Brief synopsis from the last chapter: Last time, Legolas discovered Emily's age, everyone finally got to have a bath and Emily was chased through the forest by wargs . . . or was she?
Once Pippin finished his tale, it was time for sleep. Even though the thought that there were wargs in the woods was enough to make them wary of sleep, they were too tired to do otherwise. Pippin and Aragorn agreed to take the first watch, Gandalf and Legolas the second, and Gimli and Boromir the third. Once the watches were settled, those who were not on the current watch prepared for sleep. Admittedly, that nights preparations were slightly different that they had been before as everyone slept that night with their weapons unsheathed beside them.
Even once the others were laid down to attempt to sleep, Emily continued to sit where Aragorn had led her earlier. She knew that there was no way she would sleep that night. Even though they were taking extra precautions, they didn't truly believe that there was something out there. Besides, if she were to close her eye, it would only result in nightmares and with tensions already so high the last thing she wanted to do was cry out in her sleep and startle them.
She didn't know how long she had sat there, staring into the fire when she heard Aragorn speak softly from beside her.
"You should rest," he said. "I understand your hesitance, however we will keep watch." He didn't look at her as he was concentrated on throwing another log on the fire to discourage and wargs that might be about from entering camp.
"How can I sleep knowing that they're out there?" she asked pulling her cloak more tightly around her.
"By remembering that if they wanted to attack they would probably have already done it," he replied. "If you did encounter wargs it was most likely a scouting party. Most of them will have returned to the main pack and are most likely gone now. They will desire the full strength of the pack to attack as many as we are. As Legolas said, the main pack was leagues away. It will take time for them to cover that distance. Wargs are fast but they cannot fly."
"So they probably won't come back tonight?" she asked in a small desperate voice.
"Most likely they will not," Aragorn replied. "The darkness is their ally. In the time it would take for them to reunite with the pack and return here, dawn will have come. I would wager instead that they will track us and wait until nightfall tomorrow."
"By then we should be inside Moria, right?" Emily asked hopeful that she might be spared an encounter with the wargs. In the dark, she missed the emotion that flashed through Aragorn's eyes as he said his next words: words that he knew were most likely untrue even as he spoke them.
"Yes," he said. "We should be safe behind the walls of Moria before nightfall tomorrow." While he didn't doubt that they would reach the walls before nightfall, it was the word "safe" that his conscience objected to. He doubted that "safe" and "Moria" belonged in the same sentence. But if that was what she needed to hear it was what he would tell her. And it wasn't a true lie. They would be safe from the wargs.
"Are you sure?" Emily asked needing the reassurance that things would work out fine this time.
"No," Aragorn replied with a small bitter laugh. "I am sure of nothing. All of this is speculation. It is possible that I am wrong about all of my predictions. Would that I had the gift of Lord Elrond, but I do not. I can only predict these things based on past knowledge, not with any kind of certainty."
"Oh," she said feeling strangely let down. Somehow she had expected him to tell her that things would be fine, not tell her the truth. "Well, I suppose that is better than nothing, isn't it?"
"Yes," he replied with a smile. "And I have much past experience to call on. And the one thing that experience tells me for certain is that you should get some sleep."
"Much past experience, eh?" she asked, her eyes lighting with mischief and her tone light for the first time since she had returned from her bath. "You can't be over forty. That's not even twice my age and I wouldn't claim to have "much past experience" about anything."
Aragorn smiled at the change in her and at the fact that she had given him a clue to the puzzle. She was over twenty. How much over he still did not know but he at least had a starting place now. "If that is what you believe," Aragorn said mysteriously, moderately flattered that she did not think him older that forty.
"Really?" she said incredulously. His tone had sparked her interest and now she wondered just how old the man was. "How old are you anyway?" She heard his quiet chuckle as he turned to rejoin Pippin where they were keeping watch.
"Sleep well, Emily," he said laughter present in his voice. She shook her head as she laid down on one of the spare bedrolls. She recognized a dismissal when she heard one and realized that she would get no more answers from him in the dark. But she did vow to herself that she would find out his age. If he wouldn't tell her, she was sure that someone else would. It was with that final thought that she drifted into a fitful sleep.
"Do you really think they won't attack tonight, Strider?" Pippin asked his voice nearly strangled by fear. He had seen eyes reflecting firelight from the dark and knew that there were at least a few wargs still there. Or at least he believed that he had seen them. He didn't think that he had imagined them.
