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Remembering the Past
Legolas was in shock and in his surprise he knocked Aragorn over, whipped an arrow out of his quiver and held it to her throat.
"Don't play games with me!" he shouted.
"Aw, don't tell me you don't remember me," the girl said sarcastically.
Legolas began to grow angry with her antics. He pressed his arrow tip closer to her skin. "You are not deceiving me, witch. Tell me who you are, or I will push this arrowhead further into your flesh." She grinned wickedly, and then strangely began to sing.
"A Elbereth Gilthoniel, Silivren penna miriel, omenel aglar elenath! O galad hremmin ennorath, Fancibs le linnathon." As she chanted these words, Legolas' eyes widened and suddenly understood. "nef aear, ref aearon!" With these last words Legolas dropped his arrow and stepped back. He was suddenly breathless.
"Legolas, what is the matter? Do you know this girl?" Aragorn asked.
Legolas couldn't answer, he was too astonished. He had once taught that song to a small girl, years ago. Was this girl, this woman in front of him, implying that she was the child he had taken care of so long ago? It couldn't be. He looked up. She didn't look anything like the little girl.
"Remember now?" asked the woman mockingly.
Legolas didn't understand. How could such a sweet, innocent child turn into the servant of the Dark Lord? How did she fall succumb to darkness? What happened?
"How sweet," the girl cooed. "he does remember!"
"Hush!" Legolas spat, as he proceeded to rebind her hands. "We mustn't let her out of our sight," he then said to Aragorn. "She is slippery."
* * * *
That night, Legolas kept a close watch on the girl. He did not 'sleep' as the others did, and neither, it seemed, did his captive.
In the morning, the Fellowship again departed and though it was obvious that the others had questions about their newest member, Aragorn and Legolas said nothing.
The girl had had enough of sitting in the boat, motionless, speechless and blind. And so, to annoy her companions and to amuse her self, she started insulting them with compliments.
"Lle holma ve'edan ar'clolle haa lost," she told Legolas in the Elven tongue.
"What?" he asked in subtle shock. "How dare you."
"What happened?" asked Sam. "What did she say?"
"Oh, do you not understand the language of the Elves, my good hobbit?" said the girl amusedly. "Then let me translate for you." She raised her voice and shouted, "You smell like a man and your head is empty!"
Those in the other boats all swerved their heads to see what was going on.
"Lle haa nagorhuan," she continued. "You are a cowardly dog!"
"If you don't cease that nonsense now, lady," Legolas said, "I will rip out your tongue."
"Go kiss an orc, smelly one," she retorted. For the rest of the day, the girl continued on with her insults. "Your thighs are like young oaks! They creek in the wind!" she told Aragorn. Then to Legolas she said, "Small buzzing creatures are attracted to the light in your eyes." By the time they docked their boats, the girl had ticked off just about everyone in the Fellowship, and she was quite pleased with herself.
Legolas tied her up with extra caution so that she would not slip through the ropes again. As he did so, he yearned to ask her and know what had happened to her. She leaned back against her tree and acted very nonchalant about the whole situation. Legolas took this opportunity to question her.
"Kama?" he asked tentatively. He was not sure how she would react to being called by her childhood name. Without looking at him, the girl spoke.
"Kama? Hmm, yes. That is what I was called once." Then she looked at Legolas. "But do not address me by that name again. I am Burzum now." Legolas cringed when she said the word burzum as if it were her name. It was a word from the Black Speech of Mordor; the language of the Dark Lord himself.
"I suppose it bothers you that I have been given such a title," continued the girl, Burzum. "But it is who I am, what I am." The two sat in silence for a few moments before Legolas asked what was on his mind.
"So you are Kama, the little girl I found in the woods. Do you remember the time we spent together?" he asked softly. He had loved this girl like a daughter.
"Yes, I remember, despite my efforts to forget it."
"Why would you want to forget it? You were happy then."
"Yes, until you tried to send me back," she glared briefly at him. "But yes, everything was quite happy and fluffy there."
"You say that like it is a bad thing. Isn't being happy good?"
Burzum lowered her voice and growled, "I hate fluff."
"What happened?" Legolas questioned suddenly. "Where did they take you?"
"That is none of your concern," she snapped. "Let us just say that I went on to bigger and better things."
"How can you call being a slave of the Dark Lord Sauron a bigger and better thing?"
"You do not know what I am or what I do. Though I can hardly call a life of uncertainty much better."
"What do you mean?"
"Before I came here, to Middle-earth, I traveled all over. I had no real family, no real home. Switching from one place to another every month or even week. I could be sure of nothing. One week I'd be with a kind family, then the next I'd be beaten for every trivial thing. In Darkness I could find my only comfort. For there, I could make things the way I wanted them to be. Now quite what you'd call pleasant is it? Then I met you. Oh, how world of the Elves seemed so much better to me than anything I'd ever known before. At first, of course, I thought I'd finally found a real home. But, sadly, no. I was stabbed in the back; you were trying to send me back to that hell hole, and I couldn't understand why. So naturally, when the chance came to live in a world that was certain, I took it."
