"There was no lie in Pippin's eyes. A fool, but an honest fool he remains. He told Sauron nothing of Frodo and the Ring." A small collective had gathered in the Golden Hall in the early hours of the morning after the drama that had recently unfolded with the Halfling and the palantir. Theoden was off to one side, feet from the space that Gandalf was currently pacing. Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli stood to the other side, joined by Haldir and the Peredhil twins. Merry and Pippin were not far away; Pippin looking more ashamed. No one looked pleased at the news regardless; the first decent night of rest since the battle of the Hornburg for many of them had been cut short. "We've been strangely fortunate. Pippin saw in the palantír a glimpse of the enemy's plan. Sauron moves to strike the city of Minas Tirith. His defeat at Helm's Deep showed our enemy one thing. He knows the Heir of Elendil has come forth. Men are not as weak as he supposed. There is courage still, strength perhaps to challenge him. Sauron fears this. He will not risk the peoples of Middle-earth uniting under one banner. He will raze Minas Tirith to the ground before he sees a king return to the throne of Men. If the beacons of Gondor are lit, Rohan must be ready for war.
Theoden did not seem as enthusiastic as Gandalf about the plan, and saw fit to say so. "Tell me; why should we ride to the aid of those who did not come to ours? What do we owe Gondor?"
"I will go," Aragorn stated. The others around him had made to follow in his stead until Gandalf put a stop to it.
"No!"
The ranger was still persistent. "They must be warned!"
"They will be." The wizard took a step forward to lower his voice as he spoke quietly to Aragorn. "You must come to Minas Tirith by another road. Follow the river. Look to the black ships." As if he had not just dropped a mysterious clue for the ranger to figure out, he turned to face the rest in the hall. "Understand this: Things are now in motion that cannot be undone. I ride for Minas Tirith. And I won't be going alone," Gandalf finished, his gaze moving to the more naïve of the two hobbits.
The King of Rohan said nothing on the matter of the wizard's words. Instead, he scanned the room and was finally aware of the additional elves that occupied the space. He did not find their presence a bother, but not having many dealings with elves in recent times left him much to learn. His people were perplexed by the fairer creatures, and the level of openly staring would vary from person to person.
The one that travelled with Aragorn remained faithful to his comrade even in the darkest moments of that night. The other blond elf bearing the crimson cloak that had led the elven troops to the Hornburg must have been a commanding officer, he theorized. The elf spoke and carried himself as a leader in conversation and battle. The other two remaining elves appeared so similar to each other that it was hard to tell them apart. Theoden could see that they were of nobility, but he could not help but notice that they also held a childish air about them as if they wished to make light of the situation to uplift the spirits of the rest of the room. Theoden found the lot of elves gathered in the room rather peculiar.
"What direction does Lord Elrond give your soldiers?" Theoden asked the marchwarden.
A commanding stare met the king's eyes. "For the time being, we are to remain in your stead. Our wounded are being escorted back to our lands. We offer our services to you and your people, your majesty."
Later in the morning, after Gandalf and Pippin made their journey to Minas Tirith, Haldir had once again cornered Legolas in the Golden Hall. From the journey back to Edoras and the detour the select few had taken with the king to Isenguard, he had not had the opportunity to pin Legolas down and pump him for information. The conversation that was to occur was not one that Legolas was looking forward to, but because of his manipulative friends, he had no place to run to. So it was that Legolas found himself wedged between Elladan and Elrohir, who were clueless to the situation but volunteered just for the entertainment of watching the prince squirm.
"How is she?" Haldir began. "Did my daughter end the relationship with that mortal boy?"
"What's going on?" Elladan asked.
"Since we're playing bookends for the prince, we'd like to be caught up in this tale," Elrohir added.
Haldir sighed, knowing that his nephews were right. "Since the beginning of the year, Legolas has been in contact with Ithilwen through dreams. She and your aunt have been in a modernized world far beyond our scope since their disappearance, which we believe to have been the result of a miscalculation on the late Saruman. Now tell me Legolas," he turned his attention once more to the matter at hand, "How is Ithilwen?"
"She… She is better," Legolas stated. He knew it was bound to come up but he really wished that he could avoid it. "The relationship has come to an end, just…not in the way that it was expected."
"How do you mean?" Haldir asked. Gimli and Aragorn had come to join the elves at the table, eager to learn the news of the young elleth. He watched as the younger elf's face changed from apologetic to lethal, unsure of where the conversation was about to go.
"That boy," Legolas nearly hissed, catching the twins by surprise, "said something truly hurtful to Ithilwen as he blatantly told her that things had come to an end between them. She wouldn't tell me what it was, but the way she had reacted was all that I needed to see to know that his words had hurt her. Never have I seen an elleth fall apart as Ithilwen did-"
"What happened?" the marchwarden demanded, catching the attention of a few Rohirrim standing about the room. The idea that some mortal had hurt his daughter was inexcusable, and he was beginning to see red.
"I held her and did my best to comfort her as she let it out." Legolas responded, wisely choosing to leave out that he had gathered her in his lap. Judging by the murderous look Haldir was giving the wooden table, he knew he didn't want to be on the receiving end. "In time she calmed, and we began to talk of other things. I told her that you came into the battle, and that you received an injury but that you were doing well regardless."
"How come you didn't tell our cousin that we were there?" Elladan asked indignantly.
"Perhaps it was because there was not time?" Aragorn provided. The elf across the table made an uncharacteristic face in return.
Haldir refrained from rolling his eyes and turned them back to Legolas. "She is doing better, then?" His voice had lost its venom once he had the opportunity to think clearly.
