A/N I told myself I wouldn't do the Council of Elrond. I really did. We all know it by heart by now, don't we? Well...I DID IT. I'm so sorry. I promise you won't have to read every single line of dialog from it, I skimmed what I could. I tried to make it as interesting as possible. The closer I got to the council happening the more weird it seemed NOT to do it so...here we are.
Will I make it better if I offer consolatory fanfic cookies like in the olden days? What if I tell you that there's like two months of Rivendell shenanigans before the Fellowship leaves that are just ripe for more juicy Aragorn interactions?
Okay fine, here's the teaser.
CAMPING/HUNTING TRIP BITCHESSSS
Like before the legit camping trip of the entire Fellowship going to Mordor.
And aside from the legit camping trip of the entire journey to Rivendell.
Do with that what you will.
*mic drop* K byeee.
Morning came too quickly and the sun woke her up well in time for the Council. Though, in the light of day she was beginning to question her idea of sneaking in that she'd presented to Aragorn. Sure they trusted her, supposedly, but perhaps sneaking into a secret meeting was a bad idea when she hadn't even asked to be included in the first place.
As Josephine dressed and drank hot tea that came minutes after she'd stirred, she still wasn't sure she needed to be there, or even wanted to. But on the other hand, imagining missing it and milling away the morning like nothing was going on felt wrong.
So as soon as she had herself together, fed, and feeling surprisingly well for having been buzzed for most of the night before, she went to find Lord Elrond and ask for admittance. He was in the library, consulting a book laid out on a large table on the lower level.
"You come with a question." He said without any surprise, looking like he'd been waiting for her.
"I'm not sure it's necessary, I've practically memorized one of the versions of it so I won't miss much if I don't go, but I was wondering if I could join the council later?"
"With your knowledge in mind I had considered this. However, since you had shown little interest in doing so, I thought you might wish to keep your gift hidden. If you come to the council there will be questions from many as to why. Lying to them will only foster more distrust."
Josephine hadn't thought about that. Even if the Elves of Rivendell let her slide without further question, she was sure the Dwarves, Boromir, and Legolas would pose the question. But it also wasn't much of a chance to take by them finding out, the ones who would be encountering the enemy wouldn't say anything and she'd be safe in Rivendell either way.
Lord Elrond closed the book and put it back on its shelf. Returning to where she was standing he folded his hands in front of him and raised his eyebrow.
Eyebrows of doom her teenage self murmured to her in her head from a decade earlier.
"If you wish to join the council, I see little reason to deny it. As you have said, you have memorized the proceedings."
The look he gave her made her feel like he was testing her and she suddenly felt very young in his presence.
"Have you decided how you're going to address them all at the beginning yet?"
"I have." He said with interest.
Josephine smoothed her hands down her skirt and raised her chin confidently. "Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink of destruction, none can escape it. You will unite or you will fall."
Both eyebrows rose in a measure of surprise and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. "I see."
"So yes." She nodded, affirming it to him and herself at the same time. "I'd like to be there."
"Very well. The bells will toll when it is time."
Overly worried she came early, the bells had only just started tolling when she came to the pavilion. The semicircle of chairs was set out and several Elves were already there and eyed her when she waited by the pillars. She wasn't sure which chair was meant for her, or if they had been set out with assignments in mind. The Dwarves would sit with their kin and probably the same for the Men and Elves, and then of course Frodo and Gandalf on the far side. So she guessed either at their end, or Aragorn's.
"If you are attempting to sneak into the council you are not doing it well." Aragorn said over her shoulder as he arrived.
"I changed my mind and decided sneaking was a bad idea, especially since Lord Elrond was okay with me being here all along. I was just pondering the…etiquette of council seating."
He smiled briefly, long enough to put her at ease as he held his hand out for her to follow him, then slipped back to the serious demeanor he'd show through the entire proceeding. He motioned to the chair on the end and took the one second from it for himself.
She nervously smoothed out the skirt of her dress as she felt Legolas' eyes linger just a bit too long followed by Boromir who passed them and sat several chairs away from Aragorn.
Aragorn eventually leaned over and whispered to her. "Are you alright?"
The nervous fidgeting hadn't fully registered with her until he drew attention to it and she purposefully stilled her hands and sat up straighter. "Sorry."
Next, Gloin, Gimli, and one of the other Dwarves from last night. They didn't regard her as coldly but were still curious about her presence. Taking a deep breath she steeled her expression and looked around the filling pavilion. She knew at least half the people there and she'd seen most if not all of them doing something ridiculous. In lieu of imagining the audience naked, she just remembered Gimli getting tossed, Legolas' famous overzealous reaction expressions, and Boromir getting thrown on his ass by the Hobbits. That expertly fixed her self consciousness from all the staring.
