Chapter 15 - “DO Balrogs Have Wings?”

So followed days of learning for Penny. At breakfast the next morning, sat by the hobbits once more and Mireth with her, it was made known that she was now learning Sindarin. At which point Frodo took it upon himself to start pointing out everything at the breakfast table and saying the Sindarin name for it.

Over the next few meals this was to establish itself as a ritual so that no matter who she found herself seated beside they would start pointing at each dish, or its individual constituents, and naming them for her. It helped quite considerably and she also learnt seat or chair, table, cup, plate, spoon, knife and tapestry. She felt quite shy but very pleased that everyone seemed to be taking such an interest in helping her. She was quite touched, to be honest.

That same morning after Halbarad had left, as she munched on an apple at breakfast, she looked about her. The hobbits were all sat to her left. Mireth was next to her and Gandalf opposite. Next to the hobbits was Boromir deep in conversation with Merry and Sam but with Pippin interrupting and talking over them quite often. She smiled.

It suddenly struck her that she and Boromir were the only humans in the place. As she watched he glanced up, caught her eye, and nodded a greeting to her. She nodded back, flushed a little and looked away hurriedly. What the hell was she blushing for? God, she could irritate herself sometimes! Just because she had resolved not to get to know him there was no need to act like an utter idiot every time she saw him.

Erestor came over, clearly on his way out, and said something to her. She looked at him blankly. Gandalf translated.

“You are to have your lesson as soon as you have finished eating.”

She smiled and nodded at Erestor who, thanking Gandalf, headed off. Mireth turned to her and, with hand-gestures, managed to convey that she would be in the garden waiting for her afterwards.

That morning’s lesson wasn’t so bad. She had remembered all of her words and letters and even managed to write them correctly. Erestor was clearly very pleased. She wondered how long this would last, though. Then, along with the next lot of letters and their words, she learnt how to say ‘this is..’ and ‘what is this?’: two phrases that she would find invaluable in the coming weeks. The half hour flew past and before long she was outside looking for Mireth.

The dress and undershift from yesterday had been shortened for her but while they were collecting them, Mireth sat Penny down, shoved a piece of material at her with a needle and thread and starting teaching her to sew.

The needles were made of bone and were very fine and delicate. Mireth, working on her own piece, showed Penny what to do and then Penny would try and copy the stitch. After a few times Mireth let her get on with it, indicating she should finish an entire row of stitches. Then she inspected the work. She clearly wasn’t that impressed.

She showed Penny her own work and laid the two side by side so Penny could see the difference. Penny sighed. Hopeless.

Mireth said something and smiled. She indicated for her to pick up the piece and keep trying. They stayed there all morning.

By the end of it Penny thought her eyes were swimming from staring at the close stitching but Mireth seemed pleased with her progress and even she had to admit her stitches were more even and little straighter. Still rubbish, though, but an improvement nonetheless.

It became clear over that day, and the next few days, that everyone in Imladris had jobs to do or particular skills they used for the benefit of the entire community. Mireth, for example, seemed to spend a lot of time in the gardens, in particular the kitchen gardens. Now this was something Penny could help with. She didn’t know much but she’d always enjoyed helping her uncle out with his garden when she’d been a kid. It being late autumn there was lots of harvesting to be done and sowing of winter vegetables. Penny got stuck in. It was simple enough for Mireth to show her what needed doing and then she could be left to it.

There were several others who worked in the large enclosed kitchen garden on a regular basis along with Mireth: mostly females but there were one or two males also. Penny had noted when she had gone round Imladris with Halbarad that there was no natural division of labour according to sex. In every place of work you would find both male and female elves, though generally there seemed to be more of one sex than another in particular fields. So there were more female gardeners and seamstresses, and more male blacksmiths and tanners, for example.

There was one male in particular that Mireth spent a lot of time talking to or else working silently side by side with. He was slight in build, but tall, dark and, of course, beautiful. Celebdor he was called and he seemed to be the one in charge there, since it was mainly he who directed most of what was to be done. His voice was low and gentle when he spoke and Penny found that he, as much as Mireth, would tell her what to do, or rather show her how.

