A/n: A nice pre-Christmas tidbit for you!
*
'Get off of me!'
'Shut up Shu Wen!'
As the two friends quarrelled, poor Sam tapped Inez on the shoulder.
'Erm... Excuse me?'
Inez and Shu Wen both turned and snapped at him together.
'What?!'
'Get out of my pots!'
'Oh.'
As both humans got out of the mess of metal that belonged to a pretty annoyed Samwise Gamgee, Shu Wen tripped over a tree root, unexpectedly yelping out loud. Inez looked at her friend oddly, until she too yelped as something burned her leg with great intensity. Shu Wen was hopping up and down, holding her slightly burnt ankle and muttering under her breath about potholes existing in Middle-Earth. Aragorn looked very perplexed, not knowing exactly how to react to two half crazed, burnt humans. Inez, on the other hand was staring at the something that had burnt Shu Wen's and her legs. Something crystal, ethereally beautiful and bright. Strider stooped down and looked at the object as well, momentarily forgetting he had two virtually unknown humans who had just landed in his camp. Aragorn sucked in a breath as he identified the jewel.
'Ai Elbereth. It's a Silmaril.'
*
Somewhere high up in the sky, hidden by the light of day, Earendil lounged unconcernedly on his boat, laughing at the scenes going on below him. The mariner petted his own silmaril, safe upon his brow. All seemed well and amusing. Until another few of Ren's friends dropped onto him, throwing the boat off course. Diana and Sara began screeching at each other, until they realized where they were. Well, at least Diana recognized where they were.
'Earendil!'
They were denied any further conversation as the ship began to sink towards Middle-Earth. Even Earendil was unable to stop it as it floated down towards Rivendell at an eerily slow pace. It managed to stop the two twelve year olds screaming and cursing at each other, at any rate, and that was quite a feat on its own. The ship creaked and groaned, until at last it crashed down. Straight onto the courtyard of Imladris. Earendil buried a hand in his head as the squabbling reignited.
'Varda is not going to be happy.'
*
Asfaloth looked at the human that was quarrelling with his master inquisitively. It was quite amusing, as the two bickered back and forth, and the horse suddenly wished he had a bit of carrot to chew on as he watched the show.
'I am not riding on your horse!'
'Why not?'
'Because... Because... Because it's yours.'
'I fail to see that as a valid excuse, Sirithbrethil!'
'It will surely throw me off!'
'It will not!'
'Yes it will!'
'That will you do, walk back to Rivendell from here? Soaking wet? The season draws towards winter, nessaer, and unless you have some magical resistance against weather, you will freeze! Even your cloak won't help. Wait. Isn't that my cloak?'
'You gave it to me, remember? About an age ago? Ah, whatever. You go find Estel and the Hobbits and I'll walk back to Rivendell!'
Loosing his temper at last, Glorfindel made a grab at Ren, threw her on the horse and got on himself.
'I have a couple of hobbits to find, and one foster son of Elrond. So just keep silent, and maybe I will ask Asfaloth to throw you off if so you wish!'
*
Shu Wen groaned. As if the results were not bad enough, now she had a Silmaril. Great. Aragorn wrapped it up reverently in a piece of cloth that came from somewhere in the depths of his unending armoury, looking up at Inez and Shu Wen expectantly.
'Who are you two?'
'Uh... Friends of Ren?'
'Ren?! The same Ren that plagued Glorfi-... Wait. That was over an age ago. Even Glorfindel believes that she perished in the flames of the sack of the city.'
'Uh... Long story?'
'Never mind, then. Frodo is dying, we have to get him to Rivendell, fast.'
Pippin suddenly piped up, his face paling white.
'Sounds of horse feet in the distance! Maybe it's the Black Riders again!'
Everybody quietened immediately, expect maybe Shu Wen, who was softly snickering for no reason whatsoever. Frodo, though in pain, listened intently.
'It does not sound like a Black Rider's horse. The falls are far too light.'
Strider was suddenly light of face, joy finally showing on the worn lines of his face. He leapt out of the bushes that they were hiding him, seeing at last a friendly face, though another face unfamiliar to him was also seated on Asfaloth, dripping and not happy. He called out anyway, too relieved at the support.
'Mae govannen, Glorfindel! Man le mellon?' [Well met, Glorfindel! Who is your friend?]
