-THE GAMES OF THE GODS-
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing at the moment, but as soon as the little kiddies who I'm giving candy to tonight eat said candy, I will own their souls! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-*Rachel clamps a hand over CS's mouth*
Rachel: Don't mind her, she's just slightly crazy around Halloween.
CS: Anwonulloons!
Rachel: And on full moons.
CS: Anewyowerfwiway!
Rachel: You are not.
CS: Arwoo!
Rachel: No, you're not! If anything, you're crazy EVERY Friday!
CS: *pauses* *agrees*
-23: Bob-
Ispent the majority of my morning chatting with Bilbo, and then we had lunch together on a patio, for which Arwen and Elrond joined us. This was my first time seeing Arwen since my return, but she already seemed to know all about me being Rachel, and I figured Elrond or one of the twins must have told her. Or Glorfindel, but that was unlikely.
After lunch, I sought out Boromir, but found that he had just left for a ride - with no provisions for a journey (I asked specifically) - and so I was left on my own. Out of boredom, I went to the archery fields, and managed to cajole one of the archers there - Tulcanco, I think his name was - to show me some more archery. My archery skills hadn't improved since I was last in Rivendell, however, and Tulcanco soon gave up on teaching me, telling me instead to just try not to lose any arrows. And so I merrily spent the afternoon shooting everything around the archery target.
Arwen showed up at dinner time, and I discovered I was to have the extreme pleasure of dining with her, her brothers and father, and Boromir. Oh joy. What parts of the meal I didn't spend ignoring Elrohir and Elladan's annoyed looks - apparently Elladan had merely favored talking to someone he was annoyed with over doing work in the library - I spent trying to get Boromir to talk to me, or having disjointed, uneasy conversations with Arwen and Elrond in which we tried to ignore the other three occupants of the table and failed miserably. Near the end of my meal, I found myself absently wishing Glorfindel hadn't had to go find Frodo. Or at least that he'd taken me with him.
Finally, however, I was able to retreat to my room. I spent a short while reading, before getting bored and deciding to sleep. The next day was equally exciting. I had breakfast, I talked to Bilbo, I had lunch, I talked to Bilbo some more, I went for a walk with Arwen (she wanted to know about Gondor), I had supper (in my rooms, this time), I read, I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, however, I decided enough was enough. After having breakfast, I went to see Boromir. Amazingly, he was in his rooms. Not surprisingly, he was very grumpy, and not at all happy to see me.
"Boromir, start acting your age." I scolded when I walked into his room after being told to go away. I received a snarl in return, and shook my head. "If it hadn't been for me guiding you, Boromir, you wouldn't have gotten to Rivendell until the night before the council, anyways. You're fated to be there. So accept it and get over it."
"I am not upset over having to go to the council." Boromir said, glaring at me.
"Oh, right, you're upset because I dared to call Gondor, the Shrunken Kingdom of Men, weak." I said, rolling my eyes. "Look, every kingdom goes through its ups and downs. Gondor is just currently in a down. As is Rohan. And every other kingdom of a Free People of Middle-Earth. While the evil guys' kingdom seems to be on an up. Good thing there's only one." I finished thoughtfully, with Boromir giving me a confused look. "The point is that I was not insulting Gondor, I was stating a fact. Gondor IS weak. But it probably won't be staying that way."
"If that's by way of an apology, very well." Boromir said dryly.
"Good. Now do something with me before I decide to storm Mordor all by myself out of sheer boredom." I said. Boromir chuckled.
"Very well. What would you like to do?" he asked.
"If I knew what I wanted to do, would I be asking you?" I replied, arching an eyebrow. Boromir blinked, and then shook his head.
"I heard you were at the archery fields the other day. Perhaps you would like to have a competition?" he asked.
"Only time I hit the target during that entire afternoon of practice was when I had help from one of the archers." I replied promptly.
"Sounds like me on a good day." Boromir said dryly. I blinked in surprise.
"I thought you were good at archery?" I asked.
"No, horrible. Faramir just shot my target when Master Karovi's back was turned so that he thought I was hitting once and awhile." Boromir replied with a mischievous grin, naming his and Faramir's archery teacher. I laughed.
"You two really were little hellions." I said.
