I do not own Lord of the Rings
During the trip to Lothlórien, I did not speak unless spoken to, which was very rare. I did not eat much, nor sleep much. My hands were never bound, but I always felt like a prisoner. Knowing the real world is ahead of me and facing the truth that I am not stronger than it; I sat in the corner while the others fell to the fire, I sat with shivering cold toes but sweating everywhere else.
Legolas' ribs were recovering, though they needed medical treatment of Tylenol and chocolate to keep him going. I enjoyed when someone asked me for it, no matter the utter loathing tone of their voice. I knew they acknowledged my existence.
My nausea did not wear off and I began to empty contents of my stomach once (or more) after lunchtime. It was close to the part which we greeted Haldir. Legolas began to sing. I liked the song he sung, of the Nimrodel.
An Elven-maid there was of old,
A shining star by day:
Her mantle white was hemmed with gold,
Her shoes of silver-grey.
A star was bound upon her brows,
A loght was on her hair
As sun upon the golden boughs
In Lórien the fair.
Her hair was long, her limbs were white,
And fair she was and free...
I got lost in my thoughts still... seeing if there was a loophole around all this hatred.
I don't belong in either worlds; my father does not recognize me and my mother was keeper of the Heart (See Prophecy of the Sue). My brother was the only thing I ever loved and he's gone, my brave little soldier is gone. But here, I have no companions. I am here, a snarky sarcastic outcast who had betrayed everyone. I am from 2013 and here is T.A. I'm-not-keeping-track-anymore.
I can't go home; back on Earth my home is with my family, I no longer have family. But in Middle Earth I have neither family nor any home.
I feel guilty, but they had abandoned and betrayed me. My happiness and hopes rested on their support and there they cast it aside. In Earth, the last thing I did was fight, with my mom, my best friends, Amy and Jen. I have been betrayed on both sides.
It seems both sides have no worth, except one is reality and one may be a dream; A nightmare, a plague. And for one there is no way to. It's a star so bright, but yet so far.
"Careful young hobbits," Gimli warned, raising his axe slightly. "They say a sorceress lives in these woods, Elf-witch, of terrible power. All who look upon her fall under her spell…"
A chilling voice called my name, "Ruthelle..." I shivered at the use of my full first name.
"...and are never seen again."
"You carry the weight of betrayal upon your shoulders," The voices are back again, great. "You can choose to move on or stay behind."
"Mr. Frodo?" Sam asked, I could tell Frodo was getting the same voice in his head.
"But I've got eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox." Arrows were soon pointed at us.
"The dwarf breaths so loud we could have shot him in the dark." Haldir says, a band of elven hunters surrounding us.
The elf ignored Gimli's growl of protest and turns to Legolas, "Mae govannen, Legolas Thranduilion." Welcome Legolas, son of Thranduil.
Legolas replied, "Govannas vîn gwennen le, Haldir o Lórien." Our Fellowship stands in your debt, Haldir of Lórien."
Haldir glanced at Aragorn. "A, Aragorn in Dúnedain istannen le ammen." Oh, Aragorn of the Dúnedain, you are known to us.
Aragorn addressed the elf with a name, "Haldir."
Gimli snarled, "So much for the legendary courtesy of the Elves! Speak words we can also understand!"
Haldir gave Gimli a look of distaste used frequently on me. "We have not had dealings with the Dwarves since the Dark Days." Oh boy...
Gimli doesn't take these well, I've learned that the hard way, "And you know what this Dwarf says to that? Ishkhaqwi ai durugnul!" I spit upon your grave.
Aragorn gave Gimli a warning look, "That was not so courteous."
Haldir gave a glance at Frodo. "You bring great evil with you." He looked at Aragorn, "You can go no further." Somehow I knew it was more than just the One Ring, probably the Sue prophecy.
Haldir then walked away, Aragorn arguing behind him. Sam and Pippin turned to look at Frodo, who looked slightly uncomfortable.
"Boe ammen veriad lîn. Andelu i ven!" We need your protection. The road is fell!
Then Legolas turned to look at Frodo, who looked uncomfortably away, and his eyes fell on Sam. Sam then looked away, a hurt expression in his eyes. Merry and Pippin do likewise. Gimli glanced at Frodo. Aragorn continues to argue rather loudly with Haldir whether I counted as a weight (insulting yet relieving). Frodo, looking at his friends, sees blame that does not truly exist anywhere but in his mind and on my person. He was alone, he feels, like me. Aragorn was now pleading.
