A/N: You want some very good excuses for the totally apycray chapter? Well:

- My so-called "best friends" spontaneously combusted and were replaced by Crappezoids.

- Quit one job, got another.

- My dad lost his job.

- University registration (nightmare)

- Was visited by Peter Pan, who claimed that if I ran away to Neverland, I would never have to worry about grown-up things again. Discovered that never is an awfully long time when you're in paradise with a twelve-year-old boy who has yet to discover girls, and who also does not plan on getting any older. Left said little twerp for my writing. Hope you appreciate my sacrifice.

Word of the day: Lonely: without companions, lone; characterized by aloneness, solitary; unfrequented by people, desolate; dejected by the awareness of being alone; producing such dejection.

There was a teeny little tribute to Hathor's recent adventures in this chapter… but I can't figure out where the frickin' thing went. Oh well… something to do with a life-size cutout named Miranda.

Thanks go Risa and Hathor for beta-ing!

GO RISA! Cheating to be the one thousandth reviewer… snorts in amusement I'm so proud… this chapter, therefore, sucky as it is, is dedicated to RISA (who is never allowed to turn into a Crappezoid)!

Chapter Twenty-Eight – A Bit of Hope

It is a strange fact of life that being in the midst of friends can make you comfortable in the oddest of situations. With the Fellowship (minus Gandalf) all together again, some of the burdens of the group lifted away and created a relaxing atmosphere.

Not all could bring themselves to accept comfort, however. Boromir, for one, was crushing Riley's hand in his. She couldn't bring herself to wound his machoness by telling him that her hand had long ago gone numb, and he kept stepping on her dress. It made her feel better to know that, even if she was dressed up and playing heroine, she was still her. She was beginning to understand who Legolas wanted her to be.

The Fellowship was quiet. Perhaps they were trying to take in everything that had happened to them in the course of the last few days. At any rate, whatever it was irked Riley to no end. Pursing her lips, she suddenly stated in a very matter-of-fact voice, "Once there was an elephant who tried to use the telephant." Merry and Pippin turned around curiously, Sam looked over his shoulder in hopes of hearing about an Oliphant, and Haldir tensed (which was what she was really waiting for – motivation, and all that), so Riley continued, "Oh, no, I mean the elephone who tried to use the telephone." She paused and gave Merry and Pippin a worried look. "Dear me, I'm not certain quite that even now I've got it right." Boromir began to relax his grip on her hand. "However it was, he got his trunk entangled in the telephunk. The more he tried to get it free, the louder buzzed the telefee." Even Frodo began to smile a bit. Riley shrugged, looking exasperatedly up to the top of the trees. "I fear I'd better drop this song of elephop and telephong."

"Is that a song from your world?" Pippin asked, walking carefully backwards down the stairs to talk to Riley.

Riley did her best to imitate a Galadriel smile. "It is, though not usually put to music." She gave Boromir's hand a reassuring squeeze, and then left him and moved further up the line until she reached Aragorn. Quietly, she murmured, "Mellon nin, how do you say 'archer' in Sindarin?"

Aragorn gave her an odd look before replying, "Cuar."

"Thanks." With that, Riley sauntered up to Haldir. "Cuar o Lorien, may I ask you something?"

"No," the Elf said shortly.

Riley rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. "Aragorn," she called behind her, "how do you say 'coward?'"

"What is it?" Haldir snapped.

"How long is the Fellowship to stay here?"

Haldir eyed her. "I would suspect many weeks."

Riley nodded. That would give them time to rest… and for her to work up the courage to apologize to Legolas. Relieved, she glanced mischievously at Haldir out of the corner of her eye. "Haldir?"

With a long-suffering sigh, Haldir asked, "What is it?"

Riley pressed her lips together, made her eyes go innocently wide, and questioned, "How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

"A woodchuck could chuck lots of wood if a woodchuck could chuck wood."

Riley stopped in surprise, causing Pippin and Merry to run into her and cause a five-being pile up. "You really have been to my world!" she cried accusingly.