"Are. Not were." Boromir said, his grin taking on a decidedly wicked tinge. I shook my head.
"Well then. How about you show me something you're good at? Like sword work?" I asked.
"You want me to teach you how to use a sword?" Boromir asked, both of his eyebrows shooting up.
"Eh, sure. I mean, it's a miracle that I've managed to wander between Bree, Rohan and Gondor for 800 years and not only not know how to use any weapon or fight in any manner, but not have the need to know, either." I said.
"Indeed." Boromir said with an amused smile. "Well, we shall have to find you something more suitable to practice in, and a weapon."
"Ah, leave that to me!" I said cheerfully. "I'll see you back here in half an hour?" Boromir nodded, looking at me curiously and obviously wondering what I was planning. Instead of telling him, however, I waved cheerfully and dashed out. Pausing in the hallway, I got my directions sorted out, then made for Elladan and Elrohir's room. After a pause, I knocked on Elladan's door and waited patiently, though I didn't really expect him to be there. He was, however, looking as if he'd just woken up. Unless he regularly wandered around his rooms wearing nothing but a pair of trousers.
"What?" he asked tiredly. I smiled slightly. I had been intending to apologize again and try and get him to stop being annoyed with me before asking him for anything, but he looked so out of it that I doubted he would remember he was annoyed with me until I was already halfway back to Boromir's rooms with the needed items.
"Can I borrow a pair of trousers, a tunic and a sword?" I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet. Elladan blinked.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I convinced Boromir to teach me to fight with a sword." I replied. Elladan paused.
"Very well. But you had BETTER return them." he said gruffly, and then disappeared into his room as I grinned in satisfaction. Elladan reappeared moments later with a bundle of cloth I supposed was trousers and a tunic, a sword resting on top of the bundle. I frowned lightly as I looked at the clothes.
"Out of curiosity, why didn't your missing trousers and tunic tip you off that I had left instead of jumped?" I asked. Elladan shrugged.
"Kari and I figured you hid them somewhere so you could wear them when you didn't want to wear a dress." he said. I chuckled as I took the clothes and sword from Elladan.
"I'm not THAT attached, but I suppose it worked." I said. "Thanks."
"No problem." Elladan said, stifling a yawn.
"Go back to bed, sleepyhead." I said, shaking my head.
"Sounds good to me." Elladan said. "Good day."
"Bye!" I said cheerfully, then bounced off as Elladan shut his door and presumably returned to his bed. I headed back to my room and changed into the clothes, then spent several minutes figuring out how to put on the sword. I figured it out eventually, however, especially after checking in the mirror to see if it looked right. Then I bounced off to Boromir's room again. Boromir arched an eyebrow when he saw me.
"Where DID you get those?" he asked.
"Elladan." I replied with a shrug.
"Ah. That's why they're a little...big." Boromir said carefully.
"No, they're big because I'm way too frigging short." I said, scowling down at myself. "I'm going to have to get some trousers and tunics made for me some day." Boromir nodded, smiling wryly.
"Shall we go find someplace to practice?" he suggested.
"Ooo! I know just the place!" I said, my eyes lighting up as I remembered the arena in Glorfindel's study. Then I frowned. "But I'm not sure I could find it unless I wandered around for several hours. And the door's probably locked..." Boromir rolled his eyes.
"Perhaps we should go ask Lord Elrond?" he suggested.
"Sounds good to me." I replied cheerfully. And so Boromir and I set off to find Elrond and ask him where we could practice sword fighting. Elrond handled the whole thing rather well, considering that I'm fairly sure he recognized his son's clothes, and evidence had shown that Elrohir got his sense of propriety from his father. We got directions to an arena, anyways.
Thus began a fun morning of having Boromir beat the crap out of me. Well, not really, but I never even got CLOSE to threatening to 'injure' him the entire morning. I, however, became very well acquainted with the tip of Boromir's sword. In fact, by the time lunch finally came around, I had named the tip of Boromir's sword 'Bob'. I found it extremely funny. Boromir found it scary. The entire way to lunch, and most of lunch itself, was spent arguing over why I couldn't name the tip of Boromir's sword.
