4 Chapter 4

Rin held a note in his hands inviting him to a council. Huh.

-

Walking through the halls of Imladris, (he thinks that's the name, at least) was a wonderful pastime in his personal opinion. Unless he wanders across an elf, because, um, beautiful people are scary.

Yeah.

He sat on a windowsill, deciding to simply pet Kuro and watch the view. He then zoned out.

"My apologies for disturbing you."

The smallest part of him that reacted quicker than the rest whispered, 'not again'.

He then proceeded to startle so badly that he nearly fell out the window. At the last second he threw his weight backwards to prevent an unfortunate and also short flight. He rolled and got to his feet, blushing heavily.

"Yeah no problem."

The elf was looking at him, alarm in his expression. "Are you injured? I did not have the intention of startling you."

Rin blushed even more. 'Crap, he's hot.'

"It's fine. So are you here for the council?" He attempted to change the subject.

'Smooth, Rin.' Kuro snickered.

'Shaddup.'

A slightly amused expression crossed the blonde elf's face before he answered. "Yes, I am the representative of Mirkwood."

'When in doubt, pretend you know what they're talking about.'

"Oh, that's cool. I guess I'll be seeing you later." Rin was suddenly possessed by a spirit with the ability to speak eloquently, for which he praised every deity in existence.

The elf nodded and left, and Rin removed the handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

'Jeez, I should just lock myself in my room.'

-

Meanwhile, a little further down the hall, Legolas turned back for a second and was deeply surprised to see that the warrior with the magical sword (news spread quicker than one would think in close circles) was hiding two very elf-like ears.

He may want to speak to Lord Elrond about this.

-

Rin shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked to the council he had been invited to.

'Are you excited, Rin!! I am definitely excited.'

Rin shrugged. 'I'm not sure what to expect is all.'

When he arrived he went to sit beside Frodo, giving him a grin as he did so.

The Hobbit smiled back, although Rin could practically feel the nervousness emanating of him.

He had spoken with the Hobbit once or twice before the council, although only for short amounts of time. He seemed to be mostly healed, although Rin could sense a slight darkness hanging around his shoulder where he had been stabbed.

'Go sit on his lap, Kuro.' Cat Sidhe also make good emotional support animals in a pinch.

Frodo startled when the cat first climbed onto his lap, but quickly grew accustomed to the demon as it started head-butting him and purring lightly.

Rin looked to see that the rest of the council had arrived.

When Frodo put the ring on the pedestal, Rin stared at it, rather confused, but Kuro started meowing loudly, sending several heads snapping towards them.

'That's it! That's it! I need to protect it!'

'Stay away from it, Kuro!'

The cat pouted but obeyed.

Rin then proceeded to watch the man of, Gondor, was it?, make a fool of himself in attempting to encourage the others that it could be used for good.

'Does its pull work on humans as well?'

He narrowed his eyes at the seemingly innocent object. He wasn't a genius, but even he could tell that it seemed like a trap.

So, when Lord Elrond, who he had heard of but not met before, stated that the ring needed to be destroyed he found himself agreeing.

Wait, what! Strider was a prince! Rin internally snickered. That makes what, three? (The elf representing Mirkwood he had met earlier was also a prince, he found out.)

[Rin hadn't yet realized that this was an important meeting, and that there was a lot more royalty than just him, Aragorn, and Legolas]

And the ring was going to… Mordor? Rin had to admit that he had no idea where Mordor was, but he had to say that it was definitely the darkest sounding name he had ever heard.

And then… Frodo volunteered. And Rin nearly instantly got flashbacks to when he volunteered to be an exorcist, because, well, Frodo was definitely more timid, but Rin knew that he had no idea what he was getting into.

Neither, of course, did Rin.

So it's really no surprise that he volunteered to help.

-

It was the day before the Fellowship would depart.

Rin felt a very acute uneasiness fill him as he stared at the note he had been given. It was an appointment for him to speak to Lord Elrond.

