Author's note:
earthdragon: Your comments are always such a joy to read. I really appreciate you taking the time to leave your feedback and I love hearing what you have to say! With any luck, the next chapter will clear things up a little about Galadriel ;) Oh, and about Elrond: yeah, he pretty much is a crotchety little old person when it comes to getting an adrenaline rush, but it's kind of hard to know how much of it is his worrier nature doing the talking... he was willing to give the trampoline a go, after all. We'd have to drop him off in Valinor to know for certain! :D

For all her reluctance to speak about her issues, Galadriel ended up speaking to me in my professional capacity a couple more times before we were due to depart Lothlórien. This was not wholly unexpected. When it comes to making huge life changes, sometimes people need to hear the same advice a few times in slightly different words before the penny completely drops and they can carry the advice out to completion. Such was the case with Galadriel, and so on some late evenings, we would rehash the topic for hours up on the topmost platform in the area.

"So, Galadriel," I said after our last session had just about wrapped up, "do you think you'll come with us to Imladris?"

"I shall, yes," she answered, nodding her head serenely. "Celeborn will accompany us as well."

"Excellent," I grinned. "So how are the preparations coming along for your advisors to step up and take your role?"

"Do you know, Rhodri, I have been thinking on how to go about that."

"Oh, yes?" I said with interest. "What have you planned so far?"

"Well, to be frank with you, Rhodri, I am a little tempted to leave it to Amroth to organise."

I frowned. The name sounded vaguely familiar. I was sure I'd heard Elrond mention it a few times, but I wasn't the best with names, so it could have been anyone.

"That's not one of the names of your advisors, I don't think…" I quickly perused my notes to see which names I had taken down.

Galadriel raised an eyebrow. "Amroth is the King of Lothlórien, Rhodri."

My eyes widened and I looked at Galadriel in surprise. "Lothlórien has a king?"

Had there been a camera present, Galadriel would have broken the fourth wall and fixed it with a blistering expression. Fortunately, there was not, and she confirmed patiently that Lothlórien did indeed have a monarch.

"This is rather embarrassing to admit, Galadriel," I began, feeling the last of my dignity fetch its hat and coat and depart as I spoke, "But I was under the impression that you were the ruler here."

Her face was curiously blank, without any indication she had even heard me except for one tiny, prominent vein on her temple that looked like it was about to burst.

"Oh, for god's sake, if you must laugh, get it out of the way," I groaned, rolling my eyes. "Don't burst a blood vessel on my account."

She permitted herself to giggle behind her hand for a solid 15 seconds but regained her composure mercifully quickly after that.

"I am sorry, Rhodri," she continued with her usual impenetrable gravitas. "I was under the impression that you knew that, though it does explain why you've been calling Lothlórien my realm all this time."

I chuckled weakly, my embarrassment still rather heavy. "I get the feeling more people consult with you than with Amroth when it comes to Lothlórien."

With a tiny smile, she raised her eyebrows quickly.

"So, what, is this guy useless or something?" I said, abandoning all sense of propriety.

"Those are not my words, but I will take no action to discourage your opinion," she said, the look of entertainment not leaving her face.

"Ah," I nodded gently. "So you intend to shift the workload back into his lap and make him do his bloody job while you take a break, yes?"

"Something to that effect, yes," she replied with an amused nod. "Again, those are your words, not mine."

"Ah well, if he truly makes a dog's breakfast of running the place and you feel it incumbent on you to do something about it, you can always come back and take over formally," I suggested, making my eyes as big and innocent as possible.

Galadriel shut her eyes a moment and that vein in her temple came back again. I gave her a moment or two to get it together, and I stood up.

"Right, well, I think we've gotten about as much as we can extract out of this session," I said as I straightened out my robes.

Galadriel looked up at me, her eyes searching my face for a moment. "That is a very roundabout way of saying you want bread."

I shrugged casually. "It worked, didn't it?"

