Chapter 31: The Meeting of the White Council

Lothlorien is one of the few remaining Elf territories in the late Third Age, and also the most prosperous and powerful one.

Many kinds of Elves live there, including the Noldor, the Sindar, and the indigenous Nandor (the Silvan Elves are a branch of the Nandor).

Currently, it is ruled by Celeborn and his wife, Lady Galadriel.

Celeborn is of the royal house of the Sindar; if one were to trace the genealogy, he and Thranduil of the Woodland Realm might even be related.

As for his wife, Lady Galadriel, her history is far more remarkable than Celeborn's.

She is a Light Elf who bathed in the light of the Two Trees, a princess of the Noldor, the most powerful Elf in the Central Continent, and the guardian and wielder of Nenya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves.

And now, this noble and powerful lady stood right before Allen.

She looked at the head-bowed Allen, her gentle eyes seeming to peer into his very soul.

Under such circumstances, Allen could not possibly maintain eye contact with the lady for long.

He could only steal a hurried glance at her face, which seemed brighter than starlight and softer than moonlight, before lowering his head.

His mind held many secrets that could not be revealed.

This concealment made the shame in Allen's heart grow ever stronger.

Until a soft voice rang out beside his ear.

"Your heart seems to harbor too many things; have no such thoughts. You possess the character to treat the weak with kindness and the courage to resist darkness. This noble heart is far more important than other matters. Raise your head; you need not be like this."

Soothed by this voice, Allen finally raised his head to see Lady Galadriel smiling at him.

She spoke softly: "Mithrandir tells me he obtained important information from you. In a while, we will have a meeting that may require your attendance. Stay here; the Galadhrim will treat you well."

Before this lady, Allen could not help but nod, unable to say anything else.

He stayed there.

Gandalf had indeed not lied; Lothlorien was truly a very, very beautiful place.

It was now the autumn month, and the beautiful trees that grew only here, the Mallorn, had silver bark and golden leaves.

During the day, they shone brilliantly under the sun's rays; when a breeze blew, the leaves looked like a golden ocean rippling before his eyes.

And at night, the place was lit everywhere with the magical lights of the Elves, looking at a glance like scattered, brilliant starlight in the sky.

The Elves here were also very warm and hospitable to friends, attending to Allen with the utmost care.

Living here, Allen truly had the feeling of not knowing how time was flowing.

He felt as if only a short moment had passed when Gandalf appeared before him again to inform him that the meeting was about to begin.

At first, Allen actually had a little bit of a grievance toward Gandalf in his heart.

After this guy brought Allen to this place, he had vanished in the blink of an eye.

He left Allen alone at the entrance for a long time, until Lady Galadriel appeared before him.

However, this slight grievance had long since vanished under the comfortable life of Lothlorien.

Now, hearing that he was to attend a meeting, Allen followed Gandalf directly into the venue.

Calling it a venue, it was merely a small, open-air banquet hall.

At this time, three people were already seated inside; besides Lady Galadriel, whom Allen already knew, there was another Elf.

Although his face bore no traces of age, his dark hairline seemed to have receded just a little.

A pair of grey eyes were very bright, as if containing the radiance of stars; at this moment, his gaze was gentle as he looked at Allen and nodded in greeting.

This was the Lord of Rivendell, the wielder of Vilya, one of the Three Rings of the Elves, Lord Elrond.

This Half-Elf lord was very curious about Allen; in fact, he possessed a slight ability to see through people's hearts.

At this moment, he did not discern any clues from Allen's heart; at the very least, he was not a lackey of the dark forces.

But the fact that Isildur possessed the One Ring should have been known to only a handful of people, even at the time it happened.

Even at the beginning of the age, there were some ambiguous legends, but those had long since faded with the passage of time.

For so many years, Elrond had only written these matters into his own books and had not spoken of them to many people.

What he was curious about was how Allen's people had come to know of it.

However, as a very, very kind Half-Elf, as long as Allen was not a minion of the dark forces, he was unwilling to pursue it too much.

Another person was an old Human, dressed in white robes, with his hair, eyebrows, and beard groomed extremely neatly.

At this moment, the expression on his face was very serious, as if he were struggling to suppress his own anger.

His eyes were bright and sharp, staring fixedly at the approaching Gandalf and Allen; this was the Guardian of Isengard, Saruman.

Saruman did not know where that annoying Gandalf had learned the news of the One Ring, and he had happened to run into his own subordinates sent to monitor the Orcs near the Gladden River.

This was not good news for him; he could no longer continue to hide his knowledge of the One Ring.

Saruman was also thinking at this moment how to divert the attention of Gandalf and the others, so that he would have more time to search for that One Ring.

The White Council mainly had five members; another was Cirdan, who lived at the Grey Havens, the legendary Elf who had gifted the Ring of Fire to Gandalf back then.

