Chapter fourteen, where a few of the foggy details of the story come into focus. Lothlórien is the only section of Fellowship for which I use the Extended Edition text; all known lines are property of Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. Some of them are altered to suit my plotline.
- xHx
The three girls walked between Frodo and Legolas. Hermione, with her fear of flying, was the most self-conscious as they neared the top of the vast spiral stair that wrapped around a large tree. Her eyes were wide as, glancing down, she took in how far from the ground she stood.
As the company stopped at the foot of the staircase, she could not help but glance behind her at the open space where she believed there should be floor and whimper faintly. That would hurt, she thought to herself.
"The enemy knows you have entered here," Lord Celeborn began. "What hope you had in secrecy is now gone." He paused, before he changed the subject on himself. "Eleven there are here, but twelve there were set out from Rivendell. Tell me, where is Gandalf. For I much desire to speak with him. I can no longer see him from afar."
"He has fallen into Shadow," Lady Galadriel said.
"He was taken by both shadow and flame. A Balrog of Morgoth," Legolas said. "For we went needlessly into the net of Moria."
"Needless were none of the deeds of Gandalf in life. We do not yet know his full purpose," the Lady said. Hermione and Ginny shared a short glance, both with eyebrows raised. This elf-woman was stranger than Luna on a good day. "Do not let the great emptiness of Khazad-dûm fill your heart, Gimli, son of Glóin, for the world has grown full of peril, and in all lands love is now mingled with grief."
"What now becomes of this Fellowship?" Celeborn said. "Without Gandalf, hope is lost."
"The quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all," the Lady said. "Yet, hope remains while the company is true. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest, for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight, you will sleep in peace."
All of the men in the company bowed slightly to the Lord and Lady, but the three women remained, frozen and staring at the tall woman who seemed to glow.
"Hísiven, why do you and your friends remain?" the Lady asked.
"I was just wondering exactly who you are," Hermione said.
Lady Galadriel smiled. "All will be revealed in time. Join your companions; they will worry."
Hermione, Ginny, and Luna all leaned close, whispering, as the Elves of Lothlórien sang their lament for Gandalf. They were discussing a possible prank to play on Boromir.
"I think we should that spell Harry demonstrated with a willing Elf back in Rivendell," Luna said. "The one that lifts up the victim by the ankle."
"I was thinking of that Langlock thing. Shut him up for a while," Ginny muttered.
"I don't know the counter for that," Hermione said. "I do like Luna's idea, but that might scare everyone else, so I was thinking of the Tickling Jinx."
All three smirked and nodded. This was to be Luna's personal prank on Boromir, but it had to be something decided upon as a group.
The three looked up, eyes drawn toward Boromir. Legolas knew they would be doing this, but no one else knew of it. They may have hinted at it, but they gave nothing away.
Luna raised her wand, waiting for the perfect moment.
Aragorn was walking to Boromir. Hermione nudged the blonde, telling her to do it now.
"Rictusempra," the blonde whispered. A thin, barely-noticeable jet of pure white light shot from the end of her wand and landed on Boromir, who almost immediately doubled over in laughter from the jinx. Everyone was looking at him oddly, and taking advantage of their distraction, Hermione raised her wand and cast the same jinx over Merry. Ginny, catching on, fired yet another, this one for Gimli.
Legolas cracked a smile, watching them. It was a perfect way to lighten the mood.
Finally, when Hermione deemed they'd suffered the Tickling Jinx long enough, they all pointed their wands at the three members of the company who they had hit and muttered, "Finite." All three slowly calmed. Merry was grinning, of course. He'd be asking them later if he could learn how to do that.
Aragorn, shaking his head slightly, continued toward Boromir, while Legolas finally sat down beside the three young ladies. Hermione, of course, tried to ignore the fact that he treated Ginny, Luna, and just about the rest of the group like children; all except for her and Gandalf. Some days he just reminded her of another blonde with the way he acted, but he was not Draco Malfoy. Behind his apparent distaste, there was a certain degree of caring, something he tried very hard to hide.
"What are you thinking about?" he whispered into her ear, gently smoothing her hair behind it.
"Nothing much, really. Just how much I've missed being at Hogwarts when I should have been here," she muttered in reply.
"It was not quite so adventurous as your time there, Hísiven. Rosmir shared what she knows with me as well. You were far too modest with me back in Rivendell," he said, brushing a finger over her cheek.
"I only told you my perception of myself."
"Hísiven."
