Chapter Four
Gandalf and Frodo returned into his home shortly and stood next to each other in front of the silent table. There was a while of silence where everyone realized that Gandalf had just told Frodo that he wouldn't be joining them.
"Shall we get moving?" Legolas suggested.
Gandalf nodded at him. "Gather your things that you have already brought with you. You must leave as soon as you can."
Frodo cringed. He really wasn't going.
Gimli mumbled something about finally getting a move-on, and stood up along with the others.
Vixilaesia stood up and looked at Legolas. She placed her hand on his arm and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I have known about the fellowship of the ring for quite some time now." She said softly, and let go of him.
He looked at her in surprise as she unsheathed her dagger from the strap on her leg. She held it up, the blade glinting in the soft candlelight. Vixilaesia looked over at Legolas again, smiled, and sheathed the dagger. She swung her cloak on over her shoulders and fastened it.
She started to walk outside, then stopped and leaned in the round doorway. "Are you coming or not?" she asked with a grin.
Legolas nodded and jogged to catch up with her. Finally the two ducked, and walked out the door together.
Frodo was busy shoving some of his belongings into his small shoulder bag. This was all too familiar to him, and he disliked it with a passion.
He looked around in his cabinets for some food to bring. He was in too much of a rush; he couldn't find anything. When his fingers finally closed around an apple, he dropped it with nervousness and it landed on the floor. The apple rolled under the table and out of sight.
Frodo sighed with frustration and began to search for more food.
"Frodo." A voice said. He looked up just as the apple he dropped was gently tossed at him. Despite his nervousness, he caught the fruit. He looked up and saw Phi standing in the doorway. As soon as he realized who it was, Frodo buried himself in his packing again without muttering a 'thanks'.
Damned replacement… He was surprised at his own thoughts.
Finally, he had his cloak on and swung his bag over his shoulder. He looked up and saw that Phi was still standing there waiting for him in the doorway. Frodo walked past her, staring straight ahead of him so he wouldn't make eye contact.
Phi blinked in shock as she realized that he was ignoring her. She shrugged it off and ran outside to catch up with the others, after shutting the door.
She found her way to Pippin and Merry and stood between the two. Gandalf stood up from the tree stump he had been seated on earlier and smiled at all of them.
"Well, I guess this is it." Pippin finally said, breaking the silence.
Frodo swallowed deeply and looked down at the ground. Gandalf noticed this and sighed himself. "I won't want to keep you all waiting for too long. You never know when they will get here."
No body knew who 'they' were, but they didn't bother asking. Gandalf's guess was as good as theirs.
There was a while of silence again, but it was brought to a sudden end when Phi ran up to Gandalf and hugged him tightly around the waist. They were actually pretty close, now that Frodo thought about it.
Sam, Merry, and Pippin soon followed, practically ambushing their old friend. Gandalf chuckled slightly as well as the others, minus Frodo.
Finally, the three hobbits and the nymph were done with their goodbyes. They filed out of the yard and were waiting just outside the fence for the others. Gimli and Aragorn were saying goodbye to Gandalf, and were soon done.
Frodo approached the old wizard as soon as the others were gone. Their eyes met and Frodo immediately started tearing again. He buried his face in Gandalf's stomach as they hugged their silent goodbye.
Gandalf placed his hands on Frodo's shoulders and kneeled down and met him eye to eye. "Farewell, Frodo Baggins."
"Gandalf." The hobbit said, managing to smile through all of his tears. "I will miss you dearly." He slowly turned around and walked out to join the others. Frodo turned around and gave him a final smile before they all walked off together.
Gandalf let a solitary tear slide down his cheek that he had been holding the whole time. "And I'll miss you too, Frodo." He said softly, before walking back inside.
* * *
"…So then we heard Farmer Maggot coming, and we both ran over to a pile of bags that he kept his crops in." Merry explained to Phi.
He was telling a story of one of the many times Pippin and he had snuck into the field to steal his vegetables.
"And he and I both hop into separate bags, just as he walked by. He saw me move so he comes up and kicks the sack I'm in. Thinking fast like the smart creature that I am," (Pippin rolled his eyes at this comment) "I made a meowing noise. And he assumed it was a cat trapped in the bag."
Phi giggled, listening to his story as they walked together.
"And he works his way to all the bags, kicking all of them until he reaches Pippins. When he kicked his bag, get this: Pippin goes 'Potato'!"
Phi burst out laughing at this part in the story, and Pippin blushed deeply. Merry continued through his fits of laughter. "So we both had to drop our food, and run out of there as fast as we could. We almost got caught, but we made it out in the end." He concluded.
Pippin's face was now a beet red. Phi hugged him tightly with a happy smile on her face. "It's okay Pippin, we still love you." She said, her laughter dying down to a giggle.
