Chapter 10: Once more into the Fray
Quick recap: Gemma, our heroine, has fallen into Middle Earth, quite literally, after attempting to fulfill her father's last wish… which was to feed a blood-thirsty stone and put it safely back to sleep-crazy right? Ever pragmatic, Gemma follows the group of dusty dwarves running for their lives to Rivendell in the hope that some fancy elves will know how to send her home. Along the very quick trip from the Trollshaws to Rivendell, Gemma learns the Ulunsuti (the Arkenstone…or is it?) conveniently gives her special powers such as night vision, glimpses into the future, and prophetic dreams, with more to possibly be discovered soon. In Rivendell, she meets said fancy elves, but they're not as helpful as she'd like them to be.
Last we left her, Gemma had a nightmare wherein Azog found her lost dress and thanks to his white wolfie, he's now hot on her trail…
Gemma woke with a shout of fear, breathing heavily. She threw off the bed sheets that clung to the sweat on her body, leaping out of bed and running out the door, her stone firmly in hand.
Before she could make it more than five paces from the bedroom, a hand shot out from the darkness of the hallway and grabbed her by the arm. Gemma squeaked and spun around. Eyes wide and no verbal filter to be found, she exclaimed, "Merlin's tits! I almost punched you in the face!"
Galadriel was standing in an alcove, looking distressed and yet amused. She let go of Gemma's arm and said quickly, "I didn't mean to startle you, but I know what it is you saw. I came to warn you." The lady looked down the hall covertly and whispered, "You must leave."
Gemma stepped back against the brick wall, her mind racing and her heart thumping harshly against her ribcage. She needed to know what had occurred while she slept. They definitely needed to leave, but what if she had sped things up? The Company was in danger, yes, but what if they left too soon? Certain things needed to happen. She could only disrupt the timeline so much before things got out of hand, before she lost even more of what she knew to be true. Her pulse skipped a beat at that thought. Things I know to be true, she scoffed mentally, is anything true or real anymore? Standing there, in an ancient architectural wonder with a literal telepathic Elven Queen, who was probably reading her every thought right now, looking down at her patiently waiting for Gemma to make her next move, Gemma finally felt the full force of her situation. "This is insane," she muttered. "I am certainly, utterly insane."
She pushed her hair out of her face roughly, pulling on the roots as if they were the source of her frustrations. "I've finally cracked." Galadriel's eyebrows raising and the left corner of her mouth ticked up minutely.
"No really," Gemma continued, "I always thought I would eventually, what with the world being such a disastrous mess and the increase of gun violence and my neighborhood is sketchy enough as it is, I did get robbed that one time, and not to mention the racial tensions and gender inequality and don't even get me started on the mistreatment of Natives STILL in 2017! and my job can be really stressful and everything is so fucking expensive and no one wants to raise minimum wages and I want to have the stamina to be a vegetarian, but meat is just SO GOOD, ya know, and I think my grandmother had a mental illness and that can run in the family sometimes and without my birth control my moods swing like crazy, but the healthcare system is going to pot and I don't think I could even afford it without insurance and so I always just assumed my brain would give out eventually but not until I was at least past sixty." Gemma paused and took a deep breath before spouting, "And maybe by then they would have fixed the whole not being able to retire because social security ran out thing or whatever even though we all have to keep paying it and I could just live in a retirement home and not have to worry anymore about my sanity being in tact and I could hope my future kids would worry about it and all I would have to deal with is ol' Marge next door stealing my bird feeder or some shit."
Gemma ran one hand anxiously through her hair again. Her other hand was still clenched around the Unlunsuti. The Elven Queen gently took Gemma's hands in her own and wrapped them around the stone and said firmly, "Gemma Halvard, you are a part of your world no longer. Here there are different, urgent things that demand your concern. This is your reality." Galadriel squeezed the girl's fingers, her thumbs pressing into Gemma's knuckles sharply to draw her focus. "You must listen to what I have to say."
Gemma blinked, then nodded and began to open her mouth to reply, "Sorr–"
"No," Galadriel urged. "Just listen. The pale orc is coming and you are in danger yes, but there is a darkness lurking in the shadows that poses a greater threat to all of Arda, not just you and Thorin's Company." The lady paused and spoke in Gemma's mind, "You know of what I speak."
Gemma swallowed harshly and whispered, "I know about the ring–"
"And you must keep that knowledge silent, not everyone can live knowing their fate, but it is not only The One Ring you must beware of Gemma. Seven rings were given to the dwarves, three are missing, but four were consumed by dragons. One of the four was destroyed by Smaug."