Two good things happened after my suggestion that Galadriel take a holiday. Number one, of course, was that Galadriel and Celeborn both came back with us to Rivendell. The second was that Curumo decided to hound Olórin for a while instead, probably because he already knew Galadriel's mind was impenetrable and any attempts to harass me for information would invariably lead to further humiliation.

My luck continued when Curumo decided to depart Lothlórien with Olórin, though my sympathies went out to my grey, dishevelled buddy that he had to put up with this cocksure turdbasket—by himself, no less. Still, I wasn't sorry enough that I offered to go with him, so that was that.

Unfortunately, Curumo's physical absence (delightful though it was) didn't mean he was far from my thoughts. In fact, I found myself worrying about what he might get up to or where he might go without the rest of us keeping him on a very tight leash. Allowing him to go anywhere unsupervised seemed ridiculously dangerous, but then, as far as anyone else knew, Curumo was just a nosy old man who meant well, and I had no proof he was anything but that.

Celebrían's folks stayed in Imladris right up until Galadriel received a premonition of sorts that Amroth had decided to essentially do what she had been fantasising about doing: chucking it all and sodding off to Edhellond, leaving Lothlórien without any leader. The news was relayed to us all over dinner that evening, in response to which I raised my glass and proposed a toast to the new Lord and Lady of Lothlórien. Long may they reign and behave themselves, et cetera, et cetera. Thus one of the longest holidays I had witnessed—some nine hundred years—had drawn to a close, and the new leaders of the Golden Wood went home again.

It was around that time that a lot of the small, worrisome things began to snowball into bigger, rather scary things. Not long after, a Balrog was awoken deep in the Mines of Moria and, in a state of extreme displeasure at this disturbance, gave the Dwarves living there the bum's rush, killing the King Durin VI and his son Náin in the process. Orcs were coming over the Misty Mountains and terrorising anything and everything in their path. The Nazgûl had set up shop in Mordor and seized Minds Ithil. We could even see that penetrating grey in the sky from Imladris when we looked out toward the Misty Mountains. Security was shaky at best, and we knew things could only nosedive from here on in.

During this time, what became known as the White Council (suggested by white-robed, white-haired Curumo, presumably because his egotism informed most of his choices) started to assemble when especially worrying things happened. The panel consisted of everyone present at the meeting in Lothlórien, but now also Aiwendil, who had joined on his first visit to Imladris. I wondered what to do about Curumo, who seemed these days to only shift between either being the ultimate queen bee at White Council meetings, or turning into a Registered Missing Person with a Mysterious Past in the time between them.

I eventually decided to voice my concerns to the group a few days before the next meeting was to occur. Everyone was present except Curumo and Aiwendil, and I decided this would have to do.

"Why are you summoning us to a White Council meeting when two of our members are not present, Rhodri?" Elrond asked me curiously. "Surely it would be prudent to wait a little longer and voice your concerns when Curumo and Aiwendil have arrived."

I stood up and started pacing agitatedly. "I would have liked to wait for Aiwendil, because I think this is something he should hear, too, but no, it is not prudent to wait for Curumo to arrive." I shook my head firmly.

"In fact, it's important these concerns be voiced when he is not present," I continued, holding up a finger for emphasis. Galadriel and Glorfindel were the only two who didn't look entirely confused; they knew this had to be coming at some point. Celeborn, mildly unsure, glanced at Galadriel for a moment, as if seeking confirmation, and after a glance from his wife, he now watched me with the same understanding expression.

"I'm just going to get to the point: I have suspicions about Curumo's allegiance," I professed, standing still. "I've harboured these suspicions since I first met him, and I cannot in good conscience put off relaying them to you any longer."

Olórin looked at me like I'd just told him Nienna had body odour. Erestor, Elrond, and Celebrían were also shocked, and seemed a little surprised the others were not.

For a moment, there was silence. Eventually, Elrond managed to find his voice again. "That is a very serious allegation to make, Rhodri," he said gravely. "It is unlike you to say these sorts of things. Have you anything to substantiate this?"