"But why? You did not have to live in darkness or in shadow! You can come back to the light! Away from evil and pain! Why no come back?" Legolas plead.
"No," answered Burzum. "I like living in darkness in the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie. I am Darkness now, and that works for me."
~~~~
Later that night, while the company was sleeping and Burzum had shut up, Legolas suddenly remembered a note he had received from Elrond back in Lothlorien. He had not given much thought to it before, but for some reason he now felt that it needed another closer look.
Pulling it from a pocket in a vest and unrolling it, he leaned back to read it.
Legolas, it read. I am writing to you now to inform you of a possible threat to the Fellowship. A woman, the daughter of the man I found in the ruined village in Rohan, has disappeared from Rivendell. I did not have reason to suspect her of anything before, but I have just spoken to her father, who insists that she is dangerous. I am not sure what he meant by this, but be careful all the same. Be on the lookout of a woman in black. Good luck, and be swift
~Elrond
Legolas finished reading the note and put it back in the pocket. Well, he had found the woman in black; or rather she had found them. But it was hard fro him to think of her as anything but the sweet little Kama he once knew. He knew that he should get rid of her, for the good of the Fellowship, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He had almost died of grief when she had been taken from him and a part of him believed that she could still come back; be good again. But even her own father said she was dangerous.
Wait, Legolas thought, father? Elrond had said her father! How could her father be in Middle-earth, from Rohan? Hadn't she come through a porthole from another world? None of this was making any sense. There was a man in Rivendell claiming to be Kama's, now Burzum, father? How was that possible? Unless she had not actually come from another realm, but she had to be. They had seen her sister looking for her. Perhaps her father had come through the porthole as well. No, that wouldn't work, Legolas told himself. Burzum had told him that she had no family. She insisted that she had no parents, yet this man in Rivendell insisted that Burzum was his daughter. Someone had to be lying. Either that, or Burzum just didn't know or remember her father.
Legolas pondered over the letter and the story of Burzum all through the night until the company set off down the river again.
As he paddled, Legolas tried to talk to Burzum again, but she was not was not as open as the night before.
"Please," Legolas asked in the elvish tongue, "talk to me. What of your father who is back in Rivendell? I thought you were from another world."
She said nothing.
"Please!" he plead. "I must know! I . . . I . . . loved you like a daughter!"
"You broke your promise." Burzum said shortly.
"What are you talking about?"
"You said you would never let anything happen to me. You said you wouldn't let go. But you did. I waited for you to come and rescue me, bring me back to live happily ever after, but no. Now I am here, as I am."
"I thought you had died!" Legolas cried. "I thought you had died. You don't know what it is like slowly dying of grief. You don't know what it was like spending all those years in the dark, knowing that the one person you had ever loved was gone."
"It makes no difference now, though."
"Kama, what happened? Where did they take you? What did they do to you?"
Burzum fell silent and wound respond to no more questions. A few moments after, Legolas gave up his questioning. Burzum began to chant softly.
"Ash nazg durbatuluk," she muttered as dark clouds began to cover the sky. "Ash nazg gimbatul. Ash nazg thrakatuluk agn burzum ishi krimpatul."
The clouds thinned after Burzum had finished, but Legolas still felt a chill come over him. He had heard those words before at the Council, when Gandalf had chanted them. It was the language of the Dark Lord; the Black Speech. It meant: One Ring to Rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.
This made Legolas very uneasy. Why was she saying these things? Was she planning to do something? Though Burzum said nothing more the rest of the day, Legolas still did not shake his feeling of anxiousness.
The Fellowship was docking one last time before crossing the river to the eastern shore to continue on their journey to Mordor. Legolas's feeling of dread had intensified during the last few hours, but no matter what he said, Aragorn refused to go any further.
"We must not linger here," said Legolas.
"Orcs patrol the eastern shore. We rest here 'til nightfall," answered Aragorn.
"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat have been growing on my mind. Something draws near; I can feel it."
Aragorn did not listen, however, and continued to make camp.
Legolas went to check on Burzum who had had tied up earlier with extra rope. He arrived at the tree, but she was not there. In her place was the rope; it appeared to have been burned until it frayed apart.
"This is bad," Legolas muttered. He quickly ran back to camp where he found even more distressing new. Frodo was gone again, and so was Boromir.
"Aragorn!" Legolas shouted. "She had escaped again!" He heard Aragorn curse quietly to himself.
"Split up!" he said, "Find Frodo!"
