Ok, I have been suffering from SEVERE writers block the last two weeks and it just got to a point where I was literally tearing my hair out in exasperation. Never mind the fact that Word has been screwing around and I can't spell or grammer check a darn thing, so I have been having to use ye 'ol Dictionary with paper pages, the good old fashioned book (talk about weird, I almost forgot how to use the thesaurus). Anyway, on top of that, Muse #2 struck me down YET AGAIN with another plot bunny that decided my writers block was non-existant for this new story coming up, but I'm actually liking it though it isn't very long, only a couple of chapters (very long chapters). Also I got in contact with with a fellow Fanfic writer/slash writer. I'm a little scared of our duel idea, seems we both may have a liiiiitle bit of pent up sexual tension, eep! Ok, and I really need to recommend some stories from other authors, but I'll put that in my bio just so you have to go there and see my other stories too (result of plot bunny fury)

Ok, on with the show

Disclaimer: This is an official disclaimer as things start to go rather heavily into AU from here on. I don't own anything, not Bill, not the Fellowship and DEFINATELY not the events which go according to the book. All else is mine...I think, I've still got to ask my friends' permission to use them here, and Ken...I don't know who he belongs to but you don't really get to meet him in this chapter anyway, so I won't worry.

Warning: Use of swearing, only a little bit still I have to warn you.

Summery: The company at Moria, Avon's foot is from now on a major reason for the AU events. Mel has a 7 year long wish granted, but no romance (thank God) ensues. This is actually only the first half of the full chapter I had prepared, but I was advised to split it in the middle as it got rather long.

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CHAP 9

"Maybe we should send him back, he is in no condition to continue and the way ahead is dark and treacherous. He will merely be a hindrance and time is not a luxury we can afford."

"Why don't you tell that to my face instead of my ass!" Avon's face was red with anger and he limped up to Aragorn, using his staff as an aid. "I'm well enough to fight, if that's what you mean."

The ranger sighed and looked to Gandalf for guidance, but the wizard merely showed his disapproval of Avon's wish to continue by frowning with his eyes.

"You cannot go on! Can you not see this? It is obvious and if it comes to pass that we may need to make haste, you will keep us from doing so. The last few miles have already taken their toll on you, it would be better if you return to Imladris and get treatment from Elrond, your wounds will…"

"The only thing that's stopping me from walking properly is the balance." Avon interrupted the man, "I can't even feel it anymore and there is no way I'm going all the way back there, I've come too far with this to stop now!" Avon glared fiercely at them, standing still and tall and trying to keep some of his pride intact. They had been hurrying for many hours after the wolves, or wargs as they should be called, had attacked and now that they were standing at the doors to Moria, Gandalf and Aragorn had seemingly come to an unanimous decision; he was too injured to go any further.

Yes, it hurt sometimes, but not as much as he had expected. In fact he had a suspicion that someone had slipped something into his food to dull the pain and now all he had to do was get used to the fact he was missing some small extremities on his left foot. But it was taking its time as well, he had to continually lean on his staff and could never walk as fast as the others, he definitely was slowing them down but not to the point of having to ditch him.

"But Avon, you'll get yourself killed."

"Shut it Mel. This is between me and Stridey." He glared at her as she came up to the trio; the rest of the group kept their distance and watched the "conversation" warily.

"This is between you and the whole Fellowship." She snapped back, giving him a glare of her own.

"I'm not going to ride a pack pony back to freaken Rivendell! You got it!?" He yelled, becoming impossibly angrier by the second. This decision he had made to stay with them was the most screwed around one yet. He was basically being given safety and an assured longer life on a silver platter with all the trimmings, not to mention freedom from that darn Ring. But nooo, he wanted to play strong hero and die.

"If I may say so, though I know this is not my place, I would think Bill would really appreciate the company. Not saying that ponies get lonesome but, well, there are wolves and goblins and other evil things out there and he may get hurt. And I'm not saying you are too injured to help us, but you may get left behind and I like you too much for that. And anyway, afterwards maybe we all could meet up again later and sit by the cozy fire with some tea and talk about our adventures and…"

"Sam."

