Chapter 19: In Which We Enter Lorien
Aragorn did not dare to let them weep for long. Soon, he had the Fellowship, or what remained of it, back on their feet and trekking alongside the Great River. It was not late in the day and the Ranger hoped to have them far from Moria's Gates before the night fell and Orcs would come out looking for them. Luna knew he made to continue on the path Gandalf had meant to lead them on, to the woods of Lothlorien, an ancient Elven dwelling deep in the forests. Luna knew little of that realm, as she had known little of Rivendell, but in their planning before departing, Gandalf had made it known that it was a safe place. Probably the safest they would attempt to reach on their journey.
Boromir did not leave her side the entire day. She had not forgotten his attacks upon her before the swarm of Orcs overtook them. Before the Balrog and before Gandalf's fall. But after all of that, it seemed silly to fight with him now. Gandalf's absence was deafening to the group and Luna could not help but feel it would be wrong to push Boromir away now.
As they walked, Luna noticed the Hobbits started to lag behind, especially Sam and Frodo. Sam was pressing a cloth to his arm. He's been wounded in Moria and Luna hadn't noticed. And she'd forgotten the blow Frodo took from the cave-troll.
"Aragorn," she called to him at the front of the line. "We need to find rest."
"We need to move," he called back. "By nightfall, those Orcs will be on our tails."
"Sam and Frodo are hurt."
Aragorn looked back and saw the two Hobbits struggling to keep up. "Ah, I had forgotten. Yes, you are right. We should find a place to rest soon. Come Sam, Frodo. Boromir and I can carry you until we find a safe spot to camp for the night."
They had found a spot within the hour and Luna got to work on the Hobbits, starting with Sam. His cut was not deep so he did not need stitching, which was probably for the best as stitching would be painful. Gimli, Merry, and Pippin worked to gather wood and light a fire. She reached for her pack and dug around inside. "Oh bother," she said. "I abandoned my jar of honey when we dismissed Bill. It was too heavy to carry and I had hoped we wouldn't need it."
"Use these," Aragorn said, reaching into his own pack and pulling out a crumple of dried leaves wrapped in cloth. "This is the last of my athelas. Grind it up and cleanse the wound with hot water. It should help heal it along."
She gratefully took the weed and ground it down with her mortar and pestle. "Frodo, you'll need to remove your shirt for me," she said to him as she worked. "No doubt you've got a few broken ribs at least from the blow you took."
"Alas, I am fine," Frodo protested. "Honestly, just resting already has me feeling better. Once there is food in my stomach, I will be right as rain."
"Luna is right, Frodo. We must see what that anvil has done to you, for a blow that hard cannot simply be escaped. Here, I shall help you." Aragorn moved to remove Frodo's coat and tunic, but stopped in wonder. "Well, no wonder you were not skewered! Look friends, for if the world knew that Hobbits possessed such treasures they surely would not have found such solitude in their Shire." Aragorn moved out of the way and Frodo was wearing only a silver corslet that glowed as if fashioned from jewels that sparkled in the mid-day sun.
"Mithril," Gimli said, aghast. "This must be the gift Gandalf spoke of that was given to your uncle Bilbo!"
"Oh, how I love that old Hobbit," Merry said.
Frodo laughed and removed the mail. There was a nasty bruise forming on his side but Luna could not feel anything out of place beneath his skin as she gently poked around. She pulled a eucalyptus salve from her bag that she had carried all the way from Gondor and applied a helping to his wound. "This will need to heal with time, not medicines. Best you keep that mail on and not take it off, for I know you would no longer be with us if you had not been wearing back in the caves."
The water had begun to boil and Luna steeped the athelas in the pot before applying it to Sam's cut and sealing it shut with a bandage. Merry and Pippin insisted she rest while they cooked the meal and after they all ate, they were on the move again.