* * * *
Remembering the Past
Legolas was in shock and in his surprise he knocked Aragorn over, whipped an arrow out of his quiver and held it to her throat.
"Don't play games with me!" he shouted.
"Aw, don't tell me you don't remember me," the girl said sarcastically.
Legolas began to grow angry with her antics. He pressed his arrow tip closer to her skin. "You are not deceiving me, witch. Tell me who you are, or I will push this arrowhead further into your flesh." She grinned wickedly, and then strangely began to sing.
"A Elbereth Gilthoniel, Silivren penna miriel, omenel aglar elenath! O galad hremmin ennorath, Fancibs le linnathon." As she chanted these words, Legolas' eyes widened and suddenly understood. "nef aear, ref aearon!" With these last words Legolas dropped his arrow and stepped back. He was suddenly breathless.
"Legolas, what is the matter? Do you know this girl?" Aragorn asked.
Legolas couldn't answer, he was too astonished. He had once taught that song to a small girl, years ago. Was this girl, this woman in front of him, implying that she was the child he had taken care of so long ago? It couldn't be. He looked up. She didn't look anything like the little girl.
"Remember now?" asked the woman mockingly.
Legolas didn't understand. How could such a sweet, innocent child turn into the servant of the Dark Lord? How did she fall succumb to darkness? What happened?
"How sweet," the girl cooed. "he does remember!"
"Hush!" Legolas spat, as he proceeded to rebind her hands. "We mustn't let her out of our sight," he then said to Aragorn. "She is slippery."
* * * *
That night, Legolas kept a close watch on the girl. He did not 'sleep' as the others did, and neither, it seemed, did his captive.
In the morning, the Fellowship again departed and though it was obvious that the others had questions about their newest member, Aragorn and Legolas said nothing.
The girl had had enough of sitting in the boat, motionless, speechless and blind. And so, to annoy her companions and to amuse her self, she started insulting them with compliments.
"Lle holma ve'edan ar'clolle haa lost," she told Legolas in the Elven tongue.
"What?" he asked in subtle shock. "How dare you."
"What happened?" asked Sam. "What did she say?"
"Oh, do you not understand the language of the Elves, my good hobbit?" said the girl amusedly. "Then let me translate for you." She raised her voice and shouted, "You smell like a man and your head is empty!"
Those in the other boats all swerved their heads to see what was going on.
"Lle haa nagorhuan," she continued. "You are a cowardly dog!"
"If you don't cease that nonsense now, lady," Legolas said, "I will rip out your tongue."
"Go kiss an orc, smelly one," she retorted. For the rest of the day, the girl continued on with her insults. "Your thighs are like young oaks! They creek in the wind!" she told Aragorn. Then to Legolas she said, "Small buzzing creatures are attracted to the light in your eyes." By the time they docked their boats, the girl had ticked off just about everyone in the Fellowship, and she was quite pleased with herself.
Legolas tied her up with extra caution so that she would not slip through the ropes again. As he did so, he yearned to ask her and know what had happened to her. She leaned back against her tree and acted very nonchalant about the whole situation. Legolas took this opportunity to question her.
"Kama?" he asked tentatively. He was not sure how she would react to being called by her childhood name. Without looking at him, the girl spoke.
"Kama? Hmm, yes. That is what I was called once." Then she looked at Legolas. "But do not address me by that name again. I am Burzum now." Legolas cringed when she said the word burzum as if it were her name. It was a word from the Black Speech of Mordor; the language of the Dark Lord himself.
"I suppose it bothers you that I have been given such a title," continued the girl, Burzum. "But it is who I am, what I am." The two sat in silence for a few moments before Legolas asked what was on his mind.
"So you are Kama, the little girl I found in the woods. Do you remember the time we spent together?" he asked softly. He had loved this girl like a daughter.
"Yes, I remember, despite my efforts to forget it."
"Why would you want to forget it? You were happy then."
"Yes, until you tried to send me back," she glared briefly at him. "But yes, everything was quite happy and fluffy there."
"You say that like it is a bad thing. Isn't being happy good?"
Burzum lowered her voice and growled, "I hate fluff."
"What happened?" Legolas questioned suddenly. "Where did they take you?"
"That is none of your concern," she snapped. "Let us just say that I went on to bigger and better things."
"How can you call being a slave of the Dark Lord Sauron a bigger and better thing?"
"You do not know what I am or what I do. Though I can hardly call a life of uncertainty much better."
"What do you mean?"
"Before I came here, to Middle-earth, I traveled all over. I had no real family, no real home. Switching from one place to another every month or even week. I could be sure of nothing. One week I'd be with a kind family, then the next I'd be beaten for every trivial thing. In Darkness I could find my only comfort. For there, I could make things the way I wanted them to be. Now quite what you'd call pleasant is it? Then I met you. Oh, how world of the Elves seemed so much better to me than anything I'd ever known before. At first, of course, I thought I'd finally found a real home. But, sadly, no. I was stabbed in the back; you were trying to send me back to that hell hole, and I couldn't understand why. So naturally, when the chance came to live in a world that was certain, I took it."
