~ Sightseeing in Middle-Earth ~
~ Quote: ~
"Every cloud has a silver lining, but not every silver lining has a cloud."
~ Disclaimer: ~
Not mine. Only Erin's mine.
~ Chapter XVIII~
~ Aftermath and Erin's Home, Version 2 ~
My mood fell, however, as I left the Citadel, remembering how many had been hurt or died in the battle on the field. Plus there were those that hadn't been there in the book. By the time I'd reached the 4th gate in the city, my mood had fallen to grim worry about what had happened. I reached the last Gate, the one the Witch King had broken, just as Aragorn and the other captains came up, and I took stock of who was there. There was Aragorn, obviously, as well as Eomer, Prince Imrahil, Haldir, Elrohir, Elladan, and Gandalf. Boromir, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Hail, Lady Erin!" Aragorn called as he saw me at the gate.
"Yo!" I called back, and I saw a smile try to form on Aragorn's lips. Eomer outright grinned for a moment before going somber again. Haldir, Elrohir, Elladan and Gandalf just shook their heads in amusement, while Imrahil didn't seem to know quite what to think.
"Your company seems to be missing some people." I said, raising an eyebrow at Gandalf.
"I'm afraid some of them are not missing but gone forever." Prince Imrahil said heavily. "I saw the Lord Denethor fall upon the field today, his breast pierced by a Southron arrow as he rallied his men." I blinked.
"Oi." I muttered under my breath. "He managed to die anyways." Haldir looked at me curiously, being the only one who'd heard, but I ignored his look and turned to Gandalf.
"Though the death of Lord Denethor grieves me, there is another who I am more worried about." I said pointedly to the wizard.
"Alas, I was separated from the Lord Boromir in battle, Lady Erin. But I am sure he is safe, and making his way to the gates as we speak." Gandalf replied.
"If he's not, I'm going to have to tie you to a tree. The TOP of a tree. The top of a very HIGH tree." I told Gandalf solemnly. Prince Imrahil looked at me in alarm, and I half-smiled to let him know I was joking. Well, sort of joking. If the chance came and there was need to do so, I WOULD tie Gandalf to a tree.
"Though it would be most interesting to see you try, Lady Erin, I'm sure Gandalf is right." Aragorn said.
"We shall see." I said dryly. Then a silence fell, and we all turned to watch the sun set. After a moment, Aragorn started in on his speech of not wanting to enter the city unbidden, and though there were a few changes, it resulted in the same thing - he didn't want to go in until the current steward - whoever it was - invited him in, and it was decided that he would camp out on the field. When they were done deciding that, it was my turn to speak up. Gandalf had been out on the field instead of in the city, so it was up to me to drag Aragorn into the Healing hall to save his friends.
"Now that you're done deciding that you're not going to enter the city, Aragorn, get yer butt in there and to the healing halls. There are some people there that need help only you can give." I said dryly, and everyone looked at me. I looked back. "What? It's true. Elven healers are nice, but athelas used by Aragorn is better. And does anybody here want to see Faramir, Eowyn or Merry die?" Aragorn paused, nodded, then set about having his banner furled, and took off the Star of the North Kingdom and gave it to Elrohir and Elladan for safekeeping. Eomer, who had looked at me, surprised, when I mentioned Eowyn being alive, got antsy with waiting and set off before Aragorn was ready. Gandalf, Aragorn, Haldir and I followed behind us a short while later, with Aragorn hiding inside his cloak from Lothlorien. Imrahil said something about getting the men in order, and Elladan and Elrohir said something along the same lines before adding that they would join us shortly.
When we reached the healing hall, Aragorn went in first, with us tagging along like little lost puppies. Inside, we found Pippin and Beregond standing guard. Pippin was very happy to see us, and added a light note to our visit before we went to see the sick. The sick which, to my surprise, included Boromir. And in about the same condition as Faramir, Eowyn and Merry - not good. When I saw Boromir and the state he was in, I gave Gandalf a solid whack on the head.
"Unharmed, hm?" I said, shooting a glare at the wizard before going over to Boromir's bed. There another surprise greeted me - for though Boromir had the Shadow sickness just as Eowyn and Merry, his main hurt came from arrows. Orcish arrows. Three of them. I sucked in a breath, and glared in Gandalf direction again before turning back to Boromir.