"I do not know, Pippin," Aragorn sighed wearily. He understood their fear. For Emily this was the first danger she had faced and Pippin . . . he was young as well and even though he had seen the Nazgûl, their malice had not been directed at him but rather at Frodo. Even so, he was having difficulty trying to assuage their fears when they were fully justified. The wargs would kill them without a second thought and they needed to remember that but they also needed to be able to function and they would be unable to do so if they were paralyzed by fear.
"We will need to be prepared if they attempt a surprise attack," Aragorn said. Pippin nodded and the two of them continued their silent vigil. Each occasionally seeing things that may have been the reflections of firelight from the eyes of wolves or a trick of the eyes. Even once their watch was done, they could not get the images of those eyes out of their minds. What sleep they did get was fitful. In fact, no one slept soundly that night.
ooOO88OOoo
The next day dawned bright and cold and both the man and the dwarf were glad that the final watch was over. It had not been a pleasant third of a night. Gimli had been loath to speak to Boromir for fear that whatever he said would be relayed to Emily and Boromir, though he had wanted to explain his recent actions to the dwarf had refrained because he did not want the conversation to be overheard and his work ruined. With the two of them both unwilling to speak to the other, the night had dragged and it was not for the wargs alone that the two of them were glad to finally see the rosy fingers of dawn tint the sky.
It was with more caution that normal that they awoke their companions. Haste would be necessary if they were to make the gates of Moria that day and they could not afford to waste time tending a wound caused by a startled companion. As Boromir reached out to wake Emily, knowing that she took the most time to be prepared to move out, she rolled suddenly and looked up at him with sad, tired brown eyes.
"I'm awake," she said softly.
"Did you not sleep?" Boromir asked, his tone sharper than he meant it to be. She may be an elf, but even they could not go without sleep entirely and today would be a hard march, as would their marches as they passed through the mines.
"I slept some," she defended her anger rising to meet his partially due to her sleep deprabation and partially due to the fact that she did not like his condescending attitude. He pulled back at her tone, surprised that she would snap at him.
"I apologize for being concerned for your well being," he said with a sarcastic half bow his eyes never leaving hers. "But I am sure that you are capable of looking after yourself. And your decision not to sleep will in no way affect your ability to navigate the treacherous paths of Moria."
His words struck a chord with Emily and she felt her anger deflate as suddenly as it had risen. "I'm sorry," she said looking away in her embarrassment at her behavior. Even though he hadn't said it in as many words, she knew that she had just hurt his feelings. She wanted to kick herself. He was just beginning to tolerate her and she had to go and run her mouth.
"I didn't sleep well," she explained even though she knew that it was a weak explanation since he was being mostly pleasant and had actually been on watch for a third of the night. But she hoped that he would accept it until she could find a better way to make up for it.
"No," he said, his eyes softening even though she did not see it. "I suppose you did not. Fear does not make a good bedfellow and it was nearly a tangible thing here last night. I will wager that many harsh words that are not truly meant will be said before the day is out." He was impressed that she would deign to apologize, especially to him. He got the impression that despite her youth she was a proud woman. It made her apology, weak as it was, mean more to him: namely that she may start to slip up soon since she now had at least some regard for him . . . if there was anything for her to slip up and reveal, that is.
Their conversation was broken by a shout of surprise from the direction of the pool. Climbing quickly to her feet and following Boromir—who was already racing towards the sound with his sword drawn—she found the other fellowship members standing in a circle staring at the ground. In the middle of the circle, there was a single giant paw print.
Emily felt the blood drain from her face as she saw it. The print was easily bigger than her hand with all the fingers spread out. Her brain did a quick extrapolation about how big something would have to be to have feet that large and still be proportional. She felt as though her face had gone numb and all she could hear was a ringing in her ears. She felt herself begin to sway slightly until a hand grasped her shoulder and steadied her.
"Are you alright?" she heard Legolas ask from what seemed like miles away. She looked at him and swallowed a couple of times. He saw her lack of color and the dazed look in her eyes and wondered if she was going to faint. She didn't seem like the type of woman who fainted, but these were not the circumstances she generally would have found herself in, or so he thought being unfamiliar with the world she had come from.
"That . . . and me . . . and. . . together," she gasped out. She couldn't manage to get her mind to form the coherent string of words that would show her disbelief that she and something that big had been in the woods together with it chasing her. And that there were more of them.
