After breakfast the following morning, Gandalf and I join Thranduil in the private library. To our surprise, lord Elrond is there too. I give him a slight bow out of respect. There's a map on the table. Unlike the maps of Gondor, this one is detailed and painstakingly accurate. The contributions of many travelers are reflected therein, perhaps none so extensive as Gandalf's and none so detailed as mine. Bilbo has given his own testimony as to the towns and dells and woodlands of the Shire. It's a map the greatest strategist will envy.

,,Before we go any further," Gandalf says, looking from me to Elrond. ,,I think we ought to agree straight off that whatever we decide today shall not be final. Sooner or later we will need the guidance of the rest of what was the White council. I would welcome Saruman's opinion most of all, for he is learned in Ring-lore and he is wise." Elrond nods.

,,Were he not so far away, I would have him present at this table. But we must do without Saruman for the time being, if for no other reason than because the details of the guarding of the Shire must be settled."

,,Word has been sent for the patrols to be doubled, and for the Dúnedain to ensure that the watchers themselves are watched." I say. ,,Halbarad will see to it upon my word alone, but I would be glad to offer him at least some sense of direction upon our meeting. It is a hard thing to see taxing directives laid and to know neither the reason nor how long they are expected to endure."

,,For the moment, the Ring is safe." Gandalf says. ,,That is the most important consideration. It is safe, and its location is still a secret from Sauron. He may be looking, but the world is wide. However long his reach, it does not span such a distance yet. But we cannot leave the One Ring as a mathom among the curious of Bag End forever. We must decide what we intend to do with it."

,,There are two options," Lord Elrond says quietly. ,,It can be removed from the circles of the world, where it can do no further harm. Or it can be destroyed."

,,Can it?" I ask. ,,Surely such a thing of power would not lend itself to easy destruction. Sauron would have guarded against that from the first, knowing that Celebrimbor's first instinct upon realizing the betrayal would be to undo what had been so wrongfully done."

,,Easy destruction? No, you are right about that. A Ring of Power is no princeling's bauble, to be melted in a cruet or beaten to a wire. Indeed, the only reason I am certain that they can be destroyed at all is because such was the fate of four of the Seven. In each case it was the work of a dragon: their fire or their burning gullets undid the skillful work of Elven hands."

,,Celebrimbor too held that few fires could bring destruction upon the Rings. His own forge would have done it, he said, for it was in that white-hot flame raised by Fëanorian bellows that they were given form. It had the capacity, therefore, to take such form away. That hearth is long lost and in any case it was not there that Sauron made the One. In the fires of Orodruin it was tempered by means known and unknown. Only there can we be assured of its destruction."

,,It would be easier to seek out a dragon." I say grimly.

,,True. If there were a dragon left in all the world whose breath yet burned with the heat of the great beasts of old. Smaug was the last, I deem. That is a twist of fortune as strange as any: that the One Ring should have been found upon a road that led to one of its likeliest agents of destruction. Yet I doubt that any dragon, scions of ancient evil that they are, could bear to destroy the work of he who is their overlord, acknowledged or not. Maybe it was that, as much as his keen wit, that spared Bilbo from death amid the golden hoard."

,,You mean to suggest that the beast sensed the Ring's presence?"

,,Is it not possible? Perhaps even probable? It matters not either way, of course, for Smaug is lost and the Ring is found. It must be dispatched with the same expediency that the dragon received."

,,We agreed that it should be destroyed." I say. ,,I dislike the notion of carrying it West and for more than one reason alone. First, it is an evil of Middle-Earth and the Valar have not in the past shown great inclination to lend their aid in such matters until the very last."

,,Perhaps I, being the son of he who last swayed their hearts, might do so again? Is that it, Mithrandir?" Gandalf furrows his eyebrows sadly at Elrond.

,,I fear not, Half-Elven. I doubt that either of us could bear to touch the One for long. I came near to it on the occasion of Bilbo's birthday party, and it was momentum more than resolve that kept my hand upon its course. If I chance such a thing again, it will be in a time of grave need."

,,Then destroying it must be." I say, cold determination in my voice steadying the quake of trepidation in my heart. ,,If there is no other fire sufficient to the purpose, it must be cast into the heart of Orodruin from whence it came. From Hobbiton to Gorgoroth is a strange road to travel - one I do not think anyone has ever taken willfully. I cannot think how it might best be done."

,,The mustering of an army as in days of old is out of the question." Elrond says. ,,The Elven realms have not the strength to mount it and the amity between the Firstborn and the Moral kingdoms has waned with the long years."

,,The lore of Gondor remembers you, at least. By name and as Gil-Galad's herald and trusted lieutenant if nothing more. But you are right. Denethor will not lend the strength of his armies to an uncertain venture in a distant land. Matters of temperament beside, it would be folly: for us as well as him. It is the stalwartly held border of Gondor that holds back the Enemy from sweeping across the South. It cannot be weakened, least of all now when we have the need to dissemble and delay the watchers of Sauron."

