Chapter Ten: Revelations

The next morning, Buffy and Willow got ready to see Galadriel. They dressed in one of the outfits they'd brought, having nothing else to wear besides Arwen's gowns. Breakfast had been left for them, and after eating they approached the base of the Lord and Lady's dwelling. They were signaled to ascend, so they climbed up the ladder and found her waiting where they'd first met. She was seated in her towering chair, but Celeborn's place was empty. They were motioned to sit on a comfortable couch before her.

"Good morning, ladies. Was your time last night enjoyable?"

"Definitely," Willow said, and Buffy nodded.

Galadriel sighed, "I wish that we needed not move on to more serious things, but it is unavoidable."
"No worries," Buffy said, "It's what we do."

"So I have heard and seen," Galadriel replied. "There is much to discuss. I will begin by giving you the briefest of histories of this world, enough that we may begin to speak of your role here." She spoke a little of the elder times, focusing on the movements of Morgoth's greatest follower, the Maia known as Sauron. She told how he lost his physical form long ago in Numenor, and of his multiple attempts to make a stronghold in Mordor. Then, she explained how the elves of Eregion were deceived into making rings of great power, and that the ultimate fate of those rings led to the last great alliance between elves and men.

"You mean, this Seal guy didn't destroy the ring?" Buffy asked, shocked, when Galadriel finished speaking.

"Nay. Lord Elrond was there and tried to convince Isildur to return the ring to the fires that created it. But he was quickly corrupted by the ring's malice and chose to keep it."

"And no one's seen it since he dropped it in the river?" said Willow.

"There are those among us that are masters of ring-lore, and their chief assures us that the one ring passed into the sea."

Buffy looked concerned. "What about Sauerkraut? In my experience, if the baddie isn't good and dead, he always comes back."

"Sauron is indeed still in Middle Earth. We lost several chances to depose him, and now it is feared that he wields great power once more. Our only advantage is that he does not have the one ring," Galadriel said.

"What are the chances that it could be found?" asked Willow.

"I hesitate to guess. But I fear that our reliance on the assumption that it is lost forever will come to ill. There are some who say that he lies in Mordor now and is amassing forces."

"Do you know where the three that were hidden are?" Buffy asked.

"I do, but I feel it would not be wise to pass on that burden to you."

"Smart. The less that know, the less that will give up the info when tortured," Buffy agreed.

Galadriel looked taken aback. "That is not what I meant, surely."

"I'm not insulted," Buffy replied calmly. "It's the burden of leadership, having to make the hard decisions. If you can't imagine the pain and suffering that results from your every decision, then you shouldn't be leading." Willow stared at her, but said nothing.

"But if you dwell too long on those hardships, you will lose your reason and foresight," Galadriel said gently.

"Yes," Buffy whispered, thinking of the times in her career when she'd swung too far to one side or the other: either distancing herself so much from those around her that she became disconnected, or drowning herself in guilt over each and every hurt. Both led inevitably to her being an ineffectual slayer and leader.

"I see you have already learned these lessons," The Lady inferred.

"I can only hope I've learned," Buffy replied dryly. "You mentioned something called the White Council earlier. What's that all about?"

"It is a collection of Eldar and Maiar whose purpose is to monitor Sauron. I myself orchestrated it, with the aid of a dear advisor and friend, Mithrandir. He is one of the Istari, or wizards, that came to Middle Earth around 2000 years ago. The chief Istar, Saruman, is the wisest among us in ring-lore, and it is he who assures us that the ring is lost forever. Mithrandir, or Galdalf the Gray, went to Dol Guldur and determined that the dark power rising there was Sauron. He wished for more urgent and immediate action then, but we allowed ourselves to be lulled by uncertainty. By the time we acted, and drove the Dark Lord from that place, it seemed almost as if he had allowed it as part of his plan."

"When was all this?" Willow asked.

"It was one decade ago that we forced his retreat."

"And still no ring," Buffy said thoughtfully. "Is this Sauron guy looking for it?"

"My heart tells me he must be," replied Galadriel. "And Mithrandir seems increasingly concerned about its fate, though he tells me not of what he finds during his travels."