"Yes Mister Frodo?"

"You're blabbing."

"Oh. Ok then, I'll stop."

With the unexpected interference of the hobbits, the tense and angry atmosphere had simply dissipated and try as hard as he might, Avon could not bring it back and was literally forced to feel happy. Yech.

"Can you see the dilemma?" Said Aragorn. "You may think yourself invincible now, but it is a four day journey to the other side of the mines and it will test you beyond your limits."

"Hmph, if Gandalf can figure out the password and get us out of here."

"Samson! He is trying as hard as he might. It is not his fault that his memory is not what it used to be."

"Gimli!" Aragorn scolded.

"I did not mean it disrespectfully of course."

"Sure, whatever. Still, we have been sitting here cooling our heels for ages now. Have you got it yet Gandalf?"

"Not yet Samson, I know I am missing something, important." The wizard stroked his beard and shook his head, pondering deeply before muttering another spell, without any effect as usual.

"I'M NOT LEAVING!" The shout made everyone jump and they all turned to see Avon in a full hand-to-hand fight with Boromir, the larger man trying his hardest to get the injured one onto the pony. Sam ran back and started soothing the frightened animal as Avon kicked and struggled against his friend, his face redder then any had ever seen it.

"Avon! Get on the damned animal!" Boromir grunted, pinning his arms to his side and hoisting him into the air. The man had tired quickly of the heaps of words and had taken things into his own hands, Avon had just played into them unexpectadly.

"No!" Avon yelled, lashing out with his feet and giving the man a good 'ol kick in the shins, but Boromir didn't let go and popped him onto the pony, still holding tight as Avon struggled and squirmed around.

"Oi mister, you're scaring poor old Bill." Sam chastised him and Avon immediately settled down, if only for the benefit of the hobbit.

"Hey Von! You're going back whether you like it or not, it's unanimous." Mel sneered at him, but he knew her way too well to fall for it. She was trying to make him angry at her so he wouldn't want to stick around, he was angry alright, but he wasn't going anywhere.

He knew he was acting like a spoilt brat. This expedition wasn't about him, it was about the Ring and Frodo, it was about protecting the little Ringbearer at all risks, and what he was doing now was totally against everything they stood for. But right now, he didn't give a flying…

"I'm NOT going!" he shouted again, the sound of his voice ricocheting off the rocks in the valley and to some eyes, making the very water of the stagnant lake ripple with the noise. But with that, Boromir gave the pony a slap and sent him off on a gallop that forced Avon to hold tight unless he fell and broke his neck. Perfect, they were getting rid of him and as all luck goes, by the time he would finally get the animal to stop they would have figured out the password and left him stranded, with no choice but to go back.

But it wasn't meant to be, as Bill cantered around some boulders, something tripped him and sent Avon flying over his head, his hand still tangled in the reins he had twisted round his wrist. He hit the ground painfully, given only a few seconds to see the looks of horror on the faces of his companions who were still by the glowing doors, before he was wrenched into the air and held dangling by his arm in space.

He had no idea what was going on and at the dizzying height he was at, he couldn't focus on anything except the squeals of terror coming from the pony above him. He was using all his energy to swing out of the way of the thrashing hoofs before they cracked his skull, but on one such swing, something caught him round the ankle and wrenched him free, snapping the reins and sending him flying through the air. He saw the rocks coming to meet him and he shut his eyes, ready for the imminent pain when his body would be dashed to pieces. But instead of hard rocks, he slammed into something soft and by the sounds of it; the soft thing was not very happy catching a 40-mile per hour 88-kilo man with its bare hands.

"Thanks Boro man." Avon wheezed, getting off the ground where they had fallen together and helping the man up himself. Boromir coughed and took the offered hand, motioning for Avon to follow quickly as he ran back to the door where Gandalf was frantically trying to figure out the password still. Avon limped as fast as he could, trying to ignore the sounds of terror behind him and the cries of grief in front, poor Sam was having a fit.