"Please! Two of our company is injured!" Aragorn finally says, uh oh. Using the medical card, that never ends well for injured. Legolas and I shared a look like he knew too. Acknowledgement!
"Gandalf's death"-oh he has to bring that up-"Was not in vain...nor would he have you give up hope. You carry a heavy burden, Frodo...don't carry the weight of the dead." Boromir tried.
They didn't say it, but they once more kept me as an emotional pack mule; loading emotions, worries, concerns, hopes, dreams, betrayal and death on me. I felt like the River Styx.
"Oh," Teles, who had been rather quiet, snapped. "Let a woman handle this." She must have been Charm Speaker because he sucked up like a puppy. That or it was that low-cut robe of hers.
I had rather liked Teles, she did not avoid me like the plague. And for a Mary Sue she was rather modest. There was no Heir of Slytherin, Chosen One thing too, no Fourth Silmaril (which I would have killed her over) or magical pets. In fact, she owned a cat named Muffin at home who was an orange Tabby.
She had tried making the robes fit better but they were her mother's and you know the way female elves dress. She was pretty normal if you don't count her flawless appearances and singing voice and angel-stuff.
I must be going insane if I turn to the Sue for company.
A caravan of Elves led us along a ridge through the golden woods. Boromir was glancing at Frodo behind him, as though concerned for the Hobbit. We came to the end of the high ridge and look out. Below us, behind this mist, under sunset, a great glade of trees raises above the world, green and gold, rays of light drifting from the branches of trees.
Haldir spoke once more, "Caras Galadhon...the heart of Elvendom on earth; Realm of the Lord Celeborn and of Galadriel, Lady of Light."
We arrive at Caras Galadhon, climbing a winding way among the great trees as the last rays of evening sun peek through their trunks. We ascend the path until night falls. In the blue glow of a moonlit night, we climb a twisting stair about the trunk of a tree, past glimmering lights of silver and blue. Far above, the silhouetted shapes of the shadowy tree-branches loom. Passing numerous platforms, we come to a great palace in the trees, lit with silvery lights.
A curving walk way lied before us, leading up a low stair to an archway. Three-pronged, golden leaves are scattered about. Slowly, we gather before the arch as Haldir stepped to one side and look up. With a glow issuing forth from them, a Lord and Lady, descended to meet us, hand in hand. The other members of the Fellowship stare in awe while Aragorn touched his head reverently in greeting.
The light dimmed from them, and before us the Lord and Lady, Galadriel and Celeborn, stopped. The Lady's eyes focused on Frodo, but Celeborn spoke, "The Enemy knows you have entered here. What hope you had in secrecy is now gone. Eight there are here, yet nine there were, set out from Rivendell. Tell me, where is Gandalf?" Aragorn sorrowfully looked up, "For I much desire to speak with him...I can no longer see him from afar."
The Lady seemed to read my mind, she looked at me in sympathy and knew everybody hated me, "Gandalf the Grey did not pass the borders of this land. He has fallen into shadow."
Aragorn nodded slightly, though the anger in his eyes clearly gave a sort of and-you-have-the-obnoxious-girl-to-thank feel. Celeborn turned to Galadriel, not noticing a thing (oblivious).
Legolas spoke up, "He was taken by both Shadow and Flame: a Balrog of Morgoth." I was glad he didn't say something like, "Because Ruth forgot to mention he would die." That wouldn't land me happy points with the elves (who very sadly are my only hope).
Legolas continued, "For we went needlessly into the net of Moria, and messages of demise were lost." There it is.
Galadriel, oh bless her, "Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. We do not yet know his whole purpose nor your companions. Whether for ill or better Gandalf had made his choice and it would be an insult for you to let the great emptiness of Khazad-dûm fill your heart, Gimli, son of Glóin. For the world has grown full of peril. And in all lands, love is now mingled with grief."
"Do not trouble yourself," Galadriel once more spoke in my mind (I hate it when she does that).
Teles (I can tell a certain elf is not pleased as she dramatically sighs and holds his hand) spoke for a first, "What now becomes of this Fellowship? Without Gandalf, hope is lost."
Galadriel spoke almost quietly, "The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the company is true."
But the company being angry and vengeful is a different matter.
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight you will sleep in peace."
"My Lady," Aragorn begins (the debate of my fate). "What of this... girl," He spoke about me as if I were not there! Like girl was the worst term he could think of!
"She shall remain should she choose to, "Galadriel smiled at me, though it was reassuring it was creepy."But if she does not wish to, she shall follow you to Mordor or worse."