"I . . . I think I need to sit down," she managed to get out before her knees gave out. Legolas's hand on her arm prevented her from falling and allowed him to ease her into a sitting position on the ground. She placed her head in her hands and closed her eyes breathing deeply through her nose and attempting to convince herself that it didn't matter that they had been in the same space at the same time. It hadn't eaten her and tonight the giant wolves would no longer be an issue.
"Emily?" Aragorn said from nearby. She lifted her head and opened her eyes to see that he was kneeling in front of her. His grey eyes were gentle, but there was also another emotion there that she couldn't place. It looked almost like regret.
"I know that this is difficult for you to absorb," he said. "And I apologize if our disbelief last night made it more difficult, but I'm afraid that we do not have time for hysterics at the moment if we wish to reach the walls of Moria before nightfall. I need you to be strong, can you do that?"
He watched as the fear in her eyes faded to determination. And waited for her nod before he smiled and said, "Good girl." He was unsure what had caused her to decide to do as he asked, nor did he intend to ask her for clarification. It was enough that she was going to do it. If he had bothered to ask, however, she would have told him that she would do whatever was necessary to avoid coming face to fang with those massive animals. If that meant repressing her fear, she would do it. If it meant sprinting the last miles to the gates of Moria, she would do that too, even if it killed her.
After they found the paw print, the company sprang into high gear and packed camp in record time. This was only delayed by the fact that they had to divide up the supplies that Bill the pony had carried. Sam was beside himself when he realized that they were going to turn the pony lose on his own in the wild, but after many reassurances from Aragorn and Gandalf that the wargs would follow them and leave the pony in peace and more kind words from Frodo, Sam had consented to allow him to be released with many tears.
Emily's heart went out to the hobbit. Even if he had been a little suspicious of her, it was difficult for her to watch him give up what could almost be described as a pet. She wanted to tell him that Bill would be fine, but she couldn't remember what had happened to him and couldn't bring herself to lie to him, especially since she didn't expect that he would appreciate her sympathy. So she occupied herself instead with loading one of the pony's bags with the supplies that she was told they needed to bring and making sure that it was balanced enough that she would be able to carry it.
Once that task was done, the fellowship set off for the final march to Moria. Where the day before, they had strolled with a will but still at an easy pace, today there was no ease and no complaint about the speed at which Gandalf lead them on. Instead, everyone was determined to keep the pace even with the added weight they had taken from the pony. This led to there being less conversation, and little or no humor as they bent all of their will on their destination.
Despite these difficulties, there was still time for contemplation and all of them were wondering the same thing: why had they not heard the wargs when they were so near to the campsite. Try as they might, none of them could discern the answer to that question. The question was one that seriously bothered Legolas—who prided himself on his superior senses. It also raised serious doubts in the minds of Boromir and Gimli as to if Emily was truly evil.
Wargs had long been known as the allies of evil, especially in their frequent alliances with orcs. If Emily were evil, then she would have been on the same side as the wargs and would never have run from them, nor raised the alarm once she arrived at camp. Even though it was possible that her reaction to both the wargs in the dark and the footprint this morning could have been acts, at this point there were too many instances where she would have had to be acting—and doing it well—for that to be the likely explanation.
This realization caused them both to begin to question whether they truly wanted to enter Moria. Even Gimli felt his faith in the correctness of the path shaken. He remembered that it had been more than five years since he had heard from his cousin Balin who had gone to attempt to retake Moria. While it was true that dwarves lived longer lives than men, five years was still a long time during which to receive no correspondence, especially with the forest road being safer, even factoring in the toll the Beornings exacted to use it. He was beginning to fear that his cousin may be among the living no longer. If that proved to be the case, he was prepared to reconsider his position on Emily, and perhaps even offer her an apology for his error . . . perhaps.
ooOO88OOoo
Night was just beginning to creep into the eastern sky when Gandalf located the remains of the Gate Stream that used to flow from the Gates of Moria. Now all that was left for them to do was follow the stream bed to the gates and hope they could find the doors before night fell in earnest. In their haste, they had made no attempt to cover their trial, though with them being hunted by wargs, which primarily tracked by scent, any attempt to mask themselves would have in vain. They had placed their hope in speed rather than stealth.
With speed as their objective, they were thoroughly crushed as they climbed the stairs that should have placed them on the path that led to the gates of Moria only to find that their path was blocked by water. Emily's eyes widened as she took in the pool. She didn't remember the pool in front of the doors being that big, or taking up that much of the land near the door. She also hadn't expected it to smell, or look near as stagnant as it was.