"You must do something, it'll hurt him, he will die! You have to DO something! Please Strider, PLEASE!" The little guy was basically clawing at the ranger with one hand and drawing his sword with the other, ready to charge that…thing. Avon reached the door and turned around, seeing the humongous monster for the first time in all its glory.

Its tentacles whipped through the air, not coming anywhere near them though as it was still busy with poor Bill. Then pony gave one last shriek before it disappeared from view and Avon cringed, the only thing that must of happened was that he had been devoured, and now the monster was coming for them. It shot through the water and reached them in seconds, those huge snake like things lashing out at anything and everything and Avon froze in terror, there was no way they could survive this.

"Oh for crying out…MELLON!" The doors gave a shudder and moved outwards on their own accord, opening to reveal nothing but the blackness of the inside of a mountain.

"Samson?" Gandalf looked at her in surprise as he ushered the hobbits into the mines.

"My abbreviated nickname, 'Mel', you got it? It doesn't take a genius you know to get the 'speak FRIEND and enter' part!" Mel yelled at the shocked wizard and was about to follow them all in when the monster came. Avon could only grip Mel's fingers as she was dragged out of the mines and lifted into the air, a tentacle wrapped firmly around her waist as she struggled and kicked it with every bit of strength she had. But no martial arts could help her now and all her weapons were out of her reach.

Then Gandalf gave a shout and Frodo was up there with her in seconds, dangling by one foot and screaming in terror. Mel dropped her stillness and joined him, their twin screams echoing around the valley as the whole group starting hacking at the snakelike arms, trying to get them free. Avon's heart was in his throat, if anything happened to her, if that thing…killed her, he would rather die himself then live without her. It wasn't that shallow thing people called love, he was beyond that and so was she; it was deeper, kind of like kindred spirits or some rot. But the definitions didn't matter at that moment in which Avon could only hear Mel's scream in his ears, and feel the sword in his hands as it cut into another arm, then another.

Some arrows went whistling past his head and he flinched, knowing full well that the elf knew what he was doing but at the same time wondering if he meant to scare him out of his skin just for kicks. The arrows kept on coming but stopped at the same time a shout was heard behind him. Avon turned and noticed that Legolas was on his back, hacking at a tentacle wrapped around his knees with one of his knives, but it was only for a moment when a battle cry was heard and Gimli's axe cut cleanly through the thing and freed him. In the back of his mind, past the terror and permanent anxiety engrained in there, he found a bit of humour at the fact that Gimli had dropped his vengeance on all elves, just to save to life of one.

He went back to hacking at those tentacles and noticed something, the creature was waving Mel and Frodo around like it couldn't chose which one to eat first. But when something round and golden showed it's full glory to the world, hanging out from the hobbit's neck like an invitation, it made its decision and literally dropped Mel in mid swing. She went screaming through the air and landed heavily in the shallow water near the shore, but she was fine in all other respects as she struggled to dry land and set to raining her own lot of arrows at the monsters head, trying to miss Frodo as best she could and sometimes it was a close call. Archery at moving objects was not her specialty. Aragorn waded out into the water and Avon noticed him take a deep breath before he swung his sword, they all knew that if he didn't get Frodo now, they would lose him forever.

Damn he's good, Avon though as Frodo hurtled through the air into Aragorn's waiting arms. The man shouted and Avon gave a writhing dismembered piece of 'snake-arm' a final kick before running with the rest of them into the mines, his supporting staff slipping on the wet rocks the whole way until he dived headfirst into the blackness, just as the doors collapsed and all light was gone.     

"What the fuck was that!" Avon hissed harshly after a few moments, his shouting had caused them enough trouble for one day, no need to do it in a place where the sound was more likely to travel miles through solid rock.