"So why are we here?" asked Willow. "It seems like war's coming, but the way things are moving we won't even be alive by then."

"The time has come, and we will go to the mirror. The Guardians must speak with you both."

As they walked through the city to Galadriel's secluded glade, Buffy couldn't help but ask, "They're alive? I saw Caleb kill the last one."

"Not physically, no, but their spirits live on in other realms."

"What is it with ethereal beings and the cryptic?" Buffy asked Willow, and Willow sighed softly. She seemed upset about something, and Buffy reminded herself to ask about it later. They came upon a beautiful stone pool, and the sunlight shone brightly through the stream that ran into it. Each droplet of water spun and danced, casting rainbows across the water's surface as they fell.

"My lowly human eyesight isn't up to these visual theatrics," Willow said as she stared. Then, under her breath to Buffy, "I feel kinda like I took lots of drugs."

Galadriel poured water into a shallow basin and bid them to come closer. "Are you ready? You both shall look into the mirror together."

"What will we find?" Willow asked anxiously.

"I cannot be certain. The Guardians wish to speak with you, but what else you may see is beyond even my reckoning."

With some trepidation, they both moved forward and leaned over the surface of the basin. At first, there was nothing, just the wavering shimmer of their own reflections. Then, suddenly, the water became still and screen-like. A blurry image appeared, and as it solidified they could see that it was the interior of the Hyperion. Wesley and Fred were curled up together on a couch, and Angel and Xander were seated nearby, all in serious conversation. The image blurred again, and this time resolved to show a large room with stone walls and gorgeous paintings spread artfully around. The floor was covered in thick, brick red carpeting, and the area glowed warmly from the light coming from a fireplace. Sitting in comfortable chairs near the flickering flames were Giles, Wesley and Dawn. They chatted animatedly, and all looked content. The final scene was a quick flash of Faith and Robin patrolling together in a dark cemetery. Buffy and Willow were both crying as they tried to reach out and touch the images.

Finally, the water's surface filled with light and from its center a lone figure approached. Buffy recognized it as the old woman that she'd met before. The woman smiled at them both.

"Who is she, Buffy?" Willow asked, entranced by the wisdom that emanated from her.

"A Guardian," Buffy replied quietly.

"Yes, and the last of my era," the Guardian confirmed. "You must be Willow. Your spell has caused quite a stir."

Willow gulped. "I didn't mean to!"

"Fear not, child. I hold no power now. The new era of the Guardians has begun."

"I thought all the Guardians were gone," Buffy was confused.

"The new era brings new Guardians. I am as surprised as you are," the old woman said.

"Surprised about what?"

"I thought our line was ended, yet it has persevered. It served its purpose in your world, and now it has another purpose to serve here. You could say the joke was on us," she smiled mirthfully. "We thought that we were the last surprise, but it was really you." She pointed at Willow.

"Me? How me?" Willow babbled.

"It is time to explain the nature of our power. The Guardians created the scythe, vesting immense power in it, and were thus bound to it. Its power extended our lives through millennia, and it protected us such that only the most grievous of wounds could cause our deaths. Its protective powers only began to fail when we finally grew mortally old after thousands of years. Thus was I cut down by Caleb. We gained no other powers from the scythe, it was our expertise in light magick that we used to hide and defend ourselves."

"Light magick?" asked Willow. "As opposed to dark magick?"

"Exactly. There is more of it than you think, young Witch."

"I'm still not sure what this has to do with us. I mean, why did the scythe protect me…" Buffy suddenly stopped short, the pieces starting to fall together. "But that's impossible," she gasped. "Isn't that impossible?"

"What?" Willow asked, still distracted by memories of the spell.

"Yes," the old woman smiled. "It is as you suspect, Slayer. You are the new Guardians of the Scythe."

Willow was startled from her reverie. "Wait, Guardians - plural?"

"Both of you."

"Why didn't the Powers tell us this? Why did they say only Buffy was bound to it?" Willow was flabbergasted.

"I do not think they knew. We shielded our purpose, even from them. And it took a lot of magick to do that, I'll tell you," the woman smiled with fierce pride. "They simply tried to put the pieces together when Buffy didn't die, and they were in a hurry to get you to Middle Earth so they didn't dwell on it."

