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

A/N: If you find any discrepancies in this chapter, let me know.

Chapter Five: Shining Cities

And so they passed through Laticeana and continued on their way. They found the tracks of the men to be quite fresh, for they had gone around Laticeana, and not through it, as the company had, and Laticeana was quite difficult to skirt, so it had taken them only about one day less time to get through than it had the others. They thought they almost had them when they saw two cities in the distance.

"That must Safarsee and Safaris, the two cities that the two men came from. They are leveled, like Gondor," Samisen commented.

"There is no time to wonder over the cities, Samisen. I think that perhaps the one that looks like it shimmers blue may be Safarsee, and the one that looks like it sparkles green might be Safaris. But which one shall we go to?" Elladan asked.

"I think that we should split up, and four of us should go to Safarsee, and four of us should go to Safaris, that way, we have two chances to find Vilya, and that way, if they try to sell it in either city, we'll hear about it," Legolas suggested.

"I like Legolas' plan. Let us try it!" Sam said enthusiastically.

"Yes, let's!" Frodo agreed.

"I think that the two groups should be Elladan, Sam, Frodo, and Samisen in the first group and me, Gimli, and Bilbo, in the second group." Sam added.

"Yes, Legolas that sounds good. Let's go now," Elladan concurred.

"Wait! Shouldn't we decide on a meeting place?" Sam asked.

"You're right, Sam. We had forgotten. But where should we meet? And when?" Legolas questioned.

"I think that we should meet right here at noon, since it is, right now, still morning. Then, if neither party has found anything of import, we should split up again, same parties as before, and switch cities to search, for perhaps one party will spot something the other did not. If one party did find something, everyone goes there, but if both parties find something, we go back to our first city," Sam suggested.

"That is a good idea Sam. You are well named Samwise," Elladan agreed.

And so they split up: Elladan's party going to Safarsee, and Legolas' party going to Safaris.

Two hours after arriving at Safaris...

"Oh, come on! We've been searching for two hours, Legolas!!" Sam protested, "Can't we have a rest? Even just a short one?"

"No Sam," the Elf replied, "We must keep searching. We still have an hour until noon. We must keep going. Wait a moment... what's that?"

"It's just a notice, Legolas. Nothing of import," Frodo replied.

"Wait, I said," Legolas commanded in an irritated voice, "Do you see what it says? It says there is to be an auction at one 'o' clock today... and there is going to be a very valuable ring on auction first. See, ha. I knew there was something of import on this notice!"

"Yes, Legolas, it does say there is going to be a very valuable ring for auction. But how do we know it is Vilya?!"Sam asked in exasperation.

"We don't, but it's worth a try! Come on, let's go wait for the others!"

They got to the meeting place at almost the exact same time...

"Guess what we found!!" Elladan and Legolas cried at the same time.

"What?!" They both said in unison. Everyone laughed.

"What Elladan, what did you find?" Legolas asked.

"I found a notice for an auction tomorrow and it says there is to be a very valuable ring to be auctioned off first!!" Elladan answered.

"That's what we found too! Should we go to it?"

They all agreed. So about forty-five minutes later, they went to Safaris for the auction.

They got there about five minutes before the auction started, so they had enough time to see the ring...

"There's a ring. Is that it, Elladan?" Sam asked softly.

"Yes Sam, that is it. I know the two mens names; I remember them because I was distrustful of them from the moment they set foot in Rivendell, and set their eyes it. Let's see if they're the auctioneers, because if they are, we can give them a surprise, to pay them off for taking it in the first place."

They found out that the auctioneers were indeed the two men, Ōmin and Ūgumb.

So they paid them their surprise...

Ōmin and Ūgumb were standing on a platform. Ōmin picked up the ring from its box and held it up without looking at it.

"The first thing we have to auction off today is this ring, a very valuable ring, one of the three Elven rings. This is Vilya." He smiled proudly, but there were sniggers from most of the audience.

"Don't laugh!" Ūgumb cried, "It's a very valuable ring, and we went to great lengths to get it!" Neither of the men had taken a good look at the ring yet.

Jeers came from the crowd. "Get off the block!" "That's a fake!"

"Lengths like stealing?" Elladan held his right hand aloft and on it was Vilya."Here is the ring, Vilya, which rightfully belongs to my father, Elrond Half-elven, but was stolen by Ōmin and Ūgumb. I take it now." He stopped and looked in Ōmin and Ūgumb's direction. "This ring does not belong to you." The company turned and walked away.

"Um, ha ha, he's lying," Ōmin said with a nervous laugh, "but, I say, hehe, oh well. So let's get on with the auction. Next up..."

The company didn't hear the rest of Ōmin's words as they walked away out of hearing range.

"I can't believe the nerve of him. Did you hear what he said Elladan? He said you were lying! As if you were the criminal, not him!" Sam cried in consternation when they were out of sight of the two thieves.

"Let it be, Sam," the Elf replied, "He is not the first who has done such things."

"These cities are nothing like Gondor, I see that now," Samisen said sadly. "In Gondor, he would have been punished for taking the ring, but he's just carrying on with the auction as if nothing had happened, and no one is doing anything! In Gondor, someone would gotten one of the guards, and he would have been tried."

"Well, Samisen, maybe it is better that these cities are not like Gondor, at least right now. If someone had gotten him to be tried, we would have had to stay for a while longer to testify, and that would have delayed getting Vilya back to Rivendell," Elladan replied in a subdued voice.

"I suppose you're right. Well, let's try and hurry and get the ring back," Samisen agreed.

"Yes, we've got to hurry very fast to. We didn't notice it, but it is almost August!!" Frodo said.

"August!!" Bilbo cried, "I didn't think it was that late!!"

"Well, it is," Frodo replied. "Oughtn't we to go back? To give the ring to Elrond, I mean."

"Yes, Frodo, you are right. We wasted enough time here. We must go back with all haste," Legolas agreed. And so they did.

They got back to Rivendell in early September...