Líriel did not sleep that night. She sat still, cross-legged on the floor, meditating for hours. Never before had she encountered such difficulties in completing a mission. Sainor had warned her that this would be difficult, that she would need to bring to bear all of her considerable experience and training, and more, but the situation had still managed to exceed all of her worst expectations. She had still seen no sign of her target, and now, as if things weren't confusing enough, an Istar had decided to make an appearance.

She turned the facts of the situation over and over in her head. Was Mithrandir arrival related to her own? No, that seemed unlikely. Elrond and his sons seemed to find her perfectly unsuspicious. Surely, if they had summoned Mithrandir in order to investigate her, they would not have allowed her such free reign of the city. Was Mithrandir's arrival related to this Strider, then? That was a possibility, although Líriel could not see how the two things could be related.

All said and done, her ruminations brought her very little comfort. Líriel had never felt so alone and exposed, and she was one who was used to solitude. The night passed slowly.

The next morning she disturbed early by knocking at her door. It was Folwin.

"My Lord desires your presence," he said. He looked worn.

"Does something trouble you, friend?" she asked him, as they walked towards the courtyard where she had met Elrond before.

"Thank you for your concern, my lady, but I am merely weary. I have had some difficult shifts these past few days."

Folwin glanced at the elf beside him and sighed. "If I was to speak more freely… troubling things are afoot. But I cannot speak more of them, at least not yet."

"I understand. Have no fear; I would not ask you to shirk your duties. I hoped only to help you, if I was able. You have been very kind to me since I arrived here, and I would like to repay you somehow."

Folwin smiled at this. "Your company has been thanks enough. And sadly, I'm afraid I must leave you here. You remember the path we took before?"

She nodded in confirmation and he bowed to her before taking his leave. She walked the rest of the way to Elrond's chambers with some trepidation and arrived there to find that there were only two people present. Elrond and Mithrandir.

At least I was wise enough to prepare for this.

As she entered the small courtyard, she bowed respectfully to the both of them.

"I am at your service, my lord."

Elrond greeted her with a nod.

"Good morning, child. I am sorry to have to summon you so early once again, but events have pressed my hand. I don't know if you recognise my guest?"

Líriel kept her face blank. "I'm afraid I do not, my lord."

Mithrandir broke in.

"My name is Gandalf, or Mithrandir as your people know me. Does that mean anything to you?"

Líriel nodded and immediately bowed deeply.

"Good! That will save me a lot of explaining, and I'm sure you understand that a wizard's time is very valuable indeed. Come come, let us not stand on ceremony! I've been told that you are the one who provided us with those fascinating papers Elrond showed me. I'd like to discuss some things with you. Come, sit," he said, indicating the seat beside him.

Líriel took her place. This wizard was a lot warmer than she had expected. He seemed more like a friendly old man than one of the most powerful beings in existence.

"I must not allow him to trick me into feeling comfortable," she reminded herself.

Elrond busied himself with serving her a cup of tea whilst Mithrandir began talking.

"Elrond tells me that you're from the Firien Wood. That is further from Mordor than Minas Tirith, and yet you are in possession of information that Gondor is not. Tell me, how did that come to be?"

"I am from the Firien Wood, but most of my people are not. We are not so much a community, as much as we are a collection of hermits and travellers. Most of us live in small groups of only two or three people. Until recently, years could go by without seeing another elf. When the orc activity around Mordor began increasing, we were more or less forced to band together, in order to protect ourselves. But many of our group lived in the forests of Ithilien before then. More recently, we took it upon ourselves to learn as much as we could about the enemy, in order to better defend ourselves. As for us having more information than Minas Tirith… mortals lack subtlety. They travel in large groups and make too much noise. It doesn't surprise me that they haven't been able to get close enough to get the information we have. They would be discovered and killed immediately."

To her surprise, Gandalf laughed heartily. Wizards experience amusement?

"I know what you speak of. But you would do well to not underestimate mortals. They can surprise you in the most unexpected situations, believe me. Now tell me, when your people were gathering this information, how involved were you in this? What do you know personally of Mordor?"