Mireth and Celebdor between them told Penny the names of everything including the tools. She couldn’t remember them all but over the next few days things began to stick. She couldn’t string a sentence together but already she had one or two words. However, while it increased her confidence and hope, she knew she had a long way to go yet.

Quickly Penny fell into a routine: morning lesson with Erestor, sewing lessons with Mireth and then helping her in the garden after lunch. Every meal she would see Gandalf and the hobbits but the dwarves and Mirkwood elves kept themselves to themselves while Boromir usually ate with Elrond and Erestor.

Frodo had taken it upon himself to test Penny at every such opportunity on the Sindarin she knew so far. She was particularly grateful for this over breakfasts since Frodo would grab her book off her as soon as she sat down and test her on her letters and words. It meant they were always fresh in her mind for her lesson.

The evenings she would spend walking in the gardens or seated in the Hall of Fire. She was getting more used to things now, more... well, ‘at home’ wasn’t quite the phrase, but more settled. She had accepted, as much as she could, what had happened and where she was. It still freaked her out if she thought about it too much but it no longer terrified her to be seeing real elves or real hobbits in the flesh.

Occasionally Penny would find one or two of the hobbits outside in the garden of an evening. They were always most courteous and insisted she come and sit with them. She suspected they had taken to her as a fellow foreigner and a stranger here. She noticed that Gandalf always seemed to appear fairly quickly on such occasions if he wasn’t there already. Sneaky bugger was keeping an eye on her! Not that she blamed him.

On the second such occasion she found Pippin throwing her umpteen questions. Gandalf was translating. Where did she come from? How old was she? How come she didn’t speak Westron, because everybody speaks Westron, don’t they, I mean, everybody that is apart from elves because they mainly speak Sindarin, don’t they Maura, but everybody else does, so how come you don’t?

Penny couldn’t help but laugh. Typical Pippin.

Gandalf was pleased by her answers. She simply said she came from far away and she had no idea why her language wasn’t Westron.

“But you are right, Raz. It should be.”

Pippin grinned as Gandalf translated this bit. “Have you heard of Sûza?” he was asking.

Penny glanced at Gandalf, unsure how much she could say or not. He nodded so she nodded to Pippin who squealed with delight.

“Really! Have you heard of Tûks? Because if anyone’s heard of anyone from Sûza it would most likely be a Tûk, since we are the most adventurous kind of kuduk, you know.”

She nodded again, “Yes I have heard of Tûks.”

Pippin beamed.

Merry, coming to join them, said, “What is this? Heard of Tûks! What is the world coming to?”

Penny smiled as Gandalf indicated what was going on and then Pippin, making some retort, started a full-blown argument on the various merits of Tûks as opposed to Brandagambas.

“I have heard of Brandagambas too,” said Penny, in a vain attempt to try and keep the peace.

Merry smirked at Pippin, “Of course she has. Sensible woman.” Pippin, however, looked vaguely crestfallen at Penny’s news.

She could see more questions were forthcoming, though, and that Gandalf was already looking edgy, so she tried to change the subject.

“I have not heard much, though. Why don’t you tell me about Sûza and what it is like?”

The expression on Gandalf’s face was akin to ‘Good save!’ because the hobbits then spent the rest of the evening talking both to her and at her. When they started on family trees, however, Penny looked desperately at Gandalf and he, laughing, told them that she was tired and genealogy would have to wait for another day. “Le hannon,” she murmured to him in relief as she went past him and to her chambers.

Once or twice she met Boromir in the corridors or the garden. He seemed to be spending a lot of time with Gandalf or Elrond. He would always greet her politely and nod and she would do the same. Once she was standing in a corridor admiring a beautiful painting on the wall. Countless men on horses were striding out in formation, banners blowing in the wind and their armour glinting in the sunshine. The detail was exquisite. She wondered what it was depicting. Then she realised someone was standing beside her and she turned to see it was Boromir. He smiled and, pointing at the painting, said something about Elros and Numenor. She looked back at it. Now he said it she could see that the line of men and horses were heading towards the sea in the distance. Presumably this was the march of Elros as he led the Edain to Numenor. Wow. Her mind reeled a little.

