"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
Gandalf's tale of Aragorn Telcontar. "The Fellowship of the Ring."
****
Sam and Aragorn found Gandalf in his chamber, sitting at a large wooden desk that looked very out of place with the rest of the elvish furniture. It was cluttered high with piles of musty looking parchment with frayed corners and ink spots from one end to the other. Standing in the doorway, Sam reached up and knocked politely, causing the old Wizard to look up to see who his visitors were. He smiled brightly when he saw Sam but then opened his eyes in amazement when he caught sight of Aragorn at her side.
Jumping up remarkably quickly for a man of his age, he hurried over to them and all put pulled the young man into a bear hug as they met in the centre of the room. Both men laughing joyfully they broke apart slowly and gripped arms while Sam stood off to the side, positively beaming.
"So it is you, Aragorn!" Gandalf cried. "Celeborn said they had a visitor from Rivendell, but I had thought it would be either Elladan or Elrohir. What brings you to Lothlórien, my friend?" he asked, ushering both of them over to a group of chairs by the open window.
"I bring grave news for the Lady Galadriel, Gandalf." Aragorn said seriously as he sat down. Not knowing if she was actually welcome or not, Sam did the same and began to listen to their conversation intensively, eager for news of the outside world.
Gandalf flashed Sam a quick, calculating glance as Aragorn said this but continued anyway. He nodded his head at the other man, as if he has been expecting this. "Indeed. Has the fiend escaped us once again?" Looking up in surprise at his tone, Sam was shocked to find Gandalf looking and sounding quite grim.
Aragorn grimaced. "That he has, Grey One. I searched all through Mirkwood with the aid of the elf Legolas, but it was all in vane, for the creature Gollum eludes us still." He sounded bitter.
All but forgetting Sam was in the room with them, Gandalf gave a great sigh and looked out the window to the peacefulness of the Lórien woods, his mind plagued by the troubles of others. Aragorn and himself had been searching for the creature Gollum for the best part of the past four years now, but were still unable to catch the slithering beast. But it was imperative that they catch him for he was the one who held the fate of a very special race of people in his clutches, one way or another. If he told what he knew to the wrong people.. then all would be lost.
Gollum had long been a source of frustration on Gandalf's part, for a number of reasons. Firstly, that he didn't realise instantly what a problem the deformed creature was going to have on the future of not only the Hobbits of the Shire, but also the whole of Middle-Earth.
He had to be caught, and quickly.
So all he, Aragorn and their companions could do was continue to search for him, and hope desperately that they find him before the enemy did.
Turning his head slightly, he regarded the young woman sitting with them with a look of tender affection, seeing how she was anxiously trying to follow the conversation but getting hopefully lost in the process. In the past few months, he had found himself growing very fond of Samantha, to his slight surprise and dismay. It wasn't since Frodo that he had found himself drawn into a friendship with a lesser being, and the fact disturbed him somewhat. He would be leaving soon, now sooner than he had planned with the sudden arrival of Aragorn to Lórien. There were things to be done, people to see and question, and that wouldn't get accomplished here in the City of the Trees.
But strangely, he found himself drawn to stay here with her, to help ease her transition into life with the elves, but knew he could not. Her child was a source of concern to him also, especially as she was vague concerning the matter of the baby's father. He wondered who he was, where he was now, and what kind of coward he was to seemingly abandon the mother of his child to the clutches of the enemy. For surely, that was where she would have found herself if he had not gotten to her first, of this he had no doubt. Sauron and his people would have swooped down and gathered up the injured woman before she could cried out for help. Mysterious happenings in Middle- Earth had always held his attention.
But musing over her fate in his familiar chamber in Lothlórien, while discussing matters of Gollum with Aragorn with her listening carefully probably was not a very good idea.
Clearing his throat, Gandalf reached over and touched Aragorn's sleeve lightly. "Do not dismay, Estel," he said reassuringly, using Aragorn's elvish name. "We will find him in the end."
Aragorn sighed, and looked down at his hands. Then, as if he couldn't sit still with all that was pestering his mind, the tall man jumped up from the seat and started to pace the room, not seeing Sam's look of bewilderment she shot Gandalf, hoping for an explanation for the other man's actions. But the Wizard just shook his head slightly and Sam backed down, dropping the matter instantly.