"We now know what happened to the Gate Stream," Gandalf said with a sigh. "Now we must find a way around the water."
"We could just swim it," Gimli suggested leaning down to look at the water more closely.
"And wet all our supplies?" Boromir asked sarcastically. "Nay, there must be another way around."
"Wet supplies would be the least of our worries," Frodo said with a wry smile. "Hobbits, as a rule, do not swim. Other than Merry and myself, I don't believe that the others are capable. Unless one of you would like to swim Sam and Pippin across, swimming is not an option."
"Even though I can swim," Merry said his nose wrinkled in disdain, "I would not willingly enter that fetid water."
"Nor I," agreed Legolas. The dark water in the pool reminded him too much of the dark stream that ran through Mirkwood and put any who dared to touch its water into a deep sleep. No, he would not enter it if there was another way.
"Luckily for us," Gandalf said, "there appears to be a dry route around the north side of the lake. We may have to wade or jump the water, but it appears that we can circumnavigate the lake and remain mostly dry." The others looked doubtfully at the path in places it was little wider than a single foothold. With heavy packs and few handholds, they were doubtful that it could be done in a way that allowed them to remain dry. Suddenly a howl sounded in the distance.
"The hunt has begun," Gandalf barked. "The time for consideration is passed. It is now time to move. Go!" They didn't need to be told twice. If the choice was one between a dunking in a stagnant pool or being eaten alive by wargs, they all knew what they would rather have happen. So with as much haste as could be allowed with a moderate amount of caution, they began the assault on the path. Gandalf had been right. Other than one place where the water crossed the path that was too wide for all but Aragorn and Legolas to jump, they were able to stay dry. And there the water was only ankle deep on the hobbits, though they did grumble a bit at having to put their feet in the water.
Emily found herself hoping that the little ripples caused by them stepping into the shallows would not be enough to alert the Watcher to their presence more than worrying about getting her feet wet. She didn't know much about it, except that it had been roused by the tossing of stones into the water. She also knew that it was something that she wanted to avoid if at all possible.
Throughout their travel around the pool, the howls had been getting closer and growing in number. But it was when they finally reached the wide patch of dry earth that was next to the walls of Moria themselves and Gandalf and Gimli had begun trying to locate the gates that the first warg appeared at the top of the stairs they had just so recently stood on themselves.
For the first time since her vision had equalized and stopped causing her to trip over things, Emily found herself cursing her improved sight. It showed her, in far greater detail than she wanted, exactly what had been in the woods with her the night before. If she hadn't been so terrified by the sight, she would have laughed at the irony of the situation: despite all the praise that the new movies had received, they had gotten one detail wrong that the old animated version of The Hobbit had gotten right. The wargs did not look like as much like giant hyenas, but rather wolves the size of polar bears.
"Ummm, guys," Emily said. "I hate to rush you, but we have company." Gimli and Gandalf did not reply to her statement but ignored her in favor of attempting to locate the door that would be their salvation. The rest of the fellowship however looked up at her call and saw the warg. The hobbits, like Emily had never seen a warg before, though they had heard about them from Bilbo. But hearing about something and seeing it firsthand were two totally different things. In their hearts, they had always believed that Bilbo had exaggerated the size of wargs for effect, now they thought that he may have shrunk them.
"Come," Aragorn said drawing his sword as the first of the wargs began to travel along the dry path they had taken. It too seemed reluctant to enter the water, though it was forced to do so on occasion. "Let us buy them the time they need to find the door."
Emily glanced anxiously over her shoulder at Gimli and Gandalf who seemed to be focusing their attentions on a stretch of wall between two giant trees. She didn't remember seeing the trees, but she trusted that Gandalf knew what he was doing. If only he could find the door, they could escape. She knew the password, they wouldn't have to try to riddle it out.
She looked back towards the others and instantly wished that she hadn't. As soon as the first warg had come into range, Legolas had fired an arrow at it. She had looked just in time to see the arrow burry itself to the fletching in the eye socket of the warg, spraying blood as it fell down dead where it had stood. She hadn't expected the blood to be so red. Or for there to be so much of it. She was disgusted by the sight, but fascinated at the same time. She found herself unable to look away.
