Ruby recovered quickly and opened the door. There stood Frodo with his eyes
wide and a pale face.
"Oh hello." Ruby said, as she spotted the very frightened Frodo. She kept her cool as Frodo started babbling things of little importance. Mostly about how the sword came an inch from his nose.
"Ms. Millstone, I'll be leaving with my uncle tomorrow morning. It has been a great pleasure meeting you. Will you like to have dinner with us?"
"Sure. Sorry I had to run off earlier."
"That's quite alright."
So after a night of joyous hobbit fun, Ruby retired to her room, leaving the sword alone until Frodo was safely away.
The next morning Ruby wished Frodo and Bilbo a safe trip and watched as they boarded the boat that first brought the three hobbits to the inn at Gondor. As soon as the ship disappeared over the horizon, Ruby ventured up to her room and tried to dislodge her sword.
Try as she might, the sword wouldn't budge, so she called on the innkeeper to help. The keeper, who was a man, was shocked that a short female hobbit managed to shove half the sword blade through a 4 inch think maple door. They had to get 6 other men to pull on the hilt before it finally budged.
"All right halfling. How are you going to pay for me door?" The innkeeper scolded her, putting his hands on his hips. Ruby, being slightly frightened, dug through her coat pockets looking for some amount of money. The 6 men left the room as the keeper waited for his payment. She finally found her money bag connected to her belt laying on the floor.
"How much sir?" She asked quietly, hoping she would have enough for the food and board until Maiwe came back.
"I'll add it to that tab you have started."
"Since when do I have a tab?" She yelled.
"Since you put your sword through the door. The day you decide to leave, we'll negotiate a price. Here's your sword back." As soon as Ruby touched the hilt, the odd glow returned......
~*~*~*~
Maiwe rode quickly through the woods. These trees unnerved her. She was use to large open land, sand and perhaps a cliff or two. No trees to hide behind or shadows to lurk in. The wind was whistling through the trees, malorn, she thought they were. She heaved a deep sigh. It was getting late and her horse, Earelen, was tiring. Time to find a place for the night.
Maiwe broke through a patch of thick bushes. She gasped, for before her stood winding pathways and elaborate homes. All in the trees. She knew where she was now.
In the abandoned kingdom of Lothlorien.
~*~*~*~
Merry and Pippin stopped the horse, which seemed unexpectedly easy. They tried getting off the horse, but that only resulted in falling off.
"How far back did we lose the lady?" Pippin asked.
"Sil? I don't know. We stayed on the trail, and she may know a shortcut. I just hope she doesn't get tired." But we all know that elves don't get tired very easily. Pippin and Merry set up a camp, and then remembered...
"We didn't bring any food!" Pippin's stomach growled.
"But I'm hungry."
"Maybe Sil has something in her pack." Merry walked up to the horse, and tried pulling the pack down off of it. He couldn't reach it. "Pippin, come over here." Pippin got down on his knees and hands and Merry used him as a stool. They still couldn't reach.
~*~*~*~
Ruby was startled as the sword's glow strengthened. She tried letting go like she did before, but her hands just tightened around the handle.
"Say you aren't threatening me!" Ruby yelled. It was the only answer she could think of for the odd glowing.
"What?"
"Just say it!" Ruby yelled as the sword edged her forward. The innkeeper started yelling for help. Ruby shut her eyes tightly, the sword forcing her to walk toward the man. The innkeeper tried to run away, but the sword over powered Ruby and pulled her quickly toward him, blocking his path through the damaged door. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could as a blood-curdling scream was cut short. The men that were previously there, attempted to get in the door, but the innkeeper's body was blocking it. Ruby kept her eyes closed as she backed away from her current location. Thumps sounded as the men tried forcing their ways through the blocked door.
Ruby started repeating over and over 'Let me wake up.' She opened her eyes as everything became quiet, but screamed as she saw what she had done. The pounding returned. Ruby closed her eyes again, and pulled the sword out of the innkeeper. She opened them to discover the glowing gone, but black blood covering the sword. She glanced quickly as the corpse, but discovered only red blood gushing out of the wound. She quickly shoved the sword in the sheath and grabbed her bags as the men burst through the door and spotted her and then the man.
"What happened?" Some of them yelled. Ruby paled incredibly and started prattling on about how she didn't know.