"But will it be soon enough to save the Hobbits, Gandalf?" he cried, turning back to face the old Wizard. "The guard on the Shire is doubling as we speak, but for how long with Gollum stay silent? How long will the enemy allow him to do so?"
To this, Gandalf had no answer, for no one, not even one as himself from the powerful Istari, could see into the future to see the future of the Shire and the Ring.
No one save Galadriel, but that was no longer an option. The White Lady had already given them her answer concerning the matter, and neither Gandalf nor anyone else would press her further. What was to happen would, and there wasn't a thing they could do to stop it except be prepared for the worst.
Silence filled the room and Sam looked anxiously between the men, wondering what was happening. Gandalf felt quite sorry for her, and promised himself he would sit her down later and explain everything. There wasn't any point hiding it from her. Being as close as she was to Galadriel, it was likely she would find out everything that was happening anyway, but Gandalf would prefer if he was the one who told her. It was affect her too, in the end, and her baby, so she had as good a right to know as anybody.
"Where will you go next?" Gandalf asked the younger man, who had again started to pace the room. Aragorn shot him a quick glance at this, and his face softened to one filled with resignation. Aragorn had been searching the Wilds for Gollum for many years, and it was likely that his quest would not end until the creature was either in the custody of the Dúnedain or the elves, or dead.
"Rhovanion, I suspect." he said quietly and Gandalf regarded him sadly, feeling deep sympathy for the man who spent so much of his time alone.
"Be careful there, Aragorn." He warned. "There are beasts who would not falter as they cut you down."
With that, the old man slowly got up from his chair and made his way over to Sam, who still hadn't said a word. She looked very troubled as she tried to sort out everything she had heard. Helping her to her feet, mindful of her swollen belly, Gandalf cupped one of the blonde woman's cheeks and smiled at her kindly.
"Do not burden yourself with the troubles of others just now, Samantha," he told her gently, knowing full well that Aragorn was watching them keenly. "Go to Galadriel, she will help ease your mind." Taking the silent woman by the arm, he led her to the door.
"Fill you thoughts with the Little One, my dear. Let it bring you happiness in times of woe." He said softly, tapping her rounded stomach fondly.
Sam glanced once at Aragorn, he tipped his head to her in farewell, before rested again on Gandalf. She gave him one long last look before turning around and walking down the corridor. Both men could hear the swishing of her robes long after she left their company.
"She grows confused, Gandalf." Aragorn said frankly as the man turned from the door and walked back towards his desk. Sitting down, he rested his chin in his hands and stared at the door, not blinking.
"I feel for her, I truly do," the Wizard murmured and gave a great sigh.
"What made you bring her to Lothlórien to begin with, my friend? Surely she would have been better in Gondor or Rohan, if indeed that is where she is from." With that he tilted his head and nodded at his own words. "She has the look of Rohan in her, do you not agree?" Putting his hands behind his back, the Ranger regarded the Wizard bluntly, as if he knew there was more to it than what he was being told.
Gandalf shook his head, knowing this had been coming from the moment the two of them had walked in the room together. There wasn't much you could get past Aragorn, and the real reason for a strange-talking mortal being in Lórien wasn't one of them.
"She said you found her injured and brought her to Galadriel. Was she so badly hurt her own people could not tend to her? Why had it to be elvish medicine?" The Ranger continued, throwing a concerned look at his friend at the desk.
"It was not the medicines, Aragorn." Gandalf said quietly, finally admitting what he had sworn to keep secret. Looking up at the dark haired young man, he said honestly, "Her people are not from Middle-Earth."
Aragorn fell silent with the Wizard's words but grew confused. "How can that be?" he asked softly, pondering over what that could mean.
"Exactly what I say, my friend. She is not from Middle-Earth, and nor are her people. She did not know of the existence of our home until she arrived here herself. It is my belief that she comes from a place far from here, yet where we can never reach, not in this life time or the next."
Aragorn again sat down and turned his worried face to the Wizard's, his hands gathered in his lap. "Mayhap she is shade, a spirit of a people long past?" he said, desperately trying to understand what Gandalf was telling him. He had known there was something strange about his new friend the moment he had set eyes on her in the garden, and here it was, becoming true before his very eyes.
