The tension had mostly subsided, between Anna and the hobbits anyway. Her
odd behavior could be seen when she, Merry and Pippin were tapping each
other on the shoulder one night right before they were going to sleep. The
taps were at first just an annoyance but soon they were all out punches,
yet their smiles grew and they were laughing at the game. Just as Anna and
Pippin were about to gang up on Merry, Gandalf gave them a stare, silencing
their little war. Merry and Pippin looked at each other guiltily but when
they looked to see Anna's reaction, she was laying on the ground with her
eyes closed. The instant she saw that Gandalf had noticed them she ducked
from view behind the hobbits and pretended to be sleeping, a smile still
creeping on her face. In a way, she had a smile steal onto everyone's
face.
They all were not comfortable with the dark of Moria, except Gimli, whose stout courage helped the others. But Anna could not hide her dislike for the place with just facial expressions that would not be seen by the timid light on Gandalf's staff. Another night, or what they assumed was night for it was always dark, they noticed Anna had not eating with them nor did she ever ask for the food they brought. Instead of eating with the rest of them, her footsteps could be heard pacing around them, once in awhile halting or shuffling in another direction.
'Would you sit down? You are making me nervous,' Boromir said to her.
'I'm making you nervous? I'm surprised all of you are sitting there like nothing amiss.' She kept pacing. 'I do not like dark, or enclosed places,' she whispered but it bounced off the walls so that everyone heard what she was saying. 'I have not been in a building for many years, and for good reason. Now I am here, without sunlight or starlight with a group that is being hunted!' The last word resonated through the hall and stopped her footsteps, but only until the echoes faded.
'At least have something to eat,' Merry said with his own mouth full and a piece of bread in his outstretched hand.
'I do not need your food. I have gone many days without food before. Besides, I have food from Hollin, things that I am more used to eating.' She bent down behind Sam so that she was speaking right beside his ear. 'I gave some to Sam if you want any.'
Remembering something Anna had said before, Pippin said, 'Tom Bombadil told stories of the Barrow-downs.' Merry elbowed Pippin and looked cautiously to Aragorn but the statement made Anna sit down after all.
'What stories did he tell?' she asked.
'Many.' Pippin was not discouraged by Merry's warning. 'He told stories of the battles that were waged between the little kingdoms of long ago.'
'They were not little to me,' she whispered.
'So, you were there then,' said Frodo, 'when all the kingdoms died and all that was left were the Great Barrows, the mounds.'
'Aye, I was there.' Her voice was only slightly stronger. 'I wasn't there to bury the royalty. I had left before that. As her timid, skulking voice filled the dark, they realized the slight scraggle in her throat and the tremors in the words were evidence that she must not have talked in years. How easily word after word flowed out of her mouth could have begged to differ, or seeing as how she had not gotten the chance to say all these things before, it was just more proof.
'What do you remember of that place?' Merry asked hesitantly.
Anna replied as if she could see the scene play before her eyes as she spoke. 'I remember one of the last battles. Our kingdom was not going to hold on too long. They had told me to flee. They were not sure how the other kingdom would treat an elf. I had made it to the boundary of the kingdom, the side where the bushes grew right before a dike. I jumped over the bushes and hid in the trench. beside the ones I had learned to call family. all slain.'
The hobbits thought it suspicious that she had mentioned a place Tom had shown them when he was leading them to the Old Road. He had mentioned it was the border of a kingdom. Still they couldn't help but feel sorry that she had had to experience that, and wondered if their own fate would play out similarly.
She 'hmmed' as if some memory awoke something pleasant into her heart. 'I also remember this blue brooch,' she said, raising her hand to her shoulder as if she could feel herself wearing it even now. 'It reflected every light, making it look like blue butterfly wings.'
'It must have been beautiful,' said Legolas sympathetically.
'Yes, it was,' she said simply. The hobbits kept silent their thoughts of how the girl would mention the one thing Tom Bombadil had picked out from the Barrow-wights for Goldberry, the River-daughter. Had she been following them since then or was she telling the truth?
After everyone had eaten, it was time to set a watch. 'I will be the first to watch,' Anna said, already catching on to their habits. 'I cannot go to sleep anyway.'
