The story of Elenion is based on the Lord of the Rings movies, directed by Peter Jackson. The characters, with the exception of Elenion, belong to J.R.R. Tolkien. Elenion is a character all my own. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter 5: Gandalf's explanation
Gandalf and Elenion made way into Frodo's room and saw the hobbit sitting up, smiling and laughing with Sam as if nothing bad had ever happened to him. Elenion felt her heart grow warm from the sight. Frodo turned and smiled at her and she smiled at him in return. Gandalf glanced at his daughter and smiled to himself over the idea of her new adoration for hobbits as well as theirs for her. It was as he had hoped. Her soul was a great and loving one. He watched the two converse for a while, and as he studied her, he noticed something out of the ordinary. Frodo wore the ring around his neck in plain sight, and Elenion, only a few feet from him, never faltered. She appeared to not even know that it was there. This deeply puzzled him. With the blood she had flowing through her veins, she should have been especially susceptible to it, but she was resistant. Frodo interrupted his thoughts.
"Gandalf, why didn't you meet us in Bree?"
Gandalf now had to answer the question on everybody's mind.
"I was…delayed" he started, and progressed to tell his story. Elenion could only imagine the fighting with Saruman, the torture, and the viewing of the destruction of Isengard from the top of the tower. The pain of betrayal must have been horrible for her father. Her heart ached for him as he continued on, and she realized why she hadn't been able to visualize him at all. The power of Saruman had been too great for even her.
"Wizards are supposed to fight evil, not support it," she stated later. "His treachery is far beyond what you know," Gandalf told her.
"His treason grows worse…" she said, sadly….hoping to draw the rest of the story out of him. He didn't offer anything else.
"The rest I must tell to Elrond," he finished. Elenion left the room quickly. Her thoughts lied elsewhere. She walked until she found a place to sit, and sat alone in her thoughts for sometime. She had only known of Saruman as a good wizard, and she tried her hardest to believe what was going on. Someone approached her, catching her off guard. It was Elrond.
"My dear, you look troubled," he said, the concern written all over his face.
"I just have a lot to think over," Elenion said in return.
"I can see it in your eyes. Care to walk with me? You can tell me of these dreams you've been having as well." he offered. Elenion laughed lightly.
"Arwen told you, I see." He nodded. "Yes, and she made me aware of some other things I would like to talk to you about before I meet with your father."
Elenion's eyes met with his. "Can you clear some things up for me?" He smiled gently. "I'll certainly try," he said, the promise showing through his eyes. "Come along," he urged her, and he offered his hand, helping her up from the bench.
They walked for quite sometime before they reached the gardens of Rivendell. Elenion was so taken in by their beauty she almost forgot her present company.
"Arwen told me about the encounter with the ringwraiths." Elrond said, letting that sentence hang in the air as if he wanted an explanation. She turned to him slowly. "What did she say about them?" Elrond looked at curiously. "Now Arwen does not fear those creatures, but they definitely don't fear her. Aragorn told me of what happened on Weathertop, how they would flee upon making eye contact with you. Arwen noticed on the flight to the fjord that very same detail. Are you telling me that you didn't notice this at all?" He asked, slightly puzzled. She had never seen him so concerned yet baffled at the same time, and didn't know how to react.
"If it comforts you, you aren't the only one confused by it," Elenion admitted, having to look away from Elrond in a state of mixed shame and confusion. "I was hoping you could explain it to me…" she said softly, letting the sentence drip in the air as if it were hopeless to receive any kind of answer.
"You have the powers of three beings within you, and to my knowledge and your father's, no weaknesses. You have an ability that makes ringwraiths flee, and the ring of power….the hobbit carries it, yet you prove to have no temptation for it. Being that you are Elven, and then of the Maiar as well, this……resistance you have is most puzzling. That can only lead to one explanation…" he stated softly.
Elenion sighed and turned to him. "Fairy." she simply said. One word explained it all. Elrond nodded. "I know it's a hard fact for you to face, but you are of the fairies as well, and I know it's hard to feel so alone. Your mother was half-elven, same as I, and she passed her wisdom and her powers to you, and since your birth and her death, you have come to be the last known fairy to my knowledge. But you are not just any fairy. You are also from wizards and elves. There is not another soul like you alive." he finished.