I shook my head and continued walking around. "I have nothing except a collection of small observations about his values and behaviour," I answered, my discontent leaking into my tone. "But I worry that they're the only signs we will get before he diverges and frustrates our efforts to unite against Sauron's forces."

Olórin and Elrond sat with identical frowns on their faces, their brows wrinkled and lips pursed.

"Tell us what you have noticed, Rhodri," Olórin requested, watching me closely as I continued to stride around the room impatiently.

With a sigh, I told them everything I had seen, from the way he spoke to Aiwendil, to glowering at the window as he saw Círdan give Narya to Olórin, to dominating conversations with his own ideas, and then hanging around in the east without so much as a word between meetings.

"Honestly," I said as I finished haemorrhaging my collection of observations, "I think he is very much inclined to be power-hungry. For that reason alone, I do not think he should be anywhere near the Necromancer's quarters."

"But he is the most powerful of the Istari," countered Olórin. "If he learns enough about the work of the forces there, we can use it to our advantage and predict the enemy's movements!"

"You're assuming he's going to tell you everything," I countered. "What if he becomes so enamoured by the lure of the evil forces that he decides not to bother with us any more? Or, god forbid, what if he uses it against us?"

"But he is the most powerful-" Olórin made to repeat.

"But not the wisest, Olórin!" I interrupted him exasperatedly. "How certain are you that he will be able to withstand the hollow temptations of this Necromancer? Imagine if this character could get his hands on a Maia servant like Curumo!"

"I think you are being too hasty to judge him, Rhodri," Olórin said tersely. "You have only seen him a handful of times. I know him better. He was sent with the rest of the Istari on a specific mission to fight the forces of Sauron."

"I'm not trying to act as though Curumo is a good friend of mine, or even a close acquaintance, but I will not pretend that I didn't see him behave the way he has!" I snapped back.

I turned to the others. "None of you have spoken up. What do you say about any of this, then?" I demanded, perhaps a little harshly. After a pregnant pause, Elrond finally spoke.

"I, for one, do not believe we have sufficient evidence to take any dramatic action at present."

I looked at Galadriel, then Celeborn, then Glorfindel, silently demanding one of them, any of them, to say something.

"What would you recommend we do, Rhodri?" Galadriel asked evenly, watching me with interest.

"If I had my way," I replied, "I'd stick him on a boat and send him straight back to Valinor. I wouldn't trust him here a second longer."

"I trust your judgement, Rhodri," Glorfindel ventured, "but I doubt that option is available, so what if you didn't have your way?"

I tapped my foot on the ground. "Then I would say this: watch him. When he comes here in a few days with Aiwendil, keep a close eye on how he behaves, keeping in mind what I told you today. When he makes a suggestion or gives an opinion, ask yourself what that could mean if he had poor intentions."

The others looked at me with varied expressions. Most were cautious; Galadriel and Celeborn smiled gently. My heart sank when I saw Olórin watching me with an expression of… was it anger? Was he suspicious of me, now that I had made my stance on Curumo clear?

"We can certainly do that much," said Elrond quickly, nodding his head. He seemed anxious to placate me while being afraid of acting on an uncertainty. I understood. These were troublesome times, and very little was guaranteed. Being in a constant state of flux was tiresome, especially for someone like concrete, cautious Elrond, and indulging a hypothetical was too big of an ask of him.

I let out a puff of air and rubbed my brows. This was about as good of an outcome as I could have expected, really. I returned to my seat, and thus followed a long silence as we digested everything that had happened today. It probably would have gone on a lot longer than it did had the bell for dinner not rang. Not looking at each other, we slowly rose to our feet and shuffled out of the room. As I made for the door, I went to Olórin and gently put a hand on his shoulder. He turned around slowly and watched me wordlessly, frowning pensiveness all over his face.

"Promise me you'll watch him," I murmured to him in Valarin. "Just try. Please."

His expression softened slightly as he placed a hand of his own on my shoulder. A feeling of relief came over me. At that moment, I knew he wasn't truly angry at me. He was afraid of what my suspicions being correct would entail. He nodded gently, and then left the room.