But Cirdan, as a mariner, was not at the Grey Havens at this time.

So this meeting was attended by only four wise ones: Lady Galadriel, the White Wizard Saruman, the Lord of Rivendell Elrond, and the Grey Wizard Gandalf.

Allen could also be considered a participant, but during the meeting, he mostly only had the role of listening.

No, he only had the role of listening; any one of the people here could probably hang Allen up and beat him.

Allen did not want to stand out; he felt that being able to participate in such a meeting was already worth the trip.

Yet, even though the participants were all wise ones famous throughout the Central Continent, the meeting was fraught with incidents.

First, Gandalf stated the information he had obtained and what he had seen and heard at the Gladden River.

Then, Saruman criticized Gandalf for believing rumors and lacking patience and respect, mocking Radagast, who provided the information, to the extreme in his speech.

At the same time, he quibbled that he had also just received news of the Ring and had only arranged for men to go to the Gladden River to confirm the results.

Subsequently, Saruman stated with certainty that according to the news he had received, the One Ring had already flowed into the sea along the Anduin River, and everyone should not be troubled by it.

In fact, this was just his own narrative to obtain the One Ring; he had even found the body of Isildur, but had not discovered the One Ring.

Lady Galadriel did not participate in the discussion between the two, merely listening to everything with a smile on her face.

Lord Elrond had long since made up his mind that he and his kin would migrate to Aman.

Of course, he was duty-bound to resist the dark forces, but his primary interest did not lie there at the moment.

From time to time, he glanced at Allen, who was sitting in the corner, seemingly more interested in this young Human.

Allen, sitting in the corner, knew that this meeting had been held too early; the content of this meeting should only have been discussed in the two meetings of the Third Age in 2941 and 2951.

Now many things had been moved forward, and Allen was finally a bit worried about whether the Battle of the Five Armies would even happen at all.

Soon, the matter of the One Ring was no longer discussed under the obstruction of Saruman, leader of the White Council, and everyone believed his claim that the One Ring had flowed into the sea and would no longer be a threat to the good people.

Now everyone was discussing how to deal with the dark forces of Dol Guldur, and Gandalf strongly demanded gathering forces to attack Dol Guldur.

Unlike the original plot, this time no one opposed it, not even Saruman, because he already knew at this time that Sauron had begun searching for the One Ring, so it was better to strike first.

At this moment, Allen, who had always been a background character, raised his hand to indicate that he had something to say.

Although Saruman did not care for this little follower trailing behind Gandalf, Lady Galadriel agreed to let Allen speak.

In front of so many big shots, Allen was a little nervous and cleared his throat.

Then he said: "If I heard correctly, you all intend to launch an attack on Dol Guldur. I have a few pieces of information I should share with you. First, my villagers told me that a Pale Orc with a severed hand often appears near Dol Guldur. If I am not mistaken, that should be the Pale Orc active in Moria, Azog the Defiler. Some say he was killed by the Dwarf Prince Thorin Oakenshield a hundred years ago, but clearly, his defilement has not ended."

Allen paused after saying this.

"Second, I ambushed Azog's son, Bolg, in the tunnels of the Misty Mountains; he comes from Gundabad. Clearly, Azog still rules some or all of the Orcish living in Gundabad, and that is not even the worst of it. Third, although I have no concrete evidence, various signs indicate that the dragon Smaug lying in the Lonely Mountain should also have a tacit understanding with the dark forces of Dol Guldur. At the very least, I have never seen him have any conflict with the Orcish of Gundabad. Gentlemen, this is all the information I can provide."

After Allen finished speaking, he quietly sat back in the corner and continued to be his background character.

But his words plunged the big shots of the White Council into deep thought.

Clearly, the enemy's strength had already exceeded their estimates.

If they wanted to attack Dol Guldur at this time, besides facing the evil forces in that eerie fortress,

they would also have to deal with the Orcish from the Misty Mountains and a dragon that might fly over at any moment.

This was not something that could be solved by the Elf of Lothlorien alone, and the scene fell into an eerie silence for a moment.

A long time later, Gandalf spoke, his voice heavy and helpless.

"In fact, in my original plan, I was going to organize an expedition of Durin's Folk next year. I have some things in my possession that can persuade Thorin Oakenshield to initiate a Dwarf council, and then help Thorin take back the royal heirlooms. By then, we could gather all the Dwarf armies to crusade against the dragon occupying the Lonely Mountain. I originally only wanted to take back a strategic stronghold in the north to face the dark forces that might rise at any time."