"I do not know, but something has crept, or been driven out of the deep waters of Moria. There are older and fouler things then Orcs in the deep places of the world." Gandalf was almost talking to himself, Avon couldn't see a darn thing and he went onto his hands and knees, feeling around so he wouldn't trip and get himself hurt again. His staff he kept firmly in one hand and as a light started to glow from the end of Gandalf's own staff, he wondered how the heck he had been able to keep a grip on it when he had been hanging 30 meters in the air. The piece of wood was actually starting to get that old and worn look to it, like it wasn't just a showpiece, like it was always being used and had a purpose, unlike him.

He had nearly got them all killed with his stupid tantrum and, as he listened to Sam's sobbing and Merry, Pippin and Frodo trying to comfort him, gave a perfectly innocent creature a gruesome ending. He should have just left when he had the chance, now he was just going to slow them all down and die anyway, something about this place didn't give him the feeling that Gimli's relatives were waiting with open arms. It was too…quiet, like a tomb. The thought made him shiver and he got up, finally given enough light to see by.

"Are you ok, Mel?" He came up behind her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She flinched a bit at the touch but he gave her back a rub and she relaxed a bit, still shivering though from cold and retained fear.

"I really thought I was going to die, it was squeezing me and I thought I was going to die. I don't want to die." She whispered, shuddering from trying to suppress her own sobs.

"Mel, I know you were afraid. Damn girl, I was terrified, I thought it was going to have you as a midnight snack." She laughed a little at his warped sense of humour, and he continued. "But you've gotta stop holding it in, why can't you just let it all out, cry a little, there's nothing embarrassing about it. I mean, I cried the first time I met Boromir, and look at me, I'm meant to be the tough full grown male here." he thumped his chest and she sighed.

"Von, it's not that I don't want to show I'm scared, or sad…I just can't. I don't know how." She paused and looked like she was about to say more when a loud sneeze erupted from her chest and she held her mouth, looking like she had just thrown her mother's engagement ring out the window. "I'm sorry." She mumbled as Aragorn came up to her a put a hand on her sopping wet shoulder.

"We need to get you dry or you will get sicker later on. Come with me, I have some dry clothing you can use for now."

"Oh. I can get dressed over there, by myself." She pointed over behind some rocks and Aragorn nodded. Avon figured he was used to this over sensitised need for privacy, just like Boromir was for himself and the ranger went back to where he had put his own pack, and Avon and Mel were left alone again.

"What do you mean, you don't know how?" he said after a moment's silence.

"I mean just that, I-don't-know-how." She hissed as Aragorn came back and she accepted the breeches, chemise, and leather vest with a slight submissive gesture of bowing her head. She had been under the pretence of being a servant way too long.

"When are you gonna talk about it?" he asked, following her to the rocks and leaning against one as she ducked behind, only her head poking out as she struggled with the wet clothes.

"When I know what I'm talking about." She said, motioning for him to turn around.

He smiled and stayed where he was. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before, like I can't see anything now anyway."

"Just give a girl a break, Von." She sighed and Avon grinned, turning around so his back was to her and he was facing the small huddled group of people, all busying themselves with something or another.

The hobbits were now seated in a circle, their pack contents strewn around them as they divided and badgered over who would carry what since they no longer had a pony to carry the excess; the terrified shrieks of the animal came rushing to his ears and he shook his head, trying to get rid of them as his eyes cast over the rest. Aragorn was conversing with the wizard, who looked even more impatient then the damned dwarf who was doing nothing but fidget and scurry about, he was excited to be in a place like "home". Boromir was acting all aloof with his usual way of projecting false security, but Legolas looked positively terrified and Avon couldn't blame him. Now that the light from Gandalf's staff had lit up quite a bit around them, he realized they actually had a flippen mountain on top of them and they weren't going to see daylight for a least 4 days, more if his foot kept playing up.

It was also about now that he realized he had claustrophobia, really bad.

