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Galdriel had been dead and yet there she was, beautiful & vivid, the crimson vigor in her eyes contrasting with the white of her death shroud, and in her arms she cradled a whimpering halfling child, trying to put a ring on its finger....
"It is she and yet not she" whispered Dr Gandalf. Lord Merry stepped forward, "Galadriel...?" he asked yearningly.
"Merrrrrry!" she sighed "My Preciousssssss! Come, kiss me! And wear my Rrrrring! You will be my Dark Lord and will be your White Queen and allll shall love me and despairrrr."
Merry nearly stepped into her embrace, but Dr. Gandalf lept forward, brandinshing his glowing staff "I Am the Servant of the Secret Flame and you shall not pass!" She screamed and fled to her crypt.
There we found her, lying totally dormant.
"Dr Gandalf, what is she?" I wept
"She is our Lucy, held in thrall by one of the Count's rings, which is controlled by the One Ring held by friend Frodo. If she were not stopped, she will continue her ravaging of young ones, feeding off the fortunate, giving rings to those less so to make them the parasite spawn of Sauronula that she has become."
"So she can only be freed by the destruction of the Ring?"
"That is the only way she could be restored to life and freedom, but in that time how many more like her might she enslave and how deeply might this ring corrupt her- till even the poor Ring-debauched lunatic Gollum be more sane and less dangerous? But we can free her to the Grey Havens. But there is one here who has more right than I to do so- the one who loved her best, whose arm she would choose to deliver the liberating blow."
Merry stepped forward "What must I do?"
At Van Mithrandir's instruction, he removed her ring and placed it, glistening over her heart, then Merry held aloft the Wizard's staff and with all his might plunged the ground-point through the ring and deep into her heart with a cry of both victory and lament - "I am the Servant of the Secret Flame. Receive my beloved Galadriel, O Elbereth Githoniel!"
White light burst from her chest, silver blood gushed from her mouth and a barrow-wight's scream tore loose from her lips- then she collapsed with a look of peace. Her eyes looked to the Wizard "Dr Gandalf, my own true friend" she sighed in her own sweet whisper, and then she looked to Merry "My beloved Merry, kiss me." And she died.
The Wizard cleaned her face with a cloth "Yes, Merry, kiss her now. It is safe and right. She is free."
Later, all shaken, we tapped a cask of miruvoir to steady our nerves and enable us to sleep later. "You see what we are up against" said Dr Van Mithrandir, "why we must defeat Count Saronula and destroy his ring. Before he enslaves more like Gollum and our Miss Galadriel and makes them worse than Orcs... we are pledged to set Middle-Earth free."