Diamond sat in down on the cold hard ground, her back to a tree. She looked down at the bonds that held her hands and wondered why they seemed so familiar. It was true that she had gotten some of her memory back, but only some. She remembered Pippin, and Merry, and that she did not truly belong in Isengard but that was basically the extent of her revelations.
Ferny walked up and sat down next to her, looking at her in a peculiar way. Then he said harshly, "How much do you remember, Diamond?"
"Why does everyone keep calling me Diamond?" she asked, attempting to use the same cold voice that she had once possessed.
"What do you mean? Only two days past you ran away screaming you remembered and that your name was Diamond of Long Cleeve. I am not that dense, Halfling."
"What are you talking about, Ferny?" she lied exasperatedly. "I am allowing you to lead the conquest, and you bind my hands? How will master feel about that?"
He looked at her long, wondering if she truly had forgotten again whatever small piece of her past that she had uncovered. He decided to test her knowledge in a question sure to cause her downfall ere she lied.
"What is that you wished to be in charge of, Keaira?"
"Punishment! Are you that forgetful? Now unbind my hands, or I shall tell master what you have done."
"And what have I done?" he accused. "It is you who released the girl."
"That is a petty offense next to stealing pipe weed from master's private stores," said Diamond, hopeful that her observation was correct.
"You cannot prove anything," he spat at her.
"I would not be so sure," she lied.
Ferny glared at her. "You see we both have information that could lead to the others downfall so I suggest we make a truce," Diamond continued.
"You are still under my authority. I am leading this infiltration, remember," said Ferny.
"At least untie my hands. Do you distrust me that much? I do not even remember why you bound them to begin with!" she lied once more.
Ferny held back, but the reluctantly untied her bonds. "I will allow you to regain your position in this infiltration if you will prove your loyalty to me."
"How do you propose that I do that?" she asked.
"When the time comes, you will know. And when the time comes you must be ready to prove your allegiance."
Pippin sat behind Gandalf upon the great horse Shadowfax watching as the landscapes flew by at an incredible speed. They were headed for the great city in Gondor of Minas Tirith and Gandalf was answering more questions for Pippin that he had ever answered.
Pippin was quite enjoying getting so many answers when a certain pain hit him — remembrance — and he decided to try his luck asking Gandalf for advice.
"Will those who have betrayed us and helped the Dark Lord be forgiven?" he asked vaguely.
"What do you mean, Peregrin?" Gandalf replied.
"Those who have aided the dark powers like Wormtounge, for example. Will they be shown mercy? Do you think that they deserve a second chance?"
"Ah, I see. Well, my young Hobbit, I think that it would depend on the circumstances. In Wormtounge's case, for example, I would think that he did not fall into darkness on his own, but rather through the persuasion and power of Saruman. However, he could have caused the downfall of the entire land of Rohan. It is a hard decision to make, but all deserve mercy to some extent. When we begin to kill them for the mistakes they have made we begin to sink as low as the Dark Lord himself," Gandalf replied.
"I think that they should be killed! They can no longer be trusted! How could someone betray their friends and family like that?" Pippin asked, releasing a good deal of the anger he held inside.
"I would not judge them so quickly, young Hobbit, for both Sauron and Saruman have the ability to reform a weak willed mind. How else do you think Sauron caused the treason of Isengard?"
"Do you think that Saruman could change someone so much that it was beyond their control to betray their friends?" replied Pippin.
"Most certainly so," replied Gandalf. "Saruman's greatest power was that of his voice, and when he had the powers of the Istari as well he was quite formidable. Saruman could have gone so far as to banish ones memories and create a new identity. This could be what happened to Wormtounge, but we shall never know I fear."
"Banish ones memory? Forever?"
"Yes, and no. The Istari have the power to banish memories to a secluded and unused part of the mind. These memories can be brought back, but only under the most dire of circumstances. And they cannot simply resurface on their own. Whoever it was that lost their memory this way would need constant reminders of who they used to be. The only way to bring back what was forgotten for good would be to re-witness the most joyful memory of them all. That is why in most cases the memories are lost forever. You cannot re-witness something that happened in the past," said Gandalf wisely.
"Could someone whom this happened to remember small things from their past, like their name or people they knew?"
"If they were exposed to something that forced the memory to surface I suppose it is possible. A prior possession, or someone that reminded them of who they used to be," replied Gandalf.
"Could it be that this is what happened?" asked Pippin softly to himself. "Did she not truly betray us?"
"I think, Peregrin, that you ask this for some reason other than the curiosity of your nature," Gandalf said, a small smile crossing his face.
"I…it's just that…that…Diamond was at Isengard," said Pippin finally.
"At Isengard?"
"Yes, she was leaving with the terrible Bree-lander Bill Ferny when we found her. Merry and I were elated because we thought that she was dead, but when we attempted to talk to her she claimed that she did not know us. She threatened to kill me! She claimed her name was…Keaira, I think…" said Pippin sadly.
"And you assumed she had betrayed you willingly?" Gandalf asked, knowingly.
Pippin nodded. "She left with Bill Ferny but a short time later she appeared again, running towards us claiming that she remembered now and needed our help. I assumed that she was merely trying to trick us into following her somewhere that we would be ambushed so I did nothing. Ferny then bound her hands and dragged her off and that was the last we saw of her. Do you think she truly did remember? Do you think that her memory was banished?"
"Do you have any reason to believe that she would betray you otherwise?" asked Gandalf.
"Not that I can think of…it didn't make any sense for her to act that way…and I…I…condemned her! I refused to help her! What if she was under his influence?" asked Pippin frantically.
"Calm down!" said Gandalf. "If you want my advice then will you allow me to at least get a word in? I believe that she followed you to Bree, and was compromised by Ferny, who it seems is a minion of Saruman, and taken to Isengard. She would not have given in to him if her will was strong, and so I think she was misinformed that you were dead, or captured. Something to that nature would have caused her will to be weak. If Saruman was able to banish her memory she must have been in horrible condition, for it is quite difficult to accomplish on someone who attempts to resist it. He must have lied to her, made her think that she was someone else. What I wonder is why? What use would Saruman have with a Hobbit-lass?"
Pippin shrugged his shoulders, and suddenly a terrible realization washed over him. He thought, "What if I don't make it back? What if I never see her again? If she truly does remember, I will never forgive myself for not helping her. I have made a terrible mistake! I never even got the chance to tell her that I loved her…"