Behold, The Sun

Rest

The company marched in silence, as all of them, except Idalia, of course, keenly felt the loss of Gandalf. Though she did not mourn him, she was not so cruel as to let it be known that she was not particularly bothered by his death. She could only hope none of the others hated her as much as Gandalf did.

They had walked a considerable distance away from the Mines before they stopped for a break. It had been several hours and it was near nightfall when they stopped. Idalia was miserable. Her feet were bleeding and had nearly gone numb from pain, her legs ached, and her stomach was gnawing at her insides. Not to mention, now that they were in the open, there was little support for her to use while she still learned how walking worked.

They found a small grove of trees on the edge of a forest to rest in. Mercifully, one of the humans approached Idalia. He introduced himself as Aragorn, and offered to help her bandage her feet. He used some water from his pouch to clean them and then wrapped them tightly in bandages.

"Thank you," Idalia whispered, followed by a heavy growl of her stomach.

Aragorn laughed and handed her some of his food, which she took gratefully. They all ate in silence, too weary to speak. Exhausted, Idalia laid on the soft grass to sleep. She was surprised by its texture, and began to run her fingers through the blades.

Gimli, having seen this, laughed softly. "What are you doing there, lass?" he asked.

She blushed, embarrassed at being caught.

"I have never felt grass before. It grows too far from the rocky shores of the lake in Moria for me to reach. It's... pleasant."

Soft laughter came from each member of the company. Truly, despite everything Gandalf said, they could not bring themselves to hate her as much as he did. Perhaps it was her nature of luring people in that caused her to be well liked, or perhaps they pitied her. Either way, none of them blamed her for what she had done, and eventually even asked about it.

Tired, but eager to earn approval, she explained.

"Each body of water has its ruler. Whether it be a lake, a river, or the Sea, there is always a ruler. In the lake of Moria, that ruler is called the Watcher. He is something like a king, I suppose."

"Was he the tentacled beast who grabbed Frodo?" the human, not Aragorn, asked.

Idalia nodded. "Indeed. Along with the ruler, there are subjects. We have many different names, but in the lake of Moria, we call ourselves Singers. We exist to serve the ruler in whatever he may command. In my case, we were never to let anyone enter the mines of Moria, fearing they'd release the Balrog- the demon who killed your friend."

The man spoke again. "So... you tried to kill me to prevent us all from going in the mines?"

Idalia nodded. "I would've drowned all of you to stop you, if I could. If the Balrog escaped, chaos would ensue."

They paused to think for a moment before Frodo spoke. "I fear we are fighting against a much greater evil than the Balrog."

"Tell me," Idalia urged.

And so they did. They explained to her the story of the rings of power, given to three different races. She wanted to ask why hobbits didn't get any, but she bit her tongue. They explained that the One Ring, created by Sauron, was evil and needed to be destroyed. There was only one place in all of Middle Earth where it could be destroyed, and that was where they were headed.

This weighed heavy on Idalia. They showed her maps, detailing how far it was, and how long it would take to arrive. Several more months, to be sure. They explained how powerful the ring was, how difficult it was to resist. It lured people in, much like herself.