A/N: Here's chapter 3! Thank you to Define X for pointing out the mistake! My word document kept changing 'the Ring' to the ring...Hopefully this chapter isn't so bad. The story is hopefully starting to pick up more and I hope people are enjoying it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or Okami, they belong to their creators and I am merely borrowing their characters/names.

"Normal speech"
"Elvish speech"
'Ammy's thoughts'
(Book text) (eg. Twas brillig, and the slithy tove did gyre and gimble in the wabe)

Chapter 3
Learning

"Friends, I call this meeting to order once again. We are here to decide on the fate of the Ring. It must be destroyed."
Lord Elrond once again sat in his chair facing the council of the races of Middle Earth. To his right sat Aragorn, looking rather uninterested in the entire debacle. Frodo was sat on his other side with Amaterasu curled around his chair. The tigress was so still one could have thought her a statue if not for the very tip of her silver tail twitching from side to side.

"The Ring is no curse, it is a gift. Long has my father, Steward of Gondor defended Middle Earth from the Mordor. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe." Boromir had been rattling on for some time now and Amaterasu raised her head and yawned widely, ensuring that Boromir could see her very sharp teeth.

'That human is very foolish.Was I that ignorant? I hope not.' Amaterasu had not been very fond of the man of the White City. She guessed her animal instincts were telling her he was a man with a sword and one who had wished to kill her. That was enough to make any woman (animal or human) think twice about striking up a friendship. The human also made multiple conscious efforts to avoid the tigress, even going so far as to climb a wall...

'I didn't even growl at him and he ran straight for that wall. And then when I jumped up on the roof to find Frodo and he realised that I could have attacked him anyway...' The tigress made little rumbles of laughter as she thought about their meeting the other day.

Whilst she had been reminiscing the dwarf had attempted to destroy the Ring and instead of the ring shattering the dwarf's axe had shattered. Amaterasu rose to her feet quickly as she heard Frodo gasp. As she turned her attention to the hobbit she could hear the council fall silent. They were all wary of her. 'So be it. I trust Frodo and the other hobbits. And possibly Aragorn and Gandalf. If the rest of the council wish to be afraid of me that is fair enough. I just wish the smell of fear wasn't such a strong scent.'

"I'm fine Ammy. Don't worry about me." Frodo raised his head to stare into the eyes of the newly nicknamed 'Ammy'. She sat in front of the Halfling and felt him reach out a trembling hand and bury it in her soft fur.

'That must have hurt he's scared.'Ammy began purring reassuringly and she could feel Frodo relax.

"The Ring can only be destroyed in one place. In the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged. One of you must take the Ring there and throw it into the flames." Lord Elrond said as he stared down at each member of the council. They all turned their gazes away from the elf lord and began to confer with their neighbours.

"One does not simply walk into Mordor. It is suicidal to even consider going there. You would be killed by the Ringwraiths mere hours after leaving Rivendell." Boromir told the council loudly. 'pessimist' thought Ammy.
'It can't be that bad. Besides if there was a small group, they could move over there are many skilled fighters here. A group of them could infiltrate this Mordor and destroy the Ring. Even though I do not know this world I can tell that thing is evil and it makes my fur stand on edge. Frodo feels it too.'

The council began to argue over who would take the Ring to be destroyed and Lord Elrond sighed. This would take some time.

"I will take it! I will take the Ring to Mordor." Frodo's voice rang out over the deeper voices of the arguing group. "Although, I do not know the way." The hobbit stood staring bravely up at the council. Not one of them dared to go against his statement, either through fear of the being forced to do the task themselves or through fear of the animal standing at his side.

"I will help you, Frodo Baggins. And I believe Amaterasu will not be separated from you, so two companions you have already." Gandalf smiled down kindly at the pair.

"If I can aid you by my sword or my life, then I will." Aragorn knelt in front of Frodo and winked at Amaterasu. The tigress's eyes widen and she shied away, hiding her face behind Frodo.

'What was that?' her heart was pounding 'Fool, he's some important person in this world and he thinks you are an intelligent animal, not a human. You should not be getting embarrassed over a wink. Pull yourself together girl!'

"You have my bow." Legolas said and was followed quickly by Gimli
"And my axe!" The dwarf looked up at the blonde elf and both looked away quickly, similar faces of disgust apparent to everyone gathered.

