*Disclaimer* If I owned Tolkein, I would NOT be here. But I don't. So I'm here, a little wannabe.
A/N: Council. Yay? Read on!
Chatper 6- The Council...but Which One?
Unfortunately, Aragorn saw no need to rush things. I mean, come ON. Mordor and Isengard was practically breathing down their necks, yet he took a leisurely stroll through the garden as if he had all eternity. HELLO?! He's a Man, not an Elf, he's got about forty or fifty years, give or take, and he kicks the bucket. You'd think that would call for power-walking, at the very least.
But, apparently it did not. About ten minutes later, we finally got to the little rotunda where the momentous event took place. I quivered all over with anticipation. This was it! This was IT! We took our seats around the circle. My first impression of Elrond was this: disagreeable. He frowned at us like fury, like it was sacreligious to have to teenage girls sitting in at his council. Wait a minute. If I really think about what I just said...
Well, anyway. I looked around, and caught sight of familiar faces. Well, they were familiar to me; they themselves wouldn't know me from a hole in the ground. Pippin winked at me from his hiding spot; Frodo was too busy looking nervous to notice his friends sporadically hidden among the plethora of shrubs. Isn't plethora a cool word? It was a vocabulary word of mine, and it just sounds fun. But I digress. I finally caught sight of Gandalf. My first impression: tall. He looks sort of diminished in the movie; in real life, he was just a smidge shorter than Legolas. On closer inspection, his staff didn't look like it was simply naturally knarled and warped. Maybe it was simply because it was used for magical purposes, but it looked too perfect to be natural, maybe carved. But it was still magnificent, and awe-inspiring. It was magical, and magic always intrigued me.
Yeah, I was a Harry Potter freak on the side, though never as deep as Lord of the Rings. I wanted to see him at work; that would rock. I tried not to stare at the dwarves too much, but they fascinated me as well. Obviously, I had never seen their like before. I stared the most at Gimli, which, given his disposition to Elves, probably wasn't the cleverest move I could have made. He glared bloody murder at me, and I quickly looked away. It was too bad that I was so conspicuous. Everyone else was wearing dark, earthy tones, and in waltz two teenagers in sapphire blue and teal. Curse these stupid Elven looks! Wow. How often do you think I'll ever have to say that?
Elrond started the Council. The dialogue was mostly movie, but Bilbo was there, so it was somewhat book based as well, and all in all, completely confusing. He gave his 'Strangers from different lands' spiel, then they jabbered about Legolas losing Gollum and Balin retreating to Moria, yadda yadda yadda, get to the good part...
"Bring forth the Ring. Frodo." Then, there it was. The One Ring. As in, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, etc. It looked so plain and innocent, like my mom's engagement ring. Well, there was something else they had in common: neither ring really did much for their owners.
But at the same time, you knew there was something different about this ring. Nothing about its appearance tipped you off, you just had this feeling. And, occaisionally, a voice in your head. When I laid eyes on the Ring again, I heard the cold voice again. It was, it could only be, Sauron. -You again.- It seemed to breathe. -Do not think yourself safe from the seduction- Freaky. Of course, it spoke in the tongue of Mordor, but I could understand perfectly. It's one of the perks of really doing your research before getting sucked into another universe. And believe me, I need all the advantages I can get. Seduction, did it say? The only seduction I wanted was, well, let's not go there, shall we?
Unfortunately, it was very long and very boring, since I've seen and/or read it too many times to care. For lack of anything better to do, Ainaelda and I started to mouth along the words, each of us taking a different side of the conversation.. Then the expressions came, just as habit. Suddenly, I was aware of the un-book/movie-like silence. Oops. They were all staring at us!
Oh, shit. And they were not staring at us with something you could call amusement or like. Elrond nailed us with one hell of an evil glare, Boromir looked at us with frank astonishment, several dwarves looked like all their suspicions were confirmed, and only Legolas looked amused, but even then it was spattered with puzzlement. I put on my best innocent face, the 'oh, no, Mom, I'm not holding my little brother hostage in my closet' sort of face. Ainaelda did her most disarming grin, the one that charms everyone and ruthlessly slaughters opposition. It fell like a stone.