'I will watch with you. I do not trust those sticky fingers nor those daggers so easily within your reach,' Aragorn said. 'We should watch in pairs anyway,' he explained.
'I do not care who watches with me. I would wake everyone if I saw anything,' she said, choosing to ignore Aragorn's suspicions but Aragorn had it set in his mind to keep an eye on her as long as she was still conscious.
The rest had set themselves up to sleep as best they could though the cold stone was hard to make comfortable. Anna had continued her pacing, pent-up energy driving her to walk a few feet away from Aragorn and then back the other way.
'Your footsteps are all I can hear,' Aragorn said irritated.
'That is good for anything else would surely be evil,' she replied. The only thing that finally stopped her pacing was a rock she had failed to notice. It caught her foot and she landed on the ground next to Aragorn. He his smirk as Anna folded her knees into her chest, rubbing one and mouthing 'Ow.'
Anna peeked over at Aragorn to see if he had seen her trip but he seemed oblivious to what happened. In cold gleam from Gandalf's staff, Anna noticed Aragorn's still features; his high forehead, usually seen of royalty, narrow eyes and dark hair, trademarks to the Dunedain, and his tanned skin an indication to his long days in the sun.
'It hurts to look at you,' Anna said, turning her gaze to the dark in front of her.
'I'm sure of at least one woman who would disagree with you,' he replied.
'That is not what I meant. You remind me of the people who lived in the Barrow-downs. You must be a descendant of theirs.' Aragorn said nothing. 'What do the stories you heard of Anna say?'
He gripped his sword that was lying on his lap. 'They tell of a baby girl being dropped off at a couple's doorstep who could not conceive a baby. They found your name on a tag: Anna, and beneath it was written a gift. They believed it was a gift from Orald. The hobbits call him Tom Bombadil,' he added after seeing how Anna would probably not have made the connection. He had suspicions of her somehow learning of the old man's stories and using them to twist their minds.
'Well, that's not true,' Anna put in. 'They were able to conceive. I had many brothers and sister.'
'They had them after you were brought. Nonetheless, that part doesn't matter,' he added, realizing he had slipped and agreed that she was the Anna in the stories. 'That is just a part of the usual tales of babies on doorsteps. What was unforgettable about Anna was that she was an elf, but the village kept this secret. At most, the kingdom knew but no one else. It was after the Downs had disintegrated that the Dunedain learned of the tale. The people that were left from the kingdoms figured you were dead, so releasing you secret would do you no harm. The Dunedain kept it secret out of pride.' He looked at her calculatingly. 'And we do not share our secrets easily.'
In that moment, Anna was able to look into Aragorn's eyes, before he turned away again. 'You have seen much in you short years, much pain,' she said, reflecting on what she had noticed in that brief instant of eye contact.
'They will see more before the end,' he added.
Anna jangled her anklets restlessly, piecing Aragorn's story together with what she knew. 'But you did not know even my name before you know I was an elf. How did you come across that presumption? I was not even an adult before I was taken away from the food, music and company of the elves that give them their glow and height. I have not the beauty of the elves.'
'I think you years away from the elves has masked your opinion.' Aragorn thought back to their meeting, searching for an articulate answer. 'I have spent my own childhood surrounded by the elves and their culture.' Aragorn remembered the faces of the elves, their powerful majesty especially seen in their leaders. 'You act like a child but you have lived more years than me. You constantly react to what you run into as if helpless to do any more.' He put his hand over his mouth, choosing his words carefully. 'You have more control than you lead onto. More than you may even know.'
The rest of their watch passed uneventful and silently. Aragorn told Anna to go to sleep while he woke two others to take the watch. By now, Anna was ready to close her eyes so she moved to where the others were sleeping, learning from watching other travel bands to gain body warmth from each other. On the way, she caught a glimmer of gold on Frodo.
Out of habit, she crept closer to see what jewels might be lost before morning. As if she was brushing away a spider web from his neck, she moved aside his collar. She saw it on the chain around his neck, a gold ring. Already, she felt something on it that was never on any other ring she had stolen. All the years of stealing she had come across many dwarf, man, even blessed elf rings and none of them seemed to radiate its presence like the golf ring lying on Frodo's chest.
