After she had walked away, daring to give the fallen wizard her back, Anna gave a weak smile to the hobbits as she toppled to the ground and winced as most of her bruises were pinched by the just drying floor.
'Whose side is she on?' Merry screamed incredulously.
'Oh, neither, you silly thing,' Anna responded. After seeing neither drop to happiness, she continued, 'Though, I will help you if you need it. Oh,' and then threw her hands up at them, bringing them closer for a hug. 'I was so worried about you. I am so glad you two are alive.'
Merry pulled himself away. 'You did not show it the first time we saw you. You were--you were evil!'
She kept Pippin at her side as she spoke. 'I had to; I was trying to look like I was still commanded by Saruman.' Then, she added with a pout, 'You do not know how it is like to be a servant of a wizard. They utterly control your every action, watch what you do, and hear what you say, no matter the distance between you. Then, if you try to resist-' she shuddered. Legolas finally understood her dislike for wizard and knew her offer of service would not happen again.
'But you resisted this time, and you won,' Legolas reminded.
'That does not mean anything,' she replied downcast. 'I am not unchanged. I will never make the mistake of alliances again.' Her voice shook.
Saruman then appeared from a balcony above them and tried speaking with all of them. On more than one occasion, Anna interrupted the talks with Saruman, pleading the others not to listen when Saruman would use the Voice and manipulate each group individually, trying to make him seem the innocent one, placing blame constantly on others. Though, by the time Gandalf was done talking with Saruman, the broken wizard was devoid of his keys, staff and dignity. In a fit of anger, Wormtongue threw a round, glass ball out the window. Pippin raced to get it as it rolled to the floor as the rest ducked and spoke of what to do next, if another fit of anger could come from the window.
'Pippin!' Anna cried.' 'What if you give that to me,' she said, trying to mask her intensity of her request as he looked in the globe. She snatched it from his hands and wrapped it in her skirt. Pippin looked down at her in disappointment and anger. Why should he not have a look in it? Was he so distrusted, even more than she was after all those changes in friends?
Gandalf broke off from his conversation when he heard Anna cry out and went over to her. 'What is it you are hiding in you skirts?' he asked.
She looked at him conspiratorially. 'A palantir. The communication between the two towers.' A wave of understanding reached Gandalf. As he coaxed it from Anna into his won robes, Anna gave it up more freely than he thought she would, as if she wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible. It was kept hidden as they all left Treebeard to watch over Saruman. They all headed back to Helm's Deep to gather the rest and march back to Edoras. At night they had just reached a little grove of trees and stopped to make camp, the press for time no longer upon their shoulders.
Just after dinner, Gandalf whispered from behind Anna, 'You remember what you said to Saruman about you alliances?' The wizard kept his body from facing her so that the others could not guess they were talking. 'I expect you do not lie.'
'You would do so correctly,' Anna hesitated for she still did not know ho w to address the wizard.
'There are bonds that still need cutting, then, he replied nonchalantly, as if advising Sam to cut back the hedges that would flourish into the window in a season. Where was Sam now? Far away, she supposed as she looked to the dark eastern sky. Hopefully enjoying his two pots, she thought with a smile.
Bonds, what others did she have left? The three that she had traveled with were just a few feet away, talking to a group of Rohirrim captains. She knew how to deny these bonds, though how would face them and deny them to their face was another matter.
She nodded her head, the action caught by the wizard as he left her to walk over there and speak with them privately. At first, her presence was unknown, as was usual with her entrances in the past. 'May I speak to them alone,' Anna asked to the backs of the captains. They turned in surprise but then instantly bowed sand left her. Facing Saruman alone and rejecting him to his face brought a great deal of respect.
They all looked expectantly at her but she focused on Aragorn, raising her chin slightly. 'Lord Aragorn, there is a matter of service to be discussed,' she started. 'I announced to Saruman that all bond were cut and I will stay on that course. I cannot, and you as well, trust any of the actions or words before I was freed from Saruman's hold. Those things were all done for him, for he had control over me then.'
'Not all of it, surely,' Legolas beseeched. Anna just nodded her head, somewhat coldly.
'I do not trust myself to sort out which was my own doings and which were not,' she said coldly, not looking into his eyes. 'So, the serviced I offered you are now over, though I will help you if I can.' She was lucky, she thought, that she had not been ordered to kill one of them in their sleep as Saruman had often had Wormtongue do. She looked up, catching sight of the lost look Legolas gave her. She averted her eyes to the sigh she had been trying to avoid. Her attention on Aragorn again forced her to speak. 'I am no longer a servant. I am my own person.'
Aragorn trusted this statement and saw proof in it as she said the broken wizard's name without trouble. Aragorn saluted her, his hand held out. 'I respect in you decision and will treat you as such.' Anna could already feel the space between herself and the three before her stretch in her chest, a tie broken. Aragorn left her to go to a watch while Gimli went to find a suitable place to sleep. Legolas dragged behind.
'So what you said to me, what you gave to me--it was nothing?' he snapped at her quietly. Anna said nothing but closed her eyes, not wanting to hurt him any more than she already had. 'So be it,' he ended, more sad than angry. The space between herself and the others became a hole.