"What does this mean for us?" Buffy asked.

"It means you have the grace of the Guardians, long life and protection from the scythe. In turn, you must protect it. You are all here for a reason, and it has a part to play. For there is a source of true evil in this world just like there was in your own. You must keep it secret until the time comes to unveil its purpose."

"What do we do now?" Willow seemed lost.

"You must find your way just as we had to find ours in ages past. I can give you one piece of advice. Each of you has a specific source of power. You must hone it and test it to its limits, but always remember that as Guardians your powers are multiplied when used in concert. Strive to learn how to accomplish this." She began to fade away as she finished speaking.

"Wait!" Buffy felt panicked. "You can't leave us now! There's so much we don't understand."

"Your predecessors will always be with you," she replied, and suddenly it was only the young women's reflections staring back at them from the basin.

They stared at each other in shock. "Well, shit," Buffy finally said, breaking the spell.

Galadriel came closer. "I know what it is you saw, and I will help you find your way if I can."

They nodded gratefully and left Galadriel in the glade, needing to process all they'd seen. They wandered together until they found themselves back at the river's edge once more. Feeling overwhelmed by the meeting, Buffy grasped at the images that had come when they first looked into the mirror.

"Did you see them, Wil? Dawnie, Giles, Xand, everyone? They seemed so happy!"

"Yeah," Willow smiled. "They really did. I couldn't tell if it was a picture of them now or in the future. Either way, they looked wonderful." They were quiet, each lost in their own thoughts for several long moments.

Buffy remembered something that had been tickling at the back of her brain. "Hey Wil, before, when we were talking to Galadriel, you seemed upset about something. What was it?"

Willow paused, uncertain how to proceed. "Well, it was what you said about leadership and hard decisions. You tried to explain it to us a few months ago, but we didn't listen. I feel so damned bad about how we treated you! It was all fear. I couldn't handle the truth; the truth of our situation, the truth about what you are and what your role had to be. Any of it. I always feared for our lives, Buffy, and I always knew that they could end every time we went to fight the big bad. But until this last war, you'd always carried us along on your sheer conviction that it would go YOUR way. Suddenly, with the potentials, Xander and I were leaders, too. And you were trying to make us realize how different this war was from the others we'd fought. But I couldn't handle taking responsibility for all that death, so I pretended that it didn't have to happen. That it was like the old days where, as long as we all played our part, everyone would live. Everyone except you. Your part was always to die to save us," she trailed off bitterly.

"Well, it didn't help that I was so cold. It's no wonder the potentials thought I didn't care about them. How can you ask people to die for you when you don't learn their names? After that vision the Shadowmen gave me, I was trapped in the horror of it. I felt that if I didn't distance myself, there was no way I could stomach their deaths. And that was my job. 'Leader' is such a casual word. My real purpose was to send young girls to gruesome deaths, and to watch."

"You didn't just watch, Buffy. You were always the first one in and the last one out. We were all so very wrong. We didn't try to understand or to work with you. We just drew a line, waited for you to cross it, and then kicked you out. And THEN you came back to save us anyway."

"I thought you weren't doing guiltapalooza anymore, Wil."

"I can see my life, like a tapestry, made up of all these different patches, and each one is the result of a decision I've made. So many of them are dark. So many of them are for people I've hurt."

"A guilt quilt?" Buffy asked innocently.

"You aren't going to jokey-rhyme your way out of this, Buffy. I need to be punished. Why was I never punished?"

"You were. You were punished by our mistrust, and by losing the one you loved the most. What real good can come of prison unless it allows you time to regret and to change? Faith needed that, she needed to relinquish her control and confine herself to come to terms with her past. But true punishment comes from within, and you've got that covered. The only person that can let you out of your cell is YOU, Wil, and I think it's time."

"Damn it, we're crying again," Willow sniffled. "All we do here is cry and sleep."

"Probably cuz there was never time before."

"Maybe repressing was better. Let's repress," Willow replied, and they both began to laugh.

"See, that's one thing you forgot," said Buffy. "We've made with the laughter, too."

"Wanna go find Arwen?"

"Deal. Whoever makes her smirk first wins."