Boromir was saying something to her but she had to shake her head, smiling apologetically, and he realised she didn’t understand him. He tried a little Sindarin on her but got nowhere with that either. Looking a little confused he muttered an apology and walked off.

The next time she saw him was the following day in the Hall of Fire. She was sat on a bench, enjoying the singing, when she noticed Boromir and Elrond looking at her. They were clearly talking about her. She scowled. What the hell was that all about? Elrond was saying something to him now and Boromir was nodding as if suddenly everything was clear.

A little later Gandalf came over to her. “Boromir wishes to apologise for yesterday afternoon. He did not realise you did not speak the language. He felt he may have seemed a little startled by your incomprehension. Elrond has explained you are from a distant land but are learning Sindarin during your visit here.”

She nodded. She wasn’t sure she felt comfortable being spoken about behind her back, especially not with members of the Fellowship and especially not members of the Fellowship who she would be very happy if they took absolutely no interest in her at all. Not start asking her bloody life history from Elrond.

Gandalf was looking at her closely. “I will not ask but it is clear there is something that makes you uncomfortable about Boromir. I will do what I can to make sure he does not get to know you too well. Would that help you?”

She nodded, looking at him gratefully. “Yes, Mithrandir, it would. And thank you also for not asking.”

He smiled, but he had guessed. Or guessed a little of what it might be. He sensed something about Boromir. He had not been happy with the Council’s decision, and he had made that clear, but Gandalf knew he would stick by it. Gandalf knew Boromir of old. As did Aragorn, though Boromir was but a child then. He was a warrior and man of Gondor through and through. It would cut him deep if Gondor fell and Gandalf sensed the despair and hopelessness that was already in him. Not like Boromir at all. Things were bad in the South, Gandalf knew, but till this moment he had not realised quite how bad.

Gandalf and Elrond had noted Penny was looking calmer and behaving more normally in the few days after the questioning.

“I think being able to tell her story and have it both understood and accepted did wonders for her, frankly,” Gandalf was saying one evening in Elrond’s study.

Elrond sipped his wine. “I am pleased she has made no attempt to befriend the kuduk, Gimli, Legolas or Boromir.”

Gandalf smiled knowingly. “Well, I did say to you that I didn’t think we had anything to fear in that regard. She has got to know the kuduk a little but she makes every effort to keep it to a minimum.” Elrond nodded and stayed silent for a while.

“She is doing well in her lessons,” Erestor chipped in. “I notice Maura is helping her at breakfasts.”

Elrond nodded. “Yes and Mireth also I believe. Surrounded by it she will pick it up quickly enough, I am sure. It is so much easier to learn a language when you hear it all the time.”

“She will find it difficult to remember things long term, though, Erestor. I feel I should warn you of that." Erestor looked at Gandalf quizzically. “She is used to writing everything down. Where she comes from they do not learn by rote. Now it is easy enough because there is not so much to remember, but it will get harder for her the more she has to retain.”

Erestor nodded. “Yes, well. She will soon be able to be taught to use quill or brush I think. Then, if she is neat enough, she can indeed write a vocabulary list. I would be most interested to learn what her language equivalents for the words I teach her are, so it would be helpful for us both.” Gandalf nodded, smiling, as Erestor continued. “What did you decide in the end, concerning her?”

“Well there is little we can do at the moment," Elrond replied. "Even once the Ring has left I do not see where she could go. Mithrandir was suggesting Lothlorien. Galadriel would certainly be interested in meeting her, I am sure.”

Erestor’s eyes were wide. “But it is far too dangerous a journey in such times.”

Gandalf nodded. “Of course, Erestor. It is unthinkable at the moment. After the war. After.”

They fell silent then, their thoughts turning over the possibility of what may face them all ‘after the war’. For it was by no means certain that they would win. Not at all. Not by a long bloody chalk.