,,And Rohan?" Gandalf asks now, while Thranduil is too quiet.

,,I do not know. That too we might ask Saruman. I did not know Théoden as a man full-grown. I cannot guess what kind of a king he is. You would know better than I, having traveled there in more recent years."

,,The horse-lords are valiant and never shrink from danger. Yet, they know nothing of Elves except in stories of old more often remembered by aged grandmothers and small, dreamy-eyed children than by lords of might and majesty. I do not think they will gather for such a cause and certainly not without hard proof and clear reasons."

,,Then let us have secrecy." I say. ,,At least in the removal of the Ring from the Shire, let us do as we have always done. We shall take it by quiet and humble roads, keeping to the woodlands and the shadows."

,,From Hobbiton, then, and to where?" Gandalf asks. ,,Orthanc is the greatest fortress under our influence, at least West of the mountains. It would be most unwise to strike out for these lands."

,,Not orthanc!" I exclaim, the words coming out far more vehement than I intended to. ,,If we shut the One Ring up in that impenetrable valley, what is that but an invitation to a long and bloody siege? I do not fancy sitting out the years in Saruman's guest-houses, fighting a long war of attrition with the hellhound at our gates. If once Sauron bottles the Ring up in Isengard, bringing it any further would be impossible."

,,We must hope he will not learn of it. As you have said, secrecy is the key. Orthanc will be a way station on the road to Mordor."

,,A way station, yes. But let it not be the first. Long are the leagues between the Brandywine Bridge and the Gap of Rohan and that road grows more dangerous by the year. Refugees from the far South are already treading the Greenway when last I walked it. By now their numbers shall be greater and the wild men and footpaths of the Enedwaith will be on the lookout to prey upon the desperate. They are easy enough to hold at bay, if one is armed and alert, but they are a nuisance and would surely cause delays. In an enterprise of haste, that will be fatal."

,,There is no need to hurry, Neuma. We have adequate time to plan carefully and execute precisely the fruits of that planning. None of us are sure of our course and that is not something to which any of us is especially accustomed. Let us not permit choler to divide us." It's really disturbing me how quiet Thranduil is right now, but I continue.

,,We are wrong to make it for Orthanc. I do not know why it is such an unsuitable path, but it is. The long road, the chance of entrapment and siege, these ought to be reason enough. Nor will Saruman know to look for us."

,,I will carry tidings to Saruman and make known our designs before anything is begun in the Shire." Gandalf promises. ,,He may have greater wisdom to lend than I can muster."

,,Yes," Elrond agrees. ,,and I shall send missives to Galadriel and Celeborn, as soon as we are settled upon our own opinions. But whither should the Ring be brought, Neuma, if not to Orthanc?"

,,Imladris, at least at first. The way is shorter and better known to me and to Gandalf. It is less perilous than the Greenway and the Dúnedain will be within a few days summoning if aid is needed. Because the road is not so long, the journey will be swifter and the time that the One Ring will be loose in the Wild will be greatly reduced. The road to the West will be expected, you have said. So will the desire to shut up the Ring in our stoutest fortress. Let us bring it instead to the house of peace."

,,You would sooner bring peril to Rivendell than to Isengard, where Saruman has walls and soldiers to hold it?" This is the first question Thranduil asks me.

,,I will never willingly bring peril on the house of Elrond or any of his folk. Yet, ever has Rivendell been a refuge for those on journeys of danger and desperation. Rivendell is the only place I trust the One Ring to be secure, save perhaps in Caras Galadhon. It is not safe in the Shire, and my heart forebodes it cannot be safe even in the fastness of Orthanc."

,,Very well," Gandalf says. ,,I allow Rivendell to be the logical place to gather for a southeasterly journey, even if it will add many miles to the road." Happy about this answer, I lean forward to consider the map, turning it a little so that I can look from an eastern vantage instead of a southern one.

,,If it is to be taken from the Shire to Rivendell, someone must bring it." I say thoughtfully. ,,A small force will be best. You and I, Gandalf? And perhaps Elladan and Elrohir?"

,,They would gladly do it and they are already deep in our counsels." Elrond nods.

,,No." Gandalf says and nothing more.

,,No?" I echoed at last.

,,No. Our hope lies not in the might of arms, as has already been proven. The sons of Elrond are great warriors and indeed deeply trusted by us all, but it is not they whose skills and nature are needed. Who is to carry the Ring in your scenario, Neuma? I dare not. Would Elladan be a fit Bearer, with his political ways and his flair for leadership? Or Elrohir with his grandmother's temper but not her wisdom born of many Ages, his hatred of the orcs black upon his heart? Yourself, then. Are we to risk our long-held secret upon this new one?"

