Author's note:
While I do not own the characters of Tolkien, or those added in "Rings of Power," I am allowing myself to enjoy adding on to their stories in my own irrelevant imaginings. For all intents and purposes, my humble narrative occurs about a year after those events of the finale, and allows for some interpretation on my unassuming end as author. The Istar stranger will serve as our friend, Mithrandir, Gandalf the Grey.
And so, cherished reader, we begin...
The stench was just as she remembered in her nightmares, that Scorched her nose with every haunting. The stench of brimstone and rot. The puttification of forever darkness. Not to mention the sludge of Orc. No wonder their blood runs black when gutted, she thought
She stood before the imposing gate before her, massively tall and black as Orc blood. Her heart quickened to hear an ominous horn on the other side. He would be here soon, Hallbrand. Sauron, she chided herself. Her friend. Or enemy. Her discharged love, or master of darkness. She thought she knew exactly which. Either way, her heart threatened to break free from her chest more than standing on a field of battle. Her fist closed on the memory of her brother's blade, pressing the perpetually cool metal of her silver ring into her finger, the thrum of its mithril granting her a boost of courage.
This was something that must be done. No one but she could do it, Elrond had assured her. Yet Mirthrandir's warning rang in her ear. Guard yourself, my lady. Guard your heart, but most of all guard your ring. He will crave it more than you.
The hollow horn grew louder, and Galadriel felt the stealing of her nerves as if before the first clash of battle blades. Taking a breath, she tried to soften her eyes. Just as she had practiced. Slowly, the gate split open from the center hinges, the stamping of hooves crescendoing as the black barrier parted.
A host of mounted Uruk officers surrounded her, their twisted spears pointed deformed and jagged blades towards her. Armed in nothing but her gauzy white dress and silver bodice, Galadriel stood her ground. A destrier, black as midnight, eyes a glowing red, broke the ranks of the circle, and in an instant she recognized the horned helmet that covered a familiar face. Nothing but slatted black metal now that covered his green eyes, just as ripples of black armor enclosed his body.
He gave a command barked in black speech, and the circle closed in around her. Unarmed, staring down a cavalry of his best Uruk officers, and yet the glint in her eye shone with the knowledge that she could still kill them all. All but him. Slowly he drew off his helmet, tossing it to his general before quickly dropping to the ground.
No pretenses, he tossed a folded letter to the ashen ground between them. "I received your message, Commander," his eyes narrowed, ringed in red and shining with power as he drew a step closer. "You wished to speak," he hissed, "so speak, Galadriel."
The fine edge of her jaw clenched tighter until finally, she breathed. "Could we speak alone?"
"No," came the growling hiss, a growing black beginning to darken at the creases of his face. "I will not be left alone with an enemy."
"I am no longer your enemy, Hallbrand," she turned the deep blue pools of her eyes to meet his stare. "Not anymore."
"Commander, that is not my name," he replied.
"That is not my title any longer," her voice cutting like a blade itself. "You were right," tears nipped at the edge of her words. "I have been stripped of my honors and titles for knowing you. Once the king learned, the council, my friends, they all abandoned me. All for helping you and caring for…" she looked down at the points of her boots "for caring for you, Hallbrand."
She swayed in place, the granite edifice of a warrior draining away to leave nothing but the female elf remaining. The shreds of instinct pulled him forward to catch her arm, to steady her on her feet. His touch flamed hot even through the arm of her dress. Those sapphire eyes catching his suddenly as she turned. "You alone do see me, just as you said."
He barely moved, staring her down as feelings he had sworn away crept back to the surface. She watched as the pupils of his eyes widened from serpentine slits into the round ones of a man and back again. "I am drowning again, lost and adrift," she whispered. Her lithe fingers finding a rest atop the blackened metal plating of his arm. "Help me breathe once more. Help me fight once more, Hallbrand."
"Leave us," he commanded over his shoulder, a jerk of his head towards the gate and his lands within. Hesitancy rattled among the cavalry. In a second, he rounded on them, but not before Galadriel watched as his eyes turned to almost flame, his skin darkening with rage. A face that still haunted her dreams from when she'd seen him last.
The words he uttered louder than a roar, bringing lightning to split the sky beside them. The soldiers sent flying on their terrified horses at breakneck speed towards the gate. All but his own terrifying beast who merely stamped displeasure at being left behind.
He patted his steed tenderly on the nose, bracing and lifting himself into its saddle. But he extended no hand. He inhaled deeply as his complexion returned to a sun soaked human tone, his eyes back to the fair mossy green she knew. "Before I pull you into my lap and ride you into my lands," he cocked an eyebrow in twisted delight as she trembled a moment at his phrasing, "you must give me your word I am not to be deceived."
"What do you fear I am doing?" Galadriel furrowed her brows in perfect confusion.
"You come to me seeking all I have offered you before, a place at my side, and I have had a lifetime of distraction to forget your rejection a year ago. What makes you certain I will be so willing to repeat my offer?"
Galadriel smiled softly, "Because you would never forget something you wanted that was denied you. It is not your way, Lord Sauron."
His answering grin bared all his teeth. "Perhaps you do know me well enough, my lady," he rumbled a laugh as he reached out his gauntleted hand towards her.