We walked with Treebeard to the bank of the Limlight. I could see then that it was dark and the moonlight was shimmering on the river's surface. He
picked us up easily, one in each of his branch-like hands. He had at least seven twiggy fingers on each hand and Gandalf and I perched among them
like birds.
He walked straight into the river, unaffected by the current or the temperature. The level of the water rose up and up eventually over his head, but he
held us high above it. I looked down and could see his mossy hair flowing and swirling with the running water. His steps were steady and we were
soon high and dry on the opposite bank. He set us down as soon as we were inside the tree line.
Treebeard led the way through the forest. I was astonished that my expectations of him were nowhere close to the reality. I suppose I was influenced
by the movie-version of the Ents.
I expected him to be bigger and taller. Perhaps had I been the size of a Hobbit he would have been. I was also surprised at how human-like he seemed
when he was in motion. Of course, when he stood still and closed his eyes, he looked exactly like an old moss-covered tree, but when he was moving,
he looked more like Sasquatch. Rather than an ape-man, he looked like a tree-man, but still he had the look of a man.
You might ask why I was not so surprised at the appearance of the Entwife. I guess it's because I expected the female of the species to be smaller. She
was also more tree-like than Treebeard, probably because I only saw her standing in one place. She didn't move; she didn't even pick up her feet as
we talked in Lórien.
Treebeard offered to carry us through the forest, but it would have been awkward because of our size. Gandalf and I opted to walk with him. Gandalf
walked by Treebeard's side and I hurried along behind them. I felt like a Hobbit scrambling to keep up with the big folk.
Gandalf and Treebeard carried on a lighthearted chat while we walked. I spent my time trying to experience the forest. I opened all my senses to it.
The forest floor was choked with thick roots and it would have been impossible to traverse it without stepping on them had the trees not cleared the
path before Treebeard. I was amazed at the speed with which the trees withdrew their roots and low-hanging branches to accommodate us.
The trees themselves seemed to embrace one another; twisting and turning as they grew so that some resembled vines wrapping around each other
fluidly.
I listened to them too. I couldn't understand their speech but like Elven song, their murmuring and creaking gave strong emotional impressions.
Time. I'd never thought of time as an emotion, but I felt the weight of time all around me. It was the opposite of Lórien and Rivendell, where time's
hold on my body seemed to lift. In Fangorn forest I was almost painfully aware of time. It slowed and I felt every second ticking by as if the world
were actually turning more slowly.
There was resentment also. Although I could feel the deep respect the trees had for Treebeard and Gandalf, I also felt that they did not like intruders.
They resented us taking Treebeard's attention away from them; they also resented our movement and our youth.
There was another deeper, darker emotion present. The trees were definitely filled with frustration and rage. They could not understand that those of
us who were so young and quick could bring them down with hardly a thought. I got mental pictures of Men with axes and fire tearing down trees and
mutilating them to build their homes and villages; sparkling sap ran like blood over their hands.
I was horrified and my stomach churned. I stopped and bent over, letting my hand rest on the trunk of a nearby tree; I felt a warmth in my chest and a
tremble in the rough bark. At first it felt like a shiver of disgust, but just as started to pull my hand away, the feeling changed. I felt a flash of pain. I
left my palm against the bark and leaned closer to the trunk; I laid my cheek against it and closed my eyes.
"I'm sorry," I thought. "I cannot change the past, I can't make it right. I accept your anger for all of my people; please forgive us."
As I stood there, all the trees nearby began to shake. I was sucked into a waking dream. I was standing stark still, looking down from high above the
ground. Orcs with axes were hacking away at my legs and body. They had a rope around my back and were pulling me over. I couldn't run or scream
or defend myself. Soon, I was on my side, watching the filthy things cutting off my limbs, throwing them into a huge bonfire.
Long into the torture, I was still alive. I watched as the orcs did the same thing to all of my friends and family, laughing with glee. Saruman looked on
from his tower.
"We'll stop them, I swear it. We'll all do it together," I thought and felt the tremble of the tree again.
I stumbled backward away from the tree almost as if I had been pushed. I felt Gandalf's presence beside me. He put his hand on my right shoulder.
"My dear, I would not advise that you do that again."
I looked at him puzzled, "Do what? What did you see?"
"The tree enveloped you; Treebeard and I were speaking to it, but it would not let you go," Gandalf replied with his bushy white eyebrows raised.
"Why did it let me go, then?"