She had been to guarded on her identity to be completely innocent, he had originally thought, but then changed his mind soon after hearing her tale of Gandalf. Aragorn would trust the Wizard with his life, so if he had seen fit to take her under his protection, there was nothing the Ranger would say about it.
"No, she is as Mortal as you are, Estel." Gandalf said, then his eyes twinkled unexpectedly. "Less, probably."
Aragorn shot him a dirty look at that before reaching up to rub the side of his bristled face warily. "I think you should tell me all, Grey One, then we should decide what is to be done with her."
But Gandalf just shook his head. "Nothing is to be done with her, Aragorn. She has been given the protection of Celeborn and the Lady of the Wood, so it is too late anyhow. But what would you do, if you had the chance? She is a young woman, soon to be heavy with child, lost in this land, unable to return to her kin in her own. She will be given shelter here until the child is born, for that is the wish of Galadriel."
Aragorn shot him a stern glance. "And afterwards? What is to be done with her then? You must have realised you cannot keep her hidden here forever, Gandalf. Her presence will become known within the other Elven realms before the season is out; of this I have no doubt. Elrond, at least, will want to see her, if indeed what she says is true. Another world? This is mysterious tidings, undeniably."
Gandalf sighed in regret. "I had planned to take her with me after the child is born, but I do not see her leaving her child with strangers."
Aragorn looked at him in astonishment at this news. "Take her with you?" he asked, stunned. "Take her where? To the Shire? To Minas Tirith?" He shook his head gravely. "No indeed, Gandalf, this is folly. You can not expect Gondor to accept her into their midst is she comes with you, and as what? Your apprentice?"
"She should go to Rohan. Théoden at least, would receive her if it were with your blessing. Am I right to believe the Lady Éowyn has recently come of age? Samantha would be a fine companion for the young Lady of Rohan."
But Gandalf just waved his hand at him and shook his head determinedly. "No, Aragorn, my friend. Samantha will stay in Lothlórien until the child is born, and if I have my way, afterwards as well."
As Aragorn was silent at this, Gandalf risked a glance across at him to gage his reaction. But the Ranger just looked concerned. But for whom Gandalf was not sure. Samantha or Lothlórien?
Seeing that it was mostly distress on Samantha's behalf, not the elves, Gandalf's face softened. "She will be protected here, Aragorn, you must see this. Celeborn will allow none to harm her. And after her baby is born, we will again decide what is to be done. She must have a say in the matter, you understand. She is a strong one, and will not be bent easily."
A look of respect filled his eyes and Aragorn watched him cautiously. "I think I am right to suspect she would enjoy travelling with me through Middle-Earth, and would probably take the child with her, if possible."
He looked at Aragorn with an expression of sadness. "You of all people know that the freedom to travel unguarded will soon be lost, why not allow her to see her new world until she can no longer do so? Darkness is coming; my friend, and I do not see a secure future for our lands if something is not done."
He turned and again looked out the window, following a floating pearly leaf with his gaze as it soared past the window.
"And done soon."
****
Galadriel found Samantha sitting on a marble bench in one of the many patios of Caras Galadhon, the autumn winds rustling a pack of leaves around the woman's bare legs teasingly. She was sitting side on to the Elf Queen, giving her a full view of the fellow blonde woman's blossoming body; even through the loose elvish robes she wore.
Her head was bend, allowing her growing hair to fall around her face in soft, wispy curls, as she concentrated on what she was holding in her hands. Looking down at the woman's lap from where she stood in the doorway leading out onto the outdoor patio, Galadriel could see Sam was twisting thin strands of silver together around each other as she skilfully crafted what she desired.
The Elf smiled gently as she watched the woman nimbly bent a group of golden, leave shaped gems into the strands and, twisting it around her own arm as a barrier, fashioned the raiment of her choice. Even from the entranceway, Galadriel's keen eyes could make out the skill and texture of the feminine headpiece, and was somewhat taken aback that the Mortal had mastered the elvish skill to quickly.
She was very good with her hands, was this woman, the queen decided thoughtfully as she made her presence known by stepping into the room. Sam looked up as she entered and Galadriel saw that she wasn't surprised at all by her company, she had known she was standing at the doorway the entire time.
