Chapter Two Middle-earth and the Reunion of the Fellowship "Is this Middle-earth?" Luke asked breathlessly. "Yes, it is. It is beautiful, is it not?" Aragorn asked, looking all around. "It's wonderful.What part of Middle-earth are we in?" Luke asked, trying to soak it all in. "We are by the outskirts of the woods that lead to Rivendell," Aragorn said, looking to his right with a fondness in his eyes. Suddenly Luke saw something in the distant coming from the right. It appeared to be someone on horseback. Luke thought she was beautiful. Then the thought struck him. "Is that Arwen?" he asked. Aragorn nodded as Arwen rode up on her beautiful white horse. "Estel! Estel!" Arwen cried happily. "My beautiful, Evenstar. How is thou, Evenstar?" Aragorn asked as he helped her off her horse. From the looked in their eyes, Luke assumed this was the first time they had met since their deaths. Luke shivered as he thought of the word 'death'. "I am fine now that you are here. Father is awaiting your arrival," Arwen said. "Oh, and who is this that you have brought with you, Estel? And does he not seem to have the Ring in which you tried so hard to destroy?" Arwen asked as she noticed Luke and the ring. "This is Luke. Nay, my lady, I am not sure if it is the Ring we destroyed," Aragorn said. "Hello, Arwen. It's such a pleasure to meet you at last," Luke said. "Estel, how does this stranger know my name? For, we have never met," she said with an uncertainty in her eyes. "It's all in there," Aragorn said, pointed to the book in Luke's hand. "He has read everything about us, my Undomiel." "Yeah, and I also read that both of you are dead and that Gandalf went to the Grey Havens. How are you still here?" Luke asked the both of them. "We have unfinished business concerning your Ring. Now, where has Gandalf gone off to?" Aragorn asked Arwen. "He is over yonder, talking to Elladan and Elrohir," Arwen said. Indeed, Gandalf was by the outskirts of the woods and was talking to two Elves on horses. "I think we should head back to Father's," Arwen said. "Have you no other horse dear Undomiel? For, I do not want Luke to walk, yet it will be a bit cramped with the three of us on one horse," Aragorn said. "Nay my lord. They are all at Father's. I have not seen any in the fields," Arwen said. "Eve if you were once a king of Gondor, no one has a horse for you," Aragorn sighed. He the let out a long whistle. They heard neighing, and then another white horse came over the grassy hill and towards Aragorn. "I do hope you know how to ride alone?" he asked Luke. "Um, yeah. My grandpa has a ranch back in the country where I come from," Luke said, although he did not tell Aragorn he had never rode on a saddle-less horse before. "Well, then, I will ride with Evenstar," Aragorn said as he got upon Arwen's horse and helped her up on it behind him. At first, Luke's horse was a little uneasy at letting him on just as Luke was about getting on him. Luke and Aragorn talked to it slowly and friendly and Luke finally won its trust. A little while later, Luke found that no saddle riding wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. He followed behind Aragorn and Arwen and was glad hat Aragorn went slow. They finally reach Gandalf and Arwen's two brothers. "I was just about to go and fetch you," Gandalf said. "Let us hurry to Elrond's. Elladan and Elrohir have told me that Elrond has a surprise for us," Gandalf said with a twinkle in his eyes. Aragorn stared at Gandalf for a second, but he would say no more. "Alright then. Keep your secrets," Aragorn said as Gandalf only smiled in reply. He whistled and Shadowfax came and as soon as Gandalf got up upon Shadowfax, they were off. Luke was expecting the ride to be long and uncomfortable once again. But surprisingly, it only took a few minutes to get to Rivendell. As they got off their horses, Luke saw that Elrond was there to greet them. Aragorn noticed many horses instead. When he looked at Arwen questionably, she only smiled at him. "Fine, you can keep your secrets too," he muttered to her smiling. Elladan and Elrohir took their horses and tied them near the others. "Welcome my dear friend," Elrond said as he shook hands with Gandalf. "It has been a long time since we were here last. Aragorn, it's nice to see you again. Come, come, we have a surprise for you!" Elrond said. "Oh, and who is this?" he asked as he noticed an amazed Luke. "That is Luke. I have yet to talk to you about him," Gandalf said. "Such strange ways you have, Gandalf. But that's beside the facts now. You must come! They have been waiting for you," Elrond said as Aragorn looked uncertain at him, but Elrond did not return his gaze. They all followed Elrond up the stairs. Before they even got halfway up them, two hobbits came running out. "Gandalf! Gandalf! It's really you! You're here, Gandalf!!" Merry and Pippin exclaimed as they came running and almost knocked Gandalf down as they hugged him both. "Hello there, Meriadoc Brandybuck and you too Peregrin Took!" Gandalf said laughing merrily. At the top of the stairs was a door from which Merry and Pippin had come out of. A moment later it was opened by Sam, who only stuck his head out. Then he and Frodo came out. Aragorn and Luke both stared at them as they came down. They both had their mouths opened slightly, as if to say something to Frodo and Sam, but it never came. Arwen looked at them both and laughed. She hugged Aragorn and kissed him on the cheek. "There's till more," she whispered in his ear. While Merry, Pippin, Frodo, and Sam were talking to Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli came out. "Well, we are both back from the Sea my friend!" Legolas called out happily to Aragorn. "It was actually enjoyable," Gimli said. "For a dwarf anyway." Then the door opened again. Faramir and Eowyn came out, hand in hand. And behind them? Well, behind them came Boromir the Fair. He looked quite young and his face carried no worries or doubts, as if a great burden of some kind had been lifted off his shoulders. Aragorn stared at them as they came down. Luke was beyond amazement. "Hello, brother Aragorn! I see that the White City indeed did not fall, nor did our people fail! You came through with your promise brother," Boromir said as they