Elrond didn't say anything, and I wasn't sure which one I wanted more: for him to chew us out and at least confirm the extent of his rage, or for him to just stay silent and leave me in suspense. He continued on where he stopped, still fixing us with the evil eye. Talk about multi-tasking! It must take effort, looking that evil and talking about how to save the world from impending destruction at the same time. The second he looked away, we did what all teenagers do in the face of opposition: at the same time, we both stuck our tongues out.
This actually generated some mirth among the ranks of the Convention of People Looking Grim. There were some disperesed snorts of laughter, a few bass giggles from the dwarves. It is TOO weird to hear those short hairy guys GIGGLE, of all things. Elrond looked back, evil eye in place once more, but we were all innocence. Then, it was too much for Ainaelda. She gave a snorting little giggle, unable to restrain it anymore. Listening to her broke down my defenses, and I started giggling as well. Finally, Elrond spoke. I immediately got myself under control, and elbowed Ainaelda to do the same.
"Young maids, if you cannot bring yourselves to keep proper decorum during this meeting, I will have to ask you to leave. This is no joking matter." I sobered and tried to formulate a suitable answer.
"I apologize, Lord Elrond. Please, continue. You have my word of our good behavior." I could tell he wanted to say where I could stick my word, but he nodded, nowhere near satisfied. But he continued on anyway. I could still quote it word for word, but I tried to control myself. I mean, this was just one thing you couldn't miss. Finally, finally, finally, at long last, he got to the point. Gimli stupidly shattered his axe, and the big question was popped: Who will take the Ring? They all started arguing, while we sat there like idiots, watching the verbal battles rage on and on. Hey, it's not like WE had anything intelligent to add to all this. Then, Frodo stood, right on cue.
"I will take the Ring!" No one paid a lick of attention. Then, seeing he wasn't noticed, he said it again, louder, with more force. But not much. "I will take it! Though...I do not know the way..." Everyone grew quiet, right on schedule, and Gandalf got that serious look on his face. Then, Gandalf joined. Then Aragorn, who swore his sword. Legolas swore his bow, winking at us as he stood. Then Gimli. Finally, Boromir made an excuse to join just because everyone else was. At least, that was the logic I always used; Aragorn beat him to swearing his sword. I laughed at everyone's shocked expressions when Sam came out of hiding. Elrond stood.
"The Company of the Ring shall be nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil. There remain two more to be found. These I will consider--"
"Wait!" Ainaelda. What was up with her? She seemed so... un-Ainaelda-like these days. I elbowed her. She didn't notice. "Can we be the other two people?" Merry and Pippin popped out of the shrubbery.
"Oy! We were going to be the last two people!"
"What are you doing?" I hissed. "We can't do this! We could cause it to fail! THINK!" If she heard me, she gave no indication. She dragged me up, and we stood, looking like prize-winning morons.
"We want to go, too. We could seriously help you guys." Oh, what a rousing speech, Ainaelda. Yup, that would sure convince me to let us go on the quest. Elrond frowned, and then the stupidest thought surfaced in my mind: Elrond's color is definetly not that crimson-purple. Why did I think of that? I don't know. But I did. He needed brown, or some sort of earthy color, but not crimson. Tolkein obviously didn't have the least bit of fashion sense. HE was probably the one walking around in orange leather pants and purple rayon tube tops. Sort of. Well, forget I even said that, shall we?
Anyway, Elrond was all ready to shoot us down to the ground. Hey, I'd like nothing better than to accompany the Fellowship. But didn't Ainaelda think this might present a WEE bit of a problem? We might mess it up; you know, push Frodo off the bridge, kill Boromir before his time, maybe, uh, get KILLED? Then, Boromir spoke up, an open sneer on his face.
"This is folly," he snapped, his voice coldly elegant. "These two...girls...are not fit to accompany a hunting party, let alone a quest of this magnitude. Lord Elrond, do not tell me you are buying into this...this...this stupidity!" Ouch. That hurt. Before I could say anything in my defense, Gimli had to open his big stupid mouth. So much for the dwarves laughing at our antics.
