Sáerwen (pronounce Sá-er-wen) has been wandering the lands of Middle-Earth for a very long time, trying to put the past behind her. 171 years ago, Smaug destroyed Dale and claimed Erebor for himself. She would know she was there. It never sat right with her after that day when her kin turned their back on the Dwarves. Ashamed of her own race, she left her home and has not been back since. Gandalf the Grey approaches her with a proposition to join the quest to reclaim the Mountain. Wanting to do right by her kin, she agrees. Knowing fully that the leader of this quest despises Elves, and will test her in every way he can to prove she doesn't belong with them. Will she fail?
I have been wandering the lands of Middle-Earth for a very long time. One hundred forty years, to be exact. I was six hundred and twenty-four at the time when the mountain got attacked, when the Dragon came and unleashed its fury onto the Dwarves of Erebor, and my kin did nothing to help. I lost all faith in my race that day. So many innocent lives were destroyed. And the ones who survived lost everything. I left my homeland soon after that, not sure where or what I was looking for. My journey took me many places. I often traveled to Imladris, Gondor, Lothlorien. Even made my way through Rohan a few times. I gained many friends in my travels, unfortunately on my travels I also gained a few enemies too.
On my last journey I was badly injured when a pack of orcs ambushed me on the road. There were just too many of them, and an arrow pierced halfway through my gut. I fell to the ground hard, with a grunt. I was sure one if not all were going to come and finish the job, but they didn't. My camp wasn't too far from where they attacked me, and I stood up after many grunts of pain. I stumbled my way, using the tree's for support and got to my destination. I dropped to where my satchel laid on the forest ground and dug around for supplies. My vision was going blurry on me and a fever setting in. I knew this next part was going to hurt a lot. I grabbed the tip of the arrow and took a deep breath and started pulling the arrow the rest of the way through; I was panting by the time I got it out. My head felt like it was on fire now as beads of sweat came rushing down my face.
My horse Felaróf was in distress, hearing the attack go down, and now tried to get its reigns loose from the branch I tied him to. I ripped some of my clothing to use as a binding around my wound to stop the bleeding. I grabbed my satchel and weapons and untied my horse. It was about a day and a half gallop back to Rivendell. Felaróf laid down on the ground so I had an easier time climbing on, which still hurt. I had no idea the arrow's tip had been laced with poison. Someone wanted me to die a slow death.
Felaróf knew where we needed to go and I held onto the reigns loosely, growing more exhausted by the day. I must've passed out sometime in the day because I woke up a couple days later in the healing quarters of Imladris. Lord Elrond came to visit me that day. He informed me that if he hadn't had found me when he did, I would be dead right now. The Elf lord had been on a scouting mission with a group of his soldiers when they saw me passed out on the back of my horse.
I recovered two days later and was up and walking around this beautiful valley. They welcomed me to stay as long as I liked, and I was debating if I should just take him up on his generosity. I was almost killed, and whoever sent that pack of orcs after me was probably being informed that the job had been taken care of. It might not be a bad idea to stay in the valley for a while until I was sure they would send no one else to kill me if word got around that I had survived.
Lord Elrond, asked that I attend dinner with him and his family this evening and I kindly accepted the invitation and went to my quarters to put on something a little more formal than my usual traveling attire. I put on a lovely blue dress a tailor in the valley had made. I left my room, and a guard escorted me to the courtyard where the Elf lord sat, with his daughter and two sons. I curtsied before taking a seat at the table. They offered me wine, a green salad and a bun.
"So, Lady Sáerwen, where do you plan on traveling next?" Lord Elrond, asked, setting his glass of wine back on the table after taking a sip.
I chewed my food before answering. "To be honest, my lord, I am not sure if I want to travel anymore after what happened." I began, and he gave me a knowing look. "I thought I might spend my time here, in Rivendell."
"You are welcome to stay here as long as you like, if that is your wish." Lord Elrond told me.
I smiled at him." It is." I said. I couldn't believe I said it. Traveling was all I knew. I hadn't even been back home since the event's that took place in Erebor and Dale. The thought of not being on the road everyday felt strange, but I needed to remain behind safe borders. He smiled back at me and excused himself from the table, along with his children. I left soon after they did and ventured back to my room. I got out of my dress and put on my night wear and walked out on to the balcony attached to my room.
The stars filled the night sky. All I could hear around me was the sound of the waterfalls that surrounded this valley. It was so peaceful. I saw a few guards down below doing their rounds and went back in. I climbed into bed and blew out the candle on the small round table beside me and closed my eyes, eventually falling asleep.
Thirty-one years later...
It was a beautiful spring afternoon in Rivendell. I was sitting in the grass by one fall, reading, when I saw an approaching shadow. A shadow I had not seen in a very long time. "Lady Sáerwen," The familiar voice spoke.
"Gandalf the grey. It's been a long time." I greeted back, closing my book I was reading to look the wizard in the eyes. He still looked the same as the last time I saw him.
"Yes, it has. How would you like to come with me on an adventure?" Gandalf proclaimed.
"Excuse me?" I said, not sure if I heard that right.
"An adventure. I know you have been waiting for a chance to go on another journey."
"I don't do a lot of traveling anymore Gandalf. I am quite content in the valley."
The wizard raised his eyebrow at me as I opened my book back to the spot where I left off. "Are you? Is that why you are sitting here, reading about other people's travels." I narrowed my eyes at the old man and then looked at the ground and then back at the wizard with no answer. "Sáerwen, I know why you've been hiding here in Rivendell all these years, but you can't hide from your past any longer. Your destiny does not lie here in this valley."
"Then where does it lie?" I pressed, getting annoyed.
"Come with me on this quest, and you will discover all the answers you seek."
"Can you at-least give me a straight answer? At-least tell me where it is we are going?"
"To reclaim an ancient homeland a dragon took." Gandalf informed me. I looked at the wizard in shock. This was not an adventure I had in mind.
"That's not an adventure, Gandalf. That's suicide. No one would dare enter that mountain while the beast still lives." I argued. "And why are you speaking to me about this? Shouldn't you be proposing this to the heir of that mountain?"
"He has been informed and is on his way as we speak to attend a meeting in the Shire to meet the fourteenth member."
"Well, looks like you got all the help you need." I said, getting up from the ground, starting to head back up the path.
"Sáerwen, they need you on this quest. More than you know."
I stopped in my tracks and turned around. "Gandalf, even if I agreed, the dwarves would never allow it. Not after my kin turned their back on them that day. They will never trust me... and they shouldn't."
"Maybe not at first, but in time they will come to realize not all elves are untrustworthy. We can't do this quest without you." The wizard looked at me, waiting for my eventual response. If he wasn't looking at me like Middle-Earth depended on it, I probably wouldn't be saying what I said next.
"Fine. I'll come. But as soon as I am not needed on this quest, I'm going my own way. I'm sure the dwarves don't want me around anymore, then I do."
"Understood. I will inform the others to expect one more arrival for the meeting. The dwarves will be in the Shire in a week. I have marked the door where the meeting will take place." Gandalf told me. I nodded and headed back up the hill when I wanted to ask him one more question and I turned around and he wasn't there.
I sighed to myself, wondering what I had gotten myself into, and headed up the hill to prepare for my leave.