The Fellowship started as early as they could, leaving December 25th at dusk, traveling at night was much more safer in case Mordor had spies watching, and waiting. Though the Fellowship had started early, they did not know that Lothaelin had left earlier in the afternoon.

Legolas had spoken to her that morning when they ran into one another in the Hall of Fire, as she was finishing up her latest entry in her journal. It had been the journal she used for keeping track of anything unusual; but over the years (since she had little contact with anyone other than Gandalf when he returned to visit Frodo), she had kept events of the day and her feelings down. Legolas had asked her about it when he saw her writing in it, but she did not tell him that it was her journal; she had said that she was working on a song for the Fellowship that he could not see until they returned.

Lothaelin was now ahead of the Fellowship by a few hours, hoping to keep an eye out for anything unusual so that she could warn Gandalf, or Legolas if necessary. While she was nearing Hollin she noticed a black cloud, but as she continued to watch the cloud she noticed that it was moving way too fast to be a cloud.

Quickly she led EveningStar into a large hole that was underneath a tree; there they waited patiently until she could see and hear the black birds flapping their wings and squawking. At once she knew that they were crebain from Dunland, spies of Saruman she guessed seeing as Saruman was no longer on their side.

If there were spies near Hollin she knew that they would be more by the Redhorn Gate; not wanting to risk her cover, especially the Fellowship, she knew that she know had only two options that would not be close to Isengard, one was to continue her way to the Caradhras or go through the mines of Moria. Wishing that she could of traveled on land instead of snow and ice, or through the damp mines she looked behind her trying to locate where the crebain were headed- straight for the Fellowship!

*Legolas! Keep watch in the sky. * She warned, hoping that he would hear her.
"I am sorry EveningStar, you have to find Elrond; you cannot come with me for I am going through the mines." Lothaelin kissed her horse on his head and gave him a pat on the side. EveningStar nuzzled his nose in the palm of her hand before he sped off towards Rivendell in hopes of finding Elrond before they left.

The pathway to the mines was a lot easier than it had been the last time she had passed the Caradhras, though she had never traveled through the mines before she was not afraid of what might await her for she knew that she would make it back to Lórien. There was a waterfall from the mountain that fell into a pool, she watched the pool closely feeling a temptation to drink but she was in a hurry to make sure that she was ahead of the Company.

Instinctively she followed the stream of Sirannon into a green area that was dotted with trees and stumps here and there, she kept following the stream until she found what looked like the walls of the mountain. She kept walking through the green grass until she finally reached the end of the mountain where she looked around for something, but she did not know what she was looking for.
The sun had now started to set though that did not bother her in the least; the only thing that bothered her was if Legolas had seen the crebain in time to warn everyone else.

She continued her way along the bottom running her hand over the bumpy stone mountain until she happened to run right over a smooth spot. She stopped and examined it closely though she did not know why this area was smooth and the rest was not.
There's a door somewhere... She thought to herself looking about the smooth spot as if she were waiting for some sign of a hole, or crack. But there was none.

The moon was out but the sun was still setting although it was gradually getting darker as she continued to search for the door.
Feeling disappointed that she could not find the door she almost felt like giving up, but she did not allow herself to give up for she was here to protect the Fellowship and that she knew for certain every day.

The moon shone brightly as it became uncovered, she ran her hand over the smooth part and wondered where the door could be when the smooth surface began to glow silver. At the top was an arch of letters in Elvish; below was a crown in the center with seven stars on each side of it. Underneath the crown was a hammer on top of an anvil. Beneath those were two trees, which formed crescent moons with their branches and were also wrapped around two thick pillars that held up the arch. In the very middle was a bright star with many rays that shone brighter than anything else on the door.

Lothaelin removed her hand as she stared in awe at the door before realizing that the Fellowship may be ahead of her by now.
She carefully read the Elvish characters to herself, The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter. She thought to herself for a moment as if searching for a specific word that would allow her to enter, but before she could say anything she heard voices by the waterfall. Speak, friend, and enter. She reread the sentence before she figured it was supposed to be a riddle.

"Mellon." She said aloud. The door suddenly split in half and opened up towards her with a loud crushing sound as it rubbed against the mountain and the rocks on the ground.

