A/N: Okay, last update before Hawaii… woohoo! I'm gonna be tan instead of this glow-in-the-dark thing that I've got going!

Chapter Seventeen – And I will Follow if I Can

Going downhill was so much more fun than struggling up slope after snowy slope for hours on end. Instead of having to force her breathes to stay deep and even as she struggled through huge patches of snow, Riley slipped and slid and tumbled and ran at break-neck speed down the slopes. She had to stop and wait for most of the Fellowship to catch up, but she always had company. Legolas usually followed her at a safe distance, watching with a fond expression as she amused herself with romping in the snow. Riley was having the time of her life.

She was forgetting the danger. It was easy to forget things that seemed far away, like a war that wasn't going on in your backyard. She knew it was there, of course, but it was hard to imagine that soon she would be surrounded by goblins… icky goblins who wanted to eat her… and then chased across a teeny tiny bridge by a fiery demon. Yeah, she had a little trouble with that mental image. If she ever thought about it, she just figured that she needn't worry: they would get there soon enough and she'd have to worry about it plenty then. For the time being, she was focused on wonderful glorious snow. It was so much easier to enjoy something when it wasn't trying to kill you.

At some point, Riley and Legolas ran far ahead of the rest of the Fellowship, calling behind them that they were off the find the sun….

***

"Riley…."

"Leaf, come on. Be a kid for once! Now hush." Riley peeked through a small hole in the icy wall of her fortress. She could just make out Aragorn coming round the corner… the rest of the Fellowship would take a couple of minutes. She grinned in anticipation. The Hobbits were finally able to walk for themselves, and Merry and Pippin had immediately gone back to frolicking in the snow. It was fun to watch.

Her hands were half-frozen, but that was no change. If she was going to be frozen, she might as well have fun with it. That was why, when the Fellowship rounded the corner, they found themselves being pelted with snowballs from an invisible source. Boromir was most likely the first to notice the attack, since the snowball that started it all smacked him so hard on the forehead that he fell backwards. Riley and Legolas let loose a flurry of snowballs that flew so quickly that no one had time to react before the snow exploded over them. Merry and Pippin gave wild shrieks and jumped away from the path, landing spread-eagle in the deep snow beside them.

By the time they had run out of snowballs, Riley was laughing so hard her throat was going raw. She and Legolas popped up from behind their fortress. Riley threw her hands in the air, declaring loudly, "I win!" That was before a giant, space-shuttle-size snowball (according to her when she was later retelling the story) decided to land on her head. Stunned, Riley wobbled, flailing her arms before gravity finally won and she fell over. As she lay on the ground, she was vaguely aware of quite a few people laughing uproariously, but she wasn't really thinking about that. Huh. The sky sure is pretty…. Grimacing in annoyance as the laughter invaded her thoughts, she snapped, "Laugh it up, why don't you?" This only seemed to make them laugh harder.

She discreetly balled a small lump of snow under her hand and glared at Legolas, who had unwisely turned his back to her. *Poof!* went the snow when it hit his shoulder. Within a few seconds, nearly the entire Fellowship had engaged in an all-out war, snow flying everywhere. After a few snowballs in the face, Riley decided that to hide would be the best thing. Looking around, she noticed that the rest of the battlers were leaving Gandalf alone. Aha. She ran and dived behind him in the snow.

"Ha!" she shouted as she sprang to her feet and poked her head out from behind the Wizard. "You can't hit Gandalf; it's not allowed! Mwahaha!" She promptly broke into a coughing fit. When she peeked back out again she realized she might as well have dared Aragorn to dump a bucket of snow on the Wizard. He was grinning, wadding up a large snowball. Riley squeaked and hid behind Gandalf. Nothing happened.

Riley peeked back out to see Gandalf holding his glowing staff in front of him. She glanced up at his face to find him smiling triumphantly. She grinned. "Told ya so!" Merry and Pippin both tossed snowballs as hard as they could at Gandalf, but the snowballs burst apart long before they reached anyone. Riley buried her face in the back of Gandalf's robes, stifling her giggles. The others joined in her laughter… but when she peered around Gandalf again, Boromir was pointedly ignoring the gayety. His lips were pressed in a thin line and he was gazing out towards the sun grimly. With a last hiccough, Riley's laughter died out completely, leaving her feeling just as depressed as she had been on the way up the mountain. She tugged on the back of Gandalf's robes. "Can we go now?" she asked quietly.

He studied her face and she smiled a bit for his benefit, but the smile never reached her eyes. He nodded and she headed off in front of everyone, once more trudging downhill over a ton of snow. Joy.

