Very tiring weekend again, lots of homework and soccer. Finals are also back, so just pity me if I post late (like I just did).
Izzy: That's a really lame excuse.
MN9: Well, if you want to be helpful you could get me a Diet Coke to help wake me up.
Izzy: Sorry, all we have is caffeine and sugar free Diet Coke.
MN9: …(dazed) How does that even constitute as a pop?
Izzy: It doesn't, really. Basically seems like water, bubbles and brown food coloring.
MN9: (head-desk) Fate is cruel…
Disclaimer: I might be suffering from caffeine withdrawal, but I still am sane enough to realized I DON'T OWN LORD OF THE RINGS! It belongs to the marvelous Mr. Tolkien, and some references belong to Peter Jackson.
Chapter 46 Recap:
"Gandalf," she said, knowing he was listening. "I think members of the fellowship should meet in the Golden Hall. The king, Lord Éomer and Lady Éowyn deserve to come to."
"Abigail, what are you doing?" Aragorn asked slowly
"Hoping I still have time to correct some poor judgment of mine," she replied sadly. "Come, there is something you all need to know about me."
Chapter 47:
The members of the fellowship, and of the royal family, slowly gathered in the Golden Hall. Abigail did a short walk around the room to make sure all the doors to the rooms were closed. This would go easier if there weren't any outside interruptions.
Théoden, Éowyn and Éomer were quickly briefed about the events with the Palantir.
Then, too soon for her liking, all eyes were on Abigail, waiting for an explanation to this meeting.
"Well, let's start with the basics," she began nervously. "Is Pippin alright?"
Gandalf looked a little impatient, but answered her question.
"He's a curious fool of a hobbit, but still an honest one at that. There was no lie in his eyes; he told Sauron nothing about Frodo or the ring. In fact, we've been strangely fortunate," he said suddenly, his tone becoming the slightest bit lighter. "Pippin saw a glimpse of the enemy's plan. With this, I plan to make a move that could give us the slightest advantage. But first, I wish to hear what Abigail has to say," his voice becoming cool once again.
"I'm sure you are," she muttered under her breath. "And Aragorn, how are you?"
"I felt the Palantir's drain, sure enough, but it was taken out of my hands before any real damage was done. If I had any glimpse of Sauron, I do not recall it," Aragorn answered calmly.
"Lady Abigail, I have no doubt you called us here for a good reason. I am most anxious to hear it," King Théoden voiced. Apparent they were all as impatient as Gandalf.
"Indeed," Abigail said absentmindedly. She started to pace, a nervous habit of hers.
"I am not even sure how to say this," she began cautiously. "I-I'm a telekinesis…are you familiar with that word?"
Judging from the blank stares, she assumed they didn't.
"Right then, let me try this again," she took a deep breath. "I am a, what would be a good term, a mind-mover."
This they could comprehend, and there was a widespread of small gasps.
"How long?" Gandalf asked bluntly.
"I've been aware of my power from the age of about 16. It was a very accidental discovery, but it soon became natural to me."
"If you don't mind me askin', wouldn't this power of yours been rather helpful to us? That is if I'm understanding it right," Gimli asked with a growl.
"At first, that was part of my plan. When I joined the fellowship, I was thinking that I could be rather useful. But a problem arose on day one," she explained.
"Day one?" Legolas cut in. "You mean the first day of traveling with the Fellowship? What happened…oh," he stopped, remembering that rather 'exciting' day.
"We were attacked by the wraiths," Merry said lowly, also understanding. "You're power had something to do with that?"
"According to what the Nazgûl said-"
"You can understand the black speech?" Éomer looked amazed.
Abigail looked irritated at being interrupted again, but she continued. They had a right to be confused, it wasn't the easiest information to suddenly be dumped with.
"I don't speak the black tongue, but since my power deals with the mind, I am able to communicate with them in some way. I don't fully understand it myself. As I was saying, they informed me that they were attracted to all kinds of power, mine included. As to not risk the fellowship from being caught, I refrained from using it."