Soon her concentration was snapped away from the dead warg by the enraged howls of its pack. Rather than deter them from attacking, Legolas' slaying of the first warg had only served to cause the others to be more determined to kill them than they had been before. The bowl created by the high walls and the still water served to amplify and bounce the angry noises now emanating from the wargs into a cacophony of sound that was almost loud enough to shake the ground. Or that was how it seemed to Emily. The others did not seem to be as affected by the sound.
Somehow through the din, she heard Gandalf's exclamation of joy as he found the gate. Wanting to look at anything except the seeming endless line of wargs coming around the pool she looked at Gandalf. She almost felt her jaw drop in amazement. The gate was more beautiful than anything she had seen so far. Easily seven feet tall, it was outlined in a glowing blue-silver metal that shone brightly enough to illuminate the awed face of Gimli and the relieved smile of Gandalf.
Another yelp from behind her drew her attention once more. Another warg now lay next to the corpse of its packmate, one of Legolas' arrows protruding from the same eye of the second as its pair had from the first one. Just as he had prepared to kill the next warg, he was stopped by Aragorn's hand on his arm.
He shook his head sadly and said, "Save your arrows, my friend. I fear we will need them inside the mines more than they are needed here." Legolas nodded. He could see the logic in that. The path created a bit of a choke. Without coming through the water, they would have to come one at a time. At that rate, they could be dealt with, for a time at least.
"Frodo, Merry, Pippin, Sam," Aragorn called startling the hobbits out of staring at the approaching wargs. "Form a rear guard. If anything manages to break through, attempt to kill it before it can disturb Gandalf. We need to allow him time to think." They nodded and moved back towards Gandalf drawing their short swords. Frodo felt a stab of fear go through him as he realized that the edges of Sting were glowing but he said nothing. Once the wargs were taken care of, he would raise the issue of the orcs.
No sooner had Aragorn finished speaking than the first warg made its assault on the frontmost defenders. It was quickly slain by the combined efforts of Aragorn and Boromir, their swords working in tandem to decapitate the creature. Emily covered her mouth as she felt her stomach churn at the sound of the swords passing through flesh and bone and the fountain of blood that erupted from the severed neck. Boromir and Aragorn did not even pause to wipe the blood from their faces before they faced the next warg.
This one had seen what had happened to its packmate and was smarter. It came at them and waited for their swords to begin their descent before it stopped and pulled back so that the blades only grazed it. Before they could recover, it forced itself past them intending to attack from behind before they had a chance to turn and defend. But it had forgotten about Legolas. The elf-prince killed it easily by slitting its throat with the long curved knife that he carried the blade glittering ruby in the moonlight as he finished his grizzly task. But it was not enough, more were coming. There was no way that the three of them, warriors though they were, would be able to stop them all.
In the chaos and carnage, Emily had forgotten that Gandalf and Gimli had found the door until she heard Gandalf say, "Gimli, help the others. The password will be Elvish, like the writing above the door. I will soon have this sorted." She heard the Dwarf give a deep rumble of a laugh and then she felt him pass her as he joined the fray wielding his double bladed battle ax ferociously. She heard Gandalf yelling various things in what she assumed was Elvish in an attempt to open the door. This shook her out of the stupor that had been brought on by her shock at seeing bloodshed for the first time in her life.
"Gandalf," she called. "I know the password. It's—" Much like what had previously happened, her words stopped in her throat and no matter what she tried to do, she couldn't say that word. Knowing that that method was useless, she racked her brain for a way to get someone else to say the word. They couldn't afford to wait for someone else to think of it, already the members of the company were beginning to tire as they fought against larger foes after a hard days march all while trying to maneuver and keep their footing on the smooth stone walkway that was now slicked with blood and choked with the bodies of the fallen wargs.
Suddenly it hit her. They didn't have to know that it was the password that they were saying. All they had to do was say the word. "Hey, guys!" she yelled in an attempt to be heard over the howls and yelps of the wounded wargs and the sickening thud of metal against flesh. "I've decided that I want to learn Elvish."
"That is wonderful," Legolas called back as he dodged the teeth of a warg only to slit its throat as he had the other. He didn't even seem to notice the blood that sprayed him as it fell at his feet. "An elf unable to speak Elvish is a shame. But is now truly the appropriate time for this announcement?"
"Now's the perfect time," Emily yelled in reply. She closed her eyes as he stabbed the creature again as it made one last, pitiful attempt to bite him. She winced as she heard it yelp. Evil and giant or not, with her eyes closed it sounded just like a dog in pain. With that realization she reopened her eyes. Seeing the carnage was better than not seeing it in this case. At least that way she could remember what it was they were killing.
