:mindspeech:
Elvish
Chapter 11
"What is it with you and that bloody ring?" Natasha asked impatiently, setting down the dusty papers she'd been reading for the better part of the last hour.
She and Gandalf had arrived in Minas Tirith a few weeks ago, after a long, hard ride from the Shire immediately after the Party and Bilbo's subsequent departure. They had only waited long enough to make sure that Frodo had found the aforementioned nuisance and had hidden it safely away in an envelope at the bottom of a chest, though Natasha had been instructed to do her best to forget its hiding place. They had ridden their horses to exhaustion getting to the southern land of Gondor, been received poorly by the Steward, whom, in Natasha's opinion, really needed to learn some rudimentary manners, and had thus far spent every day and night they had been in the city in this dusty room, reading page after page of faded parchment, looking for any mention of something Gandalf had heard.
Gandalf looked up dazedly from the parchment he was reading, gazing at her in silent confusion for a moment, unsure of what had caused her outburst. Then his eyes narrowed in irritation.
"I have all ready stated what I am looking for. Now find it, apprentice." with that he went back to reading his page, setting it aside and reaching for another.
Growling in frustration, Natasha rose and stalked out of the room. Breathing in the crisp morning air, she looked to the East to where the sun should now be breaking over the horizon. However, the clouds covering the land beyond the river blocked any light from getting through, keeping the lands this side of the river from receiving the early morning light. Sighing, she requested refreshments of a passing servant and returned to the archive room, carrying a fresh bundle of parchment pages.
Again she sat and read until her eyes were sore, rising when the servant entered. Quietly thanking him, she set food and ale beside Gandalf, taking the page out of his hands and setting it aside.
"Do you realize you haven't eaten since we arrived?" she asked softly, holding a mug of ale out to him.
Surprise lit his eyes and he mutely took the offered earthenware. They ate in silence, until Gandalf finally cleared his throat and fixed his eyes on his apprentice.
"This ring of Bilbo's has brought a great disquiet to my heart. Has for many years, since he first told me the true story behind his finding it. That it should cause him to lie when he had never lied before was a cause for concern. But his actions the other night have caused that concern to grow."
Natasha nodded, seeing the reasoning behind this and turned back to her work. When Gandalf did not immediately follow suit, she looked up to find him smiling mischievously. Sighing, she began reading aloud in the elven tongues he had begun to teach her on their trip here, speaking to her in nothing but the language of study, first Quenya and now Sindarin. Rohirrim would be next when she reached an adequately conversational level in the previous two. It was difficult for her to read in the language of men and speak it in Sindarin; translation was still a little slow, though she was improving every day.
Going through the archives had seemed as simple enough task when Gandalf had first explained what they were going to Minas Tirith for. Until Natasha had actually seen the state of the archives, she had thought it would merely take a few days at the most. However, years of archivist neglect had left the records in all manners of want. Some pages were so faded, the writing could not be made out, others had water stains on them, blurring the ink to illegibility, and still others had been torn from being stuffed onto shelves with little heed for their importance. It was no wonder the kingdom was in the state it was, if nothing could be found due to lack of filing systems.
'Oh, but you were spoiled back home, Nigel did all the filing.' this thought had brought a none too brief pain in her chest. Oh, how she missed her twin. Was he all right? Did he miss her? What was he doing? But all her questions, like many times before had been pushed to the sidelines as she became engrossed in helping Gandalf find what he was looking for.
Days turned into weeks and weeks to months. The seasons had changed and outside, the leaves were just beginning to turn when Gandalf finally found what he was looking for. They rode to the Shire with every ounce of speed they could coax from their horses, arriving just as the sun set on the seventh day. It was all ready well past nightfall when they finally made it to the door of Bag End. Slipping inside unnoticed, they waited for the little hobbit to return from where ever he had gone for the evening.
Gandalf had not said a word during their entire journey, not even when Natasha had fallen into a river when her horse had slipped, unceremoniously dumping her on her rear. Worry crept into Natasha's heart as she watched her mentor. Usually he smoked that awful smelling pipeweed of his, but the pipe hadn't even made an appearance on the journey here. He simply sat in the dark, fingering his staff like a worry stone, brooding in the silence of the night.
They hadn't been waiting long when the door suddenly swung inwards and a shadowy figure stepped into the room, looking around him in confusion. Cursing under her breath, she remembered Gandalf had opened a window when they had arrived, and now papers were flying to the floor in the evening breeze. Gandalf had moved behind the door when he'd heard footsteps padding up the stone walkway and now jumped out, grabbing the hobbit, startling him badly.
"Is it secret? Is it safe?" was all he asked, desperation clear in his voice to even a stranger.
They both stood watchful as Frodo rummaged through a chest in his study, Gandalf jumping at even the slightest sound.
:Did you have to scare him like that: Natasha thought at her mentor.