Perfect. He knew Mel had it extremely full on, brought on by the fact her sisters had stuffed her in a suitcase when she was a kid just as a joke, the elf had it even worse but he was very good at hiding it, and now he had had it. No one could of planned it better, the hobbits lived in holes so they were used to it, kind of, this was Gimli's element and the three others didn't look like they could give a damn. Three claustrophobics among the most fragile grouping of people imaginable, crap.

"We're gonna die." Avon mumbled and only the elf heard, his annoyingly sensitive hearing picking up every word but not saying a thing, which made it even worse.

"Samson?" a little voice peeped as Mel came out of her hiding place, wearing quite amusing baggy pants and shirt, with a vest that looked a little too big for her. (Understatement of the year of course)

"Yes Frodo?"

"When you screamed…well, I never knew your voice could go so high, if we had known sooner we could have used it to our advantage."

"How?" Mel was confused.

"It would have scared even the Ringwraiths away." He giggled slightly but didn't manage to get out of the way of Mel's arm as it grabbed him round the neck, giving him a small noogie and making him choke on his laughter so it wouldn't echo. The previous half hour was almost completely wiped from the hobbit's mind. Avon had a distinct feeling that Mel had adopted the hobbits as a kind of substitute for kids, even if they were all older then them. They acted like kids anyway, why not treat them like it?

* * * *

"Mel? I think they're dry."

"You think?"

"Uhh, yeah."

"Ok, I'll go get changed." Mel lifted the staff, which had been propped on her shoulder for the last two days, or nights, he couldn't be sure, and lifted off the clothing that had been drying on the end before scurrying off into the darkness, away from prying eyes.

Avon smiled but didn't know what to think anymore. He was trying to be humorous and light for the sake of his sanity, but if they kept up the pace they had been travelling at for the last couple of days, he knew he wouldn't make it. His whole leg throbbed and ached as if it was still cold, and he knew his continual struggle with his balance was stripping away his energy like nothing he'd ever felt before. But he couldn't complain, he would never complain, it was all his own fault anyway, he couldn't even think about what had made him come in the first place anymore, the pain had driven that off ages ago.

Then of course, there was the Ring. The pretty little thing sometimes peeped through Frodo's clothing and glinted in the light of Gandalf's staff, teasing him like always. The voices were completely consistent now, they never stopped to even let him sleep, it was only the soft hobbit chatter that would lull him away but as soon as he woke, the voices would be back in full force. There was a difference to them now but Avon didn't know when it had changed, he couldn't even remember anymore a time when there were no voices, only the outside world and his own mind. But now, the voices were softer, a bit more pleasant and likable, he had actually given one of them a name, Ken. His voice was a bit like his uncle's, sweet and lovable while at the same time a little harsh and invasive, but he would have conversations with Avon's consciousness and they would converse about anything and everything, from how dark it was outside this time of night, to when the world would be happy again and he could go home. Home, Ken and him would talk about it sometimes and it would usually bring up the simple subject; why was he wandering around with the "Fellowship" when he could be going home right now? Avon had questioned that and Ken had dropped the subject, going back to how many Orcs they could kill together with one swipe of a sword, it made him almost hunger for their blood.

Then again, sometimes when he wasn't so tired and had a bit of sensible thought left in his head, Ken would sound loony and he would ignore him, simply not talking back while the voice continued telling him about the end of the world and all the wars they would fight. Sometimes Ken was rather annoying.

When Mel came back, dressed normally again, they settled down to sleep and she did a strange thing in Avon's mind; she didn't sleep with the hobbits like normal, instead she came over to him, laid down by his head and held his hand. It was almost foreign to him now, when had that happened? When had the touch of another person become so strange that he almost recoiled from it? It couldn't have been any more than the last few days, because he distinctly remembered liking to hug people, before the world had gone dark. When the voices didn't have a name.

The thought made him sit up straight, sweat beading his forehead and upper lip as Mel kicked off her blankets and knelt next to him, saying something that he couldn't hear as his mind whirled in confusion. What was going on? Why was the darkness starting to feel like home? Why was he talking with one of the voices?

