A week later, the woman was moving about the city slowly. Her leg still pained her, but she would not listen to the healers and would not stay in bed. She walked with a heavy limp and her arm was held close to her body in a sling. She stood on one of the many balconies overlooking the valley of the elves, but didn't really see the view below her. She sensed someone standing behind her, but did not turn.
"I told you it was not your time, and I meant it." Armand stood behind her, his silver eyes seeming to pierce her skin. "You had to come back."
"Mankoi?" The seer's elfin ears picked up the barely audible word.
"I told you, your time is not done. You have much still to do."
"Mani naa ta?"
"That is not for me to see." The woman's shoulder's slumped slightly and she sighed.
"Then I will go forth and do it." She stepped away from the balcony and made to move back inside, but her leg gave out beneath her and she fell to her knees. Armand knelt beside her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Before you set off on your quest, you must first heal." He helped her to her feet and slowly escorted her back inside. "Then you may go forth and conquer all of Middle Earth if you so choose."
She convalesced in Rivendell for a month and in that time, the elves learned much about her. They discovered her name was Intara, that she was from a village near the sea and was a fierce warrior. She and young Arwen frequented the river and taught one another many things.
But Intara was a wanderer; a member of the Rangers of the North and no matter how welcome she was made to feel or how hard Arwen begged her to stay, the call of the wanderer was far too great.
On the day of her departure, Lord Elrond bestowed upon her a fine Elvin blade. Light but powerful, it's gently curved blade made it a unique weapon.
"May this protect you in your journeys, and know you will always have a place here." Elrond said as she inspected the fine sword.
"My Lord, I can not accept this. You have shown me far too much hospitality already, for which I can never repay you. To add this to the services you have already done me is more than anything I can accept."
"You can accept it and you will." Elrond said walking away from her, a hidden smile curling his lips. "If it soothes your conscience any, consider it not as a gift but a binding contract."
"A contract for what?" Elrond turned slowly to face her when he reached the bottom of the stairs leading up to his rooms.
"Should we ever be in need, should the city ever need to be defended, you will come to our aid. Consider that the way you will be able to repay us."
"That I shall." Intara said, as she bowed low to the elf lord. "I will bind myself to your family and the city of Rivendell. Should the need ever arise, I will return here as swiftly as I am able."
Intara made the rest of her goodbye's and mounted the slim legged horse she'd been given to replace her now lost mare. She disappeared across the river and into the fragrant lowlands in search of a ranger outpost.
Years passed by and then centuries. Intara had nearly disappeared from memory in Rivendell. Armand, who had viewed the sea in her subconscious mind, had never been able to shake the call of the sea and had gone to the Western lands shortly after Intara had left the city.
One year, when Arwen was about to come of age, a package was brought to her.
"Mani naa ta?" She asked the messenger. The elf that had brought the package was from her Grandmother's realm in Lorien. He stood by and said nothing. Arwen tore into the package hoping it was a birthday present from her grandmother.
Arwen gasped when she opened it and revealed the blade Intara had been given upon her departure from the city.
"Ada…." Arwen looked to her father as she fingered the fine blade. Elrond picked up the note that lay in the bottom of the wrappings and skins that had been wound protectively around the sword.
Dear Arwen,
My letter writing skills are not the best, so I will keep this brief. As you come of age I want you to remember all we talked about so many years ago beside the River. Women can do all a man can. I know you have a spirit and a spark for life. As I can foresee no children in my own future, I give this sword to you. A ranger has little use for such a fine thing; but an elvin warrior princess? That is an altogether different thing. Tell your father that the contract is still binding. I shall never forget your family's kindness.
Intara
"How did you come to be in possession of this blade?" Elrond asked the Lothlorien messenger.
"A woman, injured, wandered into the woods. Galadriel had her brought into the city. She stayed on, but when she found out that an envoy was coming to Rivendell she asked that we bare this with us and present it to the Princess."
"I must go to her father, please?" Arwen begged as she grasped her father's sleeve.
"Your grandmother has requested your presence in the Golden Wood anyway, I don't see why you can not go." Arwen dashed out of the room and prepared to leave Rivendell in the hopes of seeing her lost friend again.
But when Arwen arrived at the home of her Grandmother, she did not find Intara there. Intara had left the Golden Wood shortly after the envoy to Rivendell had, and no one would talk to Arwen about the reason for Intara's hasty departure from the woods of the Lady Galadriel.
After that, Intara was seen infrequently, and then only from great distances as elves traveled to the Gray Havens. The letters they sent back to Elrond were vague and inconclusive, but all insisted it was the wandering ranger that they had seen.
"She sat above the road on a dark horse, her face obscured by her hood. But there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Intara watches over us on our pilgrimages to the sea."
And then one day, Intara returned to Imladris. A guard of elves patrolling the woods for orcs and trolls found her riding towards the city. She held her right arm close to her body and reeked of goblin. The elves were shocked to see that she'd not aged a day since the last time she had been a guest of the city.
She was brought back immediately and before she allowed herself to be taken to the healing halls or to the bathing area, she demanded to see Elrond.
"It's the Nine. They're after the Ring of Power. Apparently they think some Halfling has it, though how one of them might have managed to come by such a thing is beyond me."
"How were you hurt?" Elrond asked. He already knew about the Nazgul…he'd heard about it from Gandalf, though where he'd disappeared to now was beyond his sight.
"I was attacked by orcs." Intara's face reddened. "You'd think after so many years traveling I'd be able to smell one of their ambushes by now. But they caught me unawares…they were scouting ahead of the wraiths."
"You did well coming here." Elrond said as he clasped her good shoulder. "It is good to see you again after so many years."
"I could not leave the city unawares with those Goblins running amok."
