One was deep and wide and beautiful, but slow and blended with an immeasurable sorrow, from which its beauty chiefly came.
The other had now achieved a unity of its own; but it was loud, and vain, and endlessly repeated; and it had little harmony, but rather a clamorous unison as of many trumpets braying upon a few notes.
And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern.

- Excerpt from Tolkien's Morgoth's Ring, the tenth instalment of The History of Middle-Earth. A piece from the Ainulindalë, the Great Song, recited by Pengoloð to Ælfwine.

Chapter 8: An interesting conversation

The single, long howl was answered by another, far to the right and quite a bit nearer to them, and then by another not far away to the left. Solana knew that had she been back on Earth, it would have been wolves howling at the moon, gathering together, and she wouldn't have had any reason to worry. However, this was Middle-Earth. And these weren't wolves. They were Wargs.

She was understandably quite worried, and, after flicking her wand a few times to collect their stuff, immediately obeyed Gandalf's command to go "Up the trees, quick!".

The company ran to the trees at the edge of the glade, hunting for those that had branches fairly low, or were slender enough to swarm up. Solana, being extremely tall according to Dwarfish standards, was up and sitting in the first tree she met – a bonsai tree. Instead of leaving her companions to their fates, she whipped out her wand and started casting levitation spells on disgruntled dwarves to get them up into the canopy above them. She knew that most of them would have been angry, had it not been a life-or-death situation.

Solana chuckled softly from her tree. The dwarves sitting up in the trees with their beards dangling down, like old gentlemen gone cracked and playing at being boys. Most of them were in trees they themselves could not climb; Fili and Kili were at the top of a tall weeping willow, peeking out from between its long leaves; Dori, Nori, and Ori were sitting in some kind of pine, with Oin and Gloin frowning down at the ground in an adjacent one; Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur were in an ash tree, and Thorin was sitting comfortably in a large oak that stood next to the ash; Dwalin and Balin, the only ones who had gone up a tree without her assistance, had swarmed up a tall slender fir with few branches and were trying to find a place to sit in the greenery of the topmost boughs; and Gandalf had climbed up a large pine standing at the very edge of the glade. He was quite hidden in its boughs, but you could see his eyes gleaming in the moon as he peeped out.

Solana had just enough time to snap off a couple of spells to hide herself – the same combination she used with the goblins, only a stronger smell-masking spell – before wolves ran into the glade. The pack was led by a Warg, which had to have been one of the ones that had howled.

The glade in the ring of trees was evidently a meeting-place of the wolves and Wargs, as more and more kept coming in. The first pack had apparently smelt the dwarves and Gandalf, for every tree that had a dwarf or Istari in it was soon guarded by a few wolves. Every tree except Solana's, and she was glad that she had been quick enough with her hiding spells.

The wolves and Wargs all went and sat in a great circle in the glade; and in the middle of the circle was a great grey wolf. It spoke, which sounded to Solana like nails on a blackboard, mixed with a sound that sounded remarkably like a hurt dog. By the widening of Gandalf's eyes, he understood it; Solana did not, however, and placed a silencing charm around her tree, cutting off the horrible sound.

After around ten minutes of much-needed rest, made comfortable by a cushioning charm, Solana saw something blue fly out from Gandalf's tree – and set a wolf alight! Hurriedly, she cancelled her silencing charm and looked at Gandalf to see what the old wizard was doing.

He was gathering the huge pinecones from the branches of his tree, apparently. Then he set one alight with bright blue fire, reminiscent of bluebell flames, and threw it whizzing down among the circle of the wolves. The one Solana saw being thrown struck one on the back, and immediately its shaggy coat caught fire, and it started leaping around, setting other wolves alight, yelping horribly. Then another came and another, one in blue flames, one in red, another in green. They burst on the ground in the middle of the circle and went off in coloured sparks and smoke. An especially large one hit the chief wolf on the nose, and he leaped in the air ten feet, and then rushed round and round the circle biting and snapping even at the other wolves in his anger and fright.

Solana decided she had done enough watching and conjured some fireballs – not the small things Gandalf was creating, genuine fireballs a few feet wide. They exploded upon impact, creating craters and spreading wolf- and Warg-parts around like confetti. After a mere ten fireballs, there weren't any wolves left alive.

Oo0oO

The Lord of the Eagles was a well-respected lord, even though he did not have much to lord over. But Eagles did not need much. They had their nests, up in the Misty Mountains, and their food, down in the woods around the Misty Mountains. However, all Eagles loathed goblins with a passion, even though they did not go out to actively look for them. Whenever they saw goblins, they attacked.

"What's all this uproar in the forest tonight?" The Lord of the Eagles frowned as well as eagles could frown. He was sitting, black in the moonlight, on the top of a lonely pinnacle of rock at the eastern edge of the mountains. "I hear wolves' voices! Are the goblins at mischief in the woods? Or is it Radagast, having a bit of fun?"

The Lord swept up into the air, and immediately two of his guards from the rocks at either hand leaped up to follow him. It wasn't necessary; the Lord didn't even enlist the bodyguards as a post. They were volunteers, spending their free time protecting their lord. It was a testament of how well he was liked that no Eagle ever spent more than a week guarding him a year; every week, the guard was refreshed, and two others stepped up to take the post. It took more than a year to use all of the volunteers a week long.

