around the fire.

We were still in the snowy parts of the mountain but it was not as cold as it was before, and thankfully, none of us was freezing to death anymore. I was so happy with my little magic trick that I didn't even care about the horrible mountain pass anymore. We would be at the Gates of Moria by sundown tomorrow apparently and that meant I could get to see the dwarf city of Dwarrowdelf and get away from the snow. From what little I heard and read briefly in Rivendell, it was a magnificently built city deep in the Mines of Moria.

Since I already achieved lighting a fire by magic, I decided my next task to be producing light. Deep down I was still afraid of the dark I might have to face in the mines. But I did not share this with any of my companions. I chopped the last vegetable and dropped the bits into the boiling pot of stew before looking up at Gandalf with a huge grin on my face. He caught my eyes and raised his eyebrows questioningly, all the while smoking his pipe. I kept smiling and looked at him expectantly. Gandalf suddenly drew back a bit and put a light frown on his face. "What is it? Hmmm?" He asked me suspiciously, careful not to encourage me too much as it seemed. As always, the wizard knew I was up to something.

I bit my lip and began my argument slowly. "Well, Gandalf. I was thinking maybe you could… you know…"

He interrupted me and gave me a knowing look. "Freya. It is yet too soon. Settle down for now child. There will be enough time to learn everything. You are young and your powers may be unpredictable. We don't want any accidents now, do we?" He gave me a kind look and went back to his smoking again.

I could not hold back this time. "Powers? What powers? Oh, right. Is it like everyone having a specific power? Like a specialty? Oh Gandalf really? What's mine? Do you know what it is? Please, please tell me." I spoke so fast I couldn't even remember what I said exactly myself. I got myself to his side immediately. I was so excited about this new piece of information that I really couldn't help it.

Gandalf huffed and let a cloud of smoke out of his mouth and looked my way again. "Oh dear. I should not have told you that." A hint of a smile appeared on his tired face. "So young and full of energy." Aragorn and Legolas laughed at that. I pouted and looked at their amused faces.

"I'm not that young. I'm twenty three." I defended myself, expecting them to stop. But they just laughed harder at that. "I'm an adult." I pouted more and turned my face away from them and toward Gandalf again. Bullies. Gandalf looked at me kindly and smiled. "My dear, all I mean is you have a lot of time to learn. Don't overwork yourself needlessly." I smiled to show him I'm not really offended. And I really was not. Teasing me has turned into a newfound hobby for Legolas, and Aragorn just joins in from time to time, but none of them ever actually takes it that far. They know me that well already.

"And I don't know what your SPECIALTY, as you put it, really is. It shows itself over time. And it is not a certain power. It evolves and changes throughout your life. The events and decisions of your life shapes your power gradually." Gandalf added finally. I nodded in understanding. That was way more than Gandalf usually shared and I know when to stop.

I went back and sat beside Aragorn and Legolas. Legolas was looking at me with a smile on his handsome face. His handsome bullying face. YES. That should be the focus of your thoughts Freya not his handsomeness you idiot. I looked at Aragorn and asked. "So how old are you guys? Laughing at me like that. You should know that were I come from I'm considered a fully grown woman." I folded my arms on my chest and waited.

Aragorn smiled. "I apologize Freya. I know you are an adult among human girls. We were just joking."

I waved a hand at him and smiled. "I know. It's all right. But seriously how old are you? I was always curious before."

"I'm eighty seven." My ranger friend said casually. I looked and then looked some more.

"Huh?"

They both smiled at my confused face. Then it hit me. I read something about it somewhere. "Oh I remember. Is it the Dunedain thing? Umm… like your line was blessed with long life? Right?"

Aragorn nodded.

"Oh god. You could be my grandfather. But you look much younger." I said. "That's so cool. Now I see why 23 isn't much." Aragorn smiled and took out his pipe.