"I thought we escaped this at Amon Hen." I grumbled under my breath, and Haldir looked at me, concerned. I decided then that I hated Elven hearing. I sat by Boromir as Aragorn tried to get someone to bring him some athelas so he could heal the wounded and sick, not really paying attention. The locations of the arrow wounds was eerily like the locations of the deadly arrow wounds from Amon Hen in the movie, and I found myself biting my lip in worry.
"He will live." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to find Haldir.
"That remains to be seen." I said with a sigh. "It seems every time I turn around, Boromir is in danger of dieing, and getting closer and closer to actually dieing each time. I should have known better then to listen to you and Gandalf and stay behind."
"You had no choice, Lady Erin. If you hadn't gone willingly, we were already planning to lock you in a room somewhere." Haldir replied, and I looked at him sharply.
"What? Why?" I asked, and Haldir sighed.
"With the changes you have wrought, it would be disastrous if you died or were wounded, and unable to correct the quest." he explained.
"Oh." I said, blinking. "I take it this means I don't get to ride with all you guys to Mordor for the final battle?"
"We shall have to see." Haldir said, raising an eyebrow at me. "But if Gandalf asks you not to come, I ask that you listen to him and stay behind."
"Fah. He'd better not. I wanna see the giant eagles." I grumbled. Aragorn came over to the bed, then, and set about tending to Boromir. When he was done, he informed me that Boromir would live, and I nodded my thanks. I stayed by Boromir as Aragorn healed Merry - who was the last to be healed - and then, with a last look at Boromir, I followed Aragorn and those that had come with us to the door of the hall. There Imrahil, along with a crowd, was waiting.
Ignoring the crowd for the moment, Imrahil, Aragorn and Gandalf held a quiet council. In it, they decided that, until either Boromir or Faramir awoke, Prince Imrahil would rule Minas Tirith. Then we all set off to find some food, with the crowd tailing along behind. Elrohir and Elladan found us just as we found some food, and they joined us as we ate. When we were done eating, the crowd had gotten up the nerve to ask Aragorn to heal their kinsmen and/or friends, and I quickly got away before I was dragged into the all-night healathon that Aragorn, Elrohir and Elladan were about to pull. I found my way back to the healing house, and, finding myself quite exhausted, managed to drag Pippin away from Merry long enough to take me to the house where he and Gandalf had been staying, then collapsed into bed and sleep.
---
It was already mid-morning when I woke the next day, and the house was empty save for me. Rising, I inspected the kitchen and managed to find some food for breakfast. Once I'd eaten and changed - somehow some clean clothes had appeared - I set off for the healing hall.
I got lost, of course, and had to ask several people for directions before finally reaching the hall at noon. Inside, I found the 2 wounded members of the Fellowship awake and being kept company by Legolas, Pippin and Gimli. They were currently relaxing in the gardens, and seemed to have lapsed into a comfortable silence when I arrived.
"Good morning." I said cheerfully, and I received various greetings from the Fellowship in return.
"I'm afraid you've just missed Legolas and Gimli's tale of their journey with Strider, Lady Erin." Pippin said when I joined them in sitting on the grass.
"Oh, I'm sure I can weasel it out of them or Aragorn later." I replied, though I really had no intention of asking.
"I have no doubt." Legolas said, almost smiling. "But now I would like to hear the tale of your and Boromir's journey. We have not seen either of you since Helm's Deep."
"Ugh. Don't remind me of Helm's Deep." I said, making a face. "Walls exploding and flaming eyeballs, oh my." Boromir had the nerve to chuckle at that. "Hey! You try talking to Sauron and see if YOU want to remember it afterwards!" That shut him up.
"So it is true that you talked with Sauron?" Legolas asked, interested now. I nodded.
"And you came out alive. You must come from a hardy folk." Gimli commented.
"You could say that." I said, and shrugged.
"A very hardy folk, I would say. You did not even quail when you stood before the Witch King at the Gate yesterday, and even Gandalf has admitted to being wary of the Lord of the Nazgul." Boromir said.
"You stood before the Witch King?" Legolas asked, thoroughly curious, and that set off on a run-through of Boromir and my's adventures. It was a little difficult to follow once we got to Minas Tirith, since we'd both gone separate ways then, but we managed to sort everything out.
