Defender of Lorien

They had been traveling for some time now, and Caradarus was getting further and further behind them. Anya's heart began to fill with dread as they neared the mountain which, within it, was the dwelling place known as Moria. She tried to act light hearted as not to worry the hobbits, but she couldn’t hide her true feelings from Legolas, who was walking beside her as usual. Anya and Legolas stayed near the back, where Boromir was also traveling, as Aragorn walked with the hobbits and Gimli walked next to Gandalf, getting more excited with every step he took getting closer to Moria.

Anya didn’t understand how dwarves could actually live under ground, away from living beings and the sunshine, she couldn’t imagine being away from it more than a few hours. But she knew that she was going to be seeing the last rays of light as they neared the base of the mountain, where stairs were carved into the rock.

“This is where we climb,” Gandalf announced to the group, “the stream which used to flow here is now gone.” After this Gandalf began to ascend the stairs. Everyone followed close behind him. When they reached the top, everyone came to a stop.

“The water has become high and motionless,” Gandalf said. And he was right, the water went all the way up to the side of the cliffs wall.

The fellowship waded through the murky water to the shore against the cliff. Anya helped the hobbits onto the dry ground as the men carried the supplies across. Anya winced as a cruel breeze hit her wet clothes causing her to shiver. She pulled her cloak tight around her shoulders.

“This place reeks of evil,” Anya said to herself. Anya walked over to Gandalf as he pressed his fingers to the wall, “Gandalf, we must be weary here, the evil here makes my hair stand on end.”

“Take heart, we shalln’t be here much longer, for I have found the gate,” Gandalf said and a bright blue light appeared on the wall as the moonlight touched its face. A tree with seven stars surrounding it were carved into the cliff and words, in elven, read, speak friend and enter.

“Look, Gandalf’s found the entrance,” Frodo said.

“But Gandalf, how do we get in?” Anya asked, “there are no handles, and you can’t simply push it open.”

“Simple young one,” Gandalf said, “speak the password and the doors shall open.” Then Gandalf began to speak in elven, and even dwarvish, but the gate remained shut. Flustered, Gandalf began to push the doors, but with no affect.

“What do we do know?” Pippin asked.

“I will bang your head against these doors, and if that does not work,” Gandalf said to Pippin, then took a breathed and continued, “and if that does not work I will think of the right word.” The night grow long as Gandalf continued attempting to open the gateway to Moria with no avail. Anya paced the edge of the shore as the others rested against the rocks, her blades at the ready if anything were to befall them. Boromir noticed her fidgetiness and decided to go over and talk with her.

“You seem to be less cheerful than usual,” Boromir said, walking up behind her.

“I fear what lay in those mines,” Anya said.

“I think it’s more than that, just the thought of setting foot near here has made you jumpy,” Boromir said, a sympathetic smile on his face, “don’t think that Legolas is the only one who has noticed this. We can all sense your fear.” Anya looked around and saw that everyone seemed to be less cheerful than she had imagined, even Gimli seemed a bit glum.

“I'm sorry, I didn’t know I was causing such angst,” Anya said, turning back to Boromir, “it’s just that…. I've never been apart from nature, from the sun. I fear the dark of those mines…. of being trapped in there.” Boromir seemed to understand what she meant and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I'm sure Gandalf will know the way,” Boromir said, “but from what I see now, I do not know if we will even be able to enter the mines.”

“As much as I wished that we could avoid these mines, I know we must go through them,” Anya said, more to herself than to Boromir, “as you said, Gandalf will know the way, and he will find the way into the mines.” There was the sudden sound of rocks breaking the surface of the water, causing Anya to slightly jump.

Turning, she wasn’t surprised to see that it was Merry and Pippin were throwing stones into the dark, murky water. As Merry was about to through another stone, Aragorn caught his arm.

“Do not disturb the water,” Aragorn whispered to the two hobbits. As Aragorn said this, Anya saw something move beneath the water’s surface, but was unsure of what it was. Then, suddenly, Anya heard Gandalf say the elvish word for friend, mellan. Slowly, the earth began to rumble as the gateway to Moria opened.