"You are troubled, Samantha." Galadriel said simply in her low toned voice as she came to sit next to her human companion. Sam didn't answer, still deftly intertwining the linked gems and silver wires together, but they could both see that her hands were shaking.
Finally, after the silence had become to much to bare, the Elf reached down and covered her friend's hands in her own pearly white ones gently to still their movements. At the contact of both their skins, Sam gave a shuddering sigh and stilled, letting her shoulder's droop in defeat. Slowly and silently, Galadriel took the partly completed headpiece from the other woman's hands and sat it down next to them on the bench.
Sam turned her face away onto the setting sun and closed her eyes softly, unable to meet the queen's questioning gaze. But Galadriel wouldn't have it and gently turned her face backwards with her gentle fingers.
"What ails you, my friend?" she asked quietly. "Are you not happy here?"
With that Sam's eyes shot open and she gave a dry, humourless laugh. "That is not even a question, my lady. You have all been nothing but kindness to me," the mortal answered, shaking her head. "And that is part of the problem."
Knowing that she had to let the woman speak, the Elf remained quiet as her companion poured out her soul.
But Sam just turned to the horizon again that could be made out between the bowing trees and her face crumbled heartbreakingly. Her body gave one juddering heave before Galadriel realised in sympathy that the woman was crying. She let her blonde head fall into her hands as she wept bitterly.
"I just miss my friends so much, I feel like I'm being torn apart." Sam whispered, her hand falling unconsciously to her rounded tummy protectively.
"You miss the father." The Queen said simply, and it wasn't a question. She had wondered about the child's other parent since Samantha had come to them in Lothlórien but had respected the woman's privacy and not asked. But she could tell that the matter hurt her a great deal.
"I miss him more than anything, and it saddens me to think that he probably believes I'm dead.the baby too."
Galadriel grimaced, taking in those missing parts of the hidden story for further notice. Gandalf had of course told them all how he had come across Samantha from the Ring, but the rest, of which Sam had tried to explain, just didn't make any sense. She talked of hollow mountains and warring peoples, and gateways that could take you to other lands. It all sounded very fantastical to the Elves, but of its truthfulness they had no doubt. Gandalf had seen it for himself.
"If he truly loves you, and of this I have no doubt, he will surely know that you live, Samantha. He will know it in his heart." Galadriel said gently, trying to reassure the distressed woman but she just shook her head sadly.
"You don't understand," she wept brokenly, shaking her head. "He was there, he must have seen what the gate did to me. How can he have hope after that?"
Putting a white arm comfortingly over Sam's trembling shoulders, the Elf gave a squeeze and pulled her close. Bending her head down, she whispered in the other blonde ear,
"There is always Hope. Even in the coldest caverns of darkness where the shadows lay, there is still Hope."
Slowly, Sam lifted her head and gazed into Galadriel's pure sapphire eyes, her own eyes searching the elf's intently as if she tried to see what the other woman was telling her. But the elf just reached down and rested her hand on Sam's growing stomach lightly, and Sam followed her gaze.
"You must have hope, my friend. If not for yourself, then for your babe, who without it will grow up not knowing its father." She smiled supportively at the woman, whose face was inches away from her own.
"If you believe it with all your heart, then he *will* come for you. And until then, you will always have a home within my Hall, never forget that. Whatever you chose to do with your life, Lothlórien will always keep you and your kin save."
Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Sam stared up at the queen keenly, her head tilted to the side thoughtfully. "I am to leave Lothlórien, my lady?" she asked, not quite believe what she was hearing. She had heard from Gandalf that the Elf could see the future, but how she did not know. Over all, Sam wasn't too sure she wanted someone else knowing her destiny.
But Galadriel just smiled brilliantly and stood up, helping the other woman to her feet as well. Together, the two blondes stood in the silent patio, leaves dancing around them like music on the wind.
"That is your choice, dearest friend, and yours alone. But I can see that you are meant for great things, in your world and others. Only time will tell if Middle-Earth is one of them."
Then she reached down and picked up the headpiece Sam had been working on and passed it back to the sheepishly blushing woman at her side. Linking her arm with the Mortals, Galadriel began to lead them back indoors, safe in the notion that Samantha was beginning to accept her new life with the Elves, but not foolish enough to believe it would continue for long.
