Planning their Journey

The Elves returned as they read the contract before signing it while giving Elrond glares showing their displeasure with him.

Nesiara got the contract from Logan as she sighs while Logan says, "With this, you are Queen of the Elves on Arda. Now you don't have to be jealous of your older sister becoming Queen of Tristain."

He snaps his fingers making everyone disappear as the group stayed behind. Logan looked at Elrond and says, "Be happy that you ended like that and not with your world's destruction. Anyone of the five people you offended could do that."

Logan then snapped his fingers as they all left the Nothingness finding themselves back in the Main Hall as Merry says, "Where were you all? One moment you were here the next you all disappeared."

"That is a long story that we won't tell you about for your own safety," says John as the others nod in agreement.

"You should all rest. I need to talk to... my Queen," says Elrond as he needed to adjust to calling Nesiara his Queen.

Nesiara sees that Celine and Bran were yawning making her realize that they must feel sleepy as she says, "I will put my children to sleep first. We can talk afterward with my husband."

"As you wish," says Elrond as servants enter the main hall taking everyone toward their rooms.

"Gandalf, you should be there too when we talk," says Nesiara as Gandalf nods.

"I will be there," says Gandalf as Nesiara left with the twins while Nora went for her room while John stayed behind.

"Why aren't you following your wife?" asks Elrond thinking that John didn't care for his wife and children.

"If I were to go with her we wouldn't return until the next morning," says John as he knew himself and his wife.

They would have some time for themselves and enjoy every second of it since they wouldn't have time for themselves after leaving Rivendell to accomplish their mission.

Elrond was surprised to hear that when John looked at him and releases his aura making him look like a large shadow with blue eyes making Elrond feel fear as John says, "If you insinuate that I don't care for my wife and children again, we will have a problem. Do you understand?"

"Yes," says Elrond finding out that Logan and Jack aren't the real threat but the man beside him.

John retracts his aura as he looked normal again while saying, "I'm colder than my daughter. I might not show it but if you try to provoke me again, I might show you how cold I can be."

John's eyes weren't lying making Elrond realize the monster in front of him. John was standing there waiting as Nesiara returned after thirty minutes.

"Did they fall asleep right away?" asks John as Nesiara nods.

"Like babies. Well, it seems you intimidated Elrond more than Logan and Jack. What did he do for you to turn cold," says Nesiara looking into John's eyes.

"He knows what he did. I won't tell you since you will think it was a silly reason," says John as he caresses her cheek.

He wanted to kiss her but she put her finger on his lip and says, "Later, we have a room for us alone tonight and I want to receive my reward for winning our race."

"Oh, you will receive your reward," says John as he stopped and returned to business and turned to Elrond.

Gandalf entered the room as he says, "I am here like accorded. What are we going to talk about?"

"About the future," says Nesiara as she looked at Elrond and says, "Do you have a map of Middle-Earth so we can plan our moves."

"Yes," says Elrond as he walks towards a closet with many open shelves that had scrolls in them.

He takes one out and places it on the table the four were around and Elrond point where Rivendell is on the map while saying, "We are here and the ring needs to be brought all the way there."

Elrond was pointing at Mt. Doom making John laugh hearing that name since it was haunting him since he heard of Jack's prediction until Jack told him that it was only a motivation tool for John to get stronger.

"Doom really fits to be our objective," says John as Nesiara looked at her husband worried since she knew that John was training the hardest to fight against Doom to save his family only to find out that Jack was motivating them.

"Are you alright?" asks Nesiara as John nods.

"Yes, at least this will make me feel accomplished that I defeated something with the name Doom in it making me close that chapter of our lives," says John as he looked at the map.

"I have a question?" asks Nesiara as it seemed quite simple to get Frodo to Mt. Doom in less than a week if they flew towards it.

"What is your question?" asks Gandalf as he was curious what the two were thinking right now.

"Can we fly directly toward Mt. Doom?" asks Nesiara as Gandalf and Elrond shake their heads.

"That would be impossible the Great Eye would see you and alert the Nazgul," says Gandalf as Nesiara and John looked at him confused.

"What is that Great Eye you are talking about?" asks John as Gandalf and Elrond could understand their confusion.

"The Eye of Sauron is a spying tool that can locate the ring and no one could withstand its terrible gaze making it impossible to fly into Mordor and get to Mt. Doom. It will always keep an eye on Frodo once he uses the ring again," says Gandalf when Elrond looked confused.

"Who said that the Hobbit would take the ring there," says Elrond as Nesiara looked at him.

"We decided that a long time ago. He seems to be able to withstand its temptation for now," says Nesiara as Elrond was angry.

"We can't trust the Hobbit. If it wasn't for his Uncle hiding the ring for so long we could have destroyed it sooner," says Elrond bringing new information on the table that the couple didn't know about.

"What does he mean, Gandalf?" asks John as he looked at Gandalf.

"Bilbo Baggins, the uncle of Frodo was the previous owner of the Ring. He passed it on to Frodo on his birthday. Frodo didn't know that the Ring was until I found out," says Gandalf as he looked at Elrond before saying, "We shouldn't judge Frodo for what his uncle did. He is innocent in all of this."