"I second it, Lord Elrond. They mock what we find to be of great importance; who's to say they won't foul up our quest? Women are no fighters, and girls are even less. It is insane!" Well, I never had a large fan club to begin with, but really. This is degrading! A lesser person might have their self-esteem affected by this. Elrond looked relieved that someone had protested.
"It has been suggested and seconded, and I must agree. Mere girls have no place in quests of this importance." Man, talk about shot down! Legolas spoke up, and my heart just dropped. He couldn't have anything helpful to add. He didn't know that we could use a bow, nor did he know anything about us.
"Lord Elrond, allow me to speak on these young ladies' behalf." Hey, that didn't sound too bad! Could there be a light at the end of the tunnel? "Young they are, no denying that, but I think they could prove themselves extremely able, should the occaision arise. They seem to have no end of spirit, bravery, and ingenuity. I think that they could prove a valuble asset to the Fellowship."
There. Wow. How could ANYONE argue with that? I personally was swayed over, plus a little gratified. Now said fan club could move out of the phone booth and into that lovely hall closet I was looking at. Elrond sighed and stood, forcing me to crane my neck up for the umpteenth time. Dang, why does Tolkein have to make all his characters so tall? I wasn't really all that tall to begin with, and I'll be out after his blood if I have neck problems when I'm eighty. That is, if I live to be eighty.
"You have an emotionally involved argument, Prince Legolas, that is altogether touching." Well, that sounded promising. Perhaps we had a chance...? "However, I feel that personal feelings might be getting in the way." Oh no. Oh no. That did NOT sound promising. "I truly hate to mention this, but perhaps there is a reason closer to home that prompts you to ask them along?" Man, Elrond was a pervert! He thought that Legolas wanted us along because he wanted to...wanted to...I mean, EEEWWW! Legolas looked doubly embarrassed, because hey, everyone else was sniggering. Not giggling. Sniggering. It was a pretty evil sound. I knew I was blushing like fury. Ainaelda was too, and I hope she had realized her mistake. Elrond sighed and shook his head. "No. I have made my decision. The girls are free to enjoy the hospitality of Rivendell as long as they please, but I forbid them to join the Fellowship. The hobbits do not know the dangers they are entering into."
"Is that your final answer?" muttered Ainaelda. Nope. Hadn't realized her mistake. I just glared. SHE had gotten us into this situation, SHE had dragged me into this, and she still had it in her to make smart remarks. I elbowed her sharply in the ribs, earning a wince. Good. Let her feel pain.
"I believe it was, Regis Philbin. Just let it drop, okay?" She whirled around at me.
"'Let it drop?' Ex-ca-yuse me? Did I just hear you say that? I know I didn't, Rion Watson! Will you just quit with the two-faced PMS attitude? 'Oh, Ainaelda, this is a dream come true, it's what we've always wanted!' Remember that? So what's the deal? 'Ainaelda, have you gone crazy, we can't do that!'" I saw red. I was so NOT on the high wire from PMS.
"Okay, so you'd rather get killed and risk putting the Fellowship in jeopardy?!" She got up in my face and didn't look like she was going to back down anytime soon.
"Two things, Goldilocks. One, since when do you use the word 'jeopardy'? Since you're in Rivendell, you're suddenly some literary genius? Up until a few days ago, you didn't use any words bigger than 'wazzup'!" Ouch. That hit too close to home.
"Are you calling me shallow?" I said, but she completely rode over me. I'm not shallow, I'm as deep as the freaking ocean!! Really!
"Number two, what exactly did you want to do when you said that we should stay, lounge around Rivendell painting our toenails? I ASSUMED you wanted to go along. Sue me for breathing, why doncha? Will you just stop going schizo on me and tell me what you want?" I got in her face, then, mad as all get out. Who was she calling schizo?
"I'll tell you what I want: I want you to get out of my face and over yourself!" It totally would have escalated into this huge girl fight then and there; we were almost touching noses, red in the face and angry as hell. Then Elrond, whom we had all forgotten about up until that point, strode over and separated us. That was the last straw. We leapt for each other.
A/N: So much for being best friends... Hope I can throw a few surprises your way. It's cliche, but I add my own flair every now and then.
