These characters and places are not my own (except for Isilme), they belong to JRR Tolkien.

A loud and painful growl in Pippin's stomach stirred him from sleep. There was no morning sun; it seemed there was one thickly spread cloud covering the entire sky. Wrapped in his blanket, Pippin stood up and looked for Legolas who had obviously gone off.

Happily, he discovered the food stores were left behind and upon rummaging through their supply, Pippin discovered items he did not know were given to them, tomatoes, carrots, strips of bacon, mushrooms and a bottle of wine. Words could not impart the joy that filled his heart and rallied his stomach. Quickly, he searched and found the cooking gear, then kindled wood scraps to build a small fire. Recalling the magic that Sam would make by combining mix-matching ingredients, Pippin crushed the tomatoes in the pan, added mushrooms and a pour or two of wine, dashed with a bit of salt and spice. He let the sauce sweetly simmer, causing a great rumble in his stomach. He heaped the chopped tomato sauce on top of crisp bread discs, savored them, then washed it down with a cool draught, all the while dreaming of his dear friends. The tastes brought him back home to the Shire to their last hearty meal in Crickhollow with Merry, Fatty, Frodo and Sam. Stuffing themselves with ale, mushrooms and all their creature comforts, he remembered the story making and the uncovering of their conspiracy to runaway with Frodo, they weren't taking no for answer to go with him, especially not after all the planning so successfully executed. Would he still choose the same road now? "Nevermind that nonsense." He said to himself. But his heart ached immensely for his hobbit friends that he nearly burst in to tears.

Legolas silently stepped up to Pippin and startled him, though not meaning to. "Have you left any of your delicacy?"

"I had a mind to eat it all. You left me to awake by my lonesome." Pippin wiped his eyes before turning to looking at Legolas. "Where did you leave to?"

At the very bottom of their food sack Legolas found what was left of their crispy breads. "I discovered the path we are to take leading to the trolls' lair." Everything stopped in Pippin's world; the wind halted as if it were trapped in a room when all the windows shut at once, the birds, it seemed, to die mid-chirp and all else was still.

Legolas went on, "My apprehension begged me to awake and I journeyed further down our intended road to find these creatures. It is three leagues, though by our speed we would reach them before nightfall. I do not wish to be seen by them-- "

"Nor I!" Pippin resounded.

"So it is agreed, we will begin later and arrive under the cover of darkness to sneak past their dim wits. Two there are, lying in the narrow ridge between the high road and the ravine floor. Little foliage grows there and the rocks are no bigger than your waist height to hide behind. As they take their slumber we shall climb above them on the steep valley wall they lean against. Now more than ever, you must maintain the sure-footedness and stealthy guise to go unobserved, as I've been told, by Bilbo Baggins, are natural hobbit attributes." With the end of that sentence he took the first bite of Pippin's creation and smiled in surprise, nodding his head in compliment to Pip's cooking.

Amid the slender trees Pippin spent the afternoon alone, practicing, with sword in hand, his parry and lunge against the low, naked branches. His mind pictured the tree-opponent as a drawved troll, jutting out a twig-like weapon in its defense. As Legolas instructed, he kept weight on his toes and slices short, choreographing the twisting and spinning moves Legolas executed when he killed the two wolves that attacked him simultaneously. The last spin turned him dizzy and he fell to the ground with a dense thump. Pippin looked up and Legolas seemed to have appeared instantly with a hand out to help him up.

"You are ready then?" Legolas asked with a smile he tried to hide.

Pippin took his hand then dusted himself off and picked up his sword, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Enough to see that you must never turn your back on your enemy. Your fighting skills must mature with practice before incorporating such techniques. You are on your way, Pippin, fear not. It is nigh that we go. Come along and get your things." Legolas turned and lead Pippin back to their camp. Pippin's pack was set, he had only to fold his blanket and stuff it in. Off they went, heading down the road to certain danger.

Dusk darkened the valley, dropping temperatures lower as the chilly wind began to pick up speed. Pippin tightened his hood. "I wish that Gildor would have come with us or some elf from his company." Legolas replied nothing. "I think the elven maiden who admired you would certainly have joined us if you only asked her." Pippin backhandedly teased, waiting for a misgiving glance confessing that Legolas fancied her too.

Again, Legolas gave no word or sign. Forward he kept his eyes and feet. He spoke only to himself, inside the loneliness of his heart, "For me, there is only one."

When Pippin realized he was speaking to a sublime elf and not one of his jolly cohorts, he returned to the seriousness of their situation. "What happened to the messenger that Gildor was sent to retrieve? How did he survive an attack of two trolls?"

Legolas wished not to recount the gruesome details but Pippin begged at no end and so the elf conceded. "Isilme, the messenger," he began as they continued marching in the growing darkness, "rode in haste back to Rivendell and heeded no warnings of the trolls' smell or sound. He was hurried to report back so Elrond may council us further on our journey. The fine stallion he commanded leapt over the rough terrain, scoring a faster speed than any messenger the wind could carry. At the high road juncture, coming out of Eregion, he did not let up speed or take up caution. The trolls remained very still, like aged stone; each armed with a broken tree trunk, waiting for Isilme." Legolas turned back to see that Pippin was not too frightened. "As he passed, the first swing missed him, but the second tumbled his horse and his arrows scattered when he fell to the ground. With the fist of arrows that remained, he hailed the assailors, but they were unaffected by so few of them and onward they charged, swinging their tree-clubs. He ran to the way of the low road that dropped to the valley floor, he would be safe down its narrow passage, beyond the grasps of the thick-handed trolls. The ground shuddered violently when their tree-swing misses hit the ground, shaking down the messenger with each forward step he tried to make. He fell just short of his salvation, his hands grasped the edge of the road and he pulled himself over it. But one blow caught him and shattered the bone in Isilme's leg. On to his back he rolled with one arm dangling over the edge, looking up at the last strike that would flatten him whole. With what little strength he possessed, Isilme turned down the valley road and tumbled to his safety below. His horse witnessed the whole affair, but could risk crossing the trolls' road to retrieve his master, so he returned to Rivendell and told his tale to the elves that received him."

Each word further into Legolas' story stunned Pippin till at the very end of it he stood frozen in his tracks. Legolas walked several paces before realizing Pippin stayed behind. Lightly, he trotted back. Pippin was shivering, but it was not from the cold. Legolas lowered to meet his gaze and truthfully spoke. "Pippin, we have an advantage: we know where they lie, as Isilme did not. He wandered unknowingly into their lair and in full sun. You can see, as the light disappears, this valley is dark as midnight and we will only cross their path when we are certain they are lulled to sleep."

The more Pippin thought about it, they more he understood this was the only way and that he could not stay in this ravine forever. The elf stared assuredly into the eyes of his young partner as if he was saying more without moving his lips. Pippin heard him through the silence and nodded his head approvingly. Just then, they heard a growl of a voice and another answering. Legolas guided them up the same slope Isilme slid down to save himself and closer to the trolls' camp. Down low they crouched, barely hiding behind some rocks. The trolls did not sense them as they were busying themselves with supper.

Legolas could barely be heard when he whispered, "They shall sleep heavy after their large meal. Our signal is their snoring and we will make for our crossing."

Pippin hated to wait.