But he knew the answer already.

"Mel, I'm losing my mind." He spoke softly and saw her smile, her hand coming up to pull a stray bit of lengthening hair out of his eyes.

"No you're not, we'll get out of here soon. Just a couple more days and…"

"No Mel, I mean it. It's been happening for a while and now…" he gritted his teeth as the pain assaulted his mind, like the Ring suddenly realized that soft words would only go so far and now real action needed to be taken. At the same time a soft yelp was heard from the far side of the group's camping area, making Gandalf raise the light in his staff again and wake up everyone else who had fallen asleep.

"Avon?" She bit her lip in worry and touched his temple, hissing as the pain in his head went through her fingers. "Christ Avon, why didn't you tell me?" She kept her hand there and brought up the other one to his other temple, pressing them hard and massaging behind his ears with her fingers. From limited medical knowledge, Avon knew there was a place behind the ears like a natural shunt, it drained excess fluids from the brain to lessen pressure and usually tension made this 'shunt' seize up, giving killer headaches. "It's the Ring, Avon. It's not to be toyed around like this and you know it."

"I didn't think it was that bad, it was just continuous, always there." He continued gritting his teeth while she worked her magic, the pain lessening until it was simply throbbing and making the world warp a bit at the corner of his vision.

"What happened to him?"

"Is he ok? I mean, he looked like he was hurting but…"

"It is ok Pippin, I think he just needs time alone."

The words drifted over to the two outlanders and Avon raised his head, still letting Mel massage it while they both tried to see what was happening over by that wall over there. It was like the whole Fellowship was crowded together, looking down at something that wasn't there anymore, but instead creeping towards him and Mel like a stealthy cat, not stealthy enough though for Avon.

"You felt it too?" He asked the shadow and it froze, crouching still for a moment before coming closer and his fair face came into view. Sometimes Avon still laughed at the fact they called him fair, but the description had practically forced its way into his own personal thesaurus until he was always using it to describe the elf, even if it sounded daggy.

"I did, and I cannot deny it any longer. The darkness and the lack of nature in this place has stripped me raw, I have been open to It's full onslaught for quite a while now, but not to this extent." He held his head in his hand and shook it from side to side, the golden hair wafting back and forth with the motion.

"Mel, can you work on him?" Avon looked up at her and she nodded, placing his hands where hers were and showing him how to keep the movements going, it wasn't as soothing as having another person do it but it gave the same relief. "Elf," he said, making Legolas look directly at him, "get ready for a famous 'Mel Massage'." He grinned slightly as Mel went round behind the elf, forcing him to sit down on his backside and lean back a bit onto her chest.

His grin became a little wider as he saw the elf gulp at his position, what made it even better was that Mel didn't know anyone else knew her secret. But then he went back into a polite smile as Legolas relaxed under the deft hands, her fingers intertwining in his side braids to get to right spots before giving up and undoing them deliberately so his hair looked crimped on either side.

Avon simply watched them, as did the others when they found out where Legolas had got to, but they didn't stay long, just looked with quiet interest before going back to their bedrolls and tried to sleep on the hard rocks. Gandalf kept his light on low glow, Avon figured he was also doing it for their sakes; the darkness was damn scary in this hole.

"Where did you learn this, Mel?" The elf sighed, slumping back further onto her with the continuing relief from the pain that had probably been there for weeks. She smiled at the fact he was calling her by her "nickname" but didn't answer straight away, instead focussing on a nerve junction at the base of his skull, which looked pretty darn painful from the way he was clenching his teeth and fisting his hands.

"My mum taught me." She said finally, moving the ministrations towards his jaw and into the ligaments on the side of his neck. Avon just sat back passively, not worried any more about what effect Legolas' look-alike features did to Mel's sanity, she was in her own personal heaven here, massaging an elf.

"She must be a fine healer." He said, tilting his head to one side to help with the massage of a certain point.