A/N: Council. Yay? Read on!
Chatper 6- The Council...but Which One?
Unfortunately, Aragorn saw no need to rush things. I mean, come ON. Mordor and Isengard was practically breathing down their necks, yet he took a leisurely stroll through the garden as if he had all eternity. HELLO?! He's a Man, not an Elf, he's got about forty or fifty years, give or take, and he kicks the bucket. You'd think that would call for power-walking, at the very least.
But, apparently it did not. About ten minutes later, we finally got to the little rotunda where the momentous event took place. I quivered all over with anticipation. This was it! This was IT! We took our seats around the circle. My first impression of Elrond was this: disagreeable. He frowned at us like fury, like it was sacreligious to have to teenage girls sitting in at his council. Wait a minute. If I really think about what I just said...
Well, anyway. I looked around, and caught sight of familiar faces. Well, they were familiar to me; they themselves wouldn't know me from a hole in the ground. Pippin winked at me from his hiding spot; Frodo was too busy looking nervous to notice his friends sporadically hidden among the plethora of shrubs. Isn't plethora a cool word? It was a vocabulary word of mine, and it just sounds fun. But I digress. I finally caught sight of Gandalf. My first impression: tall. He looks sort of diminished in the movie; in real life, he was just a smidge shorter than Legolas. On closer inspection, his staff didn't look like it was simply naturally knarled and warped. Maybe it was simply because it was used for magical purposes, but it looked too perfect to be natural, maybe carved. But it was still magnificent, and awe-inspiring. It was magical, and magic always intrigued me.
Yeah, I was a Harry Potter freak on the side, though never as deep as Lord of the Rings. I wanted to see him at work; that would rock. I tried not to stare at the dwarves too much, but they fascinated me as well. Obviously, I had never seen their like before. I stared the most at Gimli, which, given his disposition to Elves, probably wasn't the cleverest move I could have made. He glared bloody murder at me, and I quickly looked away. It was too bad that I was so conspicuous. Everyone else was wearing dark, earthy tones, and in waltz two teenagers in sapphire blue and teal. Curse these stupid Elven looks! Wow. How often do you think I'll ever have to say that?
Elrond started the Council. The dialogue was mostly movie, but Bilbo was there, so it was somewhat book based as well, and all in all, completely confusing. He gave his 'Strangers from different lands' spiel, then they jabbered about Legolas losing Gollum and Balin retreating to Moria, yadda yadda yadda, get to the good part...
"Bring forth the Ring. Frodo." Then, there it was. The One Ring. As in, One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, etc. It looked so plain and innocent, like my mom's engagement ring. Well, there was something else they had in common: neither ring really did much for their owners.
But at the same time, you knew there was something different about this ring. Nothing about its appearance tipped you off, you just had this feeling. And, occaisionally, a voice in your head. When I laid eyes on the Ring again, I heard the cold voice again. It was, it could only be, Sauron. -You again.- It seemed to breathe. -Do not think yourself safe from the seduction- Freaky. Of course, it spoke in the tongue of Mordor, but I could understand perfectly. It's one of the perks of really doing your research before getting sucked into another universe. And believe me, I need all the advantages I can get. Seduction, did it say? The only seduction I wanted was, well, let's not go there, shall we?
Unfortunately, it was very long and very boring, since I've seen and/or read it too many times to care. For lack of anything better to do, Ainaelda and I started to mouth along the words, each of us taking a different side of the conversation.. Then the expressions came, just as habit. Suddenly, I was aware of the un-book/movie-like silence. Oops. They were all staring at us!
Oh, shit. And they were not staring at us with something you could call amusement or like. Elrond nailed us with one hell of an evil glare, Boromir looked at us with frank astonishment, several dwarves looked like all their suspicions were confirmed, and only Legolas looked amused, but even then it was spattered with puzzlement. I put on my best innocent face, the 'oh, no, Mom, I'm not holding my little brother hostage in my closet' sort of face. Ainaelda did her most disarming grin, the one that charms everyone and ruthlessly slaughters opposition. It fell like a stone.