I was pleased I hadn't left my rant until the next day, because that was precisely when Aiwendil and Curumo arrived. Aiwendil seemed a little reluctant to be there, mostly because the person to animal ratio was far too skewed for his liking, but he settled in rather quickly once a bird or two landed on his shoulder. Curumo, on the other hand, looked simultaneously pleased with himself for deigning to show up, but also like he thought this was a waste of time.

We didn't waste any time, and started the council immediately when all were present and accounted for.

"I do not see the reason for summoning this council, Elrond," Curumo said simply with a shake of his head.

Elrond's eyebrows shot heavenwards. "We are here today, Curumo," he returned, "because of shared concerns of the forces behind the Necromancer.

The other members murmured in assent.

"The Necromancer?" Curumo replied with a laugh. "He is nothing more than a mortal man dabbling in malediction. Fifty years from now and he will be long dead. Do not trouble yourselves with him."

"It is a tad odd, Curumo, that it would be a mortal man behind all this when you consider what sort of evil has awoken all of a sudden, don't you think?" I challenged him. "A Balrog, the sudden return of the Nazgûl, horrible things emerging from the North and the East… funny, isn't it, that it's all coming out now."

He waved a hand dismissively. "The Balrog of Moria was disturbed by the Dwarves. As for the rest that followed, that was a mere ripple effect. You will see. In a few decades, this will all have blown over and the continent will be calm once more."

"It has been nearly a whole millennium, and your projection for the return of peace is a few decades?" I said in disbelief. "With all due respect (there was none), Curumo, I think you are vastly underestimating what is at play here if you believe that to be the case."

Curumo's eyes darted up and locked with mine, his nose wrinkling up into a small snarl. Not to be intimidated I let my gaze bore into him as hard as I could.

"And who do you suppose is behind this, then?" he sneered. "Morgoth?"

"Come, Curumo," said Celeborn, looking less than pleased. "You know it is Sauron we speak of."

"Sauron!" Curumo exclaimed with a scornful laugh. "He lost his power since Isildur took the Ring. He has not the means to harm any one at all."

"He could be using the time and the magic in the fortress to gather his strength," said Elrond to nobody in particular. "If it is him, we should seize the opportunity to launch an attack while he is still vulnerable."

"Preposterous!" Curumo cried. "Do not trouble yourselves over what lives in Dol Guldur. It is simply not worth your time and resources to indulge this foolish curiosity!"

An awkward pause settled over the room. Curumo wasn't giving this up. The tension in the rest of the room became evident, and with that, Olórin spoke up.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to at least begin doing some investigation into who this character is, so that we might better prepare ourselves for if, or rather when he decides to strike," he proposed.

More noises of concurrence ensued, none of which came from Curumo. He tore his eyes off me to instead set them on Olórin, who looked worried, but resolute.

"You are wasting your time," Curumo said firmly. "There is nothing- and no-one there worth looking into."

"Then the investigators will return unharmed and we will be able to concentrate our efforts elsewhere," answered Galadriel serenely, Celeborn nodding in support.

The council seemed to continue in a rather recursive manner, where one of us would make a suggestion for how to go about gleaning information regarding the unwelcome inhabitant of Dol Guldur, and Curumo would oppose it. In fact, Curumo's constant interruptions filibustered proceedings such that we had to adjourn for the day when the dinner bell rang (keeping in mind we had started shortly after lunch). With a triumphant look on his face, he tried to usher us out of the room, but I held up a hand.

"We have not yet had the news from Aiwendil regarding the animals of Mirkwood," I said. Aiwendil looked shocked that I had mentioned him, but happily began to speak, keenly relaying the happenings in his area of expertise. Curumo, however, openly displayed a lack of interest, and left the room when Aiwendil was mid-speech- precisely what I had hoped he would do.

I felt a sharp pang of guilt for that when I saw Aiwendil's hurt and confused face as he watched Curumo depart without so much as a backward glance, the door banging shut loudly behind him.