Frodo and Gandalf arrived with Bilbo, a bit from the books she hadn't expected and finally, Lord Elrond. The chairs were filled and he began his speech. Surprisingly though, it didn't end with a call for Frodo to bring the Ring out. Instead, Elrond gave brief introductions for everyone's benefit which brought to her attention the two other Men and two Elves who had joined the council from Lake Town and Dale respectively, and Galdor of the Grey Havens who sat beside Erestor. Gandalf was given no introduction and neither was Aragorn, neither was the third Dwarf who she had missed the name of last night and the Elf beside Elrond's chair. Then he looked towards her and she tried to appear as stoic as possible.
Her introduction passed with murmurs between the various council members. The secret was out, and if she was being honest with herself she was almost relieved she hadn't had to be the one to drop the bomb on everyone.
Lord Elrond allowed the murmurs to die down before motioning to the pedestal in the center and requesting Frodo bring the Ring.
It was then, when it clinked softly onto the stone, that Josephine realized she hadn't seen it this whole time. She wasn't sure if the uneasy feeling that came over her was all in her head or something tangible from Sauron's favorite bobble but she didn't like it and tried to impress upon the not so inanimate object that it better not fucking try anything because she wasn't in the mood.
Boromir stood, stepping slowly towards the pedestal. "In a dream, I saw the Eastern sky grow dark but in the West a pale light lingered. A voice was crying: 'Your doom is near at hand. Isildur's Bane is found."
His hand reached out, Elrond called his name in warning, and the sky darkened as Gandalf began shouting the inscription. A dark pit formed in her throat and didn't go away until several seconds of silence passed. She wasn't fond of this sensitivity to Middle-Earth's evil that was so prevalent she could quantify it.
Elrond was also less than pleased, as expected. "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."
Even more annoyed at the Ring now, she sent telepathic hate mail at the Ring while Boromir made his boisterous speech about Gondor's contribution towards the fight and decided by the time Legolas was telling everyone about Aragorn's lineage that it had had enough, at least for the moment.
"Aragorn? This…is Isildur's heir?"
"And heir to the throne of Gondor." Legolas snapped back.
Aragorn raised his hand wearily. "Havo dad, Legolas."
"Gondor has no king." Boromir said, sitting back down with his proverbial tail tucked ever so slightly between his legs but hoping no one was noticing. "Gondor needs no king."
"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." Gandalf added, interrupting the tension that had come over the group at Boromir's aggression.
"You have only one choice. The Ring must be destroyed."
"What are we waiting for!" Gimli cried.
Josephine's fingers tightened around the arms of her chair and she cringed in anticipation before she realized what she was doing. His axe crashed down on the Ring and shattered, the force sent him reeling back. Smoke rose lazily from the remains and the Ring, naturally sat unscathed.
She and Aragorn glanced at each other, checking to make sure the other hadn't been hit by axe shrapnel. That would've been just what they needed right now.
"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli, son of Gloin by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."
Josephine had to suppress a snigger as Boromir said the line that birthed a million memes but her mood was quickly soured again when Legolas sprang back to his feet to counter Boromir's exclamation of it being folly.
Then it was everyone's turn to stand except for herself, Aragorn, Bilbo, and Frodo. The yelling and fighting was practically impossible to follow but the racism was rampant and she rubbed her hands over her face. "Why are they like this?" She hissed, expecting to go unheard in the pandemonium. She hadn't. Aragorn had heard her and gave her a stiff, tight lipped nod.
"I will take it!" Frodo's voice cut through the noise. "I will take it!" Silence fell over the group and everyone turned to watch Frodo step forward. "I will take the Ring to Mordor. Though…I do not know the way.
Gandalf's face fell guiltily and he laid his hand on Frodo's shoulder. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."
Then Aragorn, rising from his chair to kneel before Frodo. "If by my life or death, I can protect you, I will. You have my sword."
The Fellowship came together exactly as she knew it would. Legolas, followed by Gimli, Boromir, Sam, Pippin, and Merry. The nine to match the nine Nazgul, or so Elrond would've said in the book at some point had things been going that way.
"Nine companions… So be it! You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring!"
The council was released and she was suddenly extremely grateful the one she attended was tied to the movie and not the books or she would've been stuck there for hours. She waited in her seat as everyone left, until it was only her and Frodo, who'd told the others to go ahead and was staring at her from the other side of the pedestal.
"You knew, didn't you?" He said, now knowing she was as far as they were concerned, a Seer. "You knew this would happen."
His look made her feel guilty, wondering if he was also thinking about his wound on Weathertop and their flight through the Trollshaws. "I did." She stood and walked up to the pedestal, brushing her fingers over the edge of the stone anxiously. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you."
"I doubt I would have believed you."
Elrond's voice from behind her interrupted them and she turned quickly. "Lady Josephine. I would like to speak with you privately about what has just occurred." He stood under the pillars with his hands folded in front of him once again and a grim look on his face.
Something in his eyes made her extremely uneasy and she had a sinking feeling she wouldn't like where this was going, but she followed him nonetheless. The sound of his study door shutting behind them somehow, even in the bright glow of late morning, was like the clack of a gavel delivering a sentence she hadn't even heard yet.