Author's Note This chapter is quite short, butI hope that doesn't matter much. This update is in honor of Me. No, I am not that selfish or selfcentered, it's just that since my birthday is coming up very soon I thought I'd update asa gift to those who enjoy this story.

Chapter 7

After the little meet and greet with the Lord and Lady, the company were taken to a little glade by a fountain where they were to sleep on soft beds on the ground. The elves had spread a pavilion for them and laid soft couches in it. Speaking soft words of peace the elves left them.

Once they were alone the travellers talked of their night before in the treetops, and of their day's journey, and of the Lord and Lady; the days before that were not brought up due to the freshness of the pain of loss.

"What did you blush for, Sam?" Pippin asked. "You soon broke down. Anyone would have thought you had a guilty conscience. I hope it was nothing worse than a wicked plot to steal one of my blankets"

"I never thought such a thing" Sam answered. "If you want to know, I felt as if I hadn't got nothing on, and I didn't like it. She seemed to be looking inside me and asking me what I would do if she gave me the chance of flying back home to the Shire to a nice little hole with – with a bit of garden of my own"

It was with that little speech that he caught Iris' attention.

"That's funny" Merry said. "Almost exactly I felt myself; only, only well, I don't think I'll say any more…" he ended lamely.

It seemed like all of them had experienced the same thing; like they had been offered a choice between a shadow full of fear that lay ahead, and something they greatly desired. The only ones who did not join in on this conversation were the three mutants who had shielded their minds from Galadriel.

"And it seemed to me, too," said Gimli, "that my choice would remain secret and only known to myself"

"To me it seems exceedingly strange" said Boromir. "Maybe it's only a test, and she thought to read out thoughts for her own good purpose; but almost I should have said that she was tempting us, and offering what she pretended to have the power to give. It need not be said that I refused to listen. The Men of Minas Tirith are true to their word"

Iris watched as the men fell into silence, each pondering the offer they had been given. Breaking the stillness Iris spoke;

"Do you really believe she read your thoughts?" Iris asked no one in particular. Some of them looked up at her, brought out of their deep thoughts. Sam held fast to what he had said earlier, that it felt like she could see inside him.

"Did you not feel the same?" Sam asked.

"No, not quite…" Iris said, shaking her head. "But I don't doubt what you say you felt" Glancing towards the two X-men, Iris turned back to Sam. "Tell me, the way she looked at you, is it much like the way I'm looking at you now?" Iris said, pushing lightly into his mind.

Sam looked back into Iris' eyes, and suddenly his eyes grew wider. Withdrawing from Sam's mind, Iris leaned back against a tree.

"Sam, are you alright?" Merry asked, watching his friend slowly come around.

"I am alright, Merry. No need to worry…" Sam said, not once taking his eyes of Iris.

It was not yet dawn, nor was it night, but the time where the world is bathed in the half-light that is the moments before sunrise. Morning mist rose slowly from the dew-covered grass when Iris woke up. She had felt someone try to touch her mind. That someone could only be one person... Getting up, Iris wrapped a cloak around herself and left the sleeping forms of her companions.

Walking down a flight of stairs Iris came into a clearing where Galadriel awaited her. As soon as Iris had felt Galadriel try touching her mind, Iris had strengthened her mental shields. And now, standing in front of the Lady Galadriel Iris simply watched her with an unreadable look on her face, waiting for the elf to make the first move.

There they stood for a while, simply looking and quietly measuring each other up. At last Galadriel spoke.

"What are you?"

"Human" Iris answered.

"I have never in my many years come across someone from the race of Men that has been able to do what you can do"

"You mean refuse to let you take advantage of my mind?" Iris said rather coldly.

"I have not take advantage of them"

"No? And how is that possible? You intrude their most inner thoughts and desires. You see some parts of them they might not even know about. You rob them of themselves. What are they if not their thoughts and ideas? Who have given you the right to violate their minds?"

"Tell me, you who also has this gift, have you never seen into someone's eyes and seen that persons thoughts? Have you never, as you say, 'intruded their inner thoughts'?"

"I don't deny that, but I was young and curious. I know better now. This gift as you call it is as much a curse as it is a gift. If I had a penny for ever time I have regretted reading someone's thoughts…"

"You must understand, I do what I must to protect that which I love"

"May be, but you have no right to offer and promise them things you can't give them" Iris said. "There is nothing you can say that justifies that"

Turning around, Iris left Galadriel in the clearing. Once back in the little camp, Iris wrapped the cloak closer around herself. It wasn't until after an hour or so some of the others started to wake.

By that time Iris had been on the astral plane for some time. She had been enjoying the sight of the little lights that represent those around her. However, as the others had woken, she had returned to her physical body.