Sorry everyone, I didn't realize this story wasn't published completely yet…one job. But here ya go, a new chapter! Whoever is still reading this my stories.

Chapter 4

Return to Edoras

When Ruby arrived at the place called Edoras she was immediately greeted by a beautiful young woman named Éowyn, and taken to a fancy room for her to wash up and change in. She was thrilled with the prospect, not realizing how grimy she truly felt until she had a moment to rinse it all away with nice clean cool water. Still this did not help to rinse away her unease and heartache after finding the book cover. She wasn't completely sure how Grima had gotten a hold of it, even after having remembered the awful black bird spies of Saruman and hearing how Hazel had lost her book. She hadn't fully put the two things together until now, or at least not their implication. Now she simply clung to the cover (placing it underneath her violin in its case where she could be assured of its safety), a piece of her sister, and a reminder of what she was fighting for.

Once she had cleaned she was offered a new elegant dress, while her old one was to be washed, and she stared at the deep navy blue color, with slight gold trim. It was more elegant than any dress she had ever seen, and slipping into it she felt something like a princess; the kind that Hazel was always reading about in her books. She smiled to herself at the thought, turning with a start when she heard a voice call out. "You look lovely." She turned to find Éowyn there smiling down at her, and she blushed in return.

"Thank you my lady. But it is you who is truly radiant." She replied, and it was true. Aside from Galadriel, and Arwen this was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in her life.

"You are sweet." Éowyn returned coming forward and taking a brush off the night stand and gently using it to go through Ruby's somewhat tangled curls, which she much appreciated. "That was one of my dresses when I was a young girl. I'm glad to see it fits"

"Perfectly my lady." Ruby assured her smiling.

"You and your sister must be very brave to have accompanied your friends on such a dangerous quest." She commented, her tone sounding the tiniest bit curious.

"I suppose so, though it didn't really feel like such an act of bravery at the time. We just wanted to help." Ruby explained the best she could, blushing at the notion of her being brave.

"I know what you mean." She agreed, putting the brush back on the nightstand and smiling down at the young Hobbit. "But I still think it was a very courageous thing to do. Come now, there is to be a celebration this afternoon celebrating our recent victory, and they will all be waiting for us." With that she led Ruby out into a large Golden Hall, where a very large crowd had already gathered. Éowyn walked straight to the front of everyone, bowing before Théoden and placing a cup into his hands.

"Tonight we remember those who gave their blood to defend this country. Hail the victorious dead!" He announced to the crowd, and they all let out a cheer, "Hail!" before turning to talk to one another. Ruby immediately caught sight of Legolas and Gimli in the crowd, easily hearing them and their group over the din as they passed around mugs of beer.

"No pauses. No spills." Éomer told Legolas handing him a mug.

"And no regurgitation." Gimli added for good measure, and Legolas looked back and forth between the two of them.

"So it's a drinking game?" He asked, and all the men around him raised their mugs and cried out in agreement.

"Last one standing wins." Gimli explained, smiling mischievously quite sure that the victory was all his.

"What'll we drink to? Let's drink to victory! To victory!" The Men called out, and with that they all started to drink, Gimli gulping down his mug while Legolas carefully started to drink his own. Ruby just smiled and shook her head, before turning to follow after Éowyn while she scanned the crowd for her two best friends.

"Westu Aragorn hal." Éowyn said as she approached Aragorn and placed a cup in his hands. He drank some and nodded to her before turning to walk away. She stared after him as her uncle the King approached the two from behind.

"I am happy for you. He is an honorable man." Théoden told his niece, and she turned to smile at him.

"You are both honorable men." She told him, and Ruby hurried to nod in agreement for even though she had only met the King recently and had never spoken to him personally before, she knew this much.

"It was not Théoden of Rohan who led our people to victory." He said simply, causing both girls to look at him in confusion. "Ah, don't listen to me. You are young, and tonight is for you." He told her, and she seemed to relax again if only slightly.

Meanwhile the drinking competition continued; Gimli gulping down another mug of beer, as Legolas just put down his before they both received another. "Here, here. It's the Dwarves that go swimming with little, hairy women." Gimli cried giving out a loud belch as he did so, obviously drunk.

"I feel something…a slight tingle in my fingers. I think it's affecting me." Legolas said seeming confused and perhaps the tiniest bit concerned.

"What did I say? He can't hold his liquor." Gimli guffawed, just before his eyes crossed and he fell off the back of his chair and onto the floor.

"Game over." Legolas said simply, smiling in triumph.

Finally Ruby spotted Merry and Pippin, just where she should have known they would be dancing and singing on top of one of the tables. She immediately rushed over to join them, laughing with delight to hear their happy voices once again joined in song.

"Oh you can search far and wide, You can drink the whole town dry, But you'll never find a beer so brown, As the one we drink in our hometown. You can drink your fancy ales, You can drink'em by the flagon, But the only brew for the brave and true…" They sang out, until Pippin stopped dancing, and Ruby turned to see Gandalf looking straight at him.

"Pippin!" Merry called to him, instantly catching his attention and restoring his concentration at the 'task' at hand.

"But the only brew for the brave and true, comes from The Green Dragon!" The duo finished, and both Merry and Pippin began to drink as fast as they could while the crowd cheered around them.

"Thank you! I win!" Merry declared, grinning victoriously.