"As my friend Gimli said earlier, you must come from a very hardy folk indeed if you are not affected in the least by the Nazgul, Lady Erin." Legolas commented when we were done.
"Indeed, it would be good to know where more people of your fearlessness could be found in this dark time. Their courage could be useful. Where is your homeland?" Boromir asked, and inwardly I winced. The Fellowship had accepted me so far because Gandalf, Aragorn and Elrond did, but I knew the question of my home was bound to come up sooner or later.
"Little place called Canada. It's way up north. Itty bitty town. Doubt any of you have heard of it before." I said when everyone looked at me expectantly. Well, it was a half truth.
"No, but then none of us have traveled in the north much." Legolas said. "Though now I am curious as to how you came to Rivendell from a small town in the north." I paused and looked out over the city, trying to figure out what to say. Sighing, I decided to wing it, telling as much of the truth as I could without actually telling the truth. Gandalf could hang me later if he so desired.
"It's a rather odd tale, and starts out something like Boromir's." I said. "I had a normal life. All was good and happy and fine. And then I started to have...vision dreams, I guess you could call them. I kept dreaming of orcs and men fighting, among other things. They seemed so real to me, and in the end I told my mother and grandmother about them. They quickly assured me they were nothing more then dreams. But then one night I had a dream of Rivendell." I paused. "Those of my town are not well traveled. We tend to stay in our town and not venture out. There is one man there, however, who felt the urge to travel when he was younger, and he went many places, including Rivendell. After my dream about Rivendell, which felt so real, I sought him out and talked to him about his travels. I described my dream version of Rivendell to him, and it was discovered that, without ever having seen Rivendell itself, I'd managed to dream of it exactly as it was. That brought more questions about my dreams. It was decided that I should travel to Rivendell to see if I could find out why I was having these dreams. So I went."
"Alone?" Merry asked, surprised.
"Yes. The main reason why nobody in my town travels is because they don't WANT to travel. No one wanted to come with me." I replied dryly. "So I went to Rivendell by myself. I made it, a little worse for the wear, on the same day Frodo arrived." I fell silent, trying to think of how to continue, but Legolas solved the problem for me.
"So those times when you seemed to know something you shouldn't have - your dreams had told you of what would happen?" Legolas asked, and I realized I really didn't need to explain anymore.
"To some extent, yes. My dreams, however, for some reason, do not have myself in them." I replied dryly. "And in them people die in certain places at certain times, who haven't deigned to do so in the waking world."
"So you see deaths that do not happen?" Gimli asked in surprise.
"Only seen two. And I think the main reason those two didn't happen was because I interfered." I replied.
"So you prevented the deaths of two people because of your dreams?" Legolas asked, and I hesitated before nodding.
"I guess you could say so." I said.
"Who's deaths did you prevent?" Boromir asked, and I hesitated again, wondering if I should tell him. Then a thoughtful look came over his face. "In Edoras, when you said you dreamed of my death - was that one of your dreams?"
"No, that was me having a nightmare." I said wryly.
"Whose deaths, then, did you dream of?" Legolas asked. "Unless you would prefer not to tell us?"
"Observant elf prince." I commented. "I would indeed prefer not to tell you."
"As you wish then." Boromir said. There was a pause as everyone seemed to think over my story.
"I take it Gandalf knows all this." Pippin said after a moment.
"Aragorn, too." I said with a nod, then half-frowned. "And about a half a dozen other people who someone along the way deemed needed to know." Pippin nodded, and we lapsed into silence again.
"I wonder what the captains are discussing." Merry wondered out loud after awhile.
"How to Uproot a Dark Lord 101." I replied promptly. "Really Merry, what else would they discuss? Embroidery?" The thought of Aragorn, Gandalf and all the other captains discussing embroidery sent the hobbits laughing, and lifted the somber mood. We were quickly joking about, and generally having entirely too much fun for the day after a battle in which the main enemy hadn't even come close to being completely destroyed. So Gandalf found us a little later, in the middle of trying to catch Legolas to find out if elves were ticklish, which Legolas claimed they weren't. Well, Pippin, Gimli and I were trying to catch Legolas. Merry and Boromir were still too injured to do much, so they helped from their spots on the ground when they could.
"I see that you six, at least, are having no trouble coping after the battle." Gandalf said dryly. I screeched to a halt in front of the wizard.
