Chapter 13

It was done; the seeing was over for the night. Galadriel walked back up the stairs with a body in her arms. She was not surprised at what had happened, nor was she worried about Elizabeth's physical health.

"What happened?!" a voice whispered harshly as Galadriel walked between the sleeping bodies of the Fellowship. She held in her arms an unconscious girl that appeared to have matured in look a bit.

"She looked into the mirror." Galadriel answered calmly. "Do not ask of her what she saw. That is between herself and the mirror. You will find out from her dreams."

The voice was silent for a moment, pondering Galadriel's words.

"Where are you taking her, my lady?" the voice asked after a moment.

"To the room she was in. You may speak with her tomorrow, do not wake her now." Galadriel said as she disappeared up the stairs and into a talan.

Elizabeth opened her eyes to a beautiful day and smiled, only to have her smile chased away by the memory of what she'd seen in Galadriel's mirror. Thinking of mirrors, Elizabeth glanced at the one in her room and gasped. A strange mark had been placed on her forehead in the shape of a moon and star.

Her blue eyes were now hazel/gold and her blonde hair had grown longer.

Elizabeth lifted a hand to her forehead and stared at her reflection.

"That's funny. I never put that there…" she whispered.

"Elizabeth?" a voice called from just outside her room. "Elizabeth, are you all right? I—" the owner of the voice stopped short in the doorway when Elizabeth turned her face towards him.

"Elizabeth, what are you doing painting yourself?" He asked, smiling amusedly.

"I wasn't," Elizabeth protested. "I woke up and it was there!"

Aragorn looked hesitant to say his current thoughts, and decided not to.

"Come, let us get you washed up." He suggested, grabbing a washcloth from Elizabeth's nightstand and beckoning for the eight year old to follow.

Aragorn wet the washcloth and scrubbed Elizabeth's face clean. He then wet it again and began scrubbing the mark on her forehead.

"You looked a bit lifeless last night." Aragorn commented as he scrubbed her forehead.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked her head bobbing back and forth as Aragorn scrubbed her forehead.

"Galadriel told me you looked in the mirror. And afterward you were so overwhelmed that you fell unconscious." Aragorn said.

"Unconscious?" Elizabeth asked, not familiar with the word.

"You fell asleep." Aragorn answered simply. He put down the washcloth and frowned at the strange symbol on Elizabeth's head. "The marking will not come off. I will speak to the Lady about it later."

Elizabeth didn't answer. She just stared at her reflection in the mirror wondering at the strange marking.

"Now get dressed, or you shall skip breakfast." Aragorn commanded. "Wear something nice; you want to be pretty for all those boys who will want to court you."

Elizabeth growled and threw a pillow at Aragorn. "Get out you clown or I'll make you pretty."

Aragorn put his hands up in surrender and walked out of the room to speak with the Fellowship.

Elizabeth shook her head and twisted the door handle on the closet door. She gasped. Inside the closet were beautiful elvish gowns and dresses just waiting to be worn.

Elizabeth picked out a light green dress and held it up to herself. It looked like a perfect fit. Without any help, she slipped it on and laced it up. And at that precise moment, Aragorn chose to come back.

"Finished?" Aragorn asked.

Elizabeth nodded enthusiastically and smiled. Aragorn gave a small bow and motioned for Elizabeth to exit first.

"After you, my lady." He said.

"What are you talking about, Aragorn?" Elizabeth asked as she walked past Aragorn. "I'm a girl not a lady."

"Whatever you say, Elizabeth."

The minute Elizabeth entered the clearing that the Fellowship had been staying in; she was surrounded by Merry and Pippin.

"What does it feel like?" Pippin asked the moment he saw the mark on her forehead.

"Where did you get it?" Merry asked. "It looks so strange."

"Can I get one?" Pippin asked.

Elizabeth found herself giggling uncontrollably.

"I don't know how I got it, silly. If I knew, I would have told Aragorn and you, but I didn't, so I don't know."

Pippin frowned. "Than how did you get it?"

"She just told you, Pippin." Merry said exasperatedly.

Elizabeth giggled and caught Frodo's eye. He smiled feebly in return, but it died away quickly.

Elizabeth walked away from Merry and Pippin and sat down next to Frodo.

"They're right, you know." Frodo said softly, after a moment.

"About what, Frodo?" Elizabeth asked, a frown crossing her childish features.

"That mark is very peculiar. In all my life I've never seen it. I doubt even Bilbo has." Frodo answered.

"Well that's 'cuz I'm special. That's what my mommy always told me. Having something that no one else has is being special. And everyone's special 'cuz everyone has something that no one else has." Elizabeth answered.

Frodo let out a soft laugh and smiled. "Your mother was right."

"I want to see her." Elizabeth complained softly. "But something tells me I never will."