Near the end of lunch, however, Boromir and my's discussion was cut short as Elladan appeared beside me, looking pissed. I eyed him warily, wondering what he would do.
"Good day, Lord Elladan." Boromir said, not noticing Elladan and my's looks.
"Good day." Elladan grunted in reply. "Rachel, may I please speak with you a moment?"
"Uh...how about if I just say sorry now and get it over with?" I asked. Elladan gave me a tired look.
"Did sorry work the first time?" he asked.
"No, but then, I didn't actually say sorry. I AM saying sorry now." I replied. Elladan paused. "Seriously, there's not much else I can say, you've heard everything else." There was another pause, and then Elladan grudgingly nodded.
"There's still something else I would like to speak with you about." he said. I sighed.
"I'm sorry for using your half-asleep state to finagle clothes and sword out of you." I said.
"What?" Boromir asked with a light frown.
"Apology accepted." Elladan said dryly, ignoring Boromir.
"Good. Because said clothes and sword were put to good use." I said.
"Good use?" Boromir asked, arching an eyebrow. "And here I thought you spent the entire morning staring at the tip of my blade."
"Exactly." I replied. Boromir looked at me blankly. "Well, it resulted in me meeting Bob."
"What?" Elladan asked in confusion, coming into the conversation once again.
"I named the tip of his sword Bob." I replied.
"Why?" Elladan asked, arching an eyebrow.
"See, now there's a sensible response." I said, turning to Boromir. "You don't protest at me naming things, it will only make me do it more. If you ask me to explain, I might get so fed up with having to explain every name, I'll just stop naming things."
"You naming things wasn't a problem until we came to Rivendell." Boromir said dryly.
"So why did you name his sword Bob?" Elladan asked again.
"Just the tip of his sword." I corrected cheerfully. "And I named it Bob because Bob is a rather common name at home. Well, actually, it's a generic name for just about anyone. Better then George, at any rate."
"...George?" Boromir was interested now.
"Yeah, another generic name. Add 'ina' on the end and you get the feminine version." I replied.
"George...ina?" Elladan asked, looking slightly horrified.
"Yeah, horrible name." I replied, making a face. "There are better ones, though."
"Like what?"
"Elizabeth, Kathryn, Joshua, Orlando...there are more, but I'm not a whiz that can list them off the top of my head." I replied, trying not to giggle from the last name I mentioned.
"Those are certainly strange names." Boromir said with a frown.
"Not as strange as Boromir or Elladan." I said with a smirk. Boromir and Elladan rolled their eyes.
"And what about Rachel?" Elladan said.
"Bad name, should be banned." I replied dismissively.
"So you don't like your name?" Elladan asked with amusement. I shook my head.
"Not at all. There's a reason I haven't used it since I left Bree...for the first time." I said.
"The first time? You went back?" Boromir asked.
"Yeah, met Gandalf. Who saw straight through my disguise, stupid wizard." I replied, rolling my eyes. Elladan and Boromir chuckled, both having met Gandalf.
"He would." Elladan said dryly.
"Yeah." I said. "So, I'm done eating, shall we go give me more opportunities to chat with Bob?"
"You want to get beaten MORE?" Boromir asked incredulously.
"Hey, the only way you getting better is through practice. Wanna come, Elladan? You can beat my butt, too, if you don't mind getting your sword's tip named." I said.
"I think I'll come and watch." Elladan said with amusement as we stood up.
Thus began an afternoon much like the morning. In other words, I got the crap beat out of me by Boromir, and once he got tired, by Elladan. By the end of the day, I was so tired - though thoroughly pleased, as there was a noticeable improvement in my sword skills from the morning - that I barely stayed awake long enough to eat before collapsing into bed. Elladan and Boromir made a comment to the effect of 'You're going to be sorry tomorrow' when they said goodnight to me. I just dismissed it, partly from tiredness, and partly because I didn't care.
Boromir and Elladan were right, of course. I was incredibly sore the next day, and moved stiffly if at all. Boromir and Elladan had a hard time keeping a straight face whenever they were near me. Which was why I spent the majority of the day in the library with Bilbo, mostly getting books from high shelves for him in between finding books with lots of drawings and doodles in them to look at. I wasn't really in the mood to read. Eventually, after supper, Bilbo started talking about his adventures with the Dwarves, and it was incredibly fun to hear the whole tale directly from him.
