Having gained Aragorn's permission and full blessings, Frodo left the royal apartments and went down to the Hall of Record on the ground floor of the great hall to find Master Scribe Erlotibin. He'd been reluctant to ask for the scribe's assistance without the King's authority behind him; the course of his recent investigation had caused one of Erlotibin's brothers to be pardoned after banishment and disgrace, but had also led the other to resign from the King's Council. Frodo hadn't spoken to Erlotibin since then, and had no idea how the scribe felt about him.
But when he entered the Hall of Record, the Master Scribe welcomed him without reserve and asked what he could do for the hobbit.
"I'd like to learn something of the history of the city," Frodo explained his errand. "Can you tell me how far back the records are kept?"
"The city archives go back to Anarion's day," Erlotibin answered promptly, then admitted, "though those earliest records are not preserved in an orderly fashion. They're in a mess, I'm sorry to say, but some remarkable pieces of historical interest have been recovered recently. I can show you the account of Isildur, written in his own hand after his battle with Sauron, of how he cut the Ring from the Enemy's Hand. Mithrandir discovered it among the ancient texts in the library a few years ago, if you'd like to see it."
"Yes, I'd like to, very much," said Frodo. Gandalf had told him of the discovery when the wizard had returned unexpectedly to Bag End one night and confirmed that Uncle Bilbo's magic ring was the One Ring, thought lost for millennia. Perhaps Isildur's story could be used as an introductory preface to his own book? "But not just now. There's another matter I'm interested in studying--both the King and Faramir have said I might. You've heard about the body that was found beneath the citadel the day before yesterday?"
"Yes, indeed! Everyone's been talking about it."
"Then you know it was the body of an Elf. He'd lain there for at least a thousand years, and he was apparently stabbed from behind with a knife. I want to find out who he was. Can you help me find stories that mention earlier sightings of the ghost, to see how far back it's been seen? I'd also like to see if we can find any historical accounts of Elves that visited the city since the Last Alliance, and who might've disappeared."
Only the most recent and most important papers were kept in the Hall of Record within the citadel. The archives of the city were stored in the library on the fourth level. Erlotibin escorted Frodo down through the city and introduced him to Ullathor, the librarian, who admitted them to the archives.
As Erlotibin had said, the archives were a mess: dust-covered books and loose sheaves and scrolls of parchment lay stacked on tables and countless shelves. Here and there, a painted number or note tacked to the end of a shelf indicated a year of the city's history or subject matter; otherwise, there was no way to tell what anything was without reading it.
"The oldest writings are in much better order now than they were five years ago," Ullathor said as he led the party through room upon book-piled room, down three or four steps at a time, into the heart of the library. "It was Mithrandir who was last in here, and he put the papers he looked over into a sort of chronology. It's all here--nothing's ever been thrown away, though you may find edges and bindings nibbled by mice. What is it you're searching for, Little One?"
He was very interested when Frodo repeated his errand, for all the city had heard of the skeleton discovered in the citadel, and he was only too happy to help find clues to its identity.
Frodo spent the rest of the afternoon with the two Men, digging through the old texts and reading the faded ink by candlelight, for the thin slits of windows let in only a little light. The sensible thing to do, they all agreed, was start with the oldest records and work their way up.
It seemed that in the years following the Last Alliance, Gondor and the Elves at Rivendell had remained in a sort of loose friendship: there were innumerable copies of letters sent from the early Kings to "my kinsman, Lord Elrond," reporting the Men of Gondor's vigilant watch over the ruins of Mordor for signs of Sauron's return, accompanying gifts on Elrond's marriage to Celebrian, and the births of his sons and daughter, and announcing their own royal weddings, births, and deaths. Elrond himself never came to Minas Anor, but he often sent messengers to the city in those days: Frodo found so many court records that mentioned Elven emissaries being welcomed by various Kings that he began to make a list of every name, although he found nothing to indicate that any of these Elves had disappeared mysteriously during their visits.
