The Shared Dream

With a groan, Sam rolled over and sat up, holding his head.   

Pippin raised a sleepy eyelid and scowled at him.  "What's the matter?  Good heavens, the sky is still dark.  Go back to sleep, Sam."

"I don't know if it was a good dream or a bad, " moaned Sam. "And I'm not sure I want to find out."

"Well, there's no need to tell me about it then, " grumbled Pippin, rolling over and pulling his cloak up to his ears. "Good night, Sam."

"I saw shadows, walking on the Great East Road.  "

Pippin peeped uneasily at Sam from under his cloak.  "Riders?"

"They were walking, " Sam said nervously, casting a glance at the road. 

Pippin pulled the cloak back down to his chin, and squinted at Sam. "Did you see their faces?"

"No. They were shadowy, like-- like wraiths.  Hundreds of them."

"Hundreds of wraiths?" Pippin echoed uneasily.  "What were they doing?"

"There was no sound, " Sam murmured.

Strider had been on watch, and he came over to where the hobbits lay. "Sam?"

Sam blushed and began to settle back down. "Sorry, Strider, I was ... just dreaming."

"About wraiths, " prompted Pippin.

"What about them?" asked Strider.

"Hundreds of them, " Sam said. "All walking eastward along the road."

"Were they Nazgul?" Strider asked.

Sam shifted uneasily.  "They were shadowy. And they made no sound that I could hear. But they weren't black either."

Strider waited.

"They were mostly-- well, sir, they looked like-- like elves, and hobbits. And if I could have heard them, I think I would have heard laughter and joking, and singing.  They didn't look sad."

Pippin began to cheer up.  "That sounds all right then."

Strider studied Sam again. "Perhaps you saw visions of those long dead and gone, " he said, and then frowned. "But I have heard no tales of great journeys by a combined group of elves and hobbits. Strange. Were there men?  Dwarves?"

Sam frowned. "A few, " he said, thinking hard.  "But mostly elves and hobbits. And--"

Strider waited.

"And, well, sir, they were mostly ladies."

Pippin smirked.  "Lady-elf-wraiths and hobbit-lass-wraiths walking eastward no the Great Road, singing and laughing.  Perhaps you should go back to sleep and finish the dream, Sam. Tell me how you end up!  I promise I won't tell Rose."

Strider shot Pippin an exasperated look, and Sam looked injured. "They were all walking toward Rivendell, " Sam said indignantly. "And they were mostly ladies."

"For your sake I hope Rosie one of them," Pippin teased. "Because if she wasn't--"

"Sshhh, " said Strider.  "You'll wake Frodo."

"Too late, " murmured Frodo. "I've been awake, and listening. Sam, I had the same dream earlier tonight."

"There, now!" Sam shot a glare at Pippin.  He got up to check Frodo's arm and hand, and frowned as he did so.

Strider's attention was now locked on Frodo. "Were they ringbearers? Were they ringwraiths?"

Frodo spoke slowly.  "They weren't wraiths, and I don't think they had rings-- well, not rings of power.  But I thought it odd that many of them wore a common ring on a chain around their neck. Very odd."  He looked at Strider, worried.  "If it was only my dream, I'd have thought it delirium from this wound.  But Sam dreamed it too."

Strider stroked his chin, pondering, and then replied, "Perhaps it was not the past you saw, but the future."

"Begging your pardon?" Sam said.

"What do you mean?" Frodo asked.

Strider sighed.  "I'm not sure I know, " he said.  "But it would be a fine thing, if the power of darkness was destroyed in such a way that the East Road was safe for ladies to walk abroad, singing, unarmed and without fear.  That much is clear. I would like to see the roads safe again, and travelers able to walk them-- without fear." He sighed again, thoughtfully, and looked to the south with a strange eagerness in his glance. "Perhaps one day they will be."

With another glare at Pippin, Sam lay back down and drew his cloak to his chin. "Well, maybe it was a good dream, then.  And all of them walking towards Rivendell, " Sam murmured, dropping off rapidly. "And why wouldn't they?  Rivendell, to see the elves..." the sentence ended in a snore.

Strider stood up to return to his watch, and Frodo got comfortable again. Pippin scowled at Frodo, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"I didn't have any dreams about elf-ladies.  Nor hobbit-lasses either."

"You won't have to dream about them in Rivendell, you can see them for yourself. Go to sleep, Pippin," murmured Frodo.

"Hundreds of ladies walking to Rivendell.  Elf-ladies and hobbit-lasses. Now why can't I have dreams like that?" Pippin grumbled. 

"Like what?" groaned Merry, opening one eye.

"Go back to sleep, Merry, " Frodo ordered firmly.

"I expect a complete report in the morning, " Merry sighed and drifted off.

Pippin glared at them all, but he was now wide awake.  Finally he got up in disgust, and joined Strider, who was looking out along the Great East Road. They stood side by side, and watched, the taller one looking for riders cloaked in black; the smaller one, looking for shades of a very different sort. They watched together til sunrise.