****
Gandalf's tale of Aragorn Telcontar. "The Fellowship of the Ring."
****
Sam and Aragorn found Gandalf in his chamber, sitting at a large wooden desk that looked very out of place with the rest of the elvish furniture. It was cluttered high with piles of musty looking parchment with frayed corners and ink spots from one end to the other. Standing in the doorway, Sam reached up and knocked politely, causing the old Wizard to look up to see who his visitors were. He smiled brightly when he saw Sam but then opened his eyes in amazement when he caught sight of Aragorn at her side.
Jumping up remarkably quickly for a man of his age, he hurried over to them and all put pulled the young man into a bear hug as they met in the centre of the room. Both men laughing joyfully they broke apart slowly and gripped arms while Sam stood off to the side, positively beaming.
"So it is you, Aragorn!" Gandalf cried. "Celeborn said they had a visitor from Rivendell, but I had thought it would be either Elladan or Elrohir. What brings you to Lothlórien, my friend?" he asked, ushering both of them over to a group of chairs by the open window.
"I bring grave news for the Lady Galadriel, Gandalf." Aragorn said seriously as he sat down. Not knowing if she was actually welcome or not, Sam did the same and began to listen to their conversation intensively, eager for news of the outside world.
Gandalf flashed Sam a quick, calculating glance as Aragorn said this but continued anyway. He nodded his head at the other man, as if he has been expecting this. "Indeed. Has the fiend escaped us once again?" Looking up in surprise at his tone, Sam was shocked to find Gandalf looking and sounding quite grim.
Aragorn grimaced. "That he has, Grey One. I searched all through Mirkwood with the aid of the elf Legolas, but it was all in vane, for the creature Gollum eludes us still." He sounded bitter.
All but forgetting Sam was in the room with them, Gandalf gave a great sigh and looked out the window to the peacefulness of the Lórien woods, his mind plagued by the troubles of others. Aragorn and himself had been searching for the creature Gollum for the best part of the past four years now, but were still unable to catch the slithering beast. But it was imperative that they catch him for he was the one who held the fate of a very special race of people in his clutches, one way or another. If he told what he knew to the wrong people.. then all would be lost.
Gollum had long been a source of frustration on Gandalf's part, for a number of reasons. Firstly, that he didn't realise instantly what a problem the deformed creature was going to have on the future of not only the Hobbits of the Shire, but also the whole of Middle-Earth.
He had to be caught, and quickly.
So all he, Aragorn and their companions could do was continue to search for him, and hope desperately that they find him before the enemy did.
Turning his head slightly, he regarded the young woman sitting with them with a look of tender affection, seeing how she was anxiously trying to follow the conversation but getting hopefully lost in the process. In the past few months, he had found himself growing very fond of Samantha, to his slight surprise and dismay. It wasn't since Frodo that he had found himself drawn into a friendship with a lesser being, and the fact disturbed him somewhat. He would be leaving soon, now sooner than he had planned with the sudden arrival of Aragorn to Lórien. There were things to be done, people to see and question, and that wouldn't get accomplished here in the City of the Trees.
But strangely, he found himself drawn to stay here with her, to help ease her transition into life with the elves, but knew he could not. Her child was a source of concern to him also, especially as she was vague concerning the matter of the baby's father. He wondered who he was, where he was now, and what kind of coward he was to seemingly abandon the mother of his child to the clutches of the enemy. For surely, that was where she would have found herself if he had not gotten to her first, of this he had no doubt. Sauron and his people would have swooped down and gathered up the injured woman before she could cried out for help. Mysterious happenings in Middle- Earth had always held his attention.
But musing over her fate in his familiar chamber in Lothlórien, while discussing matters of Gollum with Aragorn with her listening carefully probably was not a very good idea.
Clearing his throat, Gandalf reached over and touched Aragorn's sleeve lightly. "Do not dismay, Estel," he said reassuringly, using Aragorn's elvish name. "We will find him in the end."
Aragorn sighed, and looked down at his hands. Then, as if he couldn't sit still with all that was pestering his mind, the tall man jumped up from the seat and started to pace the room, not seeing Sam's look of bewilderment she shot Gandalf, hoping for an explanation for the other man's actions. But the Wizard just shook his head slightly and Sam backed down, dropping the matter instantly.
