Chapter 6—Council of Elrond and Serenity's Opposite.

Serenity woke blinking as sunlight filtered into her room and started to blind her. She muttered curses at the sun, blaming it for waking her up from her first peaceful sleep in a few weeks. She got out of bed and dressed and walked out of the room, her hair ties in her hands, planning on sitting in the gardens to do her hair while she waited till it was time to go to the council. She hummed to herself and entered the gardens, not paying attention. A pair of eyes watched her as she sat down. Serenity started to do her hair but sneezed and looked around. She saw a dwarf sitting not too far away smoking a pipe.

"Oh! Hello. I didn't see that anyone was in here."

The dwarf studied her a bit then smiled. "It's alright milady."

"My name is Serenity. May I know yours master dwarf?" she said while smiling.

"Gimli, Lady Serenity."

Serenity made a face, "Just Serenity, or if you like, Serena. Are you here for the council?"

Gimli nodded and shifted, standing. "Yes. I came here with my father. Now, please excuse me, I must go and talk to him."

Serenity watched Gimli leave the gardens and went back to the chore of putting her hair up. She decided to put her hair into her royal hair style, and managed to get one side up, but the other side kept troubling her. She muttered curses in Lunarian and Elvish as her frustration level rose. She sighed and let go of the side, trying to calm down. Suddenly, she felt someone pulling her hair up and a quiet voice came from behind her.

"Hime, I need your hair tie."

Serenity's eyes widened and she handed it back. 'It's impossible! No way…'

Once the person was done, Serenity turned around slowly, afraid of what she might see, or not see. Behind her, dressed in an elvish dress stood a young woman, about the age of 17 or 18, but by the tell tale sign of the pointed ears, Serenity knew that the woman could be any age. The woman had dark hair that fell to her shoulders, and bright violet eyes. Serenity was speechless and her eyes had widened. Foot steps barely registered on her brain as she stared at the woman before her.

"Lady Serenity?" Strider spoke as he walked up, but slowed to a stop, "Lord Elrond wishes to see you…Lady Serenity?"

Serenity gave a strangled cry and hugged the woman before her tightly. Strider frowned a bit, wondering what was going on. The woman held Serenity lightly, making soothing sounds. Serenity pulled away and Strider was surprised to see her face was wet from tears.

"Taru-chan! How? When? Are you Saturn now? I mean do you have powers?"

Hotaru smiled softly, "Hai, Hime. I was reborn almost immediately after I died and gave you the abilities to tap into my powers, and I retained my own powers, so hai, I'm Saturn still. And as of how? Well, you are light, are you not? What did your mother say about light and dark?"

Serenity's eyes widened, "With light there is always darkness. You're my dark? But I thought Chaos was? Is anyone else reborn?"

Hotaru laughed softly, "I am your dark. Chaos is evil and will be opposite in that way, but I am the darkness to your light powers. And I believe Sestuna-mama will be, if not already. Someone does need to watch the time gates while you are with your love."

Serenity blushed wildly as an image of a person filtered through her mind. Hotaru laughed and then pointed behind Serenity. Serenity turned and saw a very confused Strider standing there.

"Strider? I..uh…" Serenity stuttered flustered that he had seen her cry, and that he'd heard her slip into Japanese. Hotaru shook her head.

"Strider, I am Lady Hotaru, guardian to Serenity. And before you ask, my guardian name is Saturn. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Strider nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you also, Lady Hotaru." He looked at Serenity, who was berating herself for acting like an idiot. "Lady Serenity, Lord Elrond wishes to see you."

Serenity stood quickly and mumbled thanks as she hurried past him. Hotaru followed, but at a slower pace. As she passed Strider, she smiled at him.

"Thank you for making my hime happy."

Strider watched the two leave and wondered what the smaller elf had meant.

At the Council

Serenity sat next to Frodo, her face set neutrally, but her eyes cold and calculating. Hotaru was in the shadows over by the hobbits that were hiding. Serenity hadn't told Elrond about them, figuring that they had just as much right to know what was happening as did everyone else. So, she had set Hotaru over there, to make sure that no one would bother them. Serenity looked over each person, her eyes stopping at a few. She noticed that there were only two representatives for men, while there were a few for elves and dwarves. She nodded at Gimli, who gave her a nod back but seemed startled. Elrond began the council but, just as Elrond had warned her might happen, the other man interrupted Elrond.

"Forgive me, but why is the lady in this meeting?"

Elrond looked at Serenity and was worried at her calm expression. He turned to the speaker.

"Boromir, she is my niece, Lady Serenity. And she has already experienced what the ring can do. Besides, it is my wish that she be here."

Boromir looked at her and Serenity stared back at him, challenging with her eyes for him to say anything else. He stared back at her, but didn't say anything. Elrond breathed slightly easier and continued with his speech. Soon he turned to Frodo.

"Bring forth the ring, Frodo Baggins."

Serenity shot Frodo an encouraging smile as he stood and started walking to the center of the circle area. Serenity shook a bit, pushing away the whispering she started to hear in her mind. She looked up at each of the men. Boromir had a gleam in his eyes, while Strider seemed to be ignoring the call of the ring. She smiled at him but was brought out of her thoughts by Boromir's voice.

"Tis a gift. Why not use the ring?"

Serenity rolled her eyes, "Because, baka, the ring is pure evil. Use it and you are only putting your self back down to Sauron's level."

"Forgive me, Lady, but if it was given to us then we should us it." Boromir said then turned to Elrond, "Lord Elrond, perhaps it would be better to not have the Lady in these discussions. It might be too harsh for her."

Elrond quickly looked over at Serenity, knowing the explosion that was going to happen. Serenity had stood, her fists clenched at her sides. Her eyes had gone steely.

"Too harsh? I have seen more then you will ever see. Compared to me, you are only a mere boy." Serenity's voice was barely under control, "Do not tell me what is too harsh for me."

"Lady Serenity, how could you have seen battles worse then I? You are an elf maiden and most likely haven't seen more then a scuffle."

Elrohir stood his features angry. "My cousin has seen more then you would know."

Boromir shook his head. "She's only a mere maid…"

Elrohir glanced at his cousin, who was glowing slightly silver. He turned his own furious gaze at Boromir.

"She is no ordinary elf maiden, she is Serenity, Princess of the Moon, Daughter of Selenity and solider of the Cosmos, Sailor Cosmos."

Boromir looked at Serenity startled. Serenity was now looking at Elrohir with a murderous look. Strider had hidden his startle ment.

"The ring answers to only Sauron, no other."

Boromir turned and looked at the ranger. "What would a ranger know of this subject?"

Another elf stood up, "He is no ordinary ranger. He's Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance."

Strider/Aragorn matched Boromir's gaze for a few minutes. But, he felt a pull and turned. He caught Serenity's gaze and saw a stricken look on her face. She turned and ran from the area. Elrohir went to go after her, but his brother stopped him. The rest of the council went smoothly, as smooth as it could have, and the Fellowship of the Ring was formed. As soon as the meeting was finished, Elrond went to find Serenity and Aragorn went also, but on his own wondering why she reacted the way she did.

Well, hope you enjoy this chapter. I'll try to post on here or on Princess of Hogwarts as soon as I can. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming! Oh, and the reasons behind Serenity reacting how she did will be revealed in the next chapter, so…err…you'll have to be patient. Ja!

Princess Silver Serenity