Lothaelin quickly ran inside the mines just as the door started to close again, they shut behind her and there she stood in darkness. Oh! I do not have anything...she tried to think of something that she had that might be of good use to her at that moment, but could think of nothing that would allow her to see where she was going.

She felt something squirming at her side and opened up her bag to feel something soft rub against her hand, then something wet. She stepped forward a little and heard a sickening crunching sound as though she had stepped on something hollow. Oh, how she wished she could see what she was doing! She carefully lifted the soft, furry little pup out of her bag and brought him close to her face.

"What are we going to do little one?" She whispered to the small pup. The pup sniffed at her face before scratching his little paw at her star necklace. Lothaelin fingered her necklace but did not know what Pip was doing; she traced the star and felt the white jewel that was in the center just as it lit up in a bright silver light.

The light streamed across the mines and she carefully grabbed it with her fingers and directed it at her feet. What she saw made her jump back and land on something hard; she nearly lost her balance. The thing that she crushed was a skull of a dwarf, there were tons of skeletons lying around the mine, and some had arrows through their heads.

"What is...?" She did not have time to finish her sentence for she could hear the Elven language being spoken loudly at the other end.
"We have to make our way out of here before they find us here!" She whispered to the pup. She carefully slipped him back into her bag that was slung around her shoulder and hanging at her hip.

She had changed into her "hobbit" clothes after leaving Rivendell to disguise herself in case the Fellowship happened to run into her. Using the light from her necklace as a guide she carefully swerved through the skeletons of the Dwarves running through the straight tunnel, only stopping until she knew that she was far enough from the Fellowship to hear or see her. She had stopped to look around at where she was just as she heard the door opening again, the moonlight poured into the mines and she could see once again.

Taking advantage of the time she had, she used the light to guide her further down the tiny path of stone until she heard Gimli yell. She stopped to find another skeleton with an arrow through the skull; she knelt down and pulled it out of its head to examine the arrow-a goblin! Her senses became more alert at this, and she quickly stood up as she heard the hobbits yelling Frodo's name. She could hear Frodo screaming but could not see what was going on! She ran towards the Fellowship and could see Frodo being held up by a tentacle while many others were surrounding the Fellowship.

She wanted to help Frodo but knew that Legolas and Aragorn would be able to take care of it, for she knew that Frodo would make it past the Golden Wood. Frodo dropped from the air and Boromir caught Frodo just before he fell to the ground.
Gandalf yelled at everyone to get into the mines just as the thing that attacked Frodo started crawling out of the pool after them. The thing grabbed the edges of the doors pulling itself into the door, causing them to break and fall off. Some of the roof started crumbling to the stone floor until it fell on top of the monster and covered it up, blocking off their entrance.

Lothaelin clapped her hand to her neck to cover the light just as the last stone fell and cut off their light, she turned around and started walking ahead of them before they could catch up to her. She could see the light from Gandalf's staff shining further behind but did not dare stop until she found a place that she could hide. She was lucky that she had light, if she did not have any light she would off fallen off the edge of the path that fell into the abyss.

It would take four days to reach the other side, she knew that the Company would have to stop for rests once in a while and that would be her only chance to keep on going so that she was still in the lead. Near what she guessed was the middle of the night, she heard the Company stop and take out some food. The pans were clanging about though some of the Company tried to stop making as much noise as possible, she did not know what dangers were lurking in the mines but could only guess that there were goblins about.

By the third day she had reached a long flight of stairs that were very hard to climb, they were not slanted like ordinary stairs; these were almost at an 86-degree angle! She used her hands to help her grab onto the first stair and used her legs to help push herself up to the next one, the stairs weren't long enough to keep a very good grip.

A Man's foot was too big to fit on the stair! She had to keep stopping to swing her bag over onto her back so that she did not squash the little pup that would once in a while peek his head out to breathe some of the damp air. She knew that the fellowship could not be that far behind her, she could still hear their footsteps.