Aragorn led them for what Luna guessed to be about three more miles. None of them spoke, for they kept their ears to their behinds, listening for any sign that Orcs were coming up on their tails. Soon, Luna heard Legolas cry out, "Lothlorien! We have come to the eaves of the Golden Wood."
"Glad I am to hear again the wind in the trees," Aragorn said. "We are still a little more than five leagues from the gates, but we can go no further tonight. We shall travel just a short distance further until the trees are all about us. Then we can turn aside from the path and seek a place to rest for the night."
"Is there no other way?" Boromir asked.
"What fairer way would you desire?" Aragorn said.
"A plain road. By strange paths has this Company been led and so far to evil fortune. Against my will we passed under the shades of Moria, to our loss. And now we must enter the Golden Wood, you say. But of that perilous land we have heard in Gondor, and it is said that few come out who once go in. And of that few, none have escaped unscathed."
"Lore wanes in Gondor, Boromir, if in the city of those who once were wise, they now speak evil of Lothlorien. Believe what you will, there is no other way for us, unless you would go back to Moria-gate, or scale the pathless mountains, or swim in the Great River all alone."
"Then lead on," Boromir said. "But it is perilous."
"Perilous indeed. Fair and perilous. But only evil need fear it, or those who bring some evil with them."
They followed Aragorn down the path until he strayed into a dell where they set up camp for the night. The sun had long since fell and Luna sat beside Sam to change his bandages. Soon, a fire was going and Merry had the last of their dried pheasant heating in a pan. As Luna ate her dinner, she volunteered for the first watch that night. She had taken no watch shifts in the Mines and the thought of closing her eyes was not welcomed to her quite yet. She could still see the shadow of the Balrog vividly in her mind. She worried her dreams would be even sharper.
Her companions all set up their cots and were quickly asleep. She took her post at the edge of the dell where she could see the road they traveled. The river was out of sight from here, but she could still hear it rushing in the quiet night amongst the owls.
"I can't sleep," Boromir whispered, making her jump. "Not in these woods. You should take rest, if you can. I will take the watch."
She shook her head. "After all we encountered in Moria, I do not fear these woods. But rest will not find me tonight. It's all still too…fresh."
"Then might we keep each other company? I would understand if you didn't, though. I can go back to my cot and leave you be, if that is what you wish."
She shook her head. "After everything that has happened today, it makes our fight from yesterday seem like a lifetime ago."
"So you wish to pass the ill will that fell between us."
"I just want you to understand that I kept it from you not because I do not trust you, but because I do not think it should matter so. And I knew you would think differently because you can't understand."
"Help me to understand, then."
Luna sighed and stretched out her legs. "One day, when I was six years old, Dol Amroth's stablemaster saw me from the height of the castle, stranded in the depths of the sea. He ran to the water and swam out to me. He saved me. But I had no one to go back to. Nowhere to go back to, for when I spoke of my home, no one had ever heard of it. No maps held its name. And I would ask for things they had never heard of. My mother says I was constantly asking for a "fone". I cannot for the life of me remember what that could have been, but I asked for it all of the same. I asked for other things too, but after a time, I adjusted to a new life. A life with a new mother and father who loved me. A new best friend in your cousin Lothiriel. Talents in both horsemanship and herbs that my parents instilled in me and helped me hone. It was a good life. So good my past became more than distant and blurry memories in the far back of my mind.
"Dol Amroth's librarian, Ulfion, encouraged a rumor that I was the sole survivor of a shipwreck and Imrahil allowed it. Anytime your father would visit Dol Amroth, I was kept far away so he would have nothing to even question. Not that he would have. He would have paid me no mind at all. After a time, it wasn't even a secret. Just a strange twist of fate that we never talked about."
"And you don't know how it happened?"
"As I've said, I was six years old. The mind of a child is a fleeting thing. After a year or two and I realized I was truly happy in my new home, there was nothing for me to remember. And there was nothing for me to miss as all of my desires were fulfilled. I was incredibly lucky to have found Callum and Melyanna. Or that they found me, for I wanted for nothing, especially love."