She stopped her rapid pacing and sat down on a bench far away from the others. She still couldn't quite read their reactions and thought it best to stay away.
"I use my power once or twice when I thought for sure it could be safe," she paused, looking a bit fearful to continue. "Soon enough, another problem aroused. Even though I had spent all those years learning to focus my power, sometimes it wasn't good enough."
Aragorn straightened up, his eyes widened with realization. "Those-those uruk corpses at Helms Deep…that was you."
She winced at the thought. "Yes, you saw what my uncontrolled power can cause, and I'm sorry you had to see that. In normal situation, I can usually remain stable. But when I become fearful or stressed…the results are gruesome," she hung her head.
The pain in her voice prevented anyone from asking for details. However, Gandalf became the bold one, and she did not expect any less from the white wizard.
"What is the extent of your power, Abigail?" he asked, looking rather displeased and intimidating.
Most of the room seemed surprised at Gandalf's foul mood, but Abigail guessed he understood more than he let on. Her power wasn't as simple as she was making it.
Because of that, she tried to ignore the question and continue to stare at the ground, but Gandalf persisted.
"Abigail, I am asking how damaging those results can be?"
She raised her head slowly. "If…if I truly willed it…I could crush your heart in less than a second."
There was a fearful silence after that statement. Éowyn, without even realizing it, put a protective hand over her heart.
"Please understand, to have enough concentration to even sense the inside of one's body is extremely difficult for me. I hardly ever use my power for anything more than lifting and or pushing," Abigail pleaded, trying to hide the true monstrosity of what she just said.
There was still a short pause before she added, "And, H-haldir produced a safeguard, just in case." She choked a little on his name. She thought of her adoptive father often, yes, but she hadn't really talked about him yet.
She continued with her train of thought, and held up her wrist revealing the thin, silver bracelet that she wore.
"That's of elvish making, and it comes with a very high honor if I'm correct," Legolas mused quietly. He chided himself momentarily for not noticing and questioning it before.
Abigail nodded in agreement. "Haldir gave me this as a gift, just before we left Lorien. It will hum a warning of sorts if I'm about to lose control. There is a more powerful and effective spell enchanted within it, but by the time it's needed I'm in no mind to remember it."
"What is the spell, though I hope to never use it," Legolas said.
Abigail smiled slightly as she chanted the elvish spell.
"Pool of Eärendil, shine for me bright. Give hope in darkness, give shadow a light."
Just as it had done in the Golden Wood, a glowing warmth was emitted from the bracelet. The glow soon died down, but that one trick made Abigail feel much more comfortable.
'Thanks again, Ada,' she thought.
Feeling better, she stood up and faced the group more confidently.
"I know it was wrong of me not to trust you with this secret earlier, and it's still unfair that I only tell you now. The times, however, cannot get much darker. I doubt that I could put you at any more risk if I use my power freely, so perhaps I can provide the help that I always wanted to."
No words of comfort were spoken from the others, but no words of malice or objections either. It would take a little time to get use to, but maybe she had been too worried.
"So, let me just make sure I have this right," a small Pippin spoke up. "It's plain to see now that it was you who made the Palantir fly out of Aragorn's hand. But why did you stare at it with those hazy eyes, and why did you scream?"
'The intuitive hobbit isn't going to let this one go, is he?' she sighed internally.
"When my mind connected to the stone, I had a similar effect to you holding the stone, Pippin. Though I promise, I did not speak a word about anything valuable," she promised, directing her gaze at Gandalf.
The wizard seemed to be it deep thought. "Abigail, I will not say I am an expert with this mind magic of yours, but I have studied the Palantir. To have a psychic connection with the seeing stone…that would have connected you to Sauron's mind."
"What does that mean?" Aragorn asked.
"I spoke with Sauron, yes," Abigail admitted. "But nothing came of it.
"But you were actually able to speak with him. No offense to the young hobbits bravery, but one word with Sauron and he almost went mad. Why are you so different that allows you to stay calm? What did he say to you?" King Théoden questioned.
Abigail's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Nothing of importance was said, that is all you need to know."
