CHAPTER 3

"I think he's waking up, sir."  Sam's voice.  He seemed concerned and Frodo's befuddled mind could not work out why.  He opened his eyes and found himself staring at the ceiling.  How had he got there?  The last thing he remembered was sitting in the chair, staring into the fire.  Memory flooded back as Elrond bent over him.  "Well, now, Master Baggins.  Are you feeling a little better?"  Frodo felt himself blushing.  Once his body had been pulled back under his control, Elrond had given him double the original dose of medicine and left Sam to put his master to bed.  He had fallen into a deep sleep within minutes.  "What time is it?  How long have I been asleep?"  It was Lord Elrond who answered.  "It is four o'clock in the afternoon and you have slept for five hours."  Frodo drew himself into a sitting position, leaning against the headboard.  "I'm sorry.  I don't know what happened.  I feel so foolish" he apologised.  He was expecting to be chastised and told that it was high time that he pulled himself together and stopped blaming everyone else for his problems.  He did not expect to find the look of compassion and acceptance that filled the elf lord's eyes.  "You have had a very trying time, Frodo and your reaction earlier was one of the reasons I have been trying to keep you quiet today."  He perched on the edge of the bed.  "As you so correctly pointed out, you have been chased, stabbed and poisoned."  His lips curved in one of his spare smiles, as he folded his arms and raised his brows. "I cannot say that I totally agree with your analysis of the rest of the events.  I have dealt with the stabbing and the poison but only time will help you come to terms with the rest."

"But, what's wrong with Mr Frodo?  Why couldn't he breathe?"  Sam's voice piped up from Frodo's other side.  Elrond half turned, folding one leg beneath him on to the bed and resting his hands on the knee. "There is a part of all our minds that is trained to deal, instinctively, with a threat to our well being.  Its job is to prepare us to run or fight the oncoming danger.  When there is physical danger this is a good thing.  Sam, how did you feel as you stood waiting for the Nazgul to attack at Weathertop?"   Sam's brow furrowed and he swallowed in a dry throat.  "I felt scared."  Elrond smiled, "But how did your body feel?"  Sam thought back and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.  "I couldn't stop shaking and I felt like my stomach had tied itself in a huge knot.  I could feel my heart pounding like a big drum and everything seemed to slow down and go very still around me."  Elrond nodded.  "Did you tell your body to behave in this way?" 

"No, sir.  It did it all on its own."  The healer smiled.  "It was your mind's way of getting your body ready to fight or run away.  It told your heart to beat faster so that all your muscles would have a good supply of blood for action and the world seemed to slow because you were very alert to everything around you."  He turned to face Frodo.  "And when you were struggling earlier, how did your body feel?" 

"Exactly as Sam described, and then I couldn't seem to catch my breath.  But why did it happen then?  There was nothing threatening me."

"Your body and mind have both been pushed to their limits over the past few weeks.   The physical stresses are being slowly healed and you will be recovered enough to travel, when the time comes to leave here.  Your mind, however, hardly had a chance to recover from the fear it felt on the journey here, before it was being subjected to the fear of travelling on, with more danger to come.  It is reacting to this new danger in the most instinctive way it knows."

"But, last night I wasn't even thinking about it."  Sam shot him a confused look and Frodo realised that Elrond had not told him of his master's episode of midnight terrors.  "You are so tense that your mind is not relaxed, even in sleep, and so your body keeps producing the chemicals that cause the fight or flight behaviour within you.  Sometimes the levels increase to the point that you react as though there is a real, physical danger, when there is none."  Frodo's became alarmed.  His love of reading, instead of activity, had meant that he was not as fit as some of his friends but he had always prided himself on having a very strong and active mind.  Now it seemed that even that was not his to control, anymore.  Elrond noted his worried countenance.  "At the moment you are powerless but, with my help, you can regain some control so that you can avoid the build up for most of the time and cope with the attacks if they do come." 

Relief flooded Frodo's face.  "I'm not going mad, then?  And there is a cure?"

Elrond's soft laugh chased away the remaining doubts.  "Master Baggins, you are one of the sanest people I have ever met.  I would almost have been more worried if you had not shown any signs of distress, after all you have been through.  And, yes, if you are willing to learn, I can teach you how to calm your mind and body, so that you can bring them back under your control."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked a timid Sam.  It all sounded rather complicated to him but he did not like to think that there would be nothing that he could do to help his friend.  "Indeed there is, Sam.  You will be the one to travel with Frodo when he leaves the safety of Imladris.  I shall teach you as well, so that you can help him when I am not there."

"I've always looked after Mr Frodo, and I don't aim to stop now," Sam vowed, earnestly.  "Bless you, Sam.  I wouldn't want you to stop.  And, thank you," laughed Frodo.