I went to bed early that night, as well, and woke up early the next morning, refreshed. That day was spent either with Bilbo, or practicing with Boromir and Elladan, who were both amazed I had recovered so quickly. And so my days passed in Rivendell, surprisingly relaxed and easy compared to how I'd left Rivendell last time. Then came the 18th of October. The day Gandalf arrived in Rivendell.
He rode in rather calmly, for what he'd just gone through, though he seemed quite focused. He barely even noticed Boromir and I where we had paused in our practicing. Instead, he marched straight into the house, and I could just hear him asking to see Elrond before he faded out of Elvish earshot. Boromir and I just looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to sword fighting, which I was actually becoming rather good at. Occasionally, I managed to actually 'wound' Boromir in some manner. I was quite pleased.
Eventually, Boromir and I quit practicing and went inside for supper. Elladan found us partway to our rooms and informed me that I was to eat supper with Elrond and Gandalf in a private dining room. So I quickly got changed and had Elladan lead me to this dining room.
Gandalf and Elrond were, no surprise, already in the room when we arrived, and deep in conversation about something, probably Saruman's treachery, since I caught the wizard's name. The conversation ended abruptly, however, when Elrond and Gandalf realized I had arrived. Elrond nodded a thanks to Elladan, and the twin slipped out of the room.
"Rachel, come, sit and eat with us." Elrond said, motioning to a chair and the table that was covered in food. I sat, acutely aware of Gandalf's piercing gaze focused on me.
"Have a nice trip, Gandalf?" I asked after a moment.
"Not really, no." he replied. I nodded. Silence fell, and I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.
"Elrond tells me you know of the future?" Gandalf said finally. I nodded.
"That I do. Though I can't recall ever telling him." I said with a frown.
"Glorfindel." Elrond supplied.
"Dratted elf." I mumbled, and Elrond shot me an amused glance.
"How complete is your knowledge?" Gandalf asked intently, ignoring Elrond and my's banter.
"Uh, IF everything goes the way I have read that it will, then I know it very well. Down to the very words that will be spoken, in some parts." I replied.
"Really..." Gandalf said, his curiosity plain in his voice. I nodded.
"I also know a lot of the dates of important events," I said, then added thoughtfully, "Of which there are far too many coming." Gandalf nodded.
"I am sure there are, what with the Ring being found again." he said. I nodded.
"For such a little thing, it sure causes a whole lot of trouble." I said.
"Indeed." Gandalf said. At that point, Elrond seemed to notice that, while we had food, we had not touched it yet. So we all spent several minutes serving ourselves from the various platters of food on the table, and then started eating in silence.
"You shall be coming to the Council?" Gandalf asked needlessly. I nodded.
"Wouldn't miss it." I said, grinning slightly. "Get to watch everybody be idiots before having some sense knocked into them by a midget." Elrond and Gandalf's eyebrows shot up, and I smiled back innocently.
"Why do I have the feeling that this Council will be far more interesting than we anticipated?" Gandalf asked dryly.
"Because it will be?" I replied. Gandalf and Elrond chuckled, and then we continued eating, talking occasionally about common subjects, but steering clear of anything important.
----To be continued...with the long-put off explanation of Mary-Sues to Gandalf.----
(And the subsequent consequences.)
-Authors Note:-
Hee, well, here you have it, one last chapter before November starts! I hope y'all enjoy it. Just be glad I ended it here, though - the next chapter is the start of the really fun stuff. In other words, mucho confusing plot twists and cliff hangers and all sorts of good stuff.
Anyways, if any of you will be wanting proof that I'm actually DOING something during November and not just slacking off, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be posting my NaNoWriMo story on FictionPress.net. Not sure if I'll have the time, or if it'll work, seeing as I tend to stop writing in the middle of scenes (and sometimes words) and not seperate my original stories into chapters in the first draft. We'll see.
So yes, hope you all have/had a happy Halloween, and are busy munching away on loads of chocolate! I'd give some of my own to all my wonderful reviewers, but I didn't get out this year...