"Hoom, hrum. It tells me it let you go because you made a promise and because you understood," Treebeard answered.
"Yes, I understand," I said grimly. "Saruman and the orcs will pay for what they've done, won't they Mithrandir?"
"Yes Elaura, the evil will not go unpunished. Legolas would be proud of you; all can hear the trees, but not everyone listens to them," Gandalf said
and smiled.
"You are weary, are you not? Hoom? I will carry you while you sleep, young lady," Treebeard said. It didn't feel like he was offering just to keep me
from getting myself into trouble, but I could tell that was part of it.
He lifted me with both of his thick branches; Gandalf apparently intended to walk throughout the night. I expected the ride to be bumpy, but it wasn't.
I grinned and looked at Treebeard's face as he talked to Gandalf. His eyes were as big as my fist and gold with green flecks and his eyelashes and
eyebrows were grey-green like the moss of his head and beard except that it looked softer and less tangled.
Treebeard's nose looked like a stunted knob of a branch and grew straight out from his face. His mouth barely moved when he spoke and his beard
and mustache nearly covered it completely, but I noticed he had no teeth and his breath smelled like warm summer mulch.
I laid my head back in his hand and sang quietly to myself:
Rock-a-bye, baby
In the treetop
When the wind blows
The cradle will rock
When the bough breaks
The cradle will fall
And down will come baby
Cradle and all
Baby is drowsing
Cosy and fair
Mother sits near
In her rocking chair
Forward and back
The cradle she swings
And though baby sleeps
He hears what she sings
From the high rooftops
Down to the sea
No one's as dear
As baby to me
Wee little fingers
Eyes wide and bright
Now sound asleep
Until morning light.
I heard the deep rumble of a chuckle and looked up to see Treebeard looking back at me, "That is a strange song. Hoom. Is it common for your people
to put children to sleep in trees?"
I giggled, I couldn't help it. "Heavens no. It's a lullaby. I think I remember something about cradles being hung on low branches rocking in the wind,
but to tell you the truth I've never thought that part about the bough breaking was particularly comforting."
"I would not think so. Hrum. But you should sleep if you can. I will not let you fall."
I grinned, "I've never felt safer, my lord Fangorn."
"Such a polite little thing," he chuckled.
I fell asleep to Treebeard's rumbling chatter and dreamed of babies in trees.
When I opened my eyes I found myself on top of a hill in a bower of sorts. The sun was shining and I was alone. It felt like mid-day and I wondered
where Treebeard and Gandalf had gone.
I was lying on a bed of sorts; it was a soft pile of drying leaves and green moss. There was a gentle waterfall like raindrops in front of the bower
emptying into a small stream. I saw a few bowls and pitchers nearby as well.
I thought I must be on Treebeard's Hill or his home at Wellinghall, but when I considered the maps of Middle Earth I'd seen I couldn't make the time
jibe with the distance. "It should've taken at least two days to get here, how could Treebeard have made it in just one night?" I asked no one in
particular.
"Where do you think you are, my dear?" Gandalf asked as he stepped around the waterfall.
"Treebeard's home at Wellinghall, near the foot of Methedras."
"Nay. Treebeard has many homes. We are at one deep in the middle of Entwood; this is not Wellinghall, although we could have easily made it there;
you have been asleep two full days."
"What? Why? Did you put a spell on me?" The question sounded about as cheesy as the references to spells in the movies.
Gandalf just smiled and sat on the ground next to my bed.
"Mithrandir, if you didn't want me along, why didn't you just say so in Lórien? I'm very upset that you would put me to sleep for two days."
"I did not say I did not want you with me, nor did I say that I put a spell on you. You slept because you needed it. It was not my will imposed on you;
I simply did not wake you."
"I'm sorry. I guess if I slept that long I must've needed it. I should've known you wouldn't do something like that without asking."
Gandalf chuckled, "There is drink if you would like, but Treebeard has no use for food and it would be unwise to eat anything from this wood."
"I think I'll pass on the Ent draught. I'm tall enough as it is, but I am very hungry. Is there any more lembas? What have you been up to while I've
been sleeping?"
Gandalf handed me my pack and I dug out a wrapped square of waybread as he answered me, "I have been traveling here and there, gathering news.
We were very lucky Treebeard was wandering on the northern border, he sleeps much these days. He was aware of the Uruk activity in southern
Entwood, but I do not believe he understands the extent of it yet."