Sam and Frodo were walking together; Frodo had been acting strange the whole way. "Mister Frodo? Are you alright?" Samwise asked caringly.
Frodo nodded. "I think so." He said, and looked over his shoulder back at Phi and company. "I just don't know about this Phi girl."
Sam cocked his head with curiosity. "What do you mean, Mister Frodo?" he questioned with concern. "She seems nice enough."
He shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. I just guess I feel that she's replacing Gandalf, I suppose."
"Oh, I see." Sam said, realizing he didn't really want to talk about it.
Legolas and Vix had been walking in complete silence. They both knew they were thinking of the same thing: how Vixilaesia had known about the Fellowship of the Ring. He knew that her father had probably told her; he was the head of the meeting when they formed the fellowship. But why hadn't she asked him anything about it before?
They both started speaking at the same time.
"You go first." Vixilaesia said quickly.
Legolas only gave a hand gesture for her to continue. "Ladies first."
"Like I said, you go first." She said, grinning. He chuckled softly, knowing she was only playing.
Legolas looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Vixilaesia, how come you have never told me of the Fellowship?"
She knew what he meant, although he hadn't explained it all the way. "How come you have never told me?"
He lowered his eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry Vix." He said softly. "I should have told you; there was really no harm in it."
She smiled at him. "It's really all right, Legolas." She assured. She was silent for a while, but then looked at him excitedly. "How about from now on, we keep no secrets from each other?"
Legolas looked up at her, his eyes searching her flawless, beautiful face. Flawless…
He suddenly smiled. "All right Vix."
"Promise?" she held out her hand. He looked down at it and gently gripped it with his own.
"Promise."
* * *
"Can we stop now?" Pippin questioned for the fourth or fifth time within an hour.
Aragorn looked behind him and noticed that he was the only one that was keeping a steady pace. Legolas followed behind loyally, but everyone else was getting very tired. He looked at the horizon and saw the sun was beginning to set.
"Let us just get over this hill. There should be a forest on the other side. We will camp there."
Pippin sighed heavily and Merry rolled his eyes.
There was a while of silence, and Phi noticed the tension in the air. Suddenly,
"Come on you guys, don't be so sad! I think we need a song to sing!" she said. She skipped ahead of them all and then hopped around to face them. "Whaddo ya say?"
Vixilaesia smiled. "I'm in." She nudged Legolas gently.
He chuckled softly and nodded at Phi. The nymph girl energetically hopped over to Gimli, who seemed to be very annoyed with her.
"Gimli?" she said, leaning into his view. He mumbled something that she knew was a no, but Phi only smiled instead.
"Great! I'll count you in too!"
The dwarf opened his mouth to complain, but then just shut it and sighed. Which was much to the others' relief.
"Hobbits?" she turned to all of them.
Pippin, Merry and Sam nodded but Frodo didn't say anything. Phi scuttled over to him.
"Aww, come on Frodo!" she put an index finger on either corner of his mouth and pulled it into a deformed-looking smile. "Happy!" she cooed.
The others laughed, but Frodo didn't even grin. Instead he pulled his face back from her hands and looked down at the ground.
Phi looked hurt, but only for a moment. "Oi! Vix! What shall we sing?"
Vixilaesia pondered. "I don't know, you mean you wanted us to sing and you didn't have a song in mind?" she laughed slightly.
"I know!" Phi exclaimed. She took in a deep breath and started skipping. "I've got a lovely bunch of cocoanuts! Deedilee, deedilee. Here they are all standing in a row! Big ones small ones, some as big as your head!" she sang cheerily.
The others laughed; even Aragorn and Gimli cracked a smile each. Frodo however pulled his cloak hood up over his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Phi stopped walking and waited for the others to pass. "Something wrong, Frodo?" she lowered her voice, stepping next to him.
"No." he answered coldly, as if it weren't obvious.
"Hmm." Phi said, looking away from him. She pulled her hood over her head, slouched over and shoved her hands in her pockets. Sam and the other Hobbits laughed at her imitation of Frodo. She sure was a big bundle of sunshine to bring along.
Vixilaesia suddenly gasped. Everyone looked up and noticed that they were now on the top of a tall hill. They ran up to catch up with Vixilaesia and Legolas and too gasped at the scenery: beautiful forests, and a golden-red sunset hanging over the mountains in the distance. A small river twisted in front of the many green-leaved trees.
"Wow…" Vixilaesia breathed.
The wind whipped around them, blowing their hair and cloaks. Vixilaesia wished she could paint the scenery; she wanted to remember it. She would get to it some time before she went to sleep. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, but it was whipped back out by the wind.
"Let us continue." Aragorn said, and started down the hill.