~Crimson Starlight
-Disclaimer:-
CS: I own nothing at the moment, but as soon as the little kiddies who I'm giving candy to tonight eat said candy, I will own their souls! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-*Rachel clamps a hand over CS's mouth*
Rachel: Don't mind her, she's just slightly crazy around Halloween.
CS: Anwonulloons!
Rachel: And on full moons.
CS: Anewyowerfwiway!
Rachel: You are not.
CS: Arwoo!
Rachel: No, you're not! If anything, you're crazy EVERY Friday!
CS: *pauses* *agrees*
-23: Bob-
Ispent the majority of my morning chatting with Bilbo, and then we had lunch together on a patio, for which Arwen and Elrond joined us. This was my first time seeing Arwen since my return, but she already seemed to know all about me being Rachel, and I figured Elrond or one of the twins must have told her. Or Glorfindel, but that was unlikely.
After lunch, I sought out Boromir, but found that he had just left for a ride - with no provisions for a journey (I asked specifically) - and so I was left on my own. Out of boredom, I went to the archery fields, and managed to cajole one of the archers there - Tulcanco, I think his name was - to show me some more archery. My archery skills hadn't improved since I was last in Rivendell, however, and Tulcanco soon gave up on teaching me, telling me instead to just try not to lose any arrows. And so I merrily spent the afternoon shooting everything around the archery target.
Arwen showed up at dinner time, and I discovered I was to have the extreme pleasure of dining with her, her brothers and father, and Boromir. Oh joy. What parts of the meal I didn't spend ignoring Elrohir and Elladan's annoyed looks - apparently Elladan had merely favored talking to someone he was annoyed with over doing work in the library - I spent trying to get Boromir to talk to me, or having disjointed, uneasy conversations with Arwen and Elrond in which we tried to ignore the other three occupants of the table and failed miserably. Near the end of my meal, I found myself absently wishing Glorfindel hadn't had to go find Frodo. Or at least that he'd taken me with him.
Finally, however, I was able to retreat to my room. I spent a short while reading, before getting bored and deciding to sleep. The next day was equally exciting. I had breakfast, I talked to Bilbo, I had lunch, I talked to Bilbo some more, I went for a walk with Arwen (she wanted to know about Gondor), I had supper (in my rooms, this time), I read, I went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, however, I decided enough was enough. After having breakfast, I went to see Boromir. Amazingly, he was in his rooms. Not surprisingly, he was very grumpy, and not at all happy to see me.
"Boromir, start acting your age." I scolded when I walked into his room after being told to go away. I received a snarl in return, and shook my head. "If it hadn't been for me guiding you, Boromir, you wouldn't have gotten to Rivendell until the night before the council, anyways. You're fated to be there. So accept it and get over it."
"I am not upset over having to go to the council." Boromir said, glaring at me.
"Oh, right, you're upset because I dared to call Gondor, the Shrunken Kingdom of Men, weak." I said, rolling my eyes. "Look, every kingdom goes through its ups and downs. Gondor is just currently in a down. As is Rohan. And every other kingdom of a Free People of Middle-Earth. While the evil guys' kingdom seems to be on an up. Good thing there's only one." I finished thoughtfully, with Boromir giving me a confused look. "The point is that I was not insulting Gondor, I was stating a fact. Gondor IS weak. But it probably won't be staying that way."
"If that's by way of an apology, very well." Boromir said dryly.
"Good. Now do something with me before I decide to storm Mordor all by myself out of sheer boredom." I said. Boromir chuckled.
"Very well. What would you like to do?" he asked.
"If I knew what I wanted to do, would I be asking you?" I replied, arching an eyebrow. Boromir blinked, and then shook his head.
"I heard you were at the archery fields the other day. Perhaps you would like to have a competition?" he asked.
"Only time I hit the target during that entire afternoon of practice was when I had help from one of the archers." I replied promptly.
"Sounds like me on a good day." Boromir said dryly. I blinked in surprise.
"I thought you were good at archery?" I asked.
"No, horrible. Faramir just shot my target when Master Karovi's back was turned so that he thought I was hitting once and awhile." Boromir replied with a mischievous grin, naming his and Faramir's archery teacher. I laughed.
"You two really were little hellions." I said.