"Where's the sword?" The biggest of the men asked. Ruby involuntarily placed her hand on the hilt, and pulled it out of the sheath again.
"RUN!" She yelled. The men became shocked and stood frozen. Ruby closed her eyes again, tears streaming out of them as the sword destroyed the men that were either evil, or threatening her life. She did not know which they were, but didn't stick around long enough. Ruby opened her eyes again, when the sword finally stopped. The site that stood before her was too gory for Ruby's stomach. She grabbed her stuff and ran out of the inn, the sword no longer glowing, and no longer controlling her. People ran after her, trying to stop her, but Ruby never stopped, and the sword did not change from the inanimate object that Ruby was familiar with.
~*~*~*~
Ruby only stopped when she tripped on a rock near the riverbed. She rubbed at her ankle with was obviously sprained. The sword lay beside her, unglowing.
"This is all your fault!" She yelled as she picked up the sword and threw it into the river. Seconds after it hit the water, it returned to Ruby's hands. The blood was now dry, but still black. Each of those men's blood was black upon the sword.
Ruby used it to prop herself up, and limp over to the river bed.
"Why did I have to kill those men? They will come looking for me, I know it." She slid the sword into the river and tried getting the blood off the blade. After a few minutes of scrubbing it, the sword was clean of any trace of blood. It still confused Ruby of why the blood appeared black on the blade.
"I need to see if it's the sword, or the men." Ruby whispered to no one. She placed her finger on the edge of the blade and brought it down hard and fast. A trickle of red blood slid down the blade, remaining red, never changing color. Ruby sucked on her finger, trying to close the wound.
"The men..." She whispered before returning the sword to its proper container.
~*~*~*~
Merry woke up from a very bad sleep, and Pippin was still sleeping fitfully. Both of their stomachs were growling all night, and they both dreamed about food. Merry opened his eyes, as he smelled smoke. Sil was sitting in front of a fire, frying mushrooms.
"G' morning." Merry said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting next to her. "Where did you get these?"
"Some farmer's yard. I had to out run a few dogs to get them."
"That's Farmer Maggot's. These are his prize mushrooms."
"Then they better be good." Pippin shot up from his rest against a tree and looked at the frying pan.
"MUSHROOMS!"
~*~*~*~
Ruby and Frodo stood on a lovely hilltop with flowers around them and birds singing. Frodo leaned forward and gave Ruby a passionate kiss. Suddenly everything turned dark. Ruby took her sword and advanced on Frodo and with an evil gleam in her eyes Ruby dove forward.
"Nooooo!" Ruby yelled, as she opened her eyes. She looked at her current surroundings. No hilltop, no flowers, and the only bird were an ugly crow squawking at her. The sword lay beside her, no sign of any glowing. Ruby sat up and looked through her bag for her leather coat.
"This is such a sucky day." She muttered as she discovered her coat missing. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stay warm. Her coat had the glass she always used to start a fire.
"Well it can't get any worse." Suddenly the clouds opened up and started raining.
"So what are we going to do now? This is your fault, so you better think of something." She told the sword. She glanced over at it. Still no sign of the intelligence it showed earlier. "If you're suppose to destroy all that threatens me, why don't you destroy yourself? Like self destruct or something." The sword quivered a bit as if it were shaking its head.
"Just stay away from Frodo then. He's a good guy. Plus he's handsome. I would like to get to know him better before you kill him." The sword once again quivered, and glowed a bit before returning to its inanimate metallic form. "I didn't even get to grab my coat before you went psycho and killed all those people. You owe me." The sword moved more than the first 2 times. "I am not more psycho than you just because I'm talking to a sword. You happen to be a very intelligent sword." It quivered again. "You're welcome."
~*~*~*~
Maiwe frowned. She would take no charities from Galadriel, even if it were unknowingly given. She nudged her horse on. It would not move. In the distance she heard the howls of goblins. Night had fallen.
It appeared that she would take charity.
Maiwe climbed to the highest chamber she could and laid out flat, crossing her arms across her chest.