"But will it be soon enough to save the Hobbits, Gandalf?" he cried, turning back to face the old Wizard. "The guard on the Shire is doubling as we speak, but for how long with Gollum stay silent? How long will the enemy allow him to do so?"
To this, Gandalf had no answer, for no one, not even one as himself from the powerful Istari, could see into the future to see the future of the Shire and the Ring.
No one save Galadriel, but that was no longer an option. The White Lady had already given them her answer concerning the matter, and neither Gandalf nor anyone else would press her further. What was to happen would, and there wasn't a thing they could do to stop it except be prepared for the worst.
Silence filled the room and Sam looked anxiously between the men, wondering what was happening. Gandalf felt quite sorry for her, and promised himself he would sit her down later and explain everything. There wasn't any point hiding it from her. Being as close as she was to Galadriel, it was likely she would find out everything that was happening anyway, but Gandalf would prefer if he was the one who told her. It was affect her too, in the end, and her baby, so she had as good a right to know as anybody.
"Where will you go next?" Gandalf asked the younger man, who had again started to pace the room. Aragorn shot him a quick glance at this, and his face softened to one filled with resignation. Aragorn had been searching the Wilds for Gollum for many years, and it was likely that his quest would not end until the creature was either in the custody of the Dúnedain or the elves, or dead.
"Rhovanion, I suspect." he said quietly and Gandalf regarded him sadly, feeling deep sympathy for the man who spent so much of his time alone.
"Be careful there, Aragorn." He warned. "There are beasts who would not falter as they cut you down."
With that, the old man slowly got up from his chair and made his way over to Sam, who still hadn't said a word. She looked very troubled as she tried to sort out everything she had heard. Helping her to her feet, mindful of her swollen belly, Gandalf cupped one of the blonde woman's cheeks and smiled at her kindly.
"Do not burden yourself with the troubles of others just now, Samantha," he told her gently, knowing full well that Aragorn was watching them keenly. "Go to Galadriel, she will help ease your mind." Taking the silent woman by the arm, he led her to the door.
"Fill you thoughts with the Little One, my dear. Let it bring you happiness in times of woe." He said softly, tapping her rounded stomach fondly.
Sam glanced once at Aragorn, he tipped his head to her in farewell, before rested again on Gandalf. She gave him one long last look before turning around and walking down the corridor. Both men could hear the swishing of her robes long after she left their company.
"She grows confused, Gandalf." Aragorn said frankly as the man turned from the door and walked back towards his desk. Sitting down, he rested his chin in his hands and stared at the door, not blinking.
"I feel for her, I truly do," the Wizard murmured and gave a great sigh.
"What made you bring her to Lothlórien to begin with, my friend? Surely she would have been better in Gondor or Rohan, if indeed that is where she is from." With that he tilted his head and nodded at his own words. "She has the look of Rohan in her, do you not agree?" Putting his hands behind his back, the Ranger regarded the Wizard bluntly, as if he knew there was more to it than what he was being told.
Gandalf shook his head, knowing this had been coming from the moment the two of them had walked in the room together. There wasn't much you could get past Aragorn, and the real reason for a strange-talking mortal being in Lórien wasn't one of them.
"She said you found her injured and brought her to Galadriel. Was she so badly hurt her own people could not tend to her? Why had it to be elvish medicine?" The Ranger continued, throwing a concerned look at his friend at the desk.
"It was not the medicines, Aragorn." Gandalf said quietly, finally admitting what he had sworn to keep secret. Looking up at the dark haired young man, he said honestly, "Her people are not from Middle-Earth."
Aragorn fell silent with the Wizard's words but grew confused. "How can that be?" he asked softly, pondering over what that could mean.
"Exactly what I say, my friend. She is not from Middle-Earth, and nor are her people. She did not know of the existence of our home until she arrived here herself. It is my belief that she comes from a place far from here, yet where we can never reach, not in this life time or the next."
Aragorn again sat down and turned his worried face to the Wizard's, his hands gathered in his lap. "Mayhap she is shade, a spirit of a people long past?" he said, desperately trying to understand what Gandalf was telling him. He had known there was something strange about his new friend the moment he had set eyes on her in the garden, and here it was, becoming true before his very eyes.