Gemma pulled her hands from the Lady's grasp and folded them against her stomach. "That's not part of the story."
"Gemma, no creature is born evil. They must be twisted and melded and motivated to turn into what is feared. Smaug knew of the dwarven rings, and in his greediness, he stole one. He hoped it would increase his hoard, but it only gave him malice and made him cruel." She stopped, watching the words sink into Gemma's mind. "If your stone is both the Ulunsuti and the Arkenstone, which dragon do you think it came from?"
Gemma frowned and shook her head, "I don't understand. Stop speaking in Elf and tell me what you think I should know."
The Elven Queen almost huffed and, clearly disgruntled, said "Smaug is the only dragon left in Middle Earth. The Arkenstone is the only one of its kind. Does it not stand to reason that your stone could have once belonged to the dragon imbedded in Erebor, the destination of the first people you came upon after the stone took you here, to this world?" Galadriel implored, "Do you not think the stone has a will of its own? Has it not motivated you to come this far?"
"It was Gandalf who found me!" Gemma protested. "Maybe the stone wants something from him. I think he secretly knows how to send me home anyways. He doesn't fool me with his old man act he tries to pull sometimes. I'm not naïve enough to think the stone is not an advantage, not to mention he knows I know things! I feel manipulated to help, but I still want to anyways. I don't know why, but I care. I know the ending of this journey, but I care enough to help, Gandalf's interference be damned. It's my choice to go, not the stone's!"
Gemma's chest shook with emotion and her eyes watered. She looked away from the elf to her feet. She didn't have any shoes on and she was just now noticing. Her elvish nightgown almost covered her toes; it was nothing like what she'd sleep in at home. Gemma was terrified of encountering the Ring, but hadn't given it much thought because that was later and here and now there were orcs and elves and dwarves and she had had no time to worry about the fast-approaching future. She shivered. Gemma didn't want to even consider the stone having a hold over her like the Ring did its bearers. She would not be swayed over to the dark side.
She looked up, focusing on Galadriel's vivid blue eyes. "If the stone wants something at all, what would it want?" she asked.
"I can only assume it wants to return to it's holder, or guardian if you will. If it was once Smaug's, then to Smaug it might return."
Gemma's mouth turned flat, "That just seems so far-fetched and nothing like the story I know."
Galadriel raised her brow and her mouth curled upwards and Gemma sighed.
"Your right," Gemma acquiesced. "This is all far-fetched and nothing like the story I know anyways."
The Queen nodded. "Your story has already changed the story of other's. You cannot stop a ripple in a pond, we must merely wait and watch the effects."
"What if there's too many ripples and there's no pond left in the end?"
Galadriel smiled softly, and answered, "Then we wait for the rain."
After that dizzying conversation, Gemma had gone back to her room to gather her things. Galadriel had said in a wistful voice something about being late for a meeting and told Gemma goodbye. Gemma's mind took a turn at the parting and wondered if she should ask for a hair from the Queen's head, but before she could even make the reference, Galadriel was gone.
Gemma shook her head, trying to focus. She stuffed her feet into her boots and quickly changed into one of the outfits Annúnel had provided. The brown pants were snug on her hips, but they were warm and well-made, and fit nicely under her tall boots. The blue tunic was soft and tight around her breasts. Gemma worried about the one bra she had (which of course she was wearing), but didn't have time to commission another. She wrapped a belt around her waist and tied the pouch she used yesterday to hold her stone around a loop she suspected was for a sword. She prayed she wouldn't be given a sword, even though she had strong suspicions it would be needed. Gemma would stick to her bow and hope that if the stone wanted to go to Erebor, and Smaug, badly enough it would keep her alive long enough to take it there.
Gemma slung her duffle bag over her shoulders and grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and left the room without a second glance. It was still the middle of the night and the torches in the hallway were low. She made her way quickly and as quietly as she could to where the gang of dwarves had stayed the night before. She came upon a central path that led to the kitchens and saw a head of curly hair creep out of the kitchen doors.
"Bilbo," Gemma hissed.
The hobbit froze like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Bilbo!" Gemma said a little louder. When he caught her gaze, she waved her hand and whispered, "Come on."
Bilbo tiptoed his way over to her, but Gemma huffed and grabbed his hand, pulling him into the darkness. "We have to find the group," she told him.