She paused and pulled out her waterskin and took a long drink. "And you have told only these people?" Boromir asked. "There are only a handful in all of Middle-earth who know?"
"Just my parents, Imrahil and his family, and Ulfion knew before I departed Gondor. Now, Elrond knows, as did Gandalf. I suppose Aragorn knows of it now, as well as you."
"You told your horse-lord of Rohan."
Her eyes jumped to his face. "What?"
"The bounty the King's advisor placed on your capture. I thought it so strange that a bounty would be placed on someone simply for being the King's nephew's former consort-"
"I wasn't his consort," Luna interrupted. "His pen-pal, perhaps, but nothing more. How many times-"
"You told him and he told the King. Or the man whom you say now pulls the King's strings. Think, Luna. Nothing else makes sense. And you haven't denied it. You told him, didn't you?"
"He…he wouldn't have told anyone, especially Grima Wormtongue. He promised."
"You have known me for over a year and I am only learning of this now. You couldn't have known him for more than a few days-"
"I was sixteen," she spat. "Sixteen and foolish and caught up in a whirlwind I could have never anticipated. Are you angry that I was so careless with my secrets or are you angry that I told him willingly and not you?"
"I am not angry at all, Luna," he said, grabbing her hands in both of his own. "Well, I am not angry at you. More at myself for not letting things lie. But, Luna, Grima knows your secret. And for some reason, he wishes to use it somehow."
She shook her head. "Eomer didn't tell him. I can't believe that."
"You said you wrote letters to each other for many years. Did you ever mention it in your letters?"
She thought back and she couldn't be positive, but it was entirely possible. "You think someone else read our letters?"
"You should never put any secrets in writing."
She kept her hands in his and moved her gaze to the ground. "You must think me a great fool."
He pulled her hands, bringing her into his lap. "I could never think you a fool, Luna, no more than I could think the sun was foolish for growing crops or a whetstone was foolish for sharpening a knife."
She sighed in his arms, savoring the feeling of them wrapped tightly around her, shielding her from the cold, from every bad thing in the world. And she soon felt her eyes droop and her breathing became heavy. "Sleep," Boromir bid her, whispering in her ear. "Sleep in peace, for I will keep you safe here." And she knew she was truly safe in his arms.
The next morning, Luna awoke in her cot. Boromir must have put her there after taking over the watch and he smiled at her, bringing her joy that there was peace between them once again and that the weight of her secret was just a little lighter on her shoulders. She checked Sam and Frodo's wounds once more before scarfing down her breakfast. Soon, the Company was off again through the woods. They walked maybe two miles, eventually crossing the Nimrodel River. Legolas entertained the Hobbits with the tale of the maiden Nimrodel in song. Luna listened to the melody more than the words. The Elf had a beautiful voice, as she imagined most Elves possessed. As she listened, she found her eyes staring deep into the gentle flow of the water. The maiden Nimrodel had been the love of the ancient Lorien King Amroth. She knew this tale well, for it was Amroth that her homeland was named for and the Nimrodel river flowed all the way to the Bay of Belfalas. She imagined floating on her back in the water, her eyes closed and at peace, moving slowly all the way to Dol Amroth.
Sometime after Legolas had finished his song, he halted the group, looking up into the trees. "Wait here," the Elf said. "I wish to climb the trees. I think I heard something amiss."
Aragorn nodded and Legolas jumped, grabbing the lowest branch and started to climb.
"The Galadhrim who live here all take to the trees," Aragorn explained. "Often you can find them in tall places-"
"Daro!" a voice called from the top of the tree Legolas was climbing.
The Elf halted and let go of his branch, falling gracefully back to the ground, a serious look on his face. "Stand still," he told the Company. "Do not move or speak."