Aragorn was concerned at the steely reply. Clearly it was something of importance to Abigail.
"I do not wish to make you angry or annoyed, Abigail. You have confessed one secret, which we are all grateful for. But you have more of a story to tell. I think it wise to let us know," Aragorn pressed for answers.
"Please Abigail, you can trust us. It will all be for the best," Éowyn pleaded as well.
"Leave it up to our discretion on if it is valuable or not," Gandalf added.
"No, it does not matter! It's not how the storybook is suppose to go!" she yelled furiously.
But upon saying those words to paled instantly and clapped a hand over he mouth.
'Oh god, what did I just say,' she thought, horrified.
The room was filled with yet another silence as the members looked confused.
"Storybook? What are you talking about Abby?" Merry asked innocently.
"N-nothing. Just an expression, forget about what I said," she stammered.
Abigail was glad that they had accepted her power well enough. She did not want to risk their trust further.
But as she feared, the ever-protective Gandalf would not dismiss it so quickly.
"Explain your self now, my dear." He said it calmly, but the glare in his eyes spoke volumes.
Again, one might be surprised at Gandalf's vicious tone. But one must understand that Gandalf realizes that they were at a crucial point in the war. He was not going to tolerate secrets and lies, especially not when they might affect the outcome in any way.
This was the type of secret he believed Abigail had, and she knew he was right.
"This was not something I had planned on revealing," she said quietly with a heavy heart.
"Then make plans," Gandalf demanded.
"I am not from Middle Earth," she said slowly. But then not waiting for the information to sink she continued.
"I was brought to Middle Earth from my world, which is called just, plain Earth, when I was 13 years old. It's a much more advanced world, technologically speaking, and it's very, very different from here. In theory, it's almost like a future world, because once upon a time our society was similar to the one you have now."
"In what ways is it different?" Legolas asked, stunned.
"No elves, no dwarves and no hobbits. We have no magical dark lords or dark creatures like orcs, trolls and goblins. Those are some basic differences. Even a power like mine is unheard of."
"And what does your comment about a 'storybook' have to do with this?" Gandalf questioned sternly.
"I really was hoping you would just forget about that," she laughed nervously. "Even before I came here, I had heard of Middle Earth, in a way."
"What way?" Pippin spoke up.
"Middle earth was a land in a fantasy book, written by a man. The journey you are on now was recorded as an epic tale titled The Lord of The Rings. As far as I know, this place and all the people in it shouldn't really exist."
"Our perilous journey is a, a, an entertaining story?" Gimli gasped.
"How much is recorded?" asked Legolas.
"Around the time Gandalf showed up in Hobbiton for Bilbo's 111th birthday. The day Frodo received the ring."
"How do you know-"
"I was very fond of the story on my home planet," she replied curtly.
"How far do you know the story?" Éomer intervened.
"Until the end," was all she said.
"What end?" Théoden asked suspiciously.
"I don't think it would be very wise to tell you that," Abigail said coolly.
"Why not? Do you not see what advantage this could give us? Do you know Sauron's plans, do you know how he can be defeated?" he demanded.
"We are not in a book, Théoden King, we are in real life. It is no longer certain what truth, if any, the books still holds."
"But you still know. Events that happened in your story have happened here, haven't they?" Aragorn said quietly.
Abigail was shocked at his sudden insight, but then her mouth narrowed.
"Perhaps. But either way it's not safe to speak of it because I don't want to change anything. The consequences of interfering could be severe."
"But interference has already occurred…you are not suppose to be here, are you," Gandalf said with slow realization. "Is it possible that…Saruman?" He looked and Abigail with absolute puzzlement. "But what is the purpose?" He kept mumbling.
"Um, Gandalf, care to share your thoughts?" asked a confused Merry.
Abigail knew Gandalf was on the right track, and she didn't want to be here when he figured it out.
"I have given you enough to reflect on. I am done with this interrogation, goodnight!" and she stormed, very childishly, out of the hall.
They gaped at each other after the outburst, not knowing how to react.
However, the lone ranger quietly walked out in the same direction as she had left.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"There, I confessed. Can we just get on with it now," Abigail muttered.
