The queen of the forgotten kingdom

Chapter 20

The leaves quietly rustled over their heads. A gentle wind played with their hair.
The eyes of the four friends unsteady followed the stranger's movements as he climbed up to them and then, the blink of an eye later, he was standing in front of them. A blinding light arose, the grey coat and hat were suddenly gone, and a clean, bright white was all they could see.
Aragorn rose his sword but froze. Gimli's axe fell with a loud noise. Legolas screamed and shot an arrow.
Only Faya stayed calm and silent. Something didn't feel right for her. Something was off. Something...
"Mithrandir!", the elf suddenly exclaimed. "Mithrandir!"
And really. Gandalf was standing there. All in white but still him.
None of them could believe their eyes.
Then, after a second of pure shock, Aragorn began to speak. He still couldn't believe it, and in his joy, he stumbled over his words.
Gimli , seemingly embarrassed, fell to his knees and laid his hands over his eyes.
Legolas, being an elf, stayed in an elegantly silent joy over his friends' return.
And Faya, well, Faya began to cry. Tears of joy, mixed with tears of pain and anger. But she swallowed all negativity, for this was a moment of joy, and smiled.
After they all had greeted the wizard, they exchanged their stories of what had happened to them.
Gandalf told them how he became Gandalf the White and the four friends told him of their journey from Loth Lórien to Boromir's death. They talked long. All the questions where answered.
They would have talked the whole day and the whole night if Legolas hadn't suddenly asked after the Hobbits.
Gandalf, who had spoken in riddles all the time, mysteriously answered: "With Treebeard and the Ents."
On that again everyone began to talk, for everyone had once heard of these Ents, in tales from their youth. Well, except for Faya, of course. She knew that they were real, for she had lived here. She was used to them like others were to horses, what had been strange for Faya until she had come to Elrond. So, she smiled, mysteriously, as the other three thought. But the wizard and the woman explained it to them, and they were soon heading towards Edoras again. The Hobbits would be safe with the Ents, or at least hoped Gandalf for that.

Faya groaned and sunk down against the wall. What a day it had been! Or rather days.
First, they had been riding for days to get to Rohan, then they almost died in its' golden halls and now they were fighting again.
She was sitting, next to Gimli in a hidden cave in Helm's Deep. Her ribs hurt from being thrown by an orc. Her lung hurt from running around like a manic. And her head hurt from... well, just existing probably.
"Are you alright, Lady Faya?", Éomer asked. He tiled his head as he looked down at her.
Faya looked up and nodded slowly. "Yes, thank you for your concern, my lord.", she answered stiff and polite. She wasn't in the mood for conversation.
The Rohirrim sensed that and nodded. "If you need anything, medical attention or so, just say something."
"I will. Thank you."
Éomer nodded again and left her to look after his soldiers.
They sat there for about an hour before they were informed that the battle was over. The sigh of relief that wandered through the cave was incredible and the were soon able to join the others again.
The first thing Gimli said as he and Faya joined their friends again, was: "Forty-two, Mister Legolas."
Faya rolled her eyes and smiled. The just hardly escaped death and the dwarf was already joking again. She didn't realise that he was being dead serious.
Legolas, who knew how serious that matter was, smiled and granted him that and Gimli was happy.
But Faya hadn't much time to smile about the dwarf's and the elf's silliness for she was wrapped into a tight hug from Aragorn, who whispered: "Gods, I was so worried. Never do that again." Faya promised that and they began they way to Isengard.
As the half-wolf heard where they'd go next, she groaned and complained that her but was still hurting from their prior journey, but Aragorn told her to get over it, on what she, very un-lady like, stuck out her togue at him, and got onto the horse.
On the way, Faya rode between Éomer and her brother, who was having a conversation with Gandalf. Éomer took that change to have some small talk with her, so she listed to him talking about the landscape, which was dry and boring.

The journey was long and quite exhausting for everyone but when the finally reached Isengard they couldn't believe their eyes. Everything was destroyed. There was water everywhere. It made little streams and rivers between the rocks and stones that once had been a castle. And there, in the middle of it all, sat two Hobbits. Both wore a wide smirk and were smoking long wooden pipes and ate.
Merry stood up and bowed before the newcomers. "Welcome in Isengard, gentlemen. And lady.", he said smiling at Faya, who rose her eyebrows. "We are the protectors of these doors. Meriadoc, Saradoc's son, is my name, and my friend here, whom sleepiness caught is Peregrin, Paladin's son of the house of the Tucks. Wide in the North is our home. Mister Saruman is at home, but currently in a meeting with a mister Wormtongue; otherwise he would definitely be here and tell you how happy he is about your arrival."
"Surely.", Gandalf laughed and so did many of the others. They had a bit of a chat before Gimli interrupted, having a little breakdown about how Legolas and he had searched for them everywhere and that he had to get on a horse, all that to find them here drinking and smoking.
Apart from that the whole thing was quite amusing for everyone.
Faya sighed in relieve when they finally decided to head back to Edoras.

Unfortunately, as the half-wolf thought, was the way back not as quick as she had hoped it to be. In fact, they fist had to visit Treebeard, but that wasn't too bad and Faya was happy to see an old friend again, then Saruman thought he was intimidating by standing on top of his tower, which was the last piece of his house that was still standing, then they rode through boring land and then, the Palantír happened.
Or rather Pippin happened.
Well, both happened.
They had stopped for a break and some sleep.
Most of them almost imeaditly fell asleep, but Pippin just couldn't find any.
Eventually he stood up and wandered through the camp. It was cold. So cold he could see his breath in the night air. He passed Legolas, who slept with his eyes open as it was common amongst elves, and Gimli, who snored so loudly it wondered the Hobbit that the elf next to him could even sleep. He also passed Aragorn who was sleeping next to Faya. Latter had turned into a wolf and was warming both, Aragorn and herself with her soft grey fur.
At last, he came to Gandalf. The wizard was sleeping quite deeply with his eyes just almost closed, so his eyes were still partly visible under the lids. Next to him something was laying in the grass. It was wrapped into a blanket and looked a bit like a big rock. Pippin, sudden curiosity leading his steps, quietly came nearer and picked it up. Then he quickly picked up another rock that had about the same size at the thing in his hands, wrapped it into the blanket instead and laid it down next to the wizard.
Now being able to see the thing he was holding, he stated that is indeed wasn't a rock. It was a smooth crystal ball. The Hobbit put it under his cloak when the wizard suddenly stirred. His hands felt for the rock in the blanket, found it and laid still again.
Pippin cursed himself for his stupidity and curiosity, but he couldn't put the ball back without being noticed now. So, he crept a bit away where he sat, the crystal ball between his knees. Then he bowed down to look at it at first it was black and reflected the moon light. Then there was a faint glimmer in its' centre that was accompanied by a just as faint movement. Both grew stronger and Pippin couldn't look away anymore.
Then, suddenly, the light was gone.
Pippin gasped and shook but stayed bowed over the ball and clenched it with both hands. Closer and closer came his face to the ball's smooth surface. Then he grew stiff, moved his lips without making a sound and then, with a tortured cry, fell down and stayed there without moving.
Startled by his cry the whole camp got up.