"Hey, you're an all-knowing wizard, are Elves ticklish?" I asked. Gandalf blinked at me, surprised, and shook his head.
"I would not know." he said, smiling with amusement.
"Oh come on. You gotta know." I said, exasperated as I saw Legolas neatly escape Pippin and Gimli's clutches by climbing a tree.
"Elves are NOT ticklish!" Legolas's insistent call came.
"I would tend to trust the Elf on this one." Gandalf said, still looking amused. "After all, an Elf should know if he's ticklish."
"Well, he could be ticklish and not want to tell us. After all, wouldn't being ticklish ruin Elves reputation as serious, wise, immortal beings?" I said.
"We are NOT ticklish!!" Legolas insisted again, and next thing I knew, I was sitting at the top of a tree with Legolas glaring at me from a few branches down. I blinked, then grinned.
"Hey, that was cool. Think you can do that to Gandalf? I still need to tie him to a tree for not bringing Boromir back unharmed." I said, and Legolas looked over at the wizard appraisingly.
"I think I would get myself a thump on the head if I tried." the elf stated after a moment.
"Drat. Now get me down, I hate heights." I said, starting to get a little dizzy as I glanced at the ground.
"The tree is not that high." Legolas commented.
"I know. I can't stand anything over twice my height, though, and this is at least triple. Now get me down." I ordered.
"The tree is easy enough to climb, either up or down." Legolas said flatly.
"You're just ASKING to be jumped on, elf boy." I said just as flatly, and Legolas eyed me. I shifted my seat, as if I was getting ready to jump, but Legolas was suddenly on the branch beneath me.
"Fine." he said with a sigh, then picked me up and actually LEAPED DOWN from the tree. On the solid ground once more, I discovered that everyone was either laughing, or trying not to laugh.
"Bah." I said, pretending to sulk, and everybody who was trying not to laugh gave up and laughed.
"I am sorry, Erin, but it was quite amusing." Boromir apologized, the first to get over his mirth.
"Yes, and it was a well-needed bit of humour after our council." Gandalf said solemnly as he and everyone else began to control their amusement.
"Speaking of that, how'd it go?" I asked.
"It started off with Prince Thaden wondering where his brother was." Gandalf said pointedly, arching an eyebrow at Legolas, who shrugged.
"He is in charge of the Mirkwood fighters, not I." the elf said. "He would have resented my presence if I had come." Gandalf nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, but from the glance he shot my way I had a feeling he thought I'd had something to do with it.
"So now that we've heard about sibling rivalry among Elven princes, how DID the council go?" I asked again. Gandalf sighed before speaking.
"It was decided to lead a host of seven thousand men to Mordor in two days time to confront the Dark Lord Sauron." he said. Boromir looked alarmed at this.
"Seven thousand? Against MORDOR?" he exclaimed.
"Yes. I cannot explain the reasons here, for it would be too easy for them to get back to the Dark Lord. Suffice it to say that though none of us that go may return, all the captains have determined that they will go to Mordor with as many forces as they can spare from the defense of the city." Gandalf said. Hearing that, Legolas and Gimli announced that they were going, and then Gandalf beat me to the punch by asking that I go with the army. Boromir immediately protested, but the wizard shot him a look that shut him up quickly. Then Pippin decided he wanted to go, as well, and Merry was ready to go, as well, but he was in no shape to do so, as Gandalf pointed out. Then Gandalf left us, claiming he had things to do, and a somber mood settled on us all as we thought about the coming march. I, myself, was not worried, knowing what was coming, but everyone else was busy wondering if they or their friends had just offered to commit suicide.
Around mid afternoon, we all went back into the House of Healing, where Boromir and Merry were told on no uncertain terms that they needed to rest. Those of us that were uninjured watched, amused, as the two were shooed back to their beds, and then the healers turned on us and shooed us out of the hall.
The four of us - Legolas, Gimli, Pippin and I - spent the remainder of the day going about the city, occasionally getting enlisted to help with various jobs. Eventually we ended out down by the gate, and then we found Aragorn at around supper time. Deciding we should all have supper together, we ate in one of the tents set up on the field, and Pippin and I repeated our separate tales of our adventures for Aragorn's benefit. When the sun set, Pippin and I said farewell to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli and made our way up into the city, where we checked on Merry and Boromir - both sleeping soundly - before finding the house we'd stayed in before to sleep.
