Mo Ghile Mear

The Dark

*Athena's POV*

"We now have none but one choice," Gandalf muttered, bringing his staff to life again. "We must face the long, dark of Moria. Be on your guard: There are more fouler, much older things than Orcs that roam the deeper places of the earth. Let's go quietly, now, and hope that our presence will go unnoticed."

We struggled onward. I heard Merry muttering once or twice as his foot missed a step. Finally, after God knows how long, we came to a stop. Gandalf looked confused, his eyebrows furrowed.

"I have no memory of this place," he muttered to himself.

We all sat down and began to do something to occupy us while Gandalf thought of which direction to get through. I sat with Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, and Gimli. The hobbits sat around in a circle. Pippin was asking a ton of questions.

"Are we lost?" he asked Merry.

"No, Gandalf's thinking," Merry answered.

"I think we're lost," Pippin argued. "Merry?"

"What?"

"I'm hungry."

I rolled my eyes at his random comment. Pippin was always hungry. I heard Daisy give a short snort of laughter. Pippin shot her a glare but he didn't say anything. I lifted my eyes to see that Frodo and Sera were sitting close by each other, their shoulders touching. I was surprised to see that their fingers were entwined with each other. Sera looked a little embarrassed but didn't pull away. They spoke to each other in quiet voices. I noticed that Frodo's eyes never left her face.

"They get along very well together, don't they?" Aragorn muttered quietly to me as he glanced in Sera's and Frodo's direction. By now, Sera was dosing off, her head leaning back, her eyes closed. Frodo, who also seemed tired, snuggled into her shoulder, which I thought was incredibly cute.

"She seems to really fancy him," snorted Boromir, who had a look of disapproval on his face.

"Do you have a problem with that?" I said coolly, watching his face as he glared at the two hobbits. They were sitting farther away from the rest of us, probably to have some alone time together.

"No," said Boromir slowly, turning his gaze away from the couple that was a good bit further away from us. "No, I don't."

I shot him a wary glance before leaning back, watching the duo.

"Oh!" said Gandalf at last, making us all jump. "It's that way," he declared.

"He's remembered," said Merry happily as we all got up.

"No," said Gandalf, which made me feel bewildered. "But the air doesn't smell so foul. When in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

Aragorn and I gave each other bemused looks but we followed him out.

"Let me risk a little more light," Gandalf muttered, before releasing a larger beam of light to let us see better. I took in an intake of breath at the sight -- the ceiling of the mountain kingdom vaulted high above us, literally taking my breath away. I could feel my pupils widening at the jaw-dropping view. "Welcome," said Gandalf. "To the halls of Dwarrowdelf."

"Now there's an eye-opener, and that's no mistake," Samwise muttered to himself.

We walked further on. I still gaped at everything with an open mouth. I didn't close my mouth until Gimli gave a cry of shock, making us all jump.

"Gimli!" said Gandalf sharply, but Gimli didn't listen, as he sprinted into what seemed to be a tomb. He gave a roar of anger, kneeling at Balin's tomb. "'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin'," Gandalf read from the Dwarf Runes. He took off his hat in mourning. "He is dead, then. It is as I'd feared."