After Lady Galadriel and Saruman left, Gandalf and Elrond talked to themselves.
Rivendell was quiet without the dwarves and Gandalf found himself being able to think more clearly than he had done in a long time. He thought about many things and whilst he did this, the wizard took out his pipe and began to smoke on it gently. However, he did not know that Elrond was walking up to him. The elf lord coughed in order to get Gandalf's attention, he jumped a little.
"There is more than one reason why you chose Elfreda to accompany the dwarves to Erebor," he announced. Gandalf puffing on his pipe, white smoke funnelling out of his mouth every time he breathed, turned around to look at Elrond,
"Indeed, I invited her for more than one reason. In fact there are many reasons, more than I know of," clarified Gandalf. Elrond smiled at the wizard, he always spoke like he was telling a story with deep meaning and mystery. He allowed Gandalf to continue.
"Elfreda needed to be amoung people again, although she did not know it being alone was turning her against the world. Also Elfreda knows dwarves and gets along with them so letting her tag along seemed logical. Thirdly, I wanted to keep an eye on her as the darkness creeps around us, I did not want her to live unknowing of the evil that spreads from the shadows" Gandalf said, his voice low and recalling. Elrond nodded his head in agreement, now that there was some evidence to prove that Sauron was back, Middle Earth needed her to be their back bone in the fight against him.
From behind them, Lindir approached. He was a good friend to Elfreda and was worried about her saftey. The young elf joined Elrond and Gandalf in their friendly side meeting. They talked for some time, mostly in elvish about different happenings in the world and developed ideas what had been said in the White Council. After a good few hours of friendly debate, Gandalf decided it was time to catch up with the company. He thanked the elves for their kind companionship and left. He borrowed one of Rivendell's finest horses, a brown thoroughbred mare and rode off out of the valley, following the faint trail of the dwarves.
Elfreda trudged along behind the dwarves with a rucksack strapped to her shoulders. Mud was thick around her boots and it squelched every time she took a step. It was not helped by the huge amounts of rain that had opened out of the heavens.
The dwarves were not happy either. They too had lost their ponies but they continued striding along with some what limited hopes. Bilbo however, was completely miserable, not matter how much Bofur tried to joke. His feet were tired and ached; the bottom of his legs were scratched and bruised from walking through nettles and over sharp stones.
They had reached a long valley of the Misty Mountains. Thorin signalled for the company to seek shelter in the mountains. Thunder raged around them, it echoed across the valley.
Suddenly, the side of the mountain came apart. What looked like a giant stone figure ripped away at the rock. It lifted a huge boulder above its head and threw it at another giant.
"Bless my beard!" cried Bofur "the legends are true! Giants, Stone Giants!"