The hours passed quickly, and before Frodo realized it, it was nearly time for dinner. Ullathor said that he was welcome to come back as often as he needed to, and let Frodo borrow an enormous leather-bound tome of the history of Gondor; Erlotibin, who lived with his brothers in one of the houses near Gandalf's, carried the heavy book for the hobbit and left him with it at the front door.
Frodo went into the house, grimy with dust, fingers ink-stained, to find Gandalf and Merry waiting for him. He told them where he'd been and how he had spent his day.
"I wish you all success, Frodo, though I don't think you realize the extent of the task you plan to undertake," said Gandalf as he relieved Frodo of his burden. "It took me weeks of pouring over old manuscripts to find that scroll of Isildur's."
"I expect that this will take at least as long," said Frodo, undeterred. "The Elf has been dead for hundreds of years. A few more weeks won't matter."
"It may take months."
"I have the time."
Gandalf looked a little concerned about Frodo's lack of urgency, but the hobbit put off any questions by saying, "If you don't mind, I'd like to have a quick wash-up before dinner," and then headed to the bathroom.
They did not speak of it again until after dinner. Frodo had settled on the hearth before the sitting-room fire to begin reading the history of Gondor, when Gandalf came in and sat in one of the chairs behind him.
"When I came for you in February to tell you you'd been summoned by the King to investigate these poisonings, you were reluctant to leave the Shire," he said after observing the hobbit quietly for a few minutes. "You were homesick at first, and thought of nothing but Bag End and Sam. I thought you'd be eager to go back to them as soon as your business here had been finished. Your business was finished over a month ago, Frodo, and you show no sign of wanting to go home."
"It's not that I don't want to go home again," answered Frodo. "I miss the Shire, and Sam, but I still have things to do here, and there's no need to rush off. There's only one reason I can see for haste: to go to Rivendell and see Uncle Bilbo." As a sudden, alarming idea occurred to him, he looked up from his book and turned wide and anxious eyes to the wizard. "You said he had less time than I do... Is it so urgent that we must go right away?"
"If it were as urgent as that, I would have insisted we leave as soon as your investigation was concluded and you were well enough to travel, and you would not be reluctant to go," Gandalf replied. "Bilbo is well. He's in no pain. Elrond sustains him in comfort, and he is content to sit and dream before his fire until the time when he will be conveyed over the Sea with the last of the Elves, under Elrond's protection. That will not happen for some time yet. We need not hasten from Minas Tirith today or tomorrow, if you wish to stay here."
"I do, for now," said Frodo. "You see, I think it's best if I leave Sam alone with his new family, and best for Merry and me. You know all about that, don't you? Me and Merry?"
He hadn't told Gandalf when he and Merry had become lovers, but the wizard had surely observed that their relationship had changed since he'd come to Minas Tirith. Gandalf had turned out to be more understanding of this peculiarity of theirs than Frodo had expected, but the hobbit still felt rather shy about discussing his private life after keeping it secret for so long.
"I've guessed that you no longer considered yourselves as brothers," Gandalf said, "but I thought it better to say nothing of it before you were ready to tell me yourself."
Frodo heard the tone of reproach in this reply and felt he had to explain. "I didn't lie, Gandalf, when I told you that Merry and I were like brothers. That was just what I felt for him when I said it. But since then... well, we've talked it over and decided that, since Sam is married and Pippin's family wants him to be too, we ought leave them to it and try to be happy together. And we have been--but it's much easier for us to go on being happy here, far away from Sam and Rosie and Pippin. We don't have to think about them. I know we must go home eventually, but we can certainly stay long enough for me to look into this mystery, even if it takes a month or two."
Site Info
We are the home of 1292 authors from among our 2552 members. There have been 2904 reviews written about our 3820 stories consisting of 10734 chapters and 29400445 words. A special welcome to our newest member, Rosamundeb.Categories
Skin Change
Donate
Help us keep one of the oldest running LotR archives available to all. Even the smallest donation helps!
Many thanks to our previous donors!
Many thanks to our previous donors!