I ate half of the bread and stood and brushed myself off. I walked over to a tall stone table and climbed up to see what was on it. There were bowls of
water but as Gandalf had said, no food of any kind. "Did you take him there?" I asked.
"No, he went that way on his own. I asked him to stay near the border where the Entwash meets the forest for a time and keep and eye out for our
little friends."
Gandalf's memory seemed to be back completely, but he still had that childlike glimmer in his eyes like he had just walked in on his own surprise
party. "What do we do now?"
"Now we will continue south to Treebeard's Hill. It should take us three days to reach it and that is where we shall reunite with what is left of the
Fellowship. Shadowfax will also be waiting for me on the border of the forest."
"If you don't mind, I think I'll clean up a bit before we set out. Is it safe to wash in that waterfall?"
"Yes. All of Fangorn forest is safe for us now. Treebeard has given us his leave to walk in this wood, but mind your step and do not touch any living
thing."
"Worse than airport security," I mumbled.
Gandalf walked away into the forest and I undressed. My weapons were on the ground next to the bed. I peeled off my filthy under-things and
gathered up my cleansing supplies and stepped into the waterfall. It was cold, but not freezing.
I washed up and let the cool waterfall into my mouth. It invigorated me from my toes to the top of my head and the roots of my hair tingled. I stepped
out, combed my hair, found a clean bra, and dressed. Then I packed everything back up and pulled my hair into a slick, wet ponytail.
I took one deep drink from the bowl on the table and strapped on my weapons. The water from the fall and the bowl tasted earthy and made me feel as
if I had eaten a full meal, but I didn't get any taller. When I was finished, I walked around the waterfall and peered out into the woods in the direction
Gandalf had gone.
I saw his form a few yards off and walked to him. We spent the next three days traveling through the forest during the day and sleeping peacefully
under the boughs at night. There was almost no sound or activity in the forest except for the creaking of the trees, and the occasional scrabble of
rodent feet in the leaf litter.
We arrived at the foot of Treebeard's Hill at nightfall. We climbed the wide rough-hewn stone steps to the top. The smell of burnt garbage wafted up
over the trees, but the air was cool and the stars shown brightly. There was evidence that the area was recently traveled. I didn't have Aragorn's skill
to track but I could clearly see where Treebeard's toes had gripped the ground and two sets of tiny footprints in the dirt.
"Fangorn met Pippin and Merry yesterday," declared Gandalf cheerfully.
"Then Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas should be here tomorrow . . ." I said softly to myself.
"Yes. I will go down to the river tonight. Keep yourself hidden until I speak with them myself. I must watch over their entry into the wood, they have
not Treebeard's protection and will need mine."
I ducked behind an outcropping of rock so that I was not visible from the stair side of the hill. I was asleep quickly and woke with the cloudy dawn,
but soon fell back asleep out of boredom.
I woke again to voices below. They were tense and hushed. I could make out Gimli's heavy boots and Aragorn's light tentative steps, but I heard
nothing of Legolas until he spoke, ". . . Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end."
"But we did not wish to come to Fangorn," Gimli replied.
Just as Aragorn was about to step around to my side of the rock, Legolas spoke again and he stepped back, "Yet here we are – and nicely caught in the
net, Look!"
I knew they'd spotted Gandalf then and they began to whisper so that I couldn't hear them.
They were further away from me, close to the edge when I heard Gimli shout, "Your bow, Legolas! Bend it! Get ready! It is Saruman. Do not let him
speak, or put a spell on us! Shoot first!"
I almost couldn't hold in the laughter that was threatening to burst out of me. After a few tense moments (At least they were tense for my friends) I
heard Gandalf's voice. It seemed normal to me, but the others didn't seem to recognize it. It felt like hours passed before Gandalf finally let them in
on his little secret.
I heard the amusement in his voice and their disbelief. Finally, when Gandalf had shared his news and the others were sitting at his feet sharing their
own, I heard what I was waiting for, "Come out, my dear."
I stood and took a deep breath, I was worried what repercussions I would face for my part in Gandalf's little ruse. I stepped out from behind the rocks
and Legolas and Gimli jumped to their feet.
"Lassie!" Gimli laughed.
"Elaura, what are you doing here?!" Legolas exclaimed.
Gimli sounded genuinely glad to see me and Aragorn was smiling broadly, but there was something in Legolas' tone that told me he was not happy to
see me.
"I waited in Lórien for Gandalf to arrive and then I accompanied him here," I said as evenly as I could. Legolas had stood still, not even taking a step
toward me and he had a grim look on his face.