It was dark. Not the type of dark that comes from the setting of the sun. It was thick and heavy with the spirits of the dead, each one with a voice that rang with knowledge of the future. They tugged at her, pulling her from her perch to the deeper darkness below. The stench of fear and fate made her stomach tighten. She continued down until she stood before a reflecting pool. The mirror. She shuddered at her only memory of this hideous object. The fear she'd felt. The anger. She tried to look away. Her eyes were frozen on the glassy surface. Scenes unfolded before her eyes. First she saw a tall tree blooming in the center of the sea. Then, she saw a scene depicting a large and fearsome sword piercing a small shadow. The scenes continued, each more upsetting then the last.
Then she saw the one thing she feared the most unfold before her eyes. She screamed and collapsed to the ground...
~*~*~*~
The next morning, Ruby woke up covered in mud and sticks. The sword though, was completely clean. Ruby stood, grumbling and stripped the wet muddy clothes from her skin, and jumped into the freezing water. After a few hours of scrubbing at the material, she changed into the only other change of clothes she managed to grab. Then she placed the sword in its sheath and began walking down the trail, being unknownest to what she would come across.
After a few days of walking, and some short stops for rest, Ruby came to a small town.
"Did you hear about that halfling that murdered fifteen men?" A woman said to another as Ruby walked past.
"Yeah, they say it was a female hobbit carrying a giant swor..." The woman said as she got a glimpse of Ruby. Ruby spun around. She didn't think the news of the accident would have traveled this far so soon. Ruby darted off the road and toward the forest, having many of the villagers yelling for her to halt.
"Argh!" She yelled as the sword tripped her. She tumbled down a deep slope and hit a tree. She passed out.
~*~*~*~
Eloisian stood at the edge of the river, her every thought and anticipation on the arrival of Frodo and Bilbo. She had missed them when she had let them go. When she had let him go.
"Need to travel with my dear Bilbo, Eloise. I shall return as soon as possible. I will return, never fear."
to which she had replied, "I shall come as well-"
"but Sam needs to stay with him and Rosie for awhile."
"but-"
"no, dear Eloise. You'll meet me in due time." To which he then had given her a kiss on the cheek.
Standing now by the misty river, she could still feel the cool kiss on her cheek, and closed her eyes, thinking, oh, my dear Frodo, come home to me. I swore I would never leave your side at the beginning, and forgive me that I let you go. And let dear Bilbo be safe.
Just then, she saw the shape of a boat form, shadowy, yet definite in the mists of the water. She stood on the tips of her hairy little toes to peer at it as it came closer. Yes, indeed, it was Frodo's boat. She knew his curly top anywhere, and she could just make out the white of Bilbo's hair.
"Oh, Frodo, Bilbo, you're back!" She waved her hands at them and jumped about like a madman. "O, Frodo!"
He called back, and she helped pull the boat to shore and lodge it. He was standing in the boat and her on the deck, and they were gazing at each other like they hadn't seen each other in years. She threw her arms around his neck, wobbling the boat and poor Bilbo.
"Oh! Oh, Why did I let you convince me you were fine by yourself with Bilbo?! I should have been there! Frodo I- Oh, Bilbo!" She leaned out and caught him as the boat teetered.
"I'm so sorry! Here," and she and Frodo helped him ashore, to much hugging from Eloise.
Once they were all ashore, Eloise took Frodo off to the side. She hugged him tight.
"I missed you!" He grinned back at her.
"I was only gone a little while." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Of course it seemed like a little while to you."
Frodo grinned. He seemed to know just how to tweak her. "I met a.. Rather interesting, slightly violent, but very pretty hobbit while I was gone..."
Eloise looked at his smiling face. He continued on, looking mischievously at her, "Seemed quite interested in me."
"Frodo Baggins, you stop that." She set her face. "I don't find it hard to believe she was 'interested' in you. No need to rub it in."
He grinned and they began to walk side by side against the shore.
"Was she nice?"
"Very."
"..."
"Yes?"
"I should like to meet her, Frodo."
He stopped walking and looked at her. "You shall, I feel..." He then looked across the lake. "Strange things are brewing, Eloisian. Very strange. I feel it..." he touched his shoulder, "in here. I..."
Eloise put her hand over his. "Hush. We'll not speak of it. I too hear things, Frodo. I too. But we'll not speak of it, not till you (and dear Bilbo) are home and rested."
He looked at her slightly red face that was very close to his. He swallowed. "I missed you Eloise."
She grinned. "I knew you did. Come now, let's get home."