It was Haldir's turn to roll his eyes. "I have not been to your world, nor will I ever, Edainme."

Riley narrowed her eyes playfully. "I thought I was 'Edain' or 'foul creature.'"

Haldir turned and looked at her icily. "And I thought that you were trying to better yourself."

The smile faded from her lips as Riley suddenly remembered everyone behind her. Her hands fell limply to her sides and she began walking again, this time silently. She caught herself just as she was looking over her shoulder at Legolas, hoping against hope that his opinion of her had not been further tarnished. He's got to think I'm pathetic, she thought mournfully to herself.

And suddenly, the sleep she had had earlier that day was not enough. She felt infinitely older than she ever had, and this feeling trickled down into her feet and made walking seem a burdensome chore. Nevertheless, she could not bear to stay with her friends a moment longer, so she lifted her skirts and, without warning, brushed past Haldir and raced down the last few steps. She ran without the slightest idea of where she was. Tears began to blur her vision and stream down her cheeks. Running, she discovered that day, was an excellent way to exhaust yourself into draining all anger away.

She did not know how long she ran, but when she finally stopped, it was only because she had come to the bank of a river. She sank to the ground, heart beating wildly. Brokenly, she began, "L… look at me." She sniffed. "You may think you see who I really am," she shook her head fiercely, "but you'll never know me." Haldir came to mind, and she spat angrily, "Every day, it's as if I play a part." She was forced to stop when frustrated, quiet sobs took over.

The grass behind her shifted just the slightest bit and she turned around to find Legolas studying her closely. Her breath caught. Why was he here? Surely he didn't want to be. Perhaps Aragorn had sent him after her. He had a spot on his nose.

Without thinking, she reached up and rubbed the dirt off the Elf's nose. In return, he tucked a wavy string of hair behind her ear and removed the silver circlet. He gave her a look that plainly said their row was far from over, and then sat down in the grass beside her and gazed into the river. As much as Riley wished that she could collapse into his arms, she recognized that, even though their friendship was in shambles, he was offering comfort, and Riley was grateful for his presence. She turned around to look at the river again, drew her knees up to her chest, and cried.

In all honesty, she was sick to her stomach. Legolas was sitting so close, and she desperately wanted to be his friend, but they had both been so hurt. The words wouldn't come, and she was afraid that, by the time they did, it would be too late to mend anything. She had never had a broken friendship that she'd bothered to fix. In other friendships, if they weren't friends anymore, that was it. She would walk away, and, after a good cry, would accept that they were no longer friends, and move on.

She couldn't do that with Legolas. She couldn't do without him! How could she just walk away and forget everything that he had meant to her? How could she keep from hardening her heart toward everyone if she lost him? These thoughts only fueled her tears, and she may not have known it, but she was crying from a breaking heart, and that was evident in her desperate sobs.

It was a long, long time before her tears ceased, and yet Legolas sat unmoving by her side. When she had run out of tears, and had been sitting quietly for a few long moments, Legolas stood. He took one of her hands in his, placed another hand on her back, and gently pulled her to her feet. Riley stared up at him with red, puffy eyes as he straightened her hair and repositioned the circlet. When his hands ran out of things to do, they rested on her shoulders and he looked her in the eye sadly.

They stared at each other for a long time. Riley wished fervently that that were all it took to apologize. She almost opened her mouth to say something, but the words still wouldn't come, the moment passed, and Legolas's hands fell to his sides.

By the time they had found the Fellowship's camp, the Hobbits had bathed and were munching contentedly on various foods. Riley sat down cross-legged with them and grabbed a cluster of grapes, smiling weakly at her friends. Her attention turned to picking at the grapes and trying not to think about anything.