She had bottled up some of these secrets for months, and others for years. Yet she felt no relief. She hadn't really expected them to be completely understanding or forgiving right away, but it wasn't like it was easy for her either. The smallest hint of compassion or trust would have been nice.
"That was not a very timely exit," a low voice said behind her.
'Dammit,' she thought.
"I could say the same to you, Aragorn. Do you not want to stay and talk to the others about the 'shocking facts' I just admitted," she said, with a hint of sarcasm.
Dim moonlight lit his face as he came closer to her. Abigail shivered suddenly, when she noticed the hidden emotion in his eyes. Rage, something she had never seen before in Aragorn, and she was afraid she was going to witness it now.
"I have come to my own conclusions, all with unpleasant answers," he said.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Boromir."
With that one word Abigail began to tremble.
"Aragorn…" she breathed. "Please know, when I first came to Middle Earth I lost my memory. I did not remember anything about my earth life. For part of the Fellowship I still did not remember."
"For what part of the fellowship did you remember then?"
"Since…since Lorien," her eyes fell to the ground. "I looked into Galadriel's mirror, and it gave me back my memories."
"Do you care to explain why Boromir still died? Was it that important to maintain 'the balance'?"
She was silent. She couldn't give an answer that could comfort him. In short, she had failed, but she wanted to deny it so badly.
"What about Gandalf?" he took another step towards her.
"I did not know he was going to fall in Moria-"
"But you knew he was still alive later, yet you said nothing to anyone, not even to Frodo. You saw the pain he was in. Could you not have given him that one sliver of hope?"
"If Frodo had that hope he might not of had the courage to leave by himself. What Galadriel said was right, this task was his and he needed to find his own way. It was not my place to stop him."
"How can you be so certain? Maybe by not interfering you have sent him to his doom!"
"Aragorn, you cannot expect everything from me!" she pleaded.
"No…but I would have expected better from you," he said coldly, and started to turn away. But she grabbed his arm.
"You don't know what it's like, having to bear this knowledge. It's not that simple to make a choice, every time I breathe I could be taking a risk."
"What risks did you take to save Boromir's life? What about Hadlir's, the elf who called you his daughter," he hissed.
She hand slid of his arm, completely shocked. "No! Do not make my misjudgment about them. I tried, you have to realize that I tried."
Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Apparently you did not try hard enough. Please warn us, how many more comrades and companions are you going to let die?"
Her mind and body went numb. She looked him in the eyes, but instead of the hazel eyes she loved, she only saw hatred. Slowly, she could feel her heart breaking. The wonderful man she had come to love…hated her. In that moment, it felt like no one trusted her, she felt truly alone.
"It's not my fault…I never wanted this…I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she cried.
Stumbling, she ran away from him.
Aragorn stood still for a moment, and then gasped as if someone had punched him.
All of a sudden it seemed an evil weight had been lifted from him.
"What happened to me? That, that wasn't me," he grabbed his head.
He looked out the window at the glowing moon, which now looked harsh and cold to him.
"I didn't mean to say those things…did I?"
He kept playing the scene in his head over and over again. Nothing made any sense. Abigail had looked so scared; so betrayed. He didn't want that, something just snapped and he couldn't control himself.
"What did I do?" he whispered, running his hand through his hair.
He looked longingly at the spot where had just stood, but after some more internal debate, he headed back to the Golden Hall instead. This was nowhere near over.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Ryn! Ryn, please wake up!" Abigail whimpered, knocking as loudly, but also as quietly, as she could.
Suddenly, the door flew open. The small servant girl studied her with surprise.
"Mistress Abigail? What ever do you want at such an hour? The suns barely-"
"I'm sorry that I have to ask this of you Ryn. I don't want to get you involved."
Ryn's eyes widened. She secretly noticed her tear-stained cheeks.
"W-what are you talking about? What's going on?"
"Can you help me get into the kitchen to get some food and supplies? Quietly?"
"Well…I suppose I can, but what for, if I'm allowed to ask?"