"Oh hello." Ruby said, as she spotted the very frightened Frodo. She kept her cool as Frodo started babbling things of little importance. Mostly about how the sword came an inch from his nose.
"Ms. Millstone, I'll be leaving with my uncle tomorrow morning. It has been a great pleasure meeting you. Will you like to have dinner with us?"
"Sure. Sorry I had to run off earlier."
"That's quite alright."
So after a night of joyous hobbit fun, Ruby retired to her room, leaving the sword alone until Frodo was safely away.
The next morning Ruby wished Frodo and Bilbo a safe trip and watched as they boarded the boat that first brought the three hobbits to the inn at Gondor. As soon as the ship disappeared over the horizon, Ruby ventured up to her room and tried to dislodge her sword.
Try as she might, the sword wouldn't budge, so she called on the innkeeper to help. The keeper, who was a man, was shocked that a short female hobbit managed to shove half the sword blade through a 4 inch think maple door. They had to get 6 other men to pull on the hilt before it finally budged.
"All right halfling. How are you going to pay for me door?" The innkeeper scolded her, putting his hands on his hips. Ruby, being slightly frightened, dug through her coat pockets looking for some amount of money. The 6 men left the room as the keeper waited for his payment. She finally found her money bag connected to her belt laying on the floor.
"How much sir?" She asked quietly, hoping she would have enough for the food and board until Maiwe came back.
"I'll add it to that tab you have started."
"Since when do I have a tab?" She yelled.
"Since you put your sword through the door. The day you decide to leave, we'll negotiate a price. Here's your sword back." As soon as Ruby touched the hilt, the odd glow returned......
~*~*~*~
Maiwe rode quickly through the woods. These trees unnerved her. She was use to large open land, sand and perhaps a cliff or two. No trees to hide behind or shadows to lurk in. The wind was whistling through the trees, malorn, she thought they were. She heaved a deep sigh. It was getting late and her horse, Earelen, was tiring. Time to find a place for the night.
Maiwe broke through a patch of thick bushes. She gasped, for before her stood winding pathways and elaborate homes. All in the trees. She knew where she was now.
In the abandoned kingdom of Lothlorien.
~*~*~*~
Merry and Pippin stopped the horse, which seemed unexpectedly easy. They tried getting off the horse, but that only resulted in falling off.
"How far back did we lose the lady?" Pippin asked.
"Sil? I don't know. We stayed on the trail, and she may know a shortcut. I just hope she doesn't get tired." But we all know that elves don't get tired very easily. Pippin and Merry set up a camp, and then remembered...
"We didn't bring any food!" Pippin's stomach growled.
"But I'm hungry."
"Maybe Sil has something in her pack." Merry walked up to the horse, and tried pulling the pack down off of it. He couldn't reach it. "Pippin, come over here." Pippin got down on his knees and hands and Merry used him as a stool. They still couldn't reach.
~*~*~*~
Ruby was startled as the sword's glow strengthened. She tried letting go like she did before, but her hands just tightened around the handle.
"Say you aren't threatening me!" Ruby yelled. It was the only answer she could think of for the odd glowing.
"What?"
"Just say it!" Ruby yelled as the sword edged her forward. The innkeeper started yelling for help. Ruby shut her eyes tightly, the sword forcing her to walk toward the man. The innkeeper tried to run away, but the sword over powered Ruby and pulled her quickly toward him, blocking his path through the damaged door. Ruby squeezed her eyes shut as tight as she could as a blood-curdling scream was cut short. The men that were previously there, attempted to get in the door, but the innkeeper's body was blocking it. Ruby kept her eyes closed as she backed away from her current location. Thumps sounded as the men tried forcing their ways through the blocked door.
Ruby started repeating over and over 'Let me wake up.' She opened her eyes as everything became quiet, but screamed as she saw what she had done. The pounding returned. Ruby closed her eyes again, and pulled the sword out of the innkeeper. She opened them to discover the glowing gone, but black blood covering the sword. She glanced quickly as the corpse, but discovered only red blood gushing out of the wound. She quickly shoved the sword in the sheath and grabbed her bags as the men burst through the door and spotted her and then the man.
"What happened?" Some of them yelled. Ruby paled incredibly and started prattling on about how she didn't know.
