Short I know. And I am completely and utterly sorry that I haven't had a chance to get to writing this. I've just started a new job and it's been quite busy and I haven't had many hours in which to write. I'm usually working, sleeping or running around doing things for my family. I will be starting again with the next week or two and will hopefully have more time to write between classes.

Now I know that this chapter is short, but it does have meaning to it. I want to hear from everyone how they think the story is moving along. Reviews or PMs work. Thank you for staying with me my loyal readers. *bows* Read and Enjoy another chapter of Lucy's adventures.

Mountainous Tasks

"Gandalf, the Hobbits will freeze if we don't get off of this mountain!" Lucy called from the back of the group. The winds were howling around them as each member of the Fellowship tried to force their way through the snow. "Gandalf can't you hear me?"

Still the elderly man did not turn to her, nor did he acknowledge that she had spoken. Lucy sped up and tapped Aragorn on the shoulder. "What is it Lucy?" the ranger asked, slowing down a little so that he could better hear her.

"I need to speak to Gandalf, but he can't hear me."

Aragorn was silent a moment as he repositioned his hold on Sam and Frodo. The four Hobbits were being buried under the snow so Boromir and Aragorn had decided to hold them up instead. Gandalf took the lead with Gimli behind him leading Bill the pony, followed by Boromir with Pippin and Merry, Aragorn with Frodo and Sam, Lucy in the back and Legolas walking on top of the snow next to Gandalf. It was very slow going but the organization worked well enough. "I have an idea, give me but a moment."

Lucy nodded and slowed her steps. Winter in England was this bad. Narnia during its 100 years of snow had never had a blizzard and magic helped prevent the villages from blizzards during the Golden Age. The weather might have been a bit more bearable had she not left her cloak when she last saw Glorfindel. Seeing a shadow pass over her Lucy looked upwards. Legolas knelt on the snow next to her with a hand out. "I heard that you needed a hand. May I offer mine?"

Lucy smiled and accepted the offer. Legolas swung the girl into his arms, sinking only the tiniest bit into the snow. "I need to speak with Gandalf. Could you bring me to him?" Legolas nodded and began walking to the Wizard. "Gandalf! Gandalf we must turn back!"

"Child we cannot turn back." Gandalf called to her over the winds when he heard her voice. Legolas was quick to reach the front of the line.

"Then you may continue forward. There is dark magic in the air Gandalf, dark magic that is similar to yours. If you continue forward I WILL have the rest of the Fellowship turn around." Gandalf glanced at Lucy and saw the way her chin was set and her eyes narrowed. "Please Gandalf, come with us."

Hesitating only a moment Gandalf stopped to turn around and look at the rest of his friends. Everyone was freezing, Gimli looked as though the snow alone would kill him from being buried alive, Lucy was without much protection from the wind and snow and Gandalf himself was quiet cold. Legolas was the only one not feeling the effects of their mountainous journey. "We turn back!" the air echoed with Gandalf's voice and everyone heaved a sigh of relief. The line switched directions.

"Go ahead and bring me back to where I was Legolas."

"I believe I'll carry you awhile longer."

"I'll be fine Legolas. Put me down."

Legolas looked down at Lucy, his eyes flashed with something akin to vulnerability. "I do not wish for you to be buried. You are freezing cold, colder than the rest of us and you look as though the snow alone with swallow you whole. Please my Queen, allow me to hold you for just a while longer."

Opening her mouth a few times but closing it seconds later Lucy swallowed heavily. "Alright, but not for a moment longer."

Legolas smiled, "sleep Lucy and your time in my arms will be gone before you even realize it." Lucy did as told and slowly fell into a deep sleep. 'I wonder where her cloak went. I should have noticed it missing before I agreed to come onto this mountain.' Legolas thought as he continued to stare at Lucy's prone figure. Quickly taking his cloak off; careful of the girl in his arms; Legolas placed it around her as a blanket.

The next time that Lucy awoke she was warm on her bedroll with a cloak around her shoulders. Next to her slept the Hobbits and Gimli and on her other side was a fire where the others slept. One person was awake, staring into the flames. "Boromir, what ails you?"

