Rise (Lord of the Rings)

46 - "Women Don't Fight."

            The first day Gandalf and Pippin left for Minas Tirith was hard to get used to for some more than others, like Merry and myself. Even though I'd only known Merry and Pippin for a few days—well, really, I only knew Pippin for a day—I always expected to see them together.

That entire day, I stuck around Merry even though he repeatedly insisted that I didn't have to. I wanted to make sure he was okay, so I stubbornly stayed with him. He learned to stop arguing with me and accepted my company. During that time, Merry was trying to figure out what details about me he wanted me to know.

So far, all I knew about myself was that I was a Hobbit who lived in the Shire, and who had a knack for dancing. There was a threat of a Dark Lord to take over Middle-earth as well who was seeking this ring that would help him rule the world. I felt like there was so much left out of the Dark-Lord-attempting-to-rule-the-world deal, like people weren't telling me everything.

That night, more vivid images plagued my sleeping mind. The voice of Sauron and the eye cropped up in the very beginning, followed by the spooky woods and the faceless rider chasing me. I got some new scenes that night as well: snowy mountains which Aragorn, Gimli, the Elf, Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, I, and a few others I didn't know were travelling across, only to be taken out by an avalanche. Before I woke myself up, the last thing I remembered dreaming about was seeing fire, feeling suffocated by it, and hearing it roar in my ears, though, I was sure the last roar I heard was that of a beast, not fire.

I was seriously considering telling the others about my dreams, but I was still debating on whether or not they meant anything.

It was the morning of the second day of Gandalf and Pippin's absence. I rose early to eat breakfast in the Hall before bathing. Éowyn picked my outfit for me while I bathed. When I came back to dress, I found a brown blouse—long-sleeved—and a brown skirt to match. So far, there was not one outfit that I hated that came from Éowyn.

Once I was dressed, with a slight wet head, I slipped out of the room only to find Merry, Gmili, Aragorn, and the Elf approaching me. I stopped.

"Gentlemen," I greeted them. "What do I owe this pleasure?"

"We're going to help you today," Merry said.

"Help me?"

"Since we'll be waiting a while before anything major happens, we figured it would be best to turn our attention elsewhere."

"And what does this entail, if I may ask?"

"You'll soon see," Aragorn told me. "If you don't mind, go back to your room, retrieve the weapons you have, and then meet us at the bottom of the steps outside of the Hall."

I gave the four looks.

We parted ways, heading for our destinations. What did the weapons I supposedly possess have to do with anything? Are they trying to prove that I was—am—a fighter, like Éothain claimed I was when I first met him? Even though I slightly accepted the idea, I wasn't officially on board with it.

No matter if it was true or not, just hearing the idea of a woman wielding any weaponry sounded ridiculous.

I got down on my belly to slide out the sword, bow and arrows. I had the arrows over my shoulder and the bow in my hand. I strapped the sword onto my hip. As my hand came into contact with the hilt, something sparked inside me.

A vision played before me: five swords were revealed to five Hobbits. I recognized Aragorn, Merry, Pippin and myself; the two other Hobbits I didn't know. One had dark hair, like me, but very beautiful blue eyes. The other Hobbit was stout and had a mess of dark blond hair. It was night wherever we were.