She had been to guarded on her identity to be completely innocent, he had originally thought, but then changed his mind soon after hearing her tale of Gandalf. Aragorn would trust the Wizard with his life, so if he had seen fit to take her under his protection, there was nothing the Ranger would say about it.
"No, she is as Mortal as you are, Estel." Gandalf said, then his eyes twinkled unexpectedly. "Less, probably."
Aragorn shot him a dirty look at that before reaching up to rub the side of his bristled face warily. "I think you should tell me all, Grey One, then we should decide what is to be done with her."
But Gandalf just shook his head. "Nothing is to be done with her, Aragorn. She has been given the protection of Celeborn and the Lady of the Wood, so it is too late anyhow. But what would you do, if you had the chance? She is a young woman, soon to be heavy with child, lost in this land, unable to return to her kin in her own. She will be given shelter here until the child is born, for that is the wish of Galadriel."
Aragorn shot him a stern glance. "And afterwards? What is to be done with her then? You must have realised you cannot keep her hidden here forever, Gandalf. Her presence will become known within the other Elven realms before the season is out; of this I have no doubt. Elrond, at least, will want to see her, if indeed what she says is true. Another world? This is mysterious tidings, undeniably."
Gandalf sighed in regret. "I had planned to take her with me after the child is born, but I do not see her leaving her child with strangers."
Aragorn looked at him in astonishment at this news. "Take her with you?" he asked, stunned. "Take her where? To the Shire? To Minas Tirith?" He shook his head gravely. "No indeed, Gandalf, this is folly. You can not expect Gondor to accept her into their midst is she comes with you, and as what? Your apprentice?"
"She should go to Rohan. Théoden at least, would receive her if it were with your blessing. Am I right to believe the Lady Éowyn has recently come of age? Samantha would be a fine companion for the young Lady of Rohan."
But Gandalf just waved his hand at him and shook his head determinedly. "No, Aragorn, my friend. Samantha will stay in Lothlórien until the child is born, and if I have my way, afterwards as well."
As Aragorn was silent at this, Gandalf risked a glance across at him to gage his reaction. But the Ranger just looked concerned. But for whom Gandalf was not sure. Samantha or Lothlórien?
Seeing that it was mostly distress on Samantha's behalf, not the elves, Gandalf's face softened. "She will be protected here, Aragorn, you must see this. Celeborn will allow none to harm her. And after her baby is born, we will again decide what is to be done. She must have a say in the matter, you understand. She is a strong one, and will not be bent easily."
A look of respect filled his eyes and Aragorn watched him cautiously. "I think I am right to suspect she would enjoy travelling with me through Middle-Earth, and would probably take the child with her, if possible."
He looked at Aragorn with an expression of sadness. "You of all people know that the freedom to travel unguarded will soon be lost, why not allow her to see her new world until she can no longer do so? Darkness is coming; my friend, and I do not see a secure future for our lands if something is not done."
He turned and again looked out the window, following a floating pearly leaf with his gaze as it soared past the window.
"And done soon."
****
Galadriel found Samantha sitting on a marble bench in one of the many patios of Caras Galadhon, the autumn winds rustling a pack of leaves around the woman's bare legs teasingly. She was sitting side on to the Elf Queen, giving her a full view of the fellow blonde woman's blossoming body; even through the loose elvish robes she wore.
Her head was bend, allowing her growing hair to fall around her face in soft, wispy curls, as she concentrated on what she was holding in her hands. Looking down at the woman's lap from where she stood in the doorway leading out onto the outdoor patio, Galadriel could see Sam was twisting thin strands of silver together around each other as she skilfully crafted what she desired.
The Elf smiled gently as she watched the woman nimbly bent a group of golden, leave shaped gems into the strands and, twisting it around her own arm as a barrier, fashioned the raiment of her choice. Even from the entranceway, Galadriel's keen eyes could make out the skill and texture of the feminine headpiece, and was somewhat taken aback that the Mortal had mastered the elvish skill to quickly.
She was very good with her hands, was this woman, the queen decided thoughtfully as she made her presence known by stepping into the room. Sam looked up as she entered and Galadriel saw that she wasn't surprised at all by her company, she had known she was standing at the doorway the entire time.