"But why? You did not have to live in darkness or in shadow! You can come back to the light! Away from evil and pain! Why no come back?" Legolas plead.
"No," answered Burzum. "I like living in darkness in the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie. I am Darkness now, and that works for me."
~~~~
Later that night, while the company was sleeping and Burzum had shut up, Legolas suddenly remembered a note he had received from Elrond back in Lothlorien. He had not given much thought to it before, but for some reason he now felt that it needed another closer look.
Pulling it from a pocket in a vest and unrolling it, he leaned back to read it.
Legolas, it read. I am writing to you now to inform you of a possible threat to the Fellowship. A woman, the daughter of the man I found in the ruined village in Rohan, has disappeared from Rivendell. I did not have reason to suspect her of anything before, but I have just spoken to her father, who insists that she is dangerous. I am not sure what he meant by this, but be careful all the same. Be on the lookout of a woman in black. Good luck, and be swift
~Elrond
Legolas finished reading the note and put it back in the pocket. Well, he had found the woman in black; or rather she had found them. But it was hard fro him to think of her as anything but the sweet little Kama he once knew. He knew that he should get rid of her, for the good of the Fellowship, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He had almost died of grief when she had been taken from him and a part of him believed that she could still come back; be good again. But even her own father said she was dangerous.
Wait, Legolas thought, father? Elrond had said her father! How could her father be in Middle-earth, from Rohan? Hadn't she come through a porthole from another world? None of this was making any sense. There was a man in Rivendell claiming to be Kama's, now Burzum, father? How was that possible? Unless she had not actually come from another realm, but she had to be. They had seen her sister looking for her. Perhaps her father had come through the porthole as well. No, that wouldn't work, Legolas told himself. Burzum had told him that she had no family. She insisted that she had no parents, yet this man in Rivendell insisted that Burzum was his daughter. Someone had to be lying. Either that, or Burzum just didn't know or remember her father.
Legolas pondered over the letter and the story of Burzum all through the night until the company set off down the river again.
As he paddled, Legolas tried to talk to Burzum again, but she was not was not as open as the night before.
"Please," Legolas asked in the elvish tongue, "talk to me. What of your father who is back in Rivendell? I thought you were from another world."
She said nothing.
"Please!" he plead. "I must know! I . . . I . . . loved you like a daughter!"
"You broke your promise." Burzum said shortly.
"What are you talking about?"
"You said you would never let anything happen to me. You said you wouldn't let go. But you did. I waited for you to come and rescue me, bring me back to live happily ever after, but no. Now I am here, as I am."
"I thought you had died!" Legolas cried. "I thought you had died. You don't know what it is like slowly dying of grief. You don't know what it was like spending all those years in the dark, knowing that the one person you had ever loved was gone."
"It makes no difference now, though."
"Kama, what happened? Where did they take you? What did they do to you?"
Burzum fell silent and wound respond to no more questions. A few moments after, Legolas gave up his questioning. Burzum began to chant softly.
"Ash nazg durbatuluk," she muttered as dark clouds began to cover the sky. "Ash nazg gimbatul. Ash nazg thrakatuluk agn burzum ishi krimpatul."
The clouds thinned after Burzum had finished, but Legolas still felt a chill come over him. He had heard those words before at the Council, when Gandalf had chanted them. It was the language of the Dark Lord; the Black Speech. It meant: One Ring to Rule them all. One Ring to find them. One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.
This made Legolas very uneasy. Why was she saying these things? Was she planning to do something? Though Burzum said nothing more the rest of the day, Legolas still did not shake his feeling of anxiousness.
The Fellowship was docking one last time before crossing the river to the eastern shore to continue on their journey to Mordor. Legolas's feeling of dread had intensified during the last few hours, but no matter what he said, Aragorn refused to go any further.
"We must not linger here," said Legolas.
"Orcs patrol the eastern shore. We rest here 'til nightfall," answered Aragorn.
"It is not the eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat have been growing on my mind. Something draws near; I can feel it."
Aragorn did not listen, however, and continued to make camp.
Legolas went to check on Burzum who had had tied up earlier with extra rope. He arrived at the tree, but she was not there. In her place was the rope; it appeared to have been burned until it frayed apart.
"This is bad," Legolas muttered. He quickly ran back to camp where he found even more distressing new. Frodo was gone again, and so was Boromir.
"Aragorn!" Legolas shouted. "She had escaped again!" He heard Aragorn curse quietly to himself.
"Split up!" he said, "Find Frodo!"
* * * *