Elenion did not see it as he did. "I am alone. Completely. You said it yourself, there is no one like me out there. So I am the last of my kind, I have trouble understanding myself, my half-fairy mother who taught me the things you don't understand has been dead for many long years now, and therefore you have no way of helping me……" she sighed. "I'm not meaning to take any stress out on you, but that is an inevitable fact. That I can only come to understand myself through my own experiences," she sighed heavily and paused for a brief moment.
"I'm sitting here, at 3,498 years of life, and I still have no idea what my purpose for anything is. I have spent many years in the darkness of Nargothrond, searching for any sign of a past for my people…..and I come back to Rivendell now, time wasted, and nothing to show for it…," she sighed again, feeling guilty for burdening an already burdened soul with her own problems.
Elrond put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I can help you as much as possible, yet I admit I know very little of fairies. The people of Middle Earth believe the fairies to be extinct. They know nothing of fairies anymore. Your mother felt alone until she had you, and then she told no one. Your father was right in telling only Galadriel and I of you. Saruman knows you are Gandalf's daughter, but your mother's identity is unbeknownst to him. Arwen knows only through your great friendship. It is most crucial that it remain this way for now. Only use those powers when needed, and not carelessly." He continued to talk for some time, but Elenion's mind trailed back to Saruman. Were he to learn of her secret, what would he wish to do with her? Or to her? She began to grasp the reason behind the secrecy.
Elrond continued, " You have no way to deny your wizard side, but by living life among the elves and in the appearance of one, people often times don't even notice the subtle differences between us." He lightly touched the tip of her ear and smiled at her. She smiled lightly back at him. To notice her ears would more often than not alert people of her mixed races. They were pointy like an elf's ear, but longer and the point extended further than an elf's. She wore her hair in an elven manner, but her ears always pointed more visibly through her hair, whereas some elves could cover their ears. Fairies, to her knowledge, were famous for this trait, but she played it off as if her ears were normal.
Elrond looked deeply into the mismatched eyes. "In this time in Rivendell, Elenion, with the ring so close and the council nearing, you must not tell anyone of your power."
She nodded. "I understand. Speaking of the ring, what will happen to Frodo Baggins?"
"We do not yet know." Elrond said, half sparking a laugh in Elenion.
"You have the gift of foresight, my lord…."she said. Elrond smiled. "That I have not yet seen."
"Well, I pledged my life to his will. As long as he carries that thing, I will be helping him." she stated almost flatly.
Elrond raised his eyebrows. "You did?" Elenion nodded. "What would you advise me to do?" she asked in return. He smiled at her. "Fight for him in your way." he said. She sighed an almost frustrated sigh. That sounded like something her father would have said. Advice in the form of a riddle of some sort. Always a hidden meaning, always a way of saying "I know what you don't, and I can't tell you." Elenion simply laughed.
"I saw that one coming," she stated with a smile.
"Now that this is done, what of these dreams you've been having?" he asked, finally reaching the subject that most confused her.
After walking for some time, she explained to him everything she had been seeing in her visions. He advised her in a way Gandalf would have done.
"You'll find it in time. In fact, sooner than you think, yet it won't make itself known to you right away." She raised an eyebrow at him. "How does that make sense?" she asked, but he didn't answer.
"I want you to be seated by your father at my council. You might be the last of your kind, but you are of your kind, nonetheless, and you hold a right to help determine the fate of the ring. Frodo will be attending, so this is also a way for you to assist him in his fate, as you so promised." He smiled at her. Elenion looked puzzled.
"A woman has never been present at any of your councils. Will this not spark some kind of interest in who I am? Or shall I say, what I am?" she asked, very confused by his decision.
Elrond nodded. "It may do just that. It may do nothing. But you, my girl, are much wiser and braver by far than some of the men, dwarves, and elves that will be there. If you have any thoughts, I want them voiced." He clearly wasn't going to accept her protest. She gave in. "Yes, Lord Elrond." He smiled at her. "Now, I must take leave……it appears I am late for the meeting with your father."
He hurriedly gathered up his robes and disappeared up the path, making haste to his chambers. She took a seat in the gardens on a bench as she came upon it. Within a matter of seconds, two hobbits were making their way up the path towards her. Filled with happiness at the sight of them, her worries ceased for the time being.