The Company stayed in Lothlorien for a total of about a month. It was around mid-February when they finally decided to get a move on.
The pain of losing Gandalf hadn't left Noelle. She knew it would never really leave her, but her time in Lothlorien had helped lessen it.
Lord Celeborn and Lady Galadriel presented each of them with gifts before their parting.
Everyone was given a grey cloak with magical properties. They shielded them from enemies, cold, heat etc. Noelle was almost ready to decline as she didn't want to swap her friend's cloak for a new one, but in the end she decided to keep both.
They were also given the world's greatest supply of something called lembas, which according to Legolas was "enough to fill the stomach of a grown man." The hobbits were obsessed with it.
Everyone was also given various individual gifts. Noelle glanced enviously over at the hobbits' new daggers, and Legolas' new bow as her hand drifted to her right hip where her lightsaber used to hang.
Before long, Lady Galadriel had come to her. "Noelle, I leave you with parting words in addition to a gift. Remember them: There is no Light without the Dark. Through passion one gains focus. Through knowledge one may gain power. Through serenity, strength. Through victory, harmony."
"There is only the Force," Noelle finished, not knowing why she had said that.
Lady Galadriel smiled and gently held out the palm of her hands. Noelle gave a tiny gasp. In the Lady's hand, tied around a brown leather string, was a tiny, blue crystal.
Noelle looked up at Galadriel and slowly shook her head. "No, I can't take this." She desperately wanted to- to be that strongly connected with the Force again, but she had given up being a Jedi. She felt she had lost that privilege.
"I will not force you to accept this gift, although I do not advise declining it," said Lady Galadriel, not withdrawing nor extending her hand. "It will guide you, and you will find your courage."
The Company was also given three Lothlorien rowboats to travel along the Anduin in. They decided three would travel in each boat according to weight. Aragorn, Frodo and Sam in one; Boromir, Merry and Pippin together; and Legolas, Gimli and Noelle in the last one.
Noelle suddenly remembered that she wanted to tell Legolas something, although she would rather tell him alone. He was over in their boat rearranging their things. Noelle decided to go over to him.
"Hey," she said quietly, hoping to avoid other attention.
The Elf looked up and smiled slightly. "Mae go'vannen." He offered her his hand to help her into the boat.
She smiled and took it, sitting down across from him.
Legolas was fingering the arrows in his new quiver. "You do not seem too pleased with your gift from the Lady," he observed. He looked her straight in the eye.
Noelle sighed. "Yes. She gave me a crystal,' she said, not elaborating on what the crystal actually was.
"May I see it?"
Noelle fingered around for the crystal in her pocket, as Legolas crouched down closer to her. She handed him the crystal bound by the leather cord, watching his fair, Elven features as he examined it.
"'Tis quite beautiful. Matches your eyes."
Feeling the heat rise to her cheeks, Noelle opened her mouth to protest him, but Legolas' quiet laugh caught her off-guard and he handed her back the crystal. "Lady Galadriel does not give gifts needlessly," he said.
"Actually Legolas, I wanted to say thank you for what you did for me the night after..." Noelle's voice faltered, even though she had said her words more hurriedly than she had meant to. Legolas's compliment had stunned her enough to make her fumble over her words. Not many people gave her compliments along those lines.
Legolas also looked surprised, but he nodded, somberly remembering what their conversation had been about. "You are most welcome. I hope one day you will forgive yourself."
Noelle looked down at her feet before looking back up to meet his eyes. "I'll try."
Legolas searched her face, and he reached to touch her hand. His hand was so much warmer than her icy cold one. "Gandalf's death will not be in vain if we see this quest complete."
Noelle could feel the tears brimming in her eyes at mention of Gandalf. She bit her lip as she nodded silently. "I know."
~~~~~~
They traveled downstream by boat for the next ten days. One thing Noelle knew was that there was no way she could travel like this forever. It was actually her first time on any kind of boat. Seasickness wasn't the problem- it was her restlessness and boredom.
Noelle liked to be kept moving and constantly doing something. At the end of every day she couldn't wait to get out and stretch her legs. She had even offered to row the boat several times, partly because she was bored and partly because she felt bad Legolas was doing all the work. But he had refused to let her anyway.
