The Sunset Princess

New Faces

A few days later, well rested, and clean in a lilac dress with a belt of pearls, I walked in the gardens of Imladris, humming to myself and watching the last of the summer flowers tumbling in the breeze. "Ness!" I heard a light voice shout, and I looked up to see five hobbits sitting together. My face spread into a smile. Frodo was awake.

I walked along the steep bank of the Bruinen river, whose song flowed through Rivendell like an elf dancing barefoot over grass. The hobbits were on a porch, which looked out east from the house. Elven warriors were carved into the rock into which Rivendell was built, their eyes sharp and fierce. An archway, intricately carved from the living stone, stood opposite, leading into the house, as I entered the circular porch from the gardens. Behind me the Misty Mountains stood, blue in the distance.

Pippin smiled cheerily as I sat down on an empty seat to Bilbo's left. Sam, Pippin and Bilbo all copied him naturally, but Frodo's eyes travelled cautiously over my face, looking from his friends to me.

"You do not know me, Frodo, but I know you." I smiled reassuringly. "My name is Nesseldë, wife of Legolas Thranduilion of the Woodland Realm. You can call me Ness. I'm glad to see you up and about. We were very concerned."

"Ten years ago, when I last travelled, I attended Legolas and Ness' wedding." Bilbo explained cheerily. "I still dream of those raspberry pies."

"I may eat them at every summer feast if I wish. You should have stayed longer old friend." Bilbo waved me off with a chuckle.

"So it was you who took care of my uncle!" Frodo exclaimed. I smiled and shook my head slightly. I had done little but sit with Bilbo, watching over the dark-haired hobbit who now sat, so bright and healthy, on Bilbo's other side. "What are you doing here?" Frodo asked curiously. "We are a long way from Mirkwood."

"I have a duty, which you will hear about in tomorrow's council, Frodo, and Legolas accompanied me here to meet it."

Whatever else these little folk were, they had an abundance of courtesy. None of them made any mention of the order of things, that I should have the duty and Legolas should come along with me, instead of the other way around, which would perhaps seem more natural.

Sam sat up straighter. "We have a duty too, to Frodo. We are going to follow him."

Merry and Pippin nodded in agreement, but Frodo looked troubled. "Then you have valour outweighing your size." I said gently. "But be careful what you wish for, little masters. Dark times lie ahead."

"We know the Ring is no joke." Sam said determinedly, his mouth set. "We want to help."

I bowed my head solemnly, liking Sam more and more by the second. "Your courage is great, but do not openly speak of the Ring, even here, even to the elves. It is perilous."

Sam looked at me doubtfully, and I smiled, sitting more comfortably in the chair. My old stomach wound was paining me that day. It had made me rather frailer than elves were wont to be. I almost wished the feast were already over, and I was fast asleep under silken sheets, the comforting weight of Legolas' arm slung around my shoulders.

"I expect you want to know of our journey." Frodo said wearily. I gazed at him for a moment, my heart filling with pity. Outwardly, he was healed and unaffected but, any time the trials he had faced entered his mind, he seemed paler, and smaller. I could not bear to think of the alternative outcome, that this peaceful creature would be turned into a wraith, a mere echo of his Nazgul masters.

"I will hear more tomorrow. Tell me of yourselves, and the Shire. Since we arrived, I have barely seen any of you."

Frodo visibly relaxed. Pippin smiled obligingly, "We come from different farthings, I from Tuckborough, the ancestral home of the Tooks. Merry here is from Buckland, and Frodo and Sam come from Hobbiton."