Having said this, Gandalf sighed and continued: "It seems this matter is no longer simple. I will arrange the expedition as soon as possible. If we can drive away the dragon occupying the Lonely Mountain, not only can we take the Lonely Mountain, an important strategic location in the north, but it can also reduce some trouble for the attack on Dol Guldur. Even if we cannot drive it away, as long as Thorin Oakenshield appears at the Lonely Mountain, the enemy hiding in the shadows will not remain indifferent, and perhaps we will have a better opportunity then."

Saruman was noncommittal about Gandalf's proposal, and Lord Elrond stated that if there was any need for help, he could be approached.

As long as he was not asked to arrange for Elf to escort the stubborn Dwarf, because that would inevitably be a disaster.

Lady Galadriel agreed with this proposal, with most people in favor.

Saruman did not object, but said that Isengard, which he guarded, was too far from the Lonely Mountain to provide any effective help, but he would certainly participate in the attack on Dol Guldur.

In fact, Gandalf did not count on Saruman to provide any help with the expedition.

It would be good enough if he didn't hold them back. The ones who really needed to contribute, besides Lord Elrond, might be Allen, who was sitting in the corner pretending to be a background character.

Thinking of this, Gandalf came to Allen's side, sat down, and said with a smile: "Allen, I regret to tell you that our journey this time must end here. I had wanted to take you to see the beautiful scenery of Dimrill Dale and the local customs of Dunland, but that is not possible now. I may have to go prepare for other things; I need to go to the north to gather the Rangers there to prepare for the attack on Dol Guldur."

After saying these words, the smile on Gandalf's face became even kinder, which to Allen even had a hint of the Big Bad Wolf luring Little Red Riding Hood.

"However, I will initiate an adventure next year. This adventure will start from the Shire. If there are no accidents, this adventure will extend to the northern Dwarf kingdom, the Lonely Mountain. It was once very prosperous and gathered countless treasures. I wonder if you are interested?"

Allen knew that he could not avoid this matter, and Allen did not want to avoid it.

Not to mention that he had taken over the role of Beorn from the original plot, he himself also had many demands in this war; even if Gandalf did not seek him out, Allen would have pushed to participate.

"Gandalf, that is fine. I will accept your invitation again. I must say, traveling with you is quite pleasant. If I can be of any help in this matter, please do not hesitate to command me. Allen of Wilderness Town is willing to serve you."

Listening to Allen's words, a hint of emotion appeared on Gandalf's face, but he quickly restrained his emotions because the meeting was over and he had a great many things to attend to.

Not mentioning Saruman, who glanced at Allen and left without a word, Lord Elrond came to Allen and issued an invitation to him.

"Young Human lord, if there is an opportunity, you are welcome to visit Rivendell. You will certainly receive excellent hospitality there."

Allen felt a bit surprised upon hearing this; he was not familiar with Elrond at all, but Allen still had his manners.

"Thank you very much, Lord Elrond. I believe there will certainly be an opportunity."

Having said this, Allen glanced at Gandalf, who was saying something to Lady Galadriel.

Clearly, Lord Elrond understood Allen's meaning, smiled slightly, patted Allen on the shoulder, and left.

In his past life, Allen had always speculated about the relationship between Lady Galadriel and Gandalf.

Many people said that Gandalf was a Maia, far older than Lady Galadriel, which was indeed true. Mentioning Gandalf's Maia identity, Olorin, he was at least an age older than all the Elf.

But this identity of Gandalf was different; when the Maia left Middle-earth, he discarded his power and wisdom and appeared in Middle-earth in the image of an elderly Human.

If calculated this way, it was effectively no different from a rebirth, and it was estimated that the memories from when he was a Maia had also been mostly discarded.

If calculated as a rebirth, then Lady Galadriel looking at Gandalf like a junior was not a problem at all.

There were even people who said that Gandalf and Lady Galadriel were lovers, and that the Lady and Gandalf had cuckolded Celeborn on the spot.

Now that Allen had seen the Lady, he really wanted to spit on such a person; how could such a thing be possible? If this were said in front of Gimli, it would certainly invite an axe.

However, Allen was only thinking about these things; he would soon leave Lothlorien.

Because the meeting organized by the White Council had ended, and Allen also had to go home.

He was a bit reluctant, but he also knew that there were many things that needed Allen to do.

Before leaving, Lady Galadriel gifted Allen an extraordinary present.

A large portion of soil imbued with the power of the Ring of Water. Lady Galadriel told Allen that as long as a little bit of the soil was sprinkled into the fields, it could ensure that the plants growing within that range would grow very lushly.

This effect would last for a very, very long time. Allen expressed his gratitude to Lady Galadriel and accepted this precious gift; this was something Wilderness Town needed.

Soon, under the escort of a small squad of Lothlorien Elf, Allen once again stepped onto the road back to Wilderness Village. This time when he returned, he would no longer be idle, because the great war was about to arrive.