"Where's the sword?" The biggest of the men asked. Ruby involuntarily placed her hand on the hilt, and pulled it out of the sheath again.
"RUN!" She yelled. The men became shocked and stood frozen. Ruby closed her eyes again, tears streaming out of them as the sword destroyed the men that were either evil, or threatening her life. She did not know which they were, but didn't stick around long enough. Ruby opened her eyes again, when the sword finally stopped. The site that stood before her was too gory for Ruby's stomach. She grabbed her stuff and ran out of the inn, the sword no longer glowing, and no longer controlling her. People ran after her, trying to stop her, but Ruby never stopped, and the sword did not change from the inanimate object that Ruby was familiar with.
~*~*~*~
Ruby only stopped when she tripped on a rock near the riverbed. She rubbed at her ankle with was obviously sprained. The sword lay beside her, unglowing.
"This is all your fault!" She yelled as she picked up the sword and threw it into the river. Seconds after it hit the water, it returned to Ruby's hands. The blood was now dry, but still black. Each of those men's blood was black upon the sword.
Ruby used it to prop herself up, and limp over to the river bed.
"Why did I have to kill those men? They will come looking for me, I know it." She slid the sword into the river and tried getting the blood off the blade. After a few minutes of scrubbing it, the sword was clean of any trace of blood. It still confused Ruby of why the blood appeared black on the blade.
"I need to see if it's the sword, or the men." Ruby whispered to no one. She placed her finger on the edge of the blade and brought it down hard and fast. A trickle of red blood slid down the blade, remaining red, never changing color. Ruby sucked on her finger, trying to close the wound.
"The men..." She whispered before returning the sword to its proper container.
~*~*~*~
Merry woke up from a very bad sleep, and Pippin was still sleeping fitfully. Both of their stomachs were growling all night, and they both dreamed about food. Merry opened his eyes, as he smelled smoke. Sil was sitting in front of a fire, frying mushrooms.
"G' morning." Merry said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and sitting next to her. "Where did you get these?"
"Some farmer's yard. I had to out run a few dogs to get them."
"That's Farmer Maggot's. These are his prize mushrooms."
"Then they better be good." Pippin shot up from his rest against a tree and looked at the frying pan.
"MUSHROOMS!"
~*~*~*~
Ruby and Frodo stood on a lovely hilltop with flowers around them and birds singing. Frodo leaned forward and gave Ruby a passionate kiss. Suddenly everything turned dark. Ruby took her sword and advanced on Frodo and with an evil gleam in her eyes Ruby dove forward.
"Nooooo!" Ruby yelled, as she opened her eyes. She looked at her current surroundings. No hilltop, no flowers, and the only bird were an ugly crow squawking at her. The sword lay beside her, no sign of any glowing. Ruby sat up and looked through her bag for her leather coat.
"This is such a sucky day." She muttered as she discovered her coat missing. She wrapped her arms around herself and tried to stay warm. Her coat had the glass she always used to start a fire.
"Well it can't get any worse." Suddenly the clouds opened up and started raining.
"So what are we going to do now? This is your fault, so you better think of something." She told the sword. She glanced over at it. Still no sign of the intelligence it showed earlier. "If you're suppose to destroy all that threatens me, why don't you destroy yourself? Like self destruct or something." The sword quivered a bit as if it were shaking its head.
"Just stay away from Frodo then. He's a good guy. Plus he's handsome. I would like to get to know him better before you kill him." The sword once again quivered, and glowed a bit before returning to its inanimate metallic form. "I didn't even get to grab my coat before you went psycho and killed all those people. You owe me." The sword moved more than the first 2 times. "I am not more psycho than you just because I'm talking to a sword. You happen to be a very intelligent sword." It quivered again. "You're welcome."
~*~*~*~
Maiwe frowned. She would take no charities from Galadriel, even if it were unknowingly given. She nudged her horse on. It would not move. In the distance she heard the howls of goblins. Night had fallen.
It appeared that she would take charity.
Maiwe climbed to the highest chamber she could and laid out flat, crossing her arms across her chest.