Above her, Luna could hear soft laughter and voices speaking softly in the Elven-tongue. "What do they say?" Merry asked.
"They say that you breathe so loud that they could shoot you in the dark," Legolas translated. "But also that we need have no fear. They have been aware of us for a while and heard my voice across the Nimrodel. They knew I was one of their kindred so they did not hinder us. Now they bid me to come up with Frodo for they seem to have some tidings of him and our journey. The rest of you they ask to wait at the foot of the tree until they have decided what is to be done."
A ladder made of silver rope fell from the trees and Legolas bid Frodo to climb first. The two took to the trees and Luna could barely make out a platform high above their heads that they climbed to. She would not have noticed it had she not been looking for it.
"I do not like this," Boromir said.
"Here, here," Gimli agreed. "What tidings are these that they would know of our party and only welcome Frodo? They must know we've all traveled long and hard."
"Patience," Luna said. "Patience and trust. Aragorn says we have nothing to fear. Gandalf himself intended to bring us to this path."
"And look at what happened the last path Gandalf had led us down," Boromir said.
"Boromir, you are unsatisfied with any road to take but one that leads us quickly to Gondor," Luna said. "But Gondor is not the mission."
"I wish to take roads I trust. Not haunted roads of Orcs and Balrogs and Elf-witches."
"Elf-witches?" Pippin said, turning to Aragorn. "You said nothing before of Elf-witches."
"Because there are none dwelling in these woods," Aragorn said. "When they are done speaking with Frodo, they will take us to their kingdom and you will see that we have nothing to fear."
Boromir kept his eyes on the platform above. "Even so, I do not like him being out of our sight, especially with strangers we cannot be sure to trust."
"Legolas is with him," Luna said. "No harm will come to Frodo with him there."
"Yes," Boromir muttered, so low Luna could hardly hear him. "No harm to Frodo."
And she was right, for a moment later, Frodo was climbing back down the rope, with Legolas and two new figures following. They fell gracefully to the ground with Legolas and Luna saw that they were indeed Elves, clad in silver armor with weapons strapped to their belts. Each had longbows and quivers full of arrows and as they approached, Luna felt Boromir's hand grip her forearm, moving her gently to his side, just behind him, as if he meant to shield her from them.
"May I introduce Haldir and Rumil who guard this land from all strangers," Legolas said, gesturing to them.
"My brother Rumil does not speak the common tongue," the one on the left said. "So I will speak for the two of us. Danger you have brought to our land, weary travelers. There are Orcs on your tail as we speak, clammoning through the Nimrodel to reach you, their feet poisoning her waters. We must move swiftly if you are to reach any peace tonight. Come, friends, and follow with haste!"
Luna tugged her arm from Boromir's grip and moved to follow the two Elves. She could hear the rest of his companions moving above her head through the trees. She had no desire to meet any Orcs that were pursuing them. Only Boromir and Gimli showed any amount of hesitation. The Hobbits seemed especially eager to find any sort of refuge from the wilds they had been facing these last weeks and a rest found in any sort of certain sanctuary was enticing.
Haldir led them quickly towards the east while Rumil eventually made his way towards the back of the group. Luna, at the head of her group, found it hard to keep up with Haldir, for he seemed to glide amongst the trees, blending in and seemingly becoming one with the nature around them. As they descended deeper and deeper into the forest, the trees, much like they had once she had crossed the Bruinen when entering Rivendell.
She couldn't help but glance back at Boromir every few minutes. His gaze either fell to the ground or to Frodo's back. Occasionally, his eyes would meet hers and she would look away. She knew now that since their fight from the Mines had been resolved, his thoughts were straying back to the Ring.
Her wandering mind was eventually halted as they came upon the rushing waters of a river.
"Celebrant is a strong stream," Haldir said to the party. "It runs both swift and deep, and is very cold. We do not set foot in it so far north, unless we must. But in these days of watchfulness we do not make bridges. We cross using the rope, there. Follow me!"