~ Quote: ~
"Every cloud has a silver lining, but not every silver lining has a cloud."
~ Disclaimer: ~
Not mine. Only Erin's mine.
~ Chapter XVIII~
~ Aftermath and Erin's Home, Version 2 ~
My mood fell, however, as I left the Citadel, remembering how many had been hurt or died in the battle on the field. Plus there were those that hadn't been there in the book. By the time I'd reached the 4th gate in the city, my mood had fallen to grim worry about what had happened. I reached the last Gate, the one the Witch King had broken, just as Aragorn and the other captains came up, and I took stock of who was there. There was Aragorn, obviously, as well as Eomer, Prince Imrahil, Haldir, Elrohir, Elladan, and Gandalf. Boromir, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Hail, Lady Erin!" Aragorn called as he saw me at the gate.
"Yo!" I called back, and I saw a smile try to form on Aragorn's lips. Eomer outright grinned for a moment before going somber again. Haldir, Elrohir, Elladan and Gandalf just shook their heads in amusement, while Imrahil didn't seem to know quite what to think.
"Your company seems to be missing some people." I said, raising an eyebrow at Gandalf.
"I'm afraid some of them are not missing but gone forever." Prince Imrahil said heavily. "I saw the Lord Denethor fall upon the field today, his breast pierced by a Southron arrow as he rallied his men." I blinked.
"Oi." I muttered under my breath. "He managed to die anyways." Haldir looked at me curiously, being the only one who'd heard, but I ignored his look and turned to Gandalf.
"Though the death of Lord Denethor grieves me, there is another who I am more worried about." I said pointedly to the wizard.
"Alas, I was separated from the Lord Boromir in battle, Lady Erin. But I am sure he is safe, and making his way to the gates as we speak." Gandalf replied.
"If he's not, I'm going to have to tie you to a tree. The TOP of a tree. The top of a very HIGH tree." I told Gandalf solemnly. Prince Imrahil looked at me in alarm, and I half-smiled to let him know I was joking. Well, sort of joking. If the chance came and there was need to do so, I WOULD tie Gandalf to a tree.
"Though it would be most interesting to see you try, Lady Erin, I'm sure Gandalf is right." Aragorn said.
"We shall see." I said dryly. Then a silence fell, and we all turned to watch the sun set. After a moment, Aragorn started in on his speech of not wanting to enter the city unbidden, and though there were a few changes, it resulted in the same thing - he didn't want to go in until the current steward - whoever it was - invited him in, and it was decided that he would camp out on the field. When they were done deciding that, it was my turn to speak up. Gandalf had been out on the field instead of in the city, so it was up to me to drag Aragorn into the Healing hall to save his friends.
"Now that you're done deciding that you're not going to enter the city, Aragorn, get yer butt in there and to the healing halls. There are some people there that need help only you can give." I said dryly, and everyone looked at me. I looked back. "What? It's true. Elven healers are nice, but athelas used by Aragorn is better. And does anybody here want to see Faramir, Eowyn or Merry die?" Aragorn paused, nodded, then set about having his banner furled, and took off the Star of the North Kingdom and gave it to Elrohir and Elladan for safekeeping. Eomer, who had looked at me, surprised, when I mentioned Eowyn being alive, got antsy with waiting and set off before Aragorn was ready. Gandalf, Aragorn, Haldir and I followed behind us a short while later, with Aragorn hiding inside his cloak from Lothlorien. Imrahil said something about getting the men in order, and Elladan and Elrohir said something along the same lines before adding that they would join us shortly.
When we reached the healing hall, Aragorn went in first, with us tagging along like little lost puppies. Inside, we found Pippin and Beregond standing guard. Pippin was very happy to see us, and added a light note to our visit before we went to see the sick. The sick which, to my surprise, included Boromir. And in about the same condition as Faramir, Eowyn and Merry - not good. When I saw Boromir and the state he was in, I gave Gandalf a solid whack on the head.
"Unharmed, hm?" I said, shooting a glare at the wizard before going over to Boromir's bed. There another surprise greeted me - for though Boromir had the Shadow sickness just as Eowyn and Merry, his main hurt came from arrows. Orcish arrows. Three of them. I sucked in a breath, and glared in Gandalf direction again before turning back to Boromir.