At the very end of the stairs were three tunnels; one led to the right and the other to the left and the other was straight ahead. At this point she knew that she would have to stop for she did not know which tunnel to take while the only person that knew was behind her. She went into the left tunnel but turned around as soon as she smelt the foul air, she then walked into the right tunnel and it did not smell so she waited here to hide and wait for the Fellowship to arrive.

Hopefully the tunnel that she had chosen was the right way, otherwise she would have to follow the Fellowship for another day before she would be able to pass them and remain in front of them. Gandalf arrived in the lead and he looked at all three tunnels before announcing that he had no memory of the place. Lothaelin sighed heavily, for the air in the mines was hot and damp, once in a while she felt a cool breeze on her face but that was seldom.

The Fellowship rested here for a few hours, some slept while Gandalf and Frodo remained awake. The two were sitting side by side in silence until Frodo heard something; Lothaelin craned her neck so that she could try to see what made the noise, but knew that she could not unless she revealed herself.

"There's something down there." Frodo whispered to Gandalf. Gandalf removed his pipe from his mouth and simply replied
"It's Gollum, he's been following us for three days." Lothaelin was now crouching down with the pup out of her bag sleeping by her foot. She kept glancing from the pup back to Frodo as she waited for Gandalf to come to his conclusion. She hoped that Gandalf would remember something soon, she did not like the feeling of being in the mines; she felt as though (besides Gollum) they were not alone.

"I wish the Ring had never come to me, I wish none of this had happened." Frodo sighed.
"So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Gandalf continued on and Lothaelin listened intently. "Bilbo was meant to find the ring, in which case you also were meant to have it; and that is an encouraging thought. Ah, it's that way!" Gandalf exclaimed.

Lothaelin could see Gandalf looking into the tunnel that she was in. Quickly she picked up the pup and carefully put him back into her bag before she traced her necklace again to make it light up. She made her way down the tunnel as carefully and as quickly as she could so that the Fellowship did not know that she was there.

She finally came to a large opening where there were stairs to her left, her right, and a pathway in front of her that led to stairs that also went to the left and right but went further down into the mines. She took the stairs that were to her left through an archway and hoped that she was going in the right direction.

She passed the archway and came to another opening that was larger than all the other ones. There were hundreds of large pillars in many rows that were so high she thought they were as tall as the Caradhras. She stood there for a moment looking all around her at all the pillars that each had a unique design yet were the same shape as the others. She kept walking forward almost in a trance at the amazing hall that she had come across, if she had not of heard Gandalf speaking she would have still been standing there when the Fellowship arrived in the same hall.

"Behold the great realm and city of Dwarrowdelf." Gandalf exclaimed.
The Fellowship stared in amazement at the large pillars in straight rows; it was like a forest of pillars.

Around the corner in the other wall in the middle of the large gap between the pillars, light shone through a door that was barely shut. More skeletons were scattered about the floor leading to this door. Lothaelin wandered into this door and here she found a tomb. She walked up to the tomb and tried to read what was in scripted but found that it was written in Dwarvish character, however she tried her best to translate. Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria. Lothaelin heard a heavy clunking sound; she looked around the room before she located another door that was towards the East. She quickly ran noiselessly into the chamber and remained near the door.
Lothaelin faced the other way so that the others would not notice the light coming from the door, she could see a long stretch of stone floor that seemed to go on forever. Beyond that was another archway that, she assumed would lead to the bridge of Khazad-Dűm.

Suddenly, she heard a loud clattering sound that echoed in the other chamber as well as the one she was in. She took a peek from the crack of the door and saw Pippin standing next to a well and an old suit of armor. The clanking continued on for a few more moments, and made a louder noise as soon as it hit the bottom. Lothaelin had held her breath, but had little time to take in a gasp of air just as the suit of armor and a heavy chain toppled further down into the mines.

"Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity!" She heard Gandalf say to Pippin. She sighed heavily, feeling sympathy for Pippin; it had been an accident he did not know that the whole thing was going to fall. Lothaelin rested her head against the wall and took another deep breath before she heard a booming sound come from the bottom of the mines. She looked around the chamber where the Fellowship was, but could not see anything except for Frodo's sword glowing. She pulled her own Elvish sword from her sheath (thing u put the sword in), it took was glowing a bright blue.