Anna could have unfastened the necklace and hid it within the fold s of her dress as she had done many times before but her gasp at seeing the ring was heard by Legolas who was just woken to take the next watch. His keen eyes caught her kneeling over Frodo in the dark with her hand hovering over him.
'Oirebian!' Legolas called for he was still using the elvish name for her.
The call woke the rest up as it echoed off the walls. Anna sat back, interrupted before the ring could whisper its spell on her. Frodo was forced from his sleep, instantly grabbing the exposed ring.
A moment of tense silence was followed by a brief explanation. No one wanted to give the thief more than was needed. 'You have found the reason for our quest. It is sought by many but you must never speak of it,' said Gandalf and then lowered his voice. 'We will have to keep a closer eye on her and her messengers now if she didn't know of it before,' he added quietly to Aragorn.
Anna was still looking at the abomination, a wild flame licking her eyes. 'It is what my master wants. It will cause war,' she uttered and looked up at Frodo's face, gaining some control. Frodo was still wary of her. 'I hate it,' she murmured, old memories of the wizard's hunt for it bringing pain back to her limbs.
'It is evil and we are going out to destroy it,' Aragorn said, breaking Anna's stare. 'You can not touch it.'
She looked back at Frodo. 'I believe you,' she whispered.
'Anna!' Aragorn had not heard her and tilted his head to see if she was paying attention. He was not convinced she understood the gravity of the situation. She turned her head.
'I said: I believe you!' she yelled back at Aragorn letting her temper slip. She then scuttled away from Frodo to the comfort of all. 'Don't know how I will get any sleep after this,' she muttered, clearly shaken into the reality of the times. She lay where the elf would take his watch. The rest would sleep uneasily and Legolas's eyes would not be the only ones open. Anna stared at the black ceiling going over thoughts only she would hear.
The day afterward was quiet. They stayed to the path light by Gandalf without a problem, until a fork in the road stopped the old wizard. They sat and made themselves comfortable while he thought of a way to go. Oddly enough, Anna took a seat next to Gimli. While the rest took to their own business, Anna took the time to talk to Gimli. 'I'm sorry,' she began, 'about the daggers. You do understand I needed them.' Gimli nodded his head. 'Maybe if I give you something from your own culture, you will think of it more as a trade.' She was already unfastening a chain around her neck and handing it to Gimli. 'There are gems on it that glitter even without light.'
The gems were small but unmistakable. 'Mithril,' Gimli muttered to himself. Anna let him inspect the chain alone while another conversation between Gandalf and Frodo sparked her interest. The name Gollum would always force her to listen. After the two quieted, she scuttled over to them.
'I have seen Gollum,' she told them. 'His travels are frantic, like he is searching for something.' She laid down with her hands behind her head. 'We met once. It was all I needed to know we were one in the same.' She looked at Frodo. 'Both strangers to society, both hiding from preying minds. Both without a home.' She stated this as if they were just facts to prove her point but to Frodo it was sad. Looking at Anna, he did not feel pity, but as he learned more of her, his view changed. Later, he would realize Gollum was much different than her; a look at his stretched and worn figure and pity came easily.
Anna rested her head against her hand once again. 'We had made a promise then, to never tell of each other's whereabouts and to remain the way we were when the people gave up.' She paused for a minute, now in her own thoughts. 'Though, when I think about it, we have up on them.'
With just a breath, she was onto something else. 'So, which way are we going?'
'Oh! It's this way.' Gandalf jumped up as the rest followed suit.
'He's remembered!' Merry exclaimed, relieved.
'No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here.' Gandalf put his tall hat on. 'When in doubt, Meriodoc Brandybuck, always follow your nose.'
As the Company made their way, Anna followed in the dark behind all of them. She did not miss a step as they all chased after Gimli into Balin's Tomb. She stayed quietly in a corner as Gandalf read from the book accounting the last stand at Moria, watching the reactions of the others. Aragorn and Legolas stood ready in the torchlight while Gimli stayed kneeling at the foot of the tomb. The hobbits turned their heads uneasily and Pippin backed up into a well. He twisted the hand of a skeleton taking his last drink. The head slowly rolled off its neck, down into the well. Each time it ringed off the wall of the well, Pippin winced and during its entire descent, Pippin wondered why it was he who had made the crucial mistake. All the days in Moria, it was Anna who would find things to trip on and topple over.
