Gift!Fic for the lovely Captain Zangano for the Reviews Lounge, Too's Spring Event!
It's difficult to get a clear view of the sunshine when you're deep in the Forbidden Forest. The light only just pierces the branches to make its way all the way to the forest floor, beginning to melt away the snow from a particularly cold winter. The springtime birds are not yet present, and the air could be called quiet.
That is, until a great thrashing in the leaves sounds, sending tiny creatures scurrying for cover to avoid being trampled. A number of great, hairy legs appear, stretching up, up into the trees; the great Acromantulas are coming. A great deal of indignant squeaking from various rodents sounds, but they know there is no point in trying to hide from the giant spiders.
"Watch out!" a spider shrieks as she runs. "I, Shelob, of Cirith Ungol have come to devour you!"
"You don't scare me!" cries the next spider. "I'm Ungoliant, and I am the one you should fear!"
"No fair!" the littlest sister, one with only seven legs, whines. "You got to be Ungoliant last time! It's my turn!"
And the bickering starts, siblings fussing at siblings, wanting their turn at the best part in the lineup. It's a favorite game of theirs, playing pretend with the great spiders of old, the ones that are always in the tales their mother tells them before bed.
"I get to be Ungoliant because I'm the oldest," spits Tasha. "You can just get over it."
Septi throws herself to the floor and begins to cry. "You always get to be Ungoliant. It's not fair." She looks over her legs several times at her sisters, looking both hopeful and spiteful, a look all the sisters know very well.
Terra, clutching at a misshapen doll in one leg and balancing on her other seven, waved in annoyance. "You'll be fine, Septi. You can just play a Mirkwood spider and you can play with the Thorin doll. You always like chewing on him."
"But I wanted to be Ungoliaaaaant," whined Septi, though her head had perked up at the prospect of faux devouring of the beloved Thorin doll, always a favorite game of hers. "You always get your way just because you're older."
Tasha looks at Terra and leans against one of the trees, refusing to look at their youngest sister. Terra just shakes her head and wanders off to pick something up from under the leaves. "Look, Septi!" she says, waving the new toys. "I have the Fili and Kili dolls too! And maybe we can go back and find the Bilbo doll!"
Septi frowns, pausing mid-thrash as she considers. "Will Mum and Dad tell me the story of Bilbo and his friends in the forest again?"
Terra tosses the dolls over to her sister. "Only one way to find out!"