"I'm leaving, Ryn. I can't stay"
"But why, you've only just arrived," the girl said, aghast.
"That's the thing, Ryn. I now realize I have overstayed my welcome by nine years," Abby replied bitterly.
Ryn continued to eye Abigail with extreme confuse as she helped her get food and water containers. Still, Ryn thought Abigail had sounded so distressed, that she wasn't about to say no.
"Mistress, what am I going to tell them?" Ryn finally asked, as there were nearing the back door. Abigail made it quite clear she didn't want to be seen.
"Tell them you came into my room to see if I needed help with anything, and I was just gone. Go to Lady Éowyn first, that would be best," she said nodding. "Again, I'm sorry to put you in this position, but there was no one else I could go to."
"I-I'll do as you ask, but I still don't understand."
"I just can't stay, not when it's like this. There has to be another way, something else I can do," she said softly, but her tone was very sad. "Goodbye Ryn."
"Good luck, Abigail, with whatever it is you need to do."
With that, Abigail went through the door without looking back. Ryn rushed to one of the front windows, and soon enough she saw a dark horse with an equally dark rider disappear through the gate.
"Forgive me, my lady. I hope I acted somewhat justly," Ryn prayed, and went back to her room.
OoOoOoOoOo
I know there are still some things you are probably very confused about, but more will be explained in the next chapter. For now, just enjoy this painful cliffhanger (not).
Thanks to Reviewers:
White Blossom of Gondor: Yeah, floating balls never means a good thing (lol, I just re-read that sentence and it was a very funny image for the 'naughty' part of my mind, if you catch my drift). Yes, she admitted, but obviously there's more to it. Yay for lengthy chapters, thanks!
Narnian Sprite: Glad I'm not too confusing for you. Yes, nasty cliffies is not good, but if it makes you keep reading…lol, thank you!
Jupuffskin: Yeah, I was writing that paragraph and it just sounded very close to Harry Potter angst. Thank you for confirming my 'Arwen theory' and thanks for reviewing!
KeeperMusicNight: This is the part of the story where the angst really starts coming in. And the whole conversation with Sauron was a big foreshadowing for you all. Thank you!
Nightskylover: Glad you liked it! Yeah, I didn't really 'update soon', but better late than never. Thanks!
Valinor's Twilight: Welcome to the review section! Yeah, Aragorn OC really isn't done too often, I suppose (at least I haven't found it). I'm so happy to hear you like my writing! I'm still young, but I'm trying my best to be good. Thanks and I hope to hear from you again!
Samantha-Girl Scout: Hey, if I'm mean to Izzy it's because she deserves it.
Izzy: I do not! (sticks out tongue and places angel halo on her head)
MN9: (snorts, and replaces halo with devil horns) That's more like it.
Izzy: (grabs pitchfork and stabs MN9)
MN9: Hey!
Izzy: (runs)
Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
Lady Aphadriel-order of the...: If you are writing a story, I really do think that cite is very useful. Let me know if have problems finding it. Yes, wonderful chapter equals wonderful cliffy. Lol, thanks for reviewing!
ArwenEvenstar83: I felt the story had been a little dark, so last chapter I added a bit of 'Merry and Pippin humor'. Glad you liked it. Oh, and if you remember back in Lorien, Rodwen just complains that Abby wears brown too much. I myself like brown. Yay, nice to hear my story is convincing! Thanks for all the happy thoughts!
writin4fun15: Yup, patience is a virtue. I've gotten really good responses to that chapter, and I'm glad you agree! As always, thanks for the kudos!
Nikams: Welcome new reviewer! I'm guessing the 'big reveal' turned out a little different than most were expecting, but there are many more twists yet to come (I love keeping you readers on your toes). Thanks so much, and I hope you review again!
Knight Selene: Welcome to the reviewers corner! As I've said many more, I love short and sweet reviews too! Thanks a lot, and please review again!
This chapter was a bit harder to write than expected, so I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
Memorial Day is tomorrow, so I won't have school, which means I will try to start writing the next chapter ASAP.
Until we meet again!
-MysticNight9