,,Just because I'm Aragorn's half sister, doesn't mean I'm not capable of doing this."

,,It's not about being able to. You have someone else to think about." Gandalf says, regarding Lostariel. I know he's right. ,,And then there is the peril of compelling the Ring to change hands. That has always proved a moment of greatest danger from which only one Bearer has yet escaped more or less unscathed. Bilbo gave the Ring to his nephew, not to any of us. It is Frodo who should carry it, so long as he may."

,,Frodo?" I say again, parroting my friend. ,,Frodo Baggins of the Shire, peaceable and prosperous master of Bag End: would you have bear this thing into the Wild, where watchers will look for it and Ringwraiths will seek it? Gandalf, I know the esteem in which you hold hobbits as a rule, but this is madness!"

,,Is it?" Gandalf tilts his head to me. ,,Bilbo bore the Ring for many years, with little temptation and few ill effects. Even Smeagol, who got it by murder, resisted its evil for hundreds of years."

,,I would not say resisted." I sneer, hating the loathing in my voice and my heart but unable to restrain it.

,,I would. Consider the great lords of Men who succumbed to the Nine in less than a lifetime. Consider even Isildur, who after two scant years possession was so entranced by his treasure that he forgot his broader duty to the great detriment of his men." Elrond places a hand upon my forearm, knowing my half brother and I are haunted by Isildur's failure. ,,Yet Gollum did not bring about his own destruction. He is no wraith, as your own scars attest. He is wizened almost to the bone, but he is tough as a tree-root and still in his own strange way very much himself." He clicks his tongue once, thoughtfully. ,,And the Ring had so little sway over Bilbo's heart that in the end he was able to give it away. That has never been done, save with the Elven Rings. Even then, one occasion was more bequeath than a gift, was it not?"

,,It was." Elrond says.

,,What I mean by this is that there appears to be something in the nature of hobbits that guards them from the One Ring's incursions, or at least slows them. Frodo Baggins, once of Buckland, may well be the surest Bearer we can hope to have for the Ring. He was young when I last saw him, but by now he will be drawing up on the age at which Bilbo took his own great adventure. I think that in light of that, Frodo may prove eager to undertake the journey."

,,He may indeed prove eager, but he can't possibly understand the danger." I say. ,,How can you ask such a thing of one who knows not the peril into which he walks?"

,,Did you know the peril into which you would walk, when first you undertook the hunt for Gollum? What of the day you first went forth into the Wild as Rebecca, daughter of Aragost instead of Neuma? Did you understand then what you had undertaken: its dangers and its hardships, its tools and its pains, its scant but beauteous joys and its demands upon your spirit? Would you have found the courage at twenty to go forth, if you knew then all you now do of the road? Sometimes it is better not to know." I have no answer to that.

,,Now that it's decided that the Ring should be brought to Rivendell. The road between the Shire and Imladris has proved passable to hobbits. If Frodo has but a measure of his uncle's mettle, the journey should be well within his scope."

,,Precisely. In any case I shall be with him." Gandalf says before looking at me. ,,And Neuma, too, if she consents. Such an escort would be equal to most dangers that might assail that road, even to a Ringwraith or five. It will take time to be sure of the situation in the North, to divine the Enemy's movements, to scope out the watchers. Saruman must be consulted and Galadriel informed. Most important of all, Frodo must be told the truth of his Ring and the matter must be explained to him so that - yes, my friend: I heed you hesitancy to send him blind into the fray - he can comprehend in part the risks and how far he is already entangled. All this will take time."

,,How much time?" I ask uneasily. The longer we delay, the better Sauron's odds of locating the Shire.

,,I would prefer not to plan to speak to Frodo until Yuletide. I have much to resolve in my own mind first and much yet to learn of the theory of the matter." Gandalf says. ,,You have Celebrimbor's private chronicles, do you not, Elrond?"

,,Those that survived the fall of Eregion, yes. Others still were taken by Sauron under the guise of Annatar."

,,Then my first act shall be to explore those. I bet our chieftain won't mind spending a little more time in Rivendell with Lostariel." Now Thranduil speaks up.

,,I won't let my daughter go to Rivendell with any of you, not if she will be in danger." He looks at me now. ,,I know what you two promised to each other, but you will go to Rivendell with only Gandalf and Elrond. Lostariel stays here, I will not let her get into unnecessary danger." I want to protest but I get where he's coming from. I understand.

,,I understand, my lord. If you let me, I will tell her this myself." Thranduil nods at this, obviously happy that for once I listen to him. I excuse myself, before leaving the study to search for the woman I love and tell her that I'm going to Rivendell without her. Oh boy, this is going to be harsh.