The brunette turned, to see Haldir standing a few feet away from her.
"Lady Galadriel wishes to speak to you and your two friends alone," he said. "Follow me."
The trio of girls stood up, brushing off their leggings, and followed Haldir as he walked to a space under a willow tree and held open the curtain. "Wait here," he said. And he left.
"Well," Ginny said. "I don't know what's happening, but that can't be good."
"Or it's better, because she wants to talk to us without anyone listening," Luna said. "We don't know how things work around here."
"That is true," Hermione muttered. "I'm still nervous."
"There is no need to be anxious, Hísiven," the Lady said softly. The three turned and took in the splendor of the Lady of Light. "Rosmir, Lothrendis." She was smiling, and held in her hands two books.
"Good evening, my Lady," Lothrendis said, bowing her head in respect to the Elf-woman.
"There is no need for that." She motioned them to a table near the roots of the willow, where she set the two books. One was thicker than the other, yet the thinner was larger in other ways. She opened this one to a page near the back and began to read aloud from it, translating from the Quenya in which it was written.
"An ancient pair of Elves of the second generation was the first to find the rift between the two realms. Their names were Lómëar and Lómehel, the Ladies of the Twilight, of Sea and Sky. Lómehel was the only Elf ever with hair of flames. Her sister, Lómëar, had hair the color of silvery moonlight. As the years progressed, it was learned that these sisters had begun a race of magical beings in the other world, and had passed into legend.
"It was, and still is, believed that Lómëar and Lómehel wander between the worlds, guiding those meant to live in one world but born in the other to their destinies. They are seen once in a great while in the forest of Fangorn, and are known as Narcundo and Lúsinanto, the Flame Guardian and the Glowing Giver. Sometimes, they bless one of their descendants with their own strength, the power and beauty of the Elves. The more interesting factor is, when an Elf-child is sent to the other realm, they will bless that child with the strength and ability to join their descendants, known to the non-magical people of their world as wizards.
"Over the many years since the beginning of Wizard-kind, they have lost their ethereal beauty, their pointed ears, and their memories of Lómëar and Lómehel. Witches are visited by the sisters as those their parents cannot see until their eighth birthday. It is said that, rarely, the sisters will make their presence known. The methods change each time, but it always means something good is to happen."
Lady Galadriel closed the book and slid it away from her, blue eyes watching Luna and Ginny. Both girls were staring forward with a deer-in-the-headlights type of expression, which looked kind of funny.
"Hísiven," the Lady said, turning to the brunette, "I have a gift for you. Share it only with these two girls and Legolas, as it is partly for him as well." And she handed Hermione the thicker of the tomes. "It was a joint effort of myself, Gandalf, and your Albus Dumbledore. I wrote the list which makes this so thick; a complete index of Quenya and Sindarin words and phrases. Gandalf rewrote the list in Westron, and delivered that to Albus, who finished it with your letters in both translation and pronunciation and bound it as a book. It was always destined for you."
Hermione opened the book to a random page and read the first entry. The word itself was feather. The Westron would be recognizable to her again, as would the Elvish text. Next to the word was the pronunciation of the Elvish word; quesse, and a stressed pronunciation guide beside it. Hermione grinned.
"Thank you, my Lady," she said, closing the book gently. "You were a friend of Albus Dumbledore?"
The Lady nodded. "How is he?"
"I'm sorry to tell you this," Hermione said, shifting the book to one arm and placing her free hand on the Elf-woman's shoulder, "but he is dead."
"Who brought him this fate?"
"A man named Severus Snape. Someone I have never trusted, but Albus did trust him. He worked at Hogwarts as the Potions master," Hermione said.
The Lady nodded lightly. "Thank you for telling me," she said. "Return to your friends. They may start to worry."
Upon returning, Hermione settled onto her bedroll with her knees bent and her back against the tree, slowly turning the pages of her new book. It was much like a thesaurus. Each word had the additional ways of writing it and the Elvish way of pronouncing it in a short summarization beside it. Westron reminded her slightly of the work in her Ancient Runes class, and the Elvish writing was too beautiful to exist anywhere but amongst the Elves.
Legolas noticed her involvement in the tome, but thought it best not to interrupt her. Ginny had told him that disrupting Hermione while she was reading was to open yourself up to a verbal and physical attack.
By the time they both took their rest, Hermione had read half of the book.
I'm rather proud of this chapter. It took me quite two days to get the specifics down, but this was worth it.
Please read and review.
- xHx