And Noelle couldn't shake off the dreadful feeling that they were being followed. The others had noticed as well.
One night she lay wide awake after having a particularly bad dream, about crossing lightsabers with the dark figure, when she overheard a conversation between Aragorn and Boromir.
They started talking about how Gollum had been following them since Moria.
Noelle was a little annoyed that she was just finding out about that now.
Then Boromir began going on about how their course of action should be Gondor.
Noelle winced a little uncomfortably. She didn't know what Gandalf had planned on doing after Moria. All she knew, like what Legolas had said, was that she wanted to follow Gandalf's wishes. And she had promised Frodo that she was going to see this through to the end.
Aragorn and Boromir began arguing, and Boromir accused him of not trusting his people. "You are afraid!" he cried, beginning to lose his temper. "All your life you have lived in the shadows- scared of who you are! What you are!"
Noelle cringed. There was definitely that bad moment where she could find double meaning in words not even directed at her.
There was a moment of silence. "I will not lead the Ring a hundred leagues from your city," Aragorn snapped back. Then he turned away.
When Boromir was out of earshot, Noelle decided to get up and talk with Aragorn, given that she couldn't sleep anyway. He was sitting down quietly by himself and appeared to be lost in thought.
"You ok?" she asked, sitting down next to him. "He didn't mean all that."
"I know he did not," Aragorn replied quietly. "He is..."
"Being controlled," Noelle finished. She glanced in Boromir's direction. He was standing way off still gazing out into the river. "I know how it feels. It was bad before you came into the picture- and then when Gandalf... I had to separate myself from the Company for awhile in Lorien. I'm sure you've dealt with it too."
Aragorn nodded. "I have. Many times it whispers my name at night. Is that what ails your sleep now?"
Noelle shook her head. "No, bad dreams. I just wish I could figure out why I'm having them."
"Perhaps the Lady's gift is meant to show you," Aragorn suggested. "May I ask what she gave you?"
Noelle pulled the blue crystal out of her pocket and handed it to Aragorn, whose eyes were wide.
"It's a crystal with a strong connection to the Force," she explained.
"I have heard legends of crystals with magical properties," said Aragorn in awe. He handed it back to Noelle. "Only they are rarely found in Middle-earth. Where the Lady obtained this crystal baffles my mind."
Noelle shrugged. "I got my first one on a world with millions of them. Who knows?" She slipped it back into her pocket.
"The Lady Galadriel is a very mysterious being indeed," said Aragorn. "Although as long as I have known her, she has never failed me. Not much is known of her origins before the First Age, and there is also a tale the Lady has a dark side."
"A Dark Side?" Noelle raised her eyebrows.
"Yes, that without the power of good to hold her in check, she would become as terrible and as mighty as Sauron himself." Aragorn lowered his voice.
Noelle smiled- for the first time in a while. "Well that wouldn't surprise me too much. She is pretty intimidating," she said jokingly as she yawned.
Aragorn found the heart to smile as well. "Try and sleep tonight, Noelle. Losto vae."
~~~~~~
They continued down the Anduin river in their rowboats, and Noelle had a lot of quiet time to think. So much stuff had happened over the past few months: the formation of the Fellowship, her vision in the mirror, her gift of the crystal, her reuniting with Legolas, and Gandalf had...
Noelle pushed the thought away, feeling her throat swell with emotion.
The past four and a half years had been more than she would have wanted to go through in a lifetime. There was too much to think about. What did that vision mean? Would the kyber crystal really help her figure out the meaning of her dreams? Would everything eventually turn out ok?
Her thoughts were interrupted by a nudge on the arm from Gimli. "Look lass," he pointed up ahead of them.
An enormous stone gateway with two figures carved into the mountainside. Noelle literally gasped aloud. The structures and art of Middle-earth put Mount Rushmore and the Pyramids to shame.
"The Argonath," Aragorn called from the boat in the front. "Long have I desired to look upon the kings of old- my kin."
"Who are they?" Noelle whispered in awe.
"Prince Isildur and his brother, Anarion," Legolas answered. Noelle had forgotten he was there, silently rowing the boat. He was so quiet all the time.
When they got past the magnificent structures they came to a lake, where Noelle assumed was the ending of this part of the Anduin. She knew it went much further, but past the pinnacle of rock up ahead must be the Falls of Rauros. They could go no further by boat.