. . . DRUMS, DRUMS. THEY ARE COMING.
They all were not comfortable with the dark of Moria, except Gimli, whose stout courage helped the others. But Anna could not hide her dislike for the place with just facial expressions that would not be seen by the timid light on Gandalf's staff. Another night, or what they assumed was night for it was always dark, they noticed Anna had not eating with them nor did she ever ask for the food they brought. Instead of eating with the rest of them, her footsteps could be heard pacing around them, once in awhile halting or shuffling in another direction.
'Would you sit down? You are making me nervous,' Boromir said to her.
'I'm making you nervous? I'm surprised all of you are sitting there like nothing amiss.' She kept pacing. 'I do not like dark, or enclosed places,' she whispered but it bounced off the walls so that everyone heard what she was saying. 'I have not been in a building for many years, and for good reason. Now I am here, without sunlight or starlight with a group that is being hunted!' The last word resonated through the hall and stopped her footsteps, but only until the echoes faded.
'At least have something to eat,' Merry said with his own mouth full and a piece of bread in his outstretched hand.
'I do not need your food. I have gone many days without food before. Besides, I have food from Hollin, things that I am more used to eating.' She bent down behind Sam so that she was speaking right beside his ear. 'I gave some to Sam if you want any.'
Remembering something Anna had said before, Pippin said, 'Tom Bombadil told stories of the Barrow-downs.' Merry elbowed Pippin and looked cautiously to Aragorn but the statement made Anna sit down after all.
'What stories did he tell?' she asked.
'Many.' Pippin was not discouraged by Merry's warning. 'He told stories of the battles that were waged between the little kingdoms of long ago.'
'They were not little to me,' she whispered.
'So, you were there then,' said Frodo, 'when all the kingdoms died and all that was left were the Great Barrows, the mounds.'
'Aye, I was there.' Her voice was only slightly stronger. 'I wasn't there to bury the royalty. I had left before that. As her timid, skulking voice filled the dark, they realized the slight scraggle in her throat and the tremors in the words were evidence that she must not have talked in years. How easily word after word flowed out of her mouth could have begged to differ, or seeing as how she had not gotten the chance to say all these things before, it was just more proof.
'What do you remember of that place?' Merry asked hesitantly.
Anna replied as if she could see the scene play before her eyes as she spoke. 'I remember one of the last battles. Our kingdom was not going to hold on too long. They had told me to flee. They were not sure how the other kingdom would treat an elf. I had made it to the boundary of the kingdom, the side where the bushes grew right before a dike. I jumped over the bushes and hid in the trench. beside the ones I had learned to call family. all slain.'
The hobbits thought it suspicious that she had mentioned a place Tom had shown them when he was leading them to the Old Road. He had mentioned it was the border of a kingdom. Still they couldn't help but feel sorry that she had had to experience that, and wondered if their own fate would play out similarly.
She 'hmmed' as if some memory awoke something pleasant into her heart. 'I also remember this blue brooch,' she said, raising her hand to her shoulder as if she could feel herself wearing it even now. 'It reflected every light, making it look like blue butterfly wings.'
'It must have been beautiful,' said Legolas sympathetically.
'Yes, it was,' she said simply. The hobbits kept silent their thoughts of how the girl would mention the one thing Tom Bombadil had picked out from the Barrow-wights for Goldberry, the River-daughter. Had she been following them since then or was she telling the truth?
After everyone had eaten, it was time to set a watch. 'I will be the first to watch,' Anna said, already catching on to their habits. 'I cannot go to sleep anyway.'
'I will watch with you. I do not trust those sticky fingers nor those daggers so easily within your reach,' Aragorn said. 'We should watch in pairs anyway,' he explained.
'I do not care who watches with me. I would wake everyone if I saw anything,' she said, choosing to ignore Aragorn's suspicions but Aragorn had it set in his mind to keep an eye on her as long as she was still conscious.