Then I looked at the elf sitting beside me and hesitated a moment. I already knew Legolas could be much older than I can imagine. Since I heard Gliriel was one thousand three hundred and twenty seven years old, I was wondering about his age. Now that I had the opportunity to actually know it, I was kinda scared. Scared because this number could show me how far away from him I really am. Worlds and lives apart probably. Legolas saw the hesitation in my eyes and the twinkle that was in his own eyes seconds ago left altogether. There was nothing hidden from those blue orbs. I wondered if he knew why I was scared of this.

"Well as for me, I am two thousand nine hundred and thirty one. It is not that old for an elf really." He said, not taking his eyes away from me. "Though still far too much older than you little one." He almost sighed when he said that. My eyes shot back up to search his. What was that? He kept his eyes on me but the perfectly carved elven mask was back on his face and I could not see what lay beneath. Was I wrong to assume that he was thinking what I was thinking? I noticed Aragorn looking from Legolas to me and then back to Legolas again and I blushed at the possibility of him knowing my inner feelings. I dropped my head and busied myself with a piece of firewood. I could not let these feelings, whatever they were, grow more than they already had in my heart. I was imagining things. As they said, I'm probably just too young.

Not long after that, Pippin mentioned that he is the youngest after me and began to tell me of the advantages that brought us, turning the atmosphere back into a happier one unknowingly. The conversations went on that night but I cannot remember what we actually talked about afterwards. My mind was too busy trying to digest the load of new data it was given.

It was better for me to concentrate on Gandalf's words and teachings.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day Gandalf caved in and told me how to produce light. It was a pure kind of magic and required a pure memory. The light. The stronger the memory the brighter and more powerful the magic. I thought of granny, Tina, and Rivendell. My brightest memories. And after countless tries, I could finally make a spark of light shine on top of my hands. Nothing bright and impressive but still improvement. Ever since Gandalf said that I have a role for good or evil, I've been worried about Sauron and how he may want to use me on his side. But now that I suddenly had magic, producing this little spark of pure light reassured me so much. Something as beautiful and pure as that tiny spark could not possibly be used for evil.

It was the last hours of light when we reached the walls of Moria. We walked up the rocky path leading to a dark lake that spread before us. Beyond the lake, the walls of Moria stood tall. The top of the wall couldn't be seen since the mist had blocked the view. We had to go around the lake to reach the wall. The rocky path was narrow and wet, making our passage quite slippery. My eyes were glued to the ground beneath so I wouldn't slip and fall into the most probably freezing waters.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gimli told me, knocking his axe gently on the rocky wall.

"Yes Gimli. Their own masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten." Gandalf added simply, tracing the wall with his fingers and moving forward.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas said that with an unmistakable mocking tone from my right. Here we go again. I bit my lip to stop the chuckle that threatened to leave my mouth and gave Legolas a reprimanding look. It wasn't fait to gang up on poor Gimli like that. Gimli huffed with annoyance at this comment and pressed on.

"Don't do that." I told Legolas in a hushed tone. He shrugged and a tiny small brightened his face.

A few minutes later, Gandalf stopped and announced we have reached the doors. But we needed the light of the moon and the stars. It wouldn't take long now. I put my pack down and sat on a nearby rock, catching my breath. We had to let bill, the pony, go back home. Aragorn said we cannot take him to the mines. I hope the poor pony could really find his way home safely. I never figured how animals do that really.

Finally, the moon came out and moonlight shone on the wall. The door became alive and shone in beautiful silver patterns and words. Gandalf turned back to the shining door. "It reads 'The doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak friend and enter." He said after examining the foreign writings.

Merry asked what it means. Apparently, you were supposed to speak the password and enter. If you were a friend of course.

"Gate of the Elves open now for me!" Gandalf put the end of his staff to the door and chanted in Elvish. The doors remained closed. "Gate of Elves listen to my word, Threshold of Dwarves!" He tried again. But the rock didn't move an inch.

We all looked at each other and Pippin said nothing's happened. Gandalf tried pushing the doors and sighed, saying he once knew every spell in all the tongues of Elves, Men and Orcs. I looked at Legolas and he seemed uncertain as well.