Luna made out the slim silver cord following the width of the river's edge to the other side as the Elf stepped onto it and took off quickly across, his feet gliding along the thin wire as if it were simply steady dirt beneath his feet.
"I can walk this path," Legolas said. "But the others have not this skill. Must they swim?"
"No," Haldir said, walking back to them. "We have two more ropes we can fasten across the stream. Holding these, strangers should be able to cross with care."
More of the forest's guards came out of the trees and quickly fashioned a sturdier path for the party to cross. The Hobbits and Gimli all looked upon it the most wearily. The waters below continued to rush and as they whispered amongst themselves who would cross first, Luna decided she would not hesitate. Even if the ropes proved unstable for her crossing, she did not fret the waters below. She was a woman of the sea, after all, and this was just a river. Haldir moved again across and Luna followed, bracing herself on either side with the ropes, moving across swiftly, but steadily. Haldir waited for her on the other side and once her feet were beneath solid ground again, she looked back as Aragorn began to cross with Merry not far behind him.
"Sure footed you are above the water," Haldir said. "Not many of your kind are. I sense the smell of sea and salt in your veins. From where do you hail, child?"
"Dol Amroth," she said. "And the Bay of Belfalas."
"Aye, the Kingdom of the Swans. Perhaps that is why Ulmo himself seems to be in your very spirit, as if a guide."
"I'm not sure what you mean."
"Not a guide, perhaps," he continued, speaking more to himself now than to Luna. "But more of a blessing."
Aragorn stepped off the rope beside her and she reached out to assist Merry and the rest of the Hobbits, ending her exchange with Haldir. Gimli and Boromir followed next with Legolas at the tail. Rumil stayed at the other side, gathering the extra ropes they had used and walked back the way they had come.
"Now friends, you have entered the Naith of Lorien, or the Gore, as you would say, for it is the land that lies like a spearhead between the arms of Silverlode and the Anduin. We allow no strangers to spy out the secrets of the Naith. Few indeed are permitted even to set foot there. As was agreed, I shall blindfold the eyes of Gimli the Dwarf. The others may walk free for a while, until we come nearer to our dwellings, down in Egladil, in the Angle between the waters."
"The agreement was made without my consent!" Gimli said, stepping forward. "I will not walk blindfolded, like a beggar or a prisoner. And I am no spy. My folk have never had dealings with any of the servants of the Enemy. Neither have we done harm to the Elves. I am no more likely to betray you than Legolas, or any other of my companions."
"I do not doubt you," Haldir said. "Yet this is our law. I am not the master of the law and cannot set it aside. I have done much in letting you set foot over Celebrant."
"I will go forward free," Gimli said, planting his feet and drawing his ax. "Or I will go back and seek my own land, where I am known to be true of word, though I perish alone in the wilderness."
As quickly as his ax was in his hands, the Lorien Elves had all drawn their bows, arrows pointed directly at Gimli's head. "You cannot go back," Haldir said. "You must be brought before the Lord and the Lady. They shall judge you, to hold you or to give you leave, as they will."
"Come," Aragorn said, moving between the Dwarf and the Elves. "If I am still to lead the Company, you must do as I bid. It is hard upon the Dwarf to be thus singled out. We will all be blindfold, even Legolas. That will be best, though it will make the journey slow and dull."
Gimli grunted. "What merry fools we would look, being led through the forest, nine of us with no eyes to guide. I will be content if only Legolas here shares my blindness."
"I am an Elf and a kinsman here!" Legolas protested.
"A plague on both your stiff necks!" Luna said. "Enough squabbling, for the sun will soon fall and we will be no closer to refuge. What would Gandalf say if he saw you now, bickering over something as trivial as this?"
"Tis not a trivial thing to blind oneself in the presence of armed strangers," Boromir said. "I do not wish to go through the woods without my sight."
