A/N: I've now run out of pre-written 'backlog' - gonna be a longer wait now in between upcoming installments. How long I cannot say; I'll aim for no less than weekly updates, more if possible. I am after all, forging ahead into the wilds of AU Country.... ^_^

All Comments and Constructive Criticisms cheerfully accepted! What was it eveyone around here always sez: Oh yeah - R & R!

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The Dream - Part 9

by Bex

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"You told him where to find me, didn't you?"

Temeril understood the reference in my half-hearted accusation instantly. Elven brows raised. "Should I have not?"

I schlumped down onto the bench next to where he sat at work at his latest parchment, as if I were determined to contrast his natural elven grace and poise as much as possible, and made a little moue. 'Oh, it doesn't matter. I suppose. It's just...awkward to have famous people coming up to you and thanking you just because you knew something they didn't."

"Really? I find that not so."

I pulled another face at him, which he ignored in favor of adding an ornamentation to one letter. I quieted to watch him work for several minutes as he completed an ornate Quenyan capital then sat up straight again, exuding an air of satisfaction.

"I may be losing it again," I said then, lightly. "What's this about there being a feast tonight? I don't recall anything about it."

He'd turned his head to look at me, frowning as he puzzled out one of my rare colloquialisms. At the mention of feast he brightened. "Several envoys from other lands have arrived."

Oh. Politics and war-planning. I shifted uncomfortably on the bench, which was ironic, as my 'knowledge' had put me squarely in the midst of all this; had inititated this, months ahead of the 'original' time line of the War of the Ring.

Well, that didn't mean I liked it.

Well... All right; I'd liked giving in to the impulse to reveal what I knew of the War of the Ring - before it happened.

I just wasn't sure I wanted to be around when it actually happened. Especially as events - both minor and rather major - had already been altered from how they'd occured in Tolkien's tale. And war was drawing nearer every day.

Why did I do this again?

Temeril was gazing at me, his writing implements laid down and forgotten. "Do you yet doubt what you have done?" he asked quietly. "Do not do so."

I nodded. "I know. I must...'keep faith with what I have done', as they keep telling me. As you keep telling me." I hunched a bit, suddenly chilled, then looked up as the bench shifted and a shadow fell over me.

Temeril finished shaking out one of the lighter Spring cloaks that he kept there, and swung it around to rest on my shoulders. As its soft woolen weight settled down over me, I glanced up with an absent smile. "Thank you."

"If the worst happens, though, I'll know," I murmured on in the same absent manner, "it'll have been my fault..."

"Sarah--!" Temeril was more frustrated than angry. "Are you a Valar, to know all, control all? Even they in sooth do not do so. We are told that only Eru has that power."

"No. But I interfered."

"But not by chance."

I sent him a hooded look. "You're a fine one to talk, after all the time you spent angsting about having brought me here."

He smiled ruefully, acknowledging the barb. "Perhaps I begin to believe, as you said earlier, that t'was indeed meant to be. Not that I will not fulfill my vow," he added quickly.

Very big on fulfilling vows, these Elves were. In his case, to eventually send me back whence I had come. Which was only fair, as he'd drawn me there in the first place.

"I'm scared." It slipped out, could not be undone, so I wittered onwards. "I don't belong here. I may have ruined everything. What if we lose? What if everybody dies--?"

I'd started rocking back and forth on the bench. But was halted as Temeril gently pulled me up and into a chaste but intensely comforting hug.

It certainly had the effect of shutting me up. I stood, my head against his chest, and listened to his quiet voice murmuring, until the worst of the black tide inside me had receeded once again.

*****

There was indeed a feast in the House that night - and I did finally meet all the hobbits together in one place. Temeril and I sat next to the hobbit group, and introductions were made all around.

I suspect that to them, I was just another example of the strangeness that was the big folk; I in turn watched them talking, looking around, but mostly eating heroically (they were after all, hobbits) but all of them inevitably focused on, turning back towards Frodo, the linchpin of that unlikely group.

He was a gentleman scholar of sorts (if not ever quite up to Bilbo's level), a man of diffident charms, the slightly more wordly cousin leading his friends on the journey of a lifetime.

He bore it easily, smiling, glancing from side to side, helping himself to the food being offered. If the Ring, if his comrade's expectations weighed on him....it did not show.

Yet.

To my right, Temeril quietly pointed out the various envoys. Several wood elves, high elves, dwarves and men sat among the usual worthies of Imladris, partaking of the Lord of Imladris's hospitality.