"Thank you!" Pippin said good naturedly accepting his defeat, as Ruby laughed as she reached to pull out her violin (which of course was still held in its case strapped to her back, as if she would leave it behind during such a celebration) and she began to play fast paced tunes as the crowd began to gather and dance around her smiling appreciatively at the music. Gandalf laughed and clapped his hand at all of their antics, taking advantage of the brief moment of reprieve and enjoyment.

"No news of Frodo?" Aragorn asked coming to stand beside him.

"No word. Nothing." Gandalf said simply, his expression falling slightly.

"We have time. Every day, Frodo moves closer to Mordor." Aragorn assured him, his voice sounding somehow certain.

"Do we know that?" Gandalf asked turning to face him more fully.

"What does your heart tell you?" Aragorn asked in return his voice calm and even.

"That Frodo is alive. Yes. Yes, he's alive." Gandalf replied, after taking a moment to think, and he smiled at the comforting thought.

Ruby was still fiddling away when suddenly she found herself being grabbed from behind, wrapped in someone's arms and being twirled around on the dance floor. "Pippin!" She squealed with delight, laughing at his adorable spontaneity and the mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he pulled her close and continued to dance.

"Come on Ruby let's show them how you really shine." He told her, spinning her round and she laughed in response. It was the kind of dances she'd often seen other couples including Sam and Rosie, and even Frodo and Hazel do back in the Shire. The kind she'd always wished Merry would ask her for back when she'd had a crush on him. But dancing with Pippin now, gazing into his adorable green eyes, taking in his soft smile was more wonderful than she had ever dreamed a dance with Merry could be.

Finally the two came to a stop, and the whole hall applauded them especially when Ruby reached up and planted a quick kiss on his cheek before he stole one on her lips. "Let's go." He whispered to her, and smiling she agreed, as he led her outside on to a private veranda that let them see the lovely landscape.

"It's beautiful." She breathed, and the two of them held hands silently enjoying each other's company for a while.

"Do you miss it Ruby? The Shire I mean?" Pippin asked her abruptly breaking the comfortable silence that had surrounded them.

"Of course. Don't you?" She returned.

"Yep. Lots. What do you miss most?" He continued his questioning.

"Lots of things." She said shrugging. "Listening to my mother singing as she cooked or cleaned the house, taking long walks with Hazel, day dreaming as I soak my feet in the stream, or played my violin as I heard it rush by. Things like that."

"Do you want to go back?" He asked his voice starting to sound the tiniest bit hesitant, something that alarmed her greatly.

"Yes, and I know we will Pip. Someday. Once everything and everyone we love is safe." She tried to assure him, but he just shook his head.

"Well yeah, but what about now? Would you want to go home now?" He asked the hesitation turning to an earnestness that frightened her even more.

"What are you talking about Pippin?" She asked trying to hide her suspicion.

"Aragorn said he could arrange for a rider to take you back to the Shire in the morning. I asked him about it while you were changing." He confessed guiltily.

"Why on Earth would you do a thing like that?" She cried completely astonished and hurt by his actions.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." He explained. "And with the oncoming war I don't know if I can keep myself safe, let alone you. I can't lose you Ruby, I just can't."

"So you would send me away instead? Let me go back home to be driven absolutely mad worrying about you! It's bad enough being separated from Hazel, not knowing where she is or how she's doing, but if I were to be separated from you…" She trailed off not even able to finish the sentence. "What happened to getting through this together?"

"You saw what happened to Saruman!" He protested, and she shuddered knowing that his was just another death that would probably remain in her nightmares forever, just like Boromir's. "You heard what happened to the people at Helm's Deep! Do you really want to see more of that? More death and horror."

"If it means staying with you, then yes!" She practically screeched, desperate to make him see reason. "Pippin I know you're just trying to protect me, but there's no way I'm going back to the Shire without you. Besides I have to stay, I have to do whatever I can do to help my sister. You know that."

"But Ruby, there's nothing more you can do. You're no warrior. You can't fight. You'd only be a hindrance. So why stay?" He argued and she felt like she'd been stabbed with a knife.

"Merry wouldn't try to send me away." She snarled, wanting to give him the tiniest taste of the pain he had just inflicted upon her. And to her surprise it worked: a little too well. He looked exactly as if she had just slapped him hard across the face, leaving a big red welt and for a second she desperately wanted to apologize, let him know she had never thought her words could really hurt him that much, when his face hardened like ice and she saw the same look of loathing that he had once greeted her with every time they met back in the Shire.

"Perhaps you chose the wrong Hobbit then." He said coldly. "Perhaps you would have been better off with him." She gasped, feeling as if he'd just given her a sucker punch right in the stomach. But she knew she deserved it. After all she was the one to bring Merry up in the first place, though she'd had no idea it would elicit this reaction. At that moment Pippin turned and began to stomp away.

"Pippin!" She cried, reaching out to stop him but he just shoved her hand away.

"No, Ruby. Why don't you just go cry to your Merry?" He snapped.

"Maybe I will!" She retorted angrily before slapping her hand over her mouth and screaming at herself in horror and fury. What had she done! Pippin didn't respond but just stormed his way back inside and Ruby allowed herself to slip to the ground and sob into her hands until the tears would no longer come.

Well…I wasn't expecting to give you a chapter full or tears…heheh…

But I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review!