"He is true," says John as he was on Gandalf's side not because Gandalf was stating the truth but because it was easier to look after Frodo than another person.

"Frodo was possessing the Ring for quite a long time and was not tainted by it. We should trust in his strength to get it towards Mt. Doom with all our help," says Nesiara as she looked at the map and says, "Our safest bet would be going all around the Misty Mountains to Gondor and from there we travel towards Mordor."

"Yes, but it would take is months that we don't have the Nazgul are already after Frodo and Mordor is already ready for war. We would waste too much time and Gondor could fall before we reach its border," says Gandalf making now John take command.

"The most strategic thing we must do is save time and get Frodo as fast as possible there. Is there an entrance into the Misty Mountains that we could go through to reach the other side?" asks John as he was already calculating their travel.

"We should rather use the Redhorn Pass near Caradhras if the weather doesn't play to our favor we could go through the ruins of Moria," says Gandalf who wanted to avoid Isengard.

"You want to avoid Isengard even when Saruman living there," says Elrond not knowing that Saruman betrayed them.

"Saruman betrayed us. He imprisoned me and he tried to silence me. He wants the Ring to increase his influence and he has a whole Orc Army. If we get near Isengard we would be slaughtered," says Gandalf as Elrond looked grim.

"You really can't trust a Man," says Elrond as he was angry now.

"We could still go through Isengard and clear it on our way towards Mordor even if we would lose time we could separate here and you take Nora with you to clean Isengard. We would continue to follow the Great River to Osgiliath or Minas Tirith," says John as they could see the plan get into shape.

"I would want the Elves around Middle-Earth to manifest its troops and begin marching towards Minas Tirith," says John as he placed a figure that represented the Elves on the map.

"Not everyone will comply," says Elrond as he could muster his soldier immediately.

"But you could muster your troops right," says Nesiara as Elrond nods.

"I don't think we need many more. We could muster the rest from Lorien. It's on the way towards our goal after all," says Nesiara as she put another figure on the map.

"Now we only need the army of the Men," says Gandalf as he looked at the map when Elrond pointed at three places.

"Rohan and Gondor but since we have Aragorn we also have another army we could use to fight against Mordor," says Elrond as he put one figure in Rohan and Gondor while a third was on the border of Rohan and Gondor making Gandalf open his eyes.

"You can't possibly try and rely on the Army of the Dead," says Gandalf when Elrond nods while Nesiara and John we're confused.

"Army of the Dead?" asks Nesiara as Elrond nods.

"They were men cursed to become undead after not helping Isildur in fighting against Sauron. They will stay undead until a descendant of Isildur calls for their aid breaking their curse making them rest in peace," says Elrond explaining it to Nesiara and John.

"That would be five armies that we can use to take Sauron's attention while Frodo can destroy the ring without risking his life," says Gandalf as John and Nesiara still had one question in mind.

"Where do we find the descendant of Isildur?" asks Nesiara curious since both seemed to know more about it.

"You traveled with him towards Rivendell," says Elrond as John caught on.

"Aragorn," says John as Gandalf nods.

"Exactly, he is the legitimate heir of Arnor and Gondor. But we shouldn't push him to the throne if he doesn't want to take it himself," says Gandalf as John could understand it.

"My father used to say 'A Man isn't born as a King but tempered by flames and trials. No one is born ready they either break or succeed in leading their people.'. We should push him on the throne if the other people are incompetent fools," says Nesiara surprising even John with that quote when she says, "What Logan wasn't the only one that could give some advice my father was quite good at it as well. He was training my older sister with my other mother after all."

"I never met your other mother," says John as Nesiara smiles.

"You did, she was at our wedding with my older sister. It's just that my older sister didn't inherit his pointy ears. She was the young woman with long light purple hair and another one with short purple hair. The one with short hair is Henrietta, my second mother, while the long-haired one is my half-sister Marianne named after her grandmother," says Nesiara as John was remembering seeing them sit beside Cyrion wondering who they could have been.

"Right, but we should return to our planning again," says Nesiara not letting John say anything when she says, "We can contact all the people while I continue with the twins and the hobbits to Minas Tirith. Awaiting you there."

"If everything goes as planned we will be able to finish everything in two months if problems appear it will take us at least a year to finish everything," says Gandalf as Nesiara nods.

"Still we should discuss with the other races that's why we will hold a secretive Council," says Elrond as Gandalf nods.

"We should call only some of the higher houses under another circumstance so they don't suspect that we are going to talk about the Ring," says Gandalf as Nesiara looks at Elrond.

"I will leave that in Elrond's hands. But they should be here as fast as possible," says Nesiara as Elrond like how decisive Nesiara was when needed.

"I will do so right away," says Elrond as Nesiara then leaves with John and stops at the door.

"I will get to my chamber then and rest for the rest of the night. And no word to anyone about what we talked about today that goes especially to you Gandalf," says Nesiara as Gandalf and Elrond nod in agreement before they leave the little room they were in.