Disclaimer: I own none of LotR at all, it all belongs to the great and wonderful JRR Tolkien.

Chapter Two: Mailanay's Realm, Elnaroralaoso

It was an elf, with golden hair, and a stern face. "I am Nalyay, first in command of the lady's armies. I command you to halt!" they halted. "Tell me your names and your errand. Strangers are not allowed in the realm of Elnaroralaoso without the Lady Mailanay's leave, and without a reason. State your names, quickly."

"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil of Mirkwood. I answer for the elves," replied Legolas, "This is Elladan, son of Elrond Half-elven, of Rivendell. The rest I will leave for Sam to account for."

"Oh, well, um, yes, uh, my name is Sam, Samwise Gamgee, and I am a hobbit of the Shire." Answered Sam. Thank you very much, Legolas, for making me do the talking for you, Sam thought. He sighed."This is Mr. Frodo Baggins and his uncle, Mr. Bilbo Baggins, both originally hobbits of the Shire, recently hailing from the isle of Nasaranatoso, if you take my meaning. Sir," he added quickly. "The rest are: Gimli, son of Glóin, and Samisen of Minas Tirith. Our errand is for Elrond Half-elven. His ring, Vilya, has been stolen, and we must find it by autumn, or Rivendell shall begin to fade. We beg leave to pass."

"It is good that you know all this," replied Nalyay, "Your names were not known to us, but we knew you were coming, and what your errand was, and I was bidden to wait for you at the gate. We do not usually let strangers into the realm of Elnaroralaoso, but you must have favor with her ladyship, for Mailanay commanded it. Come, I will take you to Mailanay. I do not know her purpose, but she desires to speak with you."

They followed Nalyay to a circle of trees. It was not unlike the circle of trees around the tree they climbed to Galadriel and Celeborn. But it was also unlike the trees in Lothlorien, for those trees were silver and golden, and reflected light. But these trees seemed to illuminate and radiate it from within. It was as if they had a light of their own. When Sam asked Nalyay how the trees were lit, he said they were star trees, made by her ladyship, the star-queen Elbereth. The star trees had tiny living stars inside them, and, very miniscule stars though they were compared to the ones in the sky, they were very bright, and that was how they could radiate their own light.

Inside the circles, there was a tree which you could tell was far different from the others: it glowed with such a force that all of the company save the elves, who had endured light such as this before, had to cover their eyes to keep from being blinded. Mercifully, the others were given blindfolds made of black fabric, made by Mailanay and her maidens of a special thread and weave; they were strong enough to keep the light out. Nalyay, Legolas, Elladan, and three elves from Elnaroralaoso led Sam, Frodo, Bilbo, Gimli, and Samisen through the light. They found that, when they came within ten feet of the tree, the light dimmed, and they could take off their blindfolds, and still see fairly well. Gimli however had a little trouble, since dwarves usually live underground. They climbed onto a platform, which had rails on all sides. They got in by a gate in the front. The platform had ropes attached to it, and these ropes were taut. The ropes seemed to go up into the trees.

"Do you think that we might be pulled up into the tree, Mr. Frodo? I'm afraid of heights. It was hard enough climbing the tree in Lothlorien and being up so high, but to be on a platform, and to be pulled up, and see the ground rush away from you...!" At that moment, there came a jerk, and the platform was pulled swiftly into the tree.

"Whoa! Well, Sam, there's your answer!" cried Frodo with a grin.

They were being pulled so fast that it only took about five minutes to get to the top of the tree, even though it seemed to Sam that it was one of the tallest in Middle-earth. There was a throne room in the top of the tree. On the throne sat the most beautiful elven lady they had ever seen (or at least she looked elvish). She had stars in her golden hair, her gown was made of white, and it too had stars on it. "

I am Mailanay, the maiden of the star-queen Elbereth," she said to them, "Welcome to my realm of Elnaroralaoso."

"Lady Mailanay, we beg leave to continue on our errand," said Elladan.

"You may continue. But first you must solve the Riddles. Each Riddle's answer is an object. After you solve each Riddle, you must find the object that is the Riddle's answer. Did I explain it in a way you could understand?" she asked.

"Yes, you did, m'lady" replied Sam, "We will follow the instructions to the letter."

"Here is your first Riddle," Mailanay told them.

Mailanay's First Riddle

My first is in many, though not in any

The second in oar, but in ore, is not

Third and fourth the same, both in all, but not and

In Orodruin twice is the fifth, though it will not be ruin

My sixth in oar, not in oak

The seventh in Hobbiton, but not in hobbit

The eight is in land, not in and

The ninth is in Eomer twice, in Eomund once

Tenth is twice in Minas Anor, once in Minas Tirith

The eleventh in fall, not all, although all may fall

My Riddle now done, the errand thou must run.

