Rory felt both hot and cold, and could not see. Everything was dark, and she was very very frightened. Her head was spinning, and she was tired, so very tired.
Vilya was whispering to her in the dark, and she felt Elrond on the edges of her mind, but faintly. Suddenly the whispering of Vilya became a shout, and she felt Elrond like a physical presence in her mind.
Suddenly, she could see again, Gandalf was holding her upright, and Elrond was bowed over the table with his head in his hands. Vilya lay on the table, and Aragorn was looking confused and worried.
'Elrond, are you all right?' asked Aragorn.
'Yes, I will be fine', he replied. 'Please help Gandalf put Rory on the sofa'.
Aragorn did as Elrond asked. Gandalf, who had briefly left the room, reappeared with a bottle of brandy. He poured two glasses and handed one to Rory and one to Elrond, who were both white and trembling.
Elrond put his empty glass down, and spoke 'Aragorn, please fetch the little blue box on the small window table.'
Aragorn again did as he was asked, concern for his foster father etched on his face. Elrond opened the box, and placed the ring Vilya inside it. He then put the box in his pocket. Gandalf looked questionaly at Elrond who said simply 'Vilya needs to rest too.'
Gandalf sat down at the table, and fixed a glare on first Elrond and then Rory. 'What happened, what went wrong.' He asked
'All seemed well, Vilya was questioning Rory on her motives for helping us in the Last Alliance, and how she came through time, what she thought she could accomplish here and many other things. Vilya found a part of Rory's mind that was locked to her and pushed Rory a little too hard', Elrond replied
'A little too hard! Understatement of the century.' Rory exclaimed.
Elrond gave Rory a look that seemed to be an apology. 'I did not know of the hurt locked in your mind, my dear. And if I had I would have stopped Vilya unlocking your mind, I did not realise the consequences of loosing your emotions like that'.
'That was part of the problem but not the whole. It was Vilya's push about a past life that really spun me out. On top of the thing I have kept in my mind for twenty years, when Vilya revealed my past life, it was just too much', Rory answered.
'That was it! I did not really understand that last part, Vilya did not want me to', said Elrond. He then took the ring box from his pocket and put Vilya on hand again. He spoke to the ring 'I know you not wish to speak of this now, Vilya but you must.' The elf lord then went into a trance for about a minute, his eyes glazed, his breathing slowed.
Elrond shook himself, and put Vilya away again after telling the ring he would not disturb her rest again.
'That was a most unusual experience,' Elrond remarked.
'Will someone tell me what happened,' Aragorn asked in pleading tone.
Gandalf gave Aragorn a measuring glance, as if to decide what to say, then he spoke 'whatever happened was too much for Rory to handle emotionally. Both she and Elrond nearly died'.