most of my yammering is at the bottom, but real quick: I apologize for the last chapter, A) it royally stunk and B) ff.n spazzed and so sometimes its there and sometimes its not, and when it is its slightly messed up, like the title. is supposed to be "Lack of Intelligence" but I'm working on all that jazz. hey eat jaguars now.
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After I woke up, on October 24th, the exact same time as Frodo, I sat in my bed and thought for a very long time. Who knows how long it was, because I certainly do not. Then there was a soft knock on my door, gently dragging myself away from my thoughts.

"Come in!" I called in a slightly scratchy from disuse but otherwise normal voice. Elrond emerged from behind the opening door, elegant and Lordly as usual. I nodded and used some flowery greeting that was so well used with the Elven people and asked, "What do I owe the pleasure of this visit to, Lord Elrond?"

"The Lady Dri, though she would protest at the title. I have a few questions concerning that night you rode off with, or rather on her, and only returned with a near-deadly wound from the blade of a Ringwraith. I have spoken to Aragorn and, before she fell into a deep slumber form her efforts, Dri herself." was his stately reply.

"I am afraid I remember little of what actually occurred to my own body, but I have been thinking about that since I awoke." I replied.

"Well, by all means, Nicolas, tell me of your morning thoughts, and I will tell what I have been able to find out." I was told by Elrond's soothing and powerful voice.

"Well, Sir, I suppose I had better start where we separated."

"Beginnings are the easiest place to begin when one is trying to understand the whole."

"Well, I rode on Dri's back until we were leagues away, probably around eight or nine. I was talking in some odd language and got off on this boulder when she finally stopped and we started talking, innocently, and then I kept trying to raise my eyebrow, but I couldn't, and then." I stopped talking suddenly, almost shocked by my own thoughts, unsure of what to say next.

You see, I had just realized something, like a few pieces of the puzzle clicked. "How long has the Lady been here, in Rivendell?" I questioned suddenly, because one of those pieces was going to stay hidden for quite a while, now that I knew it; the other concerned more than just my emotions.

Sensing that this had something to do with what I was previously talking about, Elrond replied. "Only a few days longer than yourself, but that is due to the fact that she was found within the realm of Rivendell, and was not in Bree, lost and confused as you were, Master Nicolas."

"Did you often talk to her, in the time that we have been here?" I questioned further.

"Unfortunately, yes. Most times it was to try and get her to behave or stay out of trouble, which she has, I might add, a wonderful knack for finding, whether she be here in Imladris or elsewhere, such as sneaking into the Shire. At other times she comes to me, wishing to know of the history of this world, especially the Elven kinds and their battles. Yet she also went many places and even I do not know where all she has been; it is a belief of mine that she may have even journeyed to the edges of Mordor and back again."

I nodded thoughtfully, slowly devouring this new information and turning it over. "How does she change form?"

"That is something I have mere guesses about, and for fear that they be incorrect guesses shall keep them to myself except for this one: it has something to do with her past. There are many puzzles to Dri, and she seems to prefer it that way, if only to frustrate those trying to solve the puzzle that is she." Elrond said slowly, walking about the room. "But I believe that we were discussing what happened to you, Nicolas, after you left Rivendell with Dri." added Elrond with a raised eyebrow, which served to remind me of Dri.

"We were talking on a boulder, like I told you before."

"What was your conversation about?"

I scrunched my forehead in thought, trying to recall her exact words. "First she started yelling at me, saying I was going to blow up Rivendell with a spell or something, but I don't know why. I was just seeing what Frodo was seeing on Weathertop. I asked Dri what the date was and she got even angrier, if possible. It was October 6, and I knew what was going to happen to Frodo."

"From the books you told me about, the ones that speak of Middle-earth as if it were a fictional place?" interrupted Elrond.