'Mae govannen, Estel! Mellyn na Ren, enwina mellyn.' [Well met, Aragorn! My friend is Ren, an old friend.]
'Ren? Nin ósanwë fíriel!' [Ren? I thought she died?!]
As Glorfindel watched confusion spread over Estel's face, he shook his head, slipping back into the Common Tongue.
'It is too long a story to tell now, Estel. I see you have acquired some... Companions as well. We will discuss this in Rivendell. The hobbit, I see, is injured.'
As Glorfindel and company discussed about Gandalf and sent his greetings to the hobbits, Shu Wen and Inez had rushed forward to greet their friend, who stiffly dropped off Asfaloth, being half-frozen.
'Ren!'
'Hey.'
Shu Wen hefted the silmaril up in the air, waving it about.
'You'd never guess what we found...'
'A silmaril?'
'How did you...?'
'I have one too.'
Eyeing each other, the friends sighed again. This was not going to be an easy age. Turning their attention's back to the conversation, the three friends watched the books, albeit in a slightly edited form, play out before them. Aragorn was briefly telling Glorfindel about the Weathertop attack, as the elf looked gravely at the wound. Withdrawing the hilt of the Nazgul blade, Aragorn passed it to Glorfindel, who shuddered as he took it. Ren started mouthing his lines, just for fun.
'There are evil things written on this blade, though your eyes may not be able to see them. Keep it, Aragorn, until we reach the House of Elrond! But be weary, and handle it as little as you may.'
After a few minutes of inspecting the wound, Glorfindel rose, proclaiming aloud to Frodo.
'You shall ride upon my horse. You need not fear, my horse will not let fall any rider I command him to bear.'
There Ren snorted audibly, gaining a evil glare from the elf. Frodo disagreed to his offer, though, saying something valiant but useless about not wanting to leave his friends behind lest the Black Riders catch up with them, only earning more persuasion from Glorfindel in return. As usual, the elf won out, and soon Frodo was perched upon Asfaloth. Ren groaned. It was going to be a long walk, and she was already beginning to feel the effects of the cold. Now, without her cloak to wrap herself up in, things were even worse. Her shoes squished as she walked along, trying hard to keep up. Glorfindel, being the annoyingly good, perfect, unending stamina elf that he was, did not stop until the next dawn. Ren was absolutely dead by then, having to lean on both her friends, who were both also leaning on her, both having burnt their legs on the Silmaril. No one dared to step up, though, knowing full well how important Frodo surviving was. Even Aragorn was oblivious to everything else. Ren was muttering under her breath again.
'Damn bloody elves with their damn bloody stamina...'
This continued for roughly two days, until it came to the Bruinen. After a few hours of walking, Glorfindel suddenly stopped short, listening, before crying out.
'Fly! The enemy is upon us! Noro lim, Asfaloth! Noro lim!'
Frodo was borne away, like a white and black streak, by Asfaloth as the screeching of the Nazgul echoed about. As the blur of black whirred past, Ren yanked Shu Wen, also weary, out of their way only just in time. Cursing, she ushered them back.
'Dammit, we're all too damn tired now! The flood's coming! Keep low!'
Together, the three humans limped off. Inez hung back too long, though. The flood came too fast, and if both Shu Wen and Ren had not dived into the freezing waters of the hithaeglir... Glorfindel and Aragorn were wielding torches with the remainder of the able hobbits, clashing and trapping the Nazgul between water and fire. Soon, it subsided, but things were not good for the three friends. Shu Wen's leg was swelling, and she could not walk as she shivered from the cold of the waters. Inez was the least affected, only cold, and only her knee was burnt. Ren was by far worst off, having been whisked from one time period to another was tiring, but she was trembling uncontrollably in cold, clutching the Silmaril until her fingers went numb. It was only after they had huddled together for another hour and more support came did Glorfindel and Aragorn noticed them. The elf rushed over, human at his side, suddenly realizing they had three very sick humans on their hands. As he looked over them, Glorfindel gasped.
'Oh Elbereth, this is not good. We need to get you back to Imladris, and quickly.'
Smiling cynically even as she wrapped herself up in the elf's cloak, Ren stuttered back a retort.
'About time you noticed Glor. About time.'
Glorfindel was caught, he had rarely
seen to a sick human, not to mention such a young group of kids. Ren was
already out cold by the time they crossed the Bruinen. And they could not
get the silmaril out of her iron grasp without burning half of her to death.
Things were not good.