The sound of soft feet and whispering fabric echo off the walls of the long hall. Dusky yellow lights stream down in patterns on the marble floor, dust swirling about like tiny insects. Two women glide barefoot between the pillars of the silent hall, moving toward the end, where sits another on an intricately carved throne.
Finally, the two women halt before the other. The first woman is incredibly beautiful; long golden hair is piled in curls on top of her head, her violet eyes standing out alarmingly large in her flawless face. The eyes speak of joy and optimism and compassion, much like those of an angel; her gentle white hands are folded in front of her on her violet dress, which tumbled gracefully to the floor in thick folds.
The second woman is no less beautiful than the first, but is much more wild and impish. Her dark hair hangs wildly about her face, falling down her back. Her eyes too are emerald green, wild and joyous, full of mischief and malice. Her hands are boyish and rough, with many cuts and scratches as though from many games; they continuously fiddle with the fabric of her emerald green dress which floats lightly on the smallest breeze, its gauzy fabric swirling about her legs as she walked, practically skipping, across the cool floor.
The woman on the throne is beautiful and horrible, alarming and comforting, happy and sad, angry and pleased. Her flint eyes tell of nothing except a great knowledge and wisdom, and stare proudly out of a face that is a young as spring, and as old as time. Her hands, which rest on the gilded arms of the throne, are long and thin, and look like that of an old woman who has done much hard work in her lifetime. Her hair is white, as is her raiment that lies in a simple cut across her legs, trailing on the floor behind her.
The two women bowed their heads respectfully to the other, than raised their eyes to gaze into hers. The woman with green eyes began to speak in a voice high and tumultuous, like the ocean on a windy day. Her name was Lady Luck -sometimes known as Chance-, for it was she men blessed and cursed for playing her tricks with them.
"My lady, we come to you on the behalf of many. A great evil and darkness hangs over the world, threatening to devour it as a lion a lamb. The Darkness wishes to make it his own, turning all free and happy people into his slaves, making them like him. The free people realize this, and seek to thwart him, but I fear they will fail.
"The Darkness seeks his own, the One Ring that was lost to him many years hence, and he has found it. But not yet does he posses it, and this is good for the people. For He needs only the One, then none may oppose him." The other stepped forward, her violet eyes saddened as this tale was told. She was Lady Hope, for it was she who whispered hope to those who had none.
"Yet there is a hope, so long as the One eludes him." She said, in a voice smooth and quiet. "By chance, it has come into the hands of one so unlikely, the Darkness has not yet prepared for it. But it will not be long before he retrieves it and has his black way. The One must be destroyed, and by none other than the one who now holds it. The Darkness has not counted upon the strength of the one who carries it, and that is his folly. He believes that he may control him through the One, as he has controlled all else who held it in the past, and it may be that in the end, he will. But I believe that, if we act quickly, the Darkness may be undone, by mere simplicity. In this, I mean that the one who now holds it must destroy the One, thus defeating the Darkness and freeing the land.
"But," she added, "I fear that, although strong, the bearer of the One shall not be able to complete this task on his own, and then all shall be lost."
The two stood in silence, waiting upon the other to speak. She looked impassively at them from her high seat. After a long silence, she spoke up in a deep, strong voice, almost toneless in its solemnity.
"Why come you to me with this? This land is not my possession, merely my plaything. Why have you not gone to the rulers and creators of it, the ones who control all?" This was Lady Fate. She was the one who blessed and cursed at her whim all who caught her notice.
"We come to you, my lady," Hope said, "because, although the Valar do own the earth, they cannot control it completely. They have given its people freedom, to govern and care for themselves, and may not interfere so wholly. We come to you because you may change things to your liking, for or against the people as you choose. We have now presented our case to you, and wait on your ruling, be it what it may." Fate gazed at them long.
"This is indeed a slim chance for the people of the earth. For indeed, only the one who now bears it will carry it to the fire and destroy it. However, I will grant him this one thing: He will have aid: eight companions to assist him in his task. It must be eight, and only eight. Armies could not accomplish this, so it must be accomplished with nine. I will give you these nine, and they will be sufficient for the task."
"My lady, if I may ask but one thing?" Luck asked. She had taken a sudden liking to the Ringbearer's kind, and was saddened by their trial. As a nod from Fate, she continued. "My Lady, I would but ask you to grant me this one request: One of the nine companions I may use for my own purposes, and direct him to my will, so he may aid the bearer of the One." Hope too spoke up, for she pitied all people.
"My lady, if I may ask, I also request one to be given to me for my purposes in aiding the people of the earth." Lady Fate seemed to ponder this for a minute.
"I will grant you your requests. Choose your two, and choose them wisely, for you have but one choice." With smiles of relief, the two women departed to choose their helpers. Fate sat pondering on her throne. The Ladies Luck and Hope dared much. She had closely been watching those of Middle Earth, and she herself could see that there was but a slim chance for those that dwelt there. It did not of course, matter to her who possessed the middle earth, for she would have her way with whoever it was. But this endeavour intrigued her, and she wished to see how it would play out.
Luck and Hope re-entered the room. After bowing, they smiled happily.
"My Lady," Hope said, "I have chosen my helper. He shall be of the race of men, before thought weak and fickle by others. He will be of the great and fallen race of Numenor, and a descendant of one who before fell to the One's evil. I have chosen Aragorn, son of Arathorn, heir to the throne of Isildur, the one who would restore hope to the crumbling realm of men." Fate nodded, and Luck stepped forward, he eyes flashing with excitement.
"My Lady, I have chosen a much more unlikely helper, one from among the bearer's own. I choose Samwise Gamgee of the Shire, a humble gardener." Fate nodded in agreement at their decisions. He is humble, and loyal to his master, the bearer of the Ring, and stronger than even he could know.
"As you choose. Now go and see that it is done."
Finis
AN: You all know the rest
just thought I'd make a little commentary:
I made this little chapter just as sort of an interesting thought on how perhaps the end came about, since it all seemed so very unlikely. In The Hobbit, Tolkien (and Gandalf) was always mentioning how Bilbo had a lot of Luck on his side, and in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Fate, Luck, and Hope are mentioned many times in reference to events. So I turned the three into characters.
I really liked the idea of them being women, because quite frequently, in things like this (for example, in a lot of Greek, Roman, and other ancient lore), women angels or goddesses are the ones who take pity and help the hero of the story.
I tried to make the woman as true to their characters as possible, and I think I did a pretty good job. The colours of their eyes and robes are significant, and I didn't just randomly choose those colours. I chose Green for Lady Luck, because in Celtic lore, Green was often associated with luck and chance, i.e. leprechauns, four-leaf clovers, et al. I chose purple for Lady Luck because in the dark ages in many countries, if you found a purple sea-shell, it meant you would have good fishing for three years (another one was Purple had always been associated with Royalty, and if they allowed you kissed the hem of their robe –which was usually purple-, it meant you had been pardoned of your crime and were in favour of the crown). I chose white for Lady Fate because white has all the colors of the rainbow in it (when it's light that is), so I was kinda saying Fate doesn't really take sides or anything like that, she just changes and does whatever she feels like whenever she feels like it. I also tried to convey their character in their eyes, voices, hair, and hands.