"I thought we escaped this at Amon Hen." I grumbled under my breath, and Haldir looked at me, concerned. I decided then that I hated Elven hearing. I sat by Boromir as Aragorn tried to get someone to bring him some athelas so he could heal the wounded and sick, not really paying attention. The locations of the arrow wounds was eerily like the locations of the deadly arrow wounds from Amon Hen in the movie, and I found myself biting my lip in worry.
"He will live." I felt a hand on my shoulder, and looked up to find Haldir.
"That remains to be seen." I said with a sigh. "It seems every time I turn around, Boromir is in danger of dieing, and getting closer and closer to actually dieing each time. I should have known better then to listen to you and Gandalf and stay behind."
"You had no choice, Lady Erin. If you hadn't gone willingly, we were already planning to lock you in a room somewhere." Haldir replied, and I looked at him sharply.
"What? Why?" I asked, and Haldir sighed.
"With the changes you have wrought, it would be disastrous if you died or were wounded, and unable to correct the quest." he explained.
"Oh." I said, blinking. "I take it this means I don't get to ride with all you guys to Mordor for the final battle?"
"We shall have to see." Haldir said, raising an eyebrow at me. "But if Gandalf asks you not to come, I ask that you listen to him and stay behind."
"Fah. He'd better not. I wanna see the giant eagles." I grumbled. Aragorn came over to the bed, then, and set about tending to Boromir. When he was done, he informed me that Boromir would live, and I nodded my thanks. I stayed by Boromir as Aragorn healed Merry - who was the last to be healed - and then, with a last look at Boromir, I followed Aragorn and those that had come with us to the door of the hall. There Imrahil, along with a crowd, was waiting.
Ignoring the crowd for the moment, Imrahil, Aragorn and Gandalf held a quiet council. In it, they decided that, until either Boromir or Faramir awoke, Prince Imrahil would rule Minas Tirith. Then we all set off to find some food, with the crowd tailing along behind. Elrohir and Elladan found us just as we found some food, and they joined us as we ate. When we were done eating, the crowd had gotten up the nerve to ask Aragorn to heal their kinsmen and/or friends, and I quickly got away before I was dragged into the all-night healathon that Aragorn, Elrohir and Elladan were about to pull. I found my way back to the healing house, and, finding myself quite exhausted, managed to drag Pippin away from Merry long enough to take me to the house where he and Gandalf had been staying, then collapsed into bed and sleep.
---
It was already mid-morning when I woke the next day, and the house was empty save for me. Rising, I inspected the kitchen and managed to find some food for breakfast. Once I'd eaten and changed - somehow some clean clothes had appeared - I set off for the healing hall.
I got lost, of course, and had to ask several people for directions before finally reaching the hall at noon. Inside, I found the 2 wounded members of the Fellowship awake and being kept company by Legolas, Pippin and Gimli. They were currently relaxing in the gardens, and seemed to have lapsed into a comfortable silence when I arrived.
"Good morning." I said cheerfully, and I received various greetings from the Fellowship in return.
"I'm afraid you've just missed Legolas and Gimli's tale of their journey with Strider, Lady Erin." Pippin said when I joined them in sitting on the grass.
"Oh, I'm sure I can weasel it out of them or Aragorn later." I replied, though I really had no intention of asking.
"I have no doubt." Legolas said, almost smiling. "But now I would like to hear the tale of your and Boromir's journey. We have not seen either of you since Helm's Deep."
"Ugh. Don't remind me of Helm's Deep." I said, making a face. "Walls exploding and flaming eyeballs, oh my." Boromir had the nerve to chuckle at that. "Hey! You try talking to Sauron and see if YOU want to remember it afterwards!" That shut him up.
"So it is true that you talked with Sauron?" Legolas asked, interested now. I nodded.
"And you came out alive. You must come from a hardy folk." Gimli commented.
"You could say that." I said, and shrugged.
"A very hardy folk, I would say. You did not even quail when you stood before the Witch King at the Gate yesterday, and even Gandalf has admitted to being wary of the Lord of the Nazgul." Boromir said.
"You stood before the Witch King?" Legolas asked, thoroughly curious, and that set off on a run-through of Boromir and my's adventures. It was a little difficult to follow once we got to Minas Tirith, since we'd both gone separate ways then, but we managed to sort everything out.