"We make camp at shore," Aragorn called over his shoulder.
Legolas rowed their boat up to shallow water. Noelle hopped out before the boat even came to a stop, getting her leather boots wet, and ran ahead to shore. She didn't care. It just felt so good to be able to stand up again.
Legolas got the boat closer to shore. Noelle walked back and helped Gimli unload their things, when something caught her eye, because she could sense the tension. She turned around slightly to see a look of distress on Boromir's face, as if he was in pain. Frodo obviously noticed too, as he looked incredibly uncomfortable. He climbed out of his boat away from the direction of Boromir.
Noelle suddenly had a very bad feeling. Like something ominous was about to happen. She never liked having those feelings because they usually didn't end well.
"I'm going to have a look around," said Aragorn, as he stepped out of the boat with Frodo and Sam. He gave Noelle and Legolas a knowing look. "Keep an eye out," he said to them.
Noelle exchanged a look with Legolas, as Aragorn headed off. She knew what he meant.
The hobbits and Gimli started a small fire, which Noelle wasn't too pleased about, but Gimli assured her it wouldn't be large enough for any passersbys to see.
Sam decided to try and take a nap, while Pippin and Merry began munching on lembas. Noelle frowned at them.
"Save some for the rest of us, guys." They didn't need Merry and Pippin being the cause of a food shortage.
Legolas was standing quietly off to the side by himself, peering constantly all around the area.
Finally, Aragorn came back, carrying some more of their stuff onto shore. "We cross the lake at nightfall," he said. "Hide the boats, and continue on foot. We approach Mordor from the North."
So they were going to Mordor. Noelle was glad they were going that way instead of Minas Tirith, Boromir's city.
"Oh yes?" Gimli interjected. "Just a simple matter of finding our way through Emyn Muil? An impassable labyrinth of razor sharp rocks, and after that, it gets even better! Festering, stinking marshlands as far as the eye can see!"
Noelle crossed her arms over her chest. "I've been through worse. I'm sure we can handle this," she said narrowing her eyes at the complaining dwarf.
"That is our road," Aragorn said likewise. "So I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Master Dwarf."
"Recover my-" Gimli growled and went back to his grumbling. It was clear he didn't want to go to Mordor.
Legolas swiftly went over to Aragorn. "We should leave now," he hissed under his breath.
"No," said Aragorn. "Orcs patrol the Eastern shore. We must wait till cover of darkness."
Legolas sighed a little and glanced around worriedly- like he had been doing for the past hour. "It is not the Eastern shore that worries me. A shadow and a threat has been growing in my mind. Something draws near- I can feel it."
So he's noticed too. Noelle's eyes scanned the area. Suddenly she noticed something. Two people were missing.
"Guys where's Frodo?"
Aragorn's eyes narrowed in worried suspicion and Sam shot up from the ground.
"And Boromir..." Noelle frowned too.
"We must hurry," said Aragorn, dropping their things on the ground. "If we split up, we will find them faster.
Noelle could feel her mind becoming clouded from panic and urgency. She raced off in a random direction without thinking or waiting for anyone else.
"Noelle, wait!" She could hear Legolas's voice coming closer.
She stopped and turned around. He came jogging up with Gimli trailing far behind him. "Do not stray far alone."
Noelle paused for a breath, and to look at him.
Legolas. He was so protective of her and always seemed to be looking out for her. She couldn't imagine why, but she didn't mind. Noelle rather appreciated being looked out for. At least she didn't have to feel alone even if she was.
"I won't," she replied softly and reassuringly.
"It is not safe," Legolas said, as Gimli caught up with them.
"Right," said Noelle breathlessly. "I should try and figure out which way to go." She closed her eyes and let the Force flow through her, trying to get a sense of direction. "That way." She pointed to her left, and took off.
Legolas and Gimli followed. "I believe you are right. I can hear footsteps far away," said Legolas. "But how did you know this was the way?"
Noelle smirked. "Just had a feeling."
"Uh laddie? Did you say you heard footsteps?" asked Gimli. "What do you make of these." He pointed the tip of his axe at the ground, revealing a long line of heavy footsteps trailing in the direction they were headed.
Noelle and Legolas looked at eachother. "Orcs," they said together.