Legolas nodded. "She is. I told her that she should focus on herself during the day because she had been putting her work aside for the mortal's attempts at courting her. Ithilwen seemed more happy when we parted."
"Good. I thank you, Legolas. You don't know what it means to me to finally know about the goings on of my daughter. Did Ithilwen say anything about her mother?"
"She did. Lady Morwen is ecstatic to know that the connection between your daughter and myself exists. Ithilwen mentioned that she is keeping busy with her work, but that she always thinks of you. It seems that her spirits have been uplifted since she first learned about Ithilwen's ability."
Haldir smiled, hearing that news. The table fell to silence for a short time as everyone mulled over the new information. A gruff clearing of the throat brought everyone's attention to the dwarf who was sitting up straighter, stoking his beard thoughtfully.
"So which of ye lads will it be that gets their hands on this boy if ye were to see him?"
The malicious grin that made its way onto Legolas' face made the Peredhil twins almost scoot away on the wooden bench. They still had a lot of catching up to do, if that dark look was anything to go by.
"You're looking especially cheerful today," Fiona remarked, seeing her elven friend come into the dining room. Morwen was sitting at the table with Toothiana as Fiona was preparing a midday meal. After the previous night and the late turn-in, it was decided to let Ithilwen sleep in, thinking the extra hours would do her some good. "From the looks of it, that sleep paid off," she winked knowingly.
Toothiana looked up at the elleth. "Morwen told me about what happened to you last night. I am so sorry, Ithilwen. I wish I could have done something. Maybe we could get Pitch to torment him for a while."
Ithilwen slid into the chair beside Toothiana, accepting the plate that Fiona placed before her with thanks. "I wouldn't bother with it, Tooth," she said. "Pitch has told me that he's been having fun with the creepy pasta stories that are going up online. It's giving him great ammunition for the teenagers."
Tooth failed to suppress a giggle, having been a former victim to one of the pasta-games. "Sandy has been working overtime, though, going behind him and cleaning up the mess. I think he's enjoying it sometimes."
"Anyway, I'm pretty sure there's someone scarier than Pitch that Payne would be afraid of," Fiona said with a secretive smile aimed at Ithilwen.
"What does she mean, Ithilwen?" Tooth looked back and forth between the two. "She's been saying things like that since I've arrived, but she won't tell me anything."
"I wanted to wait until Ithilwen woke up so that if I got any of my facts wrong, she could correct me." Fiona pointed out. She took a seat across from Ithilwen and made herself comfortable before she started her explanation to the guardian. "Our Ithilwen here has been visiting a man in her dreams these past three months."
"Really?" Toothiana looked intrigued, turning to the elleth in question.
Ithilwen didn't look up from her sandwich as she corrected Fiona. "Legolas is an elf, not a man-"
"And a handsome one at that!" her friend interrupted, producing the sketchbook that Ithilwen had used to record her first visions of him. She had bookmarked the page and passed it across the table to the fairy as she continued. "It turns out that he also knows her father, and they're on a journey to destroy a ring."
"A ring?" Toothiana asked.
Morwen spoke up, having more knowledge of the subject than the two younger women. "This ring has the power to control the entire middle-earth. It is full of malice and dark energy, and those easily led are drawn to its power. They path that they're taking is a rough one; the last I heard the fellowship was broken and one member had fallen in battle."
"Speaking of battles," Fiona brought up, "how is he? Legolas and the others?"
"Exhausted, but otherwise fine." Ithilwen answered. "The battle at Helms Deep was rough; Legolas told me that it stretched into the early morning. Gandalf had arrived with the king's nephew and their riders stormed the gulley and drove them into Fangorn Forest. He said it was both frightening and fascinating to see the Ents finish the job." Morwen was describing the race of the Ents to Toothiana when Ithilwen remembered what else she needed to say. When her mother finished speaking, she said, "Ada was sent with a troop to Helms Deep by the request of Lord Elrond."
Morwen seemed to still at these words, afraid of the news that was to follow. "Oh? Did Legolas elaborate?"
"Of course," her daughter replied. The voice was not that of grief, so it couldn't have been bad, but still… "Other than a small cut on his shoulder blade, Ada is doing just fine. He says that he misses you greatly and longs for the day that he can come here."
Morwen smiled. "Good. I haven't seen him in so long that I may tackle him to the ground!"
The other women at the table laughed at the image. Once under control again, Fiona couldn't resist the urge to pry. "How did Legolas take the news when you told him that you broke up with Payne?"
Ithilwen pulled a face of disgust. "Don't you mean the other way round? And it's hard to say. When I woke in the dream plane the emotional dam broke and I went to pieces right in front of him. He did say that he wished things had gone differently."
"I get the feeling that this Legolas sounds like the type to make a person disappear that had wronged you," Toothiana commented.
"Exactly!" Fiona smacked the table in earnest. "I've been trying to tell this girl that he sounds uber-protective of her, but she doesn't believe me!"
"That's because we're just friends!" Ithilwen retorted. "You're making a mountain out of a mole hill!"
"Easy now girls," Morwen calmed the table. "Let's not tease Ithilwen about her friend. And Ithilwen?"
"Yes?"
"A river in Egypt, sweety."
Ithilwen groaned, her head bumping the table in defeat.
A/N: To the recent anon that reviewed: have some more Rise of the Guardians! :)
If you couldn't tell, here's where the AU picks up speed. Bits will follow the movie script, so the lines you recognize come from the extended edition script available at . Not sure what else to say other than 1) Suggestions are awesome, so feel free to leave some, 2) the poll is still up on the profile if you want to vote on it, and 3) I hid my DS. This story and my homework come first!