As it turned out, some of the guests were familiar - Gloin and Gimli had come, as had Thranduil's son, Legolas. Gondor had sent... Faramir. I sat there, blinking, as Temeril carried on with his list. It was then I realized that this story was never again going to run quite 'true to the book'.

It was a profoundly disorientating moment.

I blinked again, and found I'd missed part of Termeril's explanation - Lorien had sent someone: surprise of surprises, a fair-haired female elf accompanied by retinue - apparently an aide of the Lady Galadriel, named Anatuil. There was no one there from Rohan - Grima Wormtongue's poison well at work, it had been sadly guessed. But two additional envoys were there whom I had not at all expected: Bale, a tall, hale fellow, and great-grandson of the bowman who'd slain Smaug above Dale... and Halbeorn, the rather imposing and bearded son of the current leader of the Boernings, the woodsmen from the lands between the Misty mountains and Mirkwood, bordering the old forest road. And who, it was rumored, were shapechangers. Most curious indeed! It was, I was told, the first time one from either land had ever visited Imladris in an official capacity.

But the current crisis demanded it. Just as in Tolkien's tale, those seeking the counsel of the Wise had been drawn, unbidden, to Imladris. If ever there was a time for representatives of the free peoples to come together and plan...it was now.

Mine was not the only measuring glance roving that evening. Several times I saw some among the newcomers gazing my way, probably indulging in their own curiosity regarding their hosts and fellow guests.

They would, I decided, see an ordinary woman, part-way to middle-age. And above all, outstandingly average. Who'd found her way here, among these worthies merely by chance, her 'widsom' the accident of displacement, not the lore of many hard-won years.

I glanced aside at Temeril. He was a bit out of place himself, I supposed - I didn't get the impression he normally attended that many feasts. His own connection to me, his 'mistaken' magicking of me had drawn him out of his ordinary circle as well.

Ah, well. I sighed inwardly. When in Imladris... I reached for another serving from the platter passing by - I'd discovered it was best to get mine before it got near the hobbits to my left.

Whatever else I was... I was a fairly quick learner.

*****

After Dinner many of the guests repaired to the Hall of Fire - an extra-large living room of sorts - if a living room had benches instead of couches, and was big enough hold dozens of guests at a time - and had roving performers who were prone to spotaneous bursts of entertainment, both merry and somber. The fires burning merrily in the hearths at each end of the hall were definitely welcome - it was still a fairly cool Spring. I sat near Temeril and watched fair folk of all descriptions as they roamed in and out at will.

I was restless, and I knew he knew it. Not due to breached mental shields, nor leaking emotions - which I had a fairly good grasp of now - but because my body language showed it plainly. I sat stiffly, my hands clasped tightly in my lap, glancing about at the various guests. I was unnerved not by the crowd, or because so many were strangers...but due to what this gathering ultimately meant, my thoughts as always of late leaping ahead to the dark unknown.

One of our guests pulled apart from the mingling groups and approached us. It was Faramir, tall, dark and serious-eyed. "Greetings, my Lord, my Lady," he said, smiling. I smiled back and inclined my own head automatically.

It was Temeril he wanted to see, as it turned out - the scholarly bent of the second son of the Steward of Gondor had led him to seek permission of Imladris's young conservatist in order to examine some of the documents in his care while he visited here.

Temeril would be pleased enough to help, I knew, and I was soon smiling as he and Gondor's envoy began animatedly talking shop.

Their conversation started to get technical, and I glanced away, my gaze and mind wandering as it so often did in that place...

"Lady Sarah."

Someone was claiming my attention. I blinked and glanced to my left to see Gandalf standing there. A jolt of adrenaline woke me in a hurry.

"Your pardon; I did not mean to startle."

I smiled forgivingly, if a tad distantly, in the way I'd perfected in the couple of weeks I'd spent there - from imitation of the elves around me.

"Council will be convened tommorrow, late morning, in the Map-room. After Breakfast, a bell will summon all." I looked back at him blankly as he inclined his head and prepared to move away, then realized: he was going about the hall, informing the participants. They expected me there. Still.

I was so surprised that instead of stewing over this oddity, I blurted out: "Even though I no longer know the ultimate shape of this... Adventure we all face?"

Bushy brows rose slightly. "You possess a keen enough mind, and even one who no longer knows 'all' may help discern patterns of import or probabilities."

I hid my surprise then the best I could. "I...see. Erm, yes, I shall be there."

He smiled politely and withdrew. And I was struck then by the realization... They thought me smart and evidentally trustworthy enough - to be there. Irregardless of 'what' I 'knew'.

I suspect I may have had a silly little smile on my face off and on for the rest of the evening.

~End Part 9~