"Well, yes. She sat there and threatened me and went on about how I was an idiot because I didn't know where we were, and she said that for all I knew she was taking me to Mordor. We talked about meaningless matters for a few minutes and she seemed to have calmed down. Then I started seeing everything through Frodo's eyes, like I was there inside his body. I could feel someone slugging my body's jaw, which hurt like hell. We, Frodo and me, put on the Ring, and the Eye of Sauron appeared like a backdrop behind the wraiths, who were trying to get the Ring. But instead they stabbed us, and then everything was colored with the pain that just would not go away. I could hear some one screaming in the language of my world to come back. Strider fought off the wraiths. Everything was kind of this great blur of color and sounds, things drifting in and out of focus. I heard this voice of an angel that seemed to echo majestically, but they were calling out in the Black Tongue of Mordor "Finder of the Lost, Keeper of the Light, One Battle In Heart." Frodo took off the Ring and I came back into my own body and turned to look for the angel, but all I could see was Dri. Then I fainted."

I stayed quiet for a minute, thinking about what had happened next. "I awoke in a forest, for a few minutes only. It was dark and blurry out, with the only light coming from a fire Dri was cooking over. Then I started to fade back to Frodo's body, and I was being bounced around on Bill, their pony from Bree." Elrond gave me an odd look and I added hastily, "The books." and a look of comprehension came over his previously puzzled face.

"Aragorn had Sam find Athelas and he used some on us, but I felt something cold on my real shoulder, like I was having tea bags put on my shoulder."

"That would be because Dri came up with a rather effective but new method to treat certain types of injuries using Kingsfoil, and was putting moist packets of it on your wound, which existed on your own body." supplied Elrond.

"I see. I woke up once, only to find this cougaress sitting there growling at me from the back of its throat. I panicked, and couldn't see any one there except me and the cougar and a dead fire pit full of ash. I started cussing, and was really worried. Then it had to put its paw on my head and I flipped, whipping out a knife like Elrohir had taught me and slashed at it. I noticed it had this silver necklace and ring just before I struck, and at the last minute held back just enough power to only scratch the neck and break the chain. With no warning the cougar jumped and pounced on my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. Then it turned into Dri and she took the knife from me and held it to my throat. Dri slapped me with her other hand so hard it stung and I looked at her, but she just started chewing me out again. The last thing I heard was "'Are you completely blind, or JUST RETARDED?'" before I went back to Frodo's view of things. After a while everything went black.

When I came out of that blankness I kept drifting from what Frodo saw to what was really around my body, but mostly I saw at least a faded image of what was around Frodo at all times. I remember seeing this blurry, dark figure and fearing it was the wraiths I kept hearing around us, but it was not. Instead I heard that voice of an angel only now she was talking in the common tongue and repeated what she had told me before, Finder of the Lost, Keeper of the Light, One Battle In Heart. It helped with the pain and I sort of blacked out again.

I remember seeing what happened when Arwen came, and I remember the days of hard riding, followed by the screams of the wraiths, and their horrendous speech as they demanded Arwen turn us over, and her valiant refusal. Then the River rose up against them, seemingly led by white horses. And then everything went this to white light, like what they say happens when you die. I remember screaming that it wasn't our time, and trying to fight harder, and then there was this chanting sound, in both of our ears. That's all I remember until I woke up." I finished and leaned my head back against the headboard of my bed.

"It is as Dri told me, I am afraid. There is some bond between yourself and Master Frodo that cannot be broken by any known means. I have, however, discovered in my healings that you possess talent on the level of the Maia, such as Gandalf." Elrond said quietly.

I lifted my head up so fast that the room seemed to spin for a moment and asked unbelievably, "What? Me, a wizard? Like Gandalf the Grey? HA! Right, Elrond, nice joke."

"Unfortunately, this is no mere jest. I'll-"

"Just have Mithrandir train me." I finished with an odd look on my face, which quickly passed to Elrond.

"How did you know that I had already made such arrangements? Wait, no, it is as I have said: you have powers as great as the Maia." Elrond answered his own question.

I gave him an odd look before I realized that it must have been the truth he was speaking. How else would I be able to have this weird sense of precognition or whatever it was? Hell if I know, so I just went along and got involved in this rather dull if informative discussion about my capabilities.