Thonk Riley's head shot up as something hit her in the middle of her forehead. Most of the Fellowship was just staring, not sure how to react… but Pippin was looking everywhere but at Riley. Riley blinked at him, and then picked up the object that had hit her – a grape – and threw it at the Hobbit. It hit him in the eye. Riley's eyebrows raised as Pippin wailed, clutched at his eye, and fell backward melodramatically. Riley couldn't help it; she burst into laughter. Visions of Elrond with a red spot on his brow danced in her head, along with other memories of the first grape-throwing incident. She laughed even harder. Her friends stared, still not sure what to do. Riley continued laughing until her stomach muscles ached and her eyes were streaming tears. She blinked at Pippin, who was giving her Owl Eyes. "Eh…" she began, her laughter finally dying out. "Is your eye okay, Pippin?"

Well, technically Pippin was giving her Owl Eye. The eye that the grape had hit was turning red and swelling quickly. Riley snorted softly and pursed her lips to keep from laughing at him again. "Riley?" he asked, squinting. "You're blurry on one side…"

Riley chuckled, and then grabbed a napkin, and walked over to dip it in the cool water of a nearby fountain. "Come here, Pip," she instructed. Pippin got shakily to his feet, nearly tripping over a root, and smacking into a tree. Riley watched him fondly. When he had finally reached her, she took his chin in one hand and lightly pressed the napkin to his eye with the other. "You can keep your fancy ales," she sang quietly, glancing down and smiling at Pippin's one good eye, which was watching her. "You can drink them by the flagon," she continued comfortingly, dipping the napkin in the fountain again and settling it back on Pippin's eye. "But the only brew for the brave and true," poor, brave little Pippin, "comes from the Green Dragon!"

"I know that song!" Pippin exclaimed.

"I know you do," Riley chuckled, grinning at the confused Hobbit. "Where do you think I learned it?"

Pippin blinked at her with his good eye. "Merry?"

Riley snorted. "Him too, Pip." She patted him on the shoulder and glanced at the Fellowship over his head. One, two, three, four Hobbits, one dwarf, one man, one Elf who would return from cleaning up soon, one partridge in a pear tree… one man? She scanned the area again, but, no, Boromir still wasn't there. Where the heck did he go? "Where's Boromir?" she asked.

The Fellowship glanced around, but Aragorn just shrugged indifferently. Riley glared at him. "Aragorn, did you see where he went?"

Aragorn gave her what she long ago learned was the Shut Up Look. Too emotionally drained to really care, she acquiesced and sank wearily onto a nearby step.

She only hung around to hear Sam's song about Gandalf. She smiled encouragingly, bid them goodnight, and wandered off, not entirely sure of where she was going. Not that she was paying attention to where she was going, anyway. For once, she just failed to think. Her mind had voluntarily dropped all thoughts, all emotions, and she just walked. After walking in-between trees, through sunny patches, up winding steps and walkways, miraculously, she came upon her room. The only real evidence of her surprise was a slow blink. Still, she didn't reflect on the oddity of her being able to find anything, and instead proceeded into the room, where she again stopped short in mild surprise. A small writing desk had been set up facing the balcony. The desk was stocked with various candles (along with flint), a stack of beautiful paper, quills, ink, and on top of it all… a set of chimes strung along a delicate wooden arch. This held her attention more effectively than the rest of the desk's inhabitants. She lightly traced a finger over one of the chimes, and then flicked it with a fingernail. One of the most beautiful notes she'd ever heard sang out quietly, filling the air with a certain emotion.

It is not the kind of emotion that anyone can catch. To really grasp a piece of music, one must understand it and feel the drive behind it. You must be able to feel, deep in your soul, every note that is put forth. For those that can capture all of this, please isolate from yourself that power and beauty. Music fades until you cannot remember what it sounded like; and then, amidst all the darkness, a simple, sweet ring is heard, and a pinprick of light appears. Are you not drawn to the beauty and simplicity?

A single, shimmering tear slips down our heroine's cheek, and suddenly, she is not alone, and there is hope.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

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Recommended story: Deconstruct, A Memoir by Solarism. My favorite Harry Potter fan fiction. It's about Lily (AU as of OotP) and James. Different than you've ever read, and utterly brilliant.

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