"Are. Not were." Boromir said, his grin taking on a decidedly wicked tinge. I shook my head.
"Well then. How about you show me something you're good at? Like sword work?" I asked.
"You want me to teach you how to use a sword?" Boromir asked, both of his eyebrows shooting up.
"Eh, sure. I mean, it's a miracle that I've managed to wander between Bree, Rohan and Gondor for 800 years and not only not know how to use any weapon or fight in any manner, but not have the need to know, either." I said.
"Indeed." Boromir said with an amused smile. "Well, we shall have to find you something more suitable to practice in, and a weapon."
"Ah, leave that to me!" I said cheerfully. "I'll see you back here in half an hour?" Boromir nodded, looking at me curiously and obviously wondering what I was planning. Instead of telling him, however, I waved cheerfully and dashed out. Pausing in the hallway, I got my directions sorted out, then made for Elladan and Elrohir's room. After a pause, I knocked on Elladan's door and waited patiently, though I didn't really expect him to be there. He was, however, looking as if he'd just woken up. Unless he regularly wandered around his rooms wearing nothing but a pair of trousers.
"What?" he asked tiredly. I smiled slightly. I had been intending to apologize again and try and get him to stop being annoyed with me before asking him for anything, but he looked so out of it that I doubted he would remember he was annoyed with me until I was already halfway back to Boromir's rooms with the needed items.
"Can I borrow a pair of trousers, a tunic and a sword?" I asked, bouncing on the balls of my feet. Elladan blinked.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because I convinced Boromir to teach me to fight with a sword." I replied. Elladan paused.
"Very well. But you had BETTER return them." he said gruffly, and then disappeared into his room as I grinned in satisfaction. Elladan reappeared moments later with a bundle of cloth I supposed was trousers and a tunic, a sword resting on top of the bundle. I frowned lightly as I looked at the clothes.
"Out of curiosity, why didn't your missing trousers and tunic tip you off that I had left instead of jumped?" I asked. Elladan shrugged.
"Kari and I figured you hid them somewhere so you could wear them when you didn't want to wear a dress." he said. I chuckled as I took the clothes and sword from Elladan.
"I'm not THAT attached, but I suppose it worked." I said. "Thanks."
"No problem." Elladan said, stifling a yawn.
"Go back to bed, sleepyhead." I said, shaking my head.
"Sounds good to me." Elladan said. "Good day."
"Bye!" I said cheerfully, then bounced off as Elladan shut his door and presumably returned to his bed. I headed back to my room and changed into the clothes, then spent several minutes figuring out how to put on the sword. I figured it out eventually, however, especially after checking in the mirror to see if it looked right. Then I bounced off to Boromir's room again. Boromir arched an eyebrow when he saw me.
"Where DID you get those?" he asked.
"Elladan." I replied with a shrug.
"Ah. That's why they're a little...big." Boromir said carefully.
"No, they're big because I'm way too frigging short." I said, scowling down at myself. "I'm going to have to get some trousers and tunics made for me some day." Boromir nodded, smiling wryly.
"Shall we go find someplace to practice?" he suggested.
"Ooo! I know just the place!" I said, my eyes lighting up as I remembered the arena in Glorfindel's study. Then I frowned. "But I'm not sure I could find it unless I wandered around for several hours. And the door's probably locked..." Boromir rolled his eyes.
"Perhaps we should go ask Lord Elrond?" he suggested.
"Sounds good to me." I replied cheerfully. And so Boromir and I set off to find Elrond and ask him where we could practice sword fighting. Elrond handled the whole thing rather well, considering that I'm fairly sure he recognized his son's clothes, and evidence had shown that Elrohir got his sense of propriety from his father. We got directions to an arena, anyways.
Thus began a fun morning of having Boromir beat the crap out of me. Well, not really, but I never even got CLOSE to threatening to 'injure' him the entire morning. I, however, became very well acquainted with the tip of Boromir's sword. In fact, by the time lunch finally came around, I had named the tip of Boromir's sword 'Bob'. I found it extremely funny. Boromir found it scary. The entire way to lunch, and most of lunch itself, was spent arguing over why I couldn't name the tip of Boromir's sword.