There was a knock on the door. Elrond told whoever it was to come in. Penny’s head appeared.

“You wanted to see me?”

Elrond motioned her to come in and sit beside the fire in a chair placed next to Gandalf.

“Wine?” he indicated a terracotta stoppered jug to one side and lifted his cup with his other hand.

Penny nodded. “Le hannon, hir nín.”

Elrond exchanged a grin with Erestor. She was trying, at least, which was good.

She looked nervous so Elrond, as he handed her a cup, said, “We just wished to discuss a few things with you. You have had a few days here to settle in, to recover from the ordeal of the questioning..”

Penny’s gaze dropped suddenly to her lap as Gandalf translated.

“Ah, yes,” said Elrond, “I am sorry if I seemed harsh to you, my dear. But I hope you can understand our concern at the knowledge you showed.”

Penny waited as Gandalf relayed the sense of his apology and then nodded. “It is quite alright, hir nín, I can understand completely. I hope you understand why I said what I did, why I risked your anger?” She looked up at him. “I had to make you understand.”

Elrond nodded.

Gandalf now took over. “You know that we have decided you are to stay here for the time being and quite possibly till the War is over.” Penny nodded. “Lord Elrond has been told that you are learning to sew and helping with the gardens. We were surprised you did not know such skills already. We wished to know if there were any skills you had so that you can spend your time here doing something you love.”

Penny was speechless. Unbeknownst to them they had in fact landed her right in it by such a kind offer. How on earth was she going to explain that in the twenty-first century with its microwaves and consumerism, with its ‘throw-away’ culture and pre-prepared, off-the-hanger attitude, she had no skills whatsoever! Or none that would be of practical use here at any rate. She didn’t think being able to hang a spoon of the end of your nose counted as a skill. Or at least Elrond would not think so.

Erestor, Elrond and Gandalf exchanged a glance. Elrond said quietly, “Pen- ii?”

Penny continued to stare at her feet, feeling her cheeks reddening.

Elrond murmured, “I don’t believe it.”

“So you do not sew, nor do you know how to tend a garden?” Gandalf asked

“No. I am enjoying working in the garden though.”

Gandalf nodded. “Good. That is something. Can you cook?”

“I can boil an egg,” she said hopefully. “Umm.. pasta? Make a sandwich?” Gandalf just looked baffled. “No,” she sighed.

“Can you weave, or dye cloth or wool?”

She shook her head.

“Do you have any skills in healing? With herbs and their uses?”

“No.”

“Know anything of animals or how to raise and care for them?”

“Well, I had a cat once...” She trailed off as Gandalf shook his head. He was clearly talking about horses, chickens or sheep and suchlike. She was feeling hugely embarrassed by all this now.

“Make paper? Make baskets? Work with leather? Metal? Wood?” Gandalf thought it unlikely but you never knew. Many elleths were very skilled in such things. She simply shook her head to every one, getting pinker and pinker.

“Can you paint or draw?”

“Well, I was always good at it at school, but I’ve not done it for ages. I couldn’t do anything like the beautiful things that are painted on the walls here in Imladris. Not in a million years.”

Gandalf breathed a sigh of relief and translated for the elves who were fairly stunned by what they were learning. “It is a start, Pen-ii. It shows you have some artistic skill so perhaps that can be awoken once more and put to use.” He paused for a moment and then voiced the thoughts of both Elrond and Erestor when he asked, “How is it you do not have such skills where you come from, Pen-ii? Surely these are basic things for everyday life? Halbarad told us you were clearly unused to horses and had never even washed clothes before.”

“That’s not true. I have washed clothes. Of course I have. Just... not by hand, that’s all.” Gandalf looked confused and Penny sighed, unsure she should explain too much. “Things are very different where I come from. It is a least six thousand years from now and possibly a lot more than that.”

Gandalf translated this for Elrond and Erestor whose eyes widened at the thought that she was from a time near two Ages from their own.

“People do things for us. Machines do things for us. I can buy a meal ready made. I have no need to cook. I work to get money and buy everything I need.”

