Luthien

The Arrival Of The Council

Arwen reached Rivendell early in the morning with the severly injured hobbit. It had been another three days since they left. She had found Aragorn, accompanied by four hobbits, east of Weathertop, after they had been attacked by the Nazgul. The Nazgul had pursued Arwen as far as the ford of Bruinen, but could not cross the border. Luckily. Knowing the Nazgul were in close proximity scared me.

Frodo, that was the hobbit's name, recovered surprisingly quickly from his wound thanks to Elrond's healing abilities. He was injured by a Morgul blade, Elrond told me. I had read a lot about it, but hadn't realized that those old and dangerous blades still existed.  The evil was already stronger than expected. I felt uncomfortable.

Gandalf had also arrived in the meantime, he had been held captive in Isengard by Saruman, who, to everyone's concern, had apparently allied himself with Sauron. I was very happy to see him again after all this time, but recent events clouded the joy of seeing him again. Gandalf used to be a regular guest in Rivendell, had taught me a lot and, as a little girl, cast a spell over me with his numerous stories about heroic adventurers. He was probably to blame for my adventurous urge.

-

The news of Aragorn's arrival reached me at lunch. I left the table and immediately ran down to greet him. After the reports on the Nazgul, I was worried sick, even if the Nazgul were probably only after Frodo and the Ring. I fell stormily into his arms before he could even say a word, the three hobbits who had accompanied Frodo looked at us puzzled. For a brief moment, my worries disappeared, because the joy of seeing my brother safe outweighed.  Unfortunately, this feeling didn't last long. Aragorn managed to break away from me and then introduced me to the three hobbits:

"Sam, Merry, Pippin, this is Luthien .." I noticed a moment of hesitation. "... a very good friend of mine!" He continued. "She will show you around," he added, turning to me.

The hobbits introduced themselves politely. Sam was a bit stronger than the other two and seemed to have a calmer mind, whereas Merry and Pippin gave the impression that they would be open for all kind of jokes. I liked them both from the start. I greeted everyone in a friendly manner and then led the three of them to the rooms that had been prepared for them.

-

In the evening Aragorn and I strolled through the gardens, finally we had found some time to talk in peace.  Dusk had already set in and a diffuse light shone through the trees. I liked the dark.

He gave me a full account of what had happened on Weathertop and Bree, and I listened carefully. I was worried when he told me about how he had fought the Nazgul with fire.

Afterwards we walked side by side in silence for a while, until Aragorn stopped by a pond and we looked at our reflection in the calm water. The dark water lay perfectly still, stars reflected in it. You could hear crickets chirping around us. In that moment nothing reminded of the dangers that lurked outside the sheltered valley, of the evil that was growing in strength every second.

"The members of the council will be here soon Luthien." His voice sounded serious.

"Yes, I am curious to see what news they will bring to Rivendell and look forward to getting to know all of them." I replied happily.

Aragorn's grey eyes looked at me seriously. Therefor I knew that my joy was inappropriate. I averted my gaze and looked into the water. He had always been different from me, colder, more aloof. I could be like that if I wanted to, but so far there was no need to be so. In my being I was more like the two elf twins than him, I was open to new things, to have fun and enjoyed teasing others or measuring myself against someone. I exuded a kind of happy lightheartedness, probably because I hadn't previously faced the dangers of evil.