"Go have your shoulder set, and for the Valar's sake take a bath…I'm sure they can smell you all over the city."
Once she had seen to her shoulder and taken a bath, she was given clean clothes and brought to Elrond's study once more.
"You must go to Bree and help the hobbits to get here." Elrond said as he poured over another scroll. "Another Ranger is already there, someone I think you'll know."
"I'd rather work alone."
"So would he. What your people have against working in a group, I'll never understand. Rangers are particularly too stubborn." Intara grinned slightly. It was the closest thing she'd ever heard to annoyance come out of the composed elf.
Intara crouched outside the walled city and waited for nightfall. Leaving her horse in the woods she moved across the shadowed fields and made a running leap at the high walls, only barely managing to grasp the top of it.
"I'm getting entirely too old for this." She muttered as she struggled to get over the wall. She finally dropped down to the other side and rubbed at her still sore shoulder. It didn't take much anymore to dislocate it. She'd had to reset it several times herself in the deep woods. Even sleeping in the wrong position popped the pesky joint out of its socket.
She moved from shadow to shadow. The few people who did see her in the dark places of the road stayed clear of her. Town folk were always leery of Rangers, which was exactly the way Intara liked it.
"Now, if I were that doddering old Istari, where would I send a Hobbit?"
Intara looked at the signs swinging from the pubs and finally saw the sign of the Prancing Pony illuminated in the dreary light. A light rain had been falling all night and the roads were slick and foul smelling, yet somehow the Pony always managed to look clean and hospitable.
"Comfort indeed." Intara slipped inside the ale house quietly and found herself an inconspicuous place that afforded her a view of the entire room. Most of the people in the pub were travelers; farmers headed to market, traders, magicians. Some were locals, knowing they could pick up the best bits of gossip from the loose tongued travelers. In the far corner of the tap room she saw a man sitting in the deep shadows, his presence betrayed by a faint orange glow from his pipe. She scanned on looking for Gandalf and wondering who the other Ranger might be, hoping against hope it wasn't the man in the corner.
She'd been standing in the pub for quite some time when four hobbits burst in to the room. She saw the man in the corner watch them come in and speak to the bar keep. Then they took seats at a table beside the fire. It didn't take long for the four to find trouble when they started to purchase whole pints.
"A quartet of drunk hobbits, perfect!" Intara muttered.
Frodo stopped the barkeep as he passed by, his hands full of tankards.
"Who is that man, in the corner?" The barkeep followed Frodo's gave until it fell on the dark man who still sat smoking his pipe. His silver eyes illuminated when he drew on it.
"That there is one of them Rangers, round here, we call him Strider." The barkeep said in a low voice.
"And that one, in the shadow….are they a Ranger as well?"
"I'm not sure who you're speaking of Master Underhill." The man quickly moved away, an unnerved look on his face. Something dark must assuredly be going on if two rangers were frequenting his pub. Rangers only brought trouble with them.
Intara watched as one of the hobbits began to run his mouth loudly at the bar while picking up a pint. He rambled incessantly about his relation to a Frodo Baggins. Frodo stood from the table and rushed to Pippin's side, tripped and then disappeared momentarily. She tensed, as did the smoking man in the corner.
Once Frodo reappeared, Strider moved across the room, snatched Frodo up from the floor and made for the stairs. The other three hobbits were hot on his trail, Intara taking up the rear.
"I'll have you, Longshanks!" The fat one yelled as he burst through the door brandishing a cooking pot. Intara came in behind them and closed the door while removing her hood. The four hobbits smelled of fear as they turned back to back, the better to protect themselves from any angle of attack.
"Strider." She said by way of greeting as she leaned casually against the door.
"Shadow." The man grinned crookedly as they had the hobbits sandwiched between them. She took note of the way his hand had gone instinctively to the hilt of the broadsword on his hip, it danced there for a moment and then he moved about the room extinguishing candles.
"Who are you?" The hobbits stared wide eyed at this woman who had only just now made her presence known. The tap room had been crowded, but they hadn't seen her at all.
"A friend, that's all you need know for now."
"How did you find yourself here?" Strider asked as he looked out the window. Intara doused the remaining candles and locked the door.
"Elrond sent me. Said I'd meet you here---not in so many words of course…."
"Of course."
Strider told the Hobbits of the wraiths that were following them while Intara went to the hobbit's room to prepare it for the evening. They wanted it to look as if the Halflings were lodging there. She came back to Strider's room rubbing the back of her head.
"Problems?"
"Hobbit room---low beam. I'd rather not talk about it." Strider cracked another smile. "And don't laugh."
"Alright."
It was late in the evening when the wraiths finally showed up. Frodo was alert and sat at the edge of the bed, watching the two humans. Strider was at the window, Intara near the door, when the high pitched scream of the wraiths pierced the night air and woke the three sleeping hobbits.
"Are you afraid?" Strider asked into the darkness.
"Are you?" Intara's smooth voice rippled back through the shadow. They did not need to say anything more.
Before Dawn the next morning, Intara, Strider, and the Hobbits left Bree and made for the city of Rivendell.
"Shadow?" Intara moved forward and walked beside Strider. They'd been moving the better part of the day. "I need you to scout ahead." His eyes never met hers as they walked, but scanned the dark forest around them, waiting for a shadow to jump out at them. "We'll stop at Weathertop tonight."
"You want me to find the wraiths." It was not a question, but a fact.
"Aye." He finally brought his gray eyes to her dark ones. "If we know where they are, we can be ready for them."
Intara moved away and mounted her horse swiftly, drifting off the road and into the black forests in search of the Ring Wraiths.
Mankoi?----- Why?
Mani naa ta?---- What is it?
Ada----- Father