Líriel eyed him dubiously. She wasn't sure how much to reveal of what she knew about Mordor. In truth, she knew a great deal, probably more than any elf besides Sainor, but she had no reason to help them in this area. Yet… she had no real reason to not help them either. What did it matter to her if the Dark Lord suffered from this? She wouldn't be directly breaking her oath. Her blood bond required merely that she completed tasks that Sainor set for her, it said nothing about loyalty to Sauron. And the more she saw of these people, the more she began to realise that she was working for the wrong side. Not that it took much to convince her of that.

She took a deep breath. "I was one of those most involved in scouting. That is part of why I was chosen to travel here. I've seen parts of Mordor that I would wager few others have - at least if we disregard orcs and mercenaries. What do you wish to know?"

This seemed to pique the wizard's curiosity. "You're telling me that you've been inside of Mordor? How did that come to pass?"

Líriel relaxed. Here she was on solid ground. For once, she wouldn't have to lie.

"The mountain range that surrounds Mordor is long, too long for even Sauron to watch every inch of it. There existed caves that allow you to pass, although I can't imagine any reason anyone would want to do that."

Elrond and Mithrandir were both staring at her with undisguised interest. Elrond spoke first.

"Existed? You mean to say that these caves have been destroyed?"

"Not destroyed - but as the Dark Lord's power has grown, many of these ways have been discovered and are now guarded." She didn't add that this was accomplished under her direction.

"You said 'many of these ways' - are there any that aren't yet guarded?," broke in Mithrandir.

Líriel took a moment to think about this. "At this point, I doubt it very much. When I left Gondor, the Dark Lord's army was increasing in size at an alarming rate. By now all of these paths must have been discovered. It would be pure madness to attempt to enter Mordor at this juncture. You would have to be suicidal."

Elrond and Gandalf nodded thoughtfully and glanced at each other. Suddenly, Gandalf leaned forwards and patted her on the shoulder.

"Well now, it is good of you to tell us this my girl, even if it isn't what I was hoping to hear. And I'm sure I don't need to tell you that the topic of this conversation must not leave this room."

"I understand. I will not speak of this to anyone," said Líriel with a nod.

"Good! Well, I think that is everything for now. I'm sure you're very hungry, if you hurry you might still be able to get breakfast."

Líriel took this to be the dismissal that it was, and bowing again to the both of them, she left them to their discussions.

She spent the walk to the dining hall in deep thought, and arrived to find it almost empty. She was almost immediately interrupted in her thoughts by Bilbo's voice calling out to her. Líriel frowned. It was extremely rare for him to break his fast in the main hall, and he had called to her in the Common language.

She turned to find him waving her over frantically.

"Over here my girl! I was hoping to find you here! I've got some guests I'd like you to meet!"

Sitting opposite him at a long table were three hobbits, and - a Man. Líriel was dumbfounded, but quickly made her way over and bowed respectfully to the four of them.

"Oh there's no need for formality here, my dear! This is Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck - you'll remember I told you all about the Brandybucks, of course, good friends of mine - and this here is Samwise Gamgee!" He gestured to each of the hobbits in turn and Líriel took in their appearance. They were all much younger than Bilbo and they all looked weary and distracted. Nevertheless, they all each bowed in turn as Bilbo introduced them.

"I believe you forgot to introduce me to your fourth guest," she prompted.

"Oh of course, I'm sorry my dear, so much going on as I'm sure you know - I'd quite lose my head if it wasn't for Gandalf, and my friend, Strider, here."

Líriel hastily forced down her reaction to this sudden news. Could it really be so easy? He falls into my lap, just like that?

Strider rose and bowed cordially. "Well met, my lady."

"Well met!" she forced out, in what she hoped was a gracious voice. "What brings you all to Rivendell? Bilbo did not mention that he was expecting guests."