"Wait a minute! Master Frodo isn't going anywhere without me!" Sam ran out from behind a pillar and stood by his master, looking towards Lord Elrond for a reprimand.

"No indeed." Elrond said, attempting to sound stern but coming across amused. "It is hard to separate you, even when he is invited to a secret meeting and you are not."

"Hey, we'll not be left behind." Amaterasu went to the floor and began rolling around in laughter as the two trouble-making hobbits appeared.
"You need people of intelligence on this sort of mission, quest, thing." Pippin stated boldly.
"Well that rules you out then Pip." Merry looked at Pippin frustratedly.

"Nine companions." Lord Elrond began but was interrupted by a low growl from Amaterasu. "I apologise Amaterasu. Ten companions. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."
'This is going to be a laugh. Nine males and me... Joy of joys."

"I worry Gandalf. The hobbits, Legolas, Gimli and yourself I do not doubt but I was there when the hearts of men failed. Gandalf, we could not live through that again." Elrond turned from watching the hobbits training with Aragorn and Amaterasu. "Amaterasu is an unknown equation, and if she is what we speculate, she will need to discover her other forms as well as her original and to speak whilst in those forms. All this writing in the dirt takes so long and is incredibly inconvenient."

"I will assist Amaterasu. Throughout the journey I will teach her how to converse within her forms and I'm sure that her other forms will manifest when she has need of them. You worry about Boromir and Aragorn." Gandalf stated calmly. "Aragorn is beginning to understand his destiny. He will be fine. You have raised him well Elrond. Boromir however, I can empathise with your concerns. Whilst I hope he will not succumb to the Ring's whispering, I know that men can be easily corrupted, and the strong of heart are as susceptible as any other mortal."

The wizard stood and joined his friend at the window.
"We leave tomorrow. The Ring will be destroyed and I will puzzle out the mystery that is Amaterasu." Elf and wizard stared down at the tigress that was dodging the wild swings of Merry and Pippin's swords.

"Watch out Ammy! We are Pippin and Merry, mighty orc-slayers!" The two hobbits dashed towards the tigress, who feigned distress and let out a whimper.

"Not so fast!" Frodo and Sam leapt in front of Ammy "We are mightly swordsmen."

"You might be, I'm just a gardener." Sam mumbled under Frodo's speech.

"Come on Sam, it's just a bit of fun whilst training." Frodo laughed as he parried Merry's sword. Sam swung his sword about wildly, by chance managing to block Pippin's equally wild strokes.

"Enough Hobbits!" Aragorn called out from his perch. "Playing will only get you killed in a real battle. Anyway, this is our last night in Rivendell, so you may want to visit the kitchens,"

This was said whilst looking to Merry, Pippin and Sam.

"You may also want to see more of Rivendell and its library. I also recommend getting some rest. The journey is going to be much more difficult than our last journey." All four hobbits winced as they remembered their strenuous journey from the Prancing Pony to Weathertop and Frodo's stabbing. The man smiled at all of the Hobbits and walked off towards the buildings.

Ammy sat on the tree trunk that Aragorn had vacated and watched as the hobbits split off, Sam, Merry and Pippin in the direction of the kitchens (as expected) and Frodo towards the library. Deciding she wasn't particularly hungry, the tigress loped after Frodo.

"I'm sure you'll have more fun with me than with the others Ammy. I thought we could go investigate the woods behind Rivendell. Then I plan on getting a book from the library and some food. Then I want to sleep." Frodo smiled at the white animal. "Sounds good?" Ammy nodded her head and began to nudge Frodo. "Alright, I'm going as fast I can! You've got two legs more than I have. And you're bigger."

"Come on Ammy. We have food and a book. Let's go back to my room and we can eat and then go to bed." Frodo balanced a plate piled high with food and had another basket hanging of his arm with meat in it for the tigress. The smell was amazing and Ammy was struggling not to drool all over the book she had gingerly clasped in her mouth. Slipping past the food-laden hobbit she ran down the hallway and nudged the door to his room open and slipped inside, jumping onto the bed with ease. Frodo caught up moments later and laughed when he saw the tigress lying on his bed with the book open at the first page as she read it.