"In fact," she called, "I think now is the perfect time for my first lesson. How do you say "friend" in Elvish?"
"Emily," Aragorn admonished sharply. He understood why she was not assisting in the fight as she had no weapon but for her to be distracting those that were fighting was unacceptable. If anyone was injured because of this frivolous behavior he and she would at the very least have words over it.
"Just answer the question!" she snapped ignoring the warning in his tone. She understood his anger, but she was doing something for the good of them all. She didn't have time to wait for a lull in the fight . . . not if they wanted to survive the fight.
"Mellon," Gandalf, Aragorn and Legolas all yelled at the same time hoping that it would quiet her and allow them to focus on their various tasks. No sooner had the word left their mouths than there was a noise like the cracking of sheet ice and the great door split down the middle and began to swing open.
"I told you it was important," Emily called smugly as she backed towards the gates, not trusting a warg to not charge her once her back was turned. Once they realized what had happened, the defenders began backing towards the door as well, their paths encumbered by the corpses of the wargs that they had slain. They had almost reached the doors when Emily looked at Gandalf.
"You don't know how to close these door by any chance, do you?" she asked trepidation in her voice. She sincerely hoped the answer was yes because that was the only what that she could see that they could escape the wargs since through moving towards the door they had given up their bottle neck and allowed for more of them to come at once.
He shook his head. "No, but I am sure that I can manage it," he replied his voice as steady as always. His confidence astounded her. Facing down imminent death and he was no more troubled than if she had asked him if he could cook a meal for a large party.
In the end, she needn't have worried. The wargs, seeing that their prey was about to escape, made a desperate last assault. The ones that were unable to complete the journey by land must have decided that since the fastest distance between two points was a straight line their best bet would be to cut across the lake. Once they reached the middle, the Watcher entered the fray and dragged the unsuspecting wargs under to their deaths.
Now that it had been aroused, it was nowhere near finished. A myriad of tentacles shot out of the water and dragged the wargs that were on the shore into the water. This initial assault gave the fellowship members time to retreat into the safety of Moria without the bother of keeping the wargs out. The Watcher reached through the door in an attempt to grab them, but they had ascended the steps ahead of it and were out of reach. Almost as though it resented the remainder of its prey escaping—or like a moody teenager—the Watcher seized the doors of Moria and forced them shut. Even though they were now entombed in the Mines of Moria, the fellowship breathed a sigh of relief at having escaped death for the time being.
ooOO88OOoo
Well, there were are y'all. A new chapter. Sorry about the bit of gore in this one, I tried to keep it to a minimum, but sword fights are not clean things. . . unlike in the movies. Can't have a battle without a little gore. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. (I mean think about it, if you do the math on it figuring that a polar bear weights between 350 and 680 kg (770-1500lbs) and blood weight averages about 7% of body weight with a density of about 1.05 kg/L then a small polar bear has about 23.33 liters (6.15 gallons) of blood large polar bear has 45.33 liters (11.96 gallons) of blood. That's A LOT of blood to be covering the ground. In the grand scheme of things I think I really minimized the gore) (Zoology FTW)
Anyway, with that rant over, thank you to everyone who read this chapter. I would love to hear what you thought.
And a special thank you to anyone who added it to their favorites or alerts.
And Extra special thank you to:
Angel Bells: I am glad that you are enjoying this. And the next chapter is up for you now. I hope you enjoy it.
Padme4000: I'm glad that you enjoyed it! I tried to make both sides believable and sympathetic in this case and I am glad that I succeded. And even though it wasn't in the woods, I did include the warg battle I ;). I'm glad that Emily's presence is at least believable and thank you so much for the compliment. I'll see what I can do about slipping the new petname for her in . . . it might provide the perfect fuel for something I had planned. Thank you for offering up the word. Sadly, I know absolutely nothing about elvish.
Ilovelotr: I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and that Emily is beginging to redeem herself for you :) And I apologize again. Hopefully this, more timely update will help you to forgive me.
Reader-anoymous-writer: thank you for your review.
Katia0203: I am glad that you have enjoyed it so far! Hopefully this was soon enough for you :)
I'm afraid that this will have to tide y'all over at least for a week, there will be no chance of me updating before next Friday. I'll be out of town and away from my computer and the internet :( but I will have a notebook and should be able to work on the next chapter the old-fashoned way.
Stickdonkyes.