Bilbo, sensing her urgency, stuffed the muffin he'd pilfered into his mouth and nodded. They heard the rough snoring before laying eyes on the dwarves. Gemma shook the first dwarf she saw, which happened to be Bifur. "Wake up!" she whispered harshly. "Get up!" The dwarf sat up suddenly, the axe in his forehead almost hitting Gemma in the nose. He grumbled something angrily in dwarvish. She crawled over him to reach Bombur who she poked quite meanly in the stomach. That dwarf simply rolled over, his snores now muffled into Fili's legs which Bombur had been using as a pillow. "Bombur! Fili! Wake up!"
Bilbo moved to Bofur and shook him awake, although much more gently than Gemma. Bofur kicked Gloin awake and Oin soon followed. Dori, who was supposed to have been keeping watch, finally realized someone had gotten past his guard and jumped up. He saw Gemma and with his hand on his hips asked, "Miss Gemma, what is the matter?"
Gemma, who'd been making her way over to Balin, turned swiftly. "Azog is coming!" Her eyes were wide in the low light of the fire pit, but Dori could see the fear that had made itself known at the slowness of the dwarves' waking.
Thorin sat up, hands clutching Orcrist. He nudged Kili, who been snuggling much too close for comfort, out of his way. "What happened?" He demanded.
"T-the stupid rock, I had a dream. The orcs. My dress! They found our trail," Gemma stuttered out.
Thorin understood the important part of that statement and looked around at his troop. "Gather your things, we leave in five minutes. Be quiet about it," he told them stonily. He grabbed Gemma's elbow and before she could think about her limbs eventually being tugged off from random people grabbing her thoughtlessly, he snapped, "What did you see?" At his tone, she yanked her arm out of his hold and Thorin made a regretful face.
"I lost my dress when we were running from the Trollshaws away from the orc pack. I dreamt they found it and used it to catch our trail," she said guiltily. Thorin glared at her.
"I'm sorry!" Gemma rushed. "We can talk about blame later, but we need to go before someone notifies Saru—well, before we wake up the elves."
Thorin looked suspicious, but said nothing. The rest of the dwarves had finished packing and Thorin grabbed up his pack before leading the group away. The Company followed quickly, but Bilbo lagged behind. He tugged on Gemma's sleeve while Gemma watched them walk away. She blinked and looked down at him. Bilbo frown and tilted his head towards the group, silently pushing her into motion.
They reached the top of the Valley that held Imladris within it's depth and only Gemma and Bilbo thought to give it one last glance of longing. She would miss Annúnel and her kindness Gemma was sad that she had not gotten to say goodbye. She would miss the surety she felt around Elrond and even the beguiling aura of Galadriel. Elves had a way of drawing people in with their consistency no matter how mysterious and, often times vexing, they could be. She would not miss Gandalf, and she would see him soon besides.
Bilbo and Gemma could still hear the water fall from the heights and land below them into the river. Gemma knew that Rivendell was possibly the only place they'd find peace from the terrors of Middle Earth and she really was not ready to venture out into the Wilds. Bilbo, too, felt a sense of regret and had a feeling it would be a long while before such a warm homely place was found on their journey again. The sun was just cresting above the horizon, turning the shadowy Home an even lovelier shade of pink and orange. It looked like the embodiment of calm contentedness, a feeling Gemma longer for and knew she wouldn't feel for a very long time, if ever again.
It was with that dark thought, Gemma turned away from Rivendell and onto the path before her, forced to accept that she was now apart of this tale.
AN: The reference to the dark side is from Star Wars (obviously). I'm very sorry that this long-awaited update was so short, but the chapter really needed to end there because the next chapter is the journey through the Misty Mountains.
This chapter is dedicated to JustASwedishFan, if you're still reading this. Thanks for messaging me last year, it meant a lot to me and it still motivates me to keep writing. I apologize if I replied too earnestly and scared you off :P
To anon reviewer Michelle: Yea, I mean Azog is way gross and creepy. I doubt he has sexual feelings towards Gemma, but he lusts for power and I think the stone and what Gemma does through the stone would give off some sort of something that Azog can sense and he wants that power real bad. I hope that makes sense.
To all my past reviewers/followers/favorite-ers, I hope you've stayed with me. If so, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy the tale to come and please let me know if there are mistakes or moments lacking continuity. I don't have a beta so all mistakes are my own.
I should be able to update later this week, lets say Friday? At latest, next Tuesday, August 1st.
With all my love,
Katie Moon