Disclaimer: You know as well as I do that I don't own Tolkien's work....Yet.


Evil...

Hate...

Malice...

These I give you;

Dominate...

Conquer...

Destroy...

This you must do...

.........

When we had left the underground, I was as happy as the Finder...

The Finder... such an odd hobbit...

Nothing like Smeagol had been... or even Deagol...

He called himself Bilbo Baggins, and it fit.

He was rounder, a bit shorter and much more... something.

I wasn't quite as fast with him, as I should have been... I paid...

He wandered about for a while, before seeing... something.

I told him not to go towards it... he disobeyed!

I was startled by the differences... the truly unpleasant differences between this one, and my Gollum...

How could he disobey me? Ignore me?

Then I was met with another being... this one I knew...

"Traitor!" I greeted Narya.

Narya smirked; she felt no fear of me, in the Finder's keeping.

"I serve he whom I serve," she said, plainly laughing at the creature whose pocket seemed now, so confining. "Yet you..."

"The one you serve is interesting," I replied, chuckling as she winced. We both knew what would happen to him, when I returned to my Master.

"You are still a long way from Him yet," she murmured, but we could both taste the lie.

"It is refreshing to know you aren't completely ruined," I said, half truthfully.

She mumbled something I didn't catch, then turned her attention back to her master.

Bilbo was telling the story of what he had been doing...

I told him to say nothing of me...

He obeyed.... I'm not sure if he knew it though.

He was clearly floundering... I tried to help as I could; the last thing I wanted was the Wizard--indeed, Varya's keeper could be nothing less--looking further into my reappearance. I drew what I could remember of Smeagol's mutterings; still we came within an inch of the line of the unbelievable...

One part of the tale we both had a bit of trouble with was the doorway... there had been many of my Master's minions there, and the likelihood of his escape on his own was as small as himself.

I had helped him then (though, of course, we couldn't say so).... He made something up...

I think the wizard was getting suspicious at this point, so changed the topic toward him.

He talked.... and talked....

It was late when we left that place.

And inwardly, I laughed; mine were coming.


Thanks for reading, and please review!

~Princess Arimae