Disclaimer: I do not own The Lord of The Rings, its characters or its places. The all belong to Tolkien. A/N: Here's chapter nine guys! Hope you like it! Please read and review!
Kieana's POV
"You are about to set out on your quest, the journey will be long and the road hard. But if the company remains true the quest will not fail." Galadriel says coming to stand in front of the nine of us. I hear footsteps approaching from behind me and glance over my shoulder in time to see a small group of elves approaching us each one holding a Galadhrim cloak. Silently they make their way round us coming to a halt in front of us and draping a cloak around the shoulders of my eight companions, clasping them with an intricate leaf broach similar to the one I myself am wearing. "Never before have we clad others in the garb of our own people." she says with a smile.
"Have you decided the course you are going to take?" Celeborn asks coming to stand in front of Aragorn who is standing at the other end of our line.
"Not yet my Lord, there are many courses we could take and all have their own set of merits and dangers." Aragorn replies.
"As leader of this company the choice of what course you will take is yours, but If I may I will help you make your decision if you will allow it?" Celeborn asks.
"Any counsel you can give me will be greatly appreciate my Lord." Aragorn says bowing his head respectfully.
"Then I shall remind you that there are some among you who can handle boats, our own Kieana, who has spent many hours learning the art of steering boats, Legolas, whose folk know the swift Forest river of Greenwood, Boromir of Gondor, and also yourself for I know the men of Numenor are familiar with boats." Celeborn says. "Therefore I offer you the use of boats so that you may for a time travel on the river."
"Thank-you my Lord the gift of boats is much appreciated for it will allow more time to choose the best course to take to Mordor." Aragorn says.
"I have brought with me many gifts so that you may remember your time in Lothlorien." Galdriel says coming first to Aragron. "Here is the gift of Celeborn and Galadriel for the leader of your company" she says handing him a sheath overlaid with an intricate design of flowers and leaves of silver and gold, elf runes made of many fine gems spell out the name Aunduril the sword that cut the Ring from the hand of the Dark Lord during the battle of The Last Alliance. "The blade that is drawn from this sheath will not be stained or broken even in defeat." she says before moving on to Sam.
"And for you little gardener and lover of trees, I have only a small gift." she says handing him a small wooden box. "In this box you will find earth from my own orchard I have bestowed blessings upon it so that even if you find all the lands to be barren your garden will bloom like few others if you sprinkle this earth there. Then may you catch a glimpse of far Lothlorien that you have only yet seen in winter. For our spring and summer are now past and will never be seen again save in memory." Sams cheeks flushed red at her words and he looked down at his feet.
To Merry and Pippin she gave small silver belts clasped with single golden flower which they thanked her for and immediately fastened around their waists. Then to Boromir she gave a golden belt similar in design to the Hobbits but clasped with white tree.
Next she came to Legolas to whom she gave a bow of the Galardhrim which he took in his hands and studied closely before slinging it over his back along with the quiver of arrows that accompanied it.
"What gift would a Dwarf ask of the Elves?" she asks coming to stand in front of Gimli.
"None my lady." he replied gruffly "It is enough to have looked upon the Lady of the Galadhrim and to have heard her kind words."
"Hear all ye Elves." she said aloud so that all may hear her words "Let none say again that dwarves are grasping and ungracious." then she continued in a quieter tone "Yet surely, Gimli son of Gloin, you must desire something that I can give? Name it I bid you, for you will not be the only guest without a gift."
"There is nothing Lady Galadriel." he says bowing his head and stammering. "Unless...unless it be...a single golden hair from your head for it surpasses all the gold of the earth as the starts outshine the gems of the mine. I would not ask for such a gift but you bade me name my desire."
"And what would you do with such a gift?" she asks with a smile.
"Treasure it, Lady as a memory of your kinds words to me at our first meeting. And should I have the good fortune to return to my home in the Mountains it shall be set in impenetrable crystal to be an heirloom of my house, a pledge of good will between the Mountain and the Wood." he replies. At his words Galadriel reached up and unbound one of her long braids before cutting three hairs and handing them to the Dwarf with a smile before moving on to Frodo.
"And for the Ring bearer I have prepared this." she says pulling a glittering phial from the fold of her cloak . "In this phial is caught the light of Earendil, set among the waters of my fountain. It will shine brighter when night is about you. May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out." she says.
"Thankyou my lady I will treasure it greatly." Frodo says taking the phial and carefully slipping it into his pocket.
"Finally I come to the newest member of your company, and the one whom I know best. For you Kieana I have a gift that was left in my care to be given to you when I deemed fit." she says handing me a set of twin daggers. "These blades belonged to your mother, and she left them with me ere she sailed to Valinor with the instructions that they be passed on to you." she says with a smile. "Let them be a reminder of your home here and the people that love you, and may they give you courage on your journey."
"Thankyou My Lady." I say fighting back the tears that are threatening to spill from my eyes as I take the daggers from her and placing them in my quiver with my arrows.