"As my friend Gimli said earlier, you must come from a very hardy folk indeed if you are not affected in the least by the Nazgul, Lady Erin." Legolas commented when we were done.
"Indeed, it would be good to know where more people of your fearlessness could be found in this dark time. Their courage could be useful. Where is your homeland?" Boromir asked, and inwardly I winced. The Fellowship had accepted me so far because Gandalf, Aragorn and Elrond did, but I knew the question of my home was bound to come up sooner or later.
"Little place called Canada. It's way up north. Itty bitty town. Doubt any of you have heard of it before." I said when everyone looked at me expectantly. Well, it was a half truth.
"No, but then none of us have traveled in the north much." Legolas said. "Though now I am curious as to how you came to Rivendell from a small town in the north." I paused and looked out over the city, trying to figure out what to say. Sighing, I decided to wing it, telling as much of the truth as I could without actually telling the truth. Gandalf could hang me later if he so desired.
"It's a rather odd tale, and starts out something like Boromir's." I said. "I had a normal life. All was good and happy and fine. And then I started to have...vision dreams, I guess you could call them. I kept dreaming of orcs and men fighting, among other things. They seemed so real to me, and in the end I told my mother and grandmother about them. They quickly assured me they were nothing more then dreams. But then one night I had a dream of Rivendell." I paused. "Those of my town are not well traveled. We tend to stay in our town and not venture out. There is one man there, however, who felt the urge to travel when he was younger, and he went many places, including Rivendell. After my dream about Rivendell, which felt so real, I sought him out and talked to him about his travels. I described my dream version of Rivendell to him, and it was discovered that, without ever having seen Rivendell itself, I'd managed to dream of it exactly as it was. That brought more questions about my dreams. It was decided that I should travel to Rivendell to see if I could find out why I was having these dreams. So I went."
"Alone?" Merry asked, surprised.
"Yes. The main reason why nobody in my town travels is because they don't WANT to travel. No one wanted to come with me." I replied dryly. "So I went to Rivendell by myself. I made it, a little worse for the wear, on the same day Frodo arrived." I fell silent, trying to think of how to continue, but Legolas solved the problem for me.
"So those times when you seemed to know something you shouldn't have - your dreams had told you of what would happen?" Legolas asked, and I realized I really didn't need to explain anymore.
"To some extent, yes. My dreams, however, for some reason, do not have myself in them." I replied dryly. "And in them people die in certain places at certain times, who haven't deigned to do so in the waking world."
"So you see deaths that do not happen?" Gimli asked in surprise.
"Only seen two. And I think the main reason those two didn't happen was because I interfered." I replied.
"So you prevented the deaths of two people because of your dreams?" Legolas asked, and I hesitated before nodding.
"I guess you could say so." I said.
"Who's deaths did you prevent?" Boromir asked, and I hesitated again, wondering if I should tell him. Then a thoughtful look came over his face. "In Edoras, when you said you dreamed of my death - was that one of your dreams?"
"No, that was me having a nightmare." I said wryly.
"Whose deaths, then, did you dream of?" Legolas asked. "Unless you would prefer not to tell us?"
"Observant elf prince." I commented. "I would indeed prefer not to tell you."
"As you wish then." Boromir said. There was a pause as everyone seemed to think over my story.
"I take it Gandalf knows all this." Pippin said after a moment.
"Aragorn, too." I said with a nod, then half-frowned. "And about a half a dozen other people who someone along the way deemed needed to know." Pippin nodded, and we lapsed into silence again.
"I wonder what the captains are discussing." Merry wondered out loud after awhile.
"How to Uproot a Dark Lord 101." I replied promptly. "Really Merry, what else would they discuss? Embroidery?" The thought of Aragorn, Gandalf and all the other captains discussing embroidery sent the hobbits laughing, and lifted the somber mood. We were quickly joking about, and generally having entirely too much fun for the day after a battle in which the main enemy hadn't even come close to being completely destroyed. So Gandalf found us a little later, in the middle of trying to catch Legolas to find out if elves were ticklish, which Legolas claimed they weren't. Well, Pippin, Gimli and I were trying to catch Legolas. Merry and Boromir were still too injured to do much, so they helped from their spots on the ground when they could.
"I see that you six, at least, are having no trouble coping after the battle." Gandalf said dryly. I screeched to a halt in front of the wizard.