"You are troubled, Samantha." Galadriel said simply in her low toned voice as she came to sit next to her human companion. Sam didn't answer, still deftly intertwining the linked gems and silver wires together, but they could both see that her hands were shaking.
Finally, after the silence had become to much to bare, the Elf reached down and covered her friend's hands in her own pearly white ones gently to still their movements. At the contact of both their skins, Sam gave a shuddering sigh and stilled, letting her shoulder's droop in defeat. Slowly and silently, Galadriel took the partly completed headpiece from the other woman's hands and sat it down next to them on the bench.
Sam turned her face away onto the setting sun and closed her eyes softly, unable to meet the queen's questioning gaze. But Galadriel wouldn't have it and gently turned her face backwards with her gentle fingers.
"What ails you, my friend?" she asked quietly. "Are you not happy here?"
With that Sam's eyes shot open and she gave a dry, humourless laugh. "That is not even a question, my lady. You have all been nothing but kindness to me," the mortal answered, shaking her head. "And that is part of the problem."
Knowing that she had to let the woman speak, the Elf remained quiet as her companion poured out her soul.
But Sam just turned to the horizon again that could be made out between the bowing trees and her face crumbled heartbreakingly. Her body gave one juddering heave before Galadriel realised in sympathy that the woman was crying. She let her blonde head fall into her hands as she wept bitterly.
"I just miss my friends so much, I feel like I'm being torn apart." Sam whispered, her hand falling unconsciously to her rounded tummy protectively.
"You miss the father." The Queen said simply, and it wasn't a question. She had wondered about the child's other parent since Samantha had come to them in Lothlórien but had respected the woman's privacy and not asked. But she could tell that the matter hurt her a great deal.
"I miss him more than anything, and it saddens me to think that he probably believes I'm dead.the baby too."
Galadriel grimaced, taking in those missing parts of the hidden story for further notice. Gandalf had of course told them all how he had come across Samantha from the Ring, but the rest, of which Sam had tried to explain, just didn't make any sense. She talked of hollow mountains and warring peoples, and gateways that could take you to other lands. It all sounded very fantastical to the Elves, but of its truthfulness they had no doubt. Gandalf had seen it for himself.
"If he truly loves you, and of this I have no doubt, he will surely know that you live, Samantha. He will know it in his heart." Galadriel said gently, trying to reassure the distressed woman but she just shook her head sadly.
"You don't understand," she wept brokenly, shaking her head. "He was there, he must have seen what the gate did to me. How can he have hope after that?"
Putting a white arm comfortingly over Sam's trembling shoulders, the Elf gave a squeeze and pulled her close. Bending her head down, she whispered in the other blonde ear,
"There is always Hope. Even in the coldest caverns of darkness where the shadows lay, there is still Hope."
Slowly, Sam lifted her head and gazed into Galadriel's pure sapphire eyes, her own eyes searching the elf's intently as if she tried to see what the other woman was telling her. But the elf just reached down and rested her hand on Sam's growing stomach lightly, and Sam followed her gaze.
"You must have hope, my friend. If not for yourself, then for your babe, who without it will grow up not knowing its father." She smiled supportively at the woman, whose face was inches away from her own.
"If you believe it with all your heart, then he *will* come for you. And until then, you will always have a home within my Hall, never forget that. Whatever you chose to do with your life, Lothlórien will always keep you and your kin save."
Wiping her nose with the back of her hand, Sam stared up at the queen keenly, her head tilted to the side thoughtfully. "I am to leave Lothlórien, my lady?" she asked, not quite believe what she was hearing. She had heard from Gandalf that the Elf could see the future, but how she did not know. Over all, Sam wasn't too sure she wanted someone else knowing her destiny.
But Galadriel just smiled brilliantly and stood up, helping the other woman to her feet as well. Together, the two blondes stood in the silent patio, leaves dancing around them like music on the wind.
"That is your choice, dearest friend, and yours alone. But I can see that you are meant for great things, in your world and others. Only time will tell if Middle-Earth is one of them."
Then she reached down and picked up the headpiece Sam had been working on and passed it back to the sheepishly blushing woman at her side. Linking her arm with the Mortals, Galadriel began to lead them back indoors, safe in the notion that Samantha was beginning to accept her new life with the Elves, but not foolish enough to believe it would continue for long.
****