"If these armed strangers meant to harm us, why do it now? Why waste the time leading us through the woods, away from the peril of Orcs? I think we can be safe in their hands, for it is obvious they mean us no harm."
"Luna speaks with certain logic," Aragorn said. "Besides, Frodo and Sam are still injured and in need of rest and refuge from the wilds. We waste time arguing. The Company shall all fair alike. Come, bind our eyes, Haldir."
The Lorien Elves all moved about the party, wrapping gentle, but secure cloths around each pair of eyes in the Fellowship. Haldir bound Luna's last, giving her one sharp gaze before her eyes were blackened by the cloth. Soon, they were on the move again, the Elves guiding them down a clear path. Occasionally, Luna would feel a gentle tug on her arm to move around some obstacle and she obliged each time.
"It is long since my fold have looked upon the shores and seas," Haldir said to her, after a time. "Yet, we still remember it in song. Would you tell me of your homeland as we walk?"
"Well," Luna hesitated. "It has been some time since I've been there. My mother and I had been living and working in Minas Tirith for nearly a year before I left for Rivendell. My father dwells there still, or so it was when I departed. The waves there are always moving, lapping against the walls of the mountainside and onto the beaches. I have not been to other ocean fronts in my time, but I have been told that Dol Amroth's waves have always been the roughest and most excitable in Middle-earth. In summer, the waters are so clear, you can see the fish swimming from the verandas of the palace. In times of peace, the fishermen take to the waters in the early morning and you can watch their boats migrate out into the deep waters like a giant flock of birds amongst a clear blue sky, but I imagine it has been some time since the fisherman have gone out very far since the deep waters have become polluted with Umbarian Corsairs."
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps greater. Some there are among us in Lothlorien who sing that the Shadow will draw back, and peace shall come again. Yet I do not believe that the world about us will ever again be as it was of old, or the light of the Sun as it was aforetime. For the Elves, I fear, it will prove at best a truce, in which they may pass to the Sea unhindered and leave Middle-earth forever."
"If they believe that peace will come again, why would they want to leave?" Luna asked.
Haldir paused for so long that she suspected he hadn't heard her. Or, more likely, was ignoring her question. But after a moment, he simply said, "It calls to them."
After what seemed like a few miles at their steady pace, Luna could hear the sounds of more figures engulfing them. Their soft footprints and quiet whispers in their Elvish language filled her ears and she soon felt Haldir's gentle hand pull her to a stop.
"My kinsmen bring a message from the Lord and Lady of the Galadhrim. You are all to walk free, even the Dwarf Gimli. It seems that the Lady knows who and what each member of your Company is. New messages have come from Rivendell, perhaps." She reached up and pulled the cloth from her face, blinking the darkness away. "Look upon us with friendly eyes!" Haldir continued, walking up to Gimli. "Look and be glad, for you are the first Dwarf to behold the trees of the Naith of Lorien since Durin's Day!"
Once her eyes had adjusted, Luna took in her surroundings. Above her, the sky shone with a deep and comforting blue of springtime. All around were trees, mostly of two varieties. One was of white bark and bare of leaves. The other she had seen only in drawings and knew them to be mallorn-trees. The gold of their leaves seemed to shine down on the party, baking them all in a warm glow. Flowers of gold, white, and green littered the grass beneath their feet, though Luna knew not their names. She couldn't help herself as she knelt down and fingered the petals of a gold one near her foot.
"Behold!" Haldir said. "You have come to Cerin Amroth. For this is the hearth of the ancient realm as it was long ago. And here is the mound of Amroth, where in happier days his high house was built. Here ever bloom the winter flowers in the unfading grass: the yellow elanor and the pale niphredil."
"They are so delicate," Luna said, but noticed the petals held their shape against her fingers. "Yet strong."
"As are all things born amongst the Lorien trees," Haldir said. "Now, take rest, friends. For when dusk reaches us, I will take you to the city of the Galadhrim.