The rest had set themselves up to sleep as best they could though the cold stone was hard to make comfortable. Anna had continued her pacing, pent-up energy driving her to walk a few feet away from Aragorn and then back the other way.
'Your footsteps are all I can hear,' Aragorn said irritated.
'That is good for anything else would surely be evil,' she replied. The only thing that finally stopped her pacing was a rock she had failed to notice. It caught her foot and she landed on the ground next to Aragorn. He his smirk as Anna folded her knees into her chest, rubbing one and mouthing 'Ow.'
Anna peeked over at Aragorn to see if he had seen her trip but he seemed oblivious to what happened. In cold gleam from Gandalf's staff, Anna noticed Aragorn's still features; his high forehead, usually seen of royalty, narrow eyes and dark hair, trademarks to the Dunedain, and his tanned skin an indication to his long days in the sun.
'It hurts to look at you,' Anna said, turning her gaze to the dark in front of her.
'I'm sure of at least one woman who would disagree with you,' he replied.
'That is not what I meant. You remind me of the people who lived in the Barrow-downs. You must be a descendant of theirs.' Aragorn said nothing. 'What do the stories you heard of Anna say?'
He gripped his sword that was lying on his lap. 'They tell of a baby girl being dropped off at a couple's doorstep who could not conceive a baby. They found your name on a tag: Anna, and beneath it was written a gift. They believed it was a gift from Orald. The hobbits call him Tom Bombadil,' he added after seeing how Anna would probably not have made the connection. He had suspicions of her somehow learning of the old man's stories and using them to twist their minds.
'Well, that's not true,' Anna put in. 'They were able to conceive. I had many brothers and sister.'
'They had them after you were brought. Nonetheless, that part doesn't matter,' he added, realizing he had slipped and agreed that she was the Anna in the stories. 'That is just a part of the usual tales of babies on doorsteps. What was unforgettable about Anna was that she was an elf, but the village kept this secret. At most, the kingdom knew but no one else. It was after the Downs had disintegrated that the Dunedain learned of the tale. The people that were left from the kingdoms figured you were dead, so releasing you secret would do you no harm. The Dunedain kept it secret out of pride.' He looked at her calculatingly. 'And we do not share our secrets easily.'
In that moment, Anna was able to look into Aragorn's eyes, before he turned away again. 'You have seen much in you short years, much pain,' she said, reflecting on what she had noticed in that brief instant of eye contact.
'They will see more before the end,' he added.
Anna jangled her anklets restlessly, piecing Aragorn's story together with what she knew. 'But you did not know even my name before you know I was an elf. How did you come across that presumption? I was not even an adult before I was taken away from the food, music and company of the elves that give them their glow and height. I have not the beauty of the elves.'
'I think you years away from the elves has masked your opinion.' Aragorn thought back to their meeting, searching for an articulate answer. 'I have spent my own childhood surrounded by the elves and their culture.' Aragorn remembered the faces of the elves, their powerful majesty especially seen in their leaders. 'You act like a child but you have lived more years than me. You constantly react to what you run into as if helpless to do any more.' He put his hand over his mouth, choosing his words carefully. 'You have more control than you lead onto. More than you may even know.'
The rest of their watch passed uneventful and silently. Aragorn told Anna to go to sleep while he woke two others to take the watch. By now, Anna was ready to close her eyes so she moved to where the others were sleeping, learning from watching other travel bands to gain body warmth from each other. On the way, she caught a glimmer of gold on Frodo.
Out of habit, she crept closer to see what jewels might be lost before morning. As if she was brushing away a spider web from his neck, she moved aside his collar. She saw it on the chain around his neck, a gold ring. Already, she felt something on it that was never on any other ring she had stolen. All the years of stealing she had come across many dwarf, man, even blessed elf rings and none of them seemed to radiate its presence like the golf ring lying on Frodo's chest.
Anna could have unfastened the necklace and hid it within the fold s of her dress as she had done many times before but her gasp at seeing the ring was heard by Legolas who was just woken to take the next watch. His keen eyes caught her kneeling over Frodo in the dark with her hand hovering over him.
'Oirebian!' Legolas called for he was still using the elvish name for her.