Strider nodded as he began to dig into his food. "No, we weren't able to send word of our coming. As for our reasons for being here - one of our friends was injured, and we brought him here for healing. Lord Elrond is one of the best healers in Middle Earth."

"Oh, I am sorry to hear that. How fares your friend?"

"I cannot say at this time. It's too early to make a judgement, but I hope that he will recover. His spirit is strong."

"You can say that again!" broke in Samwise vehemently.

The other two hobbits nodded, but said nothing. They all seemed weary and distracted. It was obvious to her that she was intruding at a difficult time, although Bilbo seemed quite oblivious to it. She rose.

"Well, I will leave you all to your breakfast. I can see that you're very weary. Perhaps I can make your acquaintance - all of you, when you're rested and your friend is faring better."

As she left the dining hall, she heard the sounds of a crowd coming from just around corner. She followed the source of the noise and found a large mass of elves crowding around the courtyard that marked the entrance to Rivendell. The objects of their attention were a group of strangers on horseback that appeared to have just arrived. And - as Líriel marked with interest - these strangers were men. "The place is dead for days, and then with no warning it becomes alive with activity. Just my luck." she thought dryly. She wanted to investigate the arrival of these Men more, but she could hardly go up to them in front of this large crowd, and besides, she needed time to think about the other developments she'd discovered that morning.

She returned to her room and did what she always did when she had a lot to think about - meditation. She positioned herself carefully on the floor, legs crossed, and began to rewind and sort through all of the events that day in her mind. Why did Mithrandir want to know about entering Mordor? Why did Strider arrive with a group of hobbits, and how did their friend get injured? And why are those other men here? Are they with Strider? Does this have to do with what Folwin was worried about?

"Can I even obtain the answers to these questions without raising suspicion?," she pondered. And another thought rose unbidden in her mind: "Does it even matter? I can just kill him and be done with it."

Strangely, Líriel found herself suddenly reluctant to hurry on with her task. For the first time in her long life, she'd actually made friends, at least friends of a sort. She'd known them too briefly to be close, but still, this contact was far closer than anything she'd ever had with anyone before. "Even though our entire friendship is founded on lies," she chastised herself.

She pictured Bilbo and Elrohir and Elladan and Folwin and imagined how they would react if they found out what she really was. Revulsion. Loathing. She'd known them only a short time and already knew that they would find her actions utterly reprehensible. They had shown Líriel such kindness since she'd arrived in Rivendell and they had accepted her completely as what she said she was. They'd even thanked her for going to such great lengths to help them. It was obvious to her that they'd never have any understanding for what she'd done.

Unconsciously, her hands reached up and withdrew her necklace from where it hid underneath her tunic. She stared at it in frustration. To think that such a small object could be the only thing that stood between her and freedom. If she ever broke her oath, if she ever gave up on her task - then her life would be over, the necklace would see to that, and - given her multitude of sins - it wasn't likely that she would be allowed passage to Valinor either.

"What worth does my life even have?" she asked herself. "If I survive this - if I kill the Man and return to Harad - then I will just be sent to kill another Man, and then another. It will never end. I will never be free."

"Am I willing to give my life for that of a complete stranger?," she wondered, for the first time in her life. The fact that she was even willing to countenance the question shocked her. But then - all those she had killed before had been little better than murderers themselves. The tribal chieftains of Harad and Rhûn were just as bloodthirsty and maniacal as any orc. The folk she had met in Rivendell were completely different - they were kind, and trusting, and she realised instinctively that any of the people she'd met - Elrohir or Elladan or anyone else - any of them would be willing to trade their lives for another.

"So I'm a coward, then," she thought grimly. That wasn't a new thought at least. She knew that she was a coward and had long ago accepted it, reasoning that a coward's life was worth just as much as any of the barbarians she'd been made to kill.

"At least I don't have to make any decisions today. I don't even know where Strider sleeps, and I still haven't made a plan for escaping the city. It would be premature to take any actions now," she told herself. She clung onto this thought. Whatever she felt for these strangers, she wasn't ready to give up on her own life yet, and planning would buy her some time.

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