"Let us now go down to the river and begin our journey down the Great River." Aragorn says and the we all follow him as he makes his way down to the rivers edge where three small grey boats are seen floating on the water tethered to the bank by strong slender ropes.
Legolas falls into step with me as we walk reaching out and wrapping is arm around me in a sort of half hug. "Your mother is surely at this moment smiling in Valinor, knowing that her daughter has grown to be so brave and loyal." he says softly.
I glance up at him wondering how it is that he seems to know what I am thinking in this moment. "I hope she is not disappointed that I chose the life of a warrior instead of that of a healer." I say equally softly.
"You're too hard on yourself mellon-nin.I am sure she would be very proud of you" he says.
"So how do you think Aragorn will arrange us in the boats?" I ask.
"I think he will split us up into groups of three, himself with two of the Hobbits probably Frodo and Sam, then maybe Boromir with Merry and Pippin in the second boat leaving you and I in the third with Gimli." he says.
"Well that wouldn't be so bad, I would much rather be in a boat with you and the Dwarf than with Boromir, he probably thinks women shouldn't be in boats. That all we're good for is cooking, healing and bringing up the children." I say unable to keep the frustration out of my tone.
"Oh now that's not entirely fair, I am sure he deems you quite capable of making and fixing clothes also." Legolas says a slight teasing tone in his voice.
I roll my eyes at him and elbow him lightly in the ribs. "Haha." I say poking my tongue out at him "You're too much like the twins for your own good." I add trying to sound annoyed but ruining it by breaking into a grin. I don't know what it is about the Greenwood Prince but even though I have only known him for a few short weeks I feel as if we have been friends for our whole lives, I feel more at ease around him than I do most other elves apart from my brothers. "So which of us is going to take charge of the boat if Aragorn does in fact assign us to the same one?" I ask.
"Ladies choice, we can take it in turns if you wish, or if you would prefer to relax and enjoy the scenery I can row the boat." he says.
"It would appear that your father raised you well and trained you in etiquette as well as battle skills and diplomacy." I say.
"Yes my father would often scold me if my manners were not of a standard he deemed acceptable for a Prince. On more than one occasion I was reprimanded for being late to meals, or not thanking the cooks and servers. Also if I came to a meeting straight from the training field without bothering to change into my formal robes he would give me a stern look and speak to me later about the proper attire for the heir to the throne in a meeting with captains of the guard and Lords or Kings from foreign lands." he says.
"It sounds like he is rather strict and stern." I comment.
"As a King he needs to be to a certain extent, even when it comes to his own kin. But he also loves his people dearly and posses a keen sense of humour and a quick mind." he says.
"Are you and your father close?" I ask.
"He is my father, I love him dearly. We may not agree on all things, and at times we drive each other mad but he is my father and I would lay my life down for him in a heartbeat and I know he would do the same for me." he says the conviction in his voice leaving no doubt in my mind that his words are true.
"I would very much like to meet him one day, he sounds like an interesting Elf." I say.
"Perhaps you will one day once the quest if finished and the Ring destroyed. Maybe I will take you to Greenwood and show you how the Wood Elves celebrate" he says.
"Do you really believe the quest will be successful?" I ask. "The enemy knows that the Ring is in the possession of a Hobbit and that you entered this realm after leaving the mines of Moria."
"Yes he does, but I do not believe it has entered his mind that we should seek to destroy the Ring instead of trying to wield it against him and that is where we have the element of surprise, so long as we can maintain that I believe the quest stands a good chance of being successful." he says.
"Why do you think he hasn't entertained the idea that we might seek to destroy it?" I ask.
"He is evil, and evil seeks nothing but power. The Ring gives the wearer that power, he would simply not be able to comprehend the idea that one would seek to destroy it rather than wield that power themselves." he says.
"Well that's something I guess, it gives us the element of surprise which is good." I say.
"I'll take any advantage we can get against the Dark Lord, no matter how small or seemingly trivial it may be. Any advantage in war no matter how small is better than none." he says offering me his hand as we come to a particularly steep section of the path leading down to the river's edge where the boats are waiting. I take it with a small smile and allow him to lead the way down the embankment coming to stop at the bottom to wait for everyone to catch up, many of them opting to take the slightly longer less slippery path down to the water's edge.
"I see you managed to navigate the slope quite well little sister." Rumil says exchanging an amused smirk with Orophin as the two of them join us at the foot of the slope a few minutes later.
I frown slightly wondering what could possibly be amusing them when I realize my hand is still holding tightly onto Legolas's even "The path was steep" I say defensively before somewhat reluctantly pulling my hand out of the Princes and walking off towards the boats where the other members of the Fellowship are standing awaiting Aragorn who is speaking with Celeborn a few metres away.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews would be great! Which boat do you guys want Kieana to go in? Should she go with the elf prince or someone else? Please let me know what you think of the story so far and feel free to PM me any time!