"What are you going to do then?" Pippin said casually and I grabbed his shoulder in warning to not bother the wizard but it was already too late. Gandalf snapped and said he would knock Pippin's head against the walls and then in a tired voice asked for a moment to think in peace. We all backed away and settled down with that.

This place was too quiet. The only sound we could hear was the mumbling of Gandalf and the noise made by the wind passing over the dark waters of the lake. We all sat in silence and waited. Legolas stood on a rock and scanned the area as usual. I felt like I could practice the light ball thingy but I was afraid to disturb Gandalf. Merry and Pippin began a contest to see who can throw a stone farther away in the lake to fight the boredom. The splashing sounds seemed too loud in this quiet and Aragorn stopped them immediately. Then when I was about to get up and stretch my legs, Frodo suddenly came up with the answer to the riddle and the doors moved. We gathered happily and peered inside the darkness of the passage. Too dark. We all began to move inside. Gimli was happily telling Legolas of the hospitality of the dwarves and his cousin, Balin. I blinked a few times to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness and stood beside Pippin, waiting for Gandalf to light his staff so we could see the path ahead. As soon as the dim light crept up the walls of the hall, we knew something was terribly wrong.

"This is no mine. It's a tomb." Boromir said grimly. We stepped back in horror at the sight of the skeletons and the rotting armor of the dead soldiers. Gimli started running around and shouted with grief at the sight of the dead dwarves. Legolas quickly examined one of the arrows imbedded in a skull. "Goblins." He spat the word with hate and nocked an arrow, ready to fight. I was in shock and I backed away with the hobbits. Aragorn and Boromir drew their swords.

"We make for the gap of Rohan. We should never have come here. Now get out of here. Get out." Boromir said and I couldn't agree more. Let's leave this place right now please.

We were turning to leave when Merry and Pippin began shouting. Sam asked for help in a raised voice. I looked back and saw the most terrifying creature I've ever seen. A large Kraken like monster had grabbed Frodo with its huge tentacles. My eyes went wide. Everything happened so fast. One minute the whole place was quiet and the next we were all running and shouting. Aragorn and Boromir ran to help while Legolas started shooting arrow after arrow at the creature. That's when I came out of shock and took out my sword. My aim with the bow wasn't good enough for this. Frodo screamed and I saw the monster picking him up and pulling him into the air. I tried to slash at the many tentacles of the monster. Among all that uproar, the monster opened its ugly mouth and tried to eat my poor friend. I screamed and cut off one of its tentacles, no longer caring about cutting a living creature. The creature made a screeching sound but didn't back down. Aragorn and Boromir slashed at it mercilessly until the monster dropped Frodo. Boromir caught him and we all heard Gandalf's shout, ordering us to go back into the mine. What the hell was happening? It's like all the doors were shutting in our faces these last few days. I began to run inside with everyone else but before I could take a step, something slippery wrapped around my waist. My sword fell out of my hand and I was lifted up into the air. Fear cut through me and I screamed. The fellowship turned back again and rushed to my rescue this time. The tentacle squeezed me harder and I gasped. I couldn't breathe. My head started to spin from the lack of oxygen. I could still hear the shouts all around me. The creature took me farther into the water and toward its mouth, probably deciding I'm as good as a dinner as his last prey. I struggled again and shouted. I didn't want to die. Not now. Not like this. Fear rose through my chest and I felt my hands shaking. I could feel the bruises forming on my waist already. Arrows pierced the hard skin of the monster but it didn't let me go. I gathered the last shreds of power in me and screamed once more. I wasn't exactly sure how but right then an angry ball of energy exploded from my hands and hit the creature in the face, or whatever that surface with a mouth was called anyway. The dark sizzling energy burned through its skin. I wasn't sure how I did that, but it was brutal and scary. The creature screeched loudly and dropped me. I hit the cold waters. A hand immediately grabbed onto me and dragged me to the shore. Everyone was still shouting. I couldn't hear things properly. Aragorn picked up my forgotten sword from the shore and pushed me back inside the doors of the mine. I let him drag me along mindlessly. I was in a daze and I'm not sure what happened but when I came to myself Aragorn was shaking me and we were back in the dark again.