Near the end of lunch, however, Boromir and my's discussion was cut short as Elladan appeared beside me, looking pissed. I eyed him warily, wondering what he would do.
"Good day, Lord Elladan." Boromir said, not noticing Elladan and my's looks.
"Good day." Elladan grunted in reply. "Rachel, may I please speak with you a moment?"
"Uh...how about if I just say sorry now and get it over with?" I asked. Elladan gave me a tired look.
"Did sorry work the first time?" he asked.
"No, but then, I didn't actually say sorry. I AM saying sorry now." I replied. Elladan paused. "Seriously, there's not much else I can say, you've heard everything else." There was another pause, and then Elladan grudgingly nodded.
"There's still something else I would like to speak with you about." he said. I sighed.
"I'm sorry for using your half-asleep state to finagle clothes and sword out of you." I said.
"What?" Boromir asked with a light frown.
"Apology accepted." Elladan said dryly, ignoring Boromir.
"Good. Because said clothes and sword were put to good use." I said.
"Good use?" Boromir asked, arching an eyebrow. "And here I thought you spent the entire morning staring at the tip of my blade."
"Exactly." I replied. Boromir looked at me blankly. "Well, it resulted in me meeting Bob."
"What?" Elladan asked in confusion, coming into the conversation once again.
"I named the tip of his sword Bob." I replied.
"Why?" Elladan asked, arching an eyebrow.
"See, now there's a sensible response." I said, turning to Boromir. "You don't protest at me naming things, it will only make me do it more. If you ask me to explain, I might get so fed up with having to explain every name, I'll just stop naming things."
"You naming things wasn't a problem until we came to Rivendell." Boromir said dryly.
"So why did you name his sword Bob?" Elladan asked again.
"Just the tip of his sword." I corrected cheerfully. "And I named it Bob because Bob is a rather common name at home. Well, actually, it's a generic name for just about anyone. Better then George, at any rate."
"...George?" Boromir was interested now.
"Yeah, another generic name. Add 'ina' on the end and you get the feminine version." I replied.
"George...ina?" Elladan asked, looking slightly horrified.
"Yeah, horrible name." I replied, making a face. "There are better ones, though."
"Like what?"
"Elizabeth, Kathryn, Joshua, Orlando...there are more, but I'm not a whiz that can list them off the top of my head." I replied, trying not to giggle from the last name I mentioned.
"Those are certainly strange names." Boromir said with a frown.
"Not as strange as Boromir or Elladan." I said with a smirk. Boromir and Elladan rolled their eyes.
"And what about Rachel?" Elladan said.
"Bad name, should be banned." I replied dismissively.
"So you don't like your name?" Elladan asked with amusement. I shook my head.
"Not at all. There's a reason I haven't used it since I left Bree...for the first time." I said.
"The first time? You went back?" Boromir asked.
"Yeah, met Gandalf. Who saw straight through my disguise, stupid wizard." I replied, rolling my eyes. Elladan and Boromir chuckled, both having met Gandalf.
"He would." Elladan said dryly.
"Yeah." I said. "So, I'm done eating, shall we go give me more opportunities to chat with Bob?"
"You want to get beaten MORE?" Boromir asked incredulously.
"Hey, the only way you getting better is through practice. Wanna come, Elladan? You can beat my butt, too, if you don't mind getting your sword's tip named." I said.
"I think I'll come and watch." Elladan said with amusement as we stood up.
Thus began an afternoon much like the morning. In other words, I got the crap beat out of me by Boromir, and once he got tired, by Elladan. By the end of the day, I was so tired - though thoroughly pleased, as there was a noticeable improvement in my sword skills from the morning - that I barely stayed awake long enough to eat before collapsing into bed. Elladan and Boromir made a comment to the effect of 'You're going to be sorry tomorrow' when they said goodnight to me. I just dismissed it, partly from tiredness, and partly because I didn't care.
Boromir and Elladan were right, of course. I was incredibly sore the next day, and moved stiffly if at all. Boromir and Elladan had a hard time keeping a straight face whenever they were near me. Which was why I spent the majority of the day in the library with Bilbo, mostly getting books from high shelves for him in between finding books with lots of drawings and doodles in them to look at. I wasn't really in the mood to read. Eventually, after supper, Bilbo started talking about his adventures with the Dwarves, and it was incredibly fun to hear the whole tale directly from him.