The end results were:
~ I might actually be a Maia-n, but unsure
~ I might get to live forever, but not sure
~ I do have limits, we just don't know what they are. Yet.
~ I should give a thank you note to Dri, or apologize for slicing her necklace.
~ I could get up, just later.
~ Later would also be my first meeting with Gandalf, my new teacher.

Eventually Elrond left me alone to get up and about, which was basically what I did after attending to certain needs, such as food. During this tome frame I also met the Bagginses, Merry, Pippin, and Sam. I heard them as I walked away wondering if I could change form, but left that to my meeting with Gandalf. Which would be later that evening at a banquet that the Elves seemed to be so fond of.

Time seemed to drag on until I was almost sure it was going backwards. But after what seemed to be an eternity, I was finally called to a room where I first encountered Gandalf the Grey, wizard. He looked like an old man, yet one who was used to hard work and long hours. Not like a stick, but not like a blob, the man had a medium build that was layered with grey robes that appeared to have seen so many places that it would look out of place, were it to be clean. An then there was the slightly bent hat that was perched upon his knowledgeable head. Grey-blue eyes seemed to take in every aspect there was to be seen by the eye alone.

I must have had my mouth open and staring with my eyes bugged out because the venerable wizard turns and tells me, "Master Nicolas! Well, met. Or it would be, if you were not staring in such a way that makes me feel like a bug under intense scrutiny before a bartender swats it away." A low laugh echoed from the wizard, and I shook my head in disbelief.

"I am sorry, Master Gandalf, It's just I've always dreamed of actually meeting you, and now you're to teach me... I just sort of thought Elrond was playing a trick on me." I stumbled to reply.

Gandalf looked at me before breaking into a smile. "Nonsense! Elrond has never joked about something of this magnitude, especially in these darkest of times! It's like the Elf was born with out a humorous bone in his body! Though I must say I thought that a friend of mine had influenced him more than usual when Elrond told me of your near-catastrophe a few days ago. Only one of great power can do the things you have the ability to do, Master Nicolas."

"Please, Mister Gandalf, don't call me Master if you are to be my teacher." I countered.

"Very well, but only if you just call me Gandalf." was his reply with a wink.

"Now then, we shall have to perform some, ah, experiments to see how advanced your capabilities are."

"Joy." I muttered to myself, "I get to be a lab rat to Gandalf the Grey, a most renowned wizard." Luckily for me, though, Gandalf has not the ears of the Elves, but of mortal Man and so did not hear my bit of sarcasm.

That was mainly what we did for the remainder of the day, testing me to see what all I could or could not do. I could light fires with a thought, find hidden things if I knew what to look for, had a little abiliy to sense the future, and even sense some basic emotions if I tried. And, of course, I knew endless amounts of spells from other languages, but had not even the slightest inkling as to what the spells did. Gandalf told me to spend the next few weeks writing them down, and then he could start really teaching me what to do with my powers.



So passed my weeks in October and up to November the tenth. I would spend hours scrawling down which ever spells were on the top of my mind, and take them to Gandalf so he could look over them. generally he would then go off in a lecture, much like a college professor, often about various things that dealt in the most peculiar ways with magic.

Then on the tenth day of November, Gandalf told me of the Council that was to be held the next day. He said that since I was his apprentice of sorts that it would be fitting that I was there. I declined, and then reluctantly told Gandalf that I already knew what was to happen, that I couldn't risk changing the decision of the council.

It was important to all the world that this council occur exactly as Tolkien wrote it, with as little outside influence as possible, and that was that.

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yes, that was an awefully short chp, but I didnt like writing from Nic' Pov, but had to to keep you all up on whats happened to him. This is mainly dri's story.. And yes, I know she's a bitch, i like her that way, but there will be an explanation for her bitchiness, especially towards guys, if you haven't already figured out why. and, now that i think abou it, i might change the title, but only after giving a decent warning. something like dri's tale, maybe. or if you no lokkes, tell me a better one. just hit the lovely button. and sorry nahe, i just had to update.