"Orcs!" Legolas exclaimed. Boromir quickly ran to the door to shut it with Aragorn's help.
"They have a cave troll." She heard him telling Aragorn. Lothaelin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She saw the hobbits huddling close together behind Gandalf, and Legolas who had his bow and an arrow up to eye level pointing directly at the door.
At this moment everything seemed to go in slow motion, she suddenly remembered seeing this picture in the mirror of Galadriel...Legolas!

As the Orcs were trying to break in through the door, Lothaelin swung her bag over so that it was on her back; she had her sword in her left hand to be prepared. The door suddenly burst open and she could hear the Orcs, the hobbits yelled out their battle cries and jumped into the fight. A loud screaming was heard as well as rocks crumbling, Lothaelin could make out the shadow of a cave troll. Legolas led him towards the door that she was in and he smashed the doorway. Lothaelin ran back and jumped landing on her stomach on the floor with a thud; she grabbed her bag and held it under her body to protect it as the rocks came crashing down behind her.

For a few moments she stayed in her position, she lifted her head up slowly before she stood up and swung her bag onto her back again. She looked at the hole that the troll had made and thought that it would make it easier for the Fellowship to run through instead of filing through the door one by one. She could see the Legolas, Aragorn, and Boromir fighting with the Orcs as Sam smacked Orcs with a fry pan.
The other three hobbits were near two crashed pillars; Frodo was by himself at the other one with the cave troll moving around it. Frodo switched places once again and looked relieved to be rid of it; but it was still hiding behind the pillar. He jumped back, frightened, and the troll advanced on him. Frodo swung his sword at the troll and cut him, the troll released his grip and Frodo fell to the ground.

Aragorn grabbed a spear and rammed it into the troll's stomach just as the troll was about to strike him with its hammer. Merry and Pippin threw small rocks at the troll, the troll knocked Aragorn out of the way and Frodo ran to check on him. The troll pulled the spear out of his stomach and thrust it at Frodo's head, Frodo ducked and the spear went into the boulder. As the troll tried to pull it back out, Frodo tried to escape but the troll had pulled out the spear and blocked Frodo's exit. The troll pushed Frodo back into the wall and jammed the spear into Frodo's chest.

Lothaelin gasped for air and held her right hand to her chest, she fell to her knees dropping her sword and trying to keep herself up with her free hand. Lothaelin watched as Frodo fell to the ground. "Frodo!" Lothaelin coughed before she could stop herself. The pup barked a few times before Legolas shot the troll in the throat and the troll threw Pippin onto the ground.

She knew in her heart that Frodo was alive before Aragorn rolled him over and Sam rushed in front of him. She had found the strength to stand up again, but had to hold onto the wall to keep her balance. She heard someone saying faintly that they were all right.
She sighed heavily and a small smile crept upon her lips; but her smile faded as she ran through the pile of rocks. She kept running until the rubble cleared onto the stone floor that led ahead. Behind her she could hear the Fellowship being chased by Orcs.
She gained her speed as the came to more pillars that were as tall as the other ones had been but they were skinnier. Suddenly she heard a noise coming from the roof, she looked up as she was running and saw dozens of Goblins crawling out from a hole.

No. She thought to herself. Do not stay here, run! There is greater Evil than the Goblins! She continued to run as fast as she could until she reached another archway that led to steps, the new chamber was no longer a blue color; it was lit up by the fire that was at the bottom. She heard a loud roaring sound and heard the Goblins scramble back up the way they came as the roaring became louder. She stopped dead; she knew what Gandalf was thinking. Balrog. RUN! She thought. She ran down the stairs nearly falling down into the fire if she hadn't of stopped and fallen backward. She carefully ran down the steps to her right, jumped the gap in the stairway and kept her balance and continued following the stairs until she reached thin bridge...the bridge of Khazad-Dűm!

She stopped to look back at the Fellowship in time to see that Frodo and Aragorn were left and their stair was about to fall! Though she wanted to stay she felt that she needed to get out as quick as possible, she knew that Frodo would make it to Lórien but did not know the safety or Aragorn. However she continued to watch as the stair began to sway, they both leaned forward and the stair fell onto the other so that Frodo and Aragorn could safely cross.