hugged each other deeply. "Do you know what it is like when four hobbits, an Elf, a Dwarf, my brother, and his wife try to tell me what I missed out on all together? I did not catch a word they were saying except that the White City did not fall. But that was about it." "Do not worry! Tonight I shall tell you everything!" Aragorn promised. "I will be looking forward to it," Boromir said. Merry and Pippin finally noticed Aragorn. They started talking at the same time and made no sense what so ever. "See what I had to put up with?" Boromir muttered. Then after everyone greeted everyone, they finally noticed Luke, who was still amazed. "And who would you be?" Pippin asked him. "I'm uh, L, Luke," Luke managed to say. "Well, L, Luke, I'm Pippin and this is Merry and-" "I already know who you are. I know who everyone is. No need for introductions," Luke said as he patted his book. "Oh really?" Pippin asked, clearly disappointed in not getting to introduce everyone. "Mr. Frodo! It looks like you've seen a ghost! What's wrong, Master?" Sam asked, worried. Frodo had gone ghostly pale and the only thing he could do was point to Luke's chest, to the Ring. "What is that?!" Sam cried out. "It can't be the One, Mr. Frodo. We saw Gollum go down with it! Who are you and why do you want to scare my Master so?" Sam asked angrily, running up to Luke, although Luke was a foot taller than him. "I told you already. I'm Luke. I didn't mean to scare Frodo. Don't ask me why I'm here, Gandalf brought me here," Luke said. To himself he muttered, "I never knew this was real." "Gandalf, why did you bring him here?!" Sam demanded angrily, turning to Gandalf. "Calm down, Samwise. I have to talk to Elrond and then I shall tell you and everyone else," Gandalf promised. "It's about time for dinner. Why don't you and the other hobbits go and set dinner?" Sam grumbled, but went and helped Frodo and the others set up the dinner table. Luke found he wasn't need at all. Dinner was alive with the buzzing of conversations here and there. After dinner was over, the hobbits invited Luke to sit with them. Everyone else gathered around and talked. Luke listened and heard some things that weren't in his book. After awhile though, everyone went into their own groups and no one really paid attention to Luke. To past the time that was left, Luke began to read his book. Every now and again he looked up and watched everyone. Faramir and Boromir were in deep conversation with Eowyn listening to them. The hobbits were smoking their pipes and were having a good time. Legolas and Gimli joined Boromir, Faramir, and his wife and talked about the Sea to them. Luke saw that the only ones missing were Aragorn, Arwen, Elrond, Elladan, Elrohir, and Gandalf. He got up and no one noticed him. He walked down through a passage and into the night. He could see the stars shinning. He stared in awe at Rivendell as he stood on the balcony. It was beautiful. The movie had nothing on this place! He saw some steps on his right and he went down them. That's when he heard voices. They were coming somewhere in the center of Rivendell. Luke crept closer and finally saw that it was Elrond and Gandalf. "I thought you said the One Ring was destroyed," Elrond was saying. "Yes, so did I. But it seems Sauron has tricked us once again. It seems as if he made two Rings," Gandalf said. Luke crept closer. He saw that there was a fire and Elrond, his two sons, and Gandalf were sitting by it. The flames flickered, showing their faces. "Two Rings? Come now, Mithrandir. How did you come to that conclusion?" Elrond asked. "Because the boy tried on the Ring he had and disappeared," Gandalf answered. "Just because he disappeared? Many have made rings now that will make the wearer invisible," Elrond said and Luke saw that he was getting impatient. "You cannot possibly tell me you did not feel that power! Do not lie to me Elrond Half-elven! You felt it as well as I did!" Gandalf said, now appearing to be mad. "Yes, but that could have been the power of your Ring," Elrond said, still arguing. "Dear Elrond, I left my Ring back in my room. You did not feel my Ring's power. I tell you the boy has the Other Ring!" Gandalf said. "The Other Ring? There are legends of such a thing, I do admit. But they were only legends. Could such a thing exist, Mithrandir?" Elrond asked. "It may be hard to believe, but this very well may be the Ring Sauron made that no one knew of," Gandalf said. "You are not pretending.I can see that." Elrond said as he drifted off into his own thoughts. "The one reason I came here was to decide with you what we must do. We are all back here, even the ones who died. There has to be a reason for it, Elrond. Should we let the boy carry it if it is the true Other Ring? Or will we choose to make Frodo carry it like last time. Last time it was a burden he should had never had to carry. It nearly killed him and I can't bring myself to as of anything more from him. If we appoint the boy to carry it, will he make it all the way through? He is yet young, younger even than Frodo was. I fear he may be too young. Come now, Elrond, and tell me your thoughts," Gandalf said. Elrond didn't seem to hear him. He sat in deep thought, rubbing his finger across his brow every now and again. Gandalf sat in silence and then pulled out his pipe and started smoking. Elladan and Elrohir began talking amongst themselves, waiting for their father to come out of thought. Luke stood in shock at what he had heard. Could his ring he now had on his neck be the Other Ring? The silence was so intense that Luke could hardly stand it until- "Yes, we must destroy the Other Ring. I think it would be best for the boy to carry out the mission. Should he fail, all of Middle-earth will surely be destroyed. There can be no one else that can carry this out," Elrond said, coming out of his thoughts and breaking the silence. So that was it. Luke only now realized the responsibility that had just been laid upon him. He remembered when he always wanted to do something like this. But this was for real. The whole Middle-earth was counting on him. He suddenly came back to reality with a snap. He looked up and saw that Gandalf was getting up and the others were doing the same. And they were coming right for him.