It was dark. Not the type of dark that comes from the setting of the sun. It was thick and heavy with the spirits of the dead, each one with a voice that rang with knowledge of the future. They tugged at her, pulling her from her perch to the deeper darkness below. The stench of fear and fate made her stomach tighten. She continued down until she stood before a reflecting pool. The mirror. She shuddered at her only memory of this hideous object. The fear she'd felt. The anger. She tried to look away. Her eyes were frozen on the glassy surface. Scenes unfolded before her eyes. First she saw a tall tree blooming in the center of the sea. Then, she saw a scene depicting a large and fearsome sword piercing a small shadow. The scenes continued, each more upsetting then the last.
Then she saw the one thing she feared the most unfold before her eyes. She screamed and collapsed to the ground...
~*~*~*~
The next morning, Ruby woke up covered in mud and sticks. The sword though, was completely clean. Ruby stood, grumbling and stripped the wet muddy clothes from her skin, and jumped into the freezing water. After a few hours of scrubbing at the material, she changed into the only other change of clothes she managed to grab. Then she placed the sword in its sheath and began walking down the trail, being unknownest to what she would come across.
After a few days of walking, and some short stops for rest, Ruby came to a small town.
"Did you hear about that halfling that murdered fifteen men?" A woman said to another as Ruby walked past.
"Yeah, they say it was a female hobbit carrying a giant swor..." The woman said as she got a glimpse of Ruby. Ruby spun around. She didn't think the news of the accident would have traveled this far so soon. Ruby darted off the road and toward the forest, having many of the villagers yelling for her to halt.
"Argh!" She yelled as the sword tripped her. She tumbled down a deep slope and hit a tree. She passed out.
~*~*~*~
Eloisian stood at the edge of the river, her every thought and anticipation on the arrival of Frodo and Bilbo. She had missed them when she had let them go. When she had let him go.
"Need to travel with my dear Bilbo, Eloise. I shall return as soon as possible. I will return, never fear."
to which she had replied, "I shall come as well-"
"but Sam needs to stay with him and Rosie for awhile."
"but-"
"no, dear Eloise. You'll meet me in due time." To which he then had given her a kiss on the cheek.
Standing now by the misty river, she could still feel the cool kiss on her cheek, and closed her eyes, thinking, oh, my dear Frodo, come home to me. I swore I would never leave your side at the beginning, and forgive me that I let you go. And let dear Bilbo be safe.
Just then, she saw the shape of a boat form, shadowy, yet definite in the mists of the water. She stood on the tips of her hairy little toes to peer at it as it came closer. Yes, indeed, it was Frodo's boat. She knew his curly top anywhere, and she could just make out the white of Bilbo's hair.
"Oh, Frodo, Bilbo, you're back!" She waved her hands at them and jumped about like a madman. "O, Frodo!"
He called back, and she helped pull the boat to shore and lodge it. He was standing in the boat and her on the deck, and they were gazing at each other like they hadn't seen each other in years. She threw her arms around his neck, wobbling the boat and poor Bilbo.
"Oh! Oh, Why did I let you convince me you were fine by yourself with Bilbo?! I should have been there! Frodo I- Oh, Bilbo!" She leaned out and caught him as the boat teetered.
"I'm so sorry! Here," and she and Frodo helped him ashore, to much hugging from Eloise.
Once they were all ashore, Eloise took Frodo off to the side. She hugged him tight.
"I missed you!" He grinned back at her.
"I was only gone a little while." She raised an eyebrow at him.
"Of course it seemed like a little while to you."
Frodo grinned. He seemed to know just how to tweak her. "I met a.. Rather interesting, slightly violent, but very pretty hobbit while I was gone..."
Eloise looked at his smiling face. He continued on, looking mischievously at her, "Seemed quite interested in me."
"Frodo Baggins, you stop that." She set her face. "I don't find it hard to believe she was 'interested' in you. No need to rub it in."
He grinned and they began to walk side by side against the shore.
"Was she nice?"
"Very."
"..."
"Yes?"
"I should like to meet her, Frodo."
He stopped walking and looked at her. "You shall, I feel..." He then looked across the lake. "Strange things are brewing, Eloisian. Very strange. I feel it..." he touched his shoulder, "in here. I..."
Eloise put her hand over his. "Hush. We'll not speak of it. I too hear things, Frodo. I too. But we'll not speak of it, not till you (and dear Bilbo) are home and rested."
He looked at her slightly red face that was very close to his. He swallowed. "I missed you Eloise."
She grinned. "I knew you did. Come now, let's get home."