***

It was official. Riley was sick of walking. Stop the press! They were finally about the enter Moria, and her feet hurt… like a monkey. What, a monkey can't hurt?

Anyways… they had finally reached Moria. Well, the walls of Moria. They had to climb (again) and weave in between boulders, but there they were, finally. They walked through a large chink in the cliff and found themselves in a dank, dark, humid crevice. Riley was just grateful that it wasn't cold. Well… it was chilly. But not cold!

Boromir seemed to have developed some sort of a grudge against Legolas, and Legolas didn't seem too pleased with Boromir either, so by the time they reached the Gate, Riley had taken to walking with a neutral party: Gandalf. Riley was not positive, but from the sideways, knowing glances that the Wizard had given her, she suspected that Gandalf knew more about what was going on with Boromir than she did. And it was irritating that he wasn't telling her. Because she told him everything. Except for when she dropped her berry wine on his hat. She'd keep that secret to the grave.

Riley slumped to the ground when Gandalf paused, studying the wall. He reached up and brushed away some dust to reveal a soft groove. "Ithildin. It mirrors only starlight and moonlight." Riley had always wondered how the clouds just magically cleared away on que. "It reads, 'The doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, Friend, and enter.'"

"What do you suppose that means?" Merry asked. Riley nearly snorted. Gandalf, the almighty Wizard, read the line wrong.

"Oh, it's quite simple. If you are a friend, you speak the password, and the doors will open," Gandalf explained form his little world-of-the-misinformed. He pressed the end of his staff to the middle of the door and spoke something in a deep, strong voice.

Nothing happened.

Riley leaned back against the wall and sighed. She should've brought a pillow to sit on. A pillow for her head would have been nice too. And for her feet. And her back. And her hands. And… everything else. She closed her eyes and tried to relax.

"Riley?"

Riley's lips twitched, but for the most part she maintained her calm expression. "Funny, that little noise sounded like my ex-friend. But he doesn't talk to me anymore, so it couldn't be."

The person shifted beside her uncomfortably. "Riley…."

Riley opened her eyes and stood up looking straight ahead. "Boromir, if you're only going to sit there saying my name, I will not talk to you. I haven't done anything to deserve this; you've been treating me like dirt. Either apologize or leave me alone." She wanted to cry. She had never, not once in her life, given someone an ultimatum. She had never lost patience when someone was nervous about saying something either. But it was true that she hadn't done anything to deserve Boromir's attitude.

Boromir took her hand and tugged on it lightly. "Riley… I should not have treated you the way I did." A tear rolled down Riley's cheek. Finally he apologized! Now he just had to explain why he'd been such prat and she'd forgive him. Boromir pulled her down so that she was sitting half-facing him. "You are not married," he said hesitantly.

Riley groaned. "Did we not cover this before? I could've sworn that you knew that a week ago."

Boromir fiddled with her hand. "When I thought that you were married… it was…" Riley raised an eyebrow at him, "Easy to stay away from you."

Riley's eyes widened in surprise. "Am I really that much of a Mary Sue?" she shrieked. Her head fell backwards pathetically and she groaned. "I swear to Bob… gee whiz!"

"A Mary Sue?" Boromir asked, confused.

Riley smacked her forehead. "A Mary Sue is perfect. She's beautiful and talented and she gets sucked into stories and all the male characters fall in love with her. How can I be a Mary Sue? I mean, I didn't ask for people to love me! Holy crud!"

Boromir laughed and ruffled her hair. "Well then I will double my efforts to stay away from you."

Riley pouted. "You mean you're gonna be mean to me again?"

Boromir pulled her closer and gave her a quick hug. "No. But I am only ever going to remain your friend."

Riley gave him an incredulous look that he couldn't see. That was all she ever wanted. "Okay."

*Thunk* Riley looked up to find Gandalf sitting down with a frustrated sigh. He said something in Elvish that Riley guessed was probably a swear word. She grinned. "You know it, don't you, Frodo?" she called. Frodo shifted his gaze from the door to Riley. "It's a riddle. Speak 'friend' and enter," she said, grinning.

Frodo smiled back. "What's the Elvish word for friend?" he asked no one in particular.

Riley smirked. She knew that one. "Mellon."

With a rusty cracking sound, the doors began to open.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And that's all I've got for you this time. Sorry, but I've stayed up much later than I intended, and tomorrow is too busy for me to have time to think. I'll see you after I get back!

I'm kind of hoping for quite I few reviews by the time I get back… think we can reach 500? Let's go for it! Review!