By worse she meant slow, painful death by company.
She spoke once more in my mind; I'd guess I'd have to get use to that. "Welcome, Ruthelle Windsnap… one who has seen the Fates."
"I have?" I tried thinking back.
"Indeed, though you may not know so now." She dismissed the company though Frodo went for their little chat.
I heard her words still, "She shall remain should she choose, but if she does not wish to, then she shall follow you to Mordor or worse."
I was lead mindlessly to my sort of hut-cabin I guess. Haldir spoke, "Something troubles you young one." Great, all elves are mind-reading stalkers.
"What should I do?" I asked my favorite star, Sirius (I'm obsessed with Harry Potter), as if it could answer. I lie on my mattress and hear the sad voice of an elleth.
"A Olórin i yaresse… (Olórin who once was…
Mentaner i Numeherui (Sent by the Lords of the West
Tírien i Rómenóri… (To guard the Lands of the East…
The other elves joined in.
Melme nóren sina (Our love for this land
núra ala (Is deeper than the deeps
Eäro… (Of the sea...
"A lament for Gandalf," I found myself saying.
"A sad song for elves to sing," Teles, my only thing connecting me to the real world, said. She sat down on my floor and joined in nonetheless.
…Maiaron i Oiosaila, (Wisest of all Maiar,
Manan elye etevanne (What drove you to leave
Nórie i malanelye? (That which you loved?
…Ilfirin nairelma (Yet we will cast all away
ullume nucuvalme. (Rather that submit.
Nauva i nauva... (What should be shall be...
…Ú-reniathach (No more will you wander
i amar galen (The green fields of this earth
I reniad lín ne môr, nuithannen. (Your journey has ended in darkness."
I fell asleep soon enough to the melodic sorrows.
I stood, looking at her... but at me, there I was with my clothes changed and hair braided. Yet blood was splattered all over me. It was a mixture of dark, black blood from orcs and maroon red blood from...
I did not contain my gasp; four bodies lay around my crying figure in the dream. One had three arrows from his chest, Boromir. One had a nasty gash across his forehead who I knew to be sweet, loving Samwise Gamgee. The two other were holding each other still, an arrow out of one's back and a knife for another... Merry and Pippin never separated, even in death.
I could see another body from far. Tied to a tree were the dwarf Gimli, a bloody stump where a neck should have been, and his head at my current self's feet. Frodo was nowhere to be seen and I knew that he had been taken to be tortured. And Teles, she was lying peacefully on the ground, a knife produced from her heard and blood spilling onto her robes. She looked almost asleep until you saw her eyes were open, blue and fearful.
A figure without an arm and many bruises walked to my dream-self. He shouted at her and she looked like she could cry.
"I told you Legolas!" I, she, dream-Ruth shouted, you wouldn't have known the elven prince without and arm and his hair cut short and his tunic nearly shredded with claw marks. Blood of his and theirs. "It wasn't me!"
"You're the only one left!" He shouted back, "You must be the spy!"
The spy... the spy... the dream changed. Suddenly I was in a white-rose garden. I looked at the roses distastefully. They were screaming boring and looked only half-finished.
There was a swing, a wooden swing, and on that garden-swing was a woman. She looked exactly like my mother, only ten years younger.
A man was pushing her on the swing, he grinned when he saw a little-me come.
"Anna..." A man's voice echoed, "Where are you?"
"I'm in the garden!" The woman tried to say, "I'm in the garden with Ruth!"
I then noticed her hands were bound to the swing and her eyes looked so fearful at little me, as if my death was soon. The man pushed her higher... and higher... suddenly she seemed to fly in the sky and break her restraints. But she did not come back down.
Younger me wailed in confusion, "Mama! Mama!" The man raised his hand to slap me, but the man who had called my mother burst in. The murderer melted into the shadows and disappeared. But I kept saying, "Mama! Mama!"
The dream changed once more, this one was short though; more of an image actually. I saw a man with a long white beard and silver eyes. He glared me down and I knew without books or movies that this was Saruman the White.
He rubbed his finger on a ring he wore; A ring with a black crescent on it. Like a forgotten moon.
The spy... the spy...
I woke up, covered in icy sweat.
MERRY CHRISTMAS! I had Christmas inspiration and got a second inspiration for a chapter. Thank the gods! The next chapter won't be as serious as the last two have been. My 'beta' (well, sort of) really is helping me out! Once more, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL and HAPPY HOLIDAYS! From Ruth and Teles!
Q- How would each race celebrate winter?