Rima stayed his arm. "It wasn't mere happenstance and well you know it. Was it not her who had led us unerringly to the servants of Morgoth? She had not failed us during the war. She had proven her intuition reliable time and again. Yet when we grew weary of the war, we commanded that she do the same. We saw her as a weapon, to be sheathed at our will. We forgot, so easily, that she is more than that." She sighed. "If nothing else, her experience and accomplishments should have sufficed to gain her an audience willing to listen to her."
The dark-haired ner's mind returned to the moment the High King dismissed, in a glance, the likeness of the sigil Galadriel had brought back with her. And why should he not have? The sigil may have been carved before Morgoth's downfall.
He sighed in exasperation. "Galadriel is as a sister to me, and I love her dearly. Know that it pains me to say this, but her grief and her loss have corrupted her. Sauron has had a hold on her long before they laid eyes on each other. It is that Noldor pride. That vindictiveness. It was there in Feanor, and it is alive in her as well."
The soldier frowned. "Is that why you exiled her?"
"I would hardly describe having her sail to Valinor as exile, Rima."
"It is if one's duty remains unfulfilled. If one doubts one's worth. Had she reached Valinor, do you think she would have known peace? She would not have belonged there anymore. Here she was under constant doubt, and in Valinor she would have to face the certainty of the judgment of the Valar and those of her loved ones who still remain. So for whom was that reward really?"
"Surely, you do not blame us for choosing peace rather than to continue marching tirelessly under her banner of vengeance."
"Elrond, we all have someone to avenge. We have grown so accustomed to believing Galadriel was obsessed with avenging her brother, but in truth, she was avenging all those we have chosen to forget."
Elrond recoiled. "Forget?" he hissed, incensed at the very notion. "Do you think that I could ever forget I had to grow up without my parents because of Morgoth? But I know, Rima, I know that they would not want me to be darkened."
"You think Galadriel has turned her soul over to darkness?"
Please, Elrond. I cannot let him again. I cannot…
The dark-haired ner pushed the memory away and looked at the soldier coldly. It was easier to look at Rima. Easier than to remember the unlikely plea on Galadriel's face. She chose to let him in. And now he is inside of her and will not let her go. The time for caution is long past. "She brought him to Eregion. She let him in."
"She believed him to be a man. Yet another victim of Morgoth and his dark captain."
"She saw what he wanted her to see. Had she not been blinded by her pride she might have recognized him for what he truly was.
"If you choose to be a ring bearer, you choose to collaborate with Sauron. You choose to walk in the dark, as Galadriel does now."
Rima released him and took a step back. "I suppose that is your answer on whether I should be a ring bearer or not."
The mare snorted and stomped one foot. Elrond stroked its nose, whispering reassurances to it that he barely heard.
When the horse grew still once more, he looked over at Rima. "Sauron tried to drown her in the Glanduin, Rima. Had I not pulled her out of the water, she would not be here today. That is the result of allying yourself with a monster."
Rima was quiet for a moment. She looked from Elrond, to his mare, to the skies above, and then back to Elrond once more.
"Rima," he prodded. "You must make a choice."