I went up to Aiwendil and put a hand on his shoulder. "Your news is very important, Aiwendil," I said firmly, "and we are listening carefully to what you have to say. Please continue when you are ready." I smiled, gave his shoulder a squeeze, and returned to my seat.

And his news was indeed very important. That old stereotype of animals having some sort of sixth sense for danger rang as true as ever here in Middle-Earth, and Aiwendil had been paying attention to the critters living in the epicentre of all this far more closely than anybody else. Thanks to Aiwendil's snippets, we found out that this Necromancer character had been training birds up to be his spies. Fighting between species had gotten out of control, and tension had finally reached a breaking point, because the animals had now started to flee the forest, making for the north or the east.

After he finished his impassioned speech, Elrond tapped his lips. "This really is very concerning."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"It does not seem that we can afford to remain in mystery for much longer," mused Glorfindel worriedly.

I got up and slipped over to the door, opening it just a crack and glancing outside, checking both sides of the corridor for signs of an eavesdropping Curumo. It was empty. Heaving a sigh of relief, I gently shut the door and walked back into the centre of the room.

"We need to send someone in secret to scope this place out," I advised them quietly. "Curumo can't know, otherwise he might delay it further, or maybe even try to sabotage our efforts in some way." I shook my head. "He is not to be trusted."

"We do not know for certain that Curumo is untrustworthy, Rhodri," Elrond replied patiently. "He may well be correct, or perhaps simply stubbornly sure of himself, and will do the right thing when concrete evidence lies before him."

I watched my best friend scan my face hesitantly, perhaps a little nervously, and I sighed. "I would love to be wrong about this," I said heavily, "But I don't think I am. Even if he were well-intentioned, if his need to be right is more important to him than carefully examining the evidence, he is not someone to be taking advice from. We already walk such a fine line between safety and total chaos that I am afraid even the slightest misstep will lead us to ruin."

My words hung in the still night air. After a moment, Olórin rose from his chair and began to speak.

"In which case, I will travel alone in secret to Dol Guldur and investigate for myself, and will return with a report when I know more."

"Are you should go by yourself, Olórin?" Glorfindel asked worriedly. "Rhodri and I could come with you." He gestured at himself and me, and we both nodded.

Olórin shook his head. "No, I fear that would make things less plausible. No, I will depart tomorrow, and everyone in the council who does not reside here should leave as well, as we would have done anyway. If our suspicions are correct, we will simply defy him and launch an attack anyway."

We all nodded, reassured that something was going to get done, even if it was on the sly.

It would be some months before Olórin returned with any news, but by the time he got back, we could already see for ourselves what had happened. The looming grey had started to vanish from the sky. The tension in the air was dissipating. A sort of curious ceasefire had settled over everything east of the Misty Mountains.

"So what happened out there, Olórin? What took you so long?" asked Glorfindel, leaning forward in his seat.

With a pensive look on his face, Olórin began to speak. "I was delayed for short periods due to bands of various creatures Sauron had lured into his service that monitored the region around the fortress. Though I do not know what they would have done had they found me. When I entered the ruins, I saw a shadow of something, and when it saw me, too, it simply… fled."

"Fled?" repeated Elrond in disbelief.

Olórin nodded. "Indeed. It retreated faster than any living thing here could move, off into the east, taking the greyness with it. The sun shone clearly again, and the spies lurking around the place scattered, all apanic."

"What do you think it was, Olórin?" I broached after a moment, certain that I would hate the answer.

Olórin slowly looked over at me, his brow heavy with concern. "I do not know for certain," he admitted, "but I will say this: I am sure it had no physical form, because no mortal man could escape and move at such a pace as this thing did."

A chill blanketed the atmosphere, which contrasted so starkly with the gentle sunlight coming down from the clear sky.

"Then I suppose the period of Watchful Peace commences," Elrond murmured, not moving his fingers from his mouth as he spoke.

I swallowed hard and nodded with the others, knowing as well as they did that there was no real peace to be had from this.