"Yeah, she was." Avon saw the look as she spoke and leaned forward, placing a hand on her knee before she tried to hide the grief again. Mel faltered a bit in the movements as she looked up at him, her eyes brimming with tears before they disappeared again; it was a darn stupid habit.

"I am sorry, I didn't know." Legolas leaned back further and tilted his head back so he looked up at her upside down.

"It's ok, it was a long time ago." She smiled sadly and forced his head forward again, focussing on those spots behind his pointed ears once more.

Dammit Mel, two years is NOT a long time. And now your father…

Avon stopped the direction his train of thought was heading, it really didn't matter what was happening in their own world right now, their old lives were basically dead and buried anyway, they weren't going back.

A hiss and then a little giggle brought him back to reality and he looked with confusion at the two seated in front of him.

"Well, now you know." Said Legolas, looking a little flushed as Mel rubbed her palms lightly over the top of his head, pulling the hair straight back from his eyes.

"Know what?" Avon asked, looking from the blushing elf to the giggly, almost teenagy girl behind him.

"I had to find out the truth about his ears…you know, the pointy bits." She giggled again and tucked her chin into her chest, trying to keep her hands steady as she slowly finished off the massage by drawing her fingers through his hair, she was smitten.

"Pointy bits?" Ok, confusion setting in.

"A fact about elves, our ears are…how can I say it, sensitive. Very sensitive." Legolas gave him 'The Look', and it hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Avon tried not to snort with suppressed laughter, his own pain was nearly gone and even the voices had died down to a whisper, he was able to feel happy again and this was no exception.

"I am not jesting, Samson was most unexpected in his movements. It caught me off guard and will not happen again, if I can raise myself from this position." Legolas looked like he had no intention of moving and Avon grinned, trust an elf to have a 'zone' in the most obvious place.

"Well, I'm finished with you and I need sleep. By the way, what happened with 'Mel'?"

"You will have to earn it back again, my ears are mine, and mine alone." He rolled forward and shook his head, his hair flopping loosely around before he looked back at her and smiled. "But I think you have already earned most of it back. Thankyou, I feel…lighter now."

"Graag gedaan." She smiled back and then added, "It means, you're welcome. It's Dutch." With that, Mel simply closed her eyes, stopped smiling and flopped backwards, falling asleep before she hit the ground. Legolas was alarmed.

"Is she hurt?" He got onto his knees and helped Avon lift her gently back to her "bed". Avon shook his head.

"She does this…thing. Her mum was a Buddhist, or into Mahikari…umm, I think it means they focus on energy or something. But anyway, she taught Mel to focus her own personal energy on a point that needs healing. It ain't no magical cure but it gives pain one hell of a kick in the ass, but it also completely drains her. She'll be out for the count for hours. Tons of people can do it where we come from, just not everybody likes it. Anyone can do it really but I personally seem to have a knack for NOT having a gift for it, with house plants I'm more like a plant-killer then life-giver. Some have it, some don't, and some are way stronger than she is, she's just outta practice." Avon finished and yawned, signifying the need for sleep and the elf nodded.

"We have people like that here as well, like Aragorn for instance. He has the…'knack' for it too." He smiled and shuffled back to his own place to probably sit and daydream all night. Avon didn't even know if the guy even slept.

* * * *

A/N: Ok, I'm changing this down from an 'R' to 'PG-13'. It's a stragedy on my behalf to recieve more reviews, not saying I'm not happy with the one(s) I'm getting now (Thanx tons Anita, I will take your advice on the mittens issue. They were just too proud. I'm very glad it won't get that cold here, but it sure feels like it from my Auzzie pov). Anyway, will post next chapter up quicker than this one, maybe in a couple of days (if I'm lucky). Also, 'Pippin The Fruit' is veeeery slowly progressing, will get the next chap for that and all my others up asap, blame #2, he's the plot bunny menace. Hee hee.

REVIEW!!! They make me write a heck of a lot faster and give me inspiration for my other stories, the ones that some people are emailing me to write faster with threats involved. lol.