Gandalf and Frodo returned into his home shortly and stood next to each other in front of the silent table. There was a while of silence where everyone realized that Gandalf had just told Frodo that he wouldn't be joining them.
"Shall we get moving?" Legolas suggested.
Gandalf nodded at him. "Gather your things that you have already brought with you. You must leave as soon as you can."
Frodo cringed. He really wasn't going.
Gimli mumbled something about finally getting a move-on, and stood up along with the others.
Vixilaesia stood up and looked at Legolas. She placed her hand on his arm and leaned over to whisper in his ear. "I have known about the fellowship of the ring for quite some time now." She said softly, and let go of him.
He looked at her in surprise as she unsheathed her dagger from the strap on her leg. She held it up, the blade glinting in the soft candlelight. Vixilaesia looked over at Legolas again, smiled, and sheathed the dagger. She swung her cloak on over her shoulders and fastened it.
She started to walk outside, then stopped and leaned in the round doorway. "Are you coming or not?" she asked with a grin.
Legolas nodded and jogged to catch up with her. Finally the two ducked, and walked out the door together.
Frodo was busy shoving some of his belongings into his small shoulder bag. This was all too familiar to him, and he disliked it with a passion.
He looked around in his cabinets for some food to bring. He was in too much of a rush; he couldn't find anything. When his fingers finally closed around an apple, he dropped it with nervousness and it landed on the floor. The apple rolled under the table and out of sight.
Frodo sighed with frustration and began to search for more food.
"Frodo." A voice said. He looked up just as the apple he dropped was gently tossed at him. Despite his nervousness, he caught the fruit. He looked up and saw Phi standing in the doorway. As soon as he realized who it was, Frodo buried himself in his packing again without muttering a 'thanks'.
Damned replacement… He was surprised at his own thoughts.
Finally, he had his cloak on and swung his bag over his shoulder. He looked up and saw that Phi was still standing there waiting for him in the doorway. Frodo walked past her, staring straight ahead of him so he wouldn't make eye contact.
Phi blinked in shock as she realized that he was ignoring her. She shrugged it off and ran outside to catch up with the others, after shutting the door.
She found her way to Pippin and Merry and stood between the two. Gandalf stood up from the tree stump he had been seated on earlier and smiled at all of them.
"Well, I guess this is it." Pippin finally said, breaking the silence.
Frodo swallowed deeply and looked down at the ground. Gandalf noticed this and sighed himself. "I won't want to keep you all waiting for too long. You never know when they will get here."
No body knew who 'they' were, but they didn't bother asking. Gandalf's guess was as good as theirs.
There was a while of silence again, but it was brought to a sudden end when Phi ran up to Gandalf and hugged him tightly around the waist. They were actually pretty close, now that Frodo thought about it.
Sam, Merry, and Pippin soon followed, practically ambushing their old friend. Gandalf chuckled slightly as well as the others, minus Frodo.
Finally, the three hobbits and the nymph were done with their goodbyes. They filed out of the yard and were waiting just outside the fence for the others. Gimli and Aragorn were saying goodbye to Gandalf, and were soon done.
Frodo approached the old wizard as soon as the others were gone. Their eyes met and Frodo immediately started tearing again. He buried his face in Gandalf's stomach as they hugged their silent goodbye.
Gandalf placed his hands on Frodo's shoulders and kneeled down and met him eye to eye. "Farewell, Frodo Baggins."
"Gandalf." The hobbit said, managing to smile through all of his tears. "I will miss you dearly." He slowly turned around and walked out to join the others. Frodo turned around and gave him a final smile before they all walked off together.
Gandalf let a solitary tear slide down his cheek that he had been holding the whole time. "And I'll miss you too, Frodo." He said softly, before walking back inside.
* * *
"…So then we heard Farmer Maggot coming, and we both ran over to a pile of bags that he kept his crops in." Merry explained to Phi.
He was telling a story of one of the many times Pippin and he had snuck into the field to steal his vegetables.
"And he and I both hop into separate bags, just as he walked by. He saw me move so he comes up and kicks the sack I'm in. Thinking fast like the smart creature that I am," (Pippin rolled his eyes at this comment) "I made a meowing noise. And he assumed it was a cat trapped in the bag."
Phi giggled, listening to his story as they walked together.
"And he works his way to all the bags, kicking all of them until he reaches Pippins. When he kicked his bag, get this: Pippin goes 'Potato'!"
Phi burst out laughing at this part in the story, and Pippin blushed deeply. Merry continued through his fits of laughter. "So we both had to drop our food, and run out of there as fast as we could. We almost got caught, but we made it out in the end." He concluded.
Pippin's face was now a beet red. Phi hugged him tightly with a happy smile on her face. "It's okay Pippin, we still love you." She said, her laughter dying down to a giggle.