"I cannot make any sense of this, Sam!" cried Frodo after studying the Riddle for about fifteen minutes. "How can something be in many, and yet not in any?! And how about the seventh line, something being in Hobbiton, but not in a hobbit?! What does it all mean?!"

Even Elladan, who was one of the wisest of them all could not figure it out. "I am afraid I must agree with Frodo. I cannot make head nor tail of it!" agreed Elladan.

"Elladan is right. It is just a jumble of letters and words!" sighed Legolas.

"Wait a moment!" cried Sam, "You said that it was just a jumble of letters and words, correct Legolas?!"

"Yes, Sam, that was what I said," the perplexed elf replied.

"Yes, yes, YES!!! I've got it, I've got it!!" Sam yelled, "I've got the answer!! Don't you see!! The key was in the letters and words!! You see, um, in the first line, the answer is M!!"

"But Sam, dear boy, why would the answer be M?!" asked Bilbo, puzzled, beginning to think that Sam had gone mad in the time they had been gone.

"Because, Mr. Bilbo, the key was in the words, but the answer was a letter. You see, the key words were many, and any. The only difference is the letter M."

"But why would the answer be letters, not words if we are trying to solve a Riddle?" asked Gimli, who did not understand.

"Because when we put the letters which are the answers from the lines together, they spell a word," Sam replied. "Hmm, let me see..." Sam mumbled and muttered to himself while he studied the Riddle for a while. "Yes, ha ha!! I think I've got it!! Yes, I've got it!!" Sam yelped, "The answer is a mallorn leaf!!"

Everyone stared at Sam for a while, surprised at the outburst from the normally quiet Sam. They stared at him for so long that Sam turned red in the face and hung his head.

"But if the answer really is a mallorn leaf, where in Elnaroralaoso are we going to find one?" Frodo finally asked, "I haven't seen any mallorn trees around here."

"I don't think we will find one in Elnaroralaoso; but I think she means for us to have to travel to find one. I think someone will have to go to Lothlorien or some such place to find one," Sam replied.

"I will go," Legolas said.

"Thank you, Legolas. While you go to find a leaf, the rest of us will go and get the other Riddle from Mailanay," Sam said.

So Legolas went in search of a mallorn leaf, and the rest went to Mailanay for the last Riddle.

"Since you say you have solved my first Riddle, I will give you my second and last Riddle. When Legolas returns, and when you have solved my second Riddle, they may go in search for the second object. Here is the second Riddle."

Mailanay's Second Riddle

Golden flower in the Golden Wood.

Solve this second Riddle you should.

To find it, you may search far and wide,

Or you may find it lying just outside.

Wherever it be, find it you must

Before the Riddle turns to dust.

"I wonder how this Riddle is solved?" mused Sam, "It doesn't seem like the last one."

They all mused over it for some time before Sam cried, "I think I have the answer! It's elanor! You see: 'Golden flower in the Golden Wood.' That's the only clue we have, I think. Lothlorien was sometimes called the Golden Wood, and the elanor is golden. I don't think that Mailanay wants my Elanor, so I think she means an elanor flower, like the kind in Lothlorien. When Legolas comes back, then he will probably have to go straight back to find one. Oh, I can't wait till they come back. I haven't seen an elanor for ages. Oh, uh, the flower kind I mean. Not my Elanor."

Legolas came back in about two hours with a mallorn leaf. Sam told him the answer to the Riddle. When Sam finished explaining, he had a question for him: "The Riddle says we need an elanor flower, so, uh, would you be willing, um...to go back to Lothlorien and get an elanor?"

Legolas looked around at all the hopeful faces. "I don't know how I could say no," Legolas sighed. The elf set out to find the flower while the rest of the company went to report to Mailanay.

"You have solved these two Riddles faster than anyone else. You are free to come and go as you please in my realm of Elnaroralaoso. Here, take these star broaches as tokens. If you ever have need to pass through here again, just show the gatekeeper these, and you may pass." She handed each of them white broach, made in the shape of the star, as Mailanay was the maiden of the star-queen. They were the most exquisitely shaped things any of them had ever seen, with designs and knotwork etched into them and shining with an intense inner light that seemed bright as the sun, yet did not blind as you looked at it.

"Thank you, Lady Mailanay," they all breathed, bowing.

They went down by the platform, and went up another tree to the place where they were staying. Legolas came back with the elanor flower, and they took the flower and the leaf to Mailanay as tokens that they had solved the Riddles correctly. Mailanay pronounced them free in the realm of Elnaroralaoso in front of all the elves who dwelt there. They passed on through Elnaroralaoso, and continued on their way, undogged, determined to find Vilya. But they did not know the full extent of the dangers that would befall them on their way.