(A.N. I'm back at school, so the updates are going to be few and far between for a while. So, enjoy...)
Angath and I rode away from the Fellowship, but regrettably not fast enough. We were running in and out of the borders of Lothlorien. Surely by now they would have alerted the elves that we were in the area. We nearly slammed into an elf that came bursting out of the trees. I pulled Angath up and she snorted and pranced unhappily as they surrounded us. Sixteen of their bows against my sword were not good odds.
"Come with us peacefully and we will not kill you," one said. I supposed he was their leader.
"Fine," I said, getting off Angath. I surrendered my sword and we started walking. Lothlorien was far different than Mirkwood. It seemed lighter and more open. I had only been near it once and that was many years ago. Of the three kinds of elves, I knew the least about the ones in Lothlorien.
"So you are the witch of Mordor. The one they say traps with her beauty. The beloved servant of the dark lord," the leader said.
"The fact that your kind is gullible does not hurt, elf," I snapped.
"A tongue like that could get you killed," he said.
"This tongue is the only thing that has kept me alive," I retorted. We walked more in silence. I was beginning to wonder just when it would end. We went farther into the heart of the forest and it got darker. The canopies were thick and blocked out a great deal of light. I looked up and saw elves gliding in the trees like they belonged there. I did not see the Fellowship anywhere. I did not especially want to see them, either.
The elf leader took me up a winding stair to the upper canopies of the trees. I took little comfort in the fact they could not kill me. There were far worse things than death in this world. As the principal purveyor of that sort of thing, I knew better.
"Wait here," he said. I stood before an intricate archway as he left. I could try and escape, but that wouldn't do me much good. They would just catch me again. I could not fight my way out. That elf had taken my sword and I was no good at hand to hand. I had no choice but to stand there. I fidgeted a little and tried not to chew on the inside of my lip. I had scars on the insides of my mouth from that habit.
"Welcome, Azra," a soft female voice said. I jumped and looked around. At the top of the archway stood an elf woman. She smiled at me. I couldn't remember ever being speechless around an elf before. She was stunningly beautiful. I bowed my head.
"How do you know my name?" I asked.
"I have watched you. I have seen you in my mind," she said.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Galadriel," she said. "I know you do not know me." I shook my head.
"Most of the elves don't give me their names," I said.
"You are a brave girl and you are old," she said. "You have seen much."
"As have you," I said. Her eyes were deep and the only thing that betrayed her age. I had a feeling she thought the same when she looked at me. We were two old souls in a world that begged us for guidance. We just happened to be on different sides.
"So why am I still here?" I asked.
"You followed a Fellowship through Moria and into here. They have what you need," she said.
"Yes," I said.
"But you know you will not get it back, not this time," she said.
"Yes," I said again.
"Do you know what will happen if you do get it back?" she said.
"It is what I have been hoping for since the day it was lost. Shadow is not so terrible when it is all you know," I replied.
"But you do not know only shadow. You knew light once," said Galadriel.
"I did. It has long since faded from me and I do not miss it," I said.
"I know," she said. "Go from here and return to your lord."
"Should I speak of you?" I asked.
"He would not believe you and you know it. Your lord knows my name. He gave me this," she pulled up her sleeve. On the middle finger of her right hand was a ring. It was Nenya, one of the original nineteen rings. As far as I knew, it was still good. The One had yet to touch it.
"Your horse waits for you at borders of our land and we will return your sword. Go from here quickly and you will remain unharmed," she said. I picked up my head and walked back down from the canopy. The elf who had led me there was waiting. He handed me my sword.
"Take the path through to the eastern borders," he said.
"I can find my own way out," I said. He didn't reply. I sheathed my sword and started my walk out. None of the last hour had made any sense. Why was this elf queen interested in me? Why hadn't they shot me on sight? Maybe they knew I couldn't die. Maybe they wanted me to tell them something. I had told them something, but nothing they already knew. Or perhaps this Galadriel wanted to meet the butcher of her people on her own ground. All I really knew for sure is she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. My eyes had only seen ugliness for so long, it was like beauty was magnified. It was all part of the balance. There is no light without darkness. There is no beauty without ugliness. There is no good without evil. She was the only thing in all of Middle Earth that had made me doubt my own beauty. I would ponder it all the way back to Barad-dur.