Sam and Frodo were walking together; Frodo had been acting strange the whole way. "Mister Frodo? Are you alright?" Samwise asked caringly.
Frodo nodded. "I think so." He said, and looked over his shoulder back at Phi and company. "I just don't know about this Phi girl."
Sam cocked his head with curiosity. "What do you mean, Mister Frodo?" he questioned with concern. "She seems nice enough."
He shrugged. "I'm not quite sure. I just guess I feel that she's replacing Gandalf, I suppose."
"Oh, I see." Sam said, realizing he didn't really want to talk about it.
Legolas and Vix had been walking in complete silence. They both knew they were thinking of the same thing: how Vixilaesia had known about the Fellowship of the Ring. He knew that her father had probably told her; he was the head of the meeting when they formed the fellowship. But why hadn't she asked him anything about it before?
They both started speaking at the same time.
"You go first." Vixilaesia said quickly.
Legolas only gave a hand gesture for her to continue. "Ladies first."
"Like I said, you go first." She said, grinning. He chuckled softly, knowing she was only playing.
Legolas looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Vixilaesia, how come you have never told me of the Fellowship?"
She knew what he meant, although he hadn't explained it all the way. "How come you have never told me?"
He lowered his eyes to the ground. "I'm sorry Vix." He said softly. "I should have told you; there was really no harm in it."
She smiled at him. "It's really all right, Legolas." She assured. She was silent for a while, but then looked at him excitedly. "How about from now on, we keep no secrets from each other?"
Legolas looked up at her, his eyes searching her flawless, beautiful face. Flawless…
He suddenly smiled. "All right Vix."
"Promise?" she held out her hand. He looked down at it and gently gripped it with his own.
"Promise."
* * *
"Can we stop now?" Pippin questioned for the fourth or fifth time within an hour.
Aragorn looked behind him and noticed that he was the only one that was keeping a steady pace. Legolas followed behind loyally, but everyone else was getting very tired. He looked at the horizon and saw the sun was beginning to set.
"Let us just get over this hill. There should be a forest on the other side. We will camp there."
Pippin sighed heavily and Merry rolled his eyes.
There was a while of silence, and Phi noticed the tension in the air. Suddenly,
"Come on you guys, don't be so sad! I think we need a song to sing!" she said. She skipped ahead of them all and then hopped around to face them. "Whaddo ya say?"
Vixilaesia smiled. "I'm in." She nudged Legolas gently.
He chuckled softly and nodded at Phi. The nymph girl energetically hopped over to Gimli, who seemed to be very annoyed with her.
"Gimli?" she said, leaning into his view. He mumbled something that she knew was a no, but Phi only smiled instead.
"Great! I'll count you in too!"
The dwarf opened his mouth to complain, but then just shut it and sighed. Which was much to the others' relief.
"Hobbits?" she turned to all of them.
Pippin, Merry and Sam nodded but Frodo didn't say anything. Phi scuttled over to him.
"Aww, come on Frodo!" she put an index finger on either corner of his mouth and pulled it into a deformed-looking smile. "Happy!" she cooed.
The others laughed, but Frodo didn't even grin. Instead he pulled his face back from her hands and looked down at the ground.
Phi looked hurt, but only for a moment. "Oi! Vix! What shall we sing?"
Vixilaesia pondered. "I don't know, you mean you wanted us to sing and you didn't have a song in mind?" she laughed slightly.
"I know!" Phi exclaimed. She took in a deep breath and started skipping. "I've got a lovely bunch of cocoanuts! Deedilee, deedilee. Here they are all standing in a row! Big ones small ones, some as big as your head!" she sang cheerily.
The others laughed; even Aragorn and Gimli cracked a smile each. Frodo however pulled his cloak hood up over his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Phi stopped walking and waited for the others to pass. "Something wrong, Frodo?" she lowered her voice, stepping next to him.
"No." he answered coldly, as if it weren't obvious.
"Hmm." Phi said, looking away from him. She pulled her hood over her head, slouched over and shoved her hands in her pockets. Sam and the other Hobbits laughed at her imitation of Frodo. She sure was a big bundle of sunshine to bring along.
Vixilaesia suddenly gasped. Everyone looked up and noticed that they were now on the top of a tall hill. They ran up to catch up with Vixilaesia and Legolas and too gasped at the scenery: beautiful forests, and a golden-red sunset hanging over the mountains in the distance. A small river twisted in front of the many green-leaved trees.
"Wow…" Vixilaesia breathed.
The wind whipped around them, blowing their hair and cloaks. Vixilaesia wished she could paint the scenery; she wanted to remember it. She would get to it some time before she went to sleep. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear, but it was whipped back out by the wind.
"Let us continue." Aragorn said, and started down the hill.