I went to bed early that night, as well, and woke up early the next morning, refreshed. That day was spent either with Bilbo, or practicing with Boromir and Elladan, who were both amazed I had recovered so quickly. And so my days passed in Rivendell, surprisingly relaxed and easy compared to how I'd left Rivendell last time. Then came the 18th of October. The day Gandalf arrived in Rivendell.
He rode in rather calmly, for what he'd just gone through, though he seemed quite focused. He barely even noticed Boromir and I where we had paused in our practicing. Instead, he marched straight into the house, and I could just hear him asking to see Elrond before he faded out of Elvish earshot. Boromir and I just looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to sword fighting, which I was actually becoming rather good at. Occasionally, I managed to actually 'wound' Boromir in some manner. I was quite pleased.
Eventually, Boromir and I quit practicing and went inside for supper. Elladan found us partway to our rooms and informed me that I was to eat supper with Elrond and Gandalf in a private dining room. So I quickly got changed and had Elladan lead me to this dining room.
Gandalf and Elrond were, no surprise, already in the room when we arrived, and deep in conversation about something, probably Saruman's treachery, since I caught the wizard's name. The conversation ended abruptly, however, when Elrond and Gandalf realized I had arrived. Elrond nodded a thanks to Elladan, and the twin slipped out of the room.
"Rachel, come, sit and eat with us." Elrond said, motioning to a chair and the table that was covered in food. I sat, acutely aware of Gandalf's piercing gaze focused on me.
"Have a nice trip, Gandalf?" I asked after a moment.
"Not really, no." he replied. I nodded. Silence fell, and I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.
"Elrond tells me you know of the future?" Gandalf said finally. I nodded.
"That I do. Though I can't recall ever telling him." I said with a frown.
"Glorfindel." Elrond supplied.
"Dratted elf." I mumbled, and Elrond shot me an amused glance.
"How complete is your knowledge?" Gandalf asked intently, ignoring Elrond and my's banter.
"Uh, IF everything goes the way I have read that it will, then I know it very well. Down to the very words that will be spoken, in some parts." I replied.
"Really..." Gandalf said, his curiosity plain in his voice. I nodded.
"I also know a lot of the dates of important events," I said, then added thoughtfully, "Of which there are far too many coming." Gandalf nodded.
"I am sure there are, what with the Ring being found again." he said. I nodded.
"For such a little thing, it sure causes a whole lot of trouble." I said.
"Indeed." Gandalf said. At that point, Elrond seemed to notice that, while we had food, we had not touched it yet. So we all spent several minutes serving ourselves from the various platters of food on the table, and then started eating in silence.
"You shall be coming to the Council?" Gandalf asked needlessly. I nodded.
"Wouldn't miss it." I said, grinning slightly. "Get to watch everybody be idiots before having some sense knocked into them by a midget." Elrond and Gandalf's eyebrows shot up, and I smiled back innocently.
"Why do I have the feeling that this Council will be far more interesting than we anticipated?" Gandalf asked dryly.
"Because it will be?" I replied. Gandalf and Elrond chuckled, and then we continued eating, talking occasionally about common subjects, but steering clear of anything important.
----To be continued...with the long-put off explanation of Mary-Sues to Gandalf.----
(And the subsequent consequences.)
-Authors Note:-
Hee, well, here you have it, one last chapter before November starts! I hope y'all enjoy it. Just be glad I ended it here, though - the next chapter is the start of the really fun stuff. In other words, mucho confusing plot twists and cliff hangers and all sorts of good stuff.
Anyways, if any of you will be wanting proof that I'm actually DOING something during November and not just slacking off, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be posting my NaNoWriMo story on FictionPress.net. Not sure if I'll have the time, or if it'll work, seeing as I tend to stop writing in the middle of scenes (and sometimes words) and not seperate my original stories into chapters in the first draft. We'll see.
So yes, hope you all have/had a happy Halloween, and are busy munching away on loads of chocolate! I'd give some of my own to all my wonderful reviewers, but I didn't get out this year...
~Crimson Starlight