"You knew?" Legolas asked astonished.
"She knows much mellon nín," Aragorn answered him. "Do not blame her for not revealing what she knew. Gandalf and Elrond have instructed her to
keep many things from all of us."
Gimli looked at me wide-eyed. This was the first he heard of this part of my story.
"I'm sorry, Legolas. I told you there were things I couldn't say to you until all this is over."
"You should not have left Lórien Elaura," Legolas said sternly then turned to Gandalf, "Is there no way to send her back, Mithrandir?" I bristled at
this suggestion.
"No, her part in this is just beginning, my boy. If there ever was a time that we could have protected her, that time is passed. Now, let us all rest a
while and share our news."
Legolas and Gimli sat and I sat between them. They shared all their news, the attack at Amon Hen, Boromir's fall to the Uruks and his funeral boat
being sent over the Falls of Rauros. Frodo and Sam leaving the Fellowship to head West and the three hunters following the captured Pippin and
Merry to Fangorn.
Gandalf shared what he had learned from the eagles and in his wanderings, most of which I had told him back in Rivendell. He spoke in riddles and
alluded to the part Pippin and Merry would play in the fall of Saruman. He was vague and it frustrated Aragorn.
I watched the others quietly, Legolas seldom returned my gaze, and when he did, I could not read his expression. I tried to keep my face as blank as
possible, so he couldn't read mine either. It was obviously dawning on him that I knew a hell of a lot more than he'd ever imagined and he wasn't
comfortable with the idea that he was out of the loop.
His mood lightened somewhat when Gandalf began to talk about Treebeard and the Ents. He had a look of wonder and he seemed very disappointed
he hadn't gotten to meet Treebeard.
"Don't worry hún nín, you will meet him. I have made a promise to return after the war and I aim to keep it," I said softly and touched his right hand,
which was resting lightly on his knee. Legolas smiled at me then, but there was still an air of melancholy about him. I was puzzled.
The sunlight penetrated the clouds for a moment and a lone sunbeam fell on Gandalf's lap. His hand seemed to catch it and fill with its golden light.
"It is time."
Aragorn seemed all too willing to give up leadership to Gandalf again and for the moment Gandalf was willing to take it back. Aragorn was weary
and had the look of a man who had made the wrong decisions and others had paid dearly for it.
Gandalf said we were to go to Edoras and we stood. Legolas and Gimli begged to hear the tale of his fall and rebirth and as he told them I stepped
next to Aragorn.
Standing in the midst of these great and royal beings I felt very small. Gandalf, the White Rider; Aragorn, bolder and stronger than the legendary
King Arthur. A prince of Elves and a lord of Dwarves. Me. What the hell was I doing with them? I had a mental image of Boudica, the Celtic queen
who took on the Roman Empire.
She was a recent widow and the mother of two daughters when she began her life as a warrior. She had nothing but her own will to pull the tribes
together and fight for their lands. Maybe that's what makes me worthy. I may not be a blueblood, but there's red, white, and blue in my veins and I
know how to fight. 'Where would Frodo be without his Sam?' And where would these be without me? I wondered.
Soon the tales were told and Galadriel's messages were delivered. That was when it clicked. I knew why Legolas was acting so strangely toward me.
He'd seen something in the Lady's mirror. Now I knew how Boromir felt that day in the glade when he gave me his letters.
Legolas and Gimli followed close behind Gandalf and I walked next to Aragorn. "None of what's happened has been your fault Aragorn," I said in a
hushed voice. He didn't respond.
"I know what happened," I continued, "and if it had happened any other way things would have gone horribly wrong. Gandalf had to fall and Boromir
had to die to be saved from himself. The Hobbits had to come to Fangorn. Don't you see? Every decision you've made was the right one."
"But I had the guidance of many who set the clock in motion long before I was left to lead. What will happen when they are gone and all of what has
been foretold has come to pass? When I no longer have their prophecy to follow?"
"One of the most important things I learned from having a big brother is that not repeating the mistakes of others is a form of wisdom. You have
always been wise enough to listen to your elders. You have the ability to apply that knowledge to new situations. Besides, look around you. You will
never be alone. Gandalf may pass over the sea, I'll die, but Arwen, Legolas and Gimli as well as the Hobbits, they'll always be there to help. Your
alliances will make you stronger than you could possibly imagine."
He smiled, "And of course my friends will always tell me when I am wrong?"
"Every time, mellon nín, every time."
End of Chapter 3.
End Notes: