Bring Me With Her

Quarrels Upon Quarrels

"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old. You have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor." Lord Elrond began. "Middle Earth stands on the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom." The Elf lord then held his hand out to the young woman. "Bring forth the Ring, Talia."

Reluctantly, Talia stood up, pulling the Ring out of her pocket. She gave a slight smile as she placed it on the plinth, and she had recalled the last time she was here, and Bofur had been singing on top of it. As she was walking back to her seat, she heard a man speak up. "So it's true." She sat down to look up at a Man with light brown hair.

The young woman couldn't help but feel a nerve rising in her chest, as he had seemed to be quite taken with the Ring, and he stood up to approach it slowly. "In a dream, I saw the Eastern sky grow dark. In the West, a pale light lingered. A voice was crying, "Your doom is near at hand. Isildur's bane has been found." Isildur's bane..." he ended in a whisper, and Talia was gripping the arms of her chair tightly as he began to reach out for the Ring.

"Boromir!" Lord Elrond warned.

Suddenly, the sky went dark, and Gandalf began to chant words in another language. His voice echoed throughout the atmosphere, and Talia could see some of her Dwarves yelling in the chaos and she could hear...that voice. That deep, haunting voice of the Ring, she could've sworn it was talking to her, calling her. That was when she could feel herself hyperventilating, resisting the urge to get up. She didn't want to get anywhere within three feet of the Ring again, not after it nearly got her killed.

When the chanting was finally over, she felt the hands of Fili and Kili on her wrists, trying to calm her. She looked at both of them with a smile, assuring them that everything was alright. "Never before has anyone uttered words of that tongue here in Imladris." Lord Elrond said.

"I do not ask for your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West. The Ring is altogether evil." Gandalf warned.

"Aye, it is a gift." came Boromir's voice. Talia looked up at that, worried about this guy's motives. She didn't understand how he could get sucked into the power of the Ring so quickly. It only made her wonder what would've happened if she had kept it in her possession any longer. "It is a gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring?" he questioned, pacing around to address everyone in the council. "Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor, kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"

"You cannot wield it. None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master." came another voice. Talia looked to see it was another man with dark hair that just barely missed his shoulders. He looked like someone who knew what he was talking about, yet he seemed hesitant about saying too much.

Boromir scowled at his statement. "And what would a Ranger know of this matter?"

"This is no mere Ranger." Now that voice, Talia knew. She furrowed her brows to see him. The silver-blonde Elf prince, King Thranduil's son, whose name she'd forgotten. "He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance." the Elf said sternly. Talia furrowed her brows further...clearly lost in what she felt like was about to be a newfound argument.

Boromir looked at Aragorn, his eyebrow cocked in disbelief. "Aragorn...this is Isildur's heir."

"And heir to the throne of Gondor." the Elf prince added. Aragorn commanded something in Elvish, and with that, the Elf sat back down in his place.

"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king." Boromir snapped, making his way back to his chair.

"Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." Gandalf came in.