Chapter 9

The next day the company met with Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel in a large clearing. There was a very large blanket in the middle of the clearing. On the blanket were baskets bursting with bread and fruits and silver platters were covered in cheeses and fish and meats and to Sam's delight, potatoes. There were thirteen silver plates set up around the blanket with a golden goblet on its right. Everybody sat down and at Galadriel's bidding and began to eat. The Lord and Lady ate and drank nothing but watched their guests as they filled and refilled their plates. When everyone had had his or her fill, Galadriel spoke.

'The time has come for you to leave Lorin. The enemy moves ever quicker and they know you are here. The enemy plans to strike soon and strike hard. We do not have the strength to fight them.'

Galadriel looked at each of them, pity in her eyes.

'Middle Earth will soon be covered in shadow.' she continued. 'The Dark Lord will take hold and never let go. The elves will be forced to fight his wars for him, hobbits will be enslaved to his will, and men will no longer exist. This can not happen. The Ring must be destroyed. We must do everything in our power to do this.'

She looked at Phoebe, Piper and Paige hard and then looked away. She stood up and beckoned to one of her maidens. The maiden stepped forward and stood between Galadriel and a table.

'Shadows fall between us, but before you go, I have brought gifts for all of you. Aragorn.'

Aragorn stood up and walked over to the Lady. Galadriel handed him a sheath that been made to fit his sword. On it were decorations of flowers and leaves wrought of silver and gold.

'The sword that is drawn from this sheath shall not be stained or broken even in defeat.' she told him. 'I also have one more thing for you, Aragorn. I was meant to give it to you should you pass through this land.'

She turned and carefully picked up a great green stone set in a silver brooch that looked like an eagle with outspread wings.

'I give you this as a token of hope in this dark hour. We shall meet again one day, Elessar.'

Aragorn bowed.

'Thank you milady.

Aragorn walked back to his place in the clearing and sat down. To Boromir she gave a belt of gold. Merry and Pippin received silver belts that had a clasp in the shape of a golden leaf. Legolas was given a bow of the Galadhrim, the string made of elven hair. He was also given a quiver full of arrows to go with the bow. After much debate, Gimli was given three hairs from Galadriel's head. Sam was given a box of earth from Galadriel's garden and was told it was his garden would be the most beautiful of all if he added a sprinkle of this dirt to his own earth. Finally, Frodo was given a phial filled with the light of Earendil's star. Galadriel turned to the three sisters.

'And what gift would the three of you ask of the elves?

'What do you wish to give us milady?' asked Piper.

Galadriel smiled.

'Come with me.'

The four of them walked into a smaller clearing behind the first. Galadriel turned around and looked at them each in turn.

'I can only think of one gift to give you and I could not give it in front of the company. It involves magic and I don't think they are ready to see such magic as I'm about to use. At least not yet. I can give you each an animal companion. It is called a muse in your world. Your muse will be able to talk to you and you will be able to think to each other in great need. Neither of you can be more than a few miles apart from each other in the beginning, but if you begin to test your bonds you will be able to be farther apart from them. Would you like this companion?'

Paige shrugged

'Why not? I could use a friend I can talk to about magic and all that and not get in trouble for doing it.'

'It would be kind of nice', said Phoebe slowly. She turned to Piper. 'What do you think?'

Piper looked at the ground for a moment, thinking. Then she looked up and stared Galadriel in the eye.

'Let's do it.'

Galadriel lifted her arms into the air and sang a single, pure note that echoed through out the clearing. In a flurry of blue orb lights a wolf appeared by Paige's side. Instantly, it sat down and began clean herself. Leaves began to stir at Phoebe's feet. The leaves suddenly flew up into the air and began to fly around the clearing. In a burst of light, a phoenix was flying around the clearing instead of the leaves. The phoenix flew around the clearing once and then landed on Phoebe's shoulder. A growl emitted from the side of the clearing and a grand majestic lion slowly walked out from behind a bush and walked up to Piper. It sat down at her side and waited.

'Here are your muses', said Galadriel. 'You may name them what you wish. I have given them the power to change shape whenever they please. It is a power that some muses in your world have.'

'There are muses in our world', Phoebe asked. ' I've never seen them before.

Galadriel smiled

'You haven't been looking hard enough.'

Piper knelt down and put her hand on the lion's mane. She looked into the lion's eyes and saw herself in him. They were one. She felt his spirit now in her heart and then realized that she had a better sense of smell and hearing. She was willing to bet that if she was allowed to run she could run faster than ever.

'Thalion', she said finally. 'You're name will be Thalion.'

'Thalion', asked Paige. 'That's kind of a weird name isn't it?'

'I think Thalion sounds majestic', said Piper brushing back his mane with her hand. 'So that's going to be his name. It's kind of strange how his name came to me though. I don't know what it means.'

'Hey', said Phoebe suddenly making everyone jump. 'I got a name for you. Can I name you Caran?'

'It's up to you', the phoenix answered.

'OK. Your name is Caran.'

Paige glanced down at the wolf who was still furiously cleaning herself. She nudged her with a toe.

'What am I going to call you?'

The wolf looked up at her.

'Please not anything nasty if you can help it.'

She began to lick his leg again.

'I'll call you Alasse', she said finally. 'I like Alasse.'

'I like that name', said Caran.

Paige smiled.

'We better get back to the others', said Piper. 'We got to leave soon and as nice as this place is, I don't want to be left behind.'

The sisters walked back into the main clearing. Only Aragorn jumped at the sight of the animals, despite Galadriel's warning. They all climbed into a one of the elven boats Galadriel had given them. Piper, Aragorn and Frodo were in one boat, Legolas, Gimli and Paige were in the second, Phoebe and Sam were in the third, and Pippin, Merry and Boromir were in the forth and last boat. Sam was not pleased at the fact that he couldn't be with his master, but Frodo wanted to sit with Aragorn and Aragorn wanted to sit with Piper so he could talk to her.

'But I need to be with Master Frodo!' Sam protested. 'What if he falls into the water or something? He's going to need his Sam to help him!'

Frodo laughed.

'I'm sorry Sam but I'm a much better swimmer than you think', he said. 'Besides, you can hardly swim yourself!'

Anyways Sam', Aragorn put in. 'I can't have four to a boat and Phoebe on her own. What if something was to happen to her and I couldn't reach her in time?'

Finally, Sam gave up and sat down in his boat sulking.

As Aragorn, Legolas, Phoebe and Boromir paddled out into the middle of the stream that led to the Great River, Piper turned to look at Lothlorien for the last time. Galadriel was standing on grass beside the little harbor watching them go. She waved as the river's current caught their boats and Lorien slip away into the morning fog.