"Do you remember Bilbo's song?" Frodo asked suddenly. Lassalanta looked at him, wonderingly, but cleared her thoughts and kept her devious character.
"Mayhap...are you reffering to—"
"It was called, 'The Road Goes Ever On and On,'" he went on, seeming not to hear her response. He sounded almost...wistful, and Lassalanta thought for an instant that Frodo Baggins had indeed returned. The Halfling continued, "It was his favorite song. The Elves all sang it when he died."
"Will you sing it for me?" Lassalanta asked smoothly. The question was both in the character she was attempting to play, and a test to see if he was Hisilome or Frodo Baggins.
But he shook his head. "I cannot," he said simply.
Lassalanta pretended to pout, but he did not notice. He said, "Look—yonder. Is that the volcano we seek?"
She turned in the direction in which he was indicating, saying, "Yes, that is Mount Caragdur...and night has come."
Darkness truly surrounded them all, closing in on Lassalanta like a hunting predator, fangs bared as if ready to plunge then deep into her neck. Then she looked at Hisilome, and shuddered, for he had a hungry look on him like the predator she imagined.
Night wrapped its cold arms around her in a chilled embrace, but she had to keep up the act. She looked at Frodo, and saw he was grinning. She knew he had a plan of his own...I'll just have to beat him to it, she thought.
Now they tread no longer on soft dewy grasses and pleasant ground, but hard ash. Suddenly came upon her a mad love for Legolas. She held back tears, no tears, for Hisilome would see and know. She bit her lip and formed a twisted smile. Yet her eyes saw none but her beloved, and her hand went unconsciously to her brooch.
Frodo saw this, and inspected the object with curiosity. It did not seem the like the kind of thing that would corrupt someone, like his own precious Ring. He suddenly whined, wanting it, but knowing it could not come to him.
Lassalanta turned, her hand still on her brooch, and she had a wicked grin as she said, "Look! The volcano! We have arrived."
The Hobbit looked, and smiled coldly. "'Tis quite beautiful..." he said, moving to look upon her instead. "You were correct..."
Mount Caragdur was spewing out smoke, which drifted like evil specters that glared at them before they dissipated. They made Lassalanta uneasy. Wasn't the volcano dormant?
She nonetheless smirked cockily. "Come," she coaxed, stepping delicately over the ash towards the entrance of the cavern. "This cave has lovely sights..."
Despite everything Galadriel had told him, he followed. He thought her could trick her!
Lassalanta paused just before the door, her heart throbbing so loud in her ears, so that it blocked out the low rumbling of Caragdur. Her grip on her beloved's brooch tightened and she thought frantically, Mithrandir! Oh, Mithrandir, come, come!
Instantly, although she had not budged an inch, it seemed as though she strode forward. Gandalf's illusion! The real Lady Lassalanta Leaf-fall watched, deafened by the beating of her own heart and thinking naught but, Legolas! Legolas, my beloved!
The volcano shook and she fell into the ash. Although choking on dust, she watched with dimmed eyes as Frodo bounded into the entrance, following the false Lassalanta.
But as Hisilome entered the cavern, just then, Caragdur erupted.