The call woke the rest up as it echoed off the walls. Anna sat back, interrupted before the ring could whisper its spell on her. Frodo was forced from his sleep, instantly grabbing the exposed ring.
A moment of tense silence was followed by a brief explanation. No one wanted to give the thief more than was needed. 'You have found the reason for our quest. It is sought by many but you must never speak of it,' said Gandalf and then lowered his voice. 'We will have to keep a closer eye on her and her messengers now if she didn't know of it before,' he added quietly to Aragorn.
Anna was still looking at the abomination, a wild flame licking her eyes. 'It is what my master wants. It will cause war,' she uttered and looked up at Frodo's face, gaining some control. Frodo was still wary of her. 'I hate it,' she murmured, old memories of the wizard's hunt for it bringing pain back to her limbs.
'It is evil and we are going out to destroy it,' Aragorn said, breaking Anna's stare. 'You can not touch it.'
She looked back at Frodo. 'I believe you,' she whispered.
'Anna!' Aragorn had not heard her and tilted his head to see if she was paying attention. He was not convinced she understood the gravity of the situation. She turned her head.
'I said: I believe you!' she yelled back at Aragorn letting her temper slip. She then scuttled away from Frodo to the comfort of all. 'Don't know how I will get any sleep after this,' she muttered, clearly shaken into the reality of the times. She lay where the elf would take his watch. The rest would sleep uneasily and Legolas's eyes would not be the only ones open. Anna stared at the black ceiling going over thoughts only she would hear.
The day afterward was quiet. They stayed to the path light by Gandalf without a problem, until a fork in the road stopped the old wizard. They sat and made themselves comfortable while he thought of a way to go. Oddly enough, Anna took a seat next to Gimli. While the rest took to their own business, Anna took the time to talk to Gimli. 'I'm sorry,' she began, 'about the daggers. You do understand I needed them.' Gimli nodded his head. 'Maybe if I give you something from your own culture, you will think of it more as a trade.' She was already unfastening a chain around her neck and handing it to Gimli. 'There are gems on it that glitter even without light.'
The gems were small but unmistakable. 'Mithril,' Gimli muttered to himself. Anna let him inspect the chain alone while another conversation between Gandalf and Frodo sparked her interest. The name Gollum would always force her to listen. After the two quieted, she scuttled over to them.
'I have seen Gollum,' she told them. 'His travels are frantic, like he is searching for something.' She laid down with her hands behind her head. 'We met once. It was all I needed to know we were one in the same.' She looked at Frodo. 'Both strangers to society, both hiding from preying minds. Both without a home.' She stated this as if they were just facts to prove her point but to Frodo it was sad. Looking at Anna, he did not feel pity, but as he learned more of her, his view changed. Later, he would realize Gollum was much different than her; a look at his stretched and worn figure and pity came easily.
Anna rested her head against her hand once again. 'We had made a promise then, to never tell of each other's whereabouts and to remain the way we were when the people gave up.' She paused for a minute, now in her own thoughts. 'Though, when I think about it, we have up on them.'
With just a breath, she was onto something else. 'So, which way are we going?'
'Oh! It's this way.' Gandalf jumped up as the rest followed suit.
'He's remembered!' Merry exclaimed, relieved.
'No, but the air doesn't smell so foul down here.' Gandalf put his tall hat on. 'When in doubt, Meriodoc Brandybuck, always follow your nose.'
As the Company made their way, Anna followed in the dark behind all of them. She did not miss a step as they all chased after Gimli into Balin's Tomb. She stayed quietly in a corner as Gandalf read from the book accounting the last stand at Moria, watching the reactions of the others. Aragorn and Legolas stood ready in the torchlight while Gimli stayed kneeling at the foot of the tomb. The hobbits turned their heads uneasily and Pippin backed up into a well. He twisted the hand of a skeleton taking his last drink. The head slowly rolled off its neck, down into the well. Each time it ringed off the wall of the well, Pippin winced and during its entire descent, Pippin wondered why it was he who had made the crucial mistake. All the days in Moria, it was Anna who would find things to trip on and topple over.
. . . DRUMS, DRUMS. THEY ARE COMING.