"So what happened next?" Frodo asked.
He was sitting underneath a small tree, with Flisa sitting next him, telling him about a time she had been attacked by dwarves on accident while traveling through the mountains.
"Well, I looked down at them from the tree and said, 'It's Flisa, ya silly ole ducks!' So, they finally recognized me and stopped tryin' to bash me head in."
Frodo laughed, and Flisa did as well, shoving Frodo playfully with her shoulder.
Sam didn't like this. He didn't like it one bit.
He was grateful to Flisa for saving Pippin's life, but he didn't like her spending all this time with Frodo. From all the tales she had to tell, she had obviously been all around Middle-Earth, and knew how to fight. What if she was some sort of killer? What if she planned to harm Frodo? Sam couldn't let that happen.
He stood there, watching, until finally he'd had enough. He took his angry thoughts and suspicions back to the garden, where he started picking a few leaves that had fallen on the soil.
"Samwise!"
Sam looked up, startled. Where was the voice coming from?
"In here, me lad!"
Sam looked in the window and saw a friendly looking old hobbit sitting in a chair. "Mr. Bilbo!" he said, standing up and walking over to the window. "How long have you been sitting there?"
"Long enough to see you storming into the garden in a right fix. What's wrong?"
Sam hesitated to answer Bilbo's question. Should he tell the old hobbit about his doubts? Would he think he was being foolish? 'Silly Sam,' he would say. 'Why would you ever suspect such a thing?"
"Well, Mr. Bilbo…it's that Flisa."
Bilbo was taken aback. "What about her? She seems a right fine lass to me, quite bright, too."
'Oh no,' Sam worried in his mind. 'I knew it.'
"I know, it's just…she's spending a lot of time with Mr. Frodo, and, well…seeing as she's so strong and sneaky and all, I can't help suspecting that maybe…" He paused.
"Come on, Samwise. Out with it."
Sam gulped. "That maybe she aims to kill him, sir!" There. He'd said it. Or, more like, he'd blurted it.
Bilbo's eyes widened. "Well, I…I never thought of it like that. But, I don't think I have any place in this. Why don't you go talk to Flisa?"
Sam was a little startled. What would he say? 'Hey, yes, I was just wondering if you plan on killing Mr. Frodo.'
He nodded weakly and started to walk out of the garden. He returned to the tree, and found Frodo a little ways away, laying asleep in the ankle-high grass. Sam looked around. Where was Flisa?
And then he saw her. She was crouched a little ways off from Frodo. For a second, he thought the dog was asleep. Then, he noticed her eyes were open. Her muscles were bunched, and her teeth were bared.
Slowly, she put one paw in front of the other. Sam tilted his head. What was she doing?
Realization hit Sam like a boulder. Flisa was moving slowly so she'd be quiet, and her eyes were open because she was looking at Frodo.
She was going to kill him.