"Hey, you're an all-knowing wizard, are Elves ticklish?" I asked. Gandalf blinked at me, surprised, and shook his head.
"I would not know." he said, smiling with amusement.
"Oh come on. You gotta know." I said, exasperated as I saw Legolas neatly escape Pippin and Gimli's clutches by climbing a tree.
"Elves are NOT ticklish!" Legolas's insistent call came.
"I would tend to trust the Elf on this one." Gandalf said, still looking amused. "After all, an Elf should know if he's ticklish."
"Well, he could be ticklish and not want to tell us. After all, wouldn't being ticklish ruin Elves reputation as serious, wise, immortal beings?" I said.
"We are NOT ticklish!!" Legolas insisted again, and next thing I knew, I was sitting at the top of a tree with Legolas glaring at me from a few branches down. I blinked, then grinned.
"Hey, that was cool. Think you can do that to Gandalf? I still need to tie him to a tree for not bringing Boromir back unharmed." I said, and Legolas looked over at the wizard appraisingly.
"I think I would get myself a thump on the head if I tried." the elf stated after a moment.
"Drat. Now get me down, I hate heights." I said, starting to get a little dizzy as I glanced at the ground.
"The tree is not that high." Legolas commented.
"I know. I can't stand anything over twice my height, though, and this is at least triple. Now get me down." I ordered.
"The tree is easy enough to climb, either up or down." Legolas said flatly.
"You're just ASKING to be jumped on, elf boy." I said just as flatly, and Legolas eyed me. I shifted my seat, as if I was getting ready to jump, but Legolas was suddenly on the branch beneath me.
"Fine." he said with a sigh, then picked me up and actually LEAPED DOWN from the tree. On the solid ground once more, I discovered that everyone was either laughing, or trying not to laugh.
"Bah." I said, pretending to sulk, and everybody who was trying not to laugh gave up and laughed.
"I am sorry, Erin, but it was quite amusing." Boromir apologized, the first to get over his mirth.
"Yes, and it was a well-needed bit of humour after our council." Gandalf said solemnly as he and everyone else began to control their amusement.
"Speaking of that, how'd it go?" I asked.
"It started off with Prince Thaden wondering where his brother was." Gandalf said pointedly, arching an eyebrow at Legolas, who shrugged.
"He is in charge of the Mirkwood fighters, not I." the elf said. "He would have resented my presence if I had come." Gandalf nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer, but from the glance he shot my way I had a feeling he thought I'd had something to do with it.
"So now that we've heard about sibling rivalry among Elven princes, how DID the council go?" I asked again. Gandalf sighed before speaking.
"It was decided to lead a host of seven thousand men to Mordor in two days time to confront the Dark Lord Sauron." he said. Boromir looked alarmed at this.
"Seven thousand? Against MORDOR?" he exclaimed.
"Yes. I cannot explain the reasons here, for it would be too easy for them to get back to the Dark Lord. Suffice it to say that though none of us that go may return, all the captains have determined that they will go to Mordor with as many forces as they can spare from the defense of the city." Gandalf said. Hearing that, Legolas and Gimli announced that they were going, and then Gandalf beat me to the punch by asking that I go with the army. Boromir immediately protested, but the wizard shot him a look that shut him up quickly. Then Pippin decided he wanted to go, as well, and Merry was ready to go, as well, but he was in no shape to do so, as Gandalf pointed out. Then Gandalf left us, claiming he had things to do, and a somber mood settled on us all as we thought about the coming march. I, myself, was not worried, knowing what was coming, but everyone else was busy wondering if they or their friends had just offered to commit suicide.
Around mid afternoon, we all went back into the House of Healing, where Boromir and Merry were told on no uncertain terms that they needed to rest. Those of us that were uninjured watched, amused, as the two were shooed back to their beds, and then the healers turned on us and shooed us out of the hall.
The four of us - Legolas, Gimli, Pippin and I - spent the remainder of the day going about the city, occasionally getting enlisted to help with various jobs. Eventually we ended out down by the gate, and then we found Aragorn at around supper time. Deciding we should all have supper together, we ate in one of the tents set up on the field, and Pippin and I repeated our separate tales of our adventures for Aragorn's benefit. When the sun set, Pippin and I said farewell to Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli and made our way up into the city, where we checked on Merry and Boromir - both sleeping soundly - before finding the house we'd stayed in before to sleep.