Elrond didn't say anything, and I wasn't sure which one I wanted more: for him to chew us out and at least confirm the extent of his rage, or for him to just stay silent and leave me in suspense. He continued on where he stopped, still fixing us with the evil eye. Talk about multi-tasking! It must take effort, looking that evil and talking about how to save the world from impending destruction at the same time. The second he looked away, we did what all teenagers do in the face of opposition: at the same time, we both stuck our tongues out.
This actually generated some mirth among the ranks of the Convention of People Looking Grim. There were some disperesed snorts of laughter, a few bass giggles from the dwarves. It is TOO weird to hear those short hairy guys GIGGLE, of all things. Elrond looked back, evil eye in place once more, but we were all innocence. Then, it was too much for Ainaelda. She gave a snorting little giggle, unable to restrain it anymore. Listening to her broke down my defenses, and I started giggling as well. Finally, Elrond spoke. I immediately got myself under control, and elbowed Ainaelda to do the same.
"Young maids, if you cannot bring yourselves to keep proper decorum during this meeting, I will have to ask you to leave. This is no joking matter." I sobered and tried to formulate a suitable answer.
"I apologize, Lord Elrond. Please, continue. You have my word of our good behavior." I could tell he wanted to say where I could stick my word, but he nodded, nowhere near satisfied. But he continued on anyway. I could still quote it word for word, but I tried to control myself. I mean, this was just one thing you couldn't miss. Finally, finally, finally, at long last, he got to the point. Gimli stupidly shattered his axe, and the big question was popped: Who will take the Ring? They all started arguing, while we sat there like idiots, watching the verbal battles rage on and on. Hey, it's not like WE had anything intelligent to add to all this. Then, Frodo stood, right on cue.
"I will take the Ring!" No one paid a lick of attention. Then, seeing he wasn't noticed, he said it again, louder, with more force. But not much. "I will take it! Though...I do not know the way..." Everyone grew quiet, right on schedule, and Gandalf got that serious look on his face. Then, Gandalf joined. Then Aragorn, who swore his sword. Legolas swore his bow, winking at us as he stood. Then Gimli. Finally, Boromir made an excuse to join just because everyone else was. At least, that was the logic I always used; Aragorn beat him to swearing his sword. I laughed at everyone's shocked expressions when Sam came out of hiding. Elrond stood.
"The Company of the Ring shall be nine; and the Nine Walkers shall be set against the Nine Riders that are evil. There remain two more to be found. These I will consider--"
"Wait!" Ainaelda. What was up with her? She seemed so... un-Ainaelda-like these days. I elbowed her. She didn't notice. "Can we be the other two people?" Merry and Pippin popped out of the shrubbery.
"Oy! We were going to be the last two people!"
"What are you doing?" I hissed. "We can't do this! We could cause it to fail! THINK!" If she heard me, she gave no indication. She dragged me up, and we stood, looking like prize-winning morons.
"We want to go, too. We could seriously help you guys." Oh, what a rousing speech, Ainaelda. Yup, that would sure convince me to let us go on the quest. Elrond frowned, and then the stupidest thought surfaced in my mind: Elrond's color is definetly not that crimson-purple. Why did I think of that? I don't know. But I did. He needed brown, or some sort of earthy color, but not crimson. Tolkein obviously didn't have the least bit of fashion sense. HE was probably the one walking around in orange leather pants and purple rayon tube tops. Sort of. Well, forget I even said that, shall we?
Anyway, Elrond was all ready to shoot us down to the ground. Hey, I'd like nothing better than to accompany the Fellowship. But didn't Ainaelda think this might present a WEE bit of a problem? We might mess it up; you know, push Frodo off the bridge, kill Boromir before his time, maybe, uh, get KILLED? Then, Boromir spoke up, an open sneer on his face.
"This is folly," he snapped, his voice coldly elegant. "These two...girls...are not fit to accompany a hunting party, let alone a quest of this magnitude. Lord Elrond, do not tell me you are buying into this...this...this stupidity!" Ouch. That hurt. Before I could say anything in my defense, Gimli had to open his big stupid mouth. So much for the dwarves laughing at our antics.