:Time is of the essence, Natasha. We must get him out of the Shire as soon as possible.:
"Here it is." Frodo said with obvious relief, probably thinking he might have forgotten where he'd hidden it.
Gandalf snatched the tiny envelope from his hand and strode to the hearth, tossing envelope and ring into the flames.
"What are you doing!" Frodo exclaimed, jumping forward only to be restrained by both Natasha and Gandalf.
:The secret only fire can tell, Gandalf:
:Pray it is not true. Or there will be difficult times ahead.:
Nodding silently, remembering the lecture Gandalf had given her on the possibility of this ring (please don't let that be capitalized, she prayed), Natasha watched the envelope disintegrate to ashes, revealing the simple gold band that had caused her teacher many sleepless nights since the Birthday Party, seemingly ages ago.
More calmly than he felt, Gandalf reached in and picked the ring out from amongst the coals with a pair of tongs, his emotions running barely checked along the teacher-student bond he and Natasha shared. Unable to stand the dual feelings within her any longer, Natasha made sure to give the 'door' just a little harder nudge than was strictly necessary. A non-verbal, non-thought way of letting him know he was slipping just a little. Smiling ruefully, Gandalf's defences regained their strength as he took hold of himself and concentrated on the task at hand.
"Can you see anything?" he asked the hobbit, whom he'd passed the unscathed ring to.
Natasha thought her heart had stopped when Frodo corrected himself after the initial verdict of nothing. She didn't have to turn from the window where she stood to know what Gandalf's reaction would be. Dread. Pure and simple, dread.
:Well, shit.: was all she could think, blushing when she realized she'd Thought it to her mentor.
:My thoughts exactly. But please don't use such words. Highly unbecoming one of your station.:
Mentally sticking her tongue out at him, she turned her attention back to Frodo as Gandalf went into the history of the object before them. The Ring. A frisson of ice went down her spine at the thought of what Gandalf had shown her during her own lessons. Of Sauron and his power while wielding his Treasure. Thankfully, Frodo was not being subjected to that. It was not needed. He had believed almost instantly. There was no evil of this kind in her own world, at least not to her knowledge,' she amended. There was evil, of the completely human variety, of course. Weapons and disease, but nothing of magick, like her powers. Thank goodness, there weren't more like her around. They might have been taken by the military and used as weapons or guinea pigs by scientists. Luckily, no one had suspected a thing after the fire she had started, the first time she had lost control. The authorities had automatically assumed a leaky gas line had caused the accident, though she and her family knew differently.
They had moved out of the state shortly afterwards, finding a place out in the country. And there had only been a few incidents after that though not as large as the first one. Fear triggered the reaction, but Nigel had always managed to calm her fear before any major damage was done, or she was discovered, until she had learned some modicum of control. Once they'd entered med school, there weren't anymore incidents, mostly because she'd been extra careful to avoid situations that could have triggered an outburst. It was one of the reasons she was still single at 27. She'd never gone out to meet anyone.
'Pity about this being the One Ring and all.' she thought, bemusedly. 'I was getting used to living without fear. Was almost starting to think I might actually get to have a life now. Oh well. Duty comes first.'
Frodo was hurrying around Bag End, stuffing things into his pack, when Natasha felt a slight tingle along the back of her neck, indicating unwanted company was close by.
:Gandalf:
:I felt it.: "Get down Frodo. You too, Natasha." Gandalf whispered to the hobbit, who immediately dropped to the floor, Natasha sheltering him under her body. A rustling in the leaves under the windowsill was heard and a solid thump of Gandalf's staff as he attacked.
"Ow!" came Sam Gamgee's voice, quickly followed by a startled wail as he was dragged through the window.
"Damn you Samwise Gamgee! Have you been eavesdropping?" Gandalf bellowed, holding the frightened hobbit to the table.
"I ain't been droppin' no eaves sir. Honest." Sam stuttered quickly, cringing beneath the wizard's intense gaze. Natasha couldn't help but roll her eyes in exasperation. Sometimes, hobbits could be so literal. "I was just cutting the grass under the ledge there, sir, if you follow me."
"Little late for that don't you think?" Natasha asked quietly, speaking for the first time.
Sam turned frightened eyes on her, hope briefly flashing in his eyes that she would keep Gandalf from exacting his wrath. She shrugged slightly. "You're on your own with this one, I'm afraid.'
"I heard raised voices." he offered hesitantly.
"What did you hear?" Gandalf demanded.
"Nothing important!" Sam tried to assure the wizard. "I mean, I heard something about a dark lord and a bit about a ring and something about the end of the world. But please sir, don't turn me into anythin' unnatural."
"Nah, nothing important." Natasha threw her hands up in disgust and stalked out of the room, returning with another bag. Gandalf had after all a better use for the ain't- droppin'-no-eaves' hobbit.