One Day You'll Know

Chapter 14- The Fellowship of the Ring

"Yeah, sit down, Legolas," Noelle mumbled under her breath.

"Gondor has no king," Boromir spat. "Gondor needs no king." He plopped down back in his seat, clearly humiliated.

"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." Gandalf broke the silence, but the tension was still hanging in the air. Noelle could sense it.

Elrond stood up and raised his voice. "You have only one choice: the Ring must be destroyed."

Noelle saw Boromir's face fall immediately. What she wanted to know was why had Elrond taken time out of their day to come here and talk about what to do with the Ring when he and Gandalf had already reached their decision.

"What are we waiting for?" The dwarf Gimli lept up out of his seat and slammed his axe on the stone tablet. "YAHHH!!!" Gimli went flying backwards into the air and fell flat on his back. Gloin was at his side immediately. "Gimli! Son! Are you alright, lad?" Poor Gimli's eyes were disoriented.

Noelle slightly stood a bit from her chair to get a glimpse of the Ring on the stone table, but all she saw were fragments of Gimli's shattered axe. The Ring hadn't received a scratch.

"The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Gloin by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this." Elrond's words hung in the air for a long, long moment, as if everyone was thinking "well I'm not doing it."

"One does not simply walk into Mordor," Boromir began. "Its Black gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume, not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly-"

We get it Boromir!

"Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond just said?!" Legolas burst out. "The Ring must be destroyed!"

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it!" Gimli jumped in.

"And if we fail, what then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?" Boromir yelled.

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an Elf!" Gimli shot back. "Never trust an Elf!"

Noelle's mouth hung open. That had escalated quickly. Then she heard the whispers.

"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul..."

The Ring. It was influencing them. Even Gandalf was raging. Noelle felt the urge herself to start defending Elrond's decision, but she closed her eyes and tried to drown out the noisy background. She could sense Frodo's agitation beside her as well.

"I will take it!" The little hobbit's voice was lost in the backdrop of angry words. "I will take it!" He repeated louder this time.

The wizard, the elves, dwarves and men had finally recognized the voice of Frodo, who was watching them intently. "I will take the Ring to Mordor," he said softly. "Though I do not know the way."

Frodo, the young hobbit from the Shire, had just volunteered to take the Ring on the mission to the depths of hell. He was young, had a whole life ahead of him that he could be spending with his friends and family in the Shire, yet he had volunteered to do the impossible. Noelle couldn't forget that. Because she understood.

Noelle saw Gandalf's scowl soften, as she had seen him do with her as a child. She would ask a silly question, and Gandalf would snap and lose his patience with her, but after a few moments, he would feel bad and soften his tone.

That's how he looked now. He turned around to face Frodo. "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."

Before she even met Gandalf's eyes, Noelle got up from her seat and took her place at Gandalf's side. "As will I Frodo. We started this journey together, and I'm gonna see it to the end... I promise."

Aragorn also got up and crossed the room. He knelt down to Frodo's eye level. "If by my life or death, I can protect you. I will. You have my sword."

"And you have my bow," Legolas stepped next to Noelle.

"And my axe!" Gimli begrudgingly took his place next to Legolas.

Boromir quietly moved onto the stage. "You carry the fate of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the council, then Gondor will see it done."

"Hey!" came a voice from the bushes behind Noelle's seat. Sam came running under Aragorn's arm next to Frodo. "Mr. Frodo's not goin' anywhere without me!"

"No indeed, it is hardly possible to separate you, even he is summoned to a secret council and you are not," Lord Elrond pointed out amusedly.

"Oi! We're coming too!" came a cry from the hidden corner down the stairs from behind Elrond. Merry and Pippin. Should have guessed. Noelle knew from experience that they were next to impossible to get rid of. "You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!"

"I don't think even that would work," Noelle commented.

"Anyway you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission, quest, thing," Pippin tried to say.

"Well that rules you out Pip," Merry retorted.

Noelle snickered at the annoyed look Pippin gave Merry. Both of them were most definitely not "people of intelligence."

Elrond stood facing the group of volunteers. "Ten companions," he observed. "So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring!"

"Great!" exclaimed Pippin. "Where are we going?"