"You surprise me more and more Ammy. Can you even read?" The hobbit asked as he crossed the room to the table and placed his plate of food on it and put the basket of meat on the floor. The meat scent becoming too much of a temptation for the carnivore to resist she slid off the bed and crossed the room on her belly until her nose was touching the basket of food. She looked up at Frodo with her eyes widened, attempting to look as innocent and as hungry as possible.

"You haven't answered my question, answer it and then I'll get your meat out. Can you read?" Frodo attempted to look stern but was almost consumed by laughter as Ammy huffed and sat up. After a few seconds she nodded. "You can read?" another nod. "Sometimes Ammy, I think you can't be a real animal." Another nod followed this statement but this one was slower and heavier. "Well, here you go eat up." Frodo pulled the cloth off the top of the basket to reveal several hunks of raw meat.

'Now, this is something I definitely wouldn't be doing if I was human. It just tastes soo good!' Ammy tucked into her meat and it was gone within minutes. Frodo took a little longer to eat his mountain of food and once he had finished he disappeared off to his bathroom to get ready to sleep. After cleaning her fur off and removing the blood from round her mouth Amaterasu jumped back on the bed. 'Let's have a look at that book whilst Frodo's away. Then we can finally find out where those Fates dumped me.'

(Middle Earth was once peaceful until Sauron created the rings. They were a gift to the races of Middle Earth; three went to the elves, nine to the humans and all seemed innocent. Sauron had however created another; One ring to bind them, One ring to rule the mall. The one Ring could control all the others and it in turn could only be controlled by Sauron.
During the First War of the Ring, Sauron was smote down by Isildur. The elf lord, Elrond, led Isildur to the heart of Mout Doom where he bade him Isildur took the Ring and so the Ring waited. It betrayed Isildur and was found by a creature called Gollum.
Gollum hid for many years and turned from a Halfling into a pitiful mutation. The Ring then left Gollum and was found by an unknown person. The Ring has remained lost since it left Gollum.)

'Well, that would explain a lot.' 'Ammy thought. 'Obviously Frodo's ring is THE RING. And wer're setting of to destroy it. Bundle of laughs this is going to else does this book have...'

(Isildur was the ruler of Gondor and resided in Minas Tirith, The White City. His line of descendants was broken and form many years Gondor has been ruled by the Stewards. It is believed that Isildur's bloodline was continued but there is little knowledge of where the descendant could be.)

'This place is messed up! They just misplace their rulers?Isn't Boromir the son of the Steward of Gondor... That would explain the attitude. I wonder where the heir is. Didn't Legolas say at some point during the council that Boromir owed Aragorn his allegiance? That would mean...Aragorn is Isildur's heir!' Amaterasu's line of thought was broken when Frodo returned in his white night-shirt.

"I'm going to bed now Amaterasu. Are you going to go to your area and sleep?" Frodo yawned as he clambered up the bed; he was only just taller than the height of the mattress and so it was an epic climb onto the bed itself and due to his tiredness from the events and his training the struggle was more obvious than usual.

Amaterasu took pity on the Halfling and gently pulled him onto the bed using the soft pad of her paw. Once the hobbit was tucked under the covers she gently nuzzled his face with her cheek and then she jumped off the bed.
"I guess you are going to your little den to plot or something equally exciting. I'll see you in the morning; remember we have to be up early tomorrow, got to save the world and all that." Frodo fell asleep very quickly and Amaterasu was able to snuff the candles out with her paw by quickly waving it over the flame in a semi-circle action.

Instead of leaving via the door the tigress went to the balcony and climbed onto the ledge, she then surveyed the ground below and leapt down. It was quite a way down and she enjoyed the wind rushing up her fur and in her whiskers. The ground soon came up to halt her flight and she landed gracefully on all fours in a crouching position her tail straight out behind her. A murmur of approval came from behind her and she spun round defensively.

"I do not mean you any harm. I was simply envious of how easy you made that look. Were I to do it, I would surely land flat on my face." Legolas came out from underneath the gazebo like structure and gave a little bow to the female...

There we go! Next chapter there will be some bonding between Ammy and Legolas and then the Fellowship will set off from Rivendell!

Thank you to:

RebeccaSeverusSnape
Define X
PureAngelEyes
and to
Nell
for reviewing!
Hope this chapter was entertaining and please let me know if I make any mistakes!

Ryua