Gandalf nodded, “Ah, well what did you do for work?”

Penny blinked at him. There was no way on earth he was going to understand the concept of marketing. “Umm... ah, well. Err... I would... I would help people sell things.”

“So you would help in a market? On a stall?”

“Not exactly, no. Umm. Say you had something really nice to sell and you wanted people to know about it and buy it. I would find out from people what they would like and how they would like it presented to them so you could then tell the right people in the right way about your product so the most number of people would then buy whatever it was you were selling.”

Gandalf was lost. Completely. Given that he couldn’t understand her word for word, the general sense of what she had just said seemed so bizarre and convoluted that all he could do was turn to the other two, who were waiting for the translation, and shrug.

Penny laughed. “Oh it doesn’t matter. It was very boring and I hated it. Basically I dealt with pieces of paper. Writing.” She made a writing motion.

THAT they understood. She smiled.

“Thing is I don’t know how to use a quill and it was in a different language so that one skill is useless here.”

Gandalf nodded and there was soft laughter from Elrond and Erestor when he translated.

Elrond was speaking and Gandalf translated for him. They would see to it that she learnt a little of everything. That way she could discover that which she was best suited to.

“You know there is no division of labour between male and female amongst elves?” Gandalf asked. She nodded. “Then you will watch and learn everything. From how to deal with horses, to metal work, to tanning, to embroidery. Some you may not wish to learn in which case you simply say so. Others you may find you like and enjoy and have an aptitude for. The only way we will find out is by you trying.”

She nodded. She was quite looking forward to this and the other three could see she was pleased by this idea.

“Mithrandir, there is one thing I would ask.”

“What is it?”

“I realise I will need to learn more Sindarin first, probably, but...” She looked at them all, seated and watching her with kind eyes. “I would like to learn more of your history. I know some, but there are gaps in what we have where I come from. I have many questions.”

Gandalf smiled and as he translated for the other two they positively beamed. “An excellent idea, Pen-ii,” Elrond was saying. “I for one would enjoy learning what you already know and helping to provide answers to your questions.”

“What questions do you have?” Erestor was intrigued.

Penny laughed a little shyly then. “Too many. Do Balrogs have wings? What happened to Maglor? Are dragons Maia? Were orcs created from elves or men? Is Celeborn Sindarin or Teleri? How old is Legolas and who was his mother?”

As Gandalf translated this the three looked astonished and, at the last one, started laughing loudly. Penny looked at them, a little miffed.

“What’s so funny? People nearly come to blows over this kind of stuff, you know! I’m serious!”

She was on a roll now and kept going, Gandalf struggling to keep up with her and translate as she spoke with obvious enthusiasm.

“Look, you see the thing is we have quite a bit on the First Age, and a lot of detail about now, from Bilba finding the Ring and onwards. What we don’t have is much detail between the two.” She looked at Elrond now, “We know little about you and your brother, or about Gil-galad. We know only the barest details of Celebrimbor and the creation of the Rings, the attack on Eriador, the Witch-King’s assault on Arnor, the rise of Sauron in Dol Guldur. I would love to know more about all those things.”

The three were nodding now, more serious.

“Of course, Pen-ii. And if you only know The Silmarillion then you will have only the barest outline of the great tales of the First Age. That too we can go over in detail,” said Erestor.

Penny beamed. This was fantastic! For the first time she was pleased to be here. Really, REALLY pleased to be here.

“I have loads more you know! What happened to the Blue Istari? Who exactly WERE the Nazgul before they became Nazgul? Oh! Oh!” She practically bounced on her seat in excitement. “Queen Beruthial! We don’t know much about her except she had cats!”

Gandalf was laughing, “Stop! Stop, Pen-ii! One question at a time. Let us deal with the first one first. Balrogs. You want to know if they have wings, yes?”

Penny nodded. “And if they do, why don’t they fly?”

As Gandalf spoke her eyes widened and a smug grin spread across her face. She had always thought that was the case. Ah, it was SO gratifying to know she’d been right all along.

Le hannon - I thank thee.

Hir nín - my lord