"Freya, are you alright?" The ranger shook me some more.

I snapped out of it and nodded weakly. I remembered Frodo. My eyes searched the once more dimly lighted hall, and found another soaking wet person beside myself and sighed with relief. Thank God, he was all right. We were all shaken. The door was blocked now. We were locked in. Somehow, the archway had fallen and closed the opening. Gandalf finished checking on Frodo and came over to me. I'm pretty sure he saw the panic in my eyes. I knew what I did wasn't normal and it didn't look good at all. It was pure black. It couldn't be good. The wizard knew what was going on through my mind and put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly. "Thank the Valar you are not hurt."

I looked up at him, surprised at being treated gently after what I did. Gandalf gave me a weak smile. "You will learn to control it my dear. Sometimes if you feel so much pain, fear, or anger you may lose control. Emotions like this are strong. They overwhelm you fast and hard, but they often leave you just as quickly and you will have to live with the consequences of your actions. Light magic is harder to wield because it needs so much more control in the face of danger. You have to learn to fight dark with light."

I nodded my head and dropped my eyes to the ground. I knew what he meant.

Gandalf patted my back once more and went to discuss something with Aragorn. I looked at Frodo and silently asked him if he was all right. He nodded, shaking slightly from the chill. I turned to get my pack and change into something drier while I had the chance and saw Legolas standing very close to me. He looked very tense. His eyes traveled up and down my body. I knew he was worried. I looked into his pretty eyes and felt tears gathering in my own. This near death experience had me all weak and shaken. I tried to hide it from everyone but the elf could see right through me. My heart was pounding from all the fear and terror, and all I wanted was to feel his arms wrapped around me protectively and to bury my face in his chest, but I stopped myself and just looked for the comfort in his eyes. Legolas didn't talk. He stepped closer and took my face in his hands, stroking my cheeks gently. "You're freezing Freya."

I gulped and mentally told my heart to shut up before moving away and scrambling through my bag for something to change into. I knew I was running away. "Yeah, the water was freezing." I said quickly. And then turned to Frodo. "Frodo you should change too or we're gonna catch our death in this cold." After finding my clothes hiding in the most unlikely corner of my bag, I turned to look for a place to change and came face to face with Legolas once more. It didn't look like he planned on leaving my side for a while. I smiled at him. "Legolas nothing's gonna snatch me away right now you know?" I was trying to ease him a little. But no, it didn't look like he was going to fall for it.

"I'll hold up my cloak so you can change. Come on, you'll get sick in those clothes." And then he immediately turned around and did just that. I looked at his back and sighed. He was too kind and I was too much of an idiot. I shook my head and quickly took off the wet clothes behind the makeshift changing room Legolas was providing and thanked him appreciatively. He meant well. And probably didn't have any idea how attached to him I was becoming.

I looked around when I was done and sighed. This didn't look very good. Well yes, I did just escaped death but now we had Goblins to deal with. "I'm not a fan of the mines." I whispered to the elf sorrowfully and we both walked back to the group. Gimli was silent. I knew he was worried and probably dreading the worst. Gandalf stopped talking to Aragorn and Boromir and turned to the rest of us.

"We now have but one choice. We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." The old man warned us all in a hushed tone. I looked at my companions worriedly and I could see that all of them were tense and uncomfortable. We all started following Gandalf and I quickly followed. I seriously didn't want to, but what other choice was left?

"Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed." Came the wizard's voice once more and I shivered at the possibility of being found out by these foul creatures. Perfect. To think that I was worried about being underground and creepy crawly bugs in the mines. If only I knew we were walking into this, I would've stayed and froze to death on Caradhras.

And then our four-day journey through Moria began.