"I second it, Lord Elrond. They mock what we find to be of great importance; who's to say they won't foul up our quest? Women are no fighters, and girls are even less. It is insane!" Well, I never had a large fan club to begin with, but really. This is degrading! A lesser person might have their self-esteem affected by this. Elrond looked relieved that someone had protested.
"It has been suggested and seconded, and I must agree. Mere girls have no place in quests of this importance." Man, talk about shot down! Legolas spoke up, and my heart just dropped. He couldn't have anything helpful to add. He didn't know that we could use a bow, nor did he know anything about us.
"Lord Elrond, allow me to speak on these young ladies' behalf." Hey, that didn't sound too bad! Could there be a light at the end of the tunnel? "Young they are, no denying that, but I think they could prove themselves extremely able, should the occaision arise. They seem to have no end of spirit, bravery, and ingenuity. I think that they could prove a valuble asset to the Fellowship."
There. Wow. How could ANYONE argue with that? I personally was swayed over, plus a little gratified. Now said fan club could move out of the phone booth and into that lovely hall closet I was looking at. Elrond sighed and stood, forcing me to crane my neck up for the umpteenth time. Dang, why does Tolkein have to make all his characters so tall? I wasn't really all that tall to begin with, and I'll be out after his blood if I have neck problems when I'm eighty. That is, if I live to be eighty.
"You have an emotionally involved argument, Prince Legolas, that is altogether touching." Well, that sounded promising. Perhaps we had a chance...? "However, I feel that personal feelings might be getting in the way." Oh no. Oh no. That did NOT sound promising. "I truly hate to mention this, but perhaps there is a reason closer to home that prompts you to ask them along?" Man, Elrond was a pervert! He thought that Legolas wanted us along because he wanted to...wanted to...I mean, EEEWWW! Legolas looked doubly embarrassed, because hey, everyone else was sniggering. Not giggling. Sniggering. It was a pretty evil sound. I knew I was blushing like fury. Ainaelda was too, and I hope she had realized her mistake. Elrond sighed and shook his head. "No. I have made my decision. The girls are free to enjoy the hospitality of Rivendell as long as they please, but I forbid them to join the Fellowship. The hobbits do not know the dangers they are entering into."
"Is that your final answer?" muttered Ainaelda. Nope. Hadn't realized her mistake. I just glared. SHE had gotten us into this situation, SHE had dragged me into this, and she still had it in her to make smart remarks. I elbowed her sharply in the ribs, earning a wince. Good. Let her feel pain.
"I believe it was, Regis Philbin. Just let it drop, okay?" She whirled around at me.
"'Let it drop?' Ex-ca-yuse me? Did I just hear you say that? I know I didn't, Rion Watson! Will you just quit with the two-faced PMS attitude? 'Oh, Ainaelda, this is a dream come true, it's what we've always wanted!' Remember that? So what's the deal? 'Ainaelda, have you gone crazy, we can't do that!'" I saw red. I was so NOT on the high wire from PMS.
"Okay, so you'd rather get killed and risk putting the Fellowship in jeopardy?!" She got up in my face and didn't look like she was going to back down anytime soon.
"Two things, Goldilocks. One, since when do you use the word 'jeopardy'? Since you're in Rivendell, you're suddenly some literary genius? Up until a few days ago, you didn't use any words bigger than 'wazzup'!" Ouch. That hit too close to home.
"Are you calling me shallow?" I said, but she completely rode over me. I'm not shallow, I'm as deep as the freaking ocean!! Really!
"Number two, what exactly did you want to do when you said that we should stay, lounge around Rivendell painting our toenails? I ASSUMED you wanted to go along. Sue me for breathing, why doncha? Will you just stop going schizo on me and tell me what you want?" I got in her face, then, mad as all get out. Who was she calling schizo?
"I'll tell you what I want: I want you to get out of my face and over yourself!" It totally would have escalated into this huge girl fight then and there; we were almost touching noses, red in the face and angry as hell. Then Elrond, whom we had all forgotten about up until that point, strode over and separated us. That was the last straw. We leapt for each other.
A/N: So much for being best friends... Hope I can throw a few surprises your way. It's cliche, but I add my own flair every now and then.