The three Eagles circled up in the sky and looked down upon the ring of the Wargs and wolves, a tiny spot far, far below. But Eagles have keen eyes and can see small things at a great distance. The Lord of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains had eyes that could look at the sun unblinking, and could see a rabbit moving on the ground a mile below even in the moonlight. So though he could not see the people in the trees, due to the canopy providing protection, he could make out the commotion among the wolves and see the tiny flashes of fire, and hear the howling and yelping come up faint from far beneath him. And he could also see the sudden flashes, ten in total, followed by complete calmness, and the silence that came along with it.

Also the Lord could see the glint of the moon on goblin spears and helmets, as long lines of the wicked folk crept down the hillsides from their gate and wound into the wood. Tonight the Lord of the Eagles was filled with curiosity to know what was afoot; so he summoned many other Eagles to him, and they flew away from the mountains, not to kill the goblins like they would have at any other time; no, to investigate the clearing, and if a few goblins got in the way? Well, that was their problem.

The Eagles slowly circling ever round and round they came down towards the ring of the wolves and Wargs and the meeting-place of the goblins. There weren't many wolves left; the only Warg was a great grey one, and the wolves left over were some wolves running around some random trees – at least, they seemed random, until the Lord spotted a pointed hat peeking out of one of the trees.

"It's Gandalf!" He announced to the other eagles, and soon the goblins, who were running up to set fire to the trees Gandalf and the dwarves were in, immediately had a barrage of sharp beaks and claws raining down upon them. A few slipped through, though, and it was enough; they set fire to the dry flora – it had not rained in several weeks, after all – and Eagles were soon swooping down to pick up a wizard and his Dwarven companions.

The Lord of the Eagles watched as his second-in-command scooped Gandalf up in his talons and turned back to the battlefield below, which was littered with bloody bodies of goblins and a mere two Eagles. There were no wolves, strangely enough, only the great grey Warg. The Lord was sure he had heard cries of wolves, though.

Far below him, the goblins and the wolves that were previously guarding the dwarves' and Gandalf's trees were scattering far and wide in the woods. A few eagles were still circling and sweeping above the battle-ground, picking off stray goblins that went out into the open.

However, when the Lord was turning around to follow the other Eagles, deeming staying unnecessary, something caught his attention; an Eagle bursting through the canopy. And nobody could say that wasn't strange, because Eagles do not go below the canopy of the forest. Ever. Even weirder was the fact that the Eagle was a female, but female Eagles never left the nest in the Misty Mountains.

Needless to say, the Lord of the Eagles decided to investigate.

The Lord took off after the female when he saw she put on a burst of extra speed to catch up to the other eagles. The female seemed to be flying a bit awkwardly – as if she hadn't flown in a long time. But that was ridiculous.

"Hello." The Lord greeted the female eagle when he finally flew even with her.

"Hello." The female answered back, flapping her wings again. The Lord was surprised that she didn't say 'Hello, my lord' or something similar; not that it bothered him, he preferred it, actually, but the general populace of Eagles insisted upon acting against his wishes in codes of conduct, being much more formal than he preferred.

"You did a good job disguising yourself as a male."

The female seemed startled and frowned at him. "Why would I want to do that?"

Now it was The Lord's turn to frown. How could she have been allowed to come along with the other soldiers if she hadn't even disguised herself? "Well, because females aren't allowed into the fight, perhaps?"

The female laughed, which sounded like screeching, coming from an eagle. "Oh, I'm afraid there's been a mistake. Watch." She flapped her wings a few times, flying up higher, and to the Lord of the Eagles' astonishment, transformed into a human right in front of him!

Naturally, as humans are unable to fly, she dropped down a few feet before transforming back into an Eagle. "I'm an animagus," The human-who-was-an-eagle-but-not-really explained, though it did not explain much to a confused Lord. "A shape-shifter."

"Ah, like Beorn. I take it you came with Gandalf's party, then?"

The shape-shifter chuckled, though the Lord could see something burning in her eyes, but it was gone before he could inspect any further. "Yes, though I would call it Thorin's party in the presence of the dwarves. He's a king, you see, and thinks quite highly of himself."

The Lord chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind. What is your name?"

The female's cheeks tinged red. "Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce myself! I'm Solana, Solana Potter. It's nice to meet you."

"It is nice to meet you as well. Your name sounds…"

"Weird? Yes, I've been getting that a lot. I'm not from around here. Much like this Beorn, I presume, though I have not met the man himself."

"Interesting. Well, I had a good time talking to you, Miss Potter. I rarely have any good conversations."

Miss Potter frowned. "Why?"

The Lord chuckled. "Because I'm the Lord of the Eagles of the Misty Mountains, of course, and anyone I rule over is much too formal for my tastes. Good day."

And then he sped up to talk to Gandalf, leaving an astonished Solana behind.

Review Replies!

Chaosrin: I haven't planned that far ahead yet. Currently, the only guidelines I am using are A. Follow the book and not the movie, and B. Have a Solana/Tauriel romance. There is a third, but I'm not going to tell you that, because that would ruin the surprise. For the rest, I'm just writing whatever I think of as I go along.

Bigs-Post: Oh, I'm definitely not abandoning the story! I love writing this.

Mii Yes Me: That's actually a really good idea. I might show a few flashbacks if there are events that can be linked – like Smaug and the 1st task of the TriWiz – but I won't throw in a random chapter showing something from the other world.

And a thank you to the other reviewer, a Guest.

COME ON, PEOPLE! REVIEW SOME MORE! THE AMOUNG OF REVIEWS IS PATHETIC!