"Perhaps the Valar will grant you your wish. Or maybe they will allow you to stay with the elves." Frodo said.

"Won't the elves die? And who are the Valar?" Elizabeth asked.

"The elves will not die because they are immortal and the Valar are kind of like their gods." Frodo said. "But not really."

"Immortal means you can live forever right?"

Frodo smiled and nodded. "I only wish we could stay in their company longer."

"I wish the exact opposite. I wish I was going with you and the Fellowship." Elizabeth sighed. She wanted to see her mommy and she wanted to go with her friends.

Saruman sat at his desk, his magic book open and a sly smile upon his face.

"So, you believe you have found the Helper of the one who bears the Ring." He said to his empty room. "And the witch has shown her the mirror."

He flipped his book to another page that read: Seeing through the Eyes of the Enemy. The Wizard smiled maliciously.

"Let us see whether or not she is strong enough to bear this vision of sorts." Saruman said. He slammed the book shut and entered his "throne" room. The old wizard waved his hands over the Palantir that stood in the middle of the room and began chanting…

Elizabeth smiled blissfully in her sleep as the Lord of Caras Galadhon himself watched over her. His arms were folded and there was a light scowl etched across his brow. He did not agree with his wife's methods of showing a child the truth, but nevertheless it was the only way. Besides, what was done, was done and there was no way to reverse the process unless the Valar themselves aided.

Deciding that it would be all right to leave, Celeborn took one last look at the sleeping 8-year-old and exited the room.

No sooner after Celeborn left the room did Elizabeth's peaceful sleeping take a turn for the worse.

(Elizabeth's dream)

A tower, a black tower. With smoke rising from large holes surrounding it. Elizabeth did not know what to make of it; she only knew that this was irregular in Middle Earth.

Suddenly, she was inside the tower, in one of the rooms. A man clothed from head to toe in white who looked like Gandalf was speaking to one of the ugliest things Elizabeth had ever seen. Grosser than a Nazgul and Elizabeth even wondered if it could talk intelligently.

"Do you know how the orcs first came into being?" the man who looked like Gandalf said.

'He is called Saruman.' A voice acknowledged in Elizabeth's mind.

Elizabeth frowned, but shook it off. The wizard or Saruman continued after the creature let out a low growl.

"They were elves once." Saruman said as he began to circle the creature. "Taken by the Dark Powers, tortured and mutilated. A ruined, terrible form of life. And now perfected. My fighting Uruk-hai, whom do you serve?"

The creature growled loudly before answering. "Saruman!"

Then there were more of the ugly creatures. Their faces had been painted red and they put white hands on their foreheads. The creatures were armed with odd looking swords, too.

But, the funny, or rather, scary thing was, that the Uruk-hai or whatever they were, seemed to be charged with the urge to kill each time a white hand was planted upon their face.

This scared Elizabeth; even at the age of ten, she was afraid, deadly afraid.

"Hunt them down; do not stop until they are dead!" Saruman continued. "You do not know pain, you do not know fear. You will taste man flesh!"

The Uruk-hai all cheered and growled like mobbing men that had just exited a football stadium. Saruman turned to his chief Uruk-hai, Lurtz. Elizabeth watched silently and began to feel a feeling of fear creeping up her throat.

"One of the Halflings carries something of great value. Bring them to me alive and unspoiled." The wizard commanded. "Kill the others. Especially the ones close to the child."

Elizabeth screamed bloody murder and willed herself to wake.

((ok, so I will have to decide on separating this story into 3 parts. Ok but I need to work out a few things.

Question 1: Should Elizabeth (being the Helper she's supposed to be) fight during Helm's Deep?

Question 2: Whether or not Elizabeth fights during the battle of Helm's Deep, how do you think she gets injured?

THANKS SO MUCH!!!! I LOVE EVERYONE WHO REVIEWS (and if you are disgusted by lesbianism and gay-ism than don't take this literally.) JK JK

Soccer-Bitch: Thanks for your constant reviews. You are one of the people I can always count on to review!! I hope you enjoy!!

IrethAncalime3791: ELIZABETH DID NOT GET HURT IN THIS CHAPTER!!!! SO THERE!!! JK, JK!!! Thanks for the review! It really helped—seriously! I now know exactly what I'm gonna do!!!

Elora Nova: Thanks so much for reading this fic. You know, the funniest thing happened the other day. I gave one of my friends the link to one of my stories without telling her that I wrote them and she went bazookas telling me to tell the author to hurry up and post! Isn't that coolly?

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JennAh, a reviewer of mine told me about you…she said you were very desperate about reading the next chapter of one of my other stories. If you're reading this right now, it means you've taken what I've told her to tell you and followed it. Happy reading, friend of a reviewer!

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ANYWHO, please keep reading!!!))