“Look, Gandalf’s remembered,” Sam said and everyone walked over to the opening, and beyond it was blackness. Anya felt a cold shiver run down her spin as she walking inside the darkness with Boromir to her right and Legolas to her left. As they walked in, something cracked under Anya's foot causing her to look down, and she saw that she had just stepped on the ribcage of a dwarf sized skeleton.

“This is no mine,” Boromir said, “it’s a tomb.” Legolas kneeled down and removed an arrow from one of the skeletons.

“Goblins!” he said.

“Everybody out, get out of here,” Aragorn shouted, and Anya immediately obeyed. But as she backed out of the tomb, known as Moria, she heard the waters behind her being churned, as if something were swimming in it. Then something horrific happened. As giant creature emerged from the black water, tentacles flying all around, and one of its tentacles grabbed Frodo by the ankle, dragging him towards the water.

“Strider!” he yelled, as the others hadn’t noticed yet, but now they did.

“Frodo!” everyone seemed to yell. Anya pulled out her bow and started shooting arrows at tentacles that attempted to grabbed other members of the party that were trying to get Frodo from it. Everything was so crazy, the only thing Anya paid attention to was the creature and protecting everyone. When she saw Frodo fall into Boromir’s arms, she throw her bow over her shoulder and ran for the mines as everyone else did.

When she reentered the mine, the creature was hot on her tail, and managed to get one slimy tentacle around her ankle, but it wasn’t around her ankle for more than a second before Anya reached down, dagger already in hand, and cut it off. Enraged, the creature grabbed hold of the stone doors and ripped them down, causing an avalanche of stones to come crashing down on the creature and sealing the fellowship inside.

The realization of this didn’t sink in for Anya until Gandalf lit the end of his staff with a stone and cast light upon the tomb surrounding everyone. At the thought of being trapped in here, with only one way out, made Anya's legs buckle under her weight, causing her to fall to the floor before Legolas could catch her. She may not have wanted everyone to see her fear, but it was impossible for them not to notice in her moment of weakness now.

Taking a deep breath, she got back to her feet and dusted off her pants with shaky hands.

“Take heart Anyanesta,” Gandalf said in a calm voice, “we won’t be stuck in here longer than we must. It is a three day journey to the other side, and that is as long as we will linger in here.” Anya just nodded her understanding, Legolas still holding onto her left arm in case she was to fall again.

“I'm fine Legolas, but I thank you,” Anya said patting Legolas’s hand to let him know that he could let go of her arm. Even though he had an unsure look in his eyes, he released her arm, but stayed near her just in case. Gandalf started their journey to the other after this, leading the way with Gimli behind him, the hobbits after him, Anya after them with Legolas, and the men took up the end of the group.

As they traveled, Anya grabbed out her cleaning clothe and cleaned the slim of the water creature from her dagger, the one that Arwin had given her. after cleaning it, she placed it back in its sheath attached to her left thigh.

The way was narrow and because of the light being so dim it was hard to see where to place your foot. Anya eventually ended up traveling at the back of the group with Boromir and Aragorn. Aragorn kept quiet as they traveled, but Anya soon struck up a conversation with Boromir, if anything just to distract herself from the growing darkness around her.

“What’s Gondor like for I have never been there?” Anya asked Boromir.

“It is a fair city built into the rocks of Mount (),” Boromir began, “when the sunrises and hits the white stones, the city looks as if it were made of diamonds. It is the fairest place in all of Gondor.”

“It must be a beautiful sight,” Anya said trying to imagine what Boromir had just described.

“What of where you are from,” Boromir asked, “what does Lothlorien look like?”

Closing her eye, Anya pictured her homeland before describing it to him, “We elves live in tree homes in the center of Lorien,” she began, “the ground covered is lush green grass as far as the eye can see, the trees glisten white in the sun and shade. Birds of the air, and creature of the forest live within the forest, and we protect them, just as they protect us. During the spring, bright and colorful flowers blossom and the trees sprout green buddlings that soon turn to leafs. And in the fall, the leaves turn golden and fall to the forest floor, and when the sunsets and the light hits the forest floor just right, it makes the forest look as if it were made of gold and silver. It is utterly beautiful, no other city could ever compare.” Boromir smiled at her and closed his own eyes, trying to picture the scenery she had just described.

“But my words don’t do it justice,” Anya said after a pause.