'What do you think it's about?' Kuro jumped onto his shoulder as he readied himself for the meeting.

'I don't know…'

When he arrived in the study,(? Kind of) the elven Lord nodded to a seat that was across from him. Rin sat, feeling very much intimidated for no particularly identifiable reason.

-"It has come to my attention that you have not shared the whole truth with any of those within the fellowship."

Rin's uneasiness grew, more than it would have if it was just the elf's accusation that was affecting him. He was definitely missing something.

-"I am?"

Lord Elrond raised a brow, and Kuro deadpanned in his ear, 'Rin, you idiot.'

A hand flew to his mouth, and he internally died as he realized that what he had just spoken was absolutely not Westron.

'Shit.'

He had heard that elves had their own language, but had somehow managed to avoid speaking or listening to it during his stay. Much to his downfall, apparently. ( A very small part of him noted that the language was 1. Just as pretty as elves, and 2. So infuriatingly eloquent that he hadn't been able to distinguish it from Westron immediately.)

Silence permeated the room for a few moments, and Rin really wanted to curl into a ball.

A stern gaze fell on him. -"How is it that you know Sindarin?"

Rin stuttered, "u-uhm I know all languages."

'Why is it that you default to telling the truth when someone asks you a complicated question, Rin?'

'Because I'm not a bad person, Kuro.'

'You're a demon, Rin.'

He was caught in the gaze of the elf Lord for a few seconds, before Elrond spoke. -"Truly? I would have simply assumed you were an elf who had managed to hide his inner light. Is it possible that you are a wizard, or simply something similar to Mithrandir?"

Rin's brain paused for a second.

'You really need to work on this, Rin.'

"How-, how'd ya get the idea I was an elf?"

'CrapCrapCrapCrapCrapCrapCrap-'

-"I was informed by a rather reliable source that you have some of the features of one."

'Crap.'

"I'm not though."

Kuro sighed.

-"Yes, I am aware."

Wait.

"What?" Rin said for what felt like the hundredth time.

-"It is quite impossible for inner light to be hidden or suppressed by anything other than strong magic, a kind which I do not believe you have. Of course, I could be incorrect, but I have a second opinion on the matter."

'Oh, okay.'

-"That does bring us to the matter of what causes you to have such features."

Kuro groaned. 'Have you ever heard of the expression 'Out of the frying pan, into the fire' ?'

-"Are you one that can be trusted to aid Frodo on his quest?"

Rin's eyes widened. -"Do ya not want to know why I-" he gestured to his headband wordlessly.

-"I find the fate of the world more important."

'I wonder if this guy is related to the first elf I met.'

-"I don't mean any harm to anyone in the Fellowship, if that's what ya mean."

Lord Elrond inclined his head to the side slightly. -"I would believe that, as I cannot see any motive that you might have in mind, after you have destroyed several of the Nazgûl. However, even an enemy of Sauron is quite vulnerable to the thrall of the ring."

Rin 'oh'ed' in understanding. -"I don't think it really affects me all that much, but Kuro can feel it."

A miniscule look of surprise crossed the face of the elven lord for a second, before he nodded, and silence reigned again.

Rin sensed that the conversation had ended, so he got up and bowed slightly on instinct before rushing out of the room and back to his temporary living quarters as quickly as possible.

-

When he arrived he found some clothing, and- Was that sword polish?- on his bed. The clothes were nice, much nicer than anything he had from Bree. He sighed and collapsed onto the mattress, instantly falling to sleep.

-

Elrond was deep in thought. Some of his suspicions had been affirmed, others razed.

The most unknown member of the fellowship was the subject of his thought. He had found it unlikely that Rin Okumura (He had asked one of the hobbits for his last name.) was an elf, and his suspicions had been proven correct. And he was unaffected by the ring, something that no race of Arda could claim, excluding perhaps Hobbits and Iarwain Ben-adar. Perhaps he was similar to the latter?

'You certainly are an enigma, Rin Okumura.'