Boromir's body jerked forward in surprise. "Lucy what are you doing up?"

"Trying to have a conversation with you. But I could always wake another person to do the job. I believe Aragorn or Pippin would be the best choices."

"Aragorn would listen were I to speak. That is where he would not be needed for I would not speak. As for the youngling, well, I think he would talk more than I. and most of that talking would be complaining that he was awoken." Boromir chuckled at the picture he had formed in his mind.

"Then speak to me." Lucy stood and walked to Boromir's side. Careful of the too long cloak she sat down facing the man. "I will always listen, as all of you did for me."

Boromir took a deep breath. "I worry about my brother Faramir. He and my father do not get along well and he has more than likely taken over my duties while I am away. I wish so much to leave and find him. To hold him in my arms and make sure that he is safe. Then after all of this, lock him away in the castle and not let him out again for a week, nay longer than that." Boromir tossed another log into the fire and watched as it crackled. Lucy used this moment of silence to look around. They were still on the mountain, but farther down. The weather had died down as well. Boromir's voice brought Lucy's eyes back to his. "I love my father but I do not get along well with him. He has become power hungry and sadly, because of his influence, I have as well." Boromir's eyes flicked to Aragorn's sleeping form briefly.

"you love your family very much Boromir. What of your mother, what is she like?"

"She was the most beautiful woman. Of course my father would have no less than that for his bride. She was smart, caring and fun going as well. I remember her always sneaking Faramir and me out of the castle late at night to go and play in the river. Or we would climb the mountain the castle is made into."

"How… how did she die?" Boromir's words reflected too well the words of many others who had lost loved ones. Vinick, a centaur in Narnia, had lost two of her brothers and her son during the raid on Miraz's castle. Lucy and Trufflehunter where the only two that Vinic would allow to speak to her for the first week after her loss. After that, she only talked to others about the final battle. Lucy never saw her again after that; she was killed by Miraz's second-in-command.

"She died by my father's hand. He said that she had committed treason and sentenced her to death."

"What was it he claimed that she did!?" Lucy quickly looked around to make sure her raised voice hadn't woken anyone. "What could she possibly have done to have her husband kill her?"

"She tried to find the Heir of the Gondorian throne."

Lucy's eyes widened. "No wonder you despise Aragorn so much." Boromir nodded slowly and his eyes once again briefly focused on Aragorn. "You have to know that it isn't his fault though."

"Isn't it? Had he not been the one she was looking for my mother would still be alive."

"And if it weren't for my being born Edmund never would have become the person he had been. He wouldn't have betrayed our family." Lucy wiped a few tears away and stood up. "I would expect better from you Boromir. Do not blame others for something they cannot control."

"Lucy I…"

"Don't," Lucy hissed. "Don't bother with empty apologies. Until you finally get it through that thick skull of yours that not everyone can control what happens involving them I will not speak with you." Lucy marched back to her bedroll and went back to sleep.

An hour passed before Boromir looked away from her. "You should not have said that to her." A voice spoke somewhere to Boromir's left. "She has lost a lot of people and to hear someone blame their own loss on another… she would not have taken well to it no matter who she heard it from."

"If you were awake this whole time you could have said something or have made your presence known." Boromir growled out and tossed another log onto the dying flames. "I thought that Royalty was taught better than to act like common plebeians."

"I was, but that doesn't change that it's not really ease dropping if the two of you hadn't bothered to check if everyone was asleep. Just remember that the girl you spoke to is hurt and has had more heart break that many of us here… not all, but many." There was a pause in conversation as a sigh was released. "And just because I am a prince does not mean I never misbehaved. You must have when you were a child, as did your brother, and both of you are of noble blood."

"Good-night Legolas!"

"Good-night Boromir."

I hope to have the next chapter up and running by Feb 13th. Which is a friend's birthday and I will be adding a birthday present up for her as well. So you should have your next chapter by then if not sooner. Thank you again avid readers for staying with me.