The council of Elrond

        Elliott sat crosslegged in the council, watching as Elrond explained stuff that he already knew. Except... some of it he didn't, in fact, know. Maybe the books didn't cover the entire speech? Or maybe Elliott's memory was just really bad, which wouldn't be a surprise. He couldn't even remember what he had for breakfast; that wasn't an exaggeration. Actually, did he have breakfast...? Yeah, yeah, was it... No? No, that was yesterday...

        He was shaken from his throughts as Boromir stood. "In that dream I thought the eastern sky grow dark, but in the West a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying: 'Seek for the word that was broken! "In Imladris it dwells. There shall be councils taken, stronger than morgul-spells. There shall be shown a token, that doom is soon at hand. For Isildur's bane shall waken, and the halfling forth shall stand!'" he said, "Of these words we understood little, and we spoke to ourfather, Denethor, Lord of Minas Tirith, wise in the lore of Gondor...." then he kept yapping for a solid two minutes and Elliott zoned out again.

        Aragon spoke, bringing Elliott's attention back to the conversation. "And here in the house of Lord Elrond shall more be made clear to you," he said, stood, and placed a broken sword on the table that stood in front of Elrond. "Here is the sword that was broken!"

        "And who are you, and what do you have to do with Minas Tirith?" Boromir asked, observing the scruffy ranger with a raised brow.

        "He is Aragorn son of Arathorn," Elrond said, "and he is descended through many fathers from Isildur Elendil's son of Minas Ithil. He is the Chief of the Dúnedain in the North, and few are now left of that folk."

        "Then it belongs to you and not me at all!" Frodo cried, springing up. Aragon shook his head.

        "It belongs to neither of us, but it had been ordained that you should hold it for a while."

        "Bring out the ring, Frodo," Gandalf said. "The time has come."

        Everyone went quiet and looked at Frodo as the hobbit trembled, placing the small golfen ring onto a podium.  "Behold Isildur's bane!" said Elrond.

        "The halfling!" Boromir spoke, eyes glinting.  "But why not use this ring? 'Tis a mighty weapon!" he reached out a hand towards the ring.

"Boromir!" Elrond said sharply, and the man drew his hand away and sat back down, pulling a nonchalant mask over his face.

        Gandalf stood now, chanting loudly. "One ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them! One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them!"

 "Never before has any voice uttered the words of that tongue here in Imladris!" Elrond snapped, the usually calm and patient elf suddenly all narrowed eyes and harsh glares.

Gandalf shook his head, holding up a hand. "I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West!"

        The... Black Speech? That was plain ol' English- Westron- whatever, wasn't it? If not, then it was mildly concerning that Elliott could understand it. Maybe his brain remembered the words from the movies and was just filling it in for him. Still weird, though...

        "'Tis a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor!" Boromir argued, this time lacking the confidence of before. Elliott winced. Wow. That ring really had a grip on him. Why, he wondered? It was... kind of bland. It could use some gems, he mused. It must have been his imagination, but he could have sworn a voice in the air hissed in pleasure at that throught. Spooked, Elliott shut down any further thoughts of the ring.

        "Let us use this ring!" Boromir hissed, eyes alight with an odd flame. "Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him!"

        You cannot wield it!" Aragorn snapped, eyebrows furrowing. "None of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master."

        Elliott scratched his head. This as probably all stuff he needed to hear, but... He zoned out, watching a butterfly flutter around. God, Rivendell was so pretty. Like, it should be illegal for anything to be this tranquil and calming, and simultaneously be so beautiful. He stayed zoned out until his head was pulled from the clouds as everyone settled down. 

        Glorfindel suggested throwing the ring into the ocean or sending it across the sea, but both of those ideas were shot down by Gandalf. Honestly, Elliott hand almost forgotten that Glorfindel came to the council. The movies cut him out. Poor Glorfindel.

        Elrond sighed, waiting for a slight dramatic pause. Or he was thinking, but really either or. "We have only one choice. The Ring must be destroyed."

        Then Gimli leapt up, proclaiming, "Then what are we waiting for!?" and swung his axe down onto the ring. The axe exploded into shards, which went everywhere and sent Gimli sprawling to his back. Then Elrond had to stop and make sure everyone was okay before continuing, so thanks for that, Gimli.

        Awwe, he felt bad for being so sarcastic. Gimli was just trying to help, Elliott didn't have to be such a douchebag. Mentally, of course, because Elliott would rather die than say something that could potentially hurt someone he likes' feelings. 

        "The Ring cannot be destroyed by any craft that we possess," Elrond said sagely. "The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came."

        Who still used 'whence' in this day and age? Actually, what day and age was it...? He'd asked Radagast once, but the wizard just shrugged and said to ask the birds, since they were oddly time-oriented.

        Then came Boromir's famous, "One cannot simply walk into Mordor," and whatever else he said. Something about fire and dust... ten thousand men... it's folly?

        "Did you not hear?" Legolas said incredulously, stepping forward. "The Ring must be destroyed! How else but in the mountain it was made?"

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?" Gimli leapt - literally leapt, like, he could join the Olympics - up and shouted.

Boromir stood as well. "And if we fail? What then? What happens when Sauron takes back the ring!?"

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf!" Gimli yelled over the top of Boromir, then everyone else in the council got involved, yelling louder and louder to try to be heaover eachother. Honestly, the arguing made Elliott sleepy. It reminded him of when he was younger and he'd fall asleep listening to his parents - and eventually his oldest brother - argue.

        Then everyone went silent and Elliott roused himself, discreetly rubbing his eyes. Ah, this was where Frodo said he'd take the ring, though he did not know the way.

Sam came barelling out of the bushes, yelling, "But you won't send him off alone, surely!" he shouted, grabbing Frodo's hand.

Elrond chuckled faintly. "No indeed," he said with a smile, "You, at least, shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret council, and you are not." Sam looked mildly sheepish, but also like he'd do it again a thousand times over.

        "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is your burden to bear," Gandalf said, walking forwards to stand next to Frodo. Aragorn joined them, grinning. 

        "If by my life, or my death, I can protect you, I will. You have my sword"

        "You have my bow as well," Legolas said, joining the rapidly expanding group.

        "And my axe!" Gimli yelled, running forward and shooting a short glare at Legolas. Elliott figured now was the perfect time to join; after Sam, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli but before Pippin, Boromir and Merry. 

        "I want to come!" he suntered forward, confident persona in place. "And Gandalf  can make good on his promise while on the road." Promise being that he'd help Elliott out with his magic. Radagast was great, but more teachers was always better.

        Thankfully, despite his sudden surity that someone would yell, "You're too young!" and then he'd be booed away, nothing happened. Great! He was in! 

       ... Shit. He was in.

        "You carry the fate of us all little one," Boromir said, walking forward. "If this is the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."

     "Wait!" Pippin and Merry said, "We're coming too!" They popped out of nowhere, running forward to stand with Frodo. "Anyway, you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission... quest... thing," Pippin said. 

       "Ten members," Elrond nodded. "You shall be known as the Fellowship of the Ring."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can tell I found my Lotr books again, by the very much copied quotes. That just made this harder though, since now I'm scrambling around trying to cut down certain characters giant speeches and